If you’re a part of the digital age than you’ve surely heard of Instagram. Founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the app became a huge hit and was subsequently purchased by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012. You may be asking yourself: What’s the point of Instagram if I can just share my photos to Facebook? This guide can answer that question and help you get started.
Who Instagram Is For
Instagram is used by billions of people worldwide, by professionals and hobbyists alike. Unlike Facebook, which has grown cumbersome over the years with more and more features, Instagram has remained simple and true to its roots: sharing photos.
Instagram is a bit more personal than other social networks. People, not brands, are central to this platform. Although businesses can certainly join Instagram and use it for digital advertising, their advertisements will surely be drowned out amidst a sea of food porn, models, scenic landscapes and more.
In short, Instagram is for everyone. Even pro photographers use it, and while it may not be a great portfolio tool, it’s a great source of creativity, inspiration and sonder – the realization that everyone has a story.
Photo by Andrew Orr
We’re going to help you get the most out of your experience with Instagram by giving you tips & tricks to using the app and building your personal brand.
Tips
Quality over quantity. Depending on what you want to get out of Instagram, you can take or leave this advice. For budding photographers that want to showcase their work, I recommend staying consistent. Post one or two of your best photos per day if possible.
Be cognizant of your audience. While it’s completely fine to share photos of your day-to-day life with friends and family, be aware that you probably won’t attract a huge following of people, especially ones that you don’t know. Similar to Facebook, using Instagram like this will have your friends following you, but probably not strangers.
For professionals and hobbyists, there are things you can do to attract followers. Upload quality photos, write a good profile description, cross-post, and engage with followers. What do I mean by cross posting? When you post a photo to Instagram you can also select options to post it to other social networks as well: Facebook, Twitter, Swarm, Tumblr and Flickr.
Build a rapport with your followers. Try to respond to them if they comment on your photos. While you can’t respond to all of them, especially once you become popular and have hundreds or thousands of comments, but a simple “Hey, thanks for commenting!” can go a long way.
And don’t just use Instagram for posting your own photos. Explore the platform, search for hashtags you like and start liking and commenting on other peoples’ photos. They will often like your photos and comment in return, and quite possibly follow you.
Hashtags. Speaking of hashtags, they are an important tool to make use of, especially if you don’t have a large following. Instagram lets you use up to 30 hashtags per post. That’s a lot, but think of each hashtag as an avenue for categorization and sharing.
Use a mixture of popular and unique hashtags. Tags like #photooftheday, #photoshoot, #instagood, etc., are used by everyone, but that means if you only use those tags, your photos will be quickly overwhelmed by all of the other photos with those tags. So use unique ones as well, and use hashtags that are applicable to your photo, like #blackandwhite, #macro, #naturelover, etc.
Find a niche. Finding your niche applies not only to Instagram, but other areas as well, like the reason you became a photographer in the first place. Maybe you specialize in macro photography or boudoir, or only focus on black and white imagery. At the same time, don’t be afraid to grow and change.
Editing
As you can see, Instagram is a photo editing tool as well as a photo sharing platform. Depending on your level of expertise, you can choose to ignore these tools or slap a quick filter on your image before publishing. The tools include:
Photo by Andrew Orr
Adjust: Fix the vertical and horizontal perspectives, or rotate the image to a precision degree.
Brightness: Making your photo brighter or darker
Contrast: Making the whites and blacks stronger to make the objects in your photo stand out more
Structure: Enhances the details to give an HDR effect
Warmth: Controlling the light temperature of your photo
Saturation: Changing the intensity of colors
Color: This is shadow and highlight tinting
Fade: Giving your photo a faded, vintage look
Highlights: Controlling the intensity of light in a photo
Shadows: Controlling the dark shadows in a photo
Vignette: Darkening the edges of the photo
Tilt Shift: Focusing on one area of a photo and/or creating an optical illusion regarding the size of the focus.
Sharpen: Making the edges of the objects in your photo sharper
Conclusion
Using social media becomes easier once you realize that each platform is a niche: Instagram is for photos, Twitter is for microblogging/breaking news, and Facebook is for general news and maintaining social connections. Hopefully our guides help you get the most out of these services.
If you’re like many of our writers here at AndroidGuys, one of the reasons you love Android is for the customization Android offers. We’re constantly switching up our home screens, themes, icons, and wallpapers. But, the customization can run far, far deeper than that.
Some of you may be familiar with If This Then That, better known as IFTTT. The service allows you to create “recipes” via the application or the web client that will perform a specific action when triggered. A great example is that every time an article is published to AndroidGuys.com, I get a push alert on my phone. This lets me stay up to date with exactly what we’re publishing. I’m a fan of our writers just like you may be!
While there are some more powerful applications that can enable you to take even further control of your phone (see: Tasker), IFTTT is great because of how straightforward the interface is and the endless amount of services that integrate with it. Here are some of our favorite premade recipes. Scroll down a little further to find out how to make your own!
Automatically update your Android wallpaper to NASA’s image of the day
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA as its more commonly known, publishes a surprising amount of information, pictures, and videos for free! This includes a daily free image that work well as desktop and phone backgrounds. Most of these pictures are of, you guessed it, space with a great focus on nebulas, galaxies, and even more crazy things you may not have known existed! If you’re a space nerd like me, head over to this recipe and add it to your account.
Lost your phone? Text it “lostphone” to turn up ringer volume!
Losing your phone around the house or at work is a big problem. Often times I’ve found my phone between the couch cushions after a half an hour of searching. Why did it take half an hour? Because I leave my phone on vibrate all the time. With this recipe, you can easily avoid this frustration with a simple text message.
When IFTTT sees a text with “lostphone” show up on your device, it automatically sets your volume to 100%. After that, a quick call will alert you to your device’s location. If you need to send a text but don’t have anyone around to help you out, you can check out these instructions on how to send a text message using your email. If you want to check out this recipe (and I highly recommend it), check out the page here to add it to your account.
