We ended part one of this review with a promise that there was a lot more to tell. There probably is a lot more to tell, but we’re not in the position to tell it for the simple reason that the update to ColorOS 7—Oppo’s version of Android 10—targetted at the end of last year, still hasn’t reached us. It’s out there, all right. Over the Air (OTA) updates of a “trial version” went out… Now read on…
Yes, it’s a YASP—yet another smartphone. But I definitely welcome this latest offering from Oppo. Considered purely on a YASP basis, the new Reno 2 scores well on price per feature. But it also has a few unique selling propositions that, while not out-and-out sales cinchers, certainly sweeten the pot. Would I swap the Reno 2 for the Huawei P30 Pro that has been my daily companion since its launch back in March of this… Now read on…
I began my review of Huawei’s previous offering, the Mate 20 Pro by calling it “the most complete smartphone that has ever crossed my desk.” So when I set off, in March of this year, to Paris with a contingent of some fifty UK journalists for the launch of the Chinese company’s new P30 series of smartphones I was preparing myself for mild disappointment. Why? The previous year, Gang He, president of the company’s mobile… Now read on…
Tested Technology laps up technology. But the first part of our name is even more important. While we’re always keen to keep readers up to date with what’s going on in IT, we’re not in the business of leaping into print with a cut-and-paste from the latest whizzo spec sheet. Or a faithful echo of the manufacturer’s brochure. We’re not a news sheet. We test stuff. We live with it. And when we’re done—however long… Now read on…
Confession: it’s getting harder and harder to write these phone reviews. Either I’m becoming jaded or the phones are now just too darn good. Probably both. The basic requirements of a good phone, once you move up from the entry level, are an up-to-date version of the operating system running on a fast processor in tons of RAM with lots of storage, displaying on a big clear screen. Yes, and a high-resolution camera. Some punters… Now read on…
Honor is the mid-range brand for Huawei, the world’s third-ranking smartphone maker. Huawei owns the largest share of its home market, China, which also happens to be the biggest smartphone market in the world. But China is now stuffed to the gunnels with phones. Growth has slumped. So Huawei is making a huge effort to sell into the outside world. And the odds are stacked against it. The United States government, suspicious of Chinese cyber-stealth,… Now read on…
When the Swift_2 range launched late last year, the improvement over the original Swifts was immediately evident from the slim metal casing and the fingerprint reader on the back. The central processor was now bumped up from quad-core to octa-core, making it over half as fast again according to our benchmark tests. Bumped up, too, was the price. These new Swifts started in the mid-£100s, pushing above £200 with the top of the range Swift_2X… Now read on…
Wileyfox launched this second generation of Swift phones towards the end of last year. You may be wondering why it has taken Tested Technology five months to get round to reviewing them. We haven’t been sitting on our hands. The hands have definitely remained in the ON position. Regular readers will know that we don’t rush to be first with the news, and we take the “Tested” part of our name very seriously indeed. The… Now read on…
Tested Technology complemented Wileyfox hugely on its initial choice of the Cyanogen operating system. And we don’t take that back, even now that Cyanogen Inc, the operating system provider, has gone to join the Norwegian Blues (the name might have been a clue—it means “Blue Maker”, and also happens to signify a class of poisons). When Wileyfox launched its first phones nearly two years ago, Cyanogen was an improvement on stock Android, and a clear… Now read on…
The smartphone market is slowing down. IDC reports that last year growth in worldwide shipments fell from 28pc to 10.4pc, and will remain on a downward path this year. The biggest dent in the market is at the high end. As Tested Technology predicted over a year ago, those bling phones are being overshadowed by the rise of commodity phones, utility items that deliver what users need—and no more—in a plain package at an affordable… Now read on…
