Oculus pauses Mac and Linux development, offers PC specs
The retail version of the Oculus Rift finally has a confirmed release window of early 2016, meaning virtual reality fans have just less than a year to create their ideal gaming environments. A crucial part of any VR setup is the rig powering the headset, and Oculus today released its recommended, minimum PC specs, including an NVIDIA GTX 970 or AMD 290 video card, an Intel i5-4590 processor, 8GB RAM and Windows 7. Check out the full PC recommendations below. Meanwhile, Oculus has “paused” development for OS X and Linux systems “in order to focus on delivering a high-quality consumer-level VR experience at launch across hardware, software and content on Windows,” Chief Architect Atman Binstock writes. Oculus doesn’t have a timeline for jumping back into Mac and Linux development.
Regarding the PC specs, Binstock offers the following context: “Given the challenges around VR graphics performance, the Rift will have a recommended specification to ensure that developers can optimize for a known hardware configuration, which ensures a better player experience of comfortable sustained presence. … This configuration will be held for the lifetime of the Rift and should drop in price over time.”
Here is Oculus’ full PC recommendation:
- NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater
- Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
- 8GB+ RAM
- Windows 7 SP1 or newer
- 2x USB 3.0 ports
- HDMI 1.3 video output supporting a 297MHz clock via a direct output architecture
Source: Oculus
Hulu pulls a Netflix, rescues ‘The Mindy Project’ from cancellation
Were you bummed when Fox announced it cancelled The Mindy Project after three seasons? Fret not, Hulu announced today that it’s picking up the series, starting with a 26-episode fourth season. The show, named for star Mindy Kaling, already streams on the TV subscription service as one of several Fox series available there, so the news isn’t too surprising. There’s no word on a premiere date just yet, but when it arrives, it’ll be one of the many Hulu original series. Cancelled broadcast shows are getting revived online regularly these days, as Yahoo nabbed Community and Netflix is no stranger to picking up discarded series.
[Image credit: John Fleenor/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Hulu
Yet another WhatsApp update arrives, bringing even more Material Design
Just yesterday WhatsApp made its Material Design-packing app update available on Google Play, after offering it exclusively for download from its website since April. It seems that this was only the beginning, however, as the WhatsApp website has now put up an even newer version of the app for your downloading pleasure.
Version 2.12.87 isn’t a massive jump from 2.12.84 but it does bring a few more cosmetic changes that help further refine the new Material Design look for the app. This update brings a new default wallpaper that fits much better with Google’s design aesthetic than the previous one. Moving past this, the calling screen has been dramatically enhanced (top right screenshot), ditching the black and red design in favor of a dark green background with a lighter shade of red for the end call button.
Some of the other changes include removing some of the older menu icons that looked out of place with MD, refining the search bar, and adding support for receiving iOS different skin toned emojis (though you obviously can’t send them).
Bottom-line, WhatsApp is continuing to clean up the look of its app and move forward with Google’s latest guidelines. Anything else besides the cosmetic improvements? While WhatsApp doesn’t give us any specifics, we imagine there a number of bug fixes and performance improvements here as well.
To grab this new and improved MD update, you’ll want to head on over to WhatsApp’s website.
5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly
Sponsor: NYTimes
[Price: Free with subscription]
The NYTimes recently went through a lot of trouble to overhaul their application. Included in the massive update was a complete design overhaul that follows the standards of Holo and Material Design and it does look great. Add to that the world class news coverage, a few good features like Twilight Mode and the ability to customize your news reading experience, and you have an application that’s definitely worth checking out. It is subscription based but you can try out the application for free and read a few articles every month without buying anything so it can’t hurt to try it out. We’d like to thank The New York Times for their support of Android Apps Weekly.
Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! Here are your headlines for this week:
- Corbin Davenport has made headlines before by getting emulators to work on Android Wear and he’s at it again. This time he used a Mini vMac II emulator and managed to get the old Macintosh II OS running on Android Wear. As you can guess, it’s buggy and terrible, but it does work and that’s awesome.
