Bertel King
Verified
As seen in:
Matter Alpha,
MSN,
MSN Canada,
Yahoo Life,
Flipboard,
How-To Geek,
Android Police,
MUO,
The Epoch Times,
NewsBreak,
Yahoo Tech
and
Writer.
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Bertel King
Your next Google TV should be a projector
Whether or not you find Google TV compelling on a TV, there’s a different form factor where it’s a genuine game changer—on a projector. Add How-To Geek on Google Add as Preferred Source Follow on Google Discover If you’re in the market for a new smart TV, there are many reasons to consider buying a laser projector instead. But that's not the case I'm here to make. I'm here to tell you that Google TV is, despite the name, even better on a projector than on your TV.
Anker's S5000 is half the power station the F3800 was, and I couldn't be happier
I am a fan of both the Anker SOLIX F3800 and its refined follow-up, the F3800 Plus. There’s a row of them in the pantry of my home. So I’m happy to say Anker has released a spiritual successor: the Anker SOLIX S5000. While it’s not better in every way, it improves in the ways that matter most. I'm not a fan of some changes Anker has made to its newer portable power stations, but it has knocked this one out of the park.
There are five different versions of Firefox for Android (and a reason to use each one)
Your phone comes with Google Chrome, but you may want to swap it for Mozilla Firefox for privacy concerns and Google’s near-monopoly over the web. Yet there are many versions of Firefox floating around, and while the main version is fine for most, it may not be the best option for you. Add How-To Geek on Google Add as Preferred Source Follow on Google Discover I’ve installed each of these versions of Firefox. Here’s what you need to know.
This is the physical keyboard you need if you care about typing on your phone
We all know our phones have become powerful enough to replace PCs, but far fewer of us have actually tried it. Well, I’ve embraced the pocket computer lifestyle, and I’ve tried out many accessories to make this possible — including many types of keyboards. If you picture yourself plopping your phone down on a table in a coffee shop and getting real work done, here’s the kind of keyboard you want.
3 solar gadgets that power my family's road trips
When I first saw that some EVs come with power outlets inside the cabin, I longed to own one. Not anymore. I've solved that problem with my existing car, and I've gained more in the process than I expected. This is thanks to a tiny solar generator and the panels that power it.
Android works better with Linux when you install these 4 apps
Google wants Android phones to connect seamlessly to Googlebooks. Meanwhile, Samsung and Motorola both offer apps that pair phones with Windows PCs. What about Linux? The tech giants won’t help you make your phone and Linux PC work together smoothly, but other app developers have stepped in to fill the gap. Add How-To Geek on Google Add as Preferred Source Follow on Google Discover Packet iPhone owners have long been able to send files between phones and Macs wirelessly and easily using AirDrop.
3 ingenious ways to use solar panels in your smart home
I didn’t take to smart home tech right away, but solar is different — I’ve always loved the idea of solar panels. Now I have plenty of them, and as it turns out, solar and smart home tech go hand in hand. Solar powers the batteries that keep my smart home running in an outage Most smart home tech isn’t essential, so I would turn much of it off during a genuine multi-day emergency — but that’s not the kind of outage we experience most often.
Make an old phone feel like new using these open-source Android apps
I carry one of the newest and most expensive phones, but my job is to cover Android. In this economy, it’s hard to justify spending this kind of money this often. Before, I spent years making a midrange smartphone last as long as possible while remaining pleasant to use, and the job has only gotten easier.
The one thing Pixel phones do better than anyone, and nobody wants it
Google Pixel phones sit alongside Samsung Galaxy phones and iPhones on store shelves, but no matter how much money you spend on one, Google’s phones will not be as fast as the competition — except in one area, and that's software updates. Unfortunately, as exciting as updates may be for enthusiasts, most people don’t care. It's actually worse than that. Many would say frequent updates are actually a bad thing! Android devices come in all shapes and sizes from a vast number of companies.
My Matter smart home worked brilliantly — until the batteries started dying
Last year I replaced the majority of the wall switches in my home with smart switches. This year I embarked on a different major smart home upgrade—placing a presence sensor in every room. But there's a fundamental difference between these two types of Matter devices, one that has a major impact on the long-term viability and practicality of my decision. All of the Tapo smart switches I installed throughout my home are hardwired. As long as the power's on, light switches function as expected.
This open source Android launcher has changed how I live my life for the better
I regularly try out new launchers to replace my Android home screen, and most are variations of how my phone already works — but I’ve recently stumbled across one that does things so differently, it’s had a noticeable impact on how I live my life. Entropy’s Defiance is more than just an awesome name I’ve never been a fan of the grid of icons that has defined the smartphone experience since the launch of the iPhone and Android phones.
