About Ben Sin
Hello, I'm a senior editor at XDA, covering mostly mobile hardware. I've been covering the mobile scene for eight years, during which I've done everything from attend Apple launch events in Cupertino, cover Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, to visiting smartphone manufacturing lines in Shenzhen and Seoul.
Before covering tech, I was a "traditional" journalist, writing features in print newspapers — remember those? — and magazines for outlets such as the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, among others.
On the side, I also run a tech review YouTube channel, Youtube.com/bensgadgetreviews
How long have you been interested in technology?
I first got interested in technology around 1997 when I first signed online for the first time on America Online; after that, I became mesmerized with learning things off the internet, and although it would take a few years, but when the T-Mobile Sidekick debuted around 2003, I immediately picked one up, knowing how life-altering it would be to have a portable device that could connect to the internet.
What tech products or categories are you most passionate about?
Although some people think smartphones have become boring, I think it's simply a sign of how spoiled we are by how fast the smartphone industry evolves and improves. Smartphone cameras today are significantly better than even just a couple of years ago, and I'd argue smartphones still improve at a more rapid rate than any other hardware in the consumer tech industry.
Asides from phones, I also love laptops, and AR glasses — I am a digital nomad and enjoy discovering new tools to make working on the go easier.
What was your first computer?
My first computer was a Compaq my dad purchased from Eletronic Frys in Los Angeles, but I no longer remember the model number.
Latest Articles
Boox Palma review: Palm-sized e-reader with Android is a joy to use
The Boox Palma is a phone-shaped e-reader that fits in the palm easily and runs full Android with app support
Last year I tested an Android tablet from Boox with an e-ink screen (plus an excellent keyboard folio case and stylus) that proved to be a fun little machine for reading, sketching and typing, but I thought its $599 price made it a tough sell. That same Shenzhen-based company is back with a less ambitious e-ink device that is much smaller and more affordable. While it no longer has that great keyboard or stylus support, the Boox Palma is a more practical reading device, but the price is still perhaps too high.
Ugreen Nexode 300W 5-Port Charger review: A single charger for all your devices
The Nexode 300W charger is a bulky charging base with four USB-C ports and a USB-A that can output a combined 300W of power.
Ugreen is one of the most reputable makers of chargers and docks, and my colleague Brady Snyder recently tested its "Nexode" series of compact yet powerful wall chargers. Ugreen basically has a charging brick for every power level — 160W, 100W, 65W — and each of those chargers is much smaller in size than other chargers with the same power output. In fact, for short work trips when I try to pack as light as possible, I usually bring just a single Ugreen 100W charger for all my charging needs.
MacBook Air (M3, 15-inch, 2024) review: The Goldilocks laptop size
The 15-inch MacBook Air offers an immersive large screen experience while keeping a slim and light(er) body than the MacBook Pro
I am what one would call a "digital nomad," and I've been using a 16-inch MacBook Pro as my main work machine for the past five years. These machines were/are absolute beasts that enabled me to make a living writing words, editing photos, and producing videos on-the-go, from tradeshow floors to coffee shops, airport lounges to capsule hotels.
Ikko ActiveBuds review: The case is a tiny Android phone, but why?
The charging case of the ActiveBuds do far more than charging. It's practically a mini Android phone
I've been testing wireless earbuds since the earliest days, back when a German start-up named Bragi was making waves with its pioneering Dash earbuds, back when people on Twitter were openly skeptical about whether AirPods would actually be practical. During that 2015-2016 era, wireless earbuds came in all shapes and sizes — and also with a lot of compromises, like unstable connectivity, sub-par audio quality, etc.
XDA's Best of MWC 2024 Awards: The best gadgets from the show
From crazy concepts to impressive technology, this year's MWC had it all.
Mobile World Congress (MWC) is a massive technology event that takes place every year in the city of Barcelona. Thousands of people go there to take a glimpse at the latest and greatest tech being launched, and we attended to get some hands-on time with some of the best out there. Some of these are concepts that you can't buy, some of these are products that you can buy today, but all of them deserve a place on our list of the best products available at the show this year.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. OnePlus 12 camera shootout: Which 2024 Android flagship has the best optics?
