If you are on the quest to become the next greatest cafe owner in 2017 then our My Café: Recipes and Stories tips and tricks might be of help to you.

The Best Tips and Tricks for My Cafe In 2026

1. Help Your Employees

Ann and the other employees in the restaurant will do their best to fulfill all the orders but you can always help them out. To do that, you want to tap on one of the customers. From there, hit the “What would you like to order” button. They’ll tell you what they want so that you can start preparing the items yourself.

Don’t worry if you’ve forgotten one of the recipes, you can always access the list by hitting the teacup icon on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Once you’re finished with the order, select the customer that it’s for and press the “Here’s your order” button.

As for drinks, all you have to do is tap on the machines to make them. Remember, employees will have to wait for one of the machines to become available to make a beverage. Considering that, you may want to tap on the customers first so that you can serve them faster.

And when the employees are busy serving food to the customers, you can make drinks for the future by tapping on the empty machines; it’ll only take a few seconds.

Note: We suggest helping out your employees when the cafe is crowded with customers. That way, you’ll be able to speed everything up.

2. Upgrade Your Employees’ Skills

Don’t forget to upgrade your employees’ skills. If anything, it’ll make things a lot easier. To check on their stats, tap on the arrow icon above their heads (it’ll appear when they level up). From there, tap on the “Tell me about your skills” button. That’ll let you see their current level as well as any skills that are available.

Take Ann, for example, she has three main types of skills: Speed, All Items Prices, and Daily Simply Gift.

Whenever an employee levels up, you’ll be able to level up one of their three skills. For Ann, we recommend upgrading her “All Items Prices” skill first as that’ll raise all of the prices by a certain percentage. For example, at level ten, the prices will be increased by 30%. If anything, that can significantly impact your earnings.

Next, you want to upgrade her “Daily Simply Gift” skill. That’ll allow you to get more free gifts (level 10 will give you three gifts), which may contain spices that you can add to drinks (that’ll also drive up the price of the item)

3. Hire More Staff

Hiring more employees will help speed things up. That way, you’ll be able to earn more profit. Even when you’re not playing the game, the servers will help Ann serve the customers in the restaurant.

Keep in mind, however, that not all servers are the same. For example, some will be faster than others and those are exactly the kind of employees that you want to hire (the faster you serve customers, the more money you’ll earn).

In terms of how to hire a new server, Ann will let you know as soon as the option is available. Before you do that, though, you’ll need to get a service table. You can do so by selling the Furniture tab in the catalog.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to hire new employees. Simply tap on the menu icon at the top right-hand corner of the screen when it’s available and select the server icon (it’s under the trophy). A new screen will come up; tap on the “hire” button to see the different candidates.

Take a look at their skill-set and if you can, choose the one that has upgraded skills. You also want to pay attention to their price tag. Try not to hire someone that you can’t afford.

If none of the candidates interest you, you can wait an hour or so for the list to refresh.

4. Getting and Using Special Spices

Certain recipes can fetch you more than a hundred bucks. To make them, however, you’ll need special spices. As it is, there are a few ways to get them.

For example, you can get them as rewards for logging into the game every day. You may also get them via daily gifts (which is why it’s so important to upgrade the “Daily Gift” skill). Another option is to order them via the phone. To do that, however, you’ll need to buy a phone that can only be unlocked at level six. Once you’ve got it, you’ll also be able to accept takeout orders, which will increase your earnings.

Some of your customers may also give you spices. Take Koffsky, for example, he may give you a rare spice if you chat with him. You can also purchase them from Fernando if you have gems.

To serve a special recipe, ask a customer whether or not they’d like “something special”. They’ll usually suggest a special dish with a certain spice of their choice; they’ll also let you know how much they’ll pay you for it. If you have the specified ingredients, you can prepare it for them in exchange for higher pay.

Note: You’ll need to get a Spice Box to access different types of rare spices.

5. Decorate Your Cafe

Decorating your cafe with fancy decorations and furniture is a great way to earn bonus tips from customers. For maximum earnings, pay attention to their conversations; they’ll drop hints on various decorations and furniture.

There are also different styles that you can go for in terms of decorating. For example, you can go for a French, Chinese, English, or Classic theme. Make sure that all of the furniture and decorations match the style and you’ll receive more bonus tips. For example, you’ll earn more if you decorate your cafe with Chinese-style decorations and furniture as opposed to using both Chinese and Italian decorative pieces.

To check which style a decoration or furniture belongs to, simply tap on the cash register icon on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Select the furniture tab on the left and tap on the tiny “i” icon on the top-right corner of the item. That’ll tell you which style it belongs its.

Note: You can always discard decorative items if you want to change styles. To do that, a long press on a piece of furniture or decorative item. An icon of a cardboard box will appear. Tap on it and the selected item will be moved to the storehouse. You can access them at any time by selecting the cash register from the main screen.

Tip: Be careful with floor and wallpapers. If you replace an existing design with a different one, the previous one will disappear. You’ll have to purchase it again from the store.

6. Pay Attention to the Conversations

Make sure to pay attention to the chats you have with customers. Some of them may be quests that may reward special items such as gems or spices.

Don’t worry if you’ve missed a chat; you can access both old and new conversations by clicking on the book icon on the top left-hand corner of the screen. A window will come up with small portraits of your customers. Tap on the portrait and you’ll be able to see what they’ve previously said. Not only that, but you’ll also be able to see his recipe/decoration tips and requirements. Customers with quests will have a tiny diamond icon at the end.

You’ll also see tiny numbers above their heads. Ones with a blue background indicate new or unread conversations while green numbers mean that all of the chats have already been read.

7. Pricing Your Items

The game allows you to set your own menu prices. Don’t be afraid to raise it until it’s yellow (see the picture below). Sure, it might be a little more expensive, but chances are, people will still order it and that’ll increase your overall earnings. Once you’ve expanded your cafe and you have a lot of regular customers, you can tone it down to the ‘dark green level.’

Note: How much you can raise the prices will depend on Ann’s “All Item Prices” skill. The higher it is, the higher you’ll be able to set the prices.

8. Knowing Different Recipe Combinations

Some recipes will be very straightforward. For example, Americans Milk is simply Americano plus Milk. Other recipes will be more tricky; you’ll need to guess or look around in the conversations for hints.

Or you can just take a look at this recipe list that we’ve compiled:

American With Cinnamon: Americano, Milk, Cinnamon

Bavarian Coffee: Americano, Chocolate Syrup, Chocolate Shavings, Lemon

English Tea: Tea, Milk

Frappe: Espresso, Whipped Cream, Ice (Add Chocolate Shavings, Caramel Syrup, or Vanilla Syrup for the different flavors)

Mocha: Espresso, Chocolate Syrup, Milk

Paradise Glace: Espresso, Chocolate Syrup, Vanilla Ice Cream, Vanilla Syrup, Whipped Cream

White Cafe Glace: Espresso, Vanilla Ice Cream, Milk

Strawberry Croissant: Croissant, Strawberry Ice Cream, Whipped Cream, Vanilla Syrup

9. Familiarize Yourself With Your Customers

All of the characters in the game have their own personalities and characteristics—and you can take advantage of that. For instance, you can get some decoration tips from Margaret or Fernando, the Restaurant Society chairman. If you’re lucky, you might even get some VIP points, which will increase your VIP level.

