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KeepCalling review: the simple way to make international calls on the cheap

Alexandra Arici
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Calling friends and family abroad can cost a fortune, but if you know the right way to call, you can pick up the phone for next to nothing.

For example, you can install an app for international calling like KeepCalling. It’s free to download on your Android smartphone and offers affordable prices for calls made via Wi-Fi or data.

KeepCalling features a clean and simple-to-use interface that will get you on the line with your friends in a few short minutes.

Simply log-in with your, email address, Google account or Facebook to get started. Next, you’ll have to purchase some credit. The standard options include $5, $10, $20 and $50. However, you can also manually enter the amount you want to pay to start from $2.

You can pay either by credit card or PayPal which is quite convenient. KeepCalling also offers the option to purchase a Monthly Plan with unlimited minutes which varies depending on the country you’re calling. For example, for Canadians, the plan will take them back with $4.99.

International calls don’t have to be expensive

Before you buy calling credit you can check to see the calling rates for the country you are planning to call to, so you get an idea of how much to get. For example, for the Czech Republic, calling on mobile is 3.3 cents/min, while SMS is 7 cents.

Once you’ve purchased the credit you can start calling. Just make sure you use the country’s specific international code when you call.

In our experience, using the app was a pretty straight forward affair. We could hear the other party quite smooth, although we did experience some echo. The calls went through uninterrupted, but we were connected to a stable Wi-Fi.

By default, you get a random caller ID, but you can set it to your mobile phone number from the app by accessing the Set my CallerID option from Settings.

Want more credit? You can earn free credit if you refer some of your friends. For each referral who places an order with KeepCalling, you’ll receive $5.

The app also lets you import all your contacts and also has a Speed Dial feature to which you can add up to 99 numbers you call the most.

So if international calls are draining your budget, then you should definitely try and give KeepCalling a shot. If you’re not sure the app is for you just yet, simply try testing it out. It won’t cost you more than $2.

Download KeepCalling from the Play Store

Samsung teases its foldable smartphone, bad news for Mate 20 fans, and more news you need to know

Andrew Myrick
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Welcome to In Brief, the AndroidGuys tech briefing. Today is Monday, October 22nd, and we’re taking a look at all the tech news you need to know. In this post, we want you to learn about the news the way you want to learn. We’ve embedded a podcast version of all this news below. If you don’t want to listen, you can read just like you normally would.

In today’s edition, eBay wants to pay you for your smartphone, Digital Wellbeing comes to Google Home, we get bad news about the Mate 20, and Samsung teases its foldable smartphone.

We’d love feedback on this post, so please let us know what you think in the comments. If we can improve in some way, we’d love to know!

You can now sell your smartphone instantly with eBay

It can be a pain if you are trying to quickly sell one of your “old” smartphones in order to buy a new one. While Swappa is one of the best options available, eBay is looking to bring another option to folks.

eBay has announced its new Instant Selling program for smartphones, which allows users to sell their phones immediately. However, instead of getting cash, you will actually receive a voucher which will work on eBay’s own site.

The catch with this program is that you are limited in the devices that are eligible. Currently, you can only sell Samsung devices ranging from the Galaxy S7 to the S9 Plus, provided they are either unlocked or from Verizon or AT&T. eBay plans to bring more eligible devices to the list sometime in November.

Google Home update brings Digital Wellbeing functionality

It seems that Google is really dedicating itself to helping improve the lives of its users with the new Digital Wellbeing initiative. Now that this feature is available for select Android One devices, Google is seemingly bringing it to Google Home owners.

A few Reddit users found a new section in the Google Home settings which adds a Digital Wellbeing section. From this section, you are provided with options for Filters and Downtime.

Unfortunately, there has been no mention of these features becoming available for everyone just yet. Instead, this is probably Google testing things on the backend before flipping the switch for everyone.

Huawei Mate 20 lineup will not be available in the US

Huawei Mate 20

Last week, the Huawei Mate 20 lineup was unveiled to the world, but it seems not everyone in the world will be able to enjoy these handsets. More succinctly, those interested in the Mate 20 here in the US will be left out of the fun.

