Best Accessories for Moto G5 Plus

What are some of the best accessories available for the Moto G5 Plus?

Motorola’s latest budget phone, the Moto G5 Plus, is shaping up to be quite the successor to the Moto G4. It’s faster, shinier, and equipped with an improved rear-facing camera.

You’ll want to take advantage of everything the Moto G5 Plus can do, including procuring accessories that can make life with your new mid-range mobile device more dynamic. Here are a few accessories to consider equipping yourself with for future adventures with the Moto G5 Plus.

• Incipio NGP case
• LK Screen Protector (3-pack)
• LK Wallet case
• Raki 3-in-1 clip-on camera lens
• Anker Waterproof Case
• Maono Selfie Stick

Incipio NGP case

If you’re looking for a lightweight rugged case, Incipio’s NGP case is the right voice for you.

Featuring a textured back and bumper to ensure you maintain a solid grip, this one-piece polymer case is designed with enhanced drop protection — you’ll notice the honeycombed interior which helps to disperse the shock when your phone inevitably hits a table or floor.

Precise cutouts means you’ll have full access to the charging port and headphone jack as well as the volume and power button on the side.

Choose between black and berry pink and keep your Moto G5 Plus protected!

See at Incipio

LK Screen Protector (3-pack)

Planning to go bare with your Moto G5 Plus? At least consider a screen protector to shield its 5.2-inch LCD display. This three-pack of oleophobic screen protectors are precisely cut to fit the Moto G5 Plus. They’re made from 9H tempered glass and are both scratch-resistant and shatterproof. Each protector is easy to apply and LK offers a lifetime replacement warranty should things go awry.

See at Amazon

iXCC USB Car charger

Get this Qualcomm Quick Charge-certified car charger for your next adventure on the road with the Moto G5 Plus in tow. This affordable package comes with a 3-foot Micro-USB cable, though you can grab another if you need something longer. The charger also comes with a two-year manufacturer’s warranty.

The charger itself can charge any Quick Charge 2.0-compatible device. It also features built-in safeguards to help protect any device from overheating and overcharging.

See at Amazon

Raki 3-in-1 clip-on camera lens

The Moto G5 Plus’s 12-megapixel rear-facing camera is actually quite capable, but you can take even more dynamic photography with a clip-on camera lens, like the affordable Raki 3-in-1 camera lens.

This multi-use concoction features an 180-degree Fisheye lens, a wide-angle lens, and a macro lens. It comes in four different colors, too, so you can get one that matches the color of your Moto G5 Plus. Best of all, the clip-on is compatible with any smartphone, so if you switch devices in the future you won’t have switch clip-on camera lenses.

See at Amazon

Anker Waterproof Case

You’ll inevitably come across a body of water in your adventures with your smartphone, even if that water is just in your bathtub. Keep the Moto G5 Plus’s water-repellent nanocoating safe from deep water with this pouch from Anker. It’s rated IPX8 for water resistance, which means it works in up to 100 feet of water. You can still use the touchscreen and the camera while it’s inside the pouch, too, and it comes with a handy neck strap so your phone won’t float away.

See at Amazon

Maono Selfie Stick

Yep. We’re suggesting you purchase a selfie stick, but not just any selfie stick. This one is both a stick for extending the Moto G5 Plus in front of you for selfies and a tripod for keeping still for landscape shots and self-timed panoramas. It’s also made of metal and features a programmable Bluetooth remote. And since there are no circuits inside the selfie stick, it’s verifiably rainproof.

See at Amazon

Moto G5

• Moto G5 Plus review
• Moto G5 Specs
• Top 10 things to know about the Moto G5 + G5 Plus
• Moto G5 Plus vs Moto G4 Plus
• Join our Moto G5 forums!

See at Amazon

DJI Phantom 4 Advanced replaces the Phantom 4, is almost as good as the Phantom 4 Pro

DJI has introduced the Phantom 4 Advanced as the latest drone in the Phantom 4 series. The 4 Advanced, and 4 Advanced+ will replace the regular Phantom 4, and sit beneath the Phantom 4 Pro. 