(In total, there are seven levels; the higher level you are, the more perks you’ll get. For example, at level one, you’ll get one pink gift, the ability to ask customers to change their orders five times a day, the ability to create townships, and a 5% bonus when buying diamonds.

At level seven (you’ll need 50,000 VIP points), you’ll get one gold gift, the ability to hire a fifth employee, the ability to unlock slots in the second spice box, the ability to ask customers to change their orders 70 times a day, a 30% discount on spice box slots, and a 15% discount in the spice stores, among other perks.)

10. Watching Ads For Diamonds

Diamonds are one of the main currencies in the game. You can use them to buy furniture, new outfits for your servers, as well as drink machines.

One easy way to get them is by watching ads. To do that, you’ll need to first place a TV in your cafe. Once you’ve done that, you can watch an ad (they usually last around 15 to 30 seconds) for a diamond.

Keep in mind, however, that there is a limit as to how many you can watch. You’ll know you’ve hit your limit if the TV is switched off in your cafe. If that’s the case, simply wait a little bit before trying again.

In addition to that, you can also obtain diamonds by completing township quests and completing stories. They’re also given out as daily gifts.

11. Be Careful About Expanding Your Cafe

Avoid expanding your cafe at the beginning. Not only is it expensive, but it won’t give you any experience. Given that, it’s best to do so later on in the game, once you’ve saved a bit more money.

12. Gaining Experience

You’ll gain experience every time you buy something from the store. You can see exactly how much by tapping on the (!) icon on the item.

Not only that, but you’ll also gain experience when you upgrade equipment. The exact amount will depend on the specific item and upgrade.

The post My Cafe: Recipes and Stories Cheats, Tips, and Tricks In 2026 appeared first on Gazette Review.

If you’re a new player or a veteran looking for cheats, tips, and tricks for Grow Castle in 2026 then read on.

Grow Castle Cheats, Tips, and Tricks For 2026

There are several things that you want to consider when playing the game, which we’ll be going over in detail below.

1. Get As Much Gold As Possible

Gold is super important in the game; you need it for pretty much everything, from upgrading your castle to purchasing new units. How can you earn gold? By defeating enemies. And don’t worry, you’ll still be able to keep the gold that you’ve earned even if you lose the wave so there’s no harm in trying. If anything, it’s a great way to farm gold so that you can get stronger.

Another thing that you want to do is upgrade the “Bonus Gold” skill. It’ll cost you some skill points but it’ll significantly increase the amount of gold that you’ll get from defeating enemies so try to get it as high as possible. Not only that, but you can also get the Trophy Tower at the beginning to increase the amount of gold earned per kill.

You can earn gold by watching ads in the game. The amount that you get will depend on the amount of gold that you’ve earned from the current wave. There’s also a multiplier. Generally speaking, the higher the wave, the more bonus gold you’ll get from watching the advertisements.

You can also earn gold by leaving the game on. For example, you can leave your tablet or phone on overnight; the colonies will continue to produce gold even while you’re away.

2. Get All the Heroes For Your Castle Before Upgrading

There are 39 different types of heroes in the game, each of which has their own special skill. Take priests, for example, they can increase the damage of town archers by 100% for five seconds. And you can make them more powerful by upgrading their stats.

Before you do that, though, you want to make sure to get all of them first. Ultimately, the goal is to test all of them out so that you can figure out which you want to use to defend your base. From there, you can spend gold to upgrade their skills. If anything, the last thing that you want to do is upgrade a hero that you won’t use—it’ll just be a waste of gold.

In terms of which heroes to use, it depends on your preference, however, the Druid and Golem Master are solid options. Why? They’re both capable of summoning a monster that will fight for you. Not only will that add an additional line of defense, but it’ll also help patrol the grounds.

Note: You’ll likely have to change your lineup as you progress to the harder levels but you should have a lot of gold saved up by then so upgrading the heroes shouldn’t be an issue.

3. Join a Guild

Guilds are great in that they give you free bonuses so there’s really no reason not to join. Basically, how it works is that whenever your guild levels up (this happens when members complete waves), it’ll receive a skill point, which can then be used to increase various things like leader damage or castle HP for the entire guild (all skills max out at level 20). Not only that, but members will also receive a certain amount of gold every day.

How do you join a guild? Simply tap on the guild icon (you must have unlocked Wave 75, otherwise, it won’t work). The game will connect to the server and a list of guilds will appear along with their emblems and names. To join, simply press the “JOIN” button. Keep in mind, however, that you’ll only be able to join if there are vacant spaces in the guild (you can check by looking at the number on the bottom right-hand corner). You can also search for guilds on Discord and other platforms- the guild master will be able to send you an invite.

Or if you want, you can create your own guild for 100 million Gold. To do that, however, you must have completed Wave 2000. Keep in mind, however, that guild masters will not receive a daily amount of gold.

4. Conquer As Many Colonies As Possible

There are three different worlds in the game, each of which has its own colonies. To travel between them, click on the icon on the top right-hand corner of the map. You should see a list of colonies (the number beneath the flag indicates how powerful they are- number 50 means the colony is similar in strength as wave 50).

The type of colony matters as well. For example, battles in Orc and Hell colonies tend to be more difficult than those of Earth colonies. There are also seasonal colonies that reset every 10 days.

To liberate and conquer a colony, tap on its flag on the screen. Click the “Battle” button and the fight will begin. Not only will you receive gold for winning the battle, but your Town archers will also receive a boost in damage, attack speed, or critical damage (it depends on the color of the colony).

5. Exchange and Sell at the Market

The Market has two main functions: exchanging crystals and selling items, both of which will earn you gold. To exchange crystals, click on one of the three buttons below the exchange rate (the rate will tell you how much gold you’ll receive). And pay attention to the timer—it’ll tell you how much time is left before the rate changes (it fluctuates constantly).

To sell items, click on the item and select the “Sell button.” For example, you can sell items that you’ve obtained from defeating the Dragon bosses.

Note: You can obtain Hearts from the market by exchanging crystals for gold. If anything, you can think of them as a little bonus. For example, you’ll receive six hearts if you exchange 50 crystals for gold (it’ll tell you how many hearts you’ll receive on the buttons). The more Hearts you have, the more gold you’ll receive when selling items.

Other Grow Castle Tips For Beginners

• Generally speaking, your castle’s level should be three times higher than that of your strongest hero. Your town archers’ levels should also be three times higher than that of your castle

• Pure Wizards should always be placed in the middle; their passive ability will reduce the cool-down period of heroes on both sides

• Always include Chrono in your waves- he’ll boost the speed of everything including colonies and workers

• Some heroes work better together than others. For example, fire, lightning, and ice mages will post each other when fully promoted. They also do well in pairs

• Lightning, Minigun, and Ballista are the strongest Castle Cannons

• Try to focus on just one elemental type (fire is generally the easiest to use as there are several fire-type towers and fire heroes)

• Equip your heroes with the right equipment. For example, items that improve cooldowns are especially useful for support units as they affect everyone

• Make sure to spread out your upgrades between the different heroes- you don’t want to rely on just one high-level character

• Don’t worry too much about your build at the beginning- anything will work. Just focus on getting experience boosters and gold

The post Grow Castle Cheats, Tips & Tricks 2026 appeared first on Gazette Review.

