Build Your Own Headphones

The gym can be pretty distracting. With the slamming of weights and pieces of equipment, loud music blasting through the speakers, and plain old grunting, it can be challenging to focus on your workout. However, with your just your phone, you can not only eliminate these distr ...more

After years of struggling, it appears BlackBerry has finally figured out how to update its iconic design for modern times. The BlackBerry KEY2 pays homage to past devices such as the Bold 9000 while adapting to modern times with the Android OS. The result is a device that migh ...more

With much of the hype centered around its powerful cameras, it's easy to overlook the equally impressive audio capabilities of the Galaxy S9. After all, the S9 and S9+ are the first Samsung flagships to feature AKG-tuned stereo speakers, and that's not even mentioning all the ...more

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (or Galaxy Note8, depending on how you like it) is one phone which couldn't possibly have bigger shoes to fill. Samsung's latest flagship has officially been announced, so it's time to decide whether not it's capable of filing the void left by the fai ...more

Apple caught a lot of flak for removing the headphone jack in their iPhone 7 models, but they definitely got the last laugh when preorders with a delivery date of September 16 sold out within minutes. Headphone jack or not, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are still highly desirable pr ...more

Smartphone manufacturers do their best to keep you tied down to their ecosystem, but the reality is that there's not much keeping you from switching. Transfer some files, install a few apps here and there, and all of a sudden, you're knee-deep in a new operating system. Don't ...more

Whether I'm in my car or making dinner, I always have music playing. And since I don't like to keep my headphones on me at all times, I end up using my Android's built-in speakers a good portion of the time. Companies like HTC know how much people use their phone's speakers, ...more

Even though the Music app took a backseat during Apple's initial iOS 14 announcements, there's a lot going on in the updated app. Some of the new features and changes apply only to Apple Music subscribers, while others apply to your own music library, so there's something for ...more

Apple's scheduled to show off the first look of iOS 13 at WWDC 2019 on June 3, but what will the new operating system hold for iPhone? Rumors suggest that many features initially planned for iOS 12 will show up in iOS 13, codenamed "Yukon," and dark mode will be the big ticket ...more

You can mod every aspect of your phone's software with root, but if you want to make changes at the hardware level, you'll need a custom kernel. If you've looked into custom kernels before, one name undoubtedly kept coming up: ElementalX. It's easily the best custom kernel out ...more

Your iPhone is full of features, many of which you might not even know about yet. Still, Apple keeps adding feature after feature with each new iOS update, and iOS 14.5 is no exception. The latest iOS version adds at least 69 features for your iPhone that you should be happy a ...more

I consider myself a master of emoji, crafting complete sentences and paragraphs using strictly ideograms and smileys. However, everyone seems to have their own interpretation for each little image, so my elaborately clever emoji-only sentences can get lost in translation. But ...more

For audiophiles, few smartphones come close to LG flagship devices. With either the latest G series or V series phone, you can be sure you're getting the best audio experience of any smartphone thanks to Quad DACs and headphone jacks. And with some tinkering, you can make this ...more

So, someone on your shopping list has an iPhone. Lucky for you, Apple's line of smartphones are practically made for accessories. From AirPods to adapters, there's something for every iPhone user in your life. Are you feeling overwhelmed by the options? You've come to the righ ...more

My autistic son loves music. One afternoon, when he was nine, I downloaded GarageBand to his iPhone to help with the boredom of a long wait at a doctor's office. Instead of pacing or escalating into a meltdown, he spent the entire hour and a half practicing, learning, and comp ...more

Though more well known for their OLED displays and advanced cameras, Galaxy phones like the S8, Note 10 & 10+ and S10 series are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to audio. In fact, flagships from the S9 on up feature AKG-tuned stereo speakers, along with a slew of sof ...more

Augmented reality wearables maker ThirdEye Gen, Inc. has officially released what it claims are the "smallest mixed reality glasses" in the X2, which will be available for hands-on demonstrations at the company's CES 2019 booth this week. The sequel to the X1 model, the X2 pa ...more

There's never been a better time for streaming videos on your phone. With so many options available (including a potential mobile-only Netflix tier) and so many new smartphones having large screens, there's a good chance you know someone who mainly use their phone for videos. ...more

It's that time of year again. No, not Thanksgiving. Black Friday. There are a lot deals available this holiday weekend, many of which include flagship Android devices. Whether you are thinking of buying a phone for yourself or looking for a gift for someone else, you can find ...more

When OnePlus announced the 5T, many were disappointed that it wasn't shipping with Android Oreo. To curb some of this disappointment, OnePlus quickly introduced an open beta for both the 5 and 5T and promised that each would receive the official version by Q1 2018. Well today, ...more

