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Weekend Recommender: Gadgets and tech we love

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Can you believe it’s March already? The holiday season and ice cold weather look to be in the rear view mirror and we’re ready for spring.

As we prepare for warmer temperatures and start to break free of cabin fever, some of us are cleaning out our homes and offices. In some cases we’re de-cluttering altogether; in others, we’re replacing our old gear with new stuff.

If you’re like us, and on the hunt for new things, you’ll like what we’ve got in store for you. Before you go off blindly buying something you’ve never heard of just because it’s on sale, do a little homework. Ask around, check reviews, and turn to others for help.

The Weekend Recommender is our way of highlighting the cooler devices we’ve encountered along the way. Generally, it’s an assortment of tech and mobile-related things, but it’s also a handy place to learn about other items, too.

Gourmia Digital ExpressPot Pressure Cooker

We’ve come to love the various Gourmia devices that have come our way. Some are smarter than others, but each of them deserves a spot in our kitchen. This pressure cooker is no exception as it’s packed with features.

With a six-quart capacity, it’s big enough to knock out a meal for a large family. And, it doesn’t really matter what you’ve got on the menu because there are more than a dozen cooking modes. Indeed, there are 13 of ’em, including stew, rice, soup, and simply keeping things warm.

The pressure cooker isn’t exactly small, but that’s fine with us because it essentially replaces a few of our kitchen devices. This means more counter and pantry space and less cleanup hassle. Simply take out the stainless steel insert and toss it in a dishwasher and you’re good to go.

If you’ve never cooked with a pressure cooker, you owe it to yourself to try one. Meat, veggies, beans, and other foods simply taste better when they’re prepared this way. Thank to the SpeedSense Technology, you can cook food 70% faster while, at the same time, retain more flavor and nutrients.

There’s practically zero setup to worry about and the cooking modes take the guesswork out of times and temperatures. Things couldn’t be easier. $200 at Best Buy

Polk Command Bar

Try as we might, we can never truly get the speaker settings right on our televisions. Sometimes it’s too heavy in bass, other times it’s hard to hear dialogue. Then there’s the whole question of whether or not it’s surround sound.

Sound bars are not new, but they’re getting better with each generation. Not only do they provide increasingly more robust audio, but today’s models are smart, too.

The Polk Command Bar is an excellent all-around speaker for people looking to get a well-rounded sound. Not just from your TV, mind you, but your phone, too. Yep, it’s got Bluetooth inside so you can quickly connect your handset for blasting your favorite playlists.

That’s not all, either. This is the first speaker first third-party soundbar to offer full integration with Amazon’s MRM (multi-room music) ecosystem. In other words, the Command Bar works in tandem with your Echo Dot and other speakers for music throughout the house. Alexa, play The Dark Side of the Moon.

Of course you can also use the speaker for other tasks, including the connected home stuff like dimming lights or pulling up the next episode of a show. Oh, and there’s even an HDMI port in the sound bar that can power your Amazon Fire Stick.

There are two main components at play and they work together wirelessly. Simply install the Polk app on your phone, plug in, and walk through the process; it takes just a few minutes.

Included in the box are HDMI and Optical cables as well as a remote. The latter is convenient for hopping between sources, changing EQ levels, fine-tuning audio, or prompting Alexa.

The Command Bar provides crisp, clear, and thunderous audio no matter the source. It sounds better than anything we’ve used in the past and it’s a perfect companion to a growing smart home setup. $300 at Polk

Coal Portable Charger

Take a look at all of the various gadgets and gizmos you charge on a regular basis. What do they have in common? Unfortunately, it’s not the plug they each use. No, some of our stuff is on microUSB while others are on USB Type C. Then there’s that whole Lightning port that Apple uses. What a mess.

The Coal solution is a simple one: a single cable with a variety of tips. And, while it’s not an entirely new concept, it is among the best looking and more durable ones we’ve seen. It also happens to come with a portable charger and/or wall charger.

Available in 8,000mAh and 12,000mAh capacities, the Coal Catalyst is a portable power bank with multiple ports. Plug your preferred cable in via one of the USB ports and top off your phone, Switch, or earphones.

Don’t have a cable with you? Not to worry, this one comes with the aforementioned handy cable. It’s a nice one, too; it’s braided and won’t tangle up from being tossed in your backpack or bag.

Choose from five different designs and color palettes, each of which looks hip and modern. The finish is soft to the touch and feels better than that boring old black brick your co-worker lugs around.

With enough juice to charge your standard phone multiple times over, the digital read-out lets you know how much is left in the tank. $45 at Amazon

Withings Pulse HR

There’s no shortage in selection when it comes to wearables and activity tracking devices. Nearly every major phone maker has tried its hand at one and the old guard of traditional watch manufacturers is doing the same.

We’ve seen most of the phone companies get out of the smart watch business, leaving it to brands like Fossil and TAG Hueur. And, for good reason. They know how to craft compelling and quality hardware. The same applies in activity trackers. Sometimes you need to stick with the names who have been in the space for some time. That’s why we like Withings.

The Withings Pulse HR is one of the latest wearables from the company that is no longer under the Nokia umbrella. It’s a thin, lightweight way of keeping track of all of your activity and fitness information — and it’s packed with a few helpful extras.

Designed to go wherever you do, the Pulse HR has a stainless steel case with polycarbonate coating and water resistance up to 50 meters. In addition to the usual fare of steps, distance, calories, and sleep, you’ll find connected GPS and continuous heart rate monitoring.

