So far customers interested in acquiring the LG V30 could so from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, while the 128GB V30+ version is available with Sprint and US Cellular.
But as expected, the unlocked LG V30 version (carrier unlocked that can be used on GSM and CDMA networks) has also made its way to US shores and it’s currently available for pre-order at B&H for a pretty substantial $829.99 price tag. The retailer is only offering the Cloud Silver coloring option, so far.
Unfortunately, if you place a pre-order for the device now you will have to wait until December 5 for the phone to ship out. Alternatively, you can click on the “Request Stock Alert” which will ensure you get a notification as soon as the phone arrives in stock.
For those who missed the official announcement, the LG V30 comes with a 6-inch P-OLED display with 2880 x 1440 resolution and 18:9 aspect ratio. It’s the first LG flagship to rely on a Snapdragon 835 processor for power, as the company’s earlier premium release only included a Snapdragon 821 chipset.
The phone is offered with a 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage configuration (a microSD card slot is available for memory expansion). The V30 relies on a 3,300 mAh battery and runs Android 7.1.2 Nougat out of the box (the Android 8.0 Oreo update will surely be made available in a few months).
Stories – one of Instagram’s most popular features – just got better. The Facebook-owned app is now rolling out a new feature which lets you make live Stories with a friend.
In order to get started, you’ll have to open the Story screen – which is accessible by swiping right on the home screen. From there, choose the Live option.
Once your live broadcast has started, you’ll notice an icon that looks like two smiley faces next to each other sitting at the bottom of the screen. Tap it.
A list of your friends will pop up. Now it’s time to choose which buddy you want to add to the broadcast. Note that you can only add one friend per broadcast. What’s more, you won’t be able to add your buddy to your Story, unless he or she is watching your live event unfold.
Once you choose someone, they will get a notification on their screen that gives them the option to join or not. If the second party accepts, viewers will see the screen split and your buddy’s live feed filling the second half of the screen. Both participants can add filters to their live videos to spice things up.
What if your buddy is not performing accordingly? You can easily choose to remove his/her feed by tapping the “X” icon in the upper-right side of the screen. Then you can add another friend if you want. Your co-star can choose to exit the broadcast at any time, as well.
If you are not happy with the result, you can easily delete the Story. The option will pop up after the end of the live feed in the form of a Discard button.
To catch friends going live with a buddy, look for two circles stacked together in your Stories bar. Tap on it to watch it. You can also like and comment as the video unfolds.
The new option is available in version 20 of Instagram which is now available from the Google Play Store.
HTC wants to make it easier for customers to purchase its smartphones, so it has partnered up with TD Bank to offer the HTC Financing Program.
The initiative will allow cardholders to make purchases with special financing and no money down. However, bear in mind that the Program is only available to customers willing to spend $599 and up on HTC’s official website.
For example, with HTC Financing customers will be able to buy the unlocked Solar Red HTC U11 with 64GB of internal storage for $28/month for 24 months. The flagship’s full price is $649.
HTC announced its new financing program just days before its November 2 event, during which the HTC U11 Plus was said to be making an appearance. But according to a recent Tweet by reliable leakster Evan Blass, it appears HTC plans to unveil the middle-range U11 Life (and probably its Android One variant) during the said date, not the premium U11 Plus. Which is pretty disappointing news.
Rumors had it that the HTC U11 Plus will be the first smartphone in the Taiwanese company’s portfolio to make the transition into the “bezel-less” era. But by the looks of it, the device is not yet ready for prime time. Undoubtedly, the phone is still coming, but the question now is, when?
Holding onto a Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8 or Pixel/Pixel XL and you’re looking to add some protection to it? Then we have an interesting series of cases you might want to check out.
Produced by the creators of American-made accessories inspired by nature, WÜD Life, the RÖK collection source slate stone and rock to give the cases a unique look. The accessories feature a light finish 1mm in thickness, as well as a higher lip on the front side for protection and a flexible rubber front absorbs shock in case of accidents.
The new RÖK lineup is available in seven options, each offering a different unique texture ranging from rigid to smooth polished stone.
