Insignia NS-­DR710NA17 series (2016 4K Roku TV) Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Roku

If you thought a highly capable Smart TV with 4K resolution had to cost a fortune, think again.

Best Buy’s bargain house brand Insignia will be the first to offer Roku TVs with 4K resolution, and they’re among the least expensive 4K TVs anywhere. There’s a 43-inch model for $399, a 50-inch model for $499, and a 55-incher for $649, all on sale now.

That’s cheaper than Vizio’s entry-level 4K TVs, the D series, with a much better Smart TV experience. The flipside is that we expect the D series sets to deliver better image quality, thanks to their use of local dimming, a picture enhancement that worked well in the E series.

Like the non-4K Roku TVs we liked so much, these new Insignia models boast the best Smart TV suite in the business. It delivers more apps than any competing system, the most agnostic, price-centric search, and a simple, highly customizable interface.

The main difference on the app side is that the 4K sets offer access to the 4K streams from services like Netflix, Amazon Video and Vudu, as well as Roku’s excellent “4K spotlight” app, which gathers 4K videos, TV shows and movies from various services. The TVs aren’t compatible with HDR, but we don’t expect that for these prices.

Of course, just because they’re 4K resolution doesn’t mean they’ll look any better than standard HDTVs. In our review of the Roku 4 streaming box, we had a tough time telling the difference between the 4K and non-4K streams from Netflix, for example, and that was on a very large (75-inch) TV. At Insignia’s sizes, any improvement in picture quality will be much tougher to discern.

Since the 55-inch non-4K version is now selling for $479 at Best Buy, for example, we doubt it will be worthwhile for most people to step up to these 4K Roku TVs.

Unlike the Roku 4 with its fancy voice-search-capable remote that never gets lost, these Insignia TVs have standard Roku TV clickers (hopefully they’ve scrapped the Rdio button). They can be connected to external 4K devices via HDMI, such as 4K Blu-ray players, and have 60Hz refresh rates.

Wikipedia brings personalized reading options to its iOS app

Wikipedia is full of news today. Along with the announcement that it’s working on a crowdsourced speech engine, the service has also rolled out a redesigned app for iOS. With this new version (5.0), users will get a ton of fresh content on their daily feed, including recommended, random and top-read articles, as well as things like a picture of the day. In addition to that, Wikipedia’s iOS application now supports 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, letting you search its site with a single and find information about nearby places. The app is definitely much better than before, which will be appreciated by all the Wikipedia buffs out there.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Wikipedia (App Store)

The Wirecutter’s best deals: The Huawei Watch and more!

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read their continuously updated list of deals at TheWirecutter.com.

You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.

Huawei Watch

Street price: $350; MSRP: $350; deal price: $270

This is a brand new low for Huawei’s signature smartwatch, beating the previous best by $30. The listed price is for the stainless steel model with leather strap, but models with different straps are also discounted on Amazon today only.

The Huawei Watch is the upgrade pick in our guide on the best smartwatch for Android phones. Kevin Purdy said, “Its design, heft, and one-piece body make this a more traditional ‘men’s watch.’ Its AMOLED display is also sharper in the always-on ambient mode.”

Brightech Scorpion SCP02 Jump Starter

Street price: $80; MSRP: $150; deal price: $70

We recently featured a deal on this that was available for about five days, but not all colors were available during that sale. This newer sale includes all colors

The Brightech Scorpion SCP02 Jump Starter is our portable jump starter pick in our roadside emergency guide. Jim Travers and Kit Dillon wrote, “Solid clamps, high build quality, and good safety features, with enough power to start most cars or small SUVs.”

KEF M500 On-Ear Headphones

Street price: $300; MSRP: $300; deal price: $225

We rarely see deals on this particular model of on-ear headphones from KEF. These headphones drop to $170 for Black Friday, but this is the first time they’ve gone on sale since then. While the price isn’t quite as good as it was over the holidays, you’ll still save $75 off the street price.

The KEF M500s are the high-end audio pick in our guide on the best on-ear headphones at any price. Lauren Dragan said, “The M500s also have the largest soundstage of all of the headphones we tested: the music sounds like there is depth to the recording—like it’s happening in a room rather than in your head.”

Logitech Harmony Home Control

Street price: $135; MSRP: $150; deal price: $100

It took about a year for this to go on sale again, and now it has done so twice in a small amount of time. This is the best price we’ve seen for a product that rarely goes on sale.

The Logitech Harmony Home Control is the universal remote and home controller pick in our guide on the best accessories for your iPhone, iPad, and more. Dan Frakes and Nick Guy wrote, “If you want something more than a basic universal remote, Logitech’s Harmony Home Control (about $150) offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, so it can control an Apple TV that’s hidden away, as well as products such as the Sony PlayStation 3 and 4, the Amazon Fire TV, and Sonos devices.”

Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.

Grab E-Candy’s phone and tablet desktop stand for just $3 at Amazon with coupon

Update: Looks like you guys acted quick on this one! Appears to be unavailable at this time, but keep checking the link just in case it comes back in stock!

