Articles by Alex Dobie

Ten years on from the Galaxy Nexus, do we have another Samsung-made Google phone? Not so fast.

It sure looks like Samsung will be making the main camera sensor in the upcoming Google Pixel 6 series. Recent code-digging in the Android 12 beta Google camera app has unearthed references to the Samsung ISOCELL GN1, which would be the largest sensor we’ve seen in a Pixel by some margin — all the better to pull crisp, clear shots out of lower-light scenes, and feed ever more data to Google’s HDR+ algorithms.

If true, the GN1 wouldn’t be alone. Between the recent news that Samsung will manufacture Google’s new Tensor processor and that the Pixel 6 will use a Samsung Exynos 5G modem, it sure looks like there’s a lot of Samsung in Google’s upcoming flagship phones. And that’s led some to speculate whether the Pixel 6 is largely a Samsung flagship with Google branding.

Quite a lot of the Pixel 6’s components will probably have come out of a Samsung factory.

Aside from the SoC (includ…

If OnePlus keeps the T series going in 2021, there’s a strong case for effectively making it a “OnePlus 9 Ultra”.

The OnePlus “T” series has been around since 2016, starting as a way to refresh the hardware in the OnePlus 3T and remain competitive in a cut-throat high-end market. As OnePlus has evolved over the years, so too has its approach to T-series phones. The OnePlus 5T arrived just in time to showcase the new 18:9 displays of the time. The 6T was effectively a bigger, speccier OnePlus 6. And most recently, the 7T and 8T presented lean and mean alternatives to the expensive “Pro” handsets of 2019 and 2020.

This year, though, it’s unclear whether there will be a OnePlus 9T. Recent rumors point to the 9T possibly being discontinued, but that isn’t necessarily the same as OnePlus not releasing another high-end phone in the usual mid-October slot. The past year has seen major changes at OnePlus as it expands its product portfolio and openly flaunts its previously hushed relations…

After a blip in 2020, Google looks set to deliver fans the high-end Pixel they crave this fall.

The Pixel series started with a simple premise: the best of Google in a phone. But Google’s journey from Pixel 1 through to Pixel 5 has been anything but smooth. As we broke down in our ‘Pixel Imperfect’ feature around 18 months ago, each of the first four generations of Pixel flagships was undone by basic hardware oversights. Whether it was the Pixel 2 XL and its lackluster screen or the Pixel 4 with its famously terrible battery life, there was always something holding these flagship Pixels back.

So the Pixel 5 was a break from the norm. Cheaper, with killer battery life and a (largely unchanged) camera, the Pixel 5 remained competitive at its aggressive price point. Despite its less powerful CPU, the Pixel 5 is the best Pixel yet, but it’s not the true flagship many enthusiasts were hoping for.

And, with Google having apparently pivoted away from traditional flagship phones in 2020, …

When a €400 phone can do pretty much everything you need, why spend almost three times that?

I’ve spent the past week bouncing between the new OnePlus Nord 2 and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, two of the best Android phones occupying very different segments of the market. In the UK, the Nord sells for £400, and the S21 Ultra starts at triple that figure. Yet despite the gulf in price, I’ve been struck by how little I’ve actually missed from the £1200 handset during my time with the Nord.

OnePlus has plenty of experience in making the right compromises for its “flagship killer” phones. And although the company is itself producing very traditional flagship phones these days, the Nord 2 proves it hasn’t lost sight of the magic that made fan-favorites like the OnePlus 3 and 3T so popular.

The Nord 2’s Dimensity 1200-AI processor isn’t as fast on paper as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 or Exynos 2100 found in Samsung’s flagship. However, it is pretty close, benchmarking around the leve…

Android 12 is all well and good, but the phones it’s launching this fall might eventually see updates all the way to Android 17.

The launch of the third Android 12 beta this week gives us a look at an increasingly polished and largely feature-complete version of Google’s next OS. On phones like the Pixel 5, it’s a marked improvement upon earlier betas and represents the biggest visual overhaul for stock Android in more than five years.

Back in 2016, the current Google flagship was the Huawei-built Nexus 6P, and the original Google Pixel — still then referred to as a hypothetical “HTC Nexus” — was just a rumor. In the dying days of the Nexus program, Android looked a lot different. Next to the new-fangled Material You design language, early Material Design in Android Lollipop and Marshmallow look quaint.

