The best accessories for the Galaxy S8

The Galaxy S8 is still a fine phone in 2018, and whether you’ve just picked up one for cheap or have been rocking your S8 since day one, you’ll get the most out of your phone by pairing it with the best accessories. From cases and headphones to battery packs and chargers — and other cool stuff — here’s what you need.

Samsung’s most stylish

Galaxy S8 Alcantara case

Samsung makes great cases for its phones, and the best one right now is soft, colorful and really grippy — it’s the Alcantara case. Not only does it look great, but the suede-like material makes the slippery phone more comfortable to hold and adds a bit of friction, too.

$29 at Amazon

Slim protection

Spigen Rugged Armor

The Spigen Rugged Armor case is a great option for any phone but looks especially good on the taller Galaxy S8. It’s a slim case that tapers a bit on the sides to let the curved display shine but delivers Spigen’s air cushion protection in the corners.

$10 at Amazon

Keep charged

Samsung Wireless Charger Convertible

Samsung unveiled this convertible wireless charger alongside the Galaxy S8, and it’s an even better option now that it’s down in price. Designed to be a nice functional show piece for charging your phone on your living side table or at the office.

$56 at Amazon

Expand your storage

Samsung EVO Plus 128GB Class 10 microSD card

Getting 128GB on a top-class microSD card for under $30 is an amazing deal, especially if it will breath new life into your Galaxy S8 that might be running near storage capacity. Samsung’s cards are ideal for use in smartphones, and the price can’t get much better than this.

$28 at Amazon

Portable power

Anker PowerCore+ 21000

The charger comes with two USB-A ports and a dual-direction USB-C port for charging your phone and the charger itself. Genius! And, because there’s so much room in the battery (20100mAh), it should top up your Galaxy S8 five or six times without needing to be topped up itself.

$70 at Amazon

Best battery case

Mophie Juice Pack

The Juice Pack plugs into your Galaxy S8’s USB-C port to top it up with 2950mAh of additional juice, and the case itself, like the phone, charges wirelessly using Qi technology, so you can use the same wireless charging pad you do for your phone — all for around $60.

$60 at Amazon

Mobile VR

Gear VR w/ new controller

If you’ve never tried Samsung Gear VR before, you’re in for a real treat. Samsung partnered up with Oculus to provide one of the best mobile VR experiences you’ll find, with compelling games to play alone or with friends, tons of streaming video apps and VR exclusive experiences, along with its own functional social media platform.

$95 at Amazon

Fitness tracker and more

Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro

The Gear Fit2 Pro has a curved, vertically-oriented OLED display with enough battery life to last up to four days. It receives notifications and tracks steps and runs, and it’s also fully waterproof and has a built-in GPS.

$180 at Amazon

Wireless earbuds

Samsung Gear IconX (2018 Edition) fitness headphones

Samsung’s Gear IconX still sound great and have a bunch of fitness features you’ll need a Galaxy S8 to use, but they’re also just great standalone headphones.

$134 at Amazon

These are the best accessories for the Galaxy S8. If you’ve had your phone for a while now, we’ll always recommend a quality battery pack like the Anker Powercore+ 21000 or the Mophie Juice Pack to ensure your phone never dies on you.

UK Daily Deals: Amazon devices, noise-cancelling headphones, and more

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today on Amazon Echo and Fire hardware, Xbox Live Gold membership, Amazon Music Unlimited, TaoTronics noise-cancelling headphones, and much more!

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Each day, the Thrifter UK team scouts out and shares amazing deals on products you know and love, helping you find the best prices on the ‘net.

For more UK deals coverage, be sure to keep an eye on Thrifter UK and follow the team on Twitter for the most up-to-the-minute coverage.

The Neato Botvac D5 robot vacuum cleaner has dropped to $420 today only

User friendly and down to a great price.

The Neato Botvac D5 laser-guided robot vacuum is down to $419.99 on Amazon. This deal is a price match of one of Best Buy’s deals of the day, so it won’t last much longer. This robot vacuum has been selling for around $480 recently, and the drop to $420 is the best price we’ve seen since last year.

The Botvac D5 and D7 are two of our favorite Roomba alternatives. The D5 uses LaserSmart technology so it can navigate and map where you live. The tech also helps it develop a more straight-forward cleaning pattern instead of the seemingly random movement of other robotic vacuum cleaners.

The unique D-shape design along with the brush layout underneath helps it clean corners and along walls. The internal filter captures up to 99% of dust mites and allergens, too. You’ll get 90 minutes of battery life with the D5, and it is designed to return and recharge at its base automatically. You can control the vacuum with your phone, through smart home systems like Amazon Alexa, and more.

