Phones

Face ID is perhaps the most contentious iPhone X feature next to the notch and amojis. The public demo’s seeming failure, which Apple has tried to explain away, seems to only add to the skepticism of Apple’s Touch ID replacement. Smelling blood, Huawei lost no time in trying to take a swipe at Apple. But it’s only able to do so because it believes it has the “real AI phone”, and it’s inviting the world to see it next month when it unveils the Huawei Mate 10.

Continue Reading

If you ask around Android circles, you’ll probably be surprised (or not) to find out that the Nexus 5 is largely regarded as the best, and probably last greatest, Nexus phone. While definitely not perfect, everything that followed were significantly less perfect. And the last Nexus phone made, the Nexus 6P, is to date, an unmitigated disaster. Tired perhaps of the never ending requests to return defective units, Google is now reported to have changed its mind and will no longer replace what is probably the last of the Nexus line.

Continue Reading

There should really be no surprise here. It is almost always the case that some unpopular change that Apple is rumored to make is expected to negatively affect sales or pre-orders but reality turns out to be different. Such is the case, again, with the super expensive iPhone X and the LTE-model of the Apple Watch 3 which were predicted to only make up a fraction of Apple’s sales. Even KGI, who employs renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, thought so. But, guess what? The Apple Watch 3 LTE might actually make up 90% of pre-orders, while the iPhone X has already affected the iPhone 8’s sales.

Continue Reading

If a report from South Korea proves true, the next smartphone spec race is not on quality, but on speed. The report suggests that Samsung is set to create its own 3-layer image sensor that's able to utilize DRAM to snap and process photos faster than ever before. Faster than any smartphone camera's ever allowed in the past, that is to say.

Continue Reading

Speaking as a Galaxy S8 owner, I have to say that the phone is great, save for one rather annoying feature: the Bixby button. Not only is its usefulness wasted on me - someone who doesn't have much interest in Bixby - but it's also located in one of the most frustrating places. If you find yourself in the same boat, then take heart, because a new update is letting you fix those problems.

Continue Reading

We are often told not to make promises we can’t keep. That sage advice apparently doesn’t apply to the grown ups in the business world, where companies have no qualms taking back their honored word. Sometimes, they even do so in a sneaky way in the hopes no one will notice. Unfortunately for Motorola, some people did notice that it quietly tampered with evidence that it said it would upgrade the Moto G4 to Android Oreo, which, as it stands, now seems to be unlikely.

Continue Reading

Verizon has just lost its exclusivity with Motorola’s Droid series and with Sprint’s Essential exclusive as well as AT&T’s BlackBerry KEYone, the carrier might be in need of a new partner. It seems that the new partner is ASUS. After the now practically useless, thanks to Google’s own ARCore, ZenFone AR, Verizon and ASUS have apparently collaborated on a never before seen ZenFone V. And while it might not be the ZenFone 5, it could very well be the ZenFone 3.5.

Continue Reading

When the debut Android phone from Andy Rubin's Essential was revealed last month, it was made clear that Sprint would be the only carrier in the US to sell the device. But for those interested in the Essential Phone that aren't Sprint customers, there's now another carrier option. The device is now certified to work with Verizon's networks, and therefore compatible with the Big Red carrier.

Continue Reading

The company FabZat has announced a new collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment that allows it to 3D-print phone cases featuring artwork from the game Hearthstone. Any fan can use FabZat's website to design their own Hearthstone phone case, choosing from a handful of art options for the back of the shell, as well as various card options for the front of the case.

Continue Reading

A Redditor recently brought attention to an issue many Android users probably aren't aware of: Google automatically deletes Android backups after a couple months of inactivity. The starting date of that inactivity comes after two weeks of zero device usage. Once the clocks reaches zero, that backup is gone, and affected users say they aren't given any warning ahead of time that the deletion is about to happen.

Continue Reading

When I use the Gamepad Moto Mod for extended periods of time, my hands cramp. When I place the controller in the hands of a 6-year-old colleague of mine, she's able to use the controller without issue. The Gamepad Moto Mod, made for Motorola Moto Z2 Force (and similar Motorola phones), by Lenovo, works perfect in all other categories. It's just that pesky size situation that's bummed me out thoroughly.

Continue Reading

Motorola has just announced the list of its smartphones that will receive the Android 8.0 Oreo update. A dozen handsets have made the list, many of them being exactly what we expected: the moto z and its various variants, moto z2 Play / Force Edition, and more. Motorola also has an online tool that allows its handset owners to select their carrier and phone to find out if/when it'll be updated.

Continue Reading