Download the official OnePlus 5 wallpapers in 4K

Abstract wallpapers from the latest OnePlus flagship.

With the OnePlus 5 announced and about to go on general release, the man behind the stock wallpapers from the new phone has stepped forward. Artist Hampus Olsson has taken to his personal blog to tell the story of these new abstract wallpapers, which draw inspiration from macro photography.

I thought I would experiment with macro photography this time, together with my dad, who was currently visiting me in India. We got a bunch of plastic containers which we started pouring acrylic, ink, and mediums into. We captured a bunch of photos of the fluid mix, while it was changing pattern quickly. Many of the photos could be used in various ways, like being wrapped onto 3D surfaces, or mixed to look like hot lava and cold winds to complement the final artwork. However, most of these photos weren’t used. Instead, I created a more refined and subtle style that was developed to fit the style OnePlus was looking for with this phone.

The final artworks have a greater focus on the individual shapes, blending into its surrounding, barren environment. The focus became the centerpiece, which is abstract, yet easy to grasp. I love how these wallpapers turned out, and I will experiment with this style more extensively in the future.

Olsson’s site also offers all seven OnePlus 5 stock wallpapers for download in 2K or 4K resolution, so there’s no need to pull the 1080p versions from the OnePlus 5 ROM. While these abstract wallpapers look great on any display, the vibrant colors and deep blacks make them a great fit for phones with AMOLED screens.

More: Hampus Olsson

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Add Samsung’s silicone case to your Galaxy S8+ for just $20

The Galaxy S8+ has a beautiful design that you probably don’t want to hide, and Samsung’s own silicone case does a great job of adding a bit of protection without hiding it. You can grab the case in a variety of colors, and today it is just $20.

Firefox Focus browser with built-in ad blocking lands on Android

Firefox’s privacy-focused browser is finally available on Android.

The Firefox Focus browser made its debut last year on the iPhone and iPad, and now the company is bringing the privacy-focused browser to Android. The highlight of the browser is built-in ad blocking, which not only gets rid of ads on websites, but also prevents web trackers from serving you ads across the internet.

Ad blocking is enabled by default, and the home screen is sparse but for an address bar where you can enter the URL of the site you want to visit, and an action overflow button that gives you access to the browser’s settings. Yahoo is the default search engine, but you can choose between Google, Amazon, DuckDuckGo, Twitter, and Wikipedia. You won’t find any tabs, and there’s the option to delete your browsing history with a single tap of the erase button located in the bottom right corner.

The browser automatically loads in “stealth mode,” which disables screenshots and greys out whatever website you’re viewing from being visible in the recent apps list. By automatically blocking ads, Firefox claims that it can deliver pages faster while consuming less data.

The Android version has a counter that shows you how many ad trackers that are blocked per site, and you can turn off the tracker blocker with a quick toggle if a particular page isn’t loading correctly. Firefox will also deliver a notification if it detects that the browser is still running in the background. And you can also set it as the default browser on your phone.

There’s certainly a lot to like here, particularly if you’re interested in protecting your privacy online. The Firefox Focus browser is now available for free from the Play Store. Who’s looking to give it a go?

Where to buy the OnePlus 5 in the UK

OnePlus continues its exclusivity deal with O2 — but you can still buy unlocked directly from the manufacturer.

The OnePlus 5 is now available to order in the UK, with prices starting at £449 for the 6GB RAM + 64GB storage version, rising to £499 for a whopping 8GB + 128GB. As usual, you’ll be able to order an unlocked 3T directly from OnePlus.net. And OnePlus has continued its exclusive partnership with O2, so that carrier will be the only place to get hold of a 3T on the high street.

See at OnePlus

O2 is carrying both flavors of OnePlus 5 — the slate gray model with 6GB + 64GB, and the midnight black variant with 8GB + 128GB. Pre-orders begin June 22, with orders shipping on the official launch date of June 27 — and as usual, O2 offers a wide range of tariffs depending on how much data you want. On-contract prices start at £34 per month for 6/64GB, or £36 per month for 8/128GB, both with a £9.99 upfront fee.

