Software

Everyone has a cell phone, a portable gaming console, tablet, wearable, action camera, or gadget that needs charging. Some of us have of those. Other have all of the above. How do we keep things charged up at the same time and when on the go? Consider the Ampere Full Circle.What is the Ampere Full Circle?Designed as an all-in-one solution for charging devices, the Ampere packs a 13,400mAh battery, a large wireless charging pad, and Type-C output. And that’s not all of it, either.There’s an LED battery level indicator so you know how much gas is left in the tank, and a USB Type-A port, too.Offered in five colors, its the sort of product you’d keep in a bag for charging up phones, tablets, wearables, and other portable gadgets.What are the benefits of the Ampere Full Circle?Running out of power is no fun, regardless of whether you’re using a phone or playing on the Nintendo Switch. Same goes for tablets, wearables, and other gadgets.This is a well-designed unit that offers charging to multiple items at one time. And it’s not just basic stuff, but it’s fast and efficient, too.The ergonomic design is different than you’ll find in most portable chargers and provides for an at-a-glance view of your phone while on the wireless charger. Want to keep an eye on your notifications or watch YouTube while working? Go ahead, do you.Who is the Ampere Full Circle For?This is one of those devices that serves many masters. Everyone has a phone that needs charged. Plenty of us have additional devices that need juiced up on a regular basis. Here you can plug in a few things at once, and still charge your phone up wirelessly.We can see this one being great for students, telecommuters, and others who lead busy lives.Features13,400mAh Battery Capacity15W Wireless Input18W Type-C PD OutputUSB-A OutputLED Battery Level IndicatorXL Wireless Charging AreaGeneral ImpressionsWhen it comes to products like these, we appreciate them most when we don’t think about them. That is to say, we don’t wanna fuss with proprietary things, quibble with weird design choices, or second-guess the tech.We had already become fond of the Ampere brand with some its previous products; the Full Circle is equally excellent.The build quality is superb, the color scheme somewhat unique and different, and the feature set is rather long. It’s not easy to get excited about chargers, but we found ourselves interested in it and more than happy to show it off.Even though most flagship phones have large, generous batteries, we appreciate having a portable solution that offers 3-4 charges. Depending on your handset, you could ultimately see up to six charges out of the Full Circle.Should I buy the Ampere Full Circle?We’re definitely happy to endorse not only the Ampere Full Circle, but the brand itself. After seemingly coming out of nowhere, it has been offering up a steady stream of interesting and well-built products.Where can I buy the Ampere Full Circle?You can purchase the Ampere Full Circle at Ampere’s website for $99.95 where it’s offered in five colors. Largely clad in a very deep blue, the accent colors include red, coral, yellow, navy, and black. Ampere Full Circle 1 of 6

Social media is a part of our daily lives. In fact, almost 2 billion people use Facebook daily and almost 80% of people use Facebook exclusively on their mobile device. Twitter’s numbers are far less known as they don’t actively share this data, but a report from last year showed that Twitter had somewhere in the realm of 130 million daily active users.However, despite the fact that these social platforms are so ubiquitous on mobile devices, their apps leave much to be desired, namely in their features. This is where third-party apps come in.Here are some of the apps that provide the best Facebook and Twitter experiences:TwitterTalonTalon is probably the most well-established app on this list. It has been on the Play Store since 2014 and is the #4 Top Paid app in the Social category, and for good reason.Talon has many customization options, extensive notification and sync settings, and even options to save data.You can get Talon for just $2.99 at the Play Store.FenixNext up is another heavy hitter, Fenix for Twitter. The original Fenix was launched in 2014, the same as Talon, and was rather popular before reaching the Twitter token limit and being removed from the Play Store. It was added back in 2017, though, and already has over 10,000 downloads.Fenix is beautiful and even has the ability to intercept notifications from Twitter’s official apps so you can get notifications faster. You can completely customize the layout, add columns to the apps, and more.Fenix is currently available for $4.99 at the Play Store.OwlyOwly is a newer addition to the world of Twitter, with it first being put on the Play Store in 2014.It is much more focused on looks, with custom headers, navigation positions, animations, and fonts.That’s not to say it’s short on it’s content. though. Owly even has a Tweet Digest that you can get notified of once a day to show content from users you “read”.Owly is free to download, but you can pay just $2.99 to unlock things in app.TweetingsTweetings is probably the most customizable out of all of the Twitter apps. If you don’t like the way something is handled, from the look to the way notifications are pulled, the likelihood is that you can change