Articles by Ara Wagoner

There are a lot of fun new features coming in Android 12 and chief among them is the first major update to Android’s design and user interface (UI). Material Design was unveiled in 2014, dragging us out of the beautiful #HOLOYOLO darkness and into the multi-layered blindingly white of most Material Designed apps. Now, we’re getting Material You, a fun new evolution that helps bring back a more cohesive look for Android while offering you the chance to make your phone look and feel totally unique and personal.

What’s new in Material You theming — and who can take advantage of it

While many parts of Material You will be available to all manufacturers and ROM-builders when Android 12 releases this fall, one aspect — in my opinion, the most important aspect — will be Pixel-exclusive at launch: Dynamic Color themes that will automatically theme your phone with colors extracted from your wallpaper. While the automatic Dynamic Color theming first arrived on Beta 2, you couldn’t swit…

Once upon a time, getting one of the best 100W USB-C chargers meant it would be bulky, expensive, and proprietary. Now with Power Delivery, you can now find 100W chargers, with 160W charging on the way, that will charge even the most powerful laptops quickly and will charge even lower-powered devices like Chromebooks and phones, alongside your laptop with ease. The scene is shifting on 100W chargers pretty quickly these days as gallium nitride (GaN) starts making its way into this class of charger, but right now, we have a clear winner in the AUKEY Omnia 100W PD Charger.

Smart power

Anker PowerPort Atom PD 4 Charger

Staff pick

This desk-friendly charging station can charge at up to 20V/5A for one device or intelligently breaks it up to charge 2-4 devices at once. The form factor and split of two USB-C and 2 USB-A make it great for charging a wide variety of devices in a variety of situations.

$100 at Amazon
$110 at Best Buy

Sleek style

Satechi 108W Pro USB-C PD Desktop Charg…

What you need to know

Choetech has been delisted by Amazon, the latest in a string of tech brand removals.
The cause for Choetech’s removal is not confirmed yet, but most of the recent removals have been for violations of the paid review rules.
Amazon has been cracking down on paid reviews since a scathing report by SafetyDetectives back in May.

Amazon’s been cracking down on paid reviews — which is a violation of Amazon’s vendor policies — over the course of the summer following the exposure of a massive paid review scheme, and some of the bigger names in technology accessories have been swept up in the digital raid. Aukey and Mpow were among the first ones culled in May, then RAVPower was yanked days before Prime Day. Now, it seems Amazon has brought down the banhammer on Choetech, a popular maker of wireless chargers, power banks, and cables.

Choetech’s listings all went dark this morning, and while the cause for the de-listing has yet to be confirmed by Amazon, it’s easy…

Spur adoption, soothe flaring tempers, and boost sales numbers. Everyone wins.

A few days ago, Samsung gave us its first look at the new Wear platform during MWC, and despite it being one of the most anticipated events from this year’s conference, we didn’t actually see much of anything new during this teaser for next month’s Unpacked event. It was confirmed that the Galaxy Watch 4 will be the first watch with the new unified platform, and we learned that Samsung’s skin for the new platform will be called One UI Watch, which makes sense given that Samsung is trying to make it look and feel more like your Galaxy phone.

However, when it came to seeing how the new platform would actually look and behave, we saw two gifs more than we saw at Google I/O. That’s it. All the app examples were straight out of the Google I/O presentation, and the splash screen showing all the app icons and a couple of examples that looked like a shuffled version of the hero from Google I/O. We got to see wha…

How much money do you really need to spend to get a good Windows laptop? While Best Windows Laptop guides across the net are filled with $1,500to $3000 ultrabooks and beastly gaming laptops, you don’t need to spend even half that number to get a good experience these days. The quality is still too unpredictable in the sub-$400 market to reasonably recommend a Windows laptop over the best Chromebooks outside specific circumstances, but in the $450 to $700 segment, there’s fierce competition for your money and your primary PC. These are the best cheap laptops you can buy today.

What are the best cheap laptops?

When it comes to cheap laptops, it’s all about finding the features you want most — and the features you’re willing to sacrifice for it. There are few touchscreen laptops in the cheap category and even fewer 2-in-1s, which helps the Lenovo Flex 5 (14″) stand out all the more. You get a good touchscreen — except in sunlight, where all but the Microsoft offerings wash out immed…

The Chromecast with Google TV is a great little streaming box, but it only has one port on it: a single USB-C port through which the device is powered. If you want to add extra storage to the internal 8GB or you want to add Ethernet for faster speeds and fewer buffering issues, you’ll need to get a USB-C hub that offers up a plethora of ports and pass-through charging to ensure your Chromecast with Google TV has the power it needs, too.

