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Motorola announces the Moto Z2 Play and new Moto Mods

Matt Adams
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As a follow-up to the very popular Moto Z Play, Motorola today took the wraps off the Moto Z2 Play as well as some interesting Moto Mods. The Moto Z2 Play will follow in its predecessor’s footsteps of midtier mayhem by packing a 5.5″ 1080p display, 3000mAh battery, Snapdragon 626 processor, 3 or 4GB of RAM and 32 or 64GB of storage.

What many fans are worried about, myself included, is the battery life. The Moto Z Play was revered for its world class battery life, but it seems like Motorola has taken a step back. We’re interested to see what kind of battery life the Moto Z2 Play will get after dropping the battery capacity from 3500mAh in the Z Play to 3000mAh in the Z2 Play and the expected usage from 50 hours to 30 hours. Hopefully, an efficient Snapdragon 626 processor can stem the tide of a smaller battery.

Motorola is also bucking the trend of dual cameras on the Z2 Play. We’ve seen several mid-rangers slap a dual-camera setup on the back to try and entice customers to pick one up, but Motorola has stuck with a single lens design. Low-light photography will be a focus of the Z2 Play and a camera with a f/1.7 aperture and an improved laser focus will help bring the most out of low-light pictures.

We’ll see Motorola’s classic light software touch on the Z2 Play. The phone will launch with Android 7.1.1. and feature its always-on display, a blue light filter, and new voice controls. The Z2 Play will also bring in the same redesigned home button we saw on the Moto G5 Plus that stole the show. Not only is the home button a great fingerprint scanner, but it also supports gestures for back and opening up the multitasking window. During my review, the fingerprint gestures were a huge hit and really changed how I used the phone.

Moto G5 Plus initial review: The best value on the market

Also announced today are new Moto Mods. These include the Moto GamePad, JBL SoundBoost 2, StyleShells with Wireless Charging and the Turbo Power Pack which as indicated by the name, is a battery pack. The Turbo Power Pack packs in an additional 3490mAh battery on the back of your device and supports up to 15W rapid charging, just like the Moto Z2 Play.

You can pick up the Moto Z2 Play in Summer 2017 for $499 from Verizon or unlocked on Motorola’s website. The GamePad, SoundBoost 2, and Turbo Power Pack will all sell for $79.99 while the StyleShells with wireless charging will go for $39.99. All of the Moto Mods are said to be available this summer.

Nokia confirms when we’ll see it’s next phone

Matt Adams
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One of the most satisfying stories over the last year, for me at least, has been the rise of Nokia. Nokia has gone from mobile juggernaut to purchased and then sold again by Microsoft, to a property of Foxconn and HMD Global. Now, under that partnership, Nokia is releasing phones again like the 3, 5, and 6 we saw earlier this year.

But, those were all midrange phones. Where’s our Nokia flagship? We’ve all be clamoring for one for years now with some suggesting that Nokia was the company that should’ve been making Nexus devices all along.

Our wait is (almost) over.

Nokia took to Twitter to confirm that we’d be seeing the release of its upcoming smartphones by the end of Q2 2017. In other words, we’re getting new phone(s) by the end of June! While Nokia didn’t guarantee that we’d be getting a flagship at this time, we’ve seen a TON of leaks for the Nokia 9 over the last couple of months that line up with the phone releasing soon. Here’s a look at the specs.

  • Display: 5.3″ QHD OLED
  • Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
  • RAM: 8GB
  • Storage: 64GB
  • Camera: 13MP dual-camera
  • Battery: 3800mAh
  • Operating system: Android Nougat 7.1.2
  • Other features: Iris scanner, Fingerprint scanner, Aluminum body, IP68 certification

These specs are very unconfirmed and originate with a leaked Geekbench score so take them with a metric ton of salt. The interesting thing to me about this tweet is that Nokia confirms phones, not just a phone. What else will we see? We’ll find out in 30 short days.

Stay tuned, we’ll have more information on this story as it develops.

Nokia 9 with dual 13MP main camera shown in live images

Tip: How to speed up your Samsung Galaxy S8

Dan Bartram
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Whilst the Galaxy S8 is no slouch there is a hidden feature that you can change that will instantly speed up your device.

The tip will help speed up your Samsung Galaxy S8 and the best bit is there’s nothing extra to install or tons of settings to change, just a simple case of changing a setting with developer options enabled.

The little hack revolves around the animations applied to transitioning between windows and turning the device on or off. By simply turning this off, it contributes to making the device seem extremely snappy and fast.

First, you’ll need to enable the Developer Options hidden menu. To do this, go into Settings -> About Device and scroll down to “Build Number”. Now, tap on “Build Number” five times and you’ll see a notification saying that “Developer mode has been enabled”.

