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Save 46% on the Ninja Dragon T22PRO Power Bass Bluetooth earbuds

AG Deals Team
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It can be somewhat of a challenge to find wireless earbuds that provide great sound quality. Finding wireless earbuds noise-canceling capabilities? Equally tough. What about those with great battery life? How about something that has all three features?

The Ninja Dragon T22PRO Power Bass Bluetooth Earbuds, on sale for just $52.99 in the AG Deals Store, provide up to seven hours of play-time per charge.

The earbuds come with customizable tips that contour to your ears so you don’t have to worry about them falling out. Connected via Bluetooth 5.0 and offered in two colors (black, white), they come with built-in microphones, double 6mm dynamic drivers, and house themselves in a protective charging case.

Ninja Dragon T22PRO Power Bass Bluetooth Earbuds Features

  • Auto pairing earbuds. Put it on & and you are ready to face the day
  • Bluetooth v5.0. Connect with the latest devices out in the market today
  • Latest 4-microphone technology. Hear and get heard with the high-quality built-in microphone
  • Double 6mm dynamic drivers. Get detailed sound with the dual-driver technology
  • Ultra-long playtime. Enjoy your music longer with the high-capacity battery
  • Amazing sound quality. Immersive sound that keeps you focused & entertained
  • Dual LED displays charging case. Charge your earbuds wherever, whenever

Order Yours Today!

Right now, the T22PRO Power Bass Bluetooth Earbuds are on sale for only $52.99 in the AG Deals Store. Save 46% on them while the discount lasts.

T-Mobile customer perks now include a year of Paramount Plus

Scott Webster
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Being a T-Mobile subscriber just became a little more beneficial. Thursday sees the wireless service provider adding another streaming service to its roster of perks and benefits, this time in the form of Paramount Plus.

Starting November 9, new and existing customers on both T-Mobile and Sprint can receive 12 months of Paramount+ Essential at no additional cost. This includes those on (consumer) postpaid wireless and home internet plans through the carrier.

This marks the third major streaming service provider to be folded into the T-Mobile benefits following Netflix and, more recently, Apple TV+. Valued at $4.99 per month, it’s free for a year to those who take advantage and will revert to the standard rate upon completion.

Paramount+ provides access to more than 30,000 episodes of TV shows from networks such as BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and the Smithsonian Channel. Moreover, it includes breaking news from CBSN and championship sports. And much like other networks, it provides its own original content, too.

If you are a current or prospective T-Mobile customer and want to learn more about the Paramount+ offer, head to the wireless service provider’s website.

Merge Mansion: What the hell is Grandma’s secret?

Luke Gaul
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Surely you’ve seen the ad for the game which shows grandma getting taken away in a police car with some cryptic message for her granddaughter, Maddie. What’s that all about? Find out about Merge Mansion and its mechanics in this review.

Is this game about some murderous senior citizen or something sinister? What exactly is this game and how does it work? Listen and find out what Luke thinks of the game in today’s review.

Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus tablet review

Andrew Allen
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Amazon does a little of everything these days. From books and shopping to hardware and even original motion pictures, the company truly has a wide array of assets. One of the most consumer-facing has become its Kindle Fire tablet series.

These inexpensive tablets are a favorite among families as a budget option.

Amazon was nice enough to let me test the latest edition in the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus. This new “premium” model is slated to take a more productive approach, but how does it truly match up against its past devices and the competition? Let’s find out in this full review.

Design

The overall look and feel of the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus are pretty familiar. You get a 10.1″ 1080p Full HD screen encased in a plastic surround and back. Our review model is the denim blue edition with a nice matte, soft-touch finish.

One thing I immediately noticed about the updated model from my previous 2019 Kindle Fire HD 10 is the size. While the screen stays the same aspect ratio of 16:10, the older Kindle HD was much taller with a base orientation towards book reading. The new Kindle HD 10 Plus has shaved around a 3/4 an inch off the height and just feels much more comfortable in landscape orientation. Honestly, it’s almost exactly the same size as an iPad.

All your basic keys and ports are on the “top” of the device. Here you’ll find all your major culprits of USB-C charging port, power and volume keys, and a 3.5mm headphone jacket. These are all on the right side of the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus when in a landscape position.

Rounding out features is a 5MP camera on the rear of the device and another 2MP sensor on the front. Speaker grills are also present on the left side in portrait or top in the landscape position.

