Moto E Review

Motorola Moto E review: Price

The Moto G set a new benchmark for budget smartphones with its outrageous price of just £135. Well Motorola has managed to hit an even lower price point with the Moto E which it hopes will 'end the feature phone'. You will only need to pay £89 to get your hands on a Moto E, unlocked and without a contract. That's an amazingly low price which is dirt cheap rather than even budget.There are downgrades, of course, when compared to the Moto G so read on to find out what they are and what we think of the Moto E.

Motorola Moto E review: Design and build

The Moto E looks very much like the Moto G, and the Moto X for that matter. It has the same curved rear cover and what Motorola describes as an 'edge-to-edge' display. However, there is a bit of a bezel on either side of the screen so we don't totally agree with that.

The look is simple and uncomplicated and we like that. It's just sometimes difficult to remember which way up the device goes because of its symmetrical shape. It's slightly odd that the ear piece at the top is smaller than the combined mic and speaker at the bottom. That's no big deal but dirt does tend to collect in these.

Nevertheless, the Moto E is like a nice little smartphone with its pebble-like shape and feel. It's fits neatly into the hand and is easy to use one handed. It's not the thinnest smartphone around at 12.3mm but who cares? It's also no heavier than the Moto G at a shade over 140g.Motorola has decided to offer both a black and white facia with the interchangeable shells other cases for the rear. The Moto Shell for the Moto E will come in nine different colours.

Although the rear cover does come off, you can't access the battery. You only need to remove it to insert or remove your SIM- or memory card.For just £89, the Moto E is well built and feels a fair bit more expensive than the price tag suggests it will. It's very much the feeling we get from the Moto G, so well done Motorola.

Motorola Moto E review: Hardware and specs

At that mega low price, it's no surprise that the Moto E has a less impressive spec than the Moto G. However, you might be surprised at just the kind of spec you get for your money.It's got a slightly smaller screen than the Moto G at 4.3in compared to 4.5 and a slightly lower resolution too. But qHD (540x960) on a phone this cheap is a rather impressive feature and means a pixel density of 256ppi.

Under the covers is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 chip, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor which is coupled with 1GB of RAM. Handling graphics is an Adreno 302, a 400MHz single-core GPU according to Motorola's spec sheet.

Once again going back to the price, this is impressive and the performance of the phone is generally very good. You do get the occasional sign of lag, but most of the time the Moto E is smooth and can switch between apps quickly. Part of the performance is down to the fact Motorola keeps things as simple as possible on the software front with stock Android (see software below).

Our benchmark result from Geekbench 3 and SunSpider don't make for very impressive reading at 608 (multi-core) – the kind of single-core score we expect from top-end smartphone – and 1877ms. Web browsing is quite jerky and the phone takes a couple of seconds to zoom in when you double tap.

Moving onto graphics and the Moto E surprised us with 11fps in the T-Rex GFXBench test which is just shy of the far more expensive Huawei Ascend P7 and the same result as the Moto G. In the extremely demanding Manhattan test, the Moto E managed to match last year's flagship HTC One with 5fps.

There's just 4GB of internal storage which isn't much at all but pretty standard for a really cheap phone. When you consider the operating system, there's about 1.5GB free for apps, games and media. However, Motorola has made sure that users can add more by way of a microSD card slot which can handle up to 32GB. It would be wise to order a memory card with the phone.

There's little else to talk about in terms of hardware because, unsurprisingly, the Moto E is a fairly basic smartphone. It has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (4.0 Low Energy) and GPS but nothing fancier. The device is limited to 3G mobile networks so if you want 4G on a budget, take a look at the new Moto G 4G or EE Kestrel.

Motorola Moto E review: Camera

There's no front facing camera but at the rear is a 5Mp which is the same resolution as the Moto G but the LED flash is no more. The Moto E takes reasonable photos and videos but only in good conditions and even then, they're nothing special. See our test images below and click to see them full-size.

It's impressive that the phone has an HDR mode – which is on auto by default. There's also a panorama mode but little else to mention of in the basic camera app which takes a photo when you touch the screen. However, you can switch on a mode which gives you a bracket which can be dragged around the screen to choose the focus point. Unfortunately, it's not really capable of getting anything close to it in focus so no macro shots here.

Moto E camera test - without HDR

Moto E camera test - with HDR

Motorola Moto E review: Software

Motorola prides itself on giving uses the latest software. The Moto G and Moto X have 88- and 91 percent adoption for the newest version of Android so it's no surprise that the Moto E comes pre-loaded with 4.4 KitKat.

