Even the very best smartphones have their pros and cons. As consumers, we take great joy in outlining the positives and enjoying the improvements or novel smarts an updated model brings. However, it’s the negatives that ultimately make or break a device.

A phone could offer the best-in-class performance, but if limited battery life or overheating tampers the experience, it rather negates the feat. Similarly, there’s no point in boasting a crazy quintuple camera array if all five are ordinary. Some manufacturers nerf some features to cut costs or elevate other models in the lineup.

What is your smartphone dealbreaker?

While some users can live with mediocre cameras or battery life if that means a large display or performant base, each one of us will have a different dealbreaker. So, what is yours? We’d love some consumer input from our readers, so vote in our poll below.

We’ve touched on this topic a few times before. In 2017, two of our primary dealbreakers were the lack of a headphone jack and no water resistance — how times have changed. We also polled readers in 2021, with the majority outing poor battery life and a lack of software updates as their bugbears — two problems that still rear their heads. A low-quality display was also among our readers’ top annoyances, but the issue is largely extinct in 2024.

My biggest dealbreaker is battery life, followed by camera performance and durability. If I forget to charge my phone, I want to ensure it’ll still wake me up in the morning. I’m still clinging onto my older phone because it’s built like a shiny tank, and the camera remains impressive. These might be small details, but they matter to me.

Unfortunately, the poll above allows you to pick only one dealbreaker. Ensure that you really give the topic some thought. However, be sure to leave a comment detailing your choice, or tertiary dealbreakers if you are so inclined.

The market for foldable smartphones has exploded, with every major manufacturer offering its own take on the concept. While Samsung led the pack when it first introduced the Galaxy Z Fold to the world, things have gotten a lot more competitive recently, with brands like OnePlus offering better value for money with the OnePlus Open for people looking to make the leap to a foldable device. Now, months after its initial launch, the new OnePlus Open Apex Edition is here, and even in this competitive market, it manages to hold its own as a great option for people looking to make a foldable phone their next investment.

Starting things off, the OnePlus Open Apex Edition is a special version of the OnePlus Open inspired by the iconic Hasselblad 503CW 60 Years Victor Red Edition. It features a premium vegan leather back with a diamond pattern, complemented by bold orange accents on the Alert Slider. The changes don’t stop there, though; it also features 1TB of storage, compared to the 512GB on the standard edition, and will feature VIP Mode, a special mode that also allows you to cut off access to the camera and microphone, at the same time you mute sound.

First and foremost, even though this is the top-of-the-range edition of the OnePlus Open, the Apex still manages to match Samsung’s $1,899.99 price tag for their base model of the latest Z Fold 6. If you can do without the special extras the OnePlus Open Apex offers, the standard edition with 512GB of storage will set you back $1,699, $200 less than Samsung’s base model. That’s no small chunk of change, especially when you consider that the Open comes standard with 512GB of storage, compared to the Fold6’s 256GB. More bang for your buck right from the start.

The differences only grow from there, because the Open isn’t just about being cheaper. OnePlus has packed this thing with some seriously impressive hardware that, for most of what you do on your phone, rivals Samsung’s offering. The foldable inner screen is a gorgeous 7.82-inch OLED panel, which is brighter and sharper than the 7.6-inch screen on the Fold6. When unfolded, you’re treated to a mini-tablet experience that feels more expansive and immersive.

“The OnePlus Open Apex Edition is a special version of the OnePlus Open inspired by the iconic Hasselblad 503CW 60 Years Victor Red Edition.”

Even the display on the outer cover is impressive: at 6.31 inches, it’s a hair bigger than the Fold 6’s and has a more traditional smartphone aspect ratio. This makes the Open feel much more like a ‘normal’ phone when folded. No more awkwardly stretched apps or cramped typing. As someone who has bigger hands, this has made it possible for me to actually use the OnePlus Open, while I found the Z Fold tedious and annoying for doing quick tasks. 

Turning to the SoC, this is the one area where the OnePlus Open falls a little behind Samsung’s Fold6, but not by much. It’s powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip—the same silicon found in early 2023 flagships, including the Z Fold5 (which is currently priced at $1919.99 USD for the 512 GB model, a $220 difference). It’s not quite as cutting-edge as the Fold6’s Gen 3 processor, but real-world performance is still blazingly fast, with gaming and productivity comparing very well for most tasks. Couple that with a generous 16GB of RAM (4GB more than the Fold6), and you’ve got a multitasking powerhouse that can be used for everything from content creation to gaming with little issue. 

Even with the slightly less modern SoC, battery life is another area where the Open manages to keep pace and even surpass Samsung’s foldable flagship. Its 4,805 mAh cell edges out the Fold 6’s 4,400 mAh battery, but the real kicker is the charging speed. The Open supports 67W fast charging, juicing up from empty to 100% in just 42 minutes. The Fold 6, meanwhile, is still stuck at 25W charging speeds that feel downright sluggish by comparison.

“The OnePlus Open boasts a versatile triple lens setup, headlined by a 48MP main shooter.”

For creators, OnePlus brings one of the best foldable camera systems to the party, with three solid rear cameras all ready to take on a variety of tasks. The OnePlus Open boasts a versatile triple lens setup, headlined by a 48MP main shooter. Early reviews praise its image quality as being on a par with, if not better than, the Fold 6 in many scenarios. The 64MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom is particularly impressive, offering more reach than Samsung’s 3x telephoto.

To be fair, the OnePlus Open falls short in a few areas, even if it excels in others. Samsung still has a few tricks up its sleeve with the Fold6. Its IPX8 water resistance rating trumps the Open’s IPX4 splash resistance. The Fold6 also supports the S Pen stylus, which could be a big draw for productivity-minded users. There’s no denying that Samsung has more experience in folding games, which could translate into better long-term durability.

“For those on the fence about taking the foldable plunge, the OnePlus Open Apex is an enticing proposition, especially with the new additions the phone brings to an already great device.”

Even with that, OnePlus makes a solid case for the Open Apex, thanks to the advantages the phone brings to the market, especially if you want your phone to be more than a device you show off at parties. OnePlus has crafted a device that feels like it was built from the ground up to be a foldable, rather than a regular phone that happens to bend in half. The hinge mechanism is smooth and sturdy, with a barely perceptible crease when unfolded.

For those on the fence about taking the foldable plunge, the OnePlus Open Apex is an enticing proposition, especially with the new additions the phone brings to an already great device. It delivers flagship-level specs and performance in an innovative form factor, while undercutting the competition on price. The OnePlus Open proves that you don’t have to empty your wallet or make major compromises to get in on the foldable action.

Of course, personal preference will always play a role in smartphone choice. Some users may prefer Samsung’s more established ecosystem, the Fold 6’s specific feature set, or even its new AI capabilities. But purely from a value and capability perspective, it’s hard to deny that the OnePlus Open has set a new standard for what we should expect from a premium foldable device.

The OnePlus Open Apex is undoubtedly a stunning piece of technology, offering some solid additions to an already impressive package. As the foldable phone market continues to heat up, competition like this can only be good news for consumers. It pushes manufacturers to innovate faster and offer better value for money. The OnePlus Open isn’t just a great phone in its own right; it’s a wake-up call to other companies to do better, and the Apex only pushes this further. 

