Best Android Phone With a Headphone Jack

• Best overall
• Best alternate
• Best with huge screen
• Best for less

Best overall

Samsung Galaxy S8

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The Galaxy S8 has slick hardware with tiny bezels that let it have a big screen in a relatively small body, but inside it still offers everything you want: a high-end processor, lots of storage, an SD card slot, full waterproofing and a top-end camera. And of course, Samsung has kept the headphone jack around.

Though its software can be a little overwhelming, you can’t argue that Samsung continues to pack in hundreds of features to a single phone, making sure there’s something in here for everyone’s needs. Samsung continues to take this approach of offering more more more with just a few compromises — and it continues to work.

Bottom line: The Galaxy S8 gives you piles of features in a beautiful body, and is a great choice for a wide range of potential buyers.

One more thing: Consider the option of paying a little extra and get the larger Galaxy S8+ for a bit more screen and battery life.

Why the Galaxy S8 is the best

There’s a reason why Samsung is where it is today: it makes the phones the market desires by filling it with the features that are in demand. The Galaxy S8 has stunning metal-and-glass hardware, with an “infinity display” that curves off the sides and small bezels that put a big screen in a relatively compact body. The display itself is one of the best in the business, and lets you experience the loads of features Samsung has packed into its software.

Samsung’s known for packing its phones with all of the most appealing hardware features.

One of Samsung’s hallmark principles is packing its phones with all of the most appealing hardware features. That means you get an SD card expansion slot, wireless charging, waterproofing and yes a headphone jack. There’s no indication that Samsung’s going away from this strategy, either, as it makes its phones appealing to the widest possible market.

The Galaxy S8 offers a pretty well-rounded experience, doing a whole lot of things pretty well and managing to not miss out on anything important. That can lead to a little bit of software “bloat” and too many features for some people’s taste, but the company has managed to refine its software over time to hide the more advanced features and make the GS8 easier to pick up and get started with right away.

The only complaint here is the software being a bit busy and overbearing.

Between the standard Galaxy S8 and the larger Galaxy S8+ with more screen and battery, it’s a one-two punch that can cover a huge portion of the market and be a go-to decision for millions of people. Keeping the headphone jack around while much of the industry moves away from it is just a perfect example of where Samsung’s motivations are in making phones for the masses.

Best mainstream alternative

LG V30

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LG’s V series has traditionally been a big and brawny phone, but in 2017 the V30 is just a great overall device that has handily taken over from the G6 launched earlier in 2017. It stuck with a metal-and-glass build, but slimmed down the sides and integrated subtle curves to make it rather easy to hold despite a 6-inch 18:9 display on the front.

On the bottom you get a headphone jack that plugs into a high-quality DAC, so not only can you use all of your existing headphones but you can get the most out of them.

Internally you get top-notch specs you’d expect from any flagship, and around back LG continues to impress with a fantastic pair of cameras. The standard shooter does well despite its smaller pixels, and the secondary wide-angle camera is the best implementation LG has ever made. It offers an extremely unique perspective you just don’t see anywhere else.

LG’s software is capable and smooth, if still a bit clunky and uncoordinated in a few areas — but that can still be said about most phones nowadays.

Bottom line: LG does all of the basics amazingly well, and accents it with a nice body and super-capable pair of cameras.

One more thing: Keep an eye out for a “V30+” model with increased specs depending on your market and carrier.

Best with a huge screen

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

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Take everything that makes the Galaxy S8 great, and scale it up — that’s what also makes the Galaxy Note 8 compelling. A very familiar glass-and-metal body is wrapped around a larger 6.3-inch display, but a panel that’s even better in terms of brightness and colors.

For this top-dollar phone you’ll find top-end specs, great performance and super-capable software. Plus a new dual camera setup that offers you 2X zooming without losing resolution and a new “Live Focus” mode that mimics the background blur of a professional camera. None of the camera changes come at a cost of reduced primary camera quality, either.

Then you get the S Pen, of course, offering fine input, drawing abilities and new productivity tricks you simply can’t get from any other phone out there. The stylus isn’t for everyone, but you’ll find plenty of people who swear by its capabilities.

Bottom line: For the biggest, most powerful and most capable phone Samsung makes, look no further.

One more thing: Be ready to spend the big bucks — the Note 8 is far and away Samsung’s most expensive phone ever at nearly $1000.

