Quick comparison: Samsung Galaxy S7 edge versus Galaxy S6 edge+

Samsung bumps this year’s ‘edge’ model up to a 5.5-inch display — so how does it compare to the larger of last year’s GS6 edge+?

Last year Samsung gave us the Galaxy S6 edge and S6 edge+ — two dramatically different sizes for the same curvy smartphone. However as we kick off a new generation of Galaxy phones, the Galaxy S7 edge mixes things up by coming between the two. It’s got a 5.5-inch display, making it bigger than the regular GS6 edge, but smaller than the GS6 edge+.

But size is just one of the areas of contrast between last year’s big-screened “edge” variant and this year’s. For as much as these two are alike, there are plenty of small changes that total more than the sum of their parts.

But first, the specs. Here’s how the Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy S7 edge — let’s just call them the GS6 and GS7 for simplicity’s sake — stack up on paper.

Unsurprisingly, a new generation of smartphone hardware brings with it improvements in performance, imaging and battery life. What’s interesting, however, is how Samsung has achieved these improvements. The GS7’s camera, for instance, takes a step down in resolution from the 16-megapixels of the GS6, but uses a brighter lens and larger pixels on the sensor for improved low-light pics.

Samsung has also placated fans by bringing back removable storage in the GS7 — though Android 6.0’s Adoptable Storage feature isn’t supported.

And although it’s got a smaller screen, this year’s model ups the battery capacity significantly — a 20 percent jump, in fact.

All this stuff has to go somewhere, which is why the GS7 edge is a good bit thicker than its predecessor. It’s also worth remembering that the new phone’s water resistance requires the use of internal gaskets, which can contribute to a device’s thickness too. Fortunately this thickness comes with one welcome side-effects: The GS7’s camera hump doesn’t stick out anywhere near as much as the GS6’s.

The rounder sides and curvier corners of the Galaxy S7 edge make it feel more organic, if a little tougher to hold onto.

The basic physical design of the phone hasn’t undergone any huge changes, but there are subtle differences worth pointing out. As well as having a rounded display, the back glass of the GS7 is also curved, in a similar style to the Galaxy Note 5. (And in contrast to the flat back of the GS6 edge+). This means the metal trim becomes incredibly thin around the sides, making the newer phone a little more slippery in the hand. Aside from that, the glass is now ever so slightly curved around the top and bottom, in addition to the sides, making for a more organic feel device overall.

Other visual differences include some subtle accent color changes — the black GS7 models, for instance, use darker accent colors around the home key and camera lens.

On the software side, the latest version of Samsung’s TouchWiz lives atop Marshmallow on the GS7 series, while the GS6 edge+ remains on Lollipop — Android 5.1.1 to be precise — at the time of writing. An update to Marshmallow should be imminent, as other GS6 family phones have already received the latest version of the OS. And with it, Samsung’s 2015 lineup will inherit many of the features and visual changes that come in the GS7.

These include a move away from the bright teal and green colors seen in last year’s UI, along with updated weather widgets and a significant overhaul for the Edge Screen. In Marshmallow, the software part of the “edge” experience becomes more useful and more customizable, with larger panels and a focus on information feeds as well as shortcut buttons; you’ll want to check out our hands-on video with the new Edge Screen features for more specifics.

It’s too early to come to any firm conclusions about the Galaxy S7 edge, but at a glance it seems like a solid improvement upon an already fantastic phone — assuming a slightly smaller display is a deal-breaker for you.

Galaxy S6 edge+ owners, are you considering trading up and buying a GS7 edge? Shout out in the comments!

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Use your Amazon Echo to solve the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents

Amazon has teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring a new Batman v Superman promotion to the Amazon Echo. Called The Wayne Investigation, the promotion takes the form of a voice-powered choose-your-own-adventure game, which tasks you with solving the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents.

