Samsung Galaxy S20 Family Unpacked: Beautifully Executed Premium Android Phones With Space Zoom Cameras

After months of speculation, leaks, and teases, Samsung is finally ready to get official with its next-generation family of flagship "Galaxy S" smartphones - and indeed they look pretty sweet. As predicted, the entire Samsung Galaxy S20 lineup is 5G-enabled from top to bottom, and consists of three new devices: the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra. When it comes to design, unlike last year's models, all three members of the family look similar from the front and the back -- although they obviously differ in size and you can tell the Ultra's camera is something special. In...

Motorola One Action Review: A Deal Of An Android One Phone

by Ben Funk - Wed, Feb 05, 2020

Motorola seemingly has a knack for knocking out excellent mid-range Android phones like the Moto G series and the Moto Mod-capable and 5G ready Moto Z3. With more and more entrants bringing good enough performance at affordable price points, however, it's getting harder for manufacturers to differentiate. Even the underlying platforms are mostly standardized these days, with SoCs coming from just a couple of big players like Qualcomm. What's a manufacturer to do to stand out in the crowd? That's what Motorola is striving for with its Motorola One family of devices, specifically today's entrant,...

HP Elite Dragonfly Review: A Super Stylish 2-In-1 Laptop

by Ben Funk - Thu, Jan 30, 2020

The high end 2-in-1 notebook market is pretty crowded with entrants from Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, HP, ASUS and others. As a result, it's pretty tough to make a convertible laptop that stands out from the rest. HP's doing its best, however, with its new Elite Dragonfly line of lightweight, 2-in-1 hybrid PCs.  What we have on hand today is the currently-shipping edition of the Elite Dragonfly. That means this notebook carries an eighth-generation Intel Core processor. No doubt that right now is a transitional period, where the previous generation is being phased out, and new Intel 10th Gen CPUs,...

HP Omen 17 Review: A Value-Priced Mobile Gaming Beast

by Paul Lilly - Thu, Jan 23, 2020

For the longest time, replicating a desktop-class gaming experience on a laptop meant spending a hefty premium on a comparable mobile configuration, and to some extent, that still holds true today. The situation is much improved, however, as the cost of entry into PC gaming territory in general has continuously fallen on the hardware side, for both desktops and laptops. Simply put, the bang-for-buck proposition on a gaming PC has never been higher than it is right now. HP's newest model Omen 17 gaming laptop highlights this. It also accentuates the shrinking divide between desktops and laptops,...

Microsoft Surface Pro X And Pro 7 Review: Snapdragon And x86 Experience

by Ben Funk - Wed, Jan 15, 2020

Microsoft Surface Pro X (left) and Microsoft Surface Pro 7 (right) - Similar But Very Different Beasts Microsoft's Surface Pro line of convertible tablets has long been one of the standards by which premium Windows hybrid convertibles are judged. The Surface Pro family has been around for years, but these latest tablet 2-in-1 devices come with a twist. First is the tried-and-true Surface Pro 7 with an Intel Core processor and a surprising amount of power for the form factor. However, the Surface Pro is now available with an Arm 64 system-on-a-chip (SoC) and platform from Qualcomm, to boost battery...

AMD Unveils Ryzen 4000 Mobile Series With Bold Performance Claims, Insane 64-Core Threadripper Beast

by Dave Altavilla, Marco Chiappetta - Mon, Jan 06, 2020

AMD announced an array of new products at its CES 2020 press conference, including its first Zen 2-based Ryzen 4000 series mobile processors and a monstrous 64-core / 128-thread third-generatoin Ryzen Threadripper. In addition to the new processors, on the graphics front the oft-leaked Radeon RX 5600 XT that target’s 1080p gamers in the sweet spot of the GPU market was also made official – you can read more about the Radeon RX 5600 XT here. Thanks to the performance and efficiency enhancements that come by way of AMD’s Zen 2 architecture and the 7nm manufacturing process...

Dell XPS 13 (2019) Review: A Refined 6-Core Ultrabook

by Ben Funk - Fri, Dec 27, 2019

Dell's XPS 13 family is split into two main product lines; 2-in-1 convertible notebooks and traditional clamshell-style laptops. It wasn't too long ago that we looked at the latest 2-in-1 with Intel's 10th-generation Core i7-1065G7. That machine was a thin, light, flexible beauty and a great performer, thanks in no small part to its improved graphics capability with the Intel 10th Gen Core series of CPUs. So when Dell offered up the latest XPS 13 clamshell version with a bright 4K display and Intel's Comet Lake 6-core 10th Gen CPU on tap, we just had to kick the tires a bit.  For those not...

