Is the iPhone 16’s camera control button actually useful? What’s the best budget phone you can get in 2024? Will SteamOS be the future of gaming handhelds? Find out as we answer your top comments and questions with the experts at Tom’s Guide!
In our first episode of Ask TG, we’re answering your most-asked questions, from discussing the awkward spot of the Samsung S24FE and what a true budget phone should be, whether the new iPhone 16 camera control button really changes the game—or falls flat as a gimmick, and finally one of the hottest debates in gaming: is SteamOS going to be the future of handheld consoles? Tune in as our experts break down today’s biggest tech news.
In our first episode of Ask TG, we’re answering your most-asked questions, from discussing the awkward spot of the Samsung S24FE and what a true budget phone should be, whether the new iPhone 16 camera control button really changes the game—or falls flat as a gimmick, and finally one of the hottest debates in gaming: is SteamOS going to be the future of handheld consoles? Tune in as our experts break down today’s biggest tech news.
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TechTranscript
00:00Hey, welcome to our first episode of Ask TG.
00:06This is the show where I grab your top comments and questions from our recent videos and get
00:10you answers from our Tom's Guide Tech experts.
00:12I was not surprised by that at all.
00:15He could talk about this all day.
00:16I said this before and I'll say it again, I would probably buy with my own money, that
00:21would be the Pixel 8a.
00:22To your point, there's nothing better than just like using your thumb or finger to go
00:26exactly how far in you want.
00:29Got a burning question that you want us to answer, leave us a comment with the hashtag
00:32AskTG for your chance to get featured in our next episode and stay subscribed to see if
00:37you made the cut.
00:38Remember when good phones were less than $500?
00:40In our Samsung S24 FE hands-on video, a lot of you pointed out that it felt overpriced
00:46for what it offered.
00:47So what's the best bang for your buck phone that you can get today?
00:51To help answer that, I'm calling up John V. who's been reviewing these budget devices
00:54for years.
00:55Where you at?
00:56Electrify Expo.
00:58This is Jackrabbit, like 28 pounds, I want to say, super lightweight.
01:01It's a thousand bucks, but yeah, it's pretty cool.
01:04You remember when we did the S24 FE?
01:07It's kind of in like a weird spot.
01:08It's not quite premium, but it's definitely not budget either.
01:12So a lot of people were commenting and saying, look, for this price, they're expecting a
01:16lot more.
01:17If you really only had four or $500, what is the ultimate budget phone right now?
01:23I said this before, I'll say it again, I would probably buy with my own money, that would
01:27be the Pixel 8a.
01:29It's $499, so not a lot less than that price.
01:32But it has just everything that I want in a phone.
01:35You get the seven years of software support.
01:37You know, in that time period, you'll get the latest Android updates.
01:40Nice design, good battery life, excellent cameras, although it's kind of minor upgrades.
01:45And I know it doesn't have a telephoto camera, I guess, but it has the ultrawide.
01:50That's a good enough main camera, you could crop it, you could do a zoom, at least two
01:53times zoom's great.
01:54AI, I think, is a big component of it, not the stuff like the summarization, the summary,
02:00the writing tools.
02:01What's going to be like the deciding factor between, maybe I'm happy enough with that
02:04$400 or $500 phone, whether it's the Pixel 8a or something similar, or do I want to go
02:09up to the next step and spend maybe $8, $9, maybe even $1,000 on a phone?
02:14Since I'm great with cameras, I'm very confident taking photos, great video, it's about creativity.
02:20I just need a camera that functions fine against the main stuff with the main camera.
02:24It's a matter of, if you want the best results out of the box, spend the money, but if you're
02:29willing to tweak, willing to learn, you know, make some compromises, you still have a great
02:34main camera.
02:35That's the fundamental thing.
02:36I still think the $500 Pixel 8a is a great deal.
02:39If anyone wants to learn more about either the Pixel 8a or other budget phones that they
02:43should check out, do you have any good videos or articles on that?
