FunimationNow offers Android owners access to tons of anime on the go

The anime studio Funimation has officially launched FunimationNow, offering Android owners access to hundreds of anime movies and TV shows on the go. The service is available for free, but there are also two optional subscription tiers that add more content and features.

Funimation says:

Starting today, subscribers will enjoy unlimited, ad-free HD streaming access to Funimation’s expansive library of hit anime television and film properties, both subbed and dubbed, including “Dragon Ball Z,” “Attack on Titan,” “Fairy Tail,” “Cowboy Bebop,” “Assassination Classroom” and more, on iOS, Android, Kindle, and Windows 10 devices. FunimationNow provides fans with unparalleled access to the hottest new simulcasts while also providing subscribers access to a vast catalog of classic anime television shows and films they know and love.”

Her are the three subscription tiers to FunimationNow:

Basic- Free

• limited anime library
• video ads

Subpass – $4.99/month

• All subtitled anime including simulcasts
• Unlimited device streaming (subtitled only)
• Ad-free in HD

All Access Pass – $7.99/month:

• All subtitled anime including simulcasts
• Unlimited device streaming (subbed and dubbed)
• All English-dubbed anime
• Funimation Broadcast Dubs – English-dubbed episodes of select shows that are available within weeks of the Japanese broadcast
• Exclusive video extras
• Ad-free in HD

Amazon’s Fire TV devices will also add support for FunimationNow in the future.

Grab Silicon Power’s 128GB microSD for $35 at Amazon

Amazon currently has the 128GB microSD card from Silicon Power for just $35, which is a savings of $20 on the regular price. We’ve seen the price of storage drop over the past few months, and this is an absolute steal for anyone looking to have extra space to keep their favorite songs and movies.

Whether you need it for your new phone, tablet or just as an extra, you won’t want to miss this deal. You don’t need any coupons, just hit the link and grab one now!

See at Amazon

Chromecast snags 35 percent of global streamer market in 2015, says Strategy Analytics

According to some new research from Strategy Analytics, the Chromecast has taken 35 percent of the global streamer market in 2015. Google, Amazon, Roku and Apple account for 8 out of every 10 streaming media players sold, and the demand for these continues to rise. The company claims that the demand has grown 32 percent in 2015.

It’s noted that Google has shipped more than 27 million Chromecast’s in the two and a half years since its release, and Apple has shipped 37 million Apple TV’s since 2007. You can find additional research and information about Chromecast market share and digital streamers below.

Press release:

Chromecast takes 35% of the 42 million unit Global Digital Media Streamer Market in 2015, says Strategy Analytics

Demand for dedicated streaming media boxes and dongles grows 32% to a record level in 2015 but control rests with four major brands

Boston, MA – March 8th, 2016. Amazon, Apple, Google and Roku accounted for more than 8 out of every 10 Digital Media Streamer shipments worldwide in 2015, strengthening their combined grip on the fast growing category. Google’s low-cost HDMI dongle continues to lead the standalone streamer market and it has now cemented itself as a top 5 player in the overall Connected TV Device rankings according to the new Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices (CHD) report “Global Connected TV Device Vendor Market Share: Q4 2015.”

David Watkins, Service Director, Connected Home Devices service said, “Google’s puck sized Chromecast dongle continues to have broad appeal with consumers who favor its mobile-centric approach to content access and control. The device’s portability and low price at just $35 has made it an impulse purchase for many and household ownership of multiple Chromecasts is not uncommon. However, the mobile device is not necessarily the center of the universe for everyone and devices such as Apple TV, Roku and the Amazon Fire TV continue to prove popular with those looking for a more traditional remote-based and UI driven TV experience.”

• Based on cumulative shipments of digital media streamers, Apple still leads the way having shipped close to 37 million Apple TV units since its launch in 2007. However, Google’s Chromecast is catching up fast with 27 million units shipped in just two and a half years followed by Roku’s Box and Streaming Stick (20 million) and Amazon Fire TV (less than 10 million).
• Global shipments of all Connected TV Devices (including Smart TVs, Blu-ray players, Game Consoles and Digital Media Streamers) totaled 220 million units in 2015 following record shipments of 84 million in Q4.
• Smart TVs accounted for 54% of all Connected TV Device shipments in 2015 reaching 120 million units. Samsung, LG and Sony have a combined 50% share of the Smart TV market although Chinese brands TCL and Hisense enjoyed the strongest annual shipment growth as they continue to expand beyond their domestic market.

Best smartphones 2016: The best phones available to buy today

So, you want to buy a new phone? If you’re looking for the best smartphone of 2016, you’ve come to the right place. We will guide you through the hottest mobile phones of the year to save you time when you go to your local phone shop.

We continually update this best smartphones feature to reflect recent launches, recognise price changes, and ensure 2016’s latest devices appear alongside the best of 2015 (and before, if applicable). All the listed devices have been fully reviewed by us.

Our best smartphones list covers all operating systems, all sizes, and prices, so you’ll be armed with everything you need to consider when choosing to buy your next device.

Of course, the most important factor in buying a new device is making sure you have the best smartphone for you. The best for your budget, the features you need, the size that feels right and platform that suits you best.

Be sure to let us know what you think is the best smartphone in the comments below.

Pocket-lint

18. Motorola Moto E (2015)

The Moto E is Motorola’s play for the budget end of the market, with a price tag of £109 seeing it even cheaper than the Moto G. It might not have the fastest processor in the world, but this rarely affects daily use.

Principal to the Moto E is a great design – which now includes interchangeable “Bands” for a lick of colour, a good display, excellent battery life and microSD support for expanding the internal storage. Compared to the original 2014 model, the 2015 Moto E also adds a front-facing camera, a smoother Android experience, as well as all-important 4G connectivity for fast internet browsing.

Despite its low price point and slightly bulky build, the Moto E has glimpses of premium about it. It’s a brilliant handset for just over the £100 mark and the budget handset to beat.

Buy the Motorola Moto E 2015 for the best Android experience on a budget.

FULL REVIEW: Motorola Moto E (2015) review

Pocket-lint

17. HTC One A9

The HTC One A9 might be best known for its closeness to the iPhone 6 in design, but there’s a lot about this phone to love. It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, with a stripped down version of HTC Sense, resulting in a lovely overall experience, full of refinement.

The design is great, it feels lovely in the hand and surprisingly, the performance is very good for a handset that has mid-range hardware.

The AMOLED display is great and there’s an improved camera that beats that of the M9, although it still struggles in low light conditions. There is also an excellent fingerprint scanner.

However, the HTC One A9 is expensive for a device at this level, priced over £400. You might get a premium body, but it’s still a mid-ranger at heart and that’s reflected in performance in some areas.

If you want something that’s well built and a decent size, then it’s definitely worth considering.

