Innehållsförteckning för February 2025 från Tech Advisor

While most smartphones over the past decade have followed a similar design – a flat rectangular shape – foldable phones have been introduced over the past six years, but they are still struggling to become mainstream. At present, they have a very small market share. An alternative route to a different design is to use rollable or flexible screens. LG showed off its LG Rollable in 2020, and Oppo and Motorola have since explored similar ideas. Now Honor seems to be venturing into this category as well with a new patent describing a rollable screen for a sliding phone, reports IT Home (via Neowin). The patent, filed with China’s National Intellectual Property Office describes an ‘elastic beam structure’ and a support structure for the screen. The aim is to improve…

Google is rolling out an update that’s designed for anyone who likes sharing things on their phone. Android 15 users can use these brand-new features to improve accessibility, streamline sharing and make communication more fun. One of them, called ‘Expressive Captions,’ aims to capture not just words but the tone and emotion behind them. For example, captions might indicate ‘whispering’ during a quiet moment, ‘cheers and applause’ after a celebration, or even highlight a pause after a joke. Most interestingly, Google ensures these captions will be available across apps like streaming platforms, social media, and video messaging. Elsewhere, the ‘Emoji Kitchen’ in Gboard has been expanded, allowing users to combine emojis into customized stickers, reminiscent of the latest iOS 18 ‘Genmoji’ feature. Additionally, Gboard now includes ‘Clearflow,’ a glide typing…

Price: From £1,049 The Oppo Find X7 Ultra was one of the most impressive camera phones that I tested in the past year. However, there’s a big problem with that device. It was only launched in China, which means Western customers would need to import if they wanted to experience Oppo’s best phone for themselves. With the Find X8 series, Oppo’s flagship handsets make a return to the global market, and thankfully, that includes the UK (though still not the US). This time around, there’s the standard Find X8 and the X8 Pro, but no X8 Ultra. The last generation had the Find X7 and Find X7 Ultra but no Pro. So, where does the Oppo Find X8 Pro sit? Oppo told us it’s not a replacement for the X7…

Price: From £269 The Amazfit Helio Ring is Zepp Health’s first foray into the world of smart rings and carries hopes it can enjoy some of the success led by the Oura Ring. Oura is no longer the only player in this space now with the Samsung Galaxy Ring and the likes of newcomers like RingConn and Ultrahuman also competing for a place on your digits. The Helio Ring, at its core, works in a similar fashion to those other smart rings, tracking metrics like heart rate and sleep, while working in combination with Amazfit smartwatches to offer a more reliable window into your recovery needs. Like Samsung, Ultrahuman and RingConn, you don’t need a subscription to its tracking to good use. Even with a small number of smart rings…

Smart rings have been around for a while in one form or another but they’ve now come of age and hit the mainstream. With that in mind, here are the best models you can buy right now. One of the smallest wearables you can get, they’re exactly what they sound like – rings you wear on the finger of your choice and track things like steps, heart rate, sleep and more. It means you don’t have to wear a smartwatch (or budget smartwatch), freeing up your wrist for a proper timepiece if that’s your thing. They will often last longer than smartwatches and are more comfortable to wear at night. You’re just reliant on the companion app to interact with, instead of any screen on the device itself. FAQ What’s…

Samsung may soon revolutionise its Galaxy AI services. According to a recent report by The Information (tinyurl.com/yc2y8sta), the Korean brand is reportedly in discussions with OpenAI to integrate its ChatGPT technology into the Galaxy AI services. If successful, this partnership could transform the AI capabilities of Samsung Galaxy phones, enhancing user experiences with more advanced features. Currently, Samsung’s Galaxy AI relies on a combination of its own large language model (LLM) and Google’s Gemini AI. Introducing ChatGPT into the mix could bring significant changes, potentially providing users with improved functionality. The integration might mirror Apple’s approach, where OpenAI’s ChatGPT is utilised as a supplementary tool, stepping in when on-device models are insufficient. Although the negotiations are said to be at an early stage, the report raises questions about how Samsung…

Price: From £499 The Honor MagicPad 2 is a versatile and affordable Android tablet that’s perfect for media consumption, light productivity, and gaming. With prices staring at £499 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage model, it’s slightly more expensive than the Google Pixel Tablet, but for good reason. Honor manages to deliver one of the closest iPad experiences I’ve seen, which is even more impressive at this price point. And it’s much cheaper than the base-model iPad (10th-gen). But how does it fare in real-world usage? I spent a few weeks with the MagicPad 2 to find out. DESIGN The Honor MagicPad 2 is impressively slim and lightweight for its size, coming in at just 5.8mm thick and weighing 555g. This makes it portable and easy to hold, even…

