Android Advisor 86

Samsung has risen to the top of the Android device ecosystem by offering stunning hardware, but its software lags behind the competition in some key areas. If you want to enjoy the Galaxy S21’s amazing build quality with a more Google-y software experience, you just need to make a few tweaks. Here are five ways to make your S21 more like a Pixel. 1. HOME SCREEN You will interact with the home screen on your phone more than any one app, so that’s a good place to start your S21’s transformation. Samsung’s stock home screen has those distinctive icons, the sideways app drawer and a very clunky menu system. Almost any third-party launcher will offer more features and customization, but not all of them are a close match for the Pixel’s launcher. Some…

As we saw last month, the new Galaxy S21 family has had a mostly positive reception, thanks to some notable hardware and software improvements. These phones are faster and more feature-rich compared to last year’s S20s. However, it’s not all roses in Samsung-land. The S21 series has its fair share of disappointing features you’ll have to accept. Here are the best and worst features you need to know about before buying Samsung’s latest devices. THE BEST FEATURES Photography Samsung’s top-of-the-line Galaxy S21 Ultra this year comes with a suitably high-end camera. The camera on last year’s S20 Ultra exhibited several flaws, like an inability to focus reliably. The new set-up on the S21 Ultra works better. There are also two optical zoom cameras in addition to the 108Mp primary and 12Mp ultra-wide. All these camera focal…

Price: £829 from fave.co/2RJHQHf The OnePlus 9 Pro arrives with a major focus on camera performance, an improved display, and the newest Qualcomm processor, the Snapdragon 888. Over the years, OnePlus has been aiming at the flagship end of the market, hoping to gain a foothold in that exclusive smartphone tier. But do these latest improvements – particularly in the camera – put OnePlus in a position to challenge Samsung’s Galaxy S21 or Apple’s iPhone 12? Let’s dive in. For this launch, there are four different phone configurations, each with its own colour and spec combination. The lowest-end OnePlus 9 model comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and costs £829. The top-end configuration (which I review here) costs £929, and features 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. As…

Price: £279 from fave.co/3tzXNho While Realme has carved a niche out for itself as one of the most eligible affordable smartphone makers in the world right now, nobody has ever recommended one if its devices because of their cameras first and foremost. The snappers on Realme phones aren’t inherently bad, but they’re uneventful and have lagged behind some fierce competition, particularly in the mid-range market where the company places the majority of its energy. The Realme 8 Pro is its attempt to address this shortcoming by focusing its efforts on camera quality first and foremost. At a glance, Realme has taken last year’s Realme 7 Pro but chopped-and-changed some key elements in order to accommodate the 8 Pro’s headline 108Mp primary camera, does that make this a true successor, though? DESIGN On first impressions,…

Price: £509 from fave.co/3n4Vikw Since the introduction of the Razer Phone in 2017, a wealth of smartphones specifically designed for mobile gaming have emerged. Chinese heavyweights Xiaomi (Black Shark) and Lenovo (Legion Phone) are among the leading players in this sector, and Asus has borrowed the ROG branding for its dedicated gaming handsets. All three have launched new phones in 2021, although they were beaten to the punch by Nubia. A subsidiary of Chinese giant ZTE, the company’s Red Magic brand has typically offered class-leading specs and a distinct gamer aesthetic for a relatively affordable price. Now in its seventh generation, the Red Magic 6 series has seen the introduction of a Pro model for the first time. However, the focus of this review is the regular version, which aims to…

Price: £249 from fave.co/3v4WTK1 The mid-range continues to be a hotbed of smartphone innovation and fierce competition. It’s not unusual to find a 120Hz refresh rate, AMOLED display, 5G or even a 108Mp on some but combining multiple is rare. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro has three of those four at under £250. As with many Redmi handsets, the Note 10 Pro is extremely impressive when you look at what you’re getting for not much money at all. It’s at the lower end of the mid-range undercutting Google and OnePlus. However, there’s still some strong competition from the likes of Realme and even another Xiaomi brand in the form of Poco. DESIGN The Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro is like many other phones these days when it comes to design and for ‘Pro’…