The device is very lightweight and conservative in design – it is not as discreet or as stylish as some headsets we’ve seen, but is reasonably comfortable to wear. It has separate buttons for controlling the volume and answering and ending calls. We found setting it up with a smartphone to be a seamless process, giving the device a true plug and play feel.

Audio quality was respectable. Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology reduces echo, distortion from wind or other ambient sounds, and although it may be evident to your callers that you are using a headset it by no means caused any problems.

The Explorer 395 feels well priced, and you’ll definitely get more if your budget stretches further, but for its target entry level market it does the job well.

Web: www.plantronics.com
Price: £30
Verdict: 8/10

The PK201 comes with several input methods, including Composite, VGA and Mini HDMI, enabling you to use content from products ranging from an iPhone (with a non-supplied adapter) to a TV or games system. In addition you can simply pop in an microSD card and use it as a standalone device.

Being able to use the system free from any external device is perhaps the most welcome new feature on this version of the product.

The number of file formats supported is vast. You can show full PowerPoint presentations, watch videos in 14 formats including AVI and MP4, and view 10 different types of image file. The device is controlled via a series of buttons on the top of the unit that navigate you through the UI projected onto a wall.

It’s fairly easy to find your way around, although we did find that reading larger microSD cards packed with content was on the slow side. There is a connector for a tripod on the bottom of the device, and for best results you’ll need to use on, or at least mount the projector somewhere where it is fully adjacent to the wall you are projecting onto.

The display stretches to a massive 70”, with WVGA resolution, theoretically enabling the device to be used as a portable cinema system. However in practice we found the image is not bright enough to work at that size.

Even at half the size you’ll ideally need to be in an almost completely dark room in order to get a truly satisfactory image for movie viewing. Presentations are more forgiving of a dimmer image and were much more usable.

The device has a built-in speaker which goes loud enough to be heard in a typical boardroom but, again, doesn’t provide the full audio experience you would be looking for with a film. The internal rechargeable battery runs to about 90 minutes of life, and we noted that the device does get very hot in use.

The technology in the PK201 is undeniably impressive, although it does inevitably come at quite a price. While the addition of a memory card slot is welcome the drive to make a Pico projector a portable system has not quite come off. Movies will be a secondary feature on this device, whose primary place will still be in the office.

Web: www.optoma.com
Price: £299
Verdict: 7

A new iPhone is always greeted with a certain amount of fevered hype and expectation. In the case of iPhone 4 it is deservedly so. With the first genuine redesign of the hardware since the original model and a number of new features in the software this device represents a real leap over what has gone before.

The competition to the iPhone is tougher than it has ever been, however, so is Apple really surpassing its rivals, or merely catching up with the competition?

Although the design sticks with the trusted formula – large screen, single home button – the iPhone 4 has undergone a radical redesign. The smooth curves of its predecessors are gone, replaced with sharp lines in an industrial design with a retro appeal.

It’s undeniably a beautiful piece of hardware and makes the older models seem distinctly dated by comparison. Not to mention fatter as well: iPhone 4 shaves 3mm off the thickness of the 3GS and noticeably so. It’s weightier than you might expect, but not in a bad way as the device feels extremely solid, with build quality unrivalled in any other smartphone.

The front and back are made of toughened plastic which feels tough but is not completely scratch proof so we would recommend a case. The edges of the phone offer genuine innovation in that the assorted wireless antennas are built into the actual casing. Although we could replicate issue signal drop issue when holding the phone in a certain way, we could not get it to drop calls. In any case the addition of one of Apple’s bumper cases solved any concerns.

The undoubted highlight of iPhone 4 is its screen. It has a pixel density of 326ppi, and Apple calls it a Retina Display because it says that once you get beyond 300 pixels per inch the eye can no longer make out the difference. It sounds like marketing hype, but it’s not.

It’s extraordinarily good. You could, if you wanted, read text on web pages when fully zoomed out, and at no point can you make out the individual pixels. It is also bright and reasonably viewable in sunlight, and has a near free viewing angle. Naturally this doesn’t suddenly render all other high res displays terrible, but this does set a new standard.

Elsewhere the improved hardware performed well. The new 1GHz processor ensured there was no lag when navigating the phone’s menus or apps. The Wi-Fi signal strength was outstanding, and the upgraded camera, now five megapixels and with a larger sensor than in most smartphones, could now be considered a realistic alternative to a compact.