If you are a new player or a veteran seeking tips and tricks on Township then read on:

1. Collect Your Coins

The easiest way to earn coins is by completing order requests from the residents of your town. To do that, check out the helipad area. Keep in mind, however, that the difficulty will go up as you complete the requests. Eventually, you’ll need to collect multiple items and depending on what you need, the pay may not be worth your efforts.

As a general rule, it’s best to reject orders that pay less than 300 coins (assuming that you’re at least level 20). That’ll ensure that you’re properly rewarded for your hard work.

Also, avoid orders that involve goods that take more than two hours to produce. Focus on the ones that can be finished quickly—that way, you’ll earn more in a shorter period of time. For example, an order of 36 carrots is way easier than an order of 8 syrup and 9 popcorn.

Aside from completing orders, you can also earn coins from the hot air balloons that appear over your town. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a box that contains gold coins.

Don’t forget to redeem the Daily Bonus as well. That’ll give you a good amount of coins each day so that you can expand your city. And if you log into the game for five days in a row, you’ll get a special prize with even more goodies.

Tip: Avoid spending your gold coins on decorations at the beginning as they can get expensive quickly. You can do that once your town is more established.

2. Keep Adding Buildings

With this game, it’s important to keep building. That’ll allow you to expand your town and attract new citizens.

As it is, the easiest way to do this is to build houses. For example, you can add small cottages (they can accommodate 5 new residents) or larger dwellings such as farmhouses (they can accommodate more than 30 people). As you progress through the game, you’ll eventually be able to build apartment buildings and skyscrapers, both of which will allow you to host more residents.

It’s also a good idea to invest in community buildings. For instance, you can add a pizza parole, movie theater, or post office. That’ll extend the population cap of your city so that you can have more inhabitants.

Remember, though, building new structures take time. For those who don’t want to wait, consider building them before you log off for the day. That way, they’ll be ready for you by the time you wake up in the morning. You just have to make sure that you have all the necessary materials.

Note: You won’t be able to build certain things like factories at the beginning (they require a minimum amount of residents in the town).

3. Fulfill Orders By Train and Airplane

Customer requests don’t just come in through the helipad area. You also want to check the train station. While you won’t get gold coins and XP, you will get building materials such as hammers, nails, and paint, all of which will be necessary to build new houses.

So make sure to check the train station regularly. As soon as a new train comes in, move in so you can complete the order request. The goal is to get a constant flow of materials. That way, you’ll have them on hand when you’re adding new buildings. And try to send the train out as quickly as possible (it takes a while for them to make the return trip). Of course, you can always reduce that time by using T-cash.

You can also get construction materials from in-game events and special chests, the latter of which will unlock as you progress through the game.

Once you reach level 17, you’ll unlock the airport, which will allow you to deliver larger orders. Ultimately, the goal is to load as much cargo as you can onto the planes before time runs out (you have 15 hours to do so). If you fail to do so, you won’t receive a reward. You’ll also lose your reward if the plane takes off without your consent even if the cargo holds are fully loaded so be careful.

4. Upgrade the Barn As Often As You Can

Everything you produce goes into the barn so you want to make sure to upgrade it frequently. That’ll prevent it from getting filled up (you won’t be able to accept newly produced items if it’s full).

To upgrade the barn, you need construction materials (e.g. hammers, nails, paint), which you can get from the trains. That’s why it’s so important to fulfill those orders. And your level doesn’t matter; you can upgrade the barn as long as you have the necessary upgrade materials and as you do so, its appearance will change on the map.

If you need some space in your barn but don’t have the materials to upgrade it, you can always sell a few items. All you have to do is tap on the barn. From there, you can choose which items you’d like to sell. For example, you can throw away some of your crops (they’re some of the easier to produce).

And here’s another tip—keep your goods on the shelves in the factories (unless you plan on using them immediately). That’ll allow you to maximize the amount of space that you have in the barn. Given that, you may want to add a few extra slots to your factories.

You can also make use of market boxes (you’ll need T-cash for that). They’ll allow you to store your goods, almost like a second barn. There’s no limit to how many you can purchase either so you can use them to your hearts’ content.

5. Make and Add New Friends

There are many perks to adding friends. For example, if you’re missing an item for your plane or train order, you can ask them for help. The more friends you have, the bigger the chances of you getting the product.

To find new friends, click on the social tab on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. Tap on the smiley faces and you’ll see the ‘Find Friends’ option. Click on it and a list of users will come up. Simply press the green button and you’ll be able to add them to your friend list. You’ll be able to visit their towns and they’ll be able to visit yours.

From the same tab, you can also see who needs your help for their airplane and train orders. Try to extend your generosity whenever possible; that way, they’ll be more likely to help if you need something in the future. Also, it’s a great way to put your produce to good use. It’s a win-win situation for everyone as well. They’ll get to complete their order and you’ll likely receive free items from the other players.

6. Getting T-Cash

T-cash is a different kind of in-game currency that you can use to speed up things or buy special items. While it usually requires a purchase, there are a few things that you can do to earn the bills.

For example, logging in with your Facebook account will give you 5 T-cash. You can also get them from achievement rewards. Simply visit the town hall (you’ll get a notification after reaching a new achievement) and you’ll be able to redeem your reward. Sometimes it’ll be XP and coins and sometimes it’ll be T-cash.

You can also win free T-cash at the House of Luck. It’s simple; just pick one of the nine chests that you’re presented with. If you’re lucky, you’ll score some bills. Keep in mind, however, that you’ll need four-leaf clovers (you earn them by helping other players) to play the game.

Also, watch for in-game events. The easiest way to stay up to date is by checking the event calendar board in the southern part of the town; it’ll tell you what events are going on. We recommend participating in as many as you can as there’s a chance you can win T-cash and other prizes.

Adding buildings to your town will also earn you T-cash. Every time a new structure appears, your residents will thank you by giving you some bills as a reward.

Tip: For those who plan on buying T-cash, you can take advantage of the piggy bank. It’s a periodic promotion that allows you to buy the banknotes at better prices. You can open one as soon as you’ve collected the minimum number of T-cash as indicated in the promotion.

Keep in mind, however, that only a certain number of T-cash will fit into the piggy bank (it’ll be indicated in the promotion window).

7. Avoiding In-Game Purchases

There are some in-game items (e.g. T-cash) that you can purchase for real money. Worried that you’ll make accidental purchases? No problem, you can prevent that by doing the following:

iOS Devices: Go to Device Settings > General > Restrictions. Select ‘Enable Constraints’. You’ll be asked to create a password for the Restrictions function. Make sure to remember it as you’ll need to enter it every time you access the settings. Once the function is enabled, you’ll see a list of allowed objects. Turn off in-app purchases and you won’t have to worry about accidental purchases.

Alternatively, you can set it so that it’ll ask for your password when you’re making a purchase in the App store. To do that, go to device settings > App Store > Password Settings.

Android Devices: Open the Google Play Store and tap on the menu icon. Select settings and click on ‘Purchase Authentication.’ You’ll be asked to select an authentication option. For example, you can set it so that it’ll always ask for your password when you’re making purchases on Google Play. From there, follow the on-screen instructions and you’ll be good to go.

8. Getting Gems

Gems are another type of in-game currency that you can get. There are three types: emeralds, rubies, and topazes. You can use them to buy unique decorations, patterns in the laboratory, or animal cards in the collection store.

