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Save 85% on this bundle and jump head first into the “Internet of Things”

AndroidGuys
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If you want to really understand the devices and methods we use in our everyday lives, the IoT E-Degree Certification Bundle is the perfect resource. It’s a great resource to help you explore Raspberry Pi or Linux, better understand smart speakers, connected homes, smartwatches, and more.

Whether you want to brush up on your skills or dabble in a side hustle for 2021 this 40 hour bundle is the companion you’ll turn to in the new year. Spanning some seven courses, it packs 120 lessons with projects, quizzes, and other valuable tools, all in the name of “Internet of Things”.

  • Access 120 lectures & 40 hours of content 24/7
  • Gain in-depth understanding of what IoT is all about
  • Equip you with the ability to design & build IoT-enabled applications and services
  • Give extensive insights on different topics like Raspberry Pi, Linux & more
  • Learn how to create an IoT ecosystem
  • Hone your practical skills with hands-on projects, several quizzes & exams

Curriculum

  • Module 1: Introduction to IoT with Raspberry Pi
  • Module 2: IoT Device Architecture
  • Module 3: IoT Device Security
  • Module 4: Introduction to IoT with Arduino and Embedded Programming
  • Module 5: Practical IoT Project – I
  • Module 6: Practical IoT Project – II
  • Module 7: Introduction to Embedded Programming in IoT

Get Started!

Normally, this seven-course bundle costs $200; however, for a limited time you can score it for 85% off, or just $29.99.

Best Sellers

Earn Credits!

For every $25 you spend in the AG Deals Store you get $1 credit added to your account. And, if you refer the deal via social media or an email that results in a purchase, you’ll earn $10 credit in your account.

First Time Buying?

If this is your first time buying, you are also eligible for 10% discount! Just be sure to subscribe for email updates.

Free Stuff

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Phone Hub allows for a connection between Chrome OS and Android

Josiah Ward
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Chrome OS’s Phone Hub was first discussed in August, when Google wanted to further the connection between Android and Chrome OS past just sending and receiving texts as part of their “Better Together” initiative.

It appeared and disappeared very suddenly from Chrome OS Canary and Dev channels, but now it has reappeared in Chrome OS Canary. Now there is a revamped UI that makes connections more simple. There are also now individual cards to help set up notification sharing and how it will use both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

When you click on the Phone Hub Icon, you will see your phone’s model and battery life. Under that appears toggles to find the phone, silence it, or turn on a shared hotspot. Hopefully these options will expand further in the future.

Phone Hub seems like a great response to integration between Windows and other devices(though most notably Samsung) through your phone and integration within Apple’s Ecosystem.

 

Best website for finding coupons and online deals

AndroidGuys
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Widilo is a new service in the UK which is expected to launch soon. It is one of the most rewarding cashback and coupon code sites and offers a variety of services to its clients. Widilo offers a lot of services that would interest a large category of people include androidguys.com audience. Are you a lover of online shopping and are looking for ways to make discounts on your shopping? Widilo is the best platform to join. The platform offers rewards to online shoppers, such as cash backs and promotional codes that they can use at their favorite online shops. Not only does Widilo offers those rewards for online shoppers, but you can also build up reward points after some time.

Categories and shops which offer discount

To enjoy the various categories that offer discounts on Widilo, you need to join the site. Joining is free, straight forward, and takes less than a minute. To get the most out of this site, you need to shop online as usual, from the numerous retailers. Various links are available, those that will lead you to retailers. Once you shop online, you earn cashback and discounts that you can withdraw to your bank account. Some of the platforms you can enjoy cash backs plus discount codes include Acer, Adidas, Amazon, ASOS, Booking.com, Deliveroo, Dell, Desigual, e-Bay, E-buyer, EE Mobil, Europcar, Expedia, and FoodSpring. Other deals include shops and online shopping sites such as Foot Locker, Groupon, Hotes.com, HP, LOOKFANTASTIC, Lovehoney, Made.com, Morrisons, Myprotein, Nike, Tesco, The protein Works, Three, Topshop, Under Armour, Vistaprint, Volcom, and Zipcar.

One of the aims of the Widilo site is to assist you in saving money all year round through online shopping. When you activate cash backs on this site, you get to earn points. The points are earned through the Currys discount code that gives you a certain percentage off the product you purchase. Visit Widilo site to Get the best Currys PC World discount codes , to enjoy cash back. The more you shop online, the higher the rewards. The points you accumulate after shopping online are based on tiers, which reflect how much cashback you have earned on the site. The site is frequently on the lookout for upcoming suppliers and new brands in the market to ensure that you enjoy variety during your shopping experience. Aside from saving money through cash backs or with promo codes, you get to discover new brands that you might have never heard of in the past.

