David Egbert's Geeky Blog

LG Optimus F5: Hands On & Review

While smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One are pushing 4G into the hands of more and more people, there's a segment of the market that ...

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This thing’s a BEAST (Zoom H6 Unboxing & Test)

http://www.squarespace.com/unbox - Offer Code: Unbox8 Zoom H6 Pricing & Availability (US) - http://amzn.to/1WGMUXC (UK) - http://amzn.to/16JuPed This is ...

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Makey Makey – Practical and Fun Computer Control

What the heck is the MaKey MaKey, and what can you do with it? iFixit: Head over to http://ifixit.com/linus and use offer code LINUS02 to save $10 off any ...

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5 Tech Gadgets Under $30

5 gadgets that cost under $30...but are any of them worth it? Mini Xbox One Controller on Amazon: http://austin.tech/minixbox Sony MDR-ZX110 headphones on ...

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Flagship Moto Z2 Force goes official at last with Snapdragon 835, up to 6GB RAM, small battery

Enough “playing” around with respectable but short of impressive upper mid-range Android smartphones. It’s finally time for Lenovo daughter company Motorola to unleash the full “force” of its second-generation modular flagship, as many rivals already gear up to unveil their second 2017 hero devices.

One very important department where the Moto Z2 Force unfortunately can’t hold a candle to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG G6 or HTC U11 is battery capacity. As rumored, you’re only getting a 2730mAh cell this time around, significantly down from the 3500mAh beast inside the original Z Force.

Oh, well, let’s at least hope the TurboPower fast charging magic will help this tiny-sounding juicer jump from 0 to 100 percent in record time, while a Snapdragon 835 processor should guarantee both industry-leading raw performance and relatively low energy consumption.

In terms of US availability, it’s certainly nice to hear AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint shall join Verizon for a truly nationwide launch on August 10, preceded by July 26 pre-orders, but on the not so bright side of things, the 6GB RAM variant is exclusive to foreign territories.

Recommended pricing stands at $720 stateside with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, though carrier promotions and Moto Mods discounts or even freebies are a given.

A “shatterproof” 5.5-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display is obviously a major selling point, and compared to the first Z Force edition, the Moto Z2 Force follows recent market trends as far as imaging goes, doubling down on rear cameras.

You’re looking at a nice pair of 12MP color and monochrome “main” shooters, as well as a decent single 5MP selfie cam with a wide-angle lens. Running Android 7.1.1 Nougat out the box, the incredibly slim 6.1mm handset supports Gigabit LTE connectivity… in theory, also touting a “reinforced” 7,000 series aluminum design.

Oh, and remember the 360 Camera Moto Mod randomly showcased in Ghana (of all places) a little while ago? It’s properly unveiled now, priced at $299.99, and slated for a “global” rollout on August 10 as well. Like all other compatible modular accessories, this also snaps on effortlessly, boasting the ability to record “interactive” 360-degree 4K video, complete with “immersive” 3D audio. Still a tad costly, don’t you think?

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Samsung brings unlocked, low-cost Galaxy J3 and J7 to the US with modest hardware, Android 7.0

Just in case Samsung’s otherwise successful Galaxy J lineup of low-cost, low to mid-end smartphones wasn’t convoluted and confusing enough, unlocked versions of the J3 and J7 are officially coming to the US later this week, on July 28.

The part that boggles the mind is you’re actually looking at the 2016 generation here rather than the faster, prettier… and pricier 2017 models recently released in Europe. Also, carriers like AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and MetroPCS have been selling very similar gear under tweaked names for quite some time now.

Still, it’s highly unusual for Samsung to bring unlocked flavors of budget-friendly handsets stateside, so if you value that kind of network freedom and the theoretical lack of operator bloatware offered with it, get ready to cough up $149.99 and $219.99 outright.

The Galaxy J3 is obviously the cheaper and smaller gadget, sporting a 5-inch HD TFT screen in combination with an unspecified quad-core 1.4 GHz processor and mediocre-sounding 2600mAh battery. Other similarly dull features include 5 and 2MP cameras, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, microSD support and 4G LTE connectivity.

The 5.5-inch Galaxy J7 unfortunately retains the sub-par 1280 x 720 display resolution, thankfully bumping up the processing power to eight cores clocked at 1.6 GHz, memory to a couple of gigabytes, cameras to 8 and 5MP, and battery capacity to 3300mAh. Both devices run Android 7.0 Nougat out the box, though you probably shouldn’t hold your breath for build O updates anytime soon.