The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is the embodiment of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, offering the same general form factor as the Pro 6 and, if we’re being honest, most of the Surface Pro range that came before it. But that’s not a bad thing; the Surface Pro 7 fills a need, with Microsoft describing it as “the most popular two-in-one on the market” when it was revealed.
Besides, like my mum always used to say, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and with 10th-gen Intel Core processors and Iris Plus graphics now present, the Surface Pro 7 certainly has a lot going for it.
Pricing and availability
The Surface Pro 7 range starts at £799/$749 and goes up to a whopping £2,249/$2,299 depending on the processor/RAM/storage configuration you opt for. The cheapest is the Intel Core i3 model with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, but it’s hard to recommend with lacking power and the omission of the Iris Plus graphics that make the other models perform so well.
The next step up is the i5 range, of which there are three to choose from. The £899/$899 variant offers a boosted 8GB of RAM and the same 128GB storage as the base model, but for £1,169/$1,199, you’ll be able to upgrade to 256GB. The top i5 model offers the same amount of storage at 256GB, but double the RAM at 16GB, and costs £1,399/$1,399.
There’s the argument of paying £50/$100 more and picking up the base Core i7 model at £1,449/$1,499, which comes with the same 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage as the top-end i5 model, but that’ll of course depend on your budget. For the record, that’s the model that we’ve been sent for review.
The last two i7 variants offer the same amount of RAM but an increased 512GB and 1TB of storage, and cost £1,829/$1,899 and £2,249/$2,299 respectively. Considering you’re only getting additional storage, we’d recommend buying an external hard drive and making use of the USB-C port – it’ll work out much cheaper.
While Microsoft’s Surface Pro X brings something new to the table, both in terms of design and features, the Surface Pro 7 looks almost identical to the Surface Pro 6, 5, 4… You get the idea. That’s not to say the Surface Pro 7 is a badly designed 2-in-1 – it’s not – but it seems Microsoft is applying the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality to the Surface Pro range.
Like its predecessors, the chassis of the Pro 7 is crafted from solid metal, providing a sturdy feel, but the finish of the body means it’s likely to get scuffed and scratched as time goes on. It does a great job of protecting the 12.3in PixelSense display, which looks just as vibrant and detailed as ever, but the large bezels that surround it make the Pro 7 look dated compared to some budget laptops available in 2020, let alone Apple’s iPad Pro range.
The adjustable kickstand is present and accounted for, allowing you to angle the Pro 7 just about any way you’d want. Although not new, it’s our favourite design feature of the Pro 7, making it a versatile bit of kit that’s both comfortable to use as a tablet and as a laptop – as long as it’s on a flat surface like a table and not your legs.
But while the Pro 7 seems like a trip down memory lane, there is one new feature: the inclusion of a USB-C port alongside the standard USB-A port, MicroSDXC reader and 3.5mm headphone jack. Disappointingly it doesn’t offer the transfer speeds of Thunderbolt 3, but it’s still a handy addition for those with a suite of USB-C accessories.
The Surface Pro experience is incomplete without the Type Cover keyboard case, which makes the fact that it’s an accessory that you buy separately an odd prospect. It snaps into place on the bottom of the Pro 7 via built-in magnets and, thanks to a microfiber finish, acts as a screen protector when not in use. The design, like that of the Pro 7 itself, is practically unchanged compared to previous generations – aside from new colour options – but it still provides a great typing experience with physical keys, and the trackpad comes in handy too.
You’ve also got the choice of picking up Microsoft’s Surface Pen and Arc Mouse, with the former allowing you to write naturally on-screen – ideal for designers and note-takers – while the latter provides something akin to a traditional mouse that can be flattened when not in use. These aren’t as integral to the Surface Pro experience as the Type Cover, but still worth picking up if you’ll get the use out of them.
Hardware and performance: Ice Lake to the rescue
The Surface Pro 7 may look nearly identical to its predecessors, but it differentiates itself in one key area: internal hardware. The Surface Pro 7 range sports Intel’s 10th-gen Ice Lake processors which, along with improved performance, brings Intel’s new Iris Plus integrated graphics to the table (as long as you steer clear of the base i3 model, anyway).