Earlier this week, we divulged a list of ways to make your phone last longer. Those tips can extend the lifetime of your device, but the unstoppable march of time eventually brings all things to an end. One day it’ll be obvious that you have no choice but to ditch that faithful companion, and we can help you decide when the time is right. Here are ten clear signs you need to upgrade your phone.

You might see articles like this one that tell you that poor battery or full storage are signs you need to replace your handset. We’re not going to cover those things here. If you want to switch devices because of poor battery life, it’s your call, but both that and the storage issue are fairly easily remedied without resorting to an upgrade. You can read the aforementioned article to find out how. What we’re talking about here are terminal issues for your poor old phone.

Signs you need to upgrade your phone

1. It’s painfully slow

Your phone will slow down over time for a number of reasons. There are plenty of measures you can take to speed it up again, but the performance of your device is only going in one direction overall. This affects every aspect of your use, and it’ll eventually become so intolerable that you’ll know it’s time to switch.

Here are just a handful of signs that your device’s performance is suffering:

1. Frequent freezing and lagging during basic operations like opening apps, scrolling through social media, or typing.
2. Slow app launches or delays in switching between apps.
3. A lag between your touch inputs and the phone’s response.
4. Apps or the entire operating system crashing frequently.
5. Your phone struggling to keep multiple apps open or running in the background.
6. Frame drops, stuttering, or long loading times while gaming.

2. No more updates

The updates that your phone receives from the manufacturer are crucial for keeping it viable as your daily driver. This represents something of a built-in redundancy for your device, which can understandably frustrate buyers. It’s also a factor that you need to consider when saving money on previous-generation smartphones.

The biggest smartphone manufacturers have heeded these consumer concerns and moved towards longer periods of update support for their handsets in recent years. It’s a smart move, but there will come a day when your phone gets its last update, and things can start going south quite quickly after that.

Here are some of the reasons why losing update support means that it might be time to upgrade your phone:

1. Phones that no longer receive security patches are susceptible to malware, viruses, and hacking. Some apps also face security compliance issues if they can’t interact with up-to-date software.
2. Many apps are built to only be compatible with the most recent versions of operating systems. If you’re running an outdated build of the OS, these apps won’t work on your handset.
3. Related to the previous section, updates often include enhancements for performance, battery efficiency upgrades, and bug fixes. Not getting these updates may contribute to your phone slowing down.
4. Similar to the apps, new accessories or advances in mobile technology may not be compatible with an older operating system version.

You may want to consider upgrading your phone before you start to face these issues, especially if you plan to sell it once you have a replacement. A phone that is beyond it’s last update is going to command a much smaller resale fee.

3. Screen problems

We’re not just talking about a crack in the glass here — that can be very annoying, but if it’s just the glass protection for the phone screen, your phone is probably fully functional. In terms of drops or impact, you face real problems if the damage goes as deep as the actual LCD or OLED display beneath the glass. This can render part or all of the screen unusable. Also, unlike the glass, it’s often extremely expensive to replace the screen of the device. Unless you only got the phone recently, these high repair costs might make it more financially prudent to upgrade your phone and write off the loss.

Even if you’re careful with your phone and protect it with a case and screen protector, there are a number of ways that your phone screen can break down eventually. For instance, all or part of the touchscreen could stop responding, dead pixels could start to appear, or your device may succumb to screen burn in. The dilemma you’re then faced with is the same as if you’d smashed it: fork out hundreds of dollars in replacing the screen, or move on to a new model.

4. Camera degradation

The ability to shoot high-quality photos and videos is one of the most important aspects of a phone to many people. If the camera on your handset is no longer up to scratch, it’s often another of those problems that range from a pricey fix to a phone upgrade.

There are some phone camera issues that are relatively easily remedied. If it’s a scratch or dirt around the glass, it might be a fairly easy fix at your local service center. Other problems with the camera can be caused by larger issues that we’ve already touched on like the app responding slowly or crashing due to the phone’s overall performance diminishing.

Then there are complications specific to the camera array that could render your device a shadow of its former self. These include the camera sensor degrading over time due to exposure to light and environmental conditions, mechanical parts in the autofocus system wearing out, and similar hardware failures. Like with the screen, a busted camera array is often so expensive to sort out that it might be time for that phone upgrade.

5. The sound is shot

It might sound antiquated in 2024, but you sometimes want to use your phone as a phone. This requires two delicate parts of the hardware to be in good working order: the speaker and the microphone. Even if you’re Gen Z and allergic to the idea of actually giving someone a call, losing the mic means the end of voice notes. Without the speaker, you’re not going to be streaming the sound on TikTok or YouTube anytime soon without a pair of headphones.

There are dozens of reasons why either your mic or speaker can stop working, and quite a lot of them a fixable. You might even be able to remedy it yourself if either has become clogged with dust or debris or if the problem lies in some sort of software failure. An intermittent or crackling sound might be attributable to a loose connection in your device, which a professional at your local service center may be able to sort out.

For all these reasons, diagnosis is needed before a phone upgrade. But if there’s a fundamental hardware failure causing one of the issues, the time to bid the device farewell may have arrived.

6. Connectivity issues

Connectivity issues could mean that your phone is on its last legs. However, even more so than the sound issues, it’s essential to rule out all other possibilities first. Connectivity problems are almost always related to something else. It could be an issue with software compatibility, your network provider, your Wi-Fi router, something interfering with the signal, or any number of other factors..

If you’ve exhausted all other avenues of inquiry, the issues might stem from a hardware fault in your device. Which bit of the hardware depends on where you’re struggling with connectivity. It could be the antenna, the Bluetooth module, the GPS component, or something else. Whatever it is, you’re back at that same dilemma: a potentially expensive fix or phone upgrade time.

7. Refusal to charge

It’s obvious to say, but if you can no longer charge your phone, its best use-case is as a bookend or a doorstop. Some charging issues are easily fixable, but some will mean a phone upgrade is more practical. An increasing number of phones have both wired and wireless charging options now, so a failure to charge via cable isn’t as fatal as it used to be, although it does limit your options if you can only charge wirelessly.

If you’re trying to charge with a cable and find it only works from certain angles, it could be that the prongs on the charging port are misaligned, or you have a loose connection. Dirt and debris can also contribute to charging problems. You can try to clean the ports, check the cable you’re using is working properly, or see if a professional can see an obvious issue that isn’t too expensive to fix. Charging issues could also relate to the battery rather than the connection itself. This is easier to diagnose on a phone that can also be charged wirelessly.

More serious charging issues can be related to damaged circuitry within the phone. If wired charging is your only option, this means either an expensive repair bill or upgrade time. If wireless is an option, then you could soldier on with it and accept that you’ll have slower top-up times and fewer opportunities, as you don’t find many wireless chargers out and about. If both your wired and wireless charging capabilities are suffering from circuitry problems, it’s pretty much game over for the device.

8. It’s extremely hot

All phones heat up with use, especially if you’re running resource-intensive apps or games for extended periods. Sunlight, a faulty charger, software issues, and a defective battery are among other reasons why your phone might be getting hot. A bit of heating up is normal, and a lot of heating up for any of the aforementioned reasons is something you can address.

If you’ve ruled out those types of issues and your phone is still overheating when you’re not using many resources, it could be an internal hardware problem, such as defective components or poor thermal management. That’s probably the point at which it’s time to upgrade your phone.

