Android Advisor Issue 14 2015

8/20/2019 Android Advisor Issue 14 2015

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ANDROIDADVISOR

LATEST SMARTPHONE, TABLET AND APP REVIEWS

14SSUE

NEXUS PHONE

Coming soon from Google

NEW

LG G4 - is this the best newphone of 2015?

PLUS

ANDROID M


2/1082 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 14

Welcome...I

t's that time of year again when Google lets us

know exactly what it's got in store for Android.

Google I/O was scheduled to run just after we

went to press with this issue, and on the following

pages we examine exactly what we should expect.

It's more than likely we'll get a first glimpse at the

forthcoming Android M OS (page 15), and although

it may be too early for I/O we're already hearing

rumours of a new Nexus phone for 2015 (page 9).

But as well as looking at what's to come, we're

celebrating what we've already got. We had big

hopes for the finally announced LG G4, but is it

another flagship killer? Find out on page 58.

When you're at home you probably switch toa Wi-Fi- rather than mobile connection for getting

online on your Android phone or tablet. It really bugs

us that in order to get Wi-Fi we also have to pay for a

phone line we never use. But do we? We investigate

the alternatives to ADSL on page 26.

If you are using a mobile connection, and

particularly a 4G connection, you might be

wondering about those advertised high speeds.

It's fast, sure, but there's an important difference

between 4G and LTE. If you're not getting the

speeds you expect we explain why not on page 39.

As always, we hope you’ve enjoyed this issue of

Android Advisor. Feel free to send us your feedback

via facebook.com/AndroidAdvisorUK or email

[email protected].


3/108ISSUE 14 • ANDROID ADVISOR 3

GOOGLE I/O:

What to expect

Google's annual conference runs at the end of May.What will the Android maker bring to the table in 2015?

Google I/O will be held at Moscone West

Convention Center in San Francisco from

28- to 29 May. We take a look at what to

expect from Google in 2015 including Android M,

Google Glass 2.0, Project Ara and more.

Android M

One of the most obvious things to expect this year

from Google is a new version of Android. Following

the alphabetical list of sweet deserts, this version will

begin with the letter M (place your bets for the name

now). Don't be expecting a big new version, though:



Android M is likely to be 5.1 and bring along new

features and tweaks. After all, 5.0 Lollipop was the

big overhaul with the Material Design.

As to when Android M will arrive is unclear, but

it's likely to be during the summer and in the second

half of the year. The first time we're likely to hear

about it from Google is at Google I/O.

Google Glass 2.0Whether or not you think Google Glass is a passing

fad, we could well see a new version this year.

Google closed the Explorer Program on 19 January



so you can no longer purchase the Explorer Edition,

but that's not the end of the wearable gadget.

Google has confirmed that it is "continuing to build

for the future, and you’ll start to see future versionsof Glass when they’re ready". According to the Wall

Street Journal, we'll see a new version this year that

will use an Intel chip. And at Google I/O we could get

some more details.

Google Glass was first introduced at Google I/O,

so this year's conference seems like the perfect time

and place to unveil the new version – even if it is in a

prototype stage of development.

Android Silver/Nexus

A grey area is Android Silver, which is Google's

supposed scheme for creating Android devices

under a set of requirements, a bit like Ultrabooks.

This would mean any manufacturing partner to make

a smartphone or tablet within the rules would get the

Android Silver branding. Google has not confirmed

plans for this and recent reports claim it's been

scrapped due to a lack of interest from partners.

It's also unclear whether Android Silver will

replace the Nexus range of devices. That Google will



continue with Nexus is more likely, and as we'll see

on page 9 we're expecting to see at least one new

Nexus phone (and likely a tablet or phablet) this year.

Project Ara

One thing we can definitely expect for 2015 is

Project Ara, Google's modular smartphone concept.

It will allow you to upgrade individual parts of the

phone such as the camera or processor in a plug-

and-play fashion. There is some competition in this

area, but eyes are on Google to lead the way.

"Project Ara is a development effort, not an offi cial

Google product. Consequently, we don’t have a

market launch date. However, we’re working toward

a limited market pilot in 2015," said Google on its

website for the project.

Android TV and Android Auto

Google spent some of its 2014 I/O conferencetalking about Android TV and Android Auto, versions

of the OS for the living room and the car. We expect

to see the firm push on with these in 2015 as



Android TV replaces the failed Google TV. Sets from

Sony, Sharp and Philips will come with Android TV

this year. We expect to see some set-top boxes, too.

It might take a little longer to see Android Auto

integration, as this is still a new area for this kind

of tech. However, big strides are set to take place

in 2015. For example, we saw Parrot announce theRNB6 at CES, which is both Android Auto- and Apple

CarPlay ready – it's due to launch later this year.

Android Wear

For a while it seemed as though Google would

introduce an update to the Android Wear OS for

smartwatches at I/O 2015, but it didn't wait for May

and instead got out its update out there around the

time of the rival Apple Watch launch. The 'Diamond'

update brings various new features, including Wi-Fi

support, new gestures and emojis.

That news doesn't mean we won't hear about

Android Wear at Google I/O 2015, though. It's likely

we'll hear about what the firm plans to do next and

we could even see new devices at the conference.



We're hoping Google will launch its own Nexus-

branded smartwatch.

Child-friendly products and servicesAccording to a report by USA Today, Google is

looking to launch child-friendly versions of its

products and services this year. We're talking kids

aged 12 and under. This should mean new versions

of Chrome and YouTube at least.

"The big motivator inside the company is

everyone is having kids, so there's a push to change

our products to be fun and safe for children," said

Pavni Diwanji, vice president of engineering.



NEW NEXUS PHONE:

Google's plans for 2015Nexus fans not so keen on phablets will be pleased tolearn talk of a new Nexus phone is of a Nexus 5!

Google unveils a new Nexus phone every

year, and a 2015 Nexus phone is already

in the works. But with the names Nexus 4,

Nexus 5, Nexus 6 and Nexus 7 already in use, what

exactly will we get in 2015? We examine the rumours

surrounding what should be the new Nexus 5 2015.

In October 2014 Google announced its Nexus 6

phone. It was expected to go on sale in November,

but it was actually getting on for Christmas before

stock was available.

People were desperate to get their hands on

the new Nexus 6, despite the fact it was possibly



Google's most unexciting phone launched yet. Sure,

it had the brand-new Lollipop OS and some powerful

hardware inside, but for many customers the 5.96in

Quad HD display was simply too big, while the £499price no longer offered such brilliant value as did the

previous Nexus 5 and Nexus 4.

Google noticed the difference in its Q1 2015

earnings call, too. While takings were up 23 percent

YOY from Google Play, revenue was down 3 percent

compared to the previous quarter, and the Nexus 6

hadn't been nearly as successful as previous Nexus

devices. It's possible that the 2014 Google phone

was simply priced too high to garner the same kind

of mass appeal as did the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5.

And those phones really were killer Google

phones, with the Nexus 4 announced in 2012 with

an unbelieveably low SIM-free price of £239, and

in October 2013 the Nexus 5 followed that tradition

with unrivalled value for money at £299.



“

”

Early rumours suggest Google is

in talks with both LG and Huawei for itsnew Nexus phone

That's the Nexus 4, Nexus 5 and Nexus 6

covered. Meanwhile, the Nexus 7, which was last

refreshed way back in 2013, is still one of the best-

value 7in tablets around (the Nexus 9 and Nexus10 are larger tablets). Google no longer offi cially

stocks the Nexus 7, but you can still get your hands

on one online, and for not much more than £100.

What will the new Nexus phone be called?

With only the Nexus 8 model name going spare,

Google's either going to have to start refreshing its

existing product lines, adding the year as it did withthe second-gen Nexus 7, or go down the Apple route

with the addition of an 'S'. Perhaps in 2015 we'll get a

new Nexus 5s, or a new Nexus 6s.

…Or both. Since early rumours circulating on the

web suggest Google is in talks with both LG and

Huawei for its new Nexus phone (which LG has now

confirmed, saying the new Nexus phone is "under

consideration at LG"). It's possible that we'll see both

a new phone and a new tablet, or maybe

a new phone and a new phablet, with LG making

one device and Huawei the other.

