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Android apps are now a fixture on Chrome OS and Chromebooks, but they don’t all run as smoothly as you might hope – and that includes games. If you’re looking for gaming experiences that work well on a bigger screen, run without a hitch, and even offer keyboard and trackpad support (in some cases), then these are the best games we’ve found for playing on a Chromebook.

1. Game Dev Tycoon (£5)

Play a game about developing games – why not? Game Dev Tycoon takes the tried and trusted tycoon sim format and applies it to the scenario of an up-and-coming software studio. Your job is to allocate resources and finances, as well as come up with the best ideas, to successfully move from your garage up to an office building as your company expands.

There are a few nice touches of humour in the game and plenty of variety in the visuals and gameplay to keep you interested over a long gaming session on your Chromebook. Game Dev Tycoon is also a game that will give you a different experience every time you play it. Having originally started out on Windows, it adapts perfectly to Chrome OS-powered laptops.

2. Alto’s Odyssey (freemium)

Like Alto’s Adventure before it, Alto’s Odyssey is one of the best endless runner games to ever appear on mobile devices, and the gorgeous graphics, immersive sounds, and simple control system all translate really well to Chromebooks. We can’t be held responsible if you spend more time immersed in this scrolling virtual world than you really should.

If you’ve never played an Alto game before, here’s what to expect: You’re essentially sliding down a hill, avoiding obstacles, performing tricks, picking up points and bonuses, and so on. What makes Alto’s Odyssey much better than that brief outline makes it sound is the care and attention that’s gone into the aesthetics of the game, and the diversity of the various environments.

3. Animal Super Squad (£4.20)

Animal Super Squad is a whole lot of fun whatever platform you play it on, and that includes Chromebooks (support for keyboard controls is included). It’s a classic side-scrolling platformer game, but with a host of ingenious physics-based puzzles that you need to solve, Angry Birds-style, in order to progress.

The graphics are simple but very effective, and the speed and variety of the levels means you won’t have a chance to get bored. It’s obvious that a great deal of care and attention (and plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour) has gone into Animal Super Squad – it’s actually like playing five games in one – and we wholeheartedly recommend you play it.

4. Asphalt 9: Legends (freemium)

Asphalt 9 is one of the best racing games on Android no matter what device you’re using, and on Chromebooks it makes use of the extra screen space very well. Even better, the touch controls get automatically remapped to the keyboard, so you don’t have to be tapping the screen as you’re zooming around the various landscapes.

If you’re new to the Asphalt racing series, the emphasis is on high-speed stunts and collecting as many points as possible, rather than careful or skilful driving, and the simple set of gameplay mechanics makes it an obvious choice for trying out on Chrome OS. It’s also free to get started, so you only have to pay for upgrades you really want and need.

5. Thimbleweed Park (£9)

What better way to make use of a keyboard and trackpad than with a good old-fashioned point-and-click adventure? Thimbleweed Park has got heritage behind it, too: It’s been developed by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, the creative geniuses responsible for such classic PC point-and-clickers as Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion.

Thimbleweed Park isn’t cheap, as far as games go, but you will get plenty of value from it as you investigate a mystery set in the eponymous location. Expect dead bodies, government conspiracies, dark and murky locations, and the occasional clown, as well as the sort of humour and attention to detail that Gilbert and Winnick’s previous games were known for.

6. #Drive (freemium)

Not all racing and driving games play that well on Chromebooks, but #Drive is one that does. Take to the open (and endless) road and push your car and its gas tank to the limit, trying to avoid other vehicles, the cops, and a variety of additional obstacles along the way. It’s smart and slick and a lot of fun to play through.

As with all the best games on mobile, #Drive combines a simple gameplay mechanic with some top-notch graphics and sound effects, and there are enough environments and vehicles here to ensure that you can spend many hours in the world of #Drive. You will need to use the touchscreen rather than the keyboard, but it’s all intuitive enough.

7. Fallout Shelter (freemium)

This was a smash hit on Android and one that translates well to Chromebooks, too, not least because you’ve got a lot more space to see everything. Your challenge is to keep all of your sheltering human beings alive, balancing the need to produce resources with the requirements of keeping everyone happy and the lights on in your underground bunker.

Clicking and dragging with the touchpad is a little more precise than trying to jab around with a finger, and the keyboard of course comes in handy whenever you’ve got any text to input. The deeper you go into the game the more engaging it gets, and even if you’ve already played this on your smartphone, it’s worth another look on a Chromebook.

8. Mars (freemium)

Engaging gameplay, stylish graphics, a wealth of locations to explore, and a variety of characters to play as – it’s hard to find anything to dislike about Mars, which is a physics-based platformer that sends you on a mission across the surface of the Red Planet. It’s not a very complex game, but it’s perfect for dipping into for a few minutes.

The aim of the game is to make it between refuelling platforms without crashing – it’s a bit like Flappy Bird but far less annoying and much better to look at. Various boosts and power-ups are available along the way, and if you make it far enough, you’ll have more than 60 different explorers to choose from, each with their own style and characteristics.

9. Anything on Google Stadia (prices vary)

One of the benefits of a game-streaming service is that you don’t need particularly powerful hardware to run top-tier games – just a reliable broadband connection. Officially, Google Stadia will work on any Chromebook (and on any computer with Chrome installed), though the newer the Chromebook the better your experience will be.

Log into Stadia in a browser tab and away you go. One advantage of taking a Chromebook approach to Stadia is that you can use a keyboard and mouse, or the official Stadia controller (any title you’re playing will let you customise the controls as required). Games can be claimed as part of a Stadia Pro subscription, or purchased directly from Google.

Countless companies have tried to dethrone Sony from its noise-cancelling headphone throne, but none have succeeded. Now Razer is taking a different approach with its first pair of headphones designed for a wider consumer audience – not just gamers – by paying homage to the Queen with a look that emulates Sony’s excellent and much-loved WH-1000XM3s. You can definitely hear the difference between the two, but with a price tag that’s £130 cheaper than Sony’s, the Razer Opus is a compelling alternative.

