Table of contents for Issue 21 in Android Advisor

From £629 inc VAT • samsung.com/uk Samsung made a splash in the smartphone market with the curved screen Galaxy S6 Edge. Well there’s an even bigger model now so here’s our full Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ review. The original Galaxy S6 Edge was one of the most expensive phones we’ve ever seen at launch price. Well the Edge+ beat it with Samsung initially selling it at £749. For a while it was reduced to a cheaper price than the smaller Edge at £599 but it’s now £629 from the official Samsung store. That’s not too bad but it’s still one of the most expensive phones around. However, head over to Amazon and you can pick one up for just £519, a relative bargain. That’s £100 cheaper than the iPhone 6s…

From £159 inc VAT • mi.com/en The Xiaomi Mi 4C looks on paper (and in the flesh) to be a fantastic device, half the price of the similarly specified Nexus 5X (page 58) with performance that can be just as fast. But ‘can be’ is the key point here, as overheating issues plagued our review sample. Xiaomi doesn’t officially sell its phones in the UK, so if you want to get hold of one you’ll need to buy it from a Chinese website that will ship to the UK. However, be warned that if you are shipping this phone to the UK from China you may also have to pay import duty. Design For a £150 phone made of plastic, the Mi 4C is good-looking. A thin slab just 7.8mm…

The Nexus 6P and 5X (see pages 48 and 58) could be the perfect Android phones we’ve been pining after for years. Great build quality, a top-flight camera, rapid updates, all wrapped together with an unsullied version of Android. It’s especially that last item that phone manufacturers keep fumbling. You can get an excellent camera with a new Samsung Galaxy S6 or the LG G4. HTC’s all-metal One series has always been a leader in the looks department (see page 90). And the Moto X lets you build a device to your liking in a near-stock Android package (Though how often it stays up to date is another matter.) They are all good phones. But all are susceptible in one form or another to a list of grievances. Slow updates.…

Android 6.0 Marshmallow is here, and if you’re lucky enough to have it on your phone, you’ve probably already spent plenty of time poking around and exploring every nook and cranny of Google’s latest mobile OS. To help you out, though, we’ve complied this list of 10 tips for getting more out of Marshmallow. 1. Take control of notifications with Marshmallow’s Do not disturb feature Marshmallow further bolsters Android’s existing notification muting features thanks to an enhanced Do Not Disturb feature. In Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google added some new features that made it easier to silence unwanted notifications while you’re asleep or at work, for example. Android 6.0 Marshmallow builds on Lollipop’s Priority Notifications and Downtime features, and gives these notification management tools a new umbrella name: Do Not Disturb.…

£449 inc VAT • google.co.uk One of two new Google phones, the Nexus 5X is the smaller brother to the 6P, (page 48) and one of the first to run Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It has quite a few upgrades compared to the Nexus 5, which arrived way back in 2013, and is also built by LG as Google’s manufacturing partner. And as the LG G4 is now cheaper, it’s one of the 5X’s rivals. In fact, this Nexus has lots of rivals, including the Moto X Play, and the cheaper OnePlus 2. It’s a great phone overall, with one of the best 1080p screens we’ve seen, along with one of the best cameras. But it’s not all great news. This isn’t just a 6P with a smaller screen, sadly. The…

Although details about the chip have been floating around the web for a while, Qualcomm has now revealed exactly what advantages and upgrades it will bring. A company spokesperson told us: “The Snapdragon 820 has been holistically designed around enriching visual quality and audio clarity, as well as developing more intuitive ways to interact with devices, to generate deeply immersive experiences.” Specifications Let’s break down the four main components of the Snapdragon 820 which are the CPU, GPU, DSP and LTE modem. Kyro CPU An important part of any SoC (system-on-a-chip), the Kryo CPU inside the 820 will bring up to twice the performance and double the power efficiency when compared to previous generations. The 64-bit-capable custom CPU is also the first to be made with a 14nm FinFET manufacturing…

From £499 inc VAT • motorola.co.uk Not content with launching two new Moto X phones in 2015, Motorola has surprised everyone by quietly releasing a third: the Moto X Force – known as the Droid 2 Turbo in the US. And it’s not just a revamped Moto X Style or Moto X Play with a shatter-proof screen: the Force has its own identity and specs and is the new Motorola flagship. It starts with a 5.4in Quad HD screen, has 3GB of RAM and a Snapdragon Processor (clocked higher than the Moto X Style’s) and a battery that’s claimed to last a full two days. There are high-spec cameras, and ‘TurboPower’ which claims to provide 13 hours of use from just 15 minutes’ charging. And unlike its siblings, it supports…

From £199 inc VAT • oneplus.net OnePlus has made a name for itself by offering phones at far lower prices than you would expect if you looked at the spec sheet and images of the device. This tradition continues with the X, which is the firm’s cheapest offering to date. The OnePlus 2 is a steal at just £239, but the X is even more affordable at £199. There is little competition below the £200 mark in the smartphone market, but the OnePlus X does have some rivals. The Motorola Moto G (third generation), for example, which offers pretty decent specs for just £159 as standard, but doesn’t offer the same level of design and build. At this price, you’re probably already interested in getting your hands on one, but…