LATEST SMARTPHONES, TABLETS & WEARABLES

ANDROID
ISSUE

46 ADVISOR FROM IDG

PREVIEW
Samsung Google
Galaxy S9 in 2017: Hits and misses
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CONTENTS

40

REVIEWS

4 Google Pixel 2 22
22 Honor View 10
32 Doogee Mix

PREVIEW

40 Best new Android smartphones in 2017

62 Samsung Galaxy S9

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Keep updated with all the latest Android

Advisor news, by following us on Facebook

76
14

FEATURE

90 Google in 2017 76
How the Snapdragon 845
will impact your phone 84

HOW TO

Stops apps using up your data 88

Create an Android Watch face 90

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Google Pixel 2
£629 inc VAT from fave.co/2CvIuPk

T
he Google Pixel 2 is an odd phone. It has no
headphone jack, large bezels and an uninspiring
design. It doesn’t ignite excitement in the same
way the hardware of the larger Pixel 2 XL does, with
its curved, tall 18:9 display.
Samsung, LG and even Apple have phones with
tiny bezels and bleeding edge design. The smaller
5in Pixel 2 has neither of these things.
But the little Pixel is still a winner for two reasons:
its software and its camera. It’s the first phone I’ve

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used for a long time where the hardware melts away

and you’re just left with the best possible software
experience a phone can give you right now.
That’s what happens with the best PCs and
with the iPad, but in a competitive phone market,
manufacturers have to excite consumers with flashy
hardware. This sometimes leaves the software with
something to be desired, particularly in Android’s
fragmented world. Not so with the Pixel.

Design
Taste is subjective of course, but the Pixel 2 is not as
pretty as the larger Pixel 2 XL. The latter has an edge
to edge curved display with a higher resolution. The
smaller Pixel 2 reviewed here has a 5in 1080p display
with two big, black bezels at the top and bottom.
It’s pretty ugly from the front, and not a phone I’d
pick on aesthetic merit. When LG has done well with
the sleek XL version, it’s hard not to be disappointed
by HTC’s effort on this smaller one.
Thankfully, Google has put stereo front facing
speakers in the bezels, vastly improving the audio
output from 2016’s first generation. It’s easy to hold
in one hand but your thumb may still struggle to
reach the top of the screen.
Google made three colours of the smaller Pixel,
with Just Black, Clearly White and Kinda Blue for
the Miles Davis fans out there. My review device is in
black which is quite a pedestrian design, but all three
versions have black fronts (as do all Pixel 2 XL models).
The white and blue designs are only different
on the back and sides, though the blue has a cool

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turquoise power button that helps it stand out. The

Google logo on the back is barely visible on the
black model.
The rear metal and glass design of the first Pixel
has been carried over but altered slightly. The glass
section is now shallower, housing a camera with the
smallest of bumps, a dual LED flash and light sensors
hidden by the black designs, but visible on the blue
and white. The fingerprint sensor is not the fastest
I’ve ever used, but is exactly where it should be on
the rear of a phone: in the middle.
I think the white version of the Pixel 2 is the best
looking, but not as lovely as the black and white 2 XL
that has a bright orange power button. Swoon.
The aluminium body is slightly more textured
than the original Pixel and so feels more grippy
and premium in the hand. HTC made both of these
phones for Google, but they are surprisingly different
from one another.
The Pixel 2 is not wedge shaped like its predecessor
so cannot hide its camera bump, and the volume
rocker and power button on the right edge are similar,
except the power button is no longer textured.
The design is boxy but it hides its aerial lines well
in the thin body. The design is oddly reminiscent of
the Microsoft Lumia 950 and personally I don’t think
it’s overly exciting despite its premium build. From
the front it’s a bit ugly and cheap-looking.
It’s not going to stand out on a shelf next to the
Galaxy S8 or iPhone X, and if it weren’t for all the
redeeming features of the software experience, I’d
pass on the Pixel 2. In case you’re choosing between

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Samsung and Google, we’ve compared the Galaxy

S8 and Pixel 2 in detail.
The phone feels lighter than I expected it
to be, but at 143g is pretty normal. It measures
145.7x69.7x7.8mm, 0.7mm thinner than the first
Pixel. It is far more utilitarian, but thankfully screams
along with the Snapdragon 835 (4x 2.35GHz and 4x
1.9GHz) chipset and 4GB RAM. You have a choice
between 64 and 128GB of non-expandable storage,
but you’ll pay £100 extra for the latter.
This is where the Pixel lifts its unexciting design
above Android phones from OEMs like Samsung, LG
and Sony. When Google can handle the hardware
and give it stock Android, the performance is
unparalleled. In 2017 only the OnePlus 5 is as fluid
in overall software experience as the Pixel 2.
Despite making a huge joke about having one last
year when the iPhone didn’t, the Pixel 2 does not have

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a 3.5mm headphone jack. It’s a shame to see it go but

it won’t be long before all audio on smartphones is run
through USB-C, the same port you charge the phone
with. The phone ships with an adaptor (£9 to buy
separately) but no headphones in the box.
Don’t get me wrong, not having a headphone jack
is still, in 2017, very annoying and user hostile. But it’s
the norm now.
The Pixel 2 is IP67 water resistant (splash not dunk),
but it doesn’t have wireless charging. Personally,
I always prefer a speedy wired charge to a slow
wireless one, but when even the iPhone has it now,
Google is a tad behind.

Display
The screen is a 5in OLED with a resolution of
1920x1080 and 441ppi. Blacks are brilliantly dark and
viewing angles are superb in all conditions including
bright sunlight. It’s a portal to one of the most
responsive Android experiences around.
If you want the best of the best then you’ll have
to opt for the higher resolution Pixel 2 XL, but the
difference is only noticeable when comparing
side by side. Compared to a phone like the Galaxy
S8, the smaller Pixel 2 has a slightly dull tint, but
Samsung’s panels are best in class.

Camera
And then, the camera. Oh my. The Pixel had an
amazing camera and the Pixel 2 has improved it.
Brilliantly, you get the same sensor and set up on the
smaller 2 and the larger 2 XL so if you like smaller

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Detail and lighting in dusk shots excel on the Pixel 2,

but note the sunspot to the lower left of the image

phones then you don’t lose out like you do with Apple
(iPhone 8 and 8 Plus) and Huawei (P10 and P10 Plus).
There is a single 12.2Mp sensor with f/1.8 and
optical image stabilisation. It can record UHD 4K video
at 30fps, not quite as good as the iPhone 8’s ridiculous

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The Pixel 2 handles low light incredibly, showing

excellent detail in bright and dark areas

UHD 4K at 60fps. The front-facing camera is 8Mp with

f/2.4 and capable of recording HD 1080p video.
Eschewing the dual lens trend, Google has leant
on its post-processing prowess to bring a superlative
photography experience to the Pixel 2. Taking a photo
actually takes several images that the software quickly
processes into one combined end product. This
method increases the high dynamic range (HDR) and
leaves phenomenal results, notably so in low light.
HDR+, Google’s algorithmic wizardry in the camera
app, is on by default. You can turn it off if you want,
but you shouldn’t. This is surely the best all round
point-and-shoot phone camera going for pure ease of

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use and quality of photos. Low light shots show detail

excellently, and the software pays attention to the
composition of the whole scene to great effect.
Despite there only being one lens, the Pixel 2 has
a Portrait Mode like the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus. This
is achieved by Google using a dual-pixel sensor in
both cameras, meaning each pixel takes in the image
and focus data rather than only being able to handle
one. This means the processing can easier identify the
intended subject of a portrait mode shot.
Results are slightly less natural than the dual
camera results of an iPhone 8 Plus or Galaxy Note 8,
but for a single lens to be able to do this is absolutely
ridiculous. You will love it, as will selfie-addicts. More
than any phone, the photos from the Pixel 2 will not
need much tinkering before uploading to social media.
Unlike Apple’s portrait forays, the Pixel one
arrives at launch not in beta and fully formed. One
thing you will have to wait for though is AR sticker
integration for photo-fun. But with the mountain
of photo data Google is sitting on, I expect the
experience will be decent.
Finally, take a photo of something and chances
are Google knows what it is. The Pixel 2 is the first
phone to get Google Lens integration in Google
Photos. Go to your camera roll and tap the Lens
icon and you’ll more often than not get a good
result. It can identify buildings and landmarks, or
extract URLs, email addresses and phone numbers
to then immediately action.
It’s very good but not something everyone is pining
for. It could quietly be the future though, particularly

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When Lens works, it works very well.

But it can’t identify everything yet

with possible AR integration to view the world live

Google Glass style through the phone’s display, rather
than by reviewing taken images.
Motion photo capture is a lot like Apple’s live
photos where photos spring to live with a couple of
seconds of video. But rather than pressing to view a
snippet of film like on iPhone, you toggle motion on
or off in Photos, and the software loops the video as
it sees best. It’s a neat touch, but can only be viewed
between Pixel devices; at the time of writing the
original Pixel can view but not take them. Pixel
Video recording is also top notch, combining OIS
and EIS to bring good stability. It is an all-around
excellent photography experience, from viewfinder
to post processing to viewing.

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AR stickers
Google pushed an update to the Pixel 2 in December
2017 that brings AR stickers into the camera app. It’s
a lot of fun, and it’s free. It allows you to drop 3D
moving images and characters into the frame of your
camera lens. There are Star Wars and Stranger Things
sticker packs, with more to come. There’s also text,
little food characters and other stuff besides. It’s a
lot of fun, and the intelligence of the AR placing is
way better than you might be used than on Pokémon
Go. The above Porg agrees.

Assistant
Lens is all part of the Google Assistant. Assistant on
the Pixel 2 activated either by the familiar long press

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of the home button from any screen, or by Active

Edge, a feature carried over by HTC from its U11
(though it can also be found on the LG-made Pixel 2
XL). The pressure sensitive sides of the phone have no
physical give in them but can detect levels of pressure.
Setting the squeeze to your preference lets you open
Assistant from anywhere in the phone or even when
it’s locked. Unlike the U11 though, that’s all it can
do – it’s either on or off and you can’t assign it to do
different things like open the camera (it can be used
to silence calls though, it’s only other optional use).
Assistant baked into Google Pixel hardware is
still the best way to experience it, despite it being
present on other Android devices. Connection to
Google Home devices worked for me brilliantly,
and it all simply felt right at home on the Pixel 2,
whereas I have felt Assistant is tacked-on to other
phones, especially when they offer it alongside
Bixby (Samsung) or Alexa (HTC).

