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Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge

Elon Musk, who famously owns an electric vehicle company and has said he wants to move humanity to “a sustainable energy civilization,” told former President Donald Trump during an interview on X that “we shouldn’t vilify the oil and gas industry.”
Musk interviewed Trump on his social media platform, where the livestream was delayed over 40 minutes due to technical difficulties. After long, rambling discussions about immigration, inflation, and foreign policy, Musk and Trump finally came to the subject of energy and climate change — where Musk surprisingly came to defense of the fossil fuel industry.
“I don’t think we should vilify the oil and gas industry and the people that have worked very hard in those industries to provide the necessary energy to support the economy,” Musk said.
“People that have worked very hard in those industries”
The Tesla CEO, who described his views as “pretty moderate” on energy despite owning an EV and home energy company, claimed the economy “would collapse” if oil and gas firms were forced to shutdown. Musk also said that the planet can transition to a sustainable energy economy in “50 or 100 years” — despite the scientific community warning that humanity is quickly reaching a tipping point on the climate. (Trump later changed it to “500 to 1000 years,” which Musk didn’t correct.)
“So it’s not like the house is on fire immediately,” Musk said. “But I think it is something we need to move towards… It’s probably better to move there faster than slower. But like without vilifying the oil and gas industry and without causing hardship in the short term.”
But he quickly contradicted himself. Musk acknowledged that the air will become harder to breath with the continued use of fossil fuels, causing people “headaches and nausea.” But that was no reason to quickly transition away from the use of planet-heating fuels. According to Musk, we can casually stroll into a more sustainable future.
“We still have quite a bit of time,” he said. “We don’t need to rush.”
Trump, who often sounded like he was slurring his words, quipped that rising sea levels means people would have more “oceanfront property.” That comment was quickly blasted out by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.

Trump, slurring, says he’s okay with climate change and rising sea levels because he thinks he’ll “have more oceanfront property” pic.twitter.com/AmdrdXCn0v— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 13, 2024

Trump then briefly touched on one of his favorite topics, electric vehicles, claiming that fossil fuel-powered energy generation is what powers Tesla’s vehicles. “[We] can’t get away from it at this moment,” he said.
But the EV discussion didn’t go much further than that, despite Trump’s vows to end subsidies for plug-in cars that could seriously impact Tesla’s sales. Trump urged Musk to put solar panels on the roof of his cars. (Tesla filed a patent for a solar panel-covered tonneau cover for the Cybertruck, but didn’t follow through.)
“People talk about global warming, or they talk about climate change, but they never talk about nuclear warming,” Trump said. “An immediate problem.”

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge

Elon Musk, who famously owns an electric vehicle company and has said he wants to move humanity to “a sustainable energy civilization,” told former President Donald Trump during an interview on X that “we shouldn’t vilify the oil and gas industry.”

Musk interviewed Trump on his social media platform, where the livestream was delayed over 40 minutes due to technical difficulties. After long, rambling discussions about immigration, inflation, and foreign policy, Musk and Trump finally came to the subject of energy and climate change — where Musk surprisingly came to defense of the fossil fuel industry.

“I don’t think we should vilify the oil and gas industry and the people that have worked very hard in those industries to provide the necessary energy to support the economy,” Musk said.

The Tesla CEO, who described his views as “pretty moderate” on energy despite owning an EV and home energy company, claimed the economy “would collapse” if oil and gas firms were forced to shutdown. Musk also said that the planet can transition to a sustainable energy economy in “50 or 100 years” — despite the scientific community warning that humanity is quickly reaching a tipping point on the climate. (Trump later changed it to “500 to 1000 years,” which Musk didn’t correct.)

“So it’s not like the house is on fire immediately,” Musk said. “But I think it is something we need to move towards… It’s probably better to move there faster than slower. But like without vilifying the oil and gas industry and without causing hardship in the short term.”

But he quickly contradicted himself. Musk acknowledged that the air will become harder to breath with the continued use of fossil fuels, causing people “headaches and nausea.” But that was no reason to quickly transition away from the use of planet-heating fuels. According to Musk, we can casually stroll into a more sustainable future.

“We still have quite a bit of time,” he said. “We don’t need to rush.”

Trump, who often sounded like he was slurring his words, quipped that rising sea levels means people would have more “oceanfront property.” That comment was quickly blasted out by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.

Trump then briefly touched on one of his favorite topics, electric vehicles, claiming that fossil fuel-powered energy generation is what powers Tesla’s vehicles. “[We] can’t get away from it at this moment,” he said.

But the EV discussion didn’t go much further than that, despite Trump’s vows to end subsidies for plug-in cars that could seriously impact Tesla’s sales. Trump urged Musk to put solar panels on the roof of his cars. (Tesla filed a patent for a solar panel-covered tonneau cover for the Cybertruck, but didn’t follow through.)

“People talk about global warming, or they talk about climate change, but they never talk about nuclear warming,” Trump said. “An immediate problem.”

Read More 

Blasting away with finger guns in Deadlock’s training level. | Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

It’s been nearly five years since Valve announced a truly new game — and counting. Valve has still not announced Deadlock, its new hero shooter that takes cues from Overwatch, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2 and more. But that hasn’t stopped nearly 20,000 people from trying the game, including me.
And I’m not under NDA. I have signed no contracts, made no verbal agreements; I haven’t even clicked through a EULA.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
This message does pop up when I launch Deadlock, but I didn’t click OK; instead, I hit the Escape key and watched it disappear.

Earlier today, I received a no-strings-attached invite to play Deadlock on Steam. Steam claims the game is made by Valve. It displays Valve’s copyrighted logo when it launches, and its executable is digitally signed by “Valve Corp.” The game’s directories contain Valve legal notices and numerous other text files that reference Valve, and it feels like a Valve game. Though Valve didn’t respond to my requests for comment, I’m completely convinced that it’s legit.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
The Deadlock main menu. It reads “Early Development Build.”

So: what is Deadlock?
It’s a 6-on-6 shooter, like Overwatch, where your team of heroes attempts to dominate a map by slowly wearing down the opposing team and pushing them back. But you’re also leading an army of NPC grunts down four different lanes to destroy the opposing team’s stationary defenses, a little like Dota 2 or other MOBA games.

There’s no downtime. It’s a constant war between your team’s “Troopers” (the grunts) and the enemy team’s “Troopers,” which keep respawning and advancing on enemy positions, wave after wave. But they can’t break through unless the human-powered heroes lend them a hand with powerful weapons, abilities, and upgrades.
Nor can humans easily break through without their NPC army — or at least, that’s what I saw in my first match. To take down the flame-headed, energy spewing Guardians or hulking Walkers that block your passage, it takes at least a somewhat coordinated effort by one human and their little autonomous friends. Each match culminates in an all-hands-on-deck fight against the enemy’s Patron, a gigantic floating orb with arms and death rays.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
I’ve gotten most of the way around the right lane, but now I have to contend with a Walker. My Troopers need help.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
A Patron.

When I say “coordinated,” I’m not talking about aiming. This isn’t a Valorant or Apex Legends-like game where snappy aim is key. It feels like Overwatch, or maybe even more so Team Fortress 2 in its floaty, wear-down-their-health gameplay. You can tank, heal, and retreat even if a tremendous amount of enemy fire is coming your way.
Each match does get deadlier and deadlier as you unlock your heroes’ abilities and buy skills, many of which give you more damage per second. Others provide life steal, shielding, and more. Every character also has strong and light melee attacks, and you can parry an incoming melee attack to stun your opponent.

