Galaxy Z Fold4

The Galaxy Z Fold4 is a unique device that when folded up can be used like a regular smartphone but can also be opened up for a larger tablet or desktop experience. You can also buy a “pen” for the device for writing notes or drawing. One of my biggest questions about these new foldable devices was whether or not the crease can be seen when using it. Although the crease does show when the device is open but the screen is off, once illuminated the crease is not noticeable. Here are some of my favourite features from this mobile phone.

• Fully Functioning Smart Phone on Main Screen – When the device is closed, the front panel is a fully functioning smartphone.

• Larger Experience with Desktop Experience / Tablet Experience – If you want a desktop or tablet experience, the phone opens to create a square tablet like device for a larger viewing area and more functionality like a desktop.

• Chrome Split Screen Mode to have multiple browser windows at once – Multitask with multiple browser windows allowing you to keep track of many things at once.

• Use multiple apps at the same time – Watch a movie or game while responding to texts as well as a third app – This makes it easy to not lose track of what you are working on. Take notes from a browser window while watching a show or texting with a friend.

• S series camera system with 50MP – Zoom in and crop and still maintain high resolution – The camera is very powerful and has such crisp images that you can zoom in and crop and still maintain 12MP images.

Galaxy Z Flip4

The Galaxy Z Flip4 is Samsung’s smaller foldable device. When open it is slightly taller (longer?) than a regular smartphone giving the user more real estate to work with. When folded, the phone can easily fit into a smaller pocket and the light weight is great for those who don’t want a clunky device to carry around. Here are some of my favourite features from this phone.

• Small size is great for tight pockets – Whether you have smaller pockets, tighter pants or just a shirt pocket, this device is the tiniest smartphone when folded. Probably its greatest feature.

• More screen size when open than normal phones – The larger screen size when unfolded gives the user more space on the device to fit their apps and communication tools.

• Front small touchscreen for quick info – You don’t have to open the phone to access all of its features. The small screen on the front of the phone can tell you the time, notifications, control music and record voice notes.

• Crease disappears when image on screen – Just like the Fold4, the Flip4’s fold does not show when the device is in use.

• Flex Mode when open shifts screen to top portion – Use the device like a laptop. Take Zoom calls, selfies, group photos by placing the device on a surface half folded. The screen will cut in half to show the new area of view.

Samsung Watch5 and Watch5 Pro

The Samsung Watch5 and Watch 5 Pro are great for monitoring your health in various ways as well as tracking your workouts. I recently visited the downtown fitness club Sweat and Tonic to take part in a spinning class with Samsung and their new line of watches. We got to test out the watches as well as learn about their features and uses. Here are a few of my favourite takeaways from the event.

• Advanced Sleep Coaching – analyzes sleep patterns and creates a 5-week program with helpful tips and checklists for a better sleep.

• More accurate heart-rate reading – Curved design allows for better readings.

• BIA sensor – reads body fat, skeletal muscle, body water, and basal metabolic rate.

• 1.4 Inch Screen

• Battery life – Pro model has a 590 mAh compared to the 410 mAh of the non pro model.

• Watch5 has a new sapphire crystal display – More scratch resistance and the Pro added a titanium body to increase damage resistance further.

Galaxy Buds2 Pro

The Galaxy Buds2 Pro bluetooth ear buds are best suited for workouts, commuting and working while listening to music. Some of our favourite features include:

• 24bit Hi-Fi sound – for a high quality listening experience.

• Improved noise cancelling – Reduced exterior sound.

• Ergonomic design – improves comfort of the device as well as staying put while making sudden movements.

• 360 degrees audio – for that full surround sound experience.

• Battery Life – Almost 6 hours of battery life with charging storage case adding another 2.5 hours of life.

• IPX7 for submersion in water – Can be submerged up to 1 meter in water for 30 minutes

Visit the Samsung website for more info and to purchase the devices.