• DJI Phantom 4 Pro preview: Smarter, longer-lasting pro-level drone

But what differences and updates has DJI implemented in the Phantom 4 Advanced, over the standard Phantom 4? Well, for starters, the Phantom 4 Advanced has a new 1-inch, 20-megapixel camera sensor with a mechanical shutter. The new camera is the same one you’ll find on the Phantom 4 Pro, meaning it can record H.264 4K video at up to 60fps, or H.265 video at up to 30fps, and it can take Burst Mode still images at up to 14fps.

Other differences between the Phantom 4 Advanced and Phantom 4 include a flight time of 30 minutes on the 4 Advanced, compared to the Phantom 4’s 28 minutes, an increase in obstacle sensing distance from 15 metres to 30 metres, and transmission range has been extended to 7km.

The Phantom 4 Advanced also has five vision sensors built-in, which let it sense obstacles in two different directions, as well as forward-vision obstacle avoidance. The Phantom 4 Pro meanwhile has five-directions of obstacle sensing and four-directions of obstacle avoidance.

DJI has gifted the Phantom 4 Advanced with many of the same automatic flight modes that can be found on the Phantom 4 Pro, including Draw, which lets you draw a path on the screen for the drone to follow at a fixed altitude, and ActiveTrack which lock on to a subject, follow it and keep it in frame. 

TapFly is precisely that, tap an area on your screen and the drone will fly to it. TapFly Free locks the forward direction of the Phantom 4 Advanced, but doesn’t lock the camera, leaving you to adjust it as required. Gesture mode will let you take pictures of yourself from the drone by using gestures and Return to Home will see your Phantom 4 Advanced safely return to you on the best possible path.

DJI

The Phantom 4 Advanced+ model comes with a 5.5-inch, 1080p screen integrated into the controller and claims to be twice as bright as conventional smartphone displays. If you opt for the Phantom 4 Advanced instead, you’ll need to mount your own smartphone into the controller’s dock. 

• DJI Mavic Pro review: One insanely powerful, portable drone
• DJI Phantom 4: The drone that won’t crash and sees everything

The Phantom 4 Advanced and Phantom 4 Advanced+ will be available from 30 April – the same day the Phantom 4 reaches its end of life – for £1,469 and £1,699 respectively. 

Firefox ‘performance’ tab will curb its RAM hunger

Despite their popularity, both Firefox and Chrome have reputations as resource hogs that chew up big chunks of your RAM. In the case of Firefox, some of this is unfair — parent Mozilla says part of the problem is that many users are running older machines without a lot of memory in the first place. To help those folks, the developers are working on a new feature called “performance” that will let you fine-tune the browser if you’re running a PC that’s less than state-of-the-art.

Firefox plays better than most browsers with third-party add-ons, but as the developers have pointed out before, some of those can slow your machine significantly. As such, they’re working on an “optimize Firefox” button that kills all extensions after you restart the browser (below). That alone could make things work a lot better, and “you can always enable them again later,” the developers say.

Another potential new feature is “content processes.” Right now, Firefox only supports two processes (for the core and content), but starting with version 55, it will support three or more, putting it on par with Chrome, Safari and others. With the performance settings, the developers will give you more granular control of those, so you can trade off speed for memory usage. “More content processes will make Firefox more responsive when using multiple tabs, but will also consume more memory,” according to the proposed UX.

Users of slow PCs will also get to disable UI animations for tabs, menus and other things, and use prefetching, which “can improve performance when on a slow connection.” If you have a machine with a new CPU and plenty of RAM, you can probably just leave all the settings enabled.

Work has just begun on this feature, so don’t expect to see it in a release or even nightly build for a while. Firefox is on version 52 right now, with version 53 set to come on April 18th, and as mentioned, support for more than two processes won’t come until Firefox 55. Consequently, the performance tab probably won’t be released to the public until somewhere near the end of the year.

Via: Liliputing

Source: Mozilla

Astronomers may have taken the first photo of a black hole

The Event Horizon Telescope project’s astronomers can now breathe a sigh of relief. They finally managed to observe Sagittarius A* for five sleepless nights after switching on the array on April 4th. In other words, the team might have taken the first picture of a black hole ever. There were nights when they had to stop their observations due to bad weather or something going wrong with their system, but they ultimately wrapped up on April 11th, 11:22 AM ET.

The Event Horizon Telescope is an array of powerful radio observatories around the world. When connected, they turn into one virtual telescope as big as the planet with a diameter of 6,200 miles. The scientists pointed those powerful radio telescopes to two tiny points in the sky: one of them is Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole in the center of our own galaxy, while the other is the black hole in the center of a nearby galaxy called M87.