O2 is also stocking the midnight black 8/128GB model on Pay As You Go for £513.99 outright.

See at O2

As usual, customers on an O2 Refresh tariff can pay off the phone portion of their contract and upgrade to a OnePlus 5. The carrier is offering £80 to customers who “recycle” their old 3T in-store, however you’ll almost certainly get a better deal elsewhere — electronics trader CEX offers as much as £229 for an 128GB 3T.

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How to use Alexa for sports updates

Alexa can make sure you always know the score of the big games!

If you’re a sports fan, then it can be difficult at times to keep track of the score for all of your favorite teams. With Alexa, you can program in your favorite teams and get updates by simply asking her for sports updates. You can add multiple teams too, so you’ll never miss a score again.

We’ve got all the details here!

Alexa can give you sports updates

With Alexa, you can stay up to date on your sports teams by adding them from within the app. While the list of teams isn’t inclusive of every sport, you do have access to the major leagues for baseball, football, soccer and hockey. There are 13 different leagues you can add teams from, including the UEFA, NHL, WNBA and NCAA. The search function also means that if you’re having trouble remembering a specific team, you can enter the city or state they hail from and the team name will pop up for you.

How to use Alexa for sports updates

Open the Alexa app on your phone.
Tap the menu button that looks like three horizontal lines in the upper left corner of your screen.

Tap settings.

Tap sports update.

Tap the search bar that says search for your teams.

Using the keyboard type in your team name.

Tap to select your team.

How to remove a team from your sports updates

Open the Alexa app on your phone.
Tap the menu button that looks like three horizontal lines in the upper left corner of your screen.

Tap settings.

Tap sports update.

Tap the X to the right of the team name you want to remove.

Questions?

Do you use Alexa to stay up to date with your favorite teams? Do you still have questions? Be sure to leave us a comment about it below!

Amazon Echo

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• Get the latest Alexa news

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The new Amazon Fire HD 8 is still the best tablet for kids

I love my kids. But they’re going to break things. Expensive things. So I don’t buy them expensive things.

Sure, grown-ups love their tech. But as we all know too well, so do our kids. And while I’d love for mine to always have the latest and greatest, the fact is that’s just a bad idea. My kid doesn’t need a $1,000 tablet. Or even a $500 tablet, for that matter. So where to turn?

The Amazon Fire HD 8. We’ve had the 2016 model in my house since, well, since 2016. And now we have an updated model, starting at $79. That’s with 16GB of storage and “special offers” — which means ads on the lock screen and notification pull-down. (What’s crazy is that they don’t really bother me that much.) The specs won’t blow anyone out of the water, but it’s still a pretty capable Android tablet. It’s got access to Amazon’s Appstore, so it has tons of books and videos and games on hand.

But most important is that if and when it gets dropped, you’re not going to take out a second mortgage to replace it.

This is the only tablet I’d buy my kids at this point.

See at Amazon

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Unicode 10 released with 56 new emoji, coming to phones later this year

Get ready for a whole new set of emojis.

With emoji usage steadily on the rise, the Unicode Consortium is constantly incorporating a wider set of pictographs. The consortium finalized the Unicode 10 spec today, introducing 56 new emoji that includes the likes of “bearded man,” “mage,” “zombie,”T-Rex,” “Colbert emoji,” and many more. Oh, and you’ll soon be able to use the Bitcoin symbol in your conversations.

From the Unicode Consortium:

Version 10.0 of the Unicode Standard is now available. For the first time, both the core specification and the data files are available on the same date. Version 10.0 adds 8,518 characters, for a total of 136,690 characters. These additions include four new scripts, for a total of 139 scripts, as well as 56 new emoji characters.

The new emoji are included in the Android O beta, and will be ready to use in the public release. For a full list of emoji in Unicode 10, head to Emojipedia.

OnePlus 5 is the company’s ‘fastest-selling device ever’

People can’t wait to get their hands on the OnePlus 5.

The OnePlus 5 was unveiled yesterday, and while the phone will go on sale from June 27, OnePlus started selling a few devices early at pop-up stores in New York, London, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam, and through an “early drop” page on its website. The company’s co-founder Carl Pei has now confirmed on Twitter that the OnePlus 5 is the company’s fastest-selling phone to date.

