Cherlynn Low/Engadget

Henry also mentioned the S20’s build quality, saying it “didn’t feel as premium as past phones” and that it “would have been nice to get a proper black color” for the handset. Jun Jie was likewise disappointed with the colors on the Ultra: “You went from Aura-ish colors on the Note10+ to Cosmic Grey on the S20 Ultra that’s more dull than my future. Why?” And both Henry and Steve wanted a headphone jack on the S20 and S20 Ultra, respectively. 

Screen

The screens on all three handsets hit big with users. Sneak said the S20’s display is amazing, Ryan found the screen on the S20+ beautiful, adding that he can use the 120Hz with no noticeable difference in resolution. However, he did say that the “screen glass is easily susceptible to scratching,” and that “after a month of careful use, there are three or four small scratches noticeable when the screen is off. The notion that Gorilla Glass is somehow impervious to scratching is clearly a myth.” 

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

When it came to the 120Hz refresh rate on her S20+, Brianna was enthusiastic, saying she “loves the buttery smooth refresh rate” and that she “never knew I needed 120Hz in my life until I saw it in person! Never going back!” Charlie called the screen on the S20 Ultra beautiful, Jun Jie found it glorious and Steve admitted the large screen was one of his “killer apps” on the Ultra, but he skips using the 120Hz mode because it drains the battery.

Camera

There was very little negative feedback about the camera features of the S20 lineup. The S20 and S20+ both have a 3x optical zoom system, while the S20 Ultra boasts a 100x Space Zoom with a 4x optical zoom. Sneak liked the camera on their S20, but Nick was disappointed that his S20+ didn’t feature a real telephoto camera and will instead crop a 64MP frame. 

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

S20 Ultra users were more detailed about their experiences. Derek called the camera cool, despite having to return his initial handset because of an issue with it. Steve said he “uses the Pro mode all the time and I love the level of control. I have used the 100x zoom, and while it’s not perfect, it’s better than not having the option at all.” And Charlie found the camera to be amazing, adding that “it has focus issues sometimes but I expect that to be fixed with software updates in the near future. The zoom capability is incredible and very helpful in my job.” 

Battery

The battery life of the phones was only briefly mentioned by the reviewers. David and Nick felt let down by the battery life of their respective S20 and a S20+. David said he was “disappointed with my phone’s battery life compared to my previous phones, and the phones of others in my family.” 

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

Meanwhile, Ryan and Jun Jie had the opposite experience. Jun Jie listed battery life as one of the many advantages of going with an S20 Ultra, and Ryan said the battery on his S20+ lasts “considerably longer than my S7, and I can use the phone all day without worrying about recharging.” 

Comparisons

Our users were fairly critical with regards to comparing their handsets to other phone models. David said “one of my biggest frustrations with the S20 is the tediously slow on-screen fingerprint unlock, to the point that I am considering switching back to an LG V series.” He felt that “overall, the S20 is a satisfactory phone but … my previous flagship, the LG V30+, gave a better ownership experience.” Ryan, who upgraded to the S20+ from an S7, said it took him a few weeks to adjust to the size of the newer phone. Nick, who also owns an S20+, felt it was a bad thing that the handset “is so similar to all other A-series Samsungs that you cannot easily tell the difference. It’s not a very shiny flagship, as previous models were. I was twice as excited when I bought my S7 Edge, which it replaced.” Steve was pragmatic about his S20 Ultra, saying “this phone is good for a while but next time I’ll probably look at the ‘A’ series. Better bang for the buck.” Derek was less matter-of-fact about his S20 Ultra: “I’ve learned my lesson and this is the last S series phone I will buy. I’m going back to the Note phones I was buying. This phone was not worth the price.” 

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

However, a few users of each handset were more pleased with their purchases. Sneak was “extremely glad that the Bixby button is gone, and I’m also glad that Samsung didn’t put the power and volume buttons on the ‘wrong’ side like they did with the Note 10 and 10+.” And Jun Jie and Charlie were both happy with their S20 Ultras, with Jun Jie stating there are “many praises to be sung about this phone,” and Charlie finding it an “incredible phone in many ways.” 