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We most recently reviewed the Huawei P20 Pro whose device aimed to be the most competitive and best smartphone camera on the market, and they pretty much achieved that goal. So will their newest device achieve the goal of smartphone supremacy? Let’s take a look.

Huawei Mate20 Pro – The Device

The device measures 157.8 x 72.3 x 8.6 mm, it weighs 189g and comes in black and Twilight (a purple/black pearlescent paint type colourway). More colours will come out soon including Pink Gold, Midnight Blue and Emerald Green. The display is a 16.23 cm (6.39 inch) curved OLED. I have some reservations about curved screens. The first, is that is is easier to accidentally touch the screen in a variety of situations. The other reason is that cases don’t work well with them. Because cases must be designed with the low edge in mind, the convex shape of the screen leaves the display vulnerable. No edges allows for raised case edges protecting the phone from damage. Though I am also not a promoter of good design features taking a back seat to people’s clumsiness. What do you think?

The battery on this phone is a beast. A 4200 mAh pack with definitely get you through the day with moderate to heavy use (severe chronic use not accounted for).

The Triple camera is back! Along with the light the 4 utility backing has changed shape and is now in a square pattern with the light and one camera closer to the top of the device. The 3 rear facing cameras on this device are the main 40MP (27mm, F1.8), the ultra wide-angle 20MP (16mm, F2.2) and the telephoto 8MP (80mm, F2.4). The Front facing camera is a 24 MP (F2.0, FF).

The device comes with 128GB or 256GB of storage with the ability to add a 256 GB nano memory card. It will have 6GB and 8GB of RAM for the 128GB and the 256GB versions. Perfect for all of your movies and songs. Speaking of which, the new dual speakers are at both ends and are covered for more protection and a minimalist design. This does not reduce the quality or power of the sound. We loved them but still prefer front facing speakers like the Google Pixel 2 phones because you don’t cover them when cupping the phones.

What’s in the box?

The contents of the box are the device itself, the SIM pin, a USB -> USB-C cable, a wall plug that requires a USB attachment, headphones with a USB-C jack, a headphone jack to USB-C converter cord. There is no way to attach USB-C to USB-C with the contents of this device. If I want to plug my Huawei Mate20 Pro into my laptop with all USB-C plugs (Macbook Pro), I would have to get another attachment separately. A thin clear gel case also comes with the device.

Huawei Mate20 Pro – The Features

There are a lot of new features on the Huawei Mate20 Pro.

Camera

We already mentioned the 3 rear facing cameras and the front facing camera but these lenses offer up some new features that go beyond the focal length and resolution.

The wide angle lens has a few cool functions. The first is the ability to shoot macro with it, allowing you to get as close as a couple centimetres from your subject. Another feature is the ability to shoot video at 21:9 ratio with the wide angle zoom. Allowing you to catch that real movie feel.

The camera has improved on the AI from the P series phone and now can recognize 1500 scenarios across 25 categories. This is great for those who want great photos without having to go full manual and edit the images after. It will detect what you are shooting and provide the right settings and edits to make it look great. It will automatically fix highlights, shadows, contrast and colours.

The AI Portrait colour mode allows you to select colours in an otherwise black and white image. At our showcase event we were shown the ability to select a subject to be in colour while the rest is in black and white, all while shooting video. This was pretty cool.

Charging

We already mentioned the amazing 4200 mAh battery pack but there are some other exciting features too. The new supercharger allows you to charge your phone from 0% – 70% in 30 minutes using the 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge. The phone also supports wireless charging with the 15W HUAWEI Quick Wireless Charge. Does your friend need a boost? The Huawei Mate20 Pro has REVERSE CHARGING! You can now simply rest your phone against your friend’s phone and charge their phone wirelessly. Your friends will love you.

Biometric Security

A couple new features with the biometric scans. The first is the new facescan unlock that boasts a 0.6 second reaction time and a 1:1,000,000 chance of failure. (we weren’t able to get to a million before writing this to verify).

