Latest Articles
So the LG Watch Urbane 2 LTE is available now from Verizon and AT&T, and we've had one in the house for a little over a day now. Since I've had some time to kind of run through it and see what it's all about, I figured this was as good a time as any to share some initial thoughts. So here we go.
I need to be real with you guys here: I've never liked any device that forced me to use whatever garbage skin the manufacturer was putting on them at the time. In other words, I've always been an "Android Purist," if you will — it was stock Android and nothing else for me, and it's really been like that since I became an Android user. Now, I've had no trouble being objective when it comes to reviewing devices with skins; just because I don't like it doesn't make it "bad."
Back at Google I/O earlier this year, Google teased offline maps and turn-by-turn navigation in Google Maps, a feature that many of us have wanted for a long, long time. Today, that feature comes to fruition.
About a year and a half ago, I called the original Fugoo "the speaker I'd make if I made speakers." The design of it is actually brilliant — it's waterproof, offers 360 degree sound, is crazy-robust, and gets an insane 40 hours of battery life. Really, it's a beast.Then, back at CES (yes, in January), Fugoo announced the XL. Like the name suggests, it's a big-ass version of the original Fugoo speaker. I've been waiting for what seems like forever to spend some time with it — as good as the original was, a bigger version is logically better, right? I mean, it makes sense to me.But now the landscape is entirely different. The UE MEGABOOM exists. The JBL Xtreme not only exists, but also crushes everything else at the $300 price point, which is exactly where the FXL comes in.
Back in July of 2014, a speaker came out that changed the way I thought of Bluetooth speakers: the Ultimate Ears BOOM. At the time — and for many months after — this speaker was the benchmark by which all others were judged. Then came the MEGABOOM, a damn-near double sized BOOM. Again, benchmark-quality stuff. The ROLL is the smallest entry from Ultimate Ears, but that didn't stop it from also being incredible. Needless to say, Ultimate Ears has been putting out some of my favorite speakers over the last two years.Then JBL came along and changed the game again. I recently reviewed the Xtreme and Flip 3, both of which blew my mind in a way that I haven't experienced since the original BOOM. This raised the bar even higher for the BOOM 2 — not only does it have to improve on its predecessor, but it also has to compete with the Flip 3, which costs half as much, and Charge 2+, which is still $70 cheaper than the BOOM 2 (and an incredible speaker).Unfortunately, every king gets dethroned eventually.
Sometimes in a person's life, they just need a huge phone. And I'm not talking Nexus 6 huge — think bigger. Like, sometimes you just want to be able to talk on something more along the lines of a Nexus 7, right? I mean, even if that's not something you actually want to do, it's now an option with the new Studio 7.0 HD from Blu. Yes, this is a 7-inch phone.Seven. Inches.Specs:
We've been hearing mumbles and whatnot about a new, smaller OnePlus handset called the X for the last few months. Well, it's a real thing, and it's finally official.
Logitech has been all about keyboards that are designed to handle multiple connections to several different devices for the last couple of years, starting with the (freakin' awesome) K810. About a year ago, the versatile K480 was released, with its biggest feature being price point — it comes in at just $50. The trade-off, however, is the overall size: it's a lot bulkier than most people would want, making it mostly impractical to just toss in a bag for on-the-go typing.A few weeks ago, the company announced the K380, another sub-$50 entry into its multi-device lineup ($40, to be exact), this time with a much more streamlined form factor than the K480. This one doesn't feature the built-in tablet/phone stand like the 480, making it much smaller and slimmer, so it's even easier to take anywhere you may need a keyboard. But the compact size also has its drawbacks, like the lack of oft-used keys (for me, at least) such as home and end. Otherwise, it's a solid little piece of kit.
I hate cases. For the last…bunch of years, I have refused to use a case on any of my phones. Sure, I'd used them back in the day when we actually did a lot of case reviews — and I always tried to be as objective as possible — but really, I've never liked cases. I don't need the added bulk, and I just hate how they make phones look most of the time. Why hide the beautiful design of most modern smartphones under a gaudy plastic and rubber shell? (That's rhetorical — I totally understand why people do this.)
For basketball fans, tonight marks the start of the most exciting time of year: the beginning of the 2015-2016 season. Just like the start of every season, there are new players to look forward to seeing, old players on new teams, new coaches, new player dynamics, and so much more. I know I'm stoked — can't wait to see what my Bulls do this year under new leadership.
