Max Weinbach

Smart speakers were a craze for a while, but the hype has very much died down in recent years. With the JBL Authentics 300, though, it’s clear that there’s finally a Google Assistant speaker worth your time, and it has great sound, design, and cross-compatibility with Amazon Alexa.

“Game-changer” is a term that’s become overused, but after two weeks using Whoop’s new AI Coach on the health-focused fitness wearable, I’m serious when I say it’s game-changing.

Late 2023 is becoming the time for foldables. Samsung just launched the Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5, Google’s Pixel Fold is now widely available, OnePlus has a foldable on the schedule for the end of the year, and now Honor has just announced that it will be showing off not one, but two foldables at its IFA 2023 launch event.

Most midrange phones try to find the middle ground of hardware, with every aspect taking a little hit, so the overall device is equally good. OK cameras, OK build, OK battery, OK performance, etc. Every once in a while, manufacturers try to put the part it finds most important at the forefront, which is exactly what Honor did with the Honor 90, which has one of the best displays I’ve seen on any mobile phone, but it costs just $430.

The Nothing Phone (2) just launched this week. It’s a great phone but with every new launch, there are plenty of questions. Below are a few of the best questions I’ve found from the 9to5Google comments on the Phone (2) with answers after two weeks of use. 

Last year, dbrand released their Something skins, which took the Nothing Phone (1) design language, and customized it to devices like the Pixel 6 Pro, Galaxy S22 Ultra, and iPhone 13 Pro to mimic the design language on those devices. To celebrate the launch of the Nothing Phone (2), dbrand is at it again with Something(dark), a black colorway of their Something skins.

Honor is gearing up to launch its highly anticipated foldable smartphone, the Honor Magic Vs, in the UK, just a few months after its MWC announcement.

There have been quite a few leaks for the Pixel Fold over the past week. Thanks to Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech, we now have all of the detailed specs for the Pixel Fold.

Google’s Pixel 7a is just a few weeks away, rumored to launch at Google I/O 2023 on May 10. This phone is set to be the successor to Google’s Pixel 6a, arguably the best-value phone of 2022. Thanks to a retail source, we now have the price for Pixel 7a.

For years, Honor was known as the Huawei sub-brand focused on budget devices, but after the Huawei-US issues, Honor split off from Huawei and became its own company. This has allowed Honor to really show what its mobile technology can do. Last year’s Honor Magic 4 Pro had some of the best hardware but was hampered by poor camera software. Now, the Honor Magic 5 Pro fixes that, while providing one of the best all-around devices with interesting software choices.

A few weeks ago, at MWC 2023, I had an opportunity to sit down with Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vice president of Platforms and Ecosystems at Google, to talk about RCS messaging. While there was not a lot into the future of what Google is planning with Google Messages and RCS as a protocol, I did get a good look into how RCS came to be and how Google sees it.

Today at Honor’s “Unleash the Power of Magic” event at MWC, it announced the global launch of two new phones: Honor Magic Vs and Honor Magic 5 Pro.

Samsung has been the leader in the foldable smartphone market for a while, with its Galaxy Z Fold series offering a phone-tablet hybrid design able to transform from a compact device to a larger screened tablet. However, Honor, the former sub-brand of Huawei, has recently launched its own foldable phone in China and soon will launch the Honor Magic Vs internationally, which challenges Samsung’s dominance with a similar but improved design.

Samsung Unpacked to announce the Galaxy S23 series is rumored to be coming up soon, and it seems like Samsung Colombiamay have jumped the gun a bit on the announcement, posting the Unpacked page a bit early confirming the Galaxy S23 launch date.

AirPods Pro 2 just came out a few weeks ago and are largely regarded as some of the best earbuds on the market. Unlike most Apple products, AirPods generally work really well with Android phones and are a great choice for everyone including Pixel users. Unfortunately, though, the latest AirPods Pro 2 aren’t working well Pixel due to a bug with A2DP offloading.

A few weeks ago Google announced the hardware event where it’s going to be releasing the Pixel 7 and Pixel Watch. While there are very few questions left about both devices, after having leaked for almost a year at this point, there are still questions about availability and the Pixel Watch price. Thanks to a retail source, we’re able to provide some answers about price.

Waiting for products to get delivered is never a fun experience, especially when it’s a new piece of tech. In-store pickups are great to alleviate this – order on your phone and pick up later that day. Companies like Samsung have exciting devices coming, like the new Z Flip4 and Z Fold4, and sometimes delivery is unreliable. Now, Samsung.com is letting you order these new devices, among other things, and pick up in-store at Best Buy.