it.Tweetings will run you $2.49, and you can purchase it here.FacebookFacebook users have a little bit of an issue in that Facebook does not offer an official API for developers, so developers have to find creative ways to deliver you a smooth user experience.FriendlyFriendly for Facebook is one of the most popular Facebook apps for Android, with over a million downloads.It has an adblocker, theming support, downloads for images and videos, and more.It also has support for a variety of other social platforms, including Twitter and InstagramFriendly for Facebook is free to download, and you can pay just $1.99 for Plus, though you can increase the amount you pay if you so feel.Maki for FacebookMaki for Facebook is a personal favorite, with multiple accounts support, support for other platforms, extremely configurable themes, and downloads.One of my favorite features is the ability to filter searches to look for people, pages, events, or groups.Maki is free to download, but the Plus version is only $1.49.PhoenixPhoenix is a straightforward Facebook app with notifications and theming.Phoenix’s notable feature is it’s ability to have chat heads like Facebook Messenger.Phoenix is completely free, with no plus or pro to pay for. You can download it here.SwipeSwipe is the Facebook app I personally use because it does what it does well. Swipe has themes, notifications, customizable layouts, messenger chat heads and more.Swipe even has fingerprint lock for extra privacy.There is a free version of Swipe here, but you can get Swipe Pro for $2.99. Is there any other Facebook or Twitter apps you guys use? Let us know below!

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Fitbit has been producing fitness trackers for over a decade, with its products consistently considered as some of the best in its space.In March, Fitbit announced its latest premium fitness tracker, the Fitbit Charge 4, the first Fitbit tracker to feature a built-in GPS.I have been using the Fitbit Charge 4 for about a week now, and am now able to share my impressions of the deviceSetting Up The Charge 4 Fitbit Charge 4 Unboxing and Setup 1 of 10 Front of Box Back of Box What's Inside Extra Band for larger wrists Clip-on charger Fitbit app setup page 1 Setup Page 2 Setup Page 3 Setup Page 4 Feature List In the box was the Charge 4, an extra band that meant for larger wrists, and the charger, which clips to the device.The Charge 4 came mostly charged, so I could setup almost immediately, and I had already set up the Fitbit app prior to receiving the watch.You will have to create an account to use the Fitbit app but it may take around ten minutes. This includes account creation through pairing and a firmware update.DisplayThe Fitbit Charge 4 has a grayscale display, much to the dismay of many a reviewer. However, I heavily disagree that this is a bad thing. I do not want my fitness tracker to be a beautiful distraction. I want it to track my fitness. That being said, the display is easy to see in any lighting and the brightness automatically adjusts to the environment.The watch also has many watch faces that you can switch between, with the one pictured above being called Rightful Stats.Sleep TrackingThe Fitbit Charge 4 features sleep tracking, with a pretty extensive breakdown in addition to a Sleep Score. The sleep tracking page gets a slight layout change for Fitbit Premium users, as you will see below.The Fitbit Charge 4 also features an SPO2 sensor that works during sleep. The SPO2 sensor is meant to measure blood oxygen variation, which can help identify breathing issues during sleep Fitness TrackingThe Fitbit Charge 4’s main selling points as far as fitness are its integrated GPS and the new measurement system known as Active Zone Minutes. Although my walks don’t exactly create the most beautiful map, here is one of my walks including the breakdown of heart zones and pace. It is important to note that the GPS isn’t in use unless you initiate an exercise from the watch prior to starting it. Exercise Tracking 1 of 6 BatteryThe Fitbit Charge 4 touts a pretty solid mixed-use battery life, lasting around four days. This is where the embedded GPS hurts. With it on, the battery life drains dramatically.The GPS is only activated when an exercise is in progress and Fitbit says this only lasts around five hours. Though, with a half-hour walk every day, the battery lasted almost four full days. However, the Charge 4 recharges in around four hours, so if it dies, you aren’t without it for too long.General UsabilityThe Fitbit app is unremarkable and looks fairly similar to any other fitness app, mostly reminding me of the UI of Samsung Health, as shown side by side below. Each of the items that appear on the Fitbit app homepage are able to be moved around to better suit your particular needsThe watch is not completely waterproof, though it is “swimproof”, to use Fitbit’s term, and is water resistant to 50M.The watch face is customizable, with the one shown in the display section being called Rightful Stats. For the watch itself, there are about 10 alternative bands available on the Fitbit website at the time of me writing this article, and they will run you anywhere between $30 and $50.AvailabilityYou can purchase the Fitbit Charge 4 for $150 at the Fitbit website in Black, Rosewood, and Storm Blue/Black or at Best Buy in Black and Rosewood.