LG, of course, made the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5,

while Motorola made the Nexus 6, Asus made the

Nexus 7, HTC made the Nexus 9 and Samsung the

Nexus 10. Huawei, meanwhile, has just launched



“

”

Google might return to its previous tack:

high-end devices with mid-range prices

a very interesting, very good-value phablet in the

Huawei P8 max, alongside its flagship Huawei

P8. It's possible, then, that we'll see a new Nexus

5 2015 from LG and a new Nexus 6 2015 fromHuawei, although most sources online suggest there

will simply be a new Nexus 5, and it's up in the air

whether LG or Huawei will make it.

When is the new Nexus 5 coming out?

Google I/O 2015 will be held at the end of May

2015, and it's then that we'll get our first glimpse of

Android M, the OS that will run on the new Nexus

phone(s). Following tradition, though, the new Nexusphone(s) won't be unveiled until later in the year, and

most likely October, alongside the final version of the

new Android OS. We expect Google would like to

get the new Nexus device(s) on sale in November.

In terms of pricing, until we know the exact

specification, we can merely speculate. The Nexus

line is known for its value, and we really can't see

Google taking prices any higher than its £499 Nexus

6. Much more likely, given the findings of its Q1 2015

earnings call, is that it will return to its previous tack:

high-end devices with mid-range prices.

The fact it's in talks with Huawei is very

interesting. Huawei is a Chinese manufacturer that

makes devices with specs to rival the big brands

such as Apple and Samsung, but at significantly



lower prices. It's one of the better-known Chinese

phone makers in the UK, and in the first quarter of

this year in China itself it was second only to Xiaomi

in terms of market share. Both are more popular overthere than Apple and Samsung, with Xiaomi taking

14 percent of the market and Huawei 11 percent,

according to IHS Technology.

If Huawei is to build the next Nexus phone, we

could see the price fall right back down to around

£300- to £350. However, if Huawei is in charge,

we're really hoping availability won't become an

issue once again: the P8 and P8 max should have

gone on sale in the UK on 15 April, but in early May

were still impossible to find on sale.

What to expect from the new Nexus 5

Concept images of a new Nexus 5 2015 have been

posted on Google+ by designer Miqdad Halim.

These feature both an LG Nexus 5 2015 and a



Samsung Nexus 5 2015. Halim lists some specs

below each concept, although you should take them

with a pinch of salt. Both suggest there will be a

5.2in full-HD screen, an octa-core processor and a

13Mp rear camera.

A more convincing leak is the phone used in

Google's own promo video for Project Fi, from which

the pictures in this article were taken. It's clearly nota Nexus 6, despite the fact that is the only available

handset that works with Project Fi right now, so

could it be a Huawei-made Nexus phone?

It's impossible to tell what specification a Huawei-

made Nexus 5 or Nexus 6 might carry, but based

on its recent P8 and P8 max launch we're going to

guess that there will be a 5.2in full-HD display, 3GB

of RAM, 13- and 5Mp cameras, and a Kirin- rather

than Qualcomm octa-core processor. It'll be a 4G

phone and, fingers crossed, since this will be a

Chinese phone, potentially dual-SIM - are we about

to see dual-SIM make real inroads in the UK?

Alternatively, if Google opts to work with LG once

again, we could very well see another Quad HD

display, as was seen on the Motorola-made Nexus 6.



ANDROID M:

What we want to see

We've got a list of fixes and new features for you,pretty please, Google

Android 5.0 Lollipop is now in use on many

smartphones and tablets, but we're future-

thinking and here's what we want to see in

Android M, which we expect Google to give us the

first glimpse of this month.

Better performance

Android Lollipop supports 64-bit and uses the

Android runtime instead of Dalvik, therefore offering

improved performance over previous versions, but

we don't want Google to stop there – and we're

pretty sure it won't.



Modern smart devices such as phones and tablet

are brilliant but the hardware inside them means

that battery life is always a struggle. Project Volta

in Android Lollipop improves things, but we wantmore. Whether it's a software or hardware thing, or a

combination of both, we don't really care.

Synched notifications

If you own multiple devices (not necessarily all

running the same OS), such as a smartphone and

a tablet, you'll probably get annoyed at dismissing

notifications you've already seen and to which

you have responded. We get frustrated when we

respond to an email on a phone only to be told

about it again when we then pick up a tablet. Add

other devices into the mix, such as a smartwatch,

and it's notification overload.

What we want are notifications that dismiss

themselves once they've been seen on one of yourlogged-in devices. Cross-platform, too.

Better parental controls

Android, unlike iOS, allows you to have multiple

accounts on the same device. This is a great feature



“

”

Customisable gestures would allowyou to set gestures for the features that

matter most to you

and means parents can set up accounts for their

children. Using a restricted account gives the ability

to restrict access to certain apps and content, but

we'd like some more advanced tools such as timelimits and the ability to shut off access to any app

or feature, not just those for which developers

have chosen to allow it. It would also be good to be

able to switch off in-app purchases or Google Play

purchases to avoid the sting of an unexpected bill.

Clever gestures

Android has all sorts of clever features and tricks,but Google's manufacturing partners have proved

that there's more you can do with a touchscreen

than simply swipe to unlock. LG, with the G2,

implemented smart gestures such as KnockON

allowing users to switchon and off the screen with

a double-tap. Others have copied this and added

more, allowing you to quick-launch features even

when the screen is off.

It's this kind of thing we'd like to see in stock

Android, and preferably customisable so you can

set gestures for the features that matter most to you.

More customisation

Open-source Android is highly customisable, but

there's one particular area of Lollipop that's bolted



down and doesn't need to be. The Quick Settings

menu (when you pull down the notification bar a

second time) shows handy functions such as Wi-Fi,

Bluetooth, location and mobile data. Why can't itshow what we want it to show?

Ultra power saving

We've seen many Android device makers create

their own ultra power-saving modes that can,

typically speaking, get around 24 hours of life from

10 percent of battery. This is achieved by switching

to a simple greyscale interface, switching off power-

hungry Wi-Fi and giving access only to basic features

such as the dialer and messages.

While you'll find it in various guises, it's not a part

of stock Android, and we think it should be.

Enterprise

Google needs to make it possible and easy to

manage and secure a fleet of Android handsets in

order to maintain its position in the mobile market.



COMING SOON:

Samsung Galaxy S6 ActiveIt's the Galaxy S6 but tougher, and it features

an SD card slot and a removable battery

Samsung's brilliant Samsung Galaxy S6 will be

joined by a number of smartphone variants,

including the Samsung Galaxy Edge, Samsung

Galaxy S6 mini and Samsung Galaxy S6 Active.

Here we round up the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

rumours, including new leaked photos.

Will there be a Samsung Galaxy S6 Active?

The first mention of a Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

came from a user on Reddit, who claims to have

spoken to a Samsung rep who says there will indeed

be a Samsung Galaxy S6 Active. More recently,

Sammobile's various reports suggest the S6 Active

does indeed exist, having passed the Bluetooth



certification and been spotted in the Indian import

listings. And it's been spotted in AT&T's inventory.

Perhaps the clearest evidence of the Samsung

Galaxy S6 Active's existence comes from Samsungitself, however. On Samsung's own site the S6 Active

is among those devices listed as being eligible for its

US Samsung Plus points scheme.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 Active was announced

in May 2014, two months after the standard

Samsung Galaxy S5. Expect to see the same with

the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active. (Our Reddit tipster

also claims it'll get a mid-summer release.)

S6 Active specification

According to Sammobile, the S6 Active will have

many of the same specifications as the Samsung

Galaxy S6, with a 5.1in Quad-HD Super AMOLED

display, Android 5.0 Lollipop, octa-core Exynos

7420 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internalstorage, and 16- and 5Mp rear- and primary cameras.

It will be slightly larger at 73.6x146.9x8.8mm,

allowing for a more capacious 3500mAh battery.

