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All Posts by Alex Dobie

OnePlus 5: A reminder that retailer listings mean nothing, and About screens can be faked

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 5 May 2017 7:08 am
OnePlus 3T
Never Settle for dubious online rumors. So we're getting to the time of year when folks are expecting a new OnePlus smartphone. The number four being considered bad luck in some Asian cultures, the name everyone seems to have settled on is OnePlus 5, and boy is the rumor mill already churning. In the past week a post by OnePlus CEO Pete Lau on social network Weibo, not mentioning the OnePlus 5...

Galaxy S8 Tips: First things to do with your new phone!

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 4 May 2017 4:00 pm
So you've just unboxed a brand new Galaxy S8, and you want to go exploring everything this phone has to offer. That's great, and there's certainly no shortage of features on this phone — both new additions and familiar stuff from previous Galaxies. That's why we've rounded up the first 5 things you need to do on your new Galaxy S8 — plus some bonus tips and tricks that'll help you...

Huawei Watch 2 arrives in the UK via Amazon

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 4 May 2017 3:18 pm
Huawei Watch 2
Online retail giant gets first dibs on Huawei's latest wearable, two weeks ahead of other outlets. More than two months after it first debuted at Mobile World Congress, the Huawei Watch 2 is now available to buy in the UK. Huawei's latest wearable is sports-focused, with a wealth of workout tracking features built atop Android Wear 2.0. And there's LTE option that'll allow you to stay...

Best MicroSD Card For Android

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 4 May 2017 2:00 pm
Behold: The best tiny cards for storing your stuff. microSD cards, where they're supported, are a great way to add extra storage to an Android phone or tablet. You can easily offload photos, videos and music to the external card, thus freeing up valuable internal space for apps. And certain Android 6.0 and above phones even let you plug in a microSD and use it to directly boost your storage...

Video: The best Android phone in spring 2017

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 3 May 2017 10:00 am
Since it launched late last year, the Google Pixel has been our pick for best Android phone. And, assuming you can actually find it, it's still a great option. But with a new generation of phones comes a new overall champion. And right now, in spring 2017, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is the best Android phone you can buy. Whether you're looking at the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 or the 6.2-inch...

Google Home UK review: For all its potential, still mostly an early adopter gadget

4 Comments
Posted by Alex Dobie on 1 May 2017 6:00 am
Google Home
Google Home is a great little connected speaker, but its smartest features will be lost on non-enthusiasts. At the risk of stating the obvious, the home is a tough space to break into. Everyone's home is set out differently, and we're all looking for different things out of an internet-connected gadget for our living room, kitchen, bedroom or wherever. (Assuming we're not creeped out by the...

Bixby voice arrives on Korean Galaxy S8 today

12 Comments
Posted by Alex Dobie on 1 May 2017 4:04 am
Galaxy S8 Bixby
Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners in Samsung's home market are the first to get a fully baked Bixby experience. Bixby, Samsung's new AI service on the Galaxy S8, was missing its most important feature at launch. Bixby's voice commands — a central reason for the service having its own dedicated hardware button — wasn't operational out of the box. However from today, Korean Galaxy S8 owners can get...

BlackBerry KEYone retail unboxing!

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 27 Apr 2017 2:00 pm
Today is the global launch day for the BlackBerry KEYone, as the phone makes its debut at London's high-end Selfridges department store, more than a week ahead of the official UK launch date of May 5. It's available for £499 unlocked, which gets you a well-built, metal-clad, rubber-backed handset powered by one of our most favorite efficient SoCs, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 625. That's...

Understanding the Galaxy S8's display resolution options

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 27 Apr 2017 8:01 am
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ default to 'Full HD+' resolution, but it's easy to go higher or lower. Here's why you might want to do that. The Galaxy S8's Quad HD+ SuperAMOLED panel is one of its standout features. Indeed, that big, almost bezel-free display features heavily in Samsung's ads for the phone. By default, though, it's not set to run at its full, native resolution of 2960x1440, instead it'...

BlackBerry KEYone gets exclusive launch at London's Selfridges

4 Comments
Posted by Alex Dobie on 27 Apr 2017 4:12 am
BlackBerry KEYone launch
BlackBerry Mobile's new QWERTY slab will be available for a limited time from the high-end Oxford Street department store. BlackBerry Mobile has announced that its new KEYone smartphone has gone on sale exclusively, for a limited time, at London's Selfridges department store on Oxford Road. Today's launch means QWERTY fans can pick up the phone more than a week early at the store, ahead of its...

