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Reminder: T-Mobile is offering 1-year of free MLB.TV Premium today

Alexandra Arici
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0

As we told you last week, T-Mobile is bringing back the MLB.TV promotion it also offered last year today. Starting April 4 and ending April 1:59 a.m Pacific Time, customers will be able to grab a one-year free of charge subscription to MLB.TV Premium and MLB.com At Bat Premium, both valued at $112.99.

MLB.TV will give users access to every out-of-market game for the 2017 MLB season, as well offer the ability to do home or away broadcast and live game DVR.

The MLB services will be available through T-Mobile’s Tuesdays app which can be downloaded by iOS and Android users alike. Remember that you’ll need to sign up for MLB.TV Premium before April 11 at 1:59 am Pacific Time. After which all you need to do is download the MLB.com At Bat app and tune in for your favorite games.

T-Mobile subscribers on most of the carrier’s consumer, business, postpaid and prepaid plans, can go ahead and claim the freebie.

The Magenta carrier will also be giving baseball fans the chance to win a $100 or $50 MasterCard gift cards and an all-expenses-paid trip to MLB All-Star Week in Miami, which takes place between 9 July to 12.

Android 7.1.2 update for Pixel, Nexus devices is available – here’s what’s new

Alexandra Arici
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0

As anticipated, Google has released the Android 7.1.2 update for the Pixel and Nexus family of devices. The new build is available for the Pixel (N2G47E), Pixel XL (N2G47J), Pixel C (N2G47D), Nexus 5X (N2G47F), Nexus 6P (N2G47H) and Nexus Player (N2G47H) – which all based on Android 7.1.1. As for the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 – they have reached the end of their journey and will remain at Android 7.1.1 (while Google is concerned).

So if you too own one of the devices listed above, you can go ahead and download the factory images and OTA files from Google directly. The April 2017 security update for the phones are also available and you can grab all the OTA files right here. However, if you don’t want to do things manually, you should know that the OTA updates should start rolling out automatically in the next few days/weeks. So just wait a little.

Google detailed on the Google Product Forums the changes and enhancements we can expect the new Android 7.1.2 update to bring to the table. We’re told that the new build for Pixel and Pixel XL is bound to hit devices in the next few weeks (unless you’re in the beta program, which means you’re probably going to see yours sooner), bringing along a number of bug fixes, added feats and general performance/stability improvements like:

  • Improved fingerprint swipe performance
  • Bluetooth connectivity improvements (could fix the remaining Bluetooth issues some Pixels were having)
  • Battery usage alerts
  • Pink banding on the camera fix
  • Early shutdown issues fix
  • Audio popping at high volume fix

As for the update rolling out for the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel C and Nexus Player it’s a bit different than the Pixel one. It brings with it:

  • Enhanced notification stability
  • Fingerprint swipe on the 5X/6P models (a highly-requested feature)
  • General connectivity improvements
  • Battery usage alerts

Google has started sending out the OTA updates for the Nexus C and Nexus Player over the weekend, but we expect other devices will  be getting it soon too.

Ottm Watchbands: Unique artworks with a renewable source. (Review)

Donovan Jeska
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0

Ottm Watchbands started as a little IndieGoGo project with a relatively modest goal of $10,000 to make unique, wooden watchbands for smartwatches. It ended up raising three times that – a success by all metrics. Mark Adams – Ottm’s founder – oversaw production personally, living in China for three (freaking) months to make sure everything was perfect. The result is something pretty damned beautiful. Each band is unique, and comes in three different woods: Canadian Maple, Gabonese Zebrawood, and Indonesian Sandalwood. In addition, Ottm Watchbands also come in two form factors – Apple Watch and Pebble/Wear.

I had the pleasure of giving Ottm’s Gabonese Zebrawood a spin on my Moto 360 (2016), and at first blush, I was very impressed. The entire band is made of premium, precision cut hardwood links, with the exception of the standard, stainless clasp. The striped (get it? Zebrawood?), well-stained wood strikes a dashing figure alongside the dark aluminum of the 360, and the smooth finish it utterly flawless. I’ve always had trouble with watchbands out of the box, finding that most are too short for my fat-kid wrists, but Ottm’s came with plenty of length right out of the box (with two extra links, to boot!).

