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I still remember how excited I was the first time I set eyes on a robotic lawnmower. It was a few years ago and I remember wondering why it had never occurred to me before to investigate whether or not something like this existed.

It makes just as much sense as a robot vacuum and there’s no reason why people should still have to take care of chores like vacuuming or mowing themselves. Then I took one look at the price tag and immediately understood why people still have to mow their lawns themselves: The robotic mower I happened upon cost thousands of dollars.

Several years have passed since then and the same thing has happened to robot mowers as we saw happen previously with robot vacuums. Yes, you’ll still pay over $1,000 if you want a top-of-the-line Roomba from iRobot, but you can also find very capable alternatives for a fraction of the price. Such is the case with robotic lawnmowers these days, and I recently spent time testing the entry-level Worx Landroid M robotic lawnmower.

You can still expect to spend $3,000, $4,000, or even $5,000 if you want a high-end robotic lawnmower that can handle large properties with steep slopes in one pass. Worx’s Landroid M, on the other hand, starts at just $999.99. That comparatively small sum gets you a very compact and capable robotic mower that’s rated to handle yards up to one-quarter of an acre.

While it’s true that the starting price is a penny under $1,000, you can expect to pay a bit more than that when all is said and done. The Landroid M works well as long as you have a strong Wi-Fi signal that covers most of your yard, but you won’t need to worry about Wi-Fi at all if you get the $300 GPS module that also adds cellular data connectivity, the first year of which is included in that price. You’ll only pay $200 for the module if you buy it bundled with the mower.

You’ll also want the $250 Landroid Anti-Collision System (ACS) that adds ultrasonic sensors to the top of your mower. Once installed, the mower will automatically work its way around things like trees, outdoor furniture, and other large objects it might encounter. In case you’re wondering, yes, it will also stop the mower from running into a person or pet.

Finally, you’ll want the Landroid Garage that covers the mower’s docking station and protects it from the elements. It costs $130 and while the mower is indeed weatherproof, it’s a good idea to protect it from heavy rain.

All-in, you’re looking at $1,680 or $1,580 if you buy the mower bundled with the GPS unit. That’s still significantly less than you’ll spend on any other decent robotic lawnmower out there. You also can definitely use the $1,000 mower on its own and it’ll do a fine job, though it’ll be a bit clumsy around obstacles and you won’t get the security features that the GPS/cellular module affords.

Setup

There’s no question that using a robotic lawnmower to trim your yard will save you a ton of time in the long run. Initially, however, you will have to make a substantial time investment to get it up and running.

The Landroid setup involves running a guidewire around your entire lawn. You’ll need to keep it a very specific distance from the edges and you’ll also need to use a nifty little triangle pattern to help it maneuver around 90-degree corners. You’ll also need to stake it every few feet on average, but stakes should be even closer together in spots with little dips that would otherwise leave too much space between the wire and the ground. I learned this the hard way the first time I ran the mower when one of the wheels pulled it up along with two or three stakes and then got tangled before failing and sending an error message to my phone.

I set up the Landroid M to only mow my backyard since it’s fenced and I would have to leave one of my gates open in order to do the front yard as well. The backyard is a bit smaller than a quarter of an acre and there was really only one large obstacle to work around. Still, it took about half of a day to set it up from start to finish.

Getting started

There isn’t much more to do once you’ve placed the base and run the guidewire. The app that manages the mower requires you to create an account, of course, and then you walk the perimeter of your yard with your phone for an added layer of location awareness. You can also walk around large areas inside the guidewire where you don’t want the Landroid to mow, which is easier than setting up additional physical barriers with the guidewire.

After that, you’re off to the races. The accompanying app lets you set a manual mowing schedule with specific start times on certain days, or you can set an auto-schedule and let Landroid figure everything out for you. There is also a configurable rain delay so you can set the mower to always wait a certain number of hours before mowing so your grass can dry. The Landroid also has a rain sensor on top so if it starts raining while the unit is out, it will stop mowing and make its way back to the base station.

Growing pains

While it’s true that the Landroid is an autonomous mower, there is a bit of a learning curve and some growing pains that you’ll inevitably have to work through.

The first problem I ran into was a rock. That’s right, a rock. There was a somewhat large but rather flat rock next to a tree at the back of my yard, and the Landroid ran into problems with it not once but twice, though I share equal blame for the second run-in. As I mentioned before, I had an issue with the guidewire being pulled up by the cleats on one of the wheels the first time I ran the mower after setting it up.

