Our simple summer days are coming to an end.
Summer is the slow season for the Android world — though this summer felt anything but between the Huawei roller coaster, Q gesture drama, and a host of new Chromebooks — but August is here and it’s back to the grind! Samsung’s Note 10 launch is this Wednesday in New York, and we’re looking forward to seeing the finished phones and the last of their details in person.
I myself will not be in New York, instead hunting down all the accessories for these new lovely power-user phablets. Among all the cases, chargers, and car mounts, there is one accessory in particular that I intend to test in full with my Note 10+ when it arrives: phone grips. I’ve written about my love of phone grips before, even reviewed one or two of them in my time, but with the Note 10+, I truly think they’ll graduate from luxury to necessity.
The dimensions we’ve seen so far for the Note 10+ are 162.3 x 77.4 x 7.9 mm, which makes it almost as tall as the OnePlus 7 Pro while being even thinner, with rounded sides that further interfere with a solid grip. While I’m hopeful that Samsung’s design team has taken care to keep the Note 10+ as weildy as possible, I’m definitely keeping a Spec GrabTab and Swappapble PopSocket ready should things get a little too unruly for my petit hands. With the productivity focus, though, a Scooch Wingback kickstand grip might be better for propping the Note 10+ at my desk while working.
In other Note 10 news this week, we’ve now seen the headphone adapter, meaning Samsung has finally abandoned the 3.5mm jack, too. I, for one, am perfectly fine with this development — (quickly dodges pitchforks and rotten tomatoes) — because Bluetooth advances have made wireless headphones better than ever in 2019. From true wireless buds like the new Jaybird Vistas to even the most affordable Bluetooth headphones, we’ve hit the point where for anything short of true audiophiles, wireless headphones are more than capable of picking up the slack.
Turning from phones, this week also had some news for two of my favorite products: the NVIDIA Shield TV and Lenovo C330 Chromebook. I’ve had my original Shield TV for over three years and seeing it updated to Android Pie is nothing short of astouding. NVIDIA’s dedication makes me proud to own and use mine every day. I’ve also been quite happy with my Lenovo C330 this year, but the tease of the coming C340 models has me absolutely thirsty to try it out, and that shimmery new pink looks even more delectable that last year’s Blizzard White.
Now, I’m off to the park to stock up on some magic for a marathon week of Note 10 mania. Have a good weekend everyone!
— Ara