It's important to note that Motorola is guaranteeing an upgrade to the next major version of Android for the Moto E. Motorola's T&Cs state "The device will receive at least one software update to bring it up to date with the current KitKat 4.4.3 operating system."

As we mentioned earlier, Motorola keeps things simple on the software front with a plain version of KitKat. As usual it does include some of its own software but the firm doesn't go over the top. This is great and keeps things nice and simple for users, providing a sort of blank canvas.

The Moto E comes with existing Motorola apps such as Motorola Migrate, Motorola Assist, the firm's camera software and an FM radio app.

A new app, which will be exclusive on the Moto E initially, is Motorola Alert (above). This can let people know you've arrived safely somewhere, you can use it to help meet a friend and there's an emergency mode for, well, emergencies. It could be handy for some users but isn't exactly a deal breaker for us.

Motorola Moto E review: Battery life

The Moto E has a 7.3Wh (1980mAh) battery which is only marginally smaller in capacity to the Moto G's. Once again it's non-removable despite the rear cover being the opposite.

Motorola says the smartphone will last a day and we can vouch that it does. Most users will have to charge the device every night unless they are a particularly light user – ie someone not playing games and checking social networks regularly.

There's just the basic Android battery saver which will restrict background data when the juice is running low.

10 Things You Don't Know About Albert Einstein

Most people know that Albert Einstein was a famous scientist who came up with the formula E=mc2. But do you know these ten things about this genius?

1. Loved to Sail
When Einstein attended college at the Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, he fell in love with sailing. He would often take a boat out onto a lake, pull out a notebook, relax, and think. Even though Einstein never learned to swim, he kept sailing as a hobby throughout his life.

2. Einstein's Brain
When Einstein died in 1955, his body was cremated and his ashes scattered, as was his wish. However, before his body was cremated, pathologist Thomas Harvey at Princeton Hospital conducted an autopsy in which he removed Einstein's brain. Rather than putting the brain back in the body, Harvey decided to keep it, ostensibly for study. Harvey did not have permission to keep Einstein's brain, but days later, he convinced Einstein's son that it would help science. Shortly thereafter, Harvey was fired from his position at Princeton because he refused to give up Einstein's brain.

For the next four decades, Harvey kept Einstein's chopped-up brain (Harvey had it cut into over 200 pieces) in two mason jars with him as he moved around the country. Every once in a while, Harvey would slice off a piece and send it to a researcher. Finally, in 1998, Harvey returned Einstein's brain to the pathologist at Princeton Hospital.

3. Einstein and the Violin
Einstein's mother, Pauline, was an accomplished pianist and wanted her son to love music too, so she started him on violin lessons when he was six years old. Unfortunately, at first, Einstein hated playing the violin. He would much rather build houses of cards, which he was really good at (he once built one 14 stories high!), or do just about anything else. When Einstein was 13-years old, he suddenly changed his mind about the violin when he heard the music of Mozart. With a new passion for playing, Einstein continued to play the violin until the last few years of his life. For nearly seven decades, Einstein would not only use the violin to relax when he became stuck in his thinking process, he would play socially at local recitals or join in impromptu groups such as Christmas carolers who stopped at his home.

4. Presidency of Israel
A few days after Zionist leader and first President of Israel Chaim Weizmann died on November 9, 1952, Einstein was asked if he would accept the position of being the second president of Israel. Einstein, age 73, declined the offer. In his official letter of refusal, Einstein stated that he not only lacked the "natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people," but also, he was getting old.

5. No Socks
Part of Einstein's charm was his disheveled look. In addition to his uncombed hair, one of Einstein's peculiar habits was to never wear socks. Whether it was while out sailing or to a formal dinner at the White House, Einstein went without socks everywhere. To Einstein, socks were a pain because they often would get holes in them. Plus, why wear both socks and shoes when one of them would do just fine?

6. A Simple Compass
When Albert Einstein was five years old and sick in bed, his father showed him a simple pocket compass. Einstein was mesmerized. What force exerted itself on the little needle to make it point in a single direction? This question haunted Einstein for many years and has been noted as the beginning of his fascination with science.

7. Designed a Refrigerator
Twenty-one years after writing his Special Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein invented a refrigerator that operated on alcohol gas. The refrigerator was patented in 1926 but never went into production because new technology made it unnecessary. Einstein invented the refrigerator because he read about a family that was poisoned by a sulphur dioxide-emitting refrigerator.

