The best premium Android games

Put your credit card away and just play.

There’s something refreshing and low-stress about playing a mobile game without in-app purchases. Knowing that you’re spending a couple of dollars to get an entire game that you can actually finish from beginning to end without being hounded to buy coins or gems, or open crates or card packs or whatever — it genuinely makes the experience better.

Here are the best Android games without those pesky IAPs!

• Holedown
• Downwell
• Reigns: Her Majesty
• The Room series
• Suzy Cube
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
• Machinarium
• Mini Metro
• Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic
• Evoland 1 and 2
• JYDGE

Holedown

It’s hard to find a fun puzzle game that doesn’t try to sell you on power-ups or extra lives or something.

That’s just one of the reasons why Holedown is a standout game in 2018. Holedown will have you strategically blasting through to the core of celestial bodies — starting with asteroids and working your way up to the Sun — using the classic gaming formula of bouncing balls off blocks. Each brick has a number that represents the number of hits needed to destroy it, or you can destroying a supporting block clear out everything above it.

This is a pickup and play game that’s an easy concept to grasp but you quickly learn there’s an amount of strategy and skill involved. All the bricks are curved, allowing you to set up tricky bank shots to clear out massive sections of blocks in one go. This will become quite important as the screen move up one row after every shot. If the blocks reach the top of the screen, it’s game over.

Along the way, you will collect crystals which are spent on upgrades that give you more balls per shot, and more shots per round. These upgrades are crucial to completing the later planets but also let the earlier levels become more of a mindless distraction for your subway commute. All told, it won’t take you too long to max out all your stats in Holedown, but that’s mostly because it’s so hard to stop playing this game once you start.

If you’re a fan of physics-based puzzle games and are looking for a new obsession, Holedown is well worth your money!

Downlaod: Holedown ($3.99 )

Downwell

Grab your gun boots and jump down the well in Downwell. This retro-styled roguelike game is extremely challenging, featuring a pretty steep learning curve as you learn how to defeat the enemies and figure out which weapon upgrades work best for your play style (Hint: it’s the Noppy).

Since your character is falling, enemies and shops come from the bottom-up, so you need to be strategic in your freefall do you don’t accidentally land on an enemy and lose a heart. There are a number of different ‘styles’ you unlock through repeated play, which give you different numbers of hearts at the start, changes the way end of level upgrades work, and slightly alters the way your sprite falls down the well.

The goal is to survive as you fall deeper and deeper down the well. There are no in-app purchases, save points, or continues, so when you die you must start at the entrance of the well again.

Download: Downwell ($0.99)

Reigns: Her Majesty

If you’ve always dreamt of being king for a day, you’ll definitely want to check out Reigns. It’s a stylish game with simple gameplay mechanics and razor-sharp wit, wherein you try to keep your kingdom running smoothly by interacting with advisors, citizens, witches and other characters in your kingdom. It’s best described as one of those ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books, except instead of flipping to some page, you simply swipe left or right.

Each decision you make has an effect on four resources you must manage: religion, citizens, the army and your kingdom’s treasury. Balancing these resources is key, as if any meter maxes out or reaches zero, your reign is over. But the game doesn’t end — instead, you become your successor and try to last longer in your reign than the king before you.

It’s the perfect pick-up-and-play game for killing some time, and you’ll definitely enjoy the dark humor found throughout.

Download: Reigns ($2.99)

The Room series

The Room franchise represents some of the absolute best puzzle experiences you can play on Android. In each game, you are tasked with solving a series of three-dimensional puzzles set up by the mysterious Craftsman.

The latest game in the series is The Room: Old Sins ($4.99), but if you’re fresh to the series you may want to start with the first games which are reasonably priced:

• The Room is available for just $0.99.
• The Room 2 is only $0.99.
• The Room Three is $3.99.

The entire series is rightly celebrated as one of the best mobile game of all time, so you can be sure that you’re in for something special here. These games are engrossing and require your full attention to complete the complex puzzles.

