VROIS VPN

VROIS is a young VPN which, at first glance, seems to offer a simple, appealing service. There are 25 locations, no bandwidth or transfer limits, plus you get port forwarding support and five simultaneous connections, all for a reasonable $5.99 per single month (£4.80, AU$7.80), $4.99 per month (£4, AU$6.50) over a full year. Sounds great, until you start to browse the website, and problems begin to appear.

The base Connect plan says it offers 25 servers, for instance, and a $9.99 per month (around £8, AU$13) Pro plan claims 50 servers – but it doesn't say where these are. 

The Network page mentions 35+ servers in 24 countries, and provides a list of ‘our server locations’. But this is only 22 items long, includes one location twice (London) and covers just 15 countries.

• Want to try VROIS VPN? Check out the website here

This page also displays a ‘load’ value for each server, reassuringly low at 5% to 47%. Except these figures seem to be hard-coded into the page. They didn't change during testing, ever, and checking the page in Google's cache showed exactly the same figures.

We gave up on the servers and started to look elsewhere, but the confusion continued. We tried clicking the ‘Download on the App Store’ and ‘Get it on Google Play’ buttons to check out the mobile apps, but neither of them took us to those respective app stores. A Google search helped us locate the Android client, but the service doesn't actually have its own iOS app (you must use OpenVPN).

None of this was inspiring much confidence in VROIS, and as customers we'd be running away at this point. But this is a review – so onward we pressed…

Privacy

VROIS is very clear about its logging policy: ‘No logs ever’. The service doesn't log your online activity, so has nothing to hand over to the authorities even if it's asked.

Just about every VPN service makes the same claim, so we also look for information on session logging. Some companies record your connect and disconnect times, bandwidth used, incoming and outgoing IP addresses and more. Often they'll spell out some details on this in the small print, but VROIS doesn't mention the issue at all.

What the privacy policy does include is a lengthy list of personal information VROIS might collect: "Your name, address, telephone number, fax number, email address, dates of service provided, types of service provided, payment history, manner of payment, amount of payments, date of payments, and credit card or other payment information."

This sounded unusual, so we checked for the same list on Google and found this and some other clauses in the VROIS privacy policy were identical to a policy page from PSEUDiO – the company behind TotalVPN.

Was the company borrowing its small print from other web pages? We quickly found another example. The VROIS terms of service page has an unusual typo in a reference to an ‘acceptable user policy’, and Googling for the surrounding text found just one identical match: the terms of service for Incognito VPN.

Looking more closely, we found the PSEUDiO and Incognito pages contained working links to an email opt-out page, a contact email address, an ‘acceptable use policy’, but the VROIS versions were all broken (web links pointed at vrois.com, the contact email address was legal@.com). It looks like VROIS has built at least some of its policy pages by copying and pasting text from elsewhere, but never finished the job.

Whatever the explanation for all this, it wasn't inspiring any confidence. So far, VROIS was giving us far more reasons to run away than sign up.

Performance

Creating a VROIS account looked like it should be a simple matter. Choose a plan, a payment provider, enter our name and email address – it's a completely standard procedure we've done thousands of times before.

But as ever with VROIS, there were unexpected issues. We chose PayPal, approved the purchase, but the VROIS site displayed a ‘payment cancelled’ message. An email arrived from PayPal moments later detailing the purchase, so this simply wasn't true, but our VROIS account didn't recognise the payment.

Time to test the support system. VROIS supports live chat, but it would take any agent time to check our payment details, so we created a new support ticket with our PayPal references. At least, VROIS claims to have a ‘ticket’ system, but we weren't given a number, or emailed a copy, and there was no way to view our ticket’s status later. Whatever the truth, the company seemed not to care that they'd taken our money without providing anything, and 12 hours later nothing had happened.

VROIS provides a limited free service anyway, so we decided to try this out. The service offers one Android app of its own, and very basic setup instructions for Windows, iOS, OS X and DD-WRT routers.

We clicked the Windows button and followed the directions to download and set up the standard OpenVPN client. It was good to finally have a list of 30 servers, even if they were named in just about the most jumbled and confusing way possible: there were cities, countries, places (Silicon Valley, Lake Elsinore), and Texas appeared four times (Texas, Texas 3, Dallas, Houston). Throw in an assortment of typos (Sweeden, Morroco) and the company somehow lowered the professionalism bar even further.

Surprisingly, once we got connected, performance was better than average in our tests*. We connected from the UK to various European servers and our download speeds were almost always above 30Mbps. Chicago wasn't as impressive at 18Mbps, but even Singapore gave us 10-15Mbps.