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Announced back in January, TCL Communication’s new 10 series of phones make their retail debut on May 19. And while there are three models under the umbrella, the 5G-supported version isn’t here just yet.The TCL 10L and TCL 10 Pro arrive as unlocked phones that are compatible with a whole array of mobile service providers. Priced $250 and $450, respectively, they mark the first phones under the TCL brand.You might be familiar with the likes of Alcatel and Blackberry, both of which are/were brands under the TCL parent. You might also be familiar with TCL as a TV manufacturer; it is the second largest TV maker in the world.The 10L and 10 Pro are what happens when you know a thing or two about making affordable unlocked phones and then leverage your expertise in display technology.Our team was sent a review unit for each of the two phones and we’ve done our best to use them as much as possible over the last 7-10 days.Given the stay-at-home orders we’re not getting out in the real world as much as we normally would. As such, we weren’t able to take these with us on very many day trips or too many hours away. Nevertheless, we’re confident in our early impressions of the 10L and 10 Pro and are happy to put forth reviews of each.What follows is our review of the TCL 10 Pro. As an editorial note, some of what you’ll read here refers to the TCL 10L as it helps to compare and contrast.Given the two arrive at the same time and fall under the same series, you’d think they feature many of the same hardware specifications. That’s only partially the case.There’s more than enough different to justify the costs but not so much that they might as well be two different models. Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL are mostly a case of larger screen and larger battery. TCL’s closely resemble on another, but there’s a lot more going on.TCL 10L Main FeaturesAndroid 10 w/ TCL UI6.53-inch LCD display (1080 x 2340 pixels)Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 (2GHz) processor6GB RAM/64GB storage48-megapixel, 8-megapixel, 2-megapixel, and 2-megapixel rear camera16-megapixel front-facing camera4,000mAh batteryFace Key (unlock), rear fingerprint reader3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5, microSD expansion card slot (up to 256GB)TCL 10 Pro Main FeaturesAndroid 10 w/ TCL UI6.47-inch AMOLED display (1080 x 2340 pixels)Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 (2GHz) processor6GB RAM/128GB storage64-megapixel, 16-megapixel, 2-megapixel, and 2-megapixel rear camera24-megapixel front-facing camera4,500mAh batteryFace Key (unlock), rear fingerprint reader3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5, microSD expansion card slot (up to 256GB)If bullet-point lists are your preferred way of comparing devices, you probably already see the differences justify the costs. But to be fair to the 10 Pro, that’s only part of it.Missing from the aforementioned specs are details like reverse charging capabilities in the 10 Pro. And while it technically has a smaller display, it is a curved AMOLED screen that draws the user in and also houses an in-display fingerprint reader. Then there’s a faster storage in UFS 2.1, a digital hybrid zoom, and Quick Charge 3.0.DesignThe TCL 10 Pro has a more premium build to it but that’s not to suggest that the 10L feels cheaply made. The rear of the 10L definitely picks up oils and fingerprints much easier than its counterpart.The 10 Pro has a metal frame with a matte texture finish to it whereas the 10L is more of a synthetic plastic material. Interestingly enough, the more expensive phone seems to slide or glide more effortlessly in hand.Save for their SIM card slots, the pair largely employ the same overall layout of buttons and ports. The right side of the screen has power and volume buttons while the left has a dedicated smart key. USB Type-C ports are at the bottom while a 3.5mm headphone jack is located at the top.The rear of the phones have a strip of camera sensors that run horizontally near the top. The 10L’s module juts out and is considerably pronounced while the 10 Pro is all but flush. The 10L houses a centered rear fingerprint reader that’s about 3/4 the way up the middle.The 10L looks nice and feels good in hand but it’s not overly remarkable. Contrast that with the 10 Pro and we see a more modern design that’s curved and fun to hold.All of this is a long way of saying that design-wise, the TCL 10 Pro punches above its weight.SoftwareThe TCL 10 Pro runs Android 10 and is expected to pick up at least one major software update as well as regular maintenance releases. The TCL UI looks a lot like stock Android, but it brings quite a few sensible extras to the table. And I kinda like it.One feature I came to appreciate early on is the Edge Bar, which is more or less quick access to your favorite apps/games/settings. I found it helpful for quickly pulling up Google Authenticator and password managers. There’s also a strip dedicated to contacts and one that has a built-in ruler in both centimeters and inches.While I don’t care for the default way of organizing apps in the drawer, you might like having them grouped by category. Other