Download: The Room: Old Sins ($4.99)

Suzy Cube

Suzy Cube is hands down the best 3D platformer available on Android outside of using emulators. It features surprisingly tight touchscreen controls that let you jump and dash through over 40 levels, each filled with challenging platforming and secret areas to discover.

There’s some repetition — each world ends with a near identical boss battle with slight variations — but Suzy Cube does a good job of never feeling stale. There are no in-app purchases at all, as all the bonus content is unlocked using stars found throughout each level. That means you’ll be replaying levels to collect all the stars and set new speed running times.

Check out Suzy Cube if you’ve been dying for a great 3D platformer to play on your smartphone.

Download: Suzy Cube ($3.99)

Grand Theft Auto franchise

If you’re a console or PC fan of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, then why not extend your fandom to Android?

Rockstar Games has five great GTA titles for you to choose from and you really can’t go wrong with any of them. My absolute favorite is the expansive San Andreas, but you’ve also got Liberty City Stories, Vice City, GTA III, and Chinatown Wars available for all your shoot-’em-up, blow-’em-up, car-stealing desires on mobile!

The price here isn’t so bad, considering you get the full game with no dumb in-app purchases schemes in place. What with Rockstar milking GTA Online for all that it’s worth with microtransactions on console and PC, it is totally worth it to go back and revisit these classic games on your phone. There’s crucial support for Bluetooth controls and best of all the games will load much faster than your PlayStation 2 ever could back in the day.

If you want full Grand Theft Auto games right on your phone, hit up the Google Play Store and go love.

Download: Grand Theft Auto ($4.99-$6.99)

Machinarium

Enter a world set in a beautifully rendered, futuristic steampunk dystopia, where you play as Josef the robot, on a quest to save his girlfriend.

You’ll have to solve a series of puzzles at each point in the game in order to advance to another part of the city, and you can even uncover easter egg back story scenes when you idle in certain areas.

As Josef, you tap items to solve the puzzles and brain teasers, but in an interesting twist on the genre, you can only tap whatever’s in Josef’s reach.

There is no dialogue and aside from the odd tutorial, everything is devoid of language. Instead, pictographic thought bubbles let you know what’s on Josef’s mind to help you work your way through the game.

If you like a great adventure game with a fun story and great graphics, Machinarium should be your dystopic go-to.

Download: Machinarium ($4.99)

Mini Metro

Mini Metro is a pure joy to play — a puzzle game based around building subway routes across an expanding city where the in-game music is set to the movement of the subway cars.

Just check out the trailer to get a sense of the flow of this game. It’s a perfect game to play on your commute and the newly added Challenge mode will give you a reason to check in and play a quick game every day.

There’s no in-app purchases or ads to distract from the simple design and addictive gameplay. Check out my full review for a more in-depth look at how great this game is.

Download: Mini Metro ($4.99)

Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic

The Roller Coaster Tycoon franchise on mobile offers two perfect examples of game development philosophy. There’s Roller Coaster Tycoon Touch which is free and features nice graphics but an unnecessary card collecting system and premium in-game currencies, and then there’s Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic, a direct port of the ’90s PC game that plays just as you remember complete with 95 park challenges and the only in-app purchases are for the sequels and expansions.

I spent a lot of time playing this game as a kid and if you did too this game will be a good dose of nostalgia. The in-game menus could have been improved given how small some of the text and buttons are and this is a game that would especially shine on a Galaxy Note with an S Pen, but I had no major issues building coasters and managing my park finances on the 5-inch screen of my Google Pixel. This is as pure a port as you’ll find which means there are no in-app purchases (beyond expansion packs), delayed build times or any other free-to-play mechanics to deal with.

However, you do have to pay for this game — six bucks, which might seem steep for a port of an older PC game. But if you’re an RCT fan, or interested in finding out what the hype is all about, it’s well worth the money. Check out my full review if you need more convincing.