Mute my device during meetings
If you use Google Calendar, this recipe is perfect for you. Many of us put our work meetings into our calendars to keep our busy lives straight. Not all of us, however, remember to turn our phones on silent when we go into meetings. This can lead to some embarrassing moments!
When this recipe detects you’re in a meeting via a Google Calendar entry, your phone will automatically go into silent mode and will turn your sounds back up when the meeting is over. On the page for this recipe, it will ask you to connect to the Google Calendar channel first, then you can go ahead and set this up on your phone.
Creating your own recipes
IFTTT has done an excellent job of making the creation of recipes as easy as possible. We’re going to take you through an example of how to create a simple recipe. This will get your started and then you can explore even further. We’re going to recreate the recipe that I mentioned earlier that sends a push alert anytime an article is published to Android Guys.
Step 1: Choose a trigger channel
This is the “If” in If This Then That. In this specific instant, we’re going to tell IFTTT that the If is when a new post populates in the AndroidGuys RSS feed. In the Trigger box type “RSS” and then select the orange RSS icon that pops up.
Step 2: Choose your context
Here you can choose whether you want to be alerted every time something comes into the RSS feed or only when it matches certain criteria. If you are constantly checking our site for our daily deals posts, this is an excellent way to be alerted ONLY when those go live. For this example, we’re going to choose the first option, “New feed item”.
Step 3: Complete Trigger Fields
This is where you’re going to enter the URL for your RSS feed. Since we’re using AndroidGuys as an example, you’ll put https://www.androidguys.com/feed into the box. You can normally find a site’s RSS feed by going to the homepage and looking for the word “Feed” or looking for the orange RSS logo. Right click on it and copy the location and paste it into the Feed URL.
Step 4: Click the word “That”
Step 5: Choose an Action Channel
This is the “That” in your recipe. This tells IFTTT what you want to happen when a new article pushes to the RSS feed. You have a ton of options here. You can save it to Pocket or Instapaper, email it to a friend, or post it to a Slack channel. For this recipe, we’re going to select IF Notifications so it shows up on our phone via the app we downloaded earlier.
Step 6: Click on Send a Notification
Step 7: Customize the alert
By default your alert will be set to “New entry from {{FeedTitle}}: {{EntryTitle}} — view more”. This is the text that will show up in the push notification on your phone. FeedTitle is the website (AndroidGuys.com) and the EntryTitle is the name of the article in question. You can change this to anything you want, but I leave mine on the default text.
Step 8: Finalize your recipe
Before you finalize your recipe, be sure that you give it a name! You can use the default name, which in this case is “If new feed item from https://www.androidguys.com/feed, then send a notification” but you can shorten that to something like “AndroidGuys Push Notifications”. If you’re happy with your name and how everything looks, hit big blue “Create Recipe” button and you’re done! Great job!
As you can see, it’s a very simple process. IF This Then That has almost an unlimited amount of possibilities since it integrates with so many products and services. I plan to get some Phillips Hue bulbs soon so I can have the lights turn on for me in the morning when I wake up and turn back off when I disconnect from my WiFi as I leave the house. Again, this is just one of the many examples you can create.
Do you use IFTTT? What recipes are you subscribed to? Have you created any of your own? Let us know down in the comments!
Looking to pick up a new phone? Luckily in 2016 we have a wide variety of powerful smartphones that don’t cost a whole lot of money with great internal specs. Gearbest.com is running a big sale on the recently released Elephone P9000 for just $199.99 with free shipping included.
For your hard earned money, you will get a smartphone with Android 6.0, 5.5″ HD display, 4GB RAM, 32GB of storage, 13MP rear camera, 8MP front camera, USB type-C and a fingerprint reader. Not only that you will get it in a sleek and stylish package with a metal frame and rubberized back. That is a whole lot of phone for not a lot of money.
With Gearbest.com you will receive a 45-day 100% satisfaction guarantee with free shipping and you never pay sales tax. If you don’t like what you buy, simply contact Gearbest and let them know you want to return it.
Also, check out our unlocked phones buyer’s guide to see if this phone is compatible in your area.
Elephone P9000 5.5 inch Android 6.0 4G Phablet MTK6755 Octa Core 2.0GHz FHD Screen 4GB RAM 32GB ROM 8.0MP + 13.0MP Fingerprint OTG Type-C Display: 5.5 inch 1.6mm narrow bezel 1920×1080 1080p LTPS OGS screen, NTSC: 93% CPU: MTK6755 (Helio P10) Octa Core 2.0GHz, GPU: ARM Mali-T860 System:Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Such excellent device definitely should be with the latest and coolest Android 6.0 system, a new “marshmallow” will bring you more smooth and wonderful experience. More surprises are waiting for you to enjoy. RAM + ROM:4GB RAM + 32GB ROM (Available memory about 26GB) Camera: Front camera 8.0MP OV8858 + Rear camera Sony IMX258 13.0MP f/2.0 with auto focus and double color temperature flashes Bluetooth: 4.0 GPS: GPS, A-GPS Sensor: G-sensor, P-sensor, L-sensor, Hall, Gyrometer, Breath LED, E-compass Special Software:NFC, Wireless Charge, E-TOUCH, Smart key (Intelligent Mute Mode etc.), Gesture function, Fingerprint(Black Screen Wake up), OTG, Fingerprint Applock, Black Screen Gesture SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, dual micro SIM Quick charge: PE + 2.5A/1.67A(5V/7V/9V) 1.25A(12V) Network:
WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n, 2.4G/5G
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 800/900/1800/2100/2600MHz
Need a break from Pokemon GO? Don’t want to go outside in this miserable heat? Stay inside and beat the heat with Ghostbusters™: Slime City! Is there something strange in your neighborhood? Become a Ghostbuster and work your way through New York City blastin’ and baggin’ ghosts, goblins, and demons. I ain’t afraid of no ghost!
My Opinion
There is a lot going on here, you start out as a noob just trying to make it as a Ghostbuster. By taking jobs and fighting ghosts in the city you will earn money, gold and other cards that help you advance. This game is fun to play and is different enough from other games I have played on Android to make it fun.
