Samsung's latest Oreo Beta update for the Galaxy S8 brings an impressive number of new customization features. On the lock screen, we've seen the introduction of new colorization options for the clock and transparent notifications. Not to be forgotten, the Always On Display is getting some new clock styles and colors.
With the holidays fast approaching, our smartphones are more important than ever — keeping in constant contact with family, organizing trips and gatherings, and online shopping is only a taste of what we put our smartphones through. All of that means a big strain on your smartphone's battery. That's why portable chargers are so necessary, and what better time to pick one up than on Black Friday.
The Android Oreo Beta for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ has been available for nearly two weeks. Samsung started rolling out the Beta 2 update late last week in the UK, and just yesterday in the US. Unfortunately, the US version of the update firmware (G955USQU1ZQK6) experienced a critical bug with the phone app at launch. As a result, Samsung has completely pulled the US Beta 2 update for the time being.
The iPhone X is sure to be a hot seller this holiday season. You probably know someone with the $1,000 iPhone on their wishlist, and with a price tag that high, Black Friday is probably the best chance of them getting one. But there's only one store we've found so far that's even offering a real holiday deal for the iPhone X.
Hitman Sniper topped our roundup for the best premium shooting games, and it's easy to see why. Straightforward yet intense story. Awesome visuals. Stealthy action. Strategic gameplay. Hitman Sniper is easily the best sniper game available for your smartphone, and it's currently free on Android for a limited time, as well as discounted for iPhone.
The Galaxy S8 Oreo Beta has been out for just over a week now. Over that time, we've taken a look at some of the best new features and improvements. One area of smartphone software that never gets much love in updates is the lock screen. Samsung changes that in the Oreo beta, bringing new colorization options that match lock screen info to your wallpaper.
The Oreo Beta for Samsung's Galaxy S8 and S8+ is official and available to download on your device. Now that we have the update in hand, we've started detailing several of the changes and features. We've already looked at the new Notification Channels functionality, so in this post, we'll take a look at several improvements to Samsung's stock keyboard. While some Android users prefer to install third-party keyboards on their device, Samsung's default keyboard has a loyal following among Galax...
Google caught a lot of flak for the Pixel 2 XL's POLED display issues, regardless of whether the problems were real or perceived. It's too late to contract another screen manufacturer at this point, but Google is doing the next-best thing: Fixing as many user complaints as possible with software updates.
It was a good weekend for OnePlus 5T rumors — it looks likely the 5T will be first appearing in New York, and we got a spec leak that supports the rumors we've already heard. However, perhaps the best 5T news came from OnePlus' CEO himself: The OnePlus 5T may cost $600 or less.
The iPhone X is Apple at its most classic — they take away a key feature that seems odd at first, but usually, the change pans out in the end. So is the case for the long-lived Home button, whose last appearance may be on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. That begs the question — how do you use an iPhone without a Home button?
The new iPhone X sets itself apart from its predecessors not only as the first Apple smartphone to use an AMOLED screen, but also as the first iPhone to cost over $1,000. True to form as an exclusive device, Apple's latest flagship also features a distinct ringtone. With a little tinkering, however, you can make the new "Reflection" ringtone your very own, regardless of which iPhone you may have.
While unveiling various other gadgets, Google announced the Pixel Buds at their October 4th event in San Francisco. These wireless earbud-style headphones are particularly interesting thanks to their ability to offer real-time language translation via Google Translate when paired with a Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL.
Just as we published our rumor roundup for the HTC U11 Plus, the internet happened: A Facebook video revealed the flagship HTC U11 Plus and the midrange HTC U Life in all their glory. The video was in German and has since been taken down, but according to a translation, it revealed exactly what we should be expecting see at HTC event November 2.
The first big update to iOS 11 since its release in mid-September just came out, so check your iPhone for a software update to iOS 11.1, because there are a few things you'll want from it. While there's no sight of Apple Pay Cash or Messages in iCloud, there are some significant improvements you'll need to know about.
Face ID is possibly the iPhone X's make-it-or-break-it feature. Apple is asking previous iPhone owners to put a lot of faith into their home button replacement, and so far, the results seem pretty good. That is until CNN tested the security feature with identical twins.
The Pixel 2 has a number of new unique features. One of the most interesting is the Now Playing option to identify songs you hear on a daily basis. Now Playing displays the artist and title of songs playing in the background of your day and shows this information on the lock screen. While this functionality is incredibly useful, the song history is not saved anywhere on your phone.
Animoji, short for animated emoji, was a focal point of the iPhone X presentation at the Sept. 12 Apple event. The reactions were split, to be sure, as some considered the attention to this feature on a $1,000+ smartphone to be a bit, well ... too much. As goofy as Animojis may seem at first, the tech behind them is undeniably impressive. In fact, it's possibly the most technically advanced feature of the iPhone X.
If you were holding out on an iPhone X but still haven't bit the bullet on the $1,000+ price tag, it may be because you're not sure how it will feel in your hands compared to the iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus, which are pretty much the same size as the last three iPhone models you know and love. We can help you figure this out, though, with a simple printout to compare phone sizes in your hand.
Going live on Instagram is a fun way to interact with your followers. It lets you forgo the usual meticulous editing and framing in exchange for giving your friends and fans a glimpse into your real, unfiltered life. Now, your followers don't need to be separate from that experience, with a new update that will let you invite viewers to join in on your live videos.
