Bush E3X preview: The £200 Argos phone looking to topple Moto G

Is Bush back in fashion? That’s a loaded question. But in the UK brand’s latest E3X smartphone – which will sell exclusively through Argos – it’s got a competitive looking £200 device to take on the likes of the Moto G4.

In mid-July at a behind-closed-doors Argos showcase event we got to handle the forthcoming phone and it’s not the lowly wedge of plastic that you might be expecting. For the mid-level phone market has evolved into perhaps the most exciting and competitive of all.

As you can see from our pictures, the Bush E3X is all metal edges with chamfered finishes, a solid build and textured rear back plate. Indeed it looks and awful lot like the OnePlus 2 (rather than the more affordable OnePlus X), which launched last year, and has some similarities too: there’s a fingerprint scanner, for example, but no NFC included (which is poor, as it means no Android Pay is possible).

Pocket-lint

Unlike OnePlus, however, the Bush E3X goes light on software. It’s based around stock Android – we saw it with version 6.0, which includes some top features like Google Doze which auto-sleeps when the phone isn’t being used for extended periods – that makes for an easy-to-use experience without the bloatware. And we had fully expected some default app installs forced into the device, especially as the E3X is, in essence, an Argos phone. Good job – not even Vodafone can manage that in its Smart Platinum device (£300).

There are some fully up-to-date features that make the E3X’s £200 price tag even better value too. A USB Type-C port, for example, means fast-charging of the 3,000mAh battery on board is possible – which is of a decent capacity for a phone of this size, so ought to last well throughout a day. It’s not Qualcomm’s Fast Charge technology, though, as the Bush device uses a MediaTek chipset instead.

Pocket-lint

The all-important screen is a 5.5-inch IPS LCD panel, with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution for a decent 400ppi density. That’s about as much as you’ll ever need at this scale – despite not being flagship-matching in terms of resolution. Still, it’s on par with the competition and looks good to us, even if its acute angle-of-view isn’t quite as hot as some other devices out there.

To the side of the phone is a tray for SIM card and microSD expansion, to make available added space beyond the 64GB standard that comes on board. There’s no removable back, although we did squeeze a fingernail between metal frame and rear panel, thinking that it did, before being told otherwise. Whoops.

Pocket-lint

On the rear, as compliment to the recessed fingerprint scanner, there’s a protruding camera element. Now you might not like that it sticks out, but that seems to be an increasingly standard design. It doesn’t mean there’s optical image stabilisation, though, it’s digital stabilisation only.

And that’s not all: Bush has opted to use a 21.5-megapixel sensor, which is the same as you’ll find in some higher-end Sony smartphones. It should be good a good snapper on the pictures front.

First Impressions

Which all adds up to a rather solid device for its £200 asking price. If you’re looking to go SIM-only rather than being tied into a contract then, well, here’s yet another possible purchase in-point to do just that – and do it rather nicely indeed. And you won’t be stuck to ordering online only like with OnePlus, as a quick visit to an Argos store and you can bag one from one of many stores around the UK.

But back to our smirksome opening gambit: is Bush back in fashion? That’s the only potential issue we can see with the E3X. The shiny logo emblazoned across the back isn’t exactly at the forefront of tech in most peoples’ minds, nor does it look quite as elegant as the likes of Sony. We think this logo could do with a little, ahem, trim.

BlackBerry Hamburg/Neon official press images and full spec list leak, probably called DTEK50

Fresh images of the upcoming BlackBerry Hamburg/Neon have leaked. This time they’re very official-looking press renders and they come with a new name to throw in the mix: DTEK50. 

The images showed up on BlackBerry’s official site for a short period of time, before being pulled. Thankfully, the information was spotted by one of CrackBerry’s keen-eyed forum members before it disappeared. 

As was seen in a recent leak, the images show a device which is almost identical to Alcatel’s Idol 4, virtually confirming reports that BlackBerry’s next phone is being manufactured by TCL Communication. The smartphone maker builds phones for several brands, including Vodafone and Alcatel, often releasing the same phone in different skins and with different names. 