Aside from the midnight blue finish (which is the only colour option currently available, and, from my experience, just looks black most of the time) it’s actually not that easy to distinguish the Razer Opus from the Sony WH-1000XM3.

It’s a design that Sony has stuck with for a couple iterations of its flagship noise-cancelling headphones, and one that’s incredibly lightweight and comfortable, so it’s hard to fault Razer for taking notes and borrowing extensively from what is still our recommendation for anyone looking to mute the world around them.

For its first over-the-ear wireless headphones that don’t look like they came straight from a rave, it seems like Razer wasn’t interested in breaking any new ground or taking chances with the design of the Opus. Even the faux leather material used on the ear cups and the top of the headband feels identical to what you’ll find on Sony’s WH-1000XM3, but I don’t see any reason to complain, because it means that, like the Sony headphones, these are some of the most comfortable I’ve ever worn.

There are a few things Razer has done differently with the Opus, however, which may or may not mesh with your personal preferences. Like the Sony WH-1000XM3, the Razer Opus include a dedicated button for activating noise cancellation. On the Sony headphones, pressing that button transitions through three modes: noise cancelling on, noise cancelling off, and ambient sound boost, which allows you to better hear what’s going on around you (like someone talking) without actually having to take the headphones off. On the Opus, pressing that same button toggles noise cancelling on and off, but holding it temporarily activates the ambient sound boost until you release it. It works so much better than Sony’s approach and it makes quickly activating the “Quick Attention Mode” – as Razer calls it – much easier.

Razer also skips the touch controls that the WH-1000XM3 rely on for adjusting volume and controlling playback using swipe gestures. I actually hate Sony’s approach, and find it very unreliable compared to the simple set of three buttons found on the Razer Opus’ right ear cup. It works just like the inline remote control buttons found on almost any wired earbuds you can buy today, so you’ve probably already got the muscle memory for double clicking and triple clicking the middle button to skip or replay tracks.

So has Razer managed to actually release a pair of headphones that outperform the Sony WH-1000XM3 in every way for $150 less? Not quite. The Razer Opus do sound fantastic, as you’d expect from headphones with 40-millimetre drivers on each ear, but the sound just doesn’t quite pop and doesn’t feel as full as it does coming from the WH-1000XM3. Sony’s been churning out headphones for decades, and switching back and forth between the Opus and the WH-1000XM3, you can definitely hear the difference – but it’s a difference that a lot of consumers can probably happily live without if it means they’re saving £130.

As wonderful as Sony’s headphones sound, I would be just as happy wearing the Razers all day long, although improving the Opus’ mobile app would certainly help them better compete with the WH-1000XM3. In the Razer app, you can only select from five different equaliser presets, including a THX-tuned default which does sound the best, but letting users create their own presets and tune the headphones to their own preferences would certainly be a welcome upgrade.

The Razer Opus’ noise-cancelling capability also can’t quite match what Sony’s can do. It’s good, and definitely better than what you’ll get from noise-cancelling earbuds, given the ear cup design completely surrounds and blocks your ear, but it’s not as good as the WH-1000XM3 (which are almost two years old at this point). (Details about Sony’s next version have already been leaked, and they feature extra mics for improved noise cancelling.)

Like the Sony headphones, the Razers do a good job at effectively muting the low-end frequencies around you, like the sound of a running car or an aeroplane engine (were flying not so foolishly risky right now) but the Razers do allow in a little more of the mid to high-end frequencies, like human voices, than Sony’s version. But that’s with no music playing. When you crank your tunes, the world around you does effectively disappear – as far as your ears are concerned – with the Opus strapped to your head. Razer might not have bested Sony when it comes to how its new headphones sound and perform, but for £200 they make a strong case against paying $150 more than you really need to.

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Just as comfortable and ergonomic as Sony’s flagship noise-cancelling wireless headphones, because they feature nearly the exact same design.

At £200, they’re £130 cheaper than the Sony WH-1000XM3.

You’ll get at least 25 hours of battery life with noise cancellation turned on.

The built-in mic isn’t great for making calls, but it gets the job done.

Physical shortcut buttons for volume and playback work better than the touch gestures that Sony relies on.

Activating the “Quick Attention Mode” and temporarily boosting the ambient sound around you is much easier on the Razer Opus.

The accompanying Razer Opus mobile app is limited, letting users select from only five equaliser presets.

Dell’s XPS lineup has long included some of the best ultrabooks and premium laptops, but it’s been over a decade since we saw a 17-inch version. The XPS 17 (9700) is a triumphant return after a decade away, with a gorgeous display that almost floats in air on thin bezels, as well as solid CPU performance and the option for a gaming-grade GPU. If you were waiting for a bigger screen with this design, you’re finally getting one (and getting the performance to match).

Design of Dell XPS 17 (9700)

Dell has followed in Apple’s footsteps with the XPS lineup, making each laptop look largely the same. The XPS 17 follows in the footsteps of the Dell XPS 13 (9300) and Dell XPS 15 (9500), each of which launched earlier this year with slimmer profiles than ever before, as well as extending the InfinityEdge display to reduce the bottom bezel. The XPS 17 does that as well, just on a bigger scale.

That means its lid, just like the others, is made of silver aluminum with a Dell logo stamped on top. Like the other recent XPS notebooks, the XPS 17 has a 16:10 display, which provides slightly more vertical space on screen over typical 16:9 displays (this screen is 17-inches flat, rather than the more typical 17.3 inches). The hinge connecting the screen to the rest of the chassis feels extremely sturdy, even heavy.

Again, like its siblings, the XPS 17 has a carbon fiber palmrest that is smooth to the touch and comfortable against the wrists when typing. There’s plenty of room on the left and right sides of the keyboard for speaker grills, which are far larger than what the 15-incher offers.