Augmented reality is beginning to leak out into the mainstream world. This is thanks, in part, to ARKit and ARCore. These releases turned the current smartphones owned by millions of Apple and Android users into AR-capable machines. And while there are definitely some awesome ...more

The LG V30 is an amazing device that will contend for best smartphone of 2017. It has all the major features you'd expect from a high-end flagship, and it even includes what's become a rare commodity these days — a headphone jack. However, for the purists out there, the LG UX ...more

In the music world, it's safe to say electric instruments are more versatile, but they lack the portability of their acoustic counterparts. However, with the aid of your smartphone plus an audio interface, you can play your electric instrument anywhere — with all the pedal eff ...more

Dolby may have made a lot of Android users angry by only offering their Atmos surround sound equalizer to Lenovo and Amazon, but we all know that exclusivity is only temporary in the Android world. Thanks to worstenbrood, we now have a ported version that can be installed on a ...more

Chances are your hearing isn't the same as the person next to you. Personally, I have moderate hearing loss, so I tend to turn the volume nob towards the loud side. For others, it may be that one ear is slightly better or worse than the other, not only in perceiving volume, bu ...more

BoomSound has spoiled me when listening to music on my HTC One M8, but when someone comes into my room, it can be a hassle trying to quickly pause or mute my music. While you could already control your music with volume buttons, voice commands, swipe gestures, and hand moveme ...more

Electronic devices seem to have an uncanny ability to make noise at the worst possible times. It's always during an important meeting, a quiet study session at the library, or a biology final that your laptop or smartphone decides to play some obnoxious or embarrassing sound. ...more

There are over 38 million people who wear contact lenses in the United States, but nearly a quarter of those never replace their contact lens case. If you're one of those folks, you probably have a drawer full of empty, unused lens cases in your home. Start putting them to goo ...more

Eavesdropping from a distance can be tricky because it usually requires some sort of bug or transmitter. It's easy to transmit audio through lasers, but you can also use lasers to build a microphone that picks up audio from a distance. LucidScience built the Laser Spy System f ...more

Along with the release of the new iPhone 5, Apple has introduced EarPods, which now replace the soon-to-be-defunct EarBuds. For three years, Apple has been testing the EarPods with users to try and find the most secure fitting, best sounding headphones for that price range. Lo ...more

In 1958, Patrick Flanagan invented the Neurophone, a device patented in 1962 that allows radio signals to be picked up by the human nervous system. The skin is the organ that receives the signal, converting it into a modulated molecular vibration, which the brain interprets in ...more

Adobe Audition, Audacity, and other audio editing software have tools to isolate vocals and instruments in regular songs so that you can get an instrumental track for karaoke, vocals for an a capella version, or solo drums, bass, keys, etc. that you can use to learn the song y ...more

UPDATE: The OnePlus 8 Pro has been released! Check it out on the official OnePlus website or read through the rumored specs we've left below for posterity. Even though OnePlus no longer uses the motto, they still embody the spirit of "Flagship Killer." OnePlus is known for of ...more

Many people don't realize much better audio can sound on their phones. While it's solid to begin with, Samsung has included several options in the Galaxy Note 10+ that will upgrade your listening experience to profound status. While sound quality is somewhat subjective, there ...more

Apple released iOS 13.0 on Sept. 19 and announced on the same day the release of iOS 13.1 on Sept. 30. But that deadline was pushed up to Sept. 24, and that's why we have 13.1 just five days after 13.0. But that's good news since we don't have to wait any longer for some of th ...more

Smartphone technology has become as ubiquitous as automobiles. In Austin, Texas, a city that is widely known as the "Live Music Capital of the World," smartphones have been embraced by the music community not just as a way to document and promote, but to create music. A rock ...more

Comparing the present-day states of the consumer and enterprise sectors of augmented reality is like evaluating the merits of sports car versus work trucks. Like consumer AR, sports cars are sexy and exciting, but perhaps a bit impractical at times. On the other hand, enterpri ...more

With the rapid demise of the 3.5 mm headphone jack, Bluetooth is fast becoming our best option for universal audio. The problem is, with over a decade of it being a standard component, many of us still own a reliable pair of wired headphones that we don't want to gather dust. ...more

Rooting. As an Android user, I'm sure you've heard the word once or twice. According to Kaspersky, 7.6% of all Android users root — but for the 92.4% who don't, we wanted to talk to you. Rooting allows you to remove barriers and open Android to a level of unprecedented contro ...more

For almost a decade, projector phones have tried to entice consumers with their convenience as media machines. While these devices are alluring, they've never really taken off with mainstream success. The latest effort, Moviphone, sounds tempting if you watch a lot of films an ...more