The Good
In this game, you get a pretty cool top down view of the city. Most of it is dark when you start but as you gain more jobs and complete them buildings start to light up with more to do at each one. Seeing the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man walking around Central Park is pretty cool. Watching the Ghostbuster car drive around from the top of the city is a neat little detail they added too.
When you are taking down ghosts, the levels degrade when you shoot your blaster at objects other than the ghosts which make for a cool effect when you look around the level. I really like the animation and look of this game, it feels like I am playing a cartoon from the 80s or 90s which takes me back to when the original movies were out.
Once you get to the higher levels of the game you even can join a Squad and play with others asynchronously. You get to build your own Proton Packs from all the different parts you win while blastin’ and baggin’, and can also level up your ghost hunting suit with the money and gold you win as well. Another neat detail is if something in the game is not ready for you to play there is a set alarm button on the screen that when tapped will send a push notification to your notification shade when it is ready, even when you are not actively playing the game.
The Bad
OK, so for all the good that you just heard, there is just as much bad about this game. The characters that we see ALOT of when jobs are over and we are in the city are absolutely terrible. The dialog they have between each other is campy and cheesy and since it is all text based can get lengthy when all I want to do is blast some ghosts.
The worst part of this game is that there is so much going on and not a lot of explanation about what some things do or why they are popping up onto the screen. I found that I just assumed what certain things did (and maybe this is what they intended) like all the cards that you get at the end of battles or what a certain row of images are on the left side of the screen.
This is the official mobile game for the new Ghostbusters movie that released July 15th but I see no sign of any of the characters from the movie in this game. Just a weird observation I had, maybe. One more negative is the naggy buy stuff for real money screens that show up when you are looking for jobs as well as the product placement ads in the levels as you are playing the game. But the game is free so they have to make money somehow I guess.
Conclusion
Who is this game for? If you play, Clash Royal, Pokemon Go and any other card based game that gives you things for battling other things, you will enjoy playing Ghostbusters™: Slime City! I have had fun with this game over the last week since I installed and I think you will too. Bustin will make you feel so good!
Hey everyone! Sorry for the late posting, but here are this week’s Editor’s Picks! Hope you enjoy!
Pokemon Go
Play this one for more than an hour and you’ll see the appeal. After little more than a week with Pokemon Go I have found myself walking considerably more, meeting and chatting up new friends in my town, and having a great time. It’s the perfect summer game; you can get out of it exactly what you put into it. I’ve enjoyed killing a few hours with my wife and son and we’re learning quite a bit about the Pokemon lore. A few small server issues aside, I’m completely satisfied with this release. I can’t wait to see how it evolves.
I’ve been using Smartnews for a few weeks now because of the nice design and swift animations. It’s customizable and doesn’t smash ads in my face when I use it. My favorite part of the app is “Smartview” that allows for an alternate viewing experience for articles. It’s great because it saves data and makes reading articles easier with less clutter
I have 3 Amazon Fire TV devices in my house. If you have one you have inevitably lost the tiny remote that came with it. Mine always ends up in the couch or in some spot where I know I will find it next time but never can. Maybe the batteries have run out and you don’t have any AAA’s to replace them. The Fire TV remote app is the solution all of these problems. It works over your WiFi network to connect your phone to any of the Fire TV devices in your house.
This app gives you the ability to use the voice commands to open all sorts of content with no typing needed. it also includes a Keyboard so you can type instead of clicking the screen keyboard on the fire tv it self. This is the main reason i love this app. Being able to use the keyboard on my phone to type on the Fire TV ,makes using apps like plex and SPMC so much easier then using the on-screen keyboard that Amazon provides.
“If sound quality matters to you, then you owe it to yourself to try Naturespace. Naturespace is the ultimate headphone listening experience! Our immersive and spatially accurate 3D recordings from some of the most beautiful locations on earth will relax and rejuvenate you like nothing else. They truly must be experienced to be believed. With 6 free tracks, no ads, a simple interface, and a vast catalog to choose from, it’s easy to get started. Find out what millions of others have discovered: the amazing world of holographic audio.
At Naturespace, we record incredibly relaxing, immersive outdoor environments in 3D using proprietary holographic microphone techniques drawn from classical and field recording practices. When audio is recorded in 3D, the entire hemispheric sound field is preserved, including the sounds that occur in front, behind, beside, and above the listener. It’s mind-bendingly lifelike and remarkably soothing– a true revolution in sound.
The spatial accuracy of Naturespace’s nature recordings are so convincingly real that they create an immediate positive impact on the listener’s state of mind. Providing the brain with spatially realistic, benevolent natural sounds taps into deeply instinctual parts of the mind to ease tension, stress, anxiety, and insomnia. It is a powerful tool for aiding focus and concentration, relaxation, meditation, masking noise, jumpstarting the imagination, evoking memories, and fueling creative processes. It’s an excellent alternative to white noise.
We are unique in that we capture, mix, and master all of our audio ourselves. Our obsession with holographic audio has led us to create a diverse and growing catalog of over 120 nature soundscapes, recorded by us across several continents in some of the most remote locations on the planet. Naturespace’s thunderstorms, oceans, fields, streams, meadows, snowstorms, winds, and avian wildlife sounds are unmatched in the world for their realism.
On his 2014 album Upside Down Mountain, famed indie songwriter Connor Oberst (Bright Eyes) titled his track “”Night at Lake Unknown”” in homage to the Naturespace recording of the same name.
Naturespace is the perfect tool for increasing productivity, clarity, and focus and decreasing anxiety, stress, and distraction. It is a fantastic aid for those who need help with sleep and insomnia issues. With our powerful catalog of ambient nature tracks, all you need to do is put on your headphones, relax, and close your eyes.”
Word Teaser takes the usual word search game and adds multiple levels of interest, using a color-coded hint system to simultaneously guide and distract you from your goal.
It’s rather well-done, and both the graphics & music are there but mainly stay in the background, letting the experience shine.