There is a fingerprint reader in the power button, and the webcam, which is built into the thin top bezel of the display supports IR to unlock your PC with Windows Hello.

There are four Thunderbolt 3 ports on the XPS 17 — two on each side. The left side also has a lock slot, while the right side also has a full-sized SD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Despite being ostensibly the most “Pro” of the XPS line, there’s still no USB Type-A, though Dell does include an adapter for USB Type-C to USB Type-A and HDMI out, for those who still use those standards.

At 14.7 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches and 4.7 pounds, the XPS 17 is larger than Apple’s biggest mobile offering, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which is 14.1 x 9.7 x 0.6 inches and 4.3 pounds. The Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR is a bit larger at 15.6 x 10.6 x 0.8 inches and 5.5 pounds.

Productivity Performance of Dell XPS 17 (9700)

Our XPS 17 review unit came fully loaded with an Intel Core i7-10875H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD. Nevermind excessive Chrome tabs, this is enough muscle for some intense productivity work, though it didn’t win in every benchmark.

On Geekbench 5.0, the XPS 17 notched a score of 7,740, beating out the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR (Intel Core i7-10875H, 7,357), and the 16-inch MacBook Pro (Intel Core i9-9980HK, 7,201).

It took six seconds for the XPS 17 to copy 4.97GB of files, a rate of 848.2 MBps. That’s the same as the Aero, but the MacBook Pro was faster at 1,017.9 MBps.

The XPS 17 completed our Handbrake video editing test in 8 minutes in 41 seconds. In that test, the laptop transcodes a 4K video to 1080p. Both the MacBook Pro (8:00) and Aero 17 (7:58) completed the task more quickly.

Our stress test for performance involves running Cinebench R20 on a loop 15 times. The scores were, after the first run, largely in the 2900 – 3000 range, though there was a slight bump to the latter end, consistently in the back part of the loop.

The CPU ran at an average clock speed of 3 GHz and an average temperature of 80.6 degrees Celsius (177.1 degrees Fahrenheit).

Gaming and Graphics for Dell XPS 17 (9700)

The Dell XPS 17 isn’t exactly billed as a gaming machine, but with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q, it’s certainly possible to play some games. Don’t expect to take advantage of the 4K+ screen on our review unit, but you can get respectable frame rates at 1080p.

On Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p, highest), the XPS ran the game at 48 fps. The Aero 17, with an RTX 2070 Super, ran the game at 61 fps.

Next, we ran Grand Theft Auto V (1080p, very high), which the XPS ran at 64 fps compared to the Aero’s 77 fps.

On Far Cry New Dawn (1080p, ultra), the game ran at 66 fps on the XPS and 76 fps on the Aero.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (1080p, medium) is punishing, but still playable. The XPS 17 ran it at 35 fps compared to the Aero’s 43 fps.

We also ran our gaming stress test, which runs Metro Exodus on the RTX preset 15 times. The game ran at an average frame rate of 37.4 frames per second. Most runs ran at 37 fps, while some ran as low as 34 or as high as 38 fps.

During this test, the CPU ran at an average of 3.1 GHz and measured 76.6 degrees Celsius (169.9 degrees Celsius). The GPU’s average clock speed was 1308 MHz and the average temperature was 71.2 degrees Celsius (160.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

Display

The 17-inch display on the XPS 17 uses a 16:10 aspect ratio. Most laptops go with 16:9, but 16:10 allows for slightly more vertical space to work, which is very welcome. We reviewed a version with a 3840 x 2400 touchscreen (slightly over 4K), though a non-touch version closer to FHD (1920 x 1200) is available. Our review unit was extremely bright and showed vivid colors when I watched the 4K short Tears of Steel. The film’s bright colors range from green and purple holograms to red cyborg eyes and a blue cityscape, and they all looked great.

Dell’s screen covers 121.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, easily surpassing the MacBook Pro (80.7%). It’s rivaled only by the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR at 115.1%, but even that falls behind.

The XPS 17’s panel is also the brightest of the bunch at an average 505 nits of brightness. That’s far more luminous than either the MacBook Pro (429 nits) or Aero 17 (466 nits).

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the XPS 17 is the right mixture of quiet and clicky. It isn’t terribly loud, but it’s not sacrificing much in the way of travel. It has a slightly bouncy feel; I never quite bottomed out on the keys, as they always popped back up. On the 10fast fingers.com typing test, I reached an average of 106 words per minute with a 2% error rate, all of which is pretty normal for me.

One might think that a 17-inch laptop could fit a full-sized numberpad, but Dell has opted not to add one. I prefer the centered keyboard while on the go, but I could see some professionals or data input experts missing the number keys.

The touchpad is extremely spacious at 5.8 x 3.5 inches. There’s plenty of room for navigating and gesturing, and, thanks to Windows precision drivers, everything seemed to work right on the first try.

Audio

The top-firing speakers on the XPS 17 are powerful and clear. They blasted out music directly at me while I used the computer and listened to Neon Trees’ “Sleeping With a Friend.” Sound output was a little quieter around the rest of my apartment, but it did ultimately fill my one-bedroom, so the laptop does the job. The song’s vocals, synths, drums and cymbals all came through well-balanced and clear, but like many laptops, the XPS 17 lacks bass, putting it behind the 16-inch MacBook Pro in this regard. I could pull out a hint of it in the Waves MaxxAudioPro software, but not enough to make a big difference.

Upgradeability

There are eight Torx screws on the bottom of the Dell XPS 17. A Torx 4 screwdriver got those out easily enough.

The base plate is held to the rest of the chassis with small clips. This is a design in which the cutouts for the I/O are attached, which I’ve always found the most annoying to remove. It took a bit of time with a spudger, but with some patience I was able to crack the XPS open.

The cooling in here is fairly impressive; the CPU and GPU are covered by copper and with extra room, Dell’s fans are much larger than what we usually see even in gaming laptops.