Download: Roller Coaster Tycoon ($5.99)

Evoland 1 and 2

Evoland is one of those premium games for Android that you just won’t be able to put down. The first Evoland was created as part of a game jam and was a nostalgic nod to the evolution of the RPG genre, with the sequel expanding both the depth of the story and the variety of video game and pop culture references.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Evoland game for Android and was only disappointed by how short it was. That’s not the case with Evoland 2, which features well over 20 hours of gameplay.

Evoland is only $0.99 which is an absolute steal, so you may as well get both games for about $8.

Download: Evoland 2 ($6.99)

JYDGE

Kudos to the game developers at 10tons Ltd out of Finland, for they have mastered the art of the twin-stick top-down shooter for Android with JYDGE.

In a futuristic world where violent cyberpunk gangs are a real problem (and the letter “U” has inexplicably been replaced with “Y”) you play as the JYDGE, a cybernetic enforcement officer who uses his Gavel (see: big freaking gun) to dole out justice.

Each level features different challenges you’ll need to complete to progress through the game. In that way, this game has a bit of a rogue-like element to it where you may keep replaying levels with different upgrade combinations until you complete all the medals. There’s a deep upgrading system here that thankfully wasn’t developed around in-app purchases. Instead, the game rewards you for completing goals, replaying levels, and ransacking enemy hideouts for loot that you can spend towards cybernetic upgrades

Frankly, about the only thing not to like about this game is the weird fixation on replacing “U” with “Y” in the title and throughout the game.

Download: JYDGE ($5.99)

Which are your favorites?

In spite of all the money that can be made through micro-transactions, there are still so many great games out there with no in-app purchases. Let us know which ones you love missed our cut in the comments below!

Updated August 2018: Revamped our list with the best games without in-app purchases for Android in 2018!

Amazon Prime’s 20% discount on video game pre-orders ends tonight

It’s game over for this Prime discount.

Update: This is your last chance! The 20% discount ends tonight, August 27, so make sure you’ve gotten in some pre-orders for upcoming games that interest you before this offer expires.

Amazon is continuously updating Prime memberships with new features and bonus offers, and there have been a few nice ones which are great for gamers, like Twitch Prime which offers free PC games to members every month. One of the best discounts that Prime currently offers is 20% off physical game pre-orders; that takes a $60 game down to $47.99, but unfortunately, Amazon just announced that the discount is coming to an end on August 27.

With the demise of Best Buy’s Gamers Club Unlocked in May of this year, it was only a matter of time before Amazon ended its pre-order discount too, as it was seemingly started to compete with GCU’s 20% discount on video games. Luckily though, Amazon is once again following Best Buy’s lead and will begin offering a $10 promo credit with the purchase of select video games beginning August 28. There is a benefit to this new offer. Though you might not earn as much back as you do on a $60 game with the current discount, the upcoming offer will be available for digital game pre-orders too, whereas the current one is only for standard physical games. You’ll have 60 days to use the promo credit before it expires.

If you already have a game pre-ordered with the 20% discount, you’ll still receive that discount even if the game ships after August 28. This also means you have until August 28 to pre-order any game you want with that 20% discount. Might we suggest the following?

• Monster Hunter Generations for Nintendo Switch
• Forza Horizon 4 for Xbox One
• Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One
• Super Mario Party for Nintendo Switch
• Fallout 76 for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for Nintendo Switch
• Kingdom Hearts 3 for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One
• Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu or Eevee for Nintendo Switch

With all the great video games coming out soon and later in 2018, it’s unfortunate to see this discount come to an end. Pre-ordering won’t charge your card until the game ships, so you might even want to pre-order some you’re still unsure about to ensure you get the lowest price. You can always cancel later if you decide to change your mind.

YouTube app now shows how much time you’ve spent watching videos

Google’s Digital Wellbeing initiative is all coming together.

