Table of contents for 114 in Android Advisor

REVIEWS Price: £1,749 from fave.co/3saQfpp The new Samsung phone folds in half, again. We've been here before. I am spoiled as I have access to a lot of new phones, but the Z Fold5 is the fifth book-style folding phone from Samsung since 2019 – and things are feeling rather familiar. This is a device that looks and feels like the Z Fold4 and even the Z Fold3, but it remains the best book-style folding phone you can get despite the increased competition from the likes of the Google Pixel Fold, Huawei Mate X3 and Vivo X Fold2. Samsung's software is the key. It's the best on the market thanks to app formatting, useful flexibility and S Pen input compatibility. You should still ask yourself if you really need a…

REVIEWS Price: £499 from fave.co/44mTlEe Those of a certain vintage will hear the name ‘HTC’ and think back wistfully to the early days of the smartphone revolution, when the Taiwanese manufacturer seemed like the only one capable of taking the fight to Apple. The company is a much diminished force these days, having flogged much of its smartphone business to Google and shifted its focus to VR with the Vive headsets. HTC still maintains a minor interest in the smartphone business, however, and the HTC U23 Pro makes for a surprising and interesting new mid-range contender. DESIGN HTC used to be renowned for its envelope-pushing smartphone design work, but the HTC U23 Pro is gunning for cost-effective dependability. Its flat plastic rim, plastic back, and flat display don't exactly resurrect…

AUDIO Price: £259 from fave.co/45ugXI2 Sony has struck another blow in the noise-cancelling battle with its latest true wireless flagship headphone, the £259 WF-1000XM5. Sony took some of the advanced technologies from its WH-1000XM5 over-the-ear headphone and coupled them with a huge number refinements. Are those advances enough for Sony's WF-1000XM5 to dethrone the Bose QuietComfort II as our top pick of in-ear noise-cancelling headphones? I found the default voicing to be tonally balanced from top to bottom, rendering good dynamics, decent midrange clarity and a detailed top end. UPGRADES Sony's WF-1000-series has ranked consistently among our top choices for true wireless noise-cancelling headphones, and the WF-1000XM5 is well worth the modest £10 premium over the previous generation (the WF-1000XM4). Four key areas differentiate the WF-1000XM5 from that earlier product.…

FEATURE Google's Pixel phones are practically overflowing with useful stuff. And some of the best options of all are things you've probably never even noticed. That's true for the Pixel's core Android software as well as its Google-made apps – everything from the excellent calling-related features in the Pixel Phone app to the expanded array of advanced options in Google Assistant on Pixels. It's even true in apps that seem so basic and utilitarian, you'd never think they had anything interesting lurking in their dusty virtual corners. Today, it's time to explore one such app – the seemingly mundane Pixel Clock app that came pre-installed on your phone. The Clock app may appear to be a simple spot for setting an alarm or timer, but don't let yourself be fooled:…

Price: £699 from fave.co/3sjJ920 Having first launched a modern foldable phone back in 2019, Motorola is one of the more experienced manufacturers in this area of the mobile market. For 2023, the Razr is back again with a new design and an attractive price. The 2023 Razr is a range of two models for the first time and in most markets, the regular edition is called the Razr 40 in an attempt to tie the phones in with the Motorola Edge 40 series. There's also the Razr 40 Ultra we've already reviewed (Android Advisor 113). I've been testing the Razr 40 (which is what I'll be calling it) for a while and although it has a smaller outer screen compared to the Ultra along with a few spec downgrades, it's…

REVIEWS Price: £999 from fave.co/45efmGL While it was the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 foldable mobiles that got the most attention at the latest Unpacked event, Samsung also released its new family of lavish tablets in the Galaxy Tab S series. There are three to choose from again, with size being the main difference. The Galaxy Tab S9, S9+ and S9 Ultra are lavish and equipped with elite features. It's really only Samsung that challenges Apple's iPad models in the highest class of tablets. PERFORMANCE How does it compare to Apple's top tablets? In some ways better, in others it is clearly behind. Obviously, the processor and performance. While the iPad Pro has laptop performance with the M2 processor, the Galaxy Tab S9 series is powered…

AUDIO Price: £79 from fave.co/3OZQyfP There's a lot to like about Anker's new Soundcore Liberty 4 NC true wireless noise-cancelling earbuds: well-balanced sound, terrific user tools, stylish design, and an attractive £79 price tag at a time when the best-in-class competition cost three times as much. On the downside, you'll need to make sure the buds’ silicone tips seal your ear canals extra tight to kickstart their noise suppression circuitry. And to avoid disappointment, don't take Soundcore's bold “up to 98.5 percent noise reduction” claims too seriously; the operative words here are ‘up to’. DESIGN Anker has fast become a serious player in the wireless earbuds space, with more than a dozen models. Its Soundcore Liberty 4 NC keeps the momentum going as a value entry with features both brand…

REVIEWS Price: £199 from fave.co/45UpYun What might otherwise have been an unremarkable budget-friendly smartphone from Nokia is rendered more interesting by its repairability. You can crack the case of the phone and switch out the screen, battery and charging port using tools and parts provided by iFixit. It's not Nokia's first response to the raft of right-to-repair laws that have arrived across Europe and the US, with the cheaper, lower performance Nokia G22 already available, but it's certainly the most interesting, as it mixes performance, battery life, and the ability to rip out that battery should it fail. DESIGN It's a 2023 smartphone, you know what it looks like. The major defining external feature of the G42 is its purple back, which is extremely distinctive and almost a shame to…

BUYING GUIDE One of the main things to consider when buying a smartphone – especially one that costs close to £1,000 – is the quality of its cameras. In one short decade, phones and social media have destroyed the cheap digital camera market, and we now take pictures at every event and post them on the internet, for better or worse. Thankfully, phone cameras are exceptionally good these days. If you want to find the best phone camera then you've come to the right place. We fully test and review all the latest high-end, mid-range and budget phones on the market, and camera quality is one of the main factors in deciding their final scores. The very best smartphone cameras are inevitably found on the more expensive devices, but you…

FEATURE Your Android phone has a littleknown superpower – a futuristic system for bridging the physical world around you and the digital universe on your device. It's one of Google's best-kept secrets. And it can save you tons of time and effort. It's called Google Lens, and it's been lurking around on Android and quietly getting more and more capable for years. Google doesn't make a big deal about it, weirdly enough, and you really have to go out of your way to even realize it exists. But once you uncover it, well, you'll feel like you have a magic wand in your pocket. At its core, Google Lens is best described as a search engine for the real world. It uses artificial intelligence to identify text and objects both…