Home Blog Page 947

Ubiquiti’s new AmpliFi mesh point aims to expand your wireless footprint (Review)

AndroidGuys
-
2

I think it is safe to say that everyone has experienced issues with their home wifi at some point. I think a good number of you feel me when I say there is that one spot in your house that just pisses you off because you can’t get a good connection. Often this is because of ventilation pipes in the wall, brick fireplace chimneys, or simply distance from your wireless router.

Often times, the wireless router finds itself in the office, which inevitably on an exterior wall. The optimal place to put your router would be directly in the middle of your house based on how the wireless signal is distributed. Unfortunately for most of us, it’s just not possible to make that happen. Enter Ubiquiti Labs new mesh networking hardware. This neat little gadget extends your network past what any single router can reach by adding another access point for your wireless devices to connect to.

Setup

Ubiquiti does make a router that is designed to work with these mesh points, but for the purposes of this review, we used this with a third party router (Netgear R6400) for this review.

Setup is very straightforward. The AmpliFi system is all set up with a mobile app called, you can probably guess, AmpliFi. Once you plug the mesh point into a wall socket and give it about 60 seconds to boot up properly, launch the app. If it is not already enabled, you will be prompted to turn on your Bluetooth and location services. Once all necessary services are enabled you will be shown a nice list of devices (if you have multiple points) for you to configure. Follow the prompts to find a network to connect to and type in your password.

Design

The mesh point consists of two parts: the power supply and the antenna. The power supply has a grounded plug and a dish-like connector on the top. The dish is what actually transmits the power to the antenna. The antenna is a long slender piece of molded plastic-like material that houses all the electronics. on the front of the antenna are 5 LED’s that are used to reflect the connection status of your mesh point. The device, overall, is well designed and would blend in with most home designs, however, I do wish that it was just a hair smaller.

How it Works

After the initial setup is complete, you want to find the right place in your house to plug in the mesh point. I live out in the country and I figured this would be a good way to try this out. I plugged it into one of the buildings that is roughly 150 feet from my house, which, according to the readout on the app, provides the mesh point with a 36% connection to my router (keep in mind I am using the 2.4 GHz band which does allow for longer range than 5GHz). With the placement I decided to use, I was able to get about 350 feet away from my router and still have a connection to my network.

Performance is great, for the most part. I did not notice any drop in network performance when connecting to the mesh point or any connectivity issues while using it either. It is a nice feeling to connect to a separate device but not need to manage a separate wireless network.  My only complaint is in the handoff from one access point to the other. I did do a few tests of network connectivity during this handoff and I have to say that performance was less than optimal. I never had a successful handoff where any download I was doing was able to complete after connecting. My hope is that this would be corrected if we were using the AmpliFi router, but that will need to be a test for another day.

Remote Access

Yes, you read that correctly. The mobile app was recently upgraded to allow access to your AmpliFi devices from outside the network. As you can tell from the screenshot, I am not connected to any Wifi network and I am able to see live throughput of the access point. While you are connected to the network you gain the ability to run connection tests back to the ISP.

The app also affords you the ability to connect with the live support team at your fingertips. Simply tap the menu button in the upper left corner, and select the Live Support button. A chat session will launch and you are instantly connected with a support person in a live chat window. Can’t beat that service!

Conclusion

The AmpliFi line, by Ubiquiti, is something that I was very excited to review. That being said, my overall experience was meh. The app is great, the design is sleek, and the components are quality, but, if you are using it in the same manner as we did here, I think there are more affordable options to extend your wireless network.

I hope to get the opportunity to review the router/mesh point combo to see if it is what I expect a name like Ubiquiti to put out.

The Gear S3 Classic will now be LTE-enabled, and Samsung teases concept smartwatches

AG Deals Team
-
0

Baselworld 2017 is currently taking place, which is the equivalent of Mobile World Congress for watch and jewelry makers. We’ve seen plenty of new announcements from the likes of Casio and Fossil Group, but Samsung decided to make an impression on everyone.

The first bit of news is regarding the Gear S3 Classic which was launched late last year alongside the Gear S3 Frontier. Unlike the Frontier, the S3 Classic did not have an option for LTE connectivity, but Samsung has announced that would be changing.

The company will begin offering the LTE-connected Gear S3 Classic, and it will be compatible with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks. Unfortunately, there was no pricing or availability mentioned, but Samsung claimed that would be provided at a later time.