E-Candy is selling its phone and tablet desktop stand for just $3 at Amazon with coupon code 6GZKNB8B. That’s right, $3 — the same price as a coffee or breakfast sandwich — and you can have a new place to put your phone when you sit down at your desk. The stand is made of high quality solid aluminum so it should last for a long time, and the angled supports make it easy to see what is on your screen when the phone or tablet is on the stand.

The stand is normally $8, but for a limited time you can grab it for just $3. Prime members can score free shipping on the deal as well. Remember, you will need coupon code 6GZKNB8B for the full savings here.

See at Amazon

Galaxy S7 and S7 edge support both Marshmallow and Samsung fingerprint APIs

The Galaxy S7 is open to the largest number of fingerprint-enabled apps.

Though Android 6.0 Marshmallow doesn’t bring a significant visual change to the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, the under-the-hood improvements are definitely welcomed either way. And with this release, that means the new phones support Android 6.0’s fingerprint APIs — so you can use a quick tap on the home button to unlock any app that has been written to accommodate Marshmallow’s latest security feature.

What we didn’t know up until this point is whether the integration of Marshmallow fingerprint support would cause problems with Samsung’s own legacy fingerprint APIs, which have been around since the Galaxy S5 and adopted in a surprisingly large number of apps. Thankfully Samsung has managed to let the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge support both forms of fingerprint authentication at once, so no matter how your apps of choice want to be secure, the phones can handle it without issue.

Perhaps most important, it’s completely opaque as to which APIs you’re actually tapping into when the app surfaces the challenge for your fingerprint. Samsung? Google? Doesn’t matter. Just wait for the prompt, put your finger on the home button and you’ll be authenticated in short order.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

• Galaxy S7 review
• Galaxy S7 edge review
• Galaxy S7 edge with Exynos: A Canadian perspective
• Here are all four Galaxy S7 colors
• Details on the Galaxy S7’s camera
• The SD card is back on the GS7
• Join our Galaxy S7 forums

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Pokemon Co-master to bring board game battles to Android in Japan

The Pokémon Company will soon release a new mobile game for Android called Pokémon Co-master. Taking the form of a strategy board game, Co-master offers both single-player battles against computer-controlled opponents, as well as online multiplayer matches.

Pokémon Co-master combines its strategy mechanics with the collection of virtual Pokémon figurines. As they move across the game board, Pokémon will battle with their unique powers when they encounter each other, just like in the standard Pokémon games.

Co-master was developed alongside HEROZ Japan, which specializes in artificial intelligence systems, and which helped develop the game’s AI. That AI will be able to help you in your matches against computer-controlled opponents.

The game will be released in Japan at some point this spring. There is no word yet on whether it will make its way to other countries as well.

How the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge perform in the Gear VR

Long time Gear VR users will be pleased to see some minor performance upgrades with these new phones.

If you’ve used the Samsung Gear VR on anything before the launch of the Galaxy Note 5, you know Samsung’s VR experience is really great right until it isn’t. Early models overheat frequently, several of the more demanding VR experiences aren’t even available on those early models, and the Galaxy S6 could be drained to dead in under an hour in VR. Things got a lot better with the Note 5, and now that Samsung is hooking so many people up with free Gear VR there’s an expectation that the experience will continue to improve with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

The good news is things are absolutely better with these new phones. The OK news is those differences aren’t all dramatic or significant.

We’ve gotten a lot of questions about Samsung’s new phones in the Gear VR, but the most frequently asked question has been about the display. Samsung’s displays in the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are slightly better than the Galaxy S6 and Note 5, but in VR things get split up and held under a magnifying glass. The resolution is the same between these two phones, which means there are more pixels per inch on the Galaxy S7 than there are on the S7 edge.

What this means in real world usage is sometimes text is a little sharper on the Galaxy S7, but just about everything else is the same. In some apps you’ll notice the curved display on the S7 edge causes some light aberrations on the top and bottom of the images you’re viewing, but you have to actively look for them to see them and even then it’s only when bright whites are shown in the top and bottom. In things like gameplay or video, you’d never know these phones were any different from one another, or the Note 5 for that matter.

As Samsung continues to work with Oculus on things like Vulkan APIs, it’s likely we’ll see the Gear VR become both more efficient and more capable over time.

Next up is overheating, which is a big problem for a lot of people using the Gear VR. With the Galaxy S6 and Note 5 it’s a lot harder to get the overheat warning to pop-up under normal use, but it’s not impossible. Any intense game while the power is connected, for example, will quickly cause things to get out of hand. We’ve only tested the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge in Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 form so far, but there’s a noticeable difference in performance. Playing through a level in Eve: Gunjack on the Note 5 causes the whole phone to get warm, and understandably so. That same session on the Galaxy S7 edge causes a significantly lower buildup of heat, due largely to the more capable processor. You’re still going to run into the occasional heat warning if you try charging the phone while playing the more interactive games, but overall it’s a significant improvement.