FULL REVIEW: HTC One A9 review

Pocket-lint

16. HTC One M9+

Many will say that HTC stumbled with the One M9, choosing refinement in design over dealing with the biggest problem it faced: camera performance. No sooner had the One M9 hit the shelves, HTC launched a bigger device, with better specs in Asia, announcing wider availability of the HTC One M9+ a few months later.

The HTC One M9+ is a better device than the flagship M9 in many ways. It has a large 5.2-inch display that’s not only better quality, it’s a higher resolution too. It offers a fingerprint scanner on the front that’s fast to unlock it and it also doesn’t get quite as hot as the regular M9.

But HTC doesn’t really address the camera issue with the HTC One M9+. Using the same 20-megapixel sensor on the rear, it has the same problems as the regular M9, being poor in low light, and struggling to match the quality of rival cameras, even in good light. It also offers Duo Camera functionality, but it feels like a short-lived novelty, rather than something that makes a pursuasive case for itself.

Ultimately, the HTC One M9+ is the device to pick for the latest HTC experience, but even in this enhanced model, it struggles against flagship rivals. Although we’d recommend this phone over the regular M9, which is expensive at £579, the M9+ is a little hard to come by.

FULL REVIEW: HTC One M9+ review

Pocket-lint

15. Honor 7

Honor is a sub-brand of Huawei, looking to shake things up with impressive specs paired up with competitive prices. What the Honor 7 really does is cram in a lot of the technology you’ll find in the Huawei Mate S, also featured in this list. It doesn’t have the premium sheen that the Mate S offers, but you do get a lot for your money.

At £250, you get a great 5.2-inch display, a good quality of build, a fingerprint scanner on the rear that’s fast and packed with extra features, as well as a camera that’s a good performer too.

Combine that with plenty of power and you’re faced with a phone that offers plenty. The customisation of Android is a little heavy and is bettered with a little unpicking, but if you’re looking to escape the mainstream familiarity that many devices offer, then Honor is worth a look.

Buy the Honor 7 to get performance at a budget price.

FULL REVIEW: Honor 7 review: Brilliance on a budget

Pocket-lint

14. Sony Xperia Z5

The Sony Xperia Z5 is a fully-fledged flagship update, wiping away the Xperia Z3+ that was released a few months previously as something of a stop gap.

The Xperia Z5 brings Sony up-to-date in terms of hardware, but really pushes changes in the camera, with a new 23-megapixel sensor. It’s a good performer too, but is hampered by slow software, making the experience a little lacklustre.

There is plenty of power, as well as the water resistance that Sony is known for, although the design is pretty similar to the previous devices in the Xperia Z family and hasn’t seen much change. By current standards, as a flagship, the design isn’t quite as premium as you’ll find elsewhere.

This is a handset packed full of tech, as well as plenty of customisation from Sony. But in a world where less is starting to feel like more, this update is overshadowed by more exciting rivals, with Sony’s software being the biggest bugbear. That can be improved with app substitution, but as it is, the Z5 feels like it needs plenty of updating before it matches the upper echelons.

FULL REVIEW: Sony Xperia Z5 review

Pocket-lint

13. Motorola Moto G (third-gen)

The original Moto G was a brilliant device when it first launched in 2013, taking many by surprise. It has been updated no less than five times since it first arrived and while we weren’t massive fans of model three and four, the fifth version of this handset is a winner.

The design has been redefined and despite still being a little on the chunky side, the third-generation of Moto G is lovely. Water resistance has been added, as has Moto Maker, which means this device can be customised more than the majority on this list.

The third-gen Moto G has a good battery life, an improved camera over its predecessors and an almost raw Android experience with some great software enhancements. The specs aren’t as impressive as some others in this feature, but this phone isn’t about numbers, it’s all about the experience. And as affordable experiences go at £159, it’s a true return to the top.

Buy the Moto G (third-gen) because you want a good smartphone experience at a more than reasonable price.

FULL REVIEW: Motorola Moto G (third-gen)

Pocket-lint

12. BlackBerry Priv

BlackBerry returns to form with the Priv, it’s first Android handset. It’s the first time for a long time that BlackBerry has been including in the list of best smartphones, but this is a serious handset worthy of serious consideration, whether you’re a BlackBerry fan or and Android fan.

It is a slider handset with a huge 5.4-inch display, offering all the benefits of the lastest Android devices, with a physical keyboard that BlackBerry users will find familiar.

It’s blessed with BlackBerry Hub and a range of BlackBerry shortcuts and features lifted from BB handsets and reinvented for Android. The result is an innovative handset that offers some charming twists, like the pop-up widgets and battery charging indicator, which both show software nouse from BlackBerry.

It’s not the fastest handset around, the camera isn’t the best and it lacks a fingerprint scanner, while demanding top-draw prices for its wares at £559. However, BlackBerry continues to update the software, so some of those early complaints will likely be wiped out.

Choose the BlackBerry Priv because you want a physical keyboard and a device that’s very apt at messaging.

FULL REVIEW: BlackBerry Priv review

Pocket-lint

11. Motorola Moto X Play

The Moto X has doubled up, offering two very different handsets in its latest guise. The Moto X Style is the bigger, more powerful and more expensive handset, leaving the Moto X Style to slip in at a lower price point, but also takes prize as the better handset.

The Moto X Play’s attaction comes from the huge battery that Motorola has stuffed inside, meaning it offers some of the best endurance you’ll find in an Android handset. Yes, this is the phone to pick if you want it to last not just through the day, but through the night and the following day too.

It’s a mid-range handset, offering Motorola’s Moto Maker customisation, but it isn’t the most powerful handset around. That aids the stellar battery life, but it’s easy to accuse the Moto X Play of not being hugely exciting, and it lacks a fingerprint scanner, which is the biggest negative. The camera isn’t great in low light either, but is a step ahead of previous generation Moto cameras in normal conditions.

It’s pretty much free of bloatware, however, so if you’re after a clean Android experience, with Moto’s customisation and great battery life, this could be the phone for you.

FULL REVIEW: Motorola Moto X Play review

Pocket-lint

10. Huawei Mate S

The Huawei Mate S is the best Huawei device we’ve seen so far, with a design and build that challenges the best devices out there.

There are some points on the spec sheet that will see the Mate S pale in comparison with flagship superphones however. There’s a 5.5-inch display sitting at 1920 x 1080 pixels, hardly the sharpest around, but it has a trick up its sleeve – it’s pressure sensitive on the top luxury model.

This brings some individuality to this device – you can remove the Android navigation buttons in favour of hard presses for example – but it doesn’t go to the depths of innovation that Apple has with 3D Touch.

Even opting for the Mate S models that lack the pressure sensitive display gives you a great smartphone experience however. There’s plenty of power, the option for microSD expansion, cameras that perform very well, and a battery that while lower in capacity than some, will get you through the day.