It help that there are a lot of ways to dodge enemy bullets and traverse the map: you can slide, dash, air dash, dash jump, double jump, and mantle up to ledges. Each of the game’s four lanes also has an aerial tramway that lets you hitch free rides into (and out of) the fray.

GIF by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Hopping onto a zipline.

The ziplines don’t feel overpowered; after an earlier leak, I’d once heard them compared to Titanfall’s attack-from-any-angle traversal gameplay, but Valve keeps them away from the actual firing lines. You have to retreat to territory you own before they work.
They also look like they’ll lead to a fascinating give-and-take mechanic as games progress. To power up, I needed to take my hero back to a shop to buy new perks with the souls I’d accumulated by destroying enemy troopers and heroes, but that left my territory undefended. By the time I returned, the front lines had been pushed back further than I would have liked.
Even in this “early development build,” there are already 20 different heroes, plenty of which look like they’ll be fun to play. Yes, some of them are common archetypes like the archer, swordsman, sniper, and shotgun teleport specialist, but it’s not all that simple: have you ever seen an Infernus who literally finger-guns his foes to pieces?

I initially gravitated towards Wraith thanks to her style and the tremendous dakka of her rapid-fire tommygun, then switched to McGinnis when I found out she’s the Team Fortress 2 engineer and heavy weapons specialist in one: turrets, barrier walls, and a giant minigun that fires faster the longer it goes.
I haven’t played enough yet to even begin to tell if the game’s well-balanced, or if there’s any kind of backstory for its heroes, but I’m eager to give it a go with my friends — and it seems like Valve will be just fine with that.
While Valve has yet to announce or even acknowledge this game’s existence publicly, the current build lets anyone with a copy invite as many Steam friends as they like to give it a try, too. That’s why I have an invite, and that’s why my friends now have an invite.
It’s an unusual way to release a game, but this is Valve we’re talking about — it’s an unusual company.

Blasting away with finger guns in Deadlock’s training level. | Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

It’s been nearly five years since Valve announced a truly new game — and counting. Valve has still not announced Deadlock, its new hero shooter that takes cues from Overwatch, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2 and more. But that hasn’t stopped nearly 20,000 people from trying the game, including me.

And I’m not under NDA. I have signed no contracts, made no verbal agreements; I haven’t even clicked through a EULA.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
This message does pop up when I launch Deadlock, but I didn’t click OK; instead, I hit the Escape key and watched it disappear.

Earlier today, I received a no-strings-attached invite to play Deadlock on Steam. Steam claims the game is made by Valve. It displays Valve’s copyrighted logo when it launches, and its executable is digitally signed by “Valve Corp.” The game’s directories contain Valve legal notices and numerous other text files that reference Valve, and it feels like a Valve game. Though Valve didn’t respond to my requests for comment, I’m completely convinced that it’s legit.

So: what is Deadlock?

It’s a 6-on-6 shooter, like Overwatch, where your team of heroes attempts to dominate a map by slowly wearing down the opposing team and pushing them back. But you’re also leading an army of NPC grunts down four different lanes to destroy the opposing team’s stationary defenses, a little like Dota 2 or other MOBA games.

There’s no downtime. It’s a constant war between your team’s “Troopers” (the grunts) and the enemy team’s “Troopers,” which keep respawning and advancing on enemy positions, wave after wave. But they can’t break through unless the human-powered heroes lend them a hand with powerful weapons, abilities, and upgrades.

Nor can humans easily break through without their NPC army — or at least, that’s what I saw in my first match. To take down the flame-headed, energy spewing Guardians or hulking Walkers that block your passage, it takes at least a somewhat coordinated effort by one human and their little autonomous friends. Each match culminates in an all-hands-on-deck fight against the enemy’s Patron, a gigantic floating orb with arms and death rays.

When I say “coordinated,” I’m not talking about aiming. This isn’t a Valorant or Apex Legends-like game where snappy aim is key. It feels like Overwatch, or maybe even more so Team Fortress 2 in its floaty, wear-down-their-health gameplay. You can tank, heal, and retreat even if a tremendous amount of enemy fire is coming your way.

Each match does get deadlier and deadlier as you unlock your heroes’ abilities and buy skills, many of which give you more damage per second. Others provide life steal, shielding, and more. Every character also has strong and light melee attacks, and you can parry an incoming melee attack to stun your opponent.

It help that there are a lot of ways to dodge enemy bullets and traverse the map: you can slide, dash, air dash, dash jump, double jump, and mantle up to ledges. Each of the game’s four lanes also has an aerial tramway that lets you hitch free rides into (and out of) the fray.

GIF by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Hopping onto a zipline.

The ziplines don’t feel overpowered; after an earlier leak, I’d once heard them compared to Titanfall’s attack-from-any-angle traversal gameplay, but Valve keeps them away from the actual firing lines. You have to retreat to territory you own before they work.

They also look like they’ll lead to a fascinating give-and-take mechanic as games progress. To power up, I needed to take my hero back to a shop to buy new perks with the souls I’d accumulated by destroying enemy troopers and heroes, but that left my territory undefended. By the time I returned, the front lines had been pushed back further than I would have liked.

Even in this “early development build,” there are already 20 different heroes, plenty of which look like they’ll be fun to play. Yes, some of them are common archetypes like the archer, swordsman, sniper, and shotgun teleport specialist, but it’s not all that simple: have you ever seen an Infernus who literally finger-guns his foes to pieces?

I initially gravitated towards Wraith thanks to her style and the tremendous dakka of her rapid-fire tommygun, then switched to McGinnis when I found out she’s the Team Fortress 2 engineer and heavy weapons specialist in one: turrets, barrier walls, and a giant minigun that fires faster the longer it goes.

I haven’t played enough yet to even begin to tell if the game’s well-balanced, or if there’s any kind of backstory for its heroes, but I’m eager to give it a go with my friends — and it seems like Valve will be just fine with that.

While Valve has yet to announce or even acknowledge this game’s existence publicly, the current build lets anyone with a copy invite as many Steam friends as they like to give it a try, too. That’s why I have an invite, and that’s why my friends now have an invite.

It’s an unusual way to release a game, but this is Valve we’re talking about — it’s an unusual company.

Read More 

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Photo: Getty Images

Elon Musk’s “conversation” with former President Donald Trump got off to a rocky start. The interview, which was hosted on X Spaces and scheduled to begin at 8PM ET Monday night, crashed almost immediately and didn’t begin until 42 minutes later
Those who did manage to get into the Space, including several Verge staffers, said it kicked off with lo-fi techno playing from Trump’s account for roughly 30 minutes.
Eighteen minutes after the conversation was supposed to begin, Musk claimed X was the target of a “massive DDOS attack” that had made it impossible for the Space to proceed as planned.
But the rest of X appears to be working normally for Verge staffers, and a source at the company confirmed to The Verge there wasn’t actually a DDOS attack. Another X staffer said there was a “99 percent” chance Elon was lying about a DDOS attack.

There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on . Working on shutting it down. Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024

In a series of followup posts on X, Musk claimed X tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners on Monday and said X would host the Space with a smaller number of concurrent users. As of this writing, X says there are 915,000 people listening to the Space.