Orbot is the Android version of the popular Tor Browser. It is not actually a browser, however, but offers a secure connection that routes all your traffic through Tor servers like the deep web traffic. It’s basically a hardcore VPN, that offers advanced and in-depth settings to suit your security needs. It is super easy to use, and is packed full of features.
Have you seen the International Space Station? It is visible with the naked eye!
If you like space or astronomy, you will like this ISS locator app.
ISS Detector will tell you when and where to look for the International Space Station or Iridium flares. You get an alarm a few minutes before a pass. You will never miss a pass of the International Space Station and you will never miss the bright flashes of the iridium communication satellites. ISS Detector will also check if the weather conditions are right. A clear sky is perfect for spotting.
Extensions will enhance the functionality of ISS Detector. With an in-app purchase you can add comets and planets, amateur radio satellites and famous objects, like the Hubble space telescope or the Chinese space station Tiangong.
ISS Detector combines data from Nasa, Heavens-above.com, minorplanetcenter.net and weather from yr.no to show you exactly when a celestial body will be visible! Any space enthusiast should check it out.
Fandango is a movie tickets and times app that’s second to none. If you’re looking for what’s playing in your local theatre, Fandango will usually have the info, and the option to purchase your tickets. The best part of Fandango is the perks of using them to buy your tickets. OFten, you’ll get access to VIP rewards and bonuses like digital copies of movies, coupons, and free mp3 downloads related to the film you picked. It’s my go-to app for movie tickets.
LastPass is a password manager that allows you to create and store secure passwords for all of your favorite apps and websites. It also allows for seamless PC and mobile integration so no matter where you log in, you always have your passwords handy. LastPass autofills passwords for apps, as well as webpages so you will never worry about forgetting a password, and they are encrypted and secure so nobody can easily access them. If you’re concerned about privacy, LastPass is a great app to help you feel more secure.
Google Fit is a fitness app that connects to your fitness tracer or smartwatch to help monitor your health and stay in shape. IT collects data and displays them in attractive and easy to read graphs that chart your daily and weekly progress in steps and calories, as well as sleep and heart rate. Google Fit provides a unified location for all your fitness data that may otherwise be fragmented among your various smart devices and fitness trackers. If you’re looking for a great way to stay in shape this summer, Google Fit is a great app to help you out.
This is a mobile app for Steam, the PC marketplace for games run by Valve. If you’re a PC gamer and use Steam, Steam mobile is a excellent companion to the service on your PC. You can access everything from the mobile app, like the store and friends list, as well as a 2-step authentication system for logging into your account. The Steam app enhances and simplifies your Steam experience while adding another layer of security to your account. If you’re a Steam user, you owe it to yourself to try out Steam mobile.
Swipe it is an unabashedly simple Android game for all ages from developer M/Games, where the goal is to swipe your screen in the same direction as the game indicates, as long as you can until you screw up and have to start over. That’s really all there is to say for an intro; let’s get to the game itself to see just what I mean, shall we?
Setup
Setup is also dead-simple: download this free game from the Play Store. Once done, you open the game where you’re greeted by the title screen. You can jump into the settings to mute the sound & vibration, you can check out game leaderboards, or you can take a look at your own game achievements to date.
Gameplay
As stated, this is a very simple game. There is not backstory, heroes, villains, or heroines-in-distress. It’s just you and your reaction time.
The game gives you a solid yellow background with a triangular arrow (not unlike the Google Play icon itself) in the lower-center. Above is a cascading run of directional arrows, each indicating which way you should swipe (up, down, left, right). By placing your thumb/finger at the triangle and swiping in the corresponding direction, you wipe that directional arrow from the screen, and the rest drop down by one a-la Tetris.
At the top of your screen is your life meter of sorts; when full it glows green but slowly shrinks during play, turning yellow, then red. You can slow the speed of your bar disappearing and even re-grow it though faster swipes.
Your game ends by one of two ways: your life meter drains to zero, or you swipe in an incorrect direction from the one given. Depending on your progress to that point, you may be given a chance to re-start from your current position, or you may have to start back at zero. Your life span is dictated by accuracy first, and speed second.
As you progress through the game, you are also given diagonal swipes to match, increasing the difficulty level a bit. You earn achievement tokens by hitting milestone numbers of accurate swipes (50, 100, etc.).
Graphics & Sound
If I do have a gripe with the game itself, it’s in the design of the directional arrows that you’re supposed to emulate with your swipes. They are very simple & thin in design, which can make it difficult to ascertain as you speed up (it that one up or down??). Now, this may be by design to increase the games challenge, but I personally think it would be more fun to have these a bit bolder, allowing the player to focus on maximum speed and longevity.
Game sound is rather minimal, including an 8-bit beep with every swipe, and some puny congratulatory horns when you hit a new high score. Meh.
Summary
Like I said, the gameplay is super-simple but can be fun. Where I found the most enjoyment out of it is challenging my kiddos to see who can last the longest (they always LOVE to crush dad at a game). Getting multiple people to engage in the game definitely increases its replay-ability.
All in all, I recommend Swipe It. The game knows what it is, and makes zero apologies for it. It gives you a quick challenge and invokes no guilt when you put it down. Give it a try and see for yourself.
I refuse to be on the bandwagon that labels the LG G5 as a crappy phone. It’s not. It may not be as refined as its top-end competition, but that doesn’t make it a bad phone. Poor performance, sub-par components, and buggy software make a phone crappy.
But be that as it may, the G5 was a miss rather than a hit. Fortunately, LG doesn’t get just one chance in a year to win our hearts anymore. The V10 newcomer last year was surprisingly good. It was actually a refuge for devoted Galaxy Note fans who felt betrayed by Samsung’s turn to fashion over function.
