Articles by Hayato Huseman

Best answer: Yes, Mint Mobile users can send and receive both calls and texts over Wi-Fi, so long as it’s supported by the device itself.

Unlimited calls and 3GB: Mint Mobile ($45 for three months at Mint Mobile)

What is Wi-Fi calling on Mint Mobile?

Wi-Fi calling is a way to get around dead zones and poor coverage by allowing you to place calls over Wi-Fi, similar to calling someone with a VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) service like Skype. The difference, of course, is that Wi-Fi calling uses your actual phone number rather than a username as if you had a solid cellular connection.

Wi-Fi calling can also be used for text messaging, with both SMS and MMS messages coming in through your internet connection. In some cases, you can even use Wi-Fi calling to make calls overseas (typically to, rather than from the U.S.) without accruing huge international calling charges on your bill.

Will Wi-Fi calling work on my phone?

Most carriers these days support Wi-Fi calling, and that …

Amazon Fire HD 8 (2020)

Best value tablet

From $90 at Amazon

Pros

Much cheaper than the HD 10
The smaller size is better for e-books
Most portable HD Fire tablet
USB-C, fast charging, and 12-hour battery life

Cons

The display isn’t as dense as the HD 10
Speakers distort at high volumes

The Fire HD 8 might be the best value tablet on the market, boasting smooth performance with Amazon’s Fire OS and a surprisingly good display for just $90. While it isn’t quite as powerful as the HD 10, it offers all the same basic functionality at substantial savings. Most people will be served just fine with the HD 8.

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2019)

Best Amazon tablet

From $150 at Amazon

Pros

The large screen is better for watching videos
Better specs than the HD 8
Louder speakers with more clarity
USB-C, fast charging, and 12-hour battery life

Cons

The larger size may be too much for some
Highest priced Fire tablet, non-Kids Edition

The Fire HD 10 takes everything great about the…

It feels like we write dozens of articles every month discussing all of the best wireless earbuds and headphones you can buy, from over-ear cans with active noise canceling to true wireless earbuds that can fit in the coin pocket of your jeans. There are seemingly endless options to choose from, but what do the writers with most of those options sitting at their desks actually use in their personal lives?

Headphones

Getting started

10 underrated features you need in your next pair of headphones
Why some Bluetooth headphones sound better than others

Android

Team AC’s favorite headphones & earbuds
Are AirPods good for Android?
What Android users should know about EQ
Surface Earbuds and Android

Windows

Surface Headphones vs. Earbuds
Pairing AirPods on Windows
Surface Earbuds vs. AirPods
Surface Earbuds vs. Galaxy Buds Plus
The best headset for students

Apple

Best cheap AirPod knockoffs
What iPhone users should know about EQ
Best EQ apps for iOS
Spatial Audio …

Available for paid Dropbox Plus, Professional, and Family users.

What you need to know

Dropbox Vault and Dropbox Password, first announced on June 16th, are officially available to paid Dropbox subscribers.
Dropbox Password is already available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Dropbox Vault allows you to store sensitive files in an encrypted, PIN-protected folder, and grant view-only permissions to trusted users.

You likely know Dropbox for its cloud storage services, but the company has recently branched out into password management, as well. Back in June, Dropbox rolled out a beta preview of its new password manager, along with Dropbox Vault, a pin-protected section within your storage for safely backing up sensitive information — which is, of course, encrypted at every step.

Today, Dropbox Vault and Dropbox Password are officially out of beta, though you’ll need to be a paying user on a Dropbox Plus or Family plan to gain access to either feature (Dropbox Professional…

I can’t stop taking photos of this beautiful new finish.

It’s a good thing I’ve got a couple of spare camera batteries and some new lenses to break in, because my camera will basically be glued to my hands for the next week or two. Yesterday, FedEx came by (a little later than expected) and dropped off two packages, containing Samsung’s just-announced Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Galaxy Watch 3.

You guessed it: Mystic Bronze!

Both came in the new Mystic Bronze color that Samsung made — ahem — quite a fuss over during its Unpacked live stream, and it’s absolutely gorgeous, though as many have pointed out, it’s much more akin to rose gold than bronze.

Whatever you want to call it, I’ve been having a lot of fun taking photos of the Note so far, and wanted to share a few of them along with my early thoughts on the phone as someone who spent a considerable portion of the last year using the Galaxy Note 10.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Gorgeous new hardware

The Note 20 Ultra is…

I’ve been through far too many phones, but only a few were truly memorable.

