With brand-new phones come brand-new accessories. Is getting an official Pixel 9 case going to mean pixel-perfect, and do these first-party accessories make financial sense?

The Google Pixel 9 undergoes operational changes over its predecessor, which was already a reliably good phone. This year, Tensor G4 adds even more AI power to a phone that has lays a promising foundation in its OS.

The best applications of AI on the Pixel 9 Pro let people benefit from what large language models (LLMs) are good at — summarization, natural language/multimodal understanding, classification, etc. — without having to enter a prompt. The fact that Google identified this best practice is promising as the underlying hardware admirably provides premium hardware in a compact form factor. 

The Galaxy Ring is Samsung’s first-ever smart ring, and it brings a ton of value to users who need a low-profile fitness tracking option. That being said, it doesn’t beat out the competition in any way that truly matters.

Robot vacuums and mops have come a long way in a relatively short time, but there are still some problems that face most of them. Two that have been particularly frustrating to me have been mops that simply do not get the job done, and hair getting wrapped around the vacuum brush. With the Narwal Freo X Ultra, both of those problems are completely solved, and now it also finally has Google Home integration.

Foldables are still very much a new form factor in the smartphone industry. Manufacturers have been quick to make improvements year over year, but it feels like Samsung has somewhat stalled. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is a good phone – that’s hard to deny – but it feels like little has changed.

Samsung was the pioneer in the world of foldables, and the company’s Galaxy Z Fold series has marked the leader in the market ever since. But, after effectively perfecting its take on the form factor last year, Samsung has been forced by the pressure of competition to finally sit down and make some bigger changes. The Galaxy Z Fold 6, even in the broader landscape, meets all of the basic requirements of being a great foldable, but is that still enough?

Android tablets and e-readers come in many shapes and sizes, but very few combine the best of both worlds. The Boox Go Color 7 is one of the few to do this, and it does it very well.

Cheap Android phones nowadays are probably better than they’re given credit for, but it also feels like it’s been a while since we had a truly great value on the market. With its new CMF Phone (1), Nothing is putting out a device that’s either the best deal on an Android smartphone today, or too good to be true.

Foldables are becoming more widely available as the technology improves and, inevitably, that brings a wave of more affordable devices. The Blackview Hero 10 was announced earlier this year as one of the first of a wave of cheaper foldables, and I think it answers an important question about foldables.

It was an age ago that OnePlus seemed like the natural “other” option to the Google Pixel series. The days of “Never Settle” being a core ethos are behind the BBK-led behemoth. The OnePlus 12 signifies this better than any other. Here’s what it’s like to live with for an extended period.

Tracker tags are a simple idea, but one that’s easy to get wrong. While the failings of Google’s Find My Device network rest largely on Google, it’s equally important to get the hardware right, and that’s where I feel Pebblebee’s Android trackers really shine. For now, they’re the best you can get.

Anything outside of a flagship smartphone is an exercise in compromise. Finding the things you can make sacrifices in without ruining the entire experience. That usually makes it tough to focus in on perfecting one particular element, but that’s what Honor has attempted with the new Honor 200 Pro, and it’s done a pretty fine job of it.

The rollout of the Find My Device network has been super slow, but it should now be expanding rapidly. At this stage, there are only a few trackers to pick up — the Chiplolo One Point and Chipolo Card Point being prime examples — but are they any good?

Otterbox has decided that the popular Gboard Emoji Kitchen should be on a case – and we kind of agree with them.

Google TV is has needed a “flagship” piece of hardware since its debut in 2020 and, this whole time, that’s been the Chromecast with Google TV. But, still with its focus on affordable prices, Walmart is challenging for the role of the best of Google TV with the new Onn Pro streaming box, and I think it’s a better choice than the Chromecast for a whole lot of people.

Since 2019, Google’s affordable smartphone series has progressed and improved in almost all areas. After four years of updates and very few misfires, the Pixel 8a is the fully evolved final form. Here’s what it’s like to use for an extended period.

The Galaxy S24 series has been one of the best phone lineups of the year, and it needs a complimentary case that offers versatility, great protection, and great design. The Everyday case for the Galaxy S24 from Peak Design does exactly that.

Smart speakers aren’t as exciting as they once were, but every once in a while there’s a notable release. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been using the JBL Authentics 500, a high-end smart speaker that, to me, is just the Google Home Max replacement I’ve been waiting for.

The iPhone is the best-selling smartphone on the planet and, in the US especially, it’s clearly a dominant force. I’m an Android person by choice, but once in a while, I spend time with the latest iPhone to take a peek inside of Apple’s garden, trying not to get trapped within its walls. Over the past several months, I’ve been using the iPhone 15 Pro off and on and, well, I’ve got thoughts.

I’ve not been impressed with laptops over the last few years, whether workhorses or gaming. They’ve always had fine performance backed by subpar battery life, leaving much to be desired. However, the new Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 has blown me away, marking significant improvements in battery life on a laptop that can handle everything I can throw at it.

“The best phone.” It’s a tough crown to achieve, because there’s a lot to balance in terms of hardware, software, and the overall experience. Despite a hefty Android skin, though, I think the Honor Magic 6 Pro gets really close to this title, or at least it would, if its best features remembered how Android actually works.

Cheap phones got good a long time ago, but over the past several years, they’ve started to circle back to old ways yet again, with more and more bloatware and compromises. They generally just feel like you’re getting what you pay for, and that’s why Nothing Phone (2a) stands out – it’s just a bit better than that.