The cases are compatible with Samsung’s current flagships as well as older models including the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge and Galaxy S5. Owners of the Pixel and Pixel XL and LG V20 can also take advantage of the RÖK collection.
You can purchase one of these cases from the official WÜD Life website for a discounted $29.95 (down from $39.95, except for the Crater and Canyon). You’ll even get free US and international shipping with your purchase.
If stony phone cases aren’t for you, you can go ahead and check out WÜD Life’s wood accessory series which is also available with a discount.
Sturdy, cheap, portable and easily attached to almost anything, the GoPro camera has absolutely transformed the filming and extreme sports industries.
A GoPro gives a user high-quality, wide-angle (170 degrees), HD video. These cameras have produced some incredible vertigo-inducing images of climbers, majestic bald eagle flights and millions of action sports shots.
The popularity of GoPro’s results has helped the term become synonymous with individual filming, like Xerox is to photocopying. GoPro has woven itself into the fabric of our culture.
GoPro cameras also accept various mounting accessories such as; a 3-way mount, suction cups, headbands, selfie stick clamps, dash mounts, dog harnesses and motorbike mounts. You can click here to look for both the cameras and accessories.
Sports and the GoPro
No other field has been transformed by GoPro to the extent of extreme sports. With a GoPro and an appropriate mount, any extreme athlete can give a viewer a bird’s-eye view of what their chosen sport is like. These videos are some of the most viewed on YouTube.
Time Lapse Photos/Compilations
Users of a GoPro with a time-lapse feature have produced stunning videos of the night-time sky, including the Milky Way, meteor showers, and the stars on moonless nights. They’ve captured lightning storms, weather fronts, sunrises, sunsets as well as the hustle and bustle of large urban cities.
A GoPro allows every moment of every day of every person to be cataloged on film. It also begs the question; do we all need to channel our inner movie director for every second of our lives?
There’s no definitive answer to this. One answer is that a GoPro can take the ordinary and turn it into something spectacular. What happens when the ordinary turns into something completely unexpected?
Other uses for GoPros
A few years ago, dash cameras of several dozen people captured footage of a meteorite falling to earth. These spectacular images show how an everyday Russian morning can turn into something fantastic. Most people won’t ever see something like that in person. But because some people had their GoPros running, that meteorite was shared with the entire world.
GoPro cameras, when used as dashboard cameras, have provided video evidence for altercations with other motorists, law enforcement, and even traffic accidents.
A GoPro also provided actual footage of an attempted armed robbery. The assailant escaped and the cameraman was unharmed.
Will anything you record on your GoPro ever hit the 12.5 million YouTube views the armed robbery footage did? Probably not. But you never know what you might catch on a GoPro.
At the end of the day, the GoPro has changed the way we view our lives. Why do we film everything? Simple. Because we can.
Last week, ZTE unveiled a piece of experimental hardware called the Axon M. It’s the first smartphone to be marketed as “foldable”, although unlike Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy X, it’s not made of a single foldable display but pairs two standard phone screens side-by-side.
There’s no doubt the ZTE Axon M is quite an interesting device, but how does it compare to last year’s ZTE Axon 7 flagship, a phone which we found to be “outstanding with few faults”. Besides the obvious design difference, what’s sets the newly unveiled Axon M apart from the older Axon 7? Let’s find out.
On the outside
ZTE says it has built the Axon M with multi-function in mind, as “M” basically stands for “multi-function”, so you’ll be able to run two apps at the same time or let them go to full screen for a larger experience.
The Axon M is basically two 5.2-inch displays glued side-by-side that form a 6.75-inch size screen with a thin line running through, when unfolded. You won’t notice it that much when you’re running apps side by side, but it does become bothersome in full-screen mode when for example, you’re trying to watch your favorite Netflix show.
You can also set the Axon M with screen mirroring so two players can see and interact or experience the same image or media at the same time. This sounds great for fans of multiplayer games or those who can’t watch a TV show alone.
