Project Cars teases its Oculus Rift experience, looks incredible

If you’re into racing, and you’re soon to be into VR with Oculus Rift, Project Cars should be on your radar. And given the latest teaser video from the developers, Slightlymad Studios, it will definitely want to be on your radar.

As you can expect, the experience inside the game on Rift will be much more immersive than that we’ve come to know so far. It’s a launch day title, so you’ll be able to jump behind the wheel as soon as you put it on.

So who’s jumping on this one?

Oppo’s R9 and R9 Plus feature astounding 16MP front-facing selfie shooters

Companies have released handsets in the past touted as “the smartphone for selfie lovers,” but none have really made jaws drop with their front-facing optics. That is, until Oppo decided to shake things up with the R9 and R9 Plus. Both smartphones feature a 16MP front-facing shooter. Yes, you read that correctly. 16MP.

What makes the R9 from Oppo even more interesting in the camera department is how the company has opted to go with just 13MP for the main rear-facing camera, while the R9 Plus has a 16MP upgrade. Other specifications include an octa-core Snapdragon 652 processor, 4GB of RAM, 4G LTE, fingerprint sensor, 2850mAh battery, and a screen to body ratio of 79.3%. If you choose the R9 Plus, your battery is upgraded alongside the camera to a whopping 4120mAh power plant.

Considering both handsets will be priced at around $500 or below in China, that’s quite the planned launch for Oppo. We can only dream that said hardware makes it outside the country and into our pockets.

Chrome for Android stops merging apps and tabs by default

Google’s browser quietly reverts to the old-style tab switcher on phones — but you’ll only see the change in a fresh Chrome installation.

In a quiet but not insignificant move, Google has changed the default way its Chrome browser handles tabs on Android phones. Since the arrival of Android 5.0 Lollipop, Chrome has let each tab display its own card inside the Overview menu. (That’s the list of cards you see when pressing the Recent Apps key.) If you wanted to go back to the old-style tab switcher in Chrome itself, you’d have to find and disable the “Merge tabs and apps” option under Chrome’s Settings menu.

As of the most recent stable build of Chrome — version 49 at the time of writing — the new default setting for “Merge tabs and apps” is off. This means if you’re setting up Chrome on a phone for the first time, you’ll start off with the old-style in-app tab switcher. If you want apps and tabs to live together in the Overview menu, you’ll need to enable this manually. Essentially, it’s the reverse of how things used to be.

Left: Merge tabs and apps, the old default / Right: Chrome’s in-app tab switcher, the new default.

The move appears to walk back one of the major changes of the Lollipop era.

The move appears to walk back one of the major changes of the Lollipop era, where Chrome took advantage of new APIs in Android 5.0 that let apps create multiple cards in the Overview menu. The result was easier switching between Chrome tabs and other apps, thought at the cost of making it harder to keep track of all your individual tabs, and a little slower to switch between them. (What’s more, that stack of cards could very quickly become a mess of old Chrome tabs.)

We’ve confirmed the change on several phones running Lollipop, Marshmallow and even the Nexus 6P on the Android N developer preview. It’s worth noting that this only applies to new installations of Chrome, or new phones being set up for the first time. That means if you first set up Chrome on an older version, then updated to Chrome 49 through the Play Store, nothing will change. (To see the change for yourself, simply clear Chrome’s app data, then restart it.)

It’s still possible to have apps and tabs live together in the Overview menu — just hit the menu button in Chrome (the three-dots icon), then tap Settings > Merge tabs and apps.

The reason for the change isn’t clear, though it’s possible Google finally decided the old apps-plus-tabs setup was just too confusing. And for what it’s worth, the change also brings Chrome on Android back in line with the iOS version of the browser.

Which tab-switching method do you prefer to use in Google Chrome? Shout out in the comments!

Best fitness trackers 2016: The best activity bands to buy today

The wearables market has really taken off over the past couple of years bringing with it a plethora of devices from smartwatches and heart rate measuring headphones to sports watches and activity trackers.

There is such a breadth of choice out there, it’s difficult to know where to start, let alone make the right decision on the one best for you. This feature rounds up the best activity trackers available to buy today and we will be updating it as we test out the latest devices.

For now, we have only included the products we have tested fully and it focuses around the wearables that are always-on and always tracking your activity, rather than those that specialise in specific activities.

