Nuu G3 review

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Nuu G3

The budget smartphone market continues to be competitive. Gone are the plasticky and bulky smartphones that crawled along due to low RAM and plenty of bloatware — they’ve been replaced with a breed of budget phones that manage to work well, while looking stylish. That’s the balance the Nuu G3 is striving towards, and if it came out a year or two ago, the G3 would undoubtedly have turned heads. But it’s 2018, and the Nuu faces some stiff competition from the likes of Motorola, Honor, and Nokia.

Nuu is a Chinese smartphone brand that released its first smartphone in 2012. You can find some of its devices at retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, but the brand is still relatively unknown in the U.S. Nuu hopes to change that with its latest budget phone, which costs just $200.

An appealing design

At a quick glance, the Nuu G3 doesn’t look like its price tag. Its aluminum case is sandwiched by glass, a little unusual for a budget phone, but don’t expect the same durability you’d find on a flagship phone like the iPhone X or Galaxy S9. Nuu doesn’t use Gorilla Glass or any other hardened glass, which means a single drop would likely shatter the screen and rear. You’ll definitely want to be cautious about dropping it. A case is included in the box, but it’s meant more to guard against scratches, not drops.

There are two color options for the Nuu G3: Blue and taupe. We reviewed the former, but no matter what color you choose, you’ll find the phone to be a fingerprint magnet. That’s no fault of Nuu, however, as it’s also a problem with high-end phones that use glass.

The G3 has a 5.7-inch, 18:9 aspect ratio screen — a relatively-new trend that’s already seeping into the budget market. It means the phone is a little longer, and you’ll be able to see a little more content on vertical-scrolling apps. This aspect ratio is usually paired with a “bezel-less” design, where the edges surrounding the screen are incredibly thin. We wouldn’t exactly call the G3’s design bezel-less, but they are indeed small and unobtrusive. The volume rocker and power button are on the right edge of the phone, with the latter button having a handy pattern so it’s easy to distinguish.

We managed to fool the Face Lock feature on the Nuu G3 with a photocopy of a selfie.

Flip the Nuu G3 over and you’ll find a dual-camera system with a LED flash to the right. The fingerprint sensor is housed directly below the camera. This setup looks an awful lot like the new Galaxy S9 Plus, but there’s a giant “Nuu” logo at the bottom to remind you it’s not a Samsung phone. The fingerprint sensor responds quickly, without the need to frequently adjust our finger.

On the bottom of the G3 are bottom-firing speakers, as well as a USB Type-C charging port. The phone’s audio capabilities fall firmly in budget phone territory — it’s nothing to write home about. Sadly, there’s no headphone jack. There’s a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter in the box instead, so you can still use standard headphone, but if you have Bluetooth earbuds, you’ll have to rely on Bluetooth version 4.2.

Nuu G3 Compared To

Vivo Apex

Asus Zenfone 5

LG V30S ThinQ

Alcatel 5 Series

Cat S61

Honor 7X

Google Pixel 2

LG V30

Samsung Galaxy S8 Active

HTC U11

Nokia 8

ASUS Zenfone 3 Deluxe Special…

Motorola Droid Turbo

LG Optimus G Pro

T-Mobile myTouch 3G

Overall, the Nuu G3 is an attractive package for its price. It’s lightweight and comfortable in the hand, but it also feels a little cheap. There doesn’t seem to be a reason as to why the company went with an all-glass design when polycarbonate would be more durable — especially since there’s no wireless charging — and the lack of a headphone jack is Nuu just hopping on the bandwagon. Still, it’s an good-looking phone that looks like a more modern version of the Galaxy S7, minus the home button.

Decent performance

For a budget phone, the Nuu G3 packs impressive specs. There’s a 2.3 GHz MediaTek octa-core processor, along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage that’s expandable thanks to a MicroSD card slot. There’s also a dual-SIM card slot, which isn’t too common on budget phones in the U.S.

Steven Winkelman/Digital Trends
Steven Winkelman/Digital Trends

Specs don’t paint a full picture, however. The Android operating system on the Nuu G3 takes up quite a bit of the available storage — nearly a quarter of 64GB to be exact. While you’ll still have a little bit more than 50GB of onboard storage left when you turn on the phone, it’s annoying to think so much space is devoted to the OS.

The Nuu G3 is also a little slower than the competition. There’s a little lag when swiping between apps, and apps open slowly. We compared the length of time it took to open a few apps on the Nuu G3 and found it lagged behind the $200 Honor 7X in every instance.

