00:00Hey, welcome to our first episode of Ask TG.
00:06This is the show where I grab your top comments and questions from our recent videos and get
00:10you answers from our Tom's Guide Tech experts.
00:12I was not surprised by that at all.
00:15He could talk about this all day.
00:16I said this before and I'll say it again, I would probably buy with my own money, that
00:21would be the Pixel 8a.
00:22To your point, there's nothing better than just like using your thumb or finger to go
00:26exactly how far in you want.
00:29Got a burning question that you want us to answer, leave us a comment with the hashtag
00:32AskTG for your chance to get featured in our next episode and stay subscribed to see if
00:37you made the cut.
00:38Remember when good phones were less than $500?
00:40In our Samsung S24 FE hands-on video, a lot of you pointed out that it felt overpriced
00:46for what it offered.
00:47So what's the best bang for your buck phone that you can get today?
00:51To help answer that, I'm calling up John V. who's been reviewing these budget devices
00:54for years.
00:55Where you at?
00:56Electrify Expo.
00:58This is Jackrabbit, like 28 pounds, I want to say, super lightweight.
01:01It's a thousand bucks, but yeah, it's pretty cool.
01:04You remember when we did the S24 FE?
01:07It's kind of in like a weird spot.
01:08It's not quite premium, but it's definitely not budget either.
01:12So a lot of people were commenting and saying, look, for this price, they're expecting a
01:16lot more.
01:17If you really only had four or $500, what is the ultimate budget phone right now?
01:23I said this before, I'll say it again, I would probably buy with my own money, that would
01:27be the Pixel 8a.
01:29It's $499, so not a lot less than that price.
01:32But it has just everything that I want in a phone.
01:35You get the seven years of software support.
01:37You know, in that time period, you'll get the latest Android updates.
01:40Nice design, good battery life, excellent cameras, although it's kind of minor upgrades.
01:45And I know it doesn't have a telephoto camera, I guess, but it has the ultrawide.
01:50That's a good enough main camera, you could crop it, you could do a zoom, at least two
01:53times zoom's great.
01:54AI, I think, is a big component of it, not the stuff like the summarization, the summary,
02:00the writing tools.
02:01What's going to be like the deciding factor between, maybe I'm happy enough with that
02:04$400 or $500 phone, whether it's the Pixel 8a or something similar, or do I want to go
02:09up to the next step and spend maybe $8, $9, maybe even $1,000 on a phone?
02:14Since I'm great with cameras, I'm very confident taking photos, great video, it's about creativity.
02:20I just need a camera that functions fine against the main stuff with the main camera.
02:24It's a matter of, if you want the best results out of the box, spend the money, but if you're
02:29willing to tweak, willing to learn, you know, make some compromises, you still have a great
02:34main camera.
02:35That's the fundamental thing.
02:36I still think the $500 Pixel 8a is a great deal.
02:39If anyone wants to learn more about either the Pixel 8a or other budget phones that they
02:43should check out, do you have any good videos or articles on that?
02:47Yeah, we've done, you know, the videos on the Pixel 8a, also the Nuffin Phone 2a, a
02:52really nice design, and that's a perfect example because a lot of these budget phones under
02:56$500 tend to feel and look kind of cheap, but nowadays they're bridging that gap where
03:02they can look really stylish, really cool, so the Nuffin Phone 2a, you can read the review
03:07on our website, we also have videos on it on the channel, obviously the iPhone SE, but
03:11hopefully they come out with a new one.
03:12Next up, the iPhone 16, and yeah, let's be honest, like a lot of you, I wasn't that
03:17impressed with this year's releases.
03:19Performance, screen sizes, and even the cameras were all a marginal upgrade, but nothing that
03:24made me jump out of my seat.
03:25But there was one surprise.
03:26Apple introduced a new camera control button on the bottom right-hand side.
03:31It's for quick access to your settings and shooting modes, and even though I've been
03:34using this for a few weeks, I'm honestly still a little bit confused and underwhelmed, but
03:38let's see what Mark, who's been reviewing this for a little bit longer, thinks.
03:43A little jazz music.
03:45Okay.
03:46Technical difficulties.
03:48I might be in the minority here, but I felt like Apple's announcement of the new camera
03:53control button would be a little bit more exciting when I got my hands on it.
03:57Maybe it came down to seeing them using it in the weekend's music video, I'm like, wow,
04:02I can finally get these shots a little bit faster or change the controls in ways that
04:06I wasn't able to before, but can I just do everything that this button is supposed to
04:10do on the touch screen faster?
04:41I wouldn't mind having more options, but I feel like just making it more of a power feature
04:48I think could help, but ultimately it's like a novelty, and I feel like it could wear off
04:53unless they really figure out a way to make it more compelling.
04:56So before I leave you, is there any other iPhone 16 content that you're working on that,
05:01you know, can maybe give us a little bit more insight on this?
05:03We're definitely going to be doing like follow-ups and like face-offs with other devices, and
05:08we're also looking towards the Galaxy S25 launch early next year, but I think it's interesting
05:13that like just coming back from full circle, the camera control is available on all four
05:18models.
05:19They were that confident that it would be a hit, but right now there's more backlash
05:23than praise.
05:24Now, let's talk gaming handhelds.
05:26You guys know this is one of my favorite topics, especially after all the tech takedown videos
05:30Tony and I have done together.