According to the aforementioned Reddit tip, the

Samsung Galaxy S6 Active will also get the microSD

card support missing from the S6. However, it will

lose the heart-rate monitor and fingerprint scanner,

and the camera will be downgraded.

That goes against recently leaked photos

purporting to be the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active,

however, which show that although there's no

fingerprint scanner, there is the same rear camera

and heart-rate sensor at the back as on the standard

Samsung Galaxy S6. The speakers have also been

moved to the back.



COMING SOON:

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 2Samsung's high-end iPad-rivalling Tab S tablets

are due a refresh any day now

Successors to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S

8.4 and 10.5 tablets have leaked as the

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 2 8in and 9.7in.

Here's everything we know.

When is the Tab S 2 coming out?

According to Sammobile the Galaxy Tab S 2 8in

and 9.7in will be released in the UK in June. The

new Tabs will also go on sale worldwide, including

the US, Canada, European markets, China, Latin

America, Hong Kong, Korea and India.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab S line-up are high-end

tablets that are firmly pitched as Apple iPad Air 2

and iPad mini 3 rivals. We reckon we'll see the same



again in 2015, which means prices starting at £319

for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 2 8in and £399 for the

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 2 9.7in.

What to expect from the Tab S 2

Sammobile has leaked specifications for the

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 2 8in and 9.7in tablets, which

use the model numbers SM-T710 and SM-T810

respectively. The leaked image at the top of the

previous page also shows the Tab S 2 looking like a

larger version of the Galaxy A5 phone. However, the

leaker says the Galaxy Tab S 2 9.7 will be inspired by

the Galaxy S6 and will be around 5.8-5.9mm thick.

The tablets will be very similar to each other,

with the main difference being a new metal frame

and their screen size. While both screens have

been slightly reduced over the 8.4- and 10.5in of

the original Samsung Galaxy Tab S tablets, they

have also switched to a 4:3 aspect ratio and theresolution has been reduced from 2560x1600

pixels to 2048x1536 pixels. The reduction in screen

size means the drop in pixel density isn't as great

as you might expect, and you're unlikely to notice

the difference between the old (359ppi) and new

(320ppi) compact Tab S, and old (288ppi) and new

(264ppi) large-screen Tab S. As before, they will

use Super AMOLED panels.

Inside Sammobile says you'll find a Samsung

Exynos 5433 processor (although this may be

upgraded to the Exynos 7420 before the Tab S

2's release, given that the tablets will run Android

Lollipop and therefore support 64-bit processing).

There will also be 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage

(plus up to 128GB via microSD).



A tablet with the model name SM-T815, which is

likely the cellular version of the Samsung Galaxy

Tab S 2 9.7in, has shown up in the GFXBench 3

database. According to the information held there,the processor is a 1.9GHz octa-core model using an

ARM Mali-T760 MP6 GPU.

Cat 6 LTE connectivity is rumoured to feature (we

expect this will be optional, adding around £100 to

the price), and there will be 3580- and 5870mAH

batteries on the small and large models respectively.

Both tablets will feature an 8Mp camera at the rear

and 2.1Mp at the front.

The new Samsung tablets are slimmer and

lighter than their Apple rivals, with the Tab S 2

8in measuring 198.2x134.5x5.4mm and weighing

260g, and the larger Tab S 2 9.7in measuring

237.1x168.8x5.4mm and weighing 407g. By

comparison, the 331g iPad mini 3 and 437g iPad

Air 2 are 7.5- and 6.1mm thick respectively.



Google makes mobile sites

more app-likeChrome push notifications are coming, with eBayand Facebook soon taking advantage of the feature

Google has taken a big step in its efforts to

make mobile websites act more like native

applications on Android smartphones by

adding notifications to its browser.One of the most convincing arguments for

building an application instead of a website has

been the ability to send notifications to users.

Google is hoping to narrow that advantage by

adding the feature to v42 of Chrome for Android.

As a result, Android developers no longer have

to decide between the engagement potential of a

native app and the reach of a mobile website.

For users, the notifications will look and act as

those sent from applications. They still show up

in the notification tray, but a click takes users to a

website instead of an app. Users still have to opt in

before a website can send them any messages.

Early adopters in the coming weeks will include

eBay, Facebook and Pinterest, according to Google.



What notifications offer was a major theme at

a recent event organised by the Online News

Association in London. While they offer the

opportunity to engage more closely with users, theyare also the easiest way to get them to uninstall an

app if not done right. It’s important to be upfront with

how many notifications will be sent and what they

will cover, and then stick to that.

Companies such as Roost and Mobify are

providing services that aim to make it easier for

developers to integrate push notifications with

their sites. The former allows companies to use its

dashboard, its APIs and its WordPress plug-in to

send notifications to Chrome users on Windows,

Mac, and now Android, it said in a blog post.

This upgrade is part of a larger effort by Google

to make mobile-optimised websites look more like

installed apps when using Chrome. The upgraded

version also lets developers add a pop-up bannerthat users can click on to add the site to their home

screen. Other changes include full offl ine support,

and access to device capabilities such as the camera

and geolocation.



HOW TO GETBROADBAND

WITHOUT A

LANDLINEWhy pay £17 a month for a phone line you never use?



“

”

So why do we still pay £17 a monthfor a landline that few of us use and even

fewer actually need?

You want broadband, but you don’t need a

phone line. Sound familiar? Fortunately, there

are ways to get your internet fix without

paying BT’s monthly fee. This feature explains howyou can have broadband without a phone line.

Alternatives to traditional ADSL promise

broadband connections without also demanding

that you sign up for a phone line you may well

never use. Shop carefully, though, as while such

connections are often faster, they aren’t always as

cheap as you might expect.

Landlines are so last century. If you’re anythinglike us, you’ll make most of your calls on your

mobile phone, and other than that you’ll use email,

WhatsApp, Hangouts and instant messaging to keep

in touch with friends and family. Video calling is easy

and – even better – it no longer requires thousands

of pounds worth of kit to make it happen, so you can

talk to distant relatives using nothing more than your

voice and a cheap smartphone or tablet.

So why do we still pay £17 a month for a landline

that few of us use and even fewer actually need?

Doesn’t it feel like a waste of money to be paying for

it on top of your monthly broadband subscription?

Isn’t it a con that you can’t get online with most of

the headline broadband providers without being

forced to pay for a hardly used voice line on top?



You can stop paying for your landline right away –

so long as you’re happy to change your broadband

provider. If you’re not tied into an ongoing contract

that imposes penalties for ducking out early, youshould look again at the alternatives to traditional

ADSL. We’re talking satellite, fibre to the house,

cable and the ever expanding 4G wireless network.

As we’ll show here, it’s easy to get online without

signing up to ADSL. However, before jumping

straight in, think carefully about your needs – and

about the overall costs too. Some people may well

be better off with an ADSL broadband deal that

includes a monthly line rental charge.

Satellite broadband

Ten years ago, satellite broadband would have been

your only option if you lived far away from a major

conurbation, but as access by traditional means has

got faster and more comprehensive it’s now just oneof several choices for most of us.



“

”

Eutelsat champions satellite broadband asone of the cleanest means of communication

The technology behind it isn’t particularly new,

with Eutelsat launching its broadband-enabled

e-BIRD satellite in 2003. Built by Boeing and

launched on the back of an Ariane rocket, e-BIRD

was designed to fly for a decade, but it’s still going

strong and provides satellite broadband to Turkey,

Greenland, and a whole swathe of Europe in

between, Britain included.

Eutelsat champions satellite broadband as one of

the cleanest means of communication. The satellites

themselves work off solar power, there’s no need to

build expensive and polluting infrastructure on the

ground – exchanges, cables and the like – and thelaunch procedure, potentially the most damaging

part of the whole process, creates about the same

amount of carbon pollution as a single jumbo jet

flight from one side of the US to the other.

Eutelsat sells its services under the Tooway

brand through a range of distributors. To sign up,

you’ll need to navigate a fairly Byzantine pricing

structure that takes both usage and speed into

account. At the budget end, Avonline Broadband’s

entry-level service gets you 2GB of data, with

downloads maxing out at 5Mb/s and uploads at

1Mb/s. It’s a 24-month contract, with the first three

months charged at £9.99 and the remainder at

£19.95 a month. Neither the speeds nor the cap

compare favourably with a lot of regular ADSL.