Here are a few benchmark results for comparison:

• Geekbench CPU: Single-Core 804; multi-core 3037
• AnTuTu 3DBench: 73,660
• 3DMark SlingShot Extreme: 658

The same-priced Honor 7X hit 63,311 in its AnTuTu benchmark score, and the rest of the scores aren’t too far off. We still managed to find better performance on the Honor phone despite the scores slightly favoring the Nuu G3. Regardless, performance is still satisfactory. If you expect to perform a lot of tasks at the same time on this phone, however, you will run into a few hiccups.

The display on the Nuu G3 is surprisingly solid, with good viewing angles and vibrant colors. It’s a 5.7-inch HD ( 1,440 x 720p) IPS display, and the biggest downside is that it’s not too sharp. It’s easy to discern individual pixels on the screen.

Ships with Android Nougat

The Nuu G3 runs Android 7.1 Nougat — it wouldn’t be an understatement to say we were more than disappointed to see a new phone shipping with a version of an operating system that launched in 2016. The upside, however, is that you won’t find a ton of bloatware on the G3. Other than an odd browser that looks extremely similar to Chrome, the phone runs a near-stock version of Google’s Android OS.

As is the trend of 2018, there’s a Face Lock feature on the G3 that lets you unlock the device with your face. Don’t expect this feature to rival the level of security with Face ID on the iPhone X — we were able to easily unlock the phone with a color photocopy of a selfie. It’s purely for convenience, and it works relatively well.

Cameras are a mixed bag

The dual-camera system on the Nuu G3 is nearly flush with the case and looks absolutely handsome. While two rear cameras are a nice touch on a budget phone, it’s not going to yield the same results you’d find on other dual camera phones. In fact, it won’t even yield results as good as its closest competitor, the Honor 7X.

A single drop would likely shatter the screen and rear.

The primary lens on the Nuu G3 packs 13 megapixels, and the secondary lens has 5 megapixels. The primary lens is meant to do the heavy lifting, and the secondary helps create a bokeh effect for Portrait Mode photos.

In broad daylight, photos from the G3 are perfectly acceptable. There’s good detail, solid color, and the camera reacts quickly — though some photos can look a little washed out. In any other lighting condition, things start to drastically change for the worse. There’s a significant amount of noise, and a good chunk of detail is lost when shooting in low-light. Since there’s no optical image stabilization, you’ll need to hold the phone very still, lest you want to end up with blurry photos. This is made worse as the camera shutter button is slow to react in poorer lighting conditions. The front camera has 13 megapixels, and again selfies look solid in bright light. In any poorer lighting conditions, expect the photo to come out a fuzzy.

Nuu really wanted to the G3 to be feature-packed, and it definitely shows in the camera app. How well those features work though, is somewhat of a mixed bag.  Portrait Mode offered the best results. Similar to the Live Focus feature on the Samsung Galaxy S9, the Nuu G3 allows you to adjust the degree of background blur and see the results instantly in the viewfinder. Unlike the Galaxy S9, however, you’re not able to adjust the blur once the photo is taken. We encountered a few instances where the background wasn’t evenly blurred, but we’re still impressed with how well it performed.

For a budget phone, the Nuu G3 packs some pretty impressive specs.

There’s a Beauty Filter on board that also masks any imperfections on your skin — smoothening it all out to make it look like you’re wearing makeup. It’s not good at all. There’s a slider that lets you control the strength of the effect, but it doesn’t seem to work, and the result often makes your entire face blurry.

In the right conditions, you can get Instagram-worthy photos on the Nuu G3. Otherwise, this is a camera that will easily frustrate. If you want a decent camera in this price range, the Honor 7X is your best bet.

Slow charging, day-long battery

The G3 is powered by a 3,000mAh battery capacity, with support for fast charging. We had no problem making it through a day of moderate use. After quite a bit of browsing the web, using social media apps, watching YouTube videos, and taking photos, the G3 hit 47 percent around 6 p.m. — that’s after taking it off the charger at 8:30 a.m.

That being said, charging is slow. We charged the phone with both the included 5 watt charger as well as another quick charger, and the G3 still took more than 2 hours and 40 minutes to fully charge back up.

Price, availability, and warranty information

The Nuu G3 costs $200, and it’s available on the company’s website. It only works on GSM networks, meaning you can only use it on T-Mobile and AT&T, not Verizon and Sprint.

The phone comes with a one-year warranty that covers defects in workmanship and materials. To use the warranty, you’ll need to contact Nuu to obtain a return service authorization. You’re also responsible for the shipping. Although it’s a pretty standard warranty, if you need to take advantage of it, be prepared to go without a phone during the repair period.

Our Take

The Nuu G3 is a good looking phone for its price. On paper, it offers a lot of impressive features for a budget phone, but the quality of those features are a mixed bag.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes. The Honor 7X comes in at the same price, offers more features, and has the added benefit of being faster and more durable, with a capable camera.