Fun-Fact: Quick-change springs are the bee’s knees. With no tools required, and less than a minute to completely change bands, it really blows traditional spring-pins out of the water.

A tool is included in the package to add or remove links – and while I was able to adjust the length without too much trouble by hand, I’m wary of having to use any kind of force on the wooden links. Which brings me to my next topic – just how sturdy is the Ottm wood? Will it stand up to the daily wear and tear of an office job? How about a more physically demanding one? Despite the lightweight nature of the band, I got the feeling that it can stand up to some punishment. As I wear it daily, I’ll let you all know if I run into any breakage – so far, I’m impressed.

I have exactly one item on my wishlist: I’d love to see a Build Your Own tool on Ottm’s website, where we can choose our wood, choose our form factor and finally, choose the color of the clasp on the band – as it stands, the band on the Zebrawood band is stainless, while my Moto 360 is black/gunmetal. It still looks great, and it’s a tiny gripe, but hey. Nothing’s perfect.

Ottm’s Watches can be purchased either from the source itself, or from Amazon. It should be noted that buying directly from Ottm also ensures that a tree will be planted for each order placed – I’m not sure if that’s the case with Amazon.

Either way, the bands cost between $29.99 and $49.99, depending on the wood and style chosen.

n7player – a music player than even more demanding listeners will love (review)

Alexandra Arici
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4

Ever since I can remember I’ve been a fan of music. Actually I like to say I’m a being made of music, because music has always followed me around throughout my existence. I have a varied taste and go throw periods when I like to listen to post-rock a lot, followed by weeks when my playlist is dominated by deep-house or techno.

That’s why I’ve always had a music player app installed on my phone. And since there is a myriad of options available in the Google Play Store, I tried a number of them. Which brings us to the app I’m going to review today. It’s simply called n7player and it’s an intuitive, easy to use music playing app I really enjoyed using lately.

Setup

Just download the app for free from the Google Play Store. Once installed on your device, n7player will automatically scan your phone and populate the app interface with the albums/tracks it finds. It can recognize mp3, mp4, m4a, ogg, wav, 3gp, mid, xmf, ogg, mkv, flac and acc and will display the tracks by artists, albums, tracks or genres. I prefer to view them by Albums especially since the app also shows the accompanying Album Art.

Impressions

The app is quite easy to use and plentiful in customization options. However, some features are locked and you’ll have to pay if you want to take advantage of them – for example, changing the skins of your music player.

To get started, find the track you want to listen to and just tap Play.  If the tunes don’t come out sounding the way you’d like, the good news (especially for more demanding users) is that you have an (10 band) equalizer option at your disposal. Among other things like letting you boost the Bass or Treble via separate controls, allows you to create your customized pre-amp, channel balance, audio normalization and surround effects. The app also brings features like repeat once, repeat all, shuffle plus easily accessible current queue of tracks.

As I mentioned above, your tracks show up categorized as artists, albums, tracks or genres. You can easily filter what you see, meaning you can hide certain albums you don’t want to see at the moment or limit your music library to a few specified folders.

There’s also a tag cloud layout, which enables you to see all the tracks listed under a particular genre by virtue of a single tap. A built-in tag editor is also available, so you can organize your library in no time. Tagging a song is supe easy. Just tap on the album, then the respective song and find the “Edit tag” option in the menu that pops up. From the same menu you can add the tune to a certain playlist or add to queue or view the lyrics.

Have a headset you’d rather listen to music with? N7player will respond to the headset’s controls allowing you listeners to skip to the next song or go back to the previous one.

When it comes to visual customization the app lets you do a few things. With n7player you can select a notification theme or preferred widgets and change your lockscreen. Still you should keep in mind that most of the free customization options are simple toggles and you won’t be able to do things like change fonts or layouts. For a different skin, you’ll need to pay a small fee ($3.49).

It’s also worth mention that if you connect your n7player to ToasterCast you will be allowed to stream music on external devices via Chromecast/AirPlay/DLNA.