02:47Yeah, we've done, you know, the videos on the Pixel 8a, also the Nuffin Phone 2a, a
02:52really nice design, and that's a perfect example because a lot of these budget phones under
02:56$500 tend to feel and look kind of cheap, but nowadays they're bridging that gap where
03:02they can look really stylish, really cool, so the Nuffin Phone 2a, you can read the review
03:07on our website, we also have videos on it on the channel, obviously the iPhone SE, but
03:11hopefully they come out with a new one.
03:12Next up, the iPhone 16, and yeah, let's be honest, like a lot of you, I wasn't that
03:17impressed with this year's releases.
03:19Performance, screen sizes, and even the cameras were all a marginal upgrade, but nothing that
03:24made me jump out of my seat.
03:25But there was one surprise.
03:26Apple introduced a new camera control button on the bottom right-hand side.
03:31It's for quick access to your settings and shooting modes, and even though I've been
03:34using this for a few weeks, I'm honestly still a little bit confused and underwhelmed, but
03:38let's see what Mark, who's been reviewing this for a little bit longer, thinks.
03:43A little jazz music.
03:45Okay.
03:46Technical difficulties.
03:48I might be in the minority here, but I felt like Apple's announcement of the new camera
03:53control button would be a little bit more exciting when I got my hands on it.
03:57Maybe it came down to seeing them using it in the weekend's music video, I'm like, wow,
04:02I can finally get these shots a little bit faster or change the controls in ways that
04:06I wasn't able to before, but can I just do everything that this button is supposed to
04:10do on the touch screen faster?
04:41I wouldn't mind having more options, but I feel like just making it more of a power feature
04:48I think could help, but ultimately it's like a novelty, and I feel like it could wear off
04:53unless they really figure out a way to make it more compelling.
04:56So before I leave you, is there any other iPhone 16 content that you're working on that,
05:01you know, can maybe give us a little bit more insight on this?
05:03We're definitely going to be doing like follow-ups and like face-offs with other devices, and
05:08we're also looking towards the Galaxy S25 launch early next year, but I think it's interesting
05:13that like just coming back from full circle, the camera control is available on all four
05:18models.
05:19They were that confident that it would be a hit, but right now there's more backlash
05:23than praise.
05:24Now, let's talk gaming handhelds.
05:26You guys know this is one of my favorite topics, especially after all the tech takedown videos
05:30Tony and I have done together.
05:32For me, it's the ASUS ROG Ally, the original one that's been the best value performance
05:36pick for over a year, but there's just one big issue, and as Tony likes to point out,
05:41it's Windows 11.
05:42It absolutely sucks on these handhelds.
05:44So could SteamOS, the operating system found on the Steam Deck, that's rumored to be coming
05:47to non-Steam devices like this, be the fix that we've been looking for?
05:52Let's find out.
05:53Tony, Tony, Tony, I see one controller over there.
05:57That's like perfect for today's topic.
05:59Of course.
06:00Yeah, that's how it is.
06:01What is that?
06:02A PS5 controller?
06:03Yeah, PS5 controller.
06:04I purposely set that one aside because it has like stick drifts, so I'm like, let me
06:07not use that one.
06:08Well, speaking of controllers, I'm talking about a handheld gaming controller.
06:12SteamOS might be coming to all gaming handhelds.
06:15So it's not just going to be exclusive to Steam Deck, your favorite handheld.
06:19Whenever we've done our tech takedowns, whenever we've done our reviews, what was the first
06:23thing that you always say?
06:25I always said Steam Deck is the best because, oh, you're pointing back at the camera, it's
06:29always the best because of the OS, it's just easy to use.
06:34You don't have to like go through Windows and all that.
06:36Windows 11 sucks.
06:37Yeah, Windows 11 is crap and I always said I would love it if we had hardware like found
06:42on the ROG Ally or ROG Ally X in this case with SteamOS.
