1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,360 Every generation or so, someone reinvents the computer. 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:06,140 In the late 70s and early 80s, 3 00:00:06,140 --> 00:00:08,480 they got small enough to fit on a desk. 4 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:11,720 By the 90s, we could fit them in our laps. 5 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:13,360 And for the last 11 years, 6 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:15,700 the dominant personal computers have been the ones 7 00:00:15,700 --> 00:00:18,720 that we all carry around in our pockets, 8 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,440 which I guess means we're kind of overdue for a change, 9 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:22,280 yeah? 10 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,000 Introducing the Nubia Alpha, 11 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,880 the wrist phone with a giant, flexible OLED display 12 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,060 that wraps around your wrist. 13 00:00:33,060 --> 00:00:35,140 This might be the worst product 14 00:00:35,140 --> 00:00:37,780 that I have ever fallen in love with. 15 00:00:37,780 --> 00:00:39,580 And let me tell you why. 16 00:00:39,580 --> 00:00:44,360 Voting on the builds.gg stock cooling showdown is open. 17 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:46,620 So head over to the two contest pages, 18 00:00:46,620 --> 00:00:48,460 vote for your favorite entered builds, 19 00:00:48,460 --> 00:00:50,800 and earn ballots towards a random draw 20 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:52,320 for awesome hardware prizes. 21 00:00:52,320 --> 00:01:02,090 We're gonna have that linked below. 22 00:01:02,090 --> 00:01:04,490 Let's begin with the promotional materials, shall we? 23 00:01:04,490 --> 00:01:07,750 What does Nubia imagine that the Alpha is? 24 00:01:07,750 --> 00:01:11,850 Okay, we got a clock theme going on here. 25 00:01:11,850 --> 00:01:14,670 This guy's talking on the phone. 26 00:01:14,670 --> 00:01:16,950 Ooh, so many functions. 27 00:01:16,950 --> 00:01:20,310 Thanks to the larger screen and wow, video chat. 28 00:01:20,310 --> 00:01:21,650 Ho ho! 29 00:01:21,650 --> 00:01:23,770 So that looks pretty good. 30 00:01:23,770 --> 00:01:25,590 And you know what? 31 00:01:25,590 --> 00:01:28,420 I don't even think they're that far off. 32 00:01:28,420 --> 00:01:31,840 Flexible displays have been a long time coming. 33 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:33,580 And now that they're finally reaching 34 00:01:33,580 --> 00:01:35,320 the point of commercialization, 35 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:38,120 I really think that they're one of the best hopes 36 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:39,400 for wearable technology 37 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,480 to really take off, because if you think about it, 38 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,420 up until now, the vast majority of smart wearables 39 00:01:46,420 --> 00:01:50,740 have been limited to the same sizes and configurations 40 00:01:50,740 --> 00:01:54,160 of the previous dumb wearables, like watches and glasses, 41 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:55,580 because they're made of fundamentally 42 00:01:55,580 --> 00:01:58,720 the same metal and glass materials. 43 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:00,820 So that puts restrictions on their designs 44 00:02:00,820 --> 00:02:03,580 that can affect everything from their battery life 45 00:02:03,580 --> 00:02:06,040 to their screen size, and even the ways 46 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,120 that we can interface with them. 47 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,180 So it's this last one that I'm gonna address first 48 00:02:11,180 --> 00:02:12,020 on the Alpha. 49 00:02:12,020 --> 00:02:13,860 So right now, I'm enabling a feature 50 00:02:13,860 --> 00:02:16,400 that they call Alpha Gesture. 51 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,140 What it essentially does is allow you to navigate 52 00:02:19,140 --> 00:02:20,940 through the functions and menus 53 00:02:20,940 --> 00:02:23,620 without actually touching the screen. 54 00:02:23,620 --> 00:02:27,380 So it's similar to some of the hand wavy controls 55 00:02:27,380 --> 00:02:30,210 that are present on some cars, 56 00:02:30,210 --> 00:02:32,830 except that it's implemented on a device 57 00:02:32,830 --> 00:02:35,810 that by its very definition is always close enough 58 00:02:35,810 --> 00:02:37,730 that you could easily reach out 59 00:02:37,730 --> 00:02:38,350 and touch it. 60 00:02:38,350 --> 00:02:40,730 So I'm gonna go ahead and turn that off. 61 00:02:40,730 --> 00:02:43,170 And also, it didn't work consistently at all. 62 00:02:43,170 --> 00:02:45,070 With it enabled, sometimes I'd touch it, 63 00:02:45,070 --> 00:02:46,930 and then it would actually activate twice, 64 00:02:46,930 --> 00:02:50,870 once for the touch and once for the Alpha Gesture. 