Internally the HD 10 Pus is powered by a 2.0GHz octa-core Mediatek processor. This is paired with 4GB of RAM and two storage options. You can opt for either 32GB or for another $40 snag a 64GB model. Either can be expanded up to 1TB via the microSD card slot flanking the right side of the screen in portrait mode.

Performance

The Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus is the most powerful mode Amazon has produced to date, and it shows. The bump to 4GB of RAM simply makes this tablet much smoother regardless of what you throw at it. Transitions between apps and even the home screens are buttery in comparison to previous models.

You will still find some hiccups here and there with more intense apps like gaming, but I think this is due more to the Mediatek processor than the RAM. However, for daily use of web browsing, social media, and video playback there is more than enough horsepower for most users.

Microsoft and keyboard bundle

Speaking of horsepower and usage cases, Amazon partnered with Microsoft with the Fire HD 10 Plus in the hope of capturing more of an enterprise market. Included in the purchase of your Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus (with the Productivity Bundle) is a full 12-month subscription of Office365 which includes the mobile editions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

While we weren’t able to test the official keyboard case, we have paired our unit with a Bluetooth keyboard we had lying around. Combined with the canvas Kindle case, this does make for a decent travel machine. larger Exel files may stutter at times, but in comparison to other Android tablets the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus performs fine in productivity apps as a possible laptop replacement.

Fire OS

The mention of Android brings us to the elephant in the room when it comes to Kindle Fire tablets. The Fire HD 10 Plus is running Android 9 with Amazon’s Fire OS overlay. That brings a couple of things, some good and some bad.

The good is that the optimization by Amazon is really good. From overall performance to the parental controls, the OS feels really good to use. It’s also very Amazon-centric. The home screens revolve around your Amazon content and ways to add more Amazon content.

The far-left screen is For You and features new items available for download or purchase. This is based on an algorithm from Amazon created from past history of Kindle reading, browser history, and apps you’ve used. If you are a present or previous user of Amazon Music it will also suggest songs, podcasts, and playlists.

Your “main” screen is the Home where all your downloaded apps live. Here you’ll find all the apps you’ve synced from the Amazon App Store. Android users will notice that there is no app drawer. These apps are always present on this screen much like an iPad.

While you will see familiar Android elements like the geometric back, home, and multitasking button, the rest is pretty buried. Some, like the Google Play Store, are simply not there. This is the elephant in the room for some folks.

If you are heavily invested in having the same apps as on your Android phone on a tablet, the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus may not be for you. Amazon has done a pretty decent job in curating a decent App Store, but again, it’s very content-driven. Your major players for video and audio are there: Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Pocket Casts, Spotify, etc are on board.

Where you will run into “trouble” are more niche apps and banking in my experience. Many newer banking apps for Android rely on the Google Play Protect services to verify the system. With Amazon forking a version absent of Google Play they aren’t available in Amazon’s App Store. While I personally haven’t found it a huge deal-breaker, it’s definitely part of the purchase mindset.

Oh, and you can’t have an Amazon device in 2021 without Alexa. Alexa is built-in for hands-free automation and even has a dedicated button on the far left of the home screens to quickly get to your connected home devices.

But wait, there’s more! When the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus is tossed on a wireless charger is doubles as an Alexa Smart screen. This essentially makes the tablet a portable Echo Show. You get the same home screen, interactions, and prompts. It’s a neat way to utilize both Amazon lineups on a single device while sitting on the charger.

Battery life

Amazon rates the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus at 12 hours of mixed-use. I have found this to be consistently accurate. Whether killing time on Twitter or watching Invincible on Prime Video, that 12-hour mark has pretty much been the threshold for the internal battery bank.

Standby is also impressive. You will get numerous days if this Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus is sitting idle with the screen off. You should have no problem picking it back up after several days of not using it and have juice left.

Charging can be done via USB-C or wireless charging. Wired charging takes a little over 3.5 hours to fully recharge. While Amazon promotes a wireless charger by Anker to be paired with the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus as mentioned in the Alexa bit earlier, good luck finding one. Right now it’s unavailable on Amazon and not even listed on Anker’s site.

I can report that other wireless chargers I had laying around did work, but charge rates were inconsistent. I’d say you need at least that 3.5 hours mark, if not more, using a generic Qi charger to top off the battery.

Ads on Lockscreen

A polarizing option Amazon has chosen to make the price lower is ads on the lockscreen of Fire tablets. You get an option at checkout to discount the purchase by $15 if you don’t mind the ads. This is easy to upgrade at purchase or later if you decide you hate it. That puts the entry cost at $180 with ads and $195 without.

