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Thứ Bảy, 26 tháng 3, 2016

LG G5 Review

LG is facing a gigantic challenge in 2016. It’s launching directly against the Samsung Galaxy S7, a phone that improves on an already excellent platform to become an incredibly accomplished smartphone. To combat Samsung and the omnipresent iPhone, LG has decided to innovate and rethink how we use smartphones.


The G5 is really different. It’s a phone that has a bottom and battery that detach, allowing you to clip in new modules that give the G5 special abilities, like a better camera or higher-quality sound. It’s a small change, but damn exciting because of what it represents and what it could mean for the future.


But is the world ready for camera-enhancing modules or clip-in high-performance audio DACs?


For the G5 to be a success, people need to see the potential of the modules, but they also have to love the phone. Outshining Samsung and Apple is a gargantuan task, and LG’s out of left field. Does the G5 have what it takes to make people buy it and dive into the world of modular smartphones?


Editor’s Note: We tested a pre-production model for several days to see how the G5 performs alone, and with the CamPlus module attached. We will update this review when we receive final versions of the phone and modules.


The magic’s in the slot


LG will tell you the G5’s appeal lies inside the ‘magic slot,’ the unofficial name for the phone’s modular port. It’s located at the base of the device, and always houses the battery, which attaches to the module of your choice. On the phone’s right-hand side is a small, flush-mounted button that requires a firm press to activate. It pops the lower section of the phone out, disconnects the battery, and allows the entire module to be removed.



The battery unclips with a firm, sideways tug, and is reattached to the new module, which is slid back into the phone. It’s neat, well designed, and sensibly made. It doesn’t just unclip and let everything clatter to the floor either. You need to make the effort to pull the module free. You need a firm hand to remove the battery the mounting points, and replacing the module requires a solid final push to secure it back in place. None of these steps will be completed by accident, so the G5 won’t disassemble if you happen to look at it strangely.


However, it all feels very alien. We’re used to treating our phones like delicate little flowers, and the G5 needs some rough treatment to swap the modules. The first few times you do it, you’re going to wonder if it’s about to break. Will it? No, certainly not if you follow the instructions. Unless you drop the phone, you’ll be fine.



The amount of work, thought, effort, and commitment that has gone into creating the G5 is astonishing.



The first time we swapped modules, we were so afraid we would break the phone, that we asked another colleague, who’d had practice to do it. It took a couple rounds of swapping modules to get comfortable with the harsh tugging and pulling, and even then, it felt decidedly wrong. We can’t really imagine your average Joe swapping modules, but tech geeks will love it.


We also wish there were an easier way to swap modules, or that it each module came with its own battery, so we didn’t have to yank the battery out every time. Alternatively, keeping the battery tucked away in the back would be nice, so that swapping modules doesn’t involve any battery swapping at all. Of course, that would annoy those who want a removable battery pack.


An amazing camera that steals the show


The LG G4 and the LG V10 are two of the very best camera phones ever made, and LG hasn’t sacrificed any of that photographic prowess on the G5. The G5’s camera is absolutely fantastic, and we can’t stop taking pictures with it. The sensor is almost identical to the V10, with 16-megapixels and an f/1.8 aperture, plus laser autofocus and optical image stabilization. It also copies the V10’s dual-lens selfie cam trick, but here, the two sensors are on the back.





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The first camera provides a regular view of the world, while the second gives an expanded 135-degree wide-angle view, providing ample opportunity for creativity. They’re used independently of each other, unless you activate a special pop-out mode, where the two viewpoints are meshed together to create weird hybrids. It’s a feature that won’t be used that often, but can produce fun collages, if you’re patient.


Using the wide-angle lens is addictive. It changes the camera view completely, and changes the way you think about framing, composition, and focal points. Get it right, and the results looks superb, especially when taking pictures of vistas and wide-open spaces. There is a slight fish-eye effect to the G5’s wide-angle pictures, but again, provided you put some thought into the final image, it’s not distracting.


LG has included its incredibly easy-to-use manual mode for the G5, where ISO, shutter speed, focus, and white balance can be adjusted. It’s the most user-friendly manual mode we’ve used, and it never feels like you’re going to make a terrible mess of things when fiddling around with the settings. You’ll find yourself using it to tweak pictures rather than setting it to auto, due to its simplicity.


