Essential accessories for the OnePlus 5

Unsure of where to go to equip your OnePlus 5? Let us help you in your time of need with this list of worthy things.

Like its predecessors, the OnePlus 5 continues to be a worthy buy. It comes equipped with the same level hardware specifications as the rest of the flagship brood, in addition to 64GB of storage space, 6GB of RAM, and a bigger-than-the-average battery. The OnePlus 5 available for under $500, too, and you can use the rest of your savings to purchase some essential accessories.

• OnePlus Dash Type C Cable
• SEGMOI 4-pack Universal Smartphone Ring Grip
• UE ROLL 2 Volcano
• AUKEY 5000mAh USB-C Universal Power Bank

OnePlus Dash Type C Cable

Don’t get caught out of the house without a trusty, official Type C cable from OnePlus. This Dash charger cable is a mere $10 and worth purchasing in bulk to ensure you have a couple of backups around the house. This cable is compatible with the Dash charger that comes equipped with your OnePlus 5. It enables you to charge up to 60 percent battery power in a mere 30 minutes. The cable is red and white, too, to match the OnePlus’s company colors, and it’s wrapped in sturdy silicone, so you don’t have to worry about it fraying.

Also, if you’d like a backup of the OnePlus Dash-enabled charging brick, you can buy one here.

See at Amazon

SEGMOI 4-pack Universal Smartphone Ring Grip

If you purchased the OnePlus 5, you may find that the smartphone is a tad bit slippery. Covering the device in a case will certainly help prevent major damage from an accidental fall, but have you also considered a finger grip?

This helpful stick-on accessory sticks to both the back of the device chassis or an external case. The rear finger hook helps you effectively grip your phone, or you can orient it so that it props it up for playing music, gaming, or video chat. Best of all, this entry starts at $8 and comes in a pack of four, so you’ll already have a couple for backup.

See at Amazon

UE Roll 2 Volcano

This is one of our favorite portable Bluetooth speakers. The UE Roll 2 features a maximum sound level of 85 decibels and it’s waterproof for up to half an hour under a meter of water. It hooks up to the OnePlus 5 via Bluetooth or a 3.5mm audio output — this phone has a headphone jack, after all — and you can pair up to seven other devices. The UE Roll 2 will also last up to nine hours out in the wild, so you can quite literally keep that dance party going all night long.

The UE Roll 2 starts at $65 and comes in a variety of colors, including a gray and red combo that matches the OnePlus 5.

See at Amazon

AUKEY 5000mAh USB-C Universal Power Bank

Don’t get stuck out there on the road without a battery pack. The Aukey 5000mAh power bank is a worthy buy to ensure that you’ve always got extra juice for the OnePlus 5’s 3300mAh battery. It’s small, too, so you can toss into your computer bag or purse without any added bulk. At $20, it comes with an included USB-C cable and features a two-year warranty.

See at Amazon

What did you buy for your OnePlus 5?

The OnePlus 5 will launch officially this summer. When you get yours, tell us below what you’ve bought for your new unlocked flagship device.

OnePlus 5

• Complete OnePlus 5 review
• Reviewing our first OnePlus 5 photos
• OnePlus 5 specs
• Which OnePlus 5 model should you buy?
• Camera comparison: OnePlus 5 vs. Galaxy S8
• The latest OnePlus 5 news
• Join the discussion in the forums

OnePlus

Samsung to bring ‘rose pink’ Galaxy S8+ to Taiwan for a limited time

Taiwan is getting a limited editing ‘rose pink’ Galaxy S8+ next month.

Samsung is known for adding colors to its flagship retinue in the months following a Galaxy launch, and we’re seeing the first signs of that strategy unfold.

Starting in July, Samsung Taiwan plans to sell a ‘rose pink’ version of the Galaxy S8+ on its online store for a limited time, since artificial scarcity is the hallmark of a shrewd marketing campaign. It will cost TW 27,900, which is roughly $920 USD at today’s exchange rate.

