Innehållsförteckning för Issue 18 från Android Advisor

The Samsung Note series has always stood out of the crowd, mainly thanks to its larger-than-life display and the inclusion of a stylus, or S Pen as it’s called. When the Note was first announced, people were shocked at the size of the 5.3in display – after all, the average screen size in 2011 was only 2.6in, but over time people have come to adore its style and what the phablet can offer. Fast forward to August 2015 where Samsung officially unveil the much-rumoured Note 5, boasting a new premium design and improved S Pen. Fans of the Note series were excited to get their hands on the device – that was until the company announced that the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 wouldn’t be coming to UK shores. This means…

At IFA 2015 in Berlin, Huawei announced its latest smartphone: the Huawei Mate S. The announcement was an interesting affair, with an on-stage singing performance and a catwalk at the end, but even with all that, the Mate S was still the star of the show. It looks gorgeous, and offers some pretty interesting features. We went hands on with the Huawei Mate S after its announcement. Release date and price The Huawei Mate S will be available to preorder via VMALL, the official Huawei and Honor stockist in the UK, from the 15 September, though the company hasn’t revealed its shipping date. It’ll set European customers back €649 for the 32GB models (titanium grey and mystic champagne), and €699 for the 64GB models (prestige gold and coral pink). As…

During IFA 2015 in Berlin, a month after Samsung’s Note 5 launch where the company teased us about a new smartwatch, the Samsung Gear S2 has been unveiled. The circular smartwatch is the first of its kind from Samsung, and is following in the steps of other circular smartwatches like the Moto 360 and, more recently, the Huawei Watch. During its announcement, Samsung promised exciting things regarding the Gear S2, but did the company deliver? We went hands on with the Samsung Gear S2 at its announcement to find out. The Samsung Gear S2 comes in two editions, the standard Gear S2, and one for those of us that love the classic wrist watch look, the Gear S2 Classic. Both editions are crafted from stainless steel, though during our brief…

Few smartphone launches get fans as excited as a OnePlus event. Ignoring for now the fact that it happened to be the world’s first product launch in VR, it’s not difficult to see why there’s so much enthusiasm toward the Chinese company. The OnePlus 2 is a magnificent Android phone. We’re fighting the urge to append ‘for the money’ to that latter statement, because the OnePlus 2 offers unrivalled value in the smartphone space. But that would make it seem somehow cheap, and make no mistake: this is a flagship phone with high-end specifications. It just happens to be one with an almost too-good-to-be-true price tag. So is it too good to be true? In our opinion the best phone you can ‘officially’ buy in the UK today is the…

Everyone expected an update to the 2014 Moto X, but Motorola launched two new phones: the Moto X Style and the Moto X Play for 2015. We’re looking at the latter here, which sits between the Style and the new third-generation Moto G for price. Price and UK availability The Motorola Moto X Play is on sale now starts from £279. That sits it between the new Moto G, which costs £159, and the Moto X Style priced at £359. It also means that it’s close to the price of the new and impressive OnePlus 2 smartphone, which was also unveiled on the 28 July and is priced at £239 (16GB) or £289 for the 64GB model. It’s going to be a big competitor to the Moto X Play and…

The UMI Iron is the Chinese manufacturer’s latest Android phone. It has some high-end specifications but, most notably, eye-scanning security that aims to make this Android smartphone almost impossible for prying eyes to infiltrate. The Eyeverify system scans the unique vein pattern and precise positioning of your pupils to make a match, and the optional setting that requires you to blink during verification tightens security by ensuring the Iron must be faced with a living, breathing human rather than a cleverly angled photo. It sounds great, but the ability to bypass the eye verification with a four-digit passcode is a chink in its otherwise impenetrable armour. Almost unbelievably, you can buy the Iron for just £149 from Amazon UK. And it’s available for even less if you’re willing to buy…

Motorola has promised that the new Moto 360 will be available to buy towards the end of the month, and it’ll start at £229 when you build it on the Moto Maker, which we’ll talk more about later. Of course, if you want the larger model or a more premium strap, you can expect that price tag to increase significantly. For comparison, the Apple Watch starts at £299 for the small Sport model, and the LG Urbane costs £219. Last year’s Moto 360 was priced at £199.99. Design and build We loved the original Moto 360 when it launched early last year as one of the first Android Wear smartwatches, not least because of its circular display that helps it look more like a traditional smartwatch rather than a lump…

Sony announced three new Xperia Z5 smartphones at IFA 2015, so how do you know which is for you? We walk you through the differences between the Xperia Z5, Z5 Premium and Z5 Compact to help you choose which Sony Xperia Z5 phone is the one for you. Price and UK availability None of Sony’s Xperia Z5 Android phone are available to buy right now. The Z5 and Z5 Compact will go on sale in the UK in October, and the Z5 Premium in November. Final pricing has not yet been announced, but it’s likely that you’ll pay around £450, £550 and £650 for Sony’s small, medium and large Z5s respectively. Build and design The Sony Xperia Z5 line-up has a familiar design that runs through the range, but with…

The Moto G series of phones from Motorola has become a little confusing, with this being the third generation even though there are four different versions. Nevertheless, this is 2015’s model and Motorola is under more pressure than ever to produce the best budget phone with fresh competition from the likes of the EE Harrier Mini and Vodafone Smart Ultra 6. Design and build Once again, the Motorola’s budget handset looks pretty similar even to the original, but understandably closer to the style of the 2014 model. This Moto G is a good-looking phone, especially for the budget end of the market. It is a little thicker and heavier, though, at 11.6mm and 157g. It has a metal strip that houses the rear camera and the iconic dimpled logo. The…

We knew Huawei was going to announce a wearable at MWC 2015 in Barcelona and while the TalkBand B2 is improved, it’s the simply named Huawei Watch which has caused quite a stir. Such a stir, in fact, that six months later – with little or no information available in that time – people still care about it. At IFA 2015 Huawei finally announced pricing and availability for the Huawei Watch. With the Apple Watch incoming soon, we’ve seen a lot of new smartwatches arriving with a more premium design and finish. We were expecting them from the likes of LG but Huawei has shocked everyone with its gorgeous Huawei Watch. The firm certainly could have, and probably should have, come up with a better name for the device but…