Team member Heino Falcke from Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, said “even if the first images are still crappy and washed out, [they] can already test for the first time some basic predictions of Einstein’s theory of gravity in the extreme environment of a black hole.” The photo “will turn black holes from some mythical object to something concrete that we can study.”

Despite successfully collecting data the past few days, the team will have to spend the next months wondering if they were actually able to snap the first photo of a black hole. See, each of the eight participating observatories produced around 500TB of data divided into 1,024 hard drives. The locations aren’t equipped to process them locally, so jets will fly them to the MIT Haystack Observatory in Massachusetts and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany. Both labs have supercomputers that can crunch a massive amount of data. It could still take until early 2018 before we see the results, though, since the hard drives from the South Pole can’t be flown out until the end of October.

That’s a lot of work for something that might not bear fruit. Still, the team remains optimistic. This is the first time the South Pole telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (a group of 66 radio dishes in Chile) are used to observe the black holes, after all. Atacama alone increases the array’s power ten-fold, and power is what the telescope needs to be able to observe something so far away.

So, what kind of image should you expect to see? Probably nothing like the colorful artist rendition above. Based on Einstein’s theory of general relativity, the photo will show a crescent of light emitted by gas and dust in the accretion disk surrounding a black circle. If it shows something else, then we’ll bet millions of scientists around the globe will be very, very busy in the future.

Source: National Geographic, PhysOrg, ScienceAlert

Microsoft to offer self-service refunds for digital games

According to a Reddit user, Microsoft may be looking to offer self-service refunds for games. The feature, as discovered by user gaymerRaver, apparently enables users that have purchased a game on Xbox One or Windows 10 to get a full refund. There are some caveats, however, including that any title you want to return must have been played for less than two hours.

Other conditions include the fact that you can’t return the title in the first day of purchase, nor more than 14 days afterward. Oh, and DLC, Season passes and certain, as-yet unnamed Windows 10 apps are not included in the deal. Plus, Microsoft reserves the right to boot anyone who it thinks is abusing the system and taking too many refunds. That’s pretty much the same terms and conditions that Steam offers, albeit Valve lets people write in to argue for a refund should they feel the need.

Right now, the feature is in alpha on the Xbox One preview program, and will need plenty of testing before Microsoft takes it forward. Still, nice to see the company making it easier to get your money back if you click something and suddenly realize that you’ve made a terrible mistake.

Via: Neogaf

Source: Reddit

iOS Drops to Lowest Share of China Smartphone Market in Nearly Three Years

Apple’s iOS has dropped to its lowest share of the smartphone market in urban China since July 2014, according to new data collected and shared by Kantar Worldpanel. Today’s report specifically details smartphone shares around the world for the three months ending in February 2017. In total, devices running iOS dropped 8.9 percentage points from the same year-ago quarter, receding from 22.1 percent of the China market to 13.2 percent.

Apple rival Android remains the dominant force in China at 86.4 percent of the smartphone market in the country, growing 9.3 percentage points year-over-year. Although the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus remained the top selling devices in China, Apple has trouble competing with local vendors — like Oppo and Vivo — who produce cheaper smartphones at a massive rate that are far easier to obtain by the Chinese consumer.

“In the three-month period ending February 2017, iOS accounted for 13.2% of smartphone sales in urban China, a decline of 8.9 percentage points from 22.1% a year earlier. This marks iOS’ lowest share since the three-month period ending July 2014,” reported Tamsin Timpson, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. “That said, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus remained the top selling devices in the region, accounting for 8% of smartphone sales. By comparison, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus accounted for 14% of smartphone sales in the three months ending February 2016.”

Not much has changed for either iOS or Android in the United States since Kantar’s last report, although the latter OS has continued to see a decline in market share throughout December, January, and February. Android has dropped three percentage points when compared to the same year-ago quarter, now accounting for 55.9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, while iOS has grown by 3.7 percentage points year-over-year to take 42 percent of the market in the U.S.

As in China, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus remained the top-selling smartphones in the U.S., which the devices have been since Kantar’s report on the three months ending November 2016. Kantar’s analysts cited hope that Google Pixel “might soften the drop in Android sales” that happen annually around every iPhone launch — and which dropped even more dramatically last year because of the Note7 — but the Pixel doesn’t appear to have picked up the slack for the Android market in the U.S.