A feature that I think is great that will rival the Pixel phone fingerprint scanner, is a anywhere on screen fingerprint scanner. With the Huawei Mate20 Pro, you can touch anywhere on the screen to unlock the phone with your fingerprint. During the event we were also shown how two different fingers can unlock two separate users on the same phone. You can have your regular personal phone and then your work phone, all with different apps, layouts and unlocked by different fingers or thumbs.

Huawei Mate20 Pro – Notes

I only had the device for a few days prior to writing this so wasn’t able to get through everything on the device. Here are some extra notes that I may add on as I learn more.

Accessibility

If you want larger text from accessibility settings, it may effect other apps in a negative way. I raised the size just 1 point and my Instagram format was a bit off. Maybe they could turn off these setting for certain apps that don’t support the changes.

Waterproof

The IP 68 waterproofing is great but with the add-on water housing case, you can turn the Huawei Mate20 Pro into an underwater video camera that can go much deeper for a longer period of time. We hope to try this out while on vacation this winter.

Price

The Huawei Mate20 Pro will sell for $1199 in Canada.

*This review was done on the Twilight Huawei Mate20 Pro connected with TELUS.

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The device is similar to its competitors in terms of total size measuring at 151.4 x 71.8 x 8.5 mm 60.0 cm2 with a ~55.2% screen-to-body ratio. The screen has a resolution of 1080 x 1620 pixels with a 3:2 ratio. Having a screen roughly the size of Instagram portrait orientation photos can take getting used to but it did not seem to be that big of an issue for me during testing. This will come down to personal preference. I found Netflix and Youtube a bit weird using such a small “widescreen”.

The cameras on the phone are mid-range quality with two main cameras – 12 MP (f/1.8, 1/2.3″, 1.28µm, dual pixel PDAF) + 12 MP (f/2.6, 1.0µm, PDAF). The video quality is 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps. The front facing camera is an 8 MP (f/2.0, 1.12µm) with 1080p video. In manual mode, the camera allows you to change various settings so that you can be the master of your photos. Manual mode includes manual focus, shutter speeds from 1/8000 to 1/3 seconds, ISO from 100 – 6400 and White Balance from 2000-8000K. You can be sure to have lots of space for your camera with the SD card slot available on the Key2. You will also have a long battery life with its non-removable Li-Ion 3500 mAh battery.

The cost of the Blackberry KEY2 without a contract is $870. That is just $110 less than the Huawei P20 Pro, a far superior phone. But, if you want the full QWERTY keyboard and better security, the KEY2 may be the best option.

There are some cool functions on the Blackberry KEY2 that are worth going over. The first is the shortcuts with the Speed key. By pressing an assigned button on the keyboard and then selecting a key from the keyboard, one can assign a special function to any letter key. That assigned key is then accessed by pressing the shortcut button and the assigned key. This is a great feature to allow very quick access to your common tasks and apps without going back to the home screen. I found this to be a bit redundant with the Convenience Key that is located below the power button and volume. It allows you to assign 3 shortcuts to it, up from 1 on previous versions. The convenience key can have different assignments for different profiles like car profile, meetings profile and home profile.

We have discussed the productivity tab in our Blackberry Motion review but they have now added a widgets tab so that you can quick access them by swiping from the chosen side of the screen. In this productivity tab, you can access recent info, access contacts, messages, tasks and your calendar all in one place. I also found this a bit redundant since Android already has quick ways to access these things from the homepage. Swiping down vs swiping left/right for the settings, for example. It can be useful as a quick look at calendar, mail, messages, etc while using other apps. For me, these are to similar to the already available information in the swipe down from all Androids.

The keyboard has been improved on the Blackberry KEY2. It still doubles as a trackpad but the size of the keys have been increased by 20% which allows for faster typing. The Speed key that allows you to assign buttons to shortcuts takes over the 2nd shift key to the right of the keyboard. You can assign a quick press or a hold to any letter key on the keyboard allowing for many quick shortcuts.

