Articles by Alex Dobie

ASUS’s latest flip camera phone is a pretty modest upgrade in most of the areas that matter.

Since 2019, ASUS’s Zenfone series has been defined by its unique flip camera system. Instead of including a front-facing camera above or inside the display, the Taiwanese firm managed to boast an improved screen-to-body ratio and superior selfies by fitting its cameras to a motorized hinge.

As the name suggests, the Zenfone 8 Flip is the latest phone to feature the flip camera, but it’s not quite the flagship ASUS phone you might’ve been expecting. This device is the successor to the vanilla Zenfone 7, not the 7 Pro. And as such, it’s a pretty modest upgrade compared to the less adventurous regular Zenfone 8. (ASUS is keeping quiet on whether a new “Pro” Zenfone is in the works, as has been rumored in recent months.)

But that doesn’t mean the 8 Flip should be overlooked. ASUS’s flip camera array can still take some of the best selfies in the game. And the phone’s improved performance a…

ASUS redefines its Zenfone series with one of the best small flagships of 2021.

It’s not always easy to find a small Android phone with great specs, performance, and build quality. Whereas in the realm of big-screened handsets, you can pretty much throw a rock and hit a great phone, the choices for fans of compact devices are pretty limited. In fact, most of the best Android phones these days are pretty gigantic.

And this is where ASUS is looking to capitalize with its new Zenfone 8. Launching alongside the Zenfone 8 Flip this summer, the Zenfone 8 isn’t a successor to last year’s Zenfone 7, but yet another reinvention of the Zenfone series. With aggressive European pricing, a 120Hz screen, the latest Snapdragon 888, and up to 16GB of RAM in a package basically the same size as a Pixel 5, the Zenfone 8 is a tempting proposition for anyone seeking the best of Android in a one-handable form factor.

ASUS Zenfone 8 review:

Price and availability
Hardware and design
Software an…

If you weren’t paying attention to Oppo before, now’s the time to start.

Although a behemoth in Asia, Oppo is still relatively new to Western markets. The past two years have seen a few high-profile launches for the brand, but Oppo still has a way to go in terms of brand recognition and perception in Europe.

So last year, the company simplified its smartphone portfolio, positioning the Find X line as its main high-end brand. Launched a year ago in spring 2020, the Oppo Find X2 Pro isn’t an outlandish, borderline experimental device like the original Find X. Instead, Oppo’s goal has just been to build a really solid, top-to-bottom Android flagship that ticks every possible box.

And having spent some time getting to know the Find X2 Pro, it’s clear to me that this is still one of the best Android phones of the moment.

Find X2 Pro review

Price and availability
Hardware and design
Display
Battery life
Software and performance
Cameras
Competition
Should you buy it?
Changelog, Ap…

When Samsung brings the Note back in 2022, it probably won’t look like what we’ve come to expect.

It’s been a good couple of years since I last used a big-screened Samsung phone for any length of time. When I have used a Galaxy S, it’s usually been one of the smaller models. That said, I’ve also used and enjoyed the Galaxy Note series over the years, many of which have ranked among the best Android phones. But spending more time with the Galaxy S21 Ultra over the past week or so has convinced me that this, and not the Note, is the future of big-screened, slab-shaped Samsung phones.

Or, to put it another way, the Galaxy Note, in its current form, is obsolete.

It seems that Samsung itself might be of that same opinion, as the boss of the company’s smartphone division has basically told us not to expect a Galaxy Note 21 this year, with the Note instead expected to make a return in 2022. As for why that’s the case? Well, I don’t want to go too far down that particular rabbit hole. S…

Material NEXT will set the tone for the next generation of Android phones.

As Android has matured and more bits of the OS have been spun out to live on the Google Play Store, individual Android platform updates have become less important. Even on Google’s Pixel phones, the core experience hasn’t really been altered in a few years, with the most significant user experience change in that time being the slightly fumbled introduction of gesture navigation in Android 10.

Nevertheless, every few years, there inevitably comes a big shake-up of Android’s design language. The first was Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in 2011, before which Android didn’t really have much of a design language to speak of. ICS gave us the sci-fi stylings of “Holo,” which was eventually scaled back to look less Tron-like in subsequent versions.

Material Design is evolving yet again.

