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2016 was another year where, for the most part, it was hard to pick a bad smartphone. Sure, the Galaxy Note 7 was an exploding disaster, and as we predicted the LG G5 was a disappointment, but we saw plenty of other fantastic options from manufacturers both big and small. It also seemed like phone makers in 2016 were listening to consumer feedback and improving their designs to include more features and make fewer trade-offs, and that was a good trend to see. And yet my quest for the  perfect  handset continues. Some phones came close – I loved the Google Pixel XL and the Galaxy S7 was pretty good, too – but nothing was without fault. I still caught manufacturers packing weak batteries in their most powerful phones, while loading out their budget options with massive batteries. I still struggled to use some horrendous software distributions, even though stock Android is available for all to implement. And I still saw phones that failed to include key features, like ...

A quick and easy way to use an app without downloading it During its annual  I/O developers’ conference  last year, one of the more interesting announcements to come from Google was the Instant Apps feature, which allows users to run certain parts of Android apps even when they aren’t installed on their smartphones. Instant Apps are like smaller versions of native Android apps that run instantly when you tap their URL, no installation needed. Once it’s closed, the app disappears from your phone leaving no icons on the home screen - though it does stay in your cache for a few hours in case you want to open the link again. Now, Google has announced it is now opening up “a few” Instant Apps for limited testing. The company is looking to collect user feedback on a selection of applications from the likes of Buzzfeed, Wish, Periscope, and Viki. "By collecting user feedback and iterating on the product, we’ll be able to expand the experience to mo...

The Federal Trade Commission has reached a  settlement  with Breathometer Inc., makers of the portable  Breathometer  that found success on both  Indiegogo  and Shark Tank, regarding the product’s ability to accurately measure users’ blood alcohol content (BAC). As per the settlement, the FTC has barred Breathometer and its founder and CEO Charles Michael Yim from making future accuracy claims for a consumer breathalyzer product unless its claims are backed up by rigorous testing. The company also agreed to notify everyone that purchased a Breathometer product and offer a full refund. According to the complaint, sales of the company’s two devices – the Breathometer Original and Breathometer Breeze – totaled $5.1 million. The original Breathometer was designed to plug into your smartphone’s headphone jack while the Breeze connected wirelessly via Bluetooth. Both devices were touted as being able to accurately measure the blood-alcohol ...

Google I/O 2017 is set to take place between May 17th and May 19th at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, the same location as last year's developer-focused event. Like previous Google I/Os, we can expect to receive new information about Google's initiatives at the event, including the future of Android, Home, Wear and more. Rather than announcing this information in a traditional fashion, Google instead created an elaborate puzzle that developers would have to solve before the details of Google I/O were revealed. This puzzle, which was released through a GitHub repository, was split into five parts and involved coordinates and a chess board. Around the world, from here to there, to the most clever minds, the secret will share. #googledevs #savethedate https://t.co/0zwCbSLzVy pic.twitter.com/0O2vNDWZx2 — Google Developers (@googledevs) January...

Of all the products I’ve used from Chinese OEMs, those from Meizu always struck me as the most polished. While Meizu largely focuses on their home market, their smartphones are typically quite usable in Western territories, with near-perfect English localization. Better yet, Meizu employs a Xiaomi-like pricing structure such that most of their phones are aggressively priced for the hardware you get. The Pro 6 Plus is the highest-end smartphone currently sold by Meizu. It’s a true flagship, featuring the same Exynos SoC as seen in the Samsung Galaxy S7 , a large 5.7-inch 1440p AMOLED display, and a beautiful aluminium unibody chassis. Even the camera, a 12-megapixel sensor with OIS and laser autofocus, is similar to what we see in high-end devices from Samsung, Google and Huawei. Despite packing top-end specifications, the Meizu Pro 6 Plus is an affordable handset in China, retailing for just CNY 2,999 (approximately US$430). It may cost a bit more than this to ...

Upcoming Windows 10 update reduces spying, but Microsoft is still mum on which data it specifically collects Facebook There’s some good news for privacy-minded individuals who haven’t been fond of Microsoft’s data collection policy with Windows 10. When the upcoming Creators Update drops this spring, it will overhaul Microsoft’s data collection policies. Terry Myerson, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, has published a  blog post with a list of the changes Microsoft will be making. First, Microsoft has launched a new web-based privacy dashboard with the goal of giving people an easy, one-stop location for controlling how much data Microsoft collects. Your...

Facebook Uber, the San Francisco ride-sharing company, has been in the news of late over its game of chicken with the city of San Francisco over a $150 license fee for self-driving vehicles (which it lost) and for losing an estimated $3 billion dollars in 2016. Now the company has been fined $20 million by the FTC for its predatory lending practices and its exaggerated claims about driver pay. “Many consumers sign up to drive for Uber, but they shouldn’t be taken for a ride about their earnings potential or the cost of financing a car through Uber,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “This settlement will put millions of dollars back in Uber drivers’ pockets.” The FTC fined the ...