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Showing posts from December, 2020

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

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  The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is the most flexible, powerful Android productivity tool available, with spectacular connectivity, long battery life, a fantastic stylus, and a gigantic screen. It's also a do-over. Samsung's huge, luxurious slab of Qualcomm's finest chips and the latest Gorilla Glass, is what the  Galaxy S20 Ultra  should have been. Where the S20 Ultra stumbled in the camera department, the Note 20 Ultra features a laser autofocus module that fixes its predecessors failures, making it the  phone  to turn to for reliable super-zoom. My only real hesitation here is the Note's top-of-the-line $1,299 starting price, which feels out of touch with our pandemic-ravaged economy. Design: You Already Know It's Big The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is very large. At 6.49 by 3.04 by 0.32 inches (HWD), it's noticeably taller and ever so slightly wider than the  Galaxy Note 10+  (6.39 by 3.04 by 0.31 inches). It isn't wider than the  iPhone 11 Pro Max  (6.20 by 3.06 by

Nokia 5.3

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  When we tested Cricket’s  Nokia C5 Endi  last month, we were impressed, even if it cut a few corners to get to its $169.99 price. The Nokia 5.3 ($199.99) is an even better phone, for just a bit more money. It's powered by a much faster chipset and offers improved battery life, a little extra durability, and guaranteed software updates via the  Android One  program. Take our advice: Spend the extra $30. The Nokia 5.3 stands apart in a competitive price range, and earns our Editors' Choice award for affordable phones. Design, Display, and Durability The Nokia 5.3 is a handsome phone that maintains Nokia’s unique design language. It's available in blue, gold, or gray, measuring 6.5 by 3.0 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and weighing 6.3 ounces. The front of the phone is dominated by 6.55-inch screen with a teardrop notch for the camera. While the bottom bezel is still pretty chunky and bears Nokia branding, the top and side bezels are greatly reduced from years past. The matte gray plas

Samsung Galaxy S10e

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  The Samsung Galaxy S10e has almost everything its bigger siblings do, in a more hand-friendly form factor at a lower price. It even one-ups the more expensive Galaxy   phones   with a better-located fingerprint sensor and a more case-friendly form factor. At $749.99, it's a perfect staging area to wait for the   5G   revolution coming in the next two years, and our first Editors' Choice flagship phone for 2019. Samsung's trio of S10 models offer similar performance, with different physical sizes and prices. The S10e starts at $749. The "regular"  S10  costs $899, with a bigger, curved screen, and a 2x zoom camera. Finally, the large  Galaxy S10+  starts at $999 and adds a second camera (for depth) on the front. The S10e isn't actually that much smaller than the S10. It measures  5.6 by 2.8 by 0.3 inches, while the S10 is  5.9 by 2.8 by 0.3 inches. The S10+, meanwhile, measures  6.2 by 2.9 by 0.3 inches. I generally find phones over 2.8 inches wide to require

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G Review

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The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is everything you need, and nothing else. Samsung pared down its flagship S20 series to a more palatable $699.99 price, and the result is a value-minded standard-bearer to properly face up against the forthcoming  iPhone 12  line. With fast performance, solid cameras, and often substantial discounts at major wireless providers, the S20 FE 5G becomes our default  Android phone  recommendation for 2020, as well as our Editors' Choice. So Many Options, So Much Time Samsung has a ton of phones out right now, but the two you should keep in mind are the Galaxy S20 FE 5G and the  Galaxy Note 20 Ultra  ($1,299). These two models offer flagship and super-flagship performance; the S20 FE will satisfy most people, while the Note 20 Ultra adds an even better screen, an S Pen stylus, and the best phone camera we've tested. ADVERTISEMENT They're also a reset from Samsung's strategy earlier this year. While we recommended the $1,199  Galaxy S20+  as our Edito