Huawei confirmed to Business Insider that these devices will not be able to easily purchase the Mate 20 or Mate 20 Pro. Instead, you will have to rely on the likes of GearBest or AliExpress if you absolutely must own these smartphones.

Finally, Huawei also revealed that pricing and availability for the new Watch GT will be announced “soon”. At least something good is coming to the states from Huawei.

Honor Magic 2 leak reveals Huawei P20 design with a pop-up camera

Hot off the heels of the Huawei Mate 20 announcement, Huawei’s sub-brand, Honor, is set to unveil a flagship device of its own. The Honor Magic 2 has not been announced just yet, but some Chinese celebrities were able to get their hands on the upcoming handset.

In some shared images, it was revealed that the Magic 2 will look strikingly similar to the Huawei P20 lineup. However, there will be a slideout section which reveals a 16MP selfie camera, along with sensors used for 3D facial recognition.

Moving to the rear, there are a total of three cameras, with dual-16MP lenses and a 24MP sensor. Thanks to previous leaks, we have learned that the Magic 2 will sport a 6.4-inch AMOLED display along with the Kirin 980 SoC and 8GB of RAM.

Honor is rumored to announce the handset sometime near the end of October.

Samsung teases release of its foldable dual-screen smartphone

For the past few years, Samsung has continued to tease everyone about a possible release of a foldable smartphone. These started back in 2012 when Samsung showed off a prototype of a flexible AMOLED display.

Unfortunately, we still have yet to see anything substantial, despite a confirmed release from CEO DJ Koh. The latest teaser comes from Samsung’s own Twitter account, which teased the reveal of a new device.

We aren’t sure that this will be the foldable smartphone, but all signs point to this being the case. This reveal is expected to take place on November 7th or 8th during the Samsung Developer Conference.

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How to enable hands-free “OK Google” detection

Andrew Allen
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Google has hung their hat on Search for most of their existence. It collects data and enables the company to create ad revenue, which in turn, offers you some cool services and products.

One of those products is Android and it has Search built into its core. A new trick Search has is voice-enabled feature sets on mobile. Today, we’re going to show you how to make this one a must-have with hands-free detection.

What’s It Do?

Hands-free detection will allow Google’s hotwords to enable Google Assistant regardless of the status of your phone. Whether it’s unlocked and in use, or asleep on the table next to you, “OK Google” will wake the device and launch Assistant.

How to turn it on?

Thankfully, this feature is just a few steps away in the Settings of your Android device. Let’s take a look at how to get there:

  • Open the Settings app
  • Tap on “Google”
  • Find Search, Assistant & Voice
  • Tap and open Voice
  • Then Voice Match setting
  • Turn on both of the first two toggles: “Access with Voice Match” and “Unlock with Voice Match”

We’ve provided screenshots below to help out if you’re struggling with finding these on your device. It’s also worth a mention that some of these menus may be slightly different from phone to phone, but the majority of phones will look something like this.

Success

You should now be able to initiate Voice Search and Assistant from any point on your Android device. What’s the Hands-Free option just below Voice Match in the 3rd screenshot? While it is in the title of this post, this takes the voice activation one step further of allowing access to the mic while connected to either a wired or wireless headset.

You should now have a phone that is ready to react to all your voice commands no matter what. Whether your screen is locked, or you are surfing Twitter, OK Google will launch you straight into Assistant with these settings turned on.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro: 5 reasons why you should consider getting it

Alexandra Arici
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Hot on the heels of the excellent Huawei P20 Pro, the recently-announced Mate 20 Pro continues the company’s impressive run of flagship devices. It’s a monster phone, packed with the latest technology and the company’s latest feature.

With the Mate 20 Pro, Huawei hopes to be able to take on the market leaders, Samsung and Apple, who also introduced new flagship models in the last few months.

But given that there are so many flagship options available today, the big question is, why should you care about Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro? Below, we’re going to highlight some of the best features which, in our opinion, make the phone a very intriguing proposition.

The massive camera

A core feature of Huawei flagships as of late has been incredible camera performance. The Chinese company has prolonged its partnership with photography icon Leica once again, so the Mate 20 Pro will ship with one of the most amazing cameras around.

