Author Archives: Ewdison Then

Personal mobility has become a hot topic in the past few months, maybe even years, especially as typical travel on cars and public transportation has become impractical or even unhealthy. Electric scooters have, of course, become a fad, but it's hardly the only way to get around. For those who prefer to rely primarily on their own bodies, electric bikes offer one compromise. TurboAnt is probably better known for the fully electric kind of vehicle, but it has started to dabble in e-bikes as well, so we put our legs to work to figure out if its new Thunder T1 "Fat" Bike can go the extra mile, pun intended as usual.

Continue Reading

Samsung seems to be going all out on foldables, what it probably sees as the future of smartphones and tablets. Of course, those haven't been embraced wholeheartedly in the market, especially with their comparatively higher price tags. Samsung has somewhat addressed that point this year, especially with the significantly more affordable Galaxy Z Flip 3 that is reportedly selling quite well. That, in turn, seems to have spurred Samsung to set its sights higher in 2022, aiming to produce and sell almost 10 million units of its foldable phones that, in turn, could make up a fifth of its target volume next year.

Continue Reading

The iPhone X that launched way back in 2017 may be credited and blamed for killing the venerable 3.5mm headphone jack. The smartphone trend did force audio technology developers and equipment makers to step up their game and improve the state of Bluetooth headphones to compete with higher-quality wired accessories. There are dozens if not hundreds of wireless earphones today, covering a wide range of prices, quality, and sizes, so much so that Samsung may have finally decided it's high time to retire the headphone jack once and for all, at least from its Galaxy A series.

Continue Reading

Google had received a bit of criticism lately when it revealed that the Pixel 6 wouldn't be seeing any improvements as far as Android updates are concerned. It's business as usual for its older models, and the Pixel 3 just got its last maintenance update, at least until the promised last bundle next year. Of course, that's not stopping other people from taking over where Google has stepped back, and some development on the even older Pixel 2 shows one of the things the Android platform has over Apple's iOS.

Continue Reading

Dashboard cameras, more popularly known as dash cams, have become staples in many cars these days, either as a built-in feature or as a third-party add-on. Although many of them look nearly identical, there is a wide variety of brands and products that offer different sets of features that can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially when you see the price tag attached to them. Nexar's latest Beam GPS Dash Cam seems to go in the opposite direction of simplicity, but does it cut off too much and end up being unusable instead? We take it for a test drive to find out, pun totally intended.

Continue Reading

While the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are off to a good start, it seems that some of the phone's warts are starting to pop up. Those flaws don't seem to be as bad as previous Pixel phones, though there still seems to be some minor issues with the screen. The most vocal complaints, however, come with the weirdest issues, all of them revolving around the Pixel 6's fingerprint sensor. Although Google pretty much brushed off complaints about its speed, it seems there is at least one bug that couldn't be explained away so easily.

Continue Reading

Smartwatches today have become almost like miniature clinical laboratories with the variety of health-related sensors they cram inside. Not all of those, however, can simply be distributed in any and all markets. Newer and more advanced sensors that can be considered related to medical equipment require regulatory approval in each and every country. That's why it took almost two months for Withings to finally launch its ScanWatch in North America, bringing the promise of atrial fibrillation detection to health-conscious buyers in the US.

Continue Reading

Although the days of smartphone-worn VR headsets are mostly over by now, there are still some mixed reality (XR) experiences that can still be powered by our mobile devices. Apple's vision for its own AR ecosystem, for example, might be driven by an iPhone, but it isn't really the first to venture into that space. Qualcomm has long been trying to make inroads in mobile XR, and its latest Snapdragon Spaces makes a big push to entice developers to jump on its platform, with some assistance from partners like T-Mobile and its 5G network.

Continue Reading

It wasn't too long ago when POCO, also known as Pocophone in other markets back then, launched to make Xiaomi's already affordable phones even more accessible. Standing on the shoulders of a very big smartphone giant, the POCO F1 shocked the world with its high-end specs and dirt-cheap price, though that did come with some compromises in materials and durability. Since then, POCO has grown to become its own brand, playing around with different formulas that mixed up design, hardware, and prices. With the POCO M4 Pro 5G, the company tries to take its legacy one step further, and we take it for a test to see if there is more to it than meets the eye.

Continue Reading

It seems that Samsung is determined to launch the Galaxy S21 FE, even if it comes late and almost dead on arrival. The company's bullish stance is a bit out of character, but it might just be trying to get some return on its investments in the device. That said, it might not have plans to produce the phone in great quantities and, if the recent report is true, it will be extremely limited to a few markets, not including Samsung's own hometown.

Continue Reading

For years, Samsung has always been a two-processor house. It split its flagship series between Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors and its own Exynos silicon. The latter, however, has become quite controversial in the past years, and it seems that the drama might reach its peak in a few months. According to the latest rumor, the premier Galaxy S22 series will all be powered by the Snapdragon 898, with barely or no room for the much-awaited Exynos 2200.

Continue Reading

The year isn't over yet, but most of the interesting smartphones for 2021 have already been launched by now. Market analysts, tech pundits, and smartphone fans who haven't yet made a purchase this year will undoubtedly be looking forward to what 2022 will bring. If all goes according to rumors, Samsung will be the one opening the new year with the Galaxy S21 FE then followed by the Galaxy S22 flagship series. We have, by now, heard almost all there is to be heard from unofficial sources, giving us our clearest view of what Samsung has planned for the first half of 2022.

Continue Reading