SamMobile reports that Taiwan prepped for the launch by rebranding its three existing Galaxy S8 colors to Ice Lake Blue, Smoked Purple Grey and Quicksand Gold from Coral Blue, Orchid Grey and Maple Gold, the last of which isn’t available in North America.

What Galaxy S8 color should I buy?

Your unlimited plan is probably ripping you off: How much data Americans actually use

The numbers are in and you probably don’t need an expensive unlimited data plan.

Unlimited data plans are back. Here’s some insight into why that happened as well as a look at how much data we really use every month.

We’ve recently seen all four major U.S. carriers introduce or revamp their unlimited LTE data plans. Multiple times. For some of us, this is great news: The folks who use upwards of 10GB of data on a line they pay for themselves found plenty of creative ways to hold on to older unlimited data plans, and sometimes that could be a hassle. Now they are available with a click of the mouse.

Unlimited plans coming back to AT&T and Verizon are a direct result of tough competition in the industry.

This wasn’t unexpected, really. Companies like T-Mobile and StraightTalk made people notice the cost vs. value proposition of a cell phone data plan. AT&T and Verizon enjoyed a consumer mindset that they offered something superior when for many, alternatives could be just as good. When people started to take notice of that, it was time for a small shake-up.

People who will utilize an unlimited data plan and get their money’s worth are outliers. Everyone can have a month where they are traveling or otherwise away from Wi-Fi and use a good chunk of data, but when you look at the numbers telling how much data is used per person on average, you see that most people would be better served with a cheaper plan that offers a capped data allotment.

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The numbers back this up. According to NPD Connected Intelligence, one of the groups that your carrier and the people who made your phone use for insight into growth and planning, in 2015 the average amount of data used per person per month was about 3.5GB. During the same time period, customers on T-Mobile used an average of 5GB per month and Sprint customers used about 4GB per month; and both carriers offered unlimited data plans to any post-paid customer.

T-Mobile and Sprint factor into these numbers in an important way: people with unlimited data plans still used just a moderate amount of data.

Why this is important

These are average numbers. That means that some people will be wildly outside the average on both ends: You might use 100GB of data per month but someone who uses 0.1GB per month offsets your input towards the average. An average can’t predict the highest amounts of data being used (or the lowest) but it is a great way to determine how much data the average person uses each month. There’s a lot of ways this data can be used and of course multiple ways it can be interpreted. For example, the average data a customer with access to an unlimited data plan uses isn’t dramatically different from the amount someone without access to unlimited data is using.

People talking about new unlimited data plans means that they are doing what they were meant to do: Hype.

This means that the average person, regardless of network, doesn’t need to pay for an expensive unlimited data plan. Unlimited plans are hypefests that get everyone talking about something as mundane and boring as a cellular provider. The hope is that you’ll decide you need to sign up for one even though you don’t need one. Sure, you might use a little more each month knowing that you have an unlimited plan, but generally, people who weren’t using a large amount of data before aren’t going to be using a lot of data after they switch. Old habits and all that.

None of this matters to the phone company. It has one goal: to make money. That’s how business work. Every decision, every promotion, every marketing campaign and everything else is a way to try and make more money. A company won’t be around for long if they aren’t trying to bank a profit. And sometimes, how that profit can be shown on a quarterly earnings report matters as much as the amount that goes into the bank.

The ARPU

ARPU (Average Revenue Per Unit or User) is the total revenue coming in from the service divided by the number of subscribers. It’s also a pretty big deal in shareholder’s reports and earning’s calls.

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ARPU is a number that translates into the amount of money a single line of service brings in over a set time. There can be a monthly ARPU or quarterly or yearly. This number includes all the money you pay to your carrier minus tax and regulatory fees. That means things like extras you may be paying for (international calling or live TV for mobile devices) are included as well as your normal contract or monthly price. The ARPU is an easy way for a company to track its income and growth over time, and each customer who pays for an expensive unlimited data plan brings this average up in a way that’s statistically significant.