How do you ensure that you never miss out on cashback and discount codes?

Widilo site has over a thousand shops, meaning that you have access to thousands of deals and brands. To ensure that you never miss out on cashback and discount codes, enter Widilo’s toolbar extension, the Widilo’s cash reminder. The tool will alert you of the incoming cashback options to consider and make the cashback option active when you make an online purchase at the site with just a single click. Missing out on deals and cashback can be frustrating, but the site is keen to send numerous reminders. The cashback reminder option is easy and quick to set up. You only need to head over to the Widilo website, download the toolbar extension near the search engine, and that’s it. The reminder is free. What better site to join other than Widilo?

EDITOR NOTE: This is a promoted post and should not be viewed as an editorial endorsement.

Just $49, this 66 hour training preps you for Cisco CCNA and CCNP exams

AndroidGuys
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Cisco is the world leader in networking technology and hardware and it shows no signs of slowing. According to a 2019 Global Knowledge report, one-third of North American IT pros say Cisco CCNA tech will be a key ingredient in their organization this year.

With salary figures routinely at $100,000 and above, Cisco-certified personnel are highly coveted and in demand. Right now, you can get on the path to join that elite-level of IT administration with the Complete 2021 Cisco Enterprise Certification Training Bundle, just $49.

Spread over more than 66 hours, this online training features 225 lessons to ready you for CCNA & CCNP certification exams. Designed for those with a little bit of background on Cisco, it’s available 24/7 and through both desktop and mobile.

Features

  • Work Towards a Top Cisco Certification & Build a Rewarding Career as a Network Administrator
  • Implement & Troubleshoot for Advanced Routing Technologies and Services
  • Design Network Architecture for Cisco Enterprise Networks
  • Gain the Core Knowledge & Skillset You Need to Be Successful in Implementing Technologies While Working in an Enterprise Network Environment

Once you’re through the training you’ll get a certificate that you can use for negotiating a pay raise. More importantly, you will be ready to sit for the CCNA 200-301 certification exam. And that could lead to an entirely different position or career.

Availability

Value at well over a thousand dollars, you can purchase the Complete 2021 Cisco Enterprise Certification Training Bundle in the AndroidGuys Deals Store for just $49 right now. Hurry, though, the price drop won’t last forever!

Best Sellers

Earn Credits!

For every $25 you spend in the AG Deals Store you get $1 credit added to your account. And, if you refer the deal via social media or an email that results in a purchase, you’ll earn $10 credit in your account.

First Time Buying?

If this is your first time buying, you are also eligible for 10% discount! Just be sure to subscribe for email updates.

Free Stuff

Not looking to spend any money today? No worries. You can still visit the AndroidGuys section for freebies and pick something anyhow.

Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 GPS review

Jason England
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Today we’ll take a look at the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, a relatively new wearable in the Wear OS space that runs about $300. With a full suite of hardware, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100 processor, it looks great on paper. How does it fare in practice? Read on to find out.

Design

The TicWatch 3 Pro GPS isn’t a huge departure from the previous Ticwatch Pro 4G/LTE I reviewed last year. It has a slightly larger 1.4-inch AMOLED display with a higher 454 x 454 resolution. Plus, there’s not a massive unsightly black bezel around the display like on Fossil’s smartwatches. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a larger bezel than I’d like, but Mobvoi was at least smart enough to hide some of it with a metal frame.

As far as the quality of the display, in short, the screen looks fantastic, the colors are vibrant and everything looks nice and crispy. Also, unlike the TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE, there was no orange tint on the display present at extreme angles.

While we’re on the subject of displays, the secondary low-power LCD display is one of the standout features of the TicWatch Pro lineup. This time around it has a new layout, and in my opinion, it’s a lot more stylish.

However, the thing that impressed me the most about the design was how Mobvoi was able to make the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS slimmer while also including a much larger 577mAh battery. That’s no small feat, and I commend them on this bit of engineering, because it not only looks better, but it also increases the battery life.

The design of the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS isn’t perfect though, and I have two main criticisms. For instance, I wish for a “Pro” model it would use more metal and that Mobvoi would include a rotating crown. This will forever be something I envy about Wear OS watches from Fossil and its sub-brands, and I will continue to hope with each new release that Mobvoi will finally give me a rotating crown.