The connected GPS tracks distance, pace, and elevation through assistance with your phone. As for the heart rate, it’s gathered in BPM and you’ll track how rigorous your activities get and when you’re in intense or peak zones.

When it comes to activities, the Pulse HR lets wearers keep an eye on some 30+ different modes. Simply hold down the side button and pick the activity you are about to start; among them are biking, soccer, running, yoga, swimming, and walking. Some of them are automatically detected which is great for those times you go from walking to running without planning.

Because it’s paired to your phone (via Bluetooth), the Pulse HR can notify wearers of phone calls, texts, and whatever other apps you select. Everything Withings-wise is handled in a very friendly dashboard with a modern interface.

With up to 20 days of usage per charge we love that this only comes off the wrist like twice a month. Contrast that with others which might require weekly or almost daily charging and you’ll see why we like it. $130 at Withings

Solo New York Lead Slim Brief

We’re fans of the Solo New York brand, having come to rely on its various backpacks for build quality and features. Given we like to carry around so many gadgets, notepads, chargers, and other items, we appreciate having pockets and pouches.

Sometimes we find the situation calls for us to leave all the extras behind and carry just the necessities. Often that means a laptop, charger, notepad and writing utensils. To that end, the Lead Slim Brief gets that job done.

First and foremost, this bag is incredibly light, even once filled up. There’s room for a Chromebook or laptop up to 15-inches with a few other pockets to tuck other items away. We’ve managed to toss in notepads, pens, a magazine, portable charger, and a couple of cables without fuss. Oh, and did we mention that the outside pocket is perfect for carrying the Nintendo Switch?

When we go really minimal we can easily carry the bag using its handles, but the detachable shoulder strap adds convenience. The Lead Slim is comprised of a black fabric that stays clean and wipes down in a breeze. Pick one up for about $50 from Solo New York.

JBL Everest 710GA review: Buy for sound, not for Google Assistant

Jason England
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JBL has become a strong supporter of Google Assistant technology over the years. As a self-described audiophile and fan of Google Assistant, this couldn’t make me happier. JBL started with smart speakers and soon moved onto connected headphones.

They were one of the first to release a smart display and later this year JBL will even have a Google Assistant Android TV soundbar. That will have to wait for another day though, today we’re here to talk about the JBL Everest 710GA headphones with Google Assistant built-in.

Design

The JBL Everest 710GA have an unassuming design. There is nothing that really stands out or jumps out at you when you see them. The body is plastic with PU leather on the ear cups and headband.

All of the physical buttons are on the right ear cup including a slider power switch, volume controls, playback controls, Bluetooth pairing button, and the Connect and Share button.

The Connect and Share button makes use of JBL’s ShareMe 2.0 technology which allows you to pair another set of BT headphones and share audio with them. In theory, this sounds like a fantastic feature.

Unfortunately, while I could get headphones to pair successfully, each time it would disable media audio playback in Bluetooth settings. The only way to toggle media audio back on was by disconnecting the second pair of headphones. So in practice, the Connect and Share feature fell short and it became a button with no purpose.

While there is no physical button on the left ear cup the JBL Everest 710GA includes a touch-sensitive button where you’ll find the JBL logo. This easy to activate button for Google Assistant is sometimes a little too easy to activate.

If you find yourself removing the headphones often to interact with people you’ll most likely trigger it inadvertently. It can be a little annoying but overall didn’t pose much of an issue in overall use for me.

The ports are split between the ear cups with the micro USB charging port on the left side. It’s hard to believe headphone manufacturers are still using the micro USB port these days.

While I’ve all but transitioned to USB-C exclusively, products like this require me to keep some micro USB cables lying around. I can’t wait for the day that micro USB truly dies off and audio companies fully embrace the USB-C port.

The 2.5mm headphone jack is housed in the right ear cup allowing for a wired backup. As a strong supporter of the headphone jack, I’m grateful for this backup. I don’t always remember or want to charge up my headphones and the majority of the time I opt for using the headphone jack on my phone.

Comfort

The cushioned headband combined with the lightweight nature of the plastic build ensured that I never felt too much pressure on the top of my head. While the ear cups with their soft foam, PU leather, and oversized shape kept my ears comfortably enclosed.

Some headphones suffer from the headband squeezing too tightly against your melon causing discomfort, and I’m happy to report that’s not the case with the JBL Everest 710GA headphones. My only complaint would be your ears tend to get warm after a while but that’s entirely normal for closed back headphones.

Assistant on headphones

What helps the JBL Everest 710GA stand out amongst the crowd is the built-in Google Assistant integration. As an avid user of Google Assistant, using it with several smart speakers, a smart display, and my smartwatch I was excited to get my hands on yet another way to use Assistant.

The only problem was, I could not think of a way having Google Assistant on my headphones would benefit me. I was hoping once I got my hands on them that would all change. Sometimes you cannot truly understand the benefits of a product or feature until you’ve actually experienced it.

First off, the Everest 710GA provided the easiest pairing experience I’ve ever had with a Bluetooth device outside of using NFC. My phone immediately detected them, showed me a notification, and walked me through pairing them with my phone. It also set up access to Google Assistant during this process.

Activating Google Assistant was also extremely convenient. There is no physical button and no voice command is required. Simply placing your finger on the touch-sensitive ear cup on the left side activates Assistant.

Lastly, my favorite feature of having Assistant on my headphones was listening to my notifications and the ability to reply with my voice. However, the reply feature is not one I would use very often unless I was at home.