With that hidden menu now enabled, we can head on into it to begin fastening up our Samsung Galaxy S8.

  1. Head on in to Developer Options in Settings.
  2. Scroll down to the Drawing section.
  3. Of interest here is the Window Animation Scale, Transition Animation Scale, and Animator Duration Scale.
  4. Click on them individually to change the scale.

You are able to turn the animations off completely, or set them to 0.5x (default is 1x) so the animations will be double speed for those who would like to retain them.

You’ll notice your Samsung Galaxy S8 feels substantially quicker. Let us know your comments in the section below.

Samsung can’t come through on its Bixby deadline

Matt Adams
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1

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are undoubtedly the hottest phones on the market right now. Advertising for the phones is everywhere and sales numbers are through the roof. One of the most well-publicized features on the flagships is Samsung’s newest personal assistant, Bixby.

Bixby is supposed to be the killer feature for the Galaxy S lineup that differentiates it from the likes of the Pixel, LG G6, and HTC U 11. Talk to your phone like a person and have it respond in kind. Replace tapping your screen with simple voice commands. Along with the voice integration, Bixby also hooks into your camera application to give you useful links to purchase what you’re seeing in your viewfinder and a Google Now-like window to the left of your homepage on your launcher that shows you news stories, calendar entries, and more.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus: So much to love, but not without its flaws

But, the Galaxies launched in the US without the voice integration to Bixby to the dismay of customers. Samsung talked up the feature so much at the Unpacked launch event, how it could be missing? Samsung told us that it wasn’t ready quite yet, but we’d see it in the Spring.

Unfortunately, it looks like that’s not going to happen.

A report today in the Wall Street Journal states that the Bixby voice integration is still weeks away, late June at the earliest, but more than likely Summer.  A quick glance at the calendar shows us that Spring ends on June 21, three short weeks away and that’s not promising for Samsung. The issue stems from Bixby being unreliable in recognizing English, which is obviously a problem.

Samsung does not have a good reputation when it comes to software. It’s software skins are routinely panned for being bloated, ugly, and slow while software updates come few and far between for older devices and anything but flagship-level phones. We hope that Samsung is holding off on Bixby until it’s perfect because a late launch of an imperfect feature is even more of a disaster.

Samsung would be wise to remember to under promise and over deliver.

When and Where to Buy: Samsung Galaxy S8

Sony Xperia XZ Premium goes on sale in the US on June 12

Dan Bartram
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1

Sony has announced that its Xperia XZ Premium will go on sale in the U.S unlocked on June 12 and will cost a whopping $799.

You’ll be able to pre-order the device from Amazon and Best Buy from June 12 before it launches fully on June 19.

The Xperia XZ Premium offers some impressive specs, and so it should given its price tag. Competing directly with the Galaxy S8 and HTC U11, the Xperia XZ Premium is Sony’s flagship attempt in 2017.

The Xperia XZ Premium includes:

  • Snapdragon 835
  • 4GB of RAM
  • 64GB of storage
  • 3230mAh battery
  • IP68 waterproofing
  • 5.5-inch 4K display
  • 19MP rear-facing camera with 960 fps slow-motion video

While the specs are certainly impressive and warrant the premium name Sony have given the device, it still lacks certain features to warrant such a high price tag. In the U.S version of the device, for example, there is no fingerprint sensor. While this looks more like a legal issue with certain agreements Sony has in the U.S, it still plays a factor into justifying the price the company is demanding for such a smartphone. When compared with the likes of the LG G6 and Galaxy S8 on design alone, the Xperia XZ looks in a different league entirely.

Which raises the question – is anything other than bezel-less smartphones still OK?

Drop us a comment and let us know what you think.

App Highlight: Custom Navigation Bar

Dan Bartram
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0

The App

Developed by paphonb, Custom Navigation Bar is a new app with only around 10,000 installs. Having been updated on May 30, 2017, the developer is constantly fixing various bugs with the latest update improving the startup time and adding more button icons. Custom Navigation Bar brings Android O’s customization features to any Android N device.

What it does

Android O adds the ability to customize the nav bar but with Custom Navigation Bar you can get that right now on your device. The app allows you to add custom buttons to your existing nav bar. The best bit is, no root access is required.

Features:
– Add custom buttons to your navigation bar
– Customizable navbar layout
– Tasker integration for contextual navbar
– Easy to setup
– No root or xposed required

Be aware you will need a PC to grant a custom permission via ADB to allow the app to work.