The watchband on the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS has a leather-like appearance embellished with orange stitching to further sell the illusion. Upon closer inspection, you’ll realize it is actually a silicone band. This is a nice compromise in my opinion because it looks fashionable while also providing the comfort and durability needed for exercising.

For better or worse, the charging cradle for the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is the smallest one I’ve ever seen for a Wear OS smartwatch. On the bright side, that makes it ultra-portable, but it also forces the watch to sit at an awkward angle while charging.

It’s not a big deal, but I would prefer for the watch to lie perfectly flat while charging. And if you were going to redesign the cradle I would have preferred to see one that holds the watch vertical, similar to this replacement charger I bought for the TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE.

Even better, I would have loved to have seen the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS go with wireless charging. I know it would have made the watch thicker, but I think it’s a fair trade-off.

User Experience

The user experience on the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is pretty similar to most other Wear OS watches, except for all the extras Mobvoi has packed in. For example, I noticed a new app launcher with two columns of app icons and a mode to change the level of the auto-brightness adjustment.

I wasn’t a fan of the new launcher, and thankfully it can be disabled in the settings. However, the option to adjust the auto-brightness setting is a welcomed improvement to Wear OS. Some other new helpful settings I discovered include options to change the display time out, different DND modes, and the ability to take screenshots.

Besides some additional options in the settings menu, what truly makes the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS standout is the range of Tic apps. This includes TicBreathe, TicExercise, TicHealth, TicHearing, TicOxygen, TicPulse, TicSleep, and TicZen.

Some of these apps overlap with Google Fit such as TicExercise, TicHealth, and TicPulse. However, the rest of them make up for much of Wear OS’s shortcomings as a fitness smartwatch.

I must admit, one of the main reasons I love the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is because of the Tic apps. They allow me to monitor my 24-hour heart rate, blood oxygen levels, as well as track my sleeping, exercising, stress levels, and more. It gives me everything I’ve wanted out of my smartwatch for years now, and makes up for all the foot-dragging Google has done with Wear OS.

App

Now that you have the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS and all the Tic apps keeping an eye on your health, you need a way to view all of this information. That’s where the Mobvoi app comes into play. Using the app, you can check all of your stats collected by the watch and check your progress for the day, week, and month.

Unfortunately, Mobvoi updated its app not too long ago, and I must say, I’m not a fan. Previously, the app displayed the 24-hour heart rate monitoring with an easy to view line graph that was color-coded based on how high your heart rate was. That has been replaced with this monstrosity of a vertical line graph which is just a mess.

Additionally, the new blood oxygen reading and stress levels are displayed as minuscule dots on a small smartphone screen. I have perfect vision, and even I found it difficult to make sense of these tiny dots scattered all over the screen. A simple line or bar graph would have done wonders here as well.

Fortunately, the Mobvoi app syncs with Google Fit and will allow you to at least view your heart rate with the traditional line graph view. It’s just a pity the stress monitoring and blood oxygen levels aren’t supported in Google Fit at this time.

Performance

The TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is the first smartwatch running Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor, which promises up to an 85% increase in performance with longer battery life. Mobvoi also made a good decision to include 1GB of RAM which Wear OS seems to require for smoother performance.

All of this adds up to the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS being the quickest and snappiest Wear OS smartwatch I’ve ever used. While that may not be saying a lot if you look at the rest of the watches on the platform, it still makes a huge difference in day to day use.

Battery Life

Most smartwatch companies tend to overestimate the battery life of its watches by listing times achieved with optimal use. Mobvoi is no different here, claiming the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS will get you 72-hours of usage in smart mode.

If you’re like me though, you want to take full advantage of your smartwatch and you enable all the things as well as using the always-on display. Well, I’ve got good news for you, even if you do that, you’re going to get nearly two and a half days of battery life off a single charge. That’s far better than charging once a day like I’ve had to do with most other Wear OS watches.

While we’re on the subject of charging, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the TicWatch has a history of bricking the charging dock. Many users have had issues with the charger dying after plugging it into a fast-charging brick.

If you want to ensure this doesn’t happen to you, then only plug your charger into a brick that supports 5V at 1A or use the USB port on your PC. Rest assured if you do brick your charger, Mobvoi will send you a replacement one after you talk to the support team.

Final Thoughts

The TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is an impressive showcase device for the latest Snapdragon 4100 Wear OS chipset. Not only does it offer some of the smoothest performance you’ll experience on Wear OS, but it impresses with stellar battery life and a range of helpful fitness apps.