The two newest Android flagships bring capable camera systems. We put them to the test.
OnePlus stole a lot of thunder from Samsung last fall, when its foldable phone, the Open, was generally considered to be better than the Galaxy Z Fold 5 by most tech publications, including XDA. Can the OnePlus 12 do the same to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, particular in the all-important camera area? Samsung is leaning heavily into AI features this year, offering just a new 5X zoom lens along with older sensors, while OnePlus did what it always does and chased new hardware with gaudy numbers.
Best phones in 2024
Want a new smartphone and are overwhelmed with options? Here's our expert guide on the best smartphone for you.
2024 is off to an exciting start as we already have a handful of new smartphones that are competing for the top spots in our list of favorite phones. Samsung and OnePlus have launched their new flagships for 2024 in the U.S., bringing some meaningful upgrades over their predecessors from 2023. We're just getting started, though, and we have plenty of phones to look forward to throughout the year from the likes of Motorola, Apple, and others. We've already updated this roundup to include some newer options, but we'll continue updating it as more phones appear on our testbench. We here at XDA test almost every smartphone released to the public, so you can count on this roundup to find the right phone that suits your budget and needs. Let's dive in!
OnePlus Watch 2 review: The rare WearOS watch with good battery life
The OnePlus Watch 2 fixes the biggest issue of the first watch — by running WearOS, it finally has access to Google services that most rely on
When OnePlus launched its first smartwatch three years ago, the company chose not to run Google's WearOS platform due to battery life concerns, instead opting for a custom-built lightweight OS called RTOS (Real-time OS). And indeed, the original OnePlus Watch offered nearly double-digit battery life on a single charge, but without Google's platform, the OnePlus Watch had almost no meaningful app support.
TCL RayNeo X2 review: A first step towards true AR glasses, but still work to do
The RayNeo X2 are truly wireless glasses that can project visual overlay onto the real world and give you surprisingly smart AI help
TCL's subsidiary brand RayNeo has released several capable smartglasses in the past couple of years, including the excellent Air 2. But the company's latest X2, which was teased over a year ago at 2023's CES, is finally ready for mass release. Well, almost ready, because RayNeo is launching it via the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform first, though company reps say it will be sold in stores later.
Ray-Ban Meta review: Actually useful smart glasses that look good too
The Ray-Ban Meta are smart glasses with a camera and some AI voice assistant capabilities. It's not as ambitious as others but is more practical
If there's one consistent rule in consumer tech, it's that the second generation of a new product category is always much better than the first, with some improvements so obvious that they make you wonder how you put up with the gen-one version in the first place. The second iPhone offered much faster network connectivity and GPS when the first one had neither; and the second Galaxy Fold made the original look like a fragile toy upon release.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Google Pixel 8 Pro camera shootout: The two AI-enhanced camera phones
Samsung's new phone introduces a lot of new features that are already in the Pixel 8 Pro, and some are camera-driven. How do they compare?
Samsung's new Galaxy S24 Ultra is all in on artificial this year, including a lot of generative AI features. This puts it closest to the Google Pixel 8 Pro in terms of feature-set. Both phones have a 5X Periscope camera, and both claim to use machine learning to handle a lot of image processing. Both can also do generative AI photo editing if you're not happy with the shot. Considering these are the two most well established Android phones worldwide right now, we figured it's time for a camera comparison to see which one reigns supreme in the Android space (in the US).
Best Android phones in 2024
Need a new phone? Look no further than this selection of best Android phones you should buy, including the best from Google, Samsung and more!