During its I/O conference in May, Google spent a good chunk of time talking about its Digital Wellbeing efforts. Many of those tools are now available in Android P and the YouTube app already recommends taking a break now and then and gives you tools to help limit the number of notifications you receive.

Now, as part of an update that’s rolling out to the YouTube app, users can see exactly how much time they’ve spent watching videos.

You’ll be able to access these stats in your account menu, and from here, you can see your time watched for today, yesterday, and the past seven days. Right below that are toggles for getting reminders to take a break, whether or not you want videos to autoplay once your current one is finished, and more.

Have you started using YouTube’s digital wellbeing tools? Do you notice a difference in the way you watch videos with them?

How to use Android Pie’s Digital Wellbeing tools

Harmon Kardon’s new Citation 500 speaker features Google Assistant

High-definition wireless streaming is the future.

If you’ve been searching for a high-end speaker capable of accessing Google Assistant and also streaming your music wirelessly, look no further. This week at IFA 2018 in Berlin, Harmon Kardon is set to unveil its Citation 500 smart speaker.

Premiering at a regular price of £549 (roughly $700 USD), this will be one of the most expensive Google Assistant-enabled devices to date, offering 200W stereo speakers and the ability to support 24Bit/96Khz High Definition audio streaming. On top sits an LCD control panel which displays the current track being played along with album art, pause/play buttons, and more.

While you can press its LCD touchscreen to switch to the next song, you could also just ask Google Assistant to change it for you. With that in mind, you could also use it to control other smart home products from smart bulbs to smart plugs that are connected to your home Wi-Fi network.

Harmon Kardon says this speaker should become available for pre-order during late September with the opportunity to choose between grey and black wool covered models. If you don’t want to wait, you could consider Bang & Olufsen’s updated BeoSound 1 and 2 speakers which are even pricier, or grab a Google Home Mini which should hold you over until the Citation 500 sees its release.

HQ Trivia’s Scott Rogowsky: ‘There Are Other Games in the Pipeline’

This past Sunday, August 26, marked the one-year anniversary of HQ Trivia’s launch on the App Store for iPhone.

HQ host Scott Rogowsky appeared on Yahoo Finance’s “Midday Movers” show on Friday to discuss the future of the game, revealing that parent company Intermedia Labs has plans to expand the live, interactive concept to other games.

The plans go beyond HQ Sports, hosted in the main HQ app twice a week, and the separate UK edition of the game:

We already have a sports vertical. HQ Sports goes live Tuesday and Friday nights at 10 o’clock. We have a UK edition. HQ UK. They have a whole team out there in London, working on building it nationally. There are other games in the pipeline. I can’t announce them, but I do know that we’re close to launching things… this is just the first brick in the wall of potentially a whole network of live mobile gaming that I think is really the full potential here.

Intermedia Labs will hope to replicate the success of HQ, which surged in popularity in its early months, going from just tens of players to over 2.4 million when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson guest hosted the show in April.

HQ brought on its first corporate sponsors and advertisers in March. To celebrate Nike’s Air Max Day, for example, there was a surprise 15-question game with a shared $100,000 prize. Two days later, there was a special $250,000 prize, sponsored by the Steven Spielberg film “Ready Player One.”

Expanding into other games could also offset declining interest in HQ. The game has often seen fewer players as of late versus its peak in early 2018, as the novelty of the app wears off and a multitude of copycats try to mimic the experience.

HQ tasks players with answering a series of 12 questions correctly to win a cash prize. To reduce cheating, players have 10 seconds to choose one of three answers. The show is hosted every day at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and at 3:00 p.m. every weekday, most often by Rogowsky. Other hosts fill in occasionally.

If you haven’t played HQ yet, you can download the game from the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. The app is also available on Android.