Low light performance is superb. Even using auto mode, it slowed the shutter speed down to a point where a tripod was needed to steady the shot and eliminate blur. Switching to manual mode compensated for the circumstances, but the picture wasn’t as good as it could have been. The software wasn’t final on the G5 we used, so we’ll update this review when we’ve used the complete version.


Zooming in on subjects is handled differently on the G5, utilizing both lenses for a fluid, more detail orientated digital zoom feature. It’s still no match for an optical zoom, and although it has a greater range than other digital zooms, the results are hardly worth the effort.


The 8-megapixel selfie camera also has a wider angle than other phones, such as the iPhone 6S Plus, and comes with an effective beauty mode for smoothing out skin tones. There’s also a fun multi-angle mode where the three lenses take a picture, which is then shown in a three-panel collage — great for showing a reaction selfie without spoiling the actual picture.The G5’s camera is a complete pleasure to use; it’s a huge selling point for the phone. It’s fun and easy to learn, and because the results are usually beautiful, you’ll want to use it more often. The wide-angle lens differentiates the phone from the competition — and is an improvement over the G4 and V10 — even if the overall picture quality and general usage is essentially the same. It’d be harsh to say it’s not a worthy upgrade from either of those two phones, given the G5’s other features.

USING THE CAMPLUS MODULE


Given how well the G5’s camera performs, you’d almost wonder why you even need the CamPlus module. However, after using an early version of the CamPlus, we can honestly say that it enhances the G5’s camera, creating even more high-quality images. The main area in which the CamPlus shines is with its zoom feature.



LG G5 Review




The module isn’t very big, even though it holds an extra battery pack to keep your phone charged while you’re off being a shutterbug. There’s a dedicated photo button, a button for recording video, and a zoom wheel. When we zoomed in on a street sign from a full, long block away in NYC with the CamPlus, we could easily read the tiny street number on the sign and other details that were impossible to see with the human eye. We did the same thing with the standard zoom on the Galaxy S7 Edge and iPhone 6S Plus, and the results with both phones were more grainy and the street sign’s letters were almost indistinguishable.



The CamPlus module sees things that other smartphone cameras can’t, and it’s truly impressive.



The CamPlus module sees things that other smartphone cameras can’t, and it’s truly impressive. If you took the G5 and the CamPlus on vacation, you wouldn’t need to pack any other camera to take great photos. The addition of the camera button and zoom wheel will also be useful when you’re taking pictures with gloves on in the winter. It eliminates the need to touch your phone’s screen to get the best picture possible, which makes your G5 feel more like a real camera.


We felt some occasional software hiccups when the zoom wheel just wouldn’t work, or the camera had a hard time focusing, but LG reminded us that it’s an early prototype of the CamPlus and that refinements will be made before launch.


The CamPlus’ $70 price tag may give you pause, but if you like to take photos and find yourself wishing for a better zoom on your phone, the CamPlus is for you. We do hope, however, that carriers and LG will offer deals on these modules to make them more accessible to the average user. We’ve yet to try the high-res audio module or the battery back module, but we’ll update as soon as we get them in.


SPECS AND LOSING THE APP DRAWER IN ANDROID 6.0


Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow is under more of a disguise on the G5 than previous LG smartphones, primarily because of the controversial decision to get rid of the app tray. It’ll split opinion, mainly among Android enthusiasts who have been with the OS from the start. Its similarity to Apple’s iOS will also annoy some, but the real question is, did we miss the app drawer? Not really, no. Actually, not at all.



All your apps are still there, but instead of tapping another button to find them, they’re spread across multiple home screens. Yes, I missed relegating only the most often used apps to the app drawer to place more emphasis on the wallpaper, but with careful sorting folders, it’s still possible to individualize the G5.


LG’s list of pre-installed apps isn’t that long, and includes the usual apps for email, contacts, and the weather, plus tools like a voice recorder, calculator, task manager, and handily, an FM radio. A selection of battery, storage, and memory saver tools are also onboard. None can be uninstalled. There’s also the LG Friends app, which helps you connect the modules properly. That process is remarkably easy: Once the module is in, the phone detects it, and you tap on its name to connect in the app. Done!