The RAM is immediately accessible should you want to add or upgrade SODIMMs. The dual m.2 SSDs appear to be easy to change out, but the screws holding in the battery also hold down the copper heat sinks over the storage. While taking the battery out is often good practice when working with electronics, this practice may irk some who are willing to risk a quick swap without doing so.

Battery Life

The 97 WHr battery in the Dell XPS 17 took it far on a charge in our battery test, which continuously browses the web, streams video and runs OpenGL tests in the browser, all over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. The laptop ran for 9 hours and 5 seconds.

It was beat by the MacBook Pro, which lasted an hour and 50 minutes longer at 10:55. It’s possible that the lower resolution screen option on the XPS 17 would put it ahead here, but we didn’t test that version.

The Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR fell behind the competition with a run time of 6:28 that will require you to carry a charger around.

Heat

Dell made the XPS 17 incredibly thin, but it can get a touch warm under load. We took some skin temperatures while we ran our Cinebench stress test.

The keyboard between the G and H keys measured 45.7 degrees Celsius (114.3 degrees Fahrenheit), but the touchpad kept cool at 32.4 degrees Celsius (90.3 degrees Fahrenheit).

The hottest point on the bottom of the laptop measured 44.1 degrees Celsius, (111.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Webcam

Dell keeps the top bezel very slim, which requires a custom 720p webcam to fit. It’s a far better solution than having the camera below the screen, which is the perfect angle to look at your chin, but the image quality isn’t amazing here. A photo I took in a well-lit area of my apartment was grainy and just a tad dark. The colors were largely accurate, including my bright yellow t-shirt.

Software and Warranty

Dell has been adding an increasing amount of preloaded software to its laptops the past few years. Many of these programs are helpful, though a few seem unnecessary.

Perhaps the best addition is Dell Mobile Connect, which lets you make calls, send texts, see notifications or transfer files (it works best with Android). For creatives, Dell Premier Color is a calibration app and lets you make adjustments to color spaces.

Dell Cinema Guide is a version of Reelgood, which lets you add your streaming service subscriptions to watch any movie or show from those programs. This one seems a bit extra. Additionally, Dell has added Netflix, which seems contradictory, as well as Dropbox and a trial of Dolby Access.

There’s also the usual bloat that comes with Windows 10, including Hotspot Shield Free VPN, Spotify, Hulu and Candy Crush Friends, among others.

Dell sells the XPS 17 (9700) with a 1-year warranty.

Configurations

We reviewed the Dell XPS 17 in a $2,999.99 configuration with an Intel Core i7-10875H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 3840 x 2400 touchscreen. That’s the top of the line.

The base model, starting at $1,399.99, uses an Intel Core i5-10300H with integrated graphics, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, 256GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage and a 1920 x 1200 non-touch display.

For $1,899.99, you get the Intel Core i7-10875H paired with a GTX 1650 Ti, the 1920 x 1200 screen, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

You can get a slightly cheaper variant of our review model for $2,849.99 by moving down to 16GB of RAM.

Bottom Line

The Dell XPS 17 (9700) is a desktop-replacement with a massive 17-inch display. That screen is bright and gorgeous, with accurate color reproduction. It offers strong CPU performance, a GPU capable of gaming and solid battery life. It’s pricey, but not crazy considering its competitors’ price tags.

Creatives who need more GPU performance may want to opt for something like the Gigabyte Aero 17, which also has a nice screen and a slim build, but has a more powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (which can also deliver some 4K gaming).

Mac users will naturally gravitate to the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which has better sound and runs macOS, but the XPS 17 takes the fight to Apple here. Big screen laptop lovers, your time is now.

While it’s having none of that foldable action, at least so far, LG is apparently working on a rollable smartphone, that was pictured in 3D renders in August last year. Those renders are based on a patent LG filed for, and sometimes with patents nothing actually comes out of them in the form of a real product.

This time things seem to be different. According to a report from LG’s home of Korea, the company will launch the rollable smartphone currently codenamed Project B at some point in early 2021.

Interestingly enough, the display panel will be provided by BOE, and not LG Display, for whatever reason. Prototype production is already underway at LG’s factory in Pyeongtaek. Around 1,000 to 2,000 prototypes are produced, and it usually takes three to four rounds of prototypes before a final product stage is reached.

Project B is meant to reestablish LG as an innovative player in the smartphone space, where it’s been losing money for 20 straight quarters. This device should remake LG’s brand image, and it’s named after CEO Kwon Bong-seok.

Alongside Project B, LG is said to be launching a traditional-looking flagship phone in the first half of 2021, codenamed Rainbow, and a “horizontal” smartphone coming in the second half of this year, codenamed Wing. It’s unclear what exactly this entails.

Say hello to the Motorola Moto G Pro – the Europe-bound counterpart to the US Moto G Stylus. The pair is basically indistinguishable, specs-wise.

So let’s see what’s in the box. Motorola has provided all you need to get started – an 18W charger, a USB-C cable and a complimentary silicone case.

Unlike the Moto G Stylus, the G Pro’s name doesn’t tease the built-in accessory, but it’s there – tucked into the right bottom corner of the phone. You need to pry it out with a fingernail – there’s no push-to-pull-out mechanism like on the Galaxy Note10 series. Unlike the Note10’s S Pen, Motorola’s stylus also doesn’t insert back into the phone any which way – you need to put it in just the way you took it out.

The stylus is made of metal and feels sturdy and a bit heavy. You can draw and take notes, even when the phone is locked, like Samsung’s screen-off memo.

Camera setup includes a 48MP main unit, a macro snapper, as well as an ultrawide shooter that can record action-cam-style video in landscape, while you’re holding the phone vertically. We’ve seen this from the Moto One Action before – instead of a conventional ultrawide camera you get one that’s rotated 90 degrees.

We’ll test the action camera in detail in our full review.

The display of the Moto G Power is a 6.4-inch IPS LCD of 720x1560px resolution. The panel isn’t special in terms of brightness or sharpness, but it’s good overall and is big enough for multimedia enjoyment.