In terms of overall growth, iOS saw its biggest percentage point increase in the quarter happen in Great Britain, growing 4.5 percentage points year-over-year. In most of Europe’s big five markets — Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain — Apple has done well to boost sales of iOS devices, with France housing the biggest growth for the Apple operating system over the holidays. Outliers still remain, like Spain’s 1.7 percentage point dip in today’s report.

Kantar’s report also looked forward to the rest of 2017, admitting that the three months ending in February is a “challenging time” to report on due to its awkward middle ground proximity between the holiday season last year, and upcoming announcements at events like WWDC in the summer.

“The February period is always a challenging time to report on consumer behaviour and plans, since many people put purchases on hold following the holidays, waiting for the latest phone announcements from Mobile World Congress,” Guenveur said. “The much-anticipated March 29 announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S8, combined with the somewhat unexpected launch of the (PRODUCT) RED iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and the capacity upgrade to iPhone SE a week before that, may mean that the remainder of Q1 and Q2 could yield some interesting, even unpredictable, shifts in the market.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook has remained vocal in his optimism about the company’s presence — and future — in China, mentioning in an earnings call last year that, “We may not have the wind at our backs that we once did, but it’s more stable than the common view of it.” More recently, Cook went into even more detail about Apple’s China plans, stating that, “We’re not just someone who’s here to access the market,” and that the company intends to bolster its presence in the country through providing jobs and improving people’s standard of living.

Related Roundup: iOS 10
Tags: China, Kantar Worldpanel
Discuss this article in our forums

Potential ‘iPhone 8’ Render Shows Vertical Camera and Rear Touch ID, But Likely One of Several Designs

A user on Weibo has shared an image of what appears to be a manufacturing-related design drawing of Apple’s rumored 5.8-inch iPhone with an OLED display, which is tentatively named the iPhone 8 or iPhone X.

The photo, which surfaced on /LEAKS earlier today, appears to have been taken on a computer belonging to an Apple manufacturing partner such as Foxconn. It’s unclear when the photo was taken, or if it’s authentic, so treat this rumor with some caution until actual parts start to leak from the supply chain.

The photo appears to be from the EVT, or Engineering Verification Testing, stage. In other words, this could be one of over ten iPhone prototypes that Apple has supposedly been testing this year, and the iPhone that ultimately enters mass production later this year might have an entirely different design.

The drawing shows an iPhone with a larger display that takes up nearly the entire front of the smartphone, as widely rumored. However, while many sources suggest the display will resemble the Galaxy S8 with only top and bottom bezels, the drawing shows very slim bezels along the left and right edges as well.

On the rear of the iPhone, the drawing shows a vertically aligned dual camera system, which has been rumored only once before by Japanese website Mac Otakara in December. Touch ID has also been relocated to the rear shell, in line with multiple reports claiming the iPhone 8 won’t have a Home button on the front.

It has been more frequently rumored that Apple will integrate Touch ID underneath the iPhone 8’s display glass, but Cowen and Company analyst Timothy Arcuri recently said that Apple is facing yield issues with an under-display solution. If it cannot resolve those issues, he said Touch ID on the rear is one possibility.

The drawing depicts an iPhone 8 measuring 149.5mm tall and 72.5mm wide, compared to the iPhone 7’s 138.3mm length and 67.1mm width, so the iPhone 8 would be slightly larger than a 4.7-inch iPhone as expected. It’s depth is 8.6mm, compared to the iPhone 7 at 7.1mm, possibly due to a rumored glass and stainless steel frame.

If accurate, the iPhone 8 would be approaching the thickness of an iPhone 4, which also had a glass and stainless steel design.

Using the Pythagorean theorem, we calculated that the iPhone 8 would have an overall footprint of about 6.5 inches on the diagonal, compared to around 6 inches for iPhone 7 and around 6.9 inches for iPhone 7 Plus. In other words, the iPhone 8 would be smaller than an iPhone 7 Plus, yet with an even bigger display.

The sides of the iPhone include the usual volume toggles, mute switch, lock button, SIM card tray, Lightning connector, speaker grille, and what is likely a second faux speaker grille. In line with the iPhone 7, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack, suggesting that the legacy port won’t be making a surprise comeback.

