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Scuf’s Valor Pro is a promising start for its Hall effect Xbox controllers

20 February 2025 at 07:00

Scuf just announced its latest pro-style controller for Xbox and PC, the first to come close to the $100 price point. The $99.99 Scuf Valor Pro — available for purchase starting today in 15 different styles — isn’t exactly a budget controller in its own right, but context matters.

I’ve tested the delightfully translucent version of the controller for nearly two weeks now to see where exactly it fits among Scuf’s current Xbox lineup, consisting of the $169.99 Instinct and the $219.99 Instinct Pro (our previous pick for the best pro-style Xbox controller), both wireless. The wired-only and Valor Pro somehow sits in the middle. 

It has the Instinct’s smooth thumb sticks with replaceable tops, now with Hall effect magnetism to reduce the chance of developing stick drift. It also borrows the flagship Instinct’s four programmable rear buttons, its dedicated switch for swapping between its three mapping profiles, and the interchangeable faceplates. 

At the same time, you get the Instinct Pro’s rubberized rear grips (adding comfort while retaining that premium feel) and trigger stops. And yet, neither has the Valor Pro’s dedicated dials to adjust game volume and chat mix, nor the dedicated mute buttons embedded beneath both.

As a long-time Xbox gamer, I felt at home using the Valor Pro, which still largely takes after the official Xbox Wireless Controller’s ergonomic design. Scuf’s refinements to that winning formula seem minimal, but can make a meaningful difference. For example, the bumpers are a bit wider and a few millimeters longer than you’ll find on most controllers, draping further down each side. This makes it easier to shift my finger from the trigger to the bumper. 

I don’t even have to remove my fingers from the triggers to press the bumpers. The design allows me to use the sides of my index fingers to actuate them with a light press. That meant I could lob grenades in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 while staying at the ready for a gunfight or jump out of fights as Doctor Strange in Marvel Rivals without lowering my shield. The travel and feel are consistent across the entire surface, so it doesn’t feel stabby or straining. 

I immediately noticed the redesigned rear paddles, which felt off to me on the Instinct Pro. They’re in roughly the same position as the Instinct’s, designed for all four buttons to be comfortably reachable where your middle and ring fingers drape when gripping the controller.

But the two inside buttons have a bit more topside surface and use a downward vertical force for actuation instead of the horizontal motion required on the Instinct Pro. They’re easier to press while maintaining control over the bigger side paddles. They also don’t require as much force as they did on the Instinct Pro, but the give isn’t so light that misfires become problematic (and you can disable them entirely, if so).

As much as I’ve tried, I’m simply not a back-button gamer. My proportionally stubby fingers combined with cast iron skillets I call palms make it difficult for me to use them effectively in most games. The Scuf Valor Pro is the first controller with four rear buttons that feel natural and don’t make me feel cramped.

PC gamers will soon get support for a 1KHz polling rate in a post-launch update. That update wasn’t available as of writing, but I’d wager you’d find the intended reduced input lag imperceptible if you aren’t the type to qualify for tournaments. I sure couldn’t tell the difference on other controllers I’ve tested with the feature.

Should you buy a Valor Pro? That depends. Although you can swap thumbstick sizes and remove two of the rear paddles, it’s not quite as customizable as something like the Xbox Elite Series 2, but also not nearly as expensive. There are also considerably cheaper wired options with comparable features I’ve tested recently like the $69.99 PowerA Fusion Pro 4, which offers four rear buttons, Hall effect sticks with adjustable height, and Hall effect triggers with three stop levels. 

Most don’t remain as faithful to the patented Xbox shape, however, and that might be a deciding factor. Perhaps after an eventual sale, the Valor Pro can be a great first stop for someone new to Scuf, so long as you don’t mind playing with a cable.

Oppo’s new foldable can remote control a Mac

20 February 2025 at 04:37
What is this, a laptop for ants!?

Today Oppo launched the Find N5, the thinnest book-style foldable phone yet, but there’s more to the phone than a slim design: it’s capable of connecting to a Mac for file transfers and even remote control. It’s not quite the first Android phone to do so, but it is the only one you can buy outside of China.

