Table of contents for 103 in Android Advisor

REVIEWS Price: £999 from fave.co/3etxUNG Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip3 marked a massive step forwards for the company's foldable line. It was a revolution in design, practicality, and pricing that took the compact folding phone from niche tech nerd fantasy to a mainstream proposition. Twelve months on, it's fair to say Samsung hasn't got the same scale of upgrade up its sleeve again. Perhaps understandably, the Z Flip4 is a comparatively minor upgrade, more iteration than revolution. That's not to be critical though: I gave the Z Flip3 a glowing review last year, and the Flip4 is quite simply even better. Most importantly, while Samsung's upgrades are few, they're also focussed, and the company has improved both the battery life and camera – two of the only areas where the last…

REVIEWS Price: £379 from fave.co/3ARS6jJ Poco released the F4 GT back in spring of this year – a gaming phone with some top specs and a bold design. Now it's being joined by the standard Poco F4, a more understated phone, but one that is also more affordable and ideal for someone looking for an all-round, good-value device. I've used the Poco F4 to see how it copes day to day, find out how good the cameras are, how the design holds up and more. DESIGN The Poco F4 is available in a choice of three colours: black, silver and green. Although the design isn't garish like the GT (or some other older Poco models), it's almost so plain that it doesn't really stand out from the crowd. Currently, Poco…

AUDIO Price: £129 from fave.co/3cQGsgX For more than a few people, inear headphones are a source of endless frustration. Some can never get a comfortable fit from either silicone or foam ear tips. Others can't stand the way a tight fit makes them feel disoriented and disconnected from their surroundings. On-ear or over-hear headphones aren't a good alternative for anyone who's looking to exercise while listening to music, audiobooks, or podcasts. They're unwieldy and tend to slip off when you work up a sweat. Cleer has an alternative: its Cleer Arc open-ear true wireless earbuds sit atop the outsides of your ears, with hooks that go around the top of your outer ear to hold the headphones in place. There's zero discomfort, which could make them the perfect solution for…

FEATURE With some phones, the hardware itself is the primary point of appeal. Google's Pixel devices take a decidedly different approach. Sure, the shells around the phones are as stylish as any of the competition – but it's what's inside that really sets the Pixel apart. Plain and simple, Google's Android software is in a league of its own. And aside from the thoughtfully designed, platform-consistent interface and the lack of obnoxious and often over-thetop experience-harming additions so many other manufacturers love to lard into their Android environments, Pixels are packed with genuinely useful features that tap into Google's high-tech smarts and make your life easier in some small but significant ways. But in some cases, it's up to you to find the features and activate them before they'll be…

Price: £1,649 from fave.co/3wZOBGF Samsung has revealed the fourth generation of its big screen foldable, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4. Rather than reinventing the wheel, the company has taken the past year to refine the design of the foldable, with the aim of making it more durable and thus more appealing to the wider smartphone market, while also improving its performance and cameras. The question is, with competing foldables from the likes of Oppo, Xiaomi and Huawei all revealing huge leaps forward in foldable tech in 2022, has Samsung rested on its laurels for too long? Well… DESIGN If you were hoping that Samsung would throw out the rule book and completely redesign its big-screen foldable in its fourth iteration, you'll be disappointed. In fact, at a quick glance, it's…

AUDIO Price: £139 from fave.co/3RgpOq2 Apple has made hay in the audio market with its superior look, feel, and out-of-box experience. It seems Anker has paid attention. The company's new Soundcore Space Q45 headphone delivers on every one of the shapeconsciousness hooks the Cupertino giant's become famous for. They also sound great and deliver exceptionally effective active noise cancellation. DESIGN Expanding on the classy sells theme, top-tier headphones have a look and feel to them that tends to make you forget what a ridiculous sum you paid for them. We know Anker is a less-formore vendor, but the fact that its Soundcore Space Q45 noise-cancelling headphone costs only £139 still comes as a pleasant surprise. Apple, Bose, or Sony would have tacked a £250 to £350 price tag on them.…

