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Best Buy shutting down 250 of its mobile phone stores

Best Buy has long sold smartphones in its stores, but it's also operated standalone Best Buy Mobile stores that focus solely on phones. Today we've learned that those standalone phone stores will soon be no more.

Best Buy will shut down all 250 of its Best Buy Mobile stores effective May 31, according to Reuters. The retailer will continue to sell phones in its 1,000 main Best Buy stores. Also of note is that the 52 mobile-focused Best Buy stores in Canada will not be affected by this decision.

According to an internal memo from Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, these Best Buy Mobile stores contributed to a little over 1 percent to Best Buy's overall revenue. Additionally, 85 percent of the Best Buy Mobile stores are within three miles of a regular Best Buy Store.

As for the employees that work at these Best Buy Mobile stores, the memo said that Best Buy will help them look for other positions within the company over the next three months. Those who leave after May 31 will be offered severance and help with an external job search.

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Cell Phone Deals March 2018 Digest

March is here and right now, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 is wrapping up the event in Barcelona. So far, we’ve seen a few devices to be excited about this year such as the Galaxy S9 and S9+, LG V30S ThinQ, Nokia 8110 4G, Nokia 8 Sirocco, Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact, SikurPhone, Asus ZenFone 5, and many more.

But while those devices are still being manufactured, wireless carriers are freeing up their inventory to make way for these. So if you are in the market for a new phone, here are some devices worth checking out:

Smartphones

 

Sprint

Ending Soon:

• Moto e4 - $0/month (Ends March 8, 2018)

Ongoing:

• Apple iPhone 7 - Lease One, Get One (Ends April 5, 2018)

• Apple iPhone SE (128GB) - Save $125 (Ends April 5, 2018)

• LG Tribute Dynasty - $0/month (Ends April 5, 2018)

• Moto Z2 Force Edition - $11/month (Ends April 5, 2018)

• Pre-Owned Apple iPhone 7 - Get $50 off (Ends April 5, 2018)

 

Straight Talk

Ending:

• Samsung Galaxy S7 - $299.99 instead of $399.99 (Ends on March 31, 2018)

• Samsung Galaxy S8 - $459.99 instead of $659.99 (Ends March 31, 2018)

Ongoing:

• LG Stylo 3 - $114.99 instead of $129.99 (Ends April 18, 2018)

• Reconditioned Alcatel One Touch Pixi Glory - $29.99 (Ends May 31, 2018)

• Samsung Galaxy Sky Pro - $99.99 instead of $149.99 (Ends April 18, 2018)

• Samsung Luna Pro - $49.99 instead of $79.99 (Ends April 18, 2018)

 

TracFone

Ending:

• Alcatel PIXI Avion LTE - $9.99 instead of $19.99 (Ends March 4, 2018)

 

Verizon Wireless

Ending Soon:

• Samsung Galaxy S9 - Pre-order and get up to $500 off (Ends March 15, 2018)

 

Tablets

Ongoing:

• LG G Pad F2 8.0 - Free from Sprint (Ends April 5, 2018)

 

There’s not too many options available right now but if you are interested in the latest Samsung Galaxy S9, Verizon’s deal seems to be a pretty solid offer.

Samsung Galaxy S9

Apple iPhone 7

Moto Z2 Force Edition

LG Tribute Dynasty

Sprint

Straight Talk

Tracfone

Verizon Wireless

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Samsung Galaxy S9+ is the highest scoring smartphone camera in DxOMark rankings

Looks like the Galaxy S9 display isn't the only feature of Samsung's new flagship that's the best on the market.

The Galaxy S9+ camera has received a score of 99 points from camera testing firm DxOMark. That's the highest score that a smartphone has gotten, beating out the Google Pixel 2 by one point and Apple's iPhone X by two points.

DxOMark says that the Galaxy S9+'s camera "hasn't got any obvious weaknesses", scoring the highest in photo test categories and among the best in the video testing categories. The group says the the S9+ offers good target exposure in all lighting conditions, all the way down to very low light, and that dynamic range is also good. It has one of the best smartphone zooms, too, and a "capable" bokeh mode.

Despite earning scoring better than any smartphone in DxOMark's testing, the Galaxy S9+'s camera isn't perfect. The firm criticizes the S9+'s artifacts, saying that "bright light images show purple fringing on high-contrast edges and pretty noticeable ringing halos". DxOMark also says that the S9+ has minor exposure variances when taking a series of photos of the same scene, which puts it slightly below the Pixel 2 with regard to exposure and contrast.

