Galaxy Note 7 benchmarks: Exynos vs. Snapdragon head-to-head
Which version of the Galaxy Note 7 is faster: the Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8890 version? Benchmarks, anyone?
It’s always been our opinion that benchmark apps for Android phones really only tell you how well a phone runs the benchmark apps. They give a score that, while meaningful in some ways, tend to be used as some sort of gospel about how one phone is clearly better than another when that’s not really the case. And they can be confusing for some folks who aren’t exactly sure what any of those scores mean. We usually forgo running any or talking about them at any length and instead focus on the user experience.
This time, we’re going to venture into the benchmark waters because we have both the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 version and the Exynos 8890 version of the Galaxy Note 7 here. Samsung promises that users won’t see any real-world performance differences between the two — and we agree — but we wanted to see the synthetic differences from a handful of benchmark testing apps in Google Play. We’re not going to read too much into any of this, and we’re certainly not about to declare any winner. Both models offer the same experience while you’re using them. For the folks who do care about those numbers but may not have an opportunity to get both models, here are the results.
About the tests
We tested a Samsung SM-N930F (UK model) with an Exynos 8890 CPU and a Samsung SM-N930T (U.S. T-Mobile model) with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. Both phones have the same basic configuration — a personal account, a work account, and a small handful of apps from the Play Store installed.
Nothing special was done before we tested. We used the phone normally, installed the apps, then ran the tests without restarting or clearing anything or killing any apps. We even tested in the evening after a day of normal use. None of the phone’s features were disabled. Really, we treated them like we do every phone and just ran the apps we installed to benchmark them.
Geekbench 3
Geekbench 3 has several tests that aim to simulate real-world CPU performance, and can utilize all of the processor cores. The results are calculated and returned as an overall indicator of your phone’s processor performance in both single core tests and multicore tests. Higher scores are better.
As expected, the Exynos clearly calculates and processes data “better” than the Snapdragon. Surprisingly, the single core scores are both much lower than leaked benchmark results from early versions. We’ll attribute that to two things — fully set up devices with apps and account synchronization running, and not clearing app cache and killing off the background processes. But keep in mind that a lower multi-core score on the Snapdragon 820 is expected because it has four cores, half the number as the Exynos 8890.
Download Geekbench 3
AnTuTu 6
AnTuTu runs a series of tests of four key areas of your phone’s performance — the processor, 3D graphics ability, memory, and user interface. The results are calculated and delivered as four individual scores, with a higher score being better.
The Exynos again scores better in processor performance testing, but the Snapdragon marks higher in 3D and user interface features. The RAM testing is as expected — both phones have the same memory modules and controllers, and the results are identical within an acceptable margin of error.
Download AnTuTu Benchmark
GFXBench
GFXBench measures graphics performance with a focus on long-term performance stability, render quality and power consumption. The tests use high-quality and high polygon 3D graphics, and we tested the off-screen versions of the Car Chase, both Manhattan and Manhattan 3.1, and T-Rex at 1080p.The results are the average frames per second (fps) for each test.
We are unable to compare the results of the render quality tests because our Exynos version would only return an Out Of Memory error. The Snapdragon version scored 2510 for the standard render quality test, and 3632 for the HQ render quality tests. These numbers are the PNSR (peak-to-peak signal-to-noise) values.
Download GFXBench
Hipxel’s Disk Speed and Performance
This benchmark measures the read and write speeds of the internal memory in MB/s. The labels can be confusing as both tests (internal and external) are measuring the built-in internal memory and not any SD card or other attached storage.
The internal tests are the read and write speeds of the phone’s application data storage partition. This is where the private data is stored and where most apps are installed. The external tests measure the speeds of the internal SD card storage, where media and some application data is stored.
The app will measure SD card performance, but we choose to pass on that test as we don’t have two brand-new SD cards of the same make and model to use for a comparison. The results would be similar, and won’t show any measurable differences.
Download Disk Speed/Performance Test by Hipxel
What does this mean?
Not a lot, really.
Sure, the Exynos has a “better” CPU and the Snapdragon has a “better” GPU if you go strictly by the numbers in these benchmarking apps. Both phones have the same memory and the same storage, as well as the same parts and logic to control each, and the results reflect that.
But using them will always count more than any benchmark numbers. As mentioned, we were curious and had both versions so we’re sharing with people who are curious as well. Don’t use these as proof of anything, and we’ll call them both winners — it’s like youth soccer where everyone wins a trophy because it’s all good.
Feel free to do what you will with the numbers in the comments.