Price: From £399 Apple’s smartwatch has reached the ripe old age of 10 and has a selection of upgrades to celebrate. Is ‘Thinstant classic’ and appropriate tagline for the Apple Watch Series 10, though? Instead of the ‘X’ overhaul that the iPhone saw when it hit 10, the Series 10 is largely more of the same, though refinement at this stage is understandable. A larger and more impressive screen, thinner body, new colours and an optional Titanium model make it the most desirable Apple Watch yet and may even convince you an Ultra is overkill. Let me explain why the Apple Watch Series 10 is the sweet spot of Apple’s smartwatch range. DESIGN A possible design overhaul for the rumoured ‘Series X’ didn’t happen but the Series 10 has still…

Smartwatches are one of the best bits of tech you can buy right now, providing you with almost endless amounts of convenient features on your wrist. These are the best smartwatches. This guide contains our top 10 expert picks from the wearable market. The Apple Watch is an obvious choice for many but even Apple has various models to choose from. Google Wear OS devices provide a wealth of choice and there are others, too, including Garmin and Xiaomi. You’ll find our list of the best smartwatches below, all of which have been thoroughly tested by our expert team. WHAT TO LOOK FOR Why you need a smartwatch There’s an interesting theory that smartwatches are to the smartphone what wristwatches were to the pocket watch. Picture the way the average…

Portable apps are applications and tools that can be started directly upon clicking them, with no prior installation needed. The advantage of this is that the programs are immediately ready for use and can be started from any storage drive – including a USB flash drive. These useful tools are then available for analysing and maintaining any computer you slap the flash drive into, making them utterly invaluable for informal tech support duties. Let’s take a look at the best portable applications for hardware analysis and system tuning, as well as a basic setup with media player, image editing, and word processing tools. SET UP AND USE THE PORTABLEAPPS.COM PLATFORM As a starting point for most portable applications, the PortableApp.com Platform (tinyurl.com/abjk36zx) is used to manage the programs and as…

Google has announced a major upgrade to its software support policy, extending Android OS updates to five years for older Pixel phones. This move brings the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold in line with Google’s commitment to longer support for its Tensor-powered phones. With the recent launch of the Pixel 8 series and the Pixel 9 series, which boast an unprecedented seven years of operating system and security updates, speculation grew about whether older Tensor-powered devices might see a similar upgrade. Previously, the Pixel 6 series and Pixel 7 series models received three years of OS updates and five years of security updates. Now, they will get five years of both, starting from the date of their original…

Price: From £1,099 The ROG Phone 9 is ready to see the new year in with a bang. Packing the year’s flagship Qualcomm chipset as usual, it’s a powerhouse of a gaming phone with a price to match. Half a decade ago, a great gaming phone prioritised CPU, memory, and display, offering a laser-focused rig in your pocket at a price that wouldn’t burn a hole through it. But with mobile games quickly becoming as ambitious as console titles, the paradigm has shifted. The Asus ROG handsets have always been the luxury on-the-go gaming device. Could this generational change in the average gamer’s needs turn this once unnecessary expense into a near necessity? Here’s my review of the ROG Phone 9 Pro. DESIGN On first inspection, the ROG Phone 9…

Price: £35 The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 sees the return of Xiaomi’s budget fitness tracker that, since the original Band, has continued to push the boundaries of what to expect from a cheap fitness band. Along with offering a design that lets you wear it away from the wrist, Xiaomi now promises a brighter display, improved heart rate tracking accuracy and even bigger battery life for the same price as the Smart Band 8. At a time when activity trackers might be comfortably outnumbered by smartwatches, Xiaomi is here for the people who really don’t want a smartwatch. So, is this the best budget fitness tracker and one of the best overall you can buy? I’ve been wearing it for a few weeks to find out. DESIGN The biggest criticism…

Over the past decade, wearable tech has exploded in popularity. They offer an easy way to monitor your health and track workouts, most commonly from your wrist. But there are two distinct categories of device here. A smartwatch is as much an extension of your smartphone as it is a fitness accessory, allowing you to access a range of general-purpose apps – often including third-party options. Do you really need all that extra functionality, which is often relatively expensive? Or would you be just as happy with something more simple? If your answer to the latter is ‘yes’, a fitness tracker is the right choice for you. As well as price, they’re often smaller and offer better battery life than smartwatches. And some still have smartwatch-style features. The fitness tracker…