There are several ways to get these precious stones:

• Sending fully loaded planes will earn you 1 gem (you are guaranteed one as a reward)
• Exploring the mine may earn you some gems (you may find them on the ground or they may be hidden in treasure boxes)
• You can win them by participating in the weekly regatta
• You can win them at the Miracle Shop
• You can get them by opening treasure chests in your town and your friends’ towns
• You’ll be rewarded gems if you log into the game for 20/40/60+ days continuously
• Once you reach level 46, you can exchange gems for other gems at the Helicopter
• You can purchase gems in the Yacht Club

The post Township Cheats, Tips & Tricks 2026 appeared first on Gazette Review.

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FORecovery Also Offers Two Different Recovery Modes

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The post How to Recover Deleted Photos from Android Phone appeared first on Gazette Review.

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PhoneRescue uses the latest and best technologies in order to bring you a lightning fast recovery of lost photos and other data. Using the best technologies available also is going to give a higher success rate of retrieving that lost data. Before that data is overwritten, you are able to quickly get in there using PhoneRescue and recover it. You will also get super quick scans and previews instantly. You will then begin the fastest recovery process available with these new technologies.

Various Files & Data Types Supported in PhoneRescue

Lastly, if you use PhoneRescue to recover your lost photos, you will notice that many data types are supported with this program. Whether it is photos, videos, documents, messages or other items, you can recover nearly anything and everything with PhoneRescue. More than 31 different file types are supported in this program, which covers so many different situations and essential items. This is the only software in the world that can recover more than 31 different file types. This program takes only three-steps and one simple process for data recovery.

The easy iOS recovery guide is there to give you support and information if you are trying to recover the deleted photos from your iPhone. If you are someone who is on a Samsung device, the instructions and relevant information are a little different. You will find the Samsung photo recovery details are easy to follow and will allow you quickly recover all of your missing photos.

The post How to Recover Lost Photos on iOS & Android appeared first on Gazette Review.

Design

The OnePlus 3T has exactly the same design present on the OnePlus 3. While it’s not a radical new design, it’s still aesthetically pleasing, with an edge-to-edge glass panel covering the front, and metal all around the back. It looks a lot like the HTC One, but manages to keep just enough of the OnePlus 2 look to make it unique. While there’s a new Midnight Black color, the OnePlus 3T currently being sold by GearBest is the Gunmetal color. Across the front of the phone is the large 5.5″ display. It’s not groundbreaking by any means, and the screen-to-body ratio isn’t impressive either, but it’s a solid panel. Below the screen is the home button, which also functions as a fingerprint scanner. It’s one of the fastest fingerprint scanners I’ve ever used, and it’s seriously wowing.

As with all android phones with a hardware home button, the home button is flanked by back and recent apps switcher capacitive buttons, which are interchangeable via the settings app. The 3400mAh battery built into the OnePlus 3T is actually 100mAh larger than the 3300mAh battery inside of the OnePlus 5, but battery life is considerably better on the 5, due to software optimisations and the differing SoCs. As with the OnePlus 2,3, and 5, the OnePlus 3T has the vibrate switcher. This switcher is similar to the switcher on the iPhones, which changes whether notifications make a noise or stay as vibrations. Overall, the OnePlus 3T is a well-designed phone, and while it’s not too out-there, it’s still very good looking.

Build Quality

OnePlus has never had a problem with build quality, and the OnePlus 3T is no exception. It’s well made, and the materials used to make it are premium. It feels good in the hand, and there are no build quality problems. The only problem I have with the OnePlus 3T’s design would be the fact that the metal back is extremely slippery, and it wasn’t uncommon to suddenly lose grip while using it in the rain, or with wet hands. I’d recommend buying a case, such as an Otterbox case, to protect the phone from slips and drops, and to make the phone easier to grip.

Features

The OnePlus 3T largely stayed with the same design philosophy as the OnePlus 1 and 2. It took top-of-the-line hardware, and stuck it in a phone for as low price as possible. However, that does mean that there’s a lack of special features, like Samsung’s eye tracking software, and hovering screen, or Apple’s 3D touch. In my opinion, the most outstanding feature of the OnePlus 3T Dash Charge. Since the phone has such a large battery, at 3400mAh, normal charging would take almost half a day to charge it from 0-100%. Thanks to Dash Charge, the OnePlus 3T is capable of charging from 0-50% in just half an hour. That’s an impressive feat, and faster than even the iPhone 6s and 7, which both have tiny batteries compared to the 3400mAh monster in the OnePlus 3T.

Another standout feature of the OnePlus 3T is the fingerprint scanner. It’s extremely fast, and it’s also very accurate. While you might think that fingerprint scanners are fast enough, the fingerprint scanner on the OnePlus 3T is in a league of its own. It’s much quicker than the scanner on the iPhone 7, and also much more accurate, so there are less false negatives. It’s also on the front of the phone, so you can still unlock the phone easily even if it’s facing up on a table. From this lack of features, it’s clear that OnePlus has focused on the internal hardware of the phone, as opposed to the flashy new features, like the ones present on the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Display

As with all of OnePlus’s other phones, the OnePlus 3T has a large 5.5″ AMOLED panel on the front. It’s a fairly large and detailed display, but at 1920×1080, it doesn’t hold up against the 4K displays of today’s flagship phones. Still, at such an affordable price, it’s excusable. Although it’s not the most detailed display, it definitely makes up for it in brightness and viewing angles. As with most AMOLED displays, the display is visible at almost all viewing angles, but it’s also very vibrant and rich, something you don’t always find on non-AMOLED displays. Brightness is also excellent, and it’s easy to read, even outside. Sadly, the phone doesn’t employ the latest bezel-less display technology, like the Samsung Galaxy S8, or the Xiaomi Mi Mix, which has a huge 6.4″ display. Overall, the display on the OnePlus 3T is superb, only lacking the bleeding edge 4K resolution.

Hardware

Hardware is, and always has been the focus of OnePlus’s phones. From the OnePlus One all the way to the OnePlus 5, they’ve all excelled in the hardware department, and brought about numbers you wouldn’t have dreamed would be on a phone, such as having 3GB of RAM in 2014. The OnePlus 3T is no exception, and it’s even more focused on hardware than all the previous phones, since it’s a similar to an “S” variation of the previous phone, which usually is only hardware differences. The OnePlus 3T is an exceptionally powerful phone, with a powerful SoC and a huge amount of RAM. The Snapdragon 821 chip inside of the OnePlus 3T is paired with a whopping 6GB of RAM. While it’s overshadowed by the OnePlus 5’s 8GB, it’s still an impressive amount.

Keep in mind that 6GB is the same amount as the special variant of the Samsung Galaxy S8, and 2GB more than the 4GB present on the normal Samsung Galaxy S8. The Snapdragon 821 chip itself has a very powerful powerful CPU and GPU, namely the Adreno 530. The CPU is a quad core arrangement with 2×2.35 GHz Kryo and 2×1.6 GHz Kryo cores. Together, they provide good performance while also maintaining good battery life. In benchmarks, the OnePlus 3T performs a little worse than the OnePlus 5, but it’s not noticeable in real life usage. The OnePlus 5 scores 1963|6687 (Single Core | Multi Core), and the OnePlus 3T scored 1890|4364. Most of the difference here is made up by the multi-core score. Overall, even though the OnePlus 3T is an older device, it still performs admirably.

