Gadget Trend and Reviews

September is the month for a big, big 8 – your pick of the brand new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 or Apple's iPhone 8 Plus. Both are pretty fab phablets . The Galaxy Note 8 extends the Galaxy S8's design philosophy to a slightly larger display and packs in the S Pen stylus – and unlike last year's Note, none of them have exploded (yet). Meanwhile, the iPhone 8 Plus makes modest improvements and alterations to last year's winning iPhone 7 Plus, bringing in some nice perks to Apple's previous best handset. However, it's overshadowed by the forthcoming iPhone X. Still, if you're not compelled to splash out £999+ on a smartphone and want to 'only' spend between £799 and £869 instead, then this is a showdown worth considering. Here's our take on which big phone to get, now that we've properly reviewed both handsets. Design: Note this We could almost cut and paste the design showdown from our recent Galaxy Note 8 vs iPhone 7

The market for a flagship smartphone in 2017 is almost entirely dominated by Apple and Samsung. Apple has sold over 1 billion iPhones over the last decade, and Samsung’s devices are the most popular in the world, with designs that are starting to approach Apple’s quality. And yet, other than rumblings from Google, the rest of the smartphone market has been divvied up between companies trying to make the best, cheapest phones they can. Unlike most other upstart smartphone manufactures, Essential thinks its newest device can go toe-to-toe with these heavyweights. Earlier this summer, the startup launched by Andy Rubin, the creator of the Android operating system, unveiled his vision for the modern smartphone. It’s one that focuses heavily on design and modularity. Quartz spent the last few weeks with the Essential phone, to get an understanding of what living with it is like, and whether it’s different enough to make Apple or Samsung acolytes abandon their paths and think d

Vivo has launched a brand new selfie-centric smartphone called the V7+, which succeeds the V5 Plus (Review). The company has done away with the secondary front camera in favour of a single one with a higher resolution. However, Vivo has gone beyond just the front camera, adding an 18:9 display to keep up with today’s trends. Rs. 21,990 is an interesting price point as there are only a few good options worth considering here, so there is plenty of opportunity for Vivo. Let’s see if the company has done a compelling enough job with the V7+. Vivo V7+ design and build quality The phone is built well and is slim and light. With a depth of just 7.7mm, it’s comfortable enough to carry around in your pocket and the ergonomics are good so it’s easy to grip. It has a plastic back, although it does look like metal from afar. The fit and finish is nice and Vivo has added some chrome accents around the top and bottom edges of the phone to give it some aesthetic appeal. The 3.5mm headp

HIGHLIGHTS Lenovo K8 launched at Rs. 10,499 It will be an offline exclusive smartphone It is now available to buy Lenovo, after launching the K8 Note and K8 Plus, has now launched the third K8-series smartphone, the K8. As expected, the Lenovo K8 is the lowest specced smartphone in the series, and is priced at Rs. 10,499. Unlike the other two Lenovo K8-series smartphones, the all-new Lenovo K8 was announced via Twitter. The smartphone will be an offline-exclusive and is now available to buy via retail stores. The Lenovo K8 is the only smartphone in the series which doesn't sport a dual camera setup. At the back, there's a 13-megapixel single sensor with PDAF and LED flash. To compare, the Lenovo K8 Note sports a 13-megapixel primary sensor along with a 5-megapixel depth sensor, which allows the smartphone to capture depth-of-field effects. The K8 Plus also comes with a similar dual camera setup. The Lenovo K8 is powered by an octa-core Mediatek Helio P20 proce

Xiaomi is seemingly working on the next device in the Redmi Note series, the Redmi Note 5. Specs of the next device in Xiaomi’s successful Redmi Note line-up have been leaked, suggesting that the Chinese smartphone maker will be launching two variants of the Redmi Note 5 Apart from the processor, the Redmi Note 5 leaks also suggest that Xiaomi may be bringing dual camera setup to the Redmi line-up for the first time. While the new leaks are all hinting at a very good upgrade from the Readmi 4 Xiaomi may still not increase the price of the Redmi Note 5. Snapdragon 660 in the budget segment for the first time One of the major talking points of the new Redmi Note 5 specs leak is the processor. According to the latest set of leaks, the Redmi Note 5 is expected to be powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, bringing upper mid-range specs to the budget segment for the first time. These leaks come as a surprise, given Xiaomi’s penchant to use Snapdragon 625 ch

It's never fun being the second child, is it? That's how the iPhone 8 must be feeling after the release of the iPhone X. The phone is coming to the shop shelves later this week, and with pre-orders already open this is the phone that many will be looking at if they're thinking of getting a new iPhone, but can't stomach the thought of spending a huge amount on a flagship device. The iPhone 8 is basically the iPhone 7S, coming with a slight upgrade to the internals and some improved hardware on the outside to make it the affordable upgrade for those coming from the iPhone 6S – or those who held onto the iPhone 6 as long as they could. iPhone 8 release date and price The iPhone 8 is going to be a far more palatable choice for those looking to spend a 'normal' amount on a phone, with the price not rising much from last year. The iPhone 8 price starts at $699 / £699 / AU$1,079 for the 64GB variant, while the larger, 256GB version is $849 / £849 /