For those that are after something that will count your steps and calories, monitor your sleep and perhaps even have the added bonus of reading your heart rate, you have come to the right place. Here are the best fitness wearables to consider if you want to get up, start moving and stay ahead of the game.

Click here to find the best activity tracker or fitness band out there for you.

There’s no technical reason why PS4 and Xbox One fans can’t play together, but…

A few days ago, at the start of GDC in San Francisco, Microsoft openly invited other console manufacturers to participate in its cross-platform gaming strategy; that’s Sony with its PlayStation 4, to you and us.

It is already planning on offering PC and Xbox One Rocket League players to compete against each other online, no matter the platform, and other games will follow in the same vein.

The fact that its statement suggested PS4 players could also get in on the cross-platform action excited many.

However, it seems that it won’t be anytime soon. if at all.

Even though there are few technical barriers to such a move, Sony has illustrated several other factors that could prevent such multiplayer, online harmony.

Sony Worldwide Studios boss, Shuhei Yoshida, told Eurogamer at GDC 2016 that cross-platform play could be blocked by “policy issues and business issues”. Essentially, it’s not necessarily in Sony’s best interests to allow Xbox One and PS4 owners to play together.

Cross-platform play has been adopted by some PS4 games, with the aforementioned Rocket League and Street Fighter 5 both having multiplayer match-ups across the console and PC. And Yoshida said that it is “nothing new for us” to work with developers and publishers to allow cross-platform play.

But opening that to Xbox One is another kettle of fish entirely: “Because PC is an open platform it’s much more straightforward,” the Sony executive said. “Connecting two different closed networks is much more complicated so we have to work with developers and publishers to understand what it is they are trying to accomplish.

“We also have to look at the technical aspect – and the technical aspect could be the easiest. We also have to look at policy issues and business issues as well.”

It is the latter two factors that could prove to be the nail in the coffin for the concept.

Sony won’t be making a loss on PlayStation VR hardware, even at £350 a pop

Sony has revealed that, contrary to the opinion of some analysts, it won’t be making a loss on each PlayStation VR headset sold – even though it undercuts high-end rivals by hundreds of pounds.

When the tech and gaming giant revealed that the PS VR would retail for £350 in the UK ($399 in the States) many thought that, like in the console market in the past, the company would make a loss on each device sold, opting for software sales to make profit.

Oculus has also previously suggested that its own £500 price point was very reasonable for the amount of tech crammed inside the Oculus Rift headset. That furthers the idea that a £350 price point for a similar system is lower than it costs to manufacture.

READ: PlayStation VR: Release date, specs and everything you need to know

However, Sony Worldwide Studios head, Shuhei Yoshida told Eurogamer otherwise. Speaking at GDC, he revealed that Sony won’t be making a loss on PS VR hardware at all.

“According to our hardware team we are not going to lose money selling PlayStation VR for the price we announced,” he said.

“That’s great news because we can invest in promotion, doing trials, developer support without bleeding money by selling the PS VR hardware.”

Pocket-lint

Yoshida explained that Sony’s vast experience as a manufacturer in technology and games equipment is a major factor in cutting costs.

“Luckily our hardware teams have been making hardware for a long time. We’ve approached PS VR development how we approach PlayStation console development – we always aim high in the quality of the experience,” he added.

“Especially because virtual reality is so new, we wanted to do it right first time. We waited until we could use cutting edge tech like 120Hz OLED displays – that doesn’t exist anywhere, we custom made it for PS VR.”

READ: PlayStation VR preview: Affordable virtual reality for the gamers

The PlayStation VR headset is now available on pre-order from several retailers and will be shipped from the beginning of October this year. It costs £350 but you will also need to invest in a PlayStation Camera accessory if you don’t own one for your PS4 already.

A couple of PlayStation Move controllers are also recommended.

Huawei P9 confirmed to feature dual cameras, hints at Leica tech

The Huawei P9 launch event is all set to kick off on 9 April after official invites were sent out. Now it looks like the rumoured dual cameras are certain to appear too.

Following a series of leaks culminating in a massive reveal on Oppomart yesterday, Huawei has now sent out a teaser showing the dual cameras. The image, above, shows the dual lens camera system inside the P9 name. But it goes further.

The image, you’ll notice, also features a slither of red on one of the lenses. This very likely is the Leica red and makes a nod to Huawei’s recent announcement that it partnered with Leica to work on the P9 camera.