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 vs. Galaxy S8+: Total recall

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 26 Apr 2017 8:00 am
The Note 7 may be the butt of every bad joke right now, but ignoring it altogether leaves a huge gap in the history of Samsung's design language. Many of the design traits that make the Galaxy S8+ — the company's latest big-screened superphone — so great, can be traced back to its explosively flawed predecessor. Though it'll forever be associated with faulty batteries and an...

Best Large Android Phone

Posted by Alex Dobie on 25 Apr 2017 2:00 pm
Galaxy S8 Plus
Updated April, 2017: Galaxy S8+ is the new king of large phones. Best overall Best for battery Best for less Best Overall Samsung Galaxy S8+ See at Verizon See at AT&T See at T-Mobile See at Sprint See at Best Buy See at Amazon In the wake of the Note 7 debacle, Samsung needed to deliver a great big-screened Android experience in the larger of the two Galaxy S8 models. The new 18.5:...

How to customize the Galaxy S8 navigation bar and home button

9 Comments
Posted by Alex Dobie on 25 Apr 2017 9:00 am
Galaxy S8 soft keys
It's easy to change the color or swap the order of your Galaxy S8's software keys. The move to on-screen keys in the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ opens up new possibilities for customization. Unlike capacitive and hard keys, the GS8's buttons and status bar — the back, home and recent apps keys you see at the bottom of the screen — are part of the display, and can be controlled through Samsung's...

How to enable or disable the LG G6's camera roll — and why you may want to leave it off

6 Comments
Posted by Alex Dobie on 24 Apr 2017 1:00 pm
LG G6
The LG G6 lets you see a scrolling strip of recent photos, but you may want to leave it off for quicker camera load times. The LG G6 has a lot of neat features that utilize the taller 18:9 aspect ratio, letting you see more at once. One of those can be found in the camera app. The filmstrip view — officially called "camera roll" — gives you a scrolling vertical strip of recent photos off to...

Samsung and Qualcomm said to be working on Galaxy S9 processor, because of course they are

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 24 Apr 2017 6:45 am
Qualcomm + Samsung execs
It'd be more surprising if they weren't. The just-released Samsung Galaxy S8? Old news. The Korean media is already trying to sniff out details of Samsung's first major handset for 2018, presumably the Galaxy S9.

Moto G5 Plus video review: The best cheap Android phone!

9 Comments
Posted by Alex Dobie on 21 Apr 2017 8:30 am
Moto G5 Plus
A good, cheap smartphone. That's been the MO of the Moto G series since the very beginning — a phone that doesn't cost the earth, but also doesn't come with a bunch of nasty compromises. This year, the line is led by the Moto G5 Plus — and it might just be the best inexpensive Android phone you can buy. In the Moto G5 Plus, Motorola has finally arrived at an almost perfect balance...

Huawei CEO speaks on P10 memory + screen issues

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 21 Apr 2017 5:50 am
Huawei P10 + P10 Plus
Richard Yu blames supply chain issues for slower memory in some P10s, and static electricity for smudgy screens. Storage speed in phones often isn't heavily promoted, even in flagship handsets, but it's something which can affect how fast a device feels. As Engadget's Richard Lai reports, some Chinese Huawei P10 owners noticed slower flash memory performance in their devices — speeds in line...

Where to buy the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ in the UK

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 21 Apr 2017 4:00 am
Galaxy S8
Samsung's latest flagship isn't cheap, but you've got plenty of choices when it comes to where to buy. The Samsung Galaxy S8 has been officially launched, and it's available to order now around the world. In the UK, all the major mobile operators are ranging the S8 and S8+, and both Samsung and Carphone Warehouse are offering the phone unlocked and SIM-free. As usual, there's a wide range of...

These 2016 flagships are great Galaxy S8 alternatives

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 20 Apr 2017 11:00 am
Many of last year's high-end Android phones have stood the test of time. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are phenomenal phones — two of the best out there right now. But they're also expensive phones, especially if you're buying outright. So if you're looking to save some cash, you might look at some of the previous year's flagships, many of which are speedy, well-built and have been...

Samsung Galaxy Note 8: What we know so far

32 Comments
Posted by Alex Dobie on 20 Apr 2017 9:00 am
Galaxy Note 7
For its next Note, Samsung will be hoping to build on a successful Galaxy S8 launch, and finally banish the specter of the Note 7. In late 2016, Samsung released a critically praised smartphone that seemed to do everything right. A few weeks later, those phones started randomly catching on fire. Samsung recalled and replaced them, and then the new ones caught on fire as well. RIP Galaxy Note 7...

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