Articles by Chris Wedel

The Galaxy Watch is still one of the best Samsung smartwatches, even if it’s getting along in years, and it deserves one of the best Samsung Galaxy watchbands. Not only to keep it secured to your wrist but also to help customize it to better fit your style. The watch allows you to choose from several watch faces to get the right look for the screen, but you can easily replace the strap using a standard 22mm watch band for the 46mm Galaxy Watch to make it even more you.

Meshes with everyone

Fullmosa stainless steel watch band

Staff Pick

Sometimes the feel of metal can be calming as well as being more stable than other materials. If you need a band that you know is safe to use, then stainless steel is the ticket. This adjustable mesh-style band is super comfortable and looks great too.

$15 at Amazon

Totally metal

V-MORO 22mm Stainless Steel Strap

This strap from V-MORO comes with heavy-duty stainless steel, and it goes on instantly with the built-in clasp. It’s available in…

Oh-so clean

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

From $250 at Samsung
From $250 at Amazon
From $250 at Best Buy

Pros

Lighter weight than Galaxy Watch 4 Classic
Best for smaller wrists
Same performance for less money
Minimal design
Capacitive rotating bezel

Cons

Aluminum case is more easily damaged
No physical rotating bezel

The Galaxy Watch 4 is Samsung’s watch for fitness fiends thanks to its lightweight design and smaller case sizes. Complete with excellent performance and advanced health monitoring sensors, this watch is ready to go everywhere you are. But, the lack of a physical rotating bezel could make it less than ideal to use with sweaty fingers.

The new classic

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic

From $350 at Samsung
From $350 at Amazon
From $350 at Best Buy

Pros

Looks more like a traditional watch
Durable stainless steel case
Physical rotating bezel
Offers the largest case size
Excellent performance

Cons

More expensive
Heavier than the Galaxy Watch 4

As t…

Galaxy Z Fold 3 features great hardware with meh software and could be a better user experience.

Foldable phones are still relatively new in the grand scheme of smartphones. But that doesn’t mean that some of these products aren’t impressive. For example, while the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 isn’t a significant improvement over the second generation Galaxy Z Fold 2, the fine-tuning that Samsung has done with the device is very much welcomed. However, the bulk of that tweaking Samsung did with the Z Fold 3 was mainly on the hardware side of things. The software and UI are very much the same as the prior version — and that’s unfortunate because it’s still kind of a mess.

Yes, Samsung did add a couple of new features and expand on a few others as well. But, when fellow freelancer Andrew Myrick put together his first 12 things to do with your new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, it further solidified the complicated feelings I had when using my own Z Fold 3. Put simply — if you want to get th…

No matter what type of smartwatch experience you’re seeking, there are tons of Wear OS watches out there that will fulfill your needs. If you want support for contactless payments, be sure to check out the watches that support Google Pay. This handy software lets you leave your wallet at home and pay using only your watch at locations where contactless payments are accepted. Fortunately, this payment option is becoming more common these days. We’ve rounded up some of the best watches that support Google Pay to help you pick a winner.

Welcome to Wear OS 3

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

Staff Pick

If you haven’t heard, the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is here. More importantly, it’s the first Wear OS 3 device. As a result, you’ll enjoy stellar performance and a bunch of new Google-based features. As you might’ve guessed, this watch supports Google Pay! You also get two size options, 40 hours of battery life, GPS, and tons of health features.

From $250 at Samsung

Top of the line

Ti…

Using one of the best ergonomic keyboards relieves unnecessary strain on your wrists, shoulders, and posture caused by traditional keyboards. Using a proper keyboard can make even the best Chromebook better. When it comes to ergonomic keyboard styles, there are several to choose from. Some offer a curved split design, whereas others have a slight wave to the keys. Here are the best choices when it comes to ergonomic keyboards.

Best wireless ergonomic keyboards

Silent, yet accurate

Logitech Ergo K860 Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard with Wrist Rest

Staff Pick

Where the Logitech K350 mentioned previously offers a small posture change to typing, the Ergo K860 has a wider split to its keys and an arch to the overall board shape. Together with shallow-scooped keys that are quiet when pressed, these features offer a more serene typing experience. The wireless Ergo K860 is also part of the Logitech Unifying Receiver, so it uses the same adapter for your other compatible accessories.