As the time approaches for another phablet battle, it’s my opinion that the supposed V10 successor, the V20, has a superb opportunity to majorly turn the tables. A big reason for this is because Samsung appears to be playing it safe with the Note 7. We’ve had plenty of leaks to know what to expect, and it essentially is more of the same. Sure, it will come with some new things, like the anticipated Iris scanner and USB Type-C port, but ultimately, it will be a bigger version of what we saw earlier in the year from Samsung. Will it be pretty? Yes. Will it have top-notch components? Yes. Will Android sites praise it like the second coming? Yes. But will it be exciting. Eh.
Excitement is exactly how LG can stand out. We don’t know what to expect from the V20, and that itself is a big plus in a now stagnant smartphone market. We know that LG isn’t afraid to try new things, like a secondary wide-angle camera, second screen, integrated Hi-Fi DAC, or a modular concept. The company also may have had some time to adjust its next flagship based on the failings of the G5. Here are some of things that I think the V20 needs to be a hit and leap over the Note 7:
5.7-5.8” QHD display that finally uses AMOLED technology and is comparable to Samsung’s panel.
Snapdragon 821 chipset
At least 4GB of RAM
64GB storage at minimum (like the V10 had) with microSD expansion
The same dual, rear camera setup as the G5 (standard + wide angle), but with larger aperture and larger pixel sensors, and faster auto-focus.
Around a 3,500 mAh battery that still removable
Durable/shockproof like the V10, but also waterproof
Upgraded internal Hi-Fi DAC
USB Type-C
Modularity, if there are a multitude of options
Toned-down UI with app drawer!
Price that significantly undercuts the Note 7
One last factor that I think the V10 nailed last year was handleability. Its grippy, textured backing was a far cry better in the hand than Samsung’s fragile glass cover. The V10 didn’t really need a case, but it’s pretty much a necessity on Samsung’s phones. Derrick Miyao (another AndroidGuys editor) and I both cracked our Galaxy S7 Edge’s despite being extra careful.
Long crack developed along the back glass of my S7 Edge, on its ownDerrick’s S7 Edge after it slipped out of his pocket
Now, this article isn’t meant to bash the Note 7, nor is this LG fanboy speech (the V10 was my first LG phone). I just feel like the V10 did more right things than the Note 5 last year, and because Samsung is repeating the same formula once again, LG now has a stark opportunity to be on top. That is, if it plays the cards right.
Do you agree with my assessments? Was there a feature I missed that you think would give the V20 a big edge? Continue the discussion down in the comments!
OnePlus and Google, partnered with Huawei, have targeted a similar audience with their affordable, high-end phones. Both the OnePlus 3 and the Nexus 6P offer premium build quality, features and specs at nearly half the cost of the likes of Samsung and LG, along with a near stock version of Android out of the box.
Despite the Nexus 6P being out for almost a year now, it still is a very solid contender in the current field of phones, and is still my personal daily driver. The OnePlus 3 has the advantage of age, but exactly how well do these two phones stack up with one another?
Hardware
The OnePlus 3 eschewed its previous design aesthetic for a lovely all-metal exterior and subtle curves. It is a looker of a phone and a joy to hold in the hand, and if you asked anyone they’d probably think this was a $700 flagship device.
The Nexus 6P has much of the same design cues as the 3, with a smooth all-metal design and no frills. There are some differences, like a more flat front glass panel and a overall more slab-like feel.
The Nexus has a set of front-facing dual speakers that offer full sound, which are great for gaming or video watching, while the OnePlus 3 opted for a single bottom-firing speaker. The speaker on the OnePlus is no slouch, however, and proved to be clear and loud without too much distortion at high volume. The Nexus speakers are still my choice though, as the front-facing speaker design is hard to let go of once you’ve experienced it.
Both phones are nice to hold in the hand, but their size may prove difficult for some to handle due to the slippery metal, especially the larger Nexus. A case can easily remedy that issue, and otherwise both devices get top marks on external design.
The screen on both the Nexus and the OnePlus are AMOLED panels, with the OnePlus being a 5.5 inch and the Nexus a 5.7. The Nexus’ screen is a higher 2560×1440 resolution, compared to the standard 1920×1080 HD panel on the 3, but both offer great color and brightness. Images are sharp and clear on both, but the Nexus seems to me to have just a slight bit more brightness at max settings, which is nice for direct sunlight. The OnePlus does offer more customization, with color balance control to fine tune your screen.
Beneath the screen is a different story. The OnePlus 3 comes stacked in terms of internals, with a massive 6GB of RAM coupled with a Snapdragon 820, 64GB of memory and a 3000mAh battery with USB-C. This phone sizzles, and handles multitasking with ease. The speed and smoothness of the OnePlus 3 still blows my mind today, after weeks of using it. That’s not to say that the 6P is slow by comparison, however. Huawei packed a Snapdragon 810, 32 or 64GB of memory and 3GB of RAM in there along with a massive 3450mAh battery, also with USB-C. Even after months of regular use, my 6P is still as fast as ever, and only a step behind the OnePlus 3 in most regards.
Battery life on both phones are excellent, with neither phone dying on me before 8 p.m. after regular usage. The 6P’s more powerful screen does make it susceptible to dying quickly when under heavy use however, but regular daily usage will be no problem. Also, both phones offer their own fast charging solution, with OnePlus’ DASH charging that pushes the phone’s battery to 60% in 30 minutes, and Huawei Rapid charging that can’t quite match the speed of DASH but still offers a full-day’s charge in less than an hour.
Software and Camera
Both the OnePlus and the Nexus 6P offer nice clean ROMs of stock Android. OnePlus’ Oxygen OS is essentially stock with a few minor tweaks and additions baked in, like more customization options and gesture controls that are nicely implemented and useful.
Google pairs the Nexus line with its Google Now Launcher, which is also very nearly stock with only a simple set of tweaks like the Google Now page to set it apart. The Nexus 6P also has a huge advantage in terms of updates, as Google pushes new versions of Android to the Nexus line first. If being on the bleeding edge of Android is important to you, there’s really no comparison here. The Google Now Launcher has been my go-to launcher since the Nexus 5, so I’m a bit biased but both offer excellent software experiences that few would take issue with.