Hardware – Camera

Unlike the OnePlus 5, the OnePlus 3T doesn’t have a dual camera setup. Instead, it has a single 16MP rear-facing camera which does all the shooting. This means that you lose the false bokeh effect of the OnePlus 5, but it’s still almost as good as the camera on raw photo quality. Low light performance is also good, but not quite as good as the low light performance of the OnePlus 5, due to the lower aperture of f/2.0 vs f/1.7. Aside from that, the camera is excellent, and the vivid yet natural colors show brilliantly on the AMOLED display. It’s wonderfully detailed at 16MP, and the autofocus is very fast. While the camera is great at taking photos, if you want the best in mobile phone photography, splash out and buy the OnePlus 5.

The OnePlus 3T also shoots video, and it does it very well. It’s capable of shooting 4K video at 30fps, or 1080p video at 60fps. While it’s standard issue for all flagship phones in 2017, a 4k30fps/1080p30fps camera on a mid-priced phone like this is a refreshing change. Video quality is good overall, with similar properties as the photos taken by the camera. Overall, the camera is excellent, especially in good lighting.

Connectivity

The OnePlus 3T version being sold by Gearbest is the Global version, which has more LTE bands than the local Chinese version. This is very useful, since with older OnePlus devices, it was common to have to fall back on a 3g connection, even if there was 4g available. As well as cellular connection, the OnePlus 3T comes with an array of all the usual connectivity options, including WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

It’s nice to see that the OnePlus 3T has USB Type-C, since it’s the latest standard, and it’s reversible. USB Type-C has only recently seen widespread adoption, whereas iPhone users have had reversible connectors since the iPhone 5.

Performance

The OnePlus 3T is still in what I call the “flagship speed status”, where the processor and GPU are in front of the performance curve, so they’re more powerful than the OS can demand in terms of visible slowdowns. This means that there’s absolutely no slowdowns whatsoever, and the phone runs perfectly fine. The OnePlus 3 is nearing the end of it’s flagship speed time, so expect the OnePlus 3T to follow suit soon. Even so, the OnePlus 3T is an extremely fast device, with heaps of RAM and power to spare. All manner of 3D games run perfectly fine, and everything from browsing Facebook to playing MC5 is buttery smooth. Multitasking is also a dream, thanks to the huge 6GB of RAM.

Operating System

All OnePlus devices, since the beta for the OnePlus One, have run Oxygen OS. The OnePlus 3T also runs Oxygen OS, and it’s one of the best custom ROMs out there today. While many Chinese manufacturers design over-the-top UIs around stock android, OnePlus keeps it simple. Unlike the likes of MIUI and Emotion OS, stock android is left mostly untouched, and untainted. That isn’t to say that OnePlus is being lazy – there are a few key features which make Oxygen OS better than stock Android, like the draw. Everything which OnePlus has added follows the same design language that stock Android does, so nothing sticks out. If you’re really not a fan of the draw, you can completely replace the home screen with Google Now Launcher, which will almost return the entire phone to stock, since not much else is touched.

Headphone Jack

The OnePlus 3T, unlike the iPhone 7, has a headphone jack. Even though the internals are much stronger and faster than many Android phones out there today, the OnePlus 3T still miraculously has space for a headphone jack. It’s not a bad one either, it sounds about on par with most other flagship phone 3.5mm jacks. It’s a real godsend on Android phones, since if you’re against wireless headphones, you’d need to buy a USB-C equipped headphone, or use a finicky dongle. Even so, I’d recommend you buy Bluetooth earphones, since they provide so much freedom over the wired sort, even if it means you have to charge them every night.

Battery Life

While it has a larger battery than the OnePlus 5 at 3400mAh vs 3300mAh, the OnePlus 5 has noticeably better battery life, thanks to an updated chip as well as optimisations. Even so, the OnePlus 3T has very good battery life, and is enough to last someone like me a whole day. I use my phone a lot, with a mixture of Facebook, Snapchat, and Messenger, as well as a bit of gaming and Reddit. If you’re a light user, you could be able to stretch the battery life to between 1.5-2 days, but I wouldn’t depend on it. The battery life on the OnePlus 3T is a considerable upgrade from the OnePlus 3, which had a paltry 3000mAh battery. Sadly, the battery on the OnePlus 3T isn’t user-replaceable, so after a few years, the battery life will worsen, and you may want to get the battery replaced.

Options

The OnePlus 3T comes in a variety of different colors – Gunmetal, Soft Gold, and now Midnight Black. I’d stay away from the Midnight Black color, as it looks like a wannabe OnePlus 5. My favorite is the Gunmetal version – it looks clean and inoffensive. The OnePlus 3T only comes in two RAM|ROM configurations, and that’s 6GB|64GB and 6GB|128GB. I prefer the 6GB|64GB version which should be more than enough storage for any normal user, but if you have a ton of stuff on your phone, you may want to purchase the 128GB version. It’s also a dual SIM phone, so you can use it for both home and work. However, unlike many other dual SIM phones, you can’t use an unused SIM slot as a micro-SD card slot, so there are no expandable storage options.

Wrap Up

The OnePlus 3T, though older than the OnePlus 5 is very nearly just as good, and much cheaper too. Even though it’s not quite as fast, it’s still one the fastest devices around. It’s a fast, good looking, cheap phone, and an all around stunner. You won’t get the flashy features of the OnePlus 5, and battery life isn’t the best, but for your money, you couldn’t hope for a better phone than the OnePlus 3T. If you’re looking for a phone around this price range, the OnePlus 3T is a no-brainer – the iPhone SE comes a close second, but it’s a completely different phone, with a screen about half the size.

If you’d like to purchase the OnePlus 3T at just $399.99, purchase it at GearBest.com:

The post OnePlus 3T Review – Great Value For Money appeared first on Gazette Review.

OnePlus has always made phones which pushed the limits of technology in specifications. The OnePlus One had 3GB of RAM when the latest Samsung flagship had 2. The OnePlus 2 had 4 when the best flagships were just catching up to 3. OnePlus has announced their latest flagship, the OnePlus 5. It has a whopping 8GB of RAM attached to it’s monstrous Snapdragon 835 chip. While the 8GB RAM version is a costly $539, the 6GB RAM version is just $459.99 from GearBest.com right now. That’s a full $80 cheaper than the 8GB RAM version, and $20 cheaper than the 6GB RAM version at retail price. The 6GB version of the OnePlus 5 is almost every bit the same beast as the 8GB version, save for 64GB less storage and 2GB less RAM.

Design

The OnePlus 5 is built in the image of the iPhone 7 Plus in almost every single way. From the dual camera setup to the build materials, the OnePlus 5 screams iPhone 7 Plus. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since the iPhone 7 Plus is an excellent looking phone. In typical iPhone style, the OnePlus 5 is being touted as the thinnest device OnePlus has ever made. While it’s great to have a thinner phone, it trades that for a rather uninspiring battery capacity, at just 3300mAh. It’s still fairly large, but it’s not as large as some flagship phones we see today. The silence switch is another feature unique to the OnePlus 5 and iPhone 7 Plus, further highlighting their similarities. It’s a great idea, since it means you can discretely turn your phone to vibrate without any fuss.