Fr…

It appears that Google is finally getting into the smartwatch game with the first Pixel Watch this year — here’s what we know so far.

From the beginning of Google’s wearable strategy, it has always relied on other OEMs to carry the hardware torch for its software. However, that doesn’t mean fans of Wear OS, and Android Wear before it, haven’t been clamoring for an official smartwatch from the software giant.

After years of rumors for a Google-branded wearable that always ended in disappointment for Wear OS fans, 2021 looks to be the year that a Google Pixel Watch may actually arrive alongside the Pixel 6 lineup. Here’s what we know so far about the Pixel Watch.

Jump to:

Announcement & release date
Price
Models
Design
Specs and software

Pixel Watch: Announcement and release date

As of right now, we don’t have anything official from Google in terms of a Pixel Watch being released this year. However, far more leaks and information have pointed toward this being the y…

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 launched with a host of new software features to go along with some meaningful hardware improvements, including the ability to pin your favorite apps. Samsung’s Edge Panel software has been around since the 2014 Galaxy Note Edge, and since then, it has had many revisions, and in the latest version, you can lock your favorite apps onto the side of your phone’s display. Here’s how to pin apps on the Galaxy Z Fold 3.

How to enable the app taskbar feature

Open your Galaxy Z Fold 3 to the main display.
Go to Settings by pulling down the notification shade with two fingers and tapping on the gear icon (⚙️).
Scroll down and select Advanced features.
Tap Labs.

Toggle Pin your favorite apps on to enable it.

With the feature enabled in the Labs section, we can move on to getting your taskbar ready for your apps.

How to activate your app taskbar

In the first section, we enabled the feature to begin pinning apps to your Galaxy Z Fold 3’s taskbar. Now, i…

Google Chrome is a powerful web browser. Yet it has grown into so much more than just a program to look up funny memes online. It also serves as the basis for some of our favorite computers like Chromebooks. Google continues to evolve the software and is always working on new features to make Chrome even better. In July 2021, Chrome 92 was released, and it packed a lot of new tools such as Chrome Actions. With this new feature, you get shortcuts to many helpful functions like translating a web page, updating your passwords, and even managing your security settings without leaving your browser. Let’s get into how you can get more done, faster, with Chrome Actions.

How to use Chrome Actions

Chrome Actions allows you to access features within the browser faster by typing a trigger word into the search bar. Currently, Chrome Actions is only available on Chromebooks and PCs, but it will be coming soon to all compatible devices. As for how to start using Chrome Actions, here’s a breakdow…

Video game streaming should be as widely available and consistent as movie streaming — but it isn’t.

Cloud gaming is the future and will replace consoles. At least that’s what services like Google Stadia want us to believe. Honestly, the idea of getting top-tier games without the need to purchase an expensive piece of hardware that can break and needs to be upgraded every few years sounds great. However, game streaming services don’t matter if gigabit internet is required to play them.

Of course, Stadia isn’t the only option. There’s also Amazon’s Luna, NVIDIA GeForce Now, and Xbox’s xCloud, but the commonality of these services is the desire to give people the ability to play console-quality games without the need to own a console. Game streaming also opens up the ability to play games on a variety of devices. Whether that’s on a phone or an excellent Chromebok, you aren’t tethered to your living room anymore.

I used to love playing video games, and I still do. I just don’t h…

Chromebooks have come a long way in the last few years. Once considered cheap and very limited computers, these computers have grown into devices with a full range of choices to handle the needs of most anyone. This was illustrated when, in 2020, Chromebook sales overtook Macs. Because these devices have matured so much, many people use them as their primary computer for work. This means you may need to use to scan a document with a Chromebook from time to time. Well, here’s how to get that done.

How to scan documents with a Chromebook

When Google added native scanning to Chromebooks in April 2021, the process of getting a physical document onto your computer got much easier. Let’s get started with your Chromebook and scanner powered on and on the same Wi-Fi network — or the scanner is plugged into your Chromebook if dealing with a USB document scanner.

Load the document you want to scan into your scanner.
Press the Everything Button, between the tab and shift buttons, or click…