06:46So when I heard that news, I was excited, I'm like, yes, yes, this is exactly what we
06:51need.
06:52But just the fact that you can just navigate through your gaming library so easily and
06:56the fact that it's just integrated right there, that makes a big difference.
06:59Like when you have to sign into all these like gaming launchers and stuff on other handhelds,
07:04it can be a pain.
07:05But you don't have to do that with SteamOS.
07:06You sign into your Steam account and you're good.
07:08So that'll be a big benefit right there.
07:10But I'm curious to see how they're going to implement it on third party hardware.
07:15I don't know if you read, I think it was Jason who recently did an article on this where
07:19he put Linux on this.
07:21Conclusion with his article was it was like 10 or 15% better performance.
07:27Yeah, better performance, better battery life.
07:29Oh, big shock.
07:30You remove Windows 11 and the handhelds work better.
07:34I was not surprised by that at all.
07:36He could talk about this all day.
07:38I think it was like 15 to 30% better performance and better battery life.
07:42Like, yeah, I'm surprised by that.
07:44No, I'm not.
07:45Obviously, I'm not.
07:46Because again, Windows 11 is the problem.
07:48Before I let you go, are you working on any other gaming handheld content?
07:52Like anything cool on the horizon that we should keep an eye out for?
07:55Acer, the rumor to be coming out with something.
07:59I know Lenovo is also coming out with an update.
08:02And we've also heard Phil Spencer talking very well about the ROG Allies.
08:07I'm like, is Xbox going to have one?
08:09I don't know.
08:10So I think the future is pretty bright when it comes to handhelds.
08:12There's a lot of options.
08:13That means you and I are going to be very busy with handheld videos.
08:16Yeah, I think so.
08:17Hey, but no complaints there.
08:18And finally, it's time for some quick replies.
08:20These are some of my favorite comments or questions from videos that I hosted recently.
08:24Can I have the DJI Avada 2?
08:25You mean both, dude.
08:26I want one.
08:27I don't have it.
08:28I had to send it back after I finished that review.
08:29It was a great drone, super, super fun to fly.
08:33You know what, dude?
08:34Send me your address and I'll have DJI send you one right away.
08:36Just got the Pro.
08:37It sucks.
08:38I hope they fix the bugs in it.
08:40If you turn the always on display off, Siri won't respond unless you go under settings
08:45and turn on Siri always listen.
08:47It doesn't make sense.
08:48Yeah.
08:49If your display isn't on, the phone isn't going to know that it needs to respond to
08:52you unless you turn on always listening.
08:54I mean, aside from the fact that Siri itself might not necessarily work, it's at least
08:58going to listen and hear you say, hey.
09:02So not a big deal.
09:03I mean, just do it once, dude.
09:04And it works.
09:05And finally, on my last Osmo Pocket 3 video, is the Osmo Pocket 3 worth getting compared
09:10to the Insta360 S?
09:13Having a 360 camera can be very cool for certain shots.
09:17Sometimes for vlogging and just like capturing like a day in your life, they're still not
09:20as sharp as compared to the DJI Osmo Pocket.
09:23You're not draining your phone's battery.
09:24You don't need any additional attachments or hardware to make the most out of this.
09:28Both solutions are going to be great.
09:30But for me at least, and if you can relate to this, the Osmo Pocket 3 overall is the
09:34easiest to just quickly set up and get great high quality stabilized shots with the least
09:39amount of effort.
09:40There you have it.
09:41Our very first episode.
09:42Hopefully it was as much fun to watch as it was for me.
09:45This is a series that's definitely going to be fine tuned and grow over time.
09:48So if you have any suggestions, comments, or feedback or things that you want to see
09:53again, just let us know in the comments and of course, don't forget to use the hashtag
09:55AskTG to let us know what you want to see next.
09:59Follow us everywhere on socials at Tom's Guide and you can follow me to see what I'm reviewing
10:02next.
10:03Until the next one, catch you later.