Daydream View
Google also sent me a Daydream View, its improved
VR headset, to try out. It is very comfortable even
over my glasses and it’s easy to navigate the UI with
the included controller. Apps are a tad scarce but
the available games are entertaining enough, while
YouTube VR will surely be a gateway to the VR living
room of the future once everyone has a smartphone
capable of it. But if you’re after an HD VR experience,
this isn’t it. Having the Pixel 2 that close to your face
shows up, well, pixels. Text and video becomes blurry
and I’d rather just watch a TV.

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Battery life
The Pixel 2 has an adequate
2,700mAh non-removable
battery, which is about as
much juice as Google could
squeeze into such a slim
device. It charges via the
supplied USB-C fast charger,
and I saw excellent charging
speeds particularly from
empty to about 60 percent
in around half an hour.
Google claims you can get
seven hours of use out of a
15-minute charge which I am
dubious about. I’ll update this
review with more observations
the more I use the device, but
at the moment the phone is
usually getting me through a
whole day starting at 100 percent at 8am and ending
up with about 15 percent by 10pm, which is great.
On another day though, I used the phone for just
shy of nine hours before it hit 20 percent, recording
under three hours of screen on time which isn’t
amazing. Hopefully, long-term use will prove less
erratic, but if battery life is your concern you’ll want
the 3,250mAh Pixel 2 XL. Battery saver mode can be
toggled on and off in the notification shade and if you
go into the battery section in settings it’ll even tell you
which apps are caning your battery and, excellently, let
you action it straight away rather than just close it.

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Connectivity
The phone has Bluetooth 5.0, hopefully to overcome
the original Pixel’s less than stellar connectivity.
In my time so far with the Pixel 2 it has kept
decent connections with wearables, speakers and
headphones, so things look to have improved here.
There’s also NFC for Android Pay that works as
expected, while Wi-Fi connections are slick with
dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. Hotspotting to 4G
also worked without a hitch.

Performance
I ran speed tests for the Pixel 2 against the larger
Pixel 2 XL, the iPhone 8 and four other Android
flagships that have the same processor as the Pixel
(the Snapdragon 835). The results below represent
what I would have expected: no real-life difference
between the multi-core scores for any of the
phones with an 835. The Pixel 2 only feels faster
and more fluid than every phone on the list (bar,
perhaps the unusually fast OnePlus 5) because of the
stock nature of Android with no skin to process. The
Pixel 2 ran faster than the XL in terms of frame rate
because of its lower resolution screen, while the
iPhone pulls ahead in terms of raw possible speed
thanks to that A11 chip. But realistically, all these
phones are just as fast as each other.

Audio
The Pixel 2’s stereo speakers are pretty good for
YouTube videos and the occasional dip into Instagram
stories, but you won’t want to play an album or watch

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GFXBench
Manhattan

GFXBench
T-Rex

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a film on them. I found even podcasts sounded a bit

tinny and trebly and preferred to use headphones.
This involves the included adaptor, and music
streamed from Spotify sounded good through AKG
in-ear headphones. With no headphones in the box
though, audio quality will depend how good your cans
are. Call quality on the Pixel 2 is very good, with all
2G calls sounding crisp and clear (the earpiece also
goes excruciatingly loud, which is better than quiet).
VoLTE and Wi-Fi calls are available depending on your
service and operator, and all worked in my testing.

Software
The lure of the Pixel 2 is not its pedestrian design
but its superb software. As described it takes care
of photos to an unbelievable level, such is Google
prowess in post processing and machine learning.
Google Photos is so far ahead of the competition
it’s not even fair anymore.
The Pixel launcher is slightly tweaked now,
putting the Google search bar at the foot of the screen
rather than a tab at the top. You can’t change remove
it, but you can edit the five icons that site above it,
and a swipe up gets you your full alphabetized list.
Android 8.0 Oreo out the box gives you a
completely up to date Google software experience
and I really can’t fault the performance of the phone
at all. From streaming music, watching video and
gaming, to multitasking between data intensive apps,
the phone didn’t chug once where the iPhone 8 does
in my experience. Google gets all the little things right
too, like swiping on the fingerprint sensor to bring the

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notification shade down. As well

as the tidied-up menus in Oreo,
the Pixel 2 has an improved
always on display with new font,
notification icons and a cool
‘now playing’ feature that can
tell what music is playing around
you from an offline library of
about 10,000 tracks.
It’s another example of
Google using its obscene
mine of data to bring another
nice-to-have feature to its
polished vision of Android.
Where other manufacturers tack
things on needlessly, Google
refinements have an air of
effortless about them.
Music playing on Google Pixel
And for the record, it got 2 uses the colours of album
Fleetwood Mac, Badly Drawn artwork in the notification
Boy and Green Day first time,
but not, to the irritation of my alternative-minded
colleague, I Am Kloot. I’ll let the phone off though.
Notification dots don’t fully work yet on phones
like the Sony Xperia XZ1 but work flawlessly here,
though I still find long pressing apps to see shortcuts
unintuitive. Apple does it better, where you keep your
thumb held down to scroll up the menu. I instinctively
do it on the Pixel, but that drags the icon away for
repositioning, so I don’t use it.
One thing that Google has quietly changed from
the original Pixel is to limit its unlimited storage for

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photos. A purchase of the original got you unlimited

Google Photo storage for life, whereas the Pixel 2 gets
you unlimited for three years. Google hopes you’ll pay
for it after that, or buy the next Pixel. It’s a small detail
that likely won’t bother you, but it’s worth noting.
Overall, the Pixel 2’s software is uniformly excellent,
but if you like the slick futurism of Samsung’s latest
Android skin you might find this a little bland.

Verdict
The Pixel 2 is a boring phone until you turn it on. The
uninspiring hardware melts away to present you with
a bleeding edge vision of the Android future, with
machine learning fully integrated. It’s not quite there
yet, but this is where we are heading.
The camera, one lens down on some competitors,
is better than all of them in most situations thanks
to the superior software on board. You only get that
benefit when you buy Google hardware, and the
company is finally realising the end to end product
that Apple has been making for a decade. If you want
a phone to fawn over and make your friends jealous
with, you won’t want the Pixel 2. But it’s faster than
the Galaxy S8 and takes better photos. It delivers the
best overall camera and software experience on any
Android smartphone to date. Henry Burrell

Specifications
• 5in (1920x1080, 441ppi) display
• Android 8.0 Oreo
• Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 processor
• Octa-core (4x 2.35GHz Kryo, 4x 1.9GHz Kryo) CPU

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• Adreno 540 GPU

• 4GB RAM
• 64/128GB storage
• Fingerprint scanner
• 12.2Mp rear-facing camera (f/1.8, 27mm and 1/2.6in,
1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF), OIS, phase detection & laser
autofocus, dual-LED flash
• 8Mp front-facing camera (f/2.4, 27mm, 1/3.2in,
1.4µm), 1080p
• 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 5.0
• A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
• NFC
• USB 3.1, Type-C 1.0
• Non-removable lithium-ion 2,700mAh battery
• 145.7x69.7x7.8mm
• 143g

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Honor View 10
£449 inc VAT from fave.co/2CClrCE

H
ot on the heels of the mid-range 7X, Honor has
announced the View 10, a flagship device that
starts 2018 with the 2017’s biggest smartphone
trend, an 18:9 display.
The phone was expected to be called the Honor
9 Pro as per its usual naming conventions, but
the company have chosen View 10 thanks to its
similarities to the Huawei Mate 10 Pro.
It’s the first time the View branding has been used
outside of Asia.

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The device has premium build, and while is not

exactly the same dimensions as either Huawei’s Mate
10 or Mate 10 Pro shares many of the traits of the two.
For a company trying to break into the UK
mainstream at the same time as its parent company
Huawei, this affordable high-end flagship makes
a decent case for itself so long as you’re looking
to buy a handset outright – Honor phones are not
always easily available from UK operators.

Design
The View 10 looks like a lot of other premium phones
this year, sporting an 18:9 display. First seen on the LG
G6 and then the Samsung Galaxy S8, the form factor
keeps the View 10 slim and manageable in the hand
while adding some height to the screen.
This is the same aspect ratio as the Huawei Mate
10 Pro, yet there’s a front-placed fingerprint sensor
and headphone jack like on the Mate 10. Confused?
It means you get the better 18:9 display size with the
familiar fingerprint sensor and headphone jack. This
means the View 10 has an excellent mix of features
from both versions of Huawei’s recent flagship.
The front of the phone is visually similar to the
OnePlus 5T, though the View 10 has a more uniform,
straight edged feel to it and has a front facing
fingerprint sensor in a long pill shape not often seen.
The back of the phone is less exciting, with
iPhone-esque antenna lines at the top and bottom,
with a solitary Honor logo and dual rear cameras.
Squint, and the View 10 resembles an iPhone 7
Plus with a taller screen running Android.

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Two cameras are good to see, two ugly camera

bumps are not, and is a shame when Huawei’s
flagships manage to bring design that keeps the
lenses flush with the body.
With no glass back, there’s no chance of wireless
charging, though that is still a non-essential feature
that would have increased the price.
The Honor View 10 is alarmingly thin at 6.97mm
and recalls the Apple of a few years ago that became
obsessed with this measurement, to the detriment
of build quality and Bendgate. In our time with the
phone, though it hasn’t exhibited much sign of wear
at all, even without a case.
If you’re on a budget, this is as premium a device as
you’ll get for the price – the same £449 asking price
as the OnePlus 5T while pretty much matching that
phone’s specs.
We like the matte back in comparison to smeary
glass, and the View 10 has attractive shiny edges
running around the display, sandwiching the matte rim
that helps you hold it. It only adds to the premium feel
of this decidedly mid-range price phone.
The View 10 is available in navy blue, but isn’t as
notably stunning as other flagships this year, or even
compared to the older glass-backed Honor 9. It looks
very similar to the 8 Pro that we reviewed last year.
Despite its upsides, the design isn’t particularly
inspiring, and reeks of a phone whose features
you’ll have to love way more than the hardware to
shell out for it. Perhaps the black version we haven’t
used fares better, but we still aren’t convinced many
people actually want a blue phone.

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Display
The display on the View 10 is a vibrant 5.99in LCD with
a 2160x1080 resolution. It is pleasingly punchy for an
LCD, but is not as vibrant as a Samsung or OnePlus
OLED panel, even when you have the settings on
Honor’s ‘vibrant’ mode.
But the size of the screen and its high brightness
capabilities means video streaming and gaming on
the View 10 is more than acceptable, and easily good
enough for long sessions.
Honor is leading with the AI features that Huawei
pushed on the Mate 10 Pro and Honor had on its Asia-
only Magic phone, and in theory they are impressive.
There’s an argument to be had that it’s not really AI at
all and rather a prominent assistant-style layer to the
software, but we’ll let them have it for now.