I don’t really care for people listening in on my conversations in public. This is why most times you’d find me replying to texts in public instead of taking a phone call.

For this same reason, you’d also rarely find me using Assistant on these headphones in public in general. Even though you have all of the same great features of Google Assistant and an easy way to access it, I’d prefer to not be that person talking to his headphones in public. Then when I’m at home, I’m surrounded by smart speakers and don’t generally need to use Assistant on my headphones.

Which begs the question, when would I actually take advantage of using the Assistant functionality on the Everest 710GA? To be honest, outside of listening to my notifications I rarely used Assistant on these headphones. It just didn’t fill a personal need for me. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t for you.

Sound

The Everest 710GA without a doubt have some good sound. They aren’t the best I’ve ever heard in this price range but they won’t disappoint either. The highs are clean and crisp without being overwhelming leading to plenty of detail and sound separation in music. While the bass balances out on the other end adding a little kick but not enough to please you bass heads out there.

Overall, I’d say the sound is balanced and clear. My one criticism is the soundstage is more limited than I prefer which leads to less than an immersive audio experience in my opinion. This is just a small nitpick of mine but overall the JBL Everest 710GA offer some solid sound for enjoying your tunes.

Battery life

JBL promises up to 25 hours of battery life and in my experience, the Everest 710GA headphones have been nothing short of fantastic. I’ve been using them on and off for a couple of weeks now testing out Google Assistant and listening to music.

Even with me constantly triggering Google Assistant they are still going strong. If you were to completely drain them, no worries because within two hours you can have them fully charged and ready to go.

Say you don’t have access to a charger, well that’s when the super handy wired backup comes into play. Just make sure to keep the cable in the included carrying case for emergencies.

Final Thoughts

There is no shortage of competition in the headphone market at all price points. JBL has a leg up here on most others being one of the few to offer Google Assistant built-in with the Everest 710GA.

While the Connect and Share feature fell flat for me the Everest 710GA made it up to me with fantastic battery life, comfort, and more than decent sound quality. What it really comes down to is price and whether Google Assistant support is worth $250 to you. Most headphones in this price range will offer similar sound quality, comfort, and even noise cancelation. JBL themselves sell several models that fit this bill.

However, if Google Assistant support is that killer feature for you then you can’t really go wrong for the price here. If you don’t mind picking up a pair in silver you might even get lucky to score a pair for as low as $170 on Amazon. Otherwise, the gun metal color version pictured here will set you back $250 minimum.

Buy from Amazon Buy from JBL

Master cyber threats and learn to hack ethically for just $39

AndroidGuys
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It’s pretty hard to watch television or browse the internet without hearing about the looming threats or impacts of hacking. Whether it’s the US elections, Facebook data, or someone trying to remotely break into your corporate computer system, hacking is everywhere.

For all of the scary stuff that comes with the idea of hacking, it doesn’t always have to be negative. Indeed, there’s something to be said about getting out in front of things with a little preemptive strike. Hacking isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, done right, you can leverage hacking to better your life — without breaking any laws.

Not only can you safeguard your assets with some ethical hacking, but you might also develop a deeper understanding for the ins and outs of security. People tend to fear what they don’t understand and with this course you can put the fears to rest and truly empower yourself.

The AndroidGuys Deals Store has a terrific value-packed collection of training centered around the proper way to hack your life. The 10-Course Ethical Hacker Master Class Bundle is designed to arm you with the tools on both sides of hacking. Featuring some 180+ hours of content, there are 1,236 lessons to take you from zero to hero!

Learning to hack, ethically, is a necessity in today’s age of ever-growing digital threats. Whether your goal is to build your business or simply stop your secure data from being breached, learning the ropes of hacking can be the perfect leg up in sales or counter-measure against cyber thieves.

Courses

  • Certified Ethical Hacker v9 Training
  • Certified Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst
  • Certified Advanced Persistent Threat Analyst
  • Computer Hacker & Forensic Investigator Training
  • CompTIA A+ Certification Prep
  • CompTIA Security+ Certification Prep
  • CompTIA Network+ Certification Prep
  • Certified Security Analyst Training
  • Certified Ethical Hacker Bootcamp
  • Ethical Hacking With Python

Where to Buy

You can pick up a lifetime access to the 10-Course Ethical Hacker Master Class Bundle for only $39 in the AndroidGuys Deals Store. Valued at nearly $5,000, the whole kit can be yours for 99 percent off.

Save even more!

In addition to the savings above, when you buy through AndroidGuys Deals, for every $25 spent, you get $1 credit added to your account. What’s more, should you refer the deal via social media or an email that results in a purchase, you’ll earn $10 credit in your account.

If this is your first time buying, then you are also eligible for a further 10% discount when you subscribe for email updates.

How about a freebie?

Not looking to spend any money today? That’s alright, we understand. Why not visit the AndroidGuys section for freebies and take something anyhow? Go ahead, grab two!

Samsung Galaxy S10 comes with six months of free Spotify Premium

AndroidGuys
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The new Galaxy S10 line of phones, rolling out now, come with Spotify as the default music streaming app and service. What’s more, the handsets also include six months of free Spotify Premium.

Samsung and Spotify have a pretty cozy relationship now and figures to only get tighter. The two entered into a partnership back in August 2018 which is starting to play out on Samsung’s latest devices.

Six months of Spotify Premium normally retails for $9.99 per month; the deal is worth around $60 in total.