The Wayne Investigation features several characters that you can question in order to solve the crime. As you progress, you’ll find clues and receive guidance from your Amazon Echo. From Variety:

Altogether, users are given up to 37 decisions throughout the game, which can take anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes, depending on the decisions of the player. And of course, all of this is done as a pure audio game, thanks to the Echo’s voice recognition and speech synthesis. To launch the game, users simply have to say: “Alexa, open the Wayne Investigation.”

The game was written by writers from DC Comics, along with people from Cruel & Unusual Films, the production company of Batman v Superman director Zach Snyder. The Wayne Investigation is available as one of Alexa’s skills, which can be found in the Amazon Alexa app.

Source: Variety

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Android Pay still hasn’t replaced my wallet

Mobile payments in the U.S. are just as confusing as ever.

I’ve been on board with mobile payments for a long time now. I stared in excitement as Google handed folks Nexus S phones loaded with Google Wallet and showed them how easy it would be to pay for things in the not-so-distant future. A few weeks later a cab driver chased me down the street for what he thought was me trying to rip him off, and that still wasn’t enough to deter me from the hope that everyone would one day get on this train. With Apple tossing their hat in the ring and Google re-branding and resurrecting Wallet as Android Pay, that excitement climbed all the way back to the top.

And then the kid behind the counter at Best Buy told me I had to use chip-and-signature for the card I was using, and that Android Pay wouldn’t work for that particular card at that particular terminal. I almost wished I was back in that cab with the guy who thought I was a hacker.

Here’s the thing: no one is doing enough to spread mobile payments in the U.S. right now. Apple’s initial push was massive, but not enough. Google’s initial response was cool, but somehow after years of experience doing this was less than Apple’s efforts. Samsung is getting folks excited by leveraging current technology and making the whole idea more accessible, but there’s no growth path from where they are right now. That magnetic-strip emulation system isn’t going to start working at new places — in fact, as chip-and-PIN/signature becomes the norm it will be less useful — and when it comes to NFC-based transactions Samsung is even further behind Apple. We had a nice surge in attention for this system last year, but it was too little, and way too late.

The change from magnetic swipe to chip and signature here in the U.S. is causing both growth and failure at the same time. Lots of companies are starting the slow overhaul of their POS systems to include chip readers, and many of those chip reader terminals also support NFC transactions. It’s still not a complete thought at every establishment, as I discovered at Best Buy when I had to use the chip in the card no matter what, and neither the cashier nor the card company is educating users on this. The phone fails, the card works, and everyone just sort of shrugs their shoulders and moves on. If the phone isn’t reliable, it doesn’t get used, and that’s all that matters from the user’s perspective.

To Google’s credit, there are a lot of things Android Pay does incredibly well. I love that I never have to carry a membership card ever again. My loyalty cards pop up as soon as I get near one of these establishments, and all I need to do is hold the phone up to be scanned. When the payment system works with the loyalty system, it’s an incredibly smooth setup. The way the app has everything ready when you’re using a phone with a fingerprint scanner, no need to load anything up or punch in a code, is fantastic.

All we need now is for the rest of the system to work as smoothly, and unfortunately I think it’s going to be a while before that happens in as many places as it probably should.

Android Wear 1.4 rolling out to Huawei Watch today

Owners of the Huawei Watch should keep their eye out for an update today. The company has confirmed it will be pushing out an over-the-air update for the Android Wear-based smartwatch to version 1.4 sometime later today. The new version of Android Wear is based on Marshmallow 6.0.

According to a post on Huawei’s community forums:

“The Huawei Watch update will be version 6.0, release MEC23L. This will be an OTA due for release beginning today.”

Android Wear 1.4 adds a number of new features, including more gesture navigation support, speaker support and more.

Source: Huawei

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Pebble slashes pricing for Pebble Time and Pebble Time Round smartwatches

Pebble needs to keep consumers interested, especially with so many wearables now flooding the market.