Conclusion

Amazon continues the great lineage of Kindle Fire tablets with the HD 10 Plus. You have a solid tablet experience for under $200 for just the tablet or $210 with the keyboard bundle and Office365. Add $40 to each for the 64GB option. If you can circumvent the lack of Google Play Store, the Fire HD 10 Plus is hard to ignore if in the market for a tablet.

If reading and content consumption is your top priority then the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus is a winner. Our own editor has stated he actually likes its limited ecosystem to culture a more focused interaction with reading and content. After using this tablet for a few weeks, I think I might agree.

Purchase the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus tablet

Purchase the Kindle Fire HD 10 Plus Microsoft and keyboard bundle

Add a secondary screen to your laptop with the Mobile Pixels TRIO

AndroidGuys
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Few things can boost your office or school productivity like a secondary display. If you’ve ever tried it, you know just how frustrating it can be moving back to a single screen.

All of a sudden you’re hopping between tasks, keeping up with emails, watching videos, posting to social media, and more — all without closing a tab. But not every situation calls for a second monitor. Sometimes it is nice to stay simple with just the one.

Buying a second monitor can be costly, and take up a fair amount of space. What’s more, if you live a portable lifestyle, you’ll end up leaving that screen behind when you head to the library or coffee shop.

If you’ve ever pondered what it’s like to have a multiple screens for your laptop or Chromebook, wonder no more. The Mobile Pixels TRIO brings a plug-n-play USB display to your favorite portable workplace.

Whether it’s photo editing, blogging, working on a term paper, or just managing emails and social media, you’ll appreciate the extra real estate. Hell, it’s even awesome for gaming, too.

Simply connect the TRIO to the back of your laptop, plug it in via USB, and slide out the extra display. The TRIO MAX’s hinge provides up to 270° of rotation, which means you can adjust the monitors to the exact position that works for you.

Get Yours Now!

The Mobile Pixels TRIO is normally priced about $319, but you can grab one for just $256.99.

For a limited time, you can add coupon code SCREEN44 at checkout to get this product for another $37 off. This puts the final price at just $219.99.

There’s More!

About 7-10 days after your order is complete you’ll automatically receive a $20 credit in your account which can be used on a future purchase!

Marvel Strike Force is a quality licensed title for fans of the comics

Luke Gaul
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There is no shortage of comic-inspired gaming to be had in the Play Store, particularly around the Marvel universe. How does Marvel Strike Force fare in the crowded space? Find out what Luke thinks of the RPG in today’s episode.

“In MARVEL Strike Force, ready for battle alongside allies and arch-rivals in this action-packed, visually-stunning free-to-play game for your phone or tablet. An assault on Earth has begun and Super Heroes and Super Villains are working together to defend it! Lead the charge by assembling your ultimate squad of MARVEL characters, including Doctor Strange, Loki, Venom, Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, and more.”

Build your team, outfit and upgrade them, and take to the enemy in this head-to-head combat game.

Soundpeats Air 3 wireless earbud review

Andrew Allen
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SoundPeats is a name you may not have heard when it comes to wireless accessories. Nevertheless, the company has started to make some headway by offering quality alternatives to your favorite brands, often for much less money.

We’ve been reviewing the latest Soundpeats Air 3 wireless earbuds for the last few weeks and these buds offer a ton for not a lot of money.

Design

No one is reinventing the wheel on the Air 3 look and feel. The stemmed earbuds look is a little played out at this point but it’s also well proven. Call them AirPod clones or any other comparison but they are small, comfortable earpieces that stay in place well.

Internally, you’re gifted Bluetooth 5.2 and aptX audio. There’s also in-ear detection, IPX5 water resistance, and four microphones for clear call tech. This really is a well-rounded spec sheet for the SoundPeats Air 3 earbuds.

Sound

I was thoroughly surprised by the audio quality of the Air 3 headphones. The bass is punchy without overpowering the mids and highs. You get crisp vocals on both music and more neutral tracks like podcasts.

Phone calls were similarly above average for this style of earbuds. The array of four mics does a great job of both picking up my voice as well as filtering outside noise. I found the other end clear and easy to hear with zero connection issues. The opposite side of calls was reported to be good on my end as well.

Touch control and in-ear detection

SoundPeats has included several ways to interact with audio while using the Air 3s. You can pause/play tracks by simply pulling the earbud out of your ear. This is a great and thoughtful way to seamlessly stop audio when needing to having a conversation with a co-worker or hear announcements while in an airport for example.