After about 90 minutes of mowing, the Landroid encountered the aforementioned rock. It can work its way around most large rocks thanks to the ACS accessory, but this particular rock wasn’t tall enough to be seen by the sensors. It was very wide and heavy though, so the Landroid ran into trouble when it hit the rock — the rock slid under the front of the mower and lifted it off the ground a bit.

The Landroid then tried to go in reverse and back off of the rock, but it just so happened that one wheel was right on top of the guidewire at the time. The wire was then pulled up out of the ground along with a few stakes, and the mower stopped completely once the wire was wrapped up in the wheel.

Rather than completely remove the rock from the area, I decided to just push it up against the tree trunk thinking that next time around, the Landroid would avoid the rock while also avoiding the tree. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened at all. The front mower once again rolled up the rock a bit, but this time it made if far enough that it got stuck and just stopped mowing altogether. As is the case with any issues the Landroid runs into, a notification is sent to your phone so you can go rescue it.

As it happens, the Landroid also ran into a problem the third time it ran. That’s right, we went 0 for 3. The mower handles typical chipmunk holes without any issue, but it encountered a rather huge one in the corner of my yard. The mower’s nose dipped so low as a result that it couldn’t back up, and it just stopped trying after one wheel dug a big chunk of grass out of my yard.

Mowing

Once those issues were addressed and I Landroid-proofed the yard by removing that tricky rock and filling in the massive hole, this robot mower actually did a surprisingly good job. It doesn’t follow any discernable pattern so it seems like it’s going to miss spots if you watch it mow, but there is a method to the madness. The Landroid’s guidance systems ensure that it covers every inch of your yard and keeps all your grass cut to the same height. That said, it won’t necessarily cover every inch of your yard with each session depending on how much space it needs to cover, so you’ll want to create a schedule where it mows at least a few days a week if you want to keep everything uniform.

I was also surprised at how close the Landroid mows to the edges of the grass. As long as you run your guidewire at the recommended distance from the edges of your yard, it’ll do a much better job than you might expect. You’ll still need to go out with a trimmer every so often and clean up any grass that’s against walls or in other tricky areas, but there won’t be as much as you think. When all is said and done in my yard, I have to manually trim for about 4 minutes just to clean up a few areas that the Landroid can’t reach.

The Landroid M uses a three-blade cutting system that positions three double-edged blades around a spinning cylinder. It does a very good job of dicing up grass into a fine mulch that actually helps keep your lawn healthier than discarding the clippings with a standard mower. The clippings are small enough to settle around your soil, and I don’t even see them at all on or around my lawn.

Height is adjustable from 1.6″ up to 3.9″, so you can cut nice and tall during the hot summer months and a bit shorter in the spring and fall. The motor is wonderfully quiet so the Landroid won’t bother you at all if you’re outside while it’s running. I also tested the Find My Landroid enabled by the GPS and cellular add-on, and it worked great. You can set a perimeter in the app and anytime the mower goes outside that perimeter, it locks itself (you need a PIN to unlock it) and sends a notification to your phone. As the name of the feature suggests, you can also find your Landroid’s location on a map in the app.

Conclusions

So far, I’m thoroughly impressed with the Landroid M. The setup is time-consuming and there were definitely some bumps in the road when I first began using it. Once I worked through those issues, however, it has been smooth sailing.

With pricing that starts at $999.99 and ends up closer $1,600 with all the bells and whistles you want, the Landroid M is not cheap. The upgraded Landroid L version that covers up to a half-acre is even more expensive. But compared to similar options from rival brands, Landroids are far more affordable than other options I’ve explored. Keeping that in mind, it comes down to the value of your time versus the value of your money.

If the cost of buying a Landroid M is within reach, it’ll be a no-brainer for many people. Freeing up hours of your time each weekend is fantastic. And if your yard is anything like mine, you’ll also end up eliminating plenty of frustration. I have landscaping features to work around, slopes to worry about, trees with low branches to duck under, and all sorts of other little annoyances that would bug me each time I had to mow.

The Worx Landroid M is available starting at $999.99 on the Worx website. At the time of this writing, it was also available on Amazon starting at $975.

We’ve got some hefty stuff happening in the land o’ Android right now, and that’s putting it mildly. Google just squeezed out a surprise extra developer preview of the upcoming Android 11 release and announced an official date for the software’s beta debut.