We will proceed with the smaller number of concurrent listeners at 8:30 ET and then post the unedited audio immediately thereafter https://t.co/oxF8PsNHnZ— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024

Musk repeated the DDOS claim when the Space finally began around 8:40
The interview’s failure to get off the ground was reminiscent of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s 2023 announcement that he was running for president, which also began with technical difficulties. At the time, Musk attributed the problems to overloaded servers.
Kylie Robison contributed reporting.
Developing…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Photo: Getty Images

Elon Musk’s “conversation” with former President Donald Trump got off to a rocky start. The interview, which was hosted on X Spaces and scheduled to begin at 8PM ET Monday night, crashed almost immediately and didn’t begin until 42 minutes later

Those who did manage to get into the Space, including several Verge staffers, said it kicked off with lo-fi techno playing from Trump’s account for roughly 30 minutes.

Eighteen minutes after the conversation was supposed to begin, Musk claimed X was the target of a “massive DDOS attack” that had made it impossible for the Space to proceed as planned.

But the rest of X appears to be working normally for Verge staffers, and a source at the company confirmed to The Verge there wasn’t actually a DDOS attack. Another X staffer said there was a “99 percent” chance Elon was lying about a DDOS attack.

In a series of followup posts on X, Musk claimed X tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners on Monday and said X would host the Space with a smaller number of concurrent users. As of this writing, X says there are 915,000 people listening to the Space.

Musk repeated the DDOS claim when the Space finally began around 8:40

The interview’s failure to get off the ground was reminiscent of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s 2023 announcement that he was running for president, which also began with technical difficulties. At the time, Musk attributed the problems to overloaded servers.

Kylie Robison contributed reporting.

Developing…

Read More 

Cambridge, MA – January 24: Gated entrance on the campus of Harvard University. | Photo: Getty Images

After years of legwork, Harvard researchers canceled plans to test a controversial theory for cooling the planet by sending sunlight-reflecting particles up into the atmosphere. Now, members of an independent advisory committee tasked with addressing ethics and safety concerns are sharing what they learned from the ill-fated project.
A policy analysis published in the journal Science on Friday highlights how important it is to talk to people on the ground before launching an experiment, especially one tied to potentially planet-altering consequences. The paper echoes recent calls to get policies in place to protect against any unintended side effects.
Until pretty recently, the thought of reflecting sunlight back into space to combat global warming — a process called solar geoengineering — seemed to be firmly rooted in science fiction. But with the climate crisis worsening, the idea has started to move from the fringes of academic research to garner more serious debate.
“Public engagement is necessary”
Some researchers and their Silicon Valley backers want to put the theory to the test. And time is running out to establish rules for how to craft those experiments responsibly, which could help determine whether solar geoengineering will do more harm than good.
“One of the core messages that comes out of this is that public engagement is necessary even when you don’t think that the impact of the experiment is going to be felt in a real way, in a concrete way, in real time. This issue has such a long tail, and it has such deeper meaning for so many people,” says Sikina Jinnah, lead author of the Science policy analysis and a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Harvard researchers launched the project called SCoPEx — short for Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment — back in 2017. To better understand any potential risks or benefits associated with solar geoengineering, it planned to conduct the first-ever outdoor experiment using reflective particles. It would have released some of those aerosols into the stratosphere via balloon and then piloted the balloon back through the plume to take measurements. The aim was to observe how the particles interact with each other and other elements of that environment — resulting in data that could be used to make more accurate computer models.
That never happened. There was supposed to be an engineering test flight without any particle release in Sweden in 2021, but it was scrapped after facing strong opposition from local Indigenous leaders. A big point of contention was that the researchers didn’t initially reach out to the Saami Council, which represents Saami Indigenous peoples’ organizations in the region. Members of SCoPEx’s advisory committee didn’t agree on whether to consult with the Saami since the test flight wasn’t going to release anything into the atmosphere, according to the policy analysis. The majority wound up deciding that the test flight could go ahead if there weren’t any significant environmental concerns to flag.
The Saami Council caught wind of the plans anyway and wrote a strongly worded letter to the advisory committee demanding the researchers cancel the flight. They said it was “remarkable” that the test flight would take place without consulting the Saami people or other local stakeholders, given the controversies swirling around solar geoengineering. Local environmental advocates, including Swedish chapters of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, also signed the letter.

Solar geoengineering is still considered a “false solution” to climate change by many activists. Injecting particles in the atmosphere attempts to recreate the way erupting volcanoes can temporarily cool the planet by releasing sulfur dioxide. But sulfur dioxide might also lead to acid rain, worsen the Antarctic ozone hole, or have other unforeseen consequences. There are also fears that solar geoengineering could detract from efforts to transition to clean energy, or lead to a dangerous swing in global temperatures if it’s ever implemented and then abruptly stopped.
“We note that [solar geoengineering using reflective particles] is a technology that entails risks of catastrophic consequences … There are therefore no acceptable reasons for allowing the SCoPEx project to be conducted either in Sweden or elsewhere,” the Saami Council letter says.
The advisory committee ultimately recommended canceling the test flight in Sweden after receiving that letter. By 2023, Harvard had told the advisory committee that it had “suspended” the project and then canceled it altogether in March of this year. The project “struggled both with intense media attention and with how to address calls from the scientific advisory committee to broadly and formally engage with the public,” Nature reported at the time, citing one of its project leaders.
“I’m grateful for the SCoPEx Advisory Committee’s insights. Their thoughtful analysis is valuable to the scientific community as it considers important questions of governance,” Frank Keutsch, who was the principal investigator for SCoPEx, tells The Verge in an email. He didn’t elaborate more on why the project ended.
It’ll take more than an ad hoc committee to effectively oversee geoengineering research moving forward, according to the newly published policy analysis. “The time is ripe for governments to begin discussing coordination of research governance,” it says.

Those talks have already started at the European Commission and the United Nations Environment Assembly, although they haven’t led to any concrete new policies yet. There has been a moratorium on large-scale geoengineering since a United Nations biodiversity conference in 2010, but it excludes small-scale scientific research.
And small fly-by-night initiatives have become a bigger concern lately. Last year, the founders of one geoengineering startup grilled fungicide in a California parking lot to produce sulfur dioxide gas that they then attempted to launch into the atmosphere via weather balloons. That followed a similar balloon launch in Mexico that prompted the government there to bar solar geoengineering experiments. The policy analysis calls the startup’s efforts “irresponsible” and “not tied to any legitimate scientific pursuit.”
Since then, there have been calls to either lay down rules for how to regulate future experiments or to stop solar geoengineering altogether. But without broader policies in place, keeping up with new geoengineering efforts gets to be a bit like playing whack-a-mole around the world.
Those policies could also ensure that nearby communities get to have a say in projects that might affect them. And as we’ve learned with SCoPEx, even more studious efforts can skip that step to their own detriment.

Cambridge, MA – January 24: Gated entrance on the campus of Harvard University. | Photo: Getty Images

After years of legwork, Harvard researchers canceled plans to test a controversial theory for cooling the planet by sending sunlight-reflecting particles up into the atmosphere. Now, members of an independent advisory committee tasked with addressing ethics and safety concerns are sharing what they learned from the ill-fated project.

A policy analysis published in the journal Science on Friday highlights how important it is to talk to people on the ground before launching an experiment, especially one tied to potentially planet-altering consequences. The paper echoes recent calls to get policies in place to protect against any unintended side effects.