- Earlier this week, Google announced that they are going to shut down editing in Map Maker. This comes in the footsteps of the now infamous edit that shows an Android peeing on an apple. This decision is likely to prevent things like that from ever happening again.
- Sega made an announcement that they will be removing games from the Play Store that do not meet their standards. It’s really just some housekeeping but some believe that the games aren’t good enough while others believe the games aren’t making enough money. We don’t know which games are getting canned yet.
- The Google Play Store got a new feature this week. Developers can now allow users to pre-register for apps and games that aren’t out yet. If you pre-register, you’ll get a notification when that app or game becomes available. There are a few titles using it already and this can help generate buzz for their new content.
- In our last headline this week, Nintendo has announced that they will be releasing five games by the end of 2017 with the first coming out this year. We have no clue what kind of game it’s going to be but Nintendo did say that they weren’t porting old games to mobile. I guess we’ll see how this pans out when the first game gets released.
For even more Android apps and games news, updates, and releases, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter. There you can find the full range of stuff that happened over the course of the week. If you’re so inclined, you can even sign up with your email address and we’ll send you the newsletter to your inbox every single Friday so you can stay up to date.
Subscribe to our Android Apps Weekly newsletter!
HeroCraft Z
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
HeroCraft Z is a new RPG released by NGames. It features decent graphics powered by the Unity3D engine, a full campaign mode, and the ability to assemble and build your own team. There are some online components as well that include a PvP arena. You can collect over 50 companions with various abilities for strategy. It’s a Freemium game through and through, but it is free to play and isn’t half bad.
Snake Rewind
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
After a few weeks of waiting, the highly anticipated Snake Rewind game is now available on Google Play. As you’ve heard, this is a revamp of the classic Snake game that adorned the cell phones of old and the mechanics remain largely intact. The controls are a bit wonky as they rely on position based tapping and there are in-app purchases which feels a bit weird, but overall it feels like a positive experience and a good source of nostalgia with a cheap price tag.
Bleep
[Price: Free]
Bleep is a new messaging application from, believe it or not, BitTorrent. The idea here is privacy. Messages are stored on user devices and not in the cloud like normal while every message sent is encrypted and the encryption keys are store on user devices and not in the cloud. There are various ways to sign up, the UI isn’t half bad, and you can invite people using your public key similar to Blackberry Messenger. If you need privacy, this is a great way to do but do beware of those release day bugs.
Trumpit Photo Messenger
[Price: Free]
While Bleep focuses on security, Trumpit totally doesn’t. The premise of this photo messaging app is that photos you send shows up on the recipient’s device above the lock screen. They can then interact with it if they want or swipe it away quickly and go back to using their phone. It’s a fun premise, especially if you love sharing photos with people. Of course, I can see this going very badly if you know someone who likes to take inappropriate photos. In any case, it’s totally free and worth a shot. Just beware of any release day bugs.
Seabeard
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Last up is a game called Seabeard which is a new game that saw some moderate success on iOS. Our own Andrew Grush likened the game to a kind of mix of Zelda: Windmaker and Animal Crossing. It features colorful, cartoon graphics a lot of content for you to do, and plenty of other features. It’s been noted that in-app purchases are a tad heavy but with a little bit of patience, you can get passed that obstacle. It’s free to play and it’s available right now.
Wrap up
If we missed any great Android apps or games news, tell us about it in the comments below!
A new VR game lets you be a bullet
With multiple Virtual Reality (VR) units getting ready to hit the markets in the next year or so, we’re going to start seeing games and applications that will take advantage of this newer medium. Today we’re seeing a VR shooter game that gives the user a different perspective on the genre.
Instead of taking on the perspective of a shooter, Drift allows the user to take on the perspective of the fired bullet itself. The premise of the game is simple. Once the bullet is fired, your viewpoint shapes the trajectory the bullet takes. Time is slowed down and just by looking left or right, you can later the path the bullet takes. Your goal is to take out the guy in green and should you fail, red trails of your failed attempts show up your next go-round.