The unit we’ve been looking at has an Intel quad-core i7 1065G7 processor alongside 16GB of RAM, making it the most powerful variant in the Surface Pro 7 collection, although our model only had 256GB of solid-state storage compared to the maximum 1TB on offer. It’s also available in Core i3 and Core i5 variants with between 4 and 12GB of RAM depending on your requirements.
The difference in performance is significant compared to the Surface Pro 6 range, which featured 8th-gen Intel chips and Intel HD 620 integrated graphics. The Pro 7 is competent in just about every area, from standard word processing to more intense tasks like video encoding, and it’s even capable of 1080p gaming. Sure, you’re never going to hit 60fps on a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, but you can now run basic games like Fortnite with lower graphics enabled.
The upgraded internals also allows for improved instant-on performance, with the Pro 7 booting seriously fast, and that’s further enhanced by Windows Hello facial recognition that negates the need to enter a password at the login menu.
In our benchmarks, the Pro 7 scored 17,729 in the Geekbench 4 multi-core test and 3510 in PCMark 10, aligning itself with the likes of the Lenovo Yoga C740 and ASUS’ ZenBook Flip 15 in terms of power on offer. We break down the benchmark performance in the below chart to give you a better idea of what’s on offer from the top-spec Surface Pro 7 we’ve been using:
But, unfortunately, there’s a downside to the powered-up performance of the Surface Pro 7; compared to previous entries in the range, the battery life of the Pro 7 leaves a lot to be desired.
Sure, it can hit close to the advertised 10-hour battery life if you’re performing basic tasks like word processing, but as soon as you ramp up the performance with power-hungry tasks like photo editing, video transcoding or gaming, you’ll see a dramatic drop in battery life. We found that it’d not always last a typical 8-hour workday with a mix of emails, word processing and browsing social media without needing a top-up at some point during the day.
That’s not the dealbreaker it might be with other 2-in-1s and laptops because the Surface Pro 7 supports fast charging via the 65W charger included in the box. Although it still uses Microsoft’s proprietary Surface Connect charger over the more popular USB-C, Microsoft claims the charger is capable of providing 80 percent of charge in an hour, and that’s close to what we experienced during our time with the Pro 7.
If, like us, you tether the Pro 7 to its charger when on the desk and unplug it when required, you’ll likely not run into any real battery issues.
Verdict
The Surface Pro 7 is a powerful tablet that doubles as a decent laptop if you opt for the Type Cover case, although trying to actually use it in your lap is a challenge not many will succeed with.
The improved internals and upgraded graphics are where the Pro 7 really shines. It’s certainly more powerful than the Pro X that was announced alongside the Pro 7, which uses an ARM processor more akin to what you’d find in a smartphone than a full-blown Intel processor, and it’s a massive jump forward from the Surface Pro 6 too. It’s still not a gaming laptop though, and admittedly cheaper laptops can offer more in terms of raw power, but the Pro 7 is way more versatile than a standard laptop.
We just wish Microsoft was a bit more adventurous in the design department, as it’s beginning to look a little dated compared to even some budget laptops available right now – especially the chunky bezels surrounding the display.
If you’re going to get the use out of the portability and flexible nature of the 2-in-1, the Pro 7 is worth considering, but there are more powerful laptops at a similar price if processing grunt is key.
What to do with a phone like the Galaxy S20 Ultra? Samsung’s biggest phone yet is a specs monster that cranks everything up to 11 – and camera zoom all the way to 100. But all that power comes at a price – both literal and metaphorical.
While fantastic in many circumstances, the camera setup has some obvious weak points that make photo quality inconsistent, and battery life on the international model is poor despite a huge cell. Samsung is asking you to compromise on size, design, battery, and price all for the sake of souped up specs and a camera that still just isn’t the best around. That’s a trade-off I don’t think many people would – or should – make.
Price and availability: How much!?
It probably goes without saying, but the S20 Ultra isn’t cheap. Starting at £1,199/ for 128GB storage and jumping up to £1,399/$1,599 for 512GB it actually costs even more than Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip foldable at full spec, and is cheaper only than the Galaxy Fold out of the Korean giant’s current lineup.
You might be more tempted by the regular S20 or S20+ when the full set launches on March 6 in the US and March 13 in the UK. They start from £799/$999 and £999/$1,199 respectively, and offer almost all the same specs as the Ultra in smaller form factors – it’s only really in the camera where the Ultra pulls apart.
