Do fingerprint smudges on a phone’s camera affect the quality of your pictures? Short answer: yes. Long answer: not always, at least not in ways you’d notice. But you should still keep your phone and camera clean. An iPhone, Pixel, Galaxy and Moto walk into a photo test I conducted a very unscientific test using …
Read More »
By the end of May, you’ll be able to get your hands on a Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus in the US without dealing with a carrier or their preinstalled apps. As of today, you can preorder the two phones exclusively through Best Buy, its retail site or Samsung.com completely unlocked from US carriers. Both are expected to be …
Read More »
Good news for bad reception — Telstra has expanded Wi-Fi calling for Australia’s most popular handsets, bringing the technology to iPhone and flagship Samsung Galaxy phones. Rather than using a regular network connection, Wi-Fi calling lets you make voice calls over a Wi-Fi connection, either from a fixed line broadband connection or a Wi-Fi hotspot. Think Skype, but instead of …
Read More »
CNET’s Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page. Hey, here’s a quick follow-up regarding last week’s Samsung Gear Fit 2 deal. I bought one, it arrived quickly, and I tested it …
Read More »
Now playing: Watch this: Do fidget spinners annoy you? Here are some alternatives… 1:05 I picked up my first fidget spinner yesterday, and a fidget cube to go with it. I got them from a midtown Manhattan perfume store, $15 cash. The cube is studded in buttons, switches and dials. The spinner is a smoothly gliding triangular wheel. The toys …
Read More »
Apple is no longer China’s favourite phone manufacturer. The Silicon Valley giant has dropped out of the top three best-selling phones in China, according to new reports compiled by market researchers International Data Corporation (IDC) and Counterpoint Technology Market Research. It was beaten by Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, but at No. 4 remains in the top five. Analysts have seen …
Read More »
Now playing: Watch this: Galaxy S8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus: Which takes better pictures? 3:51 If you compare the Galaxy S8’s camera to the S7, not much has changed. It has the same 12-megapixel resolution, f/1.7 aperture and same digital zoom. Samsung may not have changed the key specs on its rear camera (it hasn’t said whether the sensor …
Read More »
Samsung’s new virtual assistant Bixby might prove have its drawbacks, but rapping may not be one of them. When the Galaxy S8 released to the public last month, Bixby’s voice controls were absent. The feature finally went live this Monday, but only in South Korea. Still, this gave the rest of the world a preview of what Bixby Voice (the …
Read More »
Samsung Galaxy S8 owners on the Verizon network can now get the full Bixby experience. Last month, Verizon said its customers buying the new S8 wouldn’t have access to an Amazon shopping feature through the S8’s voice assistant called Bixby. The delay created another snag for Samsung’s new digital helper, a major selling point for the S8. A Verizon spokesman …
Read More »
The past year has seen Xiaomi fall from grace in its homeland of China, dropping from the top spot at the end of 2015 to just making the top 5 in 2016. But the company is now back to making a splash — only this time, it’s in India. Xiaomi scored a valuable silver medal over the weekend, with Counterpoint …
Read More »