2023 was a pretty good year for smartphone enthusiasts, as we saw more than a few excellent phones landing on the market. But if you skipped the previous generation of Android phones and were eagerly waiting to see all the new releases in 2024, then now is your time to shine. We're just a little over a month into 2024, but we already have some really good phones on the market from the likes of Samsung and OnePlus, with more on the way.
iPhone 15 Pro Max vs S24 Ultra camera shootout: Closer than ever before
The iPhone 15 Pro Max improved its zoom lens, while S24 Ultra improved its video performance and color tuning
Comparing the two alpha dog flagships from Apple and Samsung is a must-do exercise for any tech reviewer, because they're the two most widely available, mainstream phones in the world. But this year, the competition is perhaps more apt because both phones made similar changes to optics. Both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra gained a new 5X zoom lens, and both phones' software overhauled image processing, addressing prior complaints. They are certainly among the best camera phones (and best phones in general) on the market right now, so let's take a deeper dive with a good old-fashioned camera shootout.
OnePlus 12R review: Best value phone in America right now
The OnePlus 12R is a $500 phone that can be easily had for $400, and it offers flagship display, large battery and near-flagship processor too
OnePlus' R series has been selling in India the past few years as a budget version of the mainline OnePlus flagships. This year the company has decided to bring the R series to North America (and Europe) to a western audience, and I think the value proposition OnePlus is offering is going to impress a lot of people, provided they give this phone a look, because it's not available for purchase via carriers, which is going to be a hurdle in North America.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Get a different phone instead
The Galaxy S24 Plus is not a bad phone at all, it's fine. But it just does not improve enough to justify the $1,000 price.
Samsung's Galaxy S24 series this year is trying to sell you almost entirely on new software features. And while the phones' generative AI features are genuinely useful — I use circle to search a dozen times a day, and on-device interpreter mode has saved me from a couple of miscommunications during taxi rides during travels — none of these features are actually exclusive to the S24 series, or even Samsung devices for that matter.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review: The most feature-packed, do-it-all phone in the world
The Galaxy S24 Ultra's new AI features along with (slightly) improved camera system and build make for the most maximal, do-it-all phone
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a paradox. It is at once the smallest and biggest mobile upgrade for Samsung in years. If I go through the list of hardware upgrades over last year's S23 Ultra, I could do it with one hand. But the new generative AI features are not just fun to play with, but genuinely useful in real world use, and at times, it does indeed feel like this device is the first step into a new era of computing.
The OnePlus Open stole a lot of thunder from the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 last fall, being named the "best foldable phone of 2023" by our team at XDA, our sister site Android Police, and perhaps the most famous phone reviewer in the world, Marques Brownlee. Can the OnePlus newest slab flagship do the same to the recently launched Galaxy S24 series?
Samsung Galaxy S24 series hands-on: The AI stuff really works
Samsung’s brand new Galaxy S24 series gets some improvements, but they're mostly all on the inside
Samsung's flagship Galaxy S24 series has just been unveiled, and as has been teased for a few weeks, the phones are all about new generative artificial intelligence features. I got to try all three phones for a couple hours ahead of the launch, and I have mixed feelings.
The OnePlus Open has the best multitasking system I’ve ever used on any phone or tablet
Open Canvas, as OnePlus calls it, is the most dynamic and intuitive multitasking system I've used, and I want it on all my other computing devices
I'm not sure if the OnePlus Open has sold enough units to make a dent in Samsung's foldable market share since not having carrier subsidies in North America is an obstacle, but it sure has stolen most of the thunder from Samsung on the critical front. I don't have an exact stat, but the OnePlus Open seems to have been hailed as the best foldable phone of 2023 by every tech publication or tech reviewer peer I've come across. And it's well deserved: Not only does the Open have objectively superior displays and camera hardware than rival foldables from Samsung and Google, but it also has arguably the best foldable software.
Ugreen Revodok 10-in-1 USB-C Hub review: One dongle to do it all
Ugreen’s USB-C dongle adds a bunch of extra ports that are both useful and usless to your tablets or laptops
Ugreen has been making some excellent USB-C docking stations and dongles lately — my colleague Brady loved the company's dock for the Steam Deck — and I can say I have found its "Revodok 210 Pro" 10-in-1 dongle very useful too, especially since I have spent all of December jumping from one city to another, working entirely off portable computers that are lacking in ports.