If you’re willing to wait a few more months, the Nokia 6 (2018) is an excellent alternative that comes in at about a hundred dollars more. The Nokia 6 features a stunning design, a speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor, and comes preloaded with the Android One edition of Android 8.0 Oreo.

How long will it last?

We expect the Nuu G3 to last about one to two years. Since we’ve already experienced some lag, we expect performance to get worse as time goes on. Also, while the glass may seem like a nice addition, a single drop could easily destroy it, and impact the phone’s usability.

It’s also worth noting that the Nuu G3 ships with Android 7.1 Nougat. The next version of Android is only months away. While Nuu would not confirm an upgrade to Android 8.0 Oreo or Android P is on the table cards for the G3, a representative told Digital Trends it may be possible to update the phone to Oreo — though not over traditional over-the-air updates. The representative said users may need to mail their phones if Nuu decides to update the G3 to Android 8.0 Oreo, which is preposterous.

Should you buy it?

No. While the Nuu G3 may look great, there’s a lot to be desired in terms of overall performance. For the same price, we recommend buying the equally handsome, but much more capable, Honor 7X.

Google’s Play Movies and TV app tells you where to stream your shows

There was a time when you either watched something on a physical disc, or you streamed it through one of the very few services available. There was a choice, but it was also easier to keep track of. Now with so many streaming services available, it can be tough to figure out where a show is streaming. Google is looking to make that easier with a major update to its Play Movies and TV app for Android that shows you where you can stream the show or movie of your choice.

If you think this sounds somewhat similar to the TV app that Apple introduced in 2016, you’re not wrong. That app has a similar functionality, aggregating shows and movies across various services and showing them to you in one place. There is another similarity too: When Apple’s TV app launched, one major service that wasn’t integrated was Netflix. That is also the case with the Google Play Movies and TV app as well, at least for now.

Google is working with 28 streaming services, according to TechCrunch, with more presumably on the way, but Netflix isn’t one of them yet. Netflix did eventually come to the Apple TV app, albeit with limitations, so there is no reason that it couldn’t eventually come to Google’s app. Apple’s app currently supports 60 services to Google’s 28.

Supported services include bigger names like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, as well as standard offerings from networks like HBO Now, Showtime, Starz, and more. This isn’t limited to content that Google offers for sale or rent either, so even if something isn’t in Google’s catalog, the Play Movies and TV app will still show search results and let you see where to watch what you’re looking for.

What the newly updated app won’t show you is if the movie or TV show you’re searching for is available on a live TV streaming service like Sling TV, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, or even Google’s own YouTube TV. Granted, this seems like it could be a more difficult feature to implement, and Apple’s TV app doesn’t do this either.

If you’re not seeing these features just yet, don’t worry. Google says that the features will come to Android phones and tablets in the U.S. over the next few days. The Play Store website is also being updated to include similar functionality.

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Here’s how — and where — to get Apple’s new 9.7-inch iPad for yourself

Apple wants to play a bigger role in the education sector, and has unveiled an all-new 9.7-inch iPad that not only improves on the specs of last year’s 9.7-inch iPad, but also on the price, specifically when it come to schools.

The new iPad offers a number of awesome features, including a beautiful 9.7-inch Retina display, an A10 Fusion processor, a battery that should last for 10 hours, and, for the first time in a non-Pro model, Apple Pencil support. The device is available in three different colors — silver, gold, and space gray.

Whether you want the iPad straight from Apple, or you prefer to get it from your preferred carrier, here’s how to get your hands on the new 9.7-inch iPad .

Apple

Perhaps the best way to get the new iPad for yourself is straight from Apple. Apart from the actual iPad, you’ll also be able to get the Apple Pencil for $100, if you’re a consumer, or $80 if you’re a school. Last but not least, if you want a smart keyboard cover with you’re iPad, you can get it for $40. Here’s a rundown of the iPad pricing you’ll get from Apple.

• 32GB iPad: $330
• 128GB iPad: $430
• 32GB iPad with cellular: $460
• 128GB iPad with cellular: $560

Verizon

Apple isn’t the only company offering the new 2018 9.7-inch iPad. If you prefer to get it through Verizon, you’ll also be able to get your hands on the cellular version of the new iPad, which is perfect for those that want to bundle it into their data plan. Here’s the pricing of the cellular iPad through Verizon.

• 32GB iPad with cellular: $460
• 128GB iPad with cellular: $560

The device will be available online and through Verizon retail stores starting March 30.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile has announced that it too will be selling the new iPad, though it hasn’t really given any details as to pricing or the models that it will have on offer. It did, however, mention that the device would be available in stores or online starting on March 30, like other carriers.