The iPhone X is almost within reach. In fact, you can preorder right now. We know you've been itching to get your hands on Apple's newest iPhone, but before you give up over $1,000 of your hard-earned money, make sure your iPhone X knowledge is up-to-snuff.
Leaks are seemingly inevitable for smartphone makers these days. The OnePlus 5T, the successor to the OnePlus 5, is no exception to this rule. Last week, we witnessed leaked photos showing off the 5T's rumored "edge-to-edge" display. Today, leaks on OppoMart's 5T preorder page give us specs in addition to images.
Unlike traditional backlit LCD technology, OLED screens don't use any power to display black pixels. Many manufacturers have taken advantage of this by implementing an always-on display, which only lights up a few pixels here and there to show relevant info when your phone is locked. But this leads to extra battery drain, albeit small, and it increases the risk of screen burn-in.
Update 10/22: We were curious to see if the transparency was available when you activate the Pixel 2's automatic dark theme by setting a dark wallpaper, and we're happy to report that it is!
The LG V30 is an amazing device that will contend for best smartphone of 2017. It has all the major features you'd expect from a high-end flagship, including a great screen. One that, luckily, we can customize to our liking by tweaking its DPI.
Typos are a constant annoyance that we all deal with thanks to the cramped touchscreen keyboards on smartphones. For many, nothing beats the feel of a good old physical keyboard when it comes to typing fast with minimal errors. Fortunately, WhatsApp has an awesome feature which lets you use their messaging service right on your computer.
If you want to take your iPhone or Android photos to the next level, Snapseed is one of the best options. When it comes time to share pictures with friends and family, you want them to look as good as possible, so a little post-processing is in order. The problem is that Snapseed, by default, saves your edited photos at a lower quality than it first came in. What gives?
One of the downsides of living in an unprecedented age of connectivity is the near-constant bombardment of information. WhatsApp, the go-to messaging app for people the world over, is just as susceptible to buildup of useless media files, thanks to awesome features that allow us to communicate in multiple ways, such as broadcasting to friends and family. Luckily, the app makes it easy to remove old and unwanted data from your iPhone or Android.
Not that long ago, Snapchat was an app with only one purpose — to send and receive self-destructing picture messages. The app has clearly grown since, adding many features that both adhere to its original function as well as ignore it. One of these new features is Context Cards. You may have heard about them, but what exactly are they?
Jay-Z's Tidal streaming service provides Hi-Fi music to a mainstream audience. Even better, Tidal can do this without blowing out your eardrums, because it's easy to enable volume normalization so that one track isn't louder than the next.
Unlike fully untethered jailbreaks such as Yalu's iOS 10.2 method, semi-tethered jailbreaks require users to re-enable the mod each time their device is turned off. Fortunately, the process of kickstarting a jailbreak is easy to do, since it's already embedded in your iPhone's OS and doesn't require reinstallation.
Apple Music, Apple's answer to Spotify, has many interesting features packed in to make that $9.99/month price tag as attractive as possible. One of those features is geared towards social listeners — those who want to follow other Apple Music users and who want to be followed back. But here's the thing: how do you know if your account is public or private?
Did you want an iPhone X, but opted for the iPhone 8 instead? Or, maybe you aren't ready to upgrade from your 7, 6S, 5S, or what-have-you. Did you know iOS 11.1 lets you experience what it would be like if you had upgraded to the iPhone X? Well, in a way.
When it comes to streaming your favorite movies and TV shows, there aren't many media players that are better than Kodi. With its fast performance and easy-to-use interface, it is definitely one of the best options. But what really sets it apart is its ability to add functionality.
Out of the box, when you shoot a photo on your iPhone using the stock Camera app, it will either shoot a normal or HDR photo. That's because Apple's high-dynamic-range setting is set to automatic by default. However, there's a button in the app so you can turn HDR on or off manually. While this HDR toggle persists in iOS 11 on the iPhone 7 models and older, it's not visible on the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus.
The new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models come with a gorgeous Retina HD display with Apple's True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the white balance on the screen to match the ambient light around you. The iPhone X also has True Tone built into its Super Retina HD display. However, if you're coming over from any previous model iPhone, it may look a little strange in some situations.
When you first use Kodi, it can be intimidating. The main menu has numerous options for the various types of media Kodi can play back, and the settings menu has a broad array of tools to customize Kodi to your needs. After poking around in theses menus, you might realize that you don't like the default look. But whether it's the color, font, layout, or just the general theme, Kodi skins can change it all.
As with any new releases, full updates that completely revamp the look and feel of your iPhone's operating system will have teething problems that eventually get ironed out with incremental updates. iOS 11, with its issue of not being able to connect to the App Store on some iPhones and iPads, is no exception.
After installing the new iOS 11 update on one of our iPads, we noticed something peculiar — AirDrop simply stopped working. The button was still there in the revamped Control Center, but it was almost imperceptibly grayed out. Tapping it did nothing, nor did long-pressing or 3D Touching. Even more perplexing, AirDrop was just working flawlessly before the update.
It's hard to believe iOS 11 was announced three months ago. In that time, we have downloaded multiple betas, experienced the Golden Master, and seen the new software in action on the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus. After all this waiting, however, the official release of iOS 11 and all its awesome new features, is finally here. Well, almost.
Every now and then, an iPhone will freeze up and become unresponsive due to a software glitch. It can be a buggy app that somehow interferes with iOS or a software update that somehow didn't install properly. Whatever the cause, it's safe to say that no iPhone is immune to this problem, not even the new iPhone X.