Until pretty recently, the thought of reflecting sunlight back into space to combat global warming — a process called solar geoengineering — seemed to be firmly rooted in science fiction. But with the climate crisis worsening, the idea has started to move from the fringes of academic research to garner more serious debate.

Some researchers and their Silicon Valley backers want to put the theory to the test. And time is running out to establish rules for how to craft those experiments responsibly, which could help determine whether solar geoengineering will do more harm than good.

“One of the core messages that comes out of this is that public engagement is necessary even when you don’t think that the impact of the experiment is going to be felt in a real way, in a concrete way, in real time. This issue has such a long tail, and it has such deeper meaning for so many people,” says Sikina Jinnah, lead author of the Science policy analysis and a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Harvard researchers launched the project called SCoPEx — short for Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment — back in 2017. To better understand any potential risks or benefits associated with solar geoengineering, it planned to conduct the first-ever outdoor experiment using reflective particles. It would have released some of those aerosols into the stratosphere via balloon and then piloted the balloon back through the plume to take measurements. The aim was to observe how the particles interact with each other and other elements of that environment — resulting in data that could be used to make more accurate computer models.

That never happened. There was supposed to be an engineering test flight without any particle release in Sweden in 2021, but it was scrapped after facing strong opposition from local Indigenous leaders. A big point of contention was that the researchers didn’t initially reach out to the Saami Council, which represents Saami Indigenous peoples’ organizations in the region. Members of SCoPEx’s advisory committee didn’t agree on whether to consult with the Saami since the test flight wasn’t going to release anything into the atmosphere, according to the policy analysis. The majority wound up deciding that the test flight could go ahead if there weren’t any significant environmental concerns to flag.

The Saami Council caught wind of the plans anyway and wrote a strongly worded letter to the advisory committee demanding the researchers cancel the flight. They said it was “remarkable” that the test flight would take place without consulting the Saami people or other local stakeholders, given the controversies swirling around solar geoengineering. Local environmental advocates, including Swedish chapters of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, also signed the letter.

Solar geoengineering is still considered a “false solution” to climate change by many activists. Injecting particles in the atmosphere attempts to recreate the way erupting volcanoes can temporarily cool the planet by releasing sulfur dioxide. But sulfur dioxide might also lead to acid rain, worsen the Antarctic ozone hole, or have other unforeseen consequences. There are also fears that solar geoengineering could detract from efforts to transition to clean energy, or lead to a dangerous swing in global temperatures if it’s ever implemented and then abruptly stopped.

“We note that [solar geoengineering using reflective particles] is a technology that entails risks of catastrophic consequences … There are therefore no acceptable reasons for allowing the SCoPEx project to be conducted either in Sweden or elsewhere,” the Saami Council letter says.

The advisory committee ultimately recommended canceling the test flight in Sweden after receiving that letter. By 2023, Harvard had told the advisory committee that it had “suspended” the project and then canceled it altogether in March of this year. The project “struggled both with intense media attention and with how to address calls from the scientific advisory committee to broadly and formally engage with the public,” Nature reported at the time, citing one of its project leaders.

“I’m grateful for the SCoPEx Advisory Committee’s insights. Their thoughtful analysis is valuable to the scientific community as it considers important questions of governance,” Frank Keutsch, who was the principal investigator for SCoPEx, tells The Verge in an email. He didn’t elaborate more on why the project ended.

It’ll take more than an ad hoc committee to effectively oversee geoengineering research moving forward, according to the newly published policy analysis. “The time is ripe for governments to begin discussing coordination of research governance,” it says.

Those talks have already started at the European Commission and the United Nations Environment Assembly, although they haven’t led to any concrete new policies yet. There has been a moratorium on large-scale geoengineering since a United Nations biodiversity conference in 2010, but it excludes small-scale scientific research.

And small fly-by-night initiatives have become a bigger concern lately. Last year, the founders of one geoengineering startup grilled fungicide in a California parking lot to produce sulfur dioxide gas that they then attempted to launch into the atmosphere via weather balloons. That followed a similar balloon launch in Mexico that prompted the government there to bar solar geoengineering experiments. The policy analysis calls the startup’s efforts “irresponsible” and “not tied to any legitimate scientific pursuit.”

Since then, there have been calls to either lay down rules for how to regulate future experiments or to stop solar geoengineering altogether. But without broader policies in place, keeping up with new geoengineering efforts gets to be a bit like playing whack-a-mole around the world.

Those policies could also ensure that nearby communities get to have a say in projects that might affect them. And as we’ve learned with SCoPEx, even more studious efforts can skip that step to their own detriment.

Read More 

Illustration: The Verge

I love storing a digital pass in my phone’s wallet enough that I’m a little miffed when I have to use a different app or, heaven forbid, a saved PDF instead. On Android, at least, there’s a better way, thanks to a new Google Wallet option rolling out now that uses AI to generate a digital version with all the relevant details that you can use just like any other digital pass.
The feature, which Google announced at its I/O conference in May, takes the place of a previous “Photo” option in the “Add to Wallet” menu that could create a simpler version of a pass that just showed a barcode or QR code.
Dubbed “Everything Else,” using it could save you from digging through your email to find a PDF while you’re standing in line at the venue or trying to navigate your healthcare provider’s app to get an image of your insurance card. Google Wallet’s generated passes can work for a broad range of categories, including business cards, IDs, library cards, loyalty cards, passports, and vehicle registration, as 9to5Google notes. It only works in the US right now, though.

Screenshots: Google Wallet
You might want to make sure Sam’s Club will accept this before you ditch the card, though.

When you pick “Everything Else,” the app asks for permission to process your sensitive information using Google’s AI and organize it according to categories like private pass, health pass, or driver’s license. Then, you can take a picture of the pass and, after it’s processed, adjust any details or categories that don’t seem right and approve the final product.
Google has published instructions for using the feature and seems to have started rolling it out earlier this month, While our own Emma Roth has it on her Galaxy Note 20, I still don’t on my Pixel 6, but it should be available on more devices soon.

Illustration: The Verge

I love storing a digital pass in my phone’s wallet enough that I’m a little miffed when I have to use a different app or, heaven forbid, a saved PDF instead. On Android, at least, there’s a better way, thanks to a new Google Wallet option rolling out now that uses AI to generate a digital version with all the relevant details that you can use just like any other digital pass.

The feature, which Google announced at its I/O conference in May, takes the place of a previous “Photo” option in the “Add to Wallet” menu that could create a simpler version of a pass that just showed a barcode or QR code.

Dubbed “Everything Else,” using it could save you from digging through your email to find a PDF while you’re standing in line at the venue or trying to navigate your healthcare provider’s app to get an image of your insurance card. Google Wallet’s generated passes can work for a broad range of categories, including business cards, IDs, library cards, loyalty cards, passports, and vehicle registration, as 9to5Google notes. It only works in the US right now, though.

Screenshots: Google Wallet
You might want to make sure Sam’s Club will accept this before you ditch the card, though.

When you pick “Everything Else,” the app asks for permission to process your sensitive information using Google’s AI and organize it according to categories like private pass, health pass, or driver’s license. Then, you can take a picture of the pass and, after it’s processed, adjust any details or categories that don’t seem right and approve the final product.

Google has published instructions for using the feature and seems to have started rolling it out earlier this month, While our own Emma Roth has it on her Galaxy Note 20, I still don’t on my Pixel 6, but it should be available on more devices soon.

