‘Pokemon Go’ beta arrives on mobile devices
Pokemon Go, the real-world equivalent to kicking off your own journey to becoming a Pokemon master, is finally available for beta testers in the US as of today.
After opening signups to users earlier this month, beta testers will be chosen and allowed into the program today to begin roaming the world capturing Pokemon, battling other trainers, and making those who weren’t chosen for the field test feel bad.
Along with revealing the field test is commencing today, The Pokemon Company and Niantic have also revealed several new tidbits about Pokemon Go as a whole. There will be more than a hundred different Pokemon to capture out in the wild. When one is near a player out in the wild, there’ll be a notification sent via phone to use the device’s touch screen to throw a Poke Ball, which may be purchased at PokeStops, or real-world monuments, historical locales, or public art installations.
Battling is an important and obvious centerpiece to the game as well, and players can use their captured monsters to assume control of Gyms out in the world. Attacking the Pokemon defending particular Gyms will reduce its Prestige level, and when it’s been taken out completely the player will take control of a Gym. The higher the Gym’s level, the more Pokemon that can be left to defend it. leading to several real-world turf battles that could grow to pretty impressive proportions.
If you signed up to participate in the field test, you should be receiving a notification that you were chosen for the beta. The signup page is still live, however, so if you missed out on doing so before you may want to hurry over and give it a try. You could be strutting around outside the office today catching your very own Pokemon.
Don’t worry, Twitter isn’t going to broadcast all your replies
Twitter just announced substantial changes to how tweets work — namely, removing photo, video links and mentions from the 140-character-per-tweet limit, to help give posts some creative breathing room. Some changes to the way “@” replies work means you’re going to see even more tweets in your feed from people you follow. Most importantly, perhaps, the company wants to reduce confusion for new users — which it sorely needs more of.
But while the social network attempts to streamline and clarify, some of the changes are slightly confusing. We have some lingering questions after reading the company’s brief blog post announcing the news. Do the changes mean unlimited mentions in tweets? (Spoiler: Of course not.) Will your followers see all your reply tweets? Well, that depends.
Twitter is getting rid of the workaround people used to reply to others in such a way that their followers could see the conversation in their feeds. Instead of “.@engadget” when mentioning this site (while showing your followers that you were saying something), “@engadget” will now suffice. (One character saved!) Think of this as a “mention tweet”, started from scratch. Your followers would see this when the changes came into being.
However, if you were replying to an existing “@engadget” tweet, this would be in a “reply style” and would only be seen by users that followed both you and @engadget — not all your followers. (If you want your followers to see a reply, that’s where the new ability to retweet yourself comes in.) Usernames in tweets wouldn’t count against your “reply” character limit, but they will be counted in “mention” tweets. When I put it that way it makes more sense but yes, it’s initially a bit confusing. (It’s worth remembering that up until 2009, you saw every tweet of someone you follow: the whole Twitter firehose.)
While usernames won’t count toward your character count on replies, there’s still a limit of fifty. A Twitter spokesperson added that while this may change later, this is the current cap. Fine with us: Fifty usernames sounds pretty intense as it is.
Now let’s go back to the loss of the “.@username” hack. New tweets that begin with a username will now be broadcast to your followers by default — even if you only wanted a few people to see it. Sorry, Twitter, but not everything starts with replying to someone else’s tweet. With these changes, even if you wanted to make a snarky in-joke to a friend, everyone following you will see it. It’s like a hushed, one-on-one conversation in a pub is broadcast on loudspeakers to everyone else in the bar. Fortunately, at least, Twitter users will probably find ways around whatever features they don’t like.
Twitter, for its part, will be happy, as these tweaks will almost certainly stimulate more conversation, more retweets, more replies and more likes. The social network could suddenly get very loud. It could make the most vocal Twitter users you follow seem even more vocal — possibly to a cloying degree. The same could be said for the ability to retweet and quote yourself. We’ll reserve judgement until the go into effect, but remember: The mute and block buttons are there for a reason.
