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Back in the day, Android phones were a lot more daring. Companies experimented with all kinds of wild designs, features, and even pricing. Among all the phones that tried to stand out over the past decade, one captured the enthusiast fanbase like no other: the coveted OnePlus One.

The promise of open-source software sure sounds good because it tends to be powerful, community-driven tools that are completely free. It feels like a great move from the costly, restrictive subscription model that giants like Adobe force on you. However, even after months of using these tools and getting totally comfortable with them, I still miss some things Adobe offers.

We all have an old smart TV somewhere that's been replaced by a newer model, or is simply starting to show its age. But the great thing about smart TVs, compared to older television sets or other devices like smartphones, is that they tend to have a much longer lifespan.

Whether you’ve got an Android TV or Google TV streaming device, the home screen is something you see a lot. That’s exactly why it’s stuffed with recommendations and ads. I got tired of all the junk and cleaned things up with a free launcher.

Whether you have a fancy all-SSD NAS or you've turned an old PC into a makeshift backup solution, you've probably set it up, in part, to keep your files safe. But many of us, in our effort to protect our backups, forget about a much more important aspect of it all: protecting the NAS itself.

Xiaomi's Ultra line of phones has always been about one thing: Peak camera performance. The new Xiaomi 17 Ultra, launched ahead of MWC 2026 in Barcelona, pushes the boundaries once more, though it suffers from similar setbacks as its predecessors.

Note that there was no Xiaomi 16 Ultra; the company decided to skip that number and go straight from the Xiaomi 15 and 15 Ultra to Xiaomi 17 and 17 Ultra, likely to "catch up" with Apple, whose latest models also bear the number seventeen. Despite the change, the new Xiaomi phones are very much an evolution of last year's flagship models.

SEE ALSO: MWC 2026: What to expect at the world's largest phone show

On the phone side of things, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is an extremely capable Android smartphone, with a 6.9-inch, 120Hz OLED display, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, 16GB of RAM, 512/1024GB of storage, and a 6,000mAh battery with 90W fast charging and 50W wireless charging. It comes in three colors: Black, White, and the sparkly Starlit Green (Xiaomi sent me a black unit, but the Starlit Green looks way cooler).

The 6.9-inch OLED display is excellent. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Where the Xiaomi 17 Ultra differs from the regular Xiaomi 17, which also debuted here in Barcelona, is mainly in screen size (6.9 vs. 6.3 inches), and the camera. The Ultra's got a massive, Leica-branded camera array on the back, with a 50-megapixel main camera, a 200-megapixel telephoto camera, and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera, coupled with a 50-megapixel selfie camera on the front.

At 8.29mm thickness and 218 grams of weight, it's the thinnest and lightest Xiaomi Ultra phone ever. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The 200-megapixel, 75-100mm telephoto camera gives this phone otherworldly zoom capabilities, with up to 17.2x of "optical-level zoom." I've tried it out, and was able to take usable photos at 100x zoom or more, far beyond in the distance than what my naked I could see.

Left: This is what the XIaomi 17 Ultra's telephoto camera can do. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable Right: Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Venture that far out, and AI takes the reins quite heavy handedly, which you'll see in the way the system recreates the letters of a sign you took in the distance. Still, if you like the idea of having a camera that can take sharp photos of a flower that's a hundred yards away, this is the phone to do it with.

Left: Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable Right: The zoom on this phone is so good, it's worth providing another example. It's like having a set of binoculars. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

To add an exclamation point to the phone's camera capabilities, Xiaomi also sells two optional photography kits which consists of two different cases that turn the phone into something that really looks like a compact camera, and add a few buttons, visual details, and battery life to the mix. The smaller Xiaomi 17 Ultra Photography Kit makes more sense to me as the phone still retains somewhat normal dimensions; the two-part Xiaomi 17 Ultra Photography Kit Pro makes it a bit too big for my taste.