To link the Find N5 with a Mac you first have to install Oppo’s O Plus Connect app on the Mac, which will be available from Oppo’s website — I’ve been testing out a beta version. Linking the Mac to the phone is quick so long as they’re on the same Wi-Fi network, with all the phone’s controls built into the “Connection & sharing” section of its Settings app.

As long as the two phones remain on the same network, you can browse the phone’s files directly from the Mac and transfer them wirelessly — in itself a coup, given that even wired file-sharing between Android phones and Macs is clunky and reliant on third-party software.

More impressive is the remote control option, which mirrors the Mac’s display to the phone. You can use it full-screen, or better still fold the phone halfway to create a miniature laptop. This works so long as both devices are online, but unlike file-sharing they don’t need to be on the same network.

Oppo has created a few ways to use macOS from the dinky touchscreen. You can turn the bottom half of the display into a keyboard for the laptop experience, or instead use it as a trackpad — complete with multi-touch gesture support. Other options include a clunky on-screen mouse and some buttons that recreate common keyboard shortcuts. 

Don’t get me wrong, using this is all still pretty clunky. The screen is too small to be entirely usable, and macOS wasn’t designed with touch gestures in mind, so tapping is a hit-or-miss replacement for a mouse. I tried it out a few times over my week with the phone, and while it was usually smooth, on one occasion it was laggy enough to be absolutely unusable. I wouldn’t even want to be reliant on this to work, but I can see the appeal in a pinch.

The file sharing is the more straightforwardly useful part of this. It’s an expansion of Oppo’s existing O Plus Connect app for iPhones and iPads, which has allowed file-sharing between Oppo, OnePlus, and Realme phones and those Apple devices since last year. A similar app supports file-sharing with Windows PCs, but the remote control option added for Macs is a first.

A first for Oppo, that is. Another Chinese phone manufacturer, Vivo, introduced a similar option in April 2024 that I haven’t had the chance to try. That’s because it’s only available on Vivo phones running OriginOS, the company’s China-exclusive take on Android. With the Find N5 launching worldwide — except for the US, where sister brand OnePlus has announced it won’t launch the phone — this is the first time Macs and Android phones have gotten this close in the rest of the world.

Oppo says there are plans to roll the feature out to more phones, but we’ll have to wait to see which and when — and whether that includes the OnePlus handsets available in the US.

Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge

The OnePlus Watch 3 finally adds a proper rotating crown

18 February 2025 at 05:00
Close-up of the OnePlus Watch 3 with the video watchface depicting a tabby cat basking in sunlight. The watch sits atop a notebook with colorful, cartoony stickers, and you can see a plant and pens in the background.
I’m a big fan of the new video watchfaces. Of course, I uploaded a clip of my cat.

I’ve had the $329.99 OnePlus Watch 3 for a few days, and so far, this isn’t an Android watch that flips the script. Instead, it’s a story about refinement (and playing a bit of catch-up), rather than pushing boundaries. And you know what? If it means a strong Google / Samsung alternative with a rotating crown that finally scrolls, I’m totally fine with that.

On the design front, the Watch 3 is quite similar to the OnePlus Watch 2, with a few key changes. The OLED display is a smidge larger and brighter at 2,200 nits, and the bezels are notably smaller, though that’s partially because of a slight design tweak. The screen is spiffy to look at, especially with the new video watchface where you can upload your own clips. (I, of course, have uploaded one of my cat asking for belly rubs.) The casing is still stainless steel, but there’s a new titanium physical bezel, too. It gives it a more classic analog look, but otherwise, this isn’t a dramatic change. My big design gripe is that the Watch 3 still only comes in a single 47mm size. It’s not horrible, but I have smaller wrists, and the lug gaps are notable. Offering just one size excludes folks with smaller wrists from comfortably using the Watch 3, and that feels like a missed opportunity.

You can see the difference between the new physical bezel and screen size from the OnePlus Watch 3 (right) to the previous OnePlus Watch 2 (left).