Qualcomm’s Fast X12 LTE Modem is Appropriate Candidate for iPhone 7
While several rumors point towards Apple switching to Intel as its primary supplier of LTE modems for the iPhone 7 series, the consensus remains that longtime supplier Qualcomm will continue to share a portion of orders.
Assuming at least a percentage of orders go to Qualcomm, which has been the exclusive provider of LTE modems in iPhones for over three years, its X12 modem is a likely candidate for LTE and Wi-Fi connectivity on iPhone 7.
Qualcomm’s X12 chipsets, announced in September 2015, feature theoretical LTE category 12 download speeds up to 600 Mbps and LTE category 13 upload speeds up to 150 Mbps. The lineup, including the MDM9x45 and MDM9x40 chipsets, also support LTE Advanced carrier aggregation, 4×4 MIMO, LTE-U small cells, and automatic LTE and Wi-Fi switching.
LTE Advanced, first supported on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, enables data transfer between multiple cell towers to allow for higher data rates with lower latency across the network, translating to faster speeds for browsing the web, downloading apps, streaming video, and other data-related tasks.
The MDM9x45 would be an appropriate successor to Qualcomm’s MDM9635 modem in the iPhone 6s series, which provides theoretical downlink speeds up to 300 Mbps and uplink speeds up to 50 Mbps. The X12 has already been adopted in several flagship Android smartphones equipped with the Snapdragon 820 processor, including the Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5, and Xiaomi Mi5.
Comparatively, Apple is rumored to use Intel’s XMM 7360 LTE modem [PDF] with theoretical download speeds up to 450 Mbps and upload speeds up to 100 Mbps. The chip also features LTE Advanced with 3x carrier aggregation and support for up to 29 LTE bands overall, VoLTE, dual SIM cards, and LTE and Wi-Fi interworking.
Provided that rumors about Apple sourcing LTE modems from both Intel and Qualcomm are accurate, it remains unclear how the chipsets will be divided. The split could be based on certain iPhone models or SKUs, or perhaps Apple will elect to use Intel modems in certain regions and Qualcomm modems in others.
Qualcomm also introduced the X16, the world’s first announced Gigabit-class LTE modem, in February 2016, but the chipset is unlikely to make its way into iPhones until at least late 2017. The X16 supports 4×20 MHz carrier aggregation to achieve unprecedented theoretical download speeds up to 1 Gbps and peak upload speeds up to 150 Mbps. Real-world speeds, however, are often limited by carriers.
The bottom line for end users is that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus/Pro will likely have much faster peak LTE and Wi-Fi speeds, regardless of whether the chipsets are sourced from Intel, Qualcomm, or a combination of the two. While true speeds ultimately rely upon carriers, the upgrade should be a welcomed improvement for data-heavy users in the U.S. and around the world.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
Tags: Qualcomm, LTE
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‘Pilot’ Real-Time Language Translating Earpiece Tops $1 Million in Funding
A new wearable Bluetooth earpiece has been gaining traction on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, recently surpassing $1 million in funding and easily breaking its original goal of $75,000 from its backers. Called the “Pilot,” the insertable earpiece translates languages in real time between users speaking with one another, all through a connected smartphone app.
The Pilot comes with two earpieces, and when used together the system can function as a traditional set of wireless earbuds with basic audio and music playback through a Bluetooth-connected smartphone. When in need of its translation ability, users can hand off one of the earbuds to another person so their conversation is filtered and translated to each user through the Pilot’s real-time language translator.
To start off, the earpiece’s creators — Waverly Labs — will include language packages for English, Spanish, French and Italian, with other languages introduced as paid downloads in the future. The app will initially be required to connect online when it launches this summer (as a basic translator sans Pilot earpieces), but will eventually store its language database offline so users won’t have to worry about a constant internet connection fueling Pilot. There’s even an option to funnel the translated conversation through a smartphone’s speaker so everyone nearby can hear what a foreign speaker is saying.
The Pilot’s FAQ mentions that translation isn’t currently perfect, but that the more people use the device, the smarter Pilot will become. There’s also “a couple of seconds of delay” between when a user speaks in their native tongue, and when it is translated to the second Pilot earbud wearer, which Waverly Labs says will be an aspect of the device it works hard at shortening through app updates.
Although there were early bird specials at discounted prices, all of them are sold out. Pilot is currently selling for $199 as a pre-order on its Indiegogo page. With that bundle users will get the two earpieces, a portable charger, and three different sized eartips. Other backer levels include bundles of extra Pilot earpieces, and the chance to meet the team at Waverly Labs and get a glimpse behind the scenes of the technology’s creation.
The Pilot could be delivered, at the earliest, by Christmas of 2016, although Waverly Labs is telling backers to expect the first shipment of Pilot earpieces to arrive in Spring of 2017.
Tags: Pilot, Waverly Labs
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Apple in Talks About Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles
Apple has been engaged in discussions with charging station companies about their underlying technologies, according to Reuters.
The talks are largely unsurprising given that Apple is widely believed to be researching and developing its own electric vehicle, which could enter production by 2020.
Apple would of course need to provide a way to charge the so-called Apple Car’s battery, possibly akin to Tesla’s network of Supercharger partners in the U.S. and around the world.
Charging firms are treading carefully, the person added, wary of sharing too much with a company they view as a potential rival.
It is unclear whether Apple would want its own proprietary technology, such as Tesla Motors’ Supercharger network, or design a system compatible with offerings from other market players.
The report offers few specific details about the discussions, but it does confirm that a “global engineering and construction firm” has already contacted Apple to offer its services. It remains unclear, however, if Apple would be open to a charging partner or prefer to create its own proprietary network.
“It would be natural to assume if Apple is going to have a full battery electric vehicle that creates a seamless consumer experience the way Apple does, the charging infrastructure and its availability would be of paramount importance,” the source said.
The report also reflects upon a series of charging-related hirings that Apple has made in recent months, based on LinkedIn profiles, such as Nan Liu, described as “an engineer who researched a form of wireless charging for electric vehicles,” and former Google charging expert Kurt Adelberger.
As more electric vehicles begin to arrive on the roads, it is expected that EV automakers will have to expand their charging stations to accommodate. Tesla, for example, currently has around 600 charging stations worldwide, which pales in comparison to the nearly 400,000 reservations for its lower-priced Model 3.
Apple is on track to spend a record $10 billion on R&D this year, which analyst Neil Cybart believes is a clear indicator of its electric vehicle plans. Cybart predicted the odds of Apple releasing an electric vehicle are at least 80 percent, adding that Apple has likely already spent at least a few billion dollars on the project.
“Apple is not spending $10 billion on R&D just to come up with new Watch bands, larger iPads, or a video streaming service,” he wrote. “Instead, Apple is planning on something much bigger: a pivot into the automobile industry.”
The majority of R&D may be taking place in Sunnyvale and the surrounding Santa Clara Valley area, near Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, with a recent report claiming the company is looking to purchase “large expanses of real estate” in the San Francisco Bay Area for the project.
Related Roundup: Apple Car
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‘Pokémon GO’ U.S. Beta Kicks Off as New Battle Details Are Revealed
Beta testing of the upcoming Pokémon GO game for iOS kicked off in the United States today, with Niantic Labs sending out beta invites to customers who signed up to be field testers earlier this month. Beta testing is already underway in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
Pokémon GO, first announced last year, is being developed by Niantic Labs in collaboration with The Pokémon Company. It will allow Pokémon fans to search real world locations to collect, battle, and trade more than 100 different Pokémon.
As was detailed in previous posts, Pokémon Go will notify players when they’re near a catchable Pokémon, with the iPhone used to throw a Poké Ball. PokéStops around the world, located at places like public art installations and historical markers, will allow players to stock up on Poké Balls and discover Pokémon Eggs.
Alongside the launch of the U.S. beta test, more details have been revealed about the way the battle mechanics will work in the game. Each Pokémon Go user will be encouraged to join one of three teams to engage in Gym battles with other teams. Gym battles can be undertaken once a team is joined, and Gyms, like Pokémon, are located in real world locations around the world. Evolving Pokémon has also been added to the game.
Battling is essential to any Pokémon game, and Pokémon GO is no different. Players can battle using the Pokémon they’ve caught to gain control of a Gym. By using their own Pokémon’s attacks and dodging incoming attacks by swiping left and right on the screen, Pokémon GO players can defeat the defending Pokémon to reduce the Gym’s Prestige.
Once the Gym’s Prestige reaches zero, the defending team loses control of the Gym, and the victor’s Pokémon can be assigned to defend the Gym. When a team has control of a Gym, team members can increase its Prestige and level by training their Pokémon with other defending Pokémon. As the Gym gets to a higher level, the defending team gains the ability to assign more Pokémon to defend it. They can also team up with friends and battle together at a rival Gym to take down stronger Gyms faster.
Pokémon Go will be free to download when it launches later in 2016. In-app purchases will be available, allowing players to buy PokéCoins for power-ups and extra items. No concrete release date has been provided for Pokémon Go, but with the expansion of the beta test, a launch is growing closer. Customers who want to sign up for the field test can do so on the Niantic Labs website.
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Kenmore 92583 review – CNET
The Good The $2,800 Kenmore 92583 electric range is a fast and furious cooker with a design that evokes luxury-brand design. The dual convection fans in the oven help you bake multiple racks of food evenly.
The Bad The range has too much of a heavy hand with some features such as broiling and the Accela-Heat mode, which promises to cook food without having to preheat the oven. The test results included burnt burgers and crunchy cinnamon rolls.
The Bottom Line This range looks like a pro, but still needs some practice when it comes to cooking.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
Kenmore has in recent years produced a steady stream of reliable ranges that cook food well. Many of them have even gotten good reviews here at CNET Appliances.
More Kenmore ranges
- Kenmore 95073 induction freestanding range
- Kenmore 97723 electric double oven range
- Kenmore 72583 gas slide-in range
Unfortunately, the company’s winning streak has ended with its Pro line. The Sears-held brand designed this suite of large kitchen appliances to rival products that come from luxury (read: more expensive) manufacturers. The Kenmore 72583 gas range from the Pro catalog was amateur in its cooking performance and gave me pause about Kenmore’s attempt to reach a higher-end market. The Kenmore 92583 electric range solidified my feelings about the company’s Pro ranges: These products let the entire brand down.
Like its gas counterpart, the $2,800 Kenmore 92583 has impressive extras — no-preheat baking, rapid boiling, dual convection fans — and a physical profile that will make home cooks feel like top chefs. The range nails basic tasks like baking and boiling as you would expect from a product that’s nearly $3,000. But it flounders at perfecting the features that are supposed to elevate the range above other mainstream brands. Tests left me with scores of unexceptional test food and questions about Kenmore’s move into professional kitchen-inspired appliances.
The Kenmore 92583 isn’t the range you’re looking for from this brand. Save yourself some money and go with the Kenmore 95073, a freestanding model that makes up for its lack of special features with its fast-boiling induction cooktop and $1,700 price.
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A remarkable range at first glance
The Kenmore 92583 has all the physical qualities that a house-hunting couple on HGTV could ask for. The 30-inch wide range has a stainless steel finish, a smooth electric cooktop and a slide-in design, features that allow it to make a confident statement in the kitchen without being too garish.
A few performance details are as equally noteworthy as the range’s appearance. The cooktop features a Turbo Boil burner, which lived up to its name in my tests. This burner took an average of 8.93 minutes to bring 112 ounces of water to a rolling boil. Only one other electric cooktop has clocked in a faster time: another Kenmore range, the 97723.
Large Burner Boil Test (Electric Models)
Kenmore 97723
8.68
Kenmore 92583
8.93
KitchenAid KSEG950ESS
9.13
GE PB911SJSS
9.32
Kenmore 41313
9.4
LG LRE3021ST
12.17
Samsung NE58K9850WG
13.2
Note:
Time to achieve rolling boil, in minutes
The 5.1 cubic-foot oven also has a couple of pleasant surprises hiding in its walls. The oven comes with dual convection fans that help circulate air more evenly and efficiently throughout the oven cavity. Convection works well when you’re baking food on more than one oven rack, and the two convection fans in this Kenmore proved that point well.
Xiaomi Mi Drone Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
With the Xiaomi Mi Drone, the Chinese company keeps doing what it does best: promising tech with high-end specs and performance at incredibly competitive prices.
Outside of China the company is best known for its smartphones, but it has been building a lineup of related devices such as the Yi action cam and the Mi Box, an Android TV-powered set-top box.
Now there’s a quadcopter. Xiaomi says the Mi Drone will come in two versions, one with a 4K-resolution camera and another with a 1080p camera. The former will be available in late July for 2,999 yuan (approximately $455, AU$635 or £310) as part of an open beta program. The latter is priced at 2,499 yuan (around $380, AU$530 or £260) and will be crowdfunded through the company’s Mi Home app, starting on May 26.
While there’s definitely been a drop in consumer drone prices, a sub-$500 price for a quad with a 4K-resolution camera is remarkable. Category leader DJI’s least-expensive quad with a 4K camera comes in at $799. Though you probably won’t get as polished a product as the DJI, Xiaomi is promising a compelling package.
The 1080p camera features a 16-megapixel Sony sensor while the 4K version uses a 12-megapixel sensor to record at 3,840×2,160-pixel resolution and supports photo capture in raw format. Both are mounted on motorized three-axis gimbals for image stabilization. To make traveling easier, the cameras are removable and the landing gear folds up.
Other features include:
- GPS and Glonass support for accurate positioning outdoors
- Visual positioning system for stability when flying indoors or without GPS (below 2.5 meters/8 feet)
- Up to 27 minutes of flight time from a 5,100 mAh removable battery
- Automatic take-off, landing and return modes
- Flight path planning and point-of-interest orbiting modes
OnePlus 3 release date leaks as 14 June, day after Apple’s WWDC 2016
The OnePlus 3 smartphone, which is due to be announced via VR feed, will be unveiled on 14 June, according to a OnePlus leak. That places it the day after Apple’s WWDC 2016 event has kicked off.
A customer who bought a OnePlus Loop VR headset, which can be used to watch the launch event in virtual reality, spoke to OnePlus. When directly asked when the event will take place, the OnePlus representative said it would be on 14 June.
This date makes a lot of sense as it’s not only close to last year’s, but with a VR Loop shipping date of 6 June guaranteed in seven days, it should be just right. Any earlier and people wouldn’t have the VR headsets, any later and the shipping date would be irrelevant.
The fact that OnePlus has chosen to launch its new smartphone the day after Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference could be seen as a shot across the company’s bow, so to speak. Although, more likely, it’s just chance. After all, who would want to risk getting lost in the noise of Apple’s announcements?
The OnePlus 3, according to rumours so far, is expected to come with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 820 processor, 64GB storage, 16-megapixel camera, NFC and the Android N operating system.
READ: OnePlus 3: What’s the story so far?
Samsung UBD-K8500 review: Beautiful Ultra-HD Blu-ray
Optical discs are dead, or so many would have you believe. That’s perhaps a reflection of the times we’re living in, where streaming entertainment out-paces its arrival on physical media. What better example than the latest Star Wars blockbuster, arriving on digital platforms weeks before it hits the stores?
Then we have 4K resolution, lauded as the next thing in home entertainment, arriving via Netflix and Amazon Prime Video long before Ultra HD Blu-ray (which caters for 4K output) was even available.
That makes the challenge faced by Ultra HD Blu-ray greater than it was at the last throw of the dice; plus you’ll need a decent 4K TV set if you don’t already own one. The upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray was an easy decision, but with streaming options now cheap, plentiful and widely available, do we even need optical discs any more?
Well, yes, if you love movies then you do.
Samsung UBD-K8500 review: Design
The Samsung UBD-K8500 is the most affordable 4K player on the market at the time of writing. But then with only Panasonic in contention the options are, like Ultra-HD Blu-ray discs themselves, not exactly plentiful. So if you’re looking for the most affordable route into 4K Blu-ray then this Samsung is it.
The most notable thing about the K8500’s design is its curve. With Samsung now billing flat TVs as equally flagship as its curved ones, the player’s bent design may just be a throwback to its original 2015 announcement and little more.
Certainly, once this player is stacked in place with your other AV components, that curve is barely noticeable when looking at it front-on. It’s a black box as all these things typically are, and apart from that curve and some angularity to the front, there’s little else to comment on. This player is a standard 40mm wide and just like most Blu-ray players of recent times is only 230mm deep.
The front of the player sees the disc drawer to the left, with touch controls on the top right, offering up the basics to control playback or eject the disc. Most other controls will fall to the included remote. Otherwise the front is fairly free from distractions, with only a small LED to reflect the status of the player. We’ve been spared glowing logos and all the rest of it – simple is best and it works well in this instance.
There’s a fan on the rear for cooling, which doesn’t make more noise than any of the other devices we have connected to the TV – the loudest being the Xbox One power supply.
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Samsung UBD-K8500 review: Connections keep it simple
In terms of connectivity, the Samsung UBD-K8500 is the simpler of the two Ultra HD Blu-ray players on the market (at the time of writing), with Panasonic offering the more comprehensive selection of connections on its rival UB900 player.
The Samsung features two HDMI ports, one for connection to your display, the second designed for audio. This is a convenient setup for those wanting to connect to an existing AV receiver or soundbar, without having to tackle the issue of whether passthrough is going to be a problem. Optical is also offered as an audio alternative, for those with legacy hardware.
There’s an Ethernet connection as well as Wi-Fi, meaning you can wire up for the online services the player also offers. If you’ve no plans to use the in-built apps, then Wi-Fi is fine for the online software check-ups that the player might want to do, but if you want to stream 4K content then we’d advise using Ethernet.
There’s a front USB port that will allow you to connect a drive, offering an easy method for watching content you might have downloaded, or captured yourself from a phone or camera. The positioning on the front of the player is convenient, as most TVs’ USB ports are around the back, which is good for aesthetics, if not connectivity.
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Samsung UBD-K8500 review: Setup and settings
As with most other Blu-ray players and peripherals, setup is straightforward. However, the important thing about setting up an Ultra HD Blu-ray player isn’t just the player itself, but also on the display you’re connecting it to.
When connecting to your TV’s HDMI you need to ensure the TV knows you’re connecting an Ultra HD device and select “UHD HDMI Colour” or “HDMI Deep Colour” (different manufacturers use different names). This is the same process you’ll have to go through with other Ultra HD/4K devices at the moment, as not all TVs automatically detect what has been connected. But if you don’t turn it on, you won’t get the wonderful colours you’re expecting and things will look a little stripy.
For the player itself there are a range of settings to govern video and audio. Within these settings you’ll find options to set the output resolution, 3D, 24fps/cinema and so on. You can force things, or stick to Auto, according to your preferences.
If you stick to Auto, then the player will output at the highest resolution it can for the material – that’s 3840 x 2160 50p for a DVD and 3840 x 2160 60p for Blu-ray – and handle upscaling. If you choose to step-down the output resolution then the TV will handle any upscaling.
In the settings you’ll also find everything you want to manage audio, so you can select an output appropriate for the system you’re connecting to, be that PCM, bitstream or re-encoded for DTS or Dolby Digital.
Pocket-lint
Samsung UBD-K8500 review: Control and navigation
Samsung has opted for a compact remote that’s nice enough to grip, although we suspect the size will make it even easier to lose down the back of the sofa. If you’re connected to a Samsung TV, you may find by using Anynet+ you’ll have some control via your standard TV remote – although this is the slower option, as commands are passed from the TV back to the player.
The K8500’s homescreen has three main areas: the disc in the drive, as applicable; multi-media, which handles network storage or USB drives; and Samsung apps, which is where you go to download any apps you want from Samsung’s smart TV platform, such as Netflix or Amazon video (there’s little of much value outside those major subscription services).