Your phone is already a better Googlebook
Google wants you to buy a Googlebook, but these new laptops cost a premium, and after looking at these Android-powered devices, I see very little that hasn't been available for years. Depending on your expectations, the best Googlebook for you may already be the one in your pocket. Take this from someone writing these words on an Android desktop he's used on and off for years.
4 weird but useful things you can connect to a phone
Our phones aren't just personal computers we carry with us — they're the ones we use to control everything else, from speakers and smart home devices to portable power stations. In this world of devices we connect to our phones, there are some quirky but fun accessories you might not even know exist. Bluetooth Page Turners I'll admit I kind of laughed when I first heard about Bluetooth page turners. Why would I need a wireless button to control a device that is likely in my hand anyway?
Frustrated Pixel owners are finally jumping ship, here's what's actually driving them away
Google Pixel has a good reputation in the Android world — this is the brand you buy if you want Android as Google's designers intended. But Google's vision for Android seems increasingly at odds with what matters most to Pixel owners, and it's starting to push people away. Pixel has become synonymous with Gemini Like the Nexus line before it, Pixel phones are for people who want stock Android with fast updates, but that's not what Google wants the Pixel brand to be. The Pixel is a Gemini phone.
The 5 best open-source Android home screen replacements you haven't heard of
Android's default home screens are good enough that most of us no longer feel compelled to swap them out, but I still do. Hear me out — if you want a launcher that's willing to try something different and that you know isn't tracking what you do, here are some of the cream of the crop on F-Droid today. Entropy's Defiance Let's start this list with something completely unconventional. As the name suggests, Entropy's Defiance isn't your usual home launcher.
4 ways I use solar power in my home without installing rooftop solar panels
You don't need solar panels on your roof to get power from the sun — these days you can fold panels up into something small enough to carry like a briefcase. The bigger question is how you might incorporate these other ways of generating solar power into your life. Portable solar panels are my primary source of emergency power I have a home filled with portable power stations of various sizes. Some are big and designed to supply power to my entire home, like the Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus.
I filled my home with Matter devices — these are the 5 problems they actually solved
Matter is a solution to how complex it has been to integrate myriad smart home devices, but these products only matter if they're actually solving real issues we have around the house. I've spent much of the past two years filling my home with Matter devices, and here are some areas where it was it was worth the effort. Detecting leaks around the house Water damage can absolutely wreck a home, and it also happens to be a silent danger.
I use Matter smart home devices to keep my houseplants alive — here’s what actually helps
Matter devices can do more than automate lights and locks—I use climate sensors, humidifiers, and soil monitoring to help my houseplants thrive. Bertel King 35 minutes ago Please note: This page may contain affiliate links. Read our ethics policy I have a home filled with Matter devices, and I have a home filled with plants. I'm come to find that investing in the former can make the latter much better off. Matter can not only help keep houseplants alive—it can help them thrive.
Weak signal is silently draining your Pixel's battery and cooking your phone Original
You're driving through the countryside, or you're in an office surrounded by concrete, and for some reason your Google Pixel seems hotter than usual. Not only that — your battery has drained! What gives? Take a look at the signal bars in the top-right corner of your screen. If your phone is struggling to hold on to one bar, that may just be your culprit.
5 ways my foldable phone has saved me thousands of dollars
Book-style foldable phones give people sticker shock, and understandably so — $2,000 is a lot of money. The thing is, I have never paid that much for any of the foldable phones I’ve owned, and truth be told, they’ve saved me far more than they've cost. My phone replaces an expensive PC Last year, my spouse upgraded to a new MacBook Pro.
Your phone never actually sleeps (here's what it's doing all night)
Our phones spend much of the time idle, but they can't get up to too much during that time, because it's vital that they make it through the day. That's why many tasks are saved for overnight while we're asleep. But just what is your phone getting up to while your face is buried in a pillow? Updates change things. They can also break things, especially if they're interrupted — though Android has safeguards in place to mitigate that risk. More than anything, updates can be disruptive.
This free app keeps your smartwatch alive after the company abandons it
If smartwatches have one weakness compared to regular watches, it's their short lifespan. Most have promised only a few years of software support, and they're dependent on companion apps that can stop working at any time. But there are alternative companion apps out there that can keep your watches running longer and safeguard your privacy in the process.
This open-source app reveals what Google tries to hide about your Android apps
Android may have begun as a mobile operating system, but it has blossomed into much more. Unfortunately, system administrator tools are still playing catch-up, and certain information about apps is harder to access than it is on desktop PCs. Fortunately, there’s an app you can install that will tell you everything you want to know, and it happens to be open source.
What's better than a gimmicky phone-sized eReader? An eReader phone
I increasingly find myself drawn to digital books, though how enjoyable they are depends entirely on the device that I read them on. With the rise of phone-sized eReaders, I decided to pit one up against another reading-focused option, a book-centered phone.