And yet, even here there were complications, as we found some servers didn't appear to be in their ‘official’ location. The Vietnam server was reportedly in Singapore, for instance. We could live with that – geolocation isn't always exact – but when the Russian server gave us a French IP, and logging on to Ohio and Morocco both gave us a Dutch address, we realised something was wrong. Again...

Final verdict

VROIS just might have a reasonable core network, but the service around it is so poor, so inept, and so unprofessional that we're struggling to care. Try the free Android app, maybe, but please don't give VROIS your money.

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*Our testing included evaluating general performance (browsing, streaming video). We also used speedtest.net to measure latency, upload and download speeds, and then tested immediately again with the VPN turned off, to check for any difference (over several rounds of testing). We then compared these results to other VPN services we've reviewed. Of course, do note that VPN performance is difficult to measure as there are so many variables.

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Alcatel A5

The Alcatrel A5 puts a party in your pants that everyone can attend. The Light Show rear cover uses LEDs that can dance along with your music, alert you to notifications and color match to your games and photos. 

With the budget market increasingly competitive manufacturers are having to find new ways to stand out and Alcatel’s A5 is certainly doing something different – but does it work? 

The Alcatel A5 features a 5.2-inch HD display, octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 8MP rear camera, 5MP front camera with selfie flash and Android 6.  

Alcatel A5 price and release date

The Alcatel A5 price has been confirmed as €199 (around $210, £170, AU$275) which makes it a rather attractive proposition. 

If that’s peaked your interest the Alcatel A5 release for the UK and Europe from May onwards, and we’ve also been told the phone will be coming to the US at some point in the future.

Alcatel A5 design and display

The Alcatel A5 doesn’t shy away from its budget credentials when it comes to design. It’s big, chunky and plastic and picking it up it certainly doesn’t scream premium. 

That’s okay though, as at this price we can accept a solid plastic build. The A5 has a sturdy construction and the volume and power/lock keys on the right are easy enough to hit. 

There’s a headphone jack up top, while a microUSB port joins the internal speaker on the base. 

Considering one of the main selling points of the A5 is the ability for its LED cover to flash along to music we were disappointed by the low quality of the audio output from the speaker. 

Thanks to the added depth of the Light Show rear though, the A5 doesn’t sit as neatly in the palm as rival phones with a similar sized display and we found ourselves employing both hands when it came to testing out the keyboard. 

It’s the rear cover that’s the big talking point though, packed with LEDs which illuminate in five different colors in time to music, which notifications are received and during gaming sessions. 

It can also color match the key hues of your photos – we’re not overly sure why you’d want this particular feature, but it’s here anyway. 

This is all controlled by an app pre-installed on the phone, allowing you to toggle various features on and off. 

The lights are a nice touch, and are fun to watch for a bit, but we not sure whether the novelty will wear thin quite quickly, and what sort of hit the battery takes to light it up. 

The Alcatel A5 comes with a metallic black LED back-cover in the box along with a non-LED packed additional black or silver back-cover. 

The 5.2-inch HD display is clear and makes viewing images and text comfortable, but even at full brightness it failed to really pop, making things a little dull on screen.

Alcatel A5 interface, performance and camera

The Alcatel A5 runs Android 6 Marshmallow, which isn’t the latest version of Google’s operating system. The hope is it will be updated to Android 7 later this year, but there’s no information on this currently. 

It’s not pure Android though, with Alcatel covering it in its rather heavy interface. It looks childish and doesn’t provide any real benefit to the user over the stock offering. 

While there’s an octa-core processor and 2GB of RAM under the hood, the A5 isn’t overly snappy when it comes to performance. Navigation around the phone is okay, but it lacks the zip of rival smartphones such as the new Nokia 5 and Moto G5. 

The 8MP rear camera is also a little disappointing, with low image quality and a sluggish shutter meaning this isn’t a feature you’ll want to use all that often.

There is good news for selfie fans though, as the front-facing 5MP snapper is accompanied by its own LED flash, allowing you to take better lit pouts. 

Early verdict

The Alcatel A5 is an affordable smartphone that makes the grade, but doesn't do much to go beyond it.

Its Light Show cover is a nice point of differentiation, but it's bolted onto an average Android smartphone and there are better options for your money at this price point.

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 2017 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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Sony Xperia Ear open-style

Let’s get real for a moment here, guys. It’s only day three of MWC 2017, and I’m starting to flag a little bit.

And I’m now at the point where I’m so tired that I'm not sure if I should be writing about a piece of metal and plastic that could have the potential to be rather useful for notifications and music on the go.

