What a difference two decades make. At MWC 2016, Samsung created a museum of sorts, showcasing many of its biggest mobile tech innovations since 1988. We took a stroll through the exhibit during its Unpacked event for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. It was mesmerizing to see some of the ancient tech from the ’80s, ’90s, and early ’00s — Mobile tech has come so far since the first mobile phone hit the scene.
Just look at the first Samsung mobile phone from 1988 and that horrid smartwatch from 1999 and compare them to the gorgeous Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, the sleek modular LG G5, the deca-core Zopo Speed 8, the classy Huawei Watch, the stylish Moto 360, and all the other amazing mobile devices we’ve seen at this show or over the past year.
Although Samsung’s museum only represents a selection of its innovations, it does give you an idea of how much the industry has evolved over the past two decades (the period the museum primarily focuses on). Let’s take a stroll through time, shall we?
A virtual private network (VPN) encrypts your internet traffic and routes it through a server run by the VPN provider. Websites see the VPN server’s IP address instead of yours, and you can get around geo-blocks, censorship, and ISP throttling. The best VPN services are paid, but there are still a handful of free options that do the job well.
Most free VPNs come with a hidden cost, because running servers isn’t cheap and a company that doesn’t charge you has to make its money somewhere else. Many do so by logging your browsing activity and selling it to advertisers, while others flood you with ads and track you across apps.
There's nothing quite like curling up with a good book on a cold evening. As much as I love the feel of a physical book, books take up a lot of space, and carrying more than one on a trip quickly becomes a chore. That's where e-readers come in, and the Amazon Kindle remains one of the best options.
Amazon just refreshed its Kindle lineup with thinner, lighter designs, a new flush-front display, and colors that wrap from front to back. Add the Kindle Scribe and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft to the mix, and you have more choices than ever before.
A good Android app should earn its place on your phone. It might make an everyday task easier, handle something the built-in software can't, or let you change an experience that never quite worked for you.
These 20 apps cover everything from quick notes and password management to automation and local file sharing. Some are free, others charge for advanced features, and a few take some effort to figure out. The point isn't to install them all. It's to find the ones that make your phone work better for you.