HD video recording was also among the best we have seen on a phone.

iPhone 4 runs the new iOS4, of which the standout feature is what is best described as pseudo-multitasking. It isn’t full multi-tasking, and apps won’t automatically continue running in the background. Many are simply suspended when you switch away from them, and then continue exactly where you left off when you switch back.

In areas where they are allowed to run in the background, such as music streaming or uploading files, apps need to be specially written to take advantage of the feature. Apple hasn’t added any of its usual unique touches to the UI for this task switching, a simple double tap on the home button shows a row of running or recently launched apps that you can move between.

Even though this isn’t full multi-tasking in the way that Android or Symbian provide it does present the perception of multi-tasking. Apps continue running when needed, and switching between suspended apps is quick enough. For most users that will be enough. Whether any limitations in the implementation arise remains to be seen.

The much vaunted FaceTime – video calling – works, but only over Wi-Fi to other iPhone 4 users. Video calling on mobile devices has proven a tough sell to date, and will likely continue to be so even with Apple pushing it.

The other new software features are fairly minimal and often fill in some of the more noticeable gaps in functionality. Being able to sort apps into folders, for instance, is welcome and long overdue.

But some of the areas where the iPhone software had fallen behind Android remain. Opportunities to customise the phone are very limited, there is still no support for home screen widgets, and the notifications system remains as clunky as before.

iPhone 4 is quite different from what we have seen before, but it turns out it is not different enough to change anyone’s mind about the product. If you love the style, ease of use and bountiful App Store then you will continue to love it – and the iPhone 4 is a pretty tempting proposition even for current 3GS users.

But if you think ease of use is a euphemsism for ‘lack of functionality’ or dislike the vice-like grip Apple has on the entire ecosystem (nothing is allowed on an iPhone without the official seal of approval, remember) then you are unlikely to be won round, no matter how pretty the phone is.

Price: £499 SIM-free
Web: www.apple.com

Essential verdict
Performance: 9
Design: 10
Feature: 8
Value: 8
Overall score: 9/10

The very first thing to say about Acer’s beTouch E110 is that it is not a bells and whistles Android-based smartphone. It sits at the bottom of the pile, in specs terms, of the quartet of handset the company has recently launched, and it is designed unashamedly to be low cost.

It is pitched as having social networking and multimedia goodness, the mobile Internet, Acer widgets, 3G, GPS and a friendly user interface. There is a 3 megapixel camera. It is more a rival to feature phones not a rival to the very top end of the Android spectrum.

So, the beTouch E110 runs Android 1.5. There are no Google Mobile services – which rather sadly means no access to the Android Market. For all your wanting to produce a low cost handset, Acer, the Android Market is a real selling point for smartphones, and its omission is probably a mistake.

For example, the full version of Twitdroid is pre-installed which Tweeters may find a lure. But with no Android Market keeping it up to date is going to be difficult. You can manually install Android apps downloaded from websites, but that requires several extra steps that this phone’s target audience might not want to make.

There’s no Wi-Fi either, so you are reliant on your network for all over the air data services. The handset’s 3G support runs to 3.6Mbps downloads, 384Kbps uploads, and outside of 3G coverage areas you’ll find browsing slow going.

The E110 is a small format device. It measures just 103.5mm x 54mm x 13.4mm. It is a shame it just tips over the 100g mark at 105g. The screen is necessarily squeezed at 2.8-inches and its 320 x 240 pixels are way behind the leading edge. It is a bit on the tiny side for Web browsing, and we found text entry fiddly too. There is no accelerometer so you don’t even have the benefit of a wide-mode keyboard to tap at.

The touchscreen is supplemented by a row of four touch buttons sitting beneath it, for Home, Search, Back and Menu functions. These are quite small and we didn’t always hit them accurately.

Beneath these are large Call and End/On/Off buttons, and a big D-pad with left, right, up and down actions and a central select button. A 3.5mm headset connector is a welcome addition, and the microSD card slot is side-mounted for easy access.

Acer has given Android its very own user interface. In the face of very stiff competition from HTC’s superb Sense UI this is a brave move, but for the most part it works well.

There are five home screens between which you can flick with a finger sweep. You can populate these with widgets, including some from Acer that include Spinlets for music streaming and some rather nice carousels for accessing media and Web pages.

