Table of contents for Issue 31 in Android Advisor

Alongside its new Pixel phones, Google Home and the Chromecast Ultra, Google announced its first Daydream VR headset at its recent London event. We were there to check it out. Price and release date Rather than a fully-fledged VR headset like the HTC Vive, the Daydream View is one by which you, er, view a smartphone through built-in lenses. It’s a step up from Google’s popular cardboard VR and makes it a rival to the likes of Samsung’s Gear VR. Because the Daydream View VR headset doesn’t contain a huge amount of tech, relying on the phone for most, its price is relatively cheap. You can get it for just £69 and it has a UK release date of November. Join the waiting list on the Google Store (tinyurl.com/hmLb9qh). Design…

If you’ve ever played around with Powerline and Wi-Fi extenders in an effort to make your wireless signal reach all the way through your home, new Google Wifi is the product for you. Features Built on the strengths of OnHub, Google Wifi is in essence a series of mini wireless routers that all talk to each other and can be scattered across the home to ensure a strong and fast wireless signal in every room. Google designed Wifi to be able to support multiple devices at once, and to withstand high-bandwidth activities such as streaming video and gaming. You can buy Google Wifi points in packs of one or three, enabling you to keep adding to your setup if you have a large home. Google recommends using one point in…

Like Windows before it, the ‘open’ and widely popular Android system from Google has a weak security system that makes it prone to infection from dangerous malware (more than it affects iOS users). We reveal the best antivirus apps for both Android and iOS. The idea of installing security software on a smartphone might seem like overkill, but there are plenty of good reasons to consider doing so. Anyone – fraudsters included – can submit apps to the Google Play Store without pre-approval, and apps can also be downloaded and installed from a wide range of other sources. That means Android users face a greater element of risk than those with iPhones or Windows Phone handsets, who can only install apps that have been properly pre-vetted for safety. Nevertheless, every…

The Redmi Note 4 is the latest mid-range phablet from Xiaomi, and it certainly looks like a fantastic upgrade over the Note 3. Of course, looks can sometimes be deceiving. Price and UK availability As ever with Xiaomi phones, the Redmi Note 4 is not officially available in the UK. You can buy it through third-party sites such as GearBest (gearbest.com), where the 3GB RAM, 64GB storage model we reviewed currently costs £192. A 2GB RAM, 16GB storage version is cheaper, currently £133 from GearBest. Something UK users should watch out for is that Xiaomi phones do not support 800MHz 4G, which is the only 4G band supported by O2 and piggybacking networks such as Giffgaff. Design At 151x76x8.4mm the new Note 4 is roughly the same size as the…

At its 4 October special event, Google launched two new smartphones under the Pixel brand. Although the new Pixel and Pixel XL (see page 10) are being touted as Google’s first own-brand smartphones, and they are ‘designed and built by us’ despite rumours of HTC being behind them. They are sort of a continuation of the Nexus brand which you may well be familiar with. LG and Huawei made the Nexus 5X and 6P respectively. This is the first time Google has used the Pixel brand for phones which includes the Pixel C tablet and Chromebook Pixel. The firm also gave details on Google Home and the new Chromecast Ultra. “Through Nexus, the goal was to work with these various partners to push the boundaries of what’s possible with a…

Google Home, an Amazon Echo rival, was showcased during Google’s recent 4 October event. It’s a speaker which lets you have a conversation with the Google Assistant – another new feature announced at the launch. Price and release date Google Home was announced on 18 May 2016 and will be available in stores on 4 November 2016 for $129. If you’re in the US, you can preorder it from 4 October. We have yet to hear about its UK price and availability, but given that the Amazon Echo costs £149, we expect Google to rival Amazon’s product, not least because Google CEO Sundar Pichai said “all credit to Amazon for creating interest in this space” during the unveiling. We therefore hope to see Google Home cost under £150 in the…

