4 reasons why USB-C is the best iPhone 15 upgrade
From peripherals to a more universal connector, USB-C is one of the best iPhone 15 upgrades.
If you're looking to pick up a shiny new iPhone, then you'll want to check out the iPhone 15 Pro models. They feature probably one of the biggest Apple upgrades in years: a USB-C port. USB-C is found in a lot of the company's other products, such as its own MacBooks and iPads. But their inclusion on iPhones is a huge deal for a lot of reasons, from higher transfer speeds to faster charging speeds and more.
Wireless earphones are stagnating and have been for years
True wireless earphones are so good that all of them are basically the same, differentiated only by software.
Wireless earphones are stagnating and have been for years. For years I've reviewed various different types of true wireless earphones here at XDA, and while there has been a marked improvement over the years form some of the earliest offerings on the market, there really has just been a complete stagnation in the last year or so. Much of the cause of that is physics though, not a lack of trying.
How to backup a NAS
Backing up a NAS is a bit of a complicated endeavor, and it's not really as simple as just plugging in an external drive and saving your data.
If you have a NAS, then chances are you've been using it to store all kinds of important data. Maybe you have a large collection of movies and TV shows, or something like NextCloud set up as a Google Photos alternative. No matter what, though, you'll want to make sure that data is kept safe, which is why you should protect your data by backing up your NAS.
What is Active Noise Cancelation?
If you've ever wondered what active noise cancelation is, then you've come to the right place.
Active Noise Cancelation is a majorly sought-after feature on earphones and headphones, and for good reason. It removes a lot of outside noise from your listening experience, making it both significantly more peaceful and easier to listen at lower volumes. However, how noise-canceling works on headphones like the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless and the Sony WH-1000XM5 is a bit of a mystery to many. We sat down with Christian Ern, a Principal Product Manager of Consumer Headphones at Sennheiser, at this year's IFA 2023 to help break it down.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3: Everything we know so far and what to expect
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a few months away, but we have an idea of what to expect already.
Every year, we get a new Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, and the new flagship chipset that can potentially power the best Android phones next is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. We expect it to use cores based on the newly announced Arm Total Compute Solutions 2023 cluster, but the core layout and other parts of the chip largely remain a mystery. There have been some leaks that give us an idea of what to expect, but nothing hugely comprehensive.
Android's Quarterly Feature Drop brings better At a Glance, Image Q&A, and more
Android's Quarterly Feature Drop is here, but it's not to be confused with a Pixel Feature Drop.
Android 14 is just on the horizon, but Android's own Quarterly Feature Drops are still chugging along. This quarter's feature drop brings plenty of useful new features to all Android users and should come to all supported devices in the coming weeks and months. Note that an Android Feature Drop is not the same as a Pixel Feature Drop, where Pixel-related drops are only for Google's own Pixel phones.
Cinebench 2024 released with GPU testing and wider platform support
Cinebench 2024 is here, and it brings back GPU testing after a long bout of absence, along with wider platform support.
In the world of benchmarks, few stand as tall as Cinebench does. It's one of the go-to benchmarks for CPU testing across the computing sphere, as it attempts to mimic real-world usage while providing a value that can be used to directly compare to other machines for an idea of relative performance. As time goes on, though, use cases change and more features are required to accurately evaluate the performance of one machine against another. With that in mind, Cinebench 2024 is now here, and it brings support for more platforms and, even bigger, GPU testing for the first time in over a decade.
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless review: The best gaming headset for a reason
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is the best gaming headset for a reason. It's simply phenomenal
In the world of gaming headsets, there are so, so many to choose from. I see so many options in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene. I know many people who use a HyperX headset and many more who use a regular pair of headphones and a dedicated microphone. I fall into the latter camp and always have (I previously used Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless wired to my PC, for example), but the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless actually managed to change that.
Lenovo Legion Glasses hands-on: A portable monitor you can wear
The Lenovo Legion Glasses are a portable monitor you wear, and they're surprisingly good.
Lenovo had a ton of new products to show off at this year's IFA show in Berlin. If not for the Legion Go stealing the entire show for me, the Lenovo Legion Glasses would have been my pick for my favorite product at the show. They're a pair of AR glasses that plug into anything with a USB-C port, and the glasses will display whatever content is being output superimposed in the center of your vision.
Best of IFA 2023: Our favorite tech from the show
IFA 2023 was packed with cool tech, and we got to see really cool devices. Here are some of our favorites!
IFA 2023 is a massive show, and a lot of companies brought some seriously cool stuff for us to see. We got to go hands-on with a lot of these products during our time at the event, and we're here to show you some of our favorites. From gaming PCs you can take anywhere to some really cool AR experiences, here is some of the best tech we got to see this year.