Best for less

OnePlus 5T

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When it comes to getting specs and hardware for money, it’s hard to find a better value than the OnePlus 5T. It packs the same top-end specs as the rest of the phones on this list, including Qualcomm’s powerful Snapdragon 835 chipset and a modern 2:1 display, all at a lower price and with the company’s highly acclaimed OxygenOS software to boot.

That lower price does come with some trade-offs; the OnePlus 5T lacks wireless charging and water resistance, and its secondary camera is underwhelming. Still, no other phone offers the same kind of performance as the OnePlus 5T in its price range, and it keeps all of the core features that even some high-end phones now lack, like a headphone jack.

Bottom line: The OnePlus 5T gives the rest of the phones in this list a run for their money at a lower price with few compromises.

One more thing: Though the 5T ships with Nougat, OnePlus has committed to releasing an Oreo update by January of 2018.

Conclusion

When it comes to keeping the headphone jack around, Samsung still takes the cake with the combination of the Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8. The LG V30 and OnePlus 5T deserve mentions here for keeping the port around, but Samsung’s phones deserve praise for offering more as overall devices.

Best overall

Samsung Galaxy S8

See at Verizon
See at AT&T
See at T-Mobile
See at Sprint
See at Best Buy

The Galaxy S8 has slick hardware with tiny bezels that let it have a big screen in a relatively small body, but inside it still offers everything you want: a high-end processor, lots of storage, an SD card slot, full waterproofing and a top-end camera. And of course, Samsung has kept the headphone jack around.

Though its software can be a little overwhelming, you can’t argue that Samsung continues to pack in hundreds of features to a single phone, making sure there’s something in here for everyone’s needs. Samsung continues to take this approach of offering more more more with just a few compromises — and it continues to work.

Bottom line: The Galaxy S8 gives you piles of features in a beautiful body, and is a great choice for a wide range of potential buyers.

One more thing: Consider the option of paying a little extra and get the larger Galaxy S8+ for a bit more screen and battery life.

The Morning After: Wednesday, December 20th 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

What’s the connection between chocolate and tech? If you don’t know yet, we can answer that for you, as well as provide some impressions of Google’s latest smart speaker and a new hybrid from Honda.

Does the company provide rides or just information?EU decides to treat Uber like a taxi company

Europe’s highest court has ruled that Uber is a transportation company and not some kind of middleman between passengers and drivers, like it has often claimed. The much-anticipated decision opens the door for member nations to impose stricter regulations on the company, especially where it operates the UberPOP service with non-professional drivers.

No other smart speaker sounds this good.Google Home Max review: an assistant for music lovers

Google upgrades the sound quality for its latest smart speaker. The Google Home Max is expensive, but you get a lot for your money. If you want great audio and don’t want to mess around with more complicated speaker setups, the Home Max is a solid option — with all those Google Assistant smarts.

Its lane-keeping skills need work, though.Honda’s Clarity Plug-In Hybrid is a luxury car at a bargain price

The Honda Clarity line is now complete. After introducing the lease-only pure EV back in July, the Plug-In Hybrid and Fuel Cell models are here; Roberto Baldwin got to test-drive both and came away impressed. While the Clarity vehicles look identical, their inner workings are different enough that it’s like driving three different cars.

Even though Google… sells… adsChrome starts blocking annoying ads on February 15th

In June, Google announced Chrome would get a blocker to filter out ads that blare loud music or hide the webpage, and now the feature has a launch date. We’re about two months away from finding out how some skeevier parts of the ad industry respond to this change.

Can we learn to get along with our robotic pals of tomorrow?This year we took small, important steps toward the Singularity

Artificially intelligent robots already walk, roll and occasionally backflip among us. They’re on our streets and in our stores. AI is adopting physical form to multiply the capabilities of the humans it serves. As robots gain ubiquity, friction between these bolt buckets and we meat sacks is sure to cause issues. So how do we ensure that the increasingly intelligent machines we design share our ethical values while minimizing human-robot conflict? Warning: may contain science-fiction references.

Check the fine print.Proposed net neutrality bill would ban blocking and throttling

The FCC only just decided to undo Title II net neutrality protections; however with a court battle over the move still pending, Congress is considering its next step. Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn has introduced a net neutrality bill that would contain language banning ISPs from blocking and throttling, but it is largely similar to the FCC’s new rules.