That multimedia enjoyment is augmented on the Moto G Power thanks to its Dolby Atmos-certified stereo speakers. They’re very loud indeed and offer deep bass. Our new loudspeaker test will be a better judge of the pair of speakers in detail, but for now we can say that they’re are more powerful than those of most flagships.

So, you have a good set of cameras with an unique action-cam ultrawide unit, a built-in stylus, good display and great speakers. And all of that for just under €300, which isn’t quite the same as the $180 Motorola charges for the indetical Moto G Stylus overseas, but good nonetheless.

And while Motorola’s clean take on Android might be an added benefit for some, we’re yet to see if the price is justified by the overall package. Stay tuned for our full review, coming soon.

WhatsApp could finally be given the green light to restore one of its most anticipated new features – after it was unceremoniously ditched last month. Last month, the Facebook-owned chat app kickstarted the rollout of its WhatsApp Payments feature after years of development.

As the name suggests, the new functionality is designed to allow WhatsApp users to send money to friends and small businesses wirelessly within the app. Following extensive testing in India, WhatsApp launched the Payments feature in Brazil – its second largest market – last month.

Days after the launch, the long-awaited feature had to be disabled in the chat app. The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) suspended the WhatsApp Payments feature in the country, a move which took the app by surprise.

The monetary authority said the decision was made to “preserve an adequate competitive environment, that ensures the functioning of a payment system that’s interchangeable, fast, secure, transparent, open and cheap”.

In the aftermath an insider told Bloomberg that the news came as a surprise to WhatsApp as the two parties had been in regular contact in the run-up to the launch. And as WhatsApp is still waiting for all the all clear from the BCB they have been given one major reprieve regarding the functionality.

It has been revealed that Brazil’s antitrust watchdog Cade has said they are revoking their decision to suspend the recently launched WhatsApp Payments feature. Cade said the decision was made after being provided with information by Facebook and card processor Cielo, who the new functionality was launched in partnership with.

Cade said the details provided showed the WhatsApp Payments feature does not reduce consumers choice nor does it limit new deals with rivals, The New York Times reported in a post online. These were some of the main sticking points highlighted by critics in Brazil.

The antitrust watchdog said they would still continue to investigate the partnership but WhatsApp welcomed the decision. A spokesperson said: “We are glad Cade acted quickly to lift its preventive restrictions on WhatsApp Payments.

“We look forward to continuing to work with Brazilian authorities to restore the service soon and allow all WhatsApp users in Brazil to send money to friends and family or purchase a product right on WhatsApp”.

While WhatsApp has moved past one hurdle, they still face other issues with the BCB who were the main force behind the Payments functionality being blocked. The monetary authority said the the suspension would allow them to assess if the WhatsApp features poses any possible risk to their system of payments and if it complies with the rules.

They added that starting WhatsApp Payments without regulatory approval could cause: “irreparable damage to the system, especially what concerns competition, efficiency and data privacy”.

It remains to be seen how much longer it will take for WhatsApp to iron out these issues with the BCB, and whether it will impact the rollout of Payments in other countries.

The best Intel Z490 motherboard is a must If you’ve made the decision to jump onto the Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake train and want to get the most out of your new CPU. Intel’s Z490 boards are equipped with the new LGA 1200 socket, and even the more affordable B460 options feature improved connectivity, networking, power delivery components and (take this with a grain of salt) future 11th Gen Rocket Lake compatibility.

So while you need a whole new motherboard platform for Intel’s new chips, there’s a strong chance it will last for a few CPU generations to come. Especially given Intel’s propensity for 14nm silicon… While 10th Generation CPUs may not have shaken the foundations of the tech world, they are the fastest gaming chips around. If your current gaming machine is several years old then upgrading right now will get you a faster system in every way. Faster cores and more of them, faster networking, faster and higher capacity memory, faster storage, and faster USB amongst other things. Upgrading from the 7th, 8th or 9th to 10th generation might not be a big leap, but 2nd to 10th Gen sure is!

The K-series CPUs have 125W TDPs, though the higher core count models will actually pull a lot more power than that. This means even budget Z490 motherboards are built with robust power delivery circuitry. One of the areas the Intel Z490 chipset might be seen as lacking in is official PCIe 4.0 support, something which is present on AMD’s competing X570 platform. Some manufacturers, such as MSI, are claiming PCIe 4.0 support on their Z490 motherboards, even though it is not supported by 10th generation CPUs and hence cannot be validated. Intel won’t confirm any details one way or the other about its future products, so for now PCIe 4.0 support on Z490 seems sketchy at best and shouldn’t factor into a purchase decision at this point in time.

While the specs have improved, we’re still not impressed with the upward trend in pricing. Just a year or so ago we were shocked to see $1,000 high-end desktop motherboards for Threadripper or the X-series chips, but now manufacturers are clearly happy to push the envelope with most of them offering boards getting on for $800 even though Z490 is still a mainstream chipset. We’re not dealing with quad channel memory or a ton of PCIe lanes, but these monstrous ~$800 motherboards have everything else thrown at them. They might seem crazy, but people are buying them… and if you want the best Z490 motherboard experience that’s what you’re aiming for.

1. Asus ROG Maximus XII Extreme

The best Z490 motherboard, for the price of a full gaming PC…

Size : E-ATX | Memory support: 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR4-4700 (OC) | Expansion slots: 2x PCIe 3.0 x16 (or x8/x8), 1x PCIe 3.0 x4 | Storage: 2x M.2, 2x M.2 (DIMM.2 board), 8x SATA 6Gbps | Rear USB: 10x USB 3.2, 2x USB 2.0 | Video ports: 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports on extension card (DP1.4) | Network : 1x 10Gb Marvell ethernet, 1x 2.5Gb Intel ethernet, Intel WiFi 6 wireless

OC performance 

Stunning bundle 

Incredible build quality 

I cannot pretend that this makes any sense from a rational standpoint, y’know, one where money actually exists and comes in finite amounts. But if we’re talking about the best Z490 motherboard, for me, this is it. The Asus ROG boards have always been high-end offerings—though there are lower-spec options here in this guide too—but I do feel that MSI has been the enabler. Its Godlike boards have really cemented the idea of the ultra-enthusiast motherboard which cost, if you’ll pardon the redacted expletive, f*** you money. After the arbitrarily priced £777 X570 Godlike, Asus has obviously decided it has carte blanche to charge whatever it likes.