The G5 is a fireball with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM onboard, and we’re pleased to say it isn’t literally too hot to handle. Qualcomm’s new chip has banished the overheating woes that plagued the Snapdragon 810, and while the G5 gets warm to the touch when put under pressure, it’s never hot. Because the software on our review device isn’t final, we’ll hold off benchmarks for now, but playing Danmaku Unlimited in HD, on the insanely busy difficult mode didn’t result in any slowdown.


BATTERY LIFE NEEDS IMPROVEMENT


If the G5’s processor makes it an absolute beast, what about the battery? We’ll start with the positives. It’s completely replaceable, so if you carry a spare, it takes seconds to swap it out for a freshly charged one. Try that in any other major flagship phone in 2016. In fact, try it in any metal phone at all. It can’t be done, and it’s only possible on the G5 because of LG’s radical modular design.



It’s not incredibly long lasting, but it’s not really that different from the Galaxy S7 or iPhone 6S Plus.



Recharging will have to happen every other day, and potentially part way through it. If you hit the GPS for about two hours, take some photos, and generally use the phone for email, messages, and apps; the battery will give up at the end of the day. It’s not incredibly long lasting, but it’s not really that different from the Galaxy S7 or iPhone 6S Plus in that regard. At least with the G5, if you’ve got that second battery, it’s not the disaster the situation it may have been on another phone.


It also has QuickCharge 3.0, which is a step ahead of the Galaxy S7’s QuickCharge 2.0 standard. It juiced up quickly when we needed it to regain power fast. The absence of wireless charging will no doubt disappoint some of you, but that’s one of the things about metal – It doesn’t let signals penetrate so well.


DEMURE DESIGN


Finally, we come to the G5’s understated design. It can’t stand up to the beauty of the iPhone or Galaxy S7 Edge. At first glance it looks boring, but it isn’t ugly. In time, we began to like its subtle design details.


There are curves in unexpected places — the top of the screen slopes back towards the chassis, for example — and there are no nasty sharp edges to make it awkward to hold. The metal is smooth and seamless. It doesn’t have any unsightly antenna bands, either, which is a true feat of engineering that not even Apple has accomplished.


If anything, the G5 is too understated, and doesn’t make much of an early impression. Live with it for a while, and you’ll be thankful for its well thought out design and shape.



LG should also be congratulated for making the modular system almost invisible on the G5. When you first look at the phone, you would never know the base slides out. There are no over-sized buttons, no silly arrows painted on the body, and no ugly breaks in the chassis. It’s all handled with maturity and style.


Although it’s not much smaller than the LG G4, the G5’s sleek shape makes it very compact. It’s barely bigger than the Galaxy S7 and weighs 159 grams. The display is 5.3 inches diagonal, smaller than the G4 and slightly bigger than the Galaxy S7, but it has the same 2,560 x 1,440 pixel resolution seen on LG’s top phones over the last few years. It performed without fault, as did the fingerprint sensor on the rear, although we really missed having the volume controls on the back of the G5. They’ve been moved to the side of the phone.


WE NEED MORE UPDATES


LG usually updates its phones at least once, but its record isn’t much better than that of Samsung or any other Android phone maker. It’s a shame, and we’d like to see phone makers take more initiative in getting Android updates out to users sooner. Because Android phones don’t get regular updates, they are vulnerable to hacking attacks, viruses, and generally less secure than the iPhone. And they don’t often get new software features. LG, and others, should work harder to fix this epic problem.


WARRANTY AND DURABILITY


LG placed a one-year parts and labor warranty on the G5, so if there’s a problem, you’ll have to send it back to the company for repair.


It’s unknown how durable the modules will prove, or if swapping them over and over again will cause and problems. That’s something that will be determined over time. The G5 isn’t water resistant, either, which is one mark against it in the durability column when compared to the Galaxy S7. However, when it comes to drops and falls, metal trumps glass every time, so the G5 will likely win the drop tests.