There is more than one way to count money.

Your carrier wants you to be excited about, and ultimately sign up for, an unlimited data plan because of how it affects the bottom line as well as how much.

Another way your phone company looks at their finances is with an eye towards profit instead of just income. The profit from a customer can be more important than the overall income generated from one. A company can be healthy and profitable even with a low customer count, or vice versa. We see this in action when companies give earnings results.

Income and profit are always two different numbers.

Consider a hypothetical that’s not too far removed from actuality. T-Mobile keeps pulling more and more customers away from Verizon. But Verizon is making more money and has a higher value. That means Verizon is making more profit per customer than T-Mobile.

Calculating profit is pretty simple. The service an account uses is tallied then compared to the amount of income that account generates each month. If you sign up for an unlimited data plan and still only use 3-5GB of data per month, you help improve profit margins. All accounts are profitable, but some will be more profitable than others.

Don’t hate the players

We’re not trying to say your carrier is bad or unethical here. This is just how business works when it comes to a service provider.

Your phone company is supposed to make money if everyone is doing their job.

They need to offer you something that you feel is worth the monthly cost. If that means an unlimited data plan sounds like a good idea to you, one is available for you. With the U.S. telco market becoming more and more competitive it was a given that all companies would offer a fixed service that included unlimited data for a fixed cost. Users who needed such a plan would sign on and help improve that income per customer metric and users who didn’t need an unlimited plan but signed up for other reasons helped improve the profit per user metric. This is how smart business works and the people in charge at your carrier are smart business persons. It’s great that carriers now offer unlimited data plans for people who need them. It’s also great if you can save money and not sign up for one if you don’t.

The one thing to take away here is to ask yourself how much data you need every month. No one answer fits everyone, but there is an answer that fits you. Compare how much you need to how much you’re paying for, and then check out what’s available. A final metric that’s harder to measure is how happy a customer is because happy customers are loyal customers. Make sure you’re using a service that works best for you and makes you be that happy customer.

Updated June 2017: Edited some confusing language and made sure the information is as current as it can be.

Should you buy a Galaxy S8+ or wait for the Galaxy Note 8?

You can always wait for the next phone to come out — but should you?

For those who loved the Galaxy Note 7, there’s been a void in their pocket since late 2016. Many Note fans think of the phone as more than just another big-screened device — it’s a special kind of device that can only be replaced by a newer, better Note. So without a Galaxy Note available, what do you use instead?

Since we’re still a couple months away from the release of the Galaxy Note 8, the next-best thing right now is the Galaxy S8+. Here’s what Note fans should know about choosing to go with a Galaxy S8+ today, or potentially waiting to see what the Galaxy Note 8 offers.

What the Galaxy S8+ offers that Note fans will like

Since the Galaxy Note 8 isn’t out yet, we have to look at what we do have: the Galaxy S8+. Since the Galaxy S6 edge+, Samsung has offered a larger version of its leading Galaxy S device that works as a stepping stone between the mainstream Galaxy S and the all-in power-user Galaxy Note — and the Galaxy S8+ is once again just that.

Those who bought a Galaxy Note in the past for its big screen and big battery won’t be disappointed with the Galaxy S8+ in many respects. The super-tall 18.5:9 aspect ratio and tiny bezels let Samsung fit a really big 6.2-inch display in the GS8+, as well as a hefty 3500mAh battery. The GS8+ also has many of the physical design elements that actually debuted on the Note 7, like the more subtly curved display glass and symmetrical feel.

Coming from a previous Galaxy Note, you’ll also feel right at home in the Galaxy S8+’s software — there won’t be much of a learning curve in the interface, apps or services.

More: Where to buy the Galaxy S8+ in the U.S.