We’ll update this article when we hear more about pricing and availability for the 2018 9.7-inch iPad.

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Here is everything you need to know about Apple’s new education tools

On Tuesday, March 27, Apple held its education-focused event in Chicago at Lane Tech College Preparatory High School where the company unveiled a more affordable 9.7-inch iPad. To push for use of the iPad within the classroom, Apple also launched a wide variety of new educational resources.

From apps and updates to products, we rounded up all of Apple’s new education initiatives.

iWork with Apple Pencil

Since the new 9.7-inch iPad comes with support for Apple Pencil, Apple’s iWork suite — which includes Pages, Keynote, and Numbers — has been updated to include more features. You will be able to draw, write, or sketch with the Pencil within each of the productivity apps. Using both Pages and Keynote, users will be able to add drawings into their reports and can now write in Numbers when creating lab reports.

Currently in beta mode, Pages also includes a Smart Annotation feature allowing teachers to add comments within documents in real time — which will anchor to specific text. The app will also receive a book creation feature — available for both iOS and macOS — where users can create digital books like short stories or travel books. To create a book, you will be able to use different templates in addition to iWork’s new drawing tools or images and videos from the Photo library. Classmates can collaborate on books in real time using either the iPad, iPhone, Mac, or iCloud.com and the finished product can then be exported and shared in iBooks.

Another feature in Pages is Presenter Mode which allows you to use your iPad or iPhone as a virtual teleprompter. Not only can the text auto scroll at an adjustable speed, but you will be able to customize text size, spacing, font, or background color during playback.

Swift Playground adds augmented reality feature

In 2016, Apple introduced its Everyone Can Code program which teaches kids how to code via its Swift Playgrounds app. The programming app now incorporates augmented reality using Apple’s ARKit technology. Students can now program an animated character into their game and place it within their physical space using the iPad’s camera.

Apple is incorporating AR into everyday lesson plans as well. For example, a new ARKit app called Froggipedia will allow students to dissect a virtual frog using the Apple Pencil stylus. Another app like Free Rivers by the World Wildlife Fund will help teach students about protecting rivers, as well as preserving communities and protecting habitats.

Everyone Can Create curriculum

Everyone Can Create is a free curriculum developed with the help of creative professionals and educators. The program offers a range of free learning resources and teaching guides that allows students to find different ways to express themselves and discover or develop new skills.

Using the program, teachers can find ways to integrate music, drawing, filmmaking, and photography into topics or assignments. Aside from lessons and student guides, the program also includes ideas and examples to help incorporate creativity into already existing core subjects like English, math, science, and history. Starting later this spring, Apple Stores will be teaching the curriculum as part of its regular Today sessions for educators.

New ClassKit framework and Schoolwork app integration

Integrated into Apple’s Classkit — its new developer framework meant specifically for creating educational apps on iOS — Schoolwork is a new app that makes it easier for teachers to complete tasks such as creating assignments. With a Handouts feature, the app allows teachers to create and send assignments to students that include anything from web links to documents and PDFs. Schoolwork can help to incorporate more apps into the curriculum as well. Teachers will be able to assign an activity within an app and then direct students to the specific point within that app.

As far as student progress, it also gives teachers the ability to check up on how a student is doing — they will be able to see a student’s overall class performance, check on students’ app activities, and progress on assignments. But Apple made it clear that all student data will be private, and that only teachers will have access to the information. Schoolwork will officially launch in June, giving educators plenty of time to get the hang of it before the new school year starts.

Logitech Crayon and Rugged Combo case

To accompany the new 9.7-inch iPad, Logitech announced the Logitech Crayon stylus and Logitech Rugged Combo 2 case. The Crayon — which is priced at $50 — is the first digital pencil designed for the new iPad — which includes low latency and support for tilt. It works with a large number of apps, including Apple’s newly updated Pages, Keynote, and Numbers apps along with Microsoft Office. Since it has an eight-day battery life, it should be able to last students throughout the entire school day on a single charge. It will also connect to the iPad automatically, so there is no need to go through the process of pairing it.

The Rugged Combo 2 case is designed to sustain daily wear and tear within the classroom. It can protect against drops from up to four feet, has a secure-sealed design that is spill-resistant, and includes a detachable keyboard that is pry-resistant with silent keys. It also has a kickstand that you can adjust to comfortably type or write notes, use apps, and watch videos. As for price, the case will run for $100.