But due to the dual display arrangement, the Axon M is a lot thicker and heavier than the ZTE Axon 7 measuring 150.8 x 71.6 x 12.1 mm. It tips the scales at 230 g, while the Axon 7 is only 175 g in weight and measures 151.7 x 75 x 7.9 mm.
Interestingly enough, the Axon M features only fullHD resolution, while the Axon 7 offers premium QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) res on its 5.7-inch panel.
On the inside
When it comes to internals the two phones are quite similar. The newer Axon M includes last year’s 2.15GHz Snapdragon 821 processor (which also powers the LG G6), while the Axon 7 relies on the older Snapdragon 820.
Both handsets include 4GB of RAM in combination with 64GB of internal storage. A microSD card slot is also offered in both cases.
The battery inside the Axon 7 is a 3,250 mAh unit, while the foldable Axon M relies on a slightly smaller 3,180 mAh one. And with two displays sucking power, we don’t expect the Axon M to offer an impressive battery life, on the contrary.
Photography
The Axon 7 offers the services of a main 20-megapixel camera with f/1.8, phase detection autofocus, OIS and dual-LED flash. It also includes an 8-megapixel selfie shooter with f/2.2 on the front.
As for the new Axon M, it takes advantage of basically the same primary camera. The difference is that the newcomer only includes one camera, not two. That’s because the shooter can work either for the front or the back, depending on whether the device is folded or not.
Other features
Powered by Android 7.1.2 Nougat (Android 8.0 Oreo will be delivered), the Axon M also comes packing Dolby Atmos, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, LTE, rapid charging, and USB-C.
As for the Axon 7, it comes equipped with Hi-Fi audio DAC with Dolby Atmos which in combination with the phone’s dual front-facing speakers can deliver a great audio experience. The older flagship also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a fingerprint scanner on the back and offers support for Google’s Daydream View VR platform.
At launch, the Axon 7 shipped out with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, but ZTE updated it to Android 7.1.1 Nougat. No word on whether it will receive the Android 8.0 Oreo update.
Value
The Axon M will be sold with a hefty $725 price tag exclusively from AT&T. So when it comes to pricing, the Axon 7 will get you a much better deal. For example, you can grab the phone from Amazon for $459. Or you can buy it from Newegg, as it is currently at a discount with a $379 price attached.
It’s pretty doubtful customers will race to buy the Axon M. The main reason for that boils down to pricing – for this amount of money you can easily get a Pixel 2 or Samsung Galaxy S8 – but the fact that it will be sold only by AT&T plays a role too, as some customers might not want to switch to the carrier.
Furthermore, the Axon M takes advantage of older specs, so it’s not on par with the latest flagships. The only thing that justifies the high price tag is the (sort of, remember devices like the T-Mobile Sidekick?) experimental form factor, but even so, we don’t see many users flocking to spend a hefty sum of money just so they can take a piece of new tech for a spin.
Just a couple months ago we took a look at the BLU VIVO 8, which garnered our praise for performing so well at such an affordable price. BLU has been in the budget smartphone game for quite some time now and it definitely shows. Coupled with the fact that you can readily pick one up at Amazon or even in Best Buy stores, its phones are of our top recommendations if you prefer more humble Android smartphone offerings.
If you still found the $299 price of the VIVO 8 a bit much, BLU is throwing another option now into the mix. The company sent us its newly launched little brother, the VIVO 8L. Let’s see if it can maintain the same bang-for-the-buck awesomeness.
Design
It’s immediately apparent that the VIVO 8L is a sibling of the 8. This cheaper variant fortunately maintains the metal uni-body casing that the original had. In-hand, you get that cold metal feeling along with a smooth, premium finish. It catches some fingerprints, but our dark gray (almost black) model hides them well.
An unexpected change happened with the fingerprint scanner. BLU moved it from the front to the back, like many manufacturers today are opting for. It’s circular and is placed right under the rear camera. The finish on the sensor matches exactly with the metal surrounding, but your finger can easily find it due to being slightly recessed. In our opinion, the phone looks much cleaner with this change. The front still has capacitive navigation buttons, but with Google’s icons for Recent Apps, Home, and Back.