Tag: HQ Trivia
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First Impressions: A weekend with the Huawei P20

Huawei isn’t having the best time with US press and governments right now, but that doesn’t affect the quality of their phones. Earlier this year Huawei announced its new flagships, the P20 and P20 Pro, for mass markets. Unfortunately, the phones aren’t sold in the US, so it’s been a little hard to get our hands on one, but we finally did! I’ve been using the P20 (not Pro) for this past weekend, here are my initial thoughts and annoyances.

Hardware

The P20 packs great specs in its beautiful glass and metal package. It houses a 5.8” LCD FHD display with 4GB of RAM, 128GB of Storage, and a 3,400mAh battery. There are a small notch and chin with a fingerprint reader on the front. On the back, we have a dual camera setup consisting of a 12MP RGB sensor and a 20MP Monochrome sensor.

One definite thing I can state about the P20 is that I love the design. The notch is minimal but actually looks like a notch instead of Essential’s nipple-notch. The chin is also actually doable since it houses a fingerprint reader — unlike what’s expected from the Pixel 3 XL The phone overall is slim and sleek, and very manageable to maneuver in one hand.

I haven’t been using the phone with a case and have managed to save it from dropping twice, but I’d love to rock a Peel case on this device. Not all the time though because again I love the feel. Also, the speakers are surprisingly loud.

Software

The biggest drawback to Huawei devices is their software. Huawei devices run a software skin named EMUI and I’ve never been a fan of it or any skin similar to it. Luckily with Android, you can swap out launchers, change icons, and more very quickly. I have yet to change the launcher even though the wallpaper is skewed off axis. It’s based on the Google Launcher, and you can even have the Google feed on the left.

There’s a lot of AI features built in the P20’s software. There’s a Google lens-esque information accessor in the camera – which I’ve never used or even wanted too. A weekend (with a full-time job) doesn’t allow the most time to dive into all the Huawei AI software features, but know that there is a lot packed into the phone and its skin. There’s also a bunch of pre-installed apps, stop that Huawei. Lastly, there’s a blue line/bubbles that appears when I swipe down from the top right corner, but I can’t figure out what it does or how I activate it.

Camera

The camera gives the opposite experience of the general software. The UI looks a little sad, especially the shutter button, but the features are godly. Huawei includes a variety of modes, including my favorite ‘Pro’ mode where you have near-total control of the sensor settings. You also have recent favorites such as Night mode and Portrait mode — with different lighting effects, similar to that one company’s camera app. You can trigger the camera from a locked screen via double pressing the volume down, but that doesn’t work if the screen is on at all. Picture quality though is rather amazing.

The pictures I’ve taken recently with the P20 are very detailed and colorful. Even without the extra sensor from the P20 Pro, the little brother is keeping up and giving other devices from this year a run for their money. The only other annoying part of using the camera is the insistent AI popping up at inconvenient times. Otherwise, I love the camera app and possibilities.

There are a few other small things about the phone I must mention that I’ve noticed. The power button has a red line on it, which is a small neat touch. There is no headphone jack, which is to be expected from everyone but Samsung. Also, even with its glass back, the P20 can’t wirelessly charge. The biggest faux pas though is there is no waterproofing on the P20. Huawei, what the ..!

Conclusion

After these first few days, using the Huawei P20 has shown me that it is an excellent phone. Naturally, Huawei focused more on the Pro version, but this standard version can beneficially support many consumers. I can already tell I will be enjoying this phone, especially after I can spend a whole day personalizing it without having work interrupt me. Our full review will be available in a couple of weeks, and other articles may arrive soon as well. See you soon.

I really wish the Pixel 3 XL shared a similar design of the P20….

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Microsoft patent filing hints at wireless charging for future Surface PCs

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Microsoft may be exploring fast wireless charging with a smart battery as a possible solution to address battery life on its Surface products — which include laptops, tablets, convertibles, and a desktop currently. Microsoft had filed for a patent for its battery charging solution with the United States Patent and Trademark Office early last year, and the filing was published on August 23, 2018.