At least if you pre-order the phone you’ll get a free pair of Galaxy Buds+ – worth £159/$149 – to go with it. I think they’re great anyway – you can read my review if you’re not sure – though they also come with an S20+ if you prefer.
Depending on spec the Ultra is actually pricier than the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which starts from £1,149/$1,099 (though with only 64GB storage) and is comfortably more than almost every Android rival. And with top spec flagships from other brands available for hundreds less, Samsung has an even harder time than ever convincing people to pay its premium.
To be blunt, at this price point this phone either needs to be damn near perfect, or it needs to excel so fantastically in one or two areas that it justifies the omissions elsewhere. The S20 Ultra just isn’t quite there.
Design and build: Chief of chonk
The first thing you need to know about the S20 Ultra is that it’s big. Like, really big. A heckin’ chonker of a phone.
You might like big phones. You might be used to an S9+ or S10+, or maybe even one of Samsung’s Note phones. This is bigger than any of them.
And not just in terms of the gargantuan 6.9in display, interrupted only by a hole-punch camera, now smaller and central . I mean sure, that’s an enormous screen (bigger even than the 6.8in panel in last year’s Note 10+) but razor thin bezels take the edge off – literally – and the decision to cut the curves and return to flatter edges keeps the big display easy to use.
The problem is more that the S20 Ultra is thick. And heavy. It feels out of proportion, especially compared to the sleeker S20 and S20+, and unbalanced thanks to the sheer weight of the camera module at one end.
And we’ve got to talk about that camera module. Setting aside the specs for now, the Ultra’s quad camera setup is an eyesore. It takes up a huge chunk of the phone’s rear, sticks out a mile, and the decision to plaster ‘Space Zoom 100x’ on the back of a £1400 phone is almost unconscionable.
Despite being so large there apparently still wasn’t space for a headphone jack, which has been squeezed out across the S20 line. The dedicated Bixby button is gone too, though by default a long press on the power button now activates him instead – something you can change, fortunately.
Throw in the fact that the only colours available on the Ultra model are grey or black – despite flashier finishes being available on the cheaper models – and it’s clear that this phone is an almost pure expression of form over function. It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done – but is just getting the job done enough at this price?
Camera: Too much but never enough
Let’s talk camera. This is clearly where Samsung’s focus lies, as it’s just about the only area where the Ultra’s specs diverge in a big way from the other S20 phones.
At the heart of the rear setup is a 108Mp f/1.8 (dropping the variable aperture tech Samsung has used for the last couple of years) shooter that serves as the main lens. By default shots aren’t taken at 108Mp, but instead the phone uses pixel binning to combine nine pixels into one (‘nona-binning’ in Samsung’s terminology) to generate crisper, more detailed 12Mp photos with enhanced dynamic range.
Photos are, broadly speaking, great. Between the high pixel count and the sheer size of the sensor, the Ultra’s camera can produce phenomenal levels of detail and deep, vivid colour without veering too far into the over-saturated aesthetic you’d get from the likes of Huawei (though I’d still tone the saturation down a touch if I could).
If you prefer you can switch to taking full 108Mp shots. These take a second to process, so run a little slower, and file sizes range from 30-50MB per shot. It’s a credit to Samsung’s pixel-binning tech that for the most part you won’t be able to tell the difference though, and the main benefit to the high-res photos is the freedom to crop in without losing much crispness or detail – not something you’re likely to need too often. The downside is that the dynamic range is definitely worse in the 108Mp photos, so in most cases I’d recommend sticking to standard shooting.
That 108Mp main sensor is joined by a 12Mp ultra-wide that holds its own surprisingly well against the main lens, together with a depth sensor and arguably the phone’s main selling point: a 48Mp telephoto lens.
If you’re in the US this may be the first super-zoom smartphone you’ve been able to pick up, though those of us elsewhere in the world have seen similar tech already in the Huawei P30 Pro or Oppo Reno 10x Zoom last year.
Like those two phones before, Samsung’s ‘Space Zoom 100x’ actually hinges on a 5x telephoto, which can be cranked up to 100x thanks to extra digital zoom. This is, to be blunt, a shameless gimmick. You do not need 100x zoom and you will not like the photos you take at 100x zoom, not least because without a tripod your hands will never be steady enough to get the shot you want.
