Review: Sonos One Smart Speaker

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Sonos is considered the originator of wireless streaming audio. The company’s innovative MESH network solution enabled high fidelity audio streamed across multiple rooms simultaneously (or independently). Sonos speakers have been considered the gold standard in audio quality and precision while their software has long been the envy of other speaker manufacturers.

2017 has been a challenging year for Sonos. While the company continued to unveil well-received speakers and sound bars, they are seeing unprecedented competition not just from cheaper smart speakers with built-in assistants. They are also seeing companies like Google and Apple jump into the premium connected speaker space, presumably with smart assistant functionality. Now, Sonos has answered that challenge.

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Review: Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Microsoft has released the second of this year's updates to Windows 10. Called the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the latest upgrade comes free to existing Windows 10 users and brings a surprisingly large set of updates.

I've been testing Windows 10 FCU as a Windows Insider for a few months now and despite a few glitches (Mail App shutting down for no reason while I'm composing an e-mail), it's been rather stable. For the rest of my review hit jump.

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Google Home Mini is now available in Canada

Canadians can now preorder the Google Home Mini which is expected to start shipping on November 5. Google Home Mini is the smallest member of the Google Home Family which is a smart speaker with a built-in Google Assistant which is the only assistant that's specifically tuned for English and French Canadian users and handles local information and nuances. We reviewed Google Home Mini here. 

With a price of CAD $80 as well as three attractive colours, Google Home Mini is the ideal trojan horse for consumers to get started with Google Assistant as well as smart home control and all the advantages of AI.

Essential Phone gets permanently discounted by $200

Andy Rubin's Essential Phone has been an exciting product to watch but also a frustrating one to root for. There have been shipping delays, identity phishing fiascos, a lacklustre camera and reports that it isn't selling well at all.  

My own time with a Canadian unit was fraught with software glitches, poor camera experience and promised firmware updates that didn't come within the review period. Another key complain about the device is the high price. This is something Essential is in control of, and starting this weekend, the company is takingUS $200 off the price of the Essential Phone.

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