With only three generations of Pixel phones under its belt, Google is one of the newer manufacturers of premium Android phones. Still, every year it seems veterans in the phone game, like LG, are left to play catch up with the latest Pixel phones in terms of camera performance and innovative features – no matter when they release. We’re about to find out if the situation is any different for the flashy, camera-stacked LG V40. Running the same silicon with two more gigs of RAM and a three-camera setup, the V40 ThinQ looks like a very formidable contender to the Pixel 3 XL. But are the V40’s strengths only spec-deep? We put the two head to head to settle the score.
Design
The aesthetics on these two devices exhibit two different approaches. The LG V40 is shiny and slick with its glossy glass finish in the front and back and bluish-black hue that shines when the light hits it underneath. In back, the three-camera lineup looks futuristic and high-tech, while the face shows a beautiful screen tucked in nicely with slim, uniform bezels surrounding it and a rather shallow notch cut-out up top for the earpiece and cameras.
The Pixel 3 XL, on the other hand, sets a more understated tone with its matte and gloss-finished, two-tone back and traditional single-camera design. The matte finish makes it grippier in-hand than the V40 while still holding its own as a classy and premium-looking device. Turning the XL around to reveal the face, though, it quickly relinquishes its refined appearance, looking more like a prototype than a finished product with its plunging, deep notch up top and thicker chin down below.
Sony has been releasing new flagship phones every six months, faster than any other company in the industry, but somehow, despite (or maybe because of) this busy schedule, it has fallen a bit out of the big picture and its newest phones hardly get the attention and hype that comes with a new iPhone or Samsung Galaxy. The new Sony Xperia XZ3 flagship does not change the aggressive launch schedule: it comes right on time, about half a year after the Xperia XZ2, but it changes something else as it marks a big “first” moment for Sony and pushes the boundaries of what you expect in a Sony phone.
The XZ3 is the first Sony phone with an OLED screen and it pleases both eyes and ears with HDR support and loud and clear dual front speakers.
But is this enough to win people over from their other phone habits and have them switch to a Sony phone? We have used the Xperia XZ3 for more than a week, and we think we have the answer.
What’s in the box:
Sony Xperia XZ3
Wall charger with standard USB input
USB-C to standard USB cable
USB-C to 3.5mm audio dongle
User manuals
Design
A beauty to look at.
The XZ3 features an elegant, tall and narrow body with curves in all the right places to make it a beauty to look at and a comfortable phone to hold in your hand. Admire it from afar, though, as the glass body easily gets stained with fingerprint smudges and you would need to wipe it clean often if you want to maintain that pristine clean look. One other practical disadvantage of the otherwise beautiful glass design here is that the phone easily slips off all sorts of surfaces and you have to be extra careful where you place it, or risk finding it has slipped and crashed to the ground.
The XZ3 is IP68 water protectedIn the hand, the XZ3 feels substantial: it weighs 6.8 ounces, definitely not a lightweight phone, but it has that solid build quality that you associate with a premium product. The display is curved just slightly, but enough so that it seems to flow into the polished metal frame and form what feels like an almost singular surface. It’s those sophisticated little details about the design that really impress.
On the front, one in the earpiece and one right below the screen, are also two stellar loudspeakers, but more on that later.
The back of the phone is also curved, almost pillow shaped (some amusingly call it the “belly”), and there is a single camera at the top part and a fingerprint scanner right about in the middle. It’s an arrangement that Sony first introduced wit the XZ2 and back then we noticed that it was a very weird position for a fingerprint scanner: you kind of have to reach way down with your index finger in an almost theatrical performance of hand gymnastics. You do get used to this weird place of the finger scanner after a while, but it never feels perfectly comfortable. Speaking of the fingerprint scanner, it does its job well, recognizing fingerprints accurately, without being the slowest or the fastest in the game. We were, however, disappointed to see there is no support for fingerprint gestures. With such a tall phone as the XZ3, a swipe down on the fingerprint scanner to bring down notifications would have been a nice little convenience for us.
On the bottom, you can find a USB-C port for charging, but don’t go looking for a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sony has killed the good old audio jack, but does provide a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter in the box with the XZ3.
All the physical buttons are on the right side: a volume rocker at the top, a power key in the middle and a dedicated camera shutter button in the bottom. This arrangement is not very convenient: the volume keys are too up high and hard to reach, while the camera shutter key is too low and it’s hard to use it when you hold the phone vertically.
Palm’s back into the fold, being brought back to life after Chinese maker TCL, the same company that bought the rights to manufacture BlackBerry smartphones, purchased the Palm trademark from HP back in 2014. Even though the brand has been resurrected, this is a totally different Palm from the one we all remember that helped bring PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) into the market during the 1990s, and subsequently being one of the major smartphone powers in the early days of the 2000s. This new Palm is young, hip, and ready to tackle the market from a totally different perspective. With the announcement of the aptly named Palm Phone, they’ve taken many of us by surprise! Rather than tangling with the heavy hitters in the space, the Palm Phone is intended to act as a companion – much like how smartwatches aim to keep us connected, while remaining secondary to our smartphones. Needless to say, it’s an interesting new strategy for Palm, but does it effectively get the job done?
This new Palm is forging a new design identity, seeing that this Palm Phone shares no characteristics from past Palm smartphones. As you can imagine, it’s etching out its own identity in the process due to its unconventional size. Speaking of that, the minuscule size of the Palm Phone is the first thing that stands out! It’s obnoxiously tiny, just about the length and width of a credit card. Combined with its lightweight frame, the Palm Phone easily slips into any pocket discretely!
Due to its shrunken size, however, most people will need to readjust their habits when it comes to handling and operating it. Take for example holding the phone with our hand, which requires no more than a few fingers to do. Since space is rather limited, the Palm Phone only features a single power button – so volume adjustment is handled through the software by accessing it in the pull-down menu. Yes, it’s a hassle, but at least we can quickly silence incoming phone calls by pressing on the power button.
Historically, Sony has been conservative with its smartphone design, but it has always had this penchant for experimentation as far as its displays are concerned. The Xperia Premium line of devices is a testament to that — being the first and only 4K-screen phones made by a major manufacturer. Which is why it wasn’t very surprising when the company launched its new, extra-tall line of handsets — the flagship Xperia 1 and the mid-range Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus. Yes, the 21:9 display aspect ratio is shocking in itself, but we figured that if anyone were to do it, chances were high it would be Sony.
While the Xperia 1 is still taking its time to land, we did get the new midrangers to play with. So, here is our review of the Sony Xperia 10 and Sony Xperia 10 Plus.
Design
“That’s a tall phone!” is the very first thought that’ll hit you once you see one of these. This perception is a result of two factors — the extra-wide aspect ratio of the screen and the fact that the new Xperias have quite the meaty “forehead” still. Of course, the positive here is that there are no notches and no cutouts to eat away at on-screen content.
Both phones feel super comfortable to hold, especially the small-sized Xperia 10. It’s very narrow and fits really well in the hand, while the screen still gives off the illusion that it fits a lot of content — vertically, at least. Whether that space is used well or not will depend hugely on the app you are staring at, but more on that later.
The Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus are polycarbonate phones, covered in what Sony calls “metallic finish”. It’s matte and it collects some fingerprint grease, but it’s still grippy. Feels better than regular plastic and certainly less slippery or greasy than a glass back.
If you’re one of the millions of people that begin the new year with the goal to exercise more, you might need some help maintaining that motivation beyond the first week of January. Besides having friends that will drag you to the gym, another way to keep yourself in check is by using a fitness tracker. This is where the Withings Pulse HR comes in. With its simplicity and durable design, it will be your partner in all activities that can get your heart pumping. So let’s see what it has to offer!
The Pulse HR is not the smallest fitness tracker, but it is light, compact, and mostly unobtrusive. It has a clean design and fits well on most hand sizes thanks to its double hinges. The band buckle and underside of the tracker are metal and chrome-plated, giving the accessory a bit of a premium look and adding durability, while the top has a matte finish (more about it later). Our only complaint is that bands of different sizes could have been included in the box. The bundled removable silicone band is okay, but strangely, there are currently no alternatives on sale on Withings’s web page.
Despite the face of the Pulse HR offering plenty of real estate, the monochromatic OLED display’s actual size is about half of that. In other words, it’s tiny, so don’t expect much from it. Oh, and remember that matte finish we mentioned? Because of it, the display looks like you’ve smudged something over it, with numbers and letters lacking sharpness. On the other hand, having a screen this small and simple allows the accessory to achieve great battery life.
What you get to see on the display is the current time, date and a progress bar for your daily goal. Using the button on the side or by tapping on the device, you can switch between the different stats it tracks, which are customizable from the app. There is no always-on display option available, so you’ll have to rely on the Pulse HR to detect when you lift your hand – something it’s sadly not particularly good at.
By the way, the screen is not touch-sensitive. There’s a sensor inside that detects the tap, and we discovered that you can change the screen by tapping on your hand if you want.
Rono's Caf'e 