The Huawei P9 camera is rumoured to feature a 12-megapixel dual lens system with OIS and laser autofocus. Where Leica fits into all that is still unclear at this stage.

Huawei is expected to launch a P9, P9 Max and P9 Lite on 9 April.

The flagship P9 Max is rumoured to feature a 6.2-inch QHD display, Kirin 955 octa-core with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, 3000mAh battery and a $699 price.

The P9 should feature a 5.2-inch 1080p display, Kirin 950 octa-core with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage plus a 3000mAh battery and $499 price.

The P9 Lite is expected to have a 5-inch 1080p screen, Snapdragon 650 processor, 2GB of RAM and 2500mAh battery plus a $299 price.

Expect to hear full details at the launch event on 9 April.

READ: Huawei P9: What’s the story so far?

New Sky VR Studio kicks of with Team Williams F1 VR experience you can watch online

Sky has announced that it is backing virtual reality big time with a series of VR shorts. These start with a virtual reality Formula One experience to kick off the new F1 season this weekend.

The broadcaster, which was one of the first commercial backers of 3D in the UK, has confirmed it will be creating a dedicated Sky VR Studio. This will produce over 20 pieces of VR content across the next couple of years.

“Over the coming months, Sky will transport fans of sports, movies, news and entertainment to locations around the world, offering a truly unique perspective on major events,” the broadcaster told Pocket-lint as we got to try out the first piece of content.

Sky’s first VR film

The first piece of fully immersive VR content is a two minute short film featuring the Team Williams Formula 1 team. It shows them testing in Barcelona.

The short, which isn’t restricted to simple point of view camera angle, enables viewers to see the pit lane, team garage and track in 360-degrees.

A second F1 VR experience, Ted’s Notebook, takes you on a backstage tour of the pits. It features an interview with Lewis Hamilton amongst others.

Both shorts were produced in conjunction with Formula One management and the Williams team. They will be made available via the Facebook 360 Video platform from tomorrow, Friday 18 March.

READ: Best VR headsets to buy in 2016, whatever your budget

The full VR experience will also be available on the Oculus platform, so viewable on the Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift headsets.

Team Williams F1 VR: What’s it like?

Having previewed the new footage ourselves, alongside other previously shot bits of VR video, it’s clear Sky is still trying to discover what works and what doesn’t in this new filming format. It is early days after all.

While some shots work well, such as those taken in the pit during fueling, quick jump cuts and a floating camera can be really jarring at times. It can take a few seconds to get used to each segment.

A second viewing enabled us to enjoy the experience a lot more. It’s clear that having a seasoned director, who has been shooting virtual reality content for over five years, helps produce content that is a lot better than just sticking a couple of bolted-together GoPros on a rig.

When we asked Richard Nockles, the creative director at the new Sky VR studio, about shooting a point of view experience he told us that he likes to see VR video more akin to the theatre than cinema.

“You are basically trying to create scenes that the audience wants to explore,” he said. “POV is great, and insightful, but we like the ideal of using talent to take the audience to the heart of somewhere they haven’t been before. If you were to always film in POV, you lose some of the scene, and so we’ve found that switching between the two can be quiet interesting.”

Virtual reality is in the early stages of development

Neil Graham, the man in charge of the new studio added: “We are at the early stages of our VR development, we are trying to build on the philosophy of trying to bring our viewers closer. It’s not just about the view, it’s about the feeling.”

Later in the year, Sky will look to distribute content through a dedicated Sky VR app.

“Over the coming year, Sky VR Studio will drive the creation of cinematic, fully immersive VR content, producing more than 20 individual films, across a unique range of Sky content – from major cultural events in news to some of the biggest sporting events on the planet,” said Graham.

Sky has been dabbling in virtual reality for some time, investing in US VR start-up Jaunt in 2013 as well as creating news footage of the migrant crisis and shooting from the red carpet at the UK premier of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The company says it plans two other bits of VR content in the coming months. These include a unique perspective on heavyweight boxing, taking viewers inside the ring as Anthony Joshua bids for a world title. The other follows Team Sky as the cycle team set sights on retaining their Tour de France crown.

As for the fears that VR will end up going the same way as 3D, Sky doesn’t thing that will happen: “I’ve never watched a piece of 3D content that has got me as involved as some of the VR films I’ve seen or we’ve created,” Graham told Pocket-lint.

“3D doesn’t transport you, it merely added an extra layer of pretty. That’s not the same with VR.”