The Mate 20 Pro’s camera array is a natural development of the previous P20 Pro’s triple setup. The main 40MP sensor is flanked by an optically stabilized 8MP 3x zoom telephoto lens and a new 20MP ultra-wide one.

This time around there’s no monochrome lens, as Huawei says data gathered by this particular sensor was used less than expected. So the company decided to drop it. Instead, you get a new wide-angle lens that offers a great focal length for macro shots, as well as wider viewing angles.

AI is once again a bit part of the whole camera experience. Dubbed the “Thinking Lens”, it will now allow users to control even more aspects of the camera.

For example, it’s possible to manually swap between lenses, but the AI will step in and automatically change to the ultra wide-angle lens when it “thinks” it’s needed.

The all-new Kirin 980 processor

The Mate 20 Pro is powered by Huawei’s all-new Kirin 980 processor, which the company introduced back at IFA 2018. The chipset packs some serious grunt and has even outpaced the Snapdragon 845 in benchmarks.

The Kirin 980 is Huawei’s first chip built on a 7nm process. It’s an octa-core silicone piece, which according to Huawei offers 20% improved speeds and is more power efficient by 40% when compared to the previous Kirin 970. The GPU is also 46% faster.

But it’s not all about power here, as Huawei is continuing to push towards AI. Huawei has doubled down on its NPU with real-time processing, as well as the capability to recognize 4,500 images per minute. AI load prediction also makes the processor more capable of “deciding” when to push the performance and when to scale back to save power.

In-display fingerprint sensor

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro and the Porsche Design version (basically a luxury Mate 20 Pro version) are the only two models from the Mate 20 series that pack an in-display fingerprint sensor. And first impressions have revealed it to be very quick and responsive.

Also new this year is an infrared 3D facial recognition system, similar to the one embedded by Apple for its Face ID in the iPhone XS. The Mate 20 Pro’s notch packs a 20MP RGB sensor, a dot projector, a TOF proximity sensor, a flood illuminator, and an IR camera. All these combines for the phone’s unlocking system.

The feature is heavily based in biometric hardware, and compared to the Mate 10 Pro’s face unlock, it’s at least 30% faster, according to Huawei.

Really fast charging and more

The Mate 20 Pro includes a nice 4,200 mAh battery which should last you plenty. What’s more, the phone also benefits from Huawei’s updated Supercharge tech, which now outputs at 40W. Huawei says users will be able to juice up their phone from 0 to 70% in only 30 minutes.

There’s even more impressive tech included with the Mate 20 Pro. The device offers the option to wirelessly charge other wireless charging devices. So if you have a Pixel 3 for example, you’ll be able to juice it up by placing it on top of the Mate 20 Pro.

USB-C port as bottom speaker

Here’s a feature you won’t see on many Android phones today. The USB-C port can be obviously used to charge the handset and transfer data, or for listening to music with wired headphones. But it also acts as a bottom loudspeaker.

So what do you think? Does the Mate 20 Pro intrigue you or is it just another phone in a sea of Android devices? Let us know down in the comments.

Samsung Galaxy S10 display, ASUS ROG Phone available, and more news you need to know

Andrew Myrick
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Welcome to In Brief, the AndroidGuys tech briefing. Today is Friday, October 19th, and we’re taking a look at all the tech news you need to know. In this post, we want you to learn about the news the way you want to learn. We’ve embedded a podcast version of all this news below. If you don’t want to listen, you can read just like you normally would.

In today’s edition, we may have gotten a glimpse of the Galaxy S10’s display, the ASUS ROG Phone is now up for pre-order, OnePlus moves up its event, and Verizon surprises everyone.

We’d love feedback on this post, so please let us know what you think in the comments. If we can improve in some way, we’d love to know!

Samsung shows off possible Galaxy S10 Display

There are still a few smartphones left to be unveiled, but Samsung fans already have their attention turned to 2019. While many OEM’s are adopting the notch, Samsung has held steadfast with the Infinity Display unveiled with the Galaxy S8.

According to SamMobile, it seems that Samsung won’t even be considering the notch. The company unveiled its latest display technology today, which possibly gave us a look at the display for the Galaxy S10.