As you play the game, you are able to gain bonuses, unlocking achievements and improve the slow motion aspect, giving you more control. If you have a Gear VR you can give it a whirl now, and a better quality version of the game for the Oculus VR PC version is in the works. The group behind Drift also plans on new environments that will “make a more complete and challenging experience.” If you’re still not sold on the idea, we have a video for you below.
Click here to view the embedded video.
source: Challenge Post
via: Engadget
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Google self-driving vehicles ready to hit the road
Google has announced they are entering the next phase of testing for their self-driving vehicles as they move from the test track to operating them on public roads. The prototype vehicles will be hitting the streets of of Mountain View this summer. The vehicles will have safety drivers on-board who can take over control if things start getting a little dicey.
Google says the vehicles will utilize the same software that their existing fleet of Lexus RX450h self-driving vehicles use. Those vehicles have already racked up almost 1 million miles of autonomous miles and Google says they normally log about 10,000 miles per week. The new prototype vehicles have been tested extensively at Google’s test facility to make sure the sensors and software all work as expected. Google claims that the knowledgebase they can pack into the vehicles and the software is the equivalent of 75 years worth of driving experience.
Google’s Chris Urmson says the team will be looking to see how the vehicles handle challenges in the real world, like construction or congestion that may prevent access to a desired location. They will also be watching to see what the community reaction is to the self-driving vehicles.
Although the Google self-driving car project is moving at a fast clip, several more years of testing will be needed. Google says they hope to be able to launch more pilot programs in the coming years to better understand how the vehicles could change transportation and how people move about.
Click here to view the embedded video.
source: Google
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Moto X, Nexus 6, and Moto 360 48-hour sale starts May 18th in the UK
With new flagships from Samsung, LG, and HTC taking up much of the spotlight these days, Motorola has done its best to bring the focus back to its Moto line-up through various promotions and sales. Many of these deals have been focused on the U.S. market, but starting midnight on May 18th, Motorola will be conducting a 48-hour sale in the UK. The UK sale will apply to the Moto X, Nexus 6, and Moto 360 smartwatch.
The Moto X will be offered for £299 and £339 for the 16 and 32GB models, respectively. Next up, the Nexus 6 is being dropped to £449 and £519 for the 32 and 64GB models. As for the Moto 360? The smartwatch will be offered for £150, a savings of £50. With all these products already over a half-year-old, are they still worth buying? Honestly, yes, they are well worth the money and should still offer high-end experiences that is nearly on par with newer phones and watches.
That said, if you enjoy being on the absolute bleeding edge, you might be better off waiting for Motorola’s next-gen offerings. Rumors suggest that the Moto 360’s successor may be just around the corner, and we can also expect a next-gen Moto X late this summer and a new Nexus (though reportedly not from Motorola) in the fall.
Anyone planning on taking advantage of Motorola’s sale, or would you rather wait to see what they bring out later in the year? Let us know in the comments.
Life with the Galaxy S6 Edge: one month later
Samsung may have had success after success since the Galaxy S2, but last year, the Galaxy S5 showed the series had gotten a little stale. Instead of the revolutionary upgrades from past devices, the Galaxy S5 was a flop as a flagship by the company’s standards and that was a wake-up call for the Korean manufacturer.
Before the launch of the Galaxy S6, we heard rumours of market-leading performance, a scaled back interface and a lack of removable battery and micro SD card; basically, things you wouldn’t expect from a Samsung flagship.
Fast forward to MWC 2015 and Samsung showed that change isn’t always bad with the introduction of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. Having used either the latest Galaxy S or Galaxy Note as my daily driver for the past few years, Samsung’s new devices shocked me. But how do they fare once the novelty wears off?
We’ve already reviewed the Galaxy S6 Edge and our own Jayce has touched on why the Galaxy S6 Edge is the real Samsung flagship (which you can see in the video below) but after four weeks with the Galaxy S6 Edge, what do I make of the best that Samsung has to offer? Find out below.