I’ll forgive OnePlus this oversight now that there’s a proper rotating crown. This time, you can actually use it to scroll through screens — a baffling omission from the last watch. There are delightful haptics that go along with it, and while this isn’t a groundbreaking addition, it soothes my inner curmudgeon that OnePlus has seen the errors of its ways and now upholds the nerdy wearable covenant that a rotating crown must also scroll.

Battery life has also been improved from 100 hours to 120 hours — or five days with regular use and the always-on display turned off. Turning on the AOD shortens that to roughly three days. That’s fairly typical for all flagship smartwatches these days. In a power-saving mode, you can get up to 16 days. OnePlus says it’s managed to stuff a larger 631mAh battery in the Watch 3 using the same silicon nanostack battery as the OnePlus 13. Since it runs Wear OS 5, that should add some extra battery mileage. I haven’t been testing the watch long enough to definitively comment on battery life just yet, but I always appreciate faster charging. You can get a full day’s worth in about 10 minutes.

OnePlus says it changed the sensor layout and made tweaks to the materials to improve tracking accuracy. Speaking of sensors, the Watch 3 adds one for wrist temperature, an eight-channel optical heart rate sensor, and a 16-channel blood oxygen sensor. It’s also revamped the GPS with a “circular polarized antenna,” which it claims will help improve GPS maps in areas with tall buildings. I’m getting over a cold, so I haven’t had the chance to test this on a run yet, but I’ll see whether it makes a dramatic difference. Technically, the Watch 3 can also take EKGs, but that functionality won’t be available for users in the US or Canada. In a briefing, OnePlus spokesperson Spenser Blank said that’s because OnePlus hasn’t received FDA clearance but that, for “business reasons,” the company doesn’t plan on pursuing FDA clearance.

That’s disappointing given some of the new health features. The big one is OnePlus’ 60S Health Check-In, where you touch the side button and get a quick scan of your heart rate, blood oxygen levels, mental wellness, wrist temperature, sleep quality, and vascular age. European users will get EKGs included in Q2 2025. Also new is a vascular health test, which measures your arterial stiffness. It’s similar to a feature Oura introduced last year, and it’s meant to gauge your circulatory system’s overall state. (Mine is “normal.”)

With the Watch 3, OnePlus is refocusing a bit on sleep tracking and wellness. The company says sleep tracking has been overhauled, and you’ll now be able to use the watch to track snoring patterns to assess your breathing disruptions. Stress tracking has also been rebranded as “360 Mind and Body,” and it uses heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and activity intensity to approximate how you’re doing… with emoji. Depending on how it evaluates your stress, you might get recommendations for guided breathing. I’ve been running a beta version of the OHealth app with these updates, and so far, I have received more insights into sleep tracking — though I’m not entirely sold on the emoji. So far, all I’ve been is roasted for my “moderate” wellness.

A lot of these updates are things other competitors already have. They just have a OnePlus twist to them, and it’ll take me some more time to really put subtler software tweaks through the testing gauntlet. So far, though, wearing the Watch 3 is a pleasant reminder of how OnePlus has surprisingly emerged as a competitive alternative to Samsung and Google. But one change I know I don’t love is the Watch 3 is $30 more expensive than its predecessor — though Blank told me that the price increase has nothing to do with tariffs.

The OnePlus Watch 3 is available for preorder starting today and will begin shipping on February 25th.

Double magnetic rings are here to stick your phone to anything

13 February 2025 at 11:25
Double magnetic rings.

I like my phone, so I put a ring on it back in 2022 — the year my colleagues Jen and Allison introduced me to the Anker ring we now call “The best MagSafe phone grip”. It’s a simple magnetic ring attached to a non-magnetic finger ring that doubles as a kickstand.