Then we had Material Design in 2014, introduced with Android 5.0 Lollipop and eventually rolled out as the design language…

Google fielded its strongest lineup of Pixel smartphones in 2020, and now all three of them are available at their cheapest prices yet through Amazon UK’s spring sale. The deal includes the Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5, with savings of up to 20% on the list price. Google’s Pixels aren’t often reduced in price, so now’s a great time to jump on one of the best Pixel deals out there.

Google Pixel 4a | £50 off

The Pixel 4a is one of the best value smartphone of the past year, and Amazon’s £50 off deal makes it more affordable than ever before. You won’t find another phone with a better camera or longer software support lifespan at this price point.

£299 at Amazon UK

Google Pixel 4a 5G | £100 off

The Pixel 4a 5G is available for £100 off the list price, a saving of 20%. It sits pretty close to the Pixel 5 in terms of specs and raw horsepower, with a bigger display, ultrawide-capable dual camera setup, a bigger battery and, of course, 5G connectivity.

£399 at Ama…

Huawei may defy market challenges in 2021 with ludicrously huge image sensors.

For around $1,200, Sony will sell you its RX100 VII compact camera — the latest well-reviewed entry in its popular RX100 series, which uses 1-inch image sensors. The series is considered to have produced some of the best enthusiast-level point-and-shoots, and I even used the original RX100 to cover product launches and trade shows back in 2013.

In a few months, Huawei might be preparing to sell a phone that packs up to two sensors of that same size. The latest leaks from the reliable Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka OnLeaks) suggests a 1-inch sensor may be on the cards for the P50, potentially Sony’s rumored IMX800 series. Given the size of the module shown in the accompanying CAD renders, it’s even possible two such sensors may be used — likely for the wide and ultrawide cameras — potentially giving Huawei a major advantage over current flagship phone cameras. Bigger sensors capture more light, and more l…

HTC just isn’t the heavy hitter in the mobile space that it used to be. Despite once making some of the best Android phones around, the company hasn’t made much noise in recent years. However, its existing lineup is still worth looking into, especially now that many of its phones are available at a fraction of their original prices. Here are the best HTC phones you can grab right now.

Best overall

HTC U20 5G (2020)

Staff Pick

The U20 5G isn’t the superphone holdouts may have been hoping for, but it’s still a great-looking release with a modern design, a 48MP primary camera, Android 10 powered by the Snapdragon 765G chipset, an impressive 256GB of expandable storage, and of course, 5G support. Though initially only launched in Taiwan, you can buy the unlocked model to use in virtually any region.

$514 at Amazon $490 at Walmart

Last flagship

HTC U12 Plus (2018)

The U12+ takes after its predecessor, the 11+, with a 6-inch, 18:9 LCD panel, a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, a…

Google is investigating worldwide issues with its Android Exposure Notifications System.

What you need to know

Google is investigating a worldwide outage affecting its contact tracing technology.
Its Android Exposure Notifications System is down, causing apps to load slowly and preventing contact tracing.
Google says it has rolled out a fix for this issue.

Update, January 13 (09:25 am ET) In an update, Google has confirmed that its Android Exposure Notifications System is experiencing issues affecting Android Apps Worldwide.

Update, January 13 (03:10 pm ET) Google says a fix has been deployed, though not everyone may see it immediately.

Many Android users in the UK are reporting a glitch with the NHS COVID-19 app this morning, causing it to show a permanent “Loading…” notification that can’t be dismissed. Restarting or force-closing the app, or rebooting your phone doesn’t fix the problem.

NHS COVID-19 is the official contact tracing app for England and Wales, and uses App…

The first month of the year, during a pandemic, isn’t a great time to be launching some of the year’s most expensive phones.

Will a combination of bad launch timing and excessive pricing sink the Samsung Galaxy S21 series before it ever gets started? That was among my first thoughts when European pricing for the three S21 phones leaked this past week — showing that, despite rumors that the best Android phones of 2021 could be cheaper, we’re once again looking at some pretty pricey Galaxies.

Here’s how the pricing reportedly breaks down:

Samsung Galaxy S21 128GB: €849
Samsung Galaxy S21+ 128GB: €1,049
Samsung Galaxy S21+ 256GB: €1,099
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 128GB: €1,399

Even in a normal January, these prices would be a tough sell.

These are European prices, so tax should be included. Also, because the dollar-euro exchange rate is pretty close to the sales tax rate in most EU countries (around 1:1.22 and 20% respectively), you can probably just change the curren…