The shared image shows a display that does not include any notch, but includes an embedded fingerprint scanner. Obviously, we are still a few months away from the official S10 unveiling, but the rumors are going to start pouring in.

The ASUS ROG Phone is now available for pre-order for $899

After being unveiled back in June, the ASUS ROG Phone is finally nearing its US launch. The handset is priced at $900 and sports a 6-inch display, along with the Snapdragon 845, 8GB of RAM and a 4,000mAh battery.

There are also two USB Type-C ports, which provide two different ways to charge the device, depending on what you are doing. To help keep the ROG Phone during those intense gaming sessions, there is a vapor chamber cooling system built-in.

Additionally, ASUS is including the “AeroActive Cooler”, which attaches to the device and helps keep everything cool. If you want to pre-order your ROG Phone, you can do so from either Amazon or Microsoft. The handset will begin shipping on October 29th.

OnePlus 6T event moved to October 29th

For a few weeks, we have known that the OnePlus 6T would be unveiled on October 30th. Yesterday, Apple inadvertently forced a change in the launch date as the company announced an iPad and Mac-oriented event for the 30th.

In an effort to stop Apple from stealing all of the headlines, OnePlus moved up its event by a day. This means that the OnePlus 6T will now be officially shown off to the world at an event in New York on October 29th.

For those who were looking to head to the event on the 30th and can’t, OnePlus is helping out. You can apply for a full refund of your ticket price, and OnePlus will be covering any extra charges incurred by changing your plans.

Verizon reverses stance on SIM Locking Pixel 3

For those who were looking to purchase the Pixel 3 or 3 XL from Verizon, some bad news broke yesterday. Verizon would begin implementing a SIM locking policy for Google’s latest device.

This prevented the devices from being used on any other networks until they were first activated on Verizon. Supposedly, the reason was to “deter theft” but there was a big uproar over this policy.

READ MORE: Google Pixel 3 XL First Impressions

In a surprising move, Verizon reached out to Droid Life and stated that the carrier would be reversing its course. Instead, you can pick up a Pixel 3 or 3 XL from Verizon and use it on any carrier immediately, the way it should be.

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Monet review: All-in-one wallet, kickstand, and phone grip

AndroidGuys
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0

As much as we like our phones and their large displays, they’re not exactly easy to wield. Sure, they’re thin and light, but they can still be a challenge to use with one hand.

Here, try this — open your phone with one hand and see how long you can go before touching it with a second hand. That didn’t take long, did it? Swiping is not an issue, but opening multiple apps, tapping various places on the screen, and getting around is tough.

Chances are good that you’ve seen a Popsocket, or something similar, on the back of a few phones. The simple design shifts the weight away from the front of your phone to the back, letting you use your thumb without strain.

If you’re interested in checking out a solution to unwieldy and cumbersome phones, we’d recommend looking at Monet. We’ve had the opportunity to review a few of its options and are only too happy to share our findings.

We were sent three versions of the Monet: Black Night, Light Blue, and Pretty in Pink (Light Pink). Save for their colors, each is designed the same way. The thin accessory is equal parts phone grip, wallet, and kickstand.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

To apply the Monet all you need to do is peel off the backing and stick it to your phone. You’ll want to ensure that you’ve got room before doing so as some models may not be big enough to support the Monet. A quick sizing against a few models here at the office found that fingerprint sensors would sometimes be covered up.

If you’d like to gauge whether one might work for you, place a credit card on the back of your handset. Give yourself a bit of breathing room but not much. The Monet is built to hold a couple of your cards or cash with little wasted space.

Wallet

With two tight pockets to work with you can carry your main card, a business card or two, and a tiny bit of cash. There’s not a lot of play in the pockets, but that’s a good thing as you don’t want to lose those important items while out and about.

We like the peace of mind we get in leaving the wallet or purse home for date night or a business lunch. There’s no real reason to lug around the extra stuff that’s not going to be used over the next few hours. The Monet solves a problem we didn’t realize we had.