Camera performance on both phones are great, but there are some big differences.
The OnePlus comes with a 16MP f/2.0 shooter with OIS and a single LED flash in a prominent bump on the back of the phone. The Nexus 6P has a 12.3MP f/2.0 lens with larger 1.55 micron pixels, and no OIS hidden behind a “visor” of glass on the top of the back panel that also houses the NFC and other sensors.
Both cameras take excellent photos, but the OnePlus 3 has a big speed advantage in this department, as the Nexus uses HDR+ more prominently, making for a much slower shutter speed compared to the 3. The Nexus does better in low light, due to the HDR+, and the OnePlus offers a full manual mode for those who are interested in that, for more fine tuned control of the camera settings. The image quality on both devices are excellent, and I’d be hard pressed to pick a winner between them.
Conclusion
I would say that if I had to pick a winner, it’d probably still be the Nexus 6P for my daily driver phone. The larger, higher resolution screen and Android N are too hard for me to part with for long, despite how much I love the OnePlus 3.
Both the Nexus 6P and the OnePlus 3 are both excellent high-end flagships for their respective companies. Choosing between them is really a difficult choice, but there a few factors that may help sway you one way or another. The $100-$150 less cost and beefier specs of the OnePlus 3 may compel you towards it, but the updates, higher resolution screen and front-facing speakers make the Nexus an enticing choice as well. I will say that you can’t go wrong with either device right now, and with a new Nexus sure to be releasing in the coming months, the 6P may even see a price drop. Those who simply can’t decide may also want to wait out the new Nexus device as well, to see how it stacks up.
Motorola is one of the oldest and most important companies in the history of the United States. Moto was founded in 1928 after the Galvin Brothers purchased the bankrupt Stewart Battery Company, its plant, and the plans for its battery eliminators for $750 at auction. Its first products were simple by today’s standards, they allowed radios to run on household electricity, but this was the start of something huge.
In the ’30s Motorola began selling the first car radios to police departments and by the time the first World War began, hand-held walkie talkies made by Motorola were in our troop’s hands. World War 2 brought new challenges and the Motorola made AM SCR-536 radio was vital to our success in Europe. In 1943 Motorola went public and by the time 1947 rolled around its biggest sellers were television sets and radios.
Motorola made the radio that carrier Neil Armstrong’s iconic words back from the moon.
Fast-forward to more recent history. Motorola was known for its semiconductors in the 80s and its cell phones in the 90s. Even though Motorola was one of the first companies to mass produce phones, it was overtaken in the late 90s as the largest seller of phones by Nokia. The 2000s brought us amazing devices like the Moto Razr that would influence our culture for years to come.
And then the smartphone wars started. In the early days of Android, Motorola produced the DROID. It’s a phone that the company is still known for to this day, but Moto failed to capitalize on its success and produced disappointing follow-ups.
I distinctly remember the Motorola Backflip that my wife loved. When we bought it the salesman at AT&T told us we’d probably be back in a few months for a replacement or to return it. That thing soldiers on for another three years before my wife finally gave up on it.
What many of you who are reading this will probably remember most is when Motorola came out with the Moto X lineup. It smartly dropped its attempt at a skin atop Android and went with a mostly stock look with small improvements atop. Motorola was one of the first to truly integrate voice commands into its phones and quick updates were a key selling point for the X lineup.
Moto X 2013, 2014, and 2015
The Moto X lineup was followed up with cheap, yet good phones in the Moto G and Moto E lineup that redefined what you could buy on a budget. Google bought Motorola for a hot minute, mostly for its patents, but we also got the Nexus 6 out of the deal which was controversial due to its size but loved by many.
That brings us to today when we’re seeing an entirely new lineup from Motorola, the Moto Z. The new lineup includes the Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid. The new devices are focused on fast and slim phones that can be expanded through modules that attach to the back. The selling points look great on paper, but how does it perform in real life? Read on for our full review.
Hardware
Dimensions: 6.14 x 2.98 x 0.28 in
Display: 5.5 in, 2560 x 1440 (AMOLED)
Processor: Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820
Storage: 32/64GB
RAM: 4GB
Battery: 3500mAh (non-removable)
Cameras: 21/5MP
The Motorola Moto Z Force Droid stacks up with every other flagship on the market. The Snapdragon 820 has been the processor of choice for flagship releases in the United States market for early 2016. Pairing it with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage is pretty standard at this point. The Z Force Droid shares the same specs with the Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10, and LG G5. It’s only outclassed by the OnePlus 3 which offers 64GB of storage and 6GB of RAM.
Where the Moto Z Force Droid beats almost every other flagship is in battery size. We’ll talk about real life battery stats later, but we love the inclusion of a huge 3500mAh battery in this flagship phone. There are other phones on the market with larger batteries but most feel like novelties that just throw the highest capacity battery into a phone it can as a novelty.
The huge battery is needed to drive the impressive display. We’re getting used to seeing beautiful AMOLED displays, but the display on the Force is in the league of Samsung’s current generation panels. Max brightness is very good and perhaps just short of usability in very bright outdoor situations, but will do the job in pretty much every other circumstance. Viewing angles are excellent with almost no color shift at all. The colors feel bright and pop with vibrancy. If you’re looking for a phone to look at for the next two years, you’ll be happy with the Moto Z Force Droid.
The truly stand-out feature of the display is not all the pixels, but the Shattershield technology. Motorola boasts that the Moto Z Force Droid’s display is guaranteed not to crack or shatter, just like its predecessor the Droid Turbo 2. The fine print says the following:
“The display and embedded lens are warranted against shattering and cracking for four (4) years from the original date of purchase; scratches or other damage to the protective lens is not covered by this warranty, but should always be in place to prevent scratches and other damage to the underlying components. This phone is not shockproof or designed to withstand all damage from dropping. All other warranty exclusions, including scratches and other cosmetic damage, intentional damage or abuse, normal wear and tear and other limitations apply.”