• BlackBerry Hamburg could be called BlackBerry Neon, first press picture leaks
• It looks like BlackBerry Hamburg won’t even be made by BlackBerry anymore
• BlackBerry Hamburg/Neon: Release date, specs and everything we know so far

As well as showing off the official renders, the leaked page also had a full list of specifications for the as-yet unreleased smartphone from the once-giant of the industry.

Leading the line is a 5.2-inch full HD display with a scratch resistant surface. This screen is built in to a phone that measures 72.5mm wide, 147mm tall and just 7.4mm thin, which happens to weigh just 135g. For those curious, those are almost the exact same measurements as the Idol 4. 

Inside, there’s a Snapdragon 617 processor paired with 3GB RAM and 16GB storage which can be expanded up to 2TB. Thanks to having Quick Charge 2.0 support, the 2610mAh battery can charge from 0-50 per cent in 51 minutes. 

Moving on to cameras, and the leaked spec sheet indicates we should be expecting a 6-element f/2.0 lens with a 13-megapixel sensor paired with a dual tone dual LED flash and 1080p full HD video recording. The front camera will seemingly feature an 8-megapixel sensor with f/2.2 aperture. 

Like the BlackBerry PRIV, the Neon will come loaded with Android 6.0 Marshmallow with BlackBerry’s own custom software pre-installed. This includes the BlackBerry Hub for managing notifications and custom software keyboard as well as a number of other apps, including DTEK, the security management software. 

While the specifications should make a great phone for the rumoured sub-£300 price point, it’s the naming we find more interesting. Up until now, the phone has been referred to as either the Hamburg or Neon. However, the removed spec list URL refers to the phone as the “DTEK50 by BlackBerry”, suggesting the company might be naming its next phone to match its Android security software. 

This publishing and quick removal suggests one thing: the company is preparing a launch very soon, and someone pushed the publish button a little too early before realising his/her mistake and removing it.

We can’t imagine they’d make this mistake unless something was happening within the next couple of weeks. So stay tuned, BlackBerry could be about to drop its second Android phone on us very shortly. 

Motorola Moto E3 vs Moto G4 vs G4 Plus vs G4 Play: What’s the difference?

Motorola has announced several smartphones this year, including a new Moto Z range, a refreshed Moto G range comprising three devices alone and an updated Moto E.

The Moto G range and Moto E both sit within the budget end of the market, but with four phones to choose from between £100 and £325, which one is the right one for you?

We have put the Moto E3 against the Moto G4 Play, Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus to see what the differences and similarities are.

Motorola Moto E3 vs Moto G4 vs G4 Plus vs G4 Play: Design

The Motorola Moto E3 measures 143.8 x 71.6 x 8.6mm, which makes it the smallest and slimmest of the devices being compared here. The Moto G4 Play follows closely behind at 144.4 x 72mm, with its thickest point at 9.9mm.

Both the G4 and the G4 Plus measure 153 x 76.6mm, with their thickest points 9.8mm. They are the heaviest at 155g, while the G4 Play is the lightest at 137g.

All four devices feature a similar design, at least from the rear. They all have the signature indented “M” with a raised camera lens and flash above. The E3 has a bottom front facing speaker on the front, while the G4 and G4 Play only have top speakers and the G4 Plus has a fingerprint sensor.

Motorola Moto E3 vs Moto G4 vs G4 Plus vs G4 Play: Display

The Motorola Moto E3 and Moto G4 Play both have a 5-inch display with a 1280 x 720 resolution, resulting in pixel densities of 294ppi.

The Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus both have slightly larger displays at 5.5-inches and they also both up their resolutions to Full HD, meaning pixel densities of 401ppi. This suggests the G4 and G4 Plus will offer slightly sharper, crisper images in comparison to the other two devices.

All four devices have IPS LCD displays and they are all protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

Motorola Moto E3 vs Moto G4 vs G4 Plus vs G4 Play: Cameras

The Motorola Moto E3 and the Moto G4 Play both come with an 8-megapixel rear camera and a single LED flash. The E3 is capable of 720p video recording, while the G4 Play can record in Full HD.