Five years is a long time in tech, especially mobile tech.

Five years is a long time in tech, and particularly mobile tech. This is why the prospect of Google supporting…

OnePlus’s Android UI might soon be changing, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Back in the earliest days of OnePlus, the company didn’t even have its own Android software skin. The OnePlus One shipped with Cyanogen OS, based on the popular custom firmware of the early 2010s. At the time, it was an appropriate pairing for a brand actively courting Android enthusiasts. But after an acrimonious split from Cyanogen a year later, the company unveiled OxygenOS on the OnePlus 2, its own software creation. It was dubbed “light, yet powerful,” without any “unnecessary gimmicks.”

Over the years, OnePlus’s clean Android software, augmented with features inspired by its community, has become a fan favorite. Even following the recent design overhaul of OxygenS 11 — a polarizing change, for some — OnePlus’s software is generally considered to be slick, performant, and pleasant to use.

Will we get ‘OxygenOS in name only’ with Android 12?

This is why there’s concern among fans arou…

Early signs point to Google’s foldable being a minor member of its lineup — but don’t be fooled by a delayed launch and limited rollout.

While details of the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have leaked extensively in recent months, we’re still pretty much in the dark when it comes to the most ambitious Pixel phone to date — the rumored Google Pixel Fold.

Compared to the torrent of CAD renders and spec details published for Google’s upcoming flat flagships, the foldable remains something of a mystery. Reliable leakers have confirmed that it exists, and we have a Japanese model number to back that up. This past week, we learned that it will use Samsung’s ultra-thin glass — not too much of a surprise considering the best foldable phones of this year are expected to use that same tech. But the most interesting Pixel Fold nugget to present itself recently was the news that its 7.6-inch internal display will begin manufacturing in October. Given the usual launch period for new Pixel…

Huawei’s first HarmonyOS smartwatch looks slick and boasts strong battery life and fitness features.

The Huawei Watch line has changed dramatically since it first debuted in 2015. The first Huawei Watch (or the Huatch, as we liked to call it at the time) ran Android Wear and turned heads with its striking design. The second iteration focused on fitness tracking with a more rugged appearance. Then the Huawei Watch GT line traded smartwatch functionality for a trimmed-down OS and long battery life.

Now we have the Huawei Watch 3, which seeks to bring the best of all those earlier wearables into a single product. It’s the first watch to run Huawei’s HarmonyOS, a more fully-featured platform than the barebones LiteOS used in the Watch GT. Huawei is also aiming for multi-day battery life from this new model while also packing a full loadout of working and health-tracking capabilities. And to top it off, this latest Huawei Watch is the best-looking since the 2015 original.

While the…

In a commoditized smartphone market, photography is the key area to make phones exciting again.

We’re a long way removed from the smartphone boom of the early 2010s, and handset sales have plateaued since the latter part of that decade. Phones in general are commoditized to the point where it’s pretty hard to buy a bad one unless you’re spending absolute bargain bin money. At the high end, you can throw a rock and hit an excellent handset.

But that doesn’t mean phones are boring. In fact, there’s one area of high-end smartphone tech that’s never been more exciting: photography.

You can find a great smartphone camera anywhere

Shots from the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

The gold standard for smartphone photography in 2021 is Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra. It’s one of the best Android phones of the moment and has one of the best Android cameras, with a gigantic main image sensor that can pull light and color from areas that appear pitch black to the naked eye. Plus, the dual telephoto lense…

After a blip in 2020, Google looks set to deliver fans the high-end Pixel they crave this fall.

The Pixel series started with a simple premise: the best of Google in a phone. But Google’s journey from Pixel 1 through to Pixel 5 has been anything but smooth. As we broke down in our ‘Pixel Imperfect’ feature around 18 months ago, each of the first four generations of Pixel flagships was undone by basic hardware oversights. Whether it was the Pixel 2 XL and its lackluster screen, or the Pixel 4 with its famously terrible battery life, there was always something holding these flagship Pixels back.

So the Pixel 5 was a break from the norm. Cheaper, with killer battery life and a (largely unchanged) camera that remained competitive at its aggressive price point. Despite its less powerful CPU, the Pixel 5 is the best Pixel yet, but it’s not the true flagship a lot of enthusiasts were hoping for.

And, with Google having apparently pivoted away from traditional flagship phones in 2020, man…