See on Amazon

Spotify is getting an official app for Wear OS

You’ll be able to browse playlists, favorite songs, and more.

Wear OS’s app selection is actually pretty good, but ever since it was first released as Android Wear back in 2014, one of the biggest absences has been a proper Spotify app. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that’s finally changing.

On October 17, Spotify announced on its official blog that it’s launching a standalone Wear OS app for its streaming service so you can access the best bits of Spotify without having to ever touch your phone.

You’ll be able to use the app to browse through your favorite playlists right on your watch, and when you find a song you want to listen to, the playback screen will have controls for pause/play, skipping a track, going back to the previous song, adding it to your library, and sending it to another device using Spotify Connect.

Spotify’s partnering with Fossil Group to have its app installed on all Fossil Gen 4 and Micahel Kors Access Runway watches out of the box, but any Wear OS device will be able to download it, too.

Spotify says that its Wear OS app is rolling out of the coming week, so be sure to keep an eye out for it on the Play Store.

Spotify vs. Google Play Music: Which should you subscribe to?

These are the best smartwatches for fitness tracking

With how popular smartwatches have become, it’s starting to cut into the dedicated fitness band space. Rather than having a limited-use fitness tracker and a watch, you can now have just one device that does it all. These fitness-focused smartwatches have all of the same functionality of a dedicated fitness band, but also have larger screens and operating systems to handle the daily tasks of a smartwatch. Here are the best picks available in the category.

Does it all

Samsung Galaxy Watch

Samsung has the “smartwatch” part of the equation nailed and has seriously improved its fitness tracking to the point where it isn’t a downside of selecting a Galaxy Watch. There’s GPS for running and biking, automatic workout detection, workout guidance and tracking for all of your daily activity. It also has deep smartphone integration, with a super-useful interface and rotating bezel that’s a treat to use. Plus, the case is robust and capable of handling anything you put it through.

$299 at Amazon

Primarily fitness

Fitbit Ionic

Tons of people have trusted Fitbit with their fitness tracking of all kinds for years, and that’s essentially what you’re getting here. The Ionic is a perfect smartwatch for someone who really wants to focus on activity tracking first, and the other “smartwatch” stuff secondarily. Though it may be a bit big and blocky, the Fitbit Ionic has a bright display, GPS tracking, optical heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor, 50-meter waterproofing and all of the other cool stuff like NFC and 2.5GB of storage space.

$249 at Fitbit

Simpler choice

Fitbit Versa

The Fitbit Ionic is clearly the best overall fitness device from the company, but for something a bit more balanced, the Versa is worth considering. Fitbit learned a lot from the Ionic, and the new Versa has a much smaller and better-designed case that looks more like a regular watch than a gadget. The unfortunate downside of the smaller, better-designed case is that it doesn’t have GPS like the Ionic does. If you want to run, walk or bike and get precise tracking, the Ionic is still the pick.

$199 at Fitbit

When picking a device that spans the gap between two product categories, there are bound to be compromises, and a fitness-focused smartwatch is no different. But in this do-everything fitness smartwatch realm, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch is the leader. Not only does it handle all of the smartwatch features you want, it also has the competition matched in terms of fitness tracking and workouts. If you’re already familiar with the Fitbit ecosystem you may actually prefer the fitness-focused Ionic or more general smartwatch-focused Versa, but know that you’re taking a larger trade-off in either case.

Mini flash drives, first aid kits, and more are discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

There’s never a shortage of deals available, but sorting through all of them can be difficult at times. We’ve handpicked all the best tech, and everyday essentials discounts that you can take advantage of right now and brought them to one central location. From robots to cable modems, these are today’s best deals.

Tech Deals

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Everyday Essentials

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

Essential reportedly cut around 30% of its employees

It’s no secret that Essential’s been faced with rough waters for the past few months, but things appear to be worse than some might have expected. According to a report from Bloomberg, the Andy Rubin startup has now let go about 30% of its entire workforce.

Essential’s hardware and sales teams were the main focus of these cuts, and in an email, a spokeswoman for Essential said the following:

This has been a difficult decision to make. We are very sorry for the impact on our colleagues who are leaving the company and are doing everything we can to help them with their future careers. We are confident that our sharpened product focus will help us deliver a truly game changing consumer product.

That “truly game changing consumer product” likely refers to the AI-focused device that we learned about earlier in the month. That report claimed that Essential’s next smartphone will primarily be focused around artificial intelligence and voice commands — creating a phone that knows what you want to do and results in you spending less time looking at a screen.