options include usage, date of installation, name, and even icon color.This is a TCL phone with a TCL display so there is plenty of emphasis on adjusting the visual settings. You can tweak screen colors, use a visual enhancement to tune contrast, sharpness, and saturation, and toggle a setting for outdoor reading. I invite you to find the right setting under the NXTVISION app as it’s entirely up to you as to what feels right… or natural.There are quite a few other settings you can adjust under the advanced features section, including the ability to clone apps for multiple simultaneous logins, driving mode settings, gestures, and how you interact with the phone. Do prefer the soft keys or do you want gestures and swipes? Play around with it.The same goes for the Smart Key setting. With single, double, and long-press options available, you can do all sorts of fun stuff like launching a selfie camera, take a note, clear notifications, and much more.Finally, one last thing noteworthy feature is the ability to connect up to four Bluetooth speakers at one time. Called “Super Bluetooth” it’s as cool as you’d hope.PerformanceDespite its flagship-like appearance, the TCL 10 Pro is more akin to a mid-range phone. Fortunately for us, a mid-range handset in 2020 is one hell of an experience.The display is bright, colorful, and looks excellent when viewing HDR content. As indicated above, some may like to dial down the color profile as it tends to be a smidge over-saturated. With that said, it’s generally impressive.The optical in-display fingerprint sensor is as reliable and accurate as I’ve seen in previous phones and wakes the phone up quickly. Every so often you might have to lift the finger or thumb for a second reading but we’re talking maybe once a day. Keep your screen clean, people.I’ve come to appreciate swiping gestures and navigation in my phones and switched the 10 Pro to allow for that. With that in mind, its curved edges are prone to accidental touches and swipes/half-swipes. It’s not singular to the 10 Pro; it affects many phones with such a design.In terms of general performance, I’ve found the phone to handle tasks, apps, and games with ease. It doesn’t feel super-fast or seem to have explosive speeds, but it’s plenty snappy.You can likely have more than ten apps up and running before you see any sort of visual changes. And even then it’s not like you’re sitting around, waiting.Having used the Google Pixel 3a for almost a full year now, I am reminded of how that phone feels. Yes, there are faster things around, but they’re more expensive. And really, I’m more than happy with it. I don’t imagine my needs changing in the coming year so I don’t anticipate this phone feeling “slow” anytime soon.Battery life is great and routinely gets me through more than one day of usage. As far as charging goes, it supports Quick Charge 3.0 and comes with a 9V adapter in the box. I’ve yet to mess with any power settings but there are a few adjustments which can be made in favor of getting more from the battery.CameraThe four cameras on the rear of the 10 Pro consist of a 64-megapixel primary sensor, a 16-megapixel super-wide sensor, a 5-megapixel macro sensor, and a 2-megapixel super-low-light sensor. The front-facing selfie camera is 24-megapixels.The rear cameras, and the app, work pretty well and certainly fall in line with expectations. To be fair, I need to take more low-light and night shots. Once I do I will update this gallery with a few samples.As you see in the embedded gallery there is a watermark on the images. That’s a simple thing to remove in the camera settings app but do know it’s on by default. Also, the images presented here are unedited and only resized to 1920px wide. TCL 10 Pro Camera Samples 1 of 10 All of our test shots so far were in decent daylight and indoors with moderate lighting. We’ve played with both the 64-megapixel and 16-megapixel sensors and find they both exhibit terrific color accuracy and impressive depth of field.We had fun playing with the macro lens, too. It does a much better job than I figured it would for a company’s first effort.There’s loss of finer details when you view at full resolution, of course, but nearly everything we view in 2020 is compressed, edited, filtered, cropped, and shared online. To that end, you will be very pleased with the end results.ConclusionFor a first-generation release there is a lot to admire in the TCL 10 Pro. It has a generously sized display that’s easy on the eyes, and the overall design is rather modern and flagship-like. Adding to this, it’s unlocked and supports nearly every band in the US – save for 71 which is essentially rural T-Mobile spots.I’m a big fan of the software experience being largely untouched Android and the extras presented don’t cause clutter or distract. And best of all, it’s user-defined and opt-in. We’ll have to wait to find out how it handles software updates and whether they’re timely.I’m interested in seeing what happens next with TCL-branded phones, including how it plans to sell them. That could be a difference maker; will consumers know they exist or do they have to discover them? Availability is key.I don’t expect that the TCL 10 Pro will be a major hit