Table of contents for November 2025 in Tech Advisor

Google has announced its latest Pixel Drop software update, and the headline addition is the shiny new Material 3 Expressive UI coming to older Pixel smartphones. Material 3 Expressive made its debut with the Google Pixel 10 range, and it’s good to see that Google isn’t hanging around before bringing it to the rest of the Pixel family. The company has announced that its new UI is rolling out to every phone in the range from the Pixel 6 onwards, as well as the Pixel Tablet. MATERIAL 3 EXPRESSIVE Google’s new Material 3 Expressive brings a bold new style to Android 16. Its icons are clearer, its key buttons (like the call/hang up button) are bigger, and everything feels just that little bit more intuitive. One new feature I’ve been…

More details concerning Samsung’s new budget tablets, theGalaxyTabA11 and A11+, have appeared online, and they promise an impressive amount of software support. The Galaxy Tab A11 has been heavily leaked in recent months, and now so-called “official renders” of the tablet have been published by Android Headlines (tinyurl.com/5xa5pwfm). They highlight a device that looks a lot like the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 from two years back, this time in fairly drab Grey and Silver colour options. That includes the same single camera module, and the same basic flat‑edged look. We also get confirmation of the key specs for these two tablets. The Galaxy Tab A11+ will have a bigger footprint than its non-Plus brother (257.1x168.7mm versus 211x124.7mm), and will also be heavier (480g versus 335g). However, it’ll also be a…

Price when reviewed: £1,699 This year is the fiercest year for foldables yet, with Oppo, Samsung and Google all serving up incredibly strong entries in their respective book-style folding phone lineups. But now it’s Honor’s turn, and the long-anticipated Magic V5 clearly has its sights set on foldable supremacy. With so much going on in the foldable space this season, Honor has been keen to hold attention; actively promoting the Magic V5 in the months leading up to its launch, touting key features, revealing specs and even granting press and influencers impressively early access to hardware. On the surface, the Magic V5 looks like the most uncompromising foldable of the year, but having lived with the V5 for the last few weeks, can it actually deliver on various lofty promises?…

Price when reviewed: £319 It might have a new (albeit divisive) look, but it’s largely business as usual with the Samsung Galaxy Watch8. We’re in a very strange place with the Samsung Galaxy Watch range. In a sense, Samsung’s smartwatches have never been better, and with four solid options currently available, ranging from the budget-friendly Samsung Galaxy Watch FE to the high-end Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, it’s a great time to be a fan of all things Samsung. The problem is that when viewed up close, very little has changed over the past few years. I absolutely adored the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 when that device came to market with its Wear OS overhaul and a bright future ahead of it, but after having the Samsung Galaxy Watch8 on my wrist…

Google recently announced its Pixel phones would get a load of fancy new AI additions and some tantalizing hardware touches. While this can make a meaningful difference, the best parts of a Pixel tend to be the smaller touches that often aren’t heavily promoted in ads or events. And best of all? Most of those features tend to make their way down to most existing Pixel models – not only the newest, shiniest options. At the time of writing, a slew of those exact types of treasures is sliding its way into Pixel phones near and far. They’re precisely the sorts of underthe-radar, oft-overlooked elements that most Pixel owners never notice, but you’d better believe they can make a big impact on your life, if you take the time to…

As Mark Twain might have said, reports of Sony Xperia’s death have been greatly exaggerated. After the company was forced to deny it was exiting the smartphone market in August, a new model has launched in the form of the mid-range Xperia 10 VII. So, in its time of need, surely Sony has made a phone that will immediately stand out from the crowd? Well, about that. The big design change on the Xperia 10 VII is a new horizontal rear camera module, which adopts a pill shape and extends almost all the way across the back of the phone. Sound familiar? Yes, it’s the same approach that Google has taken on its past two generations of Pixel flagships. Does that make Sony boring for copying the design, or is…

IFA 2025 is a huge tech show which takes place annually in Berlin, Germany, and Tech Advisor is always snooping high and low for the latest and greatest gadgets. Our roving reporters have clocked up more steps than would be considered advisable – their fitness trackers wondering what’s going on – to get hands-on with the best new phones, tablets, smartwatches, robot vacuum cleaners and much more. Just as we did last year, we give awards to only the top devices, the ones we genuinely want to own. Without further ado, here are the Tech Advisor Best of IFA 2025 awards. 1. SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB S11 ULTRA Samsung decided to launch its Galaxy Tab S11 flagship tablets at IFA this year, and the Tab S11 Ultra is undoubtedly the star…