What the Galaxy Note 8 could do to make you wait

The tough part about this question is that we only have a limited set of leaked information and speculation to work off of right now. But based on the lineage of the Galaxy Note name and a handful of rumors, we can start to construct what a Galaxy Note 8 could be. Looking at the Galaxy S8 and S8+, there’s a great chance that the Galaxy Note 8 will have the same tall, narrow and near-bezel-free “Infinity Display” of the Galaxy S8 — but there’s a chance it may be even larger and perhaps a tad wider in proportion to give Note power users even more room to work and write.

Each year the Galaxy Note launch offers Samsung a chance to iterate on its hardware design in other ways, too. There’s a good chance we’ll see 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage offered in the Note 8. Rumors are swirling that the extra room in the Note 8’s body will also let Samsung put dual cameras on the back, opening up possibilities for lossless zooming and depth of field effects.

As the one phone a year from Samsung with an S Pen stylus, we could be in store for new capabilities there as well. There’s a good shout that Samsung could reduce the latency and increase pressure sensitivity this year, as it has done several times as its technology progresses. The S Pen-focused software will likely get a facelift, too, but we haven’t seen any leaks of new features on the software front.

Is it worth waiting?

This is a personal question, of course. You can always wait and see a newer, more exciting phone in the future — whether you’re looking for a Galaxy Note 8 or any other phone. But that comes at the cost of actually having a phone in the time you’d be waiting.

If history is any indication, the Galaxy Note 8 should offer a bigger screen, improved internal specs and a few new software features when compared to the Galaxy S8+. It will of course have an S Pen, too — something no other phone can match, even from Samsung itself.

If you’re a Note fan and you don’t need a phone right this minute, I’d say you should wait and at least see what the Galaxy Note 8 has to offer. The announcement of the phone is only a few months away at this point — expected in August or September — and when we get there you can see if it’s right for you. If the Galaxy Note 8 doesn’t do it for you at that time, the Galaxy S8+ will still be on sale, and probably at a discount as well.

Instagram begins trialling favourites tab for private list of friends

Instagram is said to be in the process of testing a new ‘favourites’ feature with a select number of users. The favourites feature will act in a similar way to friends lists on Facebook and Twitter, but will offer some notable improvements upon both.

• Instagram tips and tricks: How to master the app and post amazing pics

The Verge reports the feature will let Instagram users create a list of other users they consider to be their closest friends on the photo sharing social network. There’s no limit to the number of other users one can add, but Instagram reckons most lists will have between 10 – 30 users.

Instagram is thought to be developing the feature in response to users trying to create their own friends lists, which have been labelled “Finstagrams”. Users would create private Instagram accounts, which are intended to be followed by a limited number of people, and once followers have liked a photo, it will be deleted. Because of the way Instagram works, it wasn’t long before these ‘private’ account ended up being followed by hundreds of people.

With favourites, when you create a post, you’ll have the option to share it with your favourites list. If you do, only those followers in the favourites list will be able to see it, and it will be denoted by a green badge. A new favourites tab will appear on a user’s profile, and only followers in the favourites list will be able to see posts.

Anyone not on the list will be able to click on the tab, but won’t see any posts.Users can’t request to be added to a favourites list, and won’t be notified when they’re added or removed.

• Instagram users on Android can now use the app offline
• Instagram albums: How to share multiple pics and videos in one post
• Most popular pictures on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

Robby Stein, product lead at Instagram said: “People are trying to hack Instagram to create smaller audiences, and we’re trying to recognise that”,

“We really want to get this right”.

“The best version of Instagram is one where you feel closer to the people you are connected with because you’re on Instagram together”,

“Even if you live all over the world, you feel like you’re with them. That’s something we want to drive as the core focus of the product”.

What is DisneyLife and why will it make your summer holidays better?

Disney has always been active on streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, with many of its movies available to view as part of a subscription. However, it has also been steadily growing its own, standalone streaming service since launching it almost two years ago.

DisneyLife is available as an app on multiple platforms and it provides access to a wealth of Disney movies, TV shows and much more, all for a monthly subscription fee.

And unlike Netflix and Amazon Video, you can also download Disney content to view offline, so it could be an ideal way to keep the kids happy on long car journeys or during your summer holidays.