Extra Grip

The adjustable loop fits your finger nicely, making it easy to hold onto the phone for swiping. It doesn’t help you reach opposite edges or corners, but things definitely feel more natural to hold in one hand. When not in use, simply slide the loop snug to the back and it will essentially lock into place.

Kickstand

Using the loop you can also set your phone on its side as it serves as kickstand. This is great for watching video on the plane, landscape selfies in the middle of class, or innumerable other reasons.

Heads Up

As much as we’re a fan of the Monet, there are a couple of things we should point out. If you have wireless charging on your phone, and do use it, this is not the accessory for you. Then again, neither is a Popsocket. You won’t have the ability to place your phone flat on a wireless platter.

Additionally, you can’t set your phone down flat at all. If you’re the type who likes to place their handset face up on a table or surface, you’ll end up with a wonky angle or some movement.

A lot of users protect their device with a phone case. To that end, nearly everyone you buy today provides a bit of a lip around the edge. Once you realize this, and take advantage of it, you’ll find that you’re no longer leaving the display exposed.

We stuck the Monet onto the back of a textured phone case and found it stays in place nicely. It works just the same as it would on the rear of a glass or plastic device and we’ve yet to see any signs of the adhesive giving up.

As we were putting this review together we found the Monet serves another purpose, albeit a completely different one. Using it as a thin wallet, we wrapped corded headphones around and tucked the ends in the loop. Forgoing a phone altogether we could see this being a fashionable and functional way to carry a few essentials to school or work.

Availability

The Monet runs $20 through its website and Amazon. As of today we see there’s a $5 off coupon if you apply MONET5 at checkout through the official site. Enjoy free shipping on all orders, too.

With a variety of color options to choose from, there’s something for everyone. Selections include solids, neons, patterns, multi-color, and pastels. We’ve already enjoyed our time with the Monet and think you would, too.

Editor Note: We received the three review units at no cost to our outlet. All opinions are 100% ours and were in no way affected by the complimentary accessories.

How to change your GPS location to watch shows from other countries

Alexandra Arici
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Streaming websites like Netflix, Hulu or the BBC offer an excellent way to fill up your lazy weekend, but they come with certain limitations.

Because these companies still do licensing deals on a country-by-country basis, a lot of the TV shows you might want to access and watch, might be locked down to a specific geographical region.

Even if you’re traveling to another country and want to catch up with your favorite shows, you might be confronted by the dark reality of not being able to access them while you’re there.

Fortunately, there’s a way to get around these pesky location restrictions, so you can watch your favorite shows no matter which country you happen to find yourself in.

How to stream your favorite shows from anywhere?

Well, the first method to do it would be to install a VPN. A VPN or Virtual Private Network, allows you to create a secure connection to another network over the Internet. In very simple terms, a VPN connects your device (PC or mobile) to another computer (called a server) somewhere on the Internet and allows you to browse the web using that computer’s internet connection. So if the server is set up in a different country, it will appear if you are coming from that country.

There are many mobile apps offering VPN services, but we recommend you install one of the most well-known ones like for example ExpressVPN.

Simply download the app, log-in with your email address and tap on the white button in order to connect to a VPN. You can choose to connect to a server from a specific country by tapping on the smaller Choose Location button.

ExpressVPN is available for free for 7 days, then you will need to sign up with a plan. The cheapest one starts at $8.32/month.

Mask your IP to unlock content

If for some reason you don’t want to use a VPN, there’s another alternative. You can install a browser extension that will conceal your IP and thus your GPS coordinates. These tools will allow you to route traffic through a proxy server, thus hiding your IP.

You can try and give Proxmate a try, although getting it on board your mobile device requires you to install an additional app. Get the Yandex browser from the play store and then install Proxmate from this link. From there, tap on the blue Add to Chrome button to install it in your browser.

The extension will allow you to unblock content, but will also shield your computer from pesky intruders. There’s a wide selection of channels you can request access and you can browse them by country.

Note that Proxmate works on a subscription basis. A 1-year bundle will take you back with $17.95 and will unlock features such as browsing from multiple countries.

Just remember one thing, all these TV platforms are constantly tweaking their apps to block these sort of geo-busting technology. A good example of that is the Hola app. So if something breaks or is not usable anymore, it might mean you have to wait for a fix. Or start using another solution.