The second bit of information revealed by Samsung wasn’t necessarily “news”, but instead was a look at some concepts. The company showed off all different types of concepts, ranging from an even more premium version of the Gear S3, all the way to a smart pocket watch.

It seems like we won’t get our hands on these concepts anytime soon, but I for one, would like to see that change. I mean, I know it’s 2017, but how could would it be to have a “smart pocket watch”? I know I would get one ASAP.

Regardless, let us know in the comments whether you’ll be snagging the new LTE-connected Gear S3 Classic, and which carrier you’ll be going through.

Want to win a Samsung Galaxy S8? Enter our giveaway here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Facebook Messenger gains Reactions and Mentions

Scott Webster
-
0

Facebook today introduced a couple of new features for its Messenger client on Android and iOS. Hitting both platforms in the coming days are Reactions and Replies.

Messenger is a great way to communicate with just one person or with a group of people. Today, we’re introducing two new features that improve group conversations to make them more fun and useful.

Reactions gives users the ability to react in one-on-one conversations or in group chats. Similar to what you can do in the news feed in Facebook, long pressing on a message brings up smile, love, sad, angry, wow, yes, and no emojis. Participants in the conversation will be notified if and when a reaction is added to their message.

Replies provides the option to mention specific people in a group chat by using the ever-familiar ‘@’ symbol. Using the symbol and picking the participant calls them out and also notifies them.

Look for the updated version of Facebook Messenger to reach your device in the days ahead.

The LG K20 V and Samsung J7 V are coming to Verizon to provide low-cost options

Matt Adams
-
0

Starting this morning, Verizon prepaid and post-paid customers can now pick up two new phones from LG and Samsung. While these phones aren’t the flagships stealing headlines the last few months, they do provide some nice low-cost options for customers that aren’t looking to spend an entire paycheck on a new phone.

Samsung Galaxy J7 V

 

The first of the two devices, the Samsung Galaxy J7 (prepaid) and J7 V (post-paid), is headlined by a large 5.5″ HD (1280 x 720) display. It also has a 3300mAh battery, 16GB of storage (expandable via microSD), 2GB of RAM, and Android Nougat 7.0.1. Right now, Verizon is offering the device at a full price of $240 or you can make $10 monthly payments for 24 months. You can pick up the Samsung Galaxy J7 here from Verizon Wireless.

 

LG K20 V

The latter device, the LG K20 V, has a 5.3″ HD display, with rear buttons- including a fingerprint reader, a 2800mAh battery, 16GB of storage (expandable with microSD), 2GB of RAM, and a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 415 processor. Around back you’ll find not only those rear-mounted buttons but a 13MP camera. Up front, you’ll be greeted by a 5MP front-facing camera.

 

You can pick up the LG K20 V for a full retail price of $168 or pay $7 a month for 24 months. Alternatively, if you activate a new line, you can pick up the K20 V for only $99.99. If you purchase a K20 V today, you’ll receive a $25 Google Play gift card credit or a 32GB microSD card. You can pick up the LG K20 V here from Verizon Wireless.

Want to win a Samsung Galaxy S8? Enter our giveaway here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Color Switch: If this doesn’t entertain you, then nothing will (Review)

Gerson Noboa
-
0

Most of the time, Google Play Store games are not renowned for bringing a lot of content to the table. Sure, there are many games like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga that can keep you playing for ages, but normally games are pretty small and, while providing lots of fun, are lacking in replay value. That’s not the case with Color Switch, developed by Fortafy Games. How does 36 different game modes sound? Good? Great! Let’s explore what Color Switch has in store for us.

Developer: Fortafy Games
Price: Free

Setup

A quick tutorial for a simple gameplay mechanic.

Color Switch will kindly ask you to connect it to Google Play Games. This will in turn enable 20 achievements for your enjoyment, as well as provide leaderboards. When starting a game for the first time, it will show you a small tutorial indicating how to play the game. Controls for Color Switch are extremely simple: you control a ball and need to move it across different obstacles.

These obstacles move, however, so it is trickier than it sounds. Also, your orb has a color, and it is your mission to pass it through the obstacles when the ball is facing an edge with the same color. If you try to pass your orb through another color, then it’s game over.