It’s nice that BLU pre-installs a screen protector on the display. Particularly on this phone, its curved glass design leaves the screen exposed and vulnerable. You won’t want to set it face down without a screen protector, even with its Gorilla Glass 3 protection. It sure does look pretty though!
Performance
Like on the VIVO 8 (and most budget phones), the 8L is powered by a MediaTek chipset. It has a slightly down-clocked version of MediaTek’s 67XX series – a 1.3GHz MT6753 versus the 2.0GHz MT6755 chipset on the VIVO 8. But it’s still an octa-core processor with 64-bit support. RAM is also slightly knocked at still a capable 3GB.
Two levels of power saving modes for even more battery life.
As imagined, these minimal changes do end up being little consequence in real-world use. Navigation throughout the VIVO 8L is as responsive as we would want. We weren’t at all left wishing for more horsepower. Sure, it’s not going to quite fly like top-end Android flagships, but it’s really not far off. Probably the most crucial downgrade was the drop from 64GB to 32GB of internal storage. But fortunately, microSD expansion is still supported (up to 64GB).
One of the best things is that the battery capacity was barely touched from the VIVO 8 – reduced only by 10mAh. Coupled with the VIVO 8L’s reduced power components, we achieved some worthy battery life stats. The 8L can easily last through a day, and consistently for two days with moderate use. Battery life is probably the biggest win of the VIVO 8L.
Display
The screen size of the VIVO 8L gets a slight drop to 5.3″. The resolution is also knocked to 720P, but the impact from the VIVO 8 is minimal due to the size reduction. No, this is not going to come close to the sharpness of top-end Androids, but it’s no way a fuzzy mess. The screen setup is decent and certainly gets the job done.
This is an IPS LCD panel, so you won’t get the color pop and clear viewing angles that OLED panels provide. That said, the image quality is preserved at even extreme viewing angles, with only a slight brightness shift. The best thing about this panel is that it gets notably bright. Around 50% brightness was plenty for us in most situations, and outdoor visibility in sunshine is respectable.
Camera
The VIVO 8L manages to retain the same primary camera as its bigger brother – the 13MP Sony IMX258 sensor. We found this camera to perform decently in our VIVO 8 review, but nothing to necessarily write home about. It’s important to know that it lacks optically image stabilization that is now common in higher-end phones. Its f/2.0 lens aperture is respectable, and Auto HDR is on-board to help with those tricky lightning situations.
Check out some of our camera samples:
In well-lit situations, the quality of our shots very good for this price range. Detail from the 16MP capture can be clearly seen from macro to landscape shots. Indoors in lower light, things can quickly become noisy, as well as over-highlighting or over-darkening in higher dynamic range situations – things expected for a mid-range smartphone camera (considering the VIVO 8L is priced more towards the low-end).
We must mention that BLU upgraded the front camera. We thought a 16MP capture resolution was already considerable on the VIVO 8; now there’s a whopping 20MP selfie shooter there. Yes, you heard that right. The front camera has 7MP more than the main camera. Apparently BLU is really serious about selfies. And that spec sure does translate to great image quality. Even high-end Androids (with their measly 5MP or 8MP cameras) won’t compare in regard to detail captured.
Software
BLU nicely stays up to date with Android’s on-goings. On the VIVO 8L, we’re looking at Android 7.0 (Nougat) build. We like that BLU’s software tweaks aren’t heavy. The UI still largely looks like stock Android. The Recent Apps carousel and app drawer, for instance, look pure. The split-screen multitasking function also works like it does on stock. There is some app bloat pre-installed, but we like that BLU uses Google apps were applicable.
However, the UI changes that BLU did make are almost all questionable. One of our biggest gripes was with the notification drop-down. The Quick Settings menu seems to be completely removed. We made a bunch of attempts to try to get it to display and failed. There’s absolutely no reason to do this. So every time we simply want to adjust the brightness, we need to dig into the Settings menu. And speaking of which, BLU’s custom Settings menu layout is a mess. Why not just keep things the way they are in stock Android, especially when it adds no value to change it? We also don’t know why Nougat’s up/down swipe in the Home screen to access the app drawer was reverted back to a button.
