Sunday, November 26, 2017

Motorola Moto X4 in for review

Motorola Moto X4 in for review


The X series used to be Motorola's flagship line but they had to step down wen the Z series came to be in . The last Moto X, the , came and went in 2015, so we were really excited when we heard that Motorola was bringing the X line back in 2017. The subsequent has no flagship chipset nor flagship screen. But if you look past what the Moto X4 isn't, you'll see just how great it is. The first thing you notice when you take the Moto X4 out of its retail box is just how beautiful it is. Its shiny glass reflects the light in different ways depending on angle so you're never sure if the phone is grey or blue. The metal frame is reassuringly solid and lightly brushed. The buttons are very sturdy and ciomfortable. The screen on the front doesn't have the trendy 18:9 aspect, but it's a great 1080p IPS LCD. It's not too big, nor too small at 5.2-inches and it makes room for an LED flash above and a snappy fingerprint reader below. The phone also has IP68 certification for water and dust resistance, to give you piece of mind. The back is where the upside-down emoticon is at least that's what the camera modules and LED flash look like. It's a dual camera made up of a 12MP f/2.0 normal camera (with large 1.4m pixels) and a wide-angle 8MP shooter, a setup similar to the one on recent LG flagships. Inside the Moto X4 has a Snapdragon 630 with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM a combination that ensures smooth performance and enables 4K video recording. Here are a few samples taken with the regular and wide cameras. Our full review will delve deep into the quality of the snaps. The Motorola Moto X4 costs around 350 at the time of writing. Considering the package you're getting we'd say that's a good price. But before we can confirm that the Moto X4 is worthy of your cash we'll need to complete our detailed review. There are a few questions that need addressing, like the battery endurance from the 3,000Mah power pack. Stay tuned for that the review should pop on our homepage next week.


Saturday, November 25, 2017

Counterclockwise: the fingerprint reader goes back, front, back and side to side

Counterclockwise: the fingerprint reader goes back, front, back and side to side


The was the from 2004. It had a reader at the center of its D-Pad, one of those early implementations that required you to swipe your finger across them. This was a flip phone so the distinction between front and back is a bit iffy, but were calling this one front-mounted (based on when the phone is flipped open). A few fingerprint readers appeared here and there over the years, but they were extremely rare never exceeding 4 phones per year. It wasnt until 2013 that biometric security became important in the publics consciousness. It was Apples doing, of course, the company is rarely the first but is always great at pushing new usage patterns. The was one of two phones to have a fingerprint reader that year (front-mounted), the other was the (rear mounted). The very next year, 2014, there were 33 phones brandishing a reader and the overwhelming majority of them had it on the front (29 vs. 4). But by 2016 the balance had shifted to rear-mounted readers. The showed that you can have both great screen-to-body ratio and a front-mounted reader, but we think the ergonomics dont quite work out. If the bezel-less trend persists, most readers will migrate to the back. Then there are the side-mounted readers. Pushed mostly by Sony but not exclusively ZTE, Huawei and Nexbit (now owned by Razer) had side-mounted readers in 2015, the same year that Sony launched the and co. Still, these are a relative rarity. Theres a good reason for that just as the pursuit of slim bezels pushed the fingerprint reader away from the front, its pushing it off the sides too. A side-mounted reader increases the thickness of the side bezels and in turn the phone itself, damaging usability as excessive width is detrimental to handling. Apple is trying to set a new trend now no fingerprint reader at all! The uses facial 3D scanning instead. That necessitated a notch at the top of the screen, though, and its not necessarily a good look (opinions certainly differ). For completeness sake, heres the fingerprint reader position chart from 2004 to 2014. We split it since the post-2013 boom skewed the combined chart and made it hard to read.


Friday, November 24, 2017

Google Home Mini deal will last through end of the year

Google Home Mini deal will last through end of the year


One of the most popular products this holiday season without a doubt will be the Google Home Mini. It offers full Google Assistant functionality without braking the bank at its low $50 price point. This Black Friday week, a number of retailers offered a discount of $20 plus a $10 gift card. Walmart also has a deal that offers those who buy a Home Mini a $25 coupon towards a Google Express Walmart Order, effectively bringing the cost down to $5. If you missed out on the giftcard bundles, dont fret. According to , youll still be able to grab a Google Home Mini for the same discounted price of $29 as per a promotional email that customers have been receiving from Google. Although it doesnt say it on the Google Store page, the emails fine print states the following. So even if the other retailers that sell the Home Mini like Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and B stop offering the discount, the Google Store should freeze the price until 2018 arrives. Google is definitely keen to get a large amount of Google home Mini units off the shelves before the end of the year. | Google Home Mini @


OnePlus 5 to bring Face Unlock with Oreo update

OnePlus 5 to bring Face Unlock with Oreo update


for OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T in the beginning of the week. Apparently is next in line for the new OS. Along with the already expected picture-in-picture and notification dots, arriving at all devices with Oreo OnePlus 5 will also gain Face Unlock. Face Unlock is a familiar feature to OP owners. The latest with Nougat 7.1.1 has it and it works seamlessly, as we already established, so it's great to hear that it's coming to the older model. |


Apple iPhone X now on sale in 14 new countries

Apple iPhone X now on sale in 14 new countries


the is now available for purchase in 14 more countries. Yesterday it started selling in Israel and as of today another 13 markets join the list Albania, Bosnia, Cambodia, Kosovo, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Montenegro, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Turkey. Lately, Apple ramped up production and the delivery estimates have improved in most of its original markets.


Gionee M7 to get new color variants at November 26 event

Gionee M7 to get new color variants at November 26 event


Chinese maker Gionee a bunch of new smartphones during its November 26 event, it has now been revealed that the will also have a presence there. A new teaser shared by the company reveals two new color variants for the device will debut Maple Leaf Red and Amber Gold. It's worth mentioning that the phone already comes in a Maple Red option, so we're not sure how the new Maple Leaf Red model will be different from it. Or it could also be that both colors are same, just that the model hasn't been available so far. Amber Gold, on the other hand, is entirely new. No information on pricing and availability has been shared yet.


Thursday, November 23, 2017

International Galaxy S8 and S8+ models are finally receiving the November security update

International Galaxy S8 and S8+ models are finally receiving the November security update


The internationally sold versions of and are now finally in the process of receiving the November security update. As usual, this includes patches from Google, as well as Samsung-specific fixes. You get 61 general Android vulnerabilities fixed, alongside six exploits found only in Samsung's software. Additionally, the widespread KRACK Wi-Fi vulnerability is patched too. The Korean company also threw in some Bluetooth-related bug fixes, which means the protocol should be more stable. The updates are now rolling out to devices purchased unlocked in the Netherlands, and should spread to other markets in the next few days. You're looking at a 545MB download, and once you install the new release your Galaxy S8 will be on build G950FXXU1AQK7. For the S8+, it's G955FXXXU1AQK7. If you haven't yet seen the update notification pop up on your handset and are impatient, you can try manually checking by going to Settings > Software update, maybe you'll get lucky. (in Dutch) |