Still, as tech gimmicks go it remains a very impressive one, and the 100x max zoom does surpass Huawei and Oppo’s previous limits. And at 5x zoom the lens excels – there’s some loss of vibrancy and colour depth (to be expected with an aperture of f/3.5) and it struggles a little with moving targets like animals, but the detail it can capture is remarkable.
So the S20 Ultra camera is great. When it works.
You may have heard that early samples of the phone had a few photographic flaws, which actually caused me to delay publishing this review while Samsung got me a new handset with a patch that fixed a few.
First up, you can discard any reports of aggressive skin smoothing – this was clearly a software issue, and the patch fixes it entirely, so by the time you get the phone it shouldn’t be a problem.
The other common problem was with the autofocus, and I have more mixed news there. At first the autofocus was incredibly slow, sometimes taking a few seconds to find a focal point. It’s sped up, and is now only slightly sluggish, but pretty much as you’d expect.
Unfortunately, the fix highlights one flaw that Samsung can’t really fix: this is a rubbish camera for macro photography. This is likely a result of the move to the larger 108Mp sensor, which introduces a natural bokeh effect. That’s very welcome most of the time, but the naturally shallow depth of field means photos of close subjects tend to look soft compared to the usual flat focus other phones produce.
You might think you don’t often take close-ups, but the problem isn’t restricted to super-close macro photos – even photographing a plate of food for Instagram tends to leave bits of it in focus and other parts fuzzy. I’d expect more from a phone this price, and I imagine many others would too.
Other camera tricks are fine if not remarkable. Night mode is improved by the larger sensor, but Samsung’s algorithm game is still behind Apple and Google’s, especially when it comes to handling mixed light sources, so the results are good but still not the best around despite the hardware improvements, especially when it comes to white balance. The option to do night-time hyperlapses is also a fun tool that few of us will ever use more than once.
Single Take is a handy feature for the indecisive among us, letting you capture up to 10 seconds and then using an algorithm to generate a few short videos and photos from different lenses, in theory getting the best moments all at once. It actually works very well, with one caveat: it slaps some aggressive stock music on top of all of your videos, getting in the way of any audio you might have actually wanted to capture.
Fortunately the S20 Ultra is better on regular video, shooting 4K at 60fps and even 8K at 30fps. You almost certainly don’t need to shoot in 8K (the file sizes are monstrous, and what are you even going to watch it back on?) but the fact that a phone can do it, and do it pretty well, remains mind blowing. I can’t show you though, because YouTube won’t let me upload an 8K video sample anyway – yet further proof that the rest of the tech world just isn’t there yet.
You can also jump directly between the front and back cameras while shooting video (though not 8K, to be clear) letting you seamlessly jump between filming yourself and something else – a vlogger’s dream no doubt.
As for that selfie camera, there’s just the one, but it’s an f/2.2 40Mp sensor (a big jump from the 10Mp on the other S20s). Samsung still cheats a bit by letting you switch between ‘regular’ and ‘wide’ within the camera app, but this is really just a choice between using the full lens and a cropped version.
Either way, shots look great (besides suffering the same skin softening problems as the rear camera). There’s a narrower colour range than from the rear lenses, but impressive detail – though we’re surely hitting the upper limit for selfie cameras here, as no-one needs to see my close-up pores in any more detail than this.
Display: Big and beautiful
If the camera is the biggest draw in the S20 Ultra, the display is a close second.
I’ve already mentioned the sheer size – 6.9in for the forgetful – but it’s a phenomenal display beyond that, and perhaps the best in any smartphone right now. The Super AMOLED panel caps out at 3200×1440, supports HDR10+, and can display at a refresh rate of 120Hz.
If you’re not sure what 120Hz refresh rate means, it’s essentially how fast the display loads new images (read our refresh rate explainer for a more detailed breakdown. A faster refresh rate means smoother scrolling, more fluid animations, and the potential for higher frame rates while gaming. Most phones have 60Hz displays, and a few – like the latest OnePlus models – have 90Hz. Samsung isn’t the first to add 120Hz (that was the Razer Phone) but it is the first to put such a fast display in a mainstream, non-gaming device.
The results speak for themselves, and the S20 Ultra is as beautiful from the front as it is an eyesore from behind. The panel here is bright and vivid, with deep contrast, excellent viewing angles, and all the benefits 120Hz brings. The choice to rein in the curved edges pays off too, increasing usability enormously while leaving just enough of a rounded edge to look the part.
