Awesome Android

Ubisoft and Netflix just dropped this lighthearted take on Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six franchise with a cartoony Roguelite shooter. Build your squad and head out on stealth missions to save the world of SMOL by defusing bombs, freeing hostages, and taking down baddies. It’s free to play but requires a Netflix subscription. Available now on iOS and Android.

This unique coffee table has a built-in 43″ touchscreen and tilts from a flat to an angled display. The Nxtbl’s 4K screen is backed by Android 13 and has HDMI, USB-A, and USB-C connectors. It has a waterproof, scratchproof, and glare-resistant tempered glass surface and works for gaming, computing, watching videos, and Zoom calls with an external camera.

After dropping iPhones into toilets and oceans, I’ve come to appreciate phones that don’t bankrupt me. The pre-paid TCL 40 XE 5G looks like a pricey smartphone and does a good job behaving like one too, but holey moley, the Android 13 phone is priced at $120, making it TCL’s most affordable 5G smartphone yet.

This powerful Android gaming system is perfect for emulator fanatics. Its 8-core Dimensity 1200 chip is fast enough to run upscaled PS2 games at 60 fps. What really sets it apart is its magnetic controller modules, which provide separate FPS, MOBA, and Xbox-style layouts. ETA Prime has a great hands-on review.

AppMySite creates iOS and Android apps without writing code. It makes native apps based on WordPress and WooCommerce sites, and syncs website updates in real-time. It offers push notifications, payments, and shipping for e-commerce. Grab a deal on an AppMySite Pro subscription in The Awesomer Shop.

Bring your shower into the 21st century with this slick gadget that combines a touchscreen Android tablet, Bluetooth speakers, lighting, a fogless mirror, and UV-C sanitization lights. Its base unit holds securely with double-sided adhesive pads, while you can easily remove its water-resistant display for recharging.

This bargain-priced Android tablet offers a 10.1″ screen with 1080p resolution display, a long-lasting 6,000 mAh battery, and a speedy Cortex A53 quad-core processor. It has 13mp rear and 5mp front cameras, stereo speakers, and GPS support. Save 21% in The Awesomer Shop.

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming service lets you play more than 100 Xbox games on Android devices. To get the most out of mobile gaming, you need a proper controller. Nacon will offer two designs – the tablet-style MG-X, and the MG-X Pro, which looks like a stretched-out Xbox controller. Both models drop in early 2021.

LG’s unique smartphone has a main POLED 6.8″ display that can swivel 90º, revealing a second touchscreen that can be used to display another app or controls. Its front-facing camera hides in a pop-up module, so there’s no notch. It’s packed with HD cameras, and it offers a slick gimbal-style stabilization mode. More here.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note20 Ultra has a 6.9″ curved edge 120Hz 3088×1440 display, a 10mp selfie, 12mp ultra-wide, 108mp wide, and 12mp 50x zoom cameras. There’s a new pro video mode, and a much more responsive stylus. The smaller Note20 has a 6.7″ flat 60Hz 2400×1080 display, 64mp wide camera, and 30x max zoom.

More and more devices have done away with the headphone jack, insisting on a wireless connection. But if you want the sound quality of a hardwired connection, grab this stainless steel adapter from ddHiFi that converts the USB-C port on mobile devices into a 3.5mm audio jack. They also make a Lightning version.

While name-brand phones keep getting thinner and more fragile, DOOGEE has gone against the grain with this ruggedized Android 9.0 model. It’s IP68 dropproof, waterproof, and dustproof, with protection from every side. It’s got a triple Sony AI rear camera, a 5.9″ 1080×2280 IPS display, Helio P70 CPU, and a huge 6300mAh battery.

The ASUS ZenFone 6 has a midrange price ($499+), but it has a handful of top-tier specs. Its 48MP regular and 13MP ultra-wide rear cameras can flip to the front for selfies as well. It also has a 5,000mAh battery and a top of the line Snapdragon 855 CPU.

The OnePlus 7 Pro has a 6.67″ 90Hz 1440p AMOLED display with nearly no bezel, an in-display fingerprint sensor, 6GB/8GB/12GB of RAM, 128GB or 256GB storage, a Snapdragon 855 CPU, a pop-up 16MP front camera, and three rear cameras. It also charges to 50% in just 20 minutes.

Google’s Pixel 3a and 3a XL are more affordable than today’s flagship phones. But they have a 5.6″ or 6″ (respectively) 1080p OLED display, the same 12.2MP rear camera and camera software that’s in the Pixel 3, which has HDR and the miraculous low light mode, Night Sight.

Sony’s Master Grade Series Z9G is an Android Smart TV with 8K resolution. It features detail upscaling and full-array local dimming for optimal contrast. It also has four speakers and can be used as a center speaker in a surround sound setup. Comes in 85″ and 98″ models.

Eewrite’s E-Pad is a 10.1″ e-ink Android tablet. It has both Wi-Fi and 4G LTE connectivity via a SIM slot. It reads most document formats and uses Wacom technology for its optional stylus, making for a responsive writing and drawing experience.

XGIMI’s MoGo Pro is a compact 1080p portable projector and speaker with Android TV built-in. It plays content from Chromecast streaming, Bluetooth, USB and HDMI. It has fast auto-focus and keystone correction, and supports Google Assistant for voice control.

Huawei’s P30 Pro features four rear cameras, including a 40MP main camera with a maximum ISO rating of 409,600 for excellent low light photography. It also has a 8MP periscope camera that allows for 5x optical zoom and a staggering 50x digital zoom.

LG takes a reasonable half-step towards foldable phones with the V50 ThinQ 5G. It has a 6.4″ 1440×3120 OLED display, but it also has an optional 6.2″ 1080p OLED display attachment. You can use the second display to run two apps at once, preview photos and more.

Nokia is banking on photography enthusiasts with the 9 PureView. It has five 12MP cameras at the back – two RGB, three monochrome – that can all take photos at once. This should result in images with incredible HDR and adjustable focus. Drops 03/2019 for $699.

Huawei’s take on the foldable phone is similar to the FlexPai. The Mate X has a single 8″ display that folds nearly in half for use in smartphone mode. It takes advantage of its “rear” display by acting as a preview for taking selfies.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold has a 4.6″ display on its front. Unfold the device and you get a 7.3″ tablet with an AMOLED display, and designed for multitasking. The device will go on sale 4/2019 for $1980 – truly a collectible for the most dedicated gadget freaks.