Netflix, for example, has one of the most sophisticated VPN detection systems, but a few VPN apps have managed to stay one step ahead of Netflix. And ExpressVPN is among these apps, so don’t be afraid to use it.

Google Takeout: What is it and how do you use it?

AndroidGuys
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If you’re reading this, chances are very good that you’ve got an Android phone. And, if not, we’re still willing to bet that you’re using Google’s services.

Be it Gmail, YouTube, Photos, Maps, or something else, you’d be hard-pressed to not use Google. Oh yeah, did you know they also do search, too?

From time to time we might find ourselves wanting to leave a particular app, service, or tool behind. Maybe it’s closing down and we want to get out ahead of the deadline. Or, perhaps you’ve found an alternative that you’re in love with and want to migrate everything into one place.

What is Google Takeout?

Google Takeout is a service that Google offers its users to make it easy to export your data. It’s the most simple way to manage your account(s) and the information and date you’ve accumulated over the years.

There are plenty of reasons to use Google Takeout including the following examples:

  • Exporting a collection of photos to a desktop PC for bulk editing
  • Organizing and streamlining of contacts
  • Saving local copies of data to a hard drive to free up space in Google Drive
  • Duplicating bookmarks for a web browser
  • Migrate your old blog to a new platform

Regardless of whether you’re proactively backing things up, quitting a service out of anger, or simply keeping a copy of stuff for posterity, Google Takeout is here to help.

What Can you Export?

There are dozens of Google services with data or files that you can export. Chief among them are things like Google Drive documents, Calendar appointments, Photos, Maps places and reviews, Bookmarks, Contacts, and Gmail. At last check, we found some 54 sources of data to export.

The best thing about Google Takeout is that it’s not an “all or nothing” experience. If you’re looking to just export your Contacts, that’s possible. Or, if you want to select a handful of particulars, that’s fine, too. Of course, there is the option to grab it all.

When exporting your data you will be able to do so in zip or .tgz file types spread out over large files. Google defaults to 2GB but you can choose from 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 10GB, and 50GB options.

As to where your files go is entirely up to you. The default setting is to email you a download link but you can also export to Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box. If you have accounts with one of those services, we recommend that for quicker data management. Do note that this counts toward your storage quota and could put you into overage.

How to Export with Google Takeout

We have to give it to Google here as the process is quite simple. There’s no hiding behind multiple layers and things couldn’t be more obvious.

Head to takeout.google.com from your computer where you might be prompted to sign in with your Google account.

Select the data that you want to export using the toggles. By default you’ll find that everything is switched on but a button makes it easy to select “none”.  If you’re just here to back up one or two things, start by switching to none and then pick through your desired services.

Once you determined what you want to export, and in what format, click on the Create Archive button. Now, this part could take some time. If you’ve got thousands of photos stored through Google, or have a bunch of data, you might be in for a wait. This could be anywhere from a couple of minutes for 250MB up to a half hour for a few gigabytes — or longer.

Things to Know

There are a couple of other things to know about Google Takeout before starting with the process.

  • The archive you create expires in about seven days
  • An expired archive doesn’t mean your data is expired, but it’s not the most recent information
  • Google allows each archive to be downloaded 5 times
  • You may be required to enter your password to download the archive
  • If you have two-factor authentication/Two-Step Verification set up, you’ll be prompted to enter in a pass code.

Hunter Symphony Smart Fan: Pricey and niche, but great

Donovan Jeska
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With smart home technology booming – Apple, Amazon and Google all have their own respective platforms, among others – more and more appliances and gadgets are looking to get in on the game. Doorbells, deadbolts, light bulbs, even microwaves. And now, with the Hunter Symphony, smart ceiling fans. Retailing for $299.00 from Amazon, Home Depot and others, it’s not an inexpensive device, but it’s also pretty affordable compared to some of the more outlandish boutique fans on the market.

I’ve been using the Hunter Symphony in my game room in the tail end of one of California’s signature sweltering summers – here are my generally unfiltered thoughts on the connected ceiling fan.