But if you want a features list as long as the Dead Sea Scrolls then you’re going to have to pay for it. What I will say is that features list isn’t just stuffed with makeweight extras, things just stuffed into the package to fill it out and try and justify that price. Everything you get with the Maximus XII Extreme is useful for a super high-end Comet Lake build, from the extra fan controller, DIMM.2 storage expansion, to the Thunderbolt card. But I would like to make special mention of two of my favourite things in the package: the multi-head screwdriver and the braided SATA cables. Mmm.

You also get great performance. On the whole, the MSI Z490 Godlike does just about have the edge in straight speeds, but if I’m buying a Core i9 10900K I want to overclock the hell out of it, and I got a result I would be happy running at consistently from the Asus, where the Godlike just got a little too toasty for my taste at 5.3GHz all-core. Both are great high-end boards, but I’m going to side with the Asus for now.

2. MSI MEG Z490 Godlike

The best Z490 motherboard if you want to sell that other kidney too

Size: E-ATX | Memory support: 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR4-5000 (OC) | Expansion slots: 3x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4), 1x PCIe 3.0 x1 | Storage : 3x M.2, 6x SATA 6Gbps, 2x M.2 Xpander-Z | Rear USB: 8x USB 3.2, 2x USB 2.0 | Video ports: 2x Thunderbolt 3 | Network : 1x 10Gb Aquantia, 1x 2.5Gb Realtek LAN, Intel WiFi 6 wireless

Top CPU performance

Great bundle 

PCIe 4.0 support. Kinda 

The latest MSI Godlike is a fantastic high-end Z490 motherboard. I might still struggle with the naming scheme, and the similarly offensive price tag, but it’s tough to argue with the technology that it offers. The power delivery system is something that’s going to get seriously stretched by the Comet Lake architecture, and with 16 phases and 90A Smart Power Stage the Godlike has been designed to maintain a steady supply no matter what the Core i9 10900K wants to draw through it. 

And it does an incredible job with the power you give it too. The performance I got out of the Godlike put it a shade ahead of the Maximus XII Extreme in gaming terms, though only by a couple of frames per second at best, but it did stretch that lead a touch when it came to video encoding. At stock speeds it’s a touch cooler too, though that didn’t translate into the overclocked performance as it peaked at 99°C when running at the 5.3GHz all-core peak I hit with the i9. Still, it wasn’t throttling even so, but I wouldn’t be happy running at that level consistently.

But the Godlike does offer PCIe 4.0 support. In a fashion. Just not with Comet Lake. The M.2 Xpander-Z will support up to PCI 4.0 bandwidth, though there is a sticker on it which adds the caveat that transfer speed might be limited by the chipset and processor. There is the promise of Rocket Lake bringing PCIe 4.0 support to the Intel ecosystem, and the Z490 is supposedly compatible, so there’s a chance a Gen4 NVMe SSD might be able to take advantage down the line.

The overall bundle, build quality, and OC performance have me siding with the ROG board in the head-to-head, but it’s a close run thing, and you could also make a convincing argument for the MSI Godlike being the best Z490 motherboard around.

MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi

A vaguely affordable Z490 motherboard with competitive performance

Size : ATX | Memory support: 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR4-4800 (OC) | Expansion slots: 3x PCIe 3.0 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4), 2x PCIe 3.0 x1 | Storage: 2x M.2, 6x SATA 6Gbps | Rear USB: 5x USB 3.2, 2x USB 2.0 | Video ports: 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI | Network : 1x 2.5Gb LAN, Intel WiFi 6 wireless

More reasonably priced Z490 

Still competitive performance 

The sparse back panel and missing OLED displays will tell you we’re back into normal motherboard territory again. The rarified air of the ultra-enthusiast pairing at the top of the test might make one giddy, but the Z490 Gaming Carbon will bring us back down to earth without a bump. Sure, you’re never going to get the same level of luxury feature list as you’ll find with either the Godlike or Maximus XII boards, but when it comes to the nuts and bolts of pure performance it’s right up there. 

Where it matters, in the gaming performance stakes, there’s practically nothing between any of the Z490 boards we’ve tested, and it’s only ever a little behind when it comes to the actual CPU performance in productivity apps. When it comes to overclocking, however, the MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi inevitably can’t compare to the big boys with our 10900K running at its peak.

The power componentry and cooling isn’t enough to stop the thirsty CPU from throttling when it’s pushed to its 5.3GHz all-core maximum. But, while that might mean it’s not the board you’d choose for an overclocked i9 machine, that’s a tiny niche of gamers, and for either i5 or i7 CPUs the MSI Gaming Carbon is still a quality home for your Comet Lake CPU.

4. MSI MEG Z490 Ace

MSI’s Z490 ace in the hole.

Size : ATX | Memory support : 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR4-4800 (OC) | Expansion slots: 3x PCIe 3.0 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4), 2x PCIe 3.0 x1 | Storage: 3x M.2, 6x SATA 6Gbps | Rear USB: 6x USB 3.2, 2x USB 2.0 | Video ports: N/A | Network : 1x Realtek 2.5Gb, 1x Intel 1GB LAN, Intel WiFi 6 wireless

Subtle looks

Strong VRM design

High-end performance

Another top board from MSI, the Z490 Ace looks great with its subtle gold highlights and metallic elements. It’s good to have the primary M.2 slot above the GPU rather than cooking away underneath it. Other little things like the white post code display, fast booting and excellent fan control makes the Ace a really refined and polished product. Even the M.2 installation is easy, with no need to remove a heap of screws and half of the entire heatsink.