Overview

As previously said, the main game mode has you going through different obstacles trying to beat your previous high score. The beauty of it is that obstacles change all the time. First you will encounter rotating circles. Then you will find triangles, crosses, lines, and a plethora of different stuff aimed at interrupting your progress.

Each time you clear an obstacle, the color of your orb will change (or switch, if you go by the name), making matters more interesting. This also ramps up the difficulty and means that no two games are ever the same.

Obstacles vary from session to session, so the game never gets repetitive.

If you think that this is all there is to Color Switch, then you are terribly mistaken. There’s a total of 36 different modes. You read that right: 36 modes than vary from each other. Some are themed around a specific event, such as Christmas and Valentine’s day. In others you play a variation of the core gameplay. Either way, they all have different levels you can unlock, providing unparallaled replay value and possibly hours of fun.

There’s also something called Daily Challenge, which lets you perform a quick activity that will earn you a decent amount of stars. These can be used to buy new orbs to control. They don’t change the handling or physics of your token, they just give it a new form. Nevertheless, it’s a nice addition.

General Impressions

A huge amount of game modes are at your disposal.

I know that the next phrase is going to sound cliché. This game is very easy to pickup but very hard to master, and I mean really hard. Like trying to race a Formula 1 with a bicycle hard. Like programming in assembler hard. Like trying to not disappoint your mom hard.

I don’t know if I’ve gotten more incompetent at gaming or something, but I had such a hard time playing the main game mode. I just never got the hang of it. I’m not trying to blame the game, but I just felt incompetent.

Other than that, the multiple game modes are a nice addition, and most of them are fun. Some of them are rather boring, although the constant difficulty increase make up for it. There is so much to do in this game: so many game modes, levels to unlock, and skills to hone. This huge amount of content is something that is very rarely seen on mobile games, so kudos to Fortafy Games for that.

However, I did encounter some problems with stability. Although the game performed flawlessly in the Performance department, I did suffer at least four crashes while testing it.

Graphics

As you might expect from a game called Color Switch, this game is full of colorful items, combined with nice, fluid animations. There’s an animation almost everywhere you see, even when you die. The Game Modes screen is particularly interesting, with each different game mode listed performing its own animation.

Feeling romantic? There is still a Valentine’s Day mode.

In-game, graphics are pretty simple but there’s no need to make them more complicated than that. All of the obstacles move in a fluid way, and the four colors normally used are very distinct from each other, so that there’s absolutely no way of you mixing one for another.

Sound

There are very few sound effects throughout the game (and if there are more, probably I wasn’t worthy of hearing them). Instead, a background song accompanies you throughout the game. Everywhere you go, you will hear this electronic-inspired song. It is pretty good but you may get bored of it as the time progresses.

Ads and In-App Purchases

Hope you do better than me.

A word of warning: while this game is pretty enjoyable, there’s A LOT of ads. There’s a banner ad at the bottom, full-screen static ads, and I even got a video ad once.

The full screen ads appear after several sessions, while the banner ad is there with you at absolutely all moments.

Thankfully, there’s a $2.99 in-app purchase to remove them. There’s also a $7.99 combo that removes the ads, unlocks all levels throughout the game modes, and gives you double stars.

If you buy these items separately, you will spend $10, so think thoroughly before buying stuff and you could save a few bucks.

Conclusion

Color Switch brings almost unparalleled replay value and enticing gameplay with cheerful, vibrant graphics. Even though the difficulty is pretty unforgiving, the abundance of game modes means that you’ll be entertained with this game for ages. The ads problem can be resolved with a simple in-app purchase, leaving very few stuff to complain about. If you’re looking for an easy-to-play game but are not satisfied with the lack of content that Play Store games normally provide, then your search has finally reached its conclusion.

Download and install Color Switch from the Google Play Store.

This could be a joke, but it’s not! Fossil intros 300 new smartwatches

Alexandra Arici
-
0

Google unveiled Android Wear 2.0 last month and ever since we’ve seen a new Android Wear 2.0 smartwatch make a debut on the market almost every week.

For example, we just told you about Casio’s limited edition Pro Trek Smart WSD-F20S. Well today Fossil took us by surprise by unveiling a huge portfolio made up of 300 new smartwatches. Yes, you’ve read that right – 300 new models from Fossil Group’s sub brands which includes Fossil, Michael Kors, Emporio Armani or Misfit.