Now for the caveats. First up, you can actually get the same panel – albeit smaller – in the regular S20 or S20+ (with the same resolution, so you should actually get superior pixel density in the smaller phones). So as great as this screen is, bear in mind that you don’t need to grab the Ultra model to take advantage of it.
The other major caveat is that the two top features – 3200×1440 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate – are incompatible. This is presumably in an effort to save the battery (more on that next) as both are major power draws, but if you crank up the refresh rate to full you’ll have to drop the resolution to 2400×1080, and vice versa.
Essentially you’ll have to choose between smoother animations or higher resolution imagery (or just drop both down to conserve power further). Either way you’re unlikely to be unhappy though, and while the option to combine the two might be appealing, the potentially battery impact would not be.
Battery: Exynos strikes again
So yeah, let’s talk battery. It isn’t good, despite the generous 5,000mAh capacity.
It’s worth pointing out that I’ve been reviewing a model with Samsung’s own Exynos 990 processor. That’s what ships in most parts of the world, though the US and a select few other markets get S20 phones with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, and from talking to North American reviewers it sounds like those models might have better battery life.
As for mine, I’ve seen all-day battery life, but not by much. Most days I’ve used the S20 Ultra it’s been on about 20% when I go to bed, after anywhere between 3 and 5 hours of screen-on time. That’s fine, but it’s really the bare minimum for a new phone, and I worry that after 12+ months of use it might not make it to the end of the day any more.
The big caveat is that this is using the 120Hz refresh rate, and switching down to 60Hz (while leaving resolution down at FHD+, not max) does seem to help, though not by as much as you’d think – I’d estimate it saved me 10% or so across a full day’s use at most. That reinforces the sense that the issue here is less the display and more the power-hungry Exynos chipset – echoing similar issues with the S10 series.
Of course, some will say that if you care about battery you should turn down the refresh rate, lower the resolution, switch off 5G and more. Those trade-offs might be worth it for some, but for my part I think it defeats the point of spending over a grand on a top-of-the-line flagship if you then have to turn half the features off in order to keep it running.
It helps that charging is fast. Samsung ships a 25W wired USB-C charge with the Ultra, which was capable of taking my phone from empty to 56% in half an hour. It’s actually capable of charging even faster – 45W – but you’ll have to buy the more powerful charger separately. It’s also capable of 12W wireless charging – the same speed as last year’s S10 phones.
5G: Future-proof
5G is one of the other headline features – it’s technically in the phone’s full name after all – though I’d still hesitate to consider 5G alone a reason to upgrade.
Our Exynos model only supports sub-6 frequencies – the type currently used in European infrastructure – though the US Snapdragon models also support mmWave, which makes them a bit more future-proof.
I’ve been testing the S20 Ultra with a Vodafone 5G SIM, and while 5G speeds are impressive coverage still isn’t widespread enough – even in central London, where our office is – so it remains a challenge to actually find a 5G connection.
That will improve of course, and so there’s an argument for getting a 5G phone now so that you’re ready for when the networks get better in a year or two’s time, especially since almost every new flagship this year will have 5G support.
Essentially, don’t count the 5G support against the Ultra even if you are a skeptic, but don’t think of it as a key reason to make the upgrade.
Specs and performance: Ultra fast
As for the rest of the specs, they’re predictably monstrous. The aforementioned Exynos 990 (or Snapdragon 865) is joined by 12GB or 16GB of fast LPDDR5 RAM, and 128GB or 512GB of storage.
The phone is whip fast, and comfortably handles anything you can throw at it. That’s reflected in our benchmark scores too, which are among the fastest we’ve ever recorded – though I still can’t help but wonder if the Snapdragon variant would be that little bit faster.
The phone comes in single SIM and dual SIM variants, and each supports MicroSD cards up to 1TB. Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC round out the connectivity features, while from a security standpoint you get the same face unlock and ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner as in last year’s Samsung flagships.
Software: Same ol’, same ol’
The S20 Ultra ships with Android 10 – the latest version of Google’s operating system – along with Samsung’s One UI 2.
After last year’s overhaul the company has been more conservative from a software standpoint this year, and the main additions are handy sharing features that will only work with other Samsung Galaxy users.