CONCLUSION


The amount of work, thought, effort, and commitment that has gone into creating the G5 is astonishing. While other brands are accused of coasting along with endless rehashes of previously successful handsets, LG has come out with something that drives the smartphone game full speed ahead. It’s brave, exciting, and full of glorious potential.


However, at the moment, the potential of the modular phone isn’t fully realized. Without a packed playground full of modular pals to play with, the G5’s magic slot is a bit lonely. The only two modules that are out so far – the CamPlus and the high-res audio one — aren’t hugely exciting, and only photography nuts and high-res audio fans will take the plunge and buy one at a $70 price.


So, should you buy the G5 as it stands right now? We think so. It is undoubtedly one of the finest flagship phones of 2016 to date, and you won’t be disappointed by it whether you buy into the modules or not. But if you’re deciding between G5 and Galaxy S7 Edge, right now, we’d opt for the Edge, especially because it supports the best smartphone accessory available to buy today — the Gear VR headset.


The LG G5 is a great buy, but isn’t our favorite Android phone yet.



 



LG G5 Review

Thứ Sáu, 25 tháng 3, 2016

Amazon Echo review

When Amazon introduced the Echo speaker last November, I was both intrigued and a little creeped out. I liked the idea of a wireless speaker that did more than just play music, but Amazon’s promotional video was unsettlingly weird. There was something about the faux family’s interaction with the speaker – as if it was a family member itself – that came off like forced futurism. I know others felt the same, if only because they didn’t like the idea that the speaker would always be on, constantly listening. With the NSA constantly making headlines for overstepping its bounds and invading privacy, it’s hard not to imagine the Echo as some sort of eavesdropping device.



The Echo speaker is Amazon’s most interesting experiment yet.



Of course, the Amazon Echo wouldn’t be the first device we’ve invited into our homes that could spy on us. Our laptops, tablets and smart phones are all outfitted with microphones and Internet connections — that’s all it takes, really. Think Siri isn’t paying attention? Think again.


In the end, my curiosity got the better of me and I submitted my request for an invitation. Oh, you hadn’t heard? You can’t just go to Amazon and buy the Echo. First you have to request an invitation to buy it. Then, Amazon will review your request and only if you’re deemed worthy will you be sent said invitation. That invite is only good for 7 days, mind you, so don’t miss your ordering window, or you’re slap out of luck.


Why all the cloak and dagger? It’s a wireless speaker for crying out loud! We’re guessing it’s simply beta testing for Amazon to learn more about what Echo does well, what it does poorly, which features users take advantage of most, and what kind of features users wish they had. And enthusiast Prime members get to play guinea pigs before the masses rip it apart.


I’m here to save us all some trouble and just spell it right out. Here’s what life with the Echo (er … Alexa) is all about, and what I hope it will be like in the future.


Out of the box


As I’ve noted in my Fire TV and Fire TV stick reviews, I think Amazon is really getting the packaging thing down. The Echo comes in a well-appointed box with a bright orange interior, just like all the Fire products Amazon sells.


The accessories, including a voice-capable remote control, AC adapter, and batteries, all come individually wrapped for protection, and Amazon throws in a handy set-up guide along with a glossary of questions and commands Alexa understands.



I was encouraged by how heavy the Echo felt as I removed it from the box. Considering there aren’t any rechargeable batteries inside, I take this to be a sign of solid build quality. At the top of the speaker are just two buttons, a little pinhole for the microphone, and a thin ring running the circumference of the speaker can be twisted for volume. Just above the volume ring is an LED ring which the speaker employs as a feedback tool for its user. For instance, the ring glows orange when it is ready for setup, and blue when Alexa is listening.


The Echo is otherwise unremarkable looking. I did notice that its matte black finish was quick to collect oil from fingers – just another reason to go hands free and use the voice interaction feature.


Setup


Setting up the Echo is about as easy as anyone could ask for. When plugged in, the speaker instantly launches into readiness mode, acting as a Wi-Fi access point. Using a smartphone or tablet, you must temporarily connect to the Echo via Wi-Fi. The speaker will tell you when the connection is successful, and direct you to use the Echo app (which should be installed ahead of time) to finish the process. From there, all you have to do tell the Echo which Wi-FI router to connect to and feed it the password. That’s it. The Echo app will prompt you to watch an orientation video, but if you want to skip ahead, just scrub to the end and the app will let you move on.