This week marks an anniversary of sorts for the 6th-generation “classic” iPod. Not its release date (September 5th, 2007), but the date it was officially discontinued: September 9th, 2014. That day Apple stopped producing non-touchscreen mobile music players. The 6th-gen iPod Classic would be the last device to feature a physical click wheel and the 30-pin connector, and had storage that maxed out at 160 GB. I actually still have a working, 6th-gen iPod Classic and use it even today. It’s useful because it doesn’t eat up precious satellite internet bandwidth, and it’s also an oddly specific time capsule of the music I listened to more than a decade ago.

Who else out there still has a classic click-wheel 6th-gen model from 2007?  What score would you give the last of the original iPods? What do you miss most about the device? Tell us everything: what kind of playlists you made, how far you traveled with your old iPod and where you’d place it in the annals of tech history. You can leave all your memories and reviews over on the iPod Classic product page, and remember — the best reviews will get included in an upcoming user review roundup article

Valentina Palladino

Battery

Fitbit claims the Charge 4’s battery can go seven days with regular use, and five hours with GPS enabled. This was reinforced by both Valentina’s and our users’ experiences. Valentina still had 20 percent battery after three days (which included a few hour-long GPS sessions), while Dan said he was “just a couple of hours short of seven days since my last charge and I still have 28 percent of the battery remaining.” However, he also found that “the built in GPS takes like 20 percent of the battery on an hour long walk … This was disappointing. Then Fitbit released an update that lets me use the GPS on my phone instead of the built-in GPS. Problem solved.” 

GPS

Mark had the opposite experience, finding the GPS antenna “woefully weak and inadequate for the task at hand.” He was frustrated by the time the watch took to scan for, connect and stay linked to a GPS signal. “Just hope that nothing blocks signal visibility, like a forest, a two-story building or a light cloud cover. It can, and will, lose signal should any of the aforementioned ‘obstacles’ occur — and finding the signal again requires you to restart your activity.” K also experienced issues here, as the “device randomly stops tracking my GPS during workouts. Sometimes it happens two miles in and sometimes it just records a few data points altogether.” Dan got luckier, saying his only gripe (in addition to the GPS drain) was “sometimes when I turned over at night, the screen would light up and was blindingly bright.” However, he found “you could prevent this from happening by setting a sleep time which requires you to use the button on the side to turn the screen on.” 

Valentina Palladino

Software

This is where the majority of our users ran into problems. The built-in NFC payment function was not among them, with K reporting that it “works like a charm. I didn’t have to retry tapping and waving like I used to at times with my Wear OS device.” Mark liked this feature too, calling it “another nice addition, provided it works with your bank or card.” K also felt good about the sleep tracking and smart wake up options, which worked well for them. Dan liked that he could see “steps, heart rate, calories and distance walked on the screen at once. I used to have to swipe several times to do that on the Alta HR.” 

But there was much more mentioned in the cons column. Edgar had issues syncing the phone and using multiple profiles on it. “The app would always show that the watch was not charging, which makes it impossible to continue with the [installation] process … Before setting it up, it just shows either a smiley or the Fitbit logo, nothing more. After many attempts, I was able to connect the watch to my wife’s phone.” He also ran into problems trying to wipe user data to set up the watch for another profile. “In order to not mess with her data, I decided to create an account for me and connect the device with my phone. The second time doing so, I had no success at all. I tried everything.” Edgar was also upset that “until it is connected with a smartphone, it does not work even as a normal watch.” 

Valentina Palladino

K, who found the user interface challenging and experienced problems with workout tracking, mentioned that the “screen timeout is annoyingly short, even on the long setting.” They also said “password unlock is a pain to use,” there was “poor native syncing with other fitness portals” and that it is “sadly undermined by its own software.” However, “the good news is that the software could easily be refined to be better.” Mark’s drawbacks were the cumbersome Spotify integration and the Premium paywall, which locks away sleeping heart rate data unless users pay to upgrade.

Overall

The average user score for the Charge 4 was a stinging 64. Mark said that “on paper, the Charge 4 is everything, and more, you could wish for in a fitness wearable: small form factor, good looks, water resistance, HR sensor, GPS, NFC, seven days of battery, an SPO2 sensor.” But overall, the device was “just a Charge 3 with some additional gimmicks.” K is awaiting a software improvement to fix the majority of their problems, and Edgar’s issues caused him to immediately return his Charge 4. Dan was the only user who was happy with the Charge 4, stating “it really hits on all these marks for me.” 

