Let's Talk Tech
It’s one of the best phones of the year at any price. I’m not going to shock anyone by sharing my mostly positive experiences.
Still, we should chat about this phone, a CONFUSING year of product releases, and what people MIGHT want if they decide to shop upscale.
Does the 7T still hang against MUCH more expensive handsets?
Continue reading “OnePlus 7T Review: You KNEW I was going to like it!”
Motion control showdown! We’ve been dancing around Jedi controls for years. Alternative actions are NOT easier. Google is taking a simpler approach to air gestures. Here’s how it stacks up against the other methods used by LG and Samsung!
I think simpler is better… Continue reading “Pixel 4XL vs LG G8 vs Galaxy S5: Air Gestures Are HARD”
LG V50 vs G8X dual screen showdown! If you want more space for activities, LG’s solution of a second screen case might be just the trick. Here’s how the G8X improves on the first generation V50 case! FIGHT!
Pre-Order the LG G8X on B&H https://bhpho.to/34pRIHe
I’ve already gone on record proclaiming the V50 as my favorite phone of 2019. As a reviewer and editorialist, I don’t believe there can be “true objectivity” in a review. If you know more about me, how I use my gadgets, and the work I put them through, you will have a better understanding of my analysis. You can apply my experiences which overlap with your needs, and you can disregard the parts of my analysis which don’t apply to you. I made a video on this idea, which you can watch below.
I try to be as fair as I can. I try to examine a gadget based on the claims made by the manufacturer, not my preconceived idea of what the gadget SHOULD be. I try to figure out who the audience might be for EVERY gadget I review.
Every phone I’ve reviewed this year has gotten SOME kind of purchasing recommendation, but obviously some phones have been more broadly recommended than others.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at one of the most brutal comparisons in the premium tier of the Android ecosystem. This is a battle of polar opposites. Two substantially different takes on the idea of an expensive phone. And when the dust settles from this showdown, the songs we will sing of these mighty titans will echo through the halls of history.
Or, we’ll just totally nerd out on two flashy gadgets. Continue reading “SomeGadgetGuy’s TOTALLY Biased Pixel 4XL vs LG V50 ThinQ Comparison! Brains vs Brawn!”
I feel we all get swept up in popularity trends. It can be difficult to swim against that stream once a general consensus has been agreed upon. I have to be honest here, as an editorialist, I happen to enjoy those situations where I can shine a light on a topic, and maybe poke at that popular trend.
Whether I’m responding to a mega-youtuber about a jack-of-all-trades phone, correcting a popular Android blog about audio, or explaining how camera crop factor works when people flip out about a 3X zoom, I enjoy ruffling a few feathers to spread better data on complicated subjects.
The Pixel 4 was one of the worst kept secrets of 2019. It may be one of the worst kept secrets of all time. Now that it’s finally arrived, the tech community is in first stage of impressions and reviews. What makes the Pixel 4 different, we knew pretty much everything about the phone a month before it launched. Google isn’t facing a community just beginning to form opinions on the new Pixel, they’re facing a community that has already made up its collective mind on the Pixel.
It’s pretty clear that Google is setting their sights on Apple as the primary competition. For better, and for worse. When Apple does something, it seems to motivate a LOT of the decisions made by Google’s hardware team.
When the original Pixel launched, we all lovingly joked about it being “Google’s iPhone”. For a hot minute, I really tried to get the nickname “gPhone” to stick.
With the Pixel 4, it would seem Google took those early sentiments to heart. The Pixel 4 seems a purpose-built iPhone competitor, the closest way to recreate an iPhone-style experience, but in the Android ecosystem.
It’s entirely fair to compare Pixels against the phones Apple released this year. What’s frustrating though, is seeing folks cherry-pick one or two features to declare a winner, and to highlight “worth”.
Phones should be judged holistically, and any phone can win or lose a showdown if we move the goalposts to align with a user’s pre-determined bias. The common criticism I see now, is declaring the Pixel 4 unworthy to compete even against the cheaper non-pro iPhone 11. It’s a causally delivered verdict, folks kind of nod along. It’s a surface statement that sounds good, and throws a thumb in the eye of Google.
“The Pixel 4 can’t possibly be worth $100 more than an iPhone!”
The issue is, that statement doesn’t really hold water… Continue reading “Silly Tech Geeks! Of course the Pixel 4 is worth $100 more than an iPhone 11!”
Pixel 4XL performance!
Benchmarking a phone is tricky. Synthetic scores only tell PART of the story. If you’re shopping a premium phone, we should be looking at MUCH more aggressive use than just “covering the basics”. Let’s run the Pixel 4 through some tests that can make decent laptops struggle!
Also, the Pixel 4XL totally destroys the competition in these tests. It’s not even close… Continue reading “Google Pixel 4XL Benchmarked! The FASTEST phone of 2019!”
Pixel 4XL First Impressions! I’m less than a day into using the Pixel 4, but I’m building a plan for how I’m going to review this phone! What are some of my early hopes for this gadget? What are some concerns worth examining? Sharing some thoughts with a preview of coverage to come! Continue reading “Google Pixel 4XL: 4 Hopes and 4 Fears for a Future Review…”
One of the most powerful phones of the year. One of the best multi-media experiences available. One of the best options for mobile content creation. All that and a 5G radio, for the same price as an iPhone 11 Pro with half the storage and an Intel LTE radio.
It’s an absolute monster of a phone. At once super underrated, and also ahead of its time.
So why aren’t more people talking about this phone? Continue reading “LG V50 Review: The Monster Sleeper Phone of 2019”