This mystery phone could be unveiled as soon as CES next January, but don’t hold your breath for it quite yet. Essential’s already canceled the Essential Phone 2 and its Essential Home in months prior, and now with this round of staff cuts, the company’s future is more uncertain than ever before.

Essential is reportedly making a phone based primarily on voice commands

Essential Phone

• Essential Phone review
• Essential Phone specs
• The latest Essential Phone news
• Join our Essential Phone forums!

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What live TV services does the Amazon Echo Show support?

Best answer: The Amazon Echo Show supports live TV with Alexa skills, and now directly with support for Hulu. You can watch any programming that’s included in your Hulu subscription on the Echo Show, as well as a variety of TV stations that can be accessed through Alexa’s skills.

Amazon: Amazon Echo Show ($229.99)

What’s an Amazon Echo Show?

The Echo Show is the next generation of the Amazon Echo, its groundbreaking wireless, voice-controlled smart speaker. The Echo connects to Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service and allows you to access music, make calls and send text messages, ask questions and get information in response, connect to your smart home devices, and more. Add in video capabilities, and you’ve got the Echo Show, which does everything the Echo speaker does, with a host of additional visual enhancements.

A 10.1 inch HD touchscreen and 5 MP front-facing camera add another dimension to the Echo Show’s functionality. Now, as you listen to Amazon Music, you can view lyrics and album art. You can call up weather forecasts, and access your calendars and to-do lists. The Echo Show still supports voice-activated calls, which also include video calling. Searches now include the ability to see the results of your queries on screen. As with all of its products, Amazon wants to make it easy for you to make purchases from them, and you can now see products before you buy them.

It’s a video device as well

It would be a shame if you couldn’t watch video on a device with an HD screen. Originally, the Echo Show only provided native support for Amazon Prime Video and YouTube. However, it didn’t take long for creative Echo Show enthusiasts to take advantage of the Alexa Skills Kit to create skills that enabled live TV watching. The Stream Player skill enables viewing of live streams from a long list of TV stations, by tapping into their freely available internet feeds. If that menu of sources doesn’t satisfy your thirst, and you’re handy with writing code, you try your hand at hacking out something like this fellow did to get his fill of BBC and other UK stations.

If you’re still looking for more variety, and aren’t up to the task of coding your own Alexa skill, fear not: with the advent of the 2nd Generation Echo Show, Hulu will now be supported for live TV viewing. If you’ve already invested in a first-gen Echo Show, don’t fret! Amazon promises that Hulu will be available on the earlier model as well. Now that they’ve broken the ice, it’s likely that we’ll be seeing support for more live TV services in the not-too-distant future as well.

Our pick

Amazon Echo Show

$229.99 at Amazon

Watch Hulu on Amazon Echo Show

The 2nd Amazon Echo Show sports a 10.1″ HD touchscreen, and offers a variety of visual functions. It now also supports live TV with a subscription to Hulu

Google explains how the Pixel 3’s Titan M security chip works

From specs, pricing, features, and more, here’s the latest on the Pixel 3 and 3 XL.

Following months of leak after leak, Google’s officially taken the wraps off its Pixel 3 and 3 XL smartphones. The two handsets look exactly like what we saw in all the early photos and renders, and while the element of surprise may be gone, we’ve still got two impressive Android handsets to talk about.

Without further ado, this is everything you need to know about the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL!

The latest Pixel 3 news

October 17, 2018 — Google explains how the Pixel 3’s Titan M security chip works

The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have a lot of tech packed inside them, and while it’s easy to get excited about their new OLED displays and improved cameras, one of the most important features is the new Titan M security chip.

Titan M is an all-new chip that’s designed with the single goal of keep the Pixel 3 secure, and in a post on the Android Developers Blog, Google recently dived into further detail about just how Titan M works.

The chip is a security module that was made by Google itself, and it works to protect the Pixel 3 + 3 XL against all sorts of potential threats. Since Titan M is a physical piece of tech, it’ll help protect against hardware-specific exploits such as Spectre, Meltdown, and Rowhammer much more efficiently than phones without it. On the technical side of things, Google explains the following:

Titan M’s CPU is an ARM Cortex-M3 microprocessor specially hardened against side-channel attacks and augmented with defensive features to detect and respond to abnormal conditions. The Titan M CPU core also exposes several control registers, which can be used to taper access to chip configuration settings and peripherals. Once powered on, Titan M verifies the signature of its flash-based firmware using a public key built into the chip’s silicon. If the signature is valid, the flash is locked so it can’t be modified, and then the firmware begins executing.

