Gadgetory

good morning Morty it's a 359 Morty I'm pickle Rick Morty in the podcast today Alfred Morty been Morty in Sderot Morty oh geez really no I was a really bad impression on my part and I apologize but I couldn't help myself I was impressed usual morning guys what's going on okay I guess I'm supposed to say good cos Alfred's blind we're gonna go through our review our initial review of the essential phone $700 android-powered phone by the father of Android we'll get to that first also the Amazon echo dot free giveaway that happened for a very short window on Friday we'll talk a little bit about the technical error and whether some people actually did get their echo dots in the mail for free and last up of course it's eclipse day hence the ridiculous glasses I've been wearing these all day and I haven't seen a single eclipse yet I'm surprised you were able to dress yourself appropriately for work then anyway let's get to the podcast send in your questions and comments BBG we'll get to as many as you can all the best at the end of the show without further ado let's podcast all right thanks everybody stick around we'll be back to join you in the chat in three minutes and 59 seconds from 3:00 to welcome to the 359 I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Alfred Aang and I'm Derek her so we'll the essential phone get eclipsed you see what I did there what Oh cuz there's an eclipse today yes yes exactly so a little pun so there's a new phone from Andy Rubin no relation the father of Android it's $700 CNET's initial review went up a couple days ago and it was pretty lukewarm I mean like the the biggest strong points on this thing are its body it's titanium that ceramic body it's got these cool magnetic connectors on the back for mods but there were a bunch of cons that were mentioned about it for instance laggy camera it's not water resistant there's also no headphones I keep mentioning headphone jacks whenever we talk about phones but I mean I feel like this phone would have been incredible if it came out in 2016 but I you know coming out now in the timing you know with the note 8 being released on Wednesday and Apple's new iPhone coming out at some point in September and also the pixel to to follow up with that I feel like it's just really bad timing on their part and yeah you know - I hate to reuse your pun but I do feel like it's gonna be eclipsed I guess by by all these other phones that have much more hype behind them they did have a window of opportunity when they initially said they were going to release I think sometime around June or July they originally were gonna release in May I thought months ago and it's been delayed so unfortunately now they just had to basically come out with something as quickly as possible before the note 8 but it's an Android powered phone just like the no day just like the Google pixel - I mean like Dara is this something that you think people are gonna get excited about well personally I hadn't heard much about the phone yeah like a lot of people yeah and so it's hard to get excited around a phone that doesn't have a lot of hype around it the thing is it's like a very like inside Ori phone like you know it's also only gonna be like a Sprint exclusive it's you're really not gonna see this in stores or anything like that so you really have to do your homework on something like this and I feel like anybody that does their homework like looking up phones is not gonna get that excited about this one in general yeah it's still pretty first gen I would agree so next up also on Friday for a very short window of time Amazon was accidentally doing due to a technical error giving away echo dots they're usually $50 they were selling them for $0 I got one order in and that unfortunately was cancelled it like completely disappeared by Saturday but alfred apparently you actually got you I got mine it shipped and then they said it cancelled but then I checked the tracking order and it was still out there and then I came home on Sunday and there wasn't my mailbox you lucky dog yeah so yeah so if you did get it get it cancelled oh they did send you a $5 discount or like a promotional code thing basically saying sorry we thought we're getting an echo down for free but here's $5 to make up for it so I have both that and the free ice right now they're coming for you Alfred very watched podcast I did hear from one reader over the weekend that said between her and her fiance they got five free echo dots they just kept putting in orders and they got all five of them that's like the kid that like grabs all the candy out of the bowl I'm like Halloween which to be fair I also did but I mean if it's Jeff Bezos is candy bowl yes I'm gonna tase him all echo down definitely also with the time we have left obviously it's eclipse they wanted to get through a couple interesting points totality in Oregon is gonna start at 1:15 I'm sorry that's eastern time South Carolina it's gonna hit by 246 eastern time hopefully you guys have plans for the Eclipse I know we will are you excited I'm so excited get your glasses or you'll go blind and don't buy the fake ones from Amazon yes they're free yeah I think it's too late for glasses at this point