Connect with us

Technologies

OnePlus’ First Tablet is Sleek, Green and Coming in April

It’s called the OnePlus Pad and we’ve been hands on.

Better known for its all-round decent Android phones like the OnePlus 11, OnePlus has been showing off its first tablet. Called the OnePlus Pad, this Android 13-based device packs an 11.6-inch display into a slender, green metal body and comes with handy extras like fast charging and a beefy battery. It goes up for preorder in the UK and US in April, although OnePlus has yet to say how much you’ll have to splash in order to get one.

I liked the feel of it when I got my hands on it during MWC in Barcelona. It’s got an all-metal design, which feels sturdy to hold and I’m quite fond of the green color that’s also common on the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus Buds Pro 2. It felt particularly skinny in my hands, but at 6.54mm thick it’s actually marginally thicker than the iPad Pro. I’m splitting hairs at this point though; it’s certainly slender enough to slide into a backpack and it felt comfortable to hold and swipe around the Android interface.

oneplus-pad-tablet-cnet-9oneplus-pad-tablet-cnet-9
Andrew Lanxon/CNET

The 11.6-inch display has an unusual 7:5 aspect ratio which is aimed more towards reading books, looking at documents and web browsing than it is for pure media consumption. That’s great if you want it more as a business and productivity device, less so if you want it to plough through your favorite Netflix boxsets — those 16:9 aspect videos will have some pretty hefty black bars above and below. Still, the screen is sharp, has a 144Hz refresh rate and supports Dolby Vision HDR for vibrant colors.

oneplus-pad-tablet-cnet-3oneplus-pad-tablet-cnet-3
Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Like most of the OnePlus phone range, the Pad supports 66W fast charging, with a full charge of the battery from empty apparently taking a little over an hour. At 9,510mAh, the battery itself is pretty capacious and OnePlus reckons it’ll allow for up to 14 hours of video playback and up to a month on standby. I didn’t get any sense of battery life in my very limited hands on time, so I’ll reserve judgement on its skills here for when I get a model in for some proper testing. 

oneplus-pad-tablet-cnet-12oneplus-pad-tablet-cnet-12
Andrew Lanxon/CNET

The tablet comes either by itself or with a keyboard case and a stylus (called the OnePlus Stylo, because why not). Both do look somewhat reminiscent of Apple’s iPad accessories, but I suppose there’s not a load of room for aesthetic experimentation when it comes to a stylus. If you’re wanting a tablet as a work device for emails and more then the keyboard at least should be an essential. 

oneplus-pad-tablet-cnet-8oneplus-pad-tablet-cnet-8
Andrew Lanxon/CNET

It’s powered by a Dimensity 9000 processor, backed up by at least 8GB of RAM (up to 16GB in some markets) and features a camera on the back, and an 8-megapixel front camera for video calls. OnePlus also boasted of the Pad’s powerful speakers, but these were difficult to test at the quite raucous hands on event. Stay tuned for me when we get one for review.

Technologies

Fitbit Launches Luffu, AI-Powered Health Tracking for the Whole Family

Soon, you may be able to access every family member’s health data in one place.

If you’ve ever wanted a way to keep all of your family’s health records in place, Fitbit may have come up with a solution. Fitbit, well-known for its fitness wearables, announced the launch of its own health care system on Wednesday.  

Luffu, which translates to the Old English word for «love,» uses AI to create what it calls an «intelligent family care system.» The platform allows family members to share all their health information through an app.

It’s unclear when Luffu will be officially available, but you can sign up for the waitlist to get access to the limited public beta. Pricing or other details have not been announced.

Luffu will allow families to keep track of everyone’s doctor’s appointments, test results, vaccine records, medications, symptoms, diet and more. The platform uses AI to learn your family’s health history and patterns, and to alert you to any changes that should be addressed, such as missed medications or abnormal vitals. The AI function organizes the data submitted into the system. The app will also connect to third-party apps and wearables, such as the Fitbit.

Luffu is meant to lighten the mental load of family care by organizing all this health data in one place, its co-founder said.

«I was caring for my parents from across the country, trying to piece together my mom’s health care across various portals and providers, with a language barrier that made it hard to get a complete, timely context from her about doctor visits,» said Luffu co-founder James Park.