Sony decided that it needed to try again though, and it’s brought out this concept, which uses the same theory but updates it into a more Blade Runner-like design. dictate messages, let you know what your phone is up to and register nods and shakes of the head as inputs.

I can’t say I needed it explicitly in my life, but it’s a nice idea, and made it to market.

Sony decided that it needed to try again though, and it’s brought out the Open Ear concept, which uses the same theory but updates it into a more Blade Runner-like design.

The main difference to design is that it sits rather confusingly under your ear, hooking around and sitting against your ear canal.

The tiny rubber donut is rather hard to put into place, and it feels like gravity is fighting against the fit the whole time.The glossy, chromed plastic is nice enough but not something you can see when the Xperia Ear open-style concept is popped on the side of your head - I really found myself wishing it had some other way to lock into place as it wasn’t going inside your ear to hold on.

The weight was OK though, and if I were allowed to play around with the earpiece a little more - and take it on the road a little too  - I can imagine I’d get used to the fit and convenience of what it can actually do.

The thing is, I’m not entirely sure what it can, such is its level of conception at this point. I assume it can handle the main features that the Ear offers, such as being able to respond to your voice, read out messages and tell you who’s calling without the need to pick up the phone.

But Sony is making much more of a big deal about the fact the Xperia Open Ear offers that functionality without blocking your ears from all sound. The rubber ring sends sound into the ear canal while maintaining the connection with the outside world.

Sony is even claiming that, using its new audio conducting technology, you can both listen to music and friends in a conversation, like having your own personal elevator music wherever you go.

I can see a lot wrong with that. Firstly, it’s going to be leaky if you’re not getting that sound conduction spot on  - and even then, it’ll possibly be rather quiet (although I’m absolutely ready to be proved wrong on that, as I’ve not tried the audio quality yet.

The second is that we don’t need more sound in our lives. We’re already overloaded with tech and tasks that the idea of switching off becomes frightening… so we pack more things into our day, and the Open Ear concept is part of that.

If we’re all listening to music all day, that’s never going to be a brilliant thing; even if we can hear our friends just fine there will be a distraction running at the same time, compounding the problem.

In short, I like the sound of what these ear concepts can actually do - it’s just hard to see whether they’ll be a success or not without giving them a full run down.

Early verdict

It’s far too early to really know whether giving these concept hearables their own screen time, but they do look pretty cool.

If they’re great for sport then that will go a long way to making them useful, as being able to hear music and the crowd / marshalls in a race is a must-have element for any runner that’s been nearly run over by a car or run a mile in the wrong direction with everyone screaming at them to turn around.

It's worth remembering that these are a concept device though - it's not fair to say whether they're functionally gifted or not. They're an example of where Sony wants to go, and any smartphone manufacturer that's trying to break out of the 'black rectangle' mould should be applauded.

Ultimately, these ear-based wearables are attractive and cool in their design - and that's enough to color me intrigued.

Will the Sony Xperia Open Ear concept ever make it out of this stage and into fully-fledged product? I’ll need to do some digging to find the earpieces working - then we can pass judgement on whether or not they actually work.
 

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Lenovo debuts four new Android tablets at MWC 2017

Following yesterday’s debut of the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus, Moto’s parent company has introduced some new Android hardware of its own.

Lenovo today took the wraps off of four new Android tablets in its Tab 4 series of devices. The Tab 4 8 and Tab 4 10 share similar spec lists, with both devices boasting a quad-core Snapdragon 425 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a microSD slot, and 5-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front cameras for your tablet photography and video calling needs. Both devices also include two front-facing speakers.

On the software side, both the Tab 4 8 and Tab 4 10 run Android 7.0 Nougat. Lenovo has added some special software touches of its own, too, like a multi-user mode so that each person can set the tablet up just the way that they like it.

There are two key areas where these tablets differ. The Tab 4 8 features an 8-inch 1280x800 display and 4850mAh battery, while the Tab 4 10 has a 10.1-inch 1280x800 screen and beefier 7000mAh battery.

These family-focused tablets will launch globally in May with prices of €169 ($179 USD) for the Tab 4 8 and €179 ($190 USD) for the Tab 4 10.

And then there are the Tab 4 8 Plus and Tab 4 10 Plus tablets. These are higher-end, more design-conscious tablets with glass on both the front and back of the devices.

The spec lists for the Tab 4 Plus models include octa-core Snapdragon 625 processors, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, a microSD slot, dual front-facing speakers, fingerprint readers, and 8-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front cameras. 