Build

I don’t have a whole lot to compare it to, but the assembly and installation of the Hunter Symphony went smoothly. All pieces were both lightweight and sturdy, and fit into place precisely. The fan chassis doesn’t wobble on its downrod even at maximum speed, and the fan blades tightened in place with ease.

The Hunter Symphony features a triple-blade, 54″ design and a dual, dimmable LED light setup. It comes in three different finishes: Matte Black, Fresh White, and Matte Nickel. My Symphony is matte black, and it strikes a distinctive figure hanging from my ceiling. In retrospect, I probably would have gone with the Matte Nickel to complement the other hardware in my home.

Like most modern ceiling fans, the Symphony has a reverse flow option. This pulls the air up and pushes it across the ceiling, resulting in air circulation that’s indirect rather than pushing down on you.

Generally, the two airflow directions are useful in two different kinds of weather – counter-clockwise, direct downdraft in warm weather and clockwise, indirect updraft in Winter. This article on Del Mar really helps explain the process, if you’re curious.

What’s interesting about this particular fan, though is that you can change the flow of the air with a single button press. Many fans require you to manually flip a switch on the fan’s chassis, but the Symphony can be manipulated with the included remote – it’s all very convenient. The remote offers the usual controls – Light On/Off, Fan On/Off, and Fan Speed Up/Down.

According to my installer, the installation of the Hunter Symphony was straightforward for anyone with experience doing it, The instructions and diagrams included all made sense even to me, which is a promising sign for do-it-yourself types.

Connectivity

The Hunter Symphony features a WiFi technology called SIMPLEconnect, complete with its own companion app in the Google Play Store.

SIMPLEconnect allows the Hunter Symphony to link up with most of the Smart Home platforms on the market, including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Assistant.

While the Hunter Symphony is a wireless-enabled device and has its own companion app, its compatibility with modern AI assistants is a little improvised. Rather than using the typical Google Assistant interface, for example, in which you would add the Hunter SimpleConnect service from a list within the Google Home app, Hunter opted to make its voice commands a little less intuitive. Instead of saying something like “Hey Google, turn on the Living Room Fan,” we have to say “Hey Google talk to SimpleConnect” and then say “Brighten Fan Light” or “Turn On Fan,” etc.

I’d like to see a more integrated and intuitive interface, and fortunately, these problems can be fixed with a simple software update. Whether or not Hunter decides to make that fix is yet to be seen, but as it stands the AI integration and smart home capabilities leave something to be desired.

Performance

In my experience with ceiling fans – which is, admittedly limited to the fans in the three whole houses I’ve lived in – none have provided the smooth, consistent flow of the Hunter Symphony.

The Symphony features the SureSpeed guarantee, which – in Hunter’s words – “delivers optimized airflow for ultimate high-speed cooling” and features a 20% increase in airflow velocity compared to its competitors. I’ll let you decide if that’s buzzword marketing or not, but in my experience, the Symphony makes my game room – which is routinely much hotter than the rest of the house – much more bearable without Air Conditioning, even in the sweaty California summer sun.

Even better, that great airflow doesn’t come at the expense of sound. With Hunter’s trademark WhisperWind technology, the only sound I generally hear from the fan is the air movement itself – no low thrumming, no wobbling on the downrod, no jingly pull-chain. Just quiet, cool air.

Value

A quality ceiling fan will generally run you between $100 and $300. The Hunter Symphony is on the high end of that spectrum, at $299.00. Its feature list and performance back that pricing, with great airflow and quiet operation as well as the smart – if a bit janky – connectivity features. There aren’t many smart ceiling fans on the market – Hunter’s solutions and the $500+ Haiku fans are about it – and as such these smart features come at something of a premium. All things considered, the Symphony is an excellent ceiling fan that may be a touch expensive for the average consumer, but also may be a great addition to a Smart Home.

Get the Hunter Symphony from any number of online retailers, including:

Amazon  |  Hunter  |  Home Depot  |  Wayfair  |  Build.com

What’s the difference: Razer Phone 2 vs Razer Phone

Alexandra Arici
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Last week, Razer unveiled the follow up to its first generation gaming phone. Called the Razer Phone 2, the device is quite similar looking to its predecessor. However, Razer has made a few upgrades this year.

