Articles by Michael L Hicks

Will running apps and fitness gear help or distract from my training?

Running is in my family’s blood. My dad completed two 100-milers, several 50-milers, and 51 marathons, including two Boston Marathons. My uncle Tim continues to knock out ultramarathons, and he’s well into his 70s. My cousin Colton kicked ass as a sprinter, and my sister still casually runs 10Ks when she’s not lawyering.

I never fought my destiny to be a runner. Along with four years of cross-country, I ran the 800 and 1600 meters in track throughout high school, eventually breaking the 5-minute mile mark. Since then, I joined some local running clubs and ran as many races as I could afford to keep my edge, though I’m nowhere close to high school form these days.

Staying in running shape is tough with demanding work, COVID-19, and the lure of video games to hold you back.

The last 18 months have been tough for my physical (and mental) fitness. Running while masked, without a fellow group of runners to keep …

How will Samsung improve on the best phones of 2021?

After a summer filled with mid-range phones, major flagships like the Pixel 6 and the iPhone 13 will close out the year. We expect these phones to sell like hotcakes, but if Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy phones stay on schedule, they’re also not that far off. So should you wait for them?

We don’t have any hard information on the successor to the Galaxy S21 lineup. But the Samsung Galaxy S22 leakers are already out in full force, many of which have proven prophetic in the past. Rumored to have features like ray tracing and vapor cooling, the Galaxy S22 may be a full-fledged gaming machine masquerading as a phone if Samsung has its way. Then again, its performance could vary depending on where you live and which chipset you get your hands on.

You may be most excited about the Galaxy S22 Ultra. That device will likely be the spiritual successor to the Galaxy Note Ultra series, with a built-in S Pen slot and a more hard-edged design…

VR preservationists and rooting fans, rejoice.

What you need to know

Oculus CTO John Carmack tweeted on Friday that the company would release an “unlocked OS build for the Oculus Go.”
This will allow people to “repurpose the hardware” after Oculus stops providing official updates.
The policy is specific to the Go for now, but would hopefully set a “precedent” for future VR hardware down the road, such as the Oculus Quest.

Try using an old video game console like an N64, and as long as the power source is intact, it’ll work like it did decades ago. But with newer consoles and games, it’s not always clear whether it will keep functioning properly once the developer stops supporting it. Once the manufacturer shuts down the servers for over-the-air (OTA) updates and store purchases, it limits the console’s uses — especially for a digital-only console like the Oculus Go, which was discontinued in 2020 and will lose support after 2022.

This doesn’t matter to most VR superfans, who,…

Unmatched performance

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus

From $730 at Amazon
From $730 at Best Buy

Pros

Snappy Snapdragon 865+ speeds
More colorful AMOLED screen with twice-as-fast refresh
Twice the speakers for powerful audio
Better selfie cam for video calls
Higher standard RAM and max storage
Includes S Pen

Cons

Costs much more (especially for 5G)
Keyboard cover is more expensive
Only two more years of software updates

The Galaxy Tab S7 Plus is truly only rivaled by the new iPad Pro for its power, gorgeous display, and laptop-replacing tools. Its 865+ chip is still robust by today’s standards, especially if you shell out for 8GB of RAM. While incredibly thin and lightweight for its size, it’s still best used with two hands or a desk stand. If you can afford it, this is the Android tablet for you.

A massive, mid-range slate

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE

From $600 at Samsung $530 at Amazon $530 at Best Buy $530 at B&H Photo

Pros

More affordably priced, particularly…

The Oculus Quest 2’s absorbent foam pads will become sweat-stained and dirtier the longer you use them. Worse, the foam causes skin irritation, to the point that Oculus recalled the Quest 2 and is offering a replacement silicone cover. While you can get that for free, alternative third-party covers made of leather, silicone, or other more comfortable materials are easier to clean and have better venting to prevent lens fogging. Starting with our personal favorite, the KIWI Design Facial Interface, here are the best Quest 2 face covers when it comes to coziness and cleanliness.

Best overall: KIWI Design Facial Interface

One of the biggest Quest 2 issues is with excess lens fogging. The basic facial interface traps your heat and sweat inside the headset, which inevitably fogs up your POV — especially when playing active games or exercise apps. Thankfully, several third-party replacement covers include vents to allow more air circulation, which daily VR users will find incredibly …

Oculus Touch controllers have wrist loops that keep them from flying off, but you still have to keep a rigid claw grip on them at all times while playing. By installing a hand or knuckle strap, you can keep your controllers fully attached, even while letting go of them completely. We’ve collected the best Oculus Quest 2 hand straps — plus straps for the original Quest’s different-sized Touch controllers — to make long VR gaming sessions more bearable.