Upgraded Apple School Manager Program

With the Apple School Manager program, administrative IT officials are able to create accounts for students and staff, manage devices, and buy content. Apple announced the program will now allow administrators to create profiles either individually or in bulk — with the ability to create up to 1,500 Apple IDs at once. It will also include 200GB of cloud storage, which is an upgrade from the 5GB available before.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Everything Apple announced at its education-focused event in Chicago
• Apple updates $330 iPad, adds Pencil support and 200GB iCloud storage for students
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• Here’s how — and where — to get Apple’s new 9.7-inch iPad for yourself
• Adobe is giving away free software for schools to foster creative problem-solving

Can Google’s Pixel 2 ace conventional cameras? We spent a week finding out

When I tested the original Sony A7 in 2014, I proclaimed that the future of photography would be mirrorless. I was wrong. The future of photography is computational, and spending even a single day with the Google Pixel 2 is all you need to acquaint yourself with this fact.

I spent several days with it when I took it on vacation as my only camera. The camera in the Google Pixel 2 (and Pixel 2 XL) is so good that it feels like magic. It’s not the camera hardware itself (the lens and imaging sensor) that takes credit for this, but rather Google’s software and processing. Thanks to machine learning algorithms and the advanced HDR+ mode that’s been around in Google phones for a few years now, the Pixel 2 produces the most beautiful pictures I’ve ever captured on a smartphone. What’s more, in some situations it even yields results that are better than many straight-from-the-camera images shot with a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Tinh tế Photo/Flickr

To be sure, larger cameras with interchangeable lenses aren’t going anywhere — there are still limitations of Google’s computational approach, and there’s no substitute for being able to swap out different lenses. But at $650, the Pixel 2 is priced to compete with advanced compact cameras like the Sony RX100-series, and, for most people, it’s the obvious better buy — you get an entire phone with it, after all.

We have already touted the Pixel 2’s camera, but for this article, I’m looking at it from a working photographer’s point-of-view, and whether it can truly function as a “real camera” replacement.

Why dynamic range matters

Dynamic range may be the least understood aspect of image quality among non-photographers. Most people generally understand megapixels and even noise/grain, but dynamic range is one of the key aspects of image quality that separates a large-sensor DSLR or mirrorless camera from something like a smartphone.

HDR+ off (Photo: Marc Levoy/Google)

HDR+ on (Photo: Marc Levoy/Google)

Essentially, a camera that captures more dynamic range is able to “see” a broader range of tones, preserving more detail into the shadows and highlights of an image that a lesser camera would have clipped. If you have ever taken a picture on a bright sunny day, you have likely run into the dynamic range limitation of your camera — particularly if that camera was a phone or other small point-and-shoot. This could show up as your subject being too dark against a backlit sky, or as the sky showing up as pure white instead of blue. The camera tries its best to compensate for the wide range of contrast in the scene, but it has to make a sacrifice somewhere.

The camera in Pixel 2 is so good that it feels like magic.

The sensor in the Pixel 2 has this same problem, but Google has worked around it with software. With HDR+ turned on, the camera shoots a quick burst of photos, each with short exposure times to preserve highlights and prevent motion blur. It then merges the images together and automatically boosts the shadows to recover detail.

While boosting shadows is possible in a single-exposure photograph, doing so would result in also boosting noise. Because the Pixel 2 has several photos to work with, the shadow noise is averaged out and you end up with a much cleaner result. Google has an in-depth explainer of HDR+ if you’re interested in learning more about how it works.

On a basic level, this is similar to how other HDR modes work in other phones, but it simply works so incredibly well on the Pixel 2. The system is smart enough to preserve detail across a very wide tonal range without resulting in a flat image or jumping into the psychedelic, over-HDR look. It is, for all intents and purposes, comparable to a DSLR or mirrorless camera — except that you don’t need to spend any time processing the images in post, making it more immediate and more approachable for casual photographers.

Stereo depth-mapping from a single lens

While many phones have “portrait modes” that mimic a shallow depth of field, most accomplish this by using two separate lenses and sensors placed side-by-side. This allows the phone to compute a depth map based on the subtle differences between the two images, in a similar fashion to how our eyes perceive depth in the world around us. The Pixel 2 has just a single camera module, and yet it can produce the same stereoscopic depth map.

Original image before synthetic depth map is applied. (Photos: Sam Kweskin/Google)

Depth map generated from Google’s stereo algorithm, lighter is closer to the camera.

Visualization of blur applied to each pixel, the brighter the red the more blur.

Final synthetic shallow depth-of-field image, generated by combining HDR+, segmentation mask, and depth map.

Magic? Almost. The Pixel 2 uses on-chip phase-detection autofocus, which means each pixel is actually divided in half. Google has a much more detailed explanation of how its portrait mode works, but basically, those split pixels offer just enough stereo separation to create a depth map.