Motorola did make the Moto Z Force Droid thicker than the Moto Z to include this technology (as well as a bigger battery), but I think the trade-off is worth it. I haven’t tried to destroy the display on my review unit, but I think any person purchasing this phone with their own money will love the fact that there is a four-year warranty on their display. I see so many people with cracked screens that are holding until they can afford a new device. You completely avoid this issue with the Moto Z Force Droid.
Just under the display is a square fingerprint scanner that serves as nothing but a fingerprint scanner (although you can hold it while the display is on to turn the display off). I’m not in love with the aesthetics of the scanner and its placement, but it does function fabulously. I’ve not had a misread yet and it’s as fast as the Nexus 6P, OnePlus 3 or iPhone 6s. I’d like to see the button function as a home button as well even though the rest of the buttons are on screen. I think Sony has the right idea about how to do fingerprint sensors: put it in the power button. Hopefully other OEMs will follow suit.
On the bottom of the phone, we find only a USB type C port, no headphone jack. And, the top of the phone doesn’t have anything besides an antenna band. So, if it’s not on the bottom and it’s not on the top, what gives?
Motorola decided to beat Apple to the punch and remove the 3.5mm jack. Now, I know the arguments for it (makes the device thinner and cheaper), but I just can’t get behind removing a universally accepted port. Is it perfect? No. Is it old? Yes. But does it work almost flawlessly? Yep.
To its credit, Motorola does include a USB type C to 3.5mm adapter so you can still use your wired headphones, but it seems like a messy fix to a problem it didn’t need to create in the first place.
The only speaker is housed in the earpiece which is situated between the front facing camera (left) and the forward facing flash (right). The flash is an excellent inclusion that we think dramatically improves those selfies. Some have crowed that the front facing camera is only 5MP, but it does a great job. It’s as good as any selfie cam I’ve seen yet.
The left side of the phone is barren which means the right side houses all of the buttons. I don’t think Motorola got it right here. I prefer staggering of the power and volume buttons on either side of the phone personally, but the placement here is all wrong. The volume buttons are very high on the device making quickly turning the volume up a pain. The power button sits just under them but is virtually indistinguishable from the volume buttons except for some ridges. The buttons are too small and too high. Luckily they are very clicky and provide good feedback when pressed.
The build of the Moto Z Force Droid is out of this world. Never before have I felt such a light, yet sturdy phone. There is zero bend or creak when force is applied to the body, but it doesn’t feel unwieldy like say a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 did when it was popular. The device is equally weighted on top and bottom so it’s easy to reach the top of this 5.5″ screen. The band around the side feels strong and easy to hold, while the back feels smooth and flat. Motorola has been known in the past for the curved design of its phones and while that has been shuttered, it’s for the best. The back houses a pronounced camera bump, a Motorola logo and pogo pins at the bottom (more on those later).
The build of the Moto Z Force is so good that I play with it even when I’m not using it. It feels that good.
Software
As I mentioned previously, the modern Motorola is known for keeping a close to stock Android feel in its phones. The minor additions help it stand out against competitors like Samsung and LG which apply a heavy skin to its phones. If you’re coming from a stock Android phone like a Nexus device, the Motorola Moto Z Force Droid will feel familiar to you.
But, that’s not to say this is a stock Android device. Since this phone is a Verizon exclusive, that means Verizon’s suite of apps come pre-installed on the device. By my count, there are 17 apps Verizon preloaded but all of them except Visual Voicemail can be disabled or outright uninstalled. Disabling apps isn’t a perfect solution since you’re unable to reclaim the space the apps take up in storage, but at least you can unclutter the phone a bit.
The look of the device does stay undeniably stock Android, and that’s a positive in my book. While some lament that Android feels feature bare without the software additions from Samsung or LG, Motorola adds smaller, but useful apps like the Moto app (previously called Moto Assist).
The app allows you to control features like the Active Display which shows you notifications in a battery friendly manner, voice controls, and actions. The actions that Moto included do things like keep the display on while you’re looking at it, allow you to turn the flashlight on by chopping the phone twice through the air, or swiping in from the button of the phone to make the screen smaller for one handed use.
With Voice controls, you can train the phone to react to a custom phrase. In previous devices you’d have to use the stock phrase of “Okay Moto”, but we’re allowed more customization. One of my favorite features of the voice commands is the ability to have the device read text messages while you’re driving or you have a headset plugged in. I HATE messing with my phone while driving, but I want to stay in contact too, so this is a happy medium.
Battery
Adisclosure before we get into the battery section. The review unit we were supplied by Motorola is locked to Verizon since the Moto Z Force Droid is a Verizon exclusive. I’m a T-Mobile customer which makes normal daily usage very hard to measure. I’m not pulling the phone out of my pocket every few minutes to check messages or notifications and I’m not engaging in the normal phone conversations with friends and family that call me on my everyday number. I usually like to give real world usage in my reviews but since this isn’t possible I’ve done my best to find out the information about the battery I can to relay to you.
As I mentioned before, the battery is a non-removable 3500mAh unit. The capacity alone puts it near the top of the list for flagship phones released in the last few years. The only other comparable phones on the market in the US are the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (3600mAh) and the Huawei Nexus 6P (3450mAh). You can import some great phones released only in Asia like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro (4100mAh) and Lenovo K5 Note (3500mAh) that rival it in capacity as well.
Adding to the excellent battery life is the Turbo Charging that Motorola enables in its phones. The Moto Z Force Droid comes with a Turbo Charger 30 which outputs at 5V at 5.7A. The only phone I’ve seen charge nearly as fast in person is the OnePlus 3 which has proprietary Dash charging (rebranded VOOC charging). Both phones will get you to about 60% battery in 30 minutes.
In day to day use where I was using the Z Force Droid as much as possible without making phone calls or texting I was getting over six hours of screen on time. This included such activities as reading Reddit, watching videos on YouTube and Netflix and streaming music with Google Play Music (check out the Monstercat Podcast!). I would expect roughly 4.5 to 5 hours of screen on time with normal usage, but that’s just an estimate at this point.