8. Obsessed Smoker
Einstein loved to smoke. As he walked between his house and his office at Princeton, one could often see him followed by a trail of smoke. Nearly as part of his image as his wild hair and baggy clothes was Einstein clutching his trusty briar pipe. In 1950, Einstein is noted as saying, "I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs," Although he favored pipes, Einstein was not one to turn down a cigar or even a cigarette.

9. Married His Cousin
After Einstein divorced his first wife, Mileva Maric, in 1919, he married his cousin, Elsa Loewenthal (nee Einstein). How closely were they related? Quite close. Elsa was actually related to Albert on both sides of his family. Albert's mother and Elsa's mother were sisters, plus Albert's father and Elsa's father were cousins. When they were both little, Elsa and Albert had played together; however, their romance only began once Elsa had married and divorced Max Loewenthal.

10. An Illegitimate Daughter
In 1901, before Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric were married, the college sweethearts took a romantic getaway to Lake Como in Italy. After the vacation, Mileva found herself pregnant. In that day and age, illegitimate children were not uncommon and yet they were also not accepted by society. Since Einstein did not have the money to marry Maric nor the ability to support a child, the two were not able to get married until Einstein got the patent job over a year later. So as not to besmirch Einstein's reputation, Maric went back to her family and had the baby girl, whom she named Lieserl.

Although we know that Einstein knew about his daughter, we don't actually know what happened to her. There are but just a few references of her in Einstein's letters, with the last one in September 1903. It is believed that Lieserl either died after suffering from scarlet fever at an early age or she survived the scarlet fever and was given up for adoption. Both Albert and Mileva kept the existence of Lieserl so secret that Einstein scholars only discovered her existence in recent years.

Google Glass Review

No gadget has captured the public imagination quite like Google Glass. When it arrived at Mobile Choice Towers, complete with the new Google-designed frame and lenses, there wasn’t a single employee who didn’t want to have a go. Without exception, Glass gets this reaction everywhere it goes - and for good reason. A device which is worn on your face, is controlled by voice and projects its interface into the user’s right eye through a prism deserves attention.

What does Glass actually do?

Turn it on, adjust the hinged prism so the projected interface appears comfortably in your field of vision, tap the touch panel by your right temple and you’re ready to go. Glass runs a heavily modified and simplified version of Android KitKat - but you’d never know, because the interface is little more than a carousel of Google Now-style cards.

Each card represents something you have done recently with Glass, such as photos taken with the 5-megapixel camera, walking or public transit directions, emails, text messages to your Bluetooth-connected smartphone and more.

But Glass is all about the voice commands, so stay on the home screen (which shows nothing but the time) and say “ok Glass”. This is the phrase used to get Glass’ attention, which then serves up a list of suggestions for what to say next, such as “take a picture,” “record a video,” “get directions to…,” “call,” “send a message to…,” and many others.

Glass can understand a wide range of accents and isn’t distracted by background noise - although talking to Glass on a busy bus might raise a few eyebrows. A problem - and I use that word reluctantly, given this is a prototype and not on sale to the general public - is that Glass can get confused over who is talking to it. Stand near the wearer, say “ok Glass” and you have control. Similarly, when dictating a text message or email, Glass occasionally confused my voice for that of someone else in the office.

Getting Glass to take a photo or find directions to the nearest pub feels like pure science-fiction. It’s almost the same as asking your phone to do it, but seeing a map floating in your field of vision, rotating as you turn, is on an entirely different level compared to looking at your phone.

What does it look like?

Firstly, Glass’ interface does not fill your entire field of vision. This isn’t really a head-up display - instead, the projected image is something close to holding a smartphone about a foot away from your right eye. What you see is transparent - making it difficult to see clearly when you look at a bright light - but beautifully sharp and easy to read in the right light. Looking up and to the right feels (and certainly looks) unnatural, but you get used to it after a few hours. No one would read a book with Glass, and although there is a web browser, it is fiddly to use and, again, this isn’t the place to read anything longer than a short email.

What Glass aims to do is get out of your way, acting as a tool to discreetly notify you of incoming messages and the like without you needing to reach for your phone. To that extent, Glass works perfectly. Wearing Glass in the office I would be alerted to incoming texts and emails with a sound through the bone-conduction speaker, followed by the message appearing. It’s super simple, and while it isn’t necessarily better than looking at your phone to check the same thing, it works well as a hands-free alternative.