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 Review: Powerful Portability

by Ben Funk - Thu, Dec 19, 2019

Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 family has long been synonymous with excellent build quality and premium features. Over the summer, we were extremely impressed with the 7th-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon's build quality, performance, and its bright 4K IPS display. This time around we're looking at the larger ThinkPad X1 Extreme, which shares a design aesthetic with its smaller sibling. However, this model trades the smaller notebook's ultrabook specs for a larger 15.6" chassis and higher-powered components.  Much like the Carbon, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme starts out with a 1080p IPS display and has several...

Qualcomm Snapdragon 865: Next-Gen Android Phone Benchmark Preview

by Marco Chiappetta - Mon, Dec 16, 2019

We are fresh back from the 2019 Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit, during which the company revealed a number of new products and technologies. In addition to the XR2 5G next-generation VR platform, new Always-Connected PC processors, and the Snapdragon 765, which will target mainstream, 5G-enabled smartphones next year, Qualcomm also announced its flagship Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform. Just like its previous-gen predecessor, the Snapdragon 855 (and 855+), the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform will be the foundation for an array of premium Android smartphones released throughout 2020 (and beyond)....

Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Amps Performance, Cameras And AI For Flagship 5G Phones

by Dave Altavilla, Brandon Hill - Wed, Dec 04, 2019

Qualcomm yesterday announced its new Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765/765G Mobile Platforms, but the company was rather mum on specific details other than to say that both were 5G-enabled. Today, we're getting a full picture on what to expect when the first devices with these chips land next year, along with a clearer picture on the 5G modem situation with the respective platforms. Kicking things off is the Snapdragon 865, which is the flagship SoC replacement for the Snapdragon 855/855+. The Snapdragon 865 is paired with a separate Snapdragon X55 5G modem; which is an interesting development....

DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Review: Top-Notch, Affordable Phone Gimbal

by Chris Goetting - Tue, Dec 03, 2019

There are few better ways to record memories than video. You have probably recorded clips of birthday parties, vacations, or family holidays here and there. Maybe you enjoy sharing a glimpse of your daily grind to Instagram. Videos help us to share our world with others and reminisce about days gone by. Impromptu filming has become ever more accessible as smartphones have overtaken camcorders with remarkable new capabilities. While smartphone camera quality has improved dramatically year after year with powerful image stabilization capability, shots can still be ruined by human hand shake shortcomings....

Google Pixelbook Go Review: A Premium Chromebook Experience

by Rod Scher - Thu, Nov 21, 2019

Google's new Pixelbook Go is a bit of an anomaly in the company's line of Chromebooks. Neither a folding, swiveling ultra-premium device like the original Google Pixelbook, nor a tablet like the Pixel Slate, the company's newest release is a traditional clamshell design, although one that features a touch-enabled display. It looks, feels, and behaves like a conventional laptop, but with its magnesium chassis, 1080p touchscreen, and quiet "Hush Keys," one that's small, light, feature-rich and well-made. That said, though its premium mobile laptop is fairly conventional, Google's Pixelbook line...

ASUS ROG Phone II Review: A Mobile Gaming And Battery Life Beast

by Paul Lilly - Tue, Nov 12, 2019

The concept of a purpose-built gaming phone is still somewhat in its infancy, though we are starting to see generational upgrades, such as the ASUS ROG Phone II. As the name implies, this is the second generation of ASUS' gaming handset. Like the original ROG Phone released last year, the ROG Phone II combines bleeding edge hardware with gaming-centric software optimizations. ASUS sprinkles in some nifty features (like Air Triggers) and then surrounds it all with optional accessories to amp up the experience. What ASUS has essentially created is not just a gaming phone, but a smartphone gaming...

Google Pixel 4 XL Review: Streaks Of Brilliance, Pure Android

by Dave Altavilla - Thu, Nov 07, 2019

Without question, Google's Pixel 4 XL has been the most leaked smartphone of 2019 prior to its official launch. Heck, even Google teased the device and a key feature or two along the way, so it goes without saying, the hype was big for this fourth generation Pixel. Google tries to set the bar for Android ecosystem partners with respect to industrial design and new enabling technologies with its Pixel phones. And in fact, the new Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL bring with them a couple of firsts for made by Google devices, specifically a 90Hz display and wireless charging. The premise is that hopefully these...