The OnePlus 5, in taking after the iPhone 7 Plus, has also dashed any hopes or dreams of a bezel-less display. Unlike the Xiaomi Mi Mix or Samsung Galaxy S8, there isn’t any reduction in the bezels of the phone, so the body is still the behemoth you’d expect a normal 5.5″ display to reside in. It has a screen to body ratio of 73%, which, while better than the iPhone 7 Plus, isn’t groundbreaking. Overall, the OnePlus 5 is a good looking phone, and it takes many of it’s design cues from the iPhone 7 Plus, also a good looking phone.

Build Quality

As you’d expect from a $459 phone, the OnePlus 5 has stellar build quality. It’s made entirely from metal and glass, except for the well-placed antenna lines. Since it’s made of metal, it feels sturdy in hand, but it may be a little slippery. Combine this with the slimness of the phone and you may find that it would be beneficial to have a case on it for grip. Overall, it’s a well-made phone, and there are no quality problems at all.

Features

The OnePlus 5’s main selling point this time is it’s tagline “Dual Camera. Clearer Photos”. The dual camera setup present in the OnePlus 5 works in the same exact way as the camera setup found on the iPhone 7 Plus. One is a wide-angle, normal camera, while the other is a 2x telephoto camera. These two work in unison to produce a beautiful DLSR-like bokeh effect. The outcome is that you have the subject in focus and the background blurred. It’s the main special feature of the phone, and it works well.

As standard, the OnePlus 5 has a home button, which is flanked by the back button and the recent apps switcher. You can choose which side is which in the settings. The home button doubles as a fingerprint scanner, which is one of the fastest I’ve ever tried. It’s impressively faster than the sensor found on the iPhone 7 Plus, which already has a very fast fingerprint scanner. Since the battery found on the OnePlus 5 is larger than a lot of other phones, the OnePlus 5 supports fast charging, called “dash charge” by OnePlus. It charges the OnePlus 5 to a staggering 75% in just half an hour. It’s an awesome feature, and I’d like to see fast charging implemented on the iPhone. The iPhone 7 Plus charges painfully slow in comparison to the OnePlus 5.

Connectivity

The OnePlus 5 is one of the leaders in connectivity. Unlike many Chinese phones, the OnePlus 5 has a huge selection of LTE bands. This was a huge problem with the earlier OnePlus phones, but OnePlus has fixed all of that with the OnePlus 5. The OnePlus 5 has all of the connectivity options you’ve come to expect from the top Android phones, from GPS to NFC (sorely missed on the OnePlus 2). The full specifications for connectivity are as follows:

LTE/LTE-A

DL 3CA/256QAM, UL CA/64QAM

Supports up to DL CAT12/ UL CAT13(600Mbps/150Mbps) depending on carrier support

Bands

FDD LTE: Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/29/30/66

TDD LTE: Band 38/39/40/41

TD-SCDMA: Band 34/39

UMTS(WCDMA): Band 1/2/4/5/8

CDMA EVDO: BC0

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

Wi-Fi

2×2 MIMO, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4G/5G

Bluetooth

Bluetooth 5.0, support aptX & aptX HD

NFC

NFC enabled

Positioning

GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou

Display

The OnePlus 5 houses a large 5.5″ display. While it’s not huge by today’s standards, it still has a larger display than most phones. Being a 5.5″ display, you’d expect it to be fairly high resolution, and at 1920×1080, it is. However, OnePlus hasn’t decided to make the jump to 4k resolution. It’s a shame, but for a 5.5″ display, it isn’t too bad. Compare this with the 6.4″ full HD display on the Xiaomi Mi Mix, and it is much more detailed. It’s also roughly the same density as the iPhone 7 Plus. The display itself is very good – viewing angles are wide, and color reproduction is excellent. It’s also reasonably bright, and it feels like a display that belongs on a flagship device.

Hardware

The OnePlus 5 excels in the hardware department. It has a very powerful Snapdragon 835 SoC paired with 8GB of RAM. 8GB of RAM is far and away the highest amount of RAM on an Android phone today. The 6GB version on special at GearBest is also very powerful, and 6GB of RAM should be enough for almost every user. The Snapdragon 835 is one of the very best system-on-chips available today, on par with the Exynos SoC present on the Samsung Galaxy S8. If you get the 8GB RAM version, you’ll also get 128GB of storage, more than enough for any user. The 6GB RAM version comes with 64GB of ultra-fast flash storage (2 lane UFS 2.1).

If you’re gushing over the benchmark scores for the OnePlus 5, you may be a little disappointed to find out that OnePlus has artificially boosted the results of the test. They’ve done this by making the phone run in “performance mode” , which is a power profile usually reserved for processor and graphics intensive apps and games. It’ means that the processor and GPU are allowed to run at full blast without any thermal or energy saving throttling. It’s ok, but it’s not representative of real-world usage. Still it does beat all other Android phones by a large enough margin that this extra boost doesn’t actually skew it too much.

Hardware – Camera

The OnePlus 5 packs an awesome array of two cameras at the top of the phone. It’s very similar to the iPhone 7 Plus, and it also works in almost exactly the same way. As mentioned previously, one of the sensors is a normal wide-angle lens, and the other is a 2x telephoto lens which allows for fixed optical zoom. While it can be used for zoom, the 2x telephoto camera can also be used in unison with the wide angle lens to create a software induced “bokeh” effect, where the subject remains on focus but the background is blurred. OnePlus uses some clever algorithms which decide how far away things are, in order to blur the correct amount, and to work out which areas should be blurred, and which areas should be kept in focus.

The algorithms used by OnePlus work fairly well, but it doesn’t feel as natural as the bokeh effect found on the iPhone 7 Plus, called “portrait mode”. The OnePlus follows the same principle, but it’s called “depth effect” mode. The cameras itself are very good, detail is excellent, and low-light performance is admirable. The front camera is wide, and it’s also of decent quality. Overall, the cameras found on the OnePlus 5 are excellent, and it’s pretty much capable of being a camera replacement.

Video

The OnePlus 5 can also shoot video, but it’s nothing that we haven’t seen before. It can shoot video at 4k at 30fps, or 1080p at 60fps. Unfortunately, it can’t shoot 4k video at anything more than 30fps. Video performance is good, but it’s not anything special.

Performance

The OnePlus 5 is a speed demon. It outclasses all other Android phones in benchmarks, and those increased benchmark scores also show through in day-to-day use. In a real-world speed test, it actually scored better than the iPhone 7 Plus, which is a major feat, since no other Android phone has been able to do that to date. It’s a very very fast phone, and with it’s beefy specs, I’d expect it to be. It’s currently the fastest Android phone out there, and it’s apparent in day to day usage. The OnePlus 5 exceedingly quick and snappy, and apps stay in the RAM for a long time, minimising use of swap or plain booting it out of memory. This means that apps you used yesterday may still be exactly where they were before, much like if you used an iPhone 6s or 7. RAM management is useful, but with a huge 8GB of RAM, it’s not as vital as it is on the Samsung Galaxy S8, which has a paltry 4GB.

Operating System

The Oneplus 5, like all OnePlus phones, runs Oxygen OS. Oxygen OS is a custom ROM built on Android, and for the most part, it’s very good. Most of the UI and design is left alone, and OnePlus has some nifty features built into it that make using the phone unique. In the early days of Android, it had a severe lack of features, and custom ROMS solved that by adding the features we all needed baked in, but now it’s less and less vital. OnePlus has struck an almost perfect balance between adding useful features and messing too much with the OS, and it’s a very pleasurable experience overall.