Success or not, what is clear is that although Sky has created a new studio to focus on VR content it is still very early days for the format.

Is 2016 the year of VR?

“Is 2016 the year of VR? Probably not,” Nockles added. “It’s the year we got to know what it was, but it will probably be 2018 before it really takes off.”

This newb may be the best smartphone of 2016: 6GB of RAM, 10-core processor and more

The Vernee Apollo might not be a smartphone or even brand you’ve heard of before, but it could be a household name soon enough. This could be the most powerful smartphone for 2016.

Vernee is a Chinese manufacturer that’s not been around for long but is already making huge claims for its Apollo smartphone. If the claimed specs are accurate and it arrives soon the other smartphone manufacturers better watch out.

For a start the Vernee Apollo is going to feature a 10-core MediaTek Helio X20 processor and, get this, 6GB of RAM. To call this fast would be an understatement.

The high-end specs don’t stop there though as the screen should also impress at full QHD resolution and 5.5-inch size. But, crucially, it’s going to feature a 3D Touch style pressure sensitive touchscreen like that found in the iPhone 6S.

Vernee

The camera will be Sony’s 21-megapixel sensor with an 8-megapixel front-facing selfie snapper. There’ll be plenty of room to store those large pics on the 128GB of internal storage.

The entire handset is going to be a metal unibody build with a USB-C port for high speed charging and data transfers. It should also run pure Android Marshmallow without any skins.

The Vernee Apollo is set to launch in China this April. Expect a price and possible international shipping details released nearer to that time.

READ: Huawei P9: What’s the story so far?

Oppo R9 is a fancy mid-range phone for selfie addicts

How many megapixels does your pretty face deserve? 16 apparently, according to a couple of new Android smartphones from Oppo. The freshly announced R9 and R9 Plus are the latest addition to the Chinese company’s mid-range line, featuring a powerful front-facing camera with Samsung’s 16-megapixel ISOCELL sensor and a bright f/2.0 aperture, along with Oppo’s new and improved beautification plus selfie panorama modes. These will no doubt be a big hit amongst ladies in Asia, but that’s not to say men can’t enjoy the occasional selfies, either (yes, I’m very much guilty here).

The R9 series comes in a finely sandblasted aluminum body in either gold or pink, and they also boast super slim bezels — just 1.66mm on the R9 and 1.76mm on the larger R9 Plus, thus making it easier to grip their what would otherwise be larger bodies. There’s also a fingerprint reader, but unlike the one on last year’s R7 Plus, this time Oppo decided to place it on the front instead of the back, making it more convenient to unlock the phone while it’s lying on the table. What remains unchanged is Oppo’s dual Nano SIM tray design, with the second SIM slot doubling as a microSD slot, should you require more storage space. On the software side, the R9 runs on Oppo’s new ColorOS 3.0 which is based on Android 5.1.1, but hopefully we’ll get something newer by the time it hits the overseas markets.

Despite the near-identical looks, the R9 and R9 Plus pack rather different internals. Underneath the R9’s 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED screen you’ll find MediaTek’s 2GHz octa-core Helio P10 chipset, along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, a 2,850mAh battery and a 13-megapixel f/2.2 main camera. While Oppo’s insane SuperVOOC rapid charging technology has yet to leave the lab, you can still enjoy the regular VOOC on the R9 series, which lets you go from zero to 70 percent in just half an hour. It’s also worth noting that unlike Quick Charge 2.0/3.0 and similar standards, VOOC uses just the common 5V instead of higher voltages, meaning the device doesn’t get hot easily while being charged.

As the name suggests, the R9 Plus has a bigger 6-inch AMOLED screen of the same resolution, as well as Qualcomm’s 1.8GHz octa-core Snapdragon 652 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage (128GB version to follow) and a massive 4,120mAh battery. Even the main camera is better: It uses Sony’s 16-megapixel IMX298 sensor and features the same f/2.0 aperture as the front camera. Given the similar specs, let’s hope that the performance on these two imagers are more or less consistent.

There’s no word on when the R9 and R9 Plus will be available outside China just yet, but for your reference, they will be launching locally on March 24th and April 12th for 2,799 yuan (about $430) and 3,299 yuan (about $510), respectively. Sure, these prices aren’t quite as competitive as those from Xiaomi nor OnePlus, but as one of the top 10 smartphone brands globally, we have a feeling that these new phones will still sell well.

Via: Engadget Chinese

Source: Oppo