65 00:02:50,870 --> 00:02:53,070 For now, the thing that I like about it 66 00:02:53,070 --> 00:02:55,410 is that it's a preview of what's to come 67 00:02:55,410 --> 00:02:58,930 with like holographic displays that you can wear 68 00:02:58,930 --> 00:03:02,610 on your wrist and interact with in 3D space. 69 00:03:02,610 --> 00:03:04,460 That's gonna be pretty cool. 70 00:03:04,460 --> 00:03:06,620 Now I wanna talk about the size. 71 00:03:06,620 --> 00:03:07,600 So, yeah. 72 00:03:08,380 --> 00:03:10,200 It still goes on your wrist 73 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:12,440 like a regular watch or a smartwatch, 74 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:14,240 but there were a handful of things 75 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:16,520 that immediately stood out to me, 76 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:20,600 starting with how much information 77 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:22,920 could be present on the screen at one time. 78 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:26,900 Now, at four inches and quite narrow, 79 00:03:26,900 --> 00:03:30,640 the screen is not exactly panoramic, 80 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:34,140 but it's way bigger than any other smartwatch 81 00:03:34,140 --> 00:03:35,480 that I've ever used. 82 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:37,760 And unlike a desktop monitor 83 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,520 where I've yet to find a super wide display 84 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:41,640 that I don't like, 85 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,600 this is an application where more height 86 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,080 actually kind of makes more sense to me. 87 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,080 So, if a text or an email were to come in, 88 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,800 I don't necessarily need a bunch of extraneous space 89 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:54,760 on the side. 90 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,720 I wanna have as much of the content as possible 91 00:03:57,720 --> 00:03:59,740 right in my field of view, 92 00:03:59,740 --> 00:04:02,860 and a longer display lets me read the average text 93 00:04:02,860 --> 00:04:06,280 or even a short email without any scrolling required. 94 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:07,680 Or, I mean, at least it would have, 95 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:09,740 if this thing managed to stay paired to my phone 96 00:04:09,740 --> 00:04:12,200 for longer than a couple of hours at a time. 97 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,620 But that shortfall actually reminds me 98 00:04:15,620 --> 00:04:18,200 of another thing I like about the interface. 99 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:19,580 When I first put it on, 100 00:04:19,580 --> 00:04:22,720 I was trying to see something at the top of the display, 101 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:24,840 and I found myself thinking, 102 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:29,640 oh, gee, this is really not very comfortable. 103 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:34,280 But you can actually adjust certain UI elements up or down 104 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:37,360 depending on what's most ergonomic for you. 105 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,080 I can kind of imagine a future then 106 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,380 where my wraparound display is like positionally aware, 107 00:04:44,380 --> 00:04:46,160 and if I'm, you know, sitting at a desk, 108 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:56,240 it could throw a discreet little notification up 109 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:58,360 where only I can see it. 110 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,500 I mean, that would be perfect for checking your text 111 00:05:01,500 --> 00:05:04,420 during a bad date or something like that. 112 00:05:04,420 --> 00:05:05,940 Now, in its current form, 113 00:05:05,940 --> 00:05:11,550 the, oh, shut up, Brandon. 114 00:05:11,550 --> 00:05:12,850 Now, in its current form, 115 00:05:12,850 --> 00:05:15,570 the Alpha falls well short of this mark, 116 00:05:15,570 --> 00:05:17,110 having no awareness of its position, 117 00:05:17,110 --> 00:05:21,010 and space other than detecting usually 118 00:05:21,010 --> 00:05:23,230 my check the time gesture 119 00:05:23,230 --> 00:05:25,730 and mostly forgetting where I left things 120 00:05:25,730 --> 00:05:28,570 and not even allowing some key UI elements 121 00:05:28,570 --> 00:05:31,670 to be moved around like entering Wi-Fi passwords. 