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Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok is adding group chats with support for up to 32 people, the company announced today. The feature is available to users aged 16 and up, allowing them to share TikToks with friends and family members without having to open a separate messaging app.
You can start a group chat by selecting the Inbox button, tapping Chat, selecting which friends you want to include, and hitting “Start group chat.” There are some exceptions: for example, you can only join a group chat if you’re invited by people you follow back. Also, if you don’t allow anyone on the platform to message you, you won’t receive invites at all.
There are also slightly different rules for teens under the age of 18: they can only join a group chat if it contains at least one person who follows them back. Teens who create a group chat must also manually review and approve people who join.
Even though TikTok disabled DMs for users under 16 in 2020, it later gave everyone else on the app the ability to accept messages from all users. In addition to group chats, TikTok is rolling out custom stickers that users 18 and up can create and upload to the platform.
TikTok may be a little late to the group messaging game, but it sounds like the new feature will at least save you a trip to your Messenger or WhatsApp group to share the funny TikTok video you just found.

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok is adding group chats with support for up to 32 people, the company announced today. The feature is available to users aged 16 and up, allowing them to share TikToks with friends and family members without having to open a separate messaging app.

You can start a group chat by selecting the Inbox button, tapping Chat, selecting which friends you want to include, and hitting “Start group chat.” There are some exceptions: for example, you can only join a group chat if you’re invited by people you follow back. Also, if you don’t allow anyone on the platform to message you, you won’t receive invites at all.

There are also slightly different rules for teens under the age of 18: they can only join a group chat if it contains at least one person who follows them back. Teens who create a group chat must also manually review and approve people who join.

Even though TikTok disabled DMs for users under 16 in 2020, it later gave everyone else on the app the ability to accept messages from all users. In addition to group chats, TikTok is rolling out custom stickers that users 18 and up can create and upload to the platform.

TikTok may be a little late to the group messaging game, but it sounds like the new feature will at least save you a trip to your Messenger or WhatsApp group to share the funny TikTok video you just found.

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Image: Ford

Ford and TXU Energy, one of Texas’ largest electric providers, have partnered up so customers can get free EV charging at home. Owners of newer Ford EVs and plug-in hybrids who sign up for TXU’s Free EV Miles program can get full credit back on their utility bill if they charge up during TXU’s free 18-hour window.
In a press release, Ford says it’s aiming to “educate Texans about the perks of driving electric.” The “first-of-its-kind” deal will incentivize customers to charge during off-peak hours. Free hours will be between 7:00PM and 1:00PM the next day. (Charging at other times will cost the same as any other use of electricity in the home.)
In an email to The Verge, Ford PR representative Eddie Fernandez wrote that the program is “for now slated through 2026 with the goal to be ongoing.” The program is currently exclusive to Ford customers but might expand to other automakers in the future, according to Fernandez, who also confirms that Lincoln plug-in hybrids are included in the deal.

To get the free charging deal, you’ll need to give TXU access to your Ford plug-in vehicle’s charging information through the My Ford Pass app, which will then link to the electricity provider’s billing system.
If you own a 2021 or newer Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, Escape PHEV, or plug-in Lincoln and also live in a Texas county covered by TXU, you can sign up on the electricity provider’s website. As a bonus, Ford will also send you a $100 reward card right away, while TXU will give you $250 on your plan anniversary.

Image: Ford

Ford and TXU Energy, one of Texas’ largest electric providers, have partnered up so customers can get free EV charging at home. Owners of newer Ford EVs and plug-in hybrids who sign up for TXU’s Free EV Miles program can get full credit back on their utility bill if they charge up during TXU’s free 18-hour window.

In a press release, Ford says it’s aiming to “educate Texans about the perks of driving electric.” The “first-of-its-kind” deal will incentivize customers to charge during off-peak hours. Free hours will be between 7:00PM and 1:00PM the next day. (Charging at other times will cost the same as any other use of electricity in the home.)

In an email to The Verge, Ford PR representative Eddie Fernandez wrote that the program is “for now slated through 2026 with the goal to be ongoing.” The program is currently exclusive to Ford customers but might expand to other automakers in the future, according to Fernandez, who also confirms that Lincoln plug-in hybrids are included in the deal.

To get the free charging deal, you’ll need to give TXU access to your Ford plug-in vehicle’s charging information through the My Ford Pass app, which will then link to the electricity provider’s billing system.

If you own a 2021 or newer Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, Escape PHEV, or plug-in Lincoln and also live in a Texas county covered by TXU, you can sign up on the electricity provider’s website. As a bonus, Ford will also send you a $100 reward card right away, while TXU will give you $250 on your plan anniversary.

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Narwal’s Freo X Ultra mops floors exceptionally well while doubling as a decent robot vacuum. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

If you like the idea of investing as little effort as possible into mopping your hardwood floors, you might want to check out the current deal on the Narwal Freo X Ultra. Right now, our favorite robot vacuum for mopping is down to its second-best price of $999.99 ($400 off) at Amazon, which is just $50 shy of the all-time low we saw during Prime Day. Narwal is also matching said discount when you apply the promo code SUMNXU at checkout.

The Narwhal’s spinning triangular mop pads do an excellent job of cleaning hard surfaces while offering some impressive smarts. The robovac / mop hybrid is capable of adapting the pressure of its mop based on the floor type, for example, applying more to tile and less to hardwood. The bot can also make cleaning “decisions,” including going back to mop up dirty floors if it detects they still need some work; it’s even capable of detecting and cleaning dirt within its own mop pads.
The Narwhal also has several other useful features. Equipped with two large four-liter water tanks, it mops longer than rivals like the Roomba Combo J9 Plus. It’s relatively quiet, too, with a disposable onboard bin that can compress dust so you don’t have to deal with a loud auto-empty dock. And given its 8,200Pa of suction power, it does a good job on most carpets, even if it’s not great with plusher material.

That being said, the Narwal lacks a camera so its obstacle avoidance and navigation abilities aren’t the best. But as long as you keep your floors relatively clutter-free while cleaning, the Freo X Ultra should be able to navigate around small objects like socks just fine, leaving your floors spotless with minimal effort.

Narwal’s Freo X Ultra mops floors exceptionally well while doubling as a decent robot vacuum. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

If you like the idea of investing as little effort as possible into mopping your hardwood floors, you might want to check out the current deal on the Narwal Freo X Ultra. Right now, our favorite robot vacuum for mopping is down to its second-best price of $999.99 ($400 off) at Amazon, which is just $50 shy of the all-time low we saw during Prime Day. Narwal is also matching said discount when you apply the promo code SUMNXU at checkout.

The Narwhal’s spinning triangular mop pads do an excellent job of cleaning hard surfaces while offering some impressive smarts. The robovac / mop hybrid is capable of adapting the pressure of its mop based on the floor type, for example, applying more to tile and less to hardwood. The bot can also make cleaning “decisions,” including going back to mop up dirty floors if it detects they still need some work; it’s even capable of detecting and cleaning dirt within its own mop pads.

The Narwhal also has several other useful features. Equipped with two large four-liter water tanks, it mops longer than rivals like the Roomba Combo J9 Plus. It’s relatively quiet, too, with a disposable onboard bin that can compress dust so you don’t have to deal with a loud auto-empty dock. And given its 8,200Pa of suction power, it does a good job on most carpets, even if it’s not great with plusher material.