Price when reviewed: £649 When it comes to tablets, there isn’t a shortage of options available. I’m going to assume, given you have landed here, however, that you’ve decided Apple’s extensive iPad range isn’t for you and you’re instead in the market for an Android tablet with a comparable build quality and performance. There isn’t a shortage of those either in the Android tablet world, with brands like OnePlus and Oppo both delivering superb options for less than you’d expect. It’s Samsung that excels at the premium end, however, with not only its flagship Galaxy Tab S10 range, but the Galaxy Tab S10 FE models that sit just below in terms of price but offer many of the same features and similar designs. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ FE has…

In recent years, innovation might’ve slowed when it comes to regular smartphones, but foldables continue to improve at a rapid rate. Since Samsung launched the original Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold in 2020, dozens of different companies have experimented with versions of their own, creating devices that offer some extra benefits compared to standard smartphones. In the case of the modern flip phone, the folding screen enables large handsets to become much more compact, giving you at-a-glance information via a smaller cover screen. Meanwhile, book-style foldables aim to replace both your phone and tablet, with a regular-sized device that opens horizontally to reveal a much larger screen inside. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST FOLDABLE PHONE Unlike the process of picking the best candy-bar style phone for your needs, foldable…

Te world of technology is changing right before our eyes. Case in point: Artificial intelligence is more than just a passing fad, considering how many companies are investing in it, retooling their product offerings, and even redefining their company mission and structure around AI. One company that is in the throes of restructuring around AI is arguably the most famous tech firm in history, with apologies to Apple fans. Microsoft has embedded Copilot AI in almost all of its consumer product offerings, from Bing to Outlook to Windows. Recently, officials even suggested there could be a much more “Agentic AI” Windows OS system by 2030. (Agentic AI is an emerging technology where AI does work on our behalf, without direct human involvement. It means AI can think and act autonomously.)…

Xiaomi and Qualcomm have both taken a bemusing turn in the naming of their next flagship products: the Xiaomi 17 smartphone and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip that will run on it. Let’s start with the Xiaomi 17. Last year’s model was named the Xiaomi 15, and there’s no unlucky element to the number 16 in Chinese culture (that I know of). What gives? Xiaomi president Lu Weibing has issued a Weibo post announcing (via machine translation) that “The allnew Xiaomi 17 series will be released this month.” We also get confirmation that the line-up will consist of the Xiaomi 17, the 17 Pro, and the 17 Pro Max. Interestingly, the executive also confirmed why the number skip. You might have guessed it yourself. “Five years ago, we…

Price when reviewed: £1,199 Google’s smartphones have hit double figures, and the company means business. On paper, the Pixel 10 series is its most accomplished generation yet, fusing ultra-premium hardware with the software polish no other brand can match. Unless you want a foldable, the Pixel 10 Pro XL sits at the top of that lineup. Google has been cautious with its hardware upgrades this time around, focusing on boosting the battery and charging experience. But the company has come out swinging on the software side, with several new and potentially gamechanging features. And, after a week spent using it as my main phone, I’m ready to declare it the best smartphone of 2025 so far. Here’s everything that makes it so good, plus the handful of things that I…

Price when reviewed: £599 The Android tablet market is a competitive space, with many brands trying to re-establish themselves to meet the surge in demand following the pandemic. Samsung dominates sales, as one of the brands that stuck to its tablet plans through thick and thin, rivalling Apple’s commitment to the iPad. But the past few years have seen an increasing number of Android tablets pushing into this space, seeing the tablet market as an opportunity to offer an alternative to a laptop for light work, while delivering a convenient and portable entertainment hub. That’s where we find the Honor MagicPad 3, sitting at the juncture of work and play, looking to offer everything you need in a neat package. While it numerically replaces the Honor MagicPad 2, it’s been…

It’s fair to say that artificial intelligence on smartphones has been a mixed bag so far. For every feature that’s worked as advertised, there’s been another that’s been frustratingly unreliable. And while some companies offer a comprehensive suite of features, others are weirdly limited. Google has been one of the firms leading the way for a while, adding useful AI functionality to its Pixel phones all the time. However, most of these require you to go looking for them, which can be a time-consuming and confusing process. As someone who tests phones for a living, I make a point of trying out all the new AI features on handsets, but it doesn’t tend to stick. After publishing my reviews, I just go right back to using the device as I…