Google’s first pair of wireless buds, back in 2017, were lacking in a few areas: they weren’t truly wireless, some controls were missing and the touch pads were arduous. That being said, there was a lot to like in their sound quality, battery life and fit. When the company released an upgraded model this year, it fully cut the cord, improved the touch controls and made the buds more comfortable. However, it (again) missed out on adding in active noise cancelation. However, the improvements were enough to boost the score by 18 points from 65 for the original Pixel Buds to 83 for the 2020 version.

If you bought this year’s Pixel Buds, how do you like them? What do you use them most for? Do you miss active noise cancelation? Tell us about their fit, audio quality and how you think they compare to the original pair in your own user review on our Pixel Buds product page. We want to hear all about your experiences — remember, the best quotes are included in user review roundup articles! 

Meanwhile both Keith and Gabriel spoke about the device’s portability and premium feel. Gabriel had a lot more to add: “I dislike the size of new phones and having massive, inflexible slabs in my pocket at all times, and the Z Flip is a welcome (and significant) departure from this. The thing is incredibly portable and nice in the pocket. I adore the ‘cube’ design of the phone.” 

Chris Velazco/Engadget

Form Factor

The Z Flip is unlike other folding phones (e.g. the Galaxy Fold or Mate X), in that it folds top to bottom (more like the Razr). User reviewers spoke about how the phone worked in day to day tasks, with most praising the design. Jackal said they liked “flipping it into an ‘L’ for video conferencing,” Mark enjoyed that “it sits open like a little laptop when I am reading or watching a video during a work conference call,” and Peter said he’s “sold on the folding concept, giving a decent usable screen size while allowing the phone to fold down into a pocket-friendly size.” 

Keith liked “knowing when I fold the phone in half, all calls are disconnected,” and was also pleased that the “flex feature brings a usability factor with it which gives you options to use the phone in ways you’d never think of using a traditional smartphone.” Mark found the cover screen “useful for a quick glance and swipe to see if there is anything new.” Usman appreciated that “the novelty of it folding didn’t wear off for a while because in public, I would be reminded of how unique it is when I hear people whispering about me and talking about my phone. Some have even asked to hold it and fold it themselves.”

Chris Velazco/Engadget

So… what about the crease? The only user to mention it, Jackal, said, “It has a crease. I knew it would have a crease. You cannot bend something without putting a crease in it. We will need technology derived from secret alien technology before people will have a bendy screen without a crease. The horror that people displayed over the introduction of this technology and the endless discussions of ‘the crease’ are hysteria that was ill founded, and people voicing an opinion without directly having the experience.”

Screen

Second to the form factor, the device’s screen were discussed in detail by user reviewers. Keith didn’t like its readability in daylight, saying you had to “crank the brightness up.” Usman was annoyed by how the screen was “a plastic hybrid material […] showing some obvious signs of wear. I have two lines in it I can see, and it annoys me.” However, Gabriel found the display to be excellent, only losing marks “due to its lack of scratch resistance and the significant bezels surrounding it.” He added that “it does scratch easily — that is no rumor” but qualified it, saying “the scratches are light and completely invisible so far with the screen on. I honestly forget that they exist unless I’m looking at the screen on, in a certain lighting.” He was more pragmatic about the materials, stating “the ‘plastic glass’ thing has been over blown because the screen acts as a glass unless you are actually taking a key to it. Screens scratch, it happens. It only matters if they are deep.”

Chris Velazco/Engadget

Camera

No one was particularly impressed with the camera, but they weren’t particularly disappointed either. Mark said it was fine; Keith said it worked for his uses because: “I’m not a photographer and most cameras on their own take great shots for me. In short, I’m happy with it.” Jackal said it “takes good but not great pictures.” Gabriel was the most effusive, saying he found the camera to be “excellent — the same as the S10.”

Headphone Jack

A drawback that was mentioned by multiple users was the lack of a headphone jack. Though none of the Fold’s foldable competitors include a 3.5mm jack either, that didn’t stop both Evan and Usman from pining for the one. Usman said the lack of a headphone jack “is a bit annoying, but I rarely need to plug in headphones.” Evan, who also said the missing jack was an annoyance, asked “if the phone is not going to have IP ratings for water anyways, then why not squeeze in a headphone jack? Not being able to connect to an AUX cable in a car and turn on music was pretty frustrating.” 