Design
For so many years, Samsung made plastic work because each year, the company introduced little tweaks in the design to make things refreshing. The Galaxy S2 was a large slab, the Galaxy S3 introduced curves and the Galaxy S4 refined these for a stylish looking device.
The Galaxy S5 however, just felt like the Galaxy S4 and herein lied the problem for Samsung with the Galaxy S6: how to refresh the handset while making it interesting. The answer now appears simple: use metal and glass without a touch of plastic. And in the case of the Galaxy S6 Edge, add a dual curved screen and show that curved displays actually can be useful.
The Edge is no longer an afterthought, it’s a key part of the experience.
I’ve previously used the Galaxy Note Edge but the Edge Screen on the phablet just felt like an afterthought and indeed it was: rather than a single curved display, the Note Edge was a Galaxy Note 4 with a curved edge bolted on and as a result, it felt a little disjointed. The Galaxy S6 Edge? Well, it’s a single curved piece of glass and the difference is massive; rather than being an afterthought, it’s a key part of the experience.
Samsung has always made good smartphone displays and the Galaxy S6 Edge is no different. The Super AMOLED display – which measure 5.2-inches and offers Quad HD resolution – is simply incredible, and it even beats the Galaxy Note 4 QHD panel, thanks to the superior 577ppi.
I’ve got the white Galaxy S6 Edge and the reason I chose this colour is simple; it’s the least likely to show fingerprints. The only problem with the Corning Gorilla Glass 4 rear is that it attracts fingerprints – even more so than the display – and if you’ve got any colour other than the white, you’ll find yourself wiping it clean pretty often. If I was going to choose a different colour, the Galaxy S6 Edge Iron Man special edition would definitely get my vote.
TouchWiz & Performance
Before the launch of the S6 Edge, the leaked benchmark results revealed one thing; the performance of Samsung’s new handsets was going to set a new standard for smartphones.
No bloat, no lag, and no slowing down.
Rather than deal with the reported overheating issues with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, Samsung chose to use their own Exynos 7420 processor and they coupled this with the most streamlined TouchWiz interface ever made. Instead of all their own bloatware, Samsung added a few new software features – such as the Themes store, added some third party apps from Microsoft, and streamlined the experience. No bloat, no lag and no slowing down once you fill it with content.
The key thing about the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge is there’s no storage expansion and for some people, this could be a problem. On my Galaxy Note 4, I had about 20GB worth of content on the microSD card and around 5GB worth of apps and data on the internal storage so the base 32GB model is fine. I actually ended up with a 64GB as the 32GB isn’t available in the UK but that’s a story for another day.
One problem with microSD cards on past Samsung devices has been that they may allow you to expand the storage but once you add 32GB+ data, I’ve found that the handset starts slowing down. Switching to flash storage only solves this and means that even adding 20GB+ worth of data doesn’t slow your handset down.
Like other OEMs, Samsung decided to start using fingerprint sensors on the Galaxy S flagship with the Galaxy S5 but sadly, its first attempt was rubbish. Rather than the press and hold seen on other devices, it was an odd swipe scanner and the small button size meant it was destined to fail. With the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge, the home button is wider and flatter and the redesigned fingerprint scanner means you just have to put your finger on the button. As a result, the fingerprint sensor is pretty accurate and really easy to use and offers the simplicity and accuracy seen on the iPhone’s Touch ID fingerprint button scanner.
Camera
For the past few years, Samsung cameras have been getting progressively better and the addition of OIS to the Note 4 camera finally delivered the low-light performance that Samsung lacked. The Galaxy S6 Edge takes this one step further, as it uses the same Sony IMX240 sensor as the Galaxy Note 4 but places it behind a lens with a wide f/1.9 aperture, which lets more light in.
The result is a camera that’s simply incredible; Samsung’s handset is one of the most capable on a smartphone to-date and definitely the best on a Samsung handset to date. In fact, in our blind smartphone camera shootout, the Galaxy S6 Edge dominated the competition to win the shootout by a considerable margin.