Spotify Premium Features

  • Shuffle play
  • Ad free
  • Unlimited skips
  • Listen offline
  • Play any track
  • High quality audio

Not only are the S10, S10e, and S10 Plus pre-installed with Spotify as the default music client, but other models are, too. The forthcoming Galaxy Fold will also be set up the same way, as will select Galaxy A devices.

READ ALSO

It’s worth noting that the deal is only open to new Spotify Premium/Unlimited accounts who have not previously paid for the service or used a trial offer. This could exclude a pretty decent amount of people as it’s one of the most popular streaming services around and free trials are rather commonplace.

Spotify is also integrated with Samsung’s Bixby virtual assistant, including content and recommendations that will display on the Bixby home screen.

T-Mobile takes free-flying skydiving experience to NYC for Galaxy S10

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It’s a big day for Samsung as its Galaxy S10 line of phones is now available. With multiple models offered across multiple carriers, it’s pretty much Samsung season.

While some of you might have already pre-ordered your Galaxy S10 and are just waiting for it to show up, others are going out this weekend to grab one. Given there are a number of service providers vying for your attention, each will do something a little different to stand out.

T-Mobile, as it is often wont to do, is in New York City today, giving consumers a chance to see how the latest flagship phone “flies” on its network. Indeed, the carrier is in Herald Square from 9:30AM – 5:00PM EST with a vertical wind tunnel.

“T-Mobile customers soar above the rest on America’s fastest LTE network, and these new Samsung Galaxy superphones really fly. But you know, we feel bad for anyone stuck with the carriers… everyone deserves to experience the speed and thrill of the Un-carrier, so come hang with us in Herald Square today — we’ll take you flying. Literally.” – John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile.

If you’re in New York and have a chance to get over to see its event, T-Mobile is giving people the chance to experience terminal velocity in the wind tunnel. Have your picture taken while in flight or play it safe on the ground.

T-Mobile Experts will be on hand, of course, to demo the new Galaxy S10 phones and its wireless network. Moreover, it will offer up some free swag to attendees and DJ Nessa (HOT97) will be there to spin tunes from 12PM-2PM.

Once you’re ready to purchase the phone, you can take a free pedicab to the T-Mobile Signature Store in Times Square.

TMobile Signature Stores

Galaxy S10

T-Mobile offers the Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10 Plus in a variety of colors: Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue and Flamingo Pink. Also, the S10 Plus will be sold in Ceramic Black and Ceramic White.

As for the different storage and memory options, here’s what T-Mobile has available.

  • S10e – 128GB ($750) and 256GB
  • S10 – 128GB ($900) and 512GB
  • S10 Plus – 128GB ($1,000), 512GB and 1TB

Promotions

All new and existing T-Mobile customers can take advantage of different deals, in store, online, and by phone.

  • Four unlimited lines with four new Galaxy S10e phones included for just $40 per line. Just trade in an eligible device per line or add a line with AutoPay, after monthly bill credits. 
  • Half off the S10e and up to $390 off the S10 and S10+ with trade in OR a new line
  • New and single line T-Mobile ONE customers get a third line free with AutoPay after monthly bill credits when you add a second line

T-Mobile’s Metro brand will also offer the Galaxy S10e in Prism Blue and Galaxy S10 Plus in Prism White. Pricing is $750 and $1,000, respectively.

What are Android instant apps and how do you use them?

Jason England
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Have you ever wanted to try an app without actually installing it? If so, then instant apps are exactly what you’ve been searching for. Many times even when a service has a website and app, it is often easier and more convenient to use the app interface when on a mobile device.

However, just because you want to use that app, doesn’t mean you want it cluttering up your home screen or app drawer. Instant apps are perfect for these such occasions.

What are instant apps?

Essentially, these are a way for you to use an app or game without installing it or try it out before deciding to install. When an instant app is launched the resources for the app are downloaded and you can begin. Be forewarned, this can take a minute or two as you wait for the resources to be downloaded.

This is perfect for times when you only need an app for one specific task such as searching for a place to stay, checking out local monuments, or comparing airline ticket prices. Unfortunately, instant apps don’t come enabled by default but don’t worry, it’s a simple and easy process to enable access.

Read More: What are Android Go apps?

How do you enable instant apps?

First of all, you’ll need an Android device running Android 5 Marshmallow or greater. Instant apps won’t work on devices running anything below Android Marshmallow. As long as you have Android Marshmallow then follow these steps and you’ll be ready to go in no time.

  1. Open the Settings menu on your phone.
  2. Locate and tap on Google settings
  3. Tap on Google Play Instant
  4. Tap YES, I’M IN to agree to terms

How to use instant apps

Now, that you have them enabled you’ll need some instant apps to use. Not every app has an instant app counterpart. Developers have to specifically create instant versions of their apps or games.

Google has a section on the Play Store where you can find some of the available instant apps or games to try out. However, most times you’ll most likely find them by accident while doing a search on Google or the Play Store. When you find an instant app there will be a try now button, and that’s how you’ll know the app has an instant version available.

There are a couple of ways to tell if you’re currently using an instant app. First off, many of them will have an install button located in the instant app itself. Making it easy to get the full app if you were just trying it out, or need extra features not available in the instant app. Another way to tell is by checking your notification tray, where a permanent notification resides alerting you that one may be running.

Are there any downsides?