The president of the Free Press Action Fund called it fake net neutrality and said: “This cynical attempt to offer something the tiniest bit better than what the FCC did and pretend it’s a compromise is an insult to the millions who are calling on Congress to restore real net neutrality.”

A future X-plane.NASA will take images of its quiet supersonic jet’s shockwaves

The photo above was captured during NASA’s latest round of tests wherein a US Air Force Test Pilot School T-38 aircraft traveled in supersonic speeds between the cameras and the sun at an altitude of 10,000 feet.

But wait, there’s more…

• White House temporarily shuts down ‘We the People’ petition site
• UPS is Tesla’s latest electric semi-truck customer
• Samsung’s mega-wide gaming monitor is first to be HDR certified
• Bean-to-bar chocolate is fueled by the tech world

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Amazon may be planning a YouTube rival

In the midst of Google’s YouTube blockade on the Echo Show, Amazon could be mulling its own video platform. Google announced it was removing its app from the e-retail giant’s touchscreen-packing Echo earlier this month, with plans to extend the ban to the Fire TV on January 1st. That same day, Amazon filed two trademarks requests with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for something dubbed “Amazontube,” and another called “Opentube,” as spotted by TV Answer Man.

Beyond their names, the two bear more than a passing resemblance to Google’s video powerhouse. In its filings, Amazon describes Amazontube or Opentube as providers of “non-downloadable pre-recorded audio, visual and audiovisual works via wireless networks.”

It adds that the services would “enable users to share content, photos videos, text, data, images and other electronic works,” and goes on to list topics, ranging from gaming to dance, fashion and tech. It all sounds like a video streaming service that relies on user uploads, much like YouTube. The name could land it in legal trouble with Google, according to TV Answer Man, but that can easily be tweaked if it ever sees the light of day.

What’s more, DomainNameWire points out that Amazon has been registering a bunch of domain names of late, including AlexaOpenTube.com, AmazonAlexaTube.com, and AmazonOpenTube.com.

But, another Amazon video service is far from a sure bet, especially as the company looks to be attempting to patch ties with Google. Just days ago, it put forth an olive branch by promising to return Chromecast to its retail line-up, following years of absence. We’ve reached out to Amazon for a comment.

Via: TV Answer Man

Source: USPTO

Three and EE lose High Court fight over 5G spectrum auction

Ofcom has fended off two legal challenges that threatened to delay the UK’s next mobile spectrum auction. Three and BT-owned EE had filed separate complaints over a proposed bidding war that was scheduled to take place later this year. Three believes that Ofcom should be stricter with its spectrum caps, limiting EE’s spending power and potential allocation, while BT believes that there should be no restrictions whatsoever. The High Court disagreed with both today, believing that Ofcom had done its homework and properly modelled how different caps would affect the outcome of the bid and, subsequently, consumer choice in the UK.

Ofcom has 190 MHz of spectrum to sell across two bands — 40 MHz in a 2.3GHz band and 150 MHz in a 3.4GHz band. The former is usable “immediately” and would help all of the major networks to improve their 4G coverage, while the latter is pivotal to the long-awaited introduction of 5G services. Ofcom’s plan is to place a cap of 255 MHz on “immediately useable” spectrum, which would block BT and EE from making any bids on the 2.3 GHz band. A second cap of 340 MHz will be placed on all mobile spectrum, limiting BT to a maximum of 85 MHz on the 3.4GHz band.

“I reject the argument of H3G that the balance struck was too generous to BT/EE and I also reject the argument of BT/EE that it was too tight and rigid,” the High Court said in a statement. As the Financial Times reports, both networks could appeal the decision. Otherwise, the auction should finally go ahead. “We welcome the High Court’s judgment,” the regulator said in a statement. “Our priority has always been to release these airwaves as soon as possible so customers can get more reliable mobile phone reception. We’ll now proceed with the auction as quickly as possible.”

Source: judiciary.gov.uk, Financial Times

Apple Pay Said to Be Arriving in Poland in Early 2018

Apple Pay could arrive in Poland as soon as the first quarter of 2018, according to financial technology site cashless.pl. Several independent sources are said to have confirmed active negotiations between Apple and five banks operating in the country, including Alior, BZ WBK, and mBank.