Why we like it

I used the app on my Galaxy S8 to put an extra camera icon to quick launch the camera app in the nav bar. It worked flawlessly and put to use some of that wasted black space. The only hurdle, and it is a small one, is granting the permission via ADB. Once that is set up, you’re good to go and you only have to do it once. It’s a small price to pay to not have to root your device.

How to get it

Custom Navigation Bar is available for free from the Google Play Store. You can download it right here.

Review: Invisible Defender Full Coverage Screen Protector for the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

Matt Adams
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As I sit here staring at my beautiful new Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, I’m a bit worried. You see, this thing is all glass. Well, maybe not entirely glass, but enough to worry me. We’ve already been treated to the news that the S8 and S8 Plus are the most fragile phones on the market. There’s also some buzz going around about how easy Gorilla Glass 5, the glass that sits on both the front and the back of the Galaxy S8, is to scratch.

So, I basically have an $850 piece of glass that if I breathe on it wrong it’ll scratch, shatter, or in some other way be destroyed. But, at least this one won’t blow up from the inside, I suppose.

Invisible Defender

Recently, Ringke reached out with an offer to take a look at some of its accessories for the Galaxy S8 Plus and I took them up on it immediately. I’ll touch on the cases it sent over in a later post, but the first thing I (or rather, my wife who has much steadier hands than me) put on my phone was the Invisible Defender screen protector.

Just to get this out of the way early, I’m a screen protector snob. I generally hate them and the ONLY ones that that ever reach my phone’s screen are tempered glass. I generally hate how plastic screen protectors feel, the grease that collects on them and how they can get deep grooves in them easily. While some of my frustrations bare out with the plastic Invisible Shield, there are more positives than negatives.

First off, this is one of the only screen protectors on the market that covers the entire curved screen of the Galaxy S8 Plus. Not only does it cover the entire curve of the display, it wraps around to the back of the device and covers a few centimeters of the back too. It’s not enough to prove the back of the device any kind of real protection, but we have cases for that, right? The only part of the display the screen protector not covered are the cutouts for the sensors and cameras and a very small sliver at the bottom.

The reason that Ringke decided to cut out the screen protector around the sensors and camera instead of covering them up is, in my opinion, because the screen protector really holds onto a lot of dirt and grease that can interfere with these sensors. I’m really not a fan of how much grease ends up on my screen now with the screen protector on it. The S8 was pretty bad about holding onto grease before, but this is even worse. If you don’t mind wiping off your screen several times a day then you’re golden. I suppose it’s just the price you pay for keeping your screen scratch free.

I don’t expect the Invisible Defender to hold up for the life of my phone. After a few days it’s pretty deeply scratched and dented. Luckily, these scratches and dents aren’t on my actual display so, there’s that. Plus, these things are cheap enough ($12 at the time of publishing) to replace it once a month for almost two years still not equal the cost of replacing your screen.

The single biggest thing I was surprised by was the complete lack of added friction after applying the Invisible Defender. Normally, these types of screen protectors add a ton of friction and make the screen much less enjoyable to use. Except for the big potholes in the screen protector, it was hard to tell the difference to the touch between the regular display and the screen protector. I definitely count that as a win.

Conclusion

Look, nothing is perfect. There are going to be tradeoffs when you add an accessory to your phone. If you’re looking for more protection, you’ll add bulk. If you’re looking to keep your screen scratch free, you’ll need to invest in one of these screen protectors. It changes the experience you have with your phone, but if you’re all about protecting your investment long term, I would definitely recommend the Invisible Defender.

You can grab the Ringke Invisible Defender for the Samsung Galaxy S8 or Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus over on Amazon.

OnePlus’ CEO comments on the future of Android updates for the OnePlus 3 and 3T

Matt Adams
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0

Sit down, strap in, sip on your covfefe and prepare yourself for some major OnePlus news! Alright, maybe it’s not the biggest news ever. We’d love to be confirming the specs for the OnePlus 5 in this article, but alas, that is not to be.

But, fans of the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T rejoice! We’re getting Android O! Pete Lau, the Founder, and CEO of OnePlus, took to Twitter to confirm that indeed, we will be seeing Android O on the OnePlus 3 and 3T. While he did not share any timeline for the update (heck, Android O isn’t even out yet), but at least we know it’s coming.

This is a bit of a departure from OnePlus. We know the OnePlus 5 will be out before Android O hits scene so the focus will likely be on the OP5 rather than supporting older devices. As we’ve seen with the complete lack of software upgrades to the OnePlus 2 and the OnePlus X, OnePlus doesn’t exact support older hardware.

OnePlus 2 review: 2015 flagship runner-up

But, it’s progress, I suppose. While OnePlus shouldn’t be let off the hook for screwing owners of older phones, it is a young company and there are growing pains.

How does Andy Rubin’s Essential phone stack up against the Samsung Galaxy S8?