It's official — the newest version of Google's mobile operating system is called Android 8.0 Oreo, and it's in the process of rolling out to many different devices. Oreo has plenty of changes in store, ranging from revamped looks to under-the-hood improvements, so there's tons ...more

What happens when a entrepeneur/theme park creator and special effects artist/magician team up? You get a team crazy enough to create the first true virtual reality theme park (sorry, Six Flags). They only have a single experience so far, but it's already taken a giant leap be ...more

Brand loyalty is one of the main factors behind our decision to choose a particular mobile device, but it doesn't have to be the entire equation. Educated consumers know that certain devices simply fit their budget and usage better than others, which means you can't always let ...more

When it comes to automation apps on Android, Tasker is still the king of the hill. For a price of $2.99 on the Google Play Store, it's a great buy for any would-be tinkerer that would like to get into automating actions on their Android device. Then, when you consider that the ...more

You may know the traditional way to take a screenshot on your iPhone, but it may not be the best action for your needs. There are faster ways to capture an image of your iPhone's screen, methods for capturing overlays and other elements that won't show in regular screenshots, ...more

Apple has four iPhone models for the remaining months of 2020, but the most impressive ones are the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. While the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini are great smartphones, the "Pro" models offer more advanced features, especially for photographers an ...more

In the case of Apple Watch v. Fitbit, the winner comes down to the judge at hand. Apple currently offers two smartwatches — the Series 5 and the Series 3 — while Fitbit offers three models — the Fitbit Versa 2, Fitbit Ionic, and Fitbit Versa Lite. Whatever your assumptions abo ...more

A company whose sole product line is smartphones might be worried about early proclamations that the smartphone is dead with the advent of augmented reality wearables. So it isn't too surprising that smartphone maker Vivo has produced its own take on consumer-grade smartglass ...more

Android's settings menu is actually pretty daunting. There are options for nearly everything, so in the sea of various menus and submenus, it's easy to overlook important privacy and security settings. On Google's Pixel phones in particular, there are 20 such settings that you ...more

Later this week, Black Friday will mark the start to the holiday shopping season, but if you're buying for a Magic Leap One owner, you can buy their ideal gift now. On Monday, Sennheiser fulfilled the September announcement of its partnership with Magic Leap with the release ...more

In the waning days of October, at the Innovation Tokyo 2018 conference, attendees got their hands on some of the new augmented reality experiences that Niantic is working on through its Real World Platform. Among the experiences available to the 12,000 attendees who visited t ...more

The next big iOS version for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch was revealed by Apple at WWDC 2018 and dropped for everyone on Sept. 17, 2018, less than a week after Apple revealed the new iPhone lineup. We've rounded up all the big picture items and secret features and changes we c ...more

One of Android's biggest strengths is its flexibility. There's usually more than one way to perform the same task, which makes it easy to find an alternate method that works better for you. Android also has some hidden features that newer users might not be aware of, so we mad ...more

If you have multiple Bluetooth accessories, Android's volume system can be pretty annoying. For one thing, most phones reset to a "Safe Volume Level" every time you reconnect a pair of headphones, which means you'll probably need to turn up the volume once or twice a day. But ...more

All across the country, retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart are gearing up for their Black Friday sales. Brick and mortar stores are already packed to the brim with inventory in anticipation of the craziness that will strike as soon as the doors open the day after Tha ...more

If you just can't wait to see the Pixel and Pixel XL, the new Google-branded smartphones expected to be announced tomorrow, you're in luck. After weeks of rumors and blurry images, a smartphone sales company called Carphone Warehouse just accidentally dropped the entire ball. ...more

A lot of folks complain about the extra features Samsung adds to Android, but while there are some benefits to the slimmer stock Android, the TouchWiz firmware on Galaxy devices definitely has its own advantages. Your phone creates a personalized equalizer based on your actua ...more

The Galaxy S6 Edge comes with a very nice pair of earbuds, which might possibly be the best set I've ever owned. They're quite comfortable, and they provide clear and robust sound, but they could still use just a little boost in volume. If you've found that your Galaxy S6 Edg ...more

The HTC One has proven to be the industry standard in mobile audio performance. With BoomSound and Harman/Kardon technology backing its front-facing speakers, there is no doubt that every other flagship out there pales in comparison. Despite this, HTC didn't include a decent e ...more

Samsung's Galaxy devices, for all the grief they get about supposed "bloatware", offer quite a few functional features that are not included in stock Android. From "Air Gestures" to a handy "Smart Alert" notification reminder, many of these features are more than just the late ...more