These latter don’t occupy a full screen but they don’t leave space for further widgets either. You can put app shortcuts on a screen with them, though.

There’s an arrow at the bottom of the screen which you pull up to get to the main app window. It is weird and not a little annoying that if app names are more than about seven characters long they cut off! There’s no pull down notifications area, something we really missed from our HTC Android handsets.

As well as the already mentioned Twitdroid app there is a Facebook client, FM radio and GPS Tracker application. You can use the beTouch E110 as a modem, though you will have to watch that data usage.

The Acer beTouch E110 is not the smartphone to choose if you want the very best of what Android has to offer. It can be a bit fiddly to use at times, and with its features stripped back the bare minimum it seems quite expensive. We aren’t sure we’d recommend it.

Price: £180
Web: www.acer.co.uk

Essential Verdict
Performance: 7/10
Design: 7/10
Features: 5/10
Value for Money: 6/10
Overall score: 5/10

Review written by Sandra Vogel. Originally published in Smartphone Essentials magazine.

Proporta’s Mizu Shell is a tough silicone case designed to bring full protection to a smartphone without hindering its style or usability.

Testing on a HTC Desire we found the Shell – which is opaque and available in either grey or red – to fit the device snugly. It adds about a millimetre to the handset’s depth, and a couple to its with, not enough in either case to prevent it from slipping into a trouser pocket with ease. T

he material is soft and also extra grippy, reducing the likelihood of the phone ever slipping from your grasp. But while the Shell gives good protection to the back and sides of a phone it does leave the front feeling rather prone – you might feel the need to add a screen protector if you want complete protection for your device.

Price: £19.95
Web: www.proporta.com

Verdict: 8

The HTC Desire Sync Cradle is the perfect way to keep your phone charged when you are sat at your desk. Although quite plasticky in its build the matt finish looks good and ought to wear better over time than a glossy alternative.

The holder grabs the phone in place securely – there are versions of this product for many popular smartphone models – and enables you to both sync and charge your phone with a desktop computer (and there is also a mains adapter in the box for faster charging on its own).

Behind the phone is a tray into which you can place a spare battery, ensuring it always remains charged when you need it. Charging LEDs illuminate when the unit is powered – a blue one for the phone is excessively bright though, and the rear one for the spare battery flashes annoyingly between orange and green when no battery is installed.

A little improvisation is needed to tone both down.

Price: £18.79
Web: www.easydevices.co.uk
Verdict: 7

The Wave marks the long-awaited debut of Samsung’s very own bada operating system. Samsung is not abandoning other operating systems, but hopes bada will help it read wider audiences and add high end features to lower cost phones. It has made a good start, already selling over a millon units globally.

The handset itself looks absolutely stunning. Tall, thin and slim the chassis is the kind of mix of metal and plastic that gives it a very solid appearance.

One of the stand-out features of the Wave is its Super AMOLED screen.  It certainly lives up to the hype of being brighter and clearer than everyday AMOLED. Even in bright sunlight it was easier to read than a standard AMOLED display.

We were impressed with how ultra-responsive it is to the finger, too. Multitouch is supported, and no doubt the 1GHz processor helps it respond to our requests quickly. It is possibly the most responsive, most viewable screen we’ve ever seen on a smartphone.

The Wave runs TouchWiz, Samsung’s standard interface, here upgraded to version 3. Up to ten home screens are available and the widgets you can put on them, like the rest of the OS’s design, are sleek and neat to look at. Many of them provide live data. But there aren’t many on offer, and you can’t put shortcuts to apps on the home screen. Hopefully this will come, as without it the phone can’t really truly be personalised. At least you can reorder apps within the main menu.

There’s some fun to be had with the lock screen. Designed like a puzzle, the ‘missing piece’ is marked with missed calls and messages. Drag the piece to its slot on the puzzle and the handset opens to the missed message. Or simply swipe upwards to go to the home screen.

The Wave can pull in contacts from Gmail, Yahoo! and Microsoft Exchange, Facebook and Twitter – but getting them all to link up properly is a bit of a pain. Samsung needs to make this a more intuitive, less manual process.

There is an app store but it is hardly brimming with goodness. While you can start to bulk the phone out with a range of third party apps if you really want to take this approach you need to opt for the iPhone or Android.