Best Oculus Quest 2 hand straps

These hand straps are designed specifically for the third-generation Oculus Touch controllers that ship with the Oculus Quest 2. If you’re looking for hand straps for the original Oculus Quest, check the section below this one.

Best for comfort

VR Cover Controller Grips for Oculus Quest 2

Staff Pick

Designed specifically for the new Touch controllers, these VR Cover grips have felt fabric straps that wrap around the back of your hand or knuckles, plus a plastic non-slip grip that won’t bend …

We’ve rounded up the best Oculus Quest 2 games worth your time and money.

Best Oculus Quest 2 games

Shooters
Music and rhythm
Exercise
Multiplayer
Action
Horror
Family-friendly
Strategy and board games
Puzzles and relaxation
Sports
Oculus Link

Among the several hundred games and apps on the Oculus Quest storefront, most of them cost between $10 and $40 while only offering about 3 to 5 hours of gameplay on average. Some find ways to pad their runtime, but the fact is, most Quest and Quest 2 games are short and sweet. How sweet is what matters, and there’s no feeling worse than wasting your gaming budget for the month on a bad game that you finish in one afternoon.

Android Central has a disproportionate number of VR fanatics who spend their leisure time blocking out reality with the Oculus Quest 2 — which does run on an Android OS, believe it or not. We’ve spent a lot of time testing out games, good and bad, to figure out which are the best Oculus Quest 2 games that we’d ac…

Safety Mode is long overdue. But who was asking for Twitter to become a subscription site?

What you need to know

Twitter Super Follows are $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 monthly subscriptions to individual Twitter feeds. You’ll pay in-app.
Only Twitter users with 10,000+ followers can apply to become Super users.
Twitter Safety Mode will let you auto-block hostile accounts for harmful language or frequent, unwanted messages.
Safety Mode uses AI to determine who to auto-block, but won’t block people you follow.
Safety Mode is currently in beta, while Super Follows are now available in the US and Canada (iOS only).

Twitter announced two major updates to its site and apps today. One should help to clean up Twitter’s issues with online abuse. The other will make certain tweets exclusive to people willing to pay for them. We suspect people will like the first feature more than the second.

Twitter’s Safety Mode is a setting that “temporarily blocks” accounts for malicious or unwanted behavio…

The original Surface Duo was a “hot mess,” but the upcoming foldable phone could compete with Samsung’s Z foldables.

What you need to know

A virtual, public Microsoft Event on Wednesday, September 22, will focus on new Microsoft hardware.
It begins at 8a PT / 11a ET / 4p BT.
We hope to see the Surface Duo 2, Surface Pro 8, Surface Go 3, and other long-rumored products.

On September 1, Microsoft released a cryptic tweet teasing its fall hardware event, which “you’re invited” to attend. Online only, the event will focus on new Surface hardware.

Microsoft hasn’t given any hints of what products to expect at the event. However, we know from numerous leaks that the company is developing the Microsoft Surface Duo 2, a foldable phone set to clash against the Galaxy Z Fold 3.

You’re invited.Learn more about the #MicrosoftEvent: https://t.co/tpK3TB8Xxb— Microsoft (@Microsoft) September 1, 2021

The original Microsoft Surface Duo totally underwhelmed us in our tests, thanks to its…

Did you know Android 1.0’s original codename was a famous Star Wars robot?

Earlier this month, Android engineer Chet Haase released Androids: The Team That Built the Android Operating System. It starts with the origins of the Android team — before and after Google acquired it in 2005 — up to and just past the launch of Android 1.0 in 2008. It’s a fascinating story, and not just for hardcore engineers or programmers. Haase explains more about the book in this Medium post.

Most of the book dives into the nitty-gritty details of who made Android happen, as told through interviews with the engineers. From the launcher to the design to the most popular Google apps, every feature you take for granted in an Android phone was typically handled by one or two people, crunching seven days a week to finish in time.

You’ll likely be surprised to learn just how isolated Android’s team and start-up culture was from Google — at least until Android achieved global success. You also get an in…