There are two categories of smartwatches that will be released throughout 2017. The first one is your usual touchscreen, Android Wear 2.0-powered smartwatch, while the second one is made up of hybrid smartwatches – basically analog watches with smart features onboard.

All the Android Wear models will come packing the same Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, as well as “one-of-a-kind” AMOLED screens. Only five Fossil sub brands will launch Android Wear 2.0 wearables in 2017. Here’s the complete list:

  • Diesel On – first Diesel smartwatch will become available in five outsized styles, expect it to arrive during the holiday season
  • Emporio Armani Connected smartwatch – the Connected collection will add its first smartwatch product, expect it at the beginning of September 2017
  • Fossil Q Venture and Q Explorist – slim, feature packed smartwatches poised to launch in Fall 2017
  • Micheal Kors Access Sofie and Michael Kors Access Grayson – coming in Fall 2017
  • Misfit Vapor – with heart rate monitoring, GPS and standalone music functionality, to become available in late summer 2017.

The larger category consists of hybrid smartwatches – connected watches that can deliver discreet notifications and activity tracking features. On top of that, some of these watches will come equipped with customizable side-button pushers that can be assigned to perform specific tasks such as “take a selfie” or “track a goal”.

You can expect hybrid smartwatch from these companies:

  • DKNY
  • Marc Jacobs
  • MICHELE
  • Relic
  • Tory Burch
  • Armani Exchange
  • Chaps
  • Diesel
  • Emporio Armani
  • Fossil
  • Kate Spade New York
  • Misfit
  • Michael Kors
  • Skagen

As you can see, the smartwatch category doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon, despite customers still being quite reluctant to purchase smartwatches.

Purported Samsung Galaxy Note 8 specs and schematics leak

Alexandra Arici
-
1

Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S8 in a few days and the Android world will be hyped for a few days and maybe weeks, but then the focus will slowly start shifting towards Samsung’s next-gen flagship – the Galaxy Note 8.

After the Galaxy Note7 fiasco last year, the Galaxy Note 8 will have to be a mind-blowing device in order to fight the stigma that’s now hovering over the Galaxy Note family. But Samsung believes it can do it. In the word’s of the company’s own DJ Koh: “I will bring back a better, safer and very innovative Note 8,” uttered way back in January.”

Well today we’ll be talking about the Galaxy Note 8 a bit, instead of the same “old” Galaxy S8. It seems that a preliminary sketch of the Galaxy S8 alongside some specs have leaked out of China today. According to the info, the Galaxy Note 8 should make a debut with either a Snapdragon 835 onboard or an Exynos 9-series processor.
The ill-fated Samsung Galaxy Note7

Given that Samsung usually launches a new Galaxy Note phablet during the IFA tradeshow in Berlin, we can speculate the Note 8 is bound to make an appearance in September. So the Snapdragon 835 reference makes sense, especially since the chipset should be more widely available by then.

As for the second variant, it will probably take advantage of that Exynos 9810 processor that popped up on one of Samsung’s testing engineers LinkedIn profile. The latest Exynos unveiled by Samsung is the 8895 and that SoC will power the one of the Galaxy S8 variants. It seems the Note 8 will be getting a newer, faster Exynos.

The leak also reveals the phone might make it out with a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with 4K resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels). If the info turns out to be correct, the Note 8 might be the largest phone from Samsung’s 2017 flagship lineup. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have evolved into phablet territory, as we expected them to arrive with 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch displays. So the Note 8 might be just a tad larger than the Galaxy S8+.

Judging by the schematic, the phone will come with minimal side bezels and no physical home button just like the Galaxy S8. The sides are also visible and we can spot a S Pen slot, USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio jack, SIM/microSD card slot at the top and a Bixby button on the left underneath the volume buttons.

There are also some visible perforations on the lower bezels and on the top and bottom. We could only assume they are speakers or part of an elaborate audio system. Maybe.

The tipster also claims the flagship will come equipped with 6GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.

That’s all we can tell you for the time being, but with the Galaxy S8 soon behind us we’ll probably be getting more and more Galaxy Note 8 rumors and leaks from now on.

Want to win a Samsung Galaxy S8? Enter our giveaway here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pre-ordering a Galaxy S8 from Target will get you a free Gear VR + $100 gift card

Alexandra Arici
-
0

After months of rumors, the Samsung Galaxy S8 will finally go official in a few days. On March 29, the whole world is going to be turn its attention towards Samsung, as the company will be taking the stage in New York to unveil its latest premium phone.