It is great to see 802.11n supported in the Wi-Fi department. One of its greatest uses is Web browsing and the browser is sharp and  clear. Pinch to zoom is fast, but there’s no text reflowing – so you have to do a lot of scrolling to read a page. This makes Web browsing rather painful at times.

Of course this is an HSPDA handset and it has GPS too. Note, though, that Google Maps does not support bada. Samsung has its own, paid for app, which is nowhere near as good. As already hinted lack of bada support will likely be an issue for many of the apps you currently use.

There is a 5 megapixel camera with features like smile detection and that funny beauty mode that fiddles with the brightness to make people look more, er, becoming. The camera supports touch to focus too, a real boon if what you want to focus on isn’t actually the most obvious thing in the frame. There’s a front facing video calling camera too.

For a first attempt with a new OS we like the Wave. But bada is woefully short of apps support, and Samsung needs to think more about what the kinds of flexibility users want rather than imposing its own ideas – such as allowing shortcuts to apps on the main screens and letting you type a word even if it is not in the dictionary! And above all the jury is still out on whether there is really any need for another smartphone platform at all.

Price: £323 SIM-free
Web: www.samsungmobile.co.uk

Essential Verdict
Performance: 7/10
Design: 8/10
Features: 7/10
Value for Money: 8/10
Overall score: 7/10
The Wave is a stylish and appealing phone, but the bada OS might prove to be its achilles heel

Written by Sandra Vogel.

Samsung has already got a number of Android smartphones under its belt, but has until now failed to target the premium end of the market. The Galaxy S rectifies that. A handset with specs to rival the best currently available it is the epitome of a cutting edge smartphone.

The key to the success of the Galaxy S is its screen. At four inches it is well above average in size, and using Samsung’s Super AMOLED technology it is also stunning to look at. With Super AMOLED the touch panel is built directly into the screen rather than placed on top as a separate layer, as is the case with virtually all other touch screen displays.

As a result it is thinner, so sits closer to the front of the device, offers significantly wider viewing angles, greater contrast and uses less power. Most importantly, perhaps, it remains easy to see in direct sunlight, where so many other screens begin to fade.

The hype surrounding Super AMOLED is totally justified, with the Galaxy S showing small but significant improvements over already excellent displays on devices such as the HTC Desire. It also helps to give the Galaxy S a unique selling point over rival Android phones.

Video has been a traditional weakness of Android to date, but the combination here of Super AMOLED, a roomy four-inch display, and out-of-the-box support for DivX (amongst other formats) at HD resolution makes the Galaxy S an outstanding video player.

The four-inch screen makes the device quite large, although a surprisingly slim profile enables it to fit in a trouser pocket with comfort. It is also remarkably light, and despite the case being completely plastic feels very solidly built.

Samsung has gone for a minimalist look, with just a single iPhone-style ‘Home’ button below the screen, straddled by a couple of touch-sensitive ‘back’ and ‘menu’ panels. We actually missed a d-pad or optical trackpad more than we would have expected – trying to position the cursor precisely in a text box becomes a real challenge without one.

Text entry itself is quite novel, as Samsung has licensed the innovative Swype application for this task. Instead of tapping away at a keyboard, you swipe your finger over the letters you want in a single motion, and the software somehow predicts the word you were attempting to type. It’s bizarre and ingenious, and it works – there’s no danger of mis-hitting keys when you don’t have to hit any at all.

Samsung has replaced the stock Android UI with the TouchWiz interface seen on all its handsets. In some areas it offers improvements: the applications screen features a series of sideways scrolling screens that are customisable, rather than the long alphabetically ordered list that is the norm for Android.

You can also add up to seven home screens, and remove any that you don’t use. However the number of widgets available is very limited – not nearly as many as you get with HTC’s Sense, for example. On the whole TouchWiz is not overly intrusive on this handset, and some of the excess eye candy of previous versions has been removed, but it does still look more like a feature phone UI than that of a serious smartphone.

The specs on the Galaxy S match any modern smartphone. There is 512MB RAM, 2GB ROM for storing applications etc, plus 8GB of internal storage (a 16GB version is exclusive to Vodafone), surpassing all current Android phones in the UK. With a 1GHz processor and that great screen the device is incredibly responsive in all tasks.