🔥🔥🔥The first numbers are in, the OnePlus 5 is our fastest selling device ever!🔥🔥🔥

— Carl Pei (@getpeid) June 20, 2017

Pei didn’t share any sales figures, but the “early drop” units are sold out in most countries. Based on the line in front of the New York pop-up store from the video below, people can’t wait to get their hands on the OnePlus 5:

About an hour after the opening of the #OnePlus5 NYC pop-up and the line is still stretching almost all the way around the block @getpeid pic.twitter.com/3M5D9vwtUD

— Bryan Ma (@bryanbma) June 21, 2017

The OnePlus 5 is the company’s most expensive phone to date — the version with 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage retails for $479, while the model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage is available for $539.

That’s still $200 less than the retail price of the Galaxy S8, and while the phone misses out on fringe features like water resistance and wireless charging, there’s a lot to like — excellent Full HD AMOLED display, dual cameras, Snapdragon 835, and a near-stock Android experience with OxygenOS.

Will you be picking up the OnePlus 5 once it goes on sale on June 27?

OnePlus 5

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• Reviewing our first OnePlus 5 photos
• OnePlus 5 vs. OnePlus 3: Should you upgrade?
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OnePlus 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S8: What the extra money gets you

OnePlus has dropped the ‘flagship killer’ moniker, but that continues to be how its phones are measured.

OnePlus has made a name for itself with phones that offer high-end specs and experiences at prices a couple hundred dollars less than the true flagship competition. And even with the OnePlus 5 marking the company’s most expensive phone yet, at $479 it’s still $245 less than a Galaxy S8.

When comparison shopping, that’s a big price gap to fill for a phone that on paper just has the same overall spec sheet and even comes up short in a couple of areas. But of course there’s far more to a comparison than just specs — let’s see how the OnePlus 5 and Galaxy S8 compare.

What’s the same

When you buy either one of these phones, there are some base level qualities you can expect to get. You get a Snapdragon 835 in either phone, along with plenty of RAM and a base level of 64GB of storage. Yes OnePlus offers 6GB of RAM versus 4GB in the Galaxy S8 … but it’s hard to see any real-world performance improvement from that added memory right now. Both phones are snappy and consistently quick, though you could see the OnePlus 5 holding up better over time with its cleaner software and extra room to expand into that RAM in a year or two.

Both phones offer the base specs and experience you expect from today’s high-end phones.

The same ends up being true with the batteries, where the OnePlus 5’s 3300mAh cell beats the Galaxy S8’s 3000mAh on paper but doesn’t offer dramatically longer real-world use. If you leave the GS8 on its default screen resolution and turn off Always-on Display, it’s going to last you the same full day the OnePlus 5 does with its 1080p display. Both phones offer quick charging capabilities, with the Galaxy S8 having cross-compatibility to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge; the OnePlus 5 arguably has a faster and better thought-out system in Dash Charge, but it’s proprietary to only OnePlus accessories.

Finally, both phones are solidly built. The OnePlus 5 has a bit more overall heft while the Galaxy S8 has trimmed-down metal all around, but both feel substantial and well made rather than flimsy or cheap. They also have the typical smartphone comforts of a USB-C port, headphone jack, single down-firing speaker and buttons in the expected places.

Key differentiators

Yes you get the same core experience in either phone, but the OnePlus 5 and Galaxy S8 each have strengths that separate them from the competition.

Where the Galaxy S8 wins

Let’s start with the Galaxy S8. Samsung’s tent pole features of a fantastic screen, waterproofing, an SD card slot and wireless charging are the key differentiators for the GS8. The display still leads the industry in brightness and overall quality, while full waterproofing, expandable storage and wireless charging are three features just not on offer from OnePlus.

In terms of feature volume and variety, the Galaxy S8 takes the cake.

Then there are more subtle and subjective differences that are often preferred. The Galaxy S8 is certainly narrower and easier to grip, though it comes at a small price of having a more fragile curved display. The Galaxy S8’s software also gives you a huge number of choices in features and capabilities right out of the box, which for some is preferable to finding everything in the Play Store.

