Smartphones & Accessories

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.

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.

Google unveiled its latest smartphones—the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X—and while they don’t deviate too much from their predecessors on the outside, they are considerably different on the inside. With new cameras, faster processors and bigger batteries, plus the latest version of Android, both phones look to be interesting options for anyone shopping for a new smartphone this fall.

Samsung likes curves enough to put them on almost any screen they can find. Curved TVs are one thing, but this year, the company has really pushed the idea of curved displays on smartphones. The Galaxy S6 Edge, when it launched in the spring, was the first smartphone to have a dual-curved edge display. Now, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ offers a bigger screen with a lot of the same functionality.

There’s a new update for your phone, or a new app or game you want to try, but you can’t download it because you’ve run out of storage space. Situations like this are becoming more routine, and in cases where internal storage isn’t expandable, some maintenance is necessary to make room. If storage, or lack thereof, has been an issue for you, there are options for creating some breathing space for your data.

Losing a smartphone, or having it stolen is a terrible feeling. For such a personal device, a smartphone is highly susceptible to either scenario, and as such, some precautions should be taken to mitigate the fallout from it. Each mobile platform has some form of protection in place, but they usually aren’t on by default. Here’s what you need to know and what you can do to for preparation and response.

Motorola is back and so is the Moto X, this time with the ‘Play’ moniker as a play on the phone’s longevity. The mid-range smartphone is Motorola’s newest flagship in Canada, packing in a huge battery into a frame that sports a larger display than last year’s model. A new camera has also been added to address the limitations of the prior Moto X handsets, pitting this device in a unique place that aims to capture the attention of consumers looking for a dependable smartphone that does everything.

The kids’ backpacks are packed, their lunches are planned, and you’ve argued out who’s going to be taking the kids to their first day back … but there’s always something that gets forgotten.   I have a cousin who had a tendency to leave his toothbrushes and shoes (how???!) behind when he was a kid, like a travelling Hansel & Gretel, but in August, it’s way more likely that you’ve forgotten something far less dire. Like, say, to update the kids’ (and your own!) phone and tablet cases for back-to-school.

    As student’s lives get exponentially busier during back-to-school,good productivity apps for organizing and managing tasks and to-do’s becomes a necessity.   Here are some apps that do the job well.