The full range of connectivity options is here, as is GPS. The 5MP camera (without flash) is among the best on Android, and can also record 720p video, although we found these were prone to an inconsistent frame rate. There is also a VGA resolution front facing camera for video calls.

Samsung has added a good choice of software too, including Social Hub for integrated social networking, the Layar augmented reality browser and ThinkFree for document editing. It currently runs Android 2.1, with an update to 2.2 likely in the future. This would be a significant upgrade, if only due to the current lack of support for Flash in the browser.

The Galaxy S impresses thoroughly. It’s not perfect – we’d take HTC’s Sense over TouchWiz any day and given its price maybe a little less plastic in the build would have been nice.

But where it excels it really excels: the all-round responsiveness, the future-proof specs, the superlative video support, that great screen. All these things make it probably the best Android device we’ve seen to date.

Price: £450 SIM-free
Web: www.samsungmobile.co.uk

Essential Verdict
Performance: 9/10
Design: 8/10
Features: 9/10
Value for Money: 9/10
Overall score: 8/10
A wonderful device, one of the best Android phones to date

The Xperia X10 is Sony Ericsson’s first Android handset and there’s no doubting that the basic specs are impressive. A 4 inch screen delivering 480 x 854 pixels is not to be sniffed at, nor is the 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 8 megapixel camera and 8GB of microSD card provided storage.

The large screen dominates the front of the handset, with three small buttons for Back, Menu and Home functions beneath it. The sides are minimally buttoned. There is nothing on the bottom or left, a camera button and volume rocker on the right, and on/off/lock switch, microUSB connector and 3.5mm headset jack on the top edge.

The Xperia X10 runs Android 1.6 putting it behind the times somewhat. It lacks features like Microsoft Exchanges support, and for the fans of bling, live (animated) wallpapers, which are in Android 2.1. The former is provided on the Xperia X10 by the Moxier suite of apps.

Sony Ericsson’s skinning, including the Timescape and Mediascape overlays add a real dash of individuality to proceedings, though.

Timescape brings together ‘events’ in one scrolling list. An event might be a Twitter feed, Facebook update, text message or email, missed call, note of the last tune you listened to, or the last photo you took. Sony Ericsson calls each event class a ‘spline’.

As you sweep the screen horizontally (or sweep a horizontal menu) splines are listed individually so you can see what’s happening in each information stream. You can either open Timescape from the home screen or have it automatically open whenever you hit the Home button.

If you choose not to have Timescape as your home screen view you get two additional Android home screens that you can populate with widgets in the usual Android way. Choose Timescape as the home screen and horizontal scrolling moves you through the splines, so those extra Android home screens aren’t available.

One more point on Timescape. Those Facebook and Twitter ‘splines’ are incoming only. To create messages you’ll need to go to an app. For Twitter this actually means clicking through to the website, which is an almighty pain.

On the whole, Timescape proves to be far less effective than HTC’s FriendStream, as seen on the Desire, which is less flashy but more powerful and easy to use. Avoid Timescape, though, and it makes the X10 a rather vanilla Android device.

Mediascape is less innovative and is simply a way to access the music, video and photos on the handset as well as give you access to Facebook and Picasa photo streams, and for music a link to the Web browser for more details on what you are playing and to PlayNow.

The camera shoots at 8.1 megapixels and produced clear and sharp shots as we’ve come to expect from top-end Sony Ericsson handsets. We’d have preferred Xenon to the LED flash, but we like the smile shot, face detection, multi auto focus and macro modes. The side button makes it easy to use the camera for grabbing candid shots.

The large screen makes Web browsing a treat, though despite the use of a capacitive screen there is no pinch to zoom. Instead you need to tap at zoom controls or drag a zoom window over a thumbnail of an entire page. There’s no flash support either.

We found entering text very satisfying, with the screen size making for big qwerty keyboards in both wide and tall screened modes. But we’d have liked a button for hiding the keyboard as it often blocks important buttons you can only get to by scrolling.

As ever with big screened handsets there is a trade-off in hardware size which makes it difficult to pocket the device all the time, and we found we could not reach all the way across the display for one-handed use. Wi-Fi, GPS and HSDPA complete the X10 package. These are standard fare for Android handsets.