As mentioned above, sometimes there are extra features not included in the instant app itself. Most times the basic functionality is available but the full app provides much more. Another downside is, if you leave the app, you won’t be able to return to it. That makes multitasking quite difficult.

In the end, instant apps are great if you’re looking to do one specific task or want to play a quick game without taking up much space on your phone. However, they will never offer the entire experience so you might be better off installing the full app.

Huawei Mate 20 Review

Matt Adams
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Huawei is a company on the periphery for most people. They’ve heard about the company but don’t really know who they are. The vast majority of people I talked to about Huawei only know about them from the recent headlines of corporate spying and the Trump administration’s push to ban them from the US telecom industry.

But what gets lost in the shuffle is that Huawei makes damn good phones. The Mate 10 Pro was one of my favorite phones of 2017 and well into 2018. I still pick it up from time to time because of the build quality and performance even though it’s been about a year and a half since the phone was released.

Now, Huawei is back with another phone that makes me put down all of my other toys. The Huawei Mate 20 is not the true current flagship from Huawei, that honor goes to the Mate 20 Pro, but the Mate 20 has another purpose. At budget-flagship prices, the Mate 20 battles it out with phones like the OnePlus 6T for the best value on the market right now. While it’s not a perfect device, there is a lot to love here.

What we love

Build quality

It’s tough to find a phone that feels amazing in the hand. Instead, we’ve been left with too many curves and not enough edges. And with the addition to glass and metal sandwiches, holding onto to those phones gets even harder as phones get bigger.

But, we find ourselves loving the Huawei Mate 20. Sure, the rear of the device is glass, but it’s been treated so that it just feels… different. The closest thing I can compare it to is denim, but that’s not a great comparison. It’s hard to describe because it’s so unique. The etched design is one of my favorite things about the Mate 20 due to how distinct it feels and how it stands out from other phones on the market.

The rear of the phone also houses the super fast fingerprint scanner. While the Mate 20 Pro has an under-display scanner, the Mate 20 stuck with the rear-mounted scanner. I don’t mind it at all. I do love the scanner on my OnePlus 6T, but using the Mate 20 reminds me just how first-generation these new scanners feel. I’m sure that’ll change in future generations but for right now, the rear-mounted scanner is just fine.

There’s a lot to love about the rear of the phone, but the overall construction is a positive. There’s not going to be any bendgate here due to how strong the body is. There’s absolutely zero flex in the device even when I tried to bend it with everything I had in me. This leads to a really positive user experience because you always feel like you have a premium product in your hand, whether you’re texting, watching a video, or just messing around with the phone because of how cool the back feels.

The display

I’m a bit of a display snob. No, I don’t know everything there is to know about display technology, nor do I discriminate based on pixel counts, color saturation, or white balance. I just love a display that looks good to my eye every time I turn it on. The Mate 20 is the definition of what I love.

While I would normally prefer AMOLED over LCD, Huawei did an excellent job here sourcing a grade A panel. In fact, the only display I’d even say comes close to the Mate 20’s would be that of the LG G7. In case you missed the hype, the LG G7 was widely praised for having one of the best LCD displays ever when it came out in 2018. I’d put the Mate 20 above it.

Peak brightness is fantastic. This is one of the brightest displays out there right now and reading in bright sunlight is effortless. Just be sure to wipe off those smudges because they can interfere. I don’t know what Huawei did here, but I found our review unit picking up more fingerprints than other phones I’ve used in the past.

The elephant in the room is the notch. Look, some people just refuse to use a phone with a notch– and that’s fine. But, the Huawei has the right idea here. The Mate 20 features a “teardrop” notch design for the single front-facing camera. It doesn’t take up too much real estate or ruin the experience.

While Mate 20 Pro users may struggle with a massive notch, the non-Pro owners will have just a small notch that holds a camera that enables face unlock and takes some really nice selfies. You’re not going to get multiple cameras like the Pixel 3 XL or biometric scanning like the iPhone, but I’ll gladly trade those for more screen real estate and a less unsightly notch.

Back to the panel, the colors are vivid but not entirely accurate. But, they look great. If you’re going for the most accurate panel out there, there are other options on the market. If you just want a display that looks great, then the Mate 20 is a very solid option.

Performance

A great build and a nice display don’t mean much if the phone is a laggy mess.

The Mate 20 (and it’s big brother) come with Huawei’s most recent Kirin 980 chipset. It’s the first 7nm chip from the company, and it absolutely flies. I have not once seen a slowdown or any performance issues here. I would take the Kirin 980 over the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 right now, and that’s a pretty big statement.

In addition to fantastic everyday use, hardcore users will be happy. Throwing even the most graphically challenging games at the Mate 20 doesn’t slow it down. Multitasking and running split-screen apps are simply a joy and work without any issues. While the Mate 20 doesn’t have a stylus like the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, I would put it in the same class for those who need a workhorse productivity phone due to how well the SoC handles multiple tasks.

If you’re not quite getting the performance out of the Mate 20 you want, you may want to turn on performance mode. This lets the phone disregard battery and heat and pushes the SoC to its absolute limit.

Honestly, I think it’s pretty amazing that we’re at the point where a throttled SoC can perform as the Kirin 980 does in the Mate 20. I did turn on the performance mode to test it out for the purposes of this review, but I never felt a need to turn it on during daily operation.

Performance Mode does what it implies. It jacks up the power going to the SoC but I didn’t see a lot of improvements. I think that might be because there aren’t really apps or operations that stress the Kirin 980 normally, so why would you need to kick the tires?