DTEK is a great security app. It gives an overall security rating of your phone and also shows what information is being accessed by what. This allows you to quickly end permissions when something private is made accessible. The locker app allows you to keep content protected from the outside world. Very cool to put apps in there and have it require a fingerprint to access your dating apps or password vault app. For secure browsing of the web, the preloaded Firefox Focus web browser will be sure to keep your device’s content secure. If you want a phone for its security, then the Blackberry Key2 would be a good choice.

For more information on the Blackberry KEY2, check out its website.

Other Notes:

-Headphone jack and earbuds headphones in box.
-Not water resistant
-Slideboard – slide keyboard to access more key options

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The phone has switched to the USB-C jack like the Pixel 1 & 2, the S8, and the new line of Apple computers, the iPhones have not yet upgraded. Unlike these devices, Blackberry has kept the headphone jack, something that may interest those that want to hold on to their cords.

I will mostly compare the Blackberry Motion to these 3 phones as they are the ones I, as well as others, have most likely used the most. The Blackberry Motion though, is a mid range device running Snapdragon 625 chip with 4 GB of RAM / 32 GB Flash. You can also add expandable memory via hot swappable microSD memory card (up to 256GB).

At first touch the phone feels light weight for its larger 5.5 inch display (167g / 5.89 oz) and has a soft textured wavy pinstriped backing that adds to its business allure. The size for me was perfect. I find the iPhones too small and the Pixel 2XL or iPhone + are closer in size to the Blackberry Motion. If you are looking for something in that range, this may be it.

Something I noticed right away on the device was how many permissions you have to give to run apps and other programs on the device. The built in Blackberry apps have multiple levels of permissions each.

You may notice that there is an extra button on the Blackberry motion other than the standard 1x power button and 2x volume buttons. This is a button that can be assigned to whatever the user chooses. It can be set to open any app, speed dial a set number or switch to driving mode in an instant.

A double click of the power button will bring you to the Blackberry Motion camera, a 12 MP rear camera with a f/2.0 aperture, capable of recording 4K video. The front camera has a 8 MP sensor capable of recording 1080p video. A secure camera feature on the phone is called locker mode camera. Photos and videos that are taken with the thumbprint scanner are saved and are only able to be seen with a thumbprint unlock.

The camera also has some good manual mode capabilities. As a photographer, I love when a phone gives me more control of the camera. The Manual mode setting allows you to set the white balance (2000K – 8000K), change the shutter speed (1/3 – 1/8000), change the focal length with a dial (0.08m – infinity) and adjust the ISO (100 – 3000).

The device has also allowed easy control of different volumes. I like to have the options of having different levels for media, alarms, ringers and notifications. I could not find this option on iPhone. Google pixel and pixel 2 have independent volumes for media, ringer and alarm but not notifications.

Flip to mute is a new feature that allows a user to silence a call by flipping the phone onto its face on a flat surface. I don’t see this being a very useful feature. People looking for a phone in a bag may mute it, it has to already be in your hand to flip it so why not just hit the side button? If it is on a table then you have to flip it again to mute? Maybe I am just missing the scenario where this would come into play.

Because android devices still have some kind of back button, many apps do not use swipe to go back. Instagram and twitter on iPhone use left swipe to go back which I prefer to a back button. Can we have both? It is quicker and a more natural movement.

The DTEK security on your Blackberry Motion is a one stop spot to monitor the security of your phone with apps etc. It will scan your apps and permissions, data encryption, developer options, device hardware, factory reset protection, operating system, operating system integrity, remote management, screen lock and trusted app sites before giving you a rating of your overall security.

You will also notice a quick tab on your device that is another way that Blackberry tries to increase its user’s productivity. The tab can get in the way so it is best to turn the opacity all the way down or just hide. The size of the tab and the opacity can both be adjusted.

The Blackberry Motion is not as powerful as the 3 main smartphone competitors, but it is still a really good phone. If you want something a bit cheaper in price ($600), that works very well, aims to improve productivity and takes security seriously, then the Blackberry Motion may be the right phone for you.

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