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Hardware
The Kirin 970 processor allows for language
translation in the preloaded Translator app, while the
AI smarts also allow the camera to intelligently select
the right parameters of a certain shot, without you
having to go into a confusing pro mode.
It’s worth noting that you still need a data
connection to use the translation features, much like
Google Translate, so if you are planning on going
abroad then you will have to download the relevant
language pack.
Really what the NPU (neural processing unit, what
Huawei calls its Kirin 970 chip) does is learn your
behaviours to better enhance the day to day use of
your phone. From sleeping background processes
of unused apps to prioritizing certain functions at
certain times, supposedly the View 10 learns you
better than other phones.
But on use there is no proof of that in the short
term, and we doubt there will be in the long term
either. Many Android phones are intelligent enough
to prioritize processes, and face recognition
functions and vague claims like ‘AI enhanced
translation’ are fairly vacuous.

Cameras
The dual 20- and 16Mp cameras are more impressive,
and offer portrait mode for a depth effect on photos,
as well as a monochrome lens for excellent black and
white photography. The 20Mp sensor is monochrome,
and gives a natural effect compared to phones whose
software simulate black and white.

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Detail in landscape shots such as the one above

shows excellent detail and light balance
An AI feature that proved genuinely good is the
built-in object recognition in the camera app. Point
the camera at something, and an icon appears. Tap
it, and the phone runs a search of what it thinks
is in frame. When it works, it works really well,
identifying landmarks and even specific products
like a Rough Trade mug. But frustratingly, the feature
often disappears from the camera app with no way
to recall it. And of course, it doesn’t always work.
Honor also claims AI helps reduce blur in photos
of moving objects.

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It also says AI helps you get better selfies with

the 13Mp front camera. In reality, this is not AI at all
but post-processing software. Honor’s insistence of
having the awful beauty mode on by default is also
annoying, but at least you can turn it off. Selfies still
look fairly washed out to us, even though there are
some fun AR masks in the native camera app.

Performance
In its razor thin body, Honor has packed a whopping
3,750mAh battery with fast-charge the company
claims can get you to 50 percent from dead in half an
hour. In our testing, it proved good on that promise.
It’s also great to see the octa-core Kirin 970
processor carried over, as it is Huawei’s latest chip and
a powerful alternative to the Qualcomm Snapdragon
835 in most other high-end Android phones this year.
The pure processing power and speed of this chip
is a better sell for Honor than the half-baked, half-
functional ‘AI’ capabilities.

Unlocking the device

The View 10 has what the company describes as ‘fast
and secure facial recognition’, but its only functionality
is to reveal lock screen notifications when you look at
the screen. The phone still falls back on its fingerprint
sensor for secure app activity like banking, and it’s odd
that the facial recognition is reserved for notifications
only and not even unlocking the screen.
The phone is dual SIM active (the best kind) and has
a headphone jack, mercifully, though no headphones
in the box. If you didn’t like the omission of the jack on

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the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, here’s a way to get the same

basic specs, a headphone jack, and save over £200.

Software
Software could be what lets this phone down if you’re
not a fan of Honor (and Huawei’s) EMUI skin. Granted,
EMUI 8.0 is a lot better than previous iterations, but
the changes it makes to stock Android don’t always
make a lot of sense. Intuitive actions from stock
Android are overlayed with different actions and icons,
while the notification shade is still a bit of a mess.
Huawei and Honor’s changes to the basic look and
function of Android is off-putting if you are used to

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Google’s version. OnePlus’ OxygenOS is a much better

example of refined change to Android, where EMUI is
the definition of change for change sake. Having said
this, it doesn’t restrict use, it’s just a lot to adjust to if
you’re coming from another Android device.
Yet the View 10 ships on Android Oreo 8.0, still one
of the first handsets worldwide to do so, and remains
an excellently affordable way to get your hands on
an OS running Google’s latest software – even if it is
masked by the massive changes EMUI brings.
You can add the preferable app drawer where
EMUI by default displays all app on the home screens
iOS style, or you could just add the Google or Nova
launchers from the Play Store to change the vibe.
In fact, Honor includes probably the most granular
customization settings of any widely available Android
manufacturer, from screen resolution to accessibility
features, secure enclaves and file encryption. If you
are looking for a phone you can make your own, this
is a great option. But if you want a clean, straight
forward Android experience out of the box, you
are best off looking at a OnePlus 5T or Pixel 2.

Verdict
The Honor View 10 is another flagship device from a
company that promises a lot with high specs and low
prices. The phone is much more similar in look and
feel to the Honor 8 Pro than the recent Honor 9, and
loses the attractive glass back in favour of AI software
perks and Android Oreo. At £449 you could opt for
the same-price OnePlus 5T which has more attractive
software design, but it could turn out that the Honor

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View 10 is an intelligent choice with Android Oreo

out the box, promising if unrefined AI features and
strong dual cameras. Henry Burrell

Specifications
• 5.99in (2160x1080, 403ppi) display
• Android 8.0 Oreo
• Hisilicon Kirin 970 processor
• Octa-core (4x 2.4GHz Cortex-A73, 4x 1.8GHz
Cortex-A53) CPU
• Mali-G72 MP12 GPU
• 4/6GB RAM
• 64/128GB storage, up to 256GB via microSD
• Fingerprint scanner
• Dual rear-facing cameras:16Mp (f/1.8) and 20Mp,
phase detection autofocus, LED flash
• 13Mp front-facing camera (f/2.0)
• 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 4.2
• A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
• NFC
• USB 2.0, Type-C 1.0
• Non-removable lithium-polymer 3,750mAh battery
• 157x75x7mm
• 172g

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Doogee Mix
£135 inc VAT from fave.co/2C8PH4v

D
oogee might not be a brand that instantly
sparks recognition (or if it does it’s about a
TV show starring a very young doctor), but
this Chinese manufacturer has much to offer those
looking for an inexpensive Android phone.
The Mix is it’s latest creation, and ticks many of
the important boxes for potential buyers. But, what
compromises do you have to make for a sub-£200
device? We take a look.

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Price
As Doogee doesn’t have a direct retail presence here
in the UK, you’ll need to import one from an online
retailer like Gearbest. While this is perfectly fine, and
something that UK buyers are increasingly doing,
you will want to weigh up the pros and cons of
doing so before you spend any money.

Design
The first impressions made by the Doogee Mix when
you take it out of the box are positive. A metal chassis
with glass front and back, lends the device a premium
feel, and this is matched by a sturdy 193g weight
which certainly feels substantial in the hand.
Most of the front panel is taken up by the 5.5in
display, with only a lower bezel interrupting the glass.
Here you’ll find a fingerprint sensor that also doubles
as a capacitive button for some functions. We found
this to be fast and very reliable at unlocking the phone,
which isn’t something we always say.
Then there’s the curiously positioned selfie camera,
which occupies the bottom right corner of the bezel
mimicking the Xiaomi Mi Mix. When launched, the
camera presents a message that you should turn the
unit upside down to take a picture. This does seem
a bit absurd. On the right flank there’s the power
button and volume controls, while the opposite side
is home to a dual-SIM card slot with the secondary
place also supporting microSD cards up to 128GB. The
bottom of the unit houses twin speakers and a Micro-
USB charging port. We’d like to have seen USB-C
here, as that is now the norm, but we realize that a

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few corners have to be cut when you’re working in

this price range.
One inclusion that we’re happy about though is
3.5mm headphone jack. Glad to see that Chinese
manufacturers didn’t get the memo about the stupid
decision to remove it from modern devices. It’s just
a shame that Google did on one of our favourite
Android phones – the Pixel 2. Turning the Doogee
Mix over reveals dual cameras on the back, which is
a nice touch for a device under £200.
Closer inspection of the handset does show up a
few clues that construction standards might not be
as high as you’d hope. The physical buttons on the
side are a little loose, and the dual-SIM tray doesn’t

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sit flush when you put the card in. But neither are
deal-breakers.

Display
Doogee has included a 5.5in AMOLED display on the
Mix, which looks bright and spacious. The thin edge
bezels might not be the curved variety that make the
Samsung Galaxy S8 so attractive, but they do give the
Mix something approaching an edge-to-edge display.
The blot on this landscape is that the panel itself is
only capable of a 1280x720 HD resolution. In general
use this isn’t a big deal, and to be fair we found the
display to be very pleasant, but if you want to use the
phone for VR or demand Full-HD on your devices,
then the Mix is going to come up a bit short.
We think that would be a shame though, as
the colour range, bright display, and clear text
representation is perfectly acceptable on a device of
this type. The lower amount of pixels to push should
also grant a boost to battery life and performance
over higher specified rivals at this price point.

Performance
Under the hood you’ll find a Helio P25 octa-core
CPU, with 4x Cortex-A53 2.5GHz and 4x Cortex-A53
16GHz, all of whom are complemented by 6GB of
RAM, and 64GB of storage.
This makes the Mix a pretty nippy device, with
only the occasional pause when launching apps. Of
course, it’s still a budget phone, so you won’t be able
to do anything that requires heavy lifting – graphically
demanding 3D gaming for instance – without a

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noticeable drop in performance. We ran the usual

benchmark tests to see how the Mix fared, and results
were predictably found to be in the low to mid-range
bracket. Geekbench 4 scored it at 849 (Single-core)
and 4059 (multi-core), GFXBench’s T-Rex was 1,911
frames, Manhattan returned 1,195, and Manhattan 3.1
chalked up 1,015. For surfing, emails, messaging, video
playback and things along those lines it’s fine. Just
don’t expect a powerhouse.
From a full charge in the morning, and with a
mixture of Wi-Fi surfing, listening to music, WhatsApp
messaging, and a few YouTube videos, we were
happy to see around 30 percent of battery life still
remaining by late evening. This kind of stamina
proved consistent, so if you want an all-day phone
then the Mix should do the job.

Camera
The dual cameras are 16- and 8Mp units, which
can give a x2 zoom. Results varied quite a bit, with
occasionally a nice photo appearing, but for the most
part shots were acceptable rather than impressive.
There are a few fun settings, such as one that adds
make-up, another that blurs backgrounds in a Bokeh
fashion, and even a Pro mode that offers a wide range
of control over exposure, ISO speed, and colour
temperature. But, you have to work hard to get a great
shot. Again, it’s fine for social media snaps, but you’ll
want a better unit for important photos you intend to
keep. Video capture is decent, but you’ll want to hold
the camera very still to avoid shaky footage. If you do
you’ll be rewarded with up to 1080p at 30fps.

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Software
Doogee has included Android 7.0 Nougat as the
default OS for the Mix. There is the obligatory
skin running on top – Doogee OS V2.0 – but it’s
lightweight and for the most part feels like pure
Android. The only real clues are a newsfeed app that
appears when you swipe right on the Home screen,
and a cat in a teacup that dangles from the top of the
display. The latter is only on the Home screen and is
a quick link to the Doogee themes store. We thought
it would be annoying, but actually found it quite fun
as it doesn’t interfere with operating the phone.

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You’ll also find various settings available that

expand the personalization of button placements,
quick links, that sort of thing, but all can be turned
off. It’s a nice, clean version of Android.

Verdict
There’s plenty to like about the Doogee Mix. The
display, while only 720p, is bright, colourful and
detailed, plus the slim bezels make it seem bigger than
the actual 5.5in size. An unfettered Android experience
is welcome, and the battery life means you’ll make it
through the day without a problem.

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Cameras are a bit hit and miss, but you get good
results if there’s plenty of light. Although, those
wanting a gaming device will find the hardware can’t
quite cope with anything too demanding.
For around £200 you’re getting an attractive, highly
usable device, that stands out from the crowd. Not
bad at all. Martyn Casserly

Specifications
• 5.5in (1280x720, 294ppi) Super AMOLED display
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• Octa-core MediaTek Helio P25 (4x 2.5GHz ARM
Cortex-A53 and 4x 1.6GHz ARM Cortex-A53) CPU
• Mali-T880MP2 GPU
• 6GB RAM
64GB storage up to 128GB microSD
• Fingerprint scanner
• Dual 16- and 8Mp rear-facing cameras 1080p video
capture at 30fps
• 5Mp f/2.2 front-facing camera
• Dual nano SIM
• LTE Dual-band
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.1
• FM Radio
• Micro-USB
• 3.5mm jack
• 3,380mAh battery
• 144x76.2x7.95mm
• 193g

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Best new Android

smartphones in 2017
MARIE BLACK reveals the handsets we’re most excited about

I
t’s If you’re in the market for a new phone your
choices available right now are pretty good, but
it’s always the way that as soon as you take the
plunge and upgrade something better comes along
and you regret your decision. In this article we outline
the phones that will be released in 2018 to help you
decide whether or not to wait.

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Google Pixel 3
Three new Google Pixel phones are expected to land
on 4 October 2018, with one of them potentially
poised as a rival to the iPhone X.

Release date
The Pixel phones are unlikely to be unveiled before
early October 2018, with an on-sale date later in
October probable. For the past two years Google
has unveiled the new phones on 4 October, so 4
October 2018 is as good a guess as any.
They will come with the latest version of Android
– Android 9.0 P – but as we saw in 2017 they may
not be the first devices to ship with that operating
system. It will be a pure version of the software,
running exactly as Google intends, with regular
security updates and no bloatware.

Specifications
Early rumours suggest there will be three Pixel phones
announced, but bear in mind that this was also the
case in 2017 and we saw only two new Pixel phones
announced. Alleged code names include Crosshatch,
Albacore and Blueline, according to Droid Life,
although there is talk that Google will simply
reference them internally as A, B and C to hide their
details from the outside world.
If it does happen, we could see a cheaper model
with pricing more in line with the old Nexus phones
than Pixel, which is more expensive than ever with the
Pixel 2 XL retailing at £799 (although currently on offer
at just £699). Alternatively, and as most rumours seem

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to suggest, the third model will be a super-high-spec

version that is a closer competitor to the iPhone X.
Google knows its users don’t want cut-down
specifications just because a phone has a smaller
screen, so we fully expect to see the Snapdragon 845
processor running the show on all Pixel 3 models.
This is a 7nm chip that is faster and 30 percent more
efficient than any before it, thanks to an octa-core
Kryo 385 CPU with four 2.8GHz high-power cores
and four 1.8GHz low power cores.
Qualcomm’s new super-fast X20 LTE modem
is built-in, offering CAT 18 speeds of more than
1Gb/s, as well as an enhanced Spectra 280 image
signal processor. Qualcomm has bumped up video
recording potential to Ultra-HD, and added in
various AI improvements.

Google Pixel 2

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2018 might also be the year that Google bumps

up the RAM to 6GB, while storage is likely to remain
at 64- and 128GB.
We’d like to see Google retain the waterproofing
(perhaps upgraded from IP67 to IP68) and aluminium
chassis, and it’s probable that the 18:9 POLED display
will also remain, but this time around the new Pixel
might also feature an under-glass fingerprint sensor.
We’d like to see the 18:9 panel in the cheaper model,
too, and for Google to add wireless charging.
The camera is one of the most important specs
for Google, and that found in last year’s Pixel phones
is among the best you’ll find on a smartphone. We’d
expect to see some improvements here, though
potentially in the software rather than the hardware.
In 2017 both models came in Just Black, while the
Pixel 2 XL was also available in Black and White, and
the Pixel 2 in Clearly White and Kinda Blue. We don’t
expect much deviation here.
It’s likely HTC will again be the brains behind the
Pixel 3, now that Google has bought out its mobile
business, so Active Edge and front-facing stereo
speakers would not come as a shock.

Huawei P11
The Huawei P10 is a strong contender in a sea of
2017 flagships, but we’re already focused on the 2018
Huawei flagship, unofficially dubbed the Huawei P11.
While it’s still a long way away from release, below
you’ll find some of the most notable rumours about
the phone so far, along with our speculation on a
possible UK price and release date.

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Release date
Huawei’s Vice President of Handsets Product Line
Bruce Lee has confirmed that the company will
“probably launch devices at Mobile World Congress”
in future as it wants to get the devices on-sale by the
Easter period in Western Europe.
MWC 2018 is due to begin on Monday 26 February
2018 and judging by 2017’s P10 announcement, we
imagine the Huawei P11 will be revealed the day
before the show begins, on Sunday 25 February 2018.
That would put it directly up against the Galaxy S9,
which could also launch the same day.

Price
We’re still some way away from finding out the
official price of the upcoming Huawei P11, but
we can estimate a rough price range based on
previous releases.
Judging by the £449 price tag of the Huawei P9
and the slightly more expensive £569 price tag of the
Huawei P10, we imagine that the Huawei P11 will cost
somewhere in the range of £550 and £600. While
Huawei’s flagship prices were once competitive when
compared to Samsung and Apple, it’s slowly changing.

Specifications
There is very little online about the design of the
Huawei P11, but we can take a look at sister company
Honor’s 2017 flagship, the Honor 9, for inspiration. The
2016 Honor 8 had a very similar design and feature
set to 2017’s Huawei P10, including the dual-camera
setup on the rear.

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With that being said, the Honor 9 is the first Honor

phone to ‘do an Apple’ and remove the 3.5mm
headphone jack from the smartphone, suggesting that
it could also be removed from next year’s Huawei P11.
It’s a move that Apple has faced much criticism for,
and is something that many Android manufacturers
have avoided thus far.
In a concept video published in August 2017
(fave.co/2CnJIsI), the Huawei P11 is shown to have
a titanium body, a full-screen display and an under-
glass fingerprint scanner:
However, just like Apple’s iPhone X the upcoming
Huawei P11 is thought to maximize screen space on its
6.01in display by replicating Apple’s notch.
We expect it will feature the 10nm Kirin 970, which
is the chip that will feature in the Mate 10 and is said to
deliver 25 times better CPU performance and 50 times
greater energy efficiency.

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Huawei leaked the Kirin 970 at IFA 2017 ahead

of CEO Richard Yu’s keynote speech where he
announced the chip will be inside the Mate 10. That
phone will be announced on 16 October.
We’re assuming that the P11 will get it, too. The
Kirin 970 is an octa-core chip (4x 2.4GHz Cortex-A73
and 4x 1.8GHz Cortex-A53 cores) with a 12-core GPU
all built on a 10nm process like the Snapdragon 835
co-made with Samsung.
It’s Huawei’s first mobile AI computing platform
featuring a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU)
and will be open to developers. The firm says it will
bring ‘AI experiences to life and changing the way
we interact with our devices’.

LG G7
Samsung held all the strings last year when LG was
forced to make the tough decision of launching its
new flagship with an older processor or waiting a few
months until after the Snapdragon 835-toting Galaxy
S8 arrived. It chose the former option, which has
almost certainly harmed its sales against the faster S8.
So it’s no surprise to learn that LG is in a rush
to update its flagship, and that it may unveil the
successor even earlier than usual – potentially
in January 2018. Business Korea suggests the
smartphone will be unveiled at CES 2018.
With rumours of a Snapdragon 845 on board,
Samsung is then the one forced to update its
flagship quickly or risk lost sales in the meantime. Of
course, that’s if rumours that Samsung once again
holds exclusive rights on the first batch of chips are

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LG G6

untrue – the company claims that a Galaxy S9 launch

at CES is unlikely.

Release date
The new LG G-series flagship typically arrives a day
ahead of MWC, which in 2018 would put its probable
launch date as Sunday 25 February.
However, The Investor claims that the LG G7 may
arrive much earlier than expected, with LG announcing
the new flagship in January 2018. That would place
the announcement at CES 2018 in Las Vegas.
Business Korea also cites CES 2018 as the launch
date for the new LG smartphone.
LG could take this strategy to get the flagship
phone on the market quicker than rivals (largely
Samsung and its Galaxy S9). It is also understandable
that it might want to update the LG G6 earlier than
expected due to its inclusion of the older Snapdragon
821 processor.

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Price
We’re speculating on the LG G7 price for now, since
there are no credible rumours. Phones have increased
in price recently – partly due to Brexit and the value
of the pound – so it’s expected that a flagship device
costs in excess of £600. The LG G6 cost £649 and we
expect the LG G7 price to be about the same... and
then fall quickly in the months afterwards.

Specifications
It seems the phase of modular phones is pretty
much over and even if it’s not, we don’t expect LG
to go back to it for the G7. We’re expecting another
combination of metal and glass.
We wouldn’t be surprised if the fingerprint sensor is
moved from the rear of the phone to underneath the
display. This is a feature we’re about to start seeing a
lot more of, even in 2017 so it may well be normal by
the time we reach 2018.
As well as the fingerprint scanner there is
expected to be an iris scanner, and a patent has
been unearthed for just such a feature that will allow
you to lock the phone and protect sensitive data.
Although iris scanners usually work with infra-red,
LG has developed a camera that can switch from IR
to a regular one.
The LG G7 is almost certainly going to come with
Qualcomm’s new 7nm Snapdragon 845 chip.
Key new features offered by the Snapdragon
845 include a secure processing unit (SPU) that
Qualcomm says offers “vault-like security” with the
microprocessor, memory, crypto engine and random

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number generator all sitting on its own power island.

Performance and battery life will also improve, thanks
to an octa-core Kryo 385 CPU with four 2.8GHz
high-power cores and four 1.8GHz low power cores;
the 845 is 30 percent more efficient than the 835 for
gaming, video and AR/VR, says Samsung.
Qualcomm’s new super-fast X20 LTE modem
is built-in, offering CAT 18 speeds of more than
1Gb/s, as well as an enhanced Spectra 280 image
signal processor. Qualcomm has bumped up video
recording potential to Ultra-HD, and added in various
AI improvements. LG fitted the G6 with the older
Snapdragon 821 (rather than wait for the 835) so being
the first with the 845 would be a big win.
We’re expecting another dual-camera setup and
decent core specs. The main question is what LG will

The G7 could come with

a flexible and transparent
OLED display. LG recently
showed off a 77in screen

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do with the display after introducing an 18:9 aspect

ratio with the G6. There are rumours that the firm will
switch to OLED for the G7.
Keeping an eye on LG Display is the best bet as the
display using in the next flagship phone is typically
announced in advance. This branch of the company
recently showed of a 77in flexible and transparent
OLED display (on page 49) so we’re wondering if some
of that technology might find its way into the LG G7.

Microsoft Surface Phone

Microsoft’s Surface Phone has been the stuff of
rumours for more than two years, and only a couple of
months ago we believed all hopes were dashed with
news that Microsoft was killing Windows Phone.
But the company has filed fresh patents for a
foldable mobile device, reigniting rumours on the
possibility of a Surface Phone. It’s still no more than a
maybe, making estimating a release date impossible.

Microsoft’s
patent points
to a foldable
phablet

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But if the Surface Phone does eventually see the

light of day, we could see a foldable phablet to
rival Samsung’s Galaxy Note X.

Nokia 9
The Nokia 9 is thought to be an upgraded version
of the Nokia 8 with a larger 5.7in 18:9 display and
an extra 2GB of RAM, with some key specs now
confirmed by an FCC listing. Recent images (see
page 52) show it in polished orange – and it’s
gorgeous, looking just like the Galaxy S8.

Release date
Nothing has been officially confirmed with regard to
the Nokia 9 launch date, although My Drivers believes
it will be announced in January 2018 along side the
Nokia 6 (2018). That would put its release date close
to the Samsung Galaxy S9 and LG G7, and as it will
likely compete with those phones in terms of specs
and design this does seem very plausible.
The fact it’s also recently appeared on the FCC
database suggests a launch date is imminent.

Price
The new Nokia 9 is thought to be priced at around
£634 with 128GB of storage, and or £753 with 256GB.

Specifications
Many of the specifications for the now on sale Nokia
8 and rumoured Nokia 9 are similar, but the Nokia
9 is thought to be larger and to feature a higher
screen-to-body ratio. While the 5.3in Nokia 8 has

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a 16:9 IPS panel, the 5.5in Nokia 9 could see a 18:9

virtually full-screen display, putting it in line with the
Galaxy S8 and LG G6.
The FCC listing confirms that this 5.5in display
is an OLED panel made by LG. It is expected to be
a Quad-HD display with Gorilla Glass 5, though
recently leaked images (via Slashleaks) suggest the
Nokia 9 will also have glass at the rear.
The FCC also confirms a Snapdragon 835
processor with Adreno 540 GPU, 128GB of storage,
Android 8.0 Oreo and a 3,250mAh battery, with dual-
rear cameras (12- and 13Mp) and a 5Mp selfie camera.
GSMArena has pointed out that this 5Mp selfie
camera – listed as a Chicony CKACE16 module – is in

Rumoured
image of
the Nokia 9

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fact a dual-camera. It says the camera has autofocus

and f/2.0 and f/2.4 apertures. Suddenly the 5Mp
selfie camera sounds a lot more exciting.
The camera is now known to be a key selling
point for the upcoming smartphone, with HMD
Global confirming that Nokia’s collaboration with
Zeiss optics is back on. Zeiss is reportedly “rekindling
its commitment to set new imaging standards for
Nokia customers”.
GSMArena has found references to new
photography features not found in a current Nokia
Android phone in updated code for the Nokia 5. It
suggests that the Nokia 9 will indeed have a dual-
lens camera, referring specifically to a wide-angle
photography option and 2x telephoto zoom.
The Nokia 9 may additionally feature an iris
scanner and fingerprint scanner, and is said to have
an extra 2GB of RAM over the Nokia 8. It will likely
feature IP54 waterproofing.
Also new in the Nokia 8 is 360-degree Ozo
audio recording, which we’re sure will also make
its way to the Nokia 9.

Samsung Galaxy S9
Set to be one of the biggest releases of the year, we’ve
rounded up everything we know so far on page 62.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Mini

You may have read rumours about a Galaxy S8 Mini.
However, as we approach the Galaxy S9 release date
it’s looking more likely that if such a phone exists it
will be the Galaxy S9 Mini, not the Galaxy S8 Mini.

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There’s very little to go on right now, but one

mobile leakster has suggested Samsung is working on
a 5in screen phone with a full-screen Infinity Display.
It sounds a lot like a potential Galaxy S9 Mini, but
it could equally be an update to the Galaxy A series.
We’ll have to wait and see.

Samsung Galaxy Note X

Samsung is tipped to be creating a phone with
a foldable screen, and having recently passed
certification and now popped up on Samsung’s
support site it could be much closer to completion
than we expected. Bloomberg says the company plans
to announce a foldable phone under its Note brand
in 2018. Could this be the Galaxy Note X, a fierce
competitor to the newly announced iPhone X?

Release date
Bloomberg reports that a foldable smartphone will
debut under the Note brand in 2018. Koh Dong-jin,
president of mobile business at Samsung Electronics,
said: “As the head of the business, I can say our current
goal is next year. When we can overcome some
problems for sure, we will launch the product.”
A device with the model name SM-G888N0
(previously rumoured to be the Galaxy X) has
recently passed through Bluetooth SIG, the
certification body that regulates Bluetooth device
standards. The same model has also been certified
for Wi-Fi by the Wi-Fi Alliance, and has passed
through the National Radio Research Agency,
which is Korea’s version of the US FCC.

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A patent application filed by Samsung in

late 2016 shows some renders of what
the eventual Galaxy X may look like

However, it now seems the SM-G888N0 is in fact

a rugged phone rather than a futuristic device with
a flexible display. We can hope for a glimpse of it as
CES 2018 but this may be a pipe dream.
Yet another report claims the phone might go
into small-scale production in Q4 2017, ahead of
an “H2 2018 ‘clam-type’ mass production blastoff”.
However, Samsung Display Engineer Kim Tae-
woong claims the technology is not expected to
mature until 2019. A year ago Sammobile reported
that Project Valley would not be available globally at
launch, but that the UK and Ireland, Germany, Italy,
South Korea, Nordic countries, France and Poland
were on the list. It appears the Note X will be more
difficult to get hold of than we expected, though.
For months, we’ve been hearing frequent rumours
about the Samsung Galaxy X, a smartphone that will

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feature a folding display. The idea is that you’ll be able

to use it as a smartphone, and then fold it out to full
tablet size, creating a whole new mobile segment that
mirrors the tablet-laptop 2-in-1 hybrids we’ve already
seen from the computing industry.
But the bad news is that Samsung’s quirky folding
phone might be tough to bag, with Forbes stating that
“the expectation for the Galaxy X is as a limited-run
device in a single territory – more than likely the home
territory of South Korea”. Adding that it will be one of
the rarest phones in 2018.

Sony Xperia XZ1 Premium

‘Bezel-less’ smartphones are a trend kickstarted by
Xiaomi’s Mi Mix in late-2016. We’ve since seen industry
heavyweights such as Samsung and LG apply the same
full-screen thinking into their latest flagships, but Sony
has yet to take the plunge with an 18:9 display. That
could all be about to change as the company gears
up to launch new smartphones at MWC 2018.
It’s worth mentioning the fact that there are loads
of Sony phone rumours on the web right now, and
what’s confusing everyone is they’re all discussing
different upcoming Sony phones with wildly
different model numbers.
If Sony follows previous behaviour, in 2018 we
expect to see the following Xperia model numbers:

• H81XX: Sony Xperia XZ1 Premium (February)

• H82XX: Sony Xperia XZ1S (February)
• H83XX: Sony Xperia XZ2 (September)
• H84XX: Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact (September)

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2017’s Xperia Z1

We would also expect to see the XZ1 range

continued at MWC 2018 (February), and the XZ2
line-up introduced at IFA 2018 (September). There
will also be new XA devices with the XA1 Ultra
supposedly coming with dual front-facing cameras
and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner.

Release date
Our best guess is that Sony will unveil the Xperia XZ1
Premium at MWC 2018, which takes place at the end
of February. The smartphone press conferences are
usually held the Sunday before the show begins, which
would place the Sony Xperia XZ1 Premium launch date
on 25 February 2018.

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Specifications
The design will likely be standard Sony fare, which
has a very distinct boxy shape, but with narrower
bezels. The H81XX, which we expect to be the Sony
Xperia XZ1 Premium, has been revealed through its
user-agent profile. This reveals that it will have a 4K
(3840x2160) screen and Android Oreo. Interestingly
that is not an 18:9 panel, but a 16:9 display.

Sony 18:9
Specifications that have also leaked for a handset
with the model number H8541 reveal an upcoming
Sony flagship that features a 149x74x7.5mm body and
an 18:9 panel. Given the expected model numbers
at the top of this page and how close is its spec to
the existing XZ Premium this may not be the XZ1
Premium, but if genuine it’s certainly a phablet model
within that flagship family. Perhaps one to more
closely take on the iPhone X.
Whatever this phone is it’s said to have a 5.7in 4K
HDR Triluminus display with Gorilla Glass 5. Early
leaked images suggest it will be an 18:9 panel, with
super-slim bezels.
Core specifications include the Snapdragon 835,
4GB of RAM, 64GB of UFS storage and a 3,420mAh
battery with Quick Charge 3.0.
It’s odd that Sony would plump for the Snapdragon
835 over the recently announced 845, but it may be
that Samsung once again holds the exclusive on this
chip for its upcoming Galaxy S9. Waiting for this chip
would mean delaying the release date, which Sony
was forced to do last year when it announced its new

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flagship at MWC but said it would not go on sale for

several months. Connectivity-wise the new Sony
phone will come with Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS,
NFC and USB-C. Running Android 8.0 Oreo it will also
be waterproof (IP68).

Sony Xperia XZ1S

Yet another Sony phone with the model number
H8216 has had its specs posted to Reddit, and they
include the latest Snapdragon 845. As such, many
spectators suggest this is the Sony Xperia XZ2, but
we’re not convinced. We think it could be the XZ1S.
The model number is off
and the screen is a 16:9 Full-HD
panel. That’s no specification
for a Sony Xperia XZ2, but it
could fit an XZ1S.
Listed specifications for this
upcoming Sony phone include
Android 8.1 Oreo, a 5.48in
Full-HD (1920x1080) Triluminos
display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of
UFS storage, a 15Mp f/2.0 selfie
camera, a 12Mp dual-camera at
the rear, a 3,130mAh battery and
IP68 waterproofing. This handset
measures 148x73.4x7.4mm
and weighs 156g.

Sony Xperia XZ1 Premium

Renders of two unknown Sony 2017’s Xperia
phones have been created by XZ Premium

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Vortex – it says based on Sony’s own design drafts,

so of course they’re not the real deal. At this stage we
don’t know which is intended to be the Premium. The
more boxy model fits better with Sony’s usual design,
though the bizarrely spaced rear cameras (one may be
a depth sensor) and strange combination of matt and
gloss at the back is much less ‘Sony’.
The second model, meanwhile, features a rear-
mounted fingerprint scanner. We’ve previously seen
Sony embed these into the power button, but even
better would be to embed it into the screen.
Interestingly the site suggests the Premium model
will have the Snapdragon 845, 6GB of RAM and 128GB,
contradicting the spec sheet leaked via Reddit.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
We’re still a long way from the potential Mi Mix 3
release date (likely October 2018), but it seems Xiaomi
is already working on the new device if a leaked image
of a rear panel is anything to go by.
This may be nothing more than a prototype, but if
it sees the light of day we will see a Mi Mix with more
rounded corners than ever, and a vertical dual-camera
and central fingerprint scanner at the rear.
Recently leaked information suggests the Mi Mix 3
will come with the 7nm Snapdragon 845 processor.

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Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S9
MARIE BLACK rounds up everything we know so far

I
t’s interesting, given that the Galaxy S9 is rumoured
to appear in early 2018, just how few images have
leaked. We’ve yet to see a photo of the Galaxy S9
in the flesh, and even renders and concept images
are notably thin on the ground. At a guess we’d say
this is because it’s going to look an awful lot like
the Galaxy S8.
That certainly seems to be the case, judging by
the first Galaxy S9 cases from accessory maker Olixar
(shown at the top of this page). With the Galaxy S9 on
the left and Galaxy S9+ on the right, it’s clear that a

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key difference between the two is a dual-camera on

the larger model. This is backed up by a rear Galaxy S9
panel unearthed by Sammobile, which reveals space
for only a single camera and fingerprint scanner.
Interestingly, both images – and the Galaxy S9
schematic that leaked via Weibo (shown above) –
suggest there will be a fingerprint scanner on the rear,
but in a new position below the camera. This goes
against rumours that the S9 will get an embedded
under-glass fingerprint scanner at the front.
As before we’d expect to see a 5.8in Infinity Display
on the Galaxy S9, and a 6.2in version on the S9+. The
new phones should see a performance boost with
either the 7nm Snapdragon 845 or 10nm Exynos 9810
inside depending on your location. With a Snapdragon
845 inside the Galaxy S9+ has posted a multi-core
score of 8351 points in Geekbench 4 (that’s very fast).
There is rumoured to be a new purple colour
option, but less likely are reports that the Galaxy S9
could have a modular design. Samsung is allegedly

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planning to introduce magnetic pins on the back of

the phone that will allow the attachment of external
modules. And the DeX dock, sold as an optional extra,
will now operate wirelessly and resemble a pad rather
than a dock, reveals Galaxy Club.

Release date
Predicting the Galaxy S9 release date is no longer
as easy as it once was. Traditionally Samsung has
launched its flagship the day before MWC, which
would put its announcement on 25 February 2018.
However, in 2017 it delayed the Galaxy S8 launch
until March, with the phone going on sale at the
end of April. While it said it used this extra time for
thorough battery testing (the earlier Note 7 was
taken off sale due to battery problems), it also had
the exclusive on the Snapdragon 835. By delaying its
launch it prevented other manufacturers using that
chip in their flagships until after it had gone on sale.

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Though we are fairly certain the Snapdragon

845 will feature in the Galaxy S9, at least in the UK,
we do not yet know whether Samsung again holds
the exclusive on the chip. If it does, we may see
another March launch event.
In 2018 there is talk of LG announcing its rival G7
early in January at CES 2018, which Samsung may
choose to copy. There are some rumours to back up
this theory – Samsung began shipping OLED panels
two months early in November, and the Galaxy S9
was (allegedly) first spotted on Geekbench way back
in July – but the company has denied that a January
unveiling is likely. (To be fair, if the G7 really is coming
early we should expect the company to start revealing
its features via press releases in the very near future.)
VentureBeat sources claim the phones will be on
show at CES 2018. It’s usually a very reliable source,
though we suspect it might merely mean that the
Galaxy S9 will be seen by some people behind
closed doors at CES.

Price
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ were Samsung’s most
expensive S-series phones yet at £689 and £779
respectively. Part of this extra cost can be attributed
to the new features, but finances following both
Brexit and the Note 7 disaster have almost certainly
come into play here, too.
Until this year, Samsung always kept its pricing
reasonably constant, and in line with other flagship
phone makers. For that reason we’d be surprised to
see the price go any higher than the current RRP.

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It’s always worth considering with Samsung phones

that – more so than with any other manufacturer’s
smartphones – SIM-free prices fall rapidly in the few
months following launch.

New features and specifications

Samsung reportedly began working on the Galaxy S9
in late March 2017, which would mean it is already six
months ahead of schedule compared to where it was
with the Galaxy S8 and S8+ last year. And that means
more time for quality control, more time for building
in new features and, hopefully, more happy customers.
Amazingly, in July 2017 an early version of the
alleged S9 was spotted in the Geekbench database –
that’s some seven or eight months before we expect
to see the phone announcement. A device with the
model name SM-G9650 is listed with a 1.78GHz quad-
core Snapdragon 845 processor and just 4GB of RAM.
It scored 7371 points in the RenderScript test, which
is lower than the Galaxy S8 managed in the same test.
There are no performance scores.

Display
An unnamed source suggests the first work on the
Galaxy S9 began with the screen, and that there is not
expected to be any change with the sizing: so we’ll
see a 5.8in Galaxy S9 and 6.2in Galaxy S9+.
The Bell reports that Samsung has already ordered
these screens from suppliers, but with one key
difference: they will feature the in-display fingerprint-
scanning tech that was rumoured for but never made
it into the final spec of the Galaxy S8.

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Rumoured Samsung Galaxy S9 Samsung Galaxy S9+

specifications
Price £689 £779
Android 8.0 Oreo Android 8.0 Oreo
Operating system
with TouchWiz with TouchWiz
Qualcomm Snapdragon Qualcomm Snapdragon
Processor
845/Exynos 9810 845/Exynos 9810
GPU Adreno 550 Adreno 550

RAM 6GB LPDDR4 6GB LPDDR4

64GB with 64GB with
Storage
microSD support microSD support
5.8in (2960x1440, 6.2in (2960x1440,
Display
570ppi) Super AMOLED 529ppi) Super AMOLED
Fingerprint scanner Yes Yes

Ports USB-C USB-C

Audio Stereo speakers Stereo speakers

Camera 12Mp camera 12Mp camera

Circa-3,000mAh, Circa-3,500mAh,
Battery Adaptive Fast Charging Adaptive Fast Charging
(wired and wireless) (wired and wireless)

Waterproofing IP68 IP68

Heart-rate sensor, Heart-rate sensor,
Extra features
Bixby AI Bixby AI

As we approach the Galaxy S9 release date,

however, that’s looking increasingly unlikely. The
Investor reports that the in-display fingerprint-
scanning tech won’t be ready in time, while Ice
Universe says the fingerprint scanner will remain on
the rear but under the camera rather than to its side.

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Samsung Galaxy S8

We’d expect to see the same 2960x1440, 570ppi,

Super AMOLED ‘Infinity’ panel on the S9, and another
529ppi panel on the S9+. Given that Samsung by
default limits the screen resolution to Full-HD+
(2220x1080) in the Galaxy S8, we really don’t think
it will push up the resolution up to 4K.
It is possible that despite keeping the same
dimensions and resolution the display technology
itself could be improved. Samsung is reportedly using
screen tech code-named ‘Sunflower’ for the Galaxy S9
– it’s still Super AMOLED, but should improve display
fidelity and be more consistent and reliable.
The new virtually full-screen 18.5:9 ratio will also
likely remain, as will features such as the always-on
display and edge functionality. However, in 2018
we could see Samsung follow the route Apple has
taken with the iPhone X and minimize the top
bezel even further.

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Rather than a thin strip at the top in which to

house the sensors, camera and speakers the iPhone
8 features a notch at the top and then minimizes
the bezels to the left and right of this. It’s not an
attractive design, but it does allow for a higher
screen-to-body ratio. Patents unearthed by Galaxy
Club suggest Samsung has the same idea.
Samsung will allegedly implement its Y-OCTA
tech into both models this time around, with only the
standard Galaxy S8 getting the treatment in 2017 (the
Galaxy S8 Plus does not and the Note 8 apparently will
not get it either). Y-OCTA uses a single manufacturing
process for the screen and the touch-film element.
In 2016 Samsung patented a glass-coating
technology that helps water to bounce off the screen,
making it much easier to use in the rain. This tech
could well be introduced in the Galaxy S9, which will
itself most likely be waterproof. (The Galaxy S8 is
rated IP68, which means it is resistant to submersion
up to a depth of 1.5m for up to 30 minutes.)

Processor
In the UK we’ll almost certainly see the Snapdragon
845 powering the Galaxy S9, which was in early
December confirmed by Qualcomm at a special press
event in Hawaii. It may once again hold the exclusive
on this chip, forcing rivals to wait until the Galaxy
S9 has been unveiled to use that same chip, but for
now that is merely a rumour.
The 10nm Snapdragon 835 Samsung helped
Qualcomm to manufacture was 27 percent faster and
40 percent more energy-efficient than the company’s

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previous 14nm chips. The upcoming Snapdragon 845

is said to be built on the 7nm manufacturing process,
and will be even faster and more efficient than ever.
(The nm figure relates to the distance between
transistors, and the more you can squeeze on to a
chip the faster it will be.)
Key new features offered by the Snapdragon
845 include a secure processing unit (SPU) that
Qualcomm says offers “vault-like security” with the
microprocessor, memory, crypto engine and random
number generator all sitting on its own power island.
Performance and battery life will also improve, thanks
to an octa-core Kryo 385 CPU with four 2.8GHz
high-power cores and four 1.8GHz low power cores;
the 845 is 30 percent more efficient than the 835 for
gaming, video and AR/VR, says Samsung.
Qualcomm’s new super-fast X20 LTE modem
is built-in, offering CAT 18 speeds of more than
1Gb/s, as well as an enhanced Spectra 280 image

Samsung Galaxy S8

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signal processor. Qualcomm has bumped up video

recording potential to Ultra-HD, and added in various
AI improvements.
Performance from the Galaxy S9 with the
Snapdragon 845 inside is expected to get a real boost.
Geekbench 4 scores for the Galaxy S9+ have been
revealed on the site’s database, and as you can see in
the chart below they are quite a bit faster than that
of the Galaxy S8+. (Interestingly the database also
reveals 5GB of RAM, suggesting there is 6GB on at
least one of the Galaxy S9+ models.)
Elsewhere in the world Samsung uses its own
Exynos chips, and has just announced the Exynos
9810 which is the most likely candidate.
We don’t know a great deal about the 9810, but
we do know it’s built on the second-generation
10nm process, which is interesting given that the
Snapdragon is thought to be 7nm. We also know
that it features M3 cores, and builds in improvements
to the GPU, which may now be the Mali-G72.
Samsung has announced that its next-generation
Exynos chips will feature LTE modems that support
six carrier aggregation (6CA). A first in the industry,
Samsung says this unlocks a maximum download
speed of 1.2Gb/s (20 percent faster than the Galaxy
S8, which has a 5CA modem). It should allow you
to download an HD movie in just 10 seconds,
and eliminate buffering.
Samsung is also said to be looking to build AI
processing right into its chips, which will perform
better when hard-coded to the chip than left to the
software. So Bixby could become a lot more efficient.

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Storage and RAM

You get 64GB of storage as standard with the Galaxy
S8, along with microSD support. That’s already quite
generous, so we’re not expecting to see any changes
here. Something we might see in the S9, though, is
for Samsung to finally push up the RAM allocation
from 4GB to 6GB, as it has done for the Note 8.
This is by no means out of the question, with some
phones that are now a year old offering this amount
of memory. It would also help it in its quest for ever-
increasing performance.

Battery
Although the size of the phone is not expected to
change, we could see battery capacity get a boost
with the Samsung Galaxy S9. ET News reports that
Samsung will facilitate this using a new type of
motherboard that uses substrate-like PCB technology
to squeeze in more layers of components – or extra
room for the battery pack.
Fast charging – both wired and wireless – will likely
feature, though we suspect Samsung will continue to
use its own Adaptive Fast Charging tech rather than
the Quick Charge built into Snapdragon processors.

Camera
Samsung traditionally leads the pack when it comes to
new smartphone features, so we’re somewhat puzzled
by the fact it has yet to introduce a dual-camera on its
S series. Nevertheless, one does feature in the Note 8,
so expect it to feature in the Galaxy S9 too, but likely
only in the Plus variant.

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Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung’s Note 8 has a 12Mp dual-lens camera

with dual-OIS and 2x optical zoom.
It’s been claimed that the Galaxy S9 will be able
to shoot incredible 1,000fps slow-mo video. This will
apparently be achieved using a three-layered image
sensor that adds DRAM to the sensor and logic chip,
which began mass production in November. This
builds on the two-layered approach seen in current
high-end smartphones, though Sony has also used a
three-layer system in its XZ Premium and XZ1 phones.

Ports and connections

Samsung introduced USB-C rather than Micro-USB for
the Galaxy S8, though it didn’t follow the likes of Apple
in removing the 3.5mm headphone jack and relying
on wireless or USB-C audio. There is a danger it could
take that plunge this time around, though nothing has
yet been confirmed.

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Fingerprint scanner
One change we would like to see in the design,
and something we hope Samsung will take into
account following significant consumer criticism, is
the awkward placing of the rear fingerprint scanner.
It’s not so much being on the back of the handset
that offends us, but how it is wedged in beside the
camera as if it were an afterthought. It’s looking
likely that this will be moved to a new position
below the primary camera.
However, the Galaxy S9 could be the phone in
which we finally see the fingerprint scanner built into
the screen glass itself. Qualcomm has announced

Samsung Galaxy S8

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Qualcomm Fingerprint Sensors, a new ultrasonic

technology that allows fingerprint-sensing tech to
be built directly into a phone’s OLED screen. It also
works in glass and aluminium.
Synaptics has also announced its Clear ID FS9500,
an under-glass fingerprint sensor that it says will be
found in a top five smartphone company in a bezel-
free OLED infinity display. There’s no evidence that
it is referring to the Galaxy S9, but that is the exact
same name used by Samsung for it own displays.
Just in time for the Galaxy S9’s release Samsung
has been awarded a patent for an under-glass
fingerprint scanner. According to GSMArena, the
patent suggests that a smartphone could have up to 12
pressure points on the whole screen for the fingerprint
to allow secure apps, contacts, and messages.

Audio
The audio on a phone can be a bit forgotten but
Samsung won’t with the Galaxy S9. According to
rumours it will not only keep the headphone jack
but also come with wireless AKG headphones in
the box. They might just be tuned by AKG like the
current Galaxy phones but it still sounds good.

Software
Android O is almost certainly the operating system
you’ll find on board the S9 and S9+, albeit with the
TouchWiz UI on top. Samsung also introduced the
Bixby AI assistant in the Galaxy S8, which we would
have thought would have only got more intelligent
for the Galaxy S9.

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Google in 2017
MICHAEL SIMON looks at the firm’s hits and misses

A
fter jumping head first into the hardware game
last year with the Pixel phones and Home smart
speaker, Google seriously picked up the pace
in 2017. Not only were there two awesome new Pixel
phones, but also smaller and larger Google Home
devices, as well as a pair of Pixel-branded earbuds.
And through it all, Google’s AI-powered Assistant got
smarter and smarter.

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But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Google took its

share of lumps over the past 12 months, and proved
that making great hardware isn’t as easy as it looks.
Here are all the hits and misses in 2017:

Hit: Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

The Pixel phone was one of the best Android
phones of 2016, and the Pixel 2 is just as good, if
not better. The Pixel 2 XL has a bigger screen and
slimmed-down design, and both models have better
chips and batteries. But you need look no further
than camera to see how Google has really set its
handsets apart from the pack.
Unlike the Galaxy Note 8 and LG V30, there’s a
single camera on the Pixels, but it does the work
of two, with excellent zoom and spectacular
portraits. And you don’t need to spring for the more
expensive model to reap the benefits, like some
other companies make you do.

Miss: Pixel problems

The Pixel 2 XL is a fantastic phone, but its release
wasn’t without its problems. First there were display
issues, with some users complaining about dull
colours, image retention, and an aggressive blue tint.
Google kind of remedied those issues with a software
update and a warranty extension, but other problems
continued to crop up: clicking noises coming from the
receiver, random rebooting, and poor audio recording
quality, to name a few. With such intense competition
among Android phones, it put a damper on what
should have been a stellar launch.

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Hit: AI/machine learning

Google Assistant only just turned one, but it’s already
smarter than most adults. Assistant learned a ton
of new skills in 2017, including how to make calls
and distinguish between voices, but user friendly
features are just part of Google’s AI push. AI and
Machine Learning were the buzzwords of 2017’s I/O
conference, where Google demonstrated a mobile
version of its TensorFlow neural network, which will
let an AI engine run on your phone to make AI apps
smarter, faster, and more secure. Google is already
way ahead of Apple and others with Assistant, and
now it’s just showing off.

Miss: Google Home

Mini listening too much
While there are benefits to AI-powered phones and
speakers, there are some serious detriments as well.
Chief among them is privacy. That issue reared its ugly
head with preview units of Google Home Mini. One
early reviewer found that his model was recording
everything he said, whether or not it was preceded
by, ‘OK, Google’. Google blamed it on a faulty touch
controls that was always depressed and thus always
listening, and responded by permanently disabling the
button on all Mini units. But it’s still a reminder of the
fine line between creepy and convenient.

Hit: Google Lens

Google Lens can extract email addresses and URLs
from photos, dropping them straight into Google
Assistant. In 2016, Google gave its AI engine a voice

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Google Lens can

extract email addresses
and URLs from photos,
dropping them straight
into Google Assistant

and in 2017 it got eyes. Baked into Assistant on Pixel

phones and soon to on Android phones everywhere is
Google Lens, a new technology that uses the camera
to interact with the world around you.
You can identify landmarks, get restaurant reviews,
scan addresses, and even input cumbersome Wi-
Fi passwords just by holding your phone up to
something. Lens is also able to ID things in pictures
you’ve already taken, so if you’ve forgotten the name
of the church you visited in Italy a couple years ago,
it will ID it for you. And lead engineer Rajan Patel is
already teasing the next wave of features, including
shopping and augmented reality. You might even call
it the new Google Glass. Too soon?

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Miss: Google Pixel Buds

Much to the chagrin of Android audiophiles,
Google opted to follow Apple’s lead and dump the
headphone jack in the Pixel 2 (though it is kind enough
to supply a USB-C-to-3.5mm adaptor in the box). To
compensate, Google started selling £159 Bluetooth
Pixel Buds, with a charging case, five hours of listening
time, simpler pairing, and real-time translation.
The only problem is, they’re not very good.
Not only are they not truly wireless, people have
complained about poor fit, wonky connection, and a
poor integration with Google Translate. Which quite
frankly, only makes us miss the headphone jack more.

Hit: Google Assistant expands

Sometimes it seems like the AI wars are going to go
on forever. With Siri, Assistant, Alexa, and Cortana all
carving out niches among their uses bases, we seem
to forever be segmented to the devices they live on.
But Google took a step toward breaking down those
barriers in 2017. Not only did it greatly expand its reach
on Android devices by opening Assistant up to all
Marshmallow and Nougat handsets (and coming soon,
tablets), it also brought an Assistant app to the iOS App
Store. It’s a small step for sure, but it opens Assistant
to a whole new segment of users and puts a little
more pressure on Apple to make Siri more friendly
to Android users. And that’s okay in our book.