Huawei’s EMUI software skin sitting over Android takes the shine off things in some areas, but with a tweak and a swap of stock apps, you’ll have a very nice big screen experience that’s a third cheaper than big brand rivals. You can expect to pay from £469.

FULL REVIEW: Huawei Mate S review

Pocket-lint

9. LG G4

If you’re in the market for a big phone then the LG G4 could be your ideal match. From the optional leather finish, to excellent camera performance, this 5.5-inch phone-meets-phablet has plenty going for it. It might not have the most powerful flagship processor inside, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t every bit the flagship phone. Quite the contrary.

Its position in our top phones list reflects these qualities, but the one thing holding it back from greater success is battery life. Despite squeezing a brighter Quad HD screen and new processor into the mix, the 3000mAh battery is too much an echo of the earlier G3, delivering performance a little below par. On the upside the battery is removable so you can easily swap it for a reserve.

However, it is both bigger and thicker than many other flagship devices on the market by some distance. It is, however, great value for money at £419.

Buy the LG G4 for a great camera experience in a large-screen phone.

FULL REVIEW: LG G4 review

Pocket-lint

8. Huawei Mate 8

Huawei’s handsets are getting stronger and stronger. Not only has brand awareness been boosted by the Nexus 6P, but sensible refinement has resulted in a recent batch of very usable handsets, a sub-premium prices. That’s the case with the Mate 8, a 6-inch handset, a snip at £429.

But this isn’t only about price, because you get a lot of phone for your money. The design reflects Huawei’s skills we’ve seen in other devices, with a high quality metal body and an excellent fingerprint scanner on the rear, fused with internal hardware that delivers plenty of performance and some of the best battery life you’ll find. This is a device for the power user, make no mistake.

It’s not all perfect though. Huawei continues to do its own thing with EMUI and while there’s a lot of functionality added, there’s a general reworking of the style, swapping of apps that’s a less useful than stock Android and other niggles that let the side down. The less is more manta applies, and Huawei seem to be ignoring that.

Specs fans might be disappointed to find only a full HD display and at this size more pixels could be used to better effect, but then that’s in some way reflected in the price. A great, big phone, and a great performer.

FULL REVIEW: Huawei Mate 8 review

Pocket-lint

7. Nexus 5X

The cheaper of the two new Nexus devices, the Nexus 5X replaces the successful Nexus 5, presenting a device that’s more affordable at £339. It takes some hits on the spec sheet compared to the Nexus 6P too, but that fits with the price point, slotting this device into a sub-flagship position.

The biggest change and differentiator from flagship devices is the build, with the LG-made device having a plastic body. It feels solid enough, but it’s lacking the premium feel that many of the top devices offer.

There is, however, great performance from the unsullied Android 6.0 Marshmallow software that it launches with and although it’s not the greatest machine for gaming or multimedia, as a daily communicator, this the Nexus 5X offers fuss-free efficiency.

There’s an excellent fingerprint scanner on the rear that’s lightning fast, as well as the latest USB Type-C connection on the bottom. This isn’t the most powerful phone, but it has plenty to offer for the price.

FULL REVIEW: Nexus 5X review

Pocket-lint

6. Apple iPhone 6S Plus

Apple’s larger model has had a chance to find its feet, updated in the iPhone 6S Plus to mirror the updates brought to the regular iPhone 6S. That brings you the advantage of a 3D Touch display, with more methods of interaction, a faster Touch ID experience, backed by faster hardware.

If you’re looking for a larger iPhone, then the 6S Plus is where you need to look. Some might say that by the time you reach 5.5-inches, the Full HD display isn’t as sharp as some rivals. That’s the case with the 6S too, but here there’s the slight feeling that Apple isn’t offering more features through that large display, as you might find in a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, for example.

You do get a new camera experience, however, and this model also sports optical image stabilisation, along with new 4K video capture and Live Photos, making for one of the slickest camera experiences around.

But in the process of updating the 6 Plus to the 6S Plus, this larger than life iPhone has piled on an extra 20g in weight. It’s pushing the scales a little, and could be too weighty for some. It’s also expensive at £619.

FULL REVIEW: Apple iPhone 6S Plus review

Pocket-lint

5. Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+

The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ takes one of 2015’s most innovative models and expands it. Swelling the edge+ up to 5.7-inches over the original 5.1, it’s a leap forward in screen size, even if much of the specification remains the same. For many, with the absence of the Note 5, it’s the S6 edge+ that takes all the glory in the big screen stakes.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 family offers some of the best camera performance around and that’s repeated on the S6 edge+, combined with a great fingerprint scanner and some innovative features in those curved display edges.

Some might say that the curves are a little under ultilised and in reality, the S6 edge+ doesn’t have quite the feature set as the Note Edge that it replaces, or the Note 5 that it sits alongside. That’s a bitter pill to swallow considering that this handset is one of the most expensive devices on the market, at £629.

It’s a showpiece, that’s for sure, but in the battle of the big devices, Samsung’s own Note will edge it out in terms of functionality – if it’s on sale in your country.

FULL REVIEW: Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ review 

Pocket-lint

4. OnePlus 2

OnePlus has been shaking things up in the smartphone world. The Chinese company might not have the high street profile that Samsung or Apple do, but in the underworld of smartphone geekery, OnePlus is overload.

That’s due in many parts to the great value proposition that OnePlus presents. There are few other places where you’ll get this grade of hardware for this price, undercutting the likes of budget darlings Huawei in many cases.

In 2015’s model, the OnePlus 2 presents great build quality at a price that many will find surprisingly cheap, along with slick performance from OxygenOS, its customised Android interface, and great battery life.

There are shortcomings, like the lack of NFC and specifications that don’t quite rival the best out there. The OnePlus 2 isn’t so much the flagship killer, but it decimates the mid-range and sub-premium bracket.

OnePlus has also dropped the invite system so it is simple to buy. At £239, it’s money well spent.

FULL REVIEW: OnePlus 2 review

Pocket-lint

3. Nexus 6P

The Nexus 6P was launched alongside the Nexus 5X, a premium counterpoint to it’s more affordable LG-built rival. The Nexus 6P is manufactured by Huawei, the first time this Chinese company has been involved with the Nexus programme. It’s also the most accomplished Nexus handset to date and for many will be the default choice for Android superphone.

It has a full metal body and although the design perhaps doesn’t challenge the interest in the Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 edge, it’s certainly something that will appeal to those looking for that premium sheen. Nexus is no longer just about affordability, now it’s about desirability too.

There’s plenty of power in this 5.5-inch device and a display that’s full of detail and pop, dripping in vibrancy with deep inky blacks. The fingerprint scanner on the rear is incredibly fast too, and there’s USB Type-C on the bottom for simple connection to your charger.