MSI has knocked it out of the park with the Ace’s strong VRM design. Dual 8-pin power connectors feed a 16+1 phase 90A design that’s cooled by big chunks of heatsink. It’s got a small fan that only spins up when it’s required. There’s also rear mosfet baseplates, which all told means you can overclock to your heart’s content. Does any Z490 motherboard have a genuinely better VRM?

Its excellent finish, well laid out BIOS, feature set, top class VRM design, performance efficiency and capable overclocking means all boxes are ticked, as it should be if you’re going to drop nearly $400 on a motherboard. Ace by name, Ace by nature. 

5. Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master

Gigabyte’s best Z490 motherboard is a luxurious Aorus.

Size : ATX | Memory support: 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR4-5000 (OC) | Expansion slots: 3x PCIe 3.0 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4) | Storage : 3x M.2, 6x SATA 6Gbps | Rear USB: 6x USB 3.2, 4x USB 2.0 | Video ports: 1x HDMI | Network : Intel 2.5Gb LAN, Intel WiFi 6 wireless

Built to last

Huge number of USB on backplate

Quality audio

The first thing we noticed when taking the Z490 Aorus Master out of its box was its weight. This is a board gives the impression that it’s built to last, and at $390 we’d certainly hope it does! For the money, it’s clear the Master is a lot of motherboard. Interestingly, where some Aorus boards tend to light up like a laser light show, the Master really dials down the RGB with just a little bit of subtle lighting over the rear I/O and the chipset heatsink. The overall look is very understated, modern and mature.

The Master has no less than 10 USB ports on the back panel, which is impressive, although it’s also the only board to have a single LAN port, though it is a quality Intel 2.5G controller. It does have Wi-Fi 6, but if dual LAN is important to you, you’ll have to look elsewhere. We’re usually impressed with Gigabyte’s audio and that’s also the case here, with an ESS Sabre DAC and quality component choices. You also get the fairly standard 6 SATA ports and triple M.2 slots which distinctively feature thermal padding for both sides of the drive. A nice touch. Note that Gigabyte is also touting its PCIe 4.0 support, though as we said in the intro, it’s not something that should factor into a purchase decision.

Perhaps the only drawback, and honestly it’s hard to even call it that when the differences are so small, was that performance tended to trail the pack in many cases. It’s nothing to worry about, but when you’re comparing motherboards that are all genuinely strong contenders, you have to look for some differentiation, and for the Aorus, this is it. Don’t necessarily let that put you off, it’s still a board we’d be proud to own. Heck if it was $50 cheaper, it might have been a winner.

6. ASRock Z490 Taichi

ASRock has moved up to the premium tier.

Size : ATX | Memory support: 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR4-4666 (OC) | Expansion slots: 3x PCIe 3.0 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4), 2x PCIe 3.0 x1 | Storage : 3x M.2, 6x SATA 6Gbps | Rear USB: 8x USB 3.2 | Video ports: 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI | Network : Dragon 2.5Gb, 1x Intel 1Gb LAN, Intel WiFi 6 wireless

Great-looking board

Decent overclocker

The Z490 Taichi doesn’t deviate too much from its recent siblings in terms of its looks. I mean, why would you though with its lovely retro, almost analogue theme. It looks terrific. You get a nice splash of RGB lighting too of course.

The Taichi has a beefed up 15-phase VRM system fed by dual 8-pin power connectors designed to cope with the demands of 10th Gen processors. Each choke is rated for 60A, which is less than the 90A the MSI, Asus, and Gigabyte offer. The Taichi incorporates no less than three small fans into the heatsink, though thankfully they are all but silent and couldn’t be heard above the sound of our AIO CPU cooler and pump. When the board is presented with a light load, they don’t spin at all.

Asrock is also touting its PCIe 4.0 readiness, though again that’s jumping the gun a bit with Intel not commenting on future compatibility or support at this time. The performance of the Taichi was interesting. It scored very well in bandwidth sensitive applications, indicating that it sets aggressive memory sub timings. Our DDR4-4000 C16 test required a voltage bump in order to achieve stability too. The board didn’t miss a beat when pushing our 10900K to 5.2GHz on all cores, 5.3 is possible, though the heat from the CPU made it unstable, not exactly a fault of the board.

The ASRock Z490 ticks almost all the boxes. It’s got an intuitive, easy to navigate BIOS and a typically strong Taichi feature set. Its VRM isn’t as strong as the other boards in the test and it’s perhaps a BIOS update away from feeling really polished. Saying that is being tough on it, though; the Taichi is a strong offering.

7. Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero Wi-Fi

Typical ROG refinement for a typically high price

Size : ATX | Memory support: 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR4-4800 (OC) | Expansion slots: 3x PCIe 3.0 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4), 3x PCIe x1 | Storage : 3x M.2, 6x SATA 6Gbps | Rear USB: 8x USB 3.2, 2x USB 2.0 | Video ports: 1x HDMI | Network : 1x Marvell 5Gb, 1x Intel 1Gb LAN, Intel WiFi 6 wireless

Fantastic Asus BIOS

High build-quality

Good overclocking

It says a lot about Z490 motherboard pricing when the Hero – usually a value offering in the Asus Maximus range – sells for an eye watering $400. When compared to the Maximus XII Extreme though, the Hero feels like a bargain. The Hero comes with a 14+2 phase VRM design with each stage rated for 60A. It’s not inferior so to speak, but the Max XII Extreme, MSI, and Gigabyte boards have a better VRM spec along with dual 8-pin power vs the 8+4 pin of the Hero. There’s a bundled small cooling fan that you should install if you wish to push the board hard.

