Smartphones & Gear






1100W OUPES Portable Power Station Review: Ready for Anything, Including Off-Grid Adventures and Power Outages at Home

We’d all like to think that when severe weather hits, we’ll be prepared. We’ll have food, water, and candles ready and waiting with enough notice. But if there isn’t a plan in place for providing emergency power during sustained blackouts, there’s still an important issue that needs to be addressed. Planning ahead and getting a 1100W OUPES Portable Power Station will give you peace of mind; when the power goes out, you’ll be able to keep your essential devices powered. It’s also handy for camping and other off-grid outdoor activities.



Snapdragon Tech Summit Day One: Introducing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform

At the yearly Snapdragon Summit, we’ve come to expect news regarding Qualcomm’s upcoming mobile platforms that will be powering soon-to-be-released flagship mobile devices, and this year was no exception; we now have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform to anticipate. Building on the success of the Snapdragon 888+ 5G system on chip, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is touted as able to deliver even faster 5G speeds, create more impressive photographs and video, take AI experiences to new levels, and yes, it will also provide more visually stimulating and immersive gaming experiences.


The Latest from the 2021 MediaTek Summit: Dimensity 9000 is LPDDR5X Validated, and Pentonic 2000 Will Deliver Flagship Smart TV Experiences

I’m in Laguna Beach attending the second day of the 2021 MediaTek Summit, and there have been several announcements revolving around their latest chipsets, including cameos from partnering companies. While I’m always fascinated to hear the features of upcoming processors, there’s also always a feeling of delayed gratification. We get information ahead of time on the latest, greatest, fastest, and most powerful upcoming features these new processors will offer … and then we have to wait for the first devices that will include them. Even so, there are a lot of new features coming that will make the technology inside…



RiotPWR Rotor Riot Android Controller RR1825A Review: It Turns Your Tablet into a Full Gaming Setup

Mobile gaming has evolved to match touch interfaces, but sometimes a hardware controller makes gaming smoother and more enjoyable. The RiotPWR Rotor Riot Android Controller RR1825A is a wired gaming controller for Android devices; when it was sent to me to review, my son ran off with it immediately. I eventually got it back from him, but was it worth negotiating it away from an 8-year-old? Read on to find out!





Xiaomi 11T Review: Rock Solid Performance at an Affordable Price

When I reviewed the 4G Xiaomi 11 Lite, I said that Xiaomi is a brand that more of us in the United States should become familiar with and pay attention to, and that has never been more true. The Xiaomi 11T and 11T Pro were announced in September; I have the 11T in hand, so let’s take a look at this affordable 5G smartphone, and see if it might be an option for you.




AT&T Makes It Easy to Get a Google Pixel 6 Series Smartphone

The wait is over, and the Google Pixel 6 series has now been officially launched for pre-order. With a new Tensor Chip designed by Google and custom-made for the Pixel, this smartphone series promises the most advanced Pixel camera and features, live translate (even when you are offline!), powerful performance, and next-gen Titan M2 Security. If you are an AT&T customer, they make it easy to get a Google Pixel 6 series device in your hands!


AT&T Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G Review Part 2: After Almost Two Months of Solid Use, This Next-Gen Phablet Has Proven Itself

I covered a brief history of Samsung’s journey that led us to the Galaxy Z Fold3 yesterday; let’s pick up where we left off. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 ships in a surprisingly small, shallow box. Being used to so many smartphones coming in much larger packaging, this was kind of refreshing. Most people I know either throw the boxes away anyway or store them somewhere until they eventually sell their phone on eBay, anticipating their next upgrade. I’m fine with the slightly austere packaging, even on such a pricy phone.


AT&T Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G Review Part 1: Samsung’s Long Journey to Make Folding Smartphones

If you had told me six months ago that I would be completely enamored with an oversized folding smartphone — a true phablet (phone+tablet) — I would have laughed at you; now, the joke is on me. I’ve been using an AT&T Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 for almost two months, and it has redefined everything I’ve ever thought I would ever want in a smartphone. This review will be a long one, which is why I’m splitting it into two parts.


The Unexpected Nostalgia of Finding an Original iPhone in My Junk Drawer

I recently went digging through a junk drawer looking for some old photos; I found several USB cables, a calculator watch, some unidentified flash drives, and … an original iPhone. As in, the iPhone that I sat in line outside the Apple Store to buy on launch day back in 2007. Fourteen years have passed, and it’s honestly shocking to hold the original iPhone in one hand and my 12 Pro Max in the other!