With the chip, Google notes that it hopes to achieve “transparency and building a platform for future innovation.”

Custom hardware allows us to provide new features, capabilities, and performance not readily available in off-the-shelf components. These changes allow higher assurance use cases like two-factor authentication, medical device control, P2P payments, and others that we will help develop down the road.

October 16, 2018 — The Pixel 3 XL uses a Samsung OLED display

While last year’s Pixel 2 XL had one of the worst displays for a phone in its price range, that’s an issue that’s been completely squashed with the Pixel 3 XL.

The screen on this year’s larger Pixel is brighter, colorful, and has less blue shift + burn-in potential compared to the 2 XL. The reason for this? A Samsung OLED panel.

Google opted for an LG-made OLED display with the Pixel 2 XL, but thanks to a recent iFixIt teardown, we now have confirmation that the Pixel 3 XL is using a Samsung one.

October 16, 2018 — Google explains how the Pixel 3’s Super Res Zoom feature works

The Pixel 3 comes chock-full of neat camera tricks, but perhaps one of the coolest is Super Res Zoom. This is the name of Google’s process for improving the clarity of digital zoom by collecting data from your hands shaking as you hold the phone in preparation to snap a photo.

Recently, the Google AI team took to their official blog to detail how exactly this works.

The Super Res Zoom technology in Pixel 3 is different and better than any previous digital zoom technique based on upscaling a crop of a single image, because we merge many frames directly onto a higher resolution picture. This results in greatly improved detail that is roughly competitive with the 2x optical zoom lenses on many other smartphones. Super Res Zoom means that if you pinch-zoom before pressing the shutter, you’ll get a lot more details in your picture than if you crop afterwards.

If Super Res Zoom detects that the camera isn’t shaking (e.g. the Pixel 3 is on a tripod or propped up on a table), it’ll actually start moving around on its own to simulate natural hand movement.

The post goes on to dive into of color filter arrays, multi-frame super-resolution, and a bunch of other nitty-gritty details. If that sounds like something you want to dig into, you can check it out here.

All the big details

Check out our full review!

Here it is, folks — the full Android Central review of the Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL!

These are easily two of the best Android phones you can buy right now, and no matter if you opt for the regular or XL model, you’ll be getting a fantastic display, an excellent software experience, and some of the best cameras on a smartphone in 2018.

They may not look like much on the outside, but these are two really special phones.

Google Pixel 3 review: Fewer features make incredible phones

Here are the specs!

If you’ve got a Pixel 2, a lot of the specs for the Pixel 3 and 3 XL will look very similar. There’s still 4GB of RAM and a starting storage amount of 64GB, but the Snapdragon 835 processor from last year has been replaced by the newer 845.

For a full rundown on both phones, check out the link below. 👇

Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL specifications

The displays are a lot better

Shortly after its release, one of the biggest controversies that popped up for the larger Pixel 2 XL was its poor display. We have an LG-made OLED panel once again, but the year-over-year difference is huge.

Google’s touting 400+ nits of brightness for both phones, 2X less burn-in potential, and less color shifting.

There are still three different color profiles to choose from so you can fine-tune your experience, and out of the box, both the Pixel 3 and 3 XL have been optimized so that their displays look identical next to one another.

For an extremely detailed analysis of the Pixel 3 XL’s display, check out DisplayMate’s full in-depth review in which it received a top A+ rating.

The Google Pixel 3 addresses our biggest complaint with the Pixel 2: its display

There are three colors

Google’s probably the best when it comes to naming its device colors, and this year we have Just Black and Very White. New this year is a pink hue that’s been aptly named “Not Pink.”

All three colors are available for both the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL no matter where you decide to buy them.

An all-glass back brings wireless charging support

For the past two years, Google’s used a mixture of aluminum and glass on the back of its phones. This year, the Pixel 3 shakes things up by adopting an all-glass construction.

There’s still an etched section near the top that adds a nice matte finish that allows for more grip and fewer fingerprints. Google’s also integrated Qi wireless charging support and selling a new Pixel Stand wireless charging accessory that’ll charge the Pixel 3 + 3 XL and put them into a new “dashboard” UI that shows a slideshow of pictures on Google Photos and various Assistant info.

The Pixel Stand is a $79 wireless charger for Pixel 3 that unlocks special display modes

Google’s made a ton of camera improvements

The Pixel 2 and 2 XL have some of the best cameras we’ve ever seen on a smartphone, and with the Pixel 3, Google’s making the camera experience even better.