Chinese social network Weibo has been the source of numerous part leaks and Apple-related rumors in the past, but as is usually the case with leaks this far from launch, the iPhone depicted in today’s image could end up being much different from the one that debuts later this year.

Around this time three years ago, a similar design drawing and a few real-life photos of a device that ended up being the iPhone 6 surfaced from within Foxconn, so this leak does have a chance of being credible.

Mitchel Broussard contributed to this report.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8 (2017)
Tag: weibo.com
Discuss this article in our forums

Workflow App Will Stop Releasing Updates in Wake of Apple Acquisition

Last month Apple acquired work automation app Workflow, which gives users the ability to create a variety of workflows that can translate articles, create GIFs from photos, calculate tips, and more. It’s still unclear what Apple plans to do with the app in the future, but Workflow remains on the App Store in the wake of the acquisition, and now it appears that the app will no longer receive any noticeable updates down the line.

In an email from Workflow support sent to a user of the app, and discussed on the Accidental Tech Podcast (via iGeneration), the company has confirmed that there are “no further planned updates for Workflow,” but it will continue to support the app’s current functionality and has no intention to fully abandon it.

“But just so you know, we have no further planned updates for Workflow. That being said we are continuing to support Workflow’s current functionality and have no plans to end support, so let me know if you run across any bugs or crashes.”

Following the acquisition, Apple made Workflow free to download on the App Store and reimbursed customers who had recently paid for the app. Certain features were also removed from the app after Apple bought it, including workflow functionality that involved Google Chrome, Pocket, LINE, Telegram, and Uber.

Apple is predicted to include Workflow directly into iOS in the future, at which time the current Workflow app will likely be removed from the App Store. As such, the app is now sitting in a sort of limbo stage between its recent acquisition — where Apple also received Workflow team members Ari Weinstein, Conrad Kramer, and Nick Frey — and a future integration in iOS, perhaps iOS 11 this fall.

Tag: Workflow
Discuss this article in our forums

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs S8 Plus vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus: What’s the difference?

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus were announced at the end of March, bringing two new fabulous flagships to the smartphone party. How do they compare to their competition though?

We’ve put them up against the LG G6, the Pixels and the iPhone 7 in previous features but here we are looking at how the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus compare to the Apple iPhone 7 Plus.

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs S8 Plus vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus: Design

• All offer premium, beautiful designs
• All waterproof to some degree
• iPhone 7 Plus slimmer, but heavier and wider than both S8 and S8 Plus

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus share the same beautiful design with an almost all-screen front, very slim bezels, a solid, premium metal build and a glass rear. Unlike previous Samsung devices, the home button is built into the display rather than a physical button beneath the display and the fingerprint sensor has been repositioned to the rear of both devices, next to the camera lens.

The S8 measures 148.9 x 68.1 x 8mm and weighs 155g, while the S8 Plus is the slightly larger and heavier of the two at 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1mm and 173g. Both are IP68 dust and water resistant and they both feature lovely curved edges and a dedicated button on their left for launching the Bixby personal assistant. 

The Apple iPhone 7 Plus also features a lovely design, though a little safer and more traditional than Samsung’s two latest. Apple opts for an all-aluminium slim build with curved edges, rounded corners and a the Touch ID fingerprint sensor and Home button on the front, beneath the display. There is a dual-rear camera setup on the rear in the top left corner, making for a little more subtlety than the S8 and S8 Plus array.

Offering a water and dust resistant rating of IP67, the iPhone 7 Plus measures 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3mm and weighs 188g. This means it is slimmer than both Samsung models, but it is also quite a bit wider and heavier than both and only slightly shorter in body than the S8 Plus, despite the Samsung models both offering larger displays.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus review

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs S8 Plus vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus: Display

• S8 Plus has largest display, iPhone 7 Plus has smallest
• S8 has sharpest display in terms of pixel density at 570ppi
• S8 and S8 Plus have Mobile HDR, iPhone 7 Plus has 3D Touch

The Samsung Galaxy S8 has a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED Infinity display, while the Galaxy S8 Plus has a slightly larger 6.2-inch Super AMOLED Infinity display, meaning both have a dual-edged screen that pumps out rich and vibrant colours. Both take on a 18.5:9 ratio compared to the standard 16:9, allowing them gain the extra inches diagonally without needing the width, hence why they are narrower than the iPhone 7 Plus in terms of measurements.

