Android Central Labs

Android Central Labs is a weekly column devoted to deep dives, experiments, and a focused look into tech you didn't know you needed. It covers phones, tablets, and everything in between.
Latest about Android Central Labs

E Ink phones are amazing, but you might want to keep a camera nearby
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Potato cam The Minimal Phone and the Mudita Kompakt are some of the coolest E Ink phones you can buy, but the cameras leave a lot to be desired.

Move over Kindle, this display solves E Ink's biggest problem
By Nicholas Sutrich published
So bright RLCD and E Ink are vying to be the best eye-friendly displays, and the future is very bright, indeed!

My 8 favorite things about the One UI 8 beta
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Great eight! One UI 8 beta 1 is already here, and we've selected eight features we think you're going to love, plus a few bonus features worth mentioning.

Honor 400 Pro camera review: Passing the test with full honors
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Actually Intelligent The Honor 400 Pro sports some of the most impressive camera hardware we've ever seen from a mid-range phone, but is it really as good as it seems? We find out.

Color E Ink is blowing my mind right now
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Believe it! The Bigme B1051C Pro color E Ink tablet has blown me away in more ways than one, but the display is easily the coolest part of this impressively thin tablet.

Gardening and tech don't always go hand-in-hand, but these solutions help make it more fun and less work
By Nicholas Sutrich published
More fun, less work Apps like Seedtime take the guesswork out of gardening, letting you enjoy the planning process instead of worrying. Pairing it with a robot like Tertill only makes gardening more fun and less work.

The CMF Phone 2 Pro smashes the original in these key areas
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Triple whammy The CMF Phone 2 Pro is a significant upgrade over the CMF Phone 1, but three areas stand out.

Tiny Chromebook screen got you down? My favorite portable monitors fix that
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Carry-on Chromebooks are great and quite portable, but did you know monitors can be, too? Try out these portable monitors and take your desk with you when you travel!

This hidden Galaxy S24 FE feature needs to be on all Samsung phones
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Give me the wheel The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE has a High Brightness Mode that's different from the rest, and we need full control.

Good Lock is the one thing that makes Samsung Galaxy devices truly unique
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Power users! Samsung Galaxy phones often pack in more features than you know what to do with, but extra options found in Good Lock are a power user's dream.

Grass is growing on my phone and I'm powerless to stop it
By Nicholas Sutrich published
AC Labs If you've ever been told to touch grass, DBrand's latest limited-edition skins might be the product for you.

Samsung displays aren't the gold standard you think they are
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Quite the facade Samsung AMOLED displays have been the darling of the mobile world for 15 years, but the company's increased focus on acing tests is negatively affecting some users.

Android 16's Vulkan standard is great, but ADPF might be the real miracle
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Upgrades galore Android 16 is introducing two major updates to mobile gaming, and while both are great, one is clearly more beneficial than the other.

Sometimes, the ecosystem is more important than the individual devices
By Nicholas Sutrich published
AC Labs The Honor Alpha Plan was a big reveal at MWC 2025, but what does smart device interconnectivity really look like? We've already got the building blocks in place.

These smart glasses have given me a new reason to record video again
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Look ma, no hands! Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses have a camera in the best place — your face — making video capture so much more fun than with a phone.

The iPhone 16e signals the death of LCDs and the death of the smartphone for some
By Nicholas Sutrich published
The more you know OLED displays have made huge strides to be more eye-friendly, but some people will never be able to use them and that poses a huge problem.

These are the best Android multitasking UIs, ranked
By Nicholas Sutrich published
Multitask! Most Android phones significantly improve Google's awful stock multitasking UI, but which does it best? We've got a few picks multitaskers will love.

The world is crazy but your phone can give you some peace. Here's how
By Nicholas Sutrich last updated
Taking a break Social media and the 24/7 news cycle can take a big toll on your psyche. I've learned how to better manage it, and you can, too.
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