According to the Polish tech site, all banks operating in Poland received an offer from Apple earlier this month to make Apple Pay available to their customers. Some of the banks are said to have declined the offer, but the banks listed above are reportedly negotiating financial terms to start supporting the digital wallet in the first half of 2018.

Given that the banks have already implemented MasterCard or Visa tokenization – the same technology used by Apple Pay to securely link a payment card number to a mobile device – rollout could happen very quickly as soon as negotiations have concluded.

The rollout will reportedly take place with active support from payment companies including Mastercard, although there’s no word on whether Visa will be involved in the implementation at this stage.

The last time we heard about plans for Apple Pay in Poland was in October, when an anonymous tipster emailed in an alleged screenshot of Apple Pay being tested with a Mastercard from PKO Bank Polski, for a possible debut in the country by the end of this year. PKO was not mentioned in today’s source, however, and may have just been used as a placeholder card for Apple’s internal testing only.

(Thanks, Krzysiek!)

Related Roundup: Apple PayTag: Poland
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Coinbase Exchange App Now Supports Bitcoin Cash Transactions

App Store chart topper Coinbase introduced support for Bitcoin Cash on Wednesday, allowing users of the cryptocurrency exchange app to trade in the alternative “forked” digital asset.

Bitcoin Cash appeared in early August when a group of developers created a separate version of the Bitcoin blockchain, so that more transactions could be processed at a faster rate, with lower associated fees involved.

When news of a potential split or “fork” in the blockchain first appeared, Coinbase said it would not support trading in the new currency that would be created as a result, but in August it reversed its decision and said customers would be able to withdraw Bitcoin Cash from the first day of 2018.

Following today’s app update, all users will be credited an amount of Bitcoin Cash that is equal to their Bitcoin balance when the fork occurred on August 1. Bitcoin Cash trading will also be available on GDAX, which is Coinbase’s institutional-based exchange.

The Coinbase app surged to the top of Apple’s free apps chart in the App Store last week, amid a speculative frenzy surrounding the blockchain cryptocurrency. Today’s announcement that it would support Bitcoin Cash caused BTC to drop sharply in the early hours as users switched currencies, but the value appears to have stabilized since, at around $17,599 as of writing.

Also this week, a new version of the CoinHub app was released. Version 1.5 of the cryptocurrency quote platform brings a new secure portfolio, Reddit and news separation, fresh UI styling, and a FOREX engine that lets users purchase any currency pair and automatically see the value in their local fiat currency.

Tags: bitcoin, cryptocurrency
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Audi’s latest models add Amazon Music to the dashboard

If you’re an Apple CarPlay or Android Auto user, you’ve no shortage of music streaming services baked into your dashboard. But, if you’re relying on your vehicle’s default control panel the choices start to dwindle. While, automakers like Ford have started offering Apple and Google’s infotainment systems (which play nicer with smartphones) as an alternative to their own interfaces, Audi is going it alone with a little help from Amazon. The German automotive giant now lets you access Amazon Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited on the dashboard inside 2017 and 2018 models.

Compatible vehicles include the Audi A3, A4, A4 allroad, Audi Q7, R8, TT and 2018 models of the Audi Q5 and A5. Just sync the Audi MMI app with your car over WIFI and enter your Amazon login, and you’re good to go. Now, you’ll be able to navigate through the latest tunes, playlists, and your stored music purchases via the dashboard. No more Bluetooth or USB connections for you. Does the Audi-Amazon collab signal that Alexa voice controls are next? Well, if it’s good enough for BMW.

Source: Audi

LG will release new AI products under the ‘ThinQ’ brand

LG is getting serious with artificial intelligence and will launch products and services that use AI under a new sub-brand called “ThinQ” starting in 2018. All its upcoming TVs, fridges, even electronic devices and services under the new brand will have features developed with deep learning techniques and will be able to communicate with one another. LG says you can expect its new offerings to use its own AI tech, DeepThinQ, as well as its partners’, but it didn’t elaborate further or listed possible features.

The Korean company already has smart appliances out on the market under the SmartThinQ banner, but it says the new brand is meant to “highlight that LG(‘s) intelligent products.” It said in a statement that “AI is the next frontier in technology and as a leader in home appliances and consumer electronics, [it has] a responsibility to make AI more approachable and less intimidating.” Over the past year, LG has been dropping hints that it plans to put a spotlight on artificial intelligence. At CES 2017, it announced its DeepThinQ deep learning technology. The company also opened an Artificial Intelligence Lab in Seoul to house all its voice-, video- and sensor-related AI research.

