Nothing's Ear 2 are now here, showing that sometimes all you need is a solid pair of earphones.
Nothing has been making some waves since its inception in 2020, following the advent of both a set of earphones and a smartphone. The Nothing Ear 1 were well received at launch, and the Nothing Phone 1 was a good phone with even better marketing. Now, the Nothing Ear 2 are here, and they double down on a lot of what worked with the original Ear 1 while bringing in some key improvements that make them a much better product overall.
One bad part outweighs the good for the Lenovo Tab M10 Plus 3rd Gen. But the price could be its tipping point.
There are a lot of Android tablets on the market, but some of the brands that stand out are Samsung and Amazon. They make some of the best Android tablets out right now, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a competent competitor. That's where Lenovo comes in. Its tablets are available in popular price points and sizes, but can it compete?
We could get our first look at watchOS 10 as soon as WWDC23. In the meantime, we've detailed 10 features we want to see in this upcoming release.
Software updates breathe new life into our devices without necessarily needing to upgrade their hardware. After all, we spend more time interacting with the user interface's software elements than pushing physical buttons. So if you've bought a new Apple Watch or iPhone, your device will remain fresh for years to come. This means you get to take advantage of the latest features and changes introduced in the major annual updates without investing in a more recent model.
Will Nothing be a flash in the pan, or will the Nothing Phone 2 solidify it as a genuine contender?
It's hard to believe, but close to 10 years ago, OnePlus started its journey, coming out of nowhere as a "scrappy start-up" that eventually evolved into an international household name. Through it all, Carl Pei was the predominant face of the company, presenting at launch events, engaging with media, and interacting with fans. At some point, or maybe even from the start, Pei was able to create something unique with OnePlus, building a brand that people genuinely connected with.
With four cameras, including a pair of zoom lenses, Vivo's X90 Pro+ is the only phone to truly match the S23 Ultra lens for lens
Samsung's Galaxy S Ultra phone has been the alpha dog of the Android phone scene for the past four years, and the latest Galaxy S23 Ultra continues the trend. But within the niche Android enthusiast community — a group that is open to importing phones and actually enjoys reading and discussing phones in XDA forums or Reddit — Vivo has been garnering interest. Most people haven't heard of Vivo, but its X flagship phones have a superb camera system backed by Zeiss optics.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is a more refined Galaxy S22 Ultra, and while it might have features you don't need, it's one of the best.
Samsung is back with a brand-new batch of flagship smartphones in the Galaxy S23 series, with the Galaxy S23 Ultra leading the pack. This is the first non-folding Samsung phone I’ve used since the Galaxy S10, but ever since the first Galaxy Ultra phone came out with its crazy Space Zoom camera feature, I’ve been itching to try one out for myself. The wait has been totally worth it.
Samsung's Bixby text call feature can answer calls and respond to people for you. I tried it on my Galaxy S23 and here's how it went.
It's been nearly six years since Samsung introduced us to Bixby — the latest in the long line of Samsung voice assistants. The company's software has evolved a lot over these six years to become one of the main reasons why we love Samsung phones today. Bixby, on the other hand, is yet to reach its final form. I can't say I am a huge fan of Bixby, but I launch it occasionally to see if it has learned some new tricks to catch up with other digital assistants. I stumbled upon the Bixby call text feature this time while setting up and exploring all the settings on my Galaxy S23.
The Honor Magic 5 Pro has been unveiled to the world. While it's not yet available, we can see that there is a lot of potential here
Honor was known for making midrange phones for years while it was still a part of Huawei. With its separation from Huawei to become a standalone brand in 2021, Honor is pushing further into the flagship space to battle for the best smartphone title — and the newly announced Magic 5 Pro is here for the next step.
The two most high-profile Android releases of 2023 so far duke it out in a camera shootout.
What's more important in digital imaging, sensor size or megapixel count? Now's as good a time as any to find out because the two most high-profile Android releases of 2023 so far also happen to bring new camera systems headlined by main cameras that have taken those opposite paths. Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra packs a new 200MP main camera, while Xiaomi's 13 Pro uses a 1-inch type sensor. Xiaomi's sensor is significantly larger than the S23 Ultra's 1/1.3-inch sensor, but Samsung's camera can produce shots with four times as many pixels as Xiaomi's.
The OnePlus 11 is a great return to form for the company, but here's how it can continue that trend with the OnePlus 12.
The recently-launched OnePlus 11 might not be the best Android phone currently on the market, but it's definitely among the best phones the company has released in years. It marks a significant shift in OnePlus' product strategy and harkens back to the company's early days by offering flagship hardware at a relatively affordable price point. As noted in our OnePlus 11 review, it's a polished "almost flagship" that provides a good value proposition, but it falls short in a few key areas.
It's never too early for a wishlist, so let's see how Samsung can improve its Galaxy S series flagships.