How it works


The Echo comes pre-registered to the account of whoever ordered it. As such, the moment it connects to Wi-Fi, it has access to Amazon’s Prime music service and any music stored in the user’s music account. This will include digital copies of any CDs the user may have ordered from Amazon in the past.


The Echo can also draw on iHeartRadio or TuneIn for content, but you’ll need to enter account information in the Echo app in order for those services to be available.



To play music (or do anything else, really) you will have to start talking to Alexa – that’s your speaker’s name, like it or not. I hope you don’t have any daughters named Alexa, Alexis, Alex, or Lexie – or ever plan to – because you will be in for a frustrating time. Alexa’s voice recognition software is remarkably accurate, but she gets fooled by similar sounding names sometimes. You can change “her” name to “Amazon” instead, but that takes some of the personality out of the experience. I’d like to see some new names folded in by Amazon in the near future.



To play music (or anything else, really), you will have to start talking to Alexa – that’s your speaker’s name, like it or not.



Anyway, let’s say you want to listen to a playlist based on a certain artist; just say “Alexa” and ask her to play music by that artist. Chances are pretty good it will be available, and Alexa will confirm for you what she’s about to play. You can also be very specific about the song you want to hear, or you can ask for broad playlists based on different genres of music. If Alexa is ever uncertain, she’ll ask you for clarification.


While music is playing, you can ask Alexa to adjust volume (“Alexa, volume 6,” for instance) skip a track, repeat a track, pause, play, stop, etc. Any time you call out Alexa, the speaker will reduce the volume of the music playing so she can hear you better.


Outside of music, Alexa can answer a lot of questions. If it’s on Wikipedia, Alexa can reference it and read the first paragraph to you. We had a lot of fun asking it random fact-based questions like “how fast can a cheetah run,” “when was Starbucks founded,” and “how old are you?” Need measurement conversions? Alexa can knock that out, too. In fact, the Echo speaker ended up being a great kitchen companion, and my son swears by the Echo as a study companion.



Alexa can also tell you about the weather, what time it is, set an alarm for you, and add items to a shopping list or a to-do list. Plus, any answer Alexa gives or song she plays also shows up on the Echo app too, so you can dive deeper into that Wikipedia entry or manage your to-do list. That feature was far more convenient than I’d thought it would be, and, again, my son found homework a whole lot easier to do.


Alexa ain’t Siri


Alexa and Siri share many common traits, but there are certainly some stark differences. For instance, Alexa’s voice is far more natural than Siri’s and therefore, perhaps somewhat eerily, is more endearing. Alexa also seems to be a little more intuitive at times, as if she can connect little dots to more accurately respond to questions. On the other hand, Siri can take dictation and leverage more information sources to better serve the user. We prefer interaction with Alexa, though, perhaps because she gives better feedback. My family had only used the Echo speaker for about three days at the time of this writing, but I have to admit, we had somehow turned into that creepy family that had adopted Alexa like a family dog or cat. Maybe Amazon’s whacky commercial wasn’t so far off after all.


What Alexa can’t do now, but might in the near future


If I’m going to invite into my home a computer that’s always listening to me, trying to get me to shop at Amazon more often, then I should actually be able to shop at Amazon through the speaker. This isn’t a big ask, folks. It can access my cloud-storage account, so I believe one day the Echo may offer access to my shopping cart, or help me track existing orders.



I can’t think of any other $100 Bluetooth speaker that can do even half of the things the Echo can do.



I’d love to tell Alexa to order me a new water filter for my refrigerator, for instance, and let the speaker take care of the rest.


I’d also like to see the Echo integrate with Amazon’s Fire TV box and Fire TV Stick. It would be great to tell Alexa, “play Prison Break on my Fire TV” and be watching seconds later. The speaker can already send info to a Kindle Fire tablet, why not the Fire TV?