And it seems that just a few days after the announcement, customers will be able to pre-order the Galaxy S8 from Target. The retailer’s circular newspaper ad for the period between April 2 and April 8 leaked online, showing us the Galaxy S8 will become available for pre-order during this time.

And the good news is that Target wants to make the deal even sweeter for customers by throwing in a few goodies. Prices for the phones aren’t disclosed in the ad, but those who pre-order and activate a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ from Target will also get a Samsung Gear VR headset (valued at $129.99) and a $100 Target gift card.

To get the freebies, note the phones need to be ordered via Verizon’s device payment, AT&T Next or Sprint’s 24-month Installment plan.

For those planning to skip the Galaxy S8, Target has a promo centering the soon to be previous-gen Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. Customers who purchase one of the phones through Verizon’s device payment, AT&T Next or Sprint’s 24-month Installment plan will be awarded a $150 Target gift card.

A recent report revealed that Galaxy S8 pre-orders might arrive earlier than in-store units. According to sources familiar with the matter, pre-orders might start going out as soon as April 18, while store units should become available starting April 28.

Also we should remind you we’re giving a Galaxy S8 for free. Check out the details right here.

Casio enters the Android Wear 2.0 game with a limited edition rugged smartwatch

Alexandra Arici
-
0

Android Wear 2.0 was launched last month and it already made it on plenty of new models. Just in recent days we told you about the Guess Connect and Montblanc Sumit and now Casio has announced it is joining the Android Wear 2.0 family.

Remember the Casio WSD-F20 which was unveiled at CES 2017? Well during Baselworld this week, the watch company unveiled a more rugged and luxurious version of the said model. The new arrival is called Casio Pro Trek WSD-F20S and is a limited edition model. To be more precise, only 500 models will ever be made.

The Casio WSD-F20 model

The new smartwatch features a 1.32-inch TFT LCD display with 320 x 320 resolution. The display is said to have the ability of switching to monochrome mode when battery life needs to be saved. Casio also offers a built-in GPS with this model, Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth 4.1. The watch is water resistant down to 5m.

The biggest difference from the standard model which got unveiled at CES 2017, is the resilient sapphire crystal and ion plating on the buttons, screws and buckle hardware. The limited edition will be offered in black and blue with a special case to top it all.

With Android Wear 2.0 onboard, users will be able to use standalone apps on their wrist as well as the advanced fitness options. And maybe Casio’s own slew of apps (like ViewRanger or MyRadar) will be available on the watch too.

The battery inside should last users more than one day in normal use mode. It takes about 2 hours to fully charge it back. For the time being, we don’t know how much the smartwatch will end up costing – but we doubt it’s going to be wallet-friendly, since it’s a limited edition watch and all.

Check out the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus in a sleek Blue Sapphire color [Update]

Alexandra Arici
-
0

Motorola unveiled its next-gen family of budget friendly devices at MWC 2017. The Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus impressed the Android crowd with their sleek designs and nifty specs.

While Motorola officially announced the phones will be sold in Lunar Grey and Fine Gold, today a new version of the Moto G5 surfaced in a bunch of leaked press renders.

It’s called Blue Sapphire and it looks quite stunning. Actually this version was spotted on the grounds at MWC 2017, but now we get confirmation the Blue Sapphire Moto G5 will start selling soon in select markets like the Russia and the UK.

There’s no word whether a Blue Sapphire version of the Moto G5 Plus will also be made available. The Moto G5 Plus is the only version the US market is getting, so it would certainly be nice to also have this option.

In case you don’t remember, the Moto G5 comes rocking a 5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 resolution. There’s a Snapdragon 430 under the hood and 2GB of RAM plus 16GB of internal storage (microSD card slot available to expand memory up to 128GB).

The phone features a 13MP main camera with phase detection autofocus plus a 5MP selfie snapper. The device relies on a 2,800 mAh battery and runs Android 7.0 Nougat out the box. Like the new Nokia phones, the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus will enjoy the services of the Google Assistant.

[Update]: Good news, everyone! It seems the Moto G5 Plus is also getting the Sapphire Blue color option:

1...946947948...1,316Page 947 of 1,316