For now, what Glass can do is very limited. Google has created the product and offloaded the work to developers, who have each paid $1,500 (£890) for Glass and spent the last few months creating applications for it. Some of these have the potential to become successful businesses - but only if the production version of Glass is a success.

Lenses bring Glass into focus

When Glass went on sale to developers a year ago its name wasn’t entirely accurate. There may be some glass in the prism, but the device beared very little resemblance to a pair of glasses. To address this, and help make Glass more socially acceptable - as well as an appealing gadget to glasses wearers - Google has designed a number of frames.

The Glass I borrowed came with the ‘Thin’ frames - one of four different styles available to all Glass owners, or ‘Explorers’ as Google calls them. My Glass came with plain lenses, but it is possible to fit prescription and/or tinted lenses for those who need them.

Swapping the titanium band and nose rest for a proper frame transforms Glass from a device that would look most at home on the set of the new Star Wars film, to a gadget that is not only recognisable as a pair of glasses, but a stylish pair of glasses at that.

Google still has a long way to go before Glass looks ‘normal’, but by striking a deal with Luxottica Group - the company behind Oakley and Ray-Ban - it is at least heading in the right direction, and the intention is clear. Google wants Glass to be a mainstream success, not merely a niche product owned by a geeky few.

I can’t emphasis enough how much of a difference adding a conventional frame and lenses makes to Glass. During my three days with Glass I couldn’t help but pick it up, examine every detail and, most importantly, wear it. I used Glass for hours at a time and, although I’ve never worn glasses, I got used to it resting on my face. The main unit does obscure your right eye slightly, but just as you get used to smartphones with smaller or larger screens, you get used to Glass.

But do I actually need Glass?

No. Glass is undeniably a beautiful and revolutionary piece of technology. To anyone who is vaguely interested in gadgets, Glass is simply irresistible. Everyone wants to try it and everyone wants a photo of them wearing it. But, for now, Glass does little to actually improve your life. It isn’t a gimmick - that would be unfair, considering the obvious work Google has put in here - but there isn’t yet an obvious reason to buy one. Yes, it looks cool, but no, I’m not sure I would ever feel comfortable wearing it in public. Google has a chicken-and-egg problem – everyone likes Glass, but no one will buy it and wear it until everyone else is wearing one.

Glass is fun to show off to friends and colleagues, and receiving notifications on it feels more natural than checking your phone, but it needs to do an awful lot more. A smartphone has a primary use - it’s a phone and a means of contacting someone - but Glass doesn’t. It’s a device which compliments something we already have. It needs a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection to function, its battery life will struggle to get through a single day, and at $1,500 the current model (still a prototype, remember) is very expensive.

Developers have already shown how Glass can be used by surgeons, pilots and athletes alike, but Joe Public still needs convincing if Glass is going to be anything more than a niche product aimed at specific roles in a select few industries.

Google says a new version of Glass will be sold to the public later this year. It is expected to cost much less than the current model, while featuring improved specifications and a wider range of features. Only then will we know if Google’s massive wearable gamble has paid off - for now Glass remains a product admired by the many, but genuinely useful to the very few.

25 Things you Might Not Know About Friends

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Exactly ten years after the Friends finale, here's a look back at the series that helped getmental_floss off the ground.

1. THE SHOW WAS ORIGINALLY CALLED INSOMNIA CAFÉ ... AND A BUNCH OF OTHER THINGS.

In the early '90s, the creators of Friends, David Crane and Marta Kauffman, wrote a seven-page pitch for Insomnia Café. In addition to the different title, the plot itself was quite different from what we know as Friends. For example, Ross and Rachel weren't the key relationship. Instead, Joey and Monica were supposed to be love interests.

After NBC bought the pilot, the title became Friends Like Us. NBC president Warren Littlefield came up with another title that was also considered, Across the Hall. By the time they shot it, the title had switched again to Six of One. When the show premiered on September 22, 1994, they had finally landed on simply Friends.

2. THE CAST COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH DIFFERENT.

With a cast of six people, it’s not a surprise that many different actors were considered for each role. For example, Kathy Griffin and Jane Lynch actually became friends after meeting while both were auditioning for the part of Phoebe.