Avonline’s most popular package is a 25GB

bundle with uncapped overnight downloads, which

would make it worthwhile sitting up to grab your

iPlayer programmes outside of peak. Or you can optfor uncapped email and browsing round the clock

for £74.95 a month, with a 100GB cap on other data,

such as streamed media.

Multiply those prices by 24 months to find out

what it’ll cost you over a standard contract and

you’re looking at £448 at the lower end, rising to

£1,798 for the gold standard. You’ll need to add on

either £5 a month to rent the necessary hardware

(or £275 to buy it outright), £100 for installation (or

£10 a month for 12 months if you want to pay it off

over the first year) and £49.95 if you want to cut your

commitment from 24 months to 12. All in all, it works

out rather expensive when compared to ADSL and a

landline combined.

For example, ignoring any introductory deals,

Plusnet’s unlimited broadband and calls package,

with download speeds of up to 17Mb/s and free

weekend calls, costs £9.99 a month plus £15.95 line

rental for a 12-month term. That’s £311 over your first



“

”

Satellite broadband is still struggling to competein the speed-versus-value equation

year, plus installation at £49.99, giving a grand total

of £361 without the need to pay ongoing costs for

equipment rental. Upgrading to Plusnet’s 18-month

fibre contract with speeds touching 40Mb/s at best

ups the annual cost to £371.28 (£14.99 a month for

the broadband and £15.95 monthly line rental) and

commits you to 18 months of service. Again, there’s

an installation fee of £49.99 to consider, but that still

pegs the overall cost at £421 for the first year, and

£371 for each subsequent year.

That’s bad news for satellite broadband. While

it might save you the cost of a landline you’ll neveruse, unless you live in one of the increasingly rare

spots where reliable broadband still isn’t an option,

satellite is struggling to compete in the speed versus

value equation.

Cable

You could be forgiven for thinking that the UK

has just one cable provider – Virgin Media – but

in fact we have two. WightFibre remains the only

standalone cable-co in Britain, and the only cable

option for subscribers on the Isle of Wight.

It offers speeds of 30 to 152Mb/s for between

£22.50 and £37.50 a month without line rental (£270

to £450 a year, plus an additional installation fee of

£30 for the cheaper of those), although right now it’s



offering broadband for free for the first 12 months if

you pay £15.30 a month for a landline. That reduces

the cost to a flat £183.60 for up to 152Mb/s.

If you’re not on the Isle of Wight, none of thesedeals applies, so you’ll have to look to Virgin

Media instead. Its regular ADSL service is available

nationwide, but we’re interested in the cable service,

which doesn’t yet boast national coverage and isn’t

ever likely to do so. If you’ve spotted service plates

in the street bearing the acronym CATV, there’s a

good chance you’re living in a cabled area, but enter

your postcode at store.virginmedia.com to be sure.

If you’re not yet covered, you can click 'Cable My

Street' to add support for a roll-out in your direction.

Virgin Media’s ‘slowest’ connections start at

50Mb/s (£28.50 a month, £342 annually) and top

out at a WightFibre-matching 152Mb/s (£41 a month,

£492 annually). None of them requires a landline and

there’s no fee for the installation of hardware, either.However, signing up for a landline does reduce the

cost of the broadband.

For example, 152Mb/s broadband without a

landline costs £41 a month and ties you in for 12

months for a total cost of £492. Add a landline and



“

”

Virgin Media's cable packages don't demandyou pay for a landline, but doing so will reduce

the cost of the broadband

the contract extends to 18 months, but the cost

of your broadband drops to £24.50 for the first 12

months and £30 thereafter. You need to add on

£16.99 a month for the landline rental, but there’s stillno fee for installation, so the overall cost is £779.92.

The saving you’d make over the same period by not

taking the landline is therefore a little less than £40.

How does that compare to BT’s superfast Infinity

service? Assuming that you have coverage (you

can check at tinyurl.com/c3ntbwq to see whether

superfast Infinity is available in your area), its

Unlimited BT Infinity 2 + Weekend Calls optionincluding free BT Sport and 50GB of cloud storage

costs £25 a month for the broadband, plus £16.99

monthly line rental, for a total year one cost of

£503.88. Add the one-off £6.95 charge for delivering

a HomeHub and the total’s around £10 more than

Virgin Media is charging for a faster pipe without the

bundled phone line.

4G

Cellular connections are by far the most flexible

option, as you can take them with you wherever

you go. Just be wary of the fact that, as Britain’s 4G

roll-out remains incomplete, performance will vary

from place to place and you may well find yourself

stepping back to slower 3G.



Relish is a dedicated 4G broadband provider

serving central London and London Docklands. It

claims that no-one else has as much 4G spectrum as

it does, nor as much capacity. So if you live or work

in its area, it’s a tempting proposition, not least on

account of its competitive prices.

There’s no setup fee, just one speed – up to50Mb/s – and one price, which is £20 a month

whether you sign up for one month or 12. The only

inducement to tying yourself into an annual contract

is the upfront cost of the 4G router, which is £50 on

monthly pay as you go, but waived on the 12-month

package. Pay upfront, then, and your first year of

coverage is £240, all in, with no restrictions on how

much data you use.

EE’s 4GEE service works beyond this limited

swathe of the capital, offering 3G and 4G coverage

nationwide (subject to network propagation). There

are three hardware options: Buzzard 2, which plugs

into a car socket for broadband on the move, and

Osprey or Kite, which are more traditional pocket-

sized wireless 4G routers.



“

”

Beware of quickly eating few your monthlydata allowance when relying on 4G

Contracts on each of these options run for one

month or two years, with the upfront costs being

lower on the longer-term deals.

There are also two levels of service: 4GEE for lightusers and 4GEE Extra for heavy users.

Opt for the smart Apple TV-like Osprey router on

the entry-level 4GEE service and it’s £10 a month

for 1GB of data, £15 a month for 3GB and an upfront

cost of £19.99 on the 1GB, two-year deal. The router

is free if you sign up to £15 a month for two years,

but if you sign up for just a month you’ll be looking

at a £39.99 bill for the router before you’ve even got

online, whichever package you choose.

None of these prices is extortionate when you

consider the convenience of being able to create

a Wi-Fi hotspot wherever and whenever you need

(you can connect up to 10 devices to Osprey

simultaneously), with a two-year commitment to

the 3GB bundle tipping the scales at just £360 – or

£180 a year. Beware, though, that with a few catch-

up downloads, some music streaming and a bit

of YouTube action, you’ll quickly eat through your

monthly allowance.

You might accordingly want to look at 4GEE Extra

instead, which offers bundles of 15GB, 25GB and

50GB for £20, £30 and £50 a month respectively,

each on 24-month contracts. These come closer



“

”

Perhaps the most exciting of all the currentoptions is fibre to the building

to matching entry-level ADSL connections, but the

convenience of being able to hook up wherever

you find yourself comes at a price. That £50 deal for

the top-end data pack means you’ll end up paying£1,200 over the course of the contract, which is

more than most ADSL plus landline combos.

Fibre to the building

Perhaps the most exciting of all the current options

is fibre to the building. We’re not talking about BT

Infinity or Virgin Media here, but a dedicated fibre

line running directly to your router.

Hyperoptic offers synchronous connections of

1Gb/s flat-out. That means there’s no difference in

the speed of uploads and downloads as there is with

ADSL, and you shouldn’t see any degradation in the

speed of the service as you move away from the

connection point either.

Prices start at £29 a month for the first six months,

and £60 a month thereafter, but you can step down

to 100Mb/s for £17 a month for the first six months

(£35 a month thereafter), or 20Mb/s for £10 a month

for the first six months (£22 a month thereafter). In

each case, there’s a £40 connection fee to add on

top, but the £200 installation fee is waived.