There’s a camera that’s capable of some great shots in all conditions, with the hardware outperforming the software in this instance. The HDR mode (auto) is a little slow, even if it gets great results.

This is a pure Android handset, debuting Android 6.0 Marshmallow and again makes a case for how consumer friendly this software is without all the additions you’ll get elsewhere. Priced at £449, it undercuts most flagships. It might lack a few flourishes and additions, but it’s a wonderful Android handset.

FULL REVIEW: Nexus 6P review

Pocket-lint

2. Apple iPhone 6S

The iPhone 6S takes a strong design and supercharges Apple’s smartphone. The iPhone 6S might be an “incremental” model, with no changes to the exterior design, but under the skin there’s a lot that’s new in the iPhone 6S.

A natural starting point is the display. Although it isn’t the highest resolution handset out there, Apple has introduced pressure sensitivity to the new iPhone and called it 3D Touch. It’s not unique, but the depth to which Apple has empowered this new feature stands it aside. Being able to trigger alternative actions, peek into apps and then pop them open, changes navigation around the phone.

This is a more powerful handset than previously, so things are slicker and faster, but there’s also been a refresh to the camera, the first update in a long time. A new 12-megapixel sensor powers proceedings, with new features, including 4K video capture. You can now take Live Photos, bringing movement to stills, as well as an improved selfie experience, with the display firing as a flash.

The result is an iPhone in which it looks like not much has changed, but in reality, it has. It’s a better, faster, more engaging experience than it was the last time around. It is, however, still one of the most expensive smartphones around at £539, and although it offers a premium experience, some will see that the iPhone is behind the curve in some areas, such as display resolution.

FULL REVIEW: Apple iPhone 6S review

1. Samsung Galaxy S7

Following a strong showing from the SGS6, some might have been surprised by how little changed in the Samsung Galaxy S7. Launched alongside a larger S7 edge model, the SGS7 takes what the SGS6 started and refines it. It tweaks the design slightly bringing better aesthetics, reducing the camera bump on the rear and adding curves to the back edges for a nicer feel. It’s more natural and less slab like.

Visually, that’s about the only difference you’ll see, but the SGS7 brings with it a whole lot more. It adds IP68 protection against water and dust and importantly, it brings the microSD card back, so you have more storage options.

Internally there’s plenty of power for a slick performance from the Exynos or Qualcomm chipset and 4GB of RAM, and a wonderfully vibrant Quad HD AMOLED display. The S7 edge is more impactful in the display, larger at 5.5-inches, but both offer plenty of punch.

There’s a hugely wide range of functionality offered through Samsung’s TouchWiz reworking of Andorid Marshmallow, and although this perhaps throws up more features than you’ll ever use, the important point is that it’s beautifully optimised, so it doesn’t feel like it’s ever slowing the phone down. 

Pair that will improved batter performance and a camera that’s consistent and dependable and you have the recipe for the most compelling smartphone on the market. The regular SGS7 is the smaller, with a 5.1-inch display, but is also cheaper at £569. However, the S7 edge is likely to be the more popular device, despite the £639 asking price.

This was the best handset of 2015 and it looks like a repeat performance in 2016.

FULL REVIEW: Samsung Galaxy S7 review

Hitman preview: Agent 47 is back with some time to kill

With all the furore surrounding The Division, it would be easy to forget that another big game is released for Xbox One, PS4 and PC this week too. Agent 47 returns to our consoles and computers this Friday and he demands every bit as much attention.

That’s for a couple of reasons. First, from a preview build we’ve played ahead of a full, in-depth review, developer IO Interactive has really stepped up a notch in how much freedom it is offering the player when carrying out a hit. And second, the decision has been made to do something quite different with the release.

Hitman: Episodes

Instead of a full-on, all-in-one game, as was originally touted, Hitman will be seeded episodically. The main game and first episode will arrive on 11 March with different missions arriving regularly thereafter.

Of course, Telltale adopts a similar release system with its adventure games series, such as The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, while Life is Strange – one of our favourite games of last year – followed a similar pattern. Where Hitman differs though is that it crams a whole lot of gameplay into each episode, and they will be set in different locations around the globe.

There will also be plenty of replay value in that you will be able to complete your objectives in a myriad of ways. Levels are sandboxes full of intricate traps and weapons to use. We doubt any one hit will be the same as another.

Hitman will also be seasonal in that, once this series and its overarching story is complete, there will be another.

Hitman: Missions

For now though, the game starts 20 years before the first Hitman game, Codename 47, and offers three tutorial missions for you to tackle before launching into episode one.

Once you do though, you soon discover exactly what makes this outing different from, say, Absolution. While the control method is similarly fluid, with simple actions sending 47 to seek cover in the environment and the ability to chop and change outfits more often than the cast of TOWIE, the open world locations reward exploration and give ample opportunities to craft cunning and, at times, hilarious plans to dispatch targets.

Square Enix

Hitman: Gameplay

We played plenty of the Paris level, based at a fashion show, and wherever we turned we seemed to find a different item we could use to kill someone with, or a staff member to knock out and unclothe in order to disguise ourselves. There are also set “opportunities” which will take you on a step-by-step path to getting close to a designated target. You can pick these up by simply overhearing a conversation, and they can lead you down some interesting paths.

For example, you might end up taking out one of the world’s top male models in order to infiltrate higher levels, or use the TV camera crew to get closer to the action.

Finding these is a large part of the fun. But what we love about Hitman already, even from the preview version, is that you don’t even have to follow either yourself. It’s up to you how to proceed and that freedom is refreshing.

Graphically, Hitman definitely looks like it’s had a current generation refresh, but without heading down the nitty gritty route. It still looks slightly cartoonified, as always. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

First Impressions

It remains to be seen whether the rest of the episodes are as engaging as the first. And if the final game expands upon the sandbox locations on offer with extra missions and additional objectives. But we can already tell that we’ll have a blast finding out.

Pricing has previously been revealed to be very reasonable, with the launch pack to be available for $15 (UK pricing yet to be confirmed) and subsequent episodes will cost $10 a pop. We’ll reveal more in the full review soon about whether it’s worth that outlay, but we suspect so, especially as the moment we finished our preview session we fancied popping back into the Parisian setting for another crack.

SEC sues Wells Fargo and Rhode Island for game loan disaster

Wells Fargo and Rhode Island state have been charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for their part in the 38 Studios debacle. The SEC alleges that both parties defrauded investors to the tune of $50 million in an attempt to finance the MMO Project Copernicus.

You can be forgiven for forgetting about 38 Studios — it’s been defunct for years now — but let’s bring you up to speed. The game maker was founded in Massachusetts by baseball star Curt Schilling, but moved to Rhode Island as part of the state’s economic development plan, securing a $75 million loan guarantee from to build the action-RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and an MMO codenamed Project Copernicus.