That being said, the Narwal lacks a camera so its obstacle avoidance and navigation abilities aren’t the best. But as long as you keep your floors relatively clutter-free while cleaning, the Freo X Ultra should be able to navigate around small objects like socks just fine, leaving your floors spotless with minimal effort.

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Image: Abigail Bassett for The Verge

Waymo’s plans to expand its robotaxi fleet are facing new roadblocks thanks to the Biden administration’s trade policies.
The Alphabet-owned company had planned to introduce a new robotaxi manufactured by Zeekr, a subsidiary of China’s Geely. The cars are being designed in Sweden (where Geely owns Swedish carmaker Volvo), adapted from Geely’s all-electric five-door Zeekr. Waymo is then outfitting the cars with the hardware and software necessary for autonomous driving. The first new vehicles began arriving in the US earlier this year.
But the vehicles could be subject to newly restrictive tariffs from the Biden administration, which aims to stymie Chinese EV imports into the US. The administration said it would roughly quadruple tariffs, to 100 percent from the current 25 percent, on all electric vehicles manufactured in China. The tariffs are expected to go into effect later this year.
The administration said it would roughly quadruple tariffs
In addition, the US Commerce Department is planning to announce new rules that would bar any software that originates in China from autonomous and connected vehicles that operate in the US.
Many products have the potential to be caught up in the new tariff sweep, but none more so than electric vehicles. With the EV share of total car sales in China expected to jump to almost 50 percent this year, up from just 6 percent in 2020, the country has quickly become a dominant player in the electrification of the global auto industry.
So far, the current tariffs have been effective at preventing most Chinese companies from importing their EVs to the US. But officials are reportedly nervous about the willingness of China’s government to subsidize the auto manufacturing sector. China is the number one exporter of cars globally, even though virtually none of them end up in the US.
Waymo is now getting caught up in the trade hostilities between the two countries. The company says it is closely monitoring the situation while insisting that none of the software that enables its vehicles to drive themselves originates from China.

New prototype EV, who ‘dis? pic.twitter.com/GvplLFC1fz— The Kilowatts ⚡️ (@klwtts) April 23, 2024

The first Zeekr-made autonomous vehicles were first spotted in California earlier this year. Waymo declined to comment on how many have been imported so far and whether the tariffs will alter the number of vehicles the company plans to eventually deploy.
“We are monitoring the tariffs closely,” Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher said in an email. “We’ve begun manually-driven, public road testing of the 6th-generation Waymo Driver on the Zeekr vehicle platform and have no updates to provide on its public deployment.”
As for the Commerce Department rules prohibiting Chinese software in autonomous vehicles, Teicher said Waymo is taking a similar wait-and-see approach.
“Once the Commerce Department’s rules are finalized, we’ll be in a better position to consider commenting on them,” he said. “For now, it’s worth noting that our automated driving system, the Waymo Driver, is designed and assembled in America.”
“We are monitoring the tariffs closely”
Today, Waymo’s fleet is mostly comprised of Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover SUVs, which largely operate in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix — with Austin soon to follow. Waymo has approximately 670 driverless vehicles in its fleet, according to recent documents submitted as part of a software recall. (Waymo retired its Chrysler Pacifica minivans in 2023.)
The Zeekr-made vehicle was supposed to be a lower-cost option for the company, which has racked up billions of dollars in expenses over the years. Waymo also introduced the possibility of the robotaxi arriving without traditional controls, like a steering wheel and pedals, to further drive down costs. (The company would need to obtain regulatory approval before deploying fully driverless vehicles on public roads.)
With room for five passengers, the Zeekr vehicles also promised to be more useful for larger groups than Waymo’s current fleet. That could be useful in helping Waymo compete with other human-powered ridehail services, like Uber and Lyft.
But if those vehicles are subject to the Biden administration’s tariffs, Waymo’s plans to expand into new cities with a brand-new vehicle might need to be rethought.

Image: Abigail Bassett for The Verge

Waymo’s plans to expand its robotaxi fleet are facing new roadblocks thanks to the Biden administration’s trade policies.

The Alphabet-owned company had planned to introduce a new robotaxi manufactured by Zeekr, a subsidiary of China’s Geely. The cars are being designed in Sweden (where Geely owns Swedish carmaker Volvo), adapted from Geely’s all-electric five-door Zeekr. Waymo is then outfitting the cars with the hardware and software necessary for autonomous driving. The first new vehicles began arriving in the US earlier this year.

But the vehicles could be subject to newly restrictive tariffs from the Biden administration, which aims to stymie Chinese EV imports into the US. The administration said it would roughly quadruple tariffs, to 100 percent from the current 25 percent, on all electric vehicles manufactured in China. The tariffs are expected to go into effect later this year.

In addition, the US Commerce Department is planning to announce new rules that would bar any software that originates in China from autonomous and connected vehicles that operate in the US.

Many products have the potential to be caught up in the new tariff sweep, but none more so than electric vehicles. With the EV share of total car sales in China expected to jump to almost 50 percent this year, up from just 6 percent in 2020, the country has quickly become a dominant player in the electrification of the global auto industry.

So far, the current tariffs have been effective at preventing most Chinese companies from importing their EVs to the US. But officials are reportedly nervous about the willingness of China’s government to subsidize the auto manufacturing sector. China is the number one exporter of cars globally, even though virtually none of them end up in the US.

Waymo is now getting caught up in the trade hostilities between the two countries. The company says it is closely monitoring the situation while insisting that none of the software that enables its vehicles to drive themselves originates from China.

The first Zeekr-made autonomous vehicles were first spotted in California earlier this year. Waymo declined to comment on how many have been imported so far and whether the tariffs will alter the number of vehicles the company plans to eventually deploy.

“We are monitoring the tariffs closely,” Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher said in an email. “We’ve begun manually-driven, public road testing of the 6th-generation Waymo Driver on the Zeekr vehicle platform and have no updates to provide on its public deployment.”

As for the Commerce Department rules prohibiting Chinese software in autonomous vehicles, Teicher said Waymo is taking a similar wait-and-see approach.

“Once the Commerce Department’s rules are finalized, we’ll be in a better position to consider commenting on them,” he said. “For now, it’s worth noting that our automated driving system, the Waymo Driver, is designed and assembled in America.”

Today, Waymo’s fleet is mostly comprised of Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover SUVs, which largely operate in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix — with Austin soon to follow. Waymo has approximately 670 driverless vehicles in its fleet, according to recent documents submitted as part of a software recall. (Waymo retired its Chrysler Pacifica minivans in 2023.)

The Zeekr-made vehicle was supposed to be a lower-cost option for the company, which has racked up billions of dollars in expenses over the years. Waymo also introduced the possibility of the robotaxi arriving without traditional controls, like a steering wheel and pedals, to further drive down costs. (The company would need to obtain regulatory approval before deploying fully driverless vehicles on public roads.)

With room for five passengers, the Zeekr vehicles also promised to be more useful for larger groups than Waymo’s current fleet. That could be useful in helping Waymo compete with other human-powered ridehail services, like Uber and Lyft.

But if those vehicles are subject to the Biden administration’s tariffs, Waymo’s plans to expand into new cities with a brand-new vehicle might need to be rethought.