Headphone Jack

This plays a major part in differentiating the OnePlus 5 and the iPhone 7 Plus. Unlike the iPhone 7 plus, the OnePlus 5 has a headphone jack. This is awesome, because it means you can still use all your favourite audio equipment without the need for a USB type-C DAC or dongle. I personally have Bluetooth earphones, but it doesn’t mean that phone manufacturers should rush to remove a port which has been present on phones for a long time.

Battery Life

Compared to the OnePlus 3T, the OnePlus 5 looks like it should have weaker battery life. At 3300mAh compared to 3400mAh, it’s a smaller battery than the OnePlus 3T. Even so, it manages to squeeze out a day and a half of power under light-medium usage. With my usual usage (heavy), it lasts a full day, which very good. Even with the Apple Smart Battery Case on my iPhone 6s, I’m only getting one day of battery life. Unfortunately, in an effort to keep the phone as slim as possible, the back isn’t removable, and therefore, the battery isn’t either. This means that over time, the battery will degrade, and you’ll need to get the battery replaced, or live with reduced battery life.

Options

The OnePlus 5 comes in Slate Gray and Midnight Black. The Midnight Black version is $539, and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The Slate Gray version is $459 from Gearbest right now, but usually $479, and comes with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. While 6GB of RAM is less than 8GB, it’s still more than enough for any normal user, and already much more than the 4GB of storage found on the standard version of the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Wrap Up

The OnePlus 5 is the best phone OnePlus has ever made. It’s also the most expensive, but it sticks to it’s roots, as an undercutting, over-performing device. It’s the most powerful phone on the market, and it’s brawn is it’s main attraction. There’s a cool camera feature, but other than that, it’s speed is what makes it such a good phone. If you want a ridiculously fast phone at a great price, get the OnePlus 5.

If you’d like to purchase the 6GB|64GB version of the OnePlus 5, you can get it today at GearBest.com for just $459.99 here.

Use code OnePluHNF to claim your discount.

The post OnePlus 5 (6GB RAM | 64GB ROM) Review appeared first on Gazette Review.

Design

Since OnePlus seems to be terrible at keeping secrets, we saw the design far far ahead of schedule. The OnePlus 5 bears a jarring resemblance to the iPhone 7 Plus, with the same antenna lines, overall shape, and dual camera setup. Though it is similar to the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 is a great looking phone, so the OnePlus 5 looks good too. The OnePlus 5 is also the thinnest phone that OnePlus has ever made, though I’d rather it be a bit thicker for a larger battery. A feature unique to both the iPhone 7 and the OnePlus 5 is the silence switch. While most other Android phones have done away with it, OnePlus has kept it. I find it insanely useful, as I can quickly change the ring/silent without looking.

The design is fairly conventional. It has a normal screen-to-body ratio, and it doesn’t try to be the future concerning design. It takes a regular approach to a smartphone, which saves money on design. Though it’s not that futuristic regarding design, it’s still on the bleeding edge in performance, and that’s the most important part. Overall, it’s a good looking phone, and it feels good in the hand. It comes in Midnight Black and Slate Gray, and I personally favour the Midnight Black.

Features

The OnePlue 5 packs an impressive set of features for its price. As standard, there’s an ultrafast fingerprint scanner at the bottom, doubling as a home button, flanked by two touch-sensitive capacitive buttons. A standout feature of the OnePlus 5, carried over from the OnePlus 3T is Dash Charge. Since the battery on the OnePlus 5 is a relatively large 3300mAh, Dash charge allows it to charge from 0-75% in just half an hour. That’s an impressive feat, and it’d be immensely useful for situations like coffee shops. As with any Android smartphone, the OnePlus 5 has it’s array of connectivity options.

Hardware – Power

The OnePlus 5 is the fastest Android phone on the market right now. It has a Snapdragon 835 processor with up to a whopping 8GB of LP-DDR4 RAM, which is the same amount of RAM as my MacBook Pro. Those specs alone ensure that the OnePlus 5 will stay at the top of it’s game for many years to come. There’s also a 6GB/64GB (RAM/ROM) version, but if you’re buying a super powerful phone, you might as well get the top one.

While all of the internals in the OnePlus 5 are already very powerful, OnePlus decided to give it a little boost in benchmarks, to artificially increase the scores it gets. It’s a little dishonest, but the real speeds are so good there’s no reason to discredit the phone on that. The take away point here is, the OnePlus 5 is the fastest Android phone out there, so you don’t need to worry in the slightest about power.

Hardware – Camera

The biggest new feature of the OnePlus 5 is obviously the camera. In fact, the first ever official public unveiling of the design of the phone stressed “Dual Cameras. Clearer Pictures”. Instead of one simply being a telephoto lens, it has taken the iPhone 7 Plus of attempting to create a DOF (depth-of-field) effect on portrait shots. A reason why you never see blurred backgrounds on shots taken on phones is because of the fact that the small cameras (and therefore, apertures) are unable to make that effect. With the help of these dual cameras, and OnePlus’s own algorithms, OnePlus hopes to change that. While OnePlus doesn’t have the research or manpower equivalent to that of Apple, it’s algorithms still do a very good job, though they aren’t as polished as Apple’s.

Interestingly, the sensor on the 2x telephoto lens has a higher megapixel count (20MP) than the normal sensor (16MP). What the telephoto lens lacks is the aperture. The normal lens has an impressively low F-stop at just 1.7, vs 2.6 for the telephoto. The front facing camera is also impressive, at 16MP and F-2.0 aperture, but the main killers here are the dual rear cameras. Overall, pictures taken with the OnePlus 5 look great, even in low light conditions. Video is fairly stock standard here, nothing too fancy. It can take 4K video at 30fps, and 1080p video at 60fps. I’ve mentioned this many times before, but I’m going to hold off on buying a phone until I can get 4k video at 60fps, though that could prove to be a long time.

Display

The OnePlus 5 has a large screen, at 5.5 inches. While that used to sound absolutely huge, it’s dwarfed by the Xiaomi Mi Mix (6.4 inches!). It’s still a respectable screen, but it’s still not as sharp as many Android screens are, at only Full HD (1920×1080) resolution. Although it isn’t bad at all, if you’re planning to use your phone with a VR headset, a higher resolution display is a must. The display itself is beautiful, and it displays colours with accuracy and vibrancy. Like the iPhone 7, it can display the DCI P3 color gamut, which is a welcome addition. Viewing angles are great, and overall, the screen feels right at home on a flagship device.

Operating System

Like all of OnePluses previous phones, the OnePlus 5 runs a custom ROM over stock Android. OnePlus has designed its own custom ROM called Oxygen OS, and it’s fast and fluid. While Xiaomi likes to fill the OS with as much uniqueness as possible, OnePlus has kept Android stock, and all modifications made by OnePlus have all followed Material Design Rules. With Oxygen OS, you get a “draw” with all of your oft-used apps, among other useful things. Compared to stock Android, it’s definitely an upgrade. If you don’t like the modifications, it’s okay, as most of them are unobtrusive and can be turned off, and all of them follow googles own design principles.