Samsung’s final big point of emphasis, and where it still comes out above the OnePlus 5, is low light photography. Samsung’s tuned and tweaked 12MP sensor, f1/.7 lens and OIS combine to give you consistently good low-light shots, and the OnePlus 5’s main camera can’t match it every time.

Where the OnePlus 5 wins

Now, here’s where the OnePlus 5 stands out. The biggest area is probably its software: if you like a near-stock Android experience, the OnePlus 5 is the better choice. OxygenOS gives you a handful of customization options, but OnePlus doesn’t make any big assumptions about how you want to use your phone — the configuration is all up to you. This results in a simpler, easier to understand and consistently cleaner experience.

The OnePlus 5 is simple, sleek and takes few risks — but the execution is great.

And with a single hardware version that’s available everywhere in the world, OnePlus has a huge advantage in software updates. There is no reason why the OnePlus 5 should be getting software updates slower than any Galaxy S8 model — let alone later than the dozens of various regional and carrier GS8 models that have staggered update paths.

The OnePlus 5’s fingerprint sensor is also in a standard, logical place below the screen — right where Samsung used to put its sensor. This seems like a small thing, but that’s because you don’t think about it every time you set your finger down and it just works — you can’t say the same about the GS8’s frustrating biometric security options.

Talking cameras, as mentioned the OnePlus 5 isn’t as consistent in low light shots as the GS8. It does, however, have a trump card in its secondary 20MP telephoto lens. Not only does it give you unique shooting options with a longer focal length, but also provides shallow depth of field effects in its “Portrait Mode” that the Galaxy S8 can’t.

Bottom line

It’s clear that the gap is narrowing between ultra-high-end phones like the Galaxy S8 and strategically value-focused high-end offerings like the OnePlus 5. For a completely reasonable price, the OnePlus 5 offers a similar spec sheet to the Galaxy S8, even besting it in some respects, and both performance and battery life that match Samsung’s latest.

Yes the OnePlus 5 doesn’t have the same screen quality or the sheer volume of hardware features, but at this price there was bound to be some feature disparity there. The interesting thing to see is how many areas the OnePlus 5 actually offers a preferable experience over the more expensive phone. This isn’t a comparison in which you’d only choose the OnePlus 5 based on its lower price — some may choose it because for them, it’s the better phone for them overall.

OnePlus 5

• Complete OnePlus 5 review
• Reviewing our first OnePlus 5 photos
• OnePlus 5 vs. OnePlus 3: Should you upgrade?
• OnePlus 5 specs
• The latest OnePlus 5 news
• Join the discussion in the forums

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Massive Steam Summer Sale starts tomorrow, get £5 off with PayPal

PC gamers eagerly await one annual event perhaps more than others and its time is almost upon us: the Steam Summer Sale is about to be unleashed.

Starting tomorrow, Thursday 22 June at 6pm BST, Steam will dramatically discount thousands of games across the digital store. Traditionally that’s included big name titles at anywhere up to 75 per cent off, so if you want to build your games library, the next few weeks will provide you ample opportunity.

What’s more, PayPal users will get an even bigger incentive to splurge some cash on the latest and classic games. The digital payment company is offering £5 off when you spend £20 on Steam from tomorrow until 5 July (the possible date the sale ends).

You need to save the offer to your PayPal account before you can redeem it. Instructions are available here.

It’s official. The #SteamSummerSale starts 22/06 at 6pm BST and PayPal customers get an extra £5 off *terms apply. https://t.co/PdXnlKZ6qh pic.twitter.com/hobxCz3TBm

— PayPal UK (@PayPalUK) June 20, 2017

Steam-owner Valve is yet to reveal what games will be part of its Summer Sale, but you can bet there will be plenty of triple-A titles and indies involved.

We’re certainly hoping for a discount on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which would represent an ideal time to hop on board the hottest multiplayer PC game around.

Based loosely on Japanese book and movie classic Battle Royale, the game pits you against other gamers in a last man standing scenario. It is currently in Early Access, but has a legion of fans already. It will also come to Xbox One in time – as revealed at E3 2017.