Read More 

The OnePlus Pad 2 continues to impress in many ways, but the upgrades don’t justify the price. As an entertainment device, the new OnePlus Pad 2 shines. The display is dazzling, its speakers, top-notch. In fact, the Android tablet is even more powerful than its predecessor for watching movies, listening to music, and playing games — so much so that, during the time I spent testing the tablet, I had no desire to stream shows or listen to music on my 2022 iPad Air.
Unfortunately, though, that isn’t the whole story. The Pad 2 is also being sold as a productivity device — and for that, as I’ll explain, I found it lackluster. Add to that the fact that, while the original OnePlus Pad (which, unfortunately, will be discontinued once the existing stock is sold out) provided an impressive value for its price, OnePlus has increased the cost of its new midrange tablet by $70 to $549.99, making it harder to compete with similar Android tablets.

A flagship screen at a midrange price
But it has to be admitted that other similarly priced tablets can’t compete with the specs of the OnePlus Pad 2’s screen, either. Like its predecessor, the Pad 2 offers a higher 144Hz variable refresh rate than even Apple and Samsung’s pricier premium tablets, which allows for buttery smooth scrolling and easy navigation. The 3K LCD screen still supports Dolby Vision but can now hit a peak brightness of 900 nits with a sharper 3000 x 2120 resolution. The impressively bright and crisp display makes movies come alive, with good contrast levels for an LCD. Colors are also rich and vibrant — so long as you stay indoors.
With the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile processor, double the storage, and more RAM (256GB SSD / 12GB RAM), apps (including games) load at lightning speed and run smoothly. The improved performance also doesn’t come at the expense of battery life, which lasts as long as its predecessor’s.

The screen is great and the accessories are okay, but you’ll have a hard time getting real work done on the OnePlus Pad 2.

At 12.1 inches, the Pad 2’s screen sits somewhere between the latest 11-inch and 13-inch tablets from Apple, Samsung, and Google, and it also feels spacious and comfortable for content consumption, thanks to its 7:5 aspect ratio. In contrast, Samsung and Google’s tablets feature a 16:10 ratio, which can make reading or watching videos in landscape mode feel cramped.
Yet while the screen is spacious, at around 1.29 pounds (584 grams), the tablet’s weight makes it hard to read or watch movies comfortably for long periods of time. Combined with its size, the Pad 2 gets tiring to hold — I enjoy watching movies or reading while lying down, so this became a problem. I had to use the case to prop the tablet up.
Still, if you can overlook that, you get a tablet that provides a great movie-watching experience that’s made even better with its terrific speakers. Curiously, OnePlus has dropped support for Dolby Atmos, but its six speakers still deliver a loud and full sound with OnePlus’s version of spatial audio, Holo Audio. It automatically switches audio channels depending on whether it’s in landscape or portrait mode, which allows you to enjoy an immersive stereo sound hard to find in a tablet at this price. It’s a shame there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack, but then again, most tablets these days seem to only work with wireless headphones.

Like its predecessor, the camera is located in the center of the top edge on the back.

Still not a serious productivity device
As an Android tablet for entertainment, the OnePlus 2 is exceptional — but for everything else, it’s just okay. For example, one of the ways OnePad tries to pitch the Pad 2 as a productivity-focused tablet is by improving the tablet’s multitasking capabilities with the Open Canvas feature. First debuted in the OnePlus Open, the setting now lets you run three apps split-screen and customize their layout — you can then save the trio as a group for quick access, which makes multitasking easier than before. However, Apple and Samsung’s tablets offer more useful multitasking and windowing options.
In addition, because OnePlus’ OxygenOS 14.1 software is built on top of Android 14, the feature is limited by the fact that a lot of Android apps aren’t optimized for a tablet’s larger display. Slack, for instance, looks stretched out and lacks multiple-column views, which leaves a lot of empty space. Sharing the screen with two other apps using the Open Canvas feature made the app smaller and even more challenging to navigate, so I just stopped using it altogether.
That isn’t to say you can’t get any work done. The tablet works just fine for light productivity work. Google and Microsoft Office apps work well, and the recording app even lets you mark specific points. I like that OnePlus’ Notes app offers built-in notebooks with three different templates: one with bullets, a second with lines, and another with a grid. Note-taking e-readers like Kobo’s Elipsa 2E offer more options, but that’s still a nice touch for students or people like me who also use their tablets for journaling.
OnePlus also promises to introduce a lot of new AI-powered features that are similar to the productivity-focused ones Google released earlier this year. AI Recording Summary will summarize key points in long documents, while AI Speak will read text aloud, and AI Writer will help you write up content using text or image prompts. Maybe these features will help make the tablet better — but they sure aren’t here yet, and what is currently available won’t cut it if you want to get some real work done.

Opening up multiple apps just made them look more cramped and awkward.

Aside from its software, OnePlus’ accessories also hold it back from being a serious productivity device. Along with the $39.99 OnePlus Folio Case 2, the company also sells the $149.99 OnePlus Smart Keyboard and the $99.99 OnePlus Stylo 2. I was able to test the last two.
OnePlus’ detachable keyboard is okay, but it doesn’t live up to the standards needed for real productivity. I had no problem using it for browsing the web or shooting short emails. It’s small even for my tiny fingers, but it’s still comfortable to type on. The trackpad is spacious and easy to navigate, too, with helpful features like multi-finger gesture support. It clicks loudly, though, which made me feel uncomfortable in quieter public settings.
My biggest complaint, though, is that the keyboard just isn’t sturdy enough. The keyboard magnetically attaches to the Pad via three pogo pins and charges through the tablet relatively quickly. It bends to give a tilt ranging from 110 to 165 degrees, providing for a decent number of viewing angles. Unfortunately, the keyboard popped off the pins a few times, once while resting on my lap and another time while on my desk. Thankfully, you don’t have to attach the keyboard to your tablet to use it because it supports Bluetooth, but that does hold it back from being a decent laptop replacement.
The stylus might be OnePlus’ saving grace
The stylus might be OnePlus’ saving grace, though. Like the OnePlus Smart Keyboard, the new Stylo 2 quickly charges when magnetically attached to the Pad. It writes smoothly with no perceptive lag and offers increased pressure sensitivity levels, from 4,096 to 16,000. The new leather-like material offers better grip and is comfortable to hold, while OnePlus has also added a new linear motor that makes the tip vibrate to simulate writing with pen and paper. I definitely didn’t feel like I was writing on paper, but it did replicate the experience slightly better than my USB-C Apple Pencil.
Very good, but overpriced
Overall, the OnePlus Pad 2 capitalizes upon its strengths and continues to offer flagship specs, with an impressive screen that comparable tablets can’t match. It’s still not great for serious productivity or creation work, but it can handle light productivity chores and is a terrific midrange Android tablet for watching movies and consuming other types of entertainment. If you own a OnePlus phone, it’s even more tempting, with additional pluses such as hotspot sharing.
However, compared with similar Android tablets, its $549.99 price tag is just too high. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, which costs $50 more than the Pad 2, includes a stylus, waterproofing, cellular connectivity as an option, and a better software policy; Samsung says the Tab S9 FE Plus will receive four years of Android upgrades, as opposed to OnePlus’ promise of three, and five — not four — years of security updates. Even Google’s decent Pixel Tablet, which doesn’t offer as many bells and whistles, will save you about $150 over the new Pad 2.
In other words, OnePlus these days actually now faces real competition. While the great screen and performance may be tempting, in my opinion, it’s not enough to justify the $70 price hike.

Photography by Sheena Vasani / The Verge

The OnePlus Pad 2 continues to impress in many ways, but the upgrades don’t justify the price.