you know supposedly they're sold out everywhere I mean there's been big runs yeah yeah yeah but I don't know I'm yeah what are people doing during my clips I'm sonic Google's Android Oh a vent which is time to round the Eclipse to it so I hope you get out of there quick enough anyway a live stream in there for it so yeah cool that's cool anyway if you want to read more about these stories check us out on CNN I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Alfred Aang I'm Derek err thanks for listening and so what glasses are you guys sporting here today Eclipse glasses yeah the word you get them from what wait what do you equip sir I got him in a clips care package actually from Vsauce the YouTube channel Oh No kidding oh we're gonna we're gonna plug who sent us a glass youtuber okay like specifically they're on YouTube MasterCard sent me my Eclipse glasses so thank you MasterCard but there's no there's no brand on it just says e-classes after all of that I love mastercards youtube channel great content so we're here in New York and I think our alleged time is around what two thirty to forty five something like that yeah it's happening around like two forty rather they're gonna totally know where we are it's gonna be around seventy seventy five percent so we will have to wear the glasses the whole time that's not nothing that's not nothing yeah at all so my neighbor is a doctor and he told me that the reason it's so dangerous to stare directly at the Sun during the Eclipse is is that the damage that happens in your eye is in the retina basically the image burns into the back of your eyes and you could potentially end up seeing like the the shade shadow of an eclipse for the rest of your life it gets like seared into your eye but it's dark enough that the normal thing that happens where you can't look at the Sun for very long because it's hurting your eyes too much doesn't happen because it's alright and so you're tricked into burning your eyes out exactly so my grandfather tried that on me on you look at the Sun it's great right so out of curiosity where is everybody in the chat today are you going to be trying to catch the Eclipse and what time does it happen for you and what methods are you going to try to use whether it be glasses app or shoe box shoe box I'm going shoe box oh yeah I saw a bunch of like tweets and stories just basically like how to livestream the Eclipse I'm just why are you doing that yo just go outside let's go watch it oh not only that like there are gonna be a bunch of live streams anyway unlike CNN and a bunch of people that are probably have responsibilities that they can't get away from so there's something really great have a stream scam email me all the places that are closing for like 10 minutes because of the Eclipse like I saw photos of like McDonald's closing for like 10 minutes during the Eclipse or like a once-in-a-lifetime event but I need my Szechuan sauce there's also places probably that I'm gonna have I know totality are anywhere I get it if you're in a place where like you can't completely see it but I just feel like it seems like super like lame if you're just like going to watch it from like a computer screen or something just look at photos of Eclipse yeah but if you can't physically be there some of us have responsibilities that don't let us walk away minded by science I actually don't know Alfred how you're even talking right now without seeing but I can speak without how can you talk if you can't see so apparently there was an eclipse when we were all a lot younger not Alfred he was not yet conceived but wasn't even a twinkle in his father's eye it wasn't I don't remember it being this big of a deal but it was so long ago I thing that everybody was talking about was like the shoe box thing and people were like yeah you can see it or you could not see it whatever it seems like it turned into like a really big thing this time but then again everything is made into a big plastic but I remember like when Halley's Comet came and that was really big thing yeah like it was like in middle school or something like that Halley's Comet classes for that I fell asleep I think before Halley's Comet yeah you had to wake up at a ridiculous time yeah I think I missed it probably no but yeah I don't run that I was alive I was young he hung if I don't remember the hype around the first Eclipse he but maybe I was too young to remember we got Danny Green he's taking pictures from Charlotte that's a good spot good spot totality lucky they traveled down there yeah yeah I like this comment from Kemal he says it feels like there's always a eclipse in the UK is it's always a bloody cloudy this is really glad that we got somebody who used the bloody in an actual sentence that actually happened we'll try to do it a little more often I like bloody cloudy together British second metal man all right we got to talk a little bit about the essential phone I guess a little bit more Perry William says I like mods looking forward to seeing what they bring out for it I have the Moto plays E and love it okay how's it going to stack up side-by-side with that then I think it's a better build you know this is like titanium ceramic there