Chris Velazco/Engadget

Battery

The overall feedback about the battery life was that it was acceptable, but not excellent. Jackal got good battery life, as did Gabriel, and Usman found it “about the same as my S8+.” Mark found it just “okay” but added “most of us have chargers at home, work and in the car…you’re always near a plug.” However, both Evan and Keith were less satisfied. Keith often cranked up the brightness on his screen, which impacted his battery life. And Evan’s first big issue with the Z Flip was the device’s battery life, saying that “it should not drop 8 – 10 percent overnight on standby. This means by the time I start work in the morning, after some light use like checking email and notifications, I have lost 20 percent of my battery. If my day involves lots of phone calls or use of my device then I could have a dead phone or close to by 6pm.” He summarized it all with, “it just lacks the battery capacity due to its form factor.” 

Overall

Only a few users had an overall negative experience with their Z Flips. Jackal mentioned their phone is not the fastest handset they’ve used, while Gabriel admitted the lack of waterproofing made him nervous as a Seattle resident. Mark’s only complaint, in addition to the phone’s slippery feel, was the lack of cover options, and Peter said he could “forgive the lack of apps taking advantage of the design, otherwise I’ve had no real compromises to make.” Evan alone was the sole user who said he could not recommend the device. 

Chris Velazco/Engadget

All of the other users were more enthusiastic about their phones. Usman said it is “a great device, a real head-turner” and is “glad that Samsung offers us a screen replacement program that won’t break the bank.” Jackal said they were glad they bought one, while Chris said that despite some initial skepticism, they “fell in love” with the revolutionary device. Mark likewise claimed to love his Flip, and said it was his favorite phone ever. Gabriel agreed, stating “in summary, I love the phone. It will be truly, markedly difficult for me to return to a normal form factor.” And Keith said he has no regrets about buying the Z Flip: “I would buy the Z Flip 2 in a heartbeat.” 

Last year the OnePlus 7 Pro impressed reviewer Richard Lai with a bright AMOLED screen, Dolby Atmos stereo speakers and in-display fingerprint reader. He gave the flagship handset a noteworthy score of 91. Naturally, we wanted to hear what you thought about the model so we asked you to weigh in. Readers called it a killer deal, gorgeous and their “favorite phone that [they] have ever owned.” It earned an average user score of 85.

This year’s model, the OnePlus 8 Pro, has a higher price point and adds wireless charging, an IP68 waterproof rating and 5G support. Reviewer Chris Velazco called it sleek, powerful and his “favorite Android phone of 2020 so far.” He gave it a score of 88. Once again, we want to know how you, our readers, feel about this device: What score would you give it and why?  How well does Oxygen OS work for your daily tasks? How long does your battery last? And would you recommend it to others? Tell us all of this and more in your own user review on the OnePlus 8 Pro product page — and remember, the very best reviews will get included in future user review roundup articles! 

Fitbit’s most recent release, the Charge 4, impressed reviewer Valentina Palladino by echoing many of the features that made the company’s Surge model so successful: on-wrist apps, heart rate monitoring and onboard GPS.  The Charge 4 also includes Fitbit Pay and Spotify integration, making it a solid upgrade from the Charge 3, as well as a great device for both athletes and the health conscious. Valentina found a lot to like about this fitness wearable but wished the Spotify controls and compatibility were a bit more fleshed out. The $150 Charge 4 ultimately earned a fair score of 82.

If you’re a Fitbit Charge 4 owner, we want to hear how you feel about it. Is it your first Fitbit? If so, what do you like about it? If it isn’t your first, how does it compare to other models? What do you use it most for? And what features do you wish it had? As always, we want to hear all you have to say about it over on the Fitbit Charge 4 product page. Don’t forget, we feature the best reviews in user review roundup articles so include as many details as you can!

Chris Velazco/Engadget

While Apple says the majority of people who purchase one of its smartwatches are first-timers, most of our user reviewers had experience either with other brands or previous versions of the Apple Watch. Michael, who owned the Series 1, waited five years to upgrade and said he couldn’t be happier with the decision. He noted that “the addition of cellular connectivity in Series 3, the larger screen and ECG of Series 4, combined with the always on screen of Series 5 finally put all the pieces together in one watch.” Likewise, Mary said she “went from a Series 3 to a Series 5 and I’m not disappointed! The 3 has enough going for it that it’s easy to sell and put towards the 5.” 