The S8 and S8 Plus both opt for a Quad HD+ resolution, which translates to 2960 x 1440 pixels for pixel densities of 570ppi and 529ppi respectively, resulting in super sharp and crisp detail. Samsung also adds Mobile HDR Premium to the S8 and S8 Plus, meaning the two new flagships are compatible for viewing HDR content from the likes of Netflix and Amazon Video.

Meanwhile, the Apple iPhone 7 Plus has a 5.5-inch Retina HD display, which means an LED-backlit IPS LCD screen with a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. The lower resolution means the iPhone 7 Plus has a lower pixel density at 401ppi, though we have never had any complaints with the iPhone’s display during our experience with it so it isn’t always about the numbers. 

It is a flat display, though it has 2.5D glass covering it meaning the display joins to the edges of the iPhone’s build seamlessly. The iPhone 7 Plus also has 3D Touch, which is Apple’s version of a pressure-sensitive display, allowing for extra features and functions based on the force with which you press. There is no Mobile HDR though and no Always-On display for any notifications at a glance without turning the full display on, something the S8 and S8 Plus do both offer.

• Mobile HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10 and Mobile HDR Premium explained

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs S8 Plus vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus: Camera

• Dual-camera setup on the iPhone 7 Plus with optical zoom
• Wider aperture on S8 and S8 Plus for both cameras
• Higher resolution front camera on S8 and S8 Plus

When it comes to smartphone cameras, the number of megapixels doesn’t directly translate to how good the results are so that’s always worth bearing in mind if you’re buying a new device with the camera as your top priority. A lot comes down to processing and both Samsung and Apple smash it out of the park, delivering excellent image results across their latest handsets.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus therefore have high expectations on their heads, though we would expect them to be met. There is a 12-megapixel Duo Pixel sensor on the rear of both devices, with an f/1.7 aperture, phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilisation. The S8 and S8 Plus offer up to eight times digital zoom.

On the front, you’ll find an 8-megapixel sensor, also with an f/1.7 aperture, along with autofocus over fixed focus and iris scanning capabilities.

The Apple iPhone 7 Plus has already proved it can deliver in terms of camera, featuring two 12-megapixel sensors on the back, one wide-angle with a f/1.8 aperture and the other telephoto with an aperture of f/2.8. It too offers optical image stabilisation and it can provide two times optical zoom and up to 10 times digital. In terms of the front, there is a 7-megapixel FaceTime HD camera with an aperture of f/2.2 and a Retina Flash but no iris scanner.

The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus and the iPhone 7 Plus are all capable of up to 4K video recording from their rear cameras, and up to 1080p from their front-facing snappers.

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus review 

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs S8 Plus vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus: Hardware

• Powerful hardware on both, more RAM on S8 and S8 Plus
• iPhone 7 Plus and S8 Plus promise similar battery performance
• microSD and 3.5mm headphone jack on S8 and S8 Plus

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus both come with the Exynos 8895 chip or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, depending on region, along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. There is microSD support for storage expansion up to 256GB. The S8 has a battery capacity of 3000mAh, while the S8 Plus has a capacity of 3500mAh, both of which are charged via USB Type-C and both of which support fast charging and wireless charging.

According to Samsung, the S8 will offer up to 20 hours talk time or 14 hours Wi-Fi browsing, while the S8 Plus will offer up to 24 hours talk time or up to 15 hours Wi-Fi browsing. You’ll also find a 3.5mm headphone jack on the S8 and S8 Plus, allowing the AKG in-ear headphones bundled in the boxes to be plugged straight in.

The Apple iPhone 7 Plus runs on the A10 chip, with an embedded M10 motion compressor. There is 3GB of RAM and a choice of 32GB, 128GB or 256GB storage, none of which offer microSD for storage expansion. Apple claims the iPhone 7 Plus will offer up to 21 hours talk time or up to 15 hours Wi-Fi browsing, putting it in line with the S8 Plus.

Charging takes place via Lightning, as does everything else including headphone connection as there is no 3.5mm headphone jack. Apple does however provide a Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack adapter in the box so you’ll still be able to use your old headphones as long as you don’t lose the tiny adapter. 

