Author: Mostafa Wael

Mostafa is a tech enthusiast, petrol-head, former developer, and an analyst who is always keen to passionately share his knowledge. He also likes bats.
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Why Google’s Pixel 4a still has a chance

Not so long ago, Apple caught almost everyone by a surprise with their latest iPhone, the iPhone SE. The formula is very simple: old-school hardware, upgraded internals for cheap. And in an era where a $900 OnePlus 8 Pro is considered a great value for the money, a $400 brand new iPhone looked like the bargain of the century. I, for one, believed that Apple might have stolen Google’s thunder before even releasing their own Pixel 4a. But, as the dust settled, I began to think otherwise. Without further ado, here is where the Google Pixel 4a could give the iPhone SE a good run for its money.

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OnePlus might have become a victim of its own success, courtesy of the OnePlus 8

After numerous leaks and endless hyping, OnePlus unveiled the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 8 Pro. And as their monikers suggest, these are the latest sequels to last year’s OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro. While most people have been heaping praise on the latter, the OnePlus 8 has been nothing short of divisive. Sure, both phones share the burden of convincing the user base to spend $200 more on their yearly upgrade. But, in my not-so-humble opinion, the OnePlus 8 can’t even come close.

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The Pixel 5 might not be a flagship, and that’s a good thing

Despite newer generations of mid-range smartphones proving to suit the needs of more people, some people still find the urge to shell out some extra cash on flagship hardware inexcusable. In the past, there was a gulf between both tiers in terms of some crucial aspects, most notably in terms of performance. Fortunately, this difference started to diminish gradually over the years, with mid-range processors becoming more and more capable every generation, and manufacturers bringing more premium features to its mid-range phones lineup. Curiously, Google and LG seem to have recognized how capable newer mid-range processors have become. And if the latest rumors are to be believed, it looks like Google’s upcoming Pixel 5 will be a “premium mid-tier” smartphone instead of being a fully-fledged flagship. While that might upset the tech enthusiasts or the so-called power users a bit, I think this might have just made the Pixel 5 a more appealing offer to the overwhelming majority of average consumers. 

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How to install Android 11 Developer Preview on the Essential Phone

Last month, Google pulled the trigger and released the first Developer Preview build of Android 11 a little bit earlier than much of us anticipated. While it was an exciting prospect to be on the very bleeding edge, it was a bit of a mixed bag more than anything. Shortly after, Google released another Developer Preview build, ironing out some of the bugs reported in the initial release. This indeed is the ultimate gift to entertain all of the geeky owners of the Pixel 4, 3a, 3 and 2 devices during their quarantine (may the Pixel 1 rest in peace). And despite Essential pulling the plug on the PH-1, declaring no further support beyond the February security update, it’s fair to say Essential’s engineers were a bit too stubborn to let it go, treating their geeky users with the biggest surprise yet: Android 11 support. Here is a simple procedure to install the latest Developer Preview build of Android 11 on the legendary Essential PH-1. 

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How well does flagship hardware age in the long-run?

Just as the case with the past years, and despite the calamitous threat of the deadly Coronavirus causing GSMA to call off this year’s MWC, many of the tech companies have unveiled their latest addition to the lineups of their flagship smartphones. But as we drool over the rapid advancements in network speeds and processing power introduced to us every year, it still remains a tough task to guess whether these new smartphones will stand the test of time and prove to be a reliable option a year or two down the road. With the news of my Essential PH-1 will no longer receive official support, I thought it might be the best time to conduct a little experiment to deduce how well do older flagship smartphones stand the test of time.

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Opinion: Android 10’s new gestural navigation is far from ideal

Back in 2017, Apple kickstarted a new trend of UI navigation on our phones via dedicated navigation gestures instead of using on-screen buttons (or a dedicated button tucked in the bottom bezel in the case of the iPhones). There’s no denying the fact that there was a somewhat steep learning curve to go through before getting used to the new navigation gestures on the iPhone X. But ultimately, this became the new trend going forwards that all OEMs sought to join. Google had a go at it the following year, though Android Pie’s navigation gestures looked like a hasty attempt to announce Android as a native supporter of gestural navigation. This year though, Google went back to the drawing board and gave it a more serious thought.

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Why the Pixel 3a is the best mid-range phone you can buy in the US

Ever since the launch of the original OnePlus One, the recipe for a killer mid-range smartphone was very simple: flagship specs coupled with a modest camera hardware setup for nearly half the price of a fully fledged flagship. Things like decent software support and build quality were the icing on the cake, but they were never a guarantee. Over time, as prices kept creeping up, these two factors started to become a bigger part of the picture, even putting some of the bigger names to the sword—OnePlus is talking about updating the OnePlus 5/5T to Android Q while Samsung is yet to roll out the Android Pie update to the Galaxy S8 and S8+. Of course, this incredibly saturated segment of the market features a lot of the endeavors of other companies. But ultimately, they all share the same recipe. Google, on the other hand, had the guts to stray away from that route and create their own recipe for a worthy mid-range smartphone. In this article, we will discuss why Google’s new recipe will pay huge dividends to the Mountain View tech giant.

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Google silently adds Huawei back to the Android Q Beta program

Earlier last week, the US-based tech giant Google revoked Huawei’s license to use the Android operating system as the base for its EMUI skin. That came after President Trump signed an executive order to put Huawei on what’s known as the “Entity List.” This means that all American companies are forbidden from doing any kind of business with the Chinese tech giant without explicit government approval.

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Counterclockwise: Using an Essential Phone in 2019

essential phone

Every year, the multi-million worth tech giants, in Samsung, Apple, and Huawei, introduce the world to their latest fleet of flagship smartphones, boasting about the hardware and some of the features their phones have on board. And while these phones gain a lot of traction among the average Jacks and Joes of people, these tech marvels don’t necessarily float the boat of the geeky critiques—it’s a natural progression that newer models will continue to improve and fill the voids of their predecessors. Apart from the eye-watering price tag these phones have, their manufacturers don’t really care about those who love to tweak their phones and develop interesting projects for them. And when Google wielded an ax in the Nexus lineup, there weren’t many choices left for these people other than OnePlus, a (sort of) fresh start-up company at that time. However, I think there is one brand that escaped through the nets that many have unfairly given their cold shoulders: Essential.

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Why custom ROM users are quick to dump OxygenOS

Back in November of last year, we discussed how Android 9 Pie on the OnePlus 6 differed from that on the Pixel 2 XL, which can be regarded as nearly stock AOSP. While there might be little to no difference at first glance, a closer look reveals that such a claim couldn’t be more wrong. Not only does OxygenOS offer more features that enrich the functionality of the phone, but it does also have some noticeable design alterations. This lightly-skinned version of Android Pie might appeal to the overwhelming majority of users. However, quite a lot of the tech-enthusiasts feel like being left in the dark following this mindset transition, myself considered. So what is it that makes the die-hard custom ROM enthusiasts dump OxygenOS in a heartbeat and flash a custom ROM on their phones? Well, without further ado, let’s dive in and find out.

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