Fan favorite

Vemont Premium 5-in-1 Type-C Hub

Staff Pick

Vemont’s hub has been strenuously tested by /r/Chromecast with various power supplies, including the standard Google TV power brick. While it’s only a 5-in-1, it has Ethernet and three USB-A ports.

$22 at Amazon

USB-C data input

Anker PowerExpand 6-in-1 USB C PD Ethernet Hub

If you have a big external drive that uses USB-C, there are very few hubs that support it. Anker’s PowerExpand 6-in-1, however, offers both a PD pass-through port and a USB-C data input so that you can hook up ev…

The Google Pixel 4a was one of the most compelling phones of 2020, offering excellent performance and cameras for less than half the price of its flagship. While it might not cost thousands of dollars, that doesn’t mean it’s any less worthy of protection. Whether you need to spice up the Just Black of the Pixel 4a or need to keep it safe from the chaos outside your door, these are the best Pixel 4a cases you can buy right now.

Pretty protection

Caseology Parallax for Google Pixel 4a

Staff Pick

This hybrid case comes in four dazzling color combinations — matte black, classic blue, purple-ish, and a darling coral pink — and offers drop protection and grip in a compact profile.

From $15 at Amazon $16 at Walmart

Guard the front and back

Poetic Revolution

This heavy-duty case comes with a screen protector built into the front frame, offering 360 degrees of protection for your Pixel 4a. I also like the robust kickstand on the back that can be used in portrait or landscape.
…

Trying new things is hard — especially when they cost hundreds of dollars.

We’re in the home stretch of Amazon Prime Day, and there have been deals big and small passing through, and now it’s time to head for the checkout after grabbing your last few items. This is the time where we take the plunge on items we’d been considering buying for months — I’m finally trying a set of smooth bamboo sheets to see if they’re as cooling as they sound. If you’ve been debating trying out a Chromebook as your next laptop, this is absolutely, 100% the perfect time to jump on it.

There are good Chromebook deals tonight that won’t break the bank and will give you a good starting experience with Chrome OS. You can decide if you want to buy a fancier model in the future or if the testing model you buy tonight actually fits the bill all on its own. There are three Lenovo Chromebook deals that are perfect for those wanting to dip their toe in the pool, so to speak, and you should grab them now befor…

Amazon Prime Day is almost over, and even if you didn’t take advantage of the amazing Android phone deals, you can grab some great case deals today for the phone you already have. Or, if you did buy a new phone, you can order a case and have it here before your new phone shows up.

After all, you wouldn’t take your brand new phone out into the wild, wild world without a case on it, right? Right?!

Casemakers and screen protector manufacturers are getting in on the Prime Day fun, and here are the deals the best of the best are offering tonight. These deals aren’t going to last much longer, so take advantage and get your phone something nice! It deserves it.

Caseology | 20%-60% off at Amazon

Caseology makes some of my favorite cases on the market, including the Nano Pop Series that’s available for the S21 series and the A52/A72 series. Most cases for Galaxy and Pixel phones are discounted.

From $8 at Amazon

The Caseology Nano Pop is my favorite case, and it’s 40% off today, s…

The Google Pixel 5 is a wonderful phone with amazing cameras, but it continued an irksome trend from the Pixel 3 and Pixel 4: it’s very picky about wireless chargers. The Pixel 3 basically only fast-charged on the Pixel Stand. The Pixel 4 was slightly better but it was still hard to find a reliable wireless charger for. The Pixel 5 supports 15W wireless charging using the Extended Power Profile (EPP) standard within the Qi charging spec, but because Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus all use proprietary wireless charging profiles, EPP actually isn’t that widely used.

Thankfully, one of the best Pixel 5 wireless chargers is seeing a Prime Day deal, even if it doesn’t look like it on the listing page. The iOttie iON Wireless Duo is 30% off at checkout, bringing it back down to its lowest price ever. Just be aware, Pixel owners: only the Dark Grey is Pixel 5 compatible, the Light Grey and Navy Blue are 10W chargers more optimized for Apple and Samsung devices.

For you and your (Pixel) buds

iO…