In this article we take a closer look at what changed, and try to answer the question: should you upgrade?

Continue reading below to find out.

Design and display

The Razer Phones won’t win any awards in terms of design. Both feature a classic square design with chunky, noticeable bezels. There’s one difference we should highlight, however. The Razer Phone 2 features a black glass rear, as opposed to the Razer Phone’s metal black chassis.

This design choice makes the Razer Phone 2 feel a little less durable than its predecessor, but the new phone does include an IP67 certification and wireless charging. This means it can be submerged in water for up to half an hour without getting damaged.

First Razer Phone

The Razer Phone 2’s back is the scene for other changes, as well. The triple-headed snake logo now supports Chroma lighting effects, “the world’s most popular RGB lighting system for gamers”. This means the logo can now illuminate in many colors and includes different effects such as Spectrum, Cycling or Breathing.

What’s more, the dual camera module has been centered. In comparison, the Razer Phone had the camera assembly living in the top left corner of the device.

Razer Phone 2

Both handsets have the fingerprint sensor in the power button on the side, which is located on the side of the frame.

Moving on to the display part, the two phones seem to be almost identical in this respect, at least on paper. Both feature a 5.7-inch IPS CD display with 2,560 x 1,440 pixels and 120Hz refresh rate. However, this year Razer says it has managed to make the display on the Phone 50% brighter.

Performance and power

The Razer Phone 2 relies on Qualcomm’s flagship chipset for 2018, the Snapdragon 845. The phone ships with 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage (microSD card slot is included).

Last year’s model features the Snapdragon 835 and includes the same RAM + storage configuration.

Battery capacity remains unchanged– we still have the same 4,000 mAh power source that supports the Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0+ standard. However, only the new Razer Phone 2 features Qi wireless charging, thanks to its glass back.

Camera

The original Razer Phone had a pretty flawed camera (12MP+12MP), which Razer tried to improve by pushing a bunch of software updates in the months following the device’s release.

Well, the Razer Phone 2 seems to offer better prospects in this department, at least based on first impressions. The new handset pairs a new 12MP wide-angle lens with optical image stabilization (OIS) and a 12MP telephoto lens with 2x zoom.

Both phones include an 8-megapixel selfie camera and can record video at up to 4K at 30fps.

Additional features

The Razer Phone 2 features a Vapor Chamber cooling system optimized for smartphone cooling, which should keep your device from overheating even as you run the most intensive games on it.

Razer says the new technology helps the device maintain clock speeds and frame rates most other phones can’t, due to heat building up in long gaming sessions.

Both models also come with the Game Booster option pre-installed. The purpose of Game Booster is to allow users to get most of their phones. This could mean either prioritizing high-end graphics and frame rates or stretching battery life as far as possible.

The Razer Phone 2 also has a Razer Theme store, where gamers will be able to find themes to match their favorite games.

Razer has also introduced a bunch of new accessories with its second-gen Phone 2. The company now offers the Razer Raiju, which is a controller for your phone that comes with a built-in mobile mounting system and the Hammerhead USB-C headphones.

Software

While the original Razer Phone launched with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, the Phone 2 arrives with Android 8.1 Oreo. We have to say, phones launching this long after Android 9 Pie’s release (August 2018) should come with a more up to date OS. Especially phones like the Razer Phone 2 which essentially run stock Android with a few improvements. But hopefully, the phone will receive the Android 9.0 Pie update soon enough.

Pricing

The original Razer Phone launched with a $700 price tag, but the newcomer retails for $800. Both handset are available unlocked via Razer’s official website. Note that the phones are compatible only with GSM carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T. In the US, the Razer Phone 2 will start shipping on October 22.

Buy the Razer Phone

Buy the Razer Phone 2

Verdict

The Razer Phone 2 does bring forth some improvements including a brighter display, Chroma lighting effects, and an improved camera. But if you’re coming from a Razer Phone, the difference isn’t that big to warrant an update.

However, if you’re upgrading from a different device and are considering making a choice between the two phones, the Razer Phone 2 seems like the better choice. Even if it’s $100 more expensive than its 1-year old brother.

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