The Pixel 4a is leaking left and right and inching ever closer to its arrival; and Google’s starting to rebrand stuff at an almost comical pace. (Not to worry: That last bit is a common mating-season ritual for the mysterious Google beast.)

All of that, though — not to mention the host of other high-profile phone launches trickling out every four to seven seconds as of late — could end up seeming like small potatoes compared to the impact a far less closely watched Android-associated moment is poised to have.

It’s a moment that’s expected to arrive later this year and one that could seriously shake up the Android ecosystem in some fascinating ways. And it’s coming from one of the most unlikely mobile-tech players of all.

Microsoft’s Android moment

Let’s not beat around the bush any longer: The moment is the arrival of Microsoft’s long-discussed Surface Duo dual-screen Android device. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “The Surface Duo?! That weird hingey gizmo that doesn’t even fold and is bound to have niche appeal? Have you lost your mind, man?” Well, the answer is an unambiguous yes; clearly, anyone who poses rhetorical questions to himself within a published column has a few screws loose in the ol’ upper chamber.

But regardless of the state of my marbles, the proposition is real: Microsoft’s Surface Duo has the potential to be the most interesting Android device we’ve seen in ages — and it’s accompanied by what is hands-down the most interesting question floating around the Android universe right now:

Can Microsoft shake up the sad state of Android upgrades?

It’s a weighty matzo ball to wrap your mind around, I realize, but there’s good reason to believe it might just be a possibility — the best one we’ve seen in ages, anyway. We’ll get to the reasons why in a second.

First, a quick catch-up on what the Surface Duo’s all about: The Duo, announced last fall and still expected to go on sale before the 2020 holiday season (though not alongside the slate of new Surface computers launched this week), is Microsoft’s first homemade Android phone. And it’s not just any regular ol’ Android phone, either: It sports two separate screens and — as you so elegantly put it a minute ago — a weird hingey thing between ’em. (I couldn’t have said it better myself.) The device folds in half, like a notebook, but doesn’t have any of the flaw-filled flexible display silliness other phone-makers are forcing upon us for their own selfish reasons.

Instead, the Surface Duo provides dual displays that act as separate but complementary parts of the phone-using experience, with an entire array of software patterns to support that concept. As I wrote earlier this year (and good golly, I do love quoting myself):

Microsoft actually took a thoughtful approach to how an extended-screen setup should work and precisely what sort of real-world, instantly relatable value it should provide. Instead of taking a cool-looking new kind of technology and then trying to find a reason for it to exist, Microsoft came up with the reason — and then came up with the device to support it. With all the wild phone forms flying around right now, that’s something no other company has yet managed to do.

In other words, the Duo sure looks like it could have all the practical productivity benefits foldable phones are lacking — and without all the hardware-driven drawbacks those devices possess. Intriguing, no? And niche of a notion as it may be, the niche in question is the world of business, enterprise, and other productivity-focused tech owners — the sorts of folks who are less interested in gimmicks and more interested in real-world, work-enhancing value.

And that brings us back to that broader topic of upgrades and why the Surface Duo could be one to watch.

A domain desperate for disruption

If you’ve been listening to me flap my yap for long, you know how I feel about the state of Android upgrades. It’s not even a feeling, really, but rather more of an objective reality: By and large and with rare exception, Android upgrades suck. (Hey, we’re all friends here. No need to sugarcoat it.) And that’s a problem in particular for business-minded users who are serious about security, privacy, and other foundational phone areas that OS updates address in a major way.

You know the deal by now, right? Outside of Google and its own Pixel line of products, most Android phone-makers do a consistently terrible job of sending out software updates to their users. The data says it all, and despite heavily hyped narratives to the contrary, things aren’t really getting much better — not by any meaningful measure.

The underlying reason is simple: Outside of Google, most device-makers don’t have the motivation to make timely and ongoing post-sales software support a priority. I mean, think about it: They make their money mostly by selling you hardware. Software updates require time and resources, and the companies doing all that legwork don’t get anything tangible back in return. If anything, updates arguably work against most device-makers’ interests, as getting phone-improving updates early and often makes your current phone seem consistently new, fresh, and current enough to keep using. And what do the companies making those devices want you to do? Yup, you guessed it: buy new phones as frequently as possible.