3 things I've gained from rooftop solar that nobody seems to talk about
When I mention that solar panels blanket the roof of my house, the first thing people ask is whether I have an electric bill. Well, yes and no — but that's only part of the story. Here's what I've truly gained from rooftop solar. I now drive for free Electric bills are high seemingly everywhere, and now gas prices are shooting up too. But don't ask me what they are. I don't know, since I haven't had a reason to look for years. I sold my gas car for an EV the same year I first installed rooftop solar.
3 things I've gained from rooftop solar that nobody seems to talk about
When I mention that solar panels blanket the roof of my house, the first thing people ask is whether I have an electric bill. Well, yes and no — but that's only part of the story. Here's what I've truly gained from rooftop solar. I now drive for free Electric bills are high seemingly everywhere, and now gas prices are shooting up too. But don't ask me what they are. I don't know, since I haven't had a reason to look for years. I sold my gas car for an EV the same year I first installed rooftop solar.
UGREEN's new 'Ultra' NAS is excellent, but so was the one before
Despite the name, the UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Ultra is not among the most powerful NAS that UGREEN sells (far from it), but it does represent the pinnacle of what most of us might realistically ever need. It’s a great product, but unless you already know UGREEN’s excellent line of more affordable options aren’t capable enough, your money may be better spent on a slightly weaker NAS.
Motorola's software is the best and worst things about its phones
While the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the iPhone Duo may be grabbing all the headlines, the Motorola Razr Fold is the sleeper hit book-style foldable of the year. This phone undercuts the alternatives on price while outperforming them in many of the areas that matter most. Yet, just like other Motorola phones, it’s the software that attracts me, and it’s the software that pushes me away.
How reliable is a Matter smart lock against burglars?
New smart home locks offer an ever growing number of ways to enter your home, but at the end of the day, a door lock has one fundamental purpose—to keep intruders out. When you opt to secure your door with a Matter-compatible lock, is your home suddenly less safe? All smart locks increase your lock's attack surface A traditional door lock that is secured exclusively with a physical key only has one method of entry. To break in, you must either pick or physically destroy the lock.
3 foldable phone myths I believed until I bought a $1900 Moto Razr Fold
Folding phones have been around for the better part of a decade, and there have been several truisms about them that, it turns out, aren’t true at all. The Motorola Razr Fold I’m writing these words on has upended several folding phone myths that I, like everyone else, used to believe.
What is a PC? I thought I knew—then i got this
What defines a PC has changed substantially over the course of my life. They've drastically changed shape and size, but until I bought my most recent one, they were all at least vaguely similar. Now my concept of a PC has been completely turned on its head. PCs can be laptops The first computer I owned was a second-hand Dell laptop with a dead battery and a dial-up modem.
F-Droid is ugly, but that's a problem you can fix
My favorite app store for Android isn't the Play Store—it's F-Droid. I find this repository of open-source software to be a more reliable way to discover new apps that I actually want to use. But I have a problem with how F-Droid looks. If the design also puts you off, this is thankfully an easily solvable problem. Download F-Droid—then download an F-Droid client Unlike the Google Play Store, which ships pre-installed on most phones, you need to seek out F-Droid yourself.
4 smart purchases to reduce your home energy usage
Energy costs are up, and the best way to lower your bill is to lower how much you use. There are multiple ways to go about that, and the right tech can help. Thermal Imaging Camera Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek Heating and cooling are the two most energy-intensive things we do in our homes. We want heat to stay inside during winter and cool air to stay inside during summer.
I tested 3 paper-like Android tablets, and the winner isn't e-ink
As much as I enjoy digital books and comics, there is nothing quite like reading on paper—but I have neither the budget nor the space to amass physical copies of my digital library. This is why I've kept tabs on the state of paper-like Android tablets over the years. After comparing three devices that each take a different approach, here's what I would buy.
5 reasons i've started using flash drives over SSDs
When it comes to backups, it’s easy to think bigger is better—but I’ve started going smaller. I’m done with bulky spinning disks and rarely even reach for an external SSD. I’m now all about flash drives.
4 "smart" home gadgets that don't need Wi-Fi or an app
I have a home filled with devices connected to my router, but I'm not fully convinced that these have made my home smarter. In fact, many of my favorite purchases, those I can recommend with an unequivocal yes, don't require an app at all.
How a defunct smartphone brand made the best Android phone of all time
Some iconic phones, like the iPhone 4, light the world on fire and have sales numbers to match. Others may not have sold as many units, but they’re no less beloved. Ask an Android user what the best looking phone of that era was, and most will tell you the same thing—the HTC One M7.