Quick Share is essentially AirDrop for Galaxy phones, while Music Sharing lets friends connect to your Bluetooth speaker through your phone without worrying about fiddly pairing processes, but both are exclusive to other recent Samsung devices, so they’ll only help if all your friends grab Samsung phones too.
Power users will enjoy a feature that lets you lock up to three (or five, on the higher RAM model) apps into memory so that they always open quickly, and right where you left them (as if I need anything to help me spend more time on Twitter). Most people won’t care, but then I guess this phone isn’t for most people anyway.
The only other major software addition is Spotify integration into Bixby routines, which is great news if you’re one of the three people who uses Bixby routines and also has a Spotify subscription.
Verdict
The S20 Ultra is not a phone that most people should buy. It’s too expensive for most people to afford, too big for most people to want, and too ugly for the remaining few to ever want to show off.
Still, it’s a phone packed with technical achievements, not least in the camera, which at its best is capable of outclassing every competing flagship, even if it’s maddeningly inconsistent and struggles in closeups.
The 120Hz refresh rate is the crowning jewel to what might be the best display on a phone right now, but the hit to battery life makes it bittersweet – a problem exacerbated by Samsung’s continued insistence on shipping its inferior Exynos chipsets in handsets outside the US, leaving them with reduced battery life and hamstrung performance.
If the camera is the only thing you consider when buying a phone the S20 Ultra makes a compelling case for itself, but for everyone else it just goes a few compromises too far.
Specs
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra: Specs
Android 10 with One UI
6.9in Wide Quad HD+ (3200×1440) Dynamic AMOLED 2X
HDR10+ support
120Hz refresh rate
Exynos 990 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 octa-core processor
Not all parental control software is the same. Many apps lack the fine control you want, or simply don’t work properly – allowing kids to use their device when you don’t want them to, or failing to let them use when you’ve said they can.
Either that, or they have access to more than one device and screen limiting apps are rendered somewhat ineffective if they can’t control all devices and provide an overall limit.
Qustodio certainly isn’t perfect, but it does allow you to create an overall time limit across multiple devices with support for Android, iOS, Amazon Fire tablets, Windows and macOS.
Although there is a free version it will be too limiting for most families. Ultimately Qustodio is going to cost you, but there is a three-day trial so you can test if it will work for you or not.
There are three Premium plans on offer and they differ only by the number of devices they allow to be managed. Premium 5 costs £3.33 / $4.58 per month (£39.95 / $54.95 per year).
The medium plan supports 10 devices, but is only better value if you actually have 10 to manage.
What does Qustodio do?
We focused mainly on the Android and Amazon apps for this review because that’s what kids mainly use in our experience. If your child has an iPhone, then there are fewer features available because of the restrictions Apple puts in place. Also, Qustodio uses a VPN to monitor activity on iOS and this can cause problems.
In terms of feature differences, only on Android will you get location tracking, phone call and SMS monitoring plus the new panic button, which allows them to phone up to four trusted contacts in an emergency (even if they’ve used up their screen time for the day).
Screen time limits
What you’ll likely care most about is the ability to control which apps each child can use on a particular device as well as how long they can use it for, and when they’re allowed to use the device.
This is where Qustodio shines. A grid allows you to allow or block use of the device for any given hour during the week. That means you can be quite specific about when they’re allowed screen time, and that can be different each day of the week. If you want to be able to set more precise time periods, which most people won’t, then you’re out of luck.
You can also set an overall screen time limit, which can be different each day. So while you may have allowed use of their devices from 7am to 9pm, they can only use them for a total of, say, two hours. And if you install Qustodio on everything they use – for example their phone, tablet and the family laptop – then the time limit apples across all three. So they can’t just move to a different device when time is up.
There’s a choice of what happens when the limit is reached: block internet access, lock the device and send you an alert. These aren’t exclusive: you can enable or disable any of them.
Unlike other parental control apps, there’s no way for kids to request any extra time, nor a built-in chat function. If they want extra time with an app or to use their device for longer, they’ll have to talk to their parent face to face, or call them. Similarly, if a website is blocked, there’s no way for you to quickly review this and allow it if you deem it acceptable.
Block apps and games
Finer control is available as you can go into the Games & Apps setting and set time limits for specific apps, or block them entirely. Again, you can choose different time limits for different days. The only frustration is that apps and games only appear in the list after they are launched on the phone, so you’d have to use each app or wait for your child to do so before you can set rules for it.