This allows for shallow-depth-of-field photographs of any subject within the allowable distance, but for portraits, the phone goes a step further. It uses AI trained on millions of sample photos in a neural network to recognize faces, improving the accuracy of where blur is applied in the photograph.

In practice, the Pixel 2’s portrait mode has the same inconsistencies of other smartphones, but mostly I’m impressed that it works at all. As AI and processing power improves, this computational approach to depth of field control will get even better and, eventually, may offer advantages over a DSLR or mirrorless camera. Namely, anything done computationally can theoretically be controlled or removed after the fact. Depth of field and even the subjective quality of blur could be altered in post, opening up new avenues of creative control.

A Pixel worth a thousand words

It is debatable whether the Pixel 2 (and its larger sibling, the Pixel 2 XL) is the best smartphone out there, but it’s certainly one of the best smartphone cameras (the new Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus may have nudged it off the top, but only just). It’s also commendable that Google put its top camera tech into a non-flagship phone, rather than saving it for just the XL model, making it more accessible to more users.

I’ll still hang on to my mirrorless kit, but the Pixel 2 proves that software, not hardware, is the future of photography.

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How to customize the Galaxy S9 navigation bar and home button

Samsung offers several customization options to change up the color and orientation of the nav bar on the Galaxy S9.

With the switch to the Infinity Display design language last year, Samsung got rid of the home button and capacitive navigation keys, instead option for on-screen keys. Doing so has opened up a lot of customization options for the navigation bar itself, including changing the color, the orientation of the back and recents keys, and hiding the nav bar itself when you’re in a full screen app.

Samsung Experience 9.0 on the Galaxy S9 and S9+ offers a similar set of customizability, and if you’re just getting started with the device, here’s how to customize the Galaxy S9’s navigation bar and home button:

How to customize the Galaxy S9 navigation bar

Open the Settings app from the app drawer or home screen.
Navigate to the Display settings.

Scroll down to access the navigation bar settings.

Tap Navigation bar.
Select a Background color to change up the look of the nav bar.

Toggle the Show and hide button to auto-hide the navigation bar when in an app.

How to customize the Galaxy S9 button orientation

You can change the orientation of the home and recents keys, and select the press sensitivity of the home button as well. There’s also the option to unlock the phone with the home button, which bypasses the lock screen entirely. Here’s how you can adjust the home button sensitivity and change the button orientation:

Open the Settings app from the app drawer or home screen.
Navigate to the Display settings.

Scroll down to access the navigation bar settings.

Tap Navigation bar.
Select Hard press Home button to adjust the home button sensitivity.

Drag the slider to the left or right to decrease or increase the sensitivity (use the Pressure Test button to gauge the button’s sensitivity).

Hit the Back button to go back to the navigation bar settings.
Select Button layout to change the orientation of the back and recents keys.

Recents – Home – Back is the default orientation, and Back – Home – Recents lets you switch to the Google-prescribed layout for the nav keys.

That’s a quick look at customization options for the nav bar and home button on the Galaxy S9. How are you liking your S9/S9+? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

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• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Deal: BYOD to Boost Mobile and get a free month of unlimited data!

If you’re in the market for a new phone plan, Boost Mobile may have just the thing.

There’s a deal on a great BYOD plan at Boost Mobile! For just $50 a month, you’ll get unlimited talk, text & data along with streaming (in standard definition) and 8GB of mobile hotspots. Act now and you’ll get a full month of unlimited data free. Offer ends April 5, 2018

How this deal works:

New Boost Mobile customers who bring their own phones and sign up for the $50 Unlimited Gigs plan will get a one month credit of $50.

• Must be a new customer & requires an initial payment of $50 at time of activation.
• Customers can bring their compatible devices (select iPhone and Android models) and former Sprint devices are not eligible.

Boost Mobile: Unlimited Gigs plan

• Unlimited Data, Talk & Text, after you reach 23GB speeds may slow temporarily during times of high network traffic
• Coverage on Sprint’s nationwide network
• 8GB of mobile hotspots
• SD video streaming, up to 480p
• All taxes and fees included

See at Boost Mobile

Are you happy with the Galaxy S9+?

Well, are you?

This year, Samsung introduced more changes than ever between the Galaxy S9 and S9+. Although both phones share a lot of similarities, only the S9+ has dual rear cameras, 6GB of RAM, and a larger 3,500 mAh battery.

A lot of people in the Android Central forums have been switching over to the larger Galaxy S9+, and they’re doing so in favor of the Note 8, iPhone X, and a lot of other high-end devices.