Conclusions

For me, the n7player worked like a charm. I loved the modern, clean user interface, but more (free) visual customization options would be very welcomed. As for features, I was quite satisfied with what the app offered especially the equalizer option.

Affordable ZTE Prestige 2 comes to Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile

Alexandra Arici
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0

Looking for a budget phone these days? Then you’re probably going to be interested in knowing that ZTE just unleashed a new wallet-friendly device, the Prestige 2 which is now available with Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

The ZTE Prestige 2 is the successor of the original Prestige that launched in 2015. It doesn’t bring stellar specs to the table, but with a price tag as low as $79.99 you should expect it to.

Despite its name, the ZTE Prestige 2 includes a 5-inch display with 480 x 854 resolution and a Snapdragon 210 processor clocked at 1.1GHz. ZTE throws in 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. For those who crave more, there’s also a microSD card slot which allows for memory expansion up to 32GB.

Don’t buy this phone if you want to take awesome pictures with it. It features two cameras both of 5MP variety, so you won’t be snapping any award-winning photographs. Last but not least, the device relies on a 2.035 mAh battery, which will supposedly be able to support a 14-hour life cycle and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

If you don’t want to purchase the new ZTE Prestige 2 through Boost Mobile or Virgin Mobile, then you’ll be glad to know the phone will land in Best Buy retail stores soon enough.

Check out the best 2017 April Fool’s Day tech pranks

Alexandra Arici
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0

April Fool’s Day came and went and naturally tech companies raced to produce the best prank, as it’s the custom every year. Well some of them turned out to be pretty funny, while others weren’t too inspiring. Anyway, if you happen catch a free moment, we assembled a collection of what we thought were the best pranks in 2017. Check them out below, they will hopefully help you forget it’s Monday.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile prank this year revolved a full-body wearable suit called the ONEsie (with direct reference to the company’s ONE plan). Designed by forward thinker, T-Mobile CEO John Legere, the fluffy onesie can help you monitor everything, while also acting like a mobile hotspot. The creation features two front pockets and a spacious sleeve pocket, so you can carry your smartphone around too.

OnePlus

People got really excited thinking that OnePlus would be making an announcement related to the Dash Charge rapid charging system found in the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T. As it turned out, the Chinese company just wanted to troll folks a little bit in order to celebrate April 1, so it launched a new energy drink called “Dash Energy”. Weirdly enough, the Dash Energy is actually a real product, that got distributed during a few special events in London and Bangalore.

Google

Google had more than one prank to share with its fans this year. Perhaps the most interesting one revolves around Google Gnome – a Google Home variation of sorts (complete with Google Assistant) meant to stay outside in the yard and help you with all things related to the outdoors like delivering weather reports and telling you which plans are edible and which aren’t. However, it seems like the Google Gnome has a very dark sense of humor, as it often reminds us of Hal, the “evil” AI onboard the spaceship in 2001: A space odyssey. You can check all Google’s 2017 pranks below:

Oh yeah, and this year Google allowed users to turn any map in Google Maps into a fun Pac-Mac game.

Honor

Huawei’s Honor sub-brand released a “disruptive” smartphone a few days ago – a gadget to help you get over your social awkwardness and boost your self-esteem. The phone features a “U-daBest Always-On Affirmation” sensor which can detect when a user needs a compliment and swiftly delivers one to maintain spirits high throughout the day. The Honor BFF is still on the company’s official website, so you can check it out in full.

Amazon

Amazon’s best known product is probably the Echo speaker, so for this April Fool’s Day the company is teasing Petlexa integration. Basically this would bestow animal comprehension abilities on Alexa. It would be pretty neat if Petlexa would actually be a thing, as you wouldn’t have to spend the whole day worried about why Fido looked so sad when you left for work this morning.

Duolingo

The language learning app has set up a new goal. Instead of teaching you French or Spanish, it wants to help you learn Emoji. That’s right. Having hard time understanding your teen’s texts? Just download Duolingo to understand their hidden meaning and become a master spy on your child.

Master & Dynamic

Premium headphone maker, Master & Dynamic trolled its fans by teasing the new pair of MH40 Wireless On-Ear headphones made out of…concrete.

Triwa

Swedish watch manufacturer pokes fun at Ikea and its April Fool’s day hoax, by introducing a do-it-yourself smartwatch.