It managed to borrow $50 million from a state agency, but couldn’t secure the additional $25 million it needed. Although it released Kingdoms of Amalur, and sold over a million copies, it faced a massive shortfall and unable to pay back the money it had already borrowed. The studio was forced to close without completing Project Copernicus. When it finally filed for bankruptcy in 2012, it owed over $150 million, with less than $22 million in assets.

The SEC asserts that the Rhode Island Commerce Corp (formerly the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, RIEDC) and Wells Fargo failed to tell investors that 38 Studios was $25 million short of the the total funding it needed to make its game.”We allege that the RIEDC and Wells Fargo knew that 38 Studios needed an additional $25 million to fund the project yet failed to pass that material information along to bond investors, who were denied a complete financial picture,” the SEC said.

Additionally, Wells Fargo is accused of failing to disclose a side deal with 38 Studios that “nearly doubled” the compensation it received when the deal went sour. “This additional compensation,” said the SEC, “… created a conflict of interest that Wells Fargo should have disclosed to bond investors.” Wells Fargo’s lead banker on the deal, Peter Cannava, has been charged with aiding and abetting the fraud, along with two former RIEDC executives, Keith Stokes and James Saul. Although neither has admitted guilt, both Stokes and Saul have already settled the suit, paying a $25,000 fine.

Wells Fargo says it disputes the allegations, and will argue its case in court, suggesting that Cannava is unlikely to settle. RIEDC is still reviewing the SEC’s complaint, and as such is not commenting on specifics. It did note that it previously filed suit against Wells, alleging that the bank didn’t inform it of its side deal with 38 Studios.

Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Pandora will let bands insert voice messages into your music stream

Social media has increasingly broken down the walls between musicians and their fans, allowing bands to have more direct conversations with the people listening to their music. The “artist marketing platform” (AMP) that Pandora launched a few years ago was meant to be part of that move, helping to enable that connection between musicians and fans. In an effort to foster that connection, Pandora is launching AMPcast, an app that lets Pandora artists record messages to fans on-the-go and insert them right into a user’s audio stream.

A musician participating in Pandora’s AMP program can use the new app to record a quick message to fans, add a link and then share it out to their listeners with speed and spontaneity. Perhaps the most obvious use case is a band alerting fans to a new album release or that there are still tickets available for a concert that night, but Pandora expects it’ll become an all-purpose way for artists of all sizes to reach fans and even grow their audiences. The messages can include a call to action link so you can click for more details.

If you’re worried about your listening experience getting cluttered with messages you don’t want to hear, fear not. For starters, Pandora will only insert audio messages from artists that you’ve used to start a station or who have songs you’ve liked. So you shouldn’t hear messages from bands you couldn’t care less about. Unlike Pandora ads, you can skip past artist message, and you can even opt-out of the entirely.

In Pandora’s view, the magic for artists is the combination of the company’s reach and targeting. For starters, artist messages are only delivered to listeners who’ve expressed an interest in that artist, but the company envisions a time in which it can use the vast amount of data it has tying together related songs and artists to serve listeners messages from bands they’ve never heard before. Pandora thinks that could be very valuable to smaller groups trying to find an audience. There’s even talk of making these messages location-based — so if a band is chatting about its concert in New York City, listeners in San Francisco won’t necessarily have to hear about it.

Much of the story around Pandora over the last year has centered around the company’s move towards offering listeners ways to engage with music they love beyond just listening to songs. The company bought Rdio in an effort to eventually compete head-on with Spotify, launched new recommended stations to help users find new music and purchased Ticketfly in an effort to get its listeners buying tickets to see their favorite bands. This latest initiative ties in well with the Ticketfly move, as artists can directly talk to listeners about upcoming shows as well as have a link to buy tickets.

The program launches today in a limited fashion: only a small group of selected artists can participate for now. But Pandora plans to roll it out to anyone using its AMP platform soon after it gets data on how the service is best used. The company wants to optimize the frequency of messages and get better at targeting before widely rolling it out.

Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge review: Samsung’s finest get more polished

After years of trafficking in plastic flagships, the glass-and-metal Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge proved Samsung still knew how to make jaw-dropping phones. Ah, but there was a rub — a few of them, in fact. The expandable memory slots were gone. Neither phone was waterproof. The S6 Edge’s flat back and slim sides felt awkward. Curvy screens aside, both phones were identical. The shortcomings were few, but they were notable.

Rather than start anew, Samsung’s designers instead set about refining last year’s formula, smoothing rough edges and making the new S7 and S7 Edge feel meaningfully different. Spoiler alert: It worked, and anyone even considering a new Android phone needs to consider owning one of these things. And yet, for all the polishing Samsung has done, these S7 siblings fall short of game-changer territory — this is a year of careful, logical upgrades.

Hardware

For all their physical differences, the S7 ($650 and up without contract) and S7 Edge ($750-plus) share many of the same internals. Thrumming inside both US versions is one of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipsets, which matches a pair of 2.15GHz processor cores with two other 1.2GHz cores. You’d naturally assume the international versions of the phone, with an octa-core Exynos chipset, would run smoother, but Samsung insists that the performance differences between these variants are basically negligible. I can’t confirm that until I get my hands on an international S7, but you needn’t fret much: The Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM we’re getting in the US offers plenty of power to work with.

Samsung is particularly proud of its clever new 12-megapixel camera, which is featured in both the S7 and S7 Edge. Oh, and this time Samsung did a better job integrating those cameras into the phones’ bodies; unsightly camera lumps are a thing of the past. Most important, Samsung took to heart our complaints about last year’s models: The S7 and S7 Edge are IP68-rated water- and dust-resistant and accept microSD cards as large as 200GB to boot. That last spec is going to be especially important. While Samsung is indeed making versions of the S7 with 64GB of storage, you’ll only be able to find 32GB models here in the States. It’s a shame that the combination SIM and microSD card tray is so flimsy — getting both cards in place often required as much as skill. And since security is more important than ever these days, both versions of the S7 come fitted with fingerprint sensors. All it takes to set them up is a surprisingly fast fingerprint registration process, and both of them do a reasonably good job recognizing my prints. Still, I think Huawei had the right idea with its rear-mounted sensor placement on the Nexus 6.

Right, so those are the broad strokes. All things being more or less equal, let’s dig into the standard S7 first. Don’t let the word “standard” fool you, either: Just because this is the smaller of the two phones doesn’t mean it’s any less worthy. Samsung’s strategy this year was all about refinement, so the few physical changes are minor. In fact, no one could blame you if you glanced at the S7 and mistook it for an S6.