Put simply, the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS has the fastest performance and best battery life out of any Wear OS smartwatch I’ve ever used, and it’s also one of the most functional thanks to the Tic apps.

Regardless, I think it still comes up just shy of perfection. If Mobvoi could add a rotating crown, wireless charging, and make some tweaks to the Mobvoi app–it would be the holy grail of Wear OS smartwatches.

Buy from Amazon Buy from Mobvoi

Google Meet adds Live Caption support for four additional languages

Jason England
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The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way a lot of us work, go to school, and how we spend time with friends or family. While most of these used to happen in person, times have changed, and now you’re more likely to end up on a video call for at least one of these. For many, Zoom has been the go-to choice for video calls during the past year.

However, Google and others have done their best to lure you over to competing platforms. Yesterday, we covered how the Signal messenger app now has end-to-end encrypted video group calling.

Later that day–Google announced its video chat competitor Google Meet–now supports four additional languages for Live Caption including French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Previously, Live Captions were only available in English.

For those not in the know, Live Caption is a feature from Google which displays captions in real-time while someone is speaking. Think of it as having subtitles in a movie or TV show, but for real life. With this feature, it enables meetings to be more inclusive for those who speak a different primary language, the deaf, and people with various degrees of hearing loss.

To use Live Captions during your own Google Meet calls, tap on the three-dot menu in the lower right-hand corner, select captions, choose a language from the list, and tap apply. Each user in the video call will be able to choose the language option which best suits their needs.

Right now non-English captions are currently available on the web in Asian Pacific, European, Middle Eastern, and African countries. They will be rolling out to North America and Latin America in early 2021. Support for mobile apps is also coming to Android and iOS in early 2021.

Amazon’s cloud gaming service Luna now supports a limited number of Android phones

Jason England
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Yesterday, Luna announced via its Twitter page that several Android phones now have support to play games using the service. The list includes a selection of flagship phones from Google, OnePlus, and Samsung. Check below for the full list.

  • Google Pixel 4 XL (Pixel 4 isn’t mentioned for some reason)
  • Google Pixel 4a
  • Google Pixel 4a 5G
  • Google Pixel 5
  • OnePlus 7/7 Pro/7 Pro 5G
  • OnePlus 7T/7T Pro/7T Pro 5G
  • OnePlus 8/8 Pro
  • OnePlus Nord
  • Samsung Galaxy S10/S10+
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 10/10+
  • Samsung Galaxy S20 5G/S20+ 5G/S20 Ultra 5G
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 20

To access Luna, you’ll need one of the supported phones running Android 9 or above, an active subscription to the service, and the Chrome browser. This is similar to how it works on iOS as well. Which begs the question, why is Luna limited to a specific set of flagship phones if all it requires is the Chrome browser?

Most likely, Amazon is starting with a handful of phones that are popular and have been thoroughly tested on the service. We are sure to see the list of devices grow next year, the same way Google started with a limited number of Android phones and added additional ones at a later date. In fact, now you can enable support for most phones by turning on the experimental feature in the Stadia app.

Amazon announced its foray into cloud gaming on September 24, 2020, of this year. At this time, Luna is only available via an invitation after signing up for the early access program. Once you sign up, you’ll get a free 7-day trial, and at the end of it, you’ll be charged $5.99 per month. For that price, you get access to a selection of games on the Luna platform, and you can also subscribe to additional channels such as Ubisoft+ for $14.99/month to play games in its library.

Alongside the launch of Luna, Amazon also released its very own controller made for the service. Similar to Google’s Stadia controller, the Luna controller connects directly to Amazon’s servers for low latency gameplay. However, it also works via Bluetooth and USB allowing you to use it outside of the Luna service. Something the Stadia controller doesn’t allow for.

The Luna controller retails for $70 but can be picked up for $50 during the early-access program if you’ve received an invite. If you’re not sure about the service, then you can still play using a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One controller by connecting it to your PC or mobile device.

Proscenic introduces M6 Pro and 850T Smart Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Josiah Ward
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Today, Proscenic announced the availability of two different smart robot vacuums with mopping, the M6 Pro and 850T. Both vacuums support control with the remote control, the Proscenic Home APP or via Alexa/Google Home.

Proscenic M6 Pro

Proscenic M6 Pro

The Proscenic M6 Pro has 3 cleaning modes: vacuum, Y-shaped mopping, and vacuuming and mopping at the same time in addition to three levels of actio. The Y-shaped mopping enables a triple-pass mopping action.