As long as I’m suggesting improvements, I wish there was some kind of security feature that keeps my 6-year-old daughter from placing orders for music without my permission. It was amazing how easily she figured out that saying yes to the right questions got her exactly what she wanted. Amazon does provide for a four-digit security PIN, but how hard is that to remember once you’ve heard it? I’d like to see a confirmation prompt through Amazon’s website or the Echo app.


Audio performance


I’m not going to dwell too long on the Echo’s sound quality, because I think that misses the point. I can’t think of any other $100 Bluetooth speaker that can do half of the things the Echo can do. Truly, this is as much a utility as it is a music playback device. With that said, I will say the Echo’s sound quality is “good enough.”



Amazon Echo review macro amazon echo review macro



The Echo’s bass response isn’t as deep or prominent as, say, the $100 UE Mini Boom. The treble isn’t nearly as clean, either. Still, it provides a nice enough sound track for cooking or cleaning, and it can get plenty loud.


Conclusion


The Echo speaker is Amazon’s most interesting experiment yet. I poked fun at the marketing efforts around the Echo and its voice-driven assistant, Alexa. But once I had the speaker in my home, I couldn’t deny it was extremely fun to use. Time will tell whether the novelty will wear off and whether or not I’ll end up buying more music through Amazon as a result of the speaker’s convenience (which I think is one of Amazon’s chief goals here), but for now I can say that any Amazon user with even a mild interest in giving the Echo a try should go ahead and pull the trigger. At $99, the Echo more than earns its keep, and you can always sell it off if you lose interest – Amazon’s invitation game has sent eBay prices soaring well above $99. Just be sure to deregister the speaker from your Amazon account first.


Highs


  • Tons of fun

  • Intuitive, accurate and natural-sounding voice-assistant

  • Quick response times

  • Integration with Fire Tablets

  • Loads of potential

Lows


  • Limited Prime account integration

  • Very average sound quality

  • Wake word limited to ‘Alexa’ and ‘Amazon’

  • Security limited to four-digit PIN

 



Amazon Echo review

Deals: Google Nexus 6P, DJI Phantom 3 Advanced Quadcopter and more

iClever BoostCube USB Travel Charger


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Street price: $11; MSRP: $30; deal price: $8 with code GYD97P5N


While not a huge sale, it’s a few bucks off and at $8, an affordable price if you want to stock up on a few to keep in your car or luggage. Use the code GYD97P5N at the final step of checkout to get this price.


The iClever BoostCube USB is our travel pick in our multiport USB wall charger guide. Nick Guy said, “Only a little bigger than Apple’s own iPad charger, iClever’s wall adapter has twice the ports and twice the power at half the price.”


DJI Phantom 3 Advanced Quadcopter


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Street price: $770; MSRP: $1000; deal price: $740


While we expect even better deals to show up since DJI is releasing the Phantom 4 soon, and the street price on the Phantom 3 Advanced has dropped to $770, we think $740 is an excellent price for a drone of this quality.


The DJI Phantom 3 Advanced is our pick for the best drone for aerial photographers and videographers. Mike Perlman and Eric Hansen said, “We believe that the Advanced is the best choice for most people—that is, those who have no need to produce 4K video, who lack computer hardware that can handle editing that format, or who don’t have demanding shooting schedules that require constant battery swaps.”


Sony XBA-H1 Headphones


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Street price: $150; MSRP: $150; deal price: $130


This isn’t the best price we’ve seen; these headphones once sold for around $90. However, it’s been over a year since they were that cheap. You’ll still save $20 off the street price with this deal, which is the first sale we’ve seen in ages.


The Sony XBA-H1 is the step-up pick in our guide on the best $100 in-ear headphones. Lauren Dragan said, “The Sonys sound fantastic. No one frequency is overly peaked. The highs are clear and delicate with tremendous detail. The lows are full and pack a punch without muddying up or overpowering anything else. The mids sound authentic and precise. The result? Your music sounds better than ever.”


Google Nexus 6P 32GB Smartphone


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Street price: $500; MSRP: $500; deal price: $450 + $50 Gift Card


This deal has been around for a bit in a couple of different forms. We’ve seen the phone’s price drop to $425 and we’ve seen the gift card bonus as high as $75. The current deal isn’t as good as either of those, but it’s still one of the best we’ve seen. However, with all the 6P deals recently, you’ll want to consider whether you’ll use that Newegg gift card anytime soon versus just waiting for a lower price.