There is also a touch control area on the outside of each earpiece. A double-tap of either will play/pause tracks or answer/end phone calls. A single tap of the left earbud will lower the volume and conversely, the right earbud will raise the volume.

Battery life

SoundPeats estimates the Air 3 earbuds at around five hours of playback with moderate volume levels. I found this extremely accurate at 60% volume for me. I can easily make it to my lunch break working at my desk without exhausting the battery.

The Air 3 earbuds take 1.5 hours to charge in the case and you can get 2.5 charges off the carrying case. When you finally need to plug up the case for a power-up, it will take 2.5 hours to charge over standard USB-C.

Conclusion

For $50 SoundPeats simply has a good buy with the Air 3 wireless earbuds. YOu get lightweight, comfortable audio devices for much less than alternatives. Add in the quality of features at the cost and this is a no-brainer if you are in the market for wireless earbuds.

Favo! is a casual puzzler with high replay value

Scott Webster
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Favo! is one of those games that is easy to figure out but incredibly tough to walk away from. The premise is simple in that you’re matching colors up next to each other and filling in the board. Match up two colors at once and you get a bonus. Match up three and it’s even better.

With multiple modes to play, Favo! is a great casual puzzle game that’s perfect to pick up a few times a day. Or week.

Listen to the embedded podcast and find out what Scott Webster thinks of Favo!

Apps to make friends online

AndroidGuys
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Which app is the best for making online friends? This is one of the most popular questions for people who are looking for new friends during the quarantine. There are many great dating apps to make friends, but if you are looking for not dating apps to make friends, check the list of couple social networks to find and meet like – minded people.

ZINGR – meet people and make friends with local like – minded people.

ZINGR is not a dating app but it is great network to meet people with similar interest. This social network connects like-minded people who are living nearby. ZINGR use GPS to discover things what happens around you. Users on ZINGR can share videos, stories, thoughts, photos with nearby people. This social network do not ask your real name, sex, age or any other private info, ZINGR is safe to use as it also do not share your current location. Local app ZINGR was released in Lithuania by Kęstutis Gedaitis in 2019 and it can be downloaded from top app stores: GetJar, Amazon, Apkpure, Aptodown, Google Play and Apple store.

ZINGR Website: https://zingr.app

ABLO – Talk to new friends around the world

ABLO is a social network for instant communications owned by Massive Media, a Belgium-based company founded in 2011 acquired by Meetic, a subsidiary of Match Group in 2012. This social network lets you connect and have one-on-one conversations with new friends around the world. Talk in your own language, ABLO translates your chats live! ABLO app can be downloaded from many of the most popular app stores. 

ABLO Website: https://ablo.live

MEETUP – connect people with similar interest on virtual events

MEETUP social network to organize online groups that host in-person and virtual events for people with similar interests. This social network was founded in 2002 by Chairman Scott Heiferman and four co-founders. MEETUP is a great network to connect like – minded people in groups, to organize events and make online friends. You just need to enter your location and browse events by category. This social network supports mobile versions for iOS and Android, also there is a  website version. 

Meetup Website: https://meetup.com

There are many great social or dating apps to make friends. Some of them like Bumble BFF, where only girls text first, can help you to make female friends, but most dating apps like Tinder, Badoo are for people who are looking for a relationship. There aren’t apps for guys to make friends or only apps to make female friends. Dating apps are for single people to find soulmates, they use matching system, but if you want to make new friends online you should ignore sex, age, skin color and just connect like-minded people with similar interest. 

There are more great social networks to make friends online, like Yubo – app to make friends for teens and teenagers, Nextdoor – local network to connect neighbors and of course Facebook are great platforms to make friends.

Skullcandy Grind Fuel and Push Active wireless earbuds review

Andrew Allen
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Skullcandy is one of the oldest and most recognized names in mobile accessories. The company has a new lineup for 2021 and it’s been gracious to allow us a few weeks with these earbuds. From design to software, the new Grind Fuel and Push Active have a lot to offer.

Design

I like the overall design of the Skullcandy Grind Fuel and Push Active headsets. Skullcandy has historically been a little over the top with some of their colors and design over the years and I prefer the more subdued matte black that these have going. Each has a pop of orange in the cases and that’s about it.

The Push Active is the more “budget” model tuned for more of a sports option earbud. You have a very comfortable and stable loop system that keeps the buds in place while in motion. There’s an interactive button on the top of the earpiece for some options we’ll cover further into the review.

