Latest Articles
The rumor mill for LG's upcoming G7 has had an interesting ride, with reported name changes, scrapping of an existing design, and so on. Most recently, we saw a video leak of the "G7 (Neo)," which was later said by Evan Blass to simply be the standard G7. These latest CAD renderings, courtesy of OnLeaks, confirm what we'd previously seen.
Read update
All four major US carriers have now rolled Android 8.0 Oreo out to the Galaxy S8 and S8+, but we hadn't heard much about the often-forgotten third sibling, the Galaxy S8 Active. That changes now, as AT&T has become the first carrier to roll Oreo out to the rugged S8.
We published our review on Ultimate Ears' BLAST and MEGABLAST exactly one month ago today. They're good speakers overall, but they're not without their caveats. One of the most major issues we found is the price; $229.99 for the BLAST and $299.99 for the MEGABLAST, plus another $39.99 for the definitely-needed POWER UP dock, is a lot of dough for an imperfect product in this category. Today, however, Amazon has brought the BLAST and POWER UP bundle's price down to a much more palatable 9.99. There's a discount on a MEGABLAST-POWER UP bundle as well.There are a lot of things to like about the BLAST; the design looks nice, sound quality and volume are great, there's IP67 water resistance on board, there's Alexa support if that's something you're interested in, and the POWER UP dock makes recharges a lot more convenient. But that dock costs an additional $39.99, there are no playback controls on the speaker itself, there are some missing features from the BLAST line, and the price was a major concern. Half of those cons have been eradicated with this price drop, though, making this a much better buy than before.Only the Merlot-colored BLAST is $179.99 with a complimentary POWER UP dock; all the other colors are $219.99 with no dock included. If you're after the larger MEGABLAST, you can get one with a POWER UP dock thrown in for $278.98, but only in Graphite Black. Alternatively, you can get a MEGABLAST without the dock (which you really should get) for 8.95. As usual, shipping is free. Best Buy is offering the BLAST in all colors and MEGABLAST in black (sans POWER UP dock) for $179.99 and $238.99, respectively.Source: Amazon (BLAST), (MEGABLAST)
Samsung's Always On Display made its debut on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge over two years ago now. Since then, the company has steadily been adding features here and there, which it's been able to do since the feature itself has its own APK. Always On Display's newest addition is GIF support, which lets you add a little action to the otherwise-dull clock and time.
Read update
AT&T Galaxy Note8 owners received a nice surprise a couple of days ago with their Android 8.0 Oreo update, and now it's Verizon and Sprint owners' turns. Both major US CDMA carriers are now sending out the long-awaited Oreo to their variants of the Note8, meaning that T-Mobile is the only one lagging behind.
Read update
About a month ago, Google announced that 30 more languages would be coming to Google Assistant "over the next few months." The languages mentioned there included Hindi, Indonesian, Norwegian, Swedish, among others. Of those, the only one that has arrived thus far is Hindi, but Indonesian is now taking second place.
Love 'em or hate 'em, notches are quickly making their way to nearly every Android phone. What the iPhone X started (yes, we know the Essential Phone came before it) is now spreading to phones from ASUS, OnePlus, Huawei, and more. LG's G7 Neo was recently leaked with a notch as well, but LG support is now on reddit's r/Android asking for feedback. The many of you who hate notches may want to head over there to vent.
Read update
- Pete Lau, OnePlus's CEO and other cofounder, took to the OnePlus Forums to provide further justification for this notched display. Most of the things said were essentially reiterations of what Pei said to The Verge, but there are some new pieces of information presented here.
As evidenced by the comments on yesterday's post about the OnePlus 6 leak, you guys don't like notches at all. Unfortunately, leaked photos had already revealed that OnePlus was at least seriously considering adding one to the OnePlus 6, and the company itself has now confirmed it. Carl Pei, OnePlus's cofounder, spoke with The Verge to explain why the decision was made to add one.
Google Express sees discounts fairly often, but it's pretty rare to see credit being given away for free. But if you can say or type three words to Google Assistant, you'll be given $15 in Target credit for Google Express with basically no strings attached.
Huawei has unveiled what look to be the most expensive AirPod ripoffs yet, and they're called 'FreeBuds.' These very familiar-looking, fully-wireless Bluetooth headphones only got a tiny mention in addition to the P20's announcement, but Huawei had some units for event attendees to try on.