Here then is everything you need to know about DisneyLife.

What is DisneyLife?

DisneyLife is Disney’s own subscription service where you can not only watch the studio’s movies and TV shows on demand, streamed to phones, tablets, computers and TVs, but also gain access to an extensive library of eBooks, audio books and music.

The service now also allows you to watch the live broadcasts of three of its TV channels: Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior.

All content is available both to watch, read or listen to online. The on demand movies and shows are also available to download for offline use. That makes it ideal for travelling, giving countless hours of Disney entertainment for young ones to enjoy on a plane, train or any other kind of vehicle. It also gives them something to watch while on holiday during a lull moment.

Disney

Where is DisneyLife available?

There are DisneyLife apps available for iOS and Android devices. The service can also be accessed through a computer using a web browser, by visiting disneylife.co.uk.

The mobile applications are also AirPlay and Chromecast-enabled, so you can send or cast content to a respective device for playing on a television, be that through Apple TV or a Google Chromecast stick. Apple TV also has its own dedicated DisneyLife app.

Amazon Fire tablets also have DisneyLife apps ready for download. Amazon Fire TV boxes and the streaming stick can also access the service, as can Android TV devices, such as the Nvidia Shield TV.

At present, while you can watch TV shows and movies on demand on all supported devices, music and books are only available on tablets and phones.

Live TV is currently not available on Android TV, Amazon Fire TV or the Amazon Fire TV Stick.

How much does DisneyLife cost?

A subscription to DisneyLife costs £4.99 per month these days (half the price it was originally) but the first seven days are free as part of a trial. There is no contracted period you are locked to, so you can cancel your subscription at any time, just paying for the month still outstanding. This means you can cancel the subscription before the end of the trial period and not have to pay a penny for that month.

Disney

How many devices can I register for DisneyLife?

Up to 10 different devices can be registered on one DisneyLife account and six separate profiles can be created for different members of the family. And as the service has pick-up where you last left off functionality, each child can carry on their own shows and films without fear that another family member might lose their place.

Up to four devices can also stream content over a home network concurrently.

Are there parental controls on DisneyLife?

There are simple to follow but effective parental controls, which include setting a content filter to limit access to films, shows, books and music through certification (U, PG and 12 – this is Disney after all).

Parents can also set time limits on how long a child is able to access the app. And each profile’s parental controls can be set independently.

Disney

What kind of content is available on DisneyLife?

As well as TV series box-sets for shows that usually appear on the Disney Channel, Disney XD or Disney Jnr, a healthy library of Disney classic animated films are available, as are almost all of Pixar’s movies. There are also films from the Disney archives, including those starring Herbie, the VW Beetle. And even the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are available.

There are over 100 books available, with a mixture of digital kids books and audio books. There is a variety of different titles, starring Disney characters, that even include staged-reading for kids of all ages.

Entire music albums can be downloaded or streamed through the app – and yep, that includes the Frozen soundtrack.

Basically, for Disney fans there is a hell of a lot of content.

Is DisneyLife also available in the US?

Sadly, there are currently no plans to launch DisneyLife outside of Europe. If that changes, we’ll let you know.

Hurry! Amazon Echo has been given a massive discount for today only

If you live in the US and have been wanting an Amazon Echo, now is the perfect time to get one.

Amazon has given its popular Amazon Echo speaker a huge price cut. It now costs $129.99. That means it’s currently $50 cheaper than normal; the usual price tag is $179.99. This is the best deal we’ve seen on the full-size Echo all year. Unfortunately, however, the sale seems limited to the US. We’ll keep you posted if that changes.

Keep in mind Amazon recently marked down the last-generation Fire 7 tablet by £25 in the UK – but the sale first went live in the US several weeks earlier. It’s likely Amazon will do the same thing for this new Echo discount, which is valid for 26 June only, starting at 12am EST through 11:59 pm EST, on Amazon’s website.