Headphone Jack

Although the OnePlus 5 takes after the iPhone 7 Plus in design, what it doesn’t copy is the headphone jack, or rather, the lack of one. The OnePlus 5 retains the “legacy” headphone jack, so you can keep listening to the music you love through good old-fashioned wired headphones. OnePlus sells its own set of “bullets”, but personally I haven’t tried them, so I can’t comment on their sound.

Battery Life

The OnePlus 5, on paper, has pretty weak battery statistics. For its body size and power, it has only a 3300mAh non-removable battery. It’s also a downgrade from the OnePlus 3T, which had a 3400mAh battery. Even so, real world battery life is impressive, and it easily got me through a full day. This all-day battery life for me was good, but since it is a non-removable battery, battery life will make the phone lose it’s stamina over time. Against the likes of the Xiaomi Mi Mix and the Xiaomi Mi Note 2, and their 4000 mAh+ batteries, the OnePlus 5 can’t compete, but compared to most phones, the iPhone in particular, it’s respectable. In fact, it seems to do better in battery tests than it’s predecessor, the OnePlus 3T, even though it had a bigger battery.

Performance Options

The OnePlus 5 is the most expensive phone OnePlus has ever made. Even in its base configuration, it’s a full $40 more expensive than the OnePlus 3T, which was $40 more than the OnePlus 3. That’s a shame, but as OnePlus matures as a company, they ought to increase their prices a little. However, if you’re shelling out the cash for the OnePlus 5, I’d recommend that you’d go all the way and get the 8GB/128GB (RAM/ROM) version. For the extra $60, you’re getting another 2GB of LP-DDR4 RAM, and another 64GB of UFS2.1 2-LANE storage. This ensures that you won’t ever run out of storage on your phone, and if you’re a power user, the extra RAM will help. The benefits of the extra 2GB of RAM may not be apparent now, but a year or two down the road, it may make a world of difference. It’s only another $60, and it’s a good amount of kit for that price.

Wrap Up

The OnePlus 5 is the best, most expensive phone that OnePlus has ever made. It doesn’t have too many special features, and stick to a conventional design, but what it does, it does well. Its dual camera setup is great, and the performance is second to none. Although it’s creeping into real flagship prices, it’s still a good all around phone at a good price. If you’re looking for the fastest phone out there at any price, this is it.

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10. Robin

Starting off our list of best personal assistant apps is Robin, which despite being on the market nearly as long as Andy, has remained in Beta. Despite the lack of developer confidence, Robin is one of the first and best competitors to Siri. Features include the ability to send texts via voice command, call via voice, as well as a pretty accurate map and traffic system which includes gas price estimates throughout the route. While there are a few features missing here and there, the fact that it is very regularly updated and new features come with nearly every update makes that issue easy to overlook.

9.Skyvi

Another veteran Assistant app, Skyvi was one of the first to adopt social media integration. Besides your normal messaging capabilities, both Facebook and Twitter can be accessed and modified through Skyvi in very short manner. The User Interface and user interactions are rather simple, so it won’t win any awards for higher functioning, but for those looking for a simple and light personal assistant app, Skyvi is a great choice. As an added bonus to those with an easy going sense of humor, one of the most touted features of Skyvi is the “Tell me a joke” option, which while sometimes cheesy, shows some developmental effort.

8. Assistant

Assistant by Creative Indian Labs is the first on this list to compete directly with Siri and Google Now in terms of aesthetic and functionality. While it can at times miss the mark with voice and command recognition (especially if an accent is carried), in most cases it doesn’t have issues. The User Interface is about as simple as it comes, and could benefit more from text entry capabilities or a menu, but for what it is, Assistant by Creative Indian Labs does its job well.

7. Jarvis

Let’s face it. If you’ve ever watched any of Marvel’s latest releases and you’re reading this list, your dream would be to have your own Jarvis. While ItsMyLab didn’t quite make that dream a reality, they at least gave it a good shot. The first on this list to offer Android Wear capabilities, Jarvis can appear on both your Android Watch and Phone, and can manage tasks on both devices with ease. With your normal abilities to set alarms, change phone settings, and piggyback off other programs to perform tasks, Jarvis also carried a feature called “CloudVoice”. While not true AI learning, this feature allows Jarvis to have dynamic conversation responses, and if there is error in the response it can adjust and “learn” from said incidents.

6. Indigo

Another app to claim to be in Beta (though given the fact it was last updated over a year ago, such a claim is doubtful) Indigo is a personal assistant with plenty to offer. Under its deceptively simple user interface is a connectivity to nearly every other app on your phone, social media accounts, and of course Google. This allows for you to schedule a meeting and check the weather while listening to your favorite music without so much as lifting a finger. Indigo also offers translation services for international travel, and while not always accurate, typically the message will get the desired point across.

5. AIVC

AIVC (called Alice for sake of ease) by YourApp24 is one of the smarter personal assistants available for both free and a few bucks for the pro version. While most of the features are relegated to the pro version, both offer plenty of functionality in terms of scheduling, searching and blending features of other apps. The voice response can at times be quirky (there has been more than one report of Alice giving a snarky response to a question) but honestly that can be seen as a plus in an otherwise two-dimensional personality field. The ability to program your own voice commands is also a very near feature.

4. Hound

Centered around voice commands, Hound is pretty easy to get the hang of. With a design that focuses around speed of response, Hound is pretty good at getting the answers you want, fast. Hound is one of the few personal assistant apps to partner with Uber to allow for in-app fare estimates, as well as allowing for Expedia booking if air travel is needed in the near future. In terms of entertainment, Hound also carries some Shazam like features, allowing you to hum a song or have it listen to the radio to detect what song is playing.

3. Dragon Mobile Assistant

From Nuance Communications, Inc. Dragon Mobile is one of the best personal assistants in terms of personalization and response. While many personal assistants allow for only one voice, Dragon can be edited to have a wide variety, and also can be programmed to turn on from the use of a specific word, responding only to your voice. With the other standard features you would expect from up to date assistant apps and a UI that makes adjusting settings a breeze, it is a well made app for anyone on the go.

2. Google Now

Coming standard with every Android phone, Google Now is more an extension to a suite of programs than just an assistant app itself. Often referenced as a search tool, Google Now can also adjust everything you need to on google accounts such as calendars, contacts, and music, while finding answers for any query. While some may not love the idea of transferring all of their data into google accessible formats to make the full use of Google Now possible, for those who don’t mind it’s an incredibly easy and useful app.

1. Cortana

Coming in as the number one personal assistant app for Android is Cortana, by Microsoft. Named after the famed AI companion in the popular Halo series, Cortana can link between computer and smartphone and make life easier on college students, professionals, or anyone who wants to keep their life in order. While working best in conjunction with an active PC account (especially if you have Windows 10), even as a standalone, Cortana offers plenty of benefits for the amount of space it takes up to download. One of the best features is curation of articles that can be of benefit to the user in a professional sense (latest medical research for physicians, stock predictions, etc) that can easily be accessed on either computer or phone. The overall user interface takes just a few moments to get used to, and is afterwards quite natural.

This wraps up our top ten list of personal assistants on android. While I’ve tested each of these apps, Cortana had to be my favorite due to the PC to phone link up as well as the delivery of research materials relevant to my fields of interest. Did we miss any of your favorite personal assistant apps? If so, be sure to leave a comment on what is your favorite and why.

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