122 00:05:31,670 --> 00:05:35,120 So this is again, something that I can kind of see 123 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:36,360 where they're going with, 124 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:38,500 even if the experience isn't there now. 125 00:05:38,500 --> 00:05:40,120 On the top of the experience, 126 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:41,980 the experience of wearing the Alpha 127 00:05:41,980 --> 00:05:44,800 is really something that's gonna depend heavily on the user. 128 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:46,580 So it can be easily resized 129 00:05:46,580 --> 00:05:50,340 by removing links from either both or one side. 130 00:05:50,340 --> 00:05:53,140 It was a touch big on me even at its smallest size though. 131 00:05:53,140 --> 00:05:54,700 So that's something to be aware of. 132 00:05:54,700 --> 00:05:57,000 And it's a little on the bulky side, 133 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,500 but still lower profile than other multifunction smartwatches 134 00:06:00,500 --> 00:06:02,180 that I've worn daily in the past, 135 00:06:02,180 --> 00:06:03,680 like the Casio ProTrek. 136 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,240 And I didn't have any trouble getting sleeves 137 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:06,620 on and off around it. 138 00:06:06,620 --> 00:06:08,580 Now the always on display functionality, 139 00:06:08,580 --> 00:06:12,340 I'm always harping on smartwatches that don't have it. 140 00:06:12,340 --> 00:06:14,500 Well, it's not enabled at this time, 141 00:06:14,500 --> 00:06:16,500 but while it is still useful, 142 00:06:16,500 --> 00:06:19,620 using an older Snapdragon 2100 processor, 143 00:06:19,620 --> 00:06:20,900 not very power efficient, 144 00:06:20,900 --> 00:06:22,340 I do actually believe them 145 00:06:22,340 --> 00:06:25,020 when they say they will turn that back on in the future. 146 00:06:25,020 --> 00:06:27,280 Since after one really buggy day, 147 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:29,260 when it died in like four hours, 148 00:06:29,260 --> 00:06:30,900 I've actually regularly gotten 149 00:06:30,900 --> 00:06:34,400 more than a day's worth of battery out of the Alpha. 150 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,380 The standout thing for me about wearing it 151 00:06:36,380 --> 00:06:39,280 is definitely its value as a conversation starter. 152 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:41,540 Thanks to its large wraparound screen, 153 00:06:41,540 --> 00:06:42,840 it's an attention grabber 154 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:46,460 that looks more like a cool prop out of a sci-fi movie 155 00:06:46,460 --> 00:06:49,060 than something that you can actually go to a store 156 00:06:49,060 --> 00:06:50,640 and buy today. 157 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,230 Personally, I love it. 158 00:06:53,230 --> 00:06:55,070 I think it looks super cool, 159 00:06:55,070 --> 00:06:58,130 but I've had others, even here on staff, 160 00:06:58,130 --> 00:07:00,370 where we're all admittedly a bunch of nerds, 161 00:07:00,370 --> 00:07:03,090 suggest that giving these to high school kids 162 00:07:03,090 --> 00:07:06,010 would cause teen pregnancy rates to plummet. 163 00:07:06,010 --> 00:07:08,470 I'm pretty sure that if 30% of high schoolers 164 00:07:08,470 --> 00:07:10,230 were wearing that, 165 00:07:10,230 --> 00:07:13,430 you would have teen pregnancy just plummet. 166 00:07:13,430 --> 00:07:14,610 Haters gonna hate, I guess, 167 00:07:14,610 --> 00:07:16,490 but I think the future really is, 168 00:07:16,870 --> 00:07:19,190 the Alpha has a lot of potential 169 00:07:19,190 --> 00:07:23,370 in terms of having these large wearable screens like this one, 170 00:07:23,370 --> 00:07:27,150 and the key word here is future. 171 00:07:27,150 --> 00:07:29,310 The Alpha does not do a great job 172 00:07:29,310 --> 00:07:32,610 of using its large screen real estate overall. 173 00:07:32,610 --> 00:07:35,610 The default watch face dedicates a shocking amount of space 174 00:07:35,610 --> 00:07:39,390 to function toggles with the bottom occupied 175 00:07:39,390 --> 00:07:41,790 by some recent apps that frankly, 176 00:07:41,790 --> 00:07:44,190 I think are just as easy to access 177 00:07:44,190 --> 00:07:46,770 by simply swiping to the side, 178 00:07:46,770 --> 00:07:51,630 few there are but the thing is that's hardly even the biggest problem with the 179 00:07:51,630 --> 00:07:56,370 Alpha. You'll find that right in the name. I can only guess they called it the 180 00:07:56,370 --> 00:08:00,090 Alpha because it hadn't got to the point where they were comfortable calling it 181 00:08:00,090 --> 00:08:05,030 Beta yet. The vibration motor is among the worst I've encountered this decade 182 00:08:05,030 --> 00:08:08,850 making it feel more like it's trying to escape from your wrist than Apple's 183 00:08:08,850 --> 00:08:13,550 tight purposeful haptic feedback. Multiple notifications from a single app 184 00:08:13,550 --> 00:08:18,110 aside from just piling on and making that noise you heard earlier