Within the realm of Android, Google is essentially the sole exception. It makes some money by selling you hardware, sure, but the lion’s share of its revenue comes from ads — which are enabled and supported by your use of Google services. It’s simple: The more time you spend online, the more information Google gleans about you. And the more targeted, effective ads it can then show you in various places whilst you’re staring at your screen. If you own a Pixel phone and have a great experience, you’ll use your Pixel phone more often. And so Google ultimately wins, even if you don’t buy new devices all that regularly.

Now think back to Microsoft. Microsoft, like Google, makes its own devices — including, soon, the very Surface Duo we’re discussing here today. But at its core, the company is less about hardware and more about platforms, software, and services. The hardware is mostly just a way to bring you further into the Microsoft ecosystem — an ecosystem Microsoft has worked carefully to build up within Android.

So what about Samsung? Well, Samsung may try to make money off services (occasionally in, ahem, some slightly questionable ways) — but despite its best efforts to build out its own ecosystem, no one gives a damn about Bixby. And no one’s clamoring to do business with the Galaxy Store. Samsung’s earnings are driven by hardware sales, plain and simple. Google’s are driven by advertising, with hardware acting as an insignificant footnote.

And guess what? Microsoft’s breakdown is much more similar to Google’s than it is to Samsung’s. The company doesn’t even break device sales out as its own category in its earnings, which speaks volumes about their place in the lineup.

I hate to bore you with all that corporate mumbo-jumbo, but we’re touching on all of this financial dullery to drive home the point that Microsoft is in a pretty unique position as the sole company outside of Google for which device sales alone are not the primary goal or motivation — and for which providing long-term software updates has some real tangible benefits.

Not only that, but Microsoft is about the only Android-involved company other than Google with experience at providing timely software updates on a large scale — and a history of prioritizing that.

See where this is going now?

If there’s one company that could shake up the sad state of Android upgrades and provide a new standard with which other device-makers will be forced to compare, Microsoft certainly seems like it. Google may have been setting that standard itself for some time now, but it’s never been a big enough force in the hardware game to have much widespread impact.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has a loyal and devoted base of business-minded users. It has the apps and services tons of enterprises are already relying on — apps and services that have gotten really good on Android over the years, by the way — and it has the foundation for its own mini-ecosystem within Android already established, with compelling and practical new cross-platform tools showing up constantly. It has all the pieces in place. All that’s left is for it to start actively playing.

Earlier this year, I wrote that Microsoft was “the new Android trailblazer” — that Microsoft, not Google, might be responsible for the most consequential changes to the way we use and think about Android in 2020. At the time, I was thinking primarily about the experience-related implications of the Surface Duo and how that device seemed poised to push Android’s multi-panel future forward in a way no other phone had managed.

When you zoom out even further, though, you realize there might be even more to the idea of Microsoft paving the way for a new era in Android — in an area where fresh blood and custom-defying challenges could make a world of difference. The cards all seem to be in place, and the expectations are taking shape. Now let’s see if Microsoft can actually deliver and give Android the kick in the pants it so desperately needs.

Though not as prevalent as Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire devices, Android TV still remains a competent and capable television experience.

That said, Google’s next foray into the living room will likely be Nest branded and feature a new user experience, according to a report from Protocol.

This new Android TV experience would put more focus on content like TV shows and movies rather than apps. This is a huge change from how Android TV looks right now and more in line with how Fire TV works.

Above: Android TV user interface; Below: Amazon Fire TV

This dovetails nicely with a report from 9to5Google that detailed how Google plans to release a new Chromecast Ultra with a remote. Protocol’s report corroborates this further by describing some of the features:

“Users will be able to install apps for streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ from Google’s Play Store, and the device will be integrated with Google Assistant for voice control. Like other Android TV devices, it will allow users to cast content, and it is expected to support Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service.

Google will market the device under a distinct brand, separating it from third-party streaming devices based on Android TV, according to two sources with knowledge of the company’s plans. The company is considering using its Nest brand for this purpose, according to one of these people, which would be in line with Google’s recent efforts to turn Nest into the umbrella brand for its smart home and entertainment hardware efforts.”

The addition of Stadia support isn’t surprising given how hard Google is pushing it but somewhat conflicts with a very important Android TV partner, Nvidia. The company released updated Shield TV streaming boxes last October and include the ability to use GeForce Now, a competitor to Stadia.