Source: LG

The UK decides 10 Mbps broadband should be a legal right

Over the past decade, the UK government has attempted to lock in a basic level of broadband service across Britain. The idea is that by 2020, members of the public will have the legal right to request speeds of at least 10 Mbps from their ISP, whether they happen to live in a big city or in the countryside. It’s all part of the government’s Universal Service Obligation (USO), which was laid out in the Digital Economy Act passed earlier this year.

Ministers originally considered adopting BT’s voluntary offer, which would have seen it spend up to £600 million giving 1.4 million rural residents access to speeds of at least 10 Mbps. However, in a statement today, the government confirmed that it now will go down the regulatory route as it provides “sufficient certainty and the legal enforceability that is required to ensure high speed broadband access for the whole of the UK by 2020.”

Culture Secretary Karen Bradley said: “We know how important broadband is to homes and businesses and we want everyone to benefit from a fast and reliable connection. We are grateful to BT for their proposal but have decided that only a regulatory approach will make high speed broadband a reality for everyone in the UK, regardless of where they live or work.”

The government will now begin setting out what the Universal Service Obligation (USO) must include. It’s expected that legislation will be passed in early 2018 and that it will take roughly two years to formally introduce the minimum expected speeds previously laid out by Ofcom.

While it’s certainly a blow for BT, the government is confident it’s made the correct decision. It believes that by introducing legislation, minimum speeds can be increased as consumers’ requirements evolve and that no household will be left behind (subject to a cost threshold).

The good news is that fixed line “superfast broadband” connections — which provide speeds of 24 Mbps or more — currently cover an estimated 95 percent of UK homes and businesses. Thanks to the Government’s subsidised Broadband Delivery UK programme, that figure could reach 98 percent by 2020. It means that by the time the USO is enforced, only a small percentage of UK premises will fall into the gap.

Source: Gov.uk

EU decides to treat Uber like a taxi company, not an app

Europe’s highest court has ruled that Uber is a transportation company and not some kind of middleman between passengers and drivers, like it has often claimed. The much-anticipated decision opens the door for member nations to impose stricter regulations on the company, especially where it operates the UberPOP service with non-professional drivers.

The judges weren’t buying Uber’s argument that it’s merely an information company. “The service provided by Uber is more than an intermediation service consisting of connecting, by means of a smartphone application, a nonprofessional driver using his or her own vehicle with a person who wishes to make an urban journey,” the ruling states. “The application provided by Uber is indispensable for both the drivers and the persons who wish to make an urban journey.”

Uber took the decision in stride, despite the serious potential impact on its future growth. “This ruling will not change things in most EU countries where we already operate under transportation law,” the company told Engadget in a statement. “However, millions of Europeans are still prevented from using apps like ours. As our new CEO has said, it is appropriate to regulate services such as Uber and so we will continue the dialogue with cities across Europe. This is the approach we’ll take to ensure everyone can get a reliable ride at the tap of a button.”

The service provided by Uber is more than an intermediation service consisting of connecting, by means of a smartphone application, a nonprofessional driver using his or her own vehicle with a person who wishes to make an urban journey. The application provided by Uber is indispensable for both the drivers and the persons who wish to make an urban journey.

The decision came after over two years of deliberation, prodded by a complaint by a Spanish taxi association. It claimed that Uber wasn’t competing fairly by using non-licensed drivers that don’t have to deal with the strict rules and checks imposed on taxi drivers.

The decision caps off a very bad 2017 for Uber in Europe and elsewhere. The company was banned in London and could be outlawed in other UK cities, and has had legal troubles in Spain, Italy, Greece, France and elsewhere. In the US, it was accused of sexual harassment, illegal spying on competitors (and law enforcement), and stealing trade secrets from Waymo. CEO Travis Kalanick also stepped down in June and replaced by Dara Khosrowshahi.

Khosrowshahi isi trying reform Uber’s battered image, but it’ll be hard for him to stay ahead of all the problems. That was highlighted in the so-called Jacob Letter, that brought a number of previously unknown issues to light. Uber will do well just to keep those fires tamped down, so 2018 isn’t looking any better for the ride-hailing, er, transportation service.

Via: CNBC

Source: European Commission