The smartwatch-maker has therefore announced deep price cuts for two of its smartwatch models. Starting today, you can get the Pebble Time for $149.99 and the Pebble Time Round for $199.99. They’ve both been given $50 discounts. The Time Steel watch still costs $249.99

If you’ve bought either of these smartwatches on or after 21 January, Pebble said you can email the company (at order@pebble.com) to get a $50 refund. You’ll need to put “Price Adjustment” in the subject along with your original order number though. But that’s all you need to do.

Apart from new USD prices for the Pebble Time and the Pebble Time Round, Pebble revealed via a blog post it is also implementing “improved European and UK prices for our entire lineup – make joining the Pebble community or upgrading to the latest models easier than ever.”

Pebble is lowering prices in the UK for the Pebble Time to £149.99, whilst the Pebble Time Round will be available for £179.99. Prices across the range are also being lowered, however. Pebble is £79.99, for instance, and the Pebble Steel is £119.99. The Pebble Time Steel is £199.99.

Alongside these price changes, Pebble has elaborated on the success of its Pebble Health app that launched last December. Although it is a built-in feature for Pebble watches, the company boasted 90 per cent of Time watches have activated it and two-thirds use it weekly.

Pebble plans to add more features soon, including a new section in the main Pebble app for activity history.

Google I/O 2016: Here’s how and when to get your tickets

Google’s big developer conference is just around the corner, and so the company has announced when and how you’ll be able to attend.

Google launched the Google I/O 2016 website with information about the conference, including when you can register, how much it will cost you, and more. We’ve dug out the most relevant tidbits and laid it all out below.

Google I/O 2016: When is the conference?

Google’s annual developer conference will kick off 18 May this year.

Google I/O 2016: When does registration open?

Google is doing a lottery system again this year, meaning anyone can apply to get tickets but only a few will be accepted. It will open registration 8 March at 9 am PST and keep it open until 10 March at 5 pm PST. When the registration period closes, Google will randomly select applicants and notify them via email. Those applicants will then have a chance to buy tickets to the show.

Google I/O 2016: Where do you register?

Go to the Google I/O website during the registration period to start the application process.

Google I/O 2016: What do you need to register?

In order to register, you’ll need to sign in with your Google account. Previously, you also needed a credit card, but Google hasn’t specified that this time around. Once you have those two things handy, you’ll be able to complete the required registration application online.

Google I/O 2016: How much are tickets?

General admission tickets cost $900, while academic tickets are $300 each.

Google I/O 2016: Which events are scheduled?

The I/O 2016 website doesn’t yet reveal how events will work between 18 May and 20 May, but Google has announced the main keynote – now called the developer festival – will be held at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View.

Google I/O 2016: What can you expect?

Google I/O is a developer event, where Google previews the next version of Android as well as updates to core products, such as Chromebooks.

We also expect to hear stuff about virtual reality, the latest versions of Google Glass, and more. Check out our Google hub for all the latest.

Google I/O 2016: Will there be a live stream?

Yes. The main events are live-streamed via the Google I/O website, so if you’re not interested in attending, you can still tune in to watch.

Google I/O 2016: Want to know more?

Check out Google’s FAQ page for more details.

‘Forza Motorsport’ comes to Windows PCs this spring

Forza Motorsport is one of the precious few realistic racing games to hit the mainstream, but you’ve had to play it on an Xbox so far. You typically have to try games like Live for Speed or Project Cars to get your fix on a PC. Well, you won’t have to make that hard choice for much longer — Microsoft and Turn 10 are bringing the series to Windows 10 PCs. The upcoming Forza Motorsport 6: Apex is a free, distilled version of FM6 that shows what the previously Xbox One-only title can do with all the brawn of a gaming PC behind it. It makes full use of DirectX 12 to produce convincing visual effects, and it’ll run in 4K if you have the monster graphics hardware needed to do the resolution justice.

Don’t expect a carbon copy of the full console game when Apex arrives this spring. It “only” has 63 cars (versus 460 in the original) and six locations (versus 26), so this is more akin to Polyphony’s Gran Turismo mini games than anything else. Thankfully, the developers aren’t just giving you Xbox table scraps. Microsoft says this is really just a teaser for “future Forza experiences” on Windows, a proof-of-concept that shows it can work. You might just see the next title (c’mon, FM7!) arrive on the PC roughly in sync with its living room counterpart.