but it’s not because of what it does or doesn’t do. It has more to do with brand recognition and competition at this price.Apple just introduced a phone in the same space and Google looks to have a Pixel 4a ready to go any day. Then there’s also Samsung, Motorola, and Blu playing in the sandbox. All of them are more well-known or have established track records.One thing that reviewers tend to do when looking at phones is point out what’s missing, so let’s do that. There’s no NFC which means no Google Pay or any of the features that come with it. Also, there’s no wireless charging or IP rating against water. Does that matter to you? It didn’t seem to hurt OnePlus in its first few years and it positioned itself as a generally more robust experience.TCL has a great record and reputation in the TV space where it has established itself as a solid brand. It might take some time for it to crack the phone market but I hope it tries. I like what’s offered here and have no reservations about recommending it for the right user.AvailabilityYou can purchase the TCL 10 Pro for $450 from Amazon starting from May 19 and later through Best Buy and Walmart.

Maybe it’s the ongoing pandemic getting to me, but I think that spring of 2020 has produced some of the most exciting phones to date. It has been a long time since I looked at so many devices, thinking, “wow, that’s really cool and/or interesting.”The OnePlus 8 Pro, now available, is perhaps the most fun I’ve had with a phone in some time. Why? What’s so special about it? Well, you’ll just have to read on to find out.What is the OnePlus 8 Pro?Simply put, it’s the biggest and best phone that OnePlus has produced thus far. And with it comes its most expensive price tag. At $899.99 it’s a fair amount less than $1,000 and a few hundred cheaper than the competition; however, it’s nowhere near the half-priced “flagship killer” alternative it once was.Based on Android 10, the phone runs OxygenOS which is more or less a stock version of Android — with a few custom tweaks and settings. And as much as I like the lean and clean Android experience, I love the extras present in the UI. More on that in a bit.Hardware-wise, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor with at least 8GB RAM and a minimum or 128GB storage. A 12GB/256GB variant is priced $999.99.The screen measure 6.78 inches with a hole-punch cutout for the front-facing camera; the resolution is 3,168 x 1,440 pixels with a 19.8:9 aspect ratio and all of it is protected by Gorilla Glass. Oh, and there’s an in-display fingerprint reader, too.There are four rear cameras (Sony IMX689 48-megapixel main, 48-megapixel ultra-wide (120 degree), a 5-megapixel color filter, and an 8-megapixel hybrid camera with digital zoom and optical image stabilization. Around front you’ll find a 16-megapixel camera with Face Unlock capabilities.Other noteworthy features include a 4510mAh battery with wireless charging support – a first for OnePlus, an IP68 rating against water and dust, and support for a whole array of 4G and 5G bands. There’s also Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, Wi-Fi 6, and every other type of connection you can think up.All of this is to say that the OnePlus 8 Pro has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with any other phone on the market. It’s big, it’s beautiful, and it’s as powerful as the day is long.DesignWe’ve reviewed our fair share of OnePlus phones over the years but it has been some time since I personally spent time with one. The last time I had one as a daily driver was the OnePlus 3. Suffice it to say, I fell fast in love with the OnePlus 8 Pro.Removing it from the box, powering it up, and going through the initial steps of setup were fun for me. I might describe it akin to waiting for video game to go through the loading screens on Christmas morning so I can play it.Although it’s rather heavy, there’s no unnecessary bulk. The battery is generous at 4,510mAh and that’s likely a huge chunk of the weight. The screen wraps around to the side edges and it wastes no space with bezels or buttons. It’s all screen. All gorgeous, high resolution, screen that moves at incredibly stunning 120Hz refresh rate.Buttons are a little different for me in that the volume are on the left side while most handsets keep them on the right. Present on the right with the power button is a switch that lets users move between silent, vibrate, and ring modes.The OnePlus 8 Pro is curved, modish, and looks every bit what you’d expect from a flagship phone in 2020. The Glacial Green in our review unit catches light and provides a very muted gradient effect. It might as well vibrate and hum in bright environments for how much it gleams.I’m not wild about the pronounced camera module down the spine as I am always worried about scratching and scuffing them. But, place it in a case and the problem is easily solved.It’s worth mentioning that there is no headphone jack present. If that matters to you, I can’t help you. I’ve slowly come around to the idea that it’s not going to be there in most cases and if it is, it’s a bonus.SoftwareI had forgotten how much I appreciate what OnePlus does for the software experience. While it resembles what you