will in 185 00:08:18,110 --> 00:08:22,530 some cases actually remove the first notification. So if someone sends you a 186 00:08:22,530 --> 00:08:26,830 joke in Hangouts followed by lol or an emoji or something you'll actually have 187 00:08:26,830 --> 00:08:30,710 to pull out your phone to find out what was so darn funny. There's no way at this 188 00:08:30,710 --> 00:08:35,570 time to handle media control for third-party apps so you can copy music 189 00:08:35,570 --> 00:08:39,930 files over to your watch and listen to them directly from there over like 190 00:08:39,930 --> 00:08:43,450 Bluetooth headphones but that's it. 191 00:08:43,450 --> 00:08:43,510 you 192 00:08:43,550 --> 00:08:48,670 the ringtone cannot be adjusted a feature that's been a given for a couple 193 00:08:48,670 --> 00:08:53,150 of decades now it's got this whole entire part of the interface that's 194 00:08:53,150 --> 00:08:58,570 dedicated to all these exercises that can track free workout and heart rate 195 00:08:58,570 --> 00:09:04,290 and outdoor running and all that stuff but with this glitch that registered my 196 00:09:04,290 --> 00:09:08,750 daily steps that negative 60,000 I don't know how seriously I'm gonna be taking 197 00:09:08,750 --> 00:09:13,450 any of that and finally while I'm nitpicking the camera kind of sucks 198 00:09:13,450 --> 00:09:13,510 you 199 00:09:13,550 --> 00:09:18,920 but newbie is justification for it existing at all is video chat there's 200 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:27,320 only one small problem how is this more ergonomic than this I mean if they're 201 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:32,560 pitching this with eSIM support in China currently as a full-on replacement for a 202 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:38,340 phone I think the point is there is clearly a lot of work to do but I do see 203 00:09:38,340 --> 00:09:44,600 the vision with WeChat Alipay and a few other key apps someone with full support 204 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:50,300 in China could take calls pay for their groceries and navigate around town 205 00:09:50,300 --> 00:09:55,460 without ever needing to take a phone out it's just that the experiences far too 206 00:09:55,460 --> 00:09:59,800 buggy to be ready for primetime in fact if I had a dollar for every time I saw 207 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:04,200 this crash message over the last couple of weeks I could probably just buy 208 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:09,510 myself a cheap phone but I guess that's the nature of the beast with these first 209 00:10:09,510 --> 00:10:13,830 concept that somehow made its way to a store shelf type products and even if I'm 210 00:10:13,830 --> 00:10:14,690 not gonna be daily driving to the store in this case I'm gonna be driving in a 211 00:10:14,690 --> 00:10:16,310 driving this thing anytime soon, 212 00:10:16,310 --> 00:10:18,670 I'm really glad that Nubia sent it over to me 213 00:10:18,670 --> 00:10:21,910 because it was certainly worth having the experience. 214 00:10:21,910 --> 00:10:24,610 The Massdrop Koss Porta Pro X headphones 215 00:10:24,610 --> 00:10:28,890 are actually based on the original 1984 Koss design. 216 00:10:28,890 --> 00:10:31,630 They've been updated to make them more modern and durable, 217 00:10:31,630 --> 00:10:33,890 but they're portable, they're on-ear, 218 00:10:33,890 --> 00:10:36,170 and they can be folded up in different configurations 219 00:10:36,170 --> 00:10:37,430 for easy storage. 220 00:10:37,430 --> 00:10:39,730 They feature oxygen-free copper voice coils 221 00:10:39,730 --> 00:10:41,890 that provide a wide frequency response 222 00:10:41,890 --> 00:10:43,670 and warm and smooth sound. 223 00:10:43,670 --> 00:10:45,630 The single-button control lets you skip tracks, 224 00:10:45,630 --> 00:10:47,850 make calls, and activate voice commands, 225 00:10:47,850 --> 00:10:49,470 and they've got a noise-canceling mic 226 00:10:49,470 --> 00:10:51,130 with Koss's lifetime warranty. 227 00:10:51,130 --> 00:10:52,490 So why don't you join the drop today 228 00:10:52,490 --> 00:10:54,860 at the link in the video description? 229 00:10:54,860 --> 00:10:56,340 So thanks for watching, guys. 230 00:10:56,340 --> 00:10:58,500 If this video sucked, you know what to do, 231 00:10:58,500 --> 00:11:00,540 but if it was awesome, get subscribed, 232 00:11:00,540 --> 00:11:02,440 hit that like button, or check out the link 233 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:03,860 to where to buy the stuff we featured 234 00:11:03,860 --> 00:11:05,320 in the video description. 235 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:06,560 Also down there is our merch store, 236 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:09,900 which has cool shirts like, aw, Rip T-Bow. 237 00:11:09,900 --> 00:11:12,580 It's got cool shirts and our community forum, 238 00:11:12,580 --> 00:11:13,780 which you should totally join. 239 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:14,640 We'll see you next time.