Source: Xbox Wire

DirecTV streaming services won’t require a satellite dish

AT&T isn’t about to sit on its thumbs while Dish’s Sling TV scoops up people eager to ditch conventional TV. It’s introducing a trio of DirecTV streaming services in the fourth quarter of this year that won’t require a satellite dish or existing AT&T services — your phone, PC or media hub will be fine. The core service is DirecTV Now, which will offer “much” of DirecTV’s regular live and on-demand content. If you’re only interested in handheld video, DirecTV Mobile will offer a mix of “premium” videos and digital content on phones. And if you just want a peek, DirecTV Preview will give you a free, ad-supported slice of content from the networks and Otter Media, AT&T’s online team-up with the Chernin Group.

The company isn’t spilling the beans on pricing beyond vague promises that the paid services will be “affordable” and allow for multiple simultaneous streams. So long as they’re reasonably down to Earth, though, this is a big move for AT&T. Rather than try to cling to traditional TV for as long as possible, it’s anticipating a day when many (if not most) of its customers are depending solely on a fast internet connection for all their video viewing. AT&T clearly stands to profit from that shift given high-priced internet services like Gigapower, but it beats pretending that the future will never come.

Source: AT&T

Watch the fastest-ever electric skateboard run

There’s no doubt that electric skateboards can get you around town in a hurry, but they don’t hold a candle to this. Mischo Erban recently set a Guinness world record for the fastest speed on an e-skateboard, hitting 59.55MPH on NGV’s four-motor NEXTboard as he blazed down a Slovenian runway. Was it dangerous to ride at highway-level speeds? You bet — as you’ll see in the video below, Erban took a tumble that could easily wreck an unprotected rider. Don’t try this at home, folks.

You probably won’t use a board like this on the street any time soon as a result, but the good news is that this isn’t the end point for high-velocity motorized skateboarding. NGV is working on a race series that would use electric longboards, recreating the speed of downhill races anywhere there’s enough flat asphalt. If the company pulls it off, it might capture the thrill of motorsport on a much more personal scale.

Via: SlashGear

Source: Guinness World Records

Tidal fires its CFO and COO in latest executive shuffle

We’ve become accustomed to hearing about executive shuffles at Tidal over the last several months. According to both Norweigan newspaper Dagens Næringsliv and Swedish news outlet Breakit, the streaming service fired both its CFO Chris Hart and COO Nils Juell. Breakit reports that Hart was axed after a dispute over the company’s refusal to release streaming numbers. Tidal confirmed that it terminated those two execs, but didn’t offer any further details. Hart and Juell are the latest in a line of Oslo-based employees to leave the company since Jay-Z purchased it, following the departures of CEO Peter Tonstad and product chief Ervin Draganovic last year.

In a statement to The Verge, Tidal added that it’s moving operations to New York while its product team will remain in Norway. The company also clarified that it does indeed share streaming figures with the Nielsen Music, unless an artist requests to keep that info under wraps. Tidal’s recent high-profile exclusives, including Beyonce’s new single and Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo, are absent from the Billboard Charts. This would suggest that the service kept the streaming numbers on those two items from being released.

New albums from both West and Rihanna did muster brief boosts for Tidal’s iOS app, but the excitement has since waned. What’s more, we’ve yet to hear if the recent exclusives had any impact on the service’s subscriber numbers. For folks who hadn’t already taken advantage of the the free trial, nabbing access to The Life of Pablo is free of charge for a month, so the uptick in usage could certainly be temporary.

With the latest executive changes, we’ll be curious to see if Tidal’s approach changes in the coming months. Perhaps the company will stay the course on exclusive releases, live events and more as a means to attract new customers. However, until it reveals some figures, we’d surmise the hype around those exclusives fades quickly.

Via: The Verge

Source: Dagens Næringsliv, Breakit