Those results speak for themselves and for me, the Galaxy S6 Edge ticks the right boxes. It’s not perfect as the images can be over-saturated at times, but it’s good enough to say that you’ll almost never get a bad shot.
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Battery Life
Alongside the lack of expandable storage, the key problem facing would-be buyers is the lack of removable battery and, as I’ve covered, it is a bit of a problem. Without the ability to swap out the battery, you’re limited to the 2600 mAh capacity and from my testing, the screen can be a big battery drain.
That being said, there’s ways to improve the battery life – such as reducing the display to 60% brightness or less and turning off location – and the addition of dual wireless charging and Quick Charging means you’re never far from a top up. Quick Charge especially means I’ve often charged my handset to 50 percent with 30 minutes charge or less and this is usually good enough for an evening’s use.
Like we spoke about on the most recent episode of our FDP podcast, battery life is hugely subjective. From my experience, smartphones are designed to let the average user leave the house in the morning and expect to have juice left when they return home from work. The Galaxy S6 Edge will do this and 3 to 4 hours screen-on-time from 18 to 20 hours of usage is the average battery life you can expect.
How does the Galaxy S6 compare to the rest?
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How a flagship should be
For me personally, there’s only one key issue with the Galaxy S6 Edge: the battery life. Recent smartphones have always required a trade-off between the specs and the battery life but the Galaxy S6 Edge is different. For me personally, I’ll happily take the super sleek design, the premium feeling and the incredible experience at the cost of needing a charger more often.
Yes, I’ve used plenty of Samsung devices in the past so I can appreciate the huge difference a year has made, but even if you’ve never used a Samsung device in the past, the Galaxy S6 Edge will truly surprise you. The Edge screen definitely has its uses – I personally use the Twitter trends and World News panels all the time – and, unlike the Galaxy Note Edge, it doesn’t feel like an unwanted addition to the handset, it feels like the most natural thing in the world.
Looking through history, there’s plenty of examples where a manufacturer has dared to be different and this has led to a new era of innovation. From the earliest mobile phones to the Apple iPhone and Samsung’s first Galaxy Note – which redefined the boundaries of how large a screen could be – innovation has bred innovation.
A truly unique perspective redefines the standard of how a flagship should be.
Curved displays are certainly not new, but Samsung’s Edge Screen is the most innovative take on a curved smartphone screen to-date. Sometimes it takes a company’s unique perspective on a feature to make it cool and the dual curved display on the Galaxy S6 Edge does just this; it redefines the standard of how a flagship should be.
Samsung teases Galaxy S6 Edge Iron Man Edition
If you happened to see Avengers: Age of Ultron, then you may have noticed that Samsung has a pretty strong presence in the movie from phones to tablets. This is obviously part of a big marketing program that will include accessories for both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. You can already find Avengers themes in the Samsung Themes store.
Last week it was revealed that Samsung would also offer an Iron Man Edition of the Galaxy S6 Edge soon. Now today Samsung is teasing it via Twitter. Unfortunately they didn’t show the phone, but they did show the very nice looking box. We can only assume the phone in that box will be equally as gorgeous.
It remains to be seen how much the Iron Man Edition will cost or how widely available it will be. Is this something that interests you? I think it would be cool for a week or so, but I think the novelty will wear off pretty quickly. I’m not sure I would want it for two years, which is the typical carrier contract.
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New Galaxy S6 Edge devices come with a modified Samsung logo
Newer versions of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge will feature a slightly redesigned Samsung logo. It seems that the Korean tech giant has opted for a highlighted design over its standard logo.
As you can imagine, the change seems most drastic on gold variants of the Galaxy S6 Edge. While the change certainly isn’t drastic, SamMobile says it reflects light differently than the standard logo. I personally enjoy the older branding over the new highlighted design. It almost looks like a cheap sticker.
I do wonder if this is just a change to the gold version of the device, all Galaxy S6 Edge models or a transition Samsung is making as a company.
What do you think of the new highlighted branding? Have you seen it on any other devices other than the Galaxy S6 Edge? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
source: SamMobile
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