Both Jon Favreau and Jon Cryer were considered for the role of Chandler before it went to Matthew Perry. And Perry almost didn’t get the gig either. During the 1994 pilot season, he filmed the pilot for a show called LAX 2194 in addition to Friends. The show would have been about baggage handlers at LAX who sorted aliens’ luggage. Thankfully, it wasn’t picked up, and Perry was able to take the Friends gig.

Before the show premiered, Courteney Cox was probably the most famous cast member. She was known for many commercials plus Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” music video. The Friends producers originally asked her to play Rachel, but she requested the role of Monica because she liked the “strong” character.

3. THE ROLE OF ROSS WAS WRITTEN FOR DAVID SCHWIMMER.

This may come as a surprise because Eric McCormack, the Will of Will & Grace, made news when he said that he auditioned “two or three times” for Ross. But, executive producer Kevin Bright had worked with Schwimmer before, so the writers were already developing Ross’s character in Schwimmer’s voice. And indeed, Schwimmer was the first person cast on the show.

4. THE OPENING CREDITS WERE SHOT AT WARNER BROS STUDIO, NOTGRAMERCY PARK OR CENTRAL PARK.

Don’t let your NYC tour guide trick you into thinking that you’re looking at the fountain from the iconic opening credits featuring “I’ll Be There for You” by The Rembrandts. Unless you’ve brought your tour guide with you to Burbank for some reason. Although the fountain looks a lot like Pulitzer Fountain in Central Park, the actual shoot occurred on a Warner Bros. lot.

5. THE CAST WENT ON A VEGAS TRIP BEFORE THE SHOW AIRED.

Director James Burrows, who went on to direct a handful of episodes for the show between 1995 and 1997, brought the six cast members to Vegas because he “had a feeling about the show.” While they were at Caesar’s Palace, he encouraged the group to enjoy themselves. “This is your last shot at anonymity,” he told them. “Once the show comes on the air, you guys will never be able to go anywhere without being hounded.”

Friends fans might remember Caesar’s Palace as the place Ross and Rachel got married on a whim in the fifth season finale.

6. LISA KUDROW HATED PLAYING GUITAR AT FIRST.

Kudrow later recalled, “I didn’t like the guitar. I wasn’t getting it. So I think I even asked, ‘What if she plays the bongos?’” They ended up bringing a guitar teacher in, but that didn’t last long. Kudrow learned a couple of chords, then announced that she was done with the lessons. She decided that Phoebe would only know a handful of chords anyway. And thank goodness because “Smelly Cat” is perfect just the way it is.

7. MONICA WAS AN EARLY MENTAL_FLOSS FAN.

In the 2003 episode "The One With the Soap Opera Party," Monica is shown casually reading a new magazine called mental_floss in Central Perk. We really owe David Arquette a lifetime subscription, because he's the one who made it happen. "I thought it was so interesting," he told Entertainment Weekly at the time, "[so] I gave it to Courteney" for the show.

8. IT WAS FILMED IN FRONT OF A LIVE AUDIENCE—EXCEPT FOR CLIFFHANGERS.

Shooting an episode of Friends was a lengthy process, typically lasting five hours, with multiple takes per scene and 20 minutes between scenes to change sets. Still, the show was filmed in front of a live audience made up of 300 fans. And that’s the way the cast preferred it. “It’s kind of like a test to see if the material works, if the jokes work, if the story tracks,” said LeBlanc. Perry agreed, “Our energy just elevates every time there’s an audience.”

So, what wasn’t filmed in front of a live audience? One example is the cliffhanger in the season four finale, “The One With Ross’s Wedding.” At the end of the episode, Ross is about to marry Emily, but accidentally says Rachel’s name at the altar. “We couldn’t have an audience for that,” Aniston said. “We always remove the audience for the cliffhangers because, obvious reasons, you don’t want to spoil it.”

9. MANY PEOPLE, INCLUDING LISA KUDROW, THOUGHT THAT CHANDLER WAS GAY.

Kudrow said that she was surprised to hear Perry’s interpretation of Chandler at the first table read because when she first read the script, she thought Chandler was supposed to be gay. And she wasn’t the only one. During the first few seasons of the show, many fans speculated about Chandler’s sexual orientation. In 1997, David Crane told Entertainment Weekly, “No, Chandler isn’t gay. Nor will he be gay.”