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The Honor 8 is more important to the U.S. market than you think
The Honor 8 brings premium hardware from the Huawei-owned brand to the United States for the first time — and that’s a big deal.
The Honor 8 has officially launched in the United States, bringing increased competition to the $400-level “affordable flagship” segment. Owned by Chinese tech giant Huawei, Honor intends to challenge the likes of OnePlus among younger people and tech-savvy phone buyers with an impressive glass and metal design, impressive internals and a competitive price point. Throw in some serious pomp and ceremony — and celebrity brand ambassadors like Brooklyn Beckham — and you’ve got a notable product launch during what is turning into a very busy summer for smartphones.
But beyond the launch-day hype and beautiful hands-on photos, what really matters about the latest from Huawei and Honor? Let’s dive in with some first thoughts.
1. It should actually be a good phone — because it’s based on a good phone!
Instead of metal you’ve got glass. Instead of Kirin 955 you’ve got 950 (and thus slightly lower CPU speeds). And you don’t get a gazillion LTE bands out of the box. But by all other metrics the Honor 8 is basically a Huawei P9, and that’s a good thing. The P9 family — in particular the P9 Plus, with its 4GB of RAM — is the best we’ve seen from Huawei.
Unlike the Honor 5X, we should get decent performance out of Honor 8’s combination of Kirin 950, 4GB of RAM and Android 6.0 Marshmallow — paired with Huawei’s EMUI software layer. As of version 4.1, EMUI is faster and less objectionable than it’s ever been, with many annoying traits like over-the-top icon customization finally going away for good.
MORE: The top 6 tweaks you need to make to your Huawei or Honor phone
2. Kirin in the U.S. is really important
The Honor 8 is the first phone to ship in the United States with a Kirin processor, designed and manufactured by the Huawei-owned HiSilicon. The benefits of using your own silicon in your own phone are obvious — more vertical integration means Honor (or Huawei, if you prefer) doesn’t need to rely on Qualcomm’s roadmap as it has for previous U.S. launches.
As for why we haven’t seen Kirin in the U.S. before, that’s likely due to the challenges in getting the chip certified for use in America. In recent years the U.S. legislature has criticised Huawei’s apparent ties to the Chinese government, and thus geopolitics will inevitably come into play when it comes to any homegrown processor from the manufacturer. With the imminent arrival of the Honor 8 in the U.S., it would seem these issues have been largely resolved.
Kirin 950 might not be as fast as the very latest chips from Qualcomm (in our testing it falls somewhere between a Snapdragon 652 and the newest 820), but it’s a capable processor, and something that gives Honor (and Huawei) phones a unique hardware feature to boast over rivals in the $400-450 price point.
3. 4GB of RAM is huge
In China, the Honor 8 comes in two configurations — 3GB RAM and 32GB storage and 4GB/64GB. Usually it’s the lower-specced combination that goes global, but not this time.
The minutiae of smartphone specs are becoming less important with each passing generation, but the decision to ship the Honor 8 with 4GB of RAM in the U.S. (and hopefully Europe too — fingers crossed) is a big deal. The Honor 8’s Huawei-branded cousin, the P9, shipped with 3GB and suffered for it. While it wasn’t exactly slow out of the box, it could get bogged down with apps and background tasks in a way that the beefier P9 Plus doesn’t.
In performance terms, the Honor 8 should be closer to our favorite Huawei phone to date, even at the slightly lower clock speeds of Kirin 950. (Compared to the speedier Kirin 955 of the P9 family.)
More: Honor 8 hands-on preview
4. It’s a shot aimed squarely at OnePlus
The upstart smartphone brand basically owned by closely associated with Oppo is the real target of the Honor 8. With the OnePlus 3, that company has itself a hit on its hands — reviews heap praise on OnePlus’s latest, and the phones are flying off the shelves. It’s a well deserved success for a very new smartphone brand that’s finally growing up.
A similar relationship exists between Honor and Huawei, albeit with fewer mirrors and less smoke. Both OnePlus and Honor exist to establish a foothold in the West with a combination of decent specs and laser-focused pricing. (The same is true of ZTE’s Axon brand to a certain extent.) So it’s surely no accident that the base model Honor 8 is priced at exactly the level of the OnePlus 3.
Time will tell which phone wins out among enthusiasts. Huawei has expandable storage and unique camera features going for it. Meanwhile OnePlus has the edge in raw horsepower and brand recognition, as well as a more palatable software experience in OxygenOS.
5. This is just the beginning
Honor isn