The M6 Pro creates a real-time map using Lidar navigation and 24 sensors. The iRoom cleaning system allows you to divide your house into specific cleaning regions and you can set both cleaning zones and no-go zones via the Proscenic Home app. The M6 Pro can save up to 5 maps in its memory.

The M6 Pro features a 3200mAh battery that allows for up to 110 minutes of continuous cleaning. Once the battery is low, the vacuum will return to the charging station automatically and will go to the last cleaning position.

The M6 Pro is available in the US from Amazon for $369 and Proscenic’s website for $429.

Proscenic 850T

Proscenic 850T

The Proscenic 850T works using the IPNAS 2.0 cleaning system that uses programmed patterns to reach every area. The 850T has three levels of suction and can increase suction power when it senses that it’s on a carpet. With a size of just 2.8 inches and large wheels, the 850T can go over carpets and door ledges as well as slide under furniture and into corners. You can mop and vacuum simultaneously with 4 cleaning modes: auto, spot, edge, and mopping.

You can control the Proscenic 850T with the included remote control, the Proscenic Home app or through Alexa/Google Home.

The 850T can clean for up to 2 hours per charge and will return to the base automatically for charging.

You can buy the Proscenic 850T on Amazon UK for £229, on Amazon.com for $239 and on Proscenic’s Website for $259.

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 678 with improved performance and photography enhancements

Jason England
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If you geek out over Android like we do over here, then you’ve all probably heard of Qualcomm and its line of processors for flagship phones. For example, the Snapdragon 888 set to power high-end phones in 2021. However, Qualcomm also makes a range of processors to power phones at every level.

Today, the chipset maker announced the brand new Snapdragon 678, a follow-up to the 675 with “upgraded performance, dynamic camera features, and enhanced streaming capabilities.”

“Snapdragon 678 brings advanced mobile capabilities for daily entertainment at lightning-fast speeds over reliable connections and long-lasting battery life for consumers worldwide.”

The Snapdragon 678 offers enhancements over the 675 with the Qualcomm Kryo 460 CPU core with a clock speed of up to 2.2GHz. The graphics processor has also been improved featuring the Qualcomm Adreno 612 GPU for faster rendering of graphics.

This will allow for gamers to experience high framerates with fewer frame drops, and the 678 has been optimized for many popular game engines, including Unity, Messiah, NeoX, and Unreal Engine 4.

Along with the increased horsepower, improvements to photography and videography have also been made. The Snapdragon 678 will be able to capture photos with triple-camera setups at up to 48MP with zero shutter lag. The third-gen Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence Engine will help with low-light photography, laser autofocus, and with taking portrait mode photos with bokeh.

Lastly, the Snapdragon X12 LTE modem included on the 678 supports carrier aggregation with download speeds up to 600Mbps and uploads of up to 150Mbps. Plus, it has been “engineered to provide users fast connections, even in congested areas, so they can stream videos, download music, and enjoy accurate navigation and location in real-time.”

What this all means for you is better performance in midrange phones for 2020. Last year, we saw several popular brands use the Snapdragon 675 such as Vivo, Xiaomi, and Samsung. In 2021, we can expect to see Samsung’s more affordable A-series of phones adopt the 678 to offer good performance on a budget.

Pixel 5 review

Andrew Allen
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Google has long frustrated users with the Pixel phone for generations. The original Pixel showed a huge jump in camera technology but lacked truly compelling hardware. From there we’ve had the giant display notches and weird air gestures. However, with the new Pixel 5, I think Google has made the best Pixel device yet by returning to basics.

Design

Let’s be honest, the industrial structure that is the Pixel 5 isn’t earth-shattering. This year’s model is a metal body covered in a matte plastic coating. This makes for a great feeling in the hand, but it’s not winning any design awards.

The Pixel 5 is like a pickup truck. Most of them aren’t sculpted works of art like a sports car, but they get the job done. That’s the Pixel 5. It’s utilitarian and just functional.

Despite the militant casing, Google has updated many features of the Pixel 5 to make it look like the most modern version of the Pixels we’ve seen thus far. Specifically, the 1080×2340 6-inch display is now edge to edge with a symmetrical layout. Other than a hole-punch selfie camera in the top left, the front of the Pixel 5 is all screen.

This leads to a compact footprint very similar to last year’s Pixel 3a. I have recently found myself not wanting a larger screen in most instances. The Pixel 5 does a great balancing act of screen real estate and pocketability.