Battery life is another standout here. I generally get a day and a half to two full days of usage with the Mate 20. While I haven’t used every phone released in 2018 and 2019, it does stand at the top of my battery life scale along with the OnePlus 6T.

When using the Mate 20, I do miss wireless charging. It has become a staple in flagships from LG, Samsung, and Apple, and I wish Huawei would follow suit. While the Mate 20 Pro does have wireless charging (and reverse wireless charging), the Mate 20 does not. I know that Huawei needs to give people a reason to spend more money on the Pro variant, but wireless charging doesn’t feel like a Pro feature and I feel it should’ve been included here.

Cameras

People love taking pictures. And since we’re hesitant to carry around more than one device, phone manufacturers are taking note and packing in as many cameras as they can into devices. Even budget phones costing under $200 can get you a dual camera setup that takes perfectly good social media pictures.

So, how does a phone stand out at higher price points? More cameras of course.

The Huawei Mate 20 features a rear triple camera setup. It has a main lens, a wide-angle lens, and a lens that supports up to a 2x zoom. These are arranged in a square design along with the dual LED flash. It’s a distinctive layout, but not one we’re entirely sold on.

As for performance, we’re more than happy here. All of the lenses take quality pictures and we find ourselves drawn to wide-angle shots in particular. While the zoom lens is a nice feature, we find that there’s a lot of noise in these shots and colors aren’t represented as accurately.

Needs improvement

Software

Let me preface what I’m about to say with this: Huawei’s software is better than it’s ever been. There’s a real maturing going on here and I feel like we can look to Samsung for the path Huawei is traveling here. It started with terrible TouchWiz, move to a more refined Samsung Experience, and now has refined even more with the new One UI. Each iteration brought a more streamlined experience.

But Samsung still has a terrible reputation when it comes to software because of its rough start. I feel Huawei is going to get stuck with the same stigma if they don’t hurry up and focus its software on a more Western audience.

The focus on an Eastern audience is very apparent. From the color palette to little decisions like not offering an app tray out of the box (you have to turn it on in settings), this just isn’t in line with what most people in the US and Canada want.

And hey, I’m all for trying something new but I think Huawei falls flat here in several instances. First off, despite a few software updates during our review period, the phone feels unstable. I had app crashes almost every day. Sometimes the phone would just restart itself. Going to the homescreen would cause the system to reload the launcher (commonly referred to a homescreen redraw) on occasion. With a powerful processor and an abundance of RAM, these should not be issues, but they are.

Huawei routinely gets panned for trying to bridge the gap between iOS and Android with its software choices. I think that’s a fair assessment and would like the see the world’s second largest phone maker scale back a little bit. You can see the influence in many areas of the OS, especially in the share menu (of which I use a lot). It’s a downright clone of iOS’ share menu. This isn’t a positive thing– iOS’ share menu isn’t good. Android has a clear advantage here and that’s what makes this so frustrating. Why take something superior and nerf it just because your competitor is doing it another way?

I do give the software high marks for all of the software features it has included. From simple features like app cloning, there’s a real added value when you buy a Huawei device.

The trade-off is that you’re stuck with a ton of extra apps. Huawei packed in apps I don’t want and even its own app store, AppGallery. Just… why? There’s zero added value here and I know most people will just skip over the app in their app drawer instead of opening it. Instead of developing your own app store, can we get faster software updates?

I’m not going to talk much more about software because I think you get the picture. A more focused, closer to stock feel would give Huawei a huge advantage here in the US. Let’s make it happen, Huawei.

Conclusion

There’s a ton to love about the Huawei Mate 20. While not the Pro version, it offers a ton of features, fantastic build quality, and top-tier performance and battery life without busting your budget. The OnePlus 6T is normally named the budget flagship champion, but the Mate 20 is at least in the conversation. I think the 6T probably wins out because of software, but I couldn’t blame anyone for picking the Mate 20 over the OnePlus 6T for features alone.

The real question you have to ask yourself is if you want to get in bed with Huawei right now. The United States government is throwing some pretty heavy accusations at Huawei and the President is even considering banning the company from proving US companies with telecommunications equipment.

To be clear, we’ve seen no concrete evidence of spying from Huawei and other countries like Germany and India have come to the company’s defense. But, it does make us worry that a possible ban may be coming. If this happens, will Huawei pull out of the US completely? What does that mean for warranties and software updates?

There’s more here to consider besides what an excellent phone the Mate 20 is. I’ve truly enjoyed my time with it outside of the software issues I experienced. If there was no baggage, I would recommend this device to friends and family no problem. But, there is and that gives me pause.

ActionDash review: A ‘Digital wellbeing’ for all Android phones

Gerson Noboa
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The sheer amount of tasks we can do on our phones today is astounding. With the increasing dependency on our mobile phones, sometimes we find it hard to put it down and experience other aspects of life. To counter this, both Google and Apple announced features dubbed “Digital Wellbeing” for their respective mobile operating systems.

However, unlike Apple, Google’s implementation is not available for all devices, which means that third-party apps have found the need to offer it instead. Action Launcher’s developer brings us ActionDash, which emulates several useful Digital Wellbeing’s features in a free app.

Developer: Action Launcher
Price: Free

Overview

If you have heard about Google’s Digital Wellbeing, then you may already know what ActionDash is. If not, you can read more about it here.

Basically, Google hopes that we can put our phones away and enjoy life a little bit more. It does this by showing statistics about our app usage, number of unlocks, number of notifications, etc.

