Android | Gear Diary

The Honor 6X Sports Premium Features at a More Than Fair Price

One of the highlights of the first day of CES has to be hands down, the unveiling of the Honor 6x. A budget smartphone with specs that you’d expect to pay a hefty price for, the follow up tot he popular Honor 5x just continues being a success. Available for pre-order on January 4th, the Honor 6x packs so many features, listening them next to the price tag you’d think I were lying. With a dual-lens rear camera, the 5.5-inch (1920x1080p) display Honor 6x has a metallic body s available in grey, silver and gold, comes in three variations in…

Reviews

Lenovo Yoga Book: A Versatile and Unique Android Hybrid

I’ve had the 12.9″ iPad Pro since it came out, and while there are things I absolutely love about using a larger tablet, lugging it around isn’t one of them. Add on a detachable keyboard or case, and it suddenly weighs as much or more than a Macbook. For portability and features, the Lenovo Yoga Book 2-in-1 is downright attractive.

Reviews

An iPhone 7 User’s Experience with the LG V20 Smartphone

I’ll be quite honest, I didn’t know exactly how I would go about this seeing as though I’ve restricted myself to Apple ever since the iPhone 4s and have not looked back. So when LG sent over their LG V20, my world was completely shaken up. How did it turn out?

News & Features

Motorola Partnering with Indiegogo to Help Developers make Cool MotoMods

One of the most interesting things about my new phone, a Motorola Z Force Droid Edition, is the mod system. The initial mods were kind of blah with the speaker, various battery packs, the projector, and the Hasselblad camera. However, that will soon change with the help of Indiegogo and Verizon.

Reviews

Huawei’s Flagship Honor 8 Is a Gorgeous, Budget-Friendly, yet Capable Android Phone

Huawei brings their new flagship Android smartphone, the Honor 8, to the market sporting an affordable $399.99 price tag. The Honor 8 features a gorgeous, yet slippery, flagship-style design, 5.2-inch 1080p touchscreen, 12-megapixel dual-lens main camera and 8-megapixel front-facing camera, and a rear fingerprint sensor/button combination. The Honor 8 is powered by an octa-core 2.3 GHz CPU with 4MB RAM.

News & Features

ZTE’s New Smartphone Is Affordable, Ergonomic, and Comes with Premium Features

With the holidays coming up, many people are looking for a great budget phone with premium features, and if that includes you, there’s a popular brand (and Gear Diary favorite) that you might need to check out.

News & Features

ZTE’ s New Sub-$150 6-Inch Device Has Premium Features

It’s shaping up to be a ZTE week with all of the great new devices that the popular smartphone brand continues to put out news for, and a lot is the same with ZTE’s newest device.

News & Features

ZTE’s Newest Smartphone Has Premium Features for a Low Price

If you are currently looking for an affordable phone that has some top-of-the-line features, you should be checking out the ZTE Tempo.

News & Features

Google Pixel XL 128 GB Smartphone Goes Out of Stock Less Than 24 Hours After Unveiling

Less than 24 hours after being unveiled, the Google Pixel XL 128 GB is officially out of stock. The phone, Google’s first attempt at managing the design process, had been widely criticized as too expensive.

Reviews

The Moto Z Droid: Mods Make It Yours

There has been quite a bit of excitement around the idea of modular phones this year; LG’s G5 introduced their take on modules with their “Friends” collection, and Moto has taken it a step further with their Moto Mods for the Moto Z line. Let’s take a look …

News & Features

VIZIO Announces Crave Multi-Room WiFi Speakers

I’m finishing up a review of VIZIO M-Series display. It’s an amazing Ultra HD display with Google Cast built in. I’ve been looking at VIZIO sound bars to add to it and was psyched to get word that VIZIO is also bringing some WiFi speakers to market in the form of the all-new VIZIO SmartCast Crave Pro and 360 Speaker.

Reviews

Assassin HTPC’s Micro Extender Is the Perfect Streaming Solution

Assassin HTPC, one of the top names in the Home Theater PC game, is back in the news with their new Assassin Micro Media Extender. It’s a pint-sized PC that runs on Android that comes preconfigured with Assassin HTPC customized software that’s ready to use straight out of the box. The Assassin Micro retails for $249.99, including lifetime cloud updates.

Events, News & Features

Sony Announces the New Xperia XZ and Xperia X Compact

Judie and I have been fans of the Sony Xperia line of smartphones and tablets. Now Sony has introduced two new additions to the Xperia line — the flagship Sony Xperia XZ and the premium Xperia X Compact. They are the first Xperia phones to feature triple image sensing. Both look great and arrive this fall.

News & Features, Reviews

A Force to Be Reckoned with: Moto Z Force Droid Edition Review

I have had my Nexus 6 for over a year, and while it was still good, I really like the fingerprint reader on my work’s iPhone and wanted a MicroSD card. So I upgraded to a Moto Z Force Droid Edition from Verizon. Is it a worthy replacement to my trusty Nexus 6? So far, it has exceeded my expectations!

Events, News & Features

Lenovo Launches Amazing New Android and Windows Yoga Books; I Want One!

IFA has started, and Lenovo is introducing three new Yoga devices: the Yoga Book (a 2-in-1 tablet in Android and Windows versions), the Yoga 910 (a 2-in-1 laptop), the Yoga Tab 3 Plus (a 10” Android tablet), and the Miix 510 (a Windows detachable).

Reviews

OnePlus 3 Equals an Awesome Android Phone for Under $400

Just about twice a year I leave my iPhone behind and flirt with Android phones for a period of time. Most of the time I’m happy to get back to my iPhone. Most recently, however, the transition back to iOS was tough. I was using the OnePlus 3 and absolutely loved it. Raina, however, wanted me back on iMessage.

Reviews

ZTE and Metro PCS Prove Inexpensive Doesn’t Mean Cheap with the $99 ZMAX PRO Smartphone

It’s easy to believe that “you get what you pay for”, which is often a driving reason for us to think that the more expensive something is, the better it must be. I’ve been guilty of that line of thinking, which is why the $99 ZTE ZMAX Pro so pleasantly surprised me.

News & Features

Project CSX Launched by ZTE to ‘Crowdsource the Next Big Idea in Mobile”

Did you know that ZTE is the “fourth largest smartphone manufacturer in the U.S. and the second largest in the no-contract market”? Well, they are, and today they are announcing the launch of Project CSX, a “crowdsourced mobile device the company will release in 2017.”

Reviews

Kogan Agora 6 Plus Review

It’s been a long time since I’ve used a “normal” sized phone every day, and I’m sure for many of you it will be the same. Large phones are popular, with their screens offering more room for text, photos, and video while including larger batteries for extended runtime.

Editorials

The Best Camera IS the One You Have with You!

After a week in Israel, I met Raina and we set out on a road trip to Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and now Bryce and Zion National Parks. For cameras, Raina brought her iPhone 6 while I brought my iPhone 6S and the OnePlus 3 I am currently reviewing. Do we regret not bringing dedicated cameras? Not. At. All.

Reviews

Alcatel Hits It Out of the Budget Park with Their IDOL 4S and VR Combo

If you’ve been paying attention to what’s big at tech shows for the past couple of years, then you know that Virtual Reality (VR) is H-U-G-E. If you buy the new Alcatel IDOL 4S, you’ll be set to take advantage of this exciting technology right out of the box — with nothing more to buy!