might get from a Pixel phone, you can go a layer deeper with custom enhancements and tools.Users can define settings right out of the box with things like choosing gestures versus buttons or how you want to power button to behave if you hold it down. Instead of the normal menu you can opt to make it trigger Google Assistant, for instance.Play around and you’ll find that you can create a theme that has the precise colors you want for icons and menus, replace the icons, and more. And that’s just the beginning. But, lest you feel like this leads to unwanted bloatware and things that get in the way, I’ll share that it’s all voluntary stuff that’s tucked away in the settings.The OnePlus 8 Pro has a number of cool features that enhance the experience visually, including Adaptive Display, Motion Graphics Smoothing, and Vibrant Color Effect Pro. Each does its part to make pictures and videos look even better with higher contrast and more rich detail.There is very little installed on the OnePlus 8 Pro that isn’t in the standard suite of Google software. Our device came with Netflix and Facebook but that was essentially it. And really, they’re far and away some of the most popular titles that users install on day one.There are a couple of OnePlus apps and settings present but they do serve practical purposes. The Game Space, for example, tunes the phone’s settings to get the best performance possible out of games and keeps notifications from bothering you during gameplay.PerformanceCome on, really? What do you expect when you pair the latest version of Android with the best processor on the market and the most efficient memory available? To say that the OnePlus 8 Pro hums would be selling it short.I’ve thrown everything I can at the phone in my two weeks with it and I’ve yet to see it stutter. And the more I use it, the more I see how it runs circles around my daily driver.Even little things like screen rotation seem to be much smoother and faster. Hopping from app to app? I can’t move quick enough with the navigation and gestures to begin to test it.I’m the first to admit that I don’t game too heavily on phones and often prefer to install casual titles that I can pick up and drop any time. Even those apps install quicker, boot up faster, and look better.Playing a driving game like Asphalt 9 it’s easy to see why people love it so much and why gaming-centric phones are taking off. When you have a screen this big, with a 120Hz refresh rate, and more than enough hardware, it’s a blast.I’ve been a big advocate for Google’s Pixel line since it launched and also carried a few Nexus phones for my day-to-day. I love the simplicity of the UI, the lack of unnecessary software, and the downright best-in-class camera experience.The camera alone is why I have had such a tough time transitioning away from Google’s phones. What it was able to do with its single lens was mind-blowing to say the least. The Pixel 4 took things to a new place with an improved experience but the battery always gave me a bit of pause.The OnePlus 8 Pro is among the first phones in some time where I was content to use it as my daily phone. Normally, I carry my Pixel 4 as my main phone in the event I want to capture something on the fly. The phone I am reviewing usually comes out for sample pictures, but I am usually a bit hesitant to rely on it for candid stuff or action shots.It took me all of a few days to confidently switch my SIM card out and lean on the OnePlus 8 Pro for my needs. As far as the camera goes, I’ve been more than impressed with the results thus far. And in all transparency, I sort of dig the numerous options available and the way in which they’re presented. OnePlus 8 Pro Camera Samples 1 of 6 I also want to call attention to the in-display fingerprint reader. It’s incredibly fast and accurate; it’s how I envisioned it working when the tech was first introduced. Having the thumb symbol and the animation are fun and helpful.ConclusionThe OnePlus 8 Pro is the best phone it has offered up so far. It excites me. Not because it necessarily does something better than others, but because it does what other flagships do at a cheaper price.I need to clarify my position here – I am not advocating for this as the phone solution for all consumers. Many readers do not need this much hardware and they certainly can get away with a much lower-priced and lesser-powered experience. But for those who do want the “latest and greatest”, I submit the OnePlus 8 Pro.If you’ve ever seen the OnePlus brand and wondered if it’s worth looking into, now’s the time. It’s the perfect option for someone who felt burned by the Pixel 4 and doesn’t much care to wait for the successor.If you’ve spent a few years floating around the Samsung galaxy and want to try something new, here’s your chance.I’ve convinced more than a few people to consider the OnePlus line over the years and it seems to get easier with time. It took me very little time to warm to this handset; I’ve already talked friends into it as the next device for their carrier.The OnePlus 8 Pro is available as an unlocked phone for $899.99 or $999.99, depending on the memory and storage, at OnePlus website. Amazon also offers the handset for the same price.