At the top end of the scale, then, you’re looking

at a year one cost of £574; that’s roughly what you’d



be paying for the 152Mb/s deal available from Virgin

Media and slightly more than BT’s fibre-based Infinity

service, while enjoying far higher speeds. The mid-

range package, which in speed terms sits betweenwhat BT and Virgin Media offer, costs a total of £352

in the first year and £310 a year thereafter, which is

excellent value for money.

But there is a catch. Because it’s building its own

fibre network, Hyperoptic is concentrating on multi-

dwelling buildings and, as it explains on its website,

if your building is within its catchment area, and

enough residents show support by registering for

it online, then the company can connect you to its

‘future-proof full-fibre network’.

Its service is currently installed in 100,000 homes

spread across 1,000 buildings, and if yours is among

them you’ll already know. If it’s not, and you live in a

block of flats, your best bet is to enter your postcode

at hyperoptic.com, fill in the form to register yourinterest in the service and get your neighbours to do

the same. If you live in a terrace, semi or detached

house, though, don’t get your hopes up just yet.

Are landlines a necessary evil?

So it’s not as clear-cut as you might think. Yes, a lot

of us are paying for landlines we don’t use, and that

hurts, but the alternatives aren’t always better value.

Fibre to the home is the fastest option since

it’s 21st century technology all the way from the

exchange to your router, rather than fibre to the

cabinet in your street, and limiting copper from

there to your house. Cable has better coverage, and

again it’s faster than ADSL at present, but it’s not

been rolled out nationwide.



“

”

For many of us traditional ADSLis the only practical option

And then there’s 4G, which can’t be beaten

for convenience. But you may find the data caps

restrictive and the coverage variable.

Which brings us back to traditional ADSL. For

many of us it’s the only practical option, which

means we’re stuck with the landline charge. By

splitting it out from the headline cost of their

broadband deals, though, Britain’s ISPs aren’t

exactly helping themselves. Yes, it’s great to be able

to advertise a £5.99 broadband package – until you

hit the customer with an extra £16.70 a month that

they’d rather not pay. If there is no option but to

cough up for the service, then the advertised cost inthis case should be £22.69, not sub-£6.

It doesn’t make the charge any easier to swallow,

but you can at least console yourself with the

thought that your landline fee is paying to maintain

the line from your house to the nearest box on

the street, which the fee for a traditional ADSL

contract almost certainly isn’t. In that respect you

can think of it as a digital standing charge, like the

one you pay to hook up your home to the National

Grid, the gas lines and the water supply – or, indeed,

the road tax you pay to drive your car.

It’s an investment in the national infrastructure,

and as such it probably ought to be renamed.

Perhaps then paying the fee will feel less like

you're being fleeced.



4G vs LTE: Why you're

not getting true 4G speed4G isn't the same thing as LTE. We explain the differencebetween the two mobile technologies

4G, LTE, LTE-A, carrier aggregation. It’s all

tech nonsense if you don’t understand what

the jargon means. Here we’ll explain the

differences between 4G and LTE so you’re better

equipped to choose not only the best phone, but

also the best tariff for you.

There are a lot of decisions to make when getting

a new phone. Along with deciding which handset is

best, you might also have to choose a new tariff, and

that’s a complex business in itself.

4G is the latest buzzword you’ll hear or come

across, but what exactly is 4G? Is it the same as LTE?



In a word, no, but phone manufacturers and mobile

operators love to use them interchangeably, and

tend to further muddy the waters with dumbed-down

marketing materials.We’ll explain everything you need to know about

4G, the speeds you can expect to get, and how to

choose a phone and tariff that’s right for you.

What is 4G?

The International Telecommunications Union-Radio

(ITU-R) is the United Nations offi cial agency for all

kind of information and communication technologies.

It decided on the spec for the 4G standard in 2008.

It decided that the peak download speeds for 4G

should be 100Mb/s for high mobility devices, such as

when you’re using a phone in a car or on a train.

When a mobile device is stationary, the ITU-R

decided that 4G should be able to deliver speeds up

to around 1Gb/s.



So if true 4G is supposed to offer us download

speeds of up to 1Gb/s, why are we getting 100 times

less than that in the UK, at around 10- to 12Mb/s in

real-world speeds?Unfortunately, the ITU-R doesn’t control the

standard’s implementation, which led to first-

generation technologies like LTE being criticised for

not being true 4G.

The reason for this is that other groups (3GPP

is one example) that work with the technology

companies who develop the hardware had already

decided on the next-generation technologies,

leaving us with substandard 4G capabilities.

What is LTE?

Though originally marketed as 4G technology, LTE

(Long Term Evolution) didn’t satisfy the technical

requirements outlined by the ITU-R, meaning that

many early tariffs sold as 4G weren’t 4G at all.



However, on account of marketing pressures

and the significant advances that LTE brings to 3G

technologies, the ITU subsequently decided that LTE

could be called 4G technology.So LTE is a first-generation 4G technology that

should theoretically be able to reach speeds of

around 100Mb/s. Unfortunately, Ofcom reports that

the UK average for LTE is around 15.1Mb/s. While

that’s around twice the speed of an average 3G

connection, it’s a long way off the theoretical top

speed of LTE.

As well as lacking in overall download speed, LTE

is deficient in uplink spectral effi ciency and speed.

Uplink spectral effi ciency refers to the effi ciency of

the rate at which data is uploaded and transmitted

from your smartphone.

LTE falls short of true 4G capacity mainly because

of the lack of carrier aggregation and because

phones don’t have many antennas. MIMO (Multiple



Input Multiple Output) is a practical technique for

sending and receiving more than one data signal on

the same channel at the same time by using more

than one antenna.With better carrier aggregation and MIMO, we can

head towards a new standard: LTE Advanced. This is

also known as ‘true’ 4G.

Imagine playing a PlayStation 3 when you could

be playing a PlayStation 4. The PS3 isn’t necessarily

too slow to use, but you’d have a better experience

using the faster console, the PS4. It’s the same with

LTE: LTE is the PlayStation 3 and LTE Advanced

(LTE-A) is the PlayStation 4.

Why carrier aggregation matters

Carrier aggregation is part of the LTE-Advanced

spec. It lets operators treat multiple radio channels

in different bands (or the same frequency band)

as if they were one, producing quicker speeds



and allowing users to perform bandwidth-hogging

activities much faster than ever before.

Think of your wireless connection as a pipe. You

might not be able to increase its size, but you canadd a second and even a third pipe. Use all three

simultaneously and you’ll have three times the flow

rate. It’s the same concept with carrier aggregation.

Another advantage of carrier aggregation is that

speeds don’t decrease, however far away from the

cell tower you are.

Combining two signals (or channels) should

theoretically double the download speed to around

150Mb/s. In future, there could be aggregation

across more channels, potentially up to five, which

was defined in the LTE Advanced standard.

What about HSPA+?

HSPA+ may be marketed as 4G technology but it’s

technically 3G. HSPA+ stands for High Speed Packet



Access Plus. It was the next step after 3G, with UK

network provider Three aiming for it to be used by

2012 (before the introduction of LTE).

The technology was developed with a theoreticaltop speed of 21Mb/s, which is pretty impressive for

technology that doesn’t count as 4G (3G has an

average speed of around 1Mb/s). However, it was

quite a way away from its theoretical top speed as

the average is around 4Mb/s.

Who offers the fastest 4G LTE?

Now you know more about what the difference is

between true 4G and the 4G LTE we’re being sold,

it’s worth considering which UK network provides

the best 4G LTE connection. In November 2014,

Ofcom tested the 3G and 4G connections of every

major provider in the UK in five cities.

The results howed EE has the fastest 4G LTE

connection, with 18.4Mb/s on average, althoughthat’s still a long way from the theoretical top

speed of LTE.

It’s not just the download speed that dictates

responsiveness of a 4G connection; latency also

Research and graph by Ofcom

Average speed (Mb/s)

0

5

10

15

20

15.1

18.4

15.614.3

10.7

5.26.7

5.66.86.1

0.2All EE Vodafone Three

4G

3G



plays an important part. A lower latency provides

better responsiveness and reduced delays when

using data for browsing, video calling, and so on.

