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All Posts by Alex Dobie

Best Large Android Phone

Posted by Alex Dobie on 23 Sep 2017 11:00 am
Best overall Best for battery Best for less Best 'almost a Note 8' Best Overall Samsung Galaxy Note 8 See at Verizon See at AT&T See at T-Mobile See at Sprint See at Best Buy See at Amazon Forget last year's missteps — the Samsung Galaxy Note line is back in style. This year's Note takes everything we loved about the Galaxy S8 Plus and adds even more display real estate, an...

Video: LG V30 vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 8

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 22 Sep 2017 4:56 pm
The LG V30 and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 are two of the biggest new Android flagships right now. Both offer beautiful designs, high-end specs and unique dual camera technologies. They're not exactly direct competitors though — if nothing else, there's a big price and size gap between them. The V30 is expected to retail a couple hundred U.S. dollars below the Note 8's lofty price point...

Top 5 LG V30 camera features

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 18 Sep 2017 3:07 pm
Even as phones become more homogenized and samey, there's one big area left for high-end flagships to stand out: the cameras. The new LG V30 has one of the most compelling photographic feature sets we've seen in an Android phone this year. LG's new flagship boasts dual cameras with bright lenses (in both regular and wide-angle flavors), in addition to new manual shooting...

Galaxy Note 8 region locking, explained

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 15 Sep 2017 4:22 pm
Galaxy Note 8 region lock
Picking up an unlocked Note 8 in Europe today? Here's what that ominous 'European SIM card only' sticker means. If you're picking up a shiny new, unlocked Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in Europe today, you'll notice a sticker sealing the box. We've been here before with countless other Samsung flagships, and once again, the Note 8, as sold unlocked in Europe, is region-locked out of the box. But it's...

Video: LG V30 initial review

33 Comments
Posted by Alex Dobie on 14 Sep 2017 3:39 pm
LG has frequently struggled to compete against local rival Samsung. Even the genuinely good LG G6, released earlier this year, struggled to move the needle when pitted against the Galaxy S8. But now there's the LG V30, a new flagship phone for late 2017 that serves as a successor to last year's (very different) LG V20. But you'll find no removable battery, chunky bezels or bulky...

LG V30 initial review: The no-BS flagship

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 13 Sep 2017 1:00 pm
LG V30
The quick take LG's new flagship is as much a successor to the G6 as any other handset, nailing the smartphone fundamentals and delivering speedy performance in an attractive chassis. Once again, LG's unique dual-camera setup provides excellent low-light performance and its best wide-angle shooter yet. And best of all, there's no additional BS — the headphone jack is alive and well, and better...

Huawei Mate 10 lock screen video shows pretty colors, 2:1 aspect ratio

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 12 Sep 2017 6:39 am
Huawei Mate 10 lock screen
Extra-tall Huawei flagship will focus on 'smart colors' on its lock screen. We're still just over a month away from the official launch of the Huawei Mate 10, but the company is continuing to trickle out details of the upcoming flagship. Today we've got an early look at the Mate 10's lock screen in the form of the video below, which is intended to show the new 'smart color selection' feature for...

DxOMark revamps its mobile testing for the phone cameras of 2017

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 12 Sep 2017 5:43 am
New DxOMark scoring
New testing method will take into account dual cameras, selfie performance, and other recent trends. The way we use our phones' cameras has changed a lot since 2012, back when DxOMark first started testing smartphone shooters. Until today, the firm's scores only take into account a limited subset of the capabilities of modern smartphones — but that's about to change. In recent months, DxO has...

From the Editor's Desk: HTC x Google

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 10 Sep 2017 9:00 am
Editor's Desk
Is HTC on an inevitable path towards acquisition? And how might a Google buyout in 2017 look different to the Motorola deal of 2012? So, Google might buy HTC's smartphone business — or at least make a sizeable investment in the struggling phone maker. This story from the Taiwanese press, which broke on Thursday, has understandably invited rampant speculation around the future of what was once...

Google reportedly in talks to buy HTC smartphone business

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 7 Sep 2017 12:24 pm
HTC
Taiwanese press reports Google is in the 'final stage' of negotiations which could see it become a 'strategic partner' for HTC — or buy the struggling phone biz in its entirety. Following a dire financial performance in August, resulting in the manufacturer's lowest monthly revenue figures in 13 years, the Taiwanese press is reporting that HTC is in the "final stage" of talks with Google...