Moto X (2017) shows up in first official-looking press render

Alexandra Arici
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0

Between 2013 and 2015, Motorola launched flagship phones under the Moto X branding. Then in 2016, the company made a transition to the Moto Z, leaving the Moto X behind. Well this year, it appears Motorola wants to revive the Moto X – but not as a premium device, but a middle-range one.

We previously told you that the Moto X (2017) will probably be marketed as Motorola’s first affordable dual-camera phone. And recent leak combo seems to support this theory. It also throws an official-looking press render of the upcoming Moto X into the mix.

As you can see for yourselves in the image, the phone appears to feature a selfie camera with LED flash and a home button reminiscent of the new Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus. The dual-cameras setup is visible on the back, as is the stylish golden hue.

According to a recent tweet by tipster, Roland Quandt, the Moto X (2017) is dubbed “Sanders” and will make a debut with a Snapdragon 625 processor onboard and 3GB or RAM + 32GB of internal storage or 4GB of RAM + 64GB of internal storage variants. As for the main camera, at this point we can tell you it will feature a 13MP sensor (info about the second one is unknown).

By the looks of it, the Moto X (2017) will be quite similar to the Moto G5 Plus which is offered in the US in 2GB/4GB of RAM + 32GB/64GB of internal storage. But those keen to have a dual-camera phone, will probably go for the Moto X (2017).

Verizon defends itself, says controversial AppFlash can easily be disabled

Alexandra Arici
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2

A few days ago, we told you of Verizon’s intention of sending out an update to its subscriber Android phones that will add a new app called AppFlash. The software, created in partnership with the company behind the popular Evie launcher, aims to help users find things more easily on the phone.

But there’s an ulterior motive why Verizon wants to put this app on its phones – the collection of personal data. The sensitive information could then end up being shared within Verizon’s family of companies including AOL, but also other non-Verizon websites and services.

A sneak peak at Verizon’s AppFlash

Reports of Verizon’s plans have stirred up controversy over the weekend, especially in the wake of the Congress’ vote against the rules proposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that would made it harder for internet companies to collect and sell personal data for advertising and remuneration purposes.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (a non-profit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world, that was founded in 1990) was the first to report Verizon’s intention to put a spyware app on its Android phones. But since the original article was published, Verizon talked to EFF and explained its position on the matter.

The carrier told the organization that AppFlash will initially work on a single phone, namely the LG K20 V. Verizon basically just wants to test the waters to see how subscribers respond to the app. What’s more Big Red claims it won’t push the app to those who don’t want it, as customers will have to opt in voluntarily if they want to take the app for a spin on their phones. Furthermore, Verizon claims the app can be easily disabled

In light of these clarifications, the EFF has withdrawn its allegations including calling AppFlash “the first horseman of the privacy of the apocalypse” and says it will be investigating the matter further. Hopefully, Verizon will keep it’s promise and won’t try to force the app on its subscribers.

FiGO Gravity X55L review

AndroidGuys
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0

Competition in the budget phone market has been really heating up over the last couple of years. With companies like BLU producing devices with quality hardware at affordable prices, There is little need for anyone to stretch themselves for that next flagship, anymore. The question remains, which budget phone is the best?

Enter FiGO, a mobile company I had never heard of, putting some serious pressure on the competition. According to its website, “Our goal is to provide a vast portfolio of advanced unlocked mobile phones at incredible pricing to thousands of dealer agents.” With this as the goal, it better bring some serious game to the table to compete with the other budget beaters. I am here to tell you that the Gravity X55L meets the goal set forth and sets itself high up on the “best budget phone” list. Let’s take a look.

“Our goal is to provide a vast portfolio of advanced unlocked mobile phones at incredible pricing to thousands of dealer agents.”

Getting Started

I must admit, I have never heard of FiGO before receiving this phone for review. It actually took me a minute of research on Google to find out that this wasn’t the first device it had released. I was shocked to see of the other budget devices produced by the company and was eager to jump into this review.