Google has released its newest messaging app, Allo. But with offerings like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype, not to mention Google’s own Hangouts, already crowding the chat arena, what does Allo bring to the table? We’ll explain how use Google Allo, and show you some of the impressive features that could make Allo your next must-have chat client. Install the app Google has made Allo available on both iOS and Android (sorry Windows Phone users), but unlike Hangouts you can’t use this app on your PC or tablet. It works in much the same way as WhatsApp, in that it uses your phone number to link an account, rather than a Gmail address. Head over to the relevant App store for your platform and you’ll find Google Allo available for…

The Apple Watch Series 2 is catching all the headlines, but how does it compare to some of the other smartwatches, namely the SmartWatch 3 and Moto 360 Sport. Here we look at how it compares to Sony’s and Motorola’s offerings. Compatibility This is arguably be the biggest factor in your purchasing decision. This depends if you plan to use the smartwatch with an Android smartphone or iPhone. The Apple Watch is still iOS only and requires you to have an iPhone 5 or up, and be iOS 8 or higher. If you’ve got an Android phone and have no intentions to buy an iPhone, the Apple Watch shouldn’t be a consideration. The Sony Smartwatch 3 can also only be used on one operating system, which is of course Android.…

For over a decade, Amazon has been the king of online shopping. Need a book with a few quid off? Amazon. Emergency fancy dress outfit? Amazon. The company has wisely decided that it should not try to compete with the best high-end tablets, but instead make affordable devices that are windows to all its best online content. The Amazon Fire HD 8 tries to perfect a combination of function and value, but whether or not you’ll agree it does depends on if you are willing to invest in an Amazon Prime membership. Price Predictably, you can buy the Fire HD 8 direct from Amazon. It is well priced for the specifications, starting at £89.99 with 16GB of storage, double the previous generation. There’s also a 32GB option that costs £109.99.…

The new Chromecast is here with added support for 4K streaming. We went hands-on with the Chromecast Ultra at the recent Google event. Price and release date Whereas the old Chromecast was a pocket money product thanks to its £30 price tag, Google is releasing the Ultra at £69, which is quite a leap in price from its more humble brethren. No doubt the added technology involved in rendering 4K content required a general bump in specs, hence the increased cost, but bear in mind that this is currently the only mainstream streaming stick available in the UK that can handle UHD content. There’s no set release date as yet, but Google announced that you should expect to see the new Chromecast ‘soon’ so we expect it to be hitting…

Having a waterproof phone is handy for a lot of different reasons but it can be hard to know which handsets offer this and what the levels of protection mean. Here are the best waterproof phones 2016. If you’re accident prone (or simply if you want to give your phone to a child without worrying they will drop it down the toilet or throw it into a pond) then a waterproof phone is a great purchase. It also means you can do some more luxury things like watch TV in the bath or take photos underwater. The problem is that not all waterproof phones are created equal and different devices will offer different levels of protection. Some will be ‘splash proof’, while others can be dunked in water and continue…

Xiaomi’s Redmi Pro is a beast, the first phone we’ve seen to feature 10 processor cores, plus 3GB of RAM and a colossal 64GB of storage. Add to that a fancy Dual Camera, a 5.5in OLED display, a large-capacity battery and USB-C, and the Redmi Pro offers staggering value at £256. Price and UK availability Xiaomi doesn’t officially sell its phones in the UK, which means if you want one you will need to buy it through a third-party importer. Several such sites offer this service, but our go-to for Xiaomi phones is GearBest (gearbest.com). It lists the 64GB Xiaomi Redmi Pro reviewed here for £256 (though note that prices can fluctuate daily). This includes free shipping to the UK, unless you opt for an express service, but you will…

While there are many excellent high-end smartphones on the market making buying decisions tricky, the budget smartphone purchase is also not an easy choice. There are many mid-to-low range smartphones vying for our attention these days, and there are some that stand out in the way they successfully balance value and performance. Virgin Media has teamed up with a subsidiary of its own parent company Verve Connect, a young smartphone brand called IMO, which does actually stand for ‘in my opinion’. The opinion seems to be that the UK market needs another affordable smartphone. The IMO S is a pay monthly price plan, higher spec model released at the same time as the (even more) budget, pay-as-you-go-only IMO Q. We have been using the IMO S to see if it…