Huawei unveils AI-equipped Kirin 970 processor at IFA 2017

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 2 Sep 2017 8:50 am
Mate 10 CPU features 10nm process, Neural Processing Unit, first Mali G72 GPU, 1.2Gbps 4.5G modem. At the company's IFA keynote in Berlin, Germany, Huawei CEO Richard Yu officially unveiled the new Kirin 970 processor, which will feature in its upcoming Mate 10 flagship phone. Huawei is focusing on AI in the new processor, an octa-core chip built on a 10nm manufacturing process, with 5.5...

Huawei Nova 2 + Nova 2 Plus hands-on

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 2 Sep 2017 7:07 am
You can't buy it in Europe (yet), but Huawei's mid-priced Nova 2 phones look better than ever. A year on from the launch of the Huawei Nova series, the company has yet to announce any plans to bring the Nova 2 to Europe. Nevertheless, the phones were on display at its booth at IFA 2017 in Berlin, giving us our first look at the company's mid-tier flagships for 2017.

Hands-on with the 'robin egg blue' Honor 9

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 2 Sep 2017 5:00 am
Green Honor 9
First look at the new, extremely limited edition color in the flesh. While the Huawei-built Honor 9 is on show at IFA 2017 in Berlin, one thing you won't find on the show floor is the new "robin egg blue" color — unless you know where to look. We've tracked down the exclusive new color variant, which Honor tells us will be produced in "extremely limited" quantities for the UK market, and sold...

HTC launches 6GB/128GB U11 in the UK

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 29 Aug 2017 7:14 am
HTC U11
Pre-orders open today, shipping in September. HTC has today opened up pre-orders for the 6GB RAM/128GB storage version of its high-end U11 handset in the UK. Previously only available in Asia, the new U11 also comes with dual-SIM functionality and will be available in all four color variants — black, blue, silver and red. The full retail price is a hefty £699, and this new version of the U11...

Sony Xperia XZ1 leak showcases bezels, camera bump, parrot

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 24 Aug 2017 2:40 pm
2017 specs, 2013 design. Sony's been putting out big, bezelly, monolithic smartphones for almost five years, and even in the age of the Essential Phone and Galaxy Note 8 it's showing no sign of stopping. The company's upcoming handset, the Xperia XZ1, will purportedly break cover next week in Berlin, but Roland Quandt of WinFuture has already revealed the handset in all its underwhelming glory...

What will Android P be called?

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 24 Aug 2017 9:00 am
Android P is coming, and the rampant naming speculation begins NOW. Android Oreo? Old news. With version 8.0 of the OS finally out the door, and literally some devices now receiving over-the-air updates, it's time to focus on what's next. Android P! That's right, at the time of writing we're just seven short months away from the first developer preview of the next, next version of Android.

Galaxy Note 8 will cost a gazillion pounds in the UK

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 23 Aug 2017 4:40 am
Galaxy Note 8
Buying a Note 8 outright? Be prepared to part with a crap-ton of cash. Today is Samsung Galaxy Note 8 day, so of course at least one retailer has jumped the gun and prematurely published its product page. British mobile giant Carphone Warehouse has let slip a full spec sheet for the device (largely confirming what we've known for some time through other leaks), along with the first UK pricing...

Watch our Android 8.0 Oreo video review!

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 22 Aug 2017 5:00 pm
There are big updates, and there are not-so-big updates. Over the years, some Android versions have brought massive technical and visual changes, while others have tightened up the screws and added polish without shaking things up too much. The new release of for 2017 and beyond — Android 8.0 Oreo — fits somewhere in between those two extremes. Android is pretty stable at this...

Android 8.0 Oreo review: Vive la évolution

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 21 Aug 2017 2:50 pm
Oreo
The latest version of Android packs in many small but important additions, all of which make the OS more polished and mature than ever. Some Android releases represent massive sea changes for Google's OS, overhauling technical underpinnings or introducing new design elements. Others are content to tighten up the screws and add polish to an already well-established platform. The new release of...

Samsung Galaxy Note 8: Specs, images, release date and more

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 21 Aug 2017 7:30 am
Galaxy Note 7
Everything we know so far about the successor to Samsung's ill-fated Note 7. Oh boy. It's time for a new Samsung Galaxy Note. As you may remember, things didn't go too well for the last entry in the Note series. And although the Galaxy S8 has enjoyed strong sales and critical praise in the meantime, Samsung will remain under intense scrutiny as it looks to relaunch the tarnished Note brand....

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