Launching on October 4th Google's next iteration of the Pixel range, the aptly named Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, will be unveiled. It seems that a lot of the specs have been leaked early, so we take a look at what the Pixel 2 may include before it's officially showcased. 

It is widely suggested that Google have gone down a similar route as the Samsung S8 and iPhone X with the Pixel 2 XL featuring a curved QHD screen with no home key and minimal bezel, improving on the design of the original Pixel. 

To the unpretentious, most smartphones come in black, white, gold, silver, grey and pink. Some are a little fancier, red, yellow, green, blue, orange, brown and purple, but to handset designers they have more specific names.

It’s important to know, because you don’t buy a second hand iPhone 7 Black, you purchase an iPhone 7 ‘Jet’ Black – defined as such to avoid you getting one in regular black (which is more greyish), which would be a real disaster!

And sometimes black isn’t black at all; Samsung have ‘Black Sapphire’ which is really a quite beautiful and shiny type of two-tone navy.

With Samsung’s S8 due for general release later this month, after a wave of rave reviews and excitement, it’s easy to miss that the company released a new tablet just over a month ago.

The S3 Tab is out and, while it may not have quite as much hype as the S8, it’s arguably the best tablet on the market at the moment.

4gadgets have reviewed everything from its new design to the improved software and we’ve listed our favourite new features of the S3 Tab bellow.  

Design

All eyes will be on Samsung as their highly anticipated Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will be unveiled at a special event on the 29^th March, which will hopefully put an end to the endless discussion of what features the phone might have.

Speculation about the flagship smartphone is, and has been, all over the web and in the national newspapers, but with the handset being unveiled this week, Fone Wizard takes a look at what could be unveiled.

Home button

When you need to sell your phone it pays to keep it in good condition, because structural damage, cosmetic faults or poor sound quality can reduce the amount of money you can get for your old mobile. However, a few simple preventative steps and some TLC can help you to sell your phone and help us here at Fone Wizard find it a new home. 

Screen protectors

Huge crowds gathered at this year’s Mobile World Congress ready for the latest innovation in smartphone technology, but of all the stylish new handsets unveiled, an update of a 17-year-old classic stole the show.

Nokia turned the event into a nostalgia trip with news of the 3310 making a comeback, in a leaner and prettier form, with the iconic game Snake too!

The supposedly indestructible feature phones from 2000 has been rereleased by new mobile firm HMD Global, who has licensed the Nokia brand, and hope to continue dominating the feature or ‘dumbphone’ market.

Just a quick update for our customers. Here are our opening times over the holiday period. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

24th December - Closed

25th December - Closed

26th December - Closed

27th December - Closed

28th December - 10am to 4pm – Orders processed and paid same day

29th December - 10am to 4pm – Orders processed and paid same day

​30th December - 10am to 4pm – Orders processed and paid same day

31st December - Closed

1st January - Closed

2nd January - Closed

3rd January - Back to Business as Usual!

1. Your mobile phone has more computing power than the computer used for the Apollo 11 moon landing

2. The first mobile phone call was in 1973 by Martin Cooper, a former Motorola inventor

The Galaxy S8 is eagerly awaited by Samsung fans across the world despite Samsung having a bit of a rocky year. The huge success of the S7 was countered with the explosive failure of the Note 7, if you excuse the pun…

This doesn’t seem to have made an impact on Samsung in terms of getting the next flagship ready for production however. Most information about the S8 is being kept secret but rumours are all over the internet and social media. Improvements to the design, processor Selfie cam (finally) and the screen are some of the changes people seem to think will happen.

There are many different types of weird and wonderful accessories for your phones out there and some are just downright bizarre. Lets take a look at a few of them.

Txtrng

• Are you a clumsy texter? Well if your thumb is always pressing the wrong button or you just want some more control over your texting then the Txtrng is probably useful for you as will allow for better control on a touchscreen.

There are a lot of hidden features on iPhones that not many people know about and most you will be shocked you never found before. We take a look at some of the best ones.

Quick replies

• Can’t answer a call yet? There are three customisable, pre-set messages you can send instead of answering by either swiping up on the phone icon as they call or click on the message icon above the call button.

• You can also ask to be reminded of the call later.

The modern day explorer, Topher White has found an ingenious use for old mobile phones. He set out to stop global forest destruction using a simple device made from an old mobile phone powered by some unused solar panel parts and an extra microphone attached. 

With rainforests like the Amazon losing almost a fifth of its forest cover in the last 40 years to deforestation, this also contributes around 18% of greenhouse gas emissions per year. That's more than all the transport emissions globally in a year and with most of this being done illegally, it is often hard to catch people in the act.

Nokia are probably well known in the industry for releasing some questionable and innovative design ideas for their phones, and with a new range of mobile handsets due to be released soon we thought we should take a look at some standout designs of the past few years.

2001

Nokia 5510

Released in 2001, it cost around £200 and was a sideways phone with 45 keys. 

2002

Nokia 3650

A weird design, featuring a circular keyboard this phone however supported an advanced software system making it a decent phone for its time.

The Sony Xperia XZ is the new flagship device set to take over from the popular Z range, but just how does it compare to its predecessors? Boasting improved tech such as improvements to the camera, the X range can be seen to be slightly confusing as it will encompass all sizes and budgets of phone unlike other companies such as Samsung or Apple that clearly define their variations.

Mobile phones are steadily becoming highly desirable in the UK, with Ofcom reporting 93% of adults owning a mobile device in early 2016, 71% of which are smartphones. So with releases of newer and better phones many consumers seem to prefer SIM only contracts and invest in second hand refurbished smartphones to stay up to date for a cheaper cost! This also gives the consumer more flexibility, allowing them to change phones whenever they want as they are tied into a network and not a device. Purchasing unlocked devices has been beneficial too as this allows people to put any SIM into the device and have it work straight away, which can be very useful when travelling.