Lenovo Legion Go hands-on: Embarrassing the competition
Lenovo is entering the handheld gaming market with a bang, and the Legion Go puts the ROG Ally to shame at every turn.
The success of the Nintendo Switch seems to have gotten a lot of companies to realize how much people want to bring their favorite games on the go. Starting with the Steam Deck, the handheld PC market has really bloomed into something else, and Lenovo seems to be next.
How to download Android 14 for Google Pixel and other Android devices
Android 14 is available via the beta channel, and you can install it on your Google Pixel right now.
Android 14 is almost ready for prime time! For lucky owners of the Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, or any Pixel phone as old as the Pixel 4a 5G, you'll be among the first users to see what Android 14 has to offer, as these devices can participate in Google's beta initiative.
Android 14 'Upside Down Cake': Everything you need to know about Google's big update for 2023
Android 14 will come to a Google Pixel smartphone near you in early 2023.
The most exciting thing about a big Android update is being able to follow a pattern to get a taste of all the new features. Google's Android 12 update marked the biggest visual redesign of the operating system since Android 5 Lollipop thanks to Material You. The new design philosophy, along with an exhaustive list of new features, made Android 12 look and feel radically different from previous iterations. Android 13 then came along and doubled down on many of the same aesthetic choices. Now we're moving on to Android 14, and there will likely be even more under-the-hood changes.
Best Plex alternatives in 2023: Jellyfin, Emby, and more
If you're looking for an alternative to Plex, there are a few options that are just as good.
If you have a large database of movies and TV shows, you've probably been enticed by the idea of setting up a Plex server. You can install one to stream video files to clients, and it can transcode them to lower resolutions and bitrates for playback on slower connections. However, for many people, it's not good enough, especially because some features cost money. That's why some of the alternatives are enticing, especially those that are free. These are some of the best Plex alternatives on the market that you can install on an excellent NAS or on your own computer.
How to install Python on Windows, Linux, and macOS
If you want to install Python and get started with development, we have a handy quick-start guide to run you through the basics.
If you want to get into development, one of my favorite programming languages is Python. It's a multi-paradigm language that supports imperative, functional, procedural, and object-oriented programming. It's wide open, can be used for practically anything, and is a go-to language for many when working in artificial intelligence or machine learning. I use it for a lot of automation, and it's even the language that some of the testing tools that we've used are written in.
How to install Jellyfin on a NAS
Jellyfin seems complicated, but it doesn't have to be. This is how to set it up on TrueNAS.
Jellyfin is one of the best Plex alternatives for a great NAS, and it's one that I personally use. It's a media server that can stream and transcode video for clients, and it's completely free and open source. It requires a bit of setup to get working, but it's well worth it once it's configured and working perfectly.
Google Bard: What is it, and how does it work?
Google Bard is the company's answer to generative AI, but how does it work and what can you do with it?
Bard is Google's answer to the generative artificial intelligence craze, packed with the ability to hold a conversation, generate code, and solve logical problems. Bard's biggest advantage over competitors over the likes of ChatGPT is that it can access the internet, though it previously faltered behind the rest of the competition in a number of pretty crazy ways.
Everything you need to know about CPU vulnerabilities like Zenbleed, Downfall, Inception, and more
CPU vulnerabilities have been all the rage recently, with Zenbleed and Downfall being two recent ones. But how worried should you be?
CPU vulnerabilities have been in and out of the news in recent years, and they often come with a pretty scary message when it comes to them being disclosed. In the case of Zenbleed and Downfall, it was that any application on your computer could access the memory of any other program running under the right circumstances. Sounds intense, right?
Asus Zenfone 10 review: The best small smartphone gets even better
Asus is back with the new Zenfone 10 to try and retain the best small phone crown. Little has changed, but what has really matters here.
Small phones are hard to come by nowadays, with the best options for consumers basically being the regular Samsung Galaxy S23 or one of the smaller iPhone 14 devices. However, the Zenfone 8 started a trend of Asus prioritizing small phones, so last year's Zenfone 9 stayed smaller than both Samsung's and Apple's offerings. Despite rumors to the contrary, the Asus Zenfone 10 retains that smaller 5.9-inch form factor. You won't get any flashy or new features, but you'll get a standard smartphone with a nice design, decent camera, and excellent performance that won't take up a lot of space in your pocket.
Snapdragon G1, G2, G3x Gen 2 explained: Everything there is to know
Qualcomm's new Snapdragon G1, G2, and G3x Gen 2 have just been unveiled, and we have everything there is to know so far.
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 alongside the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 back in 2021, with the G3x Gen 1 arriving in the form of a reference device developed by Razer. Following that, Razer released a consumer product at the start of this year, the Razer Edge, and we found the chipset to essentially be just an upgraded Snapdragon 888. Now we've got three new chipsets: the Snapdragon G1 Gen 1, the Snapdragon G2 Gen 1, and the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2.