Surprisingly, EE wasn’t the best provider when itcame to latency – that award went to Three. Ofcom

reports that Three took the least time to deliver data

on both 4G (47.6ms) and 3G (53.8ms). O2 came last,

with the highest levels of latency, measuring in at

62.7ms on 4G and 86.4ms on 3G.

LTE-A availability

Surprisingly, LTE-A is already available in selected

areas. Vodafone announced the start of its LTE-A

roll-out in October last year in Birmingham,

Manchester and London. EE has also joined the

LTE-A race, trialling the technology in London’s Tech

City. Upgrading infrastructure to support LTE-A will

be a slow process and is likely to take a couple of

years, much like the initial 4G roll-out did. And youwon’t automatically get LTE-A when it has been

rolled out, as there are other factors that have to be

taken into consideration.

The main one is compatibility. Your phone needs

to support LTE-A. Just as was the case with the 3G to

4G migration, many existing phones don’t have the

technology to be compatible with LTE-A. There are a

few exceptions though, including:

■ Amazon Fire phone

■ iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

■ BlackBerry Z10/Z30/Q10/Passport

■ HTC One M8 and M9

■ Google Nexus 6

■ LG G Flex 2 and G3


47/108



EE Wi-Fi Calling solves poor

mobile signal problemsWi-Fi Calling means you can make calls and send textswithout a mobile signal. Here's how to get it

If you struggle with poor reception at home

your options are limited. One is to get hold of a

signal booster box, but these aren’t always freely

available. However, EE has introduced a new service

called Wi-Fi Calling, which allows you to route calls

through your router and the internet to solve the

problem with no additional hardware.

What is Wi-Fi Calling?

Although Three and O2 offer similar services

(InTouch and TuGo, respectively), these require apps

and therefore keep calls and texts separate from



your regular ones. The same is true of Skype and

WhatsApp. EE’s new Wi-Fi Calling is different – it’s

built into the phone and allows you to make calls

and send text messages even when there is nomobile signal. This means if you’re on the London

Underground or you live in an area with poor

network coverage, you can still carry on using your

phone like normal.

Who is eligible for Wi-Fi Calling?

It’s currently available to those who pay monthly, and

small business customers. Corporate 4G clients will

be able to sign up for the service in the summer.

Which phones work with EE Wi-Fi Calling?

At the time of writing, the Lumia 640, Galaxy S6

and Galaxy S6 Edge were the only devices with the

feature. More models will, of course, be added to

this list. For example, EE has committed to bringing



“

”

Once set up just use your phone

as normal – the calls and texts come outof your allowance

Wi-Fi Calling to the Samsung Galaxy S5 and has

confirmed that some iPhones are compatible.

You’ll need to purchase your handset from EE to

have the correct software. Putting an EE SIM in your

existing unlocked phone won’t add the feature.

How do you use EE Wi-Fi Calling?

Your phone from EE should come with a sticker on

the box explaining what to do, but you can text ‘wifi

calling’ to 150 to set it up. You might also need to

head into the settings of the dialler app to switch it

on. You’ll get a new symbol onscreen, but you maynot even know you’re using Wi-Fi Calling.

Once you’re set up, you simply use your phone

as normal – the calls and texts come out of your

allowance and don’t appear on your bill any

different. There’s no need to use anything apart

from the regular dialler and messages app. Ring or

call someone as per usual and if there’s no mobile

signal, the phone will use a Wi-Fi connection instead.

Note that the other person doesn’t need

Wi-Fi Calling for it to work as only your end of the

communication requires Wi-Fi. A quick ping test will

check if the connection is good enough to handle

the call but, for now, the call will drop if you lose the

Wi-Fi connection. The service doesn’t yet have the

ability to switch from Wi-Fi to mobile network.



How to bypass

internet tethering blocksYour operator knows you're tethering – but how?And what can you do when it puts an end to your fun?

If you have a tablet without a SIM slot, the only

way to get an internet connection is via Wi-Fi.

That's fine when you're at home or near another

Wi-Fi hotspot, but when you're on the move the only

option is to connect to a hotspot generated by your

smartphone. This is called tethering, and you might

also use it to get a laptop online. Here we explain

how mobile operators know you're doing it and how

to avoid tethering blocks.

Not all smartphones let you create a 'personal

hotspot' and share your 3G or 4G connection, but

many do. However, not all 3G and 4G tariffs allow



tethering, so you could end up with a warning or

even being cut off if you break the rules.

It doesn't any more, but Three used to limit

tethering only to certain mobile tariffs. If you weren'ton one of these and you tethered anyway, you'd

likely get a message telling you to cease and desist,

or face your connection being suspended.

So how does Three - and other operators know

that you're sharing your mobile data connection?

We put the question to Three, which declined to

answer. However, if you think about it logically, it

should be simple to detect tethering. Every device

with a network connection has a unique hardware

identifier called a MAC address. Assuming that the

operator can trace the final destination of the data

packets, it should be able to determine that the final

MAC doesn't match your phone's.

There are lots of other ways, too, from web

browser identifiers, software, firmware revisions and


53/108



Can a smartwatch

get a virus?If you've got a new Android Wear watch you might bewondering whether it needs security software

Can a smartwatch get a virus? Yes. But it

won't. However, you do need to secure

your wearable. Here are our crucial tips for

protecting your smartwatch.

The nature of personal tech is that devices such

as smartphones, tablets and - yes - smartwatches

are vulnerable to theft or hack. If someone access

your smartwatch, they could likely access all of your

personal data, and in turn empty your bank account.

So it is important that you secure your smartwatch.

But does that mean you need antivirus? Just how do

you secure a wearable device? Let's take a look.



In most cases a smartwatch is mostly an extension

of your smartphone. It connects to your phone via

Bluetooth or some other wireless tech. This peer-to-

peer connectivity should mean that it is more safethan even your smartphone. Or, to put it another

way, a hacker would have to hack into your phone

to get at your smartwatch (and once they are in your

phone they don't need your watch).

Remember that virtually all malware these days

exists to make money out of the victim, and thieves

always go for the low-hanging fruit. If your watch is

harder to hack than your laptop, the laptop will get it.

It is the same data, after all.

But that is not to say that you should be

complacent. If you can install software on a device,

you can install malware. So although it is unlikely

anyone can (or will) hack their way on to your wrist

with a drive-by attack, you can certainly be tricked

into installing a dodgy app or opening up a dodgy



link. In reality, however, this isn't the real security

threat posed against you and your smartwatch.

Can a smartwatch get a virus?

That threat is two-fold, and very real. But not thebiggest threat you face every day you transact

online. Because despite what antivirus makers will

tell you, there isn't really a direct malware threat

aimed at your Android smartphone, nor your Android

Wear watch. Smartwatches are a tiny nascent

market. Yes, where there is data and transation there

is a potential threat, but there are many more easy

ways of stealing your data than installing malware

on your smartwatch.

The principal two of those threats: hardware theft

and your behaviour.

Simply, if you are walking the streets waving

around a smartwatch that set you back £300, you

are vulnerable to personal theft. It shouldn't happen,

but we all know that it does.



“

”

You don't need security software for anywearable, just a sensible attitude

I'm not about to tell you not to wear your watch,

nor to be scared as you walk the mean streets. But

it does make sense to be discreet when required.

And as with a phone, the ability to block and trackyour watch if it is stolen, is an important safeguard.

Personal security via a password, fingerprint or

passcode is valuable, too. Even if someone nicks

your watch, they can't access your data. (If you can

remotely track- and brick it, so much the better.)

The argument for security software

And that is where the other threat vector can be

found. As described above, it is very diffi cult forsomeone to infect your smartwatch via a driveby

attack. But if you can be persuaded to give up your

details via a phishing attack they don't need to. So

as on the streets, in your virtual life. Behave sensibly,

and think before you share, click or download.

This is the only area in which I would argue

that security software can be helpful for your

smartwatch. With the best security packages you

can protect your most sensitive data by placing

it under a digital lock and key, and by changing a

password negate most of the damage wrought by

some kind of hack attack.

But in general you really don't need security

software for any wearable. Just a sensible attitude,

and a healthy disregard for your own intelligence.