9. Random crashing

We’ve already mentioned that struggling performance can cause individual apps to crash or the phone to freeze. An even more ominous sign that your phone is on the way out is if it either shuts off or restarts at random intervals. It could even get stuck in a cycle of continuous restarting without fully booting up.

This could be due to a number of issues that have cropped up throughout this article. Overheating, battery issues, and software glitches can all cause your handset to go a bit haywire in this way. Malware can be another culprit. You’ll probably need your local service center to get to the bottom of it. The worst news they can deliver after an inspection is that the source of the issue is a failing motherboard or damaged components. While they might be fixable for a high price, you might just decide to write it off at that point.

10. Bulging or warping

You know that your device is about to bite the dust if it’s started becoming warped or bulged. This might be caused by a specific component, like the battery expanding. It could also be a result of an accidental drop or general overheating.

Whatever the reason, you can’t just hammer it back into shape like a dented car hood. Smartphones are highly refined pieces of equipment, and becoming misshapen can have all sorts of bad consequences. These include significant safety hazards, such as leaking, overheating, or even exploding. There’s also a higher risk of components being damaged and reduced functionality.

You can have the local expert take a look at the damage if you like, but don’t get your hopes up and keep an eye out for a good deal on your next handset.

Earlier this week, we divulged a list of ways to make your phone last longer. Those tips can extend the lifetime of your device, but the unstoppable march of time eventually brings all things to an end. One day it’ll be obvious that you have no choice but to ditch that faithful companion, and we can help you decide when the time is right. Here are ten clear signs you need to upgrade your phone.

You might see articles like this one that tell you that poor battery or full storage are signs you need to replace your handset. We’re not going to cover those things here. If you want to switch devices because of poor battery life, it’s your call, but both that and the storage issue are fairly easily remedied without resorting to an upgrade. You can read the aforementioned article to find out how. What we’re talking about here are terminal issues for your poor old phone.

Signs you need to upgrade your phone

1. It’s painfully slow

Your phone will slow down over time for a number of reasons. There are plenty of measures you can take to speed it up again, but the performance of your device is only going in one direction overall. This affects every aspect of your use, and it’ll eventually become so intolerable that you’ll know it’s time to switch.

Here are just a handful of signs that your device’s performance is suffering:

1. Frequent freezing and lagging during basic operations like opening apps, scrolling through social media, or typing.
2. Slow app launches or delays in switching between apps.
3. A lag between your touch inputs and the phone’s response.
4. Apps or the entire operating system crashing frequently.
5. Your phone struggling to keep multiple apps open or running in the background.
6. Frame drops, stuttering, or long loading times while gaming.

2. No more updates

The updates that your phone receives from the manufacturer are crucial for keeping it viable as your daily driver. This represents something of a built-in redundancy for your device, which can understandably frustrate buyers. It’s also a factor that you need to consider when saving money on previous-generation smartphones.

The biggest smartphone manufacturers have heeded these consumer concerns and moved towards longer periods of update support for their handsets in recent years. It’s a smart move, but there will come a day when your phone gets its last update, and things can start going south quite quickly after that.

Here are some of the reasons why losing update support means that it might be time to upgrade your phone:

1. Phones that no longer receive security patches are susceptible to malware, viruses, and hacking. Some apps also face security compliance issues if they can’t interact with up-to-date software.
2. Many apps are built to only be compatible with the most recent versions of operating systems. If you’re running an outdated build of the OS, these apps won’t work on your handset.
3. Related to the previous section, updates often include enhancements for performance, battery efficiency upgrades, and bug fixes. Not getting these updates may contribute to your phone slowing down.
4. Similar to the apps, new accessories or advances in mobile technology may not be compatible with an older operating system version.

You may want to consider upgrading your phone before you start to face these issues, especially if you plan to sell it once you have a replacement. A phone that is beyond it’s last update is going to command a much smaller resale fee.

3. Screen problems

We’re not just talking about a crack in the glass here — that can be very annoying, but if it’s just the glass protection for the phone screen, your phone is probably fully functional. In terms of drops or impact, you face real problems if the damage goes as deep as the actual LCD or OLED display beneath the glass. This can render part or all of the screen unusable. Also, unlike the glass, it’s often extremely expensive to replace the screen of the device. Unless you only got the phone recently, these high repair costs might make it more financially prudent to upgrade your phone and write off the loss.

Even if you’re careful with your phone and protect it with a case and screen protector, there are a number of ways that your phone screen can break down eventually. For instance, all or part of the touchscreen could stop responding, dead pixels could start to appear, or your device may succumb to screen burn in. The dilemma you’re then faced with is the same as if you’d smashed it: fork out hundreds of dollars in replacing the screen, or move on to a new model.

4. Camera degradation

The ability to shoot high-quality photos and videos is one of the most important aspects of a phone to many people. If the camera on your handset is no longer up to scratch, it’s often another of those problems that range from a pricey fix to a phone upgrade.

There are some phone camera issues that are relatively easily remedied. If it’s a scratch or dirt around the glass, it might be a fairly easy fix at your local service center. Other problems with the camera can be caused by larger issues that we’ve already touched on like the app responding slowly or crashing due to the phone’s overall performance diminishing.

Then there are complications specific to the camera array that could render your device a shadow of its former self. These include the camera sensor degrading over time due to exposure to light and environmental conditions, mechanical parts in the autofocus system wearing out, and similar hardware failures. Like with the screen, a busted camera array is often so expensive to sort out that it might be time for that phone upgrade.

5. The sound is shot

It might sound antiquated in 2024, but you sometimes want to use your phone as a phone. This requires two delicate parts of the hardware to be in good working order: the speaker and the microphone. Even if you’re Gen Z and allergic to the idea of actually giving someone a call, losing the mic means the end of voice notes. Without the speaker, you’re not going to be streaming the sound on TikTok or YouTube anytime soon without a pair of headphones.

There are dozens of reasons why either your mic or speaker can stop working, and quite a lot of them a fixable. You might even be able to remedy it yourself if either has become clogged with dust or debris or if the problem lies in some sort of software failure. An intermittent or crackling sound might be attributable to a loose connection in your device, which a professional at your local service center may be able to sort out.

For all these reasons, diagnosis is needed before a phone upgrade. But if there’s a fundamental hardware failure causing one of the issues, the time to bid the device farewell may have arrived.

6. Connectivity issues

Connectivity issues could mean that your phone is on its last legs. However, even more so than the sound issues, it’s essential to rule out all other possibilities first. Connectivity problems are almost always related to something else. It could be an issue with software compatibility, your network provider, your Wi-Fi router, something interfering with the signal, or any number of other factors..

If you’ve exhausted all other avenues of inquiry, the issues might stem from a hardware fault in your device. Which bit of the hardware depends on where you’re struggling with connectivity. It could be the antenna, the Bluetooth module, the GPS component, or something else. Whatever it is, you’re back at that same dilemma: a potentially expensive fix or phone upgrade time.

7. Refusal to charge

It’s obvious to say, but if you can no longer charge your phone, its best use-case is as a bookend or a doorstop. Some charging issues are easily fixable, but some will mean a phone upgrade is more practical. An increasing number of phones have both wired and wireless charging options now, so a failure to charge via cable isn’t as fatal as it used to be, although it does limit your options if you can only charge wirelessly.