The Nexus 6P is the phablet pick in our guide on the best Android phones. Ryan Whitwam said, “It’s our favorite Android phone of any we’ve used this year. The 6P runs pure Android 6.0 Marshmallow, sports a top-of-the-line 1440p Super AMOLED screen, and has an attractive unibody aluminum frame. On the back is one of the best cameras available on a smartphone, along with a Nexus Imprint fingerprint scanner that’s even faster and more accurate than the one on the Galaxy S6.”



Deals: Google Nexus 6P, DJI Phantom 3 Advanced Quadcopter and more

Hulu app for the Samsung Gear VR

It was in October of last year when Hulu promised to release an app for Samsung’s Gear VR headset. The app was supposedly coming that November, but it didn’t. In fact, it’s only become available today, believe it or not.


Still – better late than never, right? The Hulu app is now up for grabs in the Gear VR store. It lets you “watch the entire Hulu 2D library in immersive 360-degree environments”, but also has 360-degree video content thankfully.


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At the moment you’ll be looking at 25 “pieces of exclusive and premium content” in glorious 360-degree view. Among the companies that have produced them are Baobab Studios, Discovery Communications, Las Vegas, The National Geographic Channel, RYOT, Showtime Networks, SilVR Thread, Spoke, Studio Transcendent, The Uprising Creative, and Viacom. The VR content is available for free even for those who don’t have a Hulu subscription.


The app also sports Hulu’s first original VR short, called The Big One. It’s about a meteor shower that turns into “an apocalyptic nightmare”.


As for the 2D library, you can watch that while being in an immersive viewing environment – sitting in a comfortable living room, watching a movie in a big screen theatre, or kicking back on a scenic beach are all actual options for this.


Source



Hulu app for the Samsung Gear VR

Thứ Tư, 23 tháng 3, 2016

Pebble is laying off 25 percent of its staff

Pebble is laying off 40 employees, or about 25 percent of its staff. In a conversation withTech Insider revealing the layoffs, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky suggested the cuts were necessary because of a lack of funds. “Money is pretty tight these days,” he says.


Venture capital firms are in a slowdown right now, but Pebble has managed to raise some money. Tech Insider says that it raised $26 million over the last eight months. And while we don’t know specific sales figures for most of the year, we know that Pebble sold $20 million worth of smartwatches during a Kickstarter campaign at the beginning of 2015.


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Still, there’s a clear suggestion that Pebble’s business is not in perfect shape. Migicovsky suggests that its future products could shift their focus toward health and fitness features, which he sees consumers having more interest in. Pebble already offers some fitness features, but it doesn’t explicitly offer a sport model of its watch, nor a dedicated fitness tracker.


Beyond today’s layoffs, Pebble also lost at least one key employee this year: Itai Vonshak, who was hired as head of product in 2014. Vonshak was responsible for Pebble’s Timeline interface, and has since moved to Intel.


Pebble entered the spotlight in 2012 after a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for the initial Pebble watch. At the time, there were no compelling smartwatches on the market; but by the time Pebble launched its second generation watch last year, it was entering a much more crowded field. There were a few watches running Android Wear, some strange inventions from Samsung, and the impending launch of the Apple Watch, which had been unveiled months earlier — not to mention a saturated market of increasingly stylish fitness bands.


Though Pebble did well during its Kickstarter launch, this week’s layoffs indicate it may not have done as well in the year since. Migicovsky, however, tries to make the layoffs sound like a preventive measure. He tells Tech Insider, “We want to be careful.”



Pebble is laying off 25 percent of its staff

Thứ Ba, 22 tháng 3, 2016

Samsung Gear S2 3G

 




 



 




Every smartwatch you’ve likely seen, whether it’s an Apple Watch, an Android Wear device, or a Pebble, has relied on a smartphone for all of its smarts. If you were to disconnect any of these devices, they become little more than standard timepieces with a little bit of activity tracking. They become, in effect, dumbwatches with really poor battery life.