The Moto G4 has a 13-megapixel rear camera with a dual-LED flash, while the G4 Plus has a 16-megapixel rear snapper and features both laser autofocus and PDAF. Both the G4 and G4 Plus are capable of 1080p video recording.

There is a 5-megapixel camera on all four devices being compared here. The G4 and G4 Plus both have a flash on the front as well as the back though.

Motorola Moto E3 vs Moto G4 vs G4 Plus vs G4 Play: Hardware

The Motorola Moto E3 features a quad-core MediaTek processor, supported by 1GB of RAM, while the Moto G4 Play opts for the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 420 chip, also supported by 1GB of RAM.

The Moto G4 and G4 Plus both have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor on board and at least 2GB of RAM. The G4 Plus is also available in a 4GB RAM option.

In terms of storage, the E3 only comes in an 8GB option, while the G4 Play is available in 8GB and 16GB models. The G4 comes in 16GB and 32GB models, while the G4 Plus comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB options. All four devices offer microSD support for storage expansion.

Battery capacity is pretty much on par across the four devices too. The Moto E3 and G4 Play have 2800mAh capacities, while the G4 and G4 Plus have 3000mAh batteries.

Motorola Moto E3 vs Moto G4 vs G4 Plus vs G4 Play: Software

All four devices being compared here run on Android Marshmallow with a couple of extra Motorola-specific apps so the experience should be almost identical.

It’s pretty much vanilla Android on Motorola smartphones so you don’t get the same level of bloatware as you do with some other devices. This tends to mean quicker updates to the latest Android software and it also allows for a cleaner experience.

Motorola Moto E3 vs Moto G4 vs G4 Plus vs G4 Play: Price

The Motorola Moto E3 is the cheapest of these four devices at £99.95, followed by the Moto G4 Play at £129.

The Motorola Moto G4 starts at £169, while the Moto G4 Plus is the most expensive starting at £229.

Motorola Moto E3 vs Moto G4 vs G4 Plus vs G4 Play: Conclusion

The Motorola Moto E3 and the Moto G4 Play are pretty similar in terms of specs and price. For the extra £30 for the G4 Play, you get a lighter device and higher resolution video recording compared to the E3.

Pay another £40 on top of the G4 Play price, or £70 on top of the E3 and you get a higher resolution display and rear camera, a faster processor, double the RAM and a larger battery capacity.

Another £50 on top of the G4 price for the G4 Plus will get you a higher rear camera resolution again, better focusing and a fingerprint sensor.

The Moto E3 and G4 Play both offer plenty for their price. For those that have a little extra cash to splash, the G4 is a good middling device, while the G4 Plus is for those that don’t mind going over the £200 mark and just have to have a fingerprint sensor.

WhatsApp Update Brings Video Recording Zoom and Bigger Emojis

WhatsApp developers pushed out a new update for the hugely popular messenger platform today that includes a couple of new video and chat features for iOS users.

The main change for users who record video through the app is that they now have the ability to zoom in and out while recording, simply by sliding a finger up and down the screen.

On the interface front, WhatsApp developers have added an Edit option to the chat thread tab to make it easier to archive, delete or mark as read multiple chats in one go.

Elsewhere, individual chat threads are faster to load and can now be scrolled through continuously, rather than users being confronted by requests to ‘scroll again’ in order to access earlier parts of the same thread.

In addition, singular emojis now show up bigger when sent within a thread (only the heart emoji showed bigger previously).

A new WhatsApp Web/Desktop section has also been added to the Settings screen for users to adjust account login options relating to the new desktop app directly on their iOS device.

WhatsApp Messenger is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: WhatsApp
Discuss this article in our forums

Renault Zoe review: Electrical engineering

It’s been a typical complaint of the modern electric car that – from the perspective of asking price – most are simply too expensive to make sense. As one of the leaders in the electric-mobility revolution, Renault has sought to challenge that notion with the new Zoe.

Almost exactly the same size as the firm’s class-leading Clio supermini, the Zoe is a 5-door, 80-mile range battery-powered car which asks few compromises of its owner.