they're trying to really show this thing off it's like a really impressive flagship piece I I don't think that the Moto Z is that much cheaper though but that that's really the big play for them this is also with the mods like apparently the magnetic connections are you know it's a nice solid tight fit so I think people are really gonna like that when they do try it out that and you know if Andy Rubin is you know telling the truth of like what he's promoting for this it's that you know he doesn't want this to be like the iPhone or the Samsung like Galaxy phones or it's like you get a new one every year he kind of wants it to be like a two three-year kind of thing which was always my problem with mods where if there's a new phone coming out every year how who's to say these mods are compatible if like the next ones he's hoping for this to be like a phone that you have for like three four years then like I'm assuming the mods would also be you know upgraded as it goes on yeah definitely I think the thing is is that as our review mentions and it's still an initial review but I think this could probably use another year to bake ultimately oh I'm sorry I'm alright she's gonna eat my moon pie brought to you by moon back into the chat for a couple more questions about the eclipse Josh boy 2 asks is it ok to take a picture with your phone with no solar filter over the lens ok I know we have that answer somewhere on CNET I'm sorry that I'm not prepared to answer that I take a lot of pictures of the Sun straight on and it's fine yeah I'd straight what so basically I saw a video earlier today but this wasn't the phone this is like an actual camera lens and that will like melt like the inside basically like it you know the whole like magnifying glass yeah it's basically that because that's what your camera lens is all right but that's a camera that's not a smart phone a smart phone it's a mirrorless I know really shooting to the Sun all the time I take a lot of pictures whatever you're doing me yeah you're better off using something digital rather than traditional mirrored actual camera camera sorry I'm starring here like an idiot either way in the description of the show we're gonna put some links for other optional ways if you have any second thoughts or worries that you're gonna hurt your equipment or yourself we'll put a bunch of links in the bottom to help you find a method to actually get out there and see it and some some fashion what do you got Ben james Cipriani has a story on CNET how to photograph the Eclipse with your phone I would recommend checking it out he's got a lot of useful tips there so thank you very much for the question but the glasses on top of your phone lines that is one idea okay it's one of these at work DJ night bringing back the old school style best name we've ever had in the chat hands down if something will me that's his name he says it's something bad gonna happen when the eclipse happens I heard the lights will go out and we're not gonna be able to make our hot food I think yeah I think the Eclipse goes by Jumanji rules were shout-out to natty West he's watching the Eclipse from Trinidad and Tobago all the way on Turnitin and Tobago you might be our first listener from there so Cheers thanks for joining us yeah definitely and then lastly I'm what I just kinda want to say like good on Amazon before we wrap it up for the day because we are running out of time but just to circle back one more time did the Amazon I code out for like keeping good on their word they sold it on their word they they they didn't cancel all of them you're sitting on one right now but they can't they sent me a note as saying that it was cancelled the only reason why I have it is because they couldn't contact a like USPS and time to return it but they could probably have gone through some kind of weird legal channel and demanded it back or whatever that's what I need know like they ate a lot of curl on this one I think that's kind of cool Ben was basically saying like this was like one of the incidents where like Amazon's fast efficiency actually like ended up backfiring on them yes I was just about to say it exactly for the people that actually were smart enough to do single day and same-day shipping they're the ones that were more likely to get it because they just went out of the warehouses too fast for yeah that's the only reason why I even have it is because they came too fast for them to stop yeah I mean I'll take the five dollar promo credit that's fine I did hear from one other reader that said he was on the phone with Amazon for a whole hour to get a ten dollar promo credit Wow I don't think it's worth your time to do that but I will say if you do call to complain maybe you'll get a somebody on Twitter that kept tweeting at them saying like how dare you cancel my order that was a mistake like you're not winning this argument I mean there's nothing wrong with being enough opportunist yes and taking advantage of it but I mean that could have gone way way worse I feel yeah even when it was happening on Friday we knew it was a mistake or I had a very strong suspicion that it was a mistake because you didn't actually find out that there was a promo to basically