REVIEW:

LG G4Arriving fashionably later than other 2015 flagships,has the LG G4 stolen the crown as best phone of 2015?

£500 • lg.com/uk •

It's been a little wait for the LG G4 after a no-show

at MWC 2015 back in March. However, the flagship

phone is finally here and LG is calling it the 'most

ambitious smartphone yet'. We were seriously

impressed with the LG G2 and LG G3, so the G4 has

a lot to live up to and fierce competition from rivals.

The LG G4 will arrive in the UK on 28 May and, as

we expected, the firm has undercut rivals as it did

with previous flagship devices with a price of £500



(£525 for leather). For comparison, the HTC One M9

is £579 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 is £599.

Design and buildDespite rumours of a metal build, LG has gone for

genuine leather instead which is unusual as a main

option (you can choose it for the Moto X but it's

a premium extra). The leather feels nice with the

stitching so it's preferable to faux leather as found

on some Samsung devices but some colours aren't

great such as yellow and sky blue. Although the

leather is vegetable tanned and LG says the colour

will change over time.

If the idea of leather puts you off the LG G4

straight away then don't worry because there is a

ceramic option too which has a smooth diamond

texture and comes in three colours: Metallic Gray,

Ceramic White and Shiny Gold. However, this feels

pretty plasticky, especially the white model, with



LG confirming the polycarbonate is only 5 percent

ceramic. You'll need to pay £25 extra for the leather.

That cover is still removable giving you access to

the battery and microSD card slot which is good to

see. What we don't know is how the leather will wearover time so we hope we can have a sample long

enough to see what happens. Unfortunately, we've

been sent the Metallic Gray model but we have seen

the leather options at the G4 launch event.

Since the cover is removable, we're hoping to see

third-party case makers offer some nice alternatives

to LG's range.

The LG G4 looks pretty similar to the G3 apart

from the switch to leather and ceramic. However, it's

a shame that like the HTC One M9, the firm hasn't

managed to slim it down. It's heavier at 155g and

thicker at 9.8mm which isn't ideal. We were also

hoping for the phone to be thinner on the width as

the G3 is a tad diffi cult to use in this sense but the

G4 is actually taller and wider at 76x149.9mm.



Another shame is that the frame is still plastic,

this time with a slightly chromed effect. It feels

cheap compared to rival flagships and we're not

keen on the sharp edges around the microUSB- andheadphone ports.

LG uses a Slim Arc curved shape which makes

it comfortable to hold and supposedly makes it

20 percent more durable than a flat smartphone in

face-down drops. This subtle curve applies to the

entire phone, not just the back, making it a little

like the G Flex 2. It's certainly not a curved screen

phone, but does make the G3 feel distinctly flat.

Hardware

We knew a lot about the LG G4 prior to the launch,

partly thanks to LG and partly the usual leaks online.

The firm has stuck with a 5.5in screen size and

a Quad HD resolution (1440x2560), which offers


62/108



firm's own Nuclun processor. Instead the LG G4 has

a Snapdragon 808 making it the first device we've

seen with the chip. The reason is unknown but

suspected to be behind the overheating issues ofthe 810, although Qualcomm denies this.

Nevertheless, the Snapdragon 808 is a six-core

processor rather than octa-core offering dual-core

ARM Cortex A57 and quad-core A53 with 64-bit

support. It also has an Adreno 418 GPU which

supports 3D gaming on 4K displays and X10 LTE

which has integrated LTE Advanced for download

speeds of up to 450Mbps (theoretically).

It can't keep up with rivals on pure benchmark

numbers, as you might expect, but that doesn't mean

the LG G4 is slow. It feels nippier than the G3 and

can keep up with the Galaxy S6 some of the time

in a side-by-side comparison but Samsung's phone

does feel that little bit silkier in operation.

Geekbench 3 GFXBench

T-Rex

GFXBench

Manhattan

SunSpider

LG G4 3513 25fps 9fps 715ms

LG G3 2233 20fps 7fps 959ms

Samsung S6 4438 30fps 14fps 462ms

HTC One M9 3778 50fps 24fps 867ms

iPhone 6 2794 49fps 26fps 351ms

LG says it has worked with Qualcomm on the

808 touting is as 'snappy yet energy-thrifty'. It claims

the change means an extra 20 percent battery life

compared to the G3 despite having the same battery

capacity. A removable battery is a key feature of

the LG G4 when compared to rivals as it's the only

flagship with this option.

In terms of battery life, we've not noticed it being

dramatically different to the G3 which lasted a


64/108



you can find elsewhere such as a fingerprint scanner

and heart rate monitor but the IR blaster remains

from the G3.

Cameras

A major feature which LG has been pushing since

before the launch event is the camera which is

confirmed would have an aperture of f/1.8 – narrowly

beating the Galaxy S6 by 0.1. We now know the

main camera is 16Mp, up from 13Mp, and has OIS

2.0 (optical image stabilisation). A new feature called

Quick Shot means you can double tap the Rear Key

to launch the camera and take a photo but while this

is fast, it's diffi cult to frame the shot with the screen

off so you'll probably need to do some cropping.

Not that the camera was bad on the G3, but

this is the biggest area of upgrade for us. The LG

G4's main camera is up there with the best taking

predominantly great shots in a range of conditions.


66/108



Google Now, Flipboard and BlinkFeed depending on

the device. On the G4, this vertical feed gives you

information such as fitness tracking, calendar events

and also gives you control such as music playbackand the QRemote. If you don't like it, Smart Bulletin

can be switched off in the settings menu. Smart

Notice is improved and the widget now changes

colour to match your wallpaper.

There's also an improved Gallery app and a new

feature called Event Pocket allows you to create

a unified calendar by dragging and dropping

appointments and activities from multiple calendars

and social media sites.

It's also worth noting that the LG G4 comes

preinstalled with Google Offi ce and G4 owners will

receive an additional 100GB of Google Drive storage

free for two years which is a lot of extra space. LG

also said VW owners will be able to "view a car-

friendly version of the G4 interface on the in-dash



display for full integration with contacts, navigation

and music on the smartphone".Beyond these additions, what we really like is the

number of things you can customise and some cool

things hidden away in the settings menu.

Like previous devices, you don't have to make

do with the standard navigation buttons. You can

have up to five on the bar including one to open and

close the notification bar, QMemo+, QSlide and Dual

Window. You can also manually choose whether to

show or hide the navigation bar in apps you have

installed rather than letting the phone decide.

You can once again choose the font (and size) for

the interface and turn the notification LED off if you

really don't want it. There's also the ability to adjust

the strength of vibration for haptic feedback and

notifications, which is great.



New for the G4 is a new section

called Smart settings. This meansyou can automate a lot of things

like switching Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

on and off plus changing your

sound profile. You can set these to

automatically adjust when you're

at home or away from home plus

when earphones are plugged in.

Another feature is Smart

cleaning which will help you

clear some space on the G4 by

cleaning some apps and deleting

temporary files.

Verdict

LG has gone down an unexpectedroute with leather models, which

we like apart from a couple of

colours. The so-called ceramic

model is less expensive but we

think it feels cheap and plasticky.

On the whole, hardware is once

again strong – particularly the camera – but not

massively different from the G3 and the G4 has

some tough competition. We feel build quality could

be better, with a metal frame and dimensions going

down, not the reverse. This is the flagship to go for

if you want a removable battery and expandable

storage, but it's a shame to see features such as

wireless charging dropped. (Remember the G3 is

now a steal at under £300 SIM-free.)



REVIEW:Samsung Galaxy A5A stylish, thin phone with good cameras that's availablefor a lot less than the flagship Galaxy S6

£299 • samsung.com/uk •

We’re big fans of the new Galaxy S6, but if

you can’t afford one then the mid-range

Galaxy A5 should be on your shortlist.

It’s the latest model in Samsung’s Alpha range

and is a smart-looking mid-priced phone. It comes

in black, silver, gold and white. The 5 refers to the

screen size, and it weighs a feather-like 123g.