Samsung's flagship smartphones have had excellent camera performance in recent years, so it's no surprise to hear that the Galaxy S9+ also has a great camera. Of course, camera performance is subjective, and so some people might prefer photos taken by a Pixel 2 or iPhone X, even if they scored (slightly) lower than the Galaxy S9+ in DxOMark's testing. If you're interested in buying the Galaxy S9+, though, it looks like you can rest easy knowing that you'll be getting a pretty good camera.

You can hit the link below to compare photos taken by the Galaxy S9+, Pixel 2, and iPhone X.

Samsung Galaxy S9+

Samsung

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LG K8 (2018)

The LG K8 (2018) is clearly meant to be a budget phone, despite the fact we don't know the price of this thing, nor when it will actually be released - but if it is cheap enough, then this could be a little budget winner.

LG is clearly positioning this phone to be something that's for those that want a little bit of technology in their lives, or just want a phone that's not terrible, but for a decent price, and if the cost is low enough then this could well be a success.

Design and screen

Unlike the metal-clad LG K10, the K8 has a grippy outer plastic shell, with a grid-like design that's pleasant to hold. The camera has been moved centrally, sitting just above the fingerprint scanner (another nice feature to see).

However, it doesn't feel too light or cheap when you pick it up, nor with a lot of flex when put under a bit of stress, which is often a sign of good quality build.

The screen, a 5-inch affair, uses LG's In-Cell technology, which helps improve the quality of a basic LCD display. In use, it does offer a great contrast ratio with good-looking blacks and nice color reproduction - we'd have expected a lot worse for a phone of this quality.

The resolution isn't the best around, with it only being 1280x720, but at the screen size it's not too bad with 279 pixels per inch.

The overall use is a touch laggy, and that makes sense when you consider that it's got a quad-core CPU inside with 2GB of RAM. Not a terrible spec, and with 16GB of storage inside you'll probably get away with using this over a couple of years without having to worry too much about deleting a load of photos.

We found that some things, like Google Chrome, were a touch slow to load but this is a prototype at MWC 2018, so there's every chance the final version will be a bit slicker.

Camera and battery

The camera on the LG K8 (2018) isn't world-beating at 8MP (are you sensing the theme here yet?) but not too bad for a cheaper phone. The front-facing camera is a 5MP sensor, and supposedly packs a front-facing flash by flaring the screen when taking the pic, but it seemed a bit dark to us.

The rear camera supposedly helps improve low-light noise, presumably through software processing, and the darker pictures we took seemed just fine - not mind-blowing, but OK.

There's also a feature called Flash Jump shot, where you can take a series of pics together and turn them into a GIF to share, hinting that this phone is aimed at the younger (or young at heart) generation.

There's a 2500mAh battery pack on the LG K8 (2018), which probably will last pretty well given the minimal spec on offer here. If you compare that to the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact, for instance, that has a 2780mAh power unit and that has far more work to do.

There's nothing like wireless charging on offer here, but then again we wouldn't have expected it given the possible price point.

Early verdict

There's very little to laud on the LG K8 (2018) without a price around, but if our suspicions are correct, this could be a decent phone at the low-end as the big brands start sticking their high-end tech in more budget models.

The key question will be: can the LG K8 stay running well after a few months when it's filled with apps and photos, or will the little judders we're seeing now turn into bigger slow-downs? You'll have to wait for our final review to find out, so stay tuned for that to turn up.

MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting live from Barcelona all week to bring you the very latest from the show floor. Head to our dedicated MWC 2018 hub to see all the new releases, along with TechRadar's world-class analysis and buying advice about your next phone. 

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G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 RGB

The G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 is a sensibly priced mechanical keyboard. It’s around half the price of some of the other big names. 

It still has great features like a full multi-colour backlight, anti-ghosting and real Cherry MX switches, though. And, crucial for some, it’s no bigger than a conventional keyboard. What’s not to like?

Design

Take off the G.Skill Ripjaws KM570’s logos, strip it of its rainbow backlight, and it would look much like a conventional keyboard. There’s no “edgy” font on its keys, no big palm rest and no obvious row of macro buttons. 

If you want a full-speed-ahead gaming keyboard with a look as aggressive as a gaming laptop, that may sound like a negative observation. But it isn’t necessarily. 

Have a small desk or a lap-gaming sofa setup? The G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 could well be the perfect size. 

There’s little sense this is a cheap keyboard in its build too. We’ve prodded every square inch of this keyboard, and none of its surface flexes even under fairly significant finger pressure. 