The boot is large, square and comparable with the Clio. The centre stack, screen and main controls are the same as Nicole and Papa’s car too. There’s space for five people on board – you can get a baby seat in the back quite easily (as we did, during our week with it) – and the Zoe looks normal, even appealing, with its fluid, sensual surface treatment.

Sure, the blue hue to some of the details and the plastering of printed circuit board graphics are a bit cheap and give the electric game away, but generally, the uninformed onlooker would be none the wiser as to this car’s powertrain. So is the Zoe the way to go electric?

Renault Zoe review: Price bug

Back to that common bugbear: price. Our upper-middle spec Dynamique Nav model has an on-the-road price of £15,545. It’s worth noting that, without the plug-in car grant the UK government throws your way, that would balloon to £19,945. An equivalent spec Clio (Dynamique Nav) can be had for £13,675 (but spec that Clio in a comparative diesel automatic flavour, and it’s £17,275).

Pocket-lint

But take into account the factors that can really start to help electric cars make economic sense: tax is free, a full (80 mile) charge should cost you somewhere between £1-2 at home, you don’t pay the C-charge in London, and in many cities you can park and charge an electric car for free, either on the road or in council-run car parks. Drive into a city everyday and normally pay for things like parking and you can quickly create a financial argument for owning an electric car.

To round off the financial sweepstake, if you choose to run an electric car on a business, the government will let you write off 100 per cent of the purchase price against tax. Although, they’re increasing the benefit-in-kind on electric vehicles over the next few years which rather outweighs this benefit. It’s currently five per cent on the Zoe, next year it will be nine per cent.

The Zoe, like some versions of the Nissan Leaf, throws a curveball into this mix, however. Whereas EVs like the BMW i3 and Tesla Model S simply charge you a price and send you off into the distance lock stock, Renault tethers you to a monthly battery lease “access charge”. Basically, you own the car but not the battery – the idea being that, should you keep it long enough for the battery to degrade, or should you be unfortunate enough to suffer an issue – Renault will simply swap out your battery for a new one. There’s a range of battery access charges and tariffs – dependent on mileage and contract length. Representatively, it’s £70 a month for 3 years/7,500 miles per year.

Renault argue that, with the cost saving in fuel, etc., most drivers will still be better off than with a petrol or diesel. There’s the option to skip this, and simply buy the battery with the car. But then this Zoe’s purchase price jumps to £20,545.

Pocket-lint

If you’re still with us, what complicates these matters even further is the fact that most people in the UK (between 80-90 per cent according to the latest industry figures) are choosing to lease or finance new cars, for two to three years with a low monthly payment. There are some good deals around on the Zoe (sub-£200/month). However, while researching this, we also noticed that you can have a Nissan Leaf or BMW i3 for a similar monthly payment – and the BMW stands out because it comes without that £70/month on top for the battery that Renault will take from you. With that in mind, we say shop around. And do your maths carefully.

Renault Zoe review: Maths lesson over

Spending 500 words explaining the intracacies of financials around electric car “ownership” perhaps goes some way towards explaining why we’re still not seeing tens of thousands of the things flooding onto UK roads every month. But maths lesson over, what remains to be said about the Zoe is largely positive.

Pocket-lint

The car arrived with us fully charged and showing 80-miles of range. It was on our drive way during June, and despite Britain’s tepid summer, the temperatures during our week with it were favourable to an EV. In a cold winter and with wipers, lights and heaters on, expect the Zoe’s real range to drop into the 60-something mile bracket. A figure that might alarm those nervous about making the jump to an electric car.

After cost, range anxiety does still seem to be the major concern for most people with these kind of vehicles. You’ll need to spend a good deal more (think four times as much) to buy a Tesla and its comforting 200+ miles of range, which begs the question, could you cope with the Zoe’s smaller battery capacity and range?

It will depend on your circumstances. And there are multiple complicators in this mix too. As a rule of thumb: if the Zoe’s going to act as your second car – say a foil to an existing petrol or diesel; and/or if you only ever commute a few miles each way every day – then a Zoe could well be perfect. As a single car, and to cover you on a wide range of trips types and lengths, you may find it more limiting.

Pocket-lint

It’s worth noting at this point that Ecotricity’s range of chargers are now present in nearly every service station along Britain’s motorway network. And the Zoe is compatible with the fast-charge option, which will give you around an 80 per cent charge in 20-30 minutes. This was, until last week, free of charge. Now, unless you’re an Ecotricity customer, you’ll pay £6 for half an hour’s worth of charge.

Also noteworthy is the fact that Renault’s just created two range options. The Q210 motor can officially travel 130-miles on a charge (real-world  the circa 80-miles we had). Or the R240 motor goes 149-miles (real world 90-95 miles). But, it gets complicated because while this Q210 can be fast-charged, the new and longer-range R240 can’t.  

Getting confused by all this, we just slotted the Zoe into our normal lives to see how we go on. Whereas we’d normally drive to an event 100-odd miles away, we simply took the train instead. But for commuting, local errands and trips to see friends 15-miles away at the weekend, the Zoe gave us no anxiety.

Pocket-lint

We simply plugged it into our garage 3-pin wall socket at night, with a full charge seeming to take about 10-hours (the time remaining is displayed on the dashboard during charging). You could also fit a unit to you house to fully charge the Zoe in around 4-hours – if you’re a private buyer, then Renault will fit you one of these free of charge. 

And while the range meter was slightly optimistic (we managed 69-miles on one charge), we did do a fair amount of dual carriageway work in the Zoe (at fast motorway speeds). Trim yourself back to 65mph, and the efficiency goes up. It was also pleasing to find that – when we did try a bit of eco driving – our 8-mile commute could be completed on just “5-miles” of supposed range.

Renault Zoe review: Stop and go pedal

The Zoe is a doddle to drive too. It features a normal, T-bar automatic gearshifter and two pedals. Simply pull the lever back into drive, release the standard pull-up handbrake and you’re away.

Pocket-lint

The Zoe is fairly zippy off the line, too – you can surprise and embarrass many faster cars with its acceleration if you want. That’s one of the things about electrics: they’re often high torque.

Drive carefully and plan ahead and you’ll only need to brush the brakes too. The regeneration – a feature of most EVs and hybrids, which means they start to brake themselves when you lift off the accelerator in order to recoup energy – is gentler than some electric cars we’ve tried, becoming more pronounced when you press the Eco button.

It rides nicely too. Small, 16-inch wheels with plump tyre walls and the weight of the battery down low in the structure means the Zoe is generally more settled than an equivalent Clio. And, if you want to, the low centre of gravity means you can hare round corners at a decent pace.

Pocket-lint

Our only real issue was on hills in stop-start traffic, where the gearbox didn’t always behave like an auto (with built-in creep), meaning you occasionally roll back when moving off from a stop, unless you use the handbrake.

Renault Zoe review: Eco Clio

Inside, the Zoe is spacious for a supermini. The boot is almost family-car sized – it swallowed our buggy and a friend’s weekend bags on the trip to the station, so there’s plenty of room for shopping.

Pocket-lint

The flat floor in the cabin creates a feeling of space, but because the batteries are under the floor it does mean the seats are mounted higher than you might imagine; you feel perched on the Zoe rather than snuggled down into it. The trade off being that, with its deep windows, it’s very easy to see out of, place on the road, and park.

The materials don’t feel specifically cheap, but there is a slightly odd, eco-basic look about the Zoe cabin. It’s less youthful than a Clio, despite sharing many parts. The white/beige/blue colour scheme is perhaps designed to reflect the Zoe’s green car credentials, but somehow it isn’t as appealing as many equivalent petrol cars – nor as futuristic as a BMW i3’s interior.

It is relatively well equipped though. The centre “tablet” screen (shared with Clio and other Renaults) feautres a 7-inch touchscreen to view the reversing camera and TomTom Live Sat Nav. It’s easy to use, but some of the buttons are a little on the small side to hit accurately when on the move.