Unfortunately, Digital Wellbeing is only available for Google and Android One devices only. ActionDash is trying to bring these features to all Android devices running Lollipop onwards.

Setup

In order to start using ActionDash, you need to give it permission to Usage Access. Without it, the app is not able to gather information about other apps. You might be a little bit afraid of granting such a critical permission to a third-party app, but the developer promises that all information is stored on the device only.

The app then prompts the user to get ActionDash Plus. I have never understood the purpose of asking customers to pay for Plus features of an app the outset of installation. Users haven’t even determined if the app is useful in its current form, but whatever – there it is.

Statistics

According to the app’s detail page, it will immediately pull more than a week’s worth of information. Side note: This may be a recent implementation as it only showed information from one day when I installed it.

The first screen, called Dashboard, shows a beautiful graph in which you can see proportionally what apps you are using the most. This graph can display either weekly or daily information.

There’s a screen time view in case you want more detailed data. You can filter this information either by days or by hours; a bar graph displays information about your screen time for the last week (in case of daily filtering) or day (in case of hour filtering).

Then, a list of the apps you have used, along with their screen times, is displayed at the bottom. If you tap a bar in the graph, you can see information for that day (or hour), giving you great insight into how your app usage may increase or decrease over hours or days.

The third screen displays the number of app launches. It looks fairly similar to the screen time view, but this one keeps track of the number of times you open an app.

The fourth screen shows the number of notifications you receive per app. This is one of the most eye-opening screens of the app, since you never realize how many notifications you receive per day until someone counts them for you. The screen is virtually identical to the previous two, but they show the number of notifications instead.

Finally, the last screen shows the number of times you unlocked your phone weekly or hourly. There’s also an additional feature to show the session length of each unlock, but this is reserved for Plus users.

Sadly, some of this functionality is a bit buggy sometimes. For example, when I got the screenshots for this review, some days were missing information, even though I had obviously used my phone on those days. Hopefully, this kind of stuff is fixed soon, especially if you decide to pay for Plus (more about it later).

App details

In each screen where there is app information, you can tap on an app and you will be taken to a page that shows statistics for that app alone.

Here you can see the screen time, app launches, and notifications for particular apps. The screen time view also features a useful graph that shows the app session length (the number of minutes between opening the app and closing it).

Other features

One of the most prominent features is a notification that arrives daily at your preferred time (Default: 9PM). The notification displays information about your usage (think: dashboard screen), and it will compare your screen time with the previous day.

While it is a nice feature to have, the screen time comparison at the time of writing is not reliable. Maybe half of the notifications I have received have displayed erroneous information, like “Today’s screen time was 5 hrs, 15 min. That’s up 5 hrs, 15 min from yesterday.” Apparently this is a hard-to-track bug, but the developer says that he’s working on it.

One of the biggest features of Google’s Digital Wellbeing is the fact that you can configure it to limit your app usage after some time. For example, you can set a limit of one hour of YouTube a day.

Another interesting feature is Wind Down, which turns on Do Not Disturb and fades your screen to grey-scale.

Google is able to do that because Digital Wellbeing is part of Android, giving which gives them unlimited access. Sadly, this means that neither of these features are included in ActionDash.

Settings

There are a handful of options you can change to suit your needs. The aforementioned notification, for instance, can be changed to show at whichever time you prefer.

In the initial versions, all statistics included launcher apps. However, that was addressed very quickly, since it skewed the stats. In case you still want to see launcher information, there’s a toggle for that. Apart from the usefulness of the feature, it is nice to see a developer addressing issues so quickly. Kudos for that.

In case you want to include system apps in the statistics, you can do so too. However, this is turned off by default.

There’s also the possibility to backup all of the data locally, in case you are doing a factory reset or changing phones. This file can then be restored on a new device, albeit only if you have the Plus version of the app.

Plus

While the app is completely free, you can upgrade to ActionDash Plus, a one time $5 in-app purchase. This will give you additional features such as viewing statistics older than the last seven days, dark mode, removing ads, further insights, additional backup locations, and other small features.

Conclusion

With Digital Wellbeing, Google is trying to make us stop using our devices so often, and enjoy the pleasures that life can bring outside of technology. However, since it is not available for all devices at the moment, then ActionDash has done a superb job of trying to replicate it as much as is possible for a third-party.

Some features that are harder (or maybe even impossible) to implement haven’t been included. However, as it is, ActionDash does a superb job in delivering useful insights that will, hopefully, change our usage habits. Once some small bugs have been ironed out, ActionDash will offer a remarkable experience like no other app in the Play Store.

Download and install ActionDash from the Google Play Store.

What’s the difference between Google Pay and Samsung Pay?

Andrew Allen
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Over 80% of Americans now own a smartphone with the number continuing to grow. With this trend towards mobile computing, carrying our entire lives inside a single, pocketable device is also becoming the norm. Something that’s inherently affected by this is how we pay for things. There’s been a race between the big 3 mobile giants to dominate that market as well as the handset you carry.

And since we are an Android site, we will take a shot at shedding some light on the two that apply to our OS of choice: Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Yes, both are a form of mobile payment apps and perform very similarly in their results. However, the underlying technology is actually different.

Google Pay

This one is pretty well known to those of us in the world of Android. The tech behind it is also the more common of the two. Google Pay uses a combination of software and hardware to produce a payment option while using nothing but your smartphone. It uses Near-Field Communication (NFC) to pass the encrypted information of your credit card to a payment reader in the store.