Google has just announced a new developer preview for Wear OS, which it says brings Android P platform features to wearables. It includes a number of additions, such as a dark system theme, limited background activity, radio deactivation when the watch detects it's not being worn, and so on. Downloads are available right now for the Huawei Watch 2 Sport and Classic.
It's been almost three months since Android Pay was replaced by Google Pay, but the new name still sounds so foreign. In an attempt to alleviate that and introduce more users, Google is running a promotion in which you and someone you refer both get $10 in Play credit once the referred party makes a purchase. Bear in mind that this promo is still running (and ends at the same time).
Promo codes are a great way for developers to give paid content on the Play Store to certain people. But for whatever reason, these codes can't be issued everywhere, and Google has a list of countries that they can be given out in. After adding eight countries back in May 2017 and, more recently, three earlier this month, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, and Romania have made it onto the list.
Phones are getting massive, and even the smaller versions of Android flagships these days aren't all that small. The Pixel 2 has a 5.0" display, the Galaxy S8 a 5.8" unit (the 18:9 ratio skews that a bit), the P20 a 5.8-incher, and so on. Sony is the only holdout in the game with its 4.6" Xperia XZ1 Compact. If you long for a phone that you can easily use one-handed, this phone might be your match. It's currently down to an all-time low of 9.99 on Best Buy and Amazon, as well as 9.99 on B&H if you like pink.The last time we posted about a deal on the XZ1 Compact was back in November when it fell to the $450 mark. Its 720p resolution may seem low, but on a 4.6" panel, it's perfectly adequate. It's powered by the Snapdragon 835 and comes with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with microSD expansion, a 19MP 'Motion Eye' camera with 960fps slow-motion, an 8MP front-facing camera, and a 2,700mAh battery. Also present are front-facing speakers, IP68 water resistance, and Android 8.0 Oreo. US GSM carrier compatibility is great; in fact, the XZ1 Compact actually supports T-Mobile's band 12 LTE and Wi-Fi calling.This $399.99 price point is the lowest we've ever seen. Best Buy has all four colors at that figure, but Amazon only has the black model for that much. If you're a fan of strangely-colored phones, you can actually pick a 'Twilight Pink' Compact up for just $379.99 from B&H. Other colors are hovering around $430 and $450 on B&H and Amazon, respectively. Hit the source links below to grab an XZ1 Compact of your very own.Source: Amazon, Best Buy, B&H
By default, G Suite web sessions are automatically signed out of after two weeks. But to better tailor to each company, Google is now allowing G Suite admins to specify a more precise session length from a dropdown list. Additionally, admins can also now force two-factor authentication prompts to pop up on every sign-in for better security.
Moment's made a name for itself creating lenses for smartphones (which we just published a review of today, by the way), but the company is now venturing into a new segment: filmmaking. This campaign is being kickstarted (pun not intended) by a $149 anamorphic lens, and the results look pretty impressive. That's probably how the Kickstarter already has over $370,000 (and climbing) in funding on a $50,000 goal.
The cameras on smartphones are getting ridiculously good --- good to the point that most households don't even own standalone cameras anymore. But given the dimensions that phone cameras are restricted to, they're not as flexible as something like a mirrorless or DSLR with interchangeable lenses. That's where Moment comes in. The company offers a small collection of lenses that can be individually purchased and attached to its Photo Cases, which are available for a variety of phones.Of course, this isn't the first time that someone has come up with the idea of attaching lenses to phones. There are loads of cheap solutions on Amazon, though none are as high-quality and cohesive. But that quality comes at a price; Moment's current-generation lenses all hover between the $90-100 mark apiece. With that said, if you want the best lens interchangeability without having to buy a dedicated camera and you've got a lot of cash to spare, Moment is your best bet.
eBay's been offering a ton of sitewide discounts lately, with two codes (one 20% and one 15%) already shared earlier this month. Now eBay is taking 15% off anything on its site yet again, and the discount is capped at $50 just as it was last time. Hurry, though; the offer ends in about six hours.
OnePlus has discontinued sales of the 5T in North America, indicating that a successor is coming soon. After teasing his followers with an impromptu poll on his Twitter, Evan Blass has revealed his first photo of the OnePlus 6. There are several things to get excited about here.
Nest made both its Nest Hello smart doorbell and its Nest x Yale Lock available earlier this month. The Nest Hello went up for sale on the Google Store about a week ago, and now it's the Nest x Yale Lock's turn. The keyless lock can now be purchased for $279 from Google's storefront.