• Samsung Galaxy S8 preview 

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs S8 Plus vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus: Software

• S8 and S8 Plus run on Android with TouchWiz
• iPhone 7 Plus runs on iOS with quicker updates
• Both have personal assistants

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus run on Android Nougat with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface over the top, while the Apple iPhone 7 Plus runs on iOS 10. Different platforms and different experiences, but both are excellent.

Many of the same features are offered across both platforms, but things are packaged in a slightly different way, such as access to settings. Apple is better at updating devices with its latest software builds almost as soon as they are released, while Samsung users tend to wait a little longer following a new Android build so that’s worth bearing in mind if you like the latest features quickly.

Which you will prefer will come down to personal preference, as well as whether you have other Apple devices or you use Google services, but as we said, both platforms are great. You can read our iOS 10 tips and tricks and our S7 tips and tricks to get a better idea of what both platforms will allow you to do.

In terms of personal assistants, the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will eventually come with Bixby, Samsung’s new AI system, and Google Assistant, while Apple has the famous Siri.

• What is Bixby? Samsung’s smart AI explained

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs S8 Plus vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus: Price

• S8 and S8 Plus come in five colours, iPhone 7 Plus in six
• iPhone 7 Plus starting price cheaper but less storage in base model

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus costs £779 and it will be available in five colours, though not all will come to each country. The colours comprise Midnight Black, Orchid Grey, Coral Blue, Arctic Silver and Maple Gold.

The Apple iPhone 7 Plus starts at £719, increasing to £919 for the highest storage capacity. It is available in six colours including Jet Black, Black, Silver, Gold, Rose Gold and the special edition (PRODUCT) Red. The Jet Black and (PRODUCT) Red colours only come in 128GB or 256GB storage options though, meaning they start from £819.

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs S8 Plus vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus: Which should you choose?

The million dollar question: Do you pick Samsung or do you go with Apple? Ultimately the answer will come down to which design you prefer and which platform suits you better.

The Samsung devices are all about their displays, offering big screens in a relatively small body, while the iPhone 7 Plus is a slightly bigger device overall, but the front has more than just a screen and even if this doesn’t follow the latest trend, its design will be preferable to some.

All three devices aren’t likely to disappoint though, no matter which you choose. They all offer, or have the potential to offer in Samsung’s case, good performance, great cameras, lovely designs and excellent hardware. We were big fans of the iPhone 7 Plus and while we have yet to review the S8 and S8 Plus, we are expecting great things based on our first impressions.

Virgin Media uses home routers to boost its public WiFi network

Virgin Media is starting to expand its public Wi-Fi network by turning customer routers into hotspots. The upgrade, which was first teased in 2015, is only compatible with SuperHub v3 routers for now. Customers are being alerted to the change via email and can choose to opt-out, otherwise they’ll be connected automatically. As ISP Review reports, your broadband shouldn’t be affected if you decide to help Virgin Media. That’s because “additional, separate” bandwidth will be allocated by the provider.

In a FAQ, the company says: “Virgin Media WiFi uses a separate connection on your Hub to access the internet than the one used by your home broadband network. The data from your home network is completely separate from Virgin Media WiFi traffic, meaning the broadband connection you pay for is exclusively yours, and just as secure.” That distinction should ensure that no-one has access to your home network or the data passing through it. Conversely, however, you won’t be able to see when someone is using your router-powered public WiFi connection.

The scheme is conceptually similar to BT’s FON WiFi service. Both are sold as perks for their respective customers, enabling free, stable connections when 4G just doesn’t cut it. There’s one key difference between the two, however: BT allows non-BT customers to connect to its WiFi network for a small fee. Virgin Media’s equivalent, it seems, is only available to subscribers paying for TV, broadband or mobile phone services. To be useful, however, both companies need a large, convenient network of hotspots. The ‘opt-out’ approach by Virgin, then, is hardly surprising.

On a page explaining the service, Virgin Media says it will “complete the rollout” for SuperHub v3 routers later this year. It’s also planning a similar switchover for Super Hub 2ac routers, though for now it’s merely a “pilot.” If you’re a Virgin Media customer, look out for the email — you can then log in to your account and opt-out through the My Profile section, should you distrust the company’s claims of an unhampered experience. Otherwise, just sit back and download the Virgin Media WiFi app for iOS and Android — it’s all you need to start using the company’s growing public network.

Via: ISP Review, Ars Technica UK

Source: Virgin Media