Once again, the sizes of the screens and batteries are the big differentiators here. The Tab 4 8 Plus has an 8-inch 1920x1200 screen and 4850mAh battery, while the Tab 4 10 Plus has a 10.1-inch 1920x1200 display and 7000mAh battery.

Both the Tab 4 8 Plus and Tab 4 10 Plus will begin rolling out globally in May. Pricing will be set at €259 ($274 USD) for the Tab 4 8 Plus and €299 ($316 USD) for the Tab 4 10 Plus.

Finally, Lenovo has announced optional add-on packs for its new tablets. The Kid’s Pack adds a shock-resistant bumper, blue-light filer, and stickers. Lenovo also offers a Kid’s Account with kid-friendly content and parental controls.

The Productivity Pack adds a Bluetooth keyboard that also functions as a protective sleeve and stand. Lenovo’s productivity UI includes a task bar and optimization for mouse and keyboard operations.

Lenovo

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Cricket Wireless will begin throttling heavy unlimited data users, launch Stream More for video on April 2

Heads up, Cricket Wireless customers, because some notable changes are coming your way.

Cricket has revealed that starting on April 2, 2017, it will “implement an additional network management practice” that’ll slow the speeds of Unlimited Plan customers that’ve used 22GB of data in a single month. The network management practice will only affect customers during times of network congestion.

There’s currently no such network management policy in place, so this is a big change for Cricket customers on the operator’s Unlimited Plan. The change isn’t too surprising, though, as all of the major US carriers have similar policies in place. The good news is that we’ve learned about it in advance and that the policy should only apply when you’re on a congested cell site.

Cricket also plans to launch a new feature called Stream More on April 2, 2017. Stream More is similar to AT&T’s Stream Saver in that it throttle video streams down to 480p resolution. The goal of the feature is to reduce data usage so that you can stream more video with your data allotment.

Stream More will begin rolling out on April 2 and continue hitting users in the following months. Cricket does say that it’ll send you a text message the day that it turns the service on and that if you don’t want Stream More, you will be able to turn the feature off and on in your online account or in the myCricket app.

Finally, Cricket has confirmed that it plans to begin rolling out Wi-Fi calling and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) this year.

Cricket Wireless

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Porsche Design Book One

Some pairings look weird on paper, but the result winds up something that makes total sense the moment you lay eyes on it. The Porsche Design Book One is one of those results.

Teamed up with Microsoft and Intel, Porsche Design – yes, the auto maker – unveiled its Book One at MWC 2017, and it boasts some distinguishing features, as you might expect it to.

First off, it’s a 2-in-1 laptop that can be flipped 360-degrees into tablet mode, but said tablet portion can also be detached for portable use. For reference, the Microsoft Surface Book can only rotate 180-degrees.

Speaking of Microsoft’s stunning laptop, the Book One more or less matches its pricing at $2,495 or £2,395 (about AU$3,250; release unconfirmed).

We only had a few moments with an early production model of the Book One, Porsche Design’s first-ever soup-to-nuts computer. But even so, it gives off an air of confidence in both design and general performance that the company has done this before.

If the Surface Book was the reference model for Microsoft’s partners to follow, the Book One looks to be one of the few to actually challenge it. 

Design

If I had to describe the design language of the Book One as simply as possible, I’d say that it’s like the Surface Book, but with some elements borrowed from the latest MacBook Pro and Google’s Chromebook Pixel alike.

Coated in anodized aluminum, every bit of Porsche Design’s 13.3-inch machine feels and looks high-quality. It makes for a grand first impression, as does its 3,200 x 1,800 IPS touch display. Though the press event was dark and flashy, the Book One’s screen looked bright and bold.

Running around the machine revealed a duo of USB-C ports – one just 3.1, the other Thunderbolt 3 – as well as two standard USB 3.1 ports, the latter of which being especially awesome to see here. The tablet houses the Thunderbolt 3 port, while the backlit keyboard dock is where you’ll find the rest. This space is also shared by a microSD slot. So far, so good.

One feature that stood out in particular is that this laptop does away with perhaps my biggest gripe found in many 2-in-1s, the unsightly hinge that prevents the screen meeting parallel with the keyboard base. It all comes together in a form factor that’s just slightly more compact than most competitors. Though, it’s the extra mile that counts, right?  

Performance

As the Book One on display was an early prototype, it’s possible that my time spent using it wasn’t representative of the final product. But, in all honesty, I hope it is.

Inside of the 13.3-inch tablet, Porsche Design stuffed in a 7th generation dual-core Intel i7-7500U processor that powers the visuals with its integrated Intel HD Graphics 620 graphics processing unit (GPU).