When I first received the device I actually had no idea how much it would sell for. Paying homage to that, we will make you wait to reveal the retail price. Upon opening the box, I was presented with the phone, front and center. As it lays in the box, all you can see is the screen, front facing camera, and speaker for phone calls; there are no physical buttons aside from the standard lock button and volume rocker. Continuing on with what’s in the box, we find the typical charger, cord, earbuds and manual but, we also find an additional, longer charging chord, and tempered glass screen protector (which I promptly installed because I am the WORST at scratching screens).

The Body

For a budget phone, the exterior of this device is absolutely amazing. The rear appears to be a solid piece of aluminum milled to cover both sides and house the camera, LED flash, fingerprint sensor, and buttons. On the back we find the 13MP rear camera, an LED flash just to the right of the camera, and the rear mounted fingerprint sensor sitting just below the camera.

The right side houses the power button and volume rocker. They protrude out just the right amount to let you feel for them in a pocket or purse, but not to much as to get snagged on anything. On the left side, the only thing we can see is the dual sim card slots (one of which can be used for SD memory expansion).

The bottom of the Gravity exposes a microUSB charging port as well as what looks like dual speakers (unfortunately, the one on the right is non-functional). Moving to the top, we see the 3.5mm audio jack for your headphones and an IR blaster. Seriously, just by looking around the outside of this phone I am getting at least one thing that I don’t have on my S7 (IR blaster in case you didn’t know).

Finally, the front of the device is where we see the first clue that this is a budget device. Unlike many of the flagships or premier phones today, we see no beveled edges on the screen. The glass does not feel as smooth as a premium device, almost sticking to my finger as I try to slide it across the screen. Thankfully, the glass screen protector that was provided is a little more user-friendly. Along with the glass, the amount of visible bezel on Gravity X55L is larger than we are used to seeing on premium devices. There is clearly visible black space between where the screen ends and the aluminum frame begins. Initially, I found this relatively annoying, but the longer I use the phone, the less I care about empty black space.

The Internals

AndroidGuys has been a big proponent of budget phones. But what makes a great budget phone is not simply a low price but what we can get for said price. In the case of the FiGO Gravity X55L we are talking about a phone under $200. Some of the technical highlights are:

  • 5.5″ IPS display (720p)
  • 1.3 GHz octa core processor
  • 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM
  • 13MP rear camera / 5MP front camera
  • 3000mAH battery
  • IR Blaster
  • FM Tuner
  • Fingerprint sensor
  • Android 6.0 (with a promise of an upgrade to Nougat post-release)

Now, some of these spec’s don’t really seem like much compared to many of the phones that are advertised regularly, however, if you compare apples to apples and realize that we are only paying 1/4 of the price of some flagships, things start to fall into perspective.

Impression

When I first fired up the Galaxy X55L, my initial thoughts were, “Wow, is this stock Android?”. Indeed, what I was experiencing was my first endeavor into stock android since I rooted my Galaxy S3. Now some of you may argue this point, but there is something refreshing about not having any third party apps thrown in your face and draining your battery.

One of the first things I do when setting up a new phone is get my work email set up (yes, I, unfortunately, have to go to work too). This requires that I set up a password (not a PIN but an actual password). Thankfully the X55L has me covered with the fingerprint sensor in the back. My experience with fingerprint sensors consists of the Galaxy S7 and the Huawei Mate 9 and in comparison, the FiGO device falls right in the middle. It has the convenience of the Mate 9’s location and style but lacks responsiveness like the Galaxy S7.

One place that budget phones tend to lose people is in the camera. I was actually impressed with the camera that FiGO went with here. We are looking at at 13MP camera in the rear and a 5MP camera in the front. That makes it a little better than the camera that what comes in my S7 (12MP). I know we are talking about a year later but wow. Don’t just take my word for it, check out the pictures that we took with the phone and let them speak to the quality.

FiGO Gravity X55L

Digging deeper into the phone we find the FM Tuner app. I know it is not a huge thing but sometimes I just want to listen to the Radio. Being able to plug in a set of earbuds and listen to my favorite FM stations right on my phone is just something that is a convenience to have, and is not an option on any premium devices I have used.