05:32For me, it's the ASUS ROG Ally, the original one that's been the best value performance
05:36pick for over a year, but there's just one big issue, and as Tony likes to point out,
05:41it's Windows 11.
05:42It absolutely sucks on these handhelds.
05:44So could SteamOS, the operating system found on the Steam Deck, that's rumored to be coming
05:47to non-Steam devices like this, be the fix that we've been looking for?
05:52Let's find out.
05:53Tony, Tony, Tony, I see one controller over there.
05:57That's like perfect for today's topic.
05:59Of course.
06:00Yeah, that's how it is.
06:01What is that?
06:02A PS5 controller?
06:03Yeah, PS5 controller.
06:04I purposely set that one aside because it has like stick drifts, so I'm like, let me
06:07not use that one.
06:08Well, speaking of controllers, I'm talking about a handheld gaming controller.
06:12SteamOS might be coming to all gaming handhelds.
06:15So it's not just going to be exclusive to Steam Deck, your favorite handheld.
06:19Whenever we've done our tech takedowns, whenever we've done our reviews, what was the first
06:23thing that you always say?
06:25I always said Steam Deck is the best because, oh, you're pointing back at the camera, it's
06:29always the best because of the OS, it's just easy to use.
06:34You don't have to like go through Windows and all that.
06:36Windows 11 sucks.
06:37Yeah, Windows 11 is crap and I always said I would love it if we had hardware like found
06:42on the ROG Ally or ROG Ally X in this case with SteamOS.
06:46So when I heard that news, I was excited, I'm like, yes, yes, this is exactly what we
06:51need.
06:52But just the fact that you can just navigate through your gaming library so easily and
06:56the fact that it's just integrated right there, that makes a big difference.
06:59Like when you have to sign into all these like gaming launchers and stuff on other handhelds,
07:04it can be a pain.
07:05But you don't have to do that with SteamOS.
07:06You sign into your Steam account and you're good.
07:08So that'll be a big benefit right there.
07:10But I'm curious to see how they're going to implement it on third party hardware.
07:15I don't know if you read, I think it was Jason who recently did an article on this where
07:19he put Linux on this.
07:21Conclusion with his article was it was like 10 or 15% better performance.
07:27Yeah, better performance, better battery life.
07:29Oh, big shock.
07:30You remove Windows 11 and the handhelds work better.
07:34I was not surprised by that at all.
07:36He could talk about this all day.
07:38I think it was like 15 to 30% better performance and better battery life.
07:42Like, yeah, I'm surprised by that.
07:44No, I'm not.
07:45Obviously, I'm not.
07:46Because again, Windows 11 is the problem.
07:48Before I let you go, are you working on any other gaming handheld content?
07:52Like anything cool on the horizon that we should keep an eye out for?
07:55Acer, the rumor to be coming out with something.
07:59I know Lenovo is also coming out with an update.
08:02And we've also heard Phil Spencer talking very well about the ROG Allies.
08:07I'm like, is Xbox going to have one?
08:09I don't know.
08:10So I think the future is pretty bright when it comes to handhelds.
08:12There's a lot of options.
08:13That means you and I are going to be very busy with handheld videos.
08:16Yeah, I think so.
08:17Hey, but no complaints there.
08:18And finally, it's time for some quick replies.
08:20These are some of my favorite comments or questions from videos that I hosted recently.
08:24Can I have the DJI Avada 2?
08:25You mean both, dude.
08:26I want one.
08:27I don't have it.
08:28I had to send it back after I finished that review.
08:29It was a great drone, super, super fun to fly.
08:33You know what, dude?
08:34Send me your address and I'll have DJI send you one right away.
08:36Just got the Pro.
08:37It sucks.
08:38I hope they fix the bugs in it.
08:40If you turn the always on display off, Siri won't respond unless you go under settings
08:45and turn on Siri always listen.
08:47It doesn't make sense.
08:48Yeah.
08:49If your display isn't on, the phone isn't going to know that it needs to respond to
08:52you unless you turn on always listening.
08:54I mean, aside from the fact that Siri itself might not necessarily work, it's at least
08:58going to listen and hear you say, hey.
09:02So not a big deal.
09:03I mean, just do it once, dude.
09:04And it works.
09:05And finally, on my last Osmo Pocket 3 video, is the Osmo Pocket 3 worth getting compared
09:10to the Insta360 S?
09:13Having a 360 camera can be very cool for certain shots.
09:17Sometimes for vlogging and just like capturing like a day in your life, they're still not
09:20as sharp as compared to the DJI Osmo Pocket.
09:23You're not draining your phone's battery.
09:24You don't need any additional attachments or hardware to make the most out of this.
09:28Both solutions are going to be great.
09:30But for me at least, and if you can relate to this, the Osmo Pocket 3 overall is the
09:34easiest to just quickly set up and get great high quality stabilized shots with the least
09:39amount of effort.
09:40There you have it.
09:41Our very first episode.
09:42Hopefully it was as much fun to watch as it was for me.
09:45This is a series that's definitely going to be fine tuned and grow over time.
09:48So if you have any suggestions, comments, or feedback or things that you want to see
09:53again, just let us know in the comments and of course, don't forget to use the hashtag
09:55AskTG to let us know what you want to see next.
09:59Follow us everywhere on socials at Tom's Guide and you can follow me to see what I'm reviewing
10:02next.
10:03Until the next one, catch you later.
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