I dabble in pretty much every bit of tech out there, but there are two bits of tech that really interest me and I’ve never yet got involved with. The first is 3D printing (I still haven’t gone there, but I feel the time is coming) and the second is laser engraving and cutting. I’m not sure what the fascination is with the latter for me (maybe it’s the ‘freaking laser!’ factor), I’m not particularly craft or artistic, but I’ve always just thought the ability to engrave artwork onto stuff is fascinating. With this in mind, when I was asked if I wanted to review the Flux beamo, a new Kickstarter project looking to democratise laser engraving and cutting, I just couldn’t say no!
 

On the 19th September, Huawei will launch the Mate 30 series of devices. In line with the companies 'tick-tock' release policy between the P series and the Mate series, we expect to see a new processor (the just launched Kirin 990) together with a doubling down on other key features - a great camera with a long zoom (rumours say that the sensor size will be significantly increased), lots of RAM (at least 8GB) and ROM (likely 256GB), an excellent OLED screen showcasing the latest 'waterfall' edge technology and as has become something of a Huawei signature, excellent battery life. As is customary, a number of new accessory announcements will also accompany the release, including an update to the Huawei Watch GT. The new phones will run Android 10... but of course, there's a problem. At the time of writing, Huawei remains on the US 'Entity List' with no exceptional licences issued, which means that American companies (including Google) are forbidden from doing business with the company in relation to new products. So what do Huawei do?

If the leaks and rumours are to be believed (which they are), Google are on the verge of launching 2 new Pixels, the 3a and 3a XL. Based on everything we've seen so far, these are cut down Pixel 3 homages with lower prices, lower spec processors and the same excellent camera we've come to expect from the latest Pixels. I'm all for democratising awesome photography, but I'm not convinced Google have it figured out here. Read on to find out why.

Honor, the 'digital natives' Huawei spin off, have announced the first handset in their Honor 20 range, the Honor 20 Lite. The £249.99 handset arrives on May 15th, before the launch event even for its more expensive, fully featured siblings, and will be available from a range of retailers (but not subsidised on any networks). With its triple cameras, gorgeous colour scheme and tiny notch it ticks a lot of boxes, but what's it really like? 

The MoDaCo Classified Ads section is now open and allows you to buy and sell for free! Available at https://classifiedads.modaco.com, the section is open to all registered members and has some basic rules posted for everyone's benefit. 

Nokia (or HMD Global if you prefer) have today announced a successor to the well received Nokia 7 Plus, the Nokia 7.1 (no Plus this time round). Revealed in London, the device hits UK stores on October 17th priced at £299, planting it firmly in the mid-range and while it does pack a whole host of mid-range specs, it has a number of somewhat unique features too.

Regular readers will know that I love a good bargain and love a good freebie even more! Your phone is a great tool for getting free or discounted stuff when you're out and about, so here's some of our favourite apps and how you can use them to save money!

We've had a few questions sent in to the support team around MoDaCo and GDPR, so this post is a quick reminder of key aspects of how we handle your data and how you can exercise your GDPR rights. We've kept it short and simple to make things easy to understand. 

For Android users (or maybe it's just me), there's little that compares to the joy of getting a system update. By the same token, there's little that is as frustrating as the dreaded 'staged rollout', aka everyone else getting updates before you. If you are a OnePlus owner, Oxygen Updater is here to ease your pain!

Are you having trouble logging into Samsung services on your non-Samsung device? You're not the only one. If you want to log into SmartThings for example (which we covered in this post), you may be presented with a screen telling you that your web browser is unsupported and you need to install the Samsung browser. Which is fine, except that doesn't work either. Thankfully, we have a fix for you!