I was in the seventh grade when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone on the stage of MacWorld 2007. Of course, at the time I didn’t realize I was watching what would quickly go down as one of the most significant keynote addresses in modern history, but I knew that I wanted one.

I wanted an iPhone so badly

I remember insistently begging my parents to switch our Verizon plan over to AT&T so I could ditch my flip phone and we could all get iPhones (remember when carrier exclusivity was a big thing?) … but it didn’t happen. At least, not until the following year when the iPhone 3G was released, and we finally ported our numbers away from Big Red. I was ecstatic; it was a whole new world coming from my LG VX8300, and with the addition of Apple’s new App Store, I was downloading every app I could find.

The magic eventually wore off.

For the first couple of years, I couldn’t put my iPhone 3G do…

If you’re upgrading for the first time in a few years and coming from a phone that still used Android’s traditional three-button bar at the bottom of the screen, you might be confused to find that it’s been replaced with gesture-based navigation. Don’t panic; it’s not too hard to get the hang of, and it frees up some space at the bottom of your screen. OnePlus’s Oxygen OS interface may be a bit different from the “stock” Android experience you’d get on, say, a Google Pixel, but the gestures work just the same.

Products used in this guide

Top of the line: OnePlus 8 Pro ($900 at OnePlus)
Most of the same: OnePlus 8 ($700 at OnePlus)

How to enable full screen gestures

Full screen gesture navigation is enabled by default on any phone running Android 10, which includes the OnePlus 7T, 8, and 8 Pro. But if you’re using an older OnePlus device, you may need to manually switch away from the three-button navigation bar.

Open the Settings app.
Tap Buttons & gestures.
Tap Navigati…

Lockdown mode is a security feature that first arrived with Android 9 Pie that acts as a last-resort measure to keep prying eyes out of your phone. Enabling it obfuscates any incoming notifications on your lockscreen and disables biometrics and Smart Lock settings, preventing anyone from forcing you to unlock your phone with your face or fingerprint.

Product used in this guide

Pure Android bliss: Google Pixel 4 ($650 at Amazon)
Well-rounded flagship: Samsung Galaxy S20 ($1000 at Amazon)

How to enable Lockdown on the Pixel 4

The exact steps to enable Lockdown mode varies from phone to phone, but on the Pixel 4, it’s as simple as jumping into the display settings. Once it’s been enabled, you won’t have to launch it from the settings every time; instead, it’ll conveniently show up in the power menu.

Open the Settings app.
Tap Display, then drop down additional options by tapping Advanced.
At the bottom of the screen, tap Lock screen display.
Under What to Show, toggle Show loc…

Never settle for lesser cameras.

With recent discounts, the Galaxy S20 and OnePlus 8 can both be had for around the same price, and both offer excellent hardware, gorgeous high-refresh rate displays, 5G connectivity, and more. They also both feature triple-camera systems, but you’ll get quite a different photographic experience from each phone.

The Galaxy S20 features the tried-and-true combination of wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto cameras, touting up to 30x zoom through a mix of digital cropping and AI magic. On the other hand, while the OnePlus 8 offers the same wide and ultra-wide configuration, it features a dedicated macro lens rather than a telephoto, letting you get extremely close to a subject without losing focus.

So which phone takes the better photos overall? We took both out and shot in various scenarios to see how each one fares.

Daylight photos

Galaxy S20 (left) / OnePlus 8 (right) — click to view larger.

You get a similarly specced 12MP f/1.8 pr…

Powering down your phone isn’t quite as simple as it used to be. These days, manufacturers are using the power button as a shortcut to launching various apps — in Samsung’s case, Bixby — and you can’t always just hold the button down to access the power menu. At least, not by default. Don’t worry, though, turning off the Galaxy S20 still isn’t exactly complicated.

How to turn off the S20

There’s plenty of debate around whether or not you actually need to turn your phone off with any regularity, but it can be good to start things fresh from time to time. Turning off your phone can also be a way to alleviate some bugs and issues (we’ve all seen the IT Crowd memes). It turns out, there are multiple ways to power down the S20, but we’ll focus the step-by-step on the one that probably feels most natural: holding the power button down.

Open the Settings app.
Scroll down and tap Advanced features.
Tap Side key.
Under Press and hold, make sure Power off menu is toggled on, rather tha…