The Grind Fuel is the more premium model in Skullcandy’s new lineup. The design is more akin to that of the Galaxy buds with a “bullet” or “bean” design. The interaction happens on a button for these buds as well, but it’s a flush-mounted panel on the outside of each earpiece.

Features

Let’s run through some of the hardware and feature specifications of these new Skullcandy earbuds. There’s a lot of overlap here so if we don’t call out a specific model it applies to both the Grind Fuel and Push Active.

Both units offer over-the-air updates. You can push new firmware to the earbuds via the Skullcandy app. When an update is available you get a nice notification when you open the app with the earbuds connected. Within a few minutes, you can have the latest software installed.

Of course, you get a premium audio experience with both the Grind Fuel and the Push Active. IP55 water and sweat resistance are onboard as well. This gives users the option to use these great earbuds in any environment.

You can custom-tune each bud to your liking inside the app as well. Skullcandy has built-in equalizer options and pre-built profiles to get the sound to what you want.

Two big differentiators that Skullcandy has brought to the table with the Grind Fuel and Push Active are Skull-iQ and the Tile integration. These are unique features that we will cover individually over the next few sections.

Skull-iQ

Smarter devices are what every user wants these days. Skull-iQ brings some new tech to Skullcandy’s earbuds inside both of these models. Essentially, this is a stripped-down voice assistant independent of your phone.

This feature works exceptionally well. At first, I thought it was a gimmick over existing voice assistants but it’s more akin to hands-free tech in cars. It allowed me to interact with the playback controls via voice without the overhead of Google or Bixby.

You can easily raise or lower the volume. Skipping tracks is now audible. Skull-iQ is a nice iteration to add layers to the physical buttons to control the Grind Fuel and Push Active. You simply start your command with “hey Skullcandy” and you are good to go.

In addition to basic controls, these two earbuds are the first to offer Spotify tap integration. Using the same Skullcandy hotword you can access your Spotify library. This includes playlists, podcasts, and your favorite artists. The Spotify Tap option can also be set to a button input via the Skullcandy app.

Tile integration

Spotify isn’t the only third party you have onboard the Grind Fuel and Push Active. To help keep up with your precious hardware, SKullycandy has included Tile in each earbud. So the next time you go fumbling through your coach cushions you can just ring the earpiece to track it down.

In practice, this works just like any other Tile device. Download the Tile app. Add it to your profile. That’s it. This has already saved me from a lost Grind Fuel while rummaging through boxes in the garage and dropping it.

Battery life

Another stellar feature of the Grind Fuel and Push Active is battery life. Anything above four hours with wireless earbuds should be considered a win. Skullcandy knocks this out of the park with nine hours of playback on the Grind Fuel and 10 hours for the Push Active.

It’s one thing to put that on the spec sheet, but Skullcandy’s assessment is spot on. I consistently hit these marks in my testing. Endurance is one of the best features of these earbuds.

Paired with the charging case that brings the total playback around 40 hours for the Grind Fuel and 44 hours for the Push Active. Both cases have USB-C rapid charging to top off two hours of battery life in around 10 minutes. The Grind Fuel case throws in wireless charging to add to the more premium model.

One note on the Grind Fuel case that was annoying. The battery indicator lights are on the inside of the case. That means while charging you get no visual feedback on battery levels without opening the case. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s just weird and leaves you wondering about the progress of the charger. I’ve never seen this on the inside of an earbud case.

Sound

Audio for both the Grind Fuel and Push Active is adequate for the market. It’s not gonna blow you away, but no wireless earbud is as rich as say canned headphones. I will say that both models are “muted”. They just seem to be at the midline for everything.

Bass and even harder mids don’t seem to come thru as much as other offerings out there. I personally like this as bass can be overpowering on many devices. However, it’s worth mentioning for others.

The call quality was great. I took multiple cell calls with my parents on both models as well as voice sessions over Microsoft Teams with zero issues.

Conclusion

I think Skullcandy has two very competent models in the earbud markets with the Grind Fuel and Push Active. With the combination of innovative software like Skull-iQ and Spotify Tap, you will get a very forward-thinking wireless earbud with either unit.

Pair that with exceptional battery life and I think Skullcandy has winners in both. That only leaves price as the deciding factor for most users. The Push Active can be yours for just $80. If feeling like you can spend another $20 the Grind Fuel will set you back $100.

Buy the Push Active on Skullcandy.com

Buy the Grind Fuel on Skullcandy.com

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