Perhaps the biggest change includes the addition of a second front-facing camera. You now have access to a regular and wide-angle lens for all of your selfies and portrait mode works no matter which one you use. Google’s also integrated an algorithm to remove any distortion caused by the wider lens.

Other changes include:

• 40% faster HDR+ processing
• Improved detail retention while zooming
• Night Sight mode improves low-light shots
• Top Shot mode captures multiple frames before and after your picture and then recommends an alternative shot compared to what you actually captured

Along with all this, Google Lens is also built right into the Pixel 3’s camera app and works automatically when it detects something.

Android 9 Pie is available out of the box

As you’d expect, Android 9 Pie is running on the Pixel 3 and 3 XL from day one. This is the same Android Pie we’ve been using on the Pixel 2 phones, including the new navigation gestures, quick settings panel, etc.

The Pixel 3 does bring a handful of new software goodies, including the full release of Digital Wellbeing outside of its beta state and a slightly updated UI for the camera app.

There’s also a new call screening feature that’ll allow you to send your caller to a system that asks them to provide information about who they are and why they’re calling. What they say comes through in real-time and you can choose to hang up or pick up at any point.

There are already a ton of accessories

The Pixel 3 and 3 XL are great phones, but you can make them even better with a good collection of accessories.

Whether you’re in the market for a heavy duty case, screen protectors, or something else entirely, here are a few helpful links to get you started with outfitting your new phone.

• Best Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL Accessories
• Best Cases for Google Pixel 3
• Best Cases for Google Pixel 3 XL
• These Are The Official Cases for the Google Pixel 3 lineup
• Best Screen Protectors for Google Pixel 3 XL

Here’s when and where you can buy it

If you want to pick up the Pixel 3 for yourself, pre-orders are open right now. The Pixel 3 costs $799 for the 64GB model and goes up to $899 if you get the 128GB variant. For those same storage configurations on the Pixel 3 XL, you’ll pay $899 and $999, respectively.

The Pixel 3 series will be sold at Verizon, Best Buy, the Google Store, and Project Fi.

See at Google Store

Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

• Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL review
• Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL: Everything you need to know!
• Google Pixel 3 vs. Pixel 3 XL: Which should you buy?
• Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL specifications
• Join our Pixel 3 forums

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Best Leather Cases for the Google Pixel 3 XL

Even if you’ve made piece with the notch, adding another dash of sophistication and elegance to your Google Pixel 3 XL may make you forget about it altogether. Plus, the added protection a leather case means your phone may last until Google decides to release a notchless XL model again. These are the best leather cases (so far) for the Pixel 3 XL.

Slim wallet

Bellroy Leather Phone Wallet

Purveyor of fine leather goods, Bellroy’s leather Pixel 3 XL cases are available straight from Google. This one has room for two cards inside the cover and two behind your phone, offering a slim profile and all-around protection.

$99 at Bellroy

Classic wallet

Abacus 24-7 wallet case

I’ve had great experiences with Abacus 24-7’s faux-leather wallet cases. This one has slots for three cards, a cash slot, and your Pixel 3 XL is held in place by a silicone bumper. The cover folds into a kickstand, and the magnetic closure is quite strong.

$10 at Amazon

Budget pick

Bettop leather bumper

Though not made of genuine leather, Bettop’s case has the look and feel of the real thing, with a great-looking leather pattern, as well as a smooth section to accent the back. If you’re looking for an inexpensive leather case, this one’s hard to beat.

$8 at Amazon

Luxuriously thin

Bellroy Leather Pixel Case

Bellroy’s leather back cover is slim and made from genuine leather. It has a microfiber lining so as not to scratch your Pixel 3XL, as well as precise cutouts for the fingerprint sensor, camera, and charging port. You have five colors to choose from.

$49 at Bellroy

Minimal wallet

ProCase leather wallet case

ProCase’s genuine leather wallet is an excellent option, with three gorgeous colors to choose from, room for two cards, a cash slot, and a front cover that folds into a kickstand. The cover features a magnetic closure, though without a clasp, making it seamless.

$30 at Amazon

A leather case is a great way to add some much-needed protection to your Pixel 3 XL, and it serves as a note of elegance and sophistication that complements your hardware nicely. For my money, the Bellroy Leather Pixel Case is the best option, because it has superb color options and a gorgeous design.

The Pixel 3 XL is a new phone, so there aren’t many cases available yet, but we’ll be sure to update this list when more become available.