The photography kits look cool, but they make the phone a lot bulkier. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The kits, as cool as they may be, illustrate the most obvious drawback of this phone: it's too much of a camera. It's top heavy, has a smaller battery than the regular Xiaomi 17, and – due to its massive camera bump on the back – doesn't support Xiaomi's wireless, magnetic battery. Don't get me wrong, this is one powerful phone, but it's primarily aimed at photography enthusiasts. Kudos to Xiaomi for making the Ultra lighter than ever, though at 218 grams it's still not exactly lightweight.

If you want your Xiaomi 17 Ultra to be a little more...Leica, there's a special version just for you, shown as a surprise announcement during Xiaomi's big unveiling in Barcelona. Called the Leica Leitzphone, it shares most of the specs with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, but has a somewhat retro design which calls to mind classic Leica cameras, and a couple of Leica-specific photography modes.

This one is for the Leica fans. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

It also has one extra feature: The ring surrounding its camera bump can be rotated to increase or decrease zoom. I've tried it out, and it appears to be quite precise, though you do have to be careful not to place your fingers in front of the lens while shooting.

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra starts at 1,499 euros in Europe; there's no info on U.S. availability yet. The Leica Leitzphone is starting at a hefty price of 1,999 euros, and it will be available in select markets and locations.

If you’re thinking of spinning up a Plex library, let me save you a few headaches. I’ve been running my own media server for the better part of a decade, and, over the years, I’ve learned a lot of things that you shouldn’t do.

In terms of a private media server, Plex is one of the best options on the market. Many users enjoy using Plex to store their personal media, including movies and television shows, in one spot. In addition to its storage opportunities, Plex offers plenty of free content thanks to its ad-supported streaming television.

For many people, smart light bulbs are their first introduction to the world of smart home tech. They're simple to set up and use, but there's a lot more you can do with smart bulbs than just lighting your home.

This was another busy week in tech news, with Samsung finally revealing the Galaxy S26 series, Android 17's second beta release, big updates for Home Assistant and Excel, and much more. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

FREE BOOKS: The latest Stuff Your Kindle Day takes place on Feb. 28. Indulge in the Darkness, hosted by The Book Club Fest, is offering free dark romance books for your e-reader.

Another Stuff Your Kindle Day is dropping, merely days after the Sapphic Shelf Explosion. We're certainly not complaining. It's very much a case of "the more the merrier" with Stuff Your Kindle Day. We're always greedy for more.

Indulge in the Darkness, hosted by The Book Club Fest, is offering participants the chance to download dark romance books without spending anything. Everything that you download is yours to keep forever, so there's no need to hold back. Dive into the world of dark romance with this limited-time event.

SEE ALSO: I tested the best Kindles to help you find the perfect e-reader

Looking to make the most of the latest Stuff Your Kindle Day? We've lined up everything you need to know about this popular event.

When is Stuff Your Kindle Day?

Indulge in the Darkness takes place on Feb. 28. This free giveaway only runs for 24 hours, so you'll need to act quickly to pick up all the titles on your list.

Which ebooks are free?

Indulge in the Darkness offers free dark romance books from a number of sub-genres. Fortunately, The Book Club Fest has created a helpful hub page with links to everything on offer:

• Contemporary

• Poly/Why Choose/Reverse Harem

• Paranormal/Sci-Fi/Fantasy

• MM or FF

Anyone can participate in Stuff Your Kindle Day. Kindle and Kobo readers can download these dark romance books for free.

Is Stuff Your Kindle Day the same as Amazon Kindle Unlimited?

Everything you download on Stuff Your Kindle Day is yours to keep, and there's no limit on the number of books you can download. Stuff Your Kindle Day downloads don't count towards the 20 books that Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscribers can borrow at the same time.

The best Stuff Your Kindle Day deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Kindle (16GB) + Kindle Unlimited (3 Months) $109.99 at Amazon
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These popular e-readers let you take your entire library on the go. With weeks of battery life and an anti-glare display, you can read anywhere and anytime with the Kindle. Plus, you can get three months of Kindle Unlimited for free with your purchase.