Luffu will include alerts and a space to log health and medication information via voice, text, photos, and other health portals and devices. The key medical information can be shared across the platform with spouses, caregivers and parents.

A representative for Fitbit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Continue Reading

Technologies

These New AI Transcription Models Are Built for Speed and Privacy

Mistral AI’s new Voxtral Mini Transcribe 2 and Voxtral Realtime are intended to run on your device, meaning your conversations never find their way to a data center.

Sometimes you want to transcribe something, but don’t want it to be hanging out on the internet for any hacker to see. Maybe it’s a conversation with your doctor or lawyer. Maybe you’re a journalist, and it’s a sensitive interview. Privacy and control are important.

That desire for privacy is one reason the French developer Mistral AI built its latest transcription models to be small enough to run on devices. They can run on your phone, on your laptop or in the cloud.

Voxtral Mini Transcribe 2, one of the new models announced Wednesday, is «super, super small,» Pierre Stock, Mistral’s vice president of science operations, told me. Another new model, Voxtral Realtime, can do the same thing but live, like closed captioning. 

Privacy is not the only reason the company wanted to build small open-source models. By running right on the device you’re using, these models can work faster. No more waiting on files to find their way through the internet to a data center and back. 

«What you want is the transcription to happen super, super close to you,» Stock said. «And the closest we can find to you is any edge device, so a laptop, a phone, a wearable like a smartwatch, for instance.»

The low latency (read: high speed) is especially important for real-time transcription. The Voxtral Realtime model can generate with a latency of less than 200 milliseconds, Stock said. It can transcribe a speaker’s words about as quickly as you can read them. No more waiting two or three seconds for the closed captioning to catch up.

The Voxtral Realtime model is available through Mistral’s API and on Hugging Face, along with a demo where you can try it out.

In some brief testing, I found it generated fairly quickly (although not as fast as you’d expect if it were on device) and managed to capture what I said accurately in English with a little bit of Spanish mixed in. It’s capable of handling 13 languages right now, according to Mistral. 

Voxtral Mini Transcribe 2 is also available through the company’s API, or you can play around with it in Mistral’s AI Studio. I used the model to transcribe my interview with Stock.

I found it to be quick and pretty reliable, although it struggled with proper names like Mistral AI (which it called Mr. Lay Eye) and Voxtral (VoxTroll). Yes, the AI model got its own name wrong. But Stock said users can customize the model to understand certain words, names and jargon better if they’re using it for specific tasks.

The challenge of building small, fast AI models is that they also have to be accurate, Stock said. The company touted the models’ performance on benchmarks showing improved error rates compared to competitors. 

«It’s not enough to say, OK, I’ll make a small model,» Stock said. «What you need is a small model that has the same quality as larger models, right?»

Continue Reading

Technologies

Don’t Miss Out on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $25 Per Month

With this StackSocial offer, you’re getting access to hundreds of games for either $25 for one month or $74 for three months.

Right now at StackSocial, you can get a three-month membership for just $74, which brings each month to $25. Normally $30 per month, you can also opt for a single-month plan for $25. I’ve been following Xbox Game Pass pricing for a while, so this is a great deal. Just keep in mind, once you get your download code via email, the purchase cannot be changed or returned. 

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate lets you access games not only on your console but also on a PC or mobile device. Basically, you can play what you want, when you want, where you want. Game Pass adds new games all the time, with not only older titles making their way to the service but also brand-new Xbox games, including releases from Microsoft’s own studios on the day of release.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is a brilliant way to save cash while playing fantastic games, including Black Ops 6, Halo: Infinite, Hellblade 2, Starfield and tons more. While the lineup changes each month, more than 500 games are available to play. It’s the closest thing to a Netflix for games.

Please note that Microsoft allows prepayment for up to 36 months of access, so 12 is the maximum number of subscriptions you should purchase. You can check out our full roundup of all the best Xbox deals for more savings on games and accessories.

Why this deal matters 

The last time we saw the Game Pass subscription discounted was around the holiday season. Right now, you can get access to hundreds of games for essentially the price of one. Whether you choose the one- or three-month option, the price is the same at $25 per month. Since most games aren’t usually priced below $25, this is a steal. 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Verum World Media