YouTube is singled out on Android and you can block access via a web browser as well as the YouTube app. Qustodio can show you what they’ve searched for and which videos they’ve watched.
By default, web filtering is enabled for certain categories such as alcohol, drugs, violence and pornography, but allowed for entertainment, news, sports, education, games, religion, technology and others. No filtering system is perfect, but Qustodio’s worked well.
There are two other main features: calls & SMS monitoring, plus Facebook monitoring. None of these are amazingly useful because kids these days don’t use SMS or Facebook. They use Snapchat, Instagram and Whatsapp among others. And they tend to video or voice call friends in these apps rather than using actual phone calls.
Currently, you’ll only find Facebook under the Social Monitoring category, so we hope Qustodio can add some of the other platforms to this list.
Activity reports
When you select a child in the app, you’ll see a map with their last recorded location and a timeline of their activity. At the top you can see how much screen time they’ve had, plus a bar chart of their activity throughout the day. Swipe left and you can see the breakdown of which apps they’ve used the most, any ‘questionable’ activity and their YouTube watch history (on Android).
You can also see the average use over 7, 15 and 30 days, as well as receiving a daily and / or weekly usage report for each child via email.
See where your kids are
Family locator is a feature for mobile devices which allows you to keep tabs on where a child is and – thanks to the latest update – get notifications when they arrive at certain places.
You could, for example, set Home and School locations and know when they’ve arrived safely to school and then back home again.
It updates the device’s location every few minutes but we found it wasn’t completely reliable in our testing, sometimes ceasing to report the location for no apparent reason.
It needs a GPS signal, mobile data and battery power. So if you expect to see your child’s location at school, say, but find the last update was somewhere en route, it could because their battery ran out… or because Family locator just decided to stop working.
And that brings us another of Qustodio’s missing features that can be found in certain rival apps. It doesn’t show you the battery level of managed devices. And for kids who take themselves to school or are otherwise allowed out and about on their own, that is a frustration.
Conclusion
Qustodio is the best parental control software we’ve used, but it isn’t perfect. We had problems on both Amazon and Android devices where blocking was overzealous and our kids were refused access to their devices when they should have been allowed to.
They learned the best way to get around this was to restart their devices, or to ask a parent to reset the time limit for the day.
The app did, however, always enforce time limits correctly.
We also experienced an issue where the app thought that the device administrator privileges had been tampered with on an Android phone and then got stuck in an endless loop which rendered the phone in question unusable.
Fortunately, the latter problem was resolved in the subsequent update in the Google Play Store and we’re assured the former is being fixed for the next update to the Amazon version of the app.
Support via email isn’t the speediest, so if you do have an issue you may be waiting several days for a reply, which isn’t really acceptable.
Qustodio is undoubtedly best on Android devices, so if that’s what your kids use, it’s one to try out. It’s much harder to recommend for iPhone and iPad.
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It’s rare to find a cheap gaming laptop that offers the specs to run the latest titles at such a high quality as these Acer Nitro machines. At their everyday price, these gaming laptops are excellent value for money, so when they do receive discounts you can bet there are big savings to be had.
Whether you’re looking to game on the go or you’re just after a less expensive home set up, grabbing a cheap gaming laptop when you can is always a great shout.
Prices start off at $619 on the Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop and £749 in the UK. You’re picking up a cheap gaming laptop deal, sure, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be shying away from the latest releases. These particular Acer Nitro models offer powerful specs sitting inside a sleek shell, with big SSD’s available, and the processors to run them with ease.
Cheap gaming laptops worth running rarely come at less of an expense than this, so if you’re in the market for a new rig you’ll want to check out these particular deals while they last. If you’re looking for more choice, check out our roundup of the best gaming laptop sales this week.
Acer Nitro gaming laptop deals in the US
Shop all Acer Nitro gaming laptop deals at Best Buy
While Dell’s Presidents’ Day sale might be over, the retailer still has incredible laptop deals that you can shop right now. For a limited time, you can get the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 laptop on sale for $499.99 when you apply the coupon code LTINSP137AFF at checkout. That’s a $350 discount and a fantastic price for the 2-in-1 laptop.