Not all the tweaks are bad though. BLU’s addition of some useful gestures is generous, such as double tap to wake and or the ability to draw a pattern on the screen while it’s off to activate a function. Also, there’s an extra tab in the Settings called “Features” that provide shortcuts to the phone’s useful abilities. One of these is the two-tier power saving modes.
Final Thoughts
To sum it up, the BLU VIVO 8L certainly does maintain the line’s bang-for-the-buck superiority. It even improves on it a couple ways, with slightly better battery life results and an upgraded front camera. Our only gripes considering the low price of this phone is the unnecessary software tweaks to the Android OS, though it’s not severe. We can easily recommend the VIVO 8L at a retail of $200.
And for its launch, BLU is for limited time knocking $50 off when purchasing from Amazon. The VIVO 8L is no doubt a bargain at $150.
Google Lens was unveiled alongside the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL as an exclusive to the devices but now appears to be rolling out to the older Pixel and Pixel XL from 2016.
Google Lens is activated within the Google Photos app and a user on Reddit found that the button had magically appeared on his Pixel XL’s app without any Play Store update. That means that the functionality and unlocking of such functionality is handled server side by Google, so can appear and disappear at any time.
Note the “Pixel preview” text below the Google Lens icon. While many people seem to be reporting the Lens functionality has appeared, there is also just as many reporting that it isn’t appearing in their Photo app.
Google Lens used AI to pull information about a photo and present relevant information linked to that image. It’s similar to how Google Googles used to work but it’s good to see the functionality extended beyond the latest Pixel devices. Hopefully it will make an appearance to other Android devices in the near future.
It hasn’t even been a full month since the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL were announced and the codenames for the next-generation Pixel 3s have already surfaced via the Droid Life.
According to one of the publication’s trusted sources – who has offered early and reliable information before – Google’s hardware plans for 2018 includes three Pixel 3 models allegedly codenamed “crosshatch”, “albacore” and “blueline”.
The codename “crosshatch” has already surfaced in Google’s AOSP documentation, but “albacore” and “blueline” haven’t. Interestingly, the mysterious name “wahoo” also popped up alongside “crosshatch”, but at the moment we don’t know what it might refer to. Chances are it’s an earlier 2017 device that has been scraped off.
The industry insider also mentioned that Google’s smartphone lineup next year will include two high-end Pixels, as well as a premium model. The search giant is probably looking to mirror Apple – in terms of strategies – which recently unveiled the premium iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, alongside a super-premium model, the iPhone X.
The Albacore
Given that this is very early information, it should be treated as such, as Google’s plans might be subject to considerable change in the upcoming months. This year we also heard Google will be launching three Pixel 2 models codenamed “muskie”, “walleye” and “taimen”, but eventually “muskie” was axed and only two Pixel 2 models ended up making a debut.
The same scenario could very well repeat itself next year, but we’ll just have to wait and see whether that will be the case or not.
Ordered a new and shiny Pixel 2? Then you might have to wait a while before getting your hands on it. According to reports on Reddit, Google is delaying some Pixel 2 shipments by up to a month. Which means some customers (the majority of which appear to have ordered a Clearly White Pixel 2) will receive their phone in late November.
“My Pixel 2 was supposed to ship on OCT 23rd but now will ship November 23rd. But they’re giving a free Live Case.”
Kylepezz on Reddit
But not all is bleak. In order to make up for the delays, Google will apparently be offering a free Live Case worth $40 to customers who ordered a Clearly White Pixel 2.
And judging by the posts on Reddit, it seems only 64GB version of the Clearly White Pixel 2 is affected by the shipping delays. On top of that, not everyone who ordered the white phone has gotten the dreaded delay email. But if you too ordered this variant, you better go ahead and check your email to see whether you received the notification.
Shipping delays on Pixel phones were an issue last year and it seems that hasn’t changed in 2017, which is pretty disappointing. Nevertheless Google hopes the free Live Case will be enough to make customers forget about the displeasure.