Pocket-lint

You also get a DAB radio, parking sensors, keyless entry and start, USB connectors and Bluetooth, cruise control and speed limiter. Though we’d like to see heated seats standard, so you can minimise the cabin heater use requirement in winter, which zaps battery energy.

The Zoe also comes with various EV-related functions to make your life easier and help you maximise efficiency – things like pre-conditioning and charge scheduling. Some of these things can be controlled through the dedicated Renault ZE app on your phone.

Verdict

In a world of Teslas and BMWs that tend to steal the electric car limelight, the Zoe – along with its cousin the Nissan Leaf – tend to be the foregotten pioneers of the electric car revolution. Importantly, then, the Zoe feels well engineered, enjoyable to drive and – although the interior has a certain eco feel – not an unpleasant thing to be in.

Our week with the Zoe proved, as you might expect, that this car is not for everyone though. Yet within certain parameters of use, an electric car like this asks you to make precious few compromises or behavioural changes compared to a petrol or diesel car. And it could quite easily save you money too.

You’ll note we’ve so far failed to mention that potential benefit of no tailpipe emissions too. We query Renaults “zero emissions” mantra – because electricity in the UK mostly comes from carbon-intensive gas and coal powerstations. But at a local level, you’re exposing yourself, the car’s other occupants and the environments you drive through to much lower levels of pollutants than a combustion engine car.

Which brings us full circle back to where we started: price. We applaud Renault for bringing a fully-fledged EV to market that is within the financial reach of the many, rather than the few. However, as the incentives market changes, as other manufacturers offer tantilising lease deals to sell their own cars, and as Renault continues to charge for the leasing of the Zoe’s battery, you need to do your maths carefully to be sure that buying one stacks up. That not withstanding, the Zoe is proof that most people have little to fear, or lose, from jumping into the electric car revolution.

Latest Nexus phone app update protects you from spam calls, here’s how it works

Google has release an update to its Nexus phone app to include automatic protection against spam callers. The new phone app is available to Nexus and Android One device owners, and will help owners identify and block bothersome phone calls. 

Once the update has landed on your device, if you get a call from a suspected spam caller the phone will ring with a big red banner, with “suspected spam caller” showing underneath the telephone number.  By default, the app has the feature switched on, but you can switch it off if you don’t want it. 

To switch off caller ID and spam protection in the updated app, open the phone app then hit the “more” three-dot menu. Tap “caller ID and spam protection”, then tap “off”. To reactivate the feature, follow the same procedure. 

As part of the service you can both block and flag spam numbers it hasn’t picked up yet and whitelist numbers marked as spam incorrectly. 

To mark a call as spam, open the phone app and head to the recent call list. Tap the specific call you want to mark as spam, tap “block/report as spam” and you’ll be asked if you want to report the number. Tap “report call as spam” then tap “block”.

Once you’ve done that, Google will be notified about a possible spam number and can help other users by identifying it as a suspected spam call. By blocking manually, you’ll never receive a call on your phone from that number again. 

If a number you’ve received from is wrongly labelled as spam, head to your recent calls list then tap on the call you want to whitelist. Then all you need to do is tap “not spam” to make sure your phone doesn’t identify it as a spam call. 

Of course, Google isn’t the only company to add this feature to its phones. Both Samsung and BlackBerry have the feature built in to their latest Android devices as standard, while apps like Hiya can be installed on to any other Android phone from the Play Store to add the feature. 

Engadget UK asks: is fitness tech improving your life?

August is almost upon us, and that means we don’t have very long before the lighting of the Olympic flame in Rio, Brazil. Team GB has its work cut out: it’s expected to bring home between 47 and 79 medals this summer, up from a forecast of between 40 to 70 at the 2012 London Games. While Mo Farah and co. attempt to meet those targets, we want to learn more about what motivates you to get active.

Do you use fitness apps? Have you bought a wearable? Is Pokémon Go helping get you off the sofa and out onto the streets? Are these things improving your life for the better? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Answer these simple questions for the chance to WIN a £50 Amazon voucher. Entry closes at midnight on August 2nd.