There's no doubting that Google's 2nd generation Pixels are excellent phones, but like any major release, they've not been without their fair share of teething problems. The screen of the Pixel 2 XL has captured the most headlines, with various issues which may or may not have been overblown in some media circles. With all that talk of the display, the camera must have been feeling left out. Well not anymore.

Microsoft has started selling the Microsoft Edition of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ on its online store in the United States. The handsets are priced at $724.99 and $824.99, respectively—but you’ll be able to save an impressive $150 if you wait until Black Friday to pick one up.

If you buy a Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus or Galaxy Note 8 you'll get a free pair of Samsung earbuds that are "tuned by AKG", but a new rumor suggests the headset in the box of the upcoming Galaxy S9 may be significantly better. According to the rumor - from Ice Universe, who supplied accurate information ahead of the Galaxy Note 8 launch - the headphones supplied in the box with the new flagship phone will work via Bluetooth.

Scores of an unreleased Samsung phone have surfaced on Geekbench and going by the model name and processor details, this could very well be the Galaxy S9. The listing on Geekbench (SM-G960F) shows a single-core score of 2680 and a multi-core score of 7787. While the scores are definitely higher than the Galaxy S8 or Note 8, they are way behind the iPhone X's scores of 4198 and 10056, proving once again that Apple is the clear leader when it comes to extracting the maximum performance out of its SoCs.

After launching the OnePlus 5 earlier this year, OnePlus is back with an end-of-year upgrade for the device. The OnePlus 5T takes a winning formula—high-end specs with a low price tag and a metal body—and reworks the front of the phone to dedicate as much space as possible to the screen. This device has a new screen, a new button layout, a new fingerprint reader, and a new camera setup. It almost feels like a totally new device.

Just a week before this year’s Google I/O, Google unveiled one of the most fundamental, low-level changes to the Android OS framework: Project Treble. Project Treble modularizes the Android OS framework to separate it from vendor code, allowing OEMs to work on new software updates without having to wait for vendors (like Qualcomm) to update their code. As part of the Vendor Test Suite (VTS), all Treble-enabled devices must be able to boot a raw, generic AOSP build...

We’ve all been there: fiddling with your smartphone because it’s there, or reaching for it when you hear a text message notification. Austrian designer Klemens Schillinger created the Substitute Phone as a way to help smartphone addicts cope in its absence. Schillinger tells Dezeen that more and more, phones are becoming an addicting object in our lives. Users constantly play with them, even if they’re not looking for a message or expecting a call, and he was inspired to design “a tool that would help stop this 'checking' behaviour."

Google announced a few weeks ago that Lens was coming to Google Assistant, but the deployment would take some time. It's showed up sporadically for users since then, but it appears to be rolling out widely on Pixel phones today (in select markets). Open Assistant, and you may very well have the Lens button down at the bottom.

Tech reviewers have a lot on their plates. A smartphone isn’t a “phone” as much as it is a catch-all mobile computing platform. Tech reviewers need to be multi-disciplined in their commentary. Of course, it’s impossible for an individual to be an expert in all areas, so we all rely on assistance for subjects we might be less well versed. Sometimes we’re guided by other reviewers. Sometimes we get good materials from manufacturers to help guide our coverage. Regardless, no reviewer is an island.

Your smartphone may contain secret “features” that leave you vulnerable. I’m not talking about accidental design flaws that hackers might exploit. Security issues have always existed. They represent a cat-and-mouse game between malicious actors, who try to break smartphone security, and the smartphone industry, which tries to identify and fix the accidental vulnerabilities that make phones susceptible to hackers. Nothing new about that.

2018's going to be a great year for smartphones.

Not a day goes by these days that we do not expect Samsung to announce the Galaxy A (2018) lineup, but the company is keeping things close to its chest as far as an official announcement is concerned. The leaks and rumors have shown no signs of stopping, however, with even a hands-on video of the Galaxy A8+ (2018) showing up online recently. While that video has been taken down, it did offer us a look at the phone’s specifications, and today, we can confirm that those specs were indeed the real deal.

In his keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January of 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the world to the first-generation iPhone. Before he held out the device as if it were some sort of beacon of light, he famously stated, “Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” How right he was.

In recent months, the Pixel 2 XL has been the subject of many controversies, with conflict brewing over the phone’s display even before its release. After the dust settled, it became something of a refrain: The Pixel 2 XL’s screen is plagued with issues, including premature burn-in, angular color shift, “muted” colors, “black crush”, and “black smear”.

Value for money. 2017 saw massive advancements in design, hardware, and, unfortunately in the case of flagship phones, price. Here, we attempt to pick out the devices in each price segment that offer you the most bang for your buck.

Having opted against what would have been an uncharacteristic debut at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas -- in teaser capacity or otherwise -- Samsung is now gearing up to launch the 2018 versions of its flagship Galaxy S lineup in a much more traditional fashion, just prior to Barcelona's Mobile World Congress. These are the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ (pictured top, left to right).

A new Sony Xperia device has passed through the FCC with ID number PY7-24118Q. There is little to glean from browsing through the documents, but we do see a more normal location of the FCC ID label, compared to the previous handset rumoured to have no 3.5mm headphone jack. The FCC documents do reveal that this new Xperia device has a 5-inch display in as chassis with dimensions of 135 x 65mm. So if this is true, it looks like it will have much slimmer top and bottom bezels compared to previous handsets.

In the last couple weeks, both my girlfriend and I have come within inches of being hit by cars while walking, in crosswalks, in downtown Seattle. Unfortunately this isn't the only time that's happened to us, nor is it exclusive to us or this city. Every single day in every city I visit, I see drivers blow through lights, stop in crosswalks and generally disrespect pedestrians. What's obviously changed in the last few years is the root cause: people aren't necessarily more rude or worse drivers, they're just trying to use their phones while driving.

A revised report from Counterpoint states that HMD Global has sold 4.4 million smartphones in Q4 2017. Counterpoint analyst, Neil Shah, took to Twitter to share that the 1% market share of Nokia puts it just outside the Top 10.

Xiaomi played it safe with the Redmi Note 5, offering the same chipset and a design aesthetic that's similar to the Redmi Note 4. Instead, the manufacturer is rolling out the Redmi Note 5 Pro for those looking to upgrade from last year's device. The Redmi Note 5 Pro is the first device to be powered by the Snapdragon 636. Xiaomi says that it worked closely with Qualcomm over the development of the chipset, leading to a noticeable uptick in performance over the Snapdragon 625-powered Redmi Note 5. The phone also features a dual rear camera setup, as well as a 20MP front camera with an LED flash module.