There's an interesting line drawn in the sand between smartphone users and smartphone makers: for the longest time, many companies thought users wanted the thinnest, lightest phones on the planet (and for a time, I think they may have actually been right). But now, that's not how it is. Users don't care how thin their phone is most of the time — they just want it to last all damn day. All-day longevity translates in one way when it comes to form factor: thicker and heavier. That's basically the opposite direction the industry was heading up until recently, and now we're finally starting to see large batteries show up in phones.Earlier this year, Blu jumped on this new trend and released its first phone in the Energy line, the Studio Energy. It was packing a 5,000mAh battery, but otherwise it was underpowered for the most part. Fast-forward to last week, and the company announced two more Energy phones: the Studio Energy 2 and Energy X. As always, I've spent some time with both phones over the past few days — here are my thoughts on each.
It doesn't matter how many times I try other keyboards, I can never seem to find anything better than SwiftKey. I've been using it for a few years now, so I've seen nearly every evolution of the keyboard, and I dig using the beta since it gets me in on the action just a little bit earlier than the "stable" version.
Garmin Connect Updated With A Dramatically Improved Interface And More Features, Sucks Much Less Now
If you use any of Garmin's activity tracking devices — be it Edge, Forerunner, Approach, or any of the others — then you've likely used the Garmin Connect app. For as long as I can remember, this has been a buggy, ugly, and almost useless app that didn't work correctly most of the time. In fact, about half the time when I fired it up to enable Live Tracking on my Edge 510, I was faced with a blank white screen. Sometimes a phone reboot would remedy the issue, other times it wouldn't. When the app did work, it was somewhat useful, but it always lacked info that I wanted to see, leaving me with no other option but to hit up the Garmin Connect website (which isn't that great, either).
Ultimate Ears makes some of the best Bluetooth speakers on the market today, but what's almost as notable is the company's consistent updates. The BOOM speakers are already some of the most feature-rich when combined with the app(s), and today they're getting even better with a new feature called "Block Party Mode."
Blu isn't really known for slowing down when it comes to announcing new phones, and the company is keeping the pace we've all come to expect with the arrival of two new phones in the Energy line: the Studio Energy 2 and Energy X.The Studio Energy 2, like its name suggests, is the successor to the original Studio Energy, which hit the scene back in February of this year. The new model features the same 5,000mAh battery, but most of the other specs have been improved: 5-inch 720p panel protected by Gorilla Glass 3, 1.3GHz Mediatek 6735 Quad-Core processor, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB storage, microSD card slot, and Android 5.0. It's available starting today for 0.
A few weeks ago, we spent some time with what's easily the most powerful phone Blu has ever released, the 2015 Pure XL. Not only is it packing the best specs we've ever seen in a Blu phone, but at $350, it also comes in at a great price point. And now, it's finally available for pre-order on Amazon.In case you need a reminder, here's a look at what the Pure XL has going on under its hood:
Sometimes you want a speaker that can go with you. But other times, you want something loud and powerful for use at home, and oftentimes those speakers aren't one and the same — if it's small enough for travel, it's rarely powerful enough for home use. Conversely, if it's powerful enough to fill the house, it's not really suited well for travel. And of course, that all goes without mentioning the stylistic differences between speakers made for on-the-go use and those designed to spend most of their time on a shelf.While I've spent the majority of my time with Bluetooth speakers designed for portability, today we're going to take a look at a super sexy bookshelf speaker made for use around the house or at the office: the $200 Fluance Fi50.
A little more than a year ago, Amazon launched its first set-top box, Fire TV. That was followed by the weaker, but far more wallet-friendly littler brother, Fire TV Stick. Now that the company has been in the streaming market for a little while, a refreshed version of its flagship box makes sense, right? I mean, there's technically nothing wrong with the first Fire TV, but more horsepower and support for more modern resolutions are always better, right?Actually, no. There are definitely some quirks that you should be aware of before jumping into a new Fire TV — especially if you're just upgrading from the old one. And if you're not yet into the set-top box game but are looking to get started, you may want to hold on before dropping a Benji on Amazon's newest Fire TV.
There comes a time in every person's life when he or she needs to access a certain web page and doesn't have an internet connection. Those are troubling times that normally require the individual in question to stay strong and maintain composure until a connection is once again available, but thanks to a new experimental option in the Chrome Dev build for Android, that struggle may be coming to an end.
Read update
- Google just officially announced the OTA update on the Android blog, as well as Now on Tap on the Inside Search blog.
Hey guys -- Marshmallow is officially available, just like Google promised last week. Factory images just went live for all Nexus devices that will be getting the update: 5, 6, 7 (2013), 9, and Player.