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OnePlus Open review: What every foldable should be
Leave it to OnePlus to supply the competition Samsung so desperately needs
Just one year ago, foldable fans in North America were stuck lamenting their lack of choice in the market. Don't like Samsung? You can take your luck importing one of several China or Europe-exclusive options from brands like Oppo or Honor, or keep biding your time while hoping someone arrives with a more exciting option. And considering Samsung once again delivered the slightest of refreshes on the Galaxy Z Fold 5 this year, most enthusiasts knew the latter wouldn't be an option.
JLab JBuds Mini review: Big battery life in a tiny package
They may be mini, but these JBuds punch above their weight
When I use the Jbuds Mini, I’m reminded of a scene from the movie Moneyball. A recently acquired player learns that, unlike other teams around the league, the Oakland A’s make players pay for soda in the locker room. When he asks management about it, he’s informed that the team likes to keep the money on the field — giving them the best chance to win.
Anker Soundcore Motion X600 review: A portable Bluetooth boombox
Powerful, portable, affordable... and in boombox form!
While many fine Bluetooth speakers are out there, most are just for personal use. Or, at best, for providing background music for a small gathering. The Soundcore Motion X600 is in the minority of Bluetooth offerings insofar as it has the power to keep the music going for a pool party, backyard BBQ, or a gathering of a similar size.
H2O Audio Tri Pro headphones review: An ill-fitting 'upgrade'
They may be waterproof, but these headphones probably aren't what you want for a triathlon (or anything else)
Swimming is a great workout, but it’s boring as dirt. At least that’s how I felt swimming all through high school. The H2O Audio Tri Pro attempts to be the ultimate answer for that boredom, promising to let you listen to music, podcasts, or whatever else while you’re swimming and, as the name suggests, running and cycling as well. Using bone conduction, they play audio through your cheek bones, keeping your ears unobstructed so you can maintain the situational awareness you need in those contexts.
Google Pixel 8 review: The Pixel for the masses
The Pixel 8 doesn't need every feature the 8 Pro offers, it's packing more than enough
The Pixel 8 is finally here, and it’s likely Google’s most distinct non-Pro model just yet. It’s significantly smaller and lighter than its predecessor, giving it a proper different touch and feel than the Pro model. It also misses some key features compared to its bigger Google Pixel 8 Pro sibling, giving the $300 price gap between the two make a lot more meaning than in previous generations. It’s clear that Google has learned a lot from the last two generations of its new hardware design and its own chipsets, and the Pixel 8 is the culmination of all the things Google stands for: It’s a software-first handset that can set itself apart from the competition with some incredible features, and it’s the one to get if you’re looking for a new flagship Pixel phone.
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Living up to its name
If you want to see the future of Google, the Pixel 8 Pro is the phone to buy
What do we want smartphones to be? While smaller OEMs may settle for cranking out excellent, reliable phones year-in and year-out, the giants of the mobile world seem to be interested in bigger, more existential questions. For five generations, Samsung has experimented with foldable form factors, allowing a smartphone to grow as large or as small as you need to fit the tasks at hand. Apple, meanwhile, seems focused on delivering an ecosystem its users love — even as life inside its walled garden grows staler by the day.
Google Pixel Watch 2 review: The watch we wanted last year
Reliable battery life and improved fitness tracking, wrapped up in a near-identical package
The original Google Pixel Watch was my favorite smartwatch last year, but I've always felt that opinion was against my better judgment. Google's first smartwatch looked fantastic and performed very well, but at a premium price of $350, its weak battery life just took too much babysitting to make it a solid recommendation for most people.
Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC review: Punching above their weight
Budget buds that don't sound too cheap
Let’s get straight to the point. If you’re in the market for one of the best cheap true wireless earbuds right now, the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC by Anker should be on your short list. After all, paying less than $100 for a pair of earbuds usually comes with sacrifices, whether that’s having a limited amount of features but great sound or having tons of features with sub-par audio.
Blink Outdoor 4 review: Set it and forget it
The Blink Outdoor 4 camera system would make Ron Popeil proud with its outstanding two-year battery life
Outdoor camera setups can be quite a pain. Depending on the type of coverage you desire, you may need to run cables and connectors, all the while hoping there is a power outlet close enough to make it all work. While there are plenty of wireless options, Blink throws its hat back in the ring with the Outdoor 4. It boasts a wider viewing angle, better picture quality, and improved motion alerts for an overall enhanced experience over the Outdoor 3. In addition, Blink claims to have maintained the two-year battery life on a pair of AA batteries, keeping it relatively low maintenance.
Technics may not have the same name recognition as the Sonys and Boses of the earbud market, BUT it’s a name that’s adorned many an entertainment center or Hi-Fi rack since it launched in 1965. While it hasn’t stopped making the premium turntables that made it a Hi-Fi mainstay, Technics has also brought some of that premium quality and audiophile heritage to its flagship AZ80 earbuds. That pedigree doesn’t come cheaply at $300, but every bit of the quality you’d expect from an audiophile-first company is there to justify that price. Even if it doesn’t top our list, the AZ80s are a contender for the best earbuds money can buy.