The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 laptop features a 13.3-inch Full HD IPS touch display, which allows you to view your screen from a wide range of angles. You’re also picking up 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and an Intel Core i5-8265U processor that provides ample power for all your entertainment. The versatile 2-in-1 laptop also allows you to easily switch between four different modes – tent mode, stand mode, laptop mode, and tablet mode.
As we mentioned above, to receive this fantastic discount you must apply the coupon code LTINSP137AFF at checkout. We don’t know how long Dell’s offer is valid, so you should take advantage of this amazing sale now before it’s too late.
It’s no secret that Intel has been having a rough time keeping up with rivals AMD when it comes to the best processors, as Team Red moves to 7nm and beyond. And it might be quite a while until Intel can truly catch up.
As reported by Tom’s Hardware, Intel CFO George Davis gave a presentation at the Morgan Stanley conference, where he asserted that Team Blue wouldn’t reach process parity with competitors until it produces the 7nm node at the tail end of 2021.
Now, we know that Intel has been having some trouble shrinking its manufacturing process down, but Davis further demonstrated how far out it would be when he said that Intel wouldn’t take the lead from AMD until it jumped to 5nm sometime in the future.
This is likely distressing news to anyone holding out hope that Intel would absolutely smash the competition in 2020, or anyone hoping that 10nm desktop would be the holy grail. Word on the street is that whenever Comet Lake-S desktop chips make it to the street, they’ll be based on that ageing 14nm process, which would make sense given this timeline.
However, Davis also says something during his presentation that would help explain why this isn’t as bad an option as it may seem. He states that the 10nm manufacturing process behind microarchitectures like Ice Lake won’t exactly go down in history as one of the best CPU architectures ever, as Intel has had to cut clock speeds pretty significantly – which is one of the reasons why you’ll find a good deal of laptops using 10th-generation Comet Lake, rather than the 10nm Ice Lake.
It’s still going to be interesting to see what CPUs Intel will push out over the next couple of years while we’re waiting for Team Blue to gain parity with AMD. If Intel can keep pushing its clock speeds higher, it’s possible that it could maintain its niche within PC gaming while it plays catch up with AMD’s smaller manufacturing process.
Until then…
Right now it’s looking like Intel will unleash a lineup of 10th-generation Comet Lake-S chips for desktop that will come with up to 10 cores and 20 threads on the Core i9 part. Again, this will likely be based on the same 14nm process that Intel has been refining since Skylake way back in 2015.
While its disappointing that Intel won’t be releasing desktop processors on its 10nm process, it’s likely that just refining the 10nm manufacturing process again is what will allow Intel reach the high clock speeds that its next-generation processors are rumored to hit. This will likely help Intel at least somewhat keep up with the IPC improvements we’re expecting out of AMD Ryzen 4000 for desktop.
During the Morgan Stanley conference, Davis did double down on the fact that Intel is investing heavily in software and AI to narrow the gap between the two chip manufacturers. However, only time will tell whether or not these solutions will make much of a difference to every day users. AMD Ryzen 4000 is right around the corner, and we’ll see how this battle will play out in the very near future.
Buying cheap home security cameras is even more affordable this week thanks to Walmart’s latest Arlo Pro deals that bring the prices right down.
You can find the two-camera Arlo Pro 2 system for just $260 / £369 right now, but there’s also three-camera options in the US available for as little as $334. We’ve also spotted savings on the latest model of fantastic cheap home security cameras, with the Arlo 3 two-camera bundle coming in at just $399 – $100 off! Smaller UK homes can also benefit from this fantastic £194 Arlo Pro deal on a single camera setup.
All of these models offer wide fields of view from wireless cameras and can be easily set up both inside and outside your home. You’ll benefit from clear night vision settings, even clearer if you opt for the 2K Arlo Pro 3 model, as well as motion detection with notifications heading straight to your smartphone, configurable activity zones to avoid repeated triggers for unnecessary movement, and Google Assistant, Alexa, IFTTT and Stringify compatibility.
These cheap home security cameras come packed with a range of extra features to keep you safe as well – from two-way audio through to a 100+ decibel security siren that can be activated remotely or through sound or motion. Plus, you’ll find big savings with these Arlo Pro deals, bringing the cost of cheap home security cameras down even further this week.
Today’s best cheap home security camera deals in the US
You’ll find a range of cheap action camera deals available this week, but we’re also tracking the latest dash cam sales to keep you safe wherever you are. You can also check out all the latest smart home deals right here on TechRadar.