As you’d probably guess, the G.Skill Ripjaws KM570’s shell is all plastic. It’s standard textured black plastic: no shiny bits. However, inside there’s a plate of steel that helps maximise its rigidity.

It is quite low on obvious features, however. The G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 does not have any USB ports, or any strips of dedicated macro buttons. 

A couple of other bits that might be of interest to some include its weight, which at 1.25kg is fairly standard, and that it takes up two USB ports, not one. Just one cable, a thick braided wire, comes out of the G.Skill Ripjaws KM570, but at the final 40cm there’s a Y-shaped terminal that splits off into two cables. 

One for the basics, one for the LED backlight power. However it seems to work fine plugged into a single USB if it can draw enough power. The cable is non-removable, but in our experience this actually avoids potential issues with the USB connector on the back going wonky after a while.  

Backlight and Software

Its use of backlighting is quite interesting. Look straight down at the G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 keyboard and you’ll see quite significant space between the keys, showing the LED diffuser panel underneath. The keys appear to sit on a bed of light, rather than it just filtering up through the key lettering.

It’s quite a neat look, particularly if you want to embrace a bit of color. Initially the G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 displays a rolling rainbow of LED color, but using the keyboard’s software you can customise it. 

The color can be set per-key. You can just turn a few keys’ lights if you like. 

There are also eight animated backlight profiles, although we imagine most gamers won’t want to use these unless they’re showing off. 

Typing and Noise

While the G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 does not have a bank of separate macro buttons, there are a good number of little features baked into the keyboard. Along the function keys you have media playback controls, app shortcuts and volume controls. And there are screen brightness controls, secondary functions of the arrow keys, which will be handy if you use the keyboard with a laptop. 

Using the Windows driver software, you can also set a macro or text function to any key. You specify the text or macro keypresses, then set it to the key of your choice. And a CTRL+key press will set it off. 

The feel and sound of the G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 keyboard is largely defined by its use of Cherry MX Brown switches. Keyboard obsessives can argue all day about which 'color' of Cherry mechanical switch is the best, but Brown offers a solid middle-ground option most should be able to get on with. 

The feel and sound of the G-Skill Ripjaws KM570 keyboard is largely defined by its use of Cherry MX Brown switches. Keyboard obsessives can argue all day about which 'color' of Cherry mechanical switch is the best, but Brown offers a solid middle-ground option most should be able to get on with. 

This is one of Cherry’s quieter switches. It’s still a lot louder than your average membrane keyboard or the custom switches SteelSeries makes, but is relatively easy to bed into. 

Similarly, key presses require only moderate force: 45g of pressure is the official stat. The Cherry MX is a tactile switch, which means there’s a bump of resistance at the point where the switch is actually engaged. Your other options among mechanical keyboards are a click feel or a linear switch, where the pressure is constant through the depress. 

Most of us are so accustomed to a degree of tactile feedback in our keys, “tactile” is the obvious place to start. Linear feedback is often favored by gamers really willing to get to know their keyboard, but there’s no obvious “tell” when you’ve pressed the key enough to spark the command. 

The part G.Skill adds other than the choice of Cherry switch is the key contouring. The Ripjaws KM570 has full height keys with quite distinctive contouring of their top surface. They are smoothy bowed in the centre, cupping your fingertips. 

It takes a little getting used to, but within 30 minutes we were typing away at full speed. 

Verdict

The G.Skill Ripjaws KM570 is a high-quality, reasonably priced mechanical keyboard that should appeal if you want something that isn’t too big or ostentatious. 

Switch off the backlight and it can pass for an ordinary productivity keyboard. Turn it on and you can make a light show worthy of an esports team. The main reason for pause is there are no USB ports, which may put you off if you want a wired setup for the lounge that’ll let you plug-in a mouse. 

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Roccat Kone Aimo

The Roccat Kone Aimo is a $79.99 (£69.99, $AU119) wired gaming mouse. There’s a lot of competition in the category, including the SteelSeries Rival 700 and Razer Mamba.

Like most of the models from bigger names at this price, the Roccat Kone Aimo is a great mouse. No doubt about that.

It’ll only be a perfect fit if you don’t have small hands and aren’t after a NUM pad on the side. But it sure can put on a light show.

Design

The Roccat Kone Aimo is defined by two key characteristics. First, it is a larger mouse. It’s out to fill  your hand, and is not the kind of mouse you grip lightly with your fingers, palm hovering above.

Then there are its RGB lights. The Roccat Kone Aimo has some of the most prominent lighting of any gaming mouse. It’s bright and the LED diffuser strips are thick, not just skinny lines that ring around the scroll wheel.