10. THEY WERE THE FIRST TV CAST TO NEGOTIATE AS A GROUP.

During the first season, they were each receiving around $22,000 per episode. But allegedly, by the second season, each actor had a slightly different salary. In 1997, all six cast members refused to work until they all earned an equal salary of $100,000 per episode. This was big news. The New York Times reported, “Stars of hit shows often threaten to boycott their series in pursuit of higher salaries. What is unusual is this cast’s effort to use solidarity as leverage.”

This negotiation worked very well. By the final season, each cast member was earning $1 million per episode.

11. THE APARTMENT NUMBERS SWITCHED DURING THE SERIES.

At the beginning of the series, Monica’s door had the number 5 on it. The producers later realized that didn’t make sense as Monica lived on a higher floor. They changed her apartment number to 20. The number on Chandler’s apartment changed as well—from 4 to 19.

12. PHOEBE BUFFAY’S TWIN SISTER, URSULA, WAS ALSO A CHARACTER ON MAD ABOUT YOU.

Kudrow was already playing Ursula the waitress on Mad About You when she was cast onFriends. NBC and Mad About You encouraged Kudrow to take both roles. According to her, it was the producers of Friends who decided to “address this and say they're twin sisters.” She went on to play Ursula Buffay in eight episodes of Friends as well.

13. KUDROW’S PREGNANCY WAS WRITTEN INTO THE SHOW, BUT COX’S WAS NOT.

Kudrow got pregnant with her son, Julian Murray, in 1997. Kudrow was dubious about Phoebe getting pregnant too, but the writers decided to have Phoebe act as a surrogate for her brother’s triplets. On the other hand, in the final season, Cox was pregnant with her daughter, Coco Arquette. This was not written into the show for an obvious reason: the series had already established that Chandler and Monica couldn’t have kids. So, they hid Cox’s pregnancy to the best of their abilities with costumes and props.

14. JOEY’S MAGNA DOODLE ART BECAME A JOB FOR THE CREW.  

Over the years, a few crew members were responsible for drawing on the Magna Doodle on Joey’s door. But in the later seasons, it was primarily a job for Paul Swain, who was the best boy on the electric crew.

The Magna Doodle became one of the show’s stars. It sat right in the middle of Joey’s door, so whenever a character walked through that door, the Magna Doodle was prominently displayed. Fans became obsessed with the drawings. Swain said, “They were looking for hidden meanings being given through the Magna Doodle.” You can read descriptions of every Magna Doodle drawing that appeared on the show on this Friends fansite.

15. FOR THE OPENING CREDITS IN “THE ONE AFTER VEGAS,” EVERYONE WAS GIVEN THE LAST NAME, “ARQUETTE.”

This episode was the sixth season premiere. It was also the first episode after Courteney Cox married David Arquette. In the credits, her name was switched to “Courteney Cox Arquette” and the other cast members followed suit with new names like “Jennifer Aniston Arquette,” “Lisa Kudrow Arquette,” and so on. You can see the credits above. The episode is dedicated: “For Courteney and David, who did get married.”

16. THEIR CHARACTERS MAY HAVE, BUT THE ACTORS DIDN’T ALWAYS PLAY WELL WITH ANIMALS.

It was widely publicized that Kudrow was afraid of the duck who made an appearance in season three. Before that, Ross had a pet monkey, Marcel, who was actually played by two monkeys: Monkey and Katie. Marcel was written out of the show in season two because it became too time-consuming to shoot scenes with a monkey. According to Katie’s trainer, Nerissa Politzer, Monkey was once supposed to pick up a bra, but ended up throwing it at Aniston instead. There’s also a fun blooper [at 6:20] in which Rachel is trying to explain a TV show to Marcel, but it doesn’t go so well.

17. COX AND MATTHEW PERRY CONFRONTED JUDD NELSON ON A NEARBY SOUNDSTAGE ABOUT AN ON-SET BET.

While promoting the show on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Cox told the story of an elaborate bet between her and Perry that later involved the major '80s star.

“One day I was on the set, and I was sitting around, reciting this line, like, doing this imitation of Anthony Michael Hall,” she told Leno. “He has this line in a movie. The line is, ‘Chicks cannot hold their smoke, that’s what it is.’ And Matthew Perry walks over to me and very adamantly says, ‘Oh, Weird Science.’ And I said, ‘No, Matthew, that’s The Breakfast Club.’ And he was 100 percent sure that it was Weird Science and I was 100 percent sure it was The Breakfast Club.”

