Allison Johnson Profile and Activity

Allison reviews smartphones and covers wireless carriers for The Verge. Previously, she wrote about digital cameras and mobile photography at DPReview. She's a small phone enthusiast, home barista in training, and a roller derby retiree. You can find her on Threads most hours of the day at @allisonjo1.

Threads

Google

Google is prepping Gemini to take action inside of apps

Allison Johnson

Nov 22|

Tech

The best iPhones

Allison Johnson

Nov 21

Allison Johnson Nov 21

Two telephotos for the price of one.

Oppo has launched the Find X8 series globally, including the X8 Pro with dual telephoto lenses. The standard X8 comes with just one zoom lens, and it looks an awful lot like the OnePlus 13 — also expected to launch globally sooner than later. Both brands sure are leaning into the big circular camera bump look, but there’s an essential piece of hardware still present: the alert slider.

Rendering of the Find X8 and Find X8 Pro.

The Oppo Find X8 in shell pink and the Find X8 Pro in pearl white.

Image: Oppo

Tech

T-Mobile actually stopped some hackers from stealing customer data

Allison Johnson

Nov 20|

Allison Johnson Nov 19

A major forensics tool is only getting “partial” data from recent phones.

The folks at 404 Media are reporting on leaked documents revealing the capabilities of Graykey, a tool that law enforcement uses to hack into seized phones. From the looks of it, Graykey can only retrieve some data from the iPhone 12 and newer, whereas it’s possible to recover “full” info from an iPhone 11. The cat and mouse game continues.

Leaked Documents Show What Phones Secretive Tech ‘Graykey’ Can Unlock

[404 Media]

The new Mac Mini is great — now do the iPhone SE

Give us a decent $500 iPhone already, Apple.

Allison Johnson

Nov 15|

Google

Pixel phones will be able to detect and report malicious apps in real time

Allison Johnson

Nov 13|

Allison Johnson Nov 13

Phone? Power bank? Why not both?

The Redmagic 10 Pro Plus is Nubia’s latest gaming phone and it comes with a massive 7,050mAh battery. There’s also a “liquid metal” cooling system, a built-in fan, and of course, lots of customizable gamer lights. Kind of a spectacle. It’s launching in China first with a global release slated for December.