These are the LG G5 modules we’d like to see

You may not care for a camera grip, but there’s still a lot of potential to be found in LG’s modular phone.

LG’s goal was to shake things up this year, and whether you’re a fan of the G5 or not it’s hard to argue that they didn’t accomplish their mission. The G5 is unlike anything else available right now, and a big part of that is the ability to add serious functionality to phone through the modular slot on the bottom. The accessories made available at launch target a handful of very specific users, but there’s still plenty to be said about the way this tech could be used.

If you’re reading this, LG, here’s what we think you should be doing with that modular slot on the G5.

• Extended battery with a hinge — This seems like a no-brainer. A battery extender that snaps into the bottom of the phone and folds back to the fingerprint sensor, but is mounted on a hinge so it doubles as a stand when extended. Make it 2,000mAh over the standard capacity, and people would jump all over it.

• Thermal camera attachment — Partner up with Flir to make an attachment similar to their One camera, but streamlined to function like a native part of the phone when attached. Let’s be honest, you’d probably sell more of these to industrial inspection companies then that DAC attachment to anyone else.

• Front-facing speaker — You thought a higher quality headphone system was a priority, but it didn’t occur to you to have B&O whip up some decent speakers for your audio-focused smartphone? Come on, LG. Get on this.

• Wireless charging base — Using a Qi charger is a little awkward when the coil is all wrapped around the bottom of the phone, as we learned from the BlackBerry Priv, but it’s still better than nothing. People like wireless charging, and this needs to happen ASAP.

• NERF Tactical Rail Mount — Snap the phone in place, power it on, and you have an Augmented reality partnership with NERF that would send office warriors scrambling to purchase a new phone. Sure, you have to reboot your phone every time you don’t want the phone attached, but on the other hand you could always have a NERF gun nearby when you need it. It’s a little impractical, but do it anyway.

• Basic game controller — Couldn’t you see yourself clipping in a game controller module with joysticks, buttons and extra bumpers on the back of your phone? With a portrait orientation it’d be great for arcade-style games and on-rails shooters (but hey, maybe some sort of landscape option could be done), and with some extra girth for grip it could incorporate extra battery for longer game playing time.

• Heath Industry Dock — Heart-rate monitors, breathalyzers, glucose monitors, and that’s just the start. Dedicated medical hardware that can plug into a smartphone so it feels like a part of the phone that also works as a really nice phone? What medical professional wouldn’t want to hand that out to their staff.

These are just a few that we’ve come up with, but the possibilities are nearly endless. LG’s initial offerings are fine, but this is something that hopefully LG doesn’t wait until next year to really expand upon. There are a lot of niche uses for this kind of expansion, and if LG really is interested in shaking up the industry with this design there’s a lot more to be done.

Do you have any ideas for modules you’d like to see on the LG G5? We’d love to hear your suggestions.

LG G5

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• Join the LG G5 discussion

HTC One M10 vs One M9: What’s the rumoured difference?

HTC announced its last flagship – the One M9 – at Mobile World Congress in February 2015. That device was then followed up by the One M9+ and more recently, the A9, the latter of which entered the mobile market as more of a mid-range device.

The next flagship – which has been given several names including One M10 and Perfume – isn’t due to launch until April this year but there are already plenty of rumours circulating about what the company’s new hero device might offer.

We have broken down the reports and rumours to sift out what specs we might see appear on what we are calling the HTC One M10, for now. Read on to find out how HTC’s next flagship could compare to the One M9, based on speculation.

HTC One M10 vs One M9: Design

The HTC One M9 measures 144.6 x 69.7 x 9.6mm and weighs 157g. It features a dual-tone metal build and it is a clear evolution of the HTC flagships that have gone before it. The M9 comes complete with BoomSound front-facing speakers and a HTC logo at the bottom of the device on the front.

The HTC One M10 is rumoured to carry the same measurements as the M9, but it is thought it will take its design cues from the recently launched A9 instead, offering a flatter and sleeker design. It has been suggested the M10 won’t sport BoomSound speakers but will offer a high-quality DAC and possibly with support for MQA instead.

Leaked images show the M10 to feature what appears to be as fingerprint sensor on the front capacitive button like the A9, as well as no HTC branding on the front of the handset. There also appears to be a ribbed side button like the A9.

HTC One M10 vs One M9: Display

The HTC One M9 features a 5-inch Full HD LCD display, delivering a pixel density of 441ppi. HTC has always been praised for its displays and its ability to deliver bright and vibrant colours, as well as white whites and black blacks, although the M9 wasn’t its strongest.

The HTC One M10 is rumoured to be changing things up entirely when it comes to the display however. Firstly, reports have claimed the size will be increased to 5.1-inches or 5.2-inches, which, if the measurements predicted are accurate, means the screen to body ratio on the M10 would be better than the M9.

It has also been suggested the resolution will increase to Quad HD and an AMOLED panel will be used instead of LCD, like the A9. If this is the case, you can expect a better display experience on the M10 over the M9 with sharper, clearer images thanks to the increased pixel density. If a 5.2-inch display appears, the M10 will offer a 565ppi, while a 5.1-inch display will provide a 576ppi. An AMOLED display will also mean brighter, more vibrant colours.

HTC One M10 vs One M9: Camera

The HTC One M9 features a 20-megapixel rear camera, coupled with an UltraPixel front camera. The main camera is capable of 4K video recording and it comes with an f/2.2 aperture lens and auto-focus. The front-facing camera has a wider aperture at f/2.0 and is capable of 1080p video recording.

There have been a couple of rumours relating to the M10’s camera. Some have claimed the new flagship will come with a 23-megapixel rear snapper, coupled with the same UltraPixel front-facing camera as the M9. Others have suggested the rear camera would be a 12-megapixel UltraPixel sensor, while there has also been talk of a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. In terms of the rear camera, some reports have said the aperture will be widened to f/1.9, which if true, should allow for better low light performance.

The front-facing UltraPixel camera works for the M9 so it wouldn’t be surprising to see HTC include this on the M10. What the company will do with the main camera is less predictable but chances are it will offer improved capabilities over the M9.

HTC One M10 vs One M9: Hardware

The HTC One M9 features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor under its hood, supported by 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. It has a microSD slot for further storage expansion and its battery capacity sits at 2840mAh.

The HTC One M10 is said to be coming with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip, coupled with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. MicroSD is expected to make an appearance again. A 3000mAh battery has been touted.

There is no word on whether USB Type-C will make an appearance, allowing for faster charging and data transfer, but it has been rumoured the M10 might come with some sort of waterproofing.

HTC One M10 vs One M9: Software

The HTC One M9 launched with Android Lollipop, coupled with HTC Sense 7 which made its debut on the device. It has since been updated to Marshmallow.

The HTC One M10 is expected to launch with Android Marshmallow, with HTC Sense 8, a newly refreshed version.

However, the One A9 launched with Android Marshmallow and it came with a much lighter version of Sense called Sense 7_g, stripped down and closer to its Android origins – think Marshmallow with the best of Sense. There’s a chance the M10 could also launch with a stripped down version of Sense, named Sense 8.0_GP.

HTC One M10 vs One M9: Conclusion

The HTC One M10 or Perfume will undoubtedly come with upgraded hardware in comparison to the One M9 but it is also looking like it will come with an upgraded design too.

Many believe the next HTC flagship will follow in the footsteps of the A9 rather than the M9, bringing with it an improved camera, processor, extra RAM and possibly even a larger battery, as well as more refined software.

Everything is speculation for now but keep checking back as we will update this feature as more leaks appear and the official specs are announced.

The Firefly 2 proves that every vaporizer should have its own app

The first Firefly vaporizer was revolutionary when it debuted in late 2013. Along with the original Pax, it helped take portable vapes mainstream with Apple-esque minimalist design and convection heating. But in the modern Internet of Things era, the OG Firefly now feels laughably out of date — especially compared to the Pax 2. Thankfully, Firefly has just released a second-generation model that’s smaller, lighter and more functional than its predecessor. It’s even got an app!

The single coolest feature on the new Firefly is indeed that companion app, available for Android and iOS. Whoa, whoa, whoa, put down your pitchforks. I’m serious! Look, the Internet of Things is, for the most part, a silly excuse to add connectivity to stuff that really doesn’t need it. But the Firefly 2 does IoT right. Pairing the vaporizer to your phone is dead simple. You open the app, make sure the vape is awake by touching either activation button, and that’s it: It’ll automagically connect.

Once paired, the application provides all sorts of helpful information and added functionality. Unlike the original Firefly, which had just two power settings — on and off — the app allows you to select from among six heating profiles, including a superhot setting just for concentrates. It also enables you to select a preferred activation-button setup — left, right, both or either — which makes it more usable for southpaws. Additionally, the app gives you a detailed battery-charge indicator so you’ll actually know when your battery is getting low before the vaporizer dies.

I didn’t think that a vape could actually benefit from the addition of an app but this thing is really quite handy. The app allows the Firefly to outsource a lot of functionality to your phone, which saves space, weight and battery life for the vaporizer itself. And unless you’re constantly swapping between loose leaf and wax — thereby necessitating continuous heat-profile switching — the app does a good job of staying out of the way. That is to say, the Firefly works just fine on its own but is even better with the companion app.

The $330 device itself is also a more manageable size. My biggest issue with the original Firefly was the size of the damn thing. Weighing more than half a pound and measuring nearly 6 inches in length, the OG model could double as a bludgeon. I mean, forget the roll of nickels: You toss that into a sock and you’ve got yourself a homemade flail. Not so with the Firefly 2. It’s 30 percent smaller and 50 percent lighter than the original. It even manages to pack a larger battery into its smaller frame (770mAh at 5.7Wh, up from 750mAh at 5.5Wh). As a bonus, the Firefly starter kit comes with a spare hot-swappable battery.

What’s more, the new edition incorporates a handy LED indicator into its cover. See, the original had a wonky mechanical power button that wouldn’t always activate the device if you didn’t push it just right. This often resulted in me futilely huffing a cold bowl because the only way to see if it was actually on was to wait and see if the heating coil started to glow. The new Firefly has not one but two — count ’em, two — power buttons, one on either side of the device. You just have to touch them to activate them. You’ll know you did it right thanks to the glowing LED light.

That said, the LED isn’t particularly bright and was often unreadable in direct sunlight. I also noticed that the touch-activated power buttons would turn the unit on randomly, like when I was refilling the bowl or adjusting the magnetic cover plate. It ran through a full battery charge just sitting in my bag because the cloth case I had it in (that’s a lie, it was a sock) had come in contact with them.

Lastly, the Firefly 2 has a new trick. While the original only handled shredded loose leaf, the new one can heat solid concentrates as well. You’ll only have to tamp a small aluminum disc into the heating chamber to keep the weed wax from gumming up the works. And it had better, given that this Firefly is actually $60 more expensive than its progenitor (and $50 more than the Pax 2). All told, you’re going to have to drop a whopping $330 for the Firefly 2. Still totally worth it, though.

Walgreens starts breaking up with Theranos

The Financial Times is reporting that Walgreens is now actively looking to dump troubled blood testing startup Theranos. Sources claim that the pharmacy chain has instructed its lawyers to look at the partnership contract in the hope of finding an easy way out. The paper also says that Theranos is confident that the agreement is watertight and will force Walgreens to stand by it while it fixes its (numerous) problems. It’s believed that Walgreens is annoyed at the wealth of negative publicity Theranos has generated and is worried about being tainted by association.

Theranos emerged as an exciting startup with a promise to use just a single drop of blood to conduct medical testing. Unfortunately, these claims began to unravel when the science was questioned and regulators began to pay attention. When the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services got involved, it found that the firm wasn’t following basic procedures for blood tests. In fact, the agency claimed that Theranos’ “deficient practices” were so bad that the company posed an “immediate jeopardy to patient health.”

The relationship between Theranos and Walgreens has been gradually wearing away to nothing over the last few months. At the end of January, Walgreens delivered a 30-day ultimatum that things needed to change, and Theranos should clean up its act. Clearly, not enough has been done to satisfy the folks at the retailer, and so now they’re pulling the trigger. At the time, it was pointed out that without Walgreens, Theranos has no access to customers and its situation could get bleaker than it currently is.

In response to this, Walgreens has issued its standard “no comment,” while we’re still waiting to hear back from Theranos.

NASA picks a supersonic jet design for its X-plane initiative

NASA has awarded a key contract for its New Aviation Horizons X-plane initiative, bringing supersonic passenger travel a step closer (back) to reality. The space agency will give Lockheed Martin $20 million to complete the preliminary design for its Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST). As that name suggests, the goal of the competition is to create a jet that can fly faster than sound without the normal sonic boom that can shatter windows in houses below. The teams are tasked instead with creating a sonic “heartbeat” that is more like a soft thump.

Boeing also had a design under consideration, but NASA apparently went with its competitor. The last time that the fare-paying public went faster than sound was October 24th, 2003 on the Concorde’s final voyage. However, NASA wants to drastically increase the flight envelope of new supersonic aircraft over that model, which was first put into service back in 1969. Within the last few years, it has tested new sonic boom technology on military aircraft and in wind tunnels. Lockheed will put that tech into the new jets, letting them travel over land rather than just sea like the Concorde.

However, that dream is a long ways away. Lockheed Martin, along with partner GE, will develop the baseline requirements and creating a preliminary design over the next 17 months. A detailed design will come later, and NASA hopes that flights of a half-scale piloted test aircraft will happen in 2020. There’s no timeline for a full-scale production model, but it’s safe to assume it will be long after that. Other companies like Spike are also trying to build supersonic business aircraft, but we’d assume that NASA and its partners have the best chance of actually making it happen.

Source: NASA

Watch Stanford’s self-driving Audi hit the track

Sending a self-driving race car around a track with nobody inside seems pointless — there’s no driver to enjoy the ride, and the car certainly isn’t getting a thrill out of it. But the students performing research with Stanford University’s Audi TTS test rig “Shelley” (not to be confused with Audi’s own self-driving race cars) are getting a kick out of the numbers generated by the machine. “A race car driver can use all of a car’s functionality to drive fast,” says Stanford Professor Chris Gerdes. “We want to access that same functionality to make driving safer.”

The teams push the car to speeds over 120mph and the computers have executed lap times nearly as fast as professional drivers. However, they also spend a lot of time maneuvering at 50 to 75 mph, the speeds where accidents are most likely to happen. That way, the students can figure out how to incorporate braking, throttle and maneuvering to develop new types of automatic collision avoidance algorithms. Better technology, for instance, could have saved Google from a recent slow-speed accident where its vehicle was struck by a bus.

During race days, students break into teams to perform different types of research. “Once you get to the track, things can go differently than you expect. So it’s an excellent lesson of advanced planning,” says Gerdes. In the latest rounds of testing, for instance, one PhD student developed emergency lane-change algorithms, while another recorded a skilled human driver in an attempt to convert his behavior into a driving algorithm. The main goal, of course, is to prepare students for something they may not have expected — an automotive industry that is adopting self-driving technology at breakneck speeds.

Source: Stanford

Aston Martin DB11 arrives with 600 horsepower, stunning design

The Aston Martin DB11 packs a 5.2-liter, twin-turbo V12 in a brand-new chassis, all wrapped in a gorgeous design. James Bond, meet your next car. The drapes have been removed from the new DB11, billed by Andy Palmer, Aston Martin’s chief executive, as “not only the most important car that Aston Martin has launched in recent history, but also in its 103-year existence.” Well, they all are, Andy. Aston Martin is such a small company that it bets the farm with each new model. That’s part of its appeal, for Aston’s one constant is the svelte beauty of its cars, which (lest we forget) are the company wheels for one Commander James Bond.

So the DB11 is important, make no mistake. It goes on sale this autumn and will cost $211,995 in the US. It’s the tenth car (there was no DB8) in a lineage that began in 1948 with the DB1 – the first car to bear the initials of then owner, David Brown. Just 15 DB1s were made, but the DB line has been the most successful model for Aston Martin over the years, including such cars as the DB5 and DB7 as well as the 2003 DB9, which was the last all-new Aston Martin.

This totally new DB11 is a clean-sheet approach from design director Marek Reichman, with a new aluminum bodyshell, suspension, cabin, and a Mercedes-Benz-based electronic architecture, which runs the systems.

To save fuel the engine will close down one bank and run as a 2.6-liter straight-six when the extra power is not required.

The heart is a brand-new, 5.2-liter V12 boosted with two Mitsubishi Heavy Industries twin-scroll turbochargers with water-to-air inlet-charge coolers. It punches out 600 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 516 pound-feet of torque from 1,500 rpm. Maximum speed is said to be 200 miles per hour with 0-62 acceleration in 3.9 seconds. The new engine drives the rear wheels via a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission and a mechanical limited-slip differential.

Aston moved from the previous 6.0-liter naturally aspirated unit to a 5.2-liter biturbo to improve the part-load efficiency and EPA fuel economy figures. “In downsizing we want the emissions and we want the economy, but more than those, we want the torque,” says Ian Minards, director of product development. To save fuel the engine will close down one bank and run as a 2.6-liter straight-six when the extra power is not required, but to prevent the exhaust catalyst from overcooling, the electronics switch between two banks. “It’s undetectable,” says Minards.

Minards’ team spent three years creating this car. “It’s been a little bit daunting,” he says. “There’s a lot to live up to and it’s flippin’ important.” Initially they made a list of everything they wanted in the car. “We call it QHR (Quality History Review),” he says, “and it includes everything we’ve thought, what customers thought, and what people like you said. You end up with a list and you don’t cross anything off.”

“There’s a lot to live up to and it’s flippin’ important.”

The body design started with the driver and passenger seating position. “We wanted it to be more usable in terms of space,” says Minards, “after all it is a two-plus-two GT.” So the DB11 is 1.18 inches longer than the DB9, but on a wheelbase that is 2.56 inches longer, achieved mainly by moving the front wheels forward. There’s a 44-pound weight saving over the DB9’s VH chassis, and Minards says the DB11 is a much stiffer car. The pressed and extruded aluminum pieces are joined using similar self-piercing rivets and glues as the VH chassis.

There’s some trick aero in there, too. Under the twin-skinned clamshell hood (one of the biggest aluminum body pressings in the world), the front wheel arches push high-pressure air through the inner wing vents and out via the body slats to reduce front-end lift. It’s called Curlique because of the way the air curls through the wheel arch. There’s also a virtual trunk spoiler, which takes high pressure wind flow from the back of the rear window, pushes it through the rear of the trunk and jets it up into the air stream travelling over the car to reduce rear lift. In addition, at speeds above 96 mph, a 1.8-inch-high Gurney flap is automatically deployed on the trunk edge.

The new suspension design uses upper and lower wishbones at the front and a multi-link setup at the back. Damping happens via adjustable Bilstein units and the brakes are steel rotors with aluminum calipers from Brembo – there is torque vectoring by braking to improve agility. Steering is electrically powered by a Bosch system (the first time in an Aston Martin) and the tires are specially developed 20-inch Bridgestones.

“The big decision was the [steering] ratio,” says Minards. “After that the calibration wasn’t too bad mainly because we’d got the [suspension] geometry right in the first place.” Selectable driving modes (GT, Sport, and Sport Plus) progressively harden up the engine response, gear changes, steering, and the damping, with controls mounted on the steering wheel.

The electronics might come from Mercedes, but as Hill says, “everything you see and touch is ours.”

Getting into the cabin should be a bit easier, too, with longer doors and a tad more interior room. “Everything’s been moved away from the front-seat passengers,” says Matt Hill, head of interiors. There’s an all-new instrument panel, which has a 12-inch TFT central display and a digital driver’s instrument binnacle. The electronics might come from Mercedes, but as Hill says, “everything you see and touch is ours.”

The seats are new, with thinner backs and side bolstering, and a wider range of electrical adjustment. They free up a bit of cabin space and while the rear seats are a trifle more roomy as a result, they’re still really only for small children – interestingly, Isofix child-seat fixings are standard on both rear perches. While the cabin still contains the customary Bridge of Wier hides and the application of craft and skill, the design is all changed, with open-pore wood finishes and quite delightful upholstery detailing. “I wanted the seats to be like a piece of furniture,” says Leighanne Earley, lead designer of interiors. Bang & Olufsen continues its partnership, adding the top-of-the-line optional in-car entertainment, and upgraded electronics include an auto parking system with a 360-degree bird’s-eye-view camera system.

In the old days, Aston’s engine builders used to have their name engraved on a plate attached to every engine they built. Such days have passed, but DB11 sort of revives them. Andy Palmer will sign off each car with his signature engraved on the door kick plate. An important car, indeed.

Eight Months Later, Apple Music Connect Still ‘Fails Miserably’ at Social

Eight months after posting a detailed summary of the “clunky” behind-the-scenes process musicians have to go through when using Apple Music Connect, Dave Wiskus decided to revisit his stance on the platform to see if Apple had made any notable changes to its grasps at socially connecting artists and fans. Wiskus — an app developer and lead singer for the band Airplane Mode — admitted in the blog post that he feels less “connected” to the musical world and thinks the actual social aspects of the experience have failed “miserably.”

Similar to his post from July, Wiskus expounded on Connect’s basic inability to function as a normal social network: it lacks a follow button on artist pages, a metric for how many followers a band has, and individual profile pages for a more engaged community, among other things.

One of his most interesting points detailed a blunder with Connect’s support, centering around the fact that an artist with a similar name managed to change the profile picture on Airplane Mode’s page. After weeks of back-and-forth with Apple Music Connect support, eventually the band discovered that Apple’s solution was creating an entirely new profile for Airplane Mode and abandoning the one with the wrong picture.

Rather than swap out images, the Connect support folks created a new profile for us with the correct photo (which we still can’t change, by the way). The frustration would end here if not for one little side-effect: we lost all of our posts and all of our followers.

Worse yet, those posts and followers are still attached to a now-unmanned “Airplane Mode” profile, so not only do we not have any way of telling our fans to follow the new profile, they have no way of even knowing that we relocated. Anyone who was following us can now assume that we’ve just stopped making new things. How many followers did we lose? No idea. How do we get them back? We can’t.

Wiskus notes that, despite all of his frustrations, “Apple is in a unique position to unify and democratize the music business” thanks to Connect’s ability to integrate music sharing with social interaction, if the company decided to commit to bolstering both sides of that equation, that is. As it currently stands the artist isn’t sure who Connect is for, and doesn’t see much of a future for the platform if Apple continues to do nothing. “Seven months later—from a company the size of Apple—this isn’t just unacceptable, it’s pathetic.”

Read all of the thoughts that Wiskus has on Apple Music Connect on his blog Better Elevation.

Tag: Apple Music Connect
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Minecraft on Oculus Rift preview: VR heaven or just a load of old blocks?

One of the major new products to be shown at the Xbox Spring Showcase in San Francisco was Minecraft. Not regular Minecraft mind, but a virtual reality version that we got to play using an Oculus Rift headset set-up at the event.

Microsoft had previously shown Minecraft running on its own next-generation tech headset, the HoloLens, but the VR experience is radically different to an augmented one, so we were intrigued how the game would change from the perspective of actually being inside a created world.

And to be honest, it blew our minds. Just not exactly in a good way.

READ: Oculus Rift preview: The VR revolution begins here

Minecraft on Oculus Rift: The game

The demo started in fantastic form. Instead of launching the player straight into the Minecraft map created by Microsoft, we were eased in gently through a familiar setting.

The Minecraft map was presented in 2D on a TV made of Minecraft blocks, which we were sat in front of in a living room made of blocks. We then hit the options/back button the Xbox One gamepad and woosh, we entered the map completely.

It was there that the experience became both awe inspiring and gut-wrenching in equal measure.

In all the times we’ve experienced games and interactive VR demos, we only ever felt ill in the early days, when the technology had low resolution and high latency. And even then, we had never asked for the demo to stop – rather had shaky moments afterwards.

Minecraft on Oculus Rift was the first time we have not finished a VR experience.

Our Minecraft on Oculus Rift experience as a photo story

Pocket-lint

First we loved the magnificent vistas and stunning feeling of being there…

Pocket-lint

…then things started to go south.

Pocket-lint

Handing the headset back about five minutes before the end of the demo, we expressed regret and surprise…

Pocket-lint

…”It’s the first time that’s ever happened to me!”

Pocket-lint

Thankfully, ginger sweets were on hand to settle the queasiness, which makes us suspect that we weren’t the only ones to have this kind of experience.

Pocket-lint

Sadly, this rather sums it up.

Minecraft on Oculus Rift: The shame

We are massive advocates of virtual reality and Oculus Rift specifically. We are also big fans of Minecraft – not as big as our kids or nephews, but still enough to while away hours building extravagant underground lairs or go creeper hunting, The two though didn’t mix for us.

One of the initial problems is that the scale of the game when you are inside is possibly too expansive. You can’t wrap your head around the enormity of your surroundings. That, coupled with the fact that, when up close, large pixels are hard for your brain to fathom into  a recognisable object, confuses and bamboozles from the off.

But perhaps the main issue we encountered, that disoriented us the most, was the control system. While you could look around in 360-degrees at everything, you could only move using the left thumbstick. And not necessarily in the direction your head is pointing, as you can twist it as you travel.

To change direction, you need to use the right thumbstick, but rather than pan smoothly like with a normal first-person shooter you could only turn in sharp steps – as if you were leaping around a clock, from hour to hour and nothing in between. This made the experience jolting as the landscape in front of you jumped to face the way you wanted to go, without a smooth transition between the two points. It was as if 20 or so frames were instantly lost.

This basically, screwed with our feeble minds and gave us motion sickness we haven’t felt in years.

It was a shame because the actual experience of being inside a Minecraft world and being able to get that close to the building mechanics were incredible. We also adored riding in a mine cart in rollercoaster fashion in order to survey the mighty surroundings.

And we loved taking on a zombie and skeleton face-to-face – although less so the spider that attacked us in the dark before we could equip a torch, scary times.

Microsoft

First Impressions

Until the control system is altered though and the game adopts a smoother, more natural feel, we suspect there will be others in the same boat as us.

It’s early stages in the VR version of the game’s development though, and these issues could be ironed out before final release. If that’s the case, we’ll happily have another go to see the bits we missed out on this time around.

Xbox One March update: Amazing new features explained

As is tradition, your Xbox One will soon get an update that brings a flood of new features to the console and Pocket-lint was walked through the major changes at the Xbox Spring Showcase in San Francisco recently.

One of the highlights is the way backwards compatible Xbox 360 games will be more accessible, but there are plenty of other changes coming too.

That’s why we thought we’d put together a handy guide on what you can expect when the March update hits your console.

Xbox One March update release date

Although we’re not completely sure when the update will arrive on general release – sometime in March, but not an exact date – we do know that Xbox One Preview members will get the update today, 1 March. In addition, the Xbox app for Windows 10 will be updated for beta members from tomorrow, 2 March.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Xbox 360 backwards compatible games on the main store

The headline feature, as we explained above, is something we’ve asked for since backwards compatibility was introduced last November. You will be able to purchase supported Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One store.

Once you’ve bought a backwards compatible Xbox 360 game, it will download to your console in exactly the same way an Xbox One game would.

We’re not sure of the price of each title at present. We’re also yet to find out if Xbox 360 backwards compatible games that are part of the Games with Gold scheme will be shown on the Xbox One dedicated section going forward. At present, you have to go to xbox.com and request the download from there.

READ: Xbox boss Phil Spencer explains why your favourite Xbox 360 game is not backwards compatible… yet

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Party Chat comes to Twitch broadcasts

You will be able to broadcast Party Chat when using the Twitch application. Other invited users’ chat audio can be included in a Twitch broadcast for the first time.

If the user doesn’t want to be broadcast, they can still chat in Party Chat, but their voice won’t be broadcast to all.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Output Party Chat to a headset and speakers at the same time

A new setting will enable users to change how Party Chat audio is heard; in a headset, through speakers or both.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Game DVR recordings can be set for different lengths

At present, game recording is set at 30 seconds, but you will be able to change the DVR to record from 15 seconds up to 5 minutes instead.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Achievement progress now appears in the Xbox One guide

Achievements are now included in the guide under a new Achievements area.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Videos can be played in the Xbox One Activity Feed

You will be able to play an entire video in the Activity Feed rather than leaving to launch it. There is also the ability to “like” the video while it is playing and there are new pause, restart and full-screen playback options.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Party Chat expands to 16 people

At present you are restricted to 12 people in a Party Chat at any one time. That is increasing to 16. We were also told it could expand in future – even up to 32 (Rocket League anyone?).

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Xbox 360 Achievements

Sing Hossana! Xbox 360 Achievements will appear in Xbox One Activity Feeds, old and new.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Web links and YouTube videos accessible through Game Hubs

You will be able to click on a web or YouTube link in a Game Hub and be taken immediately to the page via the web browser or the video through the YouTube app.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Compare Avatars

Now that Avatars are back, you’ll be able to line your Xbox persona up against a friend’s, just in case you want to copy their digital spring wear.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Reputation ratings

As the vast majority of Xbox One gamers have good reputations, their reputation gauge will not show. Instead, only those listed as “needs work” or “avoid me” will feature a reputation flag on the interface.

Xbox

Xbox One March update: Windows 10 Gamerscore leaderboard

Some of the latter features above are also coming to the Windows 10 Xbox app, but one thing it gets exclusively this month is a Gamerscore Leaderboard, the same as the one recently appearing on Xbox One.

In addition, it gets an updated Featured section, that will spotlight games, deals, community events and more.