Its look is less low-key than something like the Logitech G703 too. The large Roccat insignia and those bright lights won’t appeal to everyone.

We like the Roccat Kone Aimo’s shape, but mostly because the prescriptive contours fit our hand well. There’s a great thumb grip that feels like home within minutes. 

The plastic parts you touch in use are textured for an almost soft finish. Its look may be aggressive, but the Roccat Kone Aimo feel is smooth.

Unlike a simpler, less button-packed design, you do need to follow the Roccat Kone Aimo’s lines, though. If you don’t you liable to accidentally press one of the additional buttons.  As such, it’s only suitable for right-handed use. There’s no lefty version.

Stick to the curves and the extra buttons aren’t intrusive. You can use this as a day-to-day work mouse, no problem. We have.

If you want to use the Roccat Kone Aimo to its full potential, you need to get to grips with its “easy shift” button. This sits just under the thumb groove and acts as a way to access programmed secondary functions for every button on the mouse, including the standard left/right buttons.

Performance

The Roccat Kone Aimo has 10 programmable buttons or gestures in additions to the standard left and right buttons. For example, the scroll wheel doesn’t just depress, it leans to the left and right too. There’s a solid click to each movement.

All of these features are programmed using the Roccat Swarm app, available for Windows but not OS X.

The default roles for these buttons are sensible. Two little buttons behind the scroll wheel let you alter dpi sensitivity on the fly, handy if you want to use different settings between the desktop and a game. A pair of buttons above the thumb groove are used for back/forward in the browser.

Using the Swarm software you can go as deep as you like, though. You can manually programme-in macros, use some pre-defined commands for existing (if ageing) games, launch applications and even hibernate or shut down your PC.

We’d like to see more pre-made functions for recent games. Included single-player titles are pretty old but online favourites like Overwatch and League of Legends are here.

The Roccat Kone Aimo has four profile 'slots' for different selections. They’re different personalities for the mouse, if you like. Use all four and you’re committing to some pretty serious muscle memory work.

However, setting up these profiles is quite intuitive, and the Swarm app is easy to use once you get your head around which button is which.

Meanwhile, the Roccat Kone Aimo’s lighting system has five custom zones, but go to town on its LEDs and you can make it appear as though there are eleven. How?

There’s one zone under the scroll wheel, a fat zone to either side of the mouse and then a thin strip that outlines the Roccat Kone Aimo’s three plastic sections. These strips can display four-color gradients, letting you pack 11 different colors onto the Aimo if you like.

Why would you want to? If that leaves you stumped, the Roccat Kone Aimo may not be the mouse for you as light is a big part of the appeal.

There’s also a “living light” preset that reacts to your inputs. It cycles through colors, and you’ll see little sparks in the thinner LED strip as you press buttons.

You get full control over the level of all these lights, which is handy as it’d probably prove distracting if you game in a dimly lit room.

To add to this proprietary mode and the highly customisable static one, which we’d probably pick, there are a few classic modes too. These include “snake”, where a single light chases around the Aimo’s zones, heartbeat and breathing, both of which pulse the lights.

The Roccat Kone Aimo’s LED system gives it the potential to be brash, but the level of control means it doesn’t have to be.

App configuration

The Swarm app also gives you comprehensive control over some of the Roccat Kone Aimo’s hardware features. You can change the polling rate between 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz and 1000Hz. Most won’t have any reason to switch from the standard 1000Hz, though.

DPI (dots per inch) sensitivity can be tweaked too. The standard range of the presets accessed using the on-mouse buttons only uses less than half of the Aimo’s max sensitivity, which is 12000dpi.

That Roccat makes you dive into the app to actually use this sensitivity tells you it’s only really there because the PixArt 3361 optical sensor is capable of it. Roccat recommends sticking to a “400 – 3000dpi range” for your presets. And judging by our experience, we tend to agree.

However, having the scope there for those who like to tinker is welcome.

Verdict

The Roccat Kone Aimo's bright lights and large size make it initially seem like quite a hardcore gaming mouse. Flashy stuff aside, the breezy ergonomics of its buttons have a real appeal.

No, it doesn’t have the macro power of a Razer Naga Chroma or Corsair Scimitar Pro, which have tiny mini-keyboards on their sides. However, the Easy Shift system and larger buttons used here don’t demand as much finger fidelity.

Given the blend of ease of use and depth, it’s a shame there aren’t more up-to-date pre-programmed macros for games. We’re sure some people are still playing Mass Effect 2, but most of us have moved onto newer titles. That said, if you tend to play online competitive games, most of the biggies are represented here.

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