FEATURE Android 13, Google's latest and greatest Android version is here and is in the midst of rolling out to current Pixel devices as we speak. That means if you've got a Pixel 4 or higher, it should be showing up any moment now. And that, in turn, means you've got some spectacular new features to explore. For everyone else – well, time will tell. It's up to each device-maker to process and deliver Android updates to its customers, and not all phones are created equal. Android 13's most prominent Pixelaffecting additions may seem subtle, given the software's focus on tablets and foldables, but don't let the familiarfeeling interface fool you. All under-thehood enhancements and security-aimed improvements aside, Android 13's got some absolutely awesome stuff to be found – if…

FEATURE Quick: what's the most exciting app on your Android phone right now? Just a hunch here, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say Google Contacts probably wasn't your answer. And why would it be? Your phone's virtual Rolodex is about as exhilarating as a trip to the dentist. Plus, our mobile devices have had systems for managing our contacts since way back in the prehistoric days, so it certainly doesn't seem like something to celebrate. Hold the phone, though – because Android's current contacts set-up is much more than just a place to dump names and numbers. The Google Contacts app has some genuinely useful advanced options that can make your life easier and make your phone more intelligent. And all you've got to do…

REVIEWS Price: £379 from fave.co/3AU2BTJ The Motorola Edge 30 has tough competition in the UK, coming in at a near-identical price to big hitters like the OnePlus Nord 2, Google Pixel 6a and, most recently, the Nothing Phone (1). Offering a stylish design with a 144Hz AMOLED display, decent performance and a lightweight build unmatched by most of the competition, the Motorola Edge 30 certainly has potential – it just depends on what's most important for you. DESIGN The Motorola Edge 30 is the world's thinnest 5G smartphone, and its lightweight nature is immediately apparent in hand. Measuring just 6.79mm thick (discounting the ever-so-slightly thicker camera bump) and an equally lightweight 155g, the Edge 30 is a refreshing change to big, bulky phones like the iPhone 13 Pro Max and…

AUDIO Price: £179 from fave.co/3qAjMoE Edifier has just released its NeoBuds S headphones, which retains the basic design of its recent NeoBuds Pro model, but with some significant changes to the underlying technology. The manufacturer has included Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon Sound streaming protocol, which is unfortunately unavailable on any current phone designed to work with US carriers, so our US readers will want to take this into account when purchasing these. *****What's left is a pair of comfortable earbuds with strong active noise cancellation and some incredibly complicated app controls that should let anyone who's into custom EQ settings alter the sounds to their heart's content. WHAT'S IN THE BOX? Edifier includes seven pairs of ear tips in different sizes, so there's an excellent chance that everyone can find a…

FEATURE No matter what type of Android phone you carry or how you usually use it, one thing is a near-universal constant: You're going to spend a lot of time sending and reading messages. Google's Android Messages app has become surprisingly good over the years. That's no big secret. If you're only relying on what you see on the surface within Android Messages, though, you're missing out on some of its most powerful and underappreciated efficiency-enhancing options. Here, we'll explore the Android Messages app's most effective out-ofsight features. They may not be able to cut down on the number of messages you send and receive on your phone, but they will help you spend less time fussing with them. And they might just help you have a more pleasant experience,…

FEATURE If there's one place where saved seconds can seriously add up, it's in your smartphone's on-screen keyboard. This doesn't get nearly enough attention among average users, but Android has an awesome advantage over iOS when it comes to text input. All it takes is two minutes of trying to type text on an iDevice to see just how much of a good thing we've got. And you know what? While we've got no shortage of commendable Android keyboard apps to choose from, Google's own Gboard keyboard really is the perfect example of how simple, effective, and expandable the Android typing experience can be. Gboard works well right out of the virtual box, and once you start poking around in the mustiest corners of its settings, you'll uncover some tucked-away…