The battery benchmark early results are promising. I have zero doubt that this will be a battery champion amongst the competition.
Camera
The Motorola Moto Z Force Droid has a 21MP camera with a f/1.8 aperture, laser and phase detection auto-focus, optical image stabilization, dual-LED flash, and 1.12 µm pixel size. The main shooter can record 4K video at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps, and 1080p at 30fps. The front-facing camera is a 5MP camera with f/2.2 aperture, has 1.4 µm pixel size, an LED flash, and can record 1080p video.
Maybe the most defining aspect of the camera is the camera bump on the back of the phone. It feels like it sticks out more significantly than any other camera bump I’ve ever seen on a phone. This is partially a product of how thin phones are getting and partially a design choice by Motorola. This isn’t just a little hump that houses the camera, it is a rounded, crafted statement on the rear of the phone that screams “I have an amazing camera”.
Does it have an amazing camera? We’re going to let you decide for yourself. Here are some examples that were taken during our time with the Moto Z Force Droid, feel free to cycle through them.
Moto Mods
There are Pogo Pins on the back of the Motorola Moto Z Force Droid that connect to accessories. These add-ons can be attached to the phone to expand the functionality. During the reveal press conference, Motorola showed a projector, speaker, extended battery, and rear covers.
The way Motorola has gone about adding modular functionality is pretty brilliant. Attaching modules to the back of the phone through the use of magnets is a much better option than say, the LG G5 which you have to remove the bottom of the phone. This leads to issues like the gap between the bottom and the rest of the phone. By placing modules on the rear of the phone, the only thing you sacrifice is some thinness. That’s a pretty easy trade-off, especially when you take into consideration how thin the Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid already are.
You’ll hear more about the speaker and extended battery accessories in our Moto Z Droid review, but for now, we’re going to focus on the projector. Dubbed the “Moto Insta-Share Projector” the device allows you project a picture up to 70″ and adds an hour of screen time due to the included battery.
During my testing I found the picture to be pretty clear, but not bright enough to use in my living room during the daytime. Where I think this will really shine is during the fall when we’re outside around the fire. I’d love to be able to cast a college football game onto the side of my house using the ESPN app.
The Insta-share Projector comes in at a hefty $300, but I know that it would be my first purchase if I was buying this phone for personal use.
Also included with our review unit is a wood Moto Style Shell. These snap to the back exactly like the projector and add a little flair to the phone. I found the phone to feel a bit thick with it on the back, but I’m coming from a OnePlus 3 which an extremely thin feeling phone, so my perception may be a bit skewed. Along with the wood back, Motorola also announced leather and textured style shells that will be available.
Conclusion
When Lenovo bought Motorola from Google many people were rightly worried about the future of the company. The Moto X line was loved by many Android enthusiasts for it’s close to stock Android software and the ability to customize the outside of the device with Moto Maker. Lenovo will have to prove that it can continue on Motorola’s promise of quick updates and minimal skins. This has always been a key to customers that buy into Motorola’s way of thinking.
I don’t know what the future holds for Lenovorola, but this is certainly a good start. The Moto Z Force Droid isn’t a perfect device, but if you’re looking for a flagship phone right now (on Verizon), it’ll be hard not to pick it up.
The long-term success of the device, I believe, will lay in the adoption and pricing of the Moto Mods. This is such a great idea I have no idea why someone didn’t come up with it sooner. Motorola stated that it will be opening it up so third party companies are welcome to come in and make their own Mods, but will the promise be kept if the phone doesn’t sell well? As a reminder, LG made the same claim, but no new modules are yet to be found for the G5 It’s a bit of a chicken and the egg problem. No one is going to make mods if there aren’t users to buy them, but customers might not buy the phone if they can’t take full advantage of one of the best features of the phone.
Pre-order have just begun for the Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid at the time of publication. The Z Droid can be had for $624 and the Moto Z Force Droid comes in at a hefty $720. Phones are getting more and more expensive, but I truly think that if you’re going to spend that kind of money on a phone, this is the one to get. It has almost everything you can want in a phone. I’ve been through just about every phone on the market and the Motorola Moto Z Force Droid is my favorite so far.
Verizon Wireless on Thursday began taking pre-orders for its latest smartphones, the Motorola Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid. Both devices are expected in retail stores one week from now on July 28.
The Moto Z Droid carries a full retail price tag of $624; customers can spread payments out over a payment plan at $26 per month. The Z Force Droid comes in at $720, or $30 per month. The payment plans are spaced out over two years.
Verizon is accepting trades on select existing flagship phones and giving customers up to $300 toward either of the Moto Z models as well as the Droid Turbo 2 and Droid Maxx 2. Should one opt for a different phone, Verizon will still allow up to $200 in credit.
Moto Mods
Verizon also offered up pricing for a number of the Moto Mod modular accessories for the Moto Z series. The costs break down as so:
JBL SoundBoost is available for $79.99
Moto Insta-Share Projector is available for $299.99
TUMI and Kate Spade New York Power Packs are available from $59.99 to $89.99
Verizon is, for a limited time, giving customers a chance to save money when purchasing Mods. Those who buy one Mod with their Moto Z phone will receive 20% off any additional Mods they buy. Shop online, however, and the discount grows to 40% off VZW.com.
assumed what certain things did (and maybe this is what they intended) like all the cards that you get at the end of battles or what a certain row of images are on the left side of the screen.
City! I have had fun with this game over the last week since I installed and I think you will too. Bustin will make you feel so good!
Setup
As you progress through the game, you are also given diagonal swipes to match, increasing the difficulty level a bit. You earn achievement tokens by hitting milestone numbers of accurate swipes (50, 100, etc.).
Where the Moto Z Force Droid beats almost every other flagship is in battery size. We’ll talk about real life battery stats later, but we love the inclusion of a huge 3500mAh battery in this flagship phone. There are other phones on the market with larger batteries but most feel like novelties that just throw the highest capacity battery into a phone it can as a novelty.