As an entertainment device, the new OnePlus Pad 2 shines. The display is dazzling, its speakers, top-notch. In fact, the Android tablet is even more powerful than its predecessor for watching movies, listening to music, and playing games — so much so that, during the time I spent testing the tablet, I had no desire to stream shows or listen to music on my 2022 iPad Air.

Unfortunately, though, that isn’t the whole story. The Pad 2 is also being sold as a productivity device — and for that, as I’ll explain, I found it lackluster. Add to that the fact that, while the original OnePlus Pad (which, unfortunately, will be discontinued once the existing stock is sold out) provided an impressive value for its price, OnePlus has increased the cost of its new midrange tablet by $70 to $549.99, making it harder to compete with similar Android tablets.

A flagship screen at a midrange price

But it has to be admitted that other similarly priced tablets can’t compete with the specs of the OnePlus Pad 2’s screen, either. Like its predecessor, the Pad 2 offers a higher 144Hz variable refresh rate than even Apple and Samsung’s pricier premium tablets, which allows for buttery smooth scrolling and easy navigation. The 3K LCD screen still supports Dolby Vision but can now hit a peak brightness of 900 nits with a sharper 3000 x 2120 resolution. The impressively bright and crisp display makes movies come alive, with good contrast levels for an LCD. Colors are also rich and vibrant — so long as you stay indoors.

With the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile processor, double the storage, and more RAM (256GB SSD / 12GB RAM), apps (including games) load at lightning speed and run smoothly. The improved performance also doesn’t come at the expense of battery life, which lasts as long as its predecessor’s.

The screen is great and the accessories are okay, but you’ll have a hard time getting real work done on the OnePlus Pad 2.

At 12.1 inches, the Pad 2’s screen sits somewhere between the latest 11-inch and 13-inch tablets from Apple, Samsung, and Google, and it also feels spacious and comfortable for content consumption, thanks to its 7:5 aspect ratio. In contrast, Samsung and Google’s tablets feature a 16:10 ratio, which can make reading or watching videos in landscape mode feel cramped.

Yet while the screen is spacious, at around 1.29 pounds (584 grams), the tablet’s weight makes it hard to read or watch movies comfortably for long periods of time. Combined with its size, the Pad 2 gets tiring to hold — I enjoy watching movies or reading while lying down, so this became a problem. I had to use the case to prop the tablet up.

Still, if you can overlook that, you get a tablet that provides a great movie-watching experience that’s made even better with its terrific speakers. Curiously, OnePlus has dropped support for Dolby Atmos, but its six speakers still deliver a loud and full sound with OnePlus’s version of spatial audio, Holo Audio. It automatically switches audio channels depending on whether it’s in landscape or portrait mode, which allows you to enjoy an immersive stereo sound hard to find in a tablet at this price. It’s a shame there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack, but then again, most tablets these days seem to only work with wireless headphones.

Like its predecessor, the camera is located in the center of the top edge on the back.

Still not a serious productivity device

As an Android tablet for entertainment, the OnePlus 2 is exceptional — but for everything else, it’s just okay. For example, one of the ways OnePad tries to pitch the Pad 2 as a productivity-focused tablet is by improving the tablet’s multitasking capabilities with the Open Canvas feature. First debuted in the OnePlus Open, the setting now lets you run three apps split-screen and customize their layout — you can then save the trio as a group for quick access, which makes multitasking easier than before. However, Apple and Samsung’s tablets offer more useful multitasking and windowing options.

In addition, because OnePlus’ OxygenOS 14.1 software is built on top of Android 14, the feature is limited by the fact that a lot of Android apps aren’t optimized for a tablet’s larger display. Slack, for instance, looks stretched out and lacks multiple-column views, which leaves a lot of empty space. Sharing the screen with two other apps using the Open Canvas feature made the app smaller and even more challenging to navigate, so I just stopped using it altogether.

That isn’t to say you can’t get any work done. The tablet works just fine for light productivity work. Google and Microsoft Office apps work well, and the recording app even lets you mark specific points. I like that OnePlus’ Notes app offers built-in notebooks with three different templates: one with bullets, a second with lines, and another with a grid. Note-taking e-readers like Kobo’s Elipsa 2E offer more options, but that’s still a nice touch for students or people like me who also use their tablets for journaling.

OnePlus also promises to introduce a lot of new AI-powered features that are similar to the productivity-focused ones Google released earlier this year. AI Recording Summary will summarize key points in long documents, while AI Speak will read text aloud, and AI Writer will help you write up content using text or image prompts. Maybe these features will help make the tablet better — but they sure aren’t here yet, and what is currently available won’t cut it if you want to get some real work done.

Opening up multiple apps just made them look more cramped and awkward.

Aside from its software, OnePlus’ accessories also hold it back from being a serious productivity device. Along with the $39.99 OnePlus Folio Case 2, the company also sells the $149.99 OnePlus Smart Keyboard and the $99.99 OnePlus Stylo 2. I was able to test the last two.

OnePlus’ detachable keyboard is okay, but it doesn’t live up to the standards needed for real productivity. I had no problem using it for browsing the web or shooting short emails. It’s small even for my tiny fingers, but it’s still comfortable to type on. The trackpad is spacious and easy to navigate, too, with helpful features like multi-finger gesture support. It clicks loudly, though, which made me feel uncomfortable in quieter public settings.

My biggest complaint, though, is that the keyboard just isn’t sturdy enough. The keyboard magnetically attaches to the Pad via three pogo pins and charges through the tablet relatively quickly. It bends to give a tilt ranging from 110 to 165 degrees, providing for a decent number of viewing angles. Unfortunately, the keyboard popped off the pins a few times, once while resting on my lap and another time while on my desk. Thankfully, you don’t have to attach the keyboard to your tablet to use it because it supports Bluetooth, but that does hold it back from being a decent laptop replacement.

The stylus might be OnePlus’ saving grace, though. Like the OnePlus Smart Keyboard, the new Stylo 2 quickly charges when magnetically attached to the Pad. It writes smoothly with no perceptive lag and offers increased pressure sensitivity levels, from 4,096 to 16,000. The new leather-like material offers better grip and is comfortable to hold, while OnePlus has also added a new linear motor that makes the tip vibrate to simulate writing with pen and paper. I definitely didn’t feel like I was writing on paper, but it did replicate the experience slightly better than my USB-C Apple Pencil.

Very good, but overpriced

Overall, the OnePlus Pad 2 capitalizes upon its strengths and continues to offer flagship specs, with an impressive screen that comparable tablets can’t match. It’s still not great for serious productivity or creation work, but it can handle light productivity chores and is a terrific midrange Android tablet for watching movies and consuming other types of entertainment. If you own a OnePlus phone, it’s even more tempting, with additional pluses such as hotspot sharing.

However, compared with similar Android tablets, its $549.99 price tag is just too high. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, which costs $50 more than the Pad 2, includes a stylus, waterproofing, cellular connectivity as an option, and a better software policy; Samsung says the Tab S9 FE Plus will receive four years of Android upgrades, as opposed to OnePlus’ promise of three, and five — not four — years of security updates. Even Google’s decent Pixel Tablet, which doesn’t offer as many bells and whistles, will save you about $150 over the new Pad 2.

In other words, OnePlus these days actually now faces real competition. While the great screen and performance may be tempting, in my opinion, it’s not enough to justify the $70 price hike.

Photography by Sheena Vasani / The Verge

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