“Users have access to an ever-increasing variety of portable computing devices with which the users interact on any given day,” Microsoft said, highlighting that there is a need for an easy solution to recharge all those devices. “A common goal for many of these computing devices is to wirelessly charge the battery [at a] faster rate.”

In its patent filing, first noticed by the Windows Latest blog, Microsoft described a device that has a smart battery with multiple battery modules, with each module connected to a power controller. The battery management controller will be able to determine the charging configuration signal to send to one or more of the battery modules inside the smart battery, and each module can rely on wireless charging.

Microsoft details that each battery module inside the smart battery will have its own set of charging coils, with each coil partially overlapping with nearby charging coils. All of these coils can receive power via wireless charging simultaneously, and the battery management controller can dynamically adjust the charging parameters to each battery module based on various conditions of the specific module, including wear level, capacity, and charging threshold.

By using multiple coils, Microsoft will be able to take advantage of more rapid wireless charging times for its devices, if the patent is implemented on a future Surface Go, Surface Laptop, Surface Pro, or Surface Book. “Conventional solutions for wireless charging smart batteries do not utilize more than one charging coil per battery and did not take into consideration the physical configuration of the charging coils of the smart battery,” Microsoft said. “Moreover, conventional solutions did not manage each battery module differently and independently from other battery modules of the smart battery system, thereby decreasing the functionality and flexibility of the smart battery.”

By using multiple charging coils and a battery management controller, Microsoft is able to optimize charging for each battery module inside its batteries, which will lead to improved charging times. Microsoft’s charging technique could be used on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or in devices such as health devices, wearables, fitness accessories, and other Internet-of-Things applications, the patent filing said.

It’s unclear if and when Microsoft intends on commercializing its invention. Hopefully though, Surface owners will one day be able to wirelessly recharge their PCs without having to plug in a physical cable.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Microsoft Surface Book 2 13-inch review
• Updated Apple patent suggests MacBook Pro will eventually sport touchscreens
• Nomad creates a wireless charging pad just for the Tesla Model 3
• Apple AirPods 2: Everything we know
• The best wireless phone chargers for your iPhone or Android

Fossil adds Noonlight’s emergency feature to its latest lineup of smartwatches

There are plenty of wearables out there meant specifically to help those in an emergency, whether it’s a phone case or a piece of jewelry that have built-in panic buttons. But rather than having to carry around an extra accessory, safety platform Noonlight is making it even easier — by building the feature into your smartwatch.

In partnership with Fossil, those wearing a smartwatch from the company’s new fourth-generation collection will have access to the feature via Wear OS. Whenever there is an emergency, you can activate it by tapping on the watch face which will then send help to your current location.

Powering Fossil’s panic mode is Noonlight’s already existent technology. Formerly known as SafeTrek, Noonlight originally started out as a mobile app that alerts its own certified dispatchers whenever you’re in danger. The technology has since then been integrated into Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Canary, and more.

When setting up the feature on your smartwatch, you have to provide your name, a four-digit PIN, and any information you want responders to know in an emergency. This can be anything from medications you take to allergies you have, and other personal information that is important to know.

You can alert emergency services by manually going into the app on your smartwatch and tapping on “Send help!” But, in those types of situations, you have to act quickly. That’s why you’re also able to create a complication (similar to a shortcut) to signal for help right from the watch face — without having to launch the app.

Users will also have the option to set a timer. If you’re going on a run or on a date, the smartwatch will prompt you to enter your PIN when time is up. If it’s not entered within that time span, Noonlight’s dispatchers are alerted and help will be on the way. Your smartwatch will also vibrate to let you know.

But of course, there’s always a chance that it’s a false alarm. If you accidentally press the alert button, the “Help on the way!” notification will appear and at the bottom, you can tap on “Enter PIN to cancel.” Noonlight’s patented technology scrambles your PIN on the watch face and you will have 10 seconds to enter it in the right order to cancel the alert. If you don’t enter it in time, you can also call or text Noonlight’s dispatchers to let them know.