Look at those wide edges

Now, I have obviously covered some of my favorite things about this device but, I know what you are thinking, “For a phone under $200 there has to be some negatives, right?” Well, yes there are a few. The device is pretty large for only having a 5.5″ display. As I put it to one of the editors here when I turned the phone on “Holy Bezels Batman!”, referring to the extra black space I talked about earlier between the touch screen and the aluminum sides.

One of the problems you can’t see is that the screen is not as accurate to the touch as I would expect from a more expensive device. I have decided to relate this to the glass used, working under the theory that if your finger can’t slide well, detection is probably off also.

Conclusion

Before I begin my final thoughts, I think this is a great time to reveal to you that the retail price of this phone will be $159.99. No, that is not a typo, you can get all these features and a stock android experience for well under $200.

With that said, my final thought about this device is, wow. When I initially received the FiGO Gravity X55L I never thought I would have enjoyed using it this much. In fact, I am highly considering switching to using it as my daily driver instead of continuing with my Galaxy S7, at least for the time being. The Gravity is now available at Amazon. Pick one up if you are in need of that new budget phone.

5 things we don’t like about the Samsung Galaxy S8

Alexandra Arici
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4

So the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have arrived into the world and we’ve already shared our enthusiasm related to the two flagships in a previous article. But there’s no such thing as a perfect phone, is it? So in this piece we’ll be take a look at the things that aren’t so great so great about the Galaxy S8.

Awkward fingerprint sensor placement

The relocated fingerprint sensor is the first thing we want to bring to your attention. This year the Galaxy S8 ditched the physical home button, so we now find the authentication system placed in a spot extremely difficult to access compared to the Galaxy S7 which had the fingerprint sensor living in the home button.

Apparently Samsung itself acknowledges that yeah, the fingerprint is off-center and in a pretty awkward location, but oh, don’t forget to clean up your camera lens from time to time (apparently a reminder pops up after you set up your fingerprint sensor for the S8 and S8+).

No dual camera setup

At least the selfie camera is better, right?

While the industry trend this year seems to be dual cameras, Samsung is going against the grain. Actually improving photography features on the Galaxy S8 was not one of the company’s priorities in 2017. The main camera has remained unchanged, but Samsung did swap out the 5MP selfie shooter on the Galaxy S7 and replaced it with an 8MP one with autofocus on the Galaxy S8. Rumor has it that Samsung’s first dual camera will make a debut on the Galaxy Note8, which might arrive as late as Q4.

Battery, battery, battery

Oh the battery! Since the dawn of smartphones, customers have been dreaming of phones that could offer ever-lasting life cycles. It will not going to be the case with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The phone come with the same battery packs as the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge+ before them – of 3,000 mAh and 3,500 mAh variety.

Despite being powered by power-efficient 10nm chipsets; the new flagships are most likely to be able to support average battery life-spans. So you’ll have to consider yourself lucky, if you manage to get through the day without popping in for a recharge.

However not all is bleak. Samsung developed a new battery technology which will significantly diminish battery degradation over time. Apparently the new juice packs will be able to preserve up to 95% of original capacities after a year of typical use. The Galaxy S7 only managed to preserve 80% after a year.

Oh, so fragile

Hey, be careful with that

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 are extremely fragile phones, as they are built mostly out of glass. On top of that, the curved displays on the side are also prone to cracking if dropped. Since there’s no standard, no-curved Galaxy S8 this year, customers need to get accustomed of being extra careful when handling the new models.

The new duo also looks extremely slippery. So folks interested in purchasing the Galaxy S8 will most likely have to invest in an additional protective case. Bad luck if you hate having to carry this otherwise beautiful phone around with case.

Can we get rid of some of that bloatware?

Traditionally Samsung pre-installs a lot, but A LOT of its own proprietary apps on its flagships. Here’s a few examples that can be found on the Galaxy S7: Samsung web browser, Samsung Calendar, Samsung App Store, Samsung Memo App, S Health, S Voice, Samsung Smart Stay, Multi Window (available with Nougat update) and Performance Mode (available with Nougat update).

While we don’t know for sure whether the Galaxy S8 will ship with all these apps onboard, we tend to believe it will. Which is a real shame, because they some of them are downright useless. Customers appreciate a clean phone, Samsung. When will you learn?

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