Android 14 review: Predictable progress
Google doesn’t need to change the formula to create an enticing mobile experience
After months and months of beta testing, Android 14 has finally arrived in stable. There was a tremendous buildup of excitement around this release after the rather lackluster Android 13, which only introduced some small refinements following the big Android 12 design refresh on Pixel phones. Android 14 certainly stays true to the look that Google established with Material You two years ago, but it adds much-needed refinement and customization to the mix. While the beta was buggier than usual, the final release is making up for this long period of bugs with tons of new features, thoughtful design improvements, and a more polished experience all over the place.
Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni robot vacuum review: Low maintenance, high price
It's expensive, but the Deebot X2 Omni is one heck of a robo-vac
If you haven't been following it closely, you could be forgiven for not knowing that the smart vacuum space has gotten crowded in the past few years. Companies like iRobot, Roborock, and Dreametech release new models at a breakneck pace, with new, high-quality smart vacuums and mops hitting the market at what seems like a monthly cadence.
Fairphone 5 review: The most uncompromising repairable phone yet
Fairphone learned all the right lessons from its previous phones
Fairphone is probably the company most associated with repairable and environmentally friendly phones, no matter how much Apple and Google want to tell you their latest and greatest smartphones are green. The new Fairphone 5 is more than just a repairable phone, though. For the first time, the company's latest smartphone looks like a product that fits the year it was released in, with a modern design and display combining a device that can be easily fully disassembled.
Hard drives are capable of storing a lot of data, especially those designed for use inside servers and network-attached storage (NAS). We've seen drives launch with capacities of up to 24TB, which makes some of the best NAS enclosures like the TerraMaster T6-423 quite the solution to data storage problems. This is a six-bay NAS, which allows it to have up to six 24TB drives installed for a total capacity of approximately 144TB, before taking into account RAID space reservations.
8 awesome gadgets we reviewed in September 2023
The new best Android tablet and best wireless earbuds arrived this month
While the name of our humble little site might be Android Police, a whole host of devices cross our various desks for review each month. August may have been dominated by Samsung's latest watches and folding phones, but September has been a wonderfully diverse — and ridiculously busy — month. Tech-tober might technically start tomorrow, but between a small tidal wave of new Amazon devices, new awesome earbuds from both Bose and Sony, and manufacturers releasing their final devices before the holiday shopping season kicks off, we're spoiled for choice in this month's best reviews.
Bird Buddy smart bird feeder review: Amateur ornithology at its cutest
Birdwatching without all that 'going outside' business
Bird Buddy is one of the more frivolous gadgets I've had the opportunity to test: it's a premium-priced smart bird feeder that records and catalogs the critters that stop to feed, pushing adorable videos of birds throwing seed around right to your phone. After living with the feeder for a few months, I have to admit that the novelty of daily bird notifications has lost some of its luster. But Bird Buddy is still a lot of fun to use, and I think anybody with even a passing interest in birdwatching will love it.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you can swim with a certain pair of earbuds or headphones, the answer is usually no. Even the many that offer an IP68 rating aren’t meant for the more extreme pressures of swimming, and Bluetooth doesn’t travel through water very far. But some headphones are designed for swimming, and the H2O Audio Sonar are perhaps the best among them. With on-board storage and Bluetooth as options, these bone conduction headphones strap right onto your goggles and bring the jams along for even lengthy training sessions. They may be pretty niche, but if you’re searching for swimming headphones, these are probably just what you want.
Sonos Move 2 review: Worth the weight
Sonos has nailed the execution — and the sound quality — with its updated portable smart speaker
I've never left the house with the Sonos Move. Despite the best of intentions, it's an admission I expect Sonos may not appreciate, especially in the first paragraph of a review for its latest product. But after spending a good four years with Sonos's original portable speaker, a hybrid Wi-Fi/Bluetooth behemoth that sounds about as good as a battery-powered speaker can (and it had better for $399), I never entered into a situation that justified walking with the speaker beyond my backyard.
Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 review: An ANC classic
They're not new, but they're still very good
The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 — Bose 700 for short — were released way back in 2019. Since then, we've seen a lot of movement in the ANC earbuds space, but when it comes to over-ear noise cancelling headphones, the needle hasn't shifted nearly as much. As Bose gears up to release its updated Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, I thought it'd good to take another look at the 700s. Newer options might have Bose's last-gen flagship cans beat, but the Bose 700 are, maybe a little surprisingly, still among the best headphones you can buy right now.
Formovie Theater Projector review: Putting the 'pro' in projector
If your wallet agrees, it's well worth a look
Even though the best projectors can be a bit on the pricier side, when you compare them to the cost of a massive high-end TV, they start looking like a steal. But for some reason, they've remained more of a tech-enthusiasts' toy than an everyday living room hero. Many folks still think that projectors can't match up to the reliable experience of TVs.