Samsung's Galaxy S23 series has already made quite the splash in 2023, earning top spots in our collection of the best Android phones of the year. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is easily the best phone in the series, but the regular Galaxy S23 and the Galaxy S23+ have a lot going for them too. The new Galaxy S23 devices turned out better than I thought, but Samsung could have done so much more to blow us away with the Galaxy S23. They ended up playing it a bit safe, leaving plenty of room for improvement once again. This, however, has me excited and hopeful about the Galaxy S24 series, assuming that's what the lineup is called next year.
Once upon a time, Apple charged users for major iOS and macOS software updates. But maybe the company should revive the fee.
If you're an OG iPhone or Mac user, then you might remember paid software updates. Over a decade ago, long before iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, major Apple OS updates used to cost users around $10 for iOS and $20 for macOS. By iOS 4, though, Apple switched to free software updates, allowing users to update their devices for as long as they're supported without having to pay a fee.
The Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 has officially hit the consumer market with the Razer Edge. But what exactly is this mobile gaming chipset?
When Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in 2021 with its 30% GPU improvement and other energy efficiency gains, the company had another interesting announcement the following day. It revealed the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 gaming platform, with a large focus on, you guessed it, gaming. At the time, Qualcomm also rolled out a development kit created by Razer, and since then, the Razer Edge with the G3x Gen 1 has been released for portable mobile gaming.
Samsung's Galaxy S23 has been treating me well, but I'd be lying if I said I don't miss using these Pixel-exclusive features on my Pixel 7.
The last few Pixel phones have been a major step up from almost everything we've seen from Google in the past. The Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro, in particular, are pretty darn good inside and out. Not only do they pack powerful internals that can compete with the best phones on the market, but they also deliver a solid Android experience.
This is one of the weirdest, coolest products I've ever reviewed.
Huawei has been pivoting into the weird, wonderful world of accessories in recent months, with excellent products popping up left and right. The Huawei Freebuds Pro 2 are some of the best wireless earphones you can get at the moment and the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro is a fantastic smartwatch, but what if you could combine the two? That's the idea behind the Huawei Watch Buds, and it's a combination that works really, really well.
When compared to some of its rivals, Apple Music is lacking in some areas. There are some basic features that shouldn't still be missing in 2023.
We've reached a point where many of us depend on music streaming services instead of buying albums individually. While there are still fans out there who prefer owning physical or digital copies of their favorite releases, casual listeners tend to prioritize streaming. After all, for one reasonable monthly fee, they get to access millions of tracks directly from the cloud. Certainly, there are downsides to that, but the pros outweigh the cons for a wide majority of listeners.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and MediaTek Dimensity 9200 are the best smartphone chipsets to date, but only one is victorious.
For years when it came to flagships, Qualcomm was the undisputed number one when it came to flagship chipsets. At times the company would trade blows with Samsung's Exynos chips, but in recent years Samsung's chipset prowess has come to a halt. The Samsung Galaxy S23 series now carries the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and the Exynos 2200 in the S22 series was a complete mess. However, MediaTek has now taken up the mantle as the primary Qualcomm competitor, and the chipset battle is heating up.
Honor unveiled the new Magic 5 Pro flagship at MWC, and we've got one in hand. What do you get with the new phone? Let's unbox it and find out.
MWC 2023 was a big one for Honor. It had quite a few announcements, some of which we already knew about in some form, like the Magic VS. But the star of Honor's event was the new Magic 5 Pro. This flagship phone introduces many new hardware and software features, from the highly-anticipated Star Wheel Triple Camera system with a new Millisecond Falcon Capture algorithm and AI Motion Sensing Capture to the Quad-Curved Floating Screen. Honor is going all out with the Magic 5 Pro to offer an impressive user experience.
The regular Galaxy S23 may not look like a significant improvement over its predecessor, but it's actually a worthwhile upgrade.
It's hard to get excited about yearly smartphone upgrades these days since most don't offer a substantial reason to splurge. But the Galaxy S23 is an exception — a worthwhile upgrade over its predecessor, even if the spec sheet tells you otherwise. I used the regular Galaxy S22 for the better part of 2022, and the Galaxy S23 checks all the right boxes for an upgrade. From the 6.1-inch AMOLED screen and the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip to the improved battery life and camera experience, there is a lot to like about the Galaxy S23 that makes it convincingly better than the last year's model.
MediaTek has a bright future ahead of it, following a few rocky years of fumbling.
MediaTek has had a fairly rocky reputation in the world of Android chipsets. The company was known for its lower-end and mid-range offerings for years, and its "flagship offering" Helio X series wasn't really seen as up to par. That led the company away from flagships for quite a long time, though two years ago had a surprising return to the premium segment with the Dimensity 9000. MediaTek went from being a smaller chipset maker with decent budget and mid-range offerings to the biggest chipset maker in the world by market share, and with its own actually flagship-quality chipset, too.