• Buy Amazon Echo (UK), Buy Amazon Echo (US)
• Buy Amazon Echo Dot (UK), Buy Amazon Echo (US)

Amazon in May unveiled the the Echo Show, which comes with a built-in 7-inch display, Dolby-powered speakers, eight noise-cancellation microphones, and a trio of buttons. It is set to retail for $230. If you find that price a bit too much to swallow but still want an Alexa-enabled speaker, the Echo is worth considering.

But you best hurry, as the promo is only live for the next 14 hours.

Faulty airbags cost Takata everything

Takata, the Japanese corporation at the heart of the auto industry’s largest ever product recall, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The business supplied airbag inflators that, thanks to poor standards in the plant where they were manufactured, were faulty. The scandal forced a worldwide recall of more than 40 million vehicles and several deaths have been linked to the issue.

CNBC reports that the company has filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware and will do so in Japan, where it is also based, on Monday. There’s no detail about how much the business owes in fines, settlements and other costs, but a Japanese financial analyst puts the figure at around $15 billion. But a rescue plan has already been agreed, with the US-based company Key Safety Systems buying Takata for $1.6 billion.

It appears that the deal will see Takata, essentially, broken into two: a division that Key Safety will own, involving the “non-toxic” assets, and the airbag arm. The latter business will remain operating to replace the damaged airbag components in the recall, and will be wound down soon after work is completed.

Earlier this year, executives at Takata were indicted on charges that they knowingly falsified safety checks to hide the news that they were selling faulty airbags. The company admitted criminal wire fraud back in January, and was planning to pay $1 billion in fines for its wrongdoing.

Source: CNBC, WSJ

Australia wants governments to decrypt terrorists’ secure messages

This week, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand — the “Five Eyes” alliance — will meet in Ottawa, Canada, to discuss protecting borders and best practices for combatting terrorism. Yesterday, Australia announced they wanted to add something to the agenda: a push for tech companies to give governments more access to secure communication used by terrorists.

The battle between governments and tech companies for access to private, secure information isn’t new. Terrorists can use secure platforms, such as WhatsApp, to communicate without fear of government eavesdropping. Tech companies are often caught between a need to protect their user base’s privacy — after all, if they lose trust, people will stop using their services– and helping to thwart terrorism. Meanwhile, governments have criticized these services for allowing terrorists to operate on their networks mostly unchecked.

While it’s unlikely that concrete policy changes will occur immediately, it’s noteworthy that Australia is making a priority at this meeting. “These discussions will focus on the need to cooperate with service providers to ensure reasonable assistance is provided to law enforcement and security agencies,” said Australian Attorney General Senator Brandeis to Reuters. However, Brandeis’ definition of “reasonable assistance” and what methods that the Australian government wants to use to obtain it from these companies remains to be seen.

Source: Reuters

Live out your stunt driver dreams in ‘Final Fantasy XV’

Final Fantasy XV’s latest update isn’t that Prompto spin-off episode you’ve been waiting for, but it does give you a new ride: the Type-D off-roader. (We’ll accept the substitution.) Yes, you can finally leave the confines of Eos’ roads and highways and tear up the countryside, gifted not only with monster truck tires but also a “jump” button for avoiding anything in your way and… just leaping off really tall things.

“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
The #FFXV Regalia Type-D (& the June Update) is now live! pic.twitter.com/symPUcXvQW

— Final Fantasy XV (@FFXVEN) June 26, 2017

You’ll have to hit up mechanic Cindy to upgrade your ride, and while it’s not a flying car this time, you do get monster truck tires and some pretty insane suspension alongside that new jump button. It’s time to do some stunts — and try not to trap everyone inside the car. Judging by what we’re seeing on Twitter, that might be harder than it sounds.

If you’re itching to off road ASAP, we’d temper that enthusiasm a little: you’ll need to pick up the meaty 8.65GB patch first. The size of the update is probably because it also houses that Episode Prompto DLC — set to go live later this week.