Smartwatches are therefore accessories to the main show, your smartphone. It’s hard to pitch them as must-have devices in your life when you still need your smartphone all the time to use them. Indeed, many of the complaints about smartwatches revolve around their duplicity: why do I need to wear this device on my wrist that just tells me the same thing the phone in my pocket is already telling me?



But while today’s smartwatches are shackled to a phone, that won’t always be the case. Eventually, smartwatches (and other wearables) will become independent devices, complete with their own wireless connections. There are some of these already available, and others are expected to hit shelves in the near future. I’ve gotten a small taste of this independent future over the past few weeks with the Samsung Gear S2 3G, a cellular-connected version of Samsung’s impressive Gear S2 smartwatch. The 3G model of the Gear S2, which is available for AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile (I’ve been using the AT&T version), is much like the standard model; it just happens to have a cellular radio inside that lets it do a few things other smartwatches can’t.


PHONE CALLS, MESSAGES, AND ACTIVITY TRACKING WITHOUT YOUR PHONE


For starters, the 3G S2 can place and receive phone calls without being connected to my phone. It has a speaker and microphone, so you can handle your phone calls Dick Tracy-style. It can send and receive text messages even if it’s not tethered over Bluetooth or connected to a Wi-Fi network. With the AT&T model, it can even make it look like those calls and messages are coming from my actual phone, thanks to AT&T’s NumberSync feature. (The Verizon and T-Mobile versions have call and message forwarding from your main number, but outgoing calls and messages will initiate from a different number.) It also has a GPS chip, so it can find my location without the help of a phone.



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Those features make it attractive for runners. You could leave your phone at home yet still track your run, get your calls or messages, and even listen to music. There are no armbands, belt pouches, or other clumsy apparatus necessary; just put the watch on your wrist, tie your shoes, and head out the door.



The Gear S2 3G does do all of that, but its capabilities are limited. While you can stay on top of text messages and phone calls from the device, it won’t see any of the other notifications pinging your phone when it’s not directly connected. The S2 doesn’t have a huge app store, leaving Samsung’s S Health app as the only real fitness tracking option, which doesn’t play nicely with other popular services such as Strava or MapMyFitness. You could transfer your music to the watch or stream songs from Samsung’s own Milk Music, but if you use Spotify, Apple Music, or Google Play Music, you’re out of luck. And, perhaps the biggest issue, the S2’s battery life is deplorably short when it is relying on a cellular connection. Go for a long run and try to play music, track your activity, and send or receive a few messages and it might not be alive when you’re done.


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It’s important to note that the 3G S2 is not a fully standalone device. You still need an Android phone to set it up and install any applications. It’s perhaps best to think of it as a standard Gear S2, with a few bonus features. It has the same overall design (it’s noticeably thicker when it’s off of a wrist, but I didn’t find it uncomfortable to wear in the least), complete with metal finish, vibrant display, and the intuitive and fun rotating bezel. And if you use it with your phone all of the time, its battery will last an entire day without issue.


THE S2 3G’S ADDED FEATURES AREN’T WORTH ITS COST


The Gear S2 3G is a tough sell. It’s more expensive than its non-connected sibling — $299.99 or $349.99, depending on carrier – and requires a service plan, which ranges from $5 per month at Verizon and T-Mobile up to $10 per month at AT&T in addition to your standard smartphone plan. The few advantages it offers over the less expensive pedestrian model aren’t worth its cost.


But it’s a glimpse at a future where I can do a lot of the communication handled by my phone on a smaller, wearable device. It starts with basic phone calls and text messages, but it doesn’t take a particularly creative imagination to add other forms of messaging, chat, location services, and activity tracking to the package. We’re still a few steps away from that future and there are a number of problems that need to be solved before we get there, namely battery life and functionality. (And it’s not clear if it’s something we even want: I had to force myself to walk away from my phone while testing the S2 and it was a struggle more than a convenience.)


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For now, you’re better off with the standard Gear S2 or any one of the many other smartwatches available instead of the Gear S2 3G. Smartwatches are just going to have to get a bit smarter before we can really leave our phones behind.


Photography by Amelia Krales


Video by Mark Linsangan





Samsung Gear S2 3G