wipe away the entire cost of the thing until you were ready to press yes yes very hard yeah it was a very end of the purchase process so I think it's cool they're giving the $5 to you know yeah we messed up here's this I'll get you something sucks yeah all right so before we wrap it up I got one more essential phone question from Tazz may he says hello from India which more extensions what other extensions can be supported on the essential phone and to my knowledge right now we just have 360s yeah exactly right yeah any conversation or speculation about what still is forthcoming I hope there's a magnetic headphone jack so the 360 camera is the first one that's ready out of the gate but there are I don't I don't know how much they're talking about some of the other ones but the expectation is is that there are gonna be more to come the other thing to look for from essential is I think it's called the essential home which is going to be similar to an echo or a Google home where it's gonna be kind of like a smart speaker that resides at your house and helps operate all your smart home appliances and stuff like that so look for that I think sometime later this year or next year one more shout out to Pamela who's also from Trinidad and Tobago it's awesome I love that we have such a great global audience and then one more to close it out oh hey no shout out to Eric he says easy make up an extension that'd be incredible I would have to buy that phone yeah I need that I need that in my life but Stephen Kai asks today essential phone event in New York City where is it going to be can we could that information know there was an essential phone event in either you're going to Android that might have been confusion on this part so but we don't know of any events coming down the chain either but either you're talking about the Android no event oh yeah they're hosting it during the Eclipse which is totally cool cuz I want to be working during a once-in-a-lifetime event it's like although they're gonna make a quote yeah so there are no building like they're announcing the new version that the name of the new version of the next version of Android which we're all expecting to be you it's free I'm pretty sure it's gonna be Oreo like they're doing it during the Eclipse come on but we already know about a lot of the features that's gonna be available for Android we've seen it during Google i/o most of it it's like improving your battery life cool things like like with goggles stuff where you can like scan your Wi-Fi code google lens yeah no it's good oh wait no yeah it's based off of cog oh sorry well yeah just like all the others like new features that they're adding to it that we already kind of know about I now it's just mostly what's the name and when are we gonna be able to get it cuz it's only been available in developers beta for some time now yeah and they're also this is the first time they're doing this outside of their headquarters in Mountain View in California in the United States bring us back some snacks yeah so yeah yeah I'm pretty sure they'll be Oreo though but I would eat those um yeah it's either that or they're like heavily trolling everybody which they I have seen them doing on Twitter where one of their senior vice presidents will have like we're just tweeting all these other like desserts that start with oats hmm oatmeal cookie and olive oil cookie does not roll off the tongue but I guess that's why I'm saying they're like trolling everybody else even in the developers beta when I was available like it's it boots up with an icon of like an octopus yeah so yeah they're really messing with people and I know we were trying to wrap it up we got a couple of good questions rolling back in yeah is there going to be a live stream of that Android event I am actually still looking into that because some of my co-workers wanted to look at that to instead of the Eclipse I believe it it should be live stream but I'm not like a hundred percent sure on that all right and a couple more wish lists for the essential phone I said mods yeah maniac says what we need is a wide-angle second camera on the phone that's not an LG and has a six or eight gigabyte RAM that just sounds like a wish list for an entirely new phone more or less but Erik jumps on that train and says can we get an echo dot extension for the essential phone just plop it on top really want to carry you around then your pocket pouch it's a voice assistant on top of your voice assistant I would do it if I could get an echo because you don't have to hit the buttery if it was if it was a free echo dot sure and I'd be fine with it imagine if it was portable and you could just walk around with it all day always listening with the bunny yeah that will happen yeah I put it in like a stick or something all right oh no we are out of time we do have to get going all right bring it on Ben all right oh the thing is gone fine assembly episodes and you haven't memorized what the outgoing script is let's go blind it's fine the 359 podcast is available on iTunes tune in stitcher SoundCloud Feedburner and google play music and of course it's on cnet.com the exact thanks everybody for watching enjoy the Eclipse later