Kyuu was more reserved, saying the Watch was far lighter than Samsung’s alternatives and “the basics are fine, and that’s saying a lot after the number of smartwatches I’ve used.” However, Jeff was not impressed — he had the Series 2 and upgraded, but switched back after two months “because the AW5 heart-rate monitoring is much worse. The AW2 measurements match my Polaris chest-strap well, and the AW5 fails to read my heart rate most of the time.”

Chris Velazco/Engadget

When it came to battery life, Dana found it mostly lived up to the 18-hour claim. She got as much as 21 hours while our mobile editor Chris Velazco made it a full 24 hours on one occasion. The consensus among our users was less positive. Kyuu said the battery life was bad, and that getting through the day was “not a given.” He pointed out that “it’s a double problem because the standard charger sometimes fails to charge it full and may leave it at only 40 percent.” Jody said she wished the battery life was better, as “I’ve almost never run out of charge before bed, though I’ve come close a few times.” And Michael claimed the battery life on his Series 5 was impressive, though he didn’t detail how long it lasted or what he was using the watch for. 

Other hardware notes: Mary was the only one to mention the always-on display, which she loved for the ability to quickly check the time. Michael brought up the 64-bit processor, saying its responsiveness “makes feedback and launching apps feel more like you’re using the latest iPhone, not something as small and weak as a watch.” Kyuu voiced his opinion about the strap, declaring it very comfortable. 

Chris Velazco/Engadget

When it came to the software side of the device, there were more positives than negatives. Kyuu liked that “day-to-day tasks, notifications and checking up on health work as promised.” He also had positive experiences with Apple Pay, saying that “Making payments is a breeze and I pretty much pay almost everything with the watch now, it’s reliable and quick.” He also found health tracking “clear and simple to use,” but was disappointed that “workout detection is also unreliable. I might have walked for hours before it realizes I might be walking. I have to remember to use it manually, a minor inconvenience.” Meanwhile Mary, who loved the ability to listen to Audible books on her Series 5, said what really swayed her into buying it was the fall alert since she has taken a spill a few times. 

Kyuu and Jeff were the only ones to point out serious drawbacks. Jeff declared the Series 5 a “disappointing upgrade,” while Kyuu felt the emphasis on all icons and no text was a downside. “I often end up starting several apps in a row until I find the one I need. The icons are sort of logical, but not perfect. Maybe they make more sense to someone who’s been in the Apple zone longer.” 

Chris Velazco/Engadget

However, Kyuu also said the watch “mostly does as promised.” Jody said for her uses, the watch works very well. Michael was more effusive, stating the “early promise of what the Apple Watch could be was finally realized with Series 5” and “the improvements make the new Apple Watch feel like a completely new device, not just an upgrade.”

A few weeks ago we asked you to review Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip, one of the few foldable smartphones on the market. Now we want to know if any of you early adopters opted for the Motorola Razr instead — it’s an updated version of the much loved V3 from 2004. This year’s model has two displays, 128GB of storage, a 16-megapixel main camera and a hefty price tag of $1500. Our reviewer Chris Velazco liked the design and hardware, but wasn’t impressed by its battery life, dull screen or mid-range chipset. He gave the smartphone a rather weak score of 61. 

If you took a gamble on Motorola’s folding phone, how did you feel about it? Did you experience a creaking hinge when opening or closing the handset? Were you underwhelmed by the cameras? Do you feel the device was worth its high cost? As usual, we want to hear all about your purchase on our Motorola Razr product page. Remember, your writeup could get included in an upcoming user review roundup article! 

This week marks the 41st anniversary of the very first Walkman: the TPS-L2, a metal-cased, blue-and-silver box that sold more than 30,000 units in the first two months of its release. It led the way for Sony to sell over 200 million cassette-based players by the time production ended in 2010. I can still recall my dad’s horror at seeing me pack a full box of cassette tapes into the car for a road trip, with my Walkman an ever-present companion throughout high school. To this day I still own well over 100 cassettes, including a few dozen mixtapes that friends made for me (a practice that simply cannot be replicated by a Spotify playlist). 

To commemorate the anniversary of the first Walkman, head on over to the product page for the TPS-L2 and leave a user review that includes your fondest memories of the device. Tell us all the things you liked (or didn’t like) about the first Walkman — and don’t leave anything out! Remember, the best reviews are included in upcoming user review roundup articles.