The overall user interface lacks the maturity of Samsung’s Smart TVs, but we guess this is something of a grey area: you’re likely to be linking this player to a sophisticated 4K TV, so the inclusion of these streaming services (offering 4K where available) may be an unnecessary addition. But if you’ve found yourself without Netflix 4K because it’s not on your TV, then this player rectifies that.
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Samsung UBD-K8500 review: Picture and performance
Ultra HD Blu-ray only exists for one major reason: to deliver an experience that surpasses Blu-ray and, ultimately, all those streaming services too. We’ve long been of the opinion that Blu-ray is superior to Full HD streaming, not only in consistency and solidity of the picture quality, but also the wider audio options you’re potentially offered.
Streaming might win out on convenience and price, but fire-up an Ultra HD Blu-ray and you’re treated to that visual feast once again. Sure, Ultra HD Netflix offers up some lovely sharp images, but the depth that comes with Ultra HD Blu-ray will have you grinning from ear to ear. It delivers on that next-gen promise, with your 4K TV throwing out super-sharp visuals.
There’s just so much more data available from the disc version that be chanelled through that HDMI cable (HDMI 1.4 works fine at up to 30fps; HDMI 2.0 is what you’ll want for 60fps and high dynamic range (HDR)).
And it’s HDR that plays a big part in elevating Ultra HD Blu-ray beyond just a pure resolution bump. It caters for a wider range of peak brightness and low black level, with some titles (but not all) utilising this added potential. We’re fairly sure that HDR could be abused by some makers, just as 3D has been used to create some horrible films, but used right and the added pop it brings makes a huge difference. However, HDR is a varying experience based on how good your TV is, the size of it and the distance you’re sitting from it.
Overall, the combination of that resolution combined with the increased contrast and colour encased in HDR makes Ultra HD Blu-ray a premium experience compared to the flatter delivery of a streamed title. And that’s what really matters. Having watched The Martian streamed via Google Play and Chromecast, the Ultra HD Blu-ray version of it felt like an entirely different filmic experience.
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However, Ultra HD Blu-ray is a new format, meaning it’s more expensive and titles are limited, slowly being released as they get remastered by studios. It’s likely that you’ll be watching a lot of Blu-rays in the meantime. But these look excellent upscaled. We’d go as far as saying DVDs are still very watchable too, so all those old favourites are just as valid as they were before. We appreciate the added colour pop to Back to the Future on DVD: shaky titles only add to the 80s character.
Samsung UBD-K8500 review: Your TV matters
For all this good there is an important point to considered: the Ultra-HD Blu-ray experience is very much defined by your television. And if you don’t have a 4K set yet then you’ll need to invest in one wisely.
We tested the K8500 with the 55-inch Samsung JS9000 and Samsung KS7000 televisions, both of which sit towards the top of Samsung’s collection for 2015 and 2016 respectively. We also tested it using a more entry-level LG LED UHD TV, which is a quarter of the price of that top-end Samsung. On the cheaper display many of the benefits are lost. First of all, it lacks HDR support, which is a big part of the Ultra HD Blu-ray experience as we’ve discussed, but it also doesn’t deliver on the detail or colour, regardless of the source.
The point is that if you’re planning to pair your Ultra HD Blu-ray player with a poor TV, you’re not getting anywhere near the experience that you get from the best TVs. There are no real shortcuts here and we suspect that those interested in the very latest in home entertainment will already have, or be planning to buy, a great TV.
Verdict
If you were in any doubt about the relevance of optical media then rest assured: Ultra HD Blu-ray is stunning, offering a premium experience that surpasses other current options.
For those seeking that next-gen visual experience, the Samsung UBD-K8500 is a solid choice. It’s also more affordable than its main Panasonic rival, although lacks the range of connections that might see the Panasonic emerge as the more technically adept option.
Of course, you’ll need a 4K TV capable of doing Ultra-HD Blu-ray justice. And given the slender catalogue of titles available it might be worth waiting for more to become widely available and at prices you’re willing to pay before taking the plunge.
The future is Ultra HD Blu-ray and whether you invest now or bide your time, one thing is certain: there’s no point in buying a premium Blu-ray player any more.
AIVAnet 