Nexus smartphones have usually required accepting a compromise or two. A clean, untouched version of Android, and among the first to get the latest updates. Good design with solid all-around performance, at the expense of great battery life and an impressive camera. The Nexus 6P represents an end to the enduring concessions that characterized these phones in the past, and stakes a claim to being one of the best Android phones of 2015.

What do you get when you put an Android in the body of a BlackBerry? You get the Priv (pronounced “priv” not “pryve” or “preeve”), a device that’s less like Frankenstein’s monster and more like a crazy cocktail that nobody would normally consider ordering.

In trying to stand out in the crowd, LG has chosen to highlight features it believes users care about. The camera is chief among these, followed by a design philosophy that finally shows some consistency from a brand that lacked it for too long.

Drones can come in all sizes, as Parrot likes to demonstrate with its MiniDrones line of more diminutive gizmos. And now, it seems there’s a small army of them—on land, air and sea. Previous designs have been augmented in various ways to make this new batch of mini robots smarter, sleeker and more precise. I took a few for some testing and found them to be fun for as long as the battery could last.

It’s not hard to find a Bluetooth speaker these days. It seems like almost every manufacturer is taking a stab at making one, or two, or three of them. With the greater level of choice comes a greater need to qualify which one is best for you. The Fugoo Tough XL is denoted by the suffix at the end that makes it seem like it’s huge. It is big compared to its predecessor, but its rugged design and booming sound are worth a listen.

The One line brought a design flair that was sorely lacking in the plastic world of Android handsets, helping raise the bar for others. By the time the One M9 launched this past spring, HTC had to raise its own bar further in the phone’s effectiveness beyond just the body.

When Apple first announced CarPlay, it was a conceptual approach to making the iPhone easier to use in vehicles. With distracted driving becoming a bigger problem, creating a greater synergy between the phone and the car could, at least for some, be a matter of life and death.

It’s common knowledge that buying a car is meant to be a 10-year investment, sometimes even longer. Considering how reliable and efficient vehicle technology has become under the hood, the same can’t be said of the longevity attached to what’s in the dash.

Remember Napster? The software application that once pioneered the idea of sharing music files in the late 90s and early 2000s is back in Canada. Only this time, it’s as a subscription-based music streaming service, not a peer-to-peer network.

You’d think that, with a fast enough Internet connection, watching Netflix in HD – or even 4K Ultra HD — would be a foregone conclusion, but did you know there’s a whole host of devices that can’t get Netflix in HD?

Creative wasted no time in trimming down its original Sound Blaster Roar Bluetooth speaker, a product from earlier this year that we considered among the most unique we’ve tested. The Roar 2 has slimmed its figure down, looking a little less voluptuous than its predecessor, and yet it still wears all the same hats.

When the late rapper 2Pac performed as a holographic image at Coachella in 2012, it created a stir about the concept of bringing deceased celebrities back to virtual life to perform in front of sellout crowds once again. The technology that made that happen was straight out of Hollywood — the kind that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and previously brought life to the likes of Benjamin Button and a young Jeff Bridges in TRON: Legacy.

The third time’s the charm: Ford gave its Sync 3 infotainment system a makeover to make it more intuitive and user-friendly.

Plantronics doesn’t have the kind of presence popular headphone brands have enjoyed over the last few years, but its slow foray into the consumer market — beyond its office headsets and Bluetooth earpieces — has turned out some interesting products. The BackBeat Sense are on-ear wireless Bluetooth headphones that are crafted to be light, nimble and easy to use for longer periods. Add to that some best-in-class features, and you’ve got a set of cans that looks great on paper. But how does that translate into real-world use? We found out.

Noise, especially in low-light or nighttime photos, can take away from their beauty and composition, and thus requiring stringent editing to smooth everything out. Macphun’s Noiseless is desktop software that aims to do that in a way that even beginners can manage with ease. With a user-friendly interface and real-time results, it’s an impressive program that delivers more often than not.

There’s a new update for your phone, or a new app or game you want to try, but you can’t download it because you’ve run out of storage space. Situations like this are becoming more routine, and in cases where internal storage isn’t expandable, some maintenance is necessary to make room. If storage, or lack thereof, has been an issue for you, there are options for creating some breathing space for your data.

Google’s OnHub is a router designed to simplify setup and maintenance in a way that wouldn’t befuddle the average user. Its design inside is also aimed at pushing out a better Wi-Fi signal over a larger area to improve connectivity around the home. With this combination, the OnHub is ideally suited for novices, but at the expense of alienating more advanced users.

Jabra has jogged down this road before. We first saw the fusing together of wireless music playback and activity monitoring in the Sport Pulse Wireless, a pair of Bluetooth earbuds with an in-ear heart rate monitor that worked with a smartphone app to gather all sorts of fitness data while providing a soundtrack for your workout.

The camera on the LG G4 may not be stacked with multiple shooting modes, but the integrated Manual mode does offer the kind of DSLR-level controls and features that any budding amateur or pro photographer can appreciate. That said, manual controls aren’t unusual for smartphones, but they’re typically buried underneath a litany of automatic shooting modes that are far easier to use.

No one seems to have gotten Android to work on a TV just right. Google TV flopped and Android TV still has a lot to prove, leaving third-party manufacturers — usually ones you’ve never heard of — picking up the slack and doing it their way. Toronto’s Red Rhino Entertainment is just such a startup, but the company is pushing the envelope on what an Android-based set top box can do.