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Before we begin this review, I want to start with a disclaimer: I am not an audiophile. While these earphones are most certainly pointed at audiophiles and those with far more expendable cash than I have, I’m going to bring you my thoughts as a someone who absolutely loves music, but also suffers from tinnitus and cannot pick up on the little things that most audio reviewers rave about.All of that being said, I think this review will come across far more useful for the common users interested in a very high-class pair of earphones.If you really want to boil down the Ultimate Ears 18+ CSX, you could easily say they’re a $1,500 pair of Bluetooth earphones. That’s a massive oversimplification, of course, but you wouldn’t be wrong either.Backing up a bit, Ultimate Ears (UE) is one of the leading companies in high-end audio today. The company has been around for a few decades and was recently acquired by Logitech. Its history of audio excellence, however, extends back to the early days of Custom In-Ear Monitors (ciems).Ciems are earphones that are custom molded to your ear and provide a flat, real representation of what you’re listening to, rather than exaggerated EQs that make music almost unrecognizable.Ciems are not cheap, though you can find far more inexpensive products than the $1,500 18+ CSX. The question is, do you get what you pay for? In a word, yes. The 18+ CSX are the most enjoyable audio experience I have had in the years that I’ve been reviewing audio products. Let me tell you why.Custom Moldingvia UltimateEars.comFirst off, we’re going to start with the “C” in ciems. The UE 18+ CSX are custom molded to your ear canals through a “Fitkit” that the company sends when you order your earphones. The package arrives, you go through the molding process and send it back to the company. Within a few weeks, you have your earphones.The process is quick and, for me, was generally painless. In the Fitkit, you get two sets of molds (small and large), a mirror, and a power adapter.Why the power adapter? Well, the mold you place in your ear is actually going to heat up so it can form to the shape of your ear canal. It doesn’t get too hot, but it does get warm enough to produce an interesting sensation. Once it’s done, it cools down and you now have a custom mold of your ear!The process is guided by an app that you can download for either Android or iOS. I had trouble with the Android app so I used my wife’s iPhone and it worked like a charm. The entire process only took about 20 minutes and I was ready to send the molds off to UE for them to construct my IEMs.Mine took about ten days to get to me after I sent the Fitkit back to UE, which I think is an appropriate turnaround for a high-quality product like this. When you’re dropping this kind of cash, you want it to be perfect the first time.FitIf you’ve never experienced Custom In-Ear Monitors, there’s not a fantastic comparison out there to convey exactly what they feel like. I suppose they’re like a pair of gloves that hold tight to your hands, but don’t restrict your movement.While other earphones may extend further into the ear canal, the UE 18+ CSX are only moderately deep. This is great for comfort and sound quality, but there were times when I did feel like I could shake them out of my ears.If you’re looking for something to take to the gym for an intense workout, you may want to consider a different product or a third party clip to make sure they don’t go flying. During my relaxed exercise, they were perfectly fine.If you have sensitive ears, you may get some fatigue during long listening sessions. I think most people will be fine because I am one of those people with sensitive ears and it took three to four hours of continuous listening before I felt anything remotely close to that.An underappreciated but important-to-me feature about these earphones is that they’re basically flush with my ears. Why would that be important? I love listening to music when I’m laying down. It helps me drift off to sleep and I often read laying on my side with music on. There was no extra pressure on my ears because of the size and shape of the UE 18+ CSX which was an unexpected but wonderful surprise.ConnectivityRemember when I said calling these $1,500 Bluetooth earphones was a massive oversimplification? Well, it definitely is. They’re definitely not just Bluetooth earphones because they’re wired too.The UE 18+ CSX come with a braided 48-inch cable that quickly snaps into place to provide a 3.5 headphone jack plug for your phones that still have a headphone jack. And, yeah, I guess computers, amps and other things that you can plug one of those things into. But, we all listen to music on