NFC is akin to other technologies such as RFID badges that get many of us inside our workplace on a daily basis. With Google Pay, your credit card is loaded onto the app and is then stored under a virtual number to keep the real number safer. Then, when you prompt it at the cash register, NFC passes the information from the phone to the card reader via electromagnetic induction.

Google Pay is a robust payment platform, but it is hindered by the hardware compatibility. If your local store doesn’t have a card reader with the additional NFC capabilities, then you are simply out of luck.

Samsung Pay

The overall concept for Samsung Pay is almost identical, and its app even supports NFC-powered transactions as well. However, the main reason Samsung has a separate branded version is that they support a different technology called MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) to power most of its transactions.

This tech was originally born of a company called LoopPay. LoopPay was an independent company that made mobile payment cases with MST built inside of them. Paired with an app the devices would allow for mobile payments on devices and predates other apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

So what makes it so different than NFC and Google Pay? MST doesn’t require the card reader at the point of sale to have any additional technology like NFC. It’s magnetic pass off mimics the magnetic strip already found on every debit and credit card on the planet. This gives you instant compatibility with 90% of the world’s credit card machines.

Conclusion

Both payment platforms are more than capable of allowing you to make a payment without the need for a physical card. We’ve come a long way in mobile payments with our phones. However, Google Pay and Samsung Pay simply go about in a slightly different manner. We’d love to hear which one you prefer, and why, in the comments.

 

Blokada review: Thousands of ad blocking and filtering requests per day

Gerson Noboa
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As I try to move away from Facebook, Instagram, and whatever else is owned by Mark Zuckerberg, I find myself reading through Reddit more and more. Browsing the Android subreddit, one comment was stuck in my mind:

In its current state, Android simply cannot be used without either Blokada or AdGuard

I am familiar with AdGuard thanks to its ad blocker for multiple desktop browsers, but Blokada was a new name for me. A search in the Play Store was fruitless, so I googled it.

What kind of service would it provide for someone to believe that Android should not be used without it? Was it someone just stating his/her opinion as facts, or was there some truth behind it?

Turns out, I kind of agree with this redditor. Blokada is an ad blocker that works differently from what AdGuard provides in its browser extension. It not only blocks ads, it has a list of blacklisted URLs, and it creates a local VPN to block any request that is submitted to any domain in said list. The request bounces against the local VPN and dies right away.

However, for this to work, you need to obtain an APK from its website, after enabling your phone to allow for installs from unknown sources. This is already more work than the majority of people is willing to do for an app.

Developer: Blokada
Price: Free

Blacklist and whitelist

In order to provide different “levels” of protection, Blokada provides several different lists of URLs that you can block. Some are lenient, featuring approximately 40k hosts, while others, like the one I use, have more than 400k. It mainly depends on you and your usage habits. I have found that my choice, called Energized Basic, blocks enough while breaking very little.

In my case, Airtable didn’t work because airtable.com was included on the blacklist. For those cases, you can whitelist domains or apps, so that Blokada knows that it does not have to interfere with them.

DNS

Blokada also lets you change the DNS server you are using. There are several choices, from Cloudfare’s recently launched 1.1.1.1 server, to AdGuard’s one, to FreeDNS. I found that turning on this adversely affected my battery life (although it could have been a coincidence), so I decided to turn it off, though.

What about battery life?

When I installed Blokada, my main concern was if it would affect battery life in a significant way. The answer, at least for me, is that it doesn’t.

I don’t notice any significant drain, neither in standby nor in usage. Even if it drains some battery, having a system-wide ad blocker makes everything load faster than it would otherwise, which is a good tradeoff.

Results

So, is it effective? Blokada lets you count how many requests have been blocked (although there’s no way to see a list of recently blocked requests).

During my two-week test, Blokada managed to block 14478 in 15 days. That is a little bit less than a thousand requests per day.

There’s a persistent notification that lets you see which is the last blocked domain, and it just amazes me the random domains that are being accessed by the apps without my consent, using my battery and data.

Some of the domains include:

  • app.adjust.com
  • appsflyer.com
  • app-management.com
  • woodpecker.uc.cn
  • mobilenetworkscoring-pa.googleapis.com
  • h-adashx4ae.ut.taobao.com
  • doubleclick.net
  • graph.accountkit.com
  • http://www.zergnet.com

Do you know what does they all have in common? I didn’t request them. There is a thousand requests per day done by my phone with God knows what information, being sent to services that I have never heard/don’t care about.

Media likes to complain about Facebook’s misbehavior with user data, but this is an industry-wide problem. Why is there a constant need to track every move I make on my phone across different apps? Why are there so many requests to services I have never heard from?

Some apps let you turn off this kind of intrusive analytics and trackers, but most don’t, leaving you with no choice but to agree and trust whatever companies are on the other side.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the case with every service you use. They are just there ready to sell your data to the highest bidder. At least other industries have the decency to not use your own devices to do so.

Conclusion

I acknowledge that in this day and age, ads are needed for the subsistence of publications, developers, and individuals in this industry. We at AndroidGuys try to keep ads at a minimum, without any obtrusion, and getting as little information as possible in order to make decisions about what content to develop and what to avoid.

However, some developers in the Play Store seem to think that we need to accept their obtrusive trackers and analytics just because we are using their apps. To that end, we need help. Blokada is here for that.

Download and install Blokada from their official website.

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