Your foldable's inner screen will outlast your next regular phone's display
Foldable phones are expensive, so I get why you would be nervous about breaking their flexible internal screen — especially after the horror stories that plagued the first-generation models. But as someone who has used folding phones for the past couple of years, I can tell you firsthand that those screens are more durable than you think. The iPhone Duo may be Apple's first folding phone, but the technology is hardly new.
AirPods aren't the best Bluetooth earbuds anymore
Apple’s AirPods are so ubiquitous, they’ve become the Kleenex of Bluetooth earbuds. But whether you own an iPhone or an Android, AirPods are hardly the only compelling option. As long as you stay clear of the cheapest budget options you see in checkout lines, Bluetooth earbuds, in general, are all pretty awesome. Most earbuds sound great now I’ve reviewed a half dozen earbuds over the past year.
Linux is free, but I pay for Linux PCs: Here's why
One of the perks of Linux is that both the operating system and the vast majority of apps are free. Yet if you try to buy a PC that comes with Linux, you might end up spending more than buying one with Windows. Why spend that extra money when you can install Linux on an existing computer for free? I know it seems counterintuitive, but when the time comes to buy a new computer, I almost exclusively buy Linux PCs. I'll explain.
4 ways to make an aging Motorola phone feel much more expensive
My current phone is the most expensive one Motorola sells — the Razr Fold. But I've fallen in love with many more adorable Moto phones over the years: a Moto E, a Moto G, a Moto G Stylus, and a Moto Edge. Some of these were very cheap, but they punched above their weight, and it's possible to jazz them up even further still. Start by removing the bloatware Credit: David J. Buck/How-To Geek Credit: David J. Buck/How-To Geek Credit: David J. Buck/How-To Geek Credit: David J.
I ditched Fitbit and Samsung Health tracking for this private alternative
I am suspicious of fitness trackers. I'm not saying we can't trust companies to safeguard the data they generate, but it would be nice to not have to trust them in the first place. That is why I've been happy to wear a Pebble Time 2, which is the first Android-compatible product I've worn that generates health metrics without also uploading that information to the web. An open-source smartwatch that syncs data directly to your phone The Pebble Time 2 is a modern redesign of a classic smartwatch.
Closing your Android apps to "save battery" is doing the opposite
You want your phone to last as long as it can on a charge, but you should pause before you swipe away those background apps — closing them might cause your phone to use more power, not less. It's counter-intuitive, I know, but here's why. Most background apps aren't actively running in the background Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek When we open multiple apps on our computers, they all run at the same time, putting more strain on the CPU and using up more power in the process.
Your new ISP router is breaking your smart home in ways you may not even notice
As a general rule, don't use the router that comes from your ISP. It's typically overpriced, but that's not all — it may even be causing issues with your smart home, at least with the default settings.
My favorite kitchen upgrade proves that a real smart home is more than plugs and bulbs
Putting sensors all over the home and connecting them to Home Assistant is fun, I know, but it isn't for everyone — not yet. Thankfully, there are smart home upgrades that don't require any apps. I may have replaced every light switch in my home with a smart one, but my favorite smart home upgrade doesn't connect to my Homey Pro at all, and it's an improvement my entire family likes as much as I do.
Android's private DNS feature solves a problem most people don't know they have
If you care about protecting your privacy online, you've probably seen an ad for VPNs. You likely also know to seek out private messaging apps like Signal and Proton Mail. But there's another change you need to make in order to protect your phone's web traffic from prying eyes, and it's a relatively simple fix. Your DNS isn't private by default Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek DNS stands for Domain Name System.
I stopped paying for these 4 Android features that should've been free from day one
I am happy to pay for Android apps, but everyone should be able to do certain tasks regardless of budget. These features once required paid apps, but now you can enjoy them for free — often with a better experience than money can buy. Once you know which apps to download, you too can stop paying for these types of apps. PDF Readers Adobe created the PDF format, and this has become the standard way to share documents online.
Thin devices are finally worth the hype—and it took an eReader to prove it
When I first saw the crazy thing iPhone Air and Galaxy Edge, I wasn't interested. I had never cared when companies boasted about how many millimeters they had shaved off a device. Now I feel differently, and it wasn't Apple or Samsung who changed my mind— it was Boox.
The 5 best foldable phones of all time (in the U.S.), ranked
I converted to a foldable Android phone a couple of years ago, and I've used them for nearly everything ever since. In that time, I've owned three different foldables during that time, borrowed a few, and have placed my hands on demo units of several others. Based on my experience, here are the five best or most impactful foldables to hit the U.S. market to date.
Seen a Samsung tablet lately? It's like buying a PC
If you walk into a big box store and look at Samsung tablets, you may be surprised to see that they almost feel more like picking up a Microsoft Surface than an iPad. Samsung has quietly made enough changes to Android that the latest Galaxy Tab slates don't look all that different from the Windows laptops across the aisle.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Bertel
Contact Bertel, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack