There’s no denying this: true wireless earphones are pretty awesome. They’re light, discreet, and completely untethered, providing freedom and convenience we could once only dream of.
Samsung joined the party back in 2016 with the Gear IconX – a set of earphones that looked cool, but lacked in many areas, such as battery life. The second-gen IconX earphones from 2018 lasted much longer between charges, but overall, they were still largely unremarkable as a product. 

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been testing Samsung’s third-generation truly wireless earbuds – the Samsung Galaxy Buds. Are they Samsung’s best attempt so far, and should they be considered over notable alternatives from well-established audio brands? Time to find out

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With the Galaxy Buds, Samsung sticks to a familiar formula. The earphones are of the in-ear variety and need to be tucked in place with a slight twist. The rubbery tips that enter the wearer’s ear canal are replaceable and you get three different sizes in the box. Finding the one that fits you best is crucial as it affects not only how comfortable these feel, but also how good they sound. On the opposite side, rubbery wings press lightly against your earlobe and provide extra friction. Again, these are replaceable and you get several wings of different sizes in the box. 

Throughout my testing, I’ve never felt like the Galaxy Buds were about to fall from my ears. They are very light and I feel comfortable wearing them for a couple of hours straight while at the office. However, I do feel their presence a lot more while doing intense activities like running, for example. They’re probably not the best earbuds for working out as they don’t have a high level of resistance against water.

The Galaxy Buds come in three colors: black, white, and the kind of bright yellow people can spot from a mile away. We’ve noticed that the white model reflects light with a subtle pearlescent effect, much like the one seen on the white Galaxy S10+. With their similar paint jobs, the two devices go together pretty well.

Connectivity

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To no surprise, the Galaxy Buds work best with a Samsung Galaxy phone, and they were paired to a Galaxy S10+ for the purposes of our testing. Pairing is quick, as when I opened the case, the Galaxy phone detected that the earphones were in range and asked if I wanted to pair the two devices. 

The Bluetooth 5.0 range with these is outstanding. It took a distance of 120 feet (~37 meters) in open space before the connection would get choppy, without dropping completely. Also, the signal is strong enough to get through at least one brick wall, so music or calls will remain uninterrupted even if you’re in the next room. But when paired to my laptop, which only supports the older Bluetooth 4.1, the range of the Buds was just about 20 feet in an open office room.

In case you’re wondering, you may use the Galaxy Buds with non-Galaxy phones. On other Android devices, though, you will need to download additional software before having access to more advanced features and settings, such as Ambient Sound. These are inaccessible on iPhone due to the lack of a companion app, but other than that, the Buds work normally with Apple’s phones.

Functionality and controls

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The Android Wearable app is what you use to access the aforementioned Ambient Sound feature. As its name implies, it uses the buds’ built-in microphones to let noise from your surroundings pass through – useful for crossing the street safely or for talking to someone without taking the buds off. At least in theory. 

Unfortunately, using Ambient Sound is not the best experience. When it is turned on, barely any of the surrounding noise can be heard over the playing music. While walking down the street, I can hear louder sounds like a car’s horn, but not the engine of one passing by you unless no music is playing. Ambient Sound can be enabled temporarily when you touch and hold a finger on either earbud. This does let me hear someone talking next to me, but when talking back to them, I can hear my voice booming in my head, as if I’ve stuck my fingers in my ears. 

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In the last few years, OnePlus has emerged as the go-to company for people who want a phone that’s fast, reliable, with no bloatware, and more affordable than the big-name flagships from Samsung and Apple. The latest OnePlus 6T keeps perfecting that formula. Faithful to the company’s tradition of releasing a new phone every six months or so, the 6T is about incremental improvements in the form of a slightly larger screen, a less annoying notch, a few new camera tricks, and – the biggest one – a new in-screen fingerprint scanner.

But also, the OnePlus 6T goes against what its own community wants: it does away with the fingerprint scanner that more than 90% of OnePlus’ polled users approve of. And frankly, this year, the 6T does not feel like that big of an improvement over the OnePlus 6.

So… should you buy it? And can the OnePlus 6T still provide that spark that lights up the fire for Android enthusiasts? Also, is the OnePlus 6T still the best value-for-money offer around? Yours truly was curious as ever to find out, but first, take a look at…

What’s inside the box:

• OnePlus 6T
• Silicone case
• Fast charger
• USB-C to standard USB cable
• USB-C to 3.5mm audio dongle
• OnePlus stickers
• SIM tool
• Letter from OnePlus CEO

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Design

The release of the OnePlus 6 a few months ago was a big step forward for the company in terms of design. It was truly a thing of beauty and style, with a glass construction, elegant curves, and the unique mute switch on the side that differentiated it from other Android phones. And the 6T is much the same, with just a few differences worth mentioning: first, the smaller, teardrop notch that looks a lot better and somehow… organic; second, the bigger screen and even tinier bezels, so you get a lot less of that unsightly “chin”; and thirdly, the fingerprint scanner, of course, which is now inside the screen (more on it in a second).

The new OnePlus 6T comes in the same two colors as the 6: a “Midnight Black” model with a matte look and a smooth, soft touch feel, and a “Mirror Black” glossy model that is shiny, but also a fingerprint magnet. You also have a new, third color option with the bold and beautiful “Thunder Purple” model that features a very nice color gradient on the back

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Streaming media is all the rage and Google’s Chromecast was one of the earlier, mainstream devices to capitalize on this. Offering a cheap, quick, and easy way to stream music and video to HDMI-enabled devices, the third-generation Google Chromecast enjoys three years of streamlining and built-up support for its functionalities and app integrations. But, perhaps the most intriguing integration added this year is with its own Chromecast-enabled brethren.
In the box:

• Google Chromecast
• Micro-USB Cable and Wall Adapter
• Getting Started and Warranty Guides

Design

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Google’s Chromecast streaming dongle looks like a physical manifestation of the word “dongle.” Dangling from the back of your TV, the pendent Chromecast connects to a Micro-USB cable which can connect to the included wall adapter or your TV’s USB port. You may want to choose the former connection, though, if you’d like to enable Chromecast to turn your TV on.