Finally, the larger battery and the more capable processor in the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge make a noticeable difference in use over time. On the Galaxy Note 5, 20 minutes of Eve: Gunjack consumes about 15 percent of the total battery on the phone. That’s not bad considering the nearly 30 percent we’d see with the Galaxy S6, but on the Galaxy S7 edge that number drops down to 10 percent. Meanwhile, the smaller Galaxy S7 consumes closer to 13 percent in our tests. This is maximum brightness on LTE with none of Samsung’s power saving features on, which is a huge increase in overall performance.

The best part about all of these performance changes is it’s just the start. As Samsung continues to work with Oculus on things like Vulkan APIs, it’s likely we’ll see the Gear VR become both more efficient and more capable over time. We’ll be conducting a full review of the Galaxy S7 in the Gear VR over the next few weeks, so be sure to drop any questions you have in the comments below!

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

• Galaxy S7 review
• Galaxy S7 edge review
• Galaxy S7 edge with Exynos: A Canadian perspective
• Here are all four Galaxy S7 colors
• Details on the Galaxy S7’s camera
• The SD card is back on the GS7
• Join our Galaxy S7 forums

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Samsung Gear VR

• Gear VR review
• Five Gear VR games that shouldn’t be missed
• Inside Samsung’s Gear VR web browser
• Gear VR vs. Google Cardboard
• Where to buy Gear VR

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Fossil Q Motion will track your activity, sleep and more for $95

Fossil has unveiled a new addition to its lineup of Q wearables with the Q Motion. Cylindrical in shape, the Q Motion is a wrist-worn activity tracker that’s quite different from the company’s more traditional looking Q54 Pilot smartwatch.

As you’d expect from an activity tracker, the Q Motion can track your movement and send you notifications for things like calls, notifications and more. Going further, the Q Motion also includes sleep tracking for those looking to track the quality of their shuteye. Fossil says the tracker also includes “Smart Tap technology” that acts as a shortcut for actions like finding your phone or playing music by tapping three times on the tracker.

The wearable is also rated as water resistant for up to 50 meters and sports a battery life of six-months. As for availability, Fossil says that the Q Motion will be available starting this summer for $95.

Android N gives you even more ways to save cellular data

‘Data Saver’ mode is a new feature that lets you easily lock down certain apps’ data consumption when you’re away from Wifi.

While Android has long been able to restrict certain apps’ access to background data on a cellular connection, the Android N Developer Preview adds a new feature that makes it easier to cut down on your data consumption when necessary.

“Data Saver” is a new mode that can be toggled in quick settings under the notification shade, or found under Settings > Data usage. When enabled, apps that aren’t whitelisted are prevented from using cellular data in the background, and according to Google’s developer documentation apps will also be signaled to consume less data when they’re actively being used.

Pick and choose which apps get unrestricted data access in Data Saver mode.

When Data Saver is turned on, Android displays a “pause” icon in the status bar. You’ll also see a message at the top of the Settings app in Android N informing you that it’s enabled.

The settings menu for Data Saver lets you control which apps get to use “unrestricted” data when this mode is enabled — by default, the only whitelisted app is Google Play Services, which makes sense given the importance of this low-level app.

Generous cellular data bundles are something many in the West take for granted, however this new Android feature could be a big deal in some developing markets, where data quotas may be more restrictive. Those that regularly travel to foreign soils may also benefit from Data Saver feature, as background usage can quickly eat through precious roaming data allowances.

As with all features in the current Android N Developer Preview, it’s worth remembering that Data Saver may change (or even disappear entirely) between now and the final release. Keep watching for more on the next version of Android as the summer release window approaches.

Android N Developer Preview

The Android N Developer Preview is just that — a developer preview. It is not intended for daily use. That doesn’t mean it’s not cool, and that you shouldn’t poke around. But know that things will break. Tread carefully. (And have fun!)

• What’s new in Android N
• All Android N news
• About the Android Beta Program
• Download system images
• Android N easter egg
• Join the Discussion

General Mobile 4G added to Android N Preview device list

The surprise launch of the Android N Developer Preview now comes with an equally surprising addition to the devices that are eligible to run this pre-released OS. The Android Beta Program has added the General Mobile 4G phone, which is part of the Android One initiative, to that list.

The phone was first released in May 2015 in Turkey and has a 5-inch HD IPS display, a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. It joins the Nexus 6, Nexus 9, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player and Pixel C on the list of products that are eligible to run the Android N Developer Preview. It’s possible more devices will be added to this list before Android N is officially released.

Android N Developer Preview

The Android N Developer Preview is just that — a developer preview. It is not intended for daily use. That doesn’t mean it’s not cool, and that you shouldn’t poke around. But know that things will break. Tread carefully. (And have fun!)

• What’s new in Android N
• All Android N news
• About the Android Beta Program
• Download system images
• Android N easter egg
• Join the Discussion