We decided to check in to see how happy (or not) our S9+ owners are, and these are a few of the responses.

amyf27
03-27-2018 09:22 PM

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So happy. Just got mine today traded in the Note 8. Have loved the Note line for a long time. The S9Plus is fantastic.

Reply

DamianP
03-27-2018 08:42 PM

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Love mine so far. the ergonomics are what got me to switch plus a bit better battery life .(yes I have both as well).
The S pen is nice to have but I just didn’t use it much.

Reply

GibMcFragger
03-28-2018 02:41 AM

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Went from the iPhone X (meh camera, annoying notch, iOS sucks) to Note 8 (too bulky, never used S-Pen) to this S9+. No regrets, love it.

Reply

srinathp1988
03-27-2018 08:55 PM

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I come from Note 5(Note 3 before that) and I am very happy. I hardly used the pen before , so I did not wait for the note this year

Reply

Now, we’d love to hear from you – If you’ve got the Galaxy S9+, are you happy with the phone?

Join the conversation in the forums!

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Google Pixel 2: Which should you buy?
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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How does Apple’s new push for the education market compare to Chromebooks in the classroom?

Apple’s new education offerings are clearly aimed at the Chromebook but are they enough?

Hooray competition!

Apple had its focus on education event in Chicago this week, and the company is getting serious about taking back one market it used to have under tight control: the classroom. Not too long ago, if you were to look at the computing products school systems were buying you would have seen an Apple logo on almost all of them. Apple offered a consistent, secure and unified experience to educators and students which made them the company to work with if you wanted to deploy computers to the classroom.

Apple is using the same tactics Google did when they pushed Chromebooks for the classroom.

They were also very expensive and had a high training and administration cost which meant most schools went without. Google seized upon this and made sure that Chromebooks offered what educators needed at prices school board officials could afford and now have double the market share (52%) that Apple products (24%) do when it comes to the classroom.

With its latest announcements, Apple did a lot to address those issues. Whether it’s enough to create a surge in the numbers is yet to be seen, but it’s a great example of why competition is good for the people who use the products. Especially so when the people using them are the next generation. Here’s a breakdown of what Apple now has to offer and how it all compares to what Chromebooks bring to the table.

More: Apple Education Event: The most important announcements

Cheaper iPads

It’s unfortunate that the most important thing Apple announced will be all about the money. That’s just the way things work when schools aren’t provided with the funding needed to offer the education every child deserves and the single biggest factor when it comes to providing equipment for the classroom is the dollar.

The 6th Generation iPad has a 9.7-inch display and runs atop the same A10 chip the iPhone 7 introduced. It has support for the Apple Pencil like the previous generation iPad Pro but the best news was the price — $329 retail and $299 for schools.

A $300 iPad will gather a lot of attention. It should.

It’s important to note that the $300 price is for the tablet only — the Apple Pencil stylus, as well as an add-on keyboard, are going to cost extra. And the Smart Connector didn’t make its way into the newer cheaper iPad so that means a Bluetooth or connection through the Lightning port and a generic keyboard is the best solution. Once these costs are added in a new iPad is going to cost as much or more than a good Chromebook for the education sector like one of the new Lenovo models, so schools won’t be saving any money should they make the move back to Apple.

The new pricing is great for regular consumers and an iPad is one of the best tablet experiences any amount of money can buy. But for a budget-minded school board, there’s no benefit when you compare price to price.

New features for iWork

Apple’s iWork suite — Pages, Numbers, and Keynote — received a substantial update, too. Apple Pencil support was added in and part of the feature allows for annotations to be anchored to the object they are annotating so they will stay attached no matter how that object is moved or used across the iWork apps. The biggest impact comes to Keynote, Apple’s answer to Powerpoint, as annotations remain available even if an object is animated or moved across slides.

It’s going to take a miracle to get school systems to switch from Google Docs and Gmail to iWork and iCloud. These changes are great but not miracle-grade.

Additionally, digital publishing was added to the Pages app (Apple’s version of Word) which allows anyone to create their own eBook without any extra tools. These changes are really nice, and as someone who happens to appreciate iWork, I’m excited to see them in action. But they aren’t exactly game-changing even if Apple wants us to believe they are.

As mentioned, I like using Numbers and Pages and think they are better than Microsoft’s Office apps or Google Docs’ app suite but I’m very much in the minority. Most schools use Google Docs, which is a byproduct of Chromebooks gaining traction in the classroom. Apple Pen support and authoring tools aren’t likely to be enough to make a switch from the excellent collaboration and cloud management Google (and Microsoft) offer with existing solutions. And those solutions also will work just fine on an iPad.

