New Nokia 3310

If any phone can sell itself on nostalgia alone, that phone is the Nokia 3310.

It’s one of the most popular mobiles of all time, remembered for its near-indestructible build, long-lasting battery and legendary Snake (well, Snake 2 if we’re being accurate) game, and the team licensing the Nokia phone name has jumped at the chance to reignite the love for a phone which was once the leader in the mobile market.

61201731542pm_635_nokia_3310_frontEnter the new Nokia 3310, a homage to the iconic handset with a helping of modern-day upgrades. If you were a fan of the 3310 and long for those simpler times, the likelihood is you’ll want to pick this up.

If you’re less familiar with the original though, this is just another feature phone which won’t satisfy your smartphone sensibilities with a price that’s steeper than it needs to be. Continue reading “New Nokia 3310” →

Meizu 16

You might not rank Meizu among the top smartphone makers in the market, be it in its home country of China let alone the rest of the world. Not that it hasn’t tried hard, with interesting yet eccentric standouts like the Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition and the double-faced Meizu PRO 7. Those, however, haven’t exactly put it close to the top nor have they brought in the dough. Meizu has since then changed its strategy, shifting its phones towards more conventional designs and features to try and pull in users who need a serious smartphone. And this Meizu 16th is perhaps the most serious one of all.

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The Meizu 15 came out in April 2018 which makes the Meizu 16th announcement earlier this month a bit unexpected. There is, however, good reason for that. For one, the Meizu 15 comes up short of being labeled as a premium flagship product, especially when it came to the specs – and with the Meizu 16th, the company is redoing a lot of things, starting with the name. Yes, that’s “16th”, not “16”, and definitely not “the 16th”. Continue reading “Meizu 16” →

LG G7 ThinQ

Introduction

LG is finally releasing a G-series phone with the latest Snapdragon – yay! Regardless whether we have some supply chain optimization or LG’s product planning to thank, the fact of the matter is the G7 ThinQ is now available internationally and it’s a proper high-end device.lgg7thinq-front-back-1024x768

True, the G7 is a trend-follower this time around rather than a trend-setter. But LG didn’t feel the need to experiment with this one and are going the Vseries route by delivering a device with just looks and features mix which is trendy these days.

The highlights of the G7 are the notched 6.1″ FullVision display with 19.5:9 aspect and bright RGBW matrix, and the latest Snapdragon 845 SoC, of course. LG is keeping the regular+wide dual-camera, which we are fans of, but brings a new selfie snapper. Continue reading “LG G7 ThinQ” →

Nokia 8.1

When the Nokia 7 Plus debuted earlier this year, it became one of the best phones in the mid-range segment. That continues to be the case even now, but the Snapdragon 660 is getting a bit long in the tooth, and with devices that cost half as much offering the chipset, it’s time for an update.rkm3tofvb7eeagmteeca7f-480-80

And that’s what you’re getting with the Nokia 8.1. The phone isn’t an upgraded variant of the Nokia 8 as its name would suggest; it instead is a direct replacement for the outgoing Nokia 7 Plus, and by extension HMD Global’s value flagship as we head into 2019. Continue reading “Nokia 8.1” →

Samsung Galaxy Note 9

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is a little bigger, a little more colorful, and a little more powerful than all prior Note phones, but be warned: it’s a little more expensive, too.

It’s the biggest Android phone that will grab your attention in 2018, with a sizeable 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display, a huge 4,000mAh battery for all-day performance, and up to 512GB of internal storage and 8GB of RAM.

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Slot in a 512GB microSD card (which Samsung will gladly sell you), and you can have the first mainstream 1TB phone in your hands. That’s bigger than a lot of laptops.

Good news – the Note 9 doesn’t actually feel any bigger than last year’s 6.3-inch Note 8, and it inherits a bunch of this year’s 5.8-inch Galaxy S9 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S9 Plus features, including camera specs. It takes the best photos on a Samsung phone, only outpaced by the newer Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL in our tests. Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Note 9” →