Alexandra Arici
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1

Yesterday the creator of Android, Andy Rubin unveiled the Essential phone, a premium handset which aims to compete with the likes of Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S8.

But can it really hope to take on Samsung’s latest and greatest? After all, the Galaxy S8 is one of the best smartphones you can buy right now. Well in what follows, we’re going to highlight some of the similarities and differences between the two devices, so you can compare.

Similarities

Both the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Essential phone come with an edge-to-edge design, although the latter’s is a bit more impressive. Unlike the Galaxy S8, which keeps a bit of bezel on top, the Essential’s display spreads all the way upwards until it finally embraces the selfie camera. The cutout display is certainly a peculiarity, but those who want the closest thing to a true edge-to-edge screen will consider it a mere compromise.

Moving on to numbers, the Galaxy S8 features a 5.8-inch “Infinity Display” with 2960 x 1440 resolution and 18:5:9 aspect ratio. The Essential Phone’s long 5.7-inch display with 19:10 ratio is quite similar to the Galaxy S8’s. Although it offers 2560 x 1312 resolution (almost QHD).

In the computing department, both phones take advantage of Qualcomm’s latest top-tier silicone piece, the Snapdragon 835 and 4GB of RAM.

The two flagships include 8-megapixel secondary snappers, but the one on the Galaxy S8 features f/1.7 while the Essential’s has f/2.2.

Differences

We’ll jump straight to differences, by noting the Essential features 128GB of built-in storage, while the Galaxy S8 has only 64GB. However, Samsung’s flagship does feature a microSD card slot which allows for memory expansion up to 256GB, while the Essential does not offer such a feature.

In terms of photography, the two handsets are quite different. The Essential comes equipped with a dual-camera setup with f/1.85 which pairs a 13-megapixel dual RGB + Mono camera with image fusion technology sensor with a second 13-megapixel monochrome one.
In the case of the Galaxy S8, we won’t find a dual-camera assembly onboard. Still, the product does bundle a capable 12-megapixel main camera with f/1.7.

Andy Rubin’s Essential bets on a modular approach and the first accessory that can be attached to the smartphone externally is a 360-degree camera. More add-ons are expected to follow.

The Essential also packs a slightly larger 3,040 mAh battery than the 3,000 mAh cell inside the Galaxy S8. However, it does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack which the Galaxy S8 preserves. It’s also not waterproof, but should be more durable – due to its titanium/ceramic construction – than its Galaxy S8 rival, which is mostly made of glass.

And while the Galaxy S8 comes with Bixby – the virtual assistant onboard, Andy Rubin says the Essential will be able to run Siri, Assistant, as well as Alexa AND a new digital assistant (developed by Rubin’s company).

We should also note the Galaxy S8 comes with support for Samsung Pay and runs Android 7.0 Nougat, while the Essential also runs Android (although we don’t know what version exactly, could be Android 7.0 or Android 7.1).

So how much do they cost?

Sadly, the Essential comes with a pretty hefty price-tag. It will sell for $699, which frankly is a bit too expensive for a newcomer. As for the Galaxy S8, it’s available on Samsung’s official website for $724.99 and up.

As you can see the difference between the two price-wise is quite minor, but for a bit of extra money, you can get a phone (Galaxy S8) with microSD card slot, waterproof body, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. But if you want a more durable device that is also modular, the Essential is the way to do go.

Vote: OnePlus wants you to choose the design of the OnePlus 5’s retail box

Alexandra Arici
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1

In anticipation of the grand OnePlus 5 launch, the Chinese company is inviting fans to offer their opinion on how the flagship’s retail box should look like.

OnePlus is conducting a poll which provides users with eight options to choose from. To take part in it, you need to log into Weibo and vote for the variant you like best. The poll seems to be aimed at Chinese customers, so at this point, it’s unclear whether the winning retail package will be made available on the international market, or will be limited to China.

Even so, there’s no harm in checking out the options in order to get an idea of how OnePlus plans to ship the product. Which will apparently happen soon enough.

According to a leaked internal email, OnePlus’s next-gen flagship should launch on June 15 with a 5.5-inch display with FullHD (1920 x 1080) or QHD resolution (2560 x 1440). The handset should take advantage of Qualcomm’s newest high-end chipset, the Snapdragon 835 in combination either 8GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB/128GB of internal storage.

While older OnePlus phones didn’t really shine in the camera department, this year the Chinese company has teamed up with DxOMark to ensure the OnePlus 5 takes advantage of an improved camera.

If the rumors are true, we’re only two weeks away from the OnePlus 5’s official launch, so if you have a Weibo account hurry up and vote before the poll ends.

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