In the hand, it feels remarkably svelte, and that’s

mainly because it’s just 6.7mm thick. These figures

are slightly lower than those for the iPhone 6, which

is 129g and 6.9mm.It may have a plastic rear cover, but the chamfered

aluminium band around the sides and smooth glass

front make it feel more like a premium phone. Plus,

the absence of any flex means build quality is right

up there with the best.

Turn it on and you’ll immediately notice the vibrant

colours of the Super AMOLED display, which also

has excellent viewing angles. You also get a 13Mp

camera at the rear, complete with LED flash and a

5Mp front-mounted ‘selfie’ camera.

Inside, it’s clear that there have been some

compromises. The Snapdragon 410 processor isn’t

going to top any benchmark charts, and the phone

runs the older version of Android: KitKat instead of

the latest Lollipop.Set into the metal band are two removable trays

whose design is so similar to the iPhone that at a

glance you could mistake the A5 for a bigger version

of the iPhone 5.


72/108



The Galaxy A5 has 16GB of internal storage,

2GB of RAM and a microSD slot for adding up to

64GB of extra storage.

You don’t get 802.11ac Wi-Fi, but the 802.11n radioworks on both 2.4- and 5GHz. There’s also Bluetooth

4.0, NFC, GPS and ANT+.

And when compared to the Samsung Galaxy S5,

there’s no fingerprint scanner, IR blaster or heart-rate

sensor. Few people will miss these extras, but it’s

worth noting.

There were no surprises in our benchmarks, with

the Snapdragon 410 performing just as it does in

the £109 Motorola Moto E. The Geekbench scores

of 483 and 1476 for the single- and multicore tests

respectively were within the margin of error.

Somewhat strangely, the Adreno 306 GPU in the

A5 produced slower framerates than the 2015 Moto

E, which uses an identical chip. On the A5 we saw

3.9fps in Manhattan and 9.2fps in T-Rex, while the



Moto E managed 6 and 13fps respectively. None are

great results, of course, but both phones will play

casual games well enough.

Battery life is comparable with other similar size

phones. With a 2300mAh cell on board, Samsung

says you’ll get eight hours of 3G web browsing and

12 hours of video playback. There’s also an Ultra

Power Saving mode that you get with Samsung’s

flagship phones. This turns the display to greyscale,

disables mobile data when the screen is off and

restricts which apps you can use in order to extend

standby time to 1.2 days when you have 10 percent

power remaining.

It’s a little odd that Samsung didn’t use the

Galaxy S5’s rear camera in the A5. The S5 has a



16:9 16Mp sensor, whereas the A5 has a 13Mp 4:3

sensor. By default, it’s set to a 9.6Mp 16:9 setting,

meaning you’re effectively cropping off the top andbottom of each photo.

You’d think there would be little difference in

quality between the cameras, but you’d be wrong.

The S5’s photos are visibly better than the A5’s and

there’s a noticeable lack of detail when you zoom

in to make the A5’s photos the same size at the

S5’s at 100 percent.

Of course, we’re being picky here and the A5

still has a great camera when compared to many

phones: it captures more detail than an 8Mp iPhone

6 and is leagues better than the 5Mp Moto G.

Exposures are accurate, colours realistic and the

lens is sharp right to the corners.

Photo quality from the 5Mp front camera is

good. Detail levels are better than phones withfewer pixels, so the A5 is a good choice if you

take a lot of selfies.

Video, which tops out at 1920x1080 at 30fps from

the rear camera, is sharp and detailed but there’s

no optical stabilisation, and this makes handheld

footage shakier than we’d like.

Verdict

The Galaxy A5 is a stylish, thin and lightweight

phone with good cameras. However, its processor

isn’t particularly powerful and also happens to be

found in the Moto E which costs only £109. The

Moto E is also a 4G phone and if you’re not fussed

about its slightly smaller, lower resolution screen and

mediocre cameras it’s a much better value choice.



REVIEW:Kingzone Z1If you're willing to buy a Chinese phone, the Z1 is thefastest you'll find under £200

£199 • coolicool.com •

It’s not often we’re blown away by a mid-range

smartphone. Supplied to us by Coolicool.com, the

Z1 has an awful lot going for it. At less than £200,

it’s faster than the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and

iPhone 6 Plus. It’s also well-built, supports dual-SIM

and 4G connectivity, has decent cameras, features

some useful gestures, and it even has stereo

speakers and a fingerprint scanner.



The Kingzone Z1 is supplied in the UK via

Coolicool.com – a Chinese site. You have two

options: you can buy it from the European

warehouse for £199.91 and you won’t be liable forimport duty; or you can buy it from the Chinese

warehouse for £132.59, but you will be liable for

import duty if it’s picked up by Customs (of course,

you are liable whether or not you’re caught out).

For a mid-range phone, the Z1 is very good-

looking. It’s built around a metal frame that ensures

a sturdy, premium feel, and although the rear cover

is plastic the up side is the fact it’s removable and

reveals an also-removable battery. It’s got a grippy,

textured finish that feels good in the hands.

There’s a huge 5.5in screen on the front of the Z1,

which makes this a phablet. Incredibly slim bezels

and a 7.5mm frame mean it’s still comfortable to

hold in a single hand. It’s also reasonably light for a

phablet at 169g – by comparison the 7.1mm iPhone 6



Plus and 8.5mm Samsung Galaxy Note 4 weigh 172g

and 176g respectively.

A key difference here, of course, is the resolution.

The Kingzone has an HD resolution of 1280x720pixels, which means it has a density of 276ppi. That’s

not at all unusual at this price, but it does mean it

isn’t as sharp as the 401- and 515ppi screens found

on the iPhone 6 Plus and Galaxy Note 4.

Nevertheless, the JDI IPS panel is reasonably

bright, with realistic colours and strong viewing

angles. It’s also of a good size for enjoying games

and media, or whatever you want to do on your

phone, including browsing web pages and e-books.

And that’s where one of our favourite features

comes in: the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner.

This is a swipe- rather than touch-based scanner,

and shares the same problems as those found on

Samsung phones prior to the S6’s release. As a

fingerprint scanner it’s a pain to use, and we gave



up trying to get it to register our digits. But used as

a scrolling control or a dedicated capture button for

the selfie camera it’s a very welcome addition to this

phablet, and makes one-handed use so much easier.Stereo speakers are found on the bottom edge

of the handset. On the right edge is a power button,

while separate volume controls are on the left.

This positioning can make them diffi cult to access

when using the supplied (to us, at least) flip cover,

which features a window for the time and date,

automatically wakes or sends to sleep the screen,

and allows you to answer calls without flipping open

the case. Also in the box is a silicone rear cover.

At the top is a Micro-USB charging port and a

3.5mm headphone jack. A pair of earphones are

supplied in the box, along with a Micro-USB cable

and, very usefully, an OTG adaptor. The latter allows

you to connect the Z1 to other USB devices, such as

storage devices.



The phone uses a 64-bit MediaTek MTK6752

octa-core chip clocked at 1.7GHz. This is pairedwith Mali-T760 graphics, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of

storage (a microSD slot lets you add another 64GB).

Performance is amazing for a £200 phone. In

Geekbench 3.0 we recorded a staggering 3689

points in the multi-core component, making the

Kingzone Z1 faster than both the iPhone 6 Plus

(2917) and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (3272). It fared

better than the Note 4 in SunSpider, too, with

963ms against its 1367ms, while the iPhone 6 Plus

performed spectacularly with 369ms.

The Kingzone Z1 recorded five hours 45 minutes

with a battery score of 3074 points. By comparison

the S6 saw six hours 53 minutes and 4136 points,

while the latest Moto G managed seven hours 35

minutes but scored just 2024 points.



In real-life usage we found that the Kingzone Z1

lasted for several days in standby mode, and evenwith heavy use the 3500mAh removable battery

should easily get you through the day.

Everything you need is covered on the

connectivity front. There’s GPS and GLONASS, NFC,

4G LTE (although it’s supported by only one of the

dual-SIM slots, the other maxes out at 3G), dual-

band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, USB OTG support and

Documents

Android Advisor Issue 14 2015