@verge

Double magnetic ring mounts are here — letting you prop up your MagSafe-compatible phone at any angle, attach it to anything made of ferrous metal, or even stick two phones together. They typically cost around $15; the beefy one here is branded Shinewee, the flatter one comes from GK but also goes by other names. Each comes with a pair of adapters so you can use them on non-magnetic surfaces. #todayimtoyingwith #tech #techtok #magsafe #phonemount

♬ original sound – The Verge

But what if both rings were magnetic? What if both of them were the same size? What if each of them could stick to a phone — or a fridge, or a filing cabinet, or anywhere else you can stick one of their included adhesive-backed steel discs?

This thing exists. There are at least a dozen different varieties on the market now, each promising a folding quick-release variable angle phone mount that you can pocket and take a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

First look at the ‘world’s thinnest’ foldable

10 February 2025 at 04:27
When closed, there is no thinner foldable phone in the world than the Oppo Find N5.

In just ten days time, Oppo will launch the Find N5, the world’s thinnest book-style foldable. I just spent a few minutes with the device and what follows are my early impressions.

Oppo is careful to use that “book-style” disclaimer, because the Find N5 isn’t quite as thin as Huawei’s trifold Mate XT, launched in China last year. Not when open that is, though the Find N5 is comfortably thinner than Huawei’s phone when closed, helped by only having two panels to fold, not three.

It feels outstandingly thin, so much so that the USB-C port is separated from the outside of the phone by what feels like a hair’s breadth of metal. Without ditching the port entirely, it’s hard to see how we get phones much thinner than this. What’s striking is that despite that, the phone feels solid, sturdy even. It doesn’t buckle under pressure, and while I’m sure JerryRigsEverything will find a way to make the phone snap, it doesn’t feel like I’m at risk of doing it by mistake.

Oppo has also tried to reduce the visibility of the display’s crease. It is there, and it is visible, but only when it catches the light at just the right angle, and it’s almost impossible to feel with your finger. The crease isn’t gone just yet, but at this point it’s close enough that it’s difficult to imagine being bothered by it.

The Find N5 is launching in black and white models, though there’s a rather nifty looking purple vegan (aka, fake) leather model that seems to be China-only, which is a real shame. It runs Oppo’s ColorOS Android skin, which means it should boast the same powerful multitasking features that were such a big draw on the previous generation.

I’m not allowed to say too much more about the Find N5 until its launch on February 20th, beyond what Oppo itself has said already: it will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip; boasts a full array of IPX6, IPX8, and IPX9 water-resistance certifications; and packs in wireless charging as well as wired.

The Find N5 launches in China and internationally next week, though not the US. That could still come later though. The previous-gen Find N3 eventually hit American stores as the OnePlus Open, and so it’s a safe bet that a version of the Find N5 with a OnePlus logo will be announced Stateside before too long.

Photos by Dominic Preston / The Verge

I plugged an Nvidia RTX 5090 into a gaming handheld

4 February 2025 at 12:29
A mini laptop handheld gaming PC sits atop a big graphics card plugged into it with a cable.
The RTX 5090, in a Minisforum DEG1, plugged into a GPD Win Max 2.

Two weeks ago, I showed you how the world’s fastest graphics card works in a small form factor PC. To my surprise, Nvidia’s RTX 5090 Founders Edition delivered the vast majority of its performance even in a 12.7-liter desktop with a five-year-old CPU.

It made me wonder: what if I plugged this card into a handheld gaming PC instead? So I did, and let me tell you: it’s a wonder to behold. It’s enough to make me believe in a rich future where handhelds get more powerful when you dock them at home.

I started with the same $1,999 RTX 5090 FE and 1000-watt power supply from my desktop test, dropping them both onto a $99 Minisforum DEG1. It’s an open-air external GPU that can connect to the Oculink port that’s now shipping in a handful of portable gaming PCs, so long as you bring your own desktop GPU and power supply. 

I plugged that Oculink cable into a $1,000 GPD Win Max 2 handheld. And then, with just an AMD Ryzen 8840U mobile CPU and four lanes of PCIe 4.0 bandwidth, rather than the 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0 that Nvidia’s GPU technically supports, my new Franken-desktop spit fire anyhow. I’m talking over 100 frames per second in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution and Ultra …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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