Latest Articles
The new Moto 360 smartwatch is back down to $130
One of the lowest prices we've ever seen for a Wear OS watch
A new Moto 360 smartwatch powered by Wear OS was released last year, manufactured by eBuyNow instead of Motorola. It was a decent watch, but the original price of $350 was absolutely too much money. Now you can get it for a significantly better price: $129.99.
T-Mobile warns Sprint customers of upcoming legacy cellular network shutdown
Plenty of time for incompatible devices to be switched out
T-Mobile and Sprint officially became one company this year, but Sprint's former network still exists as a separate entity. T-Mobile customers gained the ability to roam on Sprint's cell towers back in September (with the correct devices, anyway), and if recent news is correct, the legacy network might only stick around for another year.
Google Stadia gets three more games this month, including Enter The Gungeon
Stadia delivers a strong finish to 2020
The past few months have gone well for Google's game streaming service, between the release of long-awaited features (like family sharing and iOS support) and Stadia somehow ending up as the best way to play Cyberpunk 2077 (outside of building a high-end PC). Stadia is finishing 2020 with a bang, as three more games will arrive on the service before the new year.
New Galaxy A72 leaks give more details about its camera
Samsung's next mid-range budget phone looks promising
The Galaxy A71 (including its 5G variant) was one of Samsung's best-selling smartphones this year, offering most of the features you could want in a phone at a mid-range price. Samsung now seems to be planning a hardware refresh, as device renders have now been published by Steve Hemmerstoffer (OnLeaks).
OnePlus is open to using Wear OS in future smartwatches
OnePlus CEO says Wear OS "definitely has room to improve"
OnePlus has been playing with the idea of producing a smartwatch for years, and a few months ago, it seemed to finally be happening. Even though the plans were reportedly delayed in October after a corporate shake-up, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has now mentioned the project in an interview.
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Although Motorola has been slow to roll out Android 10 to most of its devices globally, the company is at least keeping developers happy with steady kernel source releases. Over the past few weeks, Motorola has released updated source code packages for most of its phones, accelerating the creation of custom ROMs and recovery partitions.
Discord, a modern take on the IRC and AOL chatrooms of old, has seen a surge in popularity during the pandemic. You can join video and audio calls on any platform, but sharing apps and games on your screen has been limited to desktop platforms —until now, that is.
Sennheiser HD 450BT review: These headphones make my ears hurt
Sennheiser's newest over-ear headphones are feature rich, but the design isn't for everyone
Sennheiser is one of the most recognizable names in audio. Even though the company's wireless products sometimes lack features found in competitors from Samsung or Sony, they usually offer best-in-class audio. We've tried Sennheiser's Momentum True Wireless 2 and CX 400BT earbuds not long ago, and we came away impressed with the sound quality on both.Sennheiser also released a pair of over-ear headphones recently, the HD 450BT. They feature active noise cancellation, Bluetooth 5.0, and 30-hour battery life, all for an MSRP of $199.95 (though it's currently on sale for 0). However, the design isn't for everyone.
Periscope will shut down its dedicated app because no one uses it
Its core functionality will live on in the Twitter app
Periscope was originally released by Twitter as a standalone livestreaming app, before most of its functionality was baked into the main Twitter mobile app in 2016. Since then, Periscope's dedicated community has mostly shifted to Twitter and other platforms, and now the app that started it all is going away.
Google's ARCore library is now installed on 1 billion devices
That's a lot of 3D animals and virtual Pokémon
ARCore was first released in 2017 as a library for developers to create immersive augmented reality experiences, based on Google's work with Project Tango. The library is now used by countless games and applications, including Pokémon Go, and now it has passed one billion installations worldwide.
Wyze, producer of many different cheap smart home products, already has a lot on its slate for 2021. The company recently announced new sprinkler controllers, vacuums, thermostats, third-gen Wyze Cams, smartwatches, and even a home monitoring system. Wyze's final reveal for this month is a smartplug intended for outdoor use: the aptly-named Wyze Plug Outdoor.
Mozilla released the rewritten Firefox for Android browser ('Fenix'/'Daylight') earlier this year, which was promptly followed by several updates bringing back features from the older version. Firefox 84 is now rolling out on the Play Store, including more returning features and some performance enhancements.
Google discontinues Home Max speaker, tells you to buy two Nest Audios instead
Google says the new Nest Audio is a solid replacement
The Home Max was released in 2017 as Google's top-tier speaker, combining the brains of a Google Home with the massive subwoofers and tweeters more commonly found in hi-fi setups. It has gone on sale for lower and lower prices over the past few months, and now we know why — the Home Max is no longer being manufactured.
Anker has produced more than a few smart projectors with built-in Android, and one of the company's newer models is the 1080p Solar. It runs Android TV 9.0 Pie, and now you can get it for $441.99 from Amazon, a savings of $78 from the usual price.This model is a 1080p smart projector with a 400 NASI lumen lamp, HDR10 support, native 1080p resolution, and a projection size of up to 120 inches. The unit has a built-in kickstand, and there's also keystone correction, so the projector doesn't have to be facing perfectly center for a quality image. Since it's running Android TV, you can install plenty of media apps on the projector itself, or cast content to it from any Chromecast-compatible app.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and the lockdowns associated with it, have caused a surge in demand for videoconferencing tools. Zoom seems to be the leader in this space, but with the privacy issues that service has gone through, there's still demand for secure alternatives. Signal, the encrypted messaging platform, announced today that it now supports group calls on mobile.
Over the past few years, HMD Global has followed the Motorola-like strategy of releasing phones at every imaginable price tier. The cheapest option so far was the 2019 Nokia C1, a 3G-only phone aimed at developing countries, but now HMD is releasing a 'Plus' variant with upgraded hardware and software.
Google's phone dialer application started off as a Pixel-exclusive replacement for the AOSP Phone app, but it has made plenty of appearances on devices from other companies, and Google even started allowing most people to download it from the Play Store. Now the app has passed a new milestone, according to the Play Store: 500 million installations.
Sony begins its Android 11 rollout with Xperia 1 II update
Right on schedule... three months after release
Sony used to be one of the quickest manufacturers around when it came to releasing major Android updates, but the company has definitely slowed down in recent years. Sony didn't start rolling out Android 10 until December of last year, and now its Android 11 schedule is starting off on the same foot.
Razer Hammerhead True Wireless Pro review: Not enough bang for your 200 bucks
Razer's second try at wireless earbuds don't deliver enough for $200
Razer released its first fully-wireless Bluetooth earbuds last year, the Hammerhead True Wireless. The earbuds were functional enough, but they ultimately failed to stand out against competing products from Apple and Samsung. Razer has now returned with an upgraded model: the Hammerhead True Wireless Pro.Razer's new earbuds feature an in-ear design, support for active noise cancellation, and the same low-latency Gaming Mode. However, battery life is still a sore point, Gaming Mode isn't incredibly useful, and there's no support for Qualcomm aptX.
Apple wants to ditch Qualcomm completely, begins testing its own cellular modems
Apple currently uses modems from Intel and Qualcomm
Apple has been making strides with its in-house System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designs lately, especially with the company's new M1 desktop chipset. However, Apple is still using modems designed by other firms, which has sometimes become a point of contention with iPhones. According to comments by Apple's top chip executive, the company could soon use its own modem designs, bringing Apple even closer to designing every component of its mobile devices.