Around the right side, you have the traditional Pixel layout of the volume rocker and power button. At the bottom is a pair of down-firing speakers and the USB-C power port. The left is flanked by a flush SIM tray and that’s all.

It’s also worth mentioning the Pixel 5 technically has a stereo speaker system. However, if you can’t find it in the photos, it’s because the top earpiece speaker is now under the display. The sound “vibrates” the screen in place of the standard grilled cutout found on most devices. I personally don’t have an issue with it but you might find it slightly more muffled than previous Pixels.

Another hidden feature? Wireless charging is present even though the main body of the Pixel 5 is metal. How? Glad you asked.

Google has done a bit of trickery here. You may have noticed the main body reference above. That’s due to the back of the phone has a literal cutout for the Qi wireless charging coil. With the plastic coating over the entire body, you can’t see the difference.

Cameras

Flip the over and you’ll be greeted with a squared, double camera array. This houses a 12.2MP main shooter and a 16MP ultra-wide lens. The 12.2-megapixel is the same lens that Google has carried since the Pixel 2. However, the company has continuously improved its output via software.

That is still true. While other cameras in the likes of the Samsung S20 have closed the gap, and possibly exceeded it with hardware, Google’s Pixel 5 still takes some of the best photos you are going to find from any Android phone. It’s also the most consistent in my experience.

Other shooters may outperform the Pixel 5 from time to time, but I have no hesitation in quick shots with Google’s software running the show. The results are almost always better and the photo results have the same top-notch output. A Pixel shot always looks like a Pixel shot photo.

The camera bump also sees a new 16-megapixel ultra-wide. This new shooter allows you to get a pretty decent field of view other than the main shooter’s compact layout. The results aren’t quite as sharp as the 12.2-megapixel, but they still produce nice shots when you want the added capture range.

The addition of an ultra-wide 16-megapixel lens comes at the removal of the dedicated telephoto option. I personally am content with the trade-off. The post-processing of the main camera still produces great portrait shots without the need for another sensor.

Speaking of, Google has thrown in a few more tricks in the software. One is Portrait Light. This gives you the ability to change the light and shade of the portrait photo after the fact.

If the subject looks off or the light source is coming from a weird angle, you can simply just move the light. It sounds trivial, but in practice, it’s pretty impressive. Google being able to have this much leverage over a photo after the hardware has done its job is remarkable.

Another change is that Night Mode is now automatic in the default camera option. You can still choose it manually in the slide menu as well. However, having it just happen based on the lens picking up a lack of light is just a much more natural interaction than the previous iteration.

Google has also finally made video a priority. You can now shoot recordings in full 4k 60 with image stabilization on by default. The results are much improved from previous generations and help eliminate shaky hands like mine.

Battery Life

One of the few things that Google has consistently not made a priority on the Pixel line is battery life. This has officially changed with the Pixel 5. With the more efficient Snapdragon 765G, the Pixel 5 has zero issues lasting me all day and into the night.

While results will vary from user to user, I’ve been impressed by the new 4000mAh battery pack. I’m seeing around 15-18 hours of general use before having to really look for a charger. This is a far cry of my Pixel 4 XL that always struggled past 12 hours.

Real World Use

We’ve covered all the basics and specs, but what’s that translate to when actually using the new Pixel 5. To me, this makes for the best overall experience Pixel users have been offered by Google. You still get an outstanding camera and clean software. You still get the great Google Assistant options like music detection and call monitoring.

The icing on the cake is the price and newfound battery life. While this is mainly due to the choice in a more mid-range processor from Qualcomm, you won’t see it much in day to day interaction.

Is it slightly less powerful than the 800 series in other flagships? Yes. Does it show up much? No. Honestly, you will only see it with the occasional gaming and in the time it takes to post-process photos at times.

One of the best features is a return to the good ole days of 2 years ago…the fingerprint scanner is back! While many will debate me on this, the traditional capacitive fingerprint reader is a much more consistent option for biometric security. Add that to the current conditions of a health crisis of millions of folks wearing masks makes it a welcome reunion on the Pixel 5 hardware.

Final Thoughts

The Pixel 5 is a hard pivot for Google’s smartphone strategy. Despite this move, it’s not a bad one. The company has ceded to the giants of Samsung and Apple. Instead, it will try to fill the “high mid-range” that OnePlus has recently left behind.

With great size, much better battery life, and the same solid performance, the Pixel 5 is the best Pixel we’ve seen yet. Better yet, at only $699 in either Just Black or Sorta Sage it’s not going to break the bank. Google has a winner and the best Pixel you can buy with the Pixel 5.

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