That’ll change once you pick the thing up. The S7’s 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display is covered by a very slightly curved pane of Gorilla Glass 4, lending it a “3D” effect that softens the transition from the screen to the phone’s metal body. Since we’re talking about curves, the S7 has rounded edges like the Galaxy Note 5, making the phone much more comfortable to hold despite being slightly thicker than last year’s model. That plumper waistline is partially due to the S7’s bigger 3,000mAh battery, and Samsung deserves credit for taking our power concerns seriously without compromising on the overall design. I praised last year’s S6 for feeling seamless and complete, but man: The S7 manages to one-up it.

For all the good this refinement did for the S7, it’s the S7 Edge that really benefits. I can’t overstate how much better this year’s version of the Edge feels. It’s a night-and-day difference. Remember, the S6 Edge paired a beautifully curved screen with a completely flat rear enclosure, forcing your fingers to arch over the back instead as you gripped those slender edges. This time, though, the S7 Edge is curved on both sides, meaning we’ve finally got an Edge device that nestles nicely into the hand.

That’s saying something, too, since the Galaxy S7 Edge is the bigger of the two S7 devices. While the S6 and S6 Edge were almost carbon copies of each other, the S7 Edge packs a 5.5-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED screen and a huge 3,600mAh battery. Fortunately, those beefier specs didn’t get in the way of a seriously lovely design; I was shocked at how much slimmer and sleeker the S7 Edge feels compared with the iPhone 6s Plus, which also has a 5.5-inch screen. This is, quite simply, what the Edge line should have looked and felt like all along.

Display and sound

There’s no point in being coy: The Galaxy S7’s 5.1-inch screen is amazing. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering just how nice the S6’s display was, and Samsung clearly didn’t feel like messing with much here. That’s fine by me. The same great viewing angles and super-vivid Super AMOLED colors are back, and since this display runs at Quad HD resolution, you can forget about trying to pick out individual pixels in text and photos. The level of clarity here is remarkable, just as you’d expect from a device with a pixel density of 577 ppi. In fact, by dint of having a smaller display, the S7 is even more pixel dense than its big brother, though the difference is near impossible to see with the naked eye.

Speaking of the S7 Edge’s 5.5-inch, curved Quad HD panel, these displays are more different than you’d think. For one, the Edge’s screen isn’t as nicely saturated as the standard S7’s out of the box; colors seem richer on the smaller screen, which is also slightly brighter. My S7 Edge review unit also has a slightly green cast to it, though you’d be hard-pressed to spot it unless you had trained eyes or a normal S7 sitting right next to it. You can override some of the screen’s color tendencies in the settings, though, where you can opt for the punchy AMOLED Cinema and the more subdued AMOLED Photo modes, depending on your taste. I doubt that subtle difference in color temperature will be a deal breaker for, well, anyone, but it’s admittedly hard to un-see after you’ve been made aware of it.

And honestly, curved screens just won’t work for everyone. Let’s say you’re holding your phone in one hand and you stretch your thumb across the screen to tap an icon. If you’ve got meaty palms (like yours truly), there’s a good chance that some of your hand-meat will hit the side of the screen and launch something you didn’t intend to. Or said hand-meat could touch the screen and keep the phone from detecting other touch inputs — say, taps from your finger. I eventually got pretty good at angling my thumbs to avoid these touch issues, but they still happen occasionally, and I roll my eyes every time.

On the plus side, though, the screens on both the S7s have gained a neat trick. Like Samsung’s Gear smartwatches, they now have an always-on mode so you can see the time and date at a glance. Once it’s enabled, you’ll have a handful of clock and calendar styles you’ll be able to see even when the screen is otherwise off. If useful information isn’t your thing, the phones come with three images (two of outer space, one of trees) to keep them looking pretty while idling. I prefer Motorola’s approach, wherein you move the phone or wave a hand over it to bring the so-called active display to life. That said, Samsung’s setup works well too, and seems to have a negligible impact on battery life.

Now, I’ve always been a sucker for great phone speakers (thanks, HTC), but my expectations these days are pretty low. People who care about mobile audio quality are almost always using headphones to listen to their tracks, leaving phone makers to, well, phone it in where speakers are concerned. The single, bottom-mounted speakers in the S7 and S7 Edge, however, are a pleasant surprise. Though far from amazing, they’re still louder and crisper than most single-speaker setups. You’re obviously still going to be better off with a nice pair of earbuds, but either phone will do a surprisingly good job with your YouTube videos and audiobooks.

Software

The S7 and the S7 Edge both run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, so expect permissions pop-ups whenever an app tries to do something new, not to mention informational context cards when you invoke Now on Tap. Since I already gave Marshmallow the full review treatment, I won’t dwell on what it brings to the table. Suffice it to say, though, it feels like the most complete version of Android to date. Now, after hearing us all complain about TouchWiz for ages, Samsung has spent over a year trying to streamline that bane of my existence. So far, the work has been surprisingly promising! The S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5 all shipped with Android Lollipop, along with a version of TouchWiz that felt lighter and more responsive than ever before. This year, the changes to Samsung’s software formula are pretty minimal.

For one, the whole thing is a little less … blue than before, when Samsung cast the Quick Settings panel in a subdued shade of teal. Now it’s a crisp white, with blue icons and accents that stand out nicely against the pale background. Samsung also ditched the blue background in its app folders, which are now also a nice, flat white. Jump into the settings and you’ll see some empty space for shortcuts; this field used to come pre-populated with options like Themes, Data Usage and Display, but now you have to add them yourself.

And while the days of a separate app launcher seem to be numbered, Samsung still felt the need to fiddle with it. You can still arrange apps in alphabetical order or cook up a convoluted scheme of your own, but now you also have the option of searching for a specific app from the top of the screen. The same goes for the Settings page, actually: Thanks to Marshmallow, you can just search for options instead of rooting through everything.

The list goes on, but Samsung’s approach to TouchWiz is clear: It’s mostly cosmetic changes that don’t represent a huge departure from previous versions. That said, I’m also a little concerned about the effect TouchWiz has on the S7s’ overall performance; the phones are generally very snappy, except for sporadic (and puzzling) cases of interface lag. Swiping into Flipboard Briefing — a news-heavy home screen that’s off by default — can be jerky as all get-out, and sometimes swiping through home screens leads to noticeable stuttering.

So that’s TouchWiz in a nutshell. If you’ve picked up a Galaxy in the past 12 months, you’ll feel right at home … though this year gamers are getting more attention from Samsung than usual. One new feature, Game Launcher, consolidates all your games into a single spot for easy access. It’s a simple enough concept, but it can be a little dumb, especially when it tries to automatically detect installed games. While I was setting up both new phones for testing, Game Launcher added the messaging app Slack for reasons I couldn’t quite understand.