our phones now right?Unfortunately, the braided cable doesn’t include any inline controls, but it is one of the better cables I’ve come across. It’s very workable and never sticks to a shape, which can be pretty annoying with wires. It’s long enough to reach down into my pocket when plugged into my phone or into my computer when I’m at my desk. Is it the best? No. But, it does the job. You can make the case that if you’re dropping this much money you want something more than “just does the job” and that’d be pretty fair.As for Bluetooth connectivity, there’s an entirely separate wire you plug in for that. It connects to the buds and goes behind your neck like many other Bluetooth earphones out there. It does include an inline control unit that has three buttons and a battery that should get you about four hours of playback from our testing. A battery unit that charges via micro USB attaches via pogo pins to recharge the unit.The battery gives you an additional charge (so about eight hours total) and can be used either as just a battery or while it’s charging as well. More than once I’ve attached the battery unit to the 18+ CSX and left the house. You can also throw it in your pocket and just charge up when you need. Then, when you get home, throw the battery on the charger or the whole unit. It’s pretty flexible, which I really enjoy.SoundAll that’s great, but how do they sound?The first thing you need to keep in mind about In-Ear Monitors are that they’re monitors. Monitors are supposed to give the truest representation of the music you’re listening to without introducing artificial EQ. If you want booming, overemphasized bass, there are other products that will make you much happier. If you want to listen to your music the way the artist intended, you’re on the right path.I have a hard time really explaining the joy that listening to music with these earphones really brings me. I’ve dabbled with some high-end audio products but mostly stay in the shallow end with the Apple Airpods Pro and Sony wh-1000xm3‘s of the world. These are expensive products, but they don’t touch the UE 18+ CSXs.I can only describe the sound stage as broad and wide. You truly have a more natural sense of what the music is supposed to sound like. These don’t invent bass or treble that wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place which makes vocals sound absolutely brilliant. Bass still booms, but its because it’s supposed to boom. Clear instrument separation is a joy and you’ll definitely pick up details in your favorite songs you’ve been missing all these years.There’s no active noise cancellation here, but you really don’t need it. Noise cancellation introduces artifacts through the process of filtering out sound and can negatively affect the audio or give a sense of your head being in a vacuum. The seal in your ears due to the custom molding provides the same noise-cancellation results without any of the negative aspects of ANC.If you’re not terribly impressed with how your earphones sound or you just want to tinker, the UE Custom app has an advanced EQ that will let you dial your sound signature exactly where you want it.You can save custom profiles, but these profiles will only work in Bluetooth mode, unfortunately. We’d love to see UE expand the option to work in wired mode here, but you’re stuck with Android’s EQ settings for now.ConclusionIt’s not hard to say you absolutely get what you pay for here. If you’re slotting these on scale with the $10 earbuds you can get that the corner store and these near the top, you will get diminishing returns once you pass that $300 price but that’s not to say there aren’t value in the UE 18+ CSX.Most people are going to be fine with Airpods; that’s largely why Apple has been so successful with them. We’ve profiled a ton of audio products here on AndroidGuys that will do the job just fine. But, if you’re looking to up your game, these are an excellent place to start.I really love how these sound, and I know that’s a rather bland statement, but it’s true to the feeling. It’s easy to exaggerate when reviewing products, but the word “love” is accurate here. Accurate, much like how these sound. No booming bass that rattles my head for no reason, no cymbals piercing through the vocals to ruin the moment. Just clear, clean, warm music at all times. Wired or wireless.Indeed, $1,500 is a lot of money, and I’m not suggesting everyone run out and buy these. If you’re serious about audio, I think you start your search here and branch out. UE is incredibly successful in the audio game because their products are simply among the best. The UE 18+ CSX are a prime example of the quality of the company and I fully recommend them if you have the money to spare.