Swift Playgrounds AR

While most students aren’t budding programmers, for those that are Swift Playgrounds is a great way to learn to code. This week’s update adds support for build Augmented Reality apps through Swift and AR looks to be the next big thing that any developer will need to know how to build.

Swift Playgrounds is a beautiful learning tool that I wish Microsoft Visual Studio would emulate.

The unfortunate reality is that Swift Playgrounds limits itself to Apple-OS and Linux devices. Swift and Cocoa are excellent development languages that work with existing Objective-C code already in place on billions of devices. But there are billions of other devices out there and better ways to teach kids to program exist. Until a for-profit company decides to build a product that’s easy to use and helps students learn to program in any language — and spends money to promote and support it — it will always be one method versus the other.

It’s worth mentioning that nothing exists for Chrome OS that is as good as Swift Playgrounds when it comes to learning how to code. I’d love to see Google step up in this area instead of waiting for someone else to make an IDE that runs through a web interpreter of the same caliber.

Apple Classroom and Shared iPad

Apple Classroom and Shared iPads are the biggest announcements when it comes to iPads in the classroom, even if they won’t get the attention that lower prices will.

Shared iPad works the same way as multiple accounts on a Chromebook. Each student gets their own sandbox that syncs with their user ID and login, and can pick up any iPad, tap their profile photo and enter their password and get to work. The things they do will be stored in iCloud and available anywhere the student’s user ID is used.

Time spent trying to manage a classroom full of devices is better spent teaching, and tools that make it happen are important.

Apple Classroom is a management application that teachers or other school officials can use to manage student logins but has an extra feature that’s really great. A teacher can use Apple Classroom and open an app or webpage on every managed iPad at the same time so all the students are seeing exactly what they need to be seeing. Google’s answer is Google Classroom which offers a completely paperless system and uses a “classroom stream” to share media and communicate with every student at once.

When it comes to administration and management Google’s G Suite for Education and Chrome administration tools are going to be difficult to beat. Google uses Enterprise-grade management tools and features combined with the best collaboration tools available to make class time and assignments easy for teachers to manage and for students to learn from. Apple’s answer looks to be a less pragmatic approach and will likely offer less of a learning curve for teachers which makes it very attractive.

Students are the real winners

When everything is said and done, the people who will benefit the most from Apple’s new classroom features are the students themselves. Even if these moves fail to make any significant changes in schools when it comes to which computing platform is available, it will trigger a response from Google and Microsoft and result in better products all around.

When it comes to educational products we want everything to be better than ever.

We all should want the tools and services available for education to be great because they shape the future. For the next generation to do better than we’re doing right now we have to provide the best we can offer so students learn what they need to know when they’re holding the keys. It’s not an Apple versus Google battle once you get past the quarterly earnings report and I don’t care which products students are using as long as they are the best products.

We’ve seen Apple offer some great tools, now it’s time to see how Google responds and enjoy seeing these two companies compete because it gives our children a better education when they try to outdo each other.

Chromebooks

• The best Chromebooks
• Should you buy a Chromebook?
• Google Play is coming to Chromebooks
• Acer Chromebook 14 review
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Firefox has a new extension to prevent Facebook from snooping on you

Introducing the Facebook Container Extension.

Facebook’s come under a lot of fire for its mishandling of user data, and rightfully so. Not too long after the FTC announced it had an ongoing investigation into the social network, Firefox is now introducing an official extension that’s been created with the sole intent of making it more difficult for Facebook to track your online presence.

The Facebook Container Extension is available to use with Firefox now, and once it’s installed, Facebook will be housed in its own “container” each time you visit it. You’ll see blue lines around Facebook indicating that it’s in a new container tab, but everything will still work as per usual.

Here’s where things get interesting, though. Upon installing the extension, it’ll automatically delete any of your Facebook cookies and log you out of your account. Clicking on a non-Facebook link while browsing Facebook will open it in a regular tab, and clicking on Facebook Share links in regular tabs will open them in the Facebook Container.

As great as this sounds, Mozilla does note a couple of quirks to keep an eye out for –

If you use your Facebook credentials to create an account or log in using your Facebook credentials, it may not work properly and you may not be able to login. Also, because you’re logged into Facebook in the container tab, embedded Facebook comments and Like buttons in tabs outside the Facebook container tab will not work. This prevents Facebook from associating information about your activity on websites outside of Facebook to your Facebook identity. So it may look different than what you are used to seeing.

Last but not least, Mozilla says that the Facebook Container Extension doesn’t allow it to see any of your data that it collects. The only thing it has access to is seeing the number of times you’ve added or removed the extension from your browser.

If you’re a Firefox user, is this something you’ll be using going forward?

Facebook never earned your trust and now we’re all paying the price