Beyond the occasional fit of stupidity, Game Launcher smartly offers easy access to popular YouTube gaming videos, and videos related to the games you have installed on your phone. From there, Game Tools takes things a step further. After you’ve enabled it and started playing a game, a small red button will hover in a corner of the screen. Tap it to bring up a list of convenient options, from a kill switch for alerts and a lock for the phones’ touch keys to shortcuts for taking screenshots and recording in-game footage. I’m about as far removed from the Let’s Play generation as a 27-year-old can be, but I can already tell more than a few people are going to love this.

Then there’s everything else. The fling with Microsoft that saw Office apps preloaded onto Galaxys seems to be over, as they’re nowhere to be found on our review units. These particular units are meant for use on Verizon (Engadget’s parent company), which means there’s a folder full of eight preloaded apps, which some will undoubtedly find useless. Oh, and Verizon’s Go90 video streaming service is here too, which is problematic for a few reasons. I don’t want to watch anything on it, for one, and Verizon isn’t charging Go90 streaming against customers’ data caps, which would seem to run afoul of net neutrality principles.

The S7 Edge

The S7 Edge, meanwhile, has all of that and then some. As always, the biggest software difference is the Edge UX, also known as “that menu thing you have to swipe the edge to access.” By default, you’ll have four panels ready to go. Apps Edge will feel plenty familiar to people who had the last-generation model; you’ll still use it to quickly access apps you use frequently, but Samsung doubled the size of the panel to accommodate ten shortcuts instead of just five. People Edge still only has room for five shortcuts, though it carries over the OnCircle feature from the S6 Edge+ that most people never used. Great!

Tasks Edge is a fascinating addition to the mix. Rather than give you quick access to apps, it lets you perform specific actions within those apps with a single touch. The “take a selfie” task launches the camera and switches to the front-facing shooter; all that’s left for you to do is hit the shutter button. It works surprisingly well for certain situations, but I was hoping we’d be able to create our own tasks involving third-party apps, like crafting macros for PCs.

Alas, while I can create an email addressed to my boss with a single touch, I’d have to use apps like Tasker to cobble together more complex actions. Rounding out the default Edge panels is Yahoo News, which displays stories in a scrolling stream. There are a few other Edge panels waiting for you too, like a compass, calendar, weather report, stock prices and sports scores from Yahoo.

Personally, I find some of these panels straight-up useless, but at least Samsung is trying to expand what its curved screen is good for. We’re starting to see third-party developers build their own Edge experiences, too. A team called Sally Labs has a few available already, including handy monitors for RAM and data usage. Only a few big-name companies, like Twitter and CNN, have built Edge panels, with a scrolling list of trending topics for Twitter and a sort of vertical news ticker for CNN.

The Edge keeps its original curved-screen tricks too, like allowing you to view your notifications by rubbing an edge while the screen is off. Adding your friends to People Edge still assigns them a color that makes the phone’s sides glow if they call while the device is facedown. It’s a neat trick, but my neurotic nature keeps me from ever leaving a phone facedown on a surface anyway.

Samsung’s decision to make the S7 Edge a physically distinct phone was a smart one: It’s different enough from the regular S7 that people will want one for reasons beyond the curved screen. Still, make no mistake: The S7 Edge’s big advantage over competitors still mostly comes down to its looks. These new Edge experiences are inching closer toward actual usefulness, but it’s not like Samsung had some amazing software ideas that could only shine with the help of a curvy display. No, it’s obvious that Samsung is trying to cook up software to better justify the screen’s existence. As far as I’m concerned, though, there’s nothing wrong with designing something beautiful for the sake of beauty.

Camera

Don’t let the dip in megapixels fool you: The 12-megapixel cameras in the S7 and S7 Edge are no slouches. I spent much of my week testing the S7 siblings against the iPhone 6S Plus. The comparison seemed especially apt, since Apple also recently bucked the high-megapixel trend; its newest iPhones have 12-megapixel sensors, whereas many other phone makers are aiming for 16 megapixels and beyond. Anyway, in most straight shoot-outs, the S7 family did a better job capturing fine detail, from the lumps on a slapdash paint job to the meticulous fur etchings on a tanuki statue.

Colors also came out punchier with the S7 and S7 Edge, though never to the point of being imprecise. In fact, most of my test photos looked vivid, even when the sun was hiding behind some clouds. We can peg part of that on how the S7 and S7 Edge process photos, but the f/1.7 aperture lens and the larger pixels on the sensor itself deserve some credit too. Combined, these two features increase the amount of light the sensor absorbs, resulting in brighter, more appealing photos. Oh, and the 5-megapixel selfie camera made me feel attractive, so there’s that.

The S7 series cameras also focused faster than other devices I tested them against. Rather than use, say, a laser autofocus module, Sony — the company behind this so-called DualPixel sensor — brought a sophisticated focus system to a smartphone. To make a long, jargon-filled story short, every pixel on the sensor has two diodes that are used to help figure out how to focus on the subject. The result is crazy-fast focus speeds — my finger was barely done tapping the screen before the camera finished locking onto my target.

I was feeling pretty great about things until I started comparing the S7’s results with some photos shot with the Galaxy Note 5 and its 16-megapixel camera. Its higher resolution allowed it to pick up even more nuance in statues, landscapes and human subjects, while matching the S7 on color reproduction. In certain conditions — usually bright natural light– the Note 5 took more appealing photos. The trade-off here is that while the S7 and S7 Edge lack the edge (ha!) in resolution, they’re both noticeably better than the iPhone and Note 5 in low-light environments. Bear in mind, they’re definitely not going to replace your Sony A7s; you’ll still see lots of grain, and most shots feel a little overprocessed, but I was able to consistently leave the flash off and still achieve results good enough for Facebook and Instagram.

Fortunately, the camera interface hasn’t really changed since the Note 5 came out, which means you don’t have to do anything to get good-looking shots. There’s a Pro mode in case you want to fiddle with your exposure values and shutter speeds, and the usual selective focus, video collage, virtual shot and live broadcasting modes are back too. New here is a Hyperlapse mode, which does exactly what the name suggests.

There’s also something Samsung calls “motion panoramas.” Basically, when the feature is enabled, the camera shoots a panoramic video in addition the usual super-long photo. Then, when you play it back, you can rotate or move your S7 or Edge to see the panorama come to life in front of you. Useful? Maybe. I wonder how many people actually bother shooting panoramas. Is it neat, though? You bet. The video experience is generally pretty lovely here, too — resulting footage was crisp, bright and well saturated, though you lose niceties like tracking autofocus when you jump into 4K. All told, the camera experience on the S7 and S7 Edge is more of a mixed bag than I hoped. The sensor powering everything is one hell of a technical achievement and gives both phones low-light and autofocusing superpowers. Still, just a little extra resolution would have been nice.