The Xperia X10 has lots of plus points but also lots of annoyances, and in the end the annoyances leave us feeling Sony Ericsson needs to do a little more work on this smartphone. It’s big idea, Timescape, is interesting but poorly implemented, and we hope that an update to Android 2.1 won’t be too far off.

Price: £490 SIM-free
Web: www.sonyericsson.com

Essential Verdict
Performance: 8/10
The 1GHz processor is nippy; battery life is expectedly average

Design: 7/10
Clean lines and a minimalist design are appealing; the large screen has pros and cons

Features: 8/10
The OS is a generation behind, and some of Sony Ericsson’s software needs polishing

Value for Money: 6/10
Very expensive when bought Sim-free, especially compared to similar phones

Overall score: 7/10
Updates could fix some of the niggles, but the X10 feels like a missed opportunity for Sony Ericsson

Review written by Sandra Vogel. Originally published in Smartphone Essentials magazine.

The HTC Hero was one of the best smartphones of 2009. It’s follow up is the HTC Legend, a stunning new handset with brings together  Android 2.1 and a tweaked Sense User Interface from HTC, superb AMOLED screen and clever chassis design.

The mix of hardware and software features combine to create a smartphone which, apart from one significant concern, is spectacular.

So, let’s get that concern out of the way first. It is the old chestnut for smartphones, battery life. The Legend has a 1300mAh battery, which is slightly below par – 1500mAh batteries are hardly uncommon on top-end handsets these days.

Combine this with the knowledge that to get the best out of this smartphone, especially on the social networking front, you will need to use 3G a fair bit. Add in that Wi-Fi and GPS are here, and you are likely to want to use them.

The result is a disappointing battery life. In fact we’d say that, depending on your usage patterns, you may need to apply mains power during the course of a day just to keep the handset ticking over. Of course, frugal users could get through a day or a day and a half between charges.

OK, on to the fun stuff.

The Legend has a superb mostly aluminium chassis. Over time it may get scratched though, so be prepared for a distressed look. It is a single sheet, folded, so that there is no capacity for a backplate. Instead a small plastic section on the bottom back edge comes away to reveal battery, SIM and microSD card. You have to power down the handset to get to the microSD card slot, which is a bind, but that aside the system works well.

Those that remember the upwardly angled lip at the bottom of the HTC Hero may be pleased – or not – to know that the Legend has a lip too. But it sits at a much shallower angle now and to be honest it is barely noticeable.

Where the Hero had a miniature trackball, the Legend has a tiny optical trackpad. It looks too small to be workable, but trust us, it works fine. It is most useful for moving around screens where a finger can’t provide the required accuracy, such as within Web pages or positioning the cursor within text.

Android 2.1 is a real draw, and business users will be pleased about its support for Microsoft Exchange as well as for standard POP email as in earlier versions. HTC’s Sense User Interface has been considerably tweaked, and alongside the super AMOLED capacitive screen, makes using the Legend a very pleasurable experience.

The screen measures 3.2 inches and so is only average sized by modern standards. Its 320 x 480 pixels break no new ground either. But it responds extremely well to finger taps, so that pinch to zoom, for example in the Web browser, works a treat.

You can also pinch inwards on the main home screen and see thumbnails of the seven home screens on the Legend. Tapping any one of them opens it up. You can fingersweep between home screens too, just as on the HTC Hero, so one-handed use is catered for.

All of the home screens can be populated with widgets, and these include one for an application new on the HTC Legend, FriendStream. This brings together data from Facebook, Twitter and Flickr in one place. It’s an interesting idea, although you might find it dominated too heavily by Twitter updates.

You still get HTC Peep for sole Twitter use. Another new feature is the ability to copy text from the Web browser – and even tweet a link from within the browser.

The HTC Legend is simply the best Android handset we’ve seen from HTC to date, and is arguably the most beauftifully designed device currently available. It is a real shame about the battery life, though.

Price: £330
Web: www.htc.com

Essential Verdict
Performance: 8/10
The processor is speedy, the user interface is superb, battery life poor

Design: 10/10
This is one beautifully designed smartphone

Features: 8/10
Not the most high-end device, but everything you’ll need is here

Value for Money: 8/10
Not inexpensive, but is a real premium handset

Overall score: 9/10
A seriously classy smartphone; one of the best we’ve seen on the Android OS

Review written by Sandra Vogel. Originally published in Smartphone Essentials magazine.