More and more crew members got involved in the debate and the stakes kept rising. “We realized that Judd Nelson was over on stage 29, doing Suddenly Susan,” said Cox. “So, we ran over there and found out that yes, indeed, it was The Breakfast Club.” As for the bet, once Cox finishes telling her story to Leno, she rings a bell and Perry brings her a tissue. She tells Leno that Perry has five more months of being her “man slave.”

18. BRUCE WILLIS APPEARED ON THE SHOW FOR FREE AFTER LOSING A BET TO PERRY.

Apparently Perry was quite the gambler. He got into a debate with Willis while the two were making The Whole Nine Yards. Perry believed that the film would be number one in the box office on its opening weekend, but Willis disagreed. In February 2000, the film was number one. Willis was set to appear on Friends as the dad of Ross’s girlfriend and Rachel’s love interest. As a result of the bet, he had to donate his earnings for the guest stint to charity.

19. FOR “THE ONE WITH THE DOLLHOUSE,” THE PROPS DEPARTMENT HAD TO MAKE SIX DIFFERENT CARDBOARD DOLLHOUSES.

In the season three episode, Phoebe makes a dollhouse out of cardboard. But the dollhouse ends up catching on fire, which meant six identical ones had to be created from scratch. And in true television deadline fashion, they were put together in three days. The Friends props master, Marjorie Coster, described it as the “pièce de résistance” of the department.

20. IN “THE ONE WHERE OLD YELLER DIES,” A FEW TAKES WERE MESSED UP THANKS TO A CHATTY KID.

The plot of the episode is that Rachel hears the first word of Ross’s son, Ben. Ross is desperate to hear Ben talk again and spends the rest of the episode trying to get his son to talk. In one scene, Ross says, “It’s Ben and his Dada. Dada. Can you say ‘Dada’?” He’s supposed to be met with silence, but the child actor kept actually responding, “Dada.” Later in the series, Ben was played by Cole Sprouse, who would go on to star with his twin brother in the Disney Channel show The Suite Life with Zack & Cody.

In 2001, two of these bloopers were released on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. You can see them here [at 9:30].

21. MATTHEW PERRY STRUGGLED WITH ADDICTION DURING PRODUCTION.

In 1997, Perry went to rehab for an addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol. He went again in 2001. He later told People, “I was never high at work. I was painfully hung over. Then eventually things got so bad I couldn’t hide it and everybody knew.”

22. THE CAST HAD A HUDDLE BEFORE EVERY EPISODE.

Every week before filming commenced, the cast would get together for a moment to prepare for the show. This was the moment that David Schwimmer was dreading before the finale because he knew it would make him emotional. “I started to lose it in this ritual that we had before the show," he said, "which is just a group hug, kind of get in a little circle, right before we come out. And that was the moment I was dreading for a long time because I knew that moment of just looking at everyone in their eyes, and saying ‘Have a good show,’ and knowing that was the last time we were going to be able to be in our little circle.”

23. JENNIFER ANISTON ALMOST DIDN’T RETURN FOR THE LAST SEASON.

By the time the show ended, Aniston was arguably the most famous cast member thanks to films like The Good Girl and Bruce Almighty. Her then-husband, Brad Pitt, didn’t hurt her celebrity status either. With that fame came the rumors that she was almost responsible for the show ending prematurely. In a 2004 interview with Matt Lauer, Aniston admitted that she had hesitations. “I had a couple issues that I was dealing with,” she said. “I wanted it to end when people still loved us and we were on a high. And then I was also feeling like, ‘How much more of Rachel do I have in me?’” She eventually agreed to the final season.

24. THERE ARE CENTRAL PERK CAFÉS BASED ON THE FAMOUS COFFEEHOUSE FROM THE SHOW.

While there isn’t an actual Central Perk in New York City, the fictional café has inspired some real ones. In 2010, Friends fan Du Xin opened a Central Perk replica in downtown Beijing, which became extremely popular. Its success meant that Du Xin could later afford to reproduce Joey’s apartment next door. In 2012, another Central Perk popped up in Liverpool.

25. A REUNION ISN’T HAPPENING.

On April 21, Cox went on the Late Show with David Letterman where he asked her about the possibility of a reunion. Cox responded, “It’s not going to happen.” She went on to explain that it’s difficult enough for the six of them to get together for a cast dinner, let alone a full-fledged reunion.

Kauffman and Crane have similar views about a reunion. In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Crane said, “People say they want it, and the more that we say it’s a bad idea, people [disagree]. But I think if we actually gave it to people, there would be such backlash.”