This year we see the disappearance of the large Chrome logo on flashy, glossy plastic replaced by a much small letter “G” and a matte finish in either charcoal gray or chalk white

Connectivity

Bluetooth has long been a requested feature among fans of the Google Chromecast, specifically to enable connections with wireless earphones or Bluetooth speakers. Unfortunately, we still don’t find that here in the latest generation, so you’ll have to rely on your TV’s built-in audio connectivity for such things.

Otherwise, we have dual-band Wi-Fi on board with a Micro-USB port for power, and of course, a built-in HDMI cable with CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) compatibility. This is what enables the Chromecast to turn on or off compatible devices.

Users can also now include the Google Chromecast in speaker groups for multi-device audio – a feature omitted from the previous generation. This is an excellent option for including your soundbar or home theater in a whole-home audio setup. In our experience, we found that the Chromecast lagged behind other speakers in the group, creating a delay. Luckily, this is easily remedied in the Google Home App via the group delay correction setting – something we were quite happy to find

If you are looking for a small and lightweight smartwatch that will look better on your wrist than a sporty fitness band, Samsung has got something for you: the brand new Galaxy Watch Active.

Priced at the quite affordable $200, the Galaxy Watch Active works with both Android phones and iPhones, it is half the price of an Apple Watch and also much less expensive than Samsung’s other Gear watches, while still offering a beautiful display, a metal body, as well as a heart-rate monitor, GPS, workout and sleep tracking.

Samsung has even promised that this watch will be its first one that you will be able to use to measure your blood pressure (but that feature is coming later on and is not available at launch).

So… should you buy the new Galaxy Watch Active? And are there any hidden pitfalls? I have spent the last week with this timepiece and it’s time to sum this experience all up in our review

Specs:

• 1.1-inch 360 x 360px AMOLED screen (40mm watch size), Gorilla Glass 3
• Dual-core Exynos 9110 processor
• 768MB RAM, 4GB storage
• 230mAh battery
• Tizen OS 4
• IP68, MIL-STD-810G certified, 5ATM water resistance
• Wireless charging support
• Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi b/g/n, NFC (but no MST) and A-GPS
• 4 colors: Silver, Black, Rose Gold and Sea Green
• Price $200 / 250 euro

In the box:

• 40mm Watch
• 20mm strap (standard size) + extra strap (large size)
• Magnetic charging dock
• Manuals

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Size and Fit

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The first thing that you should know about the Galaxy Watch Active is that it is tiny!

We have had so many great big smartwatches and so very few good small smartwatches, so this size will definitely be something that many people who have felt neglected by the industry will appreciate.

Specs-wise, this has an 1.1-inch screen, while the watch face size is 40mm. Again, it looks perfect on smaller wrists and will also be a great fit for many women, but chances are that it will not look great on a bigger wrist.

If you are looking for a smartwatch that lasts a really long time, tracks your activity, steps, heart rate, workouts and sleep patterns, while at the same time packing some serious style, it’s hard to think of a gadget that fits all those criteria better than the Withings Steel HR Sport.

We’ve been using this modern hybrid watch for about three weeks now and even though we have our thoughts on quite a few things that could be improved, we don’t really want to part ways with it. So what makes this gadget so attractive and will it fit your lifestyle? Read on to find out.

Design and Size

You do get to pick between a white and a black color for the watchface. We have the white model up for review and while we love the overall classic styling, we find the esthetic just a bit spoiled by the black digital screen in the upper part that contrasts strongly with the white on the rest of the watchface. The watch hands here are too tiny and are not fluorescent, so they kind of get lost and it’s hard to see the actual time when they hover over that digital screen. We really wish Withings made these hands bigger and easier to see.

You also have a secondary dial on the bottom that measures your progress towards a set goal of steps for the day.

Also, the watch automatically syncs the time with your phone, so you don’t have to do this manually (you only have to calibrate the hands of the watch once when you set it up)

Sleep Tracking

The Steel HR Sport is also capable of tracking your sleep, and while we usually hate sleeping with something strapped to our hands, we tried it for a few nights anyway. We got to see a very nice breakdown of our sleep cycles as well as an overall sleep score that told us how well we had slept, based on the time duration and the amount of deep sleep that we got.

One thing we noticed with sleep tracking was that the watch sometimes had trouble getting the wake-up time right. Errors also included counting two hours of awake time as sleep. You can easily adjust the numbers in the app later, but it’s not something that a user should have to deal with, so again, sleeping tracking is something cool and useful, but maybe not always 100% precise

Battery Life

Last but definitely not least, the Withings Steel HR Sport is an absolute beast in terms of battery life, and we can’t be happier not having to deal with another device to charge every night. In fact, the battery life of the Steel HR Sport is best measured in weeks rather than days and nights! In our use, which included less exercise than our busy usual graphic, for nearly three weeks the watch battery fell from 83% down to 30%. This means that you could easily get more than a month of battery life, and if you workout more, still expect to see the battery go for about three weeks or so.

This is incredible. The only downside to having such a long-lasting battery on a watch is that you tend to even forget where you left the charger.

Speaking of the charger, it is a magnetic cradle with a standard USB connection that plugs into all typical USB ports or wall chargers (there is only the cradle in the box, but no actual wall charger with it).