Performance

Samsung has historically been good about balancing polish with technical progress. As for this year’s models, it’s hard to argue with the quad-core Snapdragon 820 chip and 4GB of RAM used here. During my week of testing, the Galaxy S7 handled anything I threw at it with grace. That was almost always the case with the S7 Edge too, except the few times it wasn’t. Once in a while, I ran into some lag that made navigating home screens, popping into Flipboard and switching between apps feel strangely jerky.

I can’t tell what’s causing this weirdness either. It might be some issue with TouchWiz, or maybe some overzealous CPU throttling. For what it’s worth, the S7 seemed immune to these technical hiccups; only the Edge had occasional stutters. These issues popped up from time to time on the S6 twins too, but I was really hoping Samsung would have ironed out the kinks by now.

Meanwhile, our usual slew of benchmark tests point to some notable boosts in performance, especially when it comes to graphically intensive tasks like gaming. The S7 siblings are the first smartphones available that play nice with the Khronos Group’s Vulkan API, which should make for a new breed of console-grade mobile games. Remember Tim Sweeney’s gorgeous demo during Samsung’s S7 press conference? Vulkan-powered games haven’t hit the Google Play Store yet, sadly, but it’s clear Samsung is taking its future in gaming seriously. In the meantime, games like Dead Trigger 2, Asphalt 8 and Mortal Kombat X ran like butter, thanks to the addition of the Adreno 530 GPU. Interestingly, the S7 seems to pull ahead in most of these tests — you’d do well not to count the smaller phone out.

Samsung Galaxy S6/Edge
iPhone 6s Plus
AndEBench Pro
14,168
13,030
10,552
N/A
Vellamo 3.0
4,285
4,152
3,677
N/A
3DMark IS Unlimited
28,529
26,666
21,632
27,542
SunSpider 1.0.2 (ms)
1547
942
674
220
GFXBench 3.0 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (fps)
45
47
25
18.2
CF-Bench
51,227
46,290
62,257
N/A
SunSpider 1.0.2: Android devices tested in Chrome; lower scores are better.

Our usual battery rundown test entails setting the screen brightness to 50 percent, connecting the phone to WiFi and looping an HD video. I had high hopes for the Galaxy S7 Edge and its hefty 3,600mAh battery, but the improvement was actually fairly modest. All told, it hung around for 14 and a half hours, only about 40 minutes longer than the Galaxy Note 5.

The Edge fared much better in mixed use. I’d usually disconnect it from the charger at around 7:30 AM and use the thing nearly nonstop until I finished work at about 8 PM. Throw in a little light Kindle app reading and a few Spotify playlists and the Edge would usually hit 10 percent around the time I went to bed. And since Marshmallow’s Doze feature kicks in when the phone is still, I’d wake up with just enough juice to check a few emails before plugging it in.

Meanwhile, the regular Galaxy S7 survived our video gauntlet for 13 hours and 20 minutes, slightly trailing the Note 5. Mixed use also suited the smaller phone better: It’d routinely come off the plug at 7 AM and stick around until just before I fell asleep at around 1 AM. Both of these phones showed decidedly above-average endurance, and will easily see you through the day. Like I said, though, the difference over last year’s models is subtle.

The competition

By virtue of timing alone, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are two of the most powerful, desirable Android phones on the market. That said, you should still be mindful of other options. Take the Nexus 6P ($499 and up), for instance. While it lacks the latest Snapdragon chipset, its mix of top-tier power and a clean Android build make it a potent contender for the “Best Android Phone” crown.

Then we have LG’s recently announced G5, which as of this writing isn’t out yet. It pairs the same Snapdragon silicon with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM and a 5.3-inch Quad HD IPS LCD screen. That’s a painfully reductive way to look at the thing, though, when you consider that LG is responsible for building a proper, modular flagship smartphone. It remains to be seen whether the G5, with its swappable doodads and weird dual-camera setup, will find a foothold in the market. But on some level it doesn’t matter: LG finally made a more exciting flagship than Samsung.

The S7 and S7 Edge bear some thematic resemblance to the iPhone 6s ($649 and up) and 6s Plus ($749 and up), another pair of devices with different form factors built around near-identical brains. They’re obviously not Android phones, but they’re the spawn of one of Samsung’s biggest rivals, and meld a surprising amount of horsepower with a fantastic ecosystem of apps and the sort of touch-sensitive screen we all thought the S7 clan would get too.

Wrap-up

They may not be revolutionary, but Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are powerful and well built, making them worthy sequels to what were previously its best-ever phones. More important, there are now distinct reasons to buy each. The S7 is one of the finest phones I’ve ever tested, while the Edge has the screen and battery to (mostly) satisfy mobile movie buffs and phablet diehards. That said, I was hoping for a bigger boost in longevity, considering the size of this year’s batteries. And the cameras, while generally very good, aren’t an across-the-board improvement over last year’s.

Even so, if you’re in the market for a new, not too big Android phone, your search should start with the Galaxy S7. And if you’re a sucker for style, as I know many of you are, the S7 Edge does a good job balancing power and prettiness. Though these are just the first of several flagship phones to arrive this year, we can already say that Samsung’s latest offerings are well equipped to take on the competition.

ICYMI: Drone net launcher, whale call science and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: Hundreds of thousands of whale calls from a seafaring science journey in 2006 have finally been analyzed, resulting in proof that whales gather by species when feeding. Police officials are likely highly interested in the drone catching net, that launches from a large black metal tube that puts bazookas to shame, taking out drones up to 100 meters away. BMW’s new concept car (the Vision Next 100) can subtly shift its shape near the wheels and of course has AI and augmented reality sensors for days.

You can see a video of the newly discovered octopus species that doesn’t yet have a name, read about Ray Tomlinson and learn more about the thing we can’t not hate, the biēm butter sprayer (which of course, is on Kickstarter). As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.

Indiegogo launches push to support female entrepreneurs

Indiegogo wants to do more to help women become entrepreneurs in the technology industry across the next year. To coincide with International Women’s Day,* the crowdfunding site is launching a program to push women-run campaigns between now and March 2017. The site has partnered with organizations like Girls in Tech and Blooming Founders to help novice creators get their projects onto the site. If they sign up with the program, they’ll also receive “additional campaign mentoring” from Indiegogo staffers. Indiegogo also wants to remind people that it’s already hosted some blockbuster female-fronted campaigns, such as the Jibo social robot and Axent Wear’s cat-ear headphones.

Diversity and inclusivity within the tech industry has been a problem for the last few decades but finally steps are being taken to remedy the issue. Companies like Intel, Apple, Google and others are hoping to balance out workforces that are overwhelmingly male and predominantly white. In addition, female executives have highlighted the indignities that they’ve had to suffer inside Silicon Valley’s toxic bro culture. On the upside, initiatives like this are helping to redress the balance, and there are some positive signs. After all, late last year Stanford University revealed that computer science is now the most popular major for women to study.

* Before you ask, International Men’s day is November 19th.