Ted Kritsonis

Samsung has tried and tried again to get it right with its smartwatches, having come to market with no less than six different iterations in about two years. All failed to really capitalize on what was then a wide open market looking for a trendsetter. The Gear S2 marks a turning point in both design philosophy and performance, making it the most complete wearable the company has made to this point.

Smartwatches running on Android Wear have had a tough go of it since first launching to some fanfare last year. Part of it has to do with the slow appeal of the category as a whole, but the rest can be chalked off to a platform that needs to grow up. With the second-generation Moto 360, Motorola has made a case for putting out a serious contender to win over some hearts and wrists.

Now that Google has released its latest version of Android, 6.0 Marshmallow, the rollout will come in stages as each smartphone and tablet manufacturer optimizes its respective software overlays to work with it. For the moment, only the Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X and HTC One A9 run Marshmallow, but in time, a much wider range of devices will, and there are a number of new features that go with it.

Nexus smartphones have usually required accepting a compromise or two. A clean, untouched version of Android, and among the first to get the latest updates. Good design with solid all-around performance, at the expense of great battery life and an impressive camera. The Nexus 6P represents an end to the enduring concessions that characterized these phones in the past, and stakes a claim to being one of the best Android phones of 2015.

Now that Apple is putting out its own Pencil stylus for the iPad, it lends further credence to the idea of using a stylus to write or jot something down. Adonit has built its reputation over the last few years on crafting styli that look good, feel comfortable and perform with aplomb. There are now four different versions available, and they are universal, meaning you can use them on any iOS, Android or Windows tablet.

Drones can come in all sizes, as Parrot likes to demonstrate with its MiniDrones line of more diminutive gizmos. And now, it seems there’s a small army of them—on land, air and sea. Previous designs have been augmented in various ways to make this new batch of mini robots smarter, sleeker and more precise. I took a few for some testing and found them to be fun for as long as the battery could last.

Tablets can be very fun devices to have for everything they do. They don’t necessarily have the same short shelf life smartphones do, but after moving on to a new tablet, there are a number of ways to get more life out of an older one. You could certainly look to sell it, trade it in or hand it down to someone else. Or you could put it to work in some other useful ways.

It’s not hard to find a Bluetooth speaker these days. It seems like almost every manufacturer is taking a stab at making one, or two, or three of them. With the greater level of choice comes a greater need to qualify which one is best for you. The Fugoo Tough XL is denoted by the suffix at the end that makes it seem like it’s huge. It is big compared to its predecessor, but its rugged design and booming sound are worth a listen.

Smartphones can have a fairly short shelf life, given how quickly new models come out to replace them. Even after moving on to a new handset, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the end of the old one if it’s still functional. Outside of selling or pawning it off on someone else, there are some great ways to give an older phone a second life.

The Toronto Blue Jays may be winning and poised to make things interesting this fall, but sports always kick into high gear with the other major pro leagues getting underway while the leaves fall. Watching the big games or catching up on highlights has never been easier with the unfettered access currently made possible by streaming services and apps delivering the content to mobile devices and streaming TV boxes.