Asus really goes the extra mile when it comes to BIOS features, though perhaps it can be overwhelming for novice users. If you want to tweak, and then tweak some more, then Asus has you covered. The Hero was effortlessly able to overclock our 10900K to 5.2GHz and our memory to DDR4-4000. Try as we might, 5.3 GHz is a step too far for our cooling. If you’ve got top shelf cooling, then the Hero will handle it. Our memory took exactly one try to get to DDR4-4000 16-16-16 which is a nice performance sweet spot. Don’t forget that Asus offers the Maximus XII Apex if OC is your main game. 

We can’t escape from the fact that the Maximus XII Hero is $400. Economic woes notwithstanding, that’s a lot of money, particularly when the equally strong MSI and Gigabyte Z490 motherboards are a bit cheaper. Having said that, Asus rarely missteps with its ROG boards and the company has rightly earned itself a loyal band of followers who will hardly consider another board. If you choose the Hero you get the advantage of impressive 5G networking, excellent build quality and you’ll have a capable and refined motherboard. Its VRM isn’t class leading though, but that really only applies to extreme overclockers. We wish is was a few dollars cheaper but if you do go for the Maximus XII Hero, it will do your system justice.

Overclocking the Core i9-10900K and keeping the processor’s operating temperature under check could prove to be a difficult task. Have no fear, though, as Gigabyte thinks that the brand’s lineup of Aorus liquid coolers can get the job done.

Gigabyte demostrated the Aorus liquid cooler’s prowess by submitting an overclocked Core i9-10900K for some Prime95 beating for over 30 minutes. The manufacturer overclocked the Core i9-10900K to 5.2 GHz on all ten cores. CPU-Z and HWiNFO64 reported voltages of 1.392V and 1.423V, respectively. During the stress test, the processor pulled over 320W, according to Gigabyte.

Gigabyte offers the Aorus liquid cooler in 240mm, 280mm and 360mm flavors. In the press release, the company didn’t specify which model was used for the test. The temperatures ranged from 85 degree Celsius to 96 degree Celsius with a Tjunction max of 115 degree Celsius. Gigabyte has told us that the brand tests a significant amount of samples so this particular Core i9-10900K isn’t cherry-binned to make the cooler look good.

All of Gigabyte’s Aorus liquid coolers are based of an Asetek design with a copper baseplate. To add a bit of bling, Gigabyte equips the pump with a little 60 x 60mm circular LCD display that displays useful information, such as the processor’s frequency, temperature and the fan’s speed.

Like many liquid coolers, the radiator for the Aorus liquid cooler is made of aluminium. The radiators come in the 240mm, 280mm and 360mm sizes, depending on which model you pick up. Gigabyte’s own Aorus-branded PWM fan is in charge of cooling. The 280mm model comes with two 140mm fans while the 240mm and 360mm models feature two and three 120mm fans, respectively. Addressable RGB lighting is present on both sizes.

The 120mm fan spins up to 2,500 RPM to provide a static pressure of 3.51 mmH2O at a maximum noise level of 39.5 dBA. The 140mm fan, on the other hand, tops out at 2,300 RPM, boasts an impressive static pressure of 5.16 mmH2O and a maximum noise level of 44.5 dBA.

Gigabyte backs the Aorus liquid cooler with a limited three-year warranty. The 240mm model retails for $189.99, while the 280mm and 360mm models go for $214.99 and $229.99, respectively.

Google has discontinued its mid-range Pixel 3A and 3A XL smartphones, the company announced today . “Google Store has sold through its inventory and completed sales of Pixel 3A,” Google said in a statement to The Verge. “For people who are still interested in buying Pixel 3A, the product is available from some partners while supplies last.”

That might be disappointing to hear for people who were on the market for a more affordable Google-made phone. In his review last year, my colleague Dieter Bohn found the 3A had an excellent camera, especially for its low price.

The 3A is, in fact, listed as out of stock on the Google Store. However, as of this writing, there’s stock available on Amazon of both the 3A and 3A XL, if you still want to pick one up.

With the discontinuation of the Pixel 3A, the only phone Google sells on its own store is its flagship Pixel 4, which was released last October. But a mid-range successor to the Pixel 4, supposedly called the Pixel 4A, could be coming soon, and we may already know a lot about it after months of rumors and leaks.

The rumored Pixel 4A apparently has a 5.81-inch display with a 2340 x 1080 resolution, a Snapdragon 730 processor, a 12.2-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, a fingerprint reader on the back of the phone, and a headphone jack. And we possible know what it looks like thanks to a hands-on posted on YouTube in March and photos of what appear to be a retail Pixel 4A box that hit the web in April.

But the Pixel 4A isn’t actually for sale yet. So for now, if you want the latest mid-range Google phone, you’ll have to snag one of the last Pixel 3As, if you can find one.

An official render of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has just been leaked…by Samsung itself. And it looks a lot like previous renders of the upcoming top-tier flagship phone.

Leaker Max Weinbach was seemingly the first to reveal a pair of images, noting he’d found them on a Russian Samsung website. Other leakers quickly spread the word, with Ben Geskin even tweeting a link – which was still live at press time – that pointed to one of the photos on Samsung’s official site.

Leaker @OnLeaks noted the similarity between the new image and the unofficial render he had leaked back in May – though he’d referred to it as the Galaxy Note 20 Plus instead of the Note 20 Ultra. 

Nothing in the new image indicates that this is the Ultra model, as even the image’s link slug refers to it as the ‘galaxy-note8’, so it’s the series of leakers who are asserting that this is, in fact, the long-rumored Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra: real or not?

While we’d presumed that the release of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra indicated that there would be a stylus-packing Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, a recent tipster stated that the company would only release a standard and Plus-sized model. 

The subsequent appearance of a Bluetooth SIG certification mentioning the Note 20 Ultra by name, however, resurrected the possibility that we’d get a top-specced model in the Note 20 line. An even more recent specs leak reinforced the existence of an Ultra model.

Since we’re expecting the Note 20 line to come out in August, we’re anticipating more leaks and rumors that give us insight into what the Ultra looks like – though an image off an official Samsung site is a good start.