Miss: Android Wear

There was a time when it looked like Android
Wear would be the most ubiquitous platform for

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smartwatches, offering universal support and a

robust app platform. But after a series of delays to
Android Wear 2.0 last year, Google finally released
the new software update in February alongside
two watches co-designed with LG. Unfortunately,
neither release did much to bolster Android Wear.
The watches were universally panned, the OS update
took months to reach first-generation devices, and
most manufacturers passed on releasing new 2.0
models. Maybe the third time will be the charm, but
we kind of doubt it.

Hit: Family Link

It’s a fact of life that are kids are going to be using
smartphones before they can even read, and limiting

Family Link
is great for
parents who
want to watch
their kids’
smartphone
habits

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what they can see and how long they can see it can be
tough. Family Link makes it much easier to keep tabs
on your kids’ Android habits. With an easy interface
and cross-platform integration with the iPhone, Family
Link gives parents full control over their kids’ Android
phones, letting them hide apps, set time limits, and
manage the content they watch, all from their own
phone. Now, if it would just put our kids to sleep.

Miss: YouTube Kids content

YouTube is a great place to discover new content
just be following the recommended links. And just
like us, kids love to spend hours falling down a video
wormhole, too. But sometimes the algorithm gets
it wrong, and Google’s lack of attention delivered
questionable content to kids. Lots of it. Google is
taking steps to make it right by increasing staff and
pulling thousands of objectionable videos from the
site, but it took far too long for it to address the

YouTube kids
filters out
adult content
for younger
viewers... or
at least it’s
supposed to

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issue. We want out kids to watch Big Bird, not ... oh,
you get the idea.

Miss: Location spying in Android

Those Android users who want to keep Google from
spying on their whereabouts have always been able
to switch off the location services toggle. But an
investigation by Quartz revealed that Google has
been using cellular antennas to spy on Android users’
location even if they switched location services
off. Google says it was all part of a test to deliver
messages quicker and was all “don’t worry we’re not
even looking at the data,” but conveniently it forgot
to remove the code until called out in public. OK,
Google, tell me another one.

Google was tracking

your location in 2017
whether locations
services was on or not

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How the Snapdragon 845

will impact your phone
MICHAEL SIMON reveals how it will improve this year’s flagships

I
f you thought 2017’s Android flagship phones were
fast, wait until this year. Qualcomm has unveiled its
next-generation chip, the Snapdragon 845, and it’s
more than just the next number in the evolution: It’s
a ground-up redesign of the platform’s architecture.
And it’s sure to have a profound affect on 2018’s crop
of premium Android handsets.
While the 835 was mostly focused on performance
and speed, the 845 brings a slew of enhancements to
how phones will use the processor for AI, photos, and,
of course, battery life. We’ll probably have to wait until

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the Galaxy S9 to see it in action, but once the new

chip arrives, it will mean great things for mobile power
users. Here are five ways the new chip will impact
future Android flagship phones.

1. Your data will fly

The architecture of the Snapdragon 845 is the same
10nm octa-core processor as the 835, so it’s unlikely
that the Galaxy S9 or LG V40 will bring much of a
performance boost over the S8 and V30. Qualcomm
says the 845 chip will bring 30 percent faster graphics
than the 835, an impressive technical increase over an
already powerful chip, but one that’s not likely to be all
that noticeable in real-world use.
The real speed boost will come from the modem.
The 845 uses the second-generation X20 Gigabit
LTE modem, which supports for 1.2Gb/s Gigabit LTE
Category 18 as well as multigigabit 802.11ad Wi-Fi for
even faster downloads. Of course, your mileage will
vary depending on the network, but Qualcomm says
the new modem will allow users to download a 3GB
movie in less than three minutes over LTE.

2. They’ll last longer

The 835 brought serious gains in battery life, with
many phones using the chip easily making it through
a full day of regular use. Qualcomm says the 845 will
be 30 percent more power-efficient than the 835,
which could push phones into a second day without
needing to be charged. Qualcomm has focused
on optimizing the chip’s cores with the 845, so the
processor will be able to delineate tasks intelligently

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based on power needs. As a result, video recording

will utilize 30 percent less power. Thanks to the new
Adreno Foveation system, which uses eye-tracking to
determine which areas of the screen to fully render,
graphics-intensive games and apps won’t harpoon
your battery life, either.

3. They’ll be smarter
Last year, Huawei released the Mate 10 with a
dedicated Neural Processing Unit, and the Snapdragon
845 isn’t about to be outsmarted. The third generation
of the neural processing engine will fully unleash
Android phones’ machine learning and AI capabilities.
Qualcomm says the 845 will support AI frameworks
such as Google’s TensorFlowLite and Facebook’s
Caffe2, as well as being optimized for newer networks.
Using a new Hexagon Digital Signal Processor, the
chip will be three times faster with AI performance,
meaning phones will be more efficient and use less

The Snapdragon 845

will bring big changes

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power for common and repetitive tasks. It’ll also use

a low-power audio subsystem for digital assistants, so
talking to your phone all day won’t kill your battery.

4. Your pictures and

video will be even better
The cameras on our smartphones only do part of
the work when it comes to taking pictures. Much
of the heavy lifting is handled by image signal
processors. Qualcomm’s Spectra 280 ISP has been
greatly improved in the Snapdragon 845. Instead of
enhancing the resolution, which has pretty much been
maxed out on smartphones, the new chip focuses on
colour volume, meaning photos will be richer, deeper,
and more accurate than before.
The new chip will be able to take better photos in
low light, thanks to multi-frame noise reduction, faster
auto-focus, and accelerated image stabilization. The
ISP will also enable better portraits with depth-based
face recognition. On the video side, it will enable ultra
HD premium video capture for 4K 60fps video, as well
as 720p 480fps slow-motion video capture.

5. Security will be locked down

Like Apple’s Secure Enclave, Qualcomm is introducing
a Secure Processing Unit on the Snapdragon 845
that will keep your data from falling into the wrong
hands. With its own dedicated processor, the SPU will
set up a ‘secure island’ to protect fingerprint, iris, and
face biometric scans. The secure chip will also store
payment information and SIM card data for ultimate
peace of mind.

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HOW TO Stops apps

using up your data
MICHAEL SIMON shows how to shut down data-hungry apps

G
oogle’s newest Android app might be its
most useful of all. It’s called Datally (free from
fave.co/2CmfFl9), and it has one function: to
stop apps from gobbling up your precious gigabytes
of data. The simple, intuitive app is designed to help
you get a handle on your mobile data usage and

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stop rogue apps from surreptitiously using it up. So,

if you get a message from your carrier about using
an abnormal amount of data, you can use Datally to
pinpoint the app that’s doing the most damage and
shut it down.
There’s nothing necessarily new in Datally – data
trackers have been built into Android for a while – but
never has it been presented in such a user-friendly
way. Many Android users don’t know to venture deep
into the Settings app to see their mobile usage, so
Datally pulls those features out of Settings > Network
& Internet > Mobile network, and presents it in an
easy-to-understand way.
After a brief setup, where you’ll need to allow
Datally access to a VPN in order for it to work, you’ll
be taken to a screen that clearly shows how much
data you’ve used today. From there, you can dial into
your weekly or monthly usage (via the manage data
button), set up threshold alerts, and control which
apps have access to your mobile data. There’s also a
Data Saver kill switch that will shut down all mobile
data at a tap.
But the coolest feature might be its Wi-Fi tracker.
Tap the ‘Find Wi-Fi’ button and Datally will retrieve a
list of nearby places that offer public Wi-Fi networks.
You can even get directions via Maps and rate the
quality to help other users in the area.
Google says it has been testing Datally in the
Philippines over the past few months and it has saved
people up to 30 percent in their data. The app is
available in the Play Store for phones running Android
5.0 and above.

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HOW TO Create an
Android Watch face
MARIE BLACK reveals how to produce a custom watch face

Y
ou’ll get a choice of watch faces for your
Android Wear smartwatch, but if none fit your
exact needs it’s really easy to create your own
using a simple app.

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1. Download the WatchMaker Watch Faces app from

Google Play (fave.co/2Cn6p0d). There is a free trial
version, which we recommend you try first to see if it’s
what you’re looking for, but if you decide to stick with
it and unlock all the features you’ll want to purchase
the premium version for £2.99.
The premium version unlocks 40,000 watch faces
with 50 new faces added every day; the ability to use
your own photos and images; more widgets; more
fonts; animated GIFs, and more.

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2. Launch the app, accept the permissions, then

choose your smartwatch from the list. We’ve selected
the Huawei Watch 2. You’ll be prompted to install the
companion app on your watch.

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3. Now you’re ready to get creative. From the main

screen tap the watch icon with a ‘+’ symbol at the
top right corner. This will open a new ‘Untitled watch’
– tap the pencil icon to give it a more appropriate
name and begin customizing it.

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4. To start adding items to your watch face click the

large ‘+’ sign below the preview. We recommend
you start with a background image, assuming you
want one, so select Image on the next screen. You’ll
be prompted to unlock the Premium version to do
this – you can continue experimenting with the free
version, but if you decide to use this you’ll need to
purchase the app. Now browse to and select the
photo you’d like to use in your Gallery.

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5. It’s unlikely that the image is going to be an exact

fit for your watch face, so you’ll want to zoom in on
the picture to fill all the available space. Scroll down
and play around with the Width and Height parameters
until it fits. You can also use controls here to move
items around on screen, which may be preferable to
dragging them with your finger if you’d like to keep
everything central.

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6. The next most important thing for a watch face

is the time. Tap the ‘+’ icon below the preview and
this time select Time from the menu. It will place on
screen a digital clock. Once again use the settings
below to resize and move around the text. Depending
on your background image you may also want to
change the text colour and font in order to make it
easier to read at a glance.

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7. We’ve also added a date to our watch face, which is

available when you tap the ‘+’ icon and choose Date
from the menu. Use the same controls to adjust its
size, colour, position and font.

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8. You’ll find various options in the menu for items

you can add, from Wi-Fi signals to battery meters
and a countdown clock. A lot more functionality is
available in the Expression menu, where you’ll find
options to add local weather, a seconds clock and
so on. Have a play around, and if you change your
mind about adding a particular item just tap and hold
it under the preview window and click the cross that
appears to remove.

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9. When you’ve finished creating your watch face,

preview it on your smartwatch. Scroll along the
various icons now appearing under the preview
window to the far right, then tap the icon depicting
a watch with an arrow.

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