Compare that to the latest Surface Book i7 in this price range and you’ll find that the Book One is only outdone in terms of graphics hardware.

In addition, it also matches the Surface Book i7’s 16GB of RAM and 512GB solid state drive (SSD). We’d be remiss not to pit these two head-to-head in a full review.  

Running Windows 10 Pro as a touch-sensitive device, Porsche Design’s 2-in-1 is afforded all of the latest tricks, like Windows Ink. The company even built its own pen with Wacom that magnetically attaches to either side of the computer.   

Other signature features, like Windows Hello, are set to appear on this machine as well via a 5MP infrared webcam.  

As you can see, the specs and design pair up to tell a pretty convincing story, especially from a company that has never attempted such a device before. The price is quite a lot to swallow, but we’ll determine if it’s a balanced value when we test it in-depth for the full review.  

Early verdict

Porsche Design’s Book One was one of the more surprising debuts at MWC 2017, as the conference is usually reserved for the mobile industry. But in a way, it was the perfect time to show off the fruits of the collaboration between computing giants.

The Book One, despite its impressive design, isn’t exactly the most novel product. Sure, it can fold more than just about every other convertible, but it’s hard to say if there’s an untapped market of people who have been holding out this long until it finally arrived.
 

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Should Motorola stick with modular phones?

Motorola had an event scheduled for the already busy Sunday, one day before Mobile World Congress technically started, and showed off two new smartphones in its longstanding G series. For mid-range handsets they're certainly worth taking a second look. But the part of the announcement that caught my attention had to do with two phones launched last year.

Specifically, accessories for those devices.

Last year, riding right along with the modular bandwagon, Motorola announced the Moto Z and Moto Z Force (with Droid-branded variants for Verizon Wireless in the United States), both of which were certainly flagship handsets in their own right, with plenty of noteworthy features to help them stand out.

Both smartphones are worth consideration for anyone that's looking for a new smartphone, and wants a high-end experience. But obviously Motorola doesn't want customers to just look at the phone. No, the Moto brand would love it if you also considered a few accessories that are designed to attach directly onto the back of those phones.

Like a super expensive projector. A battery case. Or maybe just different back plates to spruce up the aesthetics of that super thin smartphone.

By now it's not a secret that LG has given up on the modular dream, after it launched the other modular-focused smartphone, the G5, last year. LG and Motorola seemed to be betting big on this idea, but the G5 just didn't have the legs to carry that dream into 2017 for LG. As a result, the G6 was just announced and it's dropped any type of modular design in favor of something far more traditional.

The reason why the Moto Mods that Motorola announced this year stood out to me, is because, if anything, it seems to confirm that Motorola won't be following in LG's footsteps this time around. If these new accessories are any indicator (albeit a strange one -- why a walkie-talkie, exactly?), then Motorola doesn't plan on dropping the modular design from the Moto Z and Moto Z Force successors that are inevitably going to see the light of day later this year.

Motorola is trying to get Moto Mods to take off. From crowd-funding efforts and crowd-sourced ideas, the company wants these accessories to work. The question I have for all of you, though, is whether or not this is a strategy that Motorola should stick with. Should Motorola keep on the modular bandwagon, hoping these accessories will take off? Or should the company fall back on a more traditional design decision with its upcoming flagships? If you own a Moto Z, how many Moto Mods do you use? Let me know!

Moto Z Force

Motorola Moto Z

LG G5

Motorola

LG

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Mozilla acquires read-it-later service Pocket

Popular read-it-later app Pocket has been acquired.

Mozilla announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Read It Later, Inc., the developers of the popular app Pocket. This deal means that Pocket will become part of Mozilla’s product portfolio, but Mozilla says that Pocket will be operated as an independent subsidiary and that Mozilla won’t make any changes to the service or business this year.

Here’s what Mozilla CEO Chris Beard had to say about Pocket:

“We believe that the discovery and accessibility of high quality web content is key to keeping the internet healthy by fighting against the rising tide of centralization and walled gardens. Pocket provides people with the tools they need to engage with and share content on their own terms, independent of hardware platform or content silo, for a safer, more empowered and independent online experience.”

Pocket currently has 10 million unique monthly active users spread across Android, iOS, and the web, and there have been three billion pieces of content saved to the service to date.

Mozilla says that the acquisition of Pocket will help it to grow its mobile presence. The company has a few mobile apps already, including a Firefox browser, but they don’t seem to have gained a ton of traction with consumers. Pocket is one of the better-known read-it-later apps and has been in the mobile game for several years, so the Pocket team helps to boost Mozilla’s mobile effort in that way.

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