Are you sick and tired of being used as a pawn in a never-ending data mining race? Instead of putting your data in the cloud where random companies can profit from it, you really need to take control of your own data. There’s only one way to enjoy privacy in the cloud era—own your own data.

If your NVMe SSD suddenly disappears, it doesn't mean that it vanishes out of existence. It just means that your OS has lost track of it. Sure, physically it's there, but it might as well not be if your PC can't connect to it.

The latest entry in the Jurassic World franchise has a new streaming home. Jurassic World Rebirth is now available to stream on Netflix. The dinosaur adventure starring Scarlett Johanssonfirst went to Peacock following its impressive theatrical run. Now, it will reach an even wider audience on Netflix.

3D printers allow you to create objects that solve problems, improve on products you own, and above all, make you smile. But they can also be used to create items that improve the printer itself, and these are often the best first prints to make.

So, you're getting into software development, and one elemental name keeps coming up: Rust. After experiencing that myself, I looked into the increasingly popular programming language. Here's what I learned about it, plus the steps it took to start writing Rust programs myself.

Spring is right around the corner, which means it’s time for some digital housekeeping. If you rely on Home Assistant to run your smart home, keeping your server running smoothly with a bit of maintenance can boost both performance and usability.

If Microsoft had their way, you’d never be able to make a local Windows account again. However, as much as Microsoft wants that to be a reality, it never will be. Here’s why the fight for local Windows accounts is more important than you think.

With premium build materials and the largest battery OnePlus has ever crammed into a phone, the OnePlus 15R has an easy sales pitch. However, the exceptional battery life comes from bleeding-edge new battery tech, and how well that battery holds up long term remains to be seen.

Being a woman on the internet has never been easy, but trying to find a genuine connection on a dating app in 2026? That can feel like a part-time job you actually pay to do. Between the emboldened creeps, the "swipe fatigue," and surprisingly convincing AI profiles, it's enough to make you wonder if applying for Love Island is the more sane alternative. (Spoiler alert: it's not.)

The reality is, dating right now comes with a unique set of challenges. There's the constant barrage of low-effort "hey" messages, the unsolicited dick pics, the men who are definitely married, and the underlying safety concerns men just don't have to think about. It’s enough to make you want to swear off dating and just get another cat (no judgment here).

But despite the challenges, dating apps do work. Connections happen every day, and a 2025 survey from SSRS found that nearly 39 percent of all U.S. adults have used dating apps. However, among current users, only 38 percent are women. Yes, that means the odds are a little stacked against you, but don't despair. The key isn't giving up and hoping for an old-fashioned meet-cute; it's finding the best dating apps for women that prioritize safety, respect, and actually help you filter out the nonsense.

SEE ALSO: How to get over a breakup

Fortunately for you (and my sanity), navigating this mess is literally my job. As Mashable's resident dating expert for the last three years, I've put dozens of dating apps and websites to the test. From classics like eharmony to sex-positive newcomers like Pure, I tried them all. I did the swiping, verifying, and blocking to figure out what actually works. So whether you want a serious relationship, a casual hookup, or just an app that puts you in control, I've found the options genuinely worth your time.

The dating apps I'd skip (and why)

You'll probably notice a few popular apps are missing from my list. That’s intentional. Part of my job is to filter out the platforms that aren't worth your time, money, or sanity —especially when safety is a top concern for women. An app doesn't get my recommendation just because it's well-known; it has to be effective and trustworthy. Here are a few I think women should skip.

• Plenty of Fish (POF): I know this one shows up on a lot of lists, but in my opinion, it's a low-tech dating app ghost town. POF launched way back in 2003, and the experience and interface feel dated. After testing it out, I (along with tons of Redditors) can confirm that it's filled with bots and scammers. I think your time is better spent elsewhere.

• "Hookup" sites (like BeNaughty, Fling, Kasual): You've probably seen ads for sites promising quick, no-strings-attached fun. Based on my research and countless user reviews, I'd advise women to steer clear. These platforms are notorious for being overrun with bots and having questionable billing practices. More importantly, the lack of verification and moderation often creates a sketchy environment where harassment and fake profiles are rampant.