If you’re trying to charge with a cable and find it only works from certain angles, it could be that the prongs on the charging port are misaligned, or you have a loose connection. Dirt and debris can also contribute to charging problems. You can try to clean the ports, check the cable you’re using is working properly, or see if a professional can see an obvious issue that isn’t too expensive to fix. Charging issues could also relate to the battery rather than the connection itself. This is easier to diagnose on a phone that can also be charged wirelessly.

More serious charging issues can be related to damaged circuitry within the phone. If wired charging is your only option, this means either an expensive repair bill or upgrade time. If wireless is an option, then you could soldier on with it and accept that you’ll have slower top-up times and fewer opportunities, as you don’t find many wireless chargers out and about. If both your wired and wireless charging capabilities are suffering from circuitry problems, it’s pretty much game over for the device.

8. It’s extremely hot

All phones heat up with use, especially if you’re running resource-intensive apps or games for extended periods. Sunlight, a faulty charger, software issues, and a defective battery are among other reasons why your phone might be getting hot. A bit of heating up is normal, and a lot of heating up for any of the aforementioned reasons is something you can address.

If you’ve ruled out those types of issues and your phone is still overheating when you’re not using many resources, it could be an internal hardware problem, such as defective components or poor thermal management. That’s probably the point at which it’s time to upgrade your phone.

9. Random crashing

We’ve already mentioned that struggling performance can cause individual apps to crash or the phone to freeze. An even more ominous sign that your phone is on the way out is if it either shuts off or restarts at random intervals. It could even get stuck in a cycle of continuous restarting without fully booting up.

This could be due to a number of issues that have cropped up throughout this article. Overheating, battery issues, and software glitches can all cause your handset to go a bit haywire in this way. Malware can be another culprit. You’ll probably need your local service center to get to the bottom of it. The worst news they can deliver after an inspection is that the source of the issue is a failing motherboard or damaged components. While they might be fixable for a high price, you might just decide to write it off at that point.

10. Bulging or warping

You know that your device is about to bite the dust if it’s started becoming warped or bulged. This might be caused by a specific component, like the battery expanding. It could also be a result of an accidental drop or general overheating.

Whatever the reason, you can’t just hammer it back into shape like a dented car hood. Smartphones are highly refined pieces of equipment, and becoming misshapen can have all sorts of bad consequences. These include significant safety hazards, such as leaking, overheating, or even exploding. There’s also a higher risk of components being damaged and reduced functionality.

You can have the local expert take a look at the damage if you like, but don’t get your hopes up and keep an eye out for a good deal on your next handset.

Big smartphone brands like Samsung, Apple, and Google are now promising at least four years of updates at a minimum. It’s prudent to do so — not only do consumers care about sustainability, but they also don’t want to feel like their new $1,000 handset has built-in redundancy. But such promises won’t mean much if your device gives up the ghost after a couple of years. We have loads of tips to make your phone last longer and we’ve laid out ten of our favorites here.

Some of these are hacks to keep your smartphone running well, and others are just sound advice on how to stop it from breaking completely. What they have in common is that they’re all easy to implement, and just using a few of them could save you hundreds of bucks by delaying your next phone purchase.

How to make your phone last longer

1. Maintain your battery life

The battery is always going to be the biggest issue when it comes to making your phone last longer. Even if there are no major problems with it, they all suffer battery degradation over time, and once you find that you need to charge your phone more than once per day, you’re going to be thinking about ditching the handset.

We won’t go deep on this topic as we want to get onto the many other aspects of phone health, and we have detailed advice on maximizing battery life if you need it. But here are some of the most important practices to follow:

• Avoid full charge cycles: Instead of charging your phone from 0% to 100%, aim for partial charges. Regularly topping up your phone between 30% and 80% can help prolong battery health.
• Limit maximum charge: Keeping your phone’s charge between 80% and 90% rather than fully charging it every time is better for the battery’s longevity.
• Use fast charging sparingly: Fast charging generates heat, which degrades the battery faster. Use it only when necessary, and avoid it when your phone is warm.
• Minimize intensive use while charging: Playing games, streaming videos, or running other intensive tasks while charging generates additional heat and stress on the battery. Try to keep your phone’s workload light during charging.
• Avoid idle charging: Don’t leave your phone charging overnight or for extended periods when it’s already full. This can cause small cycles of charge and discharge, which degrade the battery over time. If possible, unplug your phone once it’s adequately charged.
• Calibrate periodically: For older phones or those with erratic battery readings, recalibrate the battery by charging it to 100%, keeping it there for a few hours, and then using it until it dies before fully charging it again.

2. Replace your battery

Whether you followed the advice above or not, your battery is going to be fairly shot eventually. At that point, you don’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater by buying a whole new device. Replacing the battery might well give your phone a whole new lease of life. This is the only tip we’ll give about replacing a phone part, as you could effectively replace the whole phone with new components like the ship of Theseus. But the battery is both the part most likely to fail first and also one of the easiest to replace.

That said, it’s not as easy to replace the battery as it used to be, especially on the most popular flagship phones. I used to carry a few extra batteries for my Samsung Galaxy S5 and I miss having the option to replace it in more recent Galaxy S devices. But there are still a lot of phones that allow you to slide off the back and take out the battery easily. If that includes your model, you can probably find an inexpensive replacement online. Just be sure to stick to the official batteries. Cheap replicas won’t be much cheaper and could cause other problems.

If your device isn’t designed to be easily opened up, you shouldn’t attempt to change the battery yourself, or it should be a last resort. You run a risk of damaging other parts of the phone hardware. It’s better to mail in or take your device to the brand’s local service center to get a replacement battery. It should cost you less than $100 and certainly a lot less than buying a new device. You can learn more about replacing a phone battery here.

3. Clean the ports

Just like the Death Star, your phone’s ports are where it’s most vulnerable. The rest of the phone is well sealed and may be wrapped in a case, but the charging port, in particular, is exposed by design and thus needs to be cleaned regularly. If not, debris can build up to the point that you can’t charge your phone anymore, which could render it useless if it doesn’t have wireless charging.

Here’s a quick summary from our longer guide on how to clean a USB-C port.

• Start by blowing air into the port to clear out loose debris. A can of compressed air is much more effective for this than blowing with your mouth.
• If you still suspect there’s debris, find a toothpick, toothbrush, or similar object small enough to get into the port that isn’t metal, sharp, or fuzzy.
• Insert the cleaning tool and gently work it around the sides of the port. Try to avoid the USB connector prong.
• Use another blast of air to force out loosened debris.

4. Use a case and screen protector

It’s an obvious one, but a phone case and screen protector are by far the easiest way to prevent your phone from being damaged. It doesn’t matter if you’re incredibly careful 99% of the time; it only takes the briefest of careless moments, and your phone is accelerating toward a hard surface.

When it happens, a case and screen protector could easily prevent a cracked screen or completely broken device. Even if it takes some damage, the case will minimize it. Most phone cases are really cheap, and screen protectors are almost free, so there’s no reason not to use them.

Those people with one of the more mainstream phones on the market will be spoilt for choice when it comes to phone cases. You just need to decide which one best suits your style. A thin case will add the least amount of bulk to your pocket, but it’ll also offer less protection if you do drop your device. Butterfingered folks can invest in a rugged case which will look less sleek, but it’ll make accidental damage from spills to be incredibly unlikely. Then there are hybrid cases, which are somewhere in between and represent most cases you see in the shops. If you simply must show off that exclusive colorway of your handset, a transparent case may be the way to go.

5. Avoid screen burn-in

The above tip might protect your screen from the outside, but you can take further steps to look after it internally. Significant screen burn in is relatively rare on modern phones thanks to skillful engineering, but it does occur, and there are measures you can take to prevent it.

Screen burn in is a display issue where parts of the screen show permanent discoloration, creating a ghost image or noticeable patches. This occurs in OLED displays due to the varying lifespans of the red, green, and blue LED subpixels. Over time, these subpixels age and their brightness changes, leading to uneven color reproduction. Areas of the screen that display static images, such as navigation buttons or notification bars, are more prone to burn-in because these pixels degrade faster than those in more dynamic parts of the screen. However, burn-in is generally a concern after prolonged use for a few years at least.

Here are a few habits you can adopt to reduce the chances of noticing any burn in:

• Turn your brightness down when you don’t need it. Increased brightness requires more current and, therefore, shortens LED lifespans.
• Shorten your screen-off timer so that your screen turns off faster. Turning the screen off when you’re not using it will prevent displaying static images.
• Use Dark Mode whenever possible, as a darker interface reduces the amount of illumination and helps LEDs last longer.
• Pick a wallpaper with darker colors and change it from time to time.
• Use keyboards that offer darker themes to prevent color degradation in the lower half of the display.
• Switch to gesture navigation and drop the on-screen buttons if your phone supports it. This helps to prevent burn in at the bottom of the screen.
• Move things that otherwise appear in the same place on the screen all the time, such as widgets.

6. Keep your phone updated

We might look forward to updates for the new features they could bring to our devices, but much more important to the longevity of your device is the boring stuff in the download. Updates come with bug fixes to ensure that your device keeps running smoothly and is compatible with other new software. In the case of security updates, they arm your device with information about the most recent known threats to protect you from cyber attacks.

For these reasons, it’s very important that you download the latest updates at the earliest opportunity. You will usually be prompted to download the latest updates when they become available, but you can and should also check manually to ensure you’re up to date. You can check out our guide on how to update your Android phone to learn how.

7. Clear storage regularly

The updates mentioned above can be quite large — often as much as 1GB. If you don’t have that much space on your device, the update can’t be downloaded. The other reason to clear storage space is that doing so can actually speed up your phone. The improved performance comes because the operating system needs some free space to function efficiently, perform background tasks, and manage files. We’ll talk more about speeding up your phone in a moment.

We have a whole guide on how to free up storage space on Android. The main things you can do are quite straightforward. If you have a ton of photos and videos saved in the internal storage, take the time to move them off the phone. That could be to a microSD card, an external storage device, or to cloud storage. You might be surprised how much space is taken up by years-old videos you haven’t watched since shooting them.

Debloating your phone by deleting apps is another easy way to clear storage space. If you downloaded a travel app that you no longer need, or there’s a game that you played a few times and forgot about, these are ripe for the chop. Your device may also contain a ton of bloatware that you never cleared in the the excitement of it first arriving. Deleting apps is a double-win when it comes to speeding up your device. In addition to clearing storage space, it eliminates any background activity that those apps generate.

8. Combat slowdown

As we just touched on, the longer you can keep your phone clutter-free and running smoothly, the longer you’ll be happy to use it. We’ve already dipped into ways you can speed up your phone, but there are lots of other things you can do. Here are some ideas:

• Disable pre-installed apps: YOu may not be able to delete them, but disabling pre-installed apps frees up resources and reduces background activity.
• Revoke unused permissions: Limiting app permissions can reduce resource consumption.
• Restart your device occasionally: Restarting clears running apps and processes. There’s a reason it’s often the first thing IT professionals suggest.
• Clear the cache of your apps: Clearing the app cache can enhance app performance without losing important data.
• Delete old chats and downloaded media: We already mentioned clearing storage; a lot of it can be taken up by old conversations and those memes your buddies love sending.
• Replace apps with Lite versions: Using Lite versions of apps reduces resource usage.
• Disable voice assistants: Do you even use them? Turning off the voice assistant feature can improve performance.
• Stop apps from automatically updating: Preventing automatic updates can stop background tasks from slowing down your device.

If none of this is working and you’re considering an upgrade to your device, you could try a more drastic step of performing a factory reset to restore your device to its original state. Just remember that this will permanently delete all your apps and files, so be sure to back up anything you want to keep first.

9. Handle your phone carefully

This is another obvious tip, but it belongs here. It only takes a moment of inattention to break your phone, and those moments after it happens will be the worst. Not only because you’ve lost an expensive device and potentially a lot of data, such as important photos and files, but also because of how foolish you feel and wish you could just rewind the clock. I’ve been there, and I suspect most of us have at some point.

Firstly, a case will only provide protection from drops up to a point, especially if it’s a thin model. If you’re the type of person who does spill your phone from time to time, consider a case that has extra grip on the sides. You might also want to avoid taking your phone into the bathroom altogether. It might be fun to doom scroll while you’re in the tub, but you’re always asking for trouble when holding your device over water, even if it has a good water resistance rating. And by the way, that rating is based on clean, fresh water. it might not be as effective if you drop it in a chlorinated pool or the sea. Being mindful now can save you from feeling silly later.

Being mindful now can save you from feeling silly later.

Almost as important as how you handle your phone is where you keep it. Extreme heat can easily damage a phone, so you should be careful not to expose it to direct sunlight for too long. An IP68 rating also isn’t a guarantee that dust won’t get inside either, so dusty storage spots are a no-no. The same goes for humidity. You’ll want to keep your phone in a cool, dry spot when not in use if you want to keep it running for as long as possible.

Lastly, always take care not to advertise your phone to thieves. It’s a sad state of affairs, but there are dubious characters in many parts of the world who’ll make off with your phone at a moment’s notice. It is hard to stay vigilant all of the time, but you can build in some best practices to your routine that become habits. Examples could be never taking your phone out in public unless there’s no one close by or never putting it on the table at a restaurant.

10. Be cyber security conscious

There’s only so much that security updates can do to protect you from digital attacks, so it’s important to be cyber security conscious. You obviously don’t want your data stolen, and there are always risks from malware. It could clog up your device or brick it altogether.

There’s endless advice out there about how you can be alive to these threats. Here are just a few ideas:

• Be careful what you download: You should avoid downloading apps and files from unverified sources. Even when browsing the Play Store, you can’t always be certain that the apps aren’t malicious. Always exercise caution.
• Be wary of phishing attempts: In the same spirit, you should be very wary about clicking links in emails, especially if there’s anything suspicious about them.
• Use security software: This goes slightly against some of our earlier advice, as anti-virus software can run in the background and use some of your phone’s resources. However, it’s worth it to avoid a more direct threat to your phone’s health.
• Use a VPN: This is especially important when using public Wi-Fi. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) encrypts your data and protects your privacy.
• Don’t use public USB ports: It might be fairly rare, but these ports may have been tampered with, opening you up to the risk of juice jacking.
• Avoid Rooting or Jailbreaking: Rooting (Android) or jailbreaking (iOS) your phone can make it more vulnerable to malware and other security threats. Stick to the device’s default security settings.

Intel’s next-gen chips are set to launch in a little over a month and while Intel, like most chip makers these days, is playing up the AI capabilities of its upcoming Lunar Lake processors, I’m much more interested to see if the chips live up to Intel’s promises that we can expect up to a […]

The post Lilbits (chips edition): Intel Lunar Lake, Google Tensor G4, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 appeared first on Liliputing.

Lindroid is a new open source app that lets you install a GNU/Linux distro on an Android device and run Linux applications with full support for your phone’s hardware. It does this by putting Linux into a container and using technologies like Halium to enable support for hardware-accelerated graphics and other hardware on Android devices. […]

The post Lindroid is an Android app that lets you run Linux in a container, with support for hardware-acceleration appeared first on Liliputing.

PostmarketOS is a Linux-based operating that got its start as a project to breathe new life into old phones by offering software that would continue to be updated long after phone makers end support for their devices. But the latest release isn’t just for smartphones. It also supports a number of tablets and single-board computers, […]

The post postmarketOS 24.06 released: Linux-based OS supports dozens of phones, tablets, laptops and now just about any PC with an x86_64 processor appeared first on Liliputing.

Apple kicked off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) today with a keynote where the company laid out some of the new features coming to Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and the Apple Vision Pro headset. Leading up to the event, there was a lot of buzz about Apple’s first big foray into the AI […]

The post Lilbits: the Xbox Handheld is coming (eventually), another Linux phone, and some WWDC odds and ends appeared first on Liliputing.

The Bigme Hibreak is an inexpensive smartphone with an e-ink display, however well that works with an Android-based operating sytem. It has 6GB of RAM, a 5.7" 1440×720 panel and global 4G LTE. Brad Linder at Liliputing describes the appeal and the obvious shortcomings of e-ink, at least when it comes to Android. — Read the rest

The post Bigme Hibreak is a $220 e-ink smartphone appeared first on Boing Boing.

I used to listen to CDs on my dad's massive headphones with a big 1/4 inch jack plugged into his amplifier with the stainless steel face. Man, I loved that sound. It was rich, immersive, and as loud as I wanted. I could hear every instrument and the breathing of the lead singer. I have never been able to recreate that sound quality with smartphones. I have been trying for nearly 30 years. There are few good phones for audiophiles, and I really want there to be more. The Moondrop MIAD01 is a rare exception but falls short in a few areas.

As one of Engadget’s resident mobile geeks, I’ve reviewed dozens of midrange phones and have found that a great smartphone doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Years of commoditization have brought features once exclusive to high-end devices – including big batteries, multi-camera arrays and high refresh rate displays – down to their more affordable siblings. While there are still some things you'll only find on flagship smartphones, you don't have to compromise as much anymore if you're looking to find the best buy at a lower price point. If you have less than $600 to spend, I can help you figure out what features to prioritize when trying to find the best midrange smartphone.

Editor’s note (5/9/24): Google has announced the Pixel 8a, its latest midrange smartphone. The 6.1-inch handset starts at $499 and, as expected, takes many of its cues from last year’s flagship Pixel 8 series. We’ll have a full review in the coming days and will update this guide accordingly. For now, you can check out our hands-on preview for more details on what to expect. Google says it’ll continue to sell the Pixel 7a, our current top pick, at a reduced price, so it may continue to be worthwhile. Most should hold off until we put the new Pixel through its paces, though.

What is a midrange phone, anyway?

While the term shows up frequently in articles and videos, there isn’t an agreed-upon definition for “midrange” beyond a phone that isn’t a flagship or an entry-level option. Our recommendations for the best midrange smartphones cost between $400 and $600 — any less and you should expect significant compromises. If your budget is higher, though, you should consider flagships like the Apple iPhone 13 and Samsung Galaxy S22.

What factors should you consider when buying a midrange smartphone?

Buying a new device can be intimidating, but a few questions can help guide you through the process. First: what platform do you want to use? If the answer is iOS, that narrows your options down to exactly one phone. (Thankfully, it’s great.) And if you’re an Android fan, there’s no shortage of compelling options. Both platforms have their strengths, so you shouldn’t rule either out.

Obviously, also consider how much you’re comfortable spending. Even increasing your budget by $100 more can get you a dramatically better product. And manufacturers tend to support their more expensive devices for longer. It’s definitely worth buying something toward the top limit of what you can afford.

Having an idea of your priorities will help inform your budget. Do you want a long battery life or fast charging speed? Do you value speedy performance above all else? Or would you like the best possible cameras? While they continue to improve every year, even the best midrange smartphones still demand some compromises, and knowing what’s important to you will make choosing one easier.

Lastly, pay attention to wireless bands and network compatibility. If you don’t want to worry about that, your best bet is to buy directly from your carrier. To make things easier, all the phones we recommend are compatible with every major US wireless provider and can be purchased unlocked. 

What won’t you get from a midrange smartphone?

Every year, the line between midrange and flagship phones gets blurrier as more upmarket features and specs trickle down to more affordable models. When we first published this guide in 2020, it was difficult to find $500 devices with waterproofing or 5G. Now, the biggest thing you might miss out on is wireless charging. Just remember to budget for a power adapter too – many companies have stopped including chargers with their smartphones. Performance has improved in recent years, but can still be hit or miss as most midrange phones use slower processors that can struggle with multitasking. Thankfully, their cameras have improved dramatically, and you can typically expect at least a dual-lens system on most midrange smartphones below $600.

The best midrange phones for 2024

Google Pixel 7a: The best midrange Android phone

iPhone SE (3rd generation): The best iPhone under $600

Samsung Galaxy A53 5G: The midrange phone with the best display for streaming

OnePlus Nord N200 5G: The best cheap smartphone when on a budget

Chris Velazco contributed to this report.

As one of Engadget’s resident mobile geeks, I’ve reviewed dozens of midrange phones and have found that a great smartphone doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Years of commoditization have brought features once exclusive to high-end devices – including big batteries, multi-camera arrays and high refresh rate displays – down to their more affordable siblings. While there are still some things you'll only find on flagship smartphones, you don't have to compromise as much anymore if you're looking to find the best buy at a lower price point. If you have less than $600 to spend, I can help you figure out what features to prioritize when trying to find the best midrange smartphone.

Editor’s note (5/9/24): Google has announced the Pixel 8a, its latest midrange smartphone. The 6.1-inch handset starts at $499 and, as expected, takes many of its cues from last year’s flagship Pixel 8 series. We’ll have a full review in the coming days and will update this guide accordingly. For now, you can check out our hands-on preview for more details on what to expect. Google says it’ll continue to sell the Pixel 7a, our current top pick, at a reduced price, so it may continue to be worthwhile. Most should hold off until we put the new Pixel through its paces, though.

What is a midrange phone, anyway?

While the term shows up frequently in articles and videos, there isn’t an agreed-upon definition for “midrange” beyond a phone that isn’t a flagship or an entry-level option. Our recommendations for the best midrange smartphones cost between $400 and $600 — any less and you should expect significant compromises. If your budget is higher, though, you should consider flagships like the Apple iPhone 13 and Samsung Galaxy S22.

What factors should you consider when buying a midrange smartphone?

Buying a new device can be intimidating, but a few questions can help guide you through the process. First: what platform do you want to use? If the answer is iOS, that narrows your options down to exactly one phone. (Thankfully, it’s great.) And if you’re an Android fan, there’s no shortage of compelling options. Both platforms have their strengths, so you shouldn’t rule either out.

Obviously, also consider how much you’re comfortable spending. Even increasing your budget by $100 more can get you a dramatically better product. And manufacturers tend to support their more expensive devices for longer. It’s definitely worth buying something toward the top limit of what you can afford.

Having an idea of your priorities will help inform your budget. Do you want a long battery life or fast charging speed? Do you value speedy performance above all else? Or would you like the best possible cameras? While they continue to improve every year, even the best midrange smartphones still demand some compromises, and knowing what’s important to you will make choosing one easier.

Lastly, pay attention to wireless bands and network compatibility. If you don’t want to worry about that, your best bet is to buy directly from your carrier. To make things easier, all the phones we recommend are compatible with every major US wireless provider and can be purchased unlocked. 

What won’t you get from a midrange smartphone?

Every year, the line between midrange and flagship phones gets blurrier as more upmarket features and specs trickle down to more affordable models. When we first published this guide in 2020, it was difficult to find $500 devices with waterproofing or 5G. Now, the biggest thing you might miss out on is wireless charging. Just remember to budget for a power adapter too – many companies have stopped including chargers with their smartphones. Performance has improved in recent years, but can still be hit or miss as most midrange phones use slower processors that can struggle with multitasking. Thankfully, their cameras have improved dramatically, and you can typically expect at least a dual-lens system on most midrange smartphones below $600.

The best midrange phones for 2024

Google Pixel 7a: The best midrange Android phone

iPhone SE (3rd generation): The best iPhone under $600

Samsung Galaxy A53 5G: The midrange phone with the best display for streaming

OnePlus Nord N200 5G: The best cheap smartphone when on a budget

Chris Velazco contributed to this report.

As one of Engadget’s resident mobile geeks, I’ve reviewed dozens of midrange phones and have found that a great smartphone doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Years of commoditization have brought features once exclusive to high-end devices – including big batteries, multi-camera arrays and high refresh rate displays – down to their more affordable siblings. While there are still some things you'll only find on flagship smartphones, you don't have to compromise as much anymore if you're looking to find the best buy at a lower price point. If you have less than $600 to spend, I can help you figure out what features to prioritize when trying to find the best midrange smartphone.

Editor’s note (5/9/24): Google has announced the Pixel 8a, its latest midrange smartphone. The 6.1-inch handset starts at $499 and, as expected, takes many of its cues from last year’s flagship Pixel 8 series. We’ll have a full review in the coming days and will update this guide accordingly. For now, you can check out our hands-on preview for more details on what to expect. Google says it’ll continue to sell the Pixel 7a, our current top pick, at a reduced price, so it may continue to be worthwhile. Most should hold off until we put the new Pixel through its paces, though.

What is a midrange phone, anyway?

While the term shows up frequently in articles and videos, there isn’t an agreed-upon definition for “midrange” beyond a phone that isn’t a flagship or an entry-level option. Our recommendations for the best midrange smartphones cost between $400 and $600 — any less and you should expect significant compromises. If your budget is higher, though, you should consider flagships like the Apple iPhone 13 and Samsung Galaxy S22.

What factors should you consider when buying a midrange smartphone?

Buying a new device can be intimidating, but a few questions can help guide you through the process. First: what platform do you want to use? If the answer is iOS, that narrows your options down to exactly one phone. (Thankfully, it’s great.) And if you’re an Android fan, there’s no shortage of compelling options. Both platforms have their strengths, so you shouldn’t rule either out.

Obviously, also consider how much you’re comfortable spending. Even increasing your budget by $100 more can get you a dramatically better product. And manufacturers tend to support their more expensive devices for longer. It’s definitely worth buying something toward the top limit of what you can afford.

Having an idea of your priorities will help inform your budget. Do you want a long battery life or fast charging speed? Do you value speedy performance above all else? Or would you like the best possible cameras? While they continue to improve every year, even the best midrange smartphones still demand some compromises, and knowing what’s important to you will make choosing one easier.

Lastly, pay attention to wireless bands and network compatibility. If you don’t want to worry about that, your best bet is to buy directly from your carrier. To make things easier, all the phones we recommend are compatible with every major US wireless provider and can be purchased unlocked. 

What won’t you get from a midrange smartphone?

Every year, the line between midrange and flagship phones gets blurrier as more upmarket features and specs trickle down to more affordable models. When we first published this guide in 2020, it was difficult to find $500 devices with waterproofing or 5G. Now, the biggest thing you might miss out on is wireless charging. Just remember to budget for a power adapter too – many companies have stopped including chargers with their smartphones. Performance has improved in recent years, but can still be hit or miss as most midrange phones use slower processors that can struggle with multitasking. Thankfully, their cameras have improved dramatically, and you can typically expect at least a dual-lens system on most midrange smartphones below $600.

The best midrange phones for 2024

Google Pixel 7a: The best midrange Android phone

iPhone SE (3rd generation): The best iPhone under $600

Samsung Galaxy A53 5G: The midrange phone with the best display for streaming

OnePlus Nord N200 5G: The best cheap smartphone when on a budget

Chris Velazco contributed to this report.

Reports surrounding Apple’s foray into the foldable device market have gained momentum with recent reports suggesting a potential partnership with Samsung. This collaboration, if confirmed, ...

The post Apple and Samsung join forces for a potential foldable iPhone appeared first on Gizchina.com.

The Moto G Stylus 5G is a mid-range smartphone with stylus support that costs a lot less than some other stylus-enabled phones. And this year’s model brings a few key upgrades over the 2023 version. Motorola says the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) features an updated stylus experience with “reduced latency for a smoother experience, simplified […]

The post Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) brings a better stylus, more RAM and wireless charging appeared first on Liliputing.

The Google Pixel 8a is official, and it’s… pretty much exactly what we were expecting. Google’s new mid-range phone is virtually identical to the Pixel 8 in most respects, but Google cut a few corners in order to keep the starting price at $499, making the list price for the Pixel 8a $200 lower than the […]

The post Google Pixel 8a launches for $499 and up appeared first on Liliputing.

A Chinese chip design company called SpacemiT has unveiled a new laptop that will be powered by the company’s K1 processor, which is an octa-core processor that should offer better-than ARM Cortex-A55 performance, support for 4K video, and a 2 TOPS NPU for hardware-accelerated AI features. While the upcoming MUSE Book isn’t the first laptop with […]

The post Lilbits: Another RISC-V laptop, a PCIe connector for the Raspberry Pi 5, and Arc browser comes to Windows 11 appeared first on Liliputing.

Digital Chinese-language keyboards that are vulnerable to spying and eavesdropping have been used by 1 billion smartphone users, according to a new report. The widespread threats these leaky systems reveal could also present a concerning new kind of exploit for cyberattacks, whether the device uses a Chinese-language keyboard, an English keyboard, or any other.

Last year, the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab released a study of a proprietary Chinese keyboard system owned by the Shenzhen-based tech giant Tencent. Citizen Lab’s “Sogou Keyboard” report exposed the widespread range of attacks possible on the keyboard, which could leak a user’s key presses to outside eavesdroppers. Now, in the group’s new study, released last week, the same researchers have discovered that essentially all the world’s popular Chinese smartphone keyboards have suffered similar vulnerabilities.

“Whatever Chinese-language users of your app might have typed into it has been exposed for years.” —Jedidiah Crandall, Arizona State University

And while the specific bugs the two reports have uncovered have been fixed in most instances, the researchers’ findings—and in particular, their recommendations—point to substantially larger gaps in the systems that extend into software developed around the world, no matter the language.

“All of these keyboards were also using custom network protocols,” says Mona Wang, a computer science Ph.D. student at Princeton University and coauthor of the report. “Because I had studied these sort of custom network protocols before, then this immediately screamed to me that there was something really terrible going on.”

Jedidiah Crandall, an associate professor of computing and augmented intelligence at Arizona State University in Tempe, who was consulted in the report’s preparation but was not on the research team, says these vulnerabilities matter for nearly any coder or development team that releases their work to the world. “If you are a developer of a privacy-focused chat app or an app for tracking something health related, whatever Chinese language users of your app might have typed into it has been exposed for years,” he says.

The Chinese keyboard problem

Chinese, a language of tens of thousands of characters with some 4,000 or more in common use, represents a distinct challenge for keyboard input. A range of different keyboard systems have been developed in the digital era—sometimes called pinyin keyboards, named after a popular romanization system for standard Chinese. Ideally, these creative approaches to digital input enable a profoundly complex language to be straightforwardly phoneticized and transliterated via a compact, often QWERTY-style keyboard format.

“Even competent and well-resourced people get encryption wrong, because it’s really hard to do correctly.” —Mona Wang, Princeton University

Computational and AI smarts can help transform key presses into Chinese characters on the screen. But Chinese keyboards often involve many interchanges across the Internet between cloud servers and other assistive networked apps, just to make it possible for a Chinese-speaking person to be able to type the characters.

According to the report—and an FAQ the researchers released explaining the technical points in plain language—the Chinese keyboards studied all used character-prediction features, which in turn relied on cloud-computing resources. The researchers found that improperly secured communications between a device’s keyboard app and those external cloud servers meant that users’ keystrokes (and therefore their messages) could be accessed in transit.

Jeffrey Knockel, a senior research associate at Citizen Lab and the report coauthor, says cloud-based character prediction is a particularly attractive feature for Chinese-language keyboards, given the vast array of possible characters that any given QWERTY keystroke sequence might be attempting to represent. “If you’re typing in English or any language where there’s enough keys on a keyboard for all your letters, that’s already a much simpler task to design a keyboard around than an ideographic language where you might have over 10,000 characters,” he says.

Chinese-language keyboards are often “pinyin keyboards,” which allow for thousands of characters to be typed using a QWERTY-style approach.Zamoeux/Wikimedia

Sarah Scheffler, a postdoctoral associate at MIT, expressed concern also about other kinds of data vulnerabilities that the Citizen Lab report reveals—beyond keyboards and Chinese-language specific applications necessarily. “The vulnerabilities [identified by the report] are not at all specific to pinyin keyboards,” she says. “It applies to any application sending data over the Internet. Any app sending unencrypted—or badly encrypted—information would have similar issues.”

Wang says the chief problem the researchers uncovered concerns the fact that so many Chinese-keyboard protocols transmit data using inferior and sometimes custom-made encryption.

“These encryption protocols are probably developed by very, very competent and very well-resourced people,” Wang says. “But even competent and well-resourced people get encryption wrong, because it’s really hard to do correctly.”

Beyond the vulnerabilities exposed

Scheffler points to the two-decades-long testing, iteration, and development of the transport layer security (TLS) system underlying much of the Internet’s secure communications, including websites that use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) protocol. (The first version of TLS was specified and released in 1999.) “All these Chinese Internet companies who are rolling their own [cryptography] or using their own encryption algorithms are sort of missing out on all those 20 years of standard encryption development,” Wang says.

Crandall says the report may have also inadvertently highlighted assumptions about security protocols that may not always apply in every corner of the globe. “Protocols like TLS sometimes make assumptions that don’t suit the needs of developers in certain parts of the world,” he says. For instance, he adds, custom-made, non-TLS security systems may be more attractive “where the network delay is high or where people may spend large amounts of time in areas where the network is not accessible.”

Scheffler says the Chinese-language keyboard problem could even represent a kind of canary in the coal mine for a range of computer, smartphone, and software systems. Because of their reliance on extensive Internet communications, such systems—while perhaps overlooked or relegated to the background by developers—also still represent potential cybersecurity attack surfaces.

“Anecdotally, a lot of these security failures arise from groups that don’t think they’re doing anything that requires security or don’t have much security expertise,” Scheffler says.

Scheffler identifies “Internet-based predictive-text keyboards in any language, and maybe some of the Internet-based AI features that have crept into apps over the years” as possible places concealing cybersecurity vulnerabilities similar to those that the Citizen Lab team discovered in Chinese-language keyboards. This category could include voice recognition, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and generative AI tools, she adds.

“Security and privacy isn’t many people’s first thought when they’re building their cool image-editing application,” says Scheffler. ”Maybe it shouldn’t be the first thought, but it should definitely be a thought by the time the application makes it to users.”

This story was updated 29 April 2024.

According to the latest report from Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone market saw a healthy 6% year-on-year increase in shipments during the first quarter of ...

The post Top 5 smartphone brands globally for Q1 2024 – Samsung is No. 1 appeared first on Gizchina.com.

Enlarge (credit: Getty)

What comes after OLED?

With OLED-equipped TVs, monitors, and other gadgets slowly becoming more readily available at lower prices, attention is turning to what the next landmark consumer display tech will be.

Micro LED often features in such discussions, but the tech is not expected to start hitting consumer devices until the 2030s. Display makers are also playing with other futuristic ideas, like transparent and foldable screens. But when it comes to technology that could seriously address top user concerns—like image quality, price, and longevity—quantum dots seem the most pertinent at the moment.

Read 42 remaining paragraphs | Comments

At a time when most smartphone makers are dropping headphone jacks altogether, HiFi audio company MOONDROP has announced that its upcoming smartphone will not only support headphones designed to plug into 3.5mm jacks, but also supports 4.4mm audio connectors. The phone will be called the MOONDROP MIAD01, and the company describes it as a “5G […]

The post MOONDROP MIAD01 will be a HiFi smartphone with 3.5mm and 4.4mm audio jacks appeared first on Liliputing.

Most mainstream smartphones usually have batteries topping out at 5,000mAh to 6,000mAh. We’ve also seen phones with 20,000mAh batteries or higher, but these devices usually disappoint in other areas.

Now, it turns out that niche mobile brand Unihertz (or rather 8849, which seems to be closely affiliated with Unihertz) has recently launched the Tank 3 rugged phone, and it’s easily the most impressive phone with a huge battery.

The TANK 3 is a rugged smartphone designed for off-grid use, with a 23,800 mAh battery for days of continuous use, a rugged body, and special features including a 1200 lumen LED flashlight. Now the Chinese company behind that phone have launched a new model called the TANK 3 Pro, which brings two significant changes. […]

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The Nothing Phone (2a) is the third smartphone from Nothing, but it’s the company’s first budget model, with prices starting at £319 in the UK, €329 in Europe, and $349 in the United States (although it will only be available in the US through a developer program at launch). But while that makes this new […]

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Intel had a rough few years a while back, when the company struggled to meet its original goals for moving from 14nm to 10nm and wound up shipping multiple generations of processors manufactured on a 14nm node while competitors were moving to smaller and more efficient processes. But Intel says its Foundry business is back […]

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The ZTE Libero Flip is a smartphone with a 6.9 inch AMOLED display that folds in half like a flip phone, a small circular cover display, and the kind of specs you’d expect from a mid-range phone. Of course, most foldable phones don’t have mid-range price tags. But it looks like that’s starting to change, […]

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