Streaming media players chart by Parks Associates, via Protocol

Converting the new Chromecast Ultra into a competitor against Roku, Amazon, and Apple also puts Google into contention with smart TV OEMs that use Android as the operating system of their televisions. Complicating things further, Google struck licensing agreements with those OEMs to prevent them from using forked versions of Android such as Amazon’s Fire TV. Google is apparently trying to ease manufacturer concerns by lowering the hardware requirements to run Android TV. That means, smart TV OEMs can build their devices for less and regain some profit margins.

Protocol says that Google is talking to the major streaming providers about supporting the next version of Android TV. However, the focus on content instead of apps may lead to Google prioritizing its own services, YouTube and YouTube TV, over competing streaming services. Both Apple and Amazon already highlight their content in the Apple TV and Fire TV, respectively.

No major event planned for this spring or summer was spared from the coronavirus pandemic. MWC, E3, WWDC, and Google I/O were all canceled due to the global health pandemic, and so companies have had to find creative ways to announce products and services they had planned on unveiling during those events.

Microsoft is holding monthly events to show off Xbox Series X games and features, Apple is taking its Worldwide Developers Conference online, and now Google has made an announcement of its own.

The full reveal of Android 11 was initially going to be one of the highlights of Google I/O at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, but now that I/O has been taken off of the calendar, Google is instead asking Android fans to tune in for “#Android11: The Beta Launch Show” at 11AM ET on June 3rd. Dave Burke, Android VP of Engineering, will host the show and participate in a live Q&A session once the show has concluded.

Google also plans to share talks that were planned to take place during Google I/O “on a range of topics from Jetpack Compose to Android Studio and Google Play.” You can sign up for reminders right here.

Of course, Google I/O was originally scheduled for May, which means the beta is now coming a month later than the Android developer community expected. As Burke explains, the Android team has been working remotely ever since employees were sent home, and so the timeline for the release of Android 11 has shifted as a result. All of the initial milestones have been moved out by about a month, while the public release is still planned for Q3.

The major changes include an unexpected fourth Developer Preview rolling out today, the release of Beta 1 jumping to June 3rd with the final SDK and NDK APIs, Beta 2 and Platform Stability in July, and Beta 3 in August with release candidate builds for final testing. By including the final APIs in Beta 1, Google says that developers will have an extra month to compile and test with those APIs while ensuring they still have the same amount of time between Platform Stability and the final release of the software to iron everything else out.

“The schedule change adds some extra time for you to test your app for compatibility and identify any work you’ll need to do,” says Burke. “We recommend releasing a compatible app update by Android 11 Beta on June 3rd to get feedback from the larger group of Android Beta users who will be getting the update.”

One of the best features that Google ever invented for Android is Live Caption. The feature adds real-time captions to anything playing on the screen, whether it’s a clip found online or a video stored locally.

The feature is now rolling out to the Chrome browser, which means it’ll be available on a variety of platforms, including Mac, Windows, and Linux.

The video transcribing feature can be very useful for watching clips when you can’t turn up the volume and have no speakers, but that’s just an added bonus. What’s impressive about Live Caption is that it can give people who are hearing-impaired access to even more videos than streaming sites that already offered captions of their own. That’s because Live Caption also works on the videos you record on your own and share with others — videos that wouldn’t ever get captions otherwise. Live Caption can also be used for learning purposes, to caption videos in a different language so you can see the words translated on the fly.

It’s unclear, however, whether the desktop version of Live Caption would also work on home videos that may be stored on the Mac or Windows computer. That’s because the feature will work only inside Google Chrome, lacking system-wide privileges. Here’s the feature in action on Android:

Live Caption was developed with support for English, initially, but Google promised support for other languages down the road.

First spotted by TechDows, Chrome’s Live Caption can be found inside the app’s Accessibility section of Settings. That’s Chrome://settings/Accessibility, if you’d prefer to copy and paste it into the address bar. This is the Settings option you’ll be looking for to enable Live Caption on Chrome:

However, the feature isn’t live in Chrome just yet. Rather, you’ll have to download the latest version of Chrome Canary (84.0.4136.2 or later) if you want to check it out right now. If you don’t want to install Canary, you’ll have to wait for the feature to roll out to the stable version of Chrome, which should happen soon. After all, Live Caption for Chrome is the kind of feature that could have been unveiled at the now-canceled Google I/O event.

Live Caption happens directly on-device over on Android, and the same should be true of the Chrome version. Hopefully the feature won’t increase Chrome’s energy needs, which, as the browser is already a battery hog on laptops.