“Fossil smartwatches with Noonlight is a chance to live beyond the limitations of day-to-day anxieties like home deliveries, evening runs, or meeting strangers,” Brittany LeComte, co-founder of Noonlight, said in a statement. “Working with Fossil means our connected safety platform can comfort and protect even more independent, adventurous men and women at home and on the go.”

For those who have Fossil’s fourth-generation smartwatches still on the way, Noonlight’s alert feature is available out of the box. But if you already own a smartwatch from that particular collection, an update will be rolling out soon.

Editors’ Recommendations

• False civil emergency alert text panics Oregon’s Marion County
• iBeat Heart Watch detects when you go into cardiac arrest, is now available
• The survival kit packing guide
• Uber adds panic button for U.S. customers, with driver button to come later
• The best camping hacks

The best iPhone 7 Plus cases

Whether it’s the fruit or the phone, no one likes a bruised apple. But if you drop your new iPhone 7 Plus, you’ll feel a lot worse if it ends up scraped, scarred, or damaged in some other way. The smart play is to invest in some protection — we actually made note of the smartphone’s fragility in our iPhone 7 Plus review. Luckily, there are lots of different cases out there; some safeguard your phone against drops, some are all about the style, and some add extra functionality. We’ve been checking around and these are some of the best iPhone 7 Plus cases you can buy right now. Now, just pair your case with one of our picks for the best iPhone 7 screen protectors and your iPhone should last for quite some time.

Snakehive Vintage Leather Wallet ($30)

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Made from European cowhide nubuck leather, the Snakehive Leather Wallet is one you’ll just want to hold in your hand all the time because it feels so good. It’s all thanks to a wonderfully soft texture on the outside, which has been smoothed out for extra protection on the inside. The iPhone is held in a slim, clear plastic case, with wide cutouts for the volume and power buttons, along with the speakers and charging port. Opposite are three card slots and a pocket for cash, plus a magnetic clasp that keeps the case closed. The folio case can fold out into a stand for your iPhone 7 Plus so you can watch video. This super-stylish, real leather folio case is available in the burgundy seen here, or in chestnut brown and navy colors, all at an excellent price.

Buy one now from:

Snakehive Amazon

iFace First Class ($25-plus)

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The iFace First Class case has an unusual shape to it, adding a subtle curved contour to the sides. The curves make the iPhone 7 Plus more comfortable to hold. The soft rubber edges vastly improve grip, while a special honeycomb-shaped interior increases drop protection. The case also meets military drop-test standards. The rear is smooth, has an opening for a lanyard strap, and comes in various colors. We love the pearl gray version and the emerald green model. It’s lightweight, really comfortable to hold, and well-priced. There’s even a metal plate inside the case’s body for use with iFace’s $20 magnetic in-car holder.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Native Union Clic Marble ($72)

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Do you want a stunning case that effectively mirrors the investment you made in the device itself? The Native Union Clic Marble is what you want. The case has a shatter-resistant sliver of real marble — each piece is unique, too — reinforced with fiberglass, and with a contrasting metal panel fitted into a rubber body for complete protection. Available in white with gold or black with brushed aluminum, it’s an absolutely stunning case that attracts as many admiring glances as the phone itself.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Totallee Scarf Slim Cover ($15)

If you’re not generally a big fan of cases and you want to retain the iPhone’s slim profile, then this super-slim cover might suit you. At just 0.02 inches thick, you’ll barely notice it as it improves grip and wards off scratches thanks to its durable polypropylene.  It has a matte, frosted, translucent finish that comes in a variety of colors. We’re pleased to see that there’s no case maker logo on this minimalist offering. The fit is good and it has all the openings you need. Just be aware that it won’t provide drop protection and because it’s thin. it may wear quite quickly, though Totallee does offer a 2-year warranty on the case.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Speck CandyShell Grip Case ($26)

You get reliable drop protection from this case, which sports a stylish ribbed finish that also enhances your grip on your iPhone 7 Plus. It’s a dual-layer case, mixing a hard shell with flexible rubber sections. The fit is perfect, the cut-outs are large enough for easy access, and the button covers work well. It does add some bulk, but if you want to be sure your phone will survive a fall, then you won’t mind the trade-off. The CandyShell has been replaced by the Presidio now, which is a slightly different design, so grab this while you still can.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Nomad Rugged Case ($15 plus)

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A rugged case that doesn’t look or feel like a rugged case? It’s the dream — and Nomad’s Rugged Case comes very close to realizing it. We love the honeycomb design on the back, which is raised to create a shock-absorbing layer of air. The case has been drop-tested to 2 meters, and has a more flexible edge for all-round protection. Best of all, it’s really light, and doesn’t add much bulk to your phone.

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Amazon Nomad

Sena Lugano Wallet ($20)

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Sena’s Lugano Wallet case covers all the key bases for your iPhone. It protects the body with hard-wearing leather and reinforced plastic, along with softer silicone surrounds for the buttons and speakers. There’s also a herringbone design lining to keep the phone free from scratches when it’s inside the case. The edge is raised to keep the screen away from the surface if the phone is placed facedown, and the case provides rugged shock absorption. There are also three credit card slots built into the case. It’s available in cognac, black, and denim for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus for $20.

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Amazon

Pad & Quill Bella Fino Case ($70)

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Made from a single piece of leather and embossed with the Pad & Quill name and logo, this folio case for the iPhone 7 Plus has a sticky pad to keep it in place rather than a clip. The pad is made by 3M, and leaves no residue if you decide to remove it in the future. The folio case has four credit card holders, an ID window, and space for some cash. The leather feels superb, and the stitching adds character, while the whole case stays relatively slim and lightweight. It’s quite stiff to start with, and needs a few days in a pocket before it softens up and closes properly.

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Pad & Quill Amazon

Let Google’s A.I. make a mini version of you with Minis for Gboard

Emojis are so yesterday, and even stickers are slowly going out of fashion. We need a new, more personal ways to express ourselves. Thankfully, Google has responded to our needs, and Gboard is getting the ability to turn your face into a sticker with Minis on Gboard for iOS and Android.

From today, August 27, Gboard users on iOS and Android will be able to turn their selfies into Minis stickers, with assistance from Google’s A.I. and deep learning. Using a combination of machine learning, neural networks, and artist illustrations, users will have access to over a quadrillion different combinations of hairstyle, face shape, eye color, and more — an almost limitless number of ways to create your perfect digital selfie.

Minis for Gboard is an evolution of the selfie stickers feature originally launched for Google’s Allo chat app in May 2017. The process of creating a Mini will be as easy as it was on Allo — simply snap a selfie, and the process will go to work assigning skin tone, face shape, facial hair and more to suit your unique look. Once the process is complete, users can take a moment to customize the app’s creation, or simply accept the A.I.’s work and get sending.

Minis adds a few more options to the flair of the original Allo selfie stickers. Google believes everyone has more than one side to them, so users will be able to choose between two styles of Mini — Bold and Sweet — to use interchangeably, depending on mood or recipient. Google is also adding around a hundred new stickers on top of Allo’s already impressive collection of expressive stickers. So you don’t just have to send the pizza-face sticker — you’ll likely have even more food-based options to express your hunger.

Users can get snapping and sending their Minis by downloading the latest version of Gboard for iOS or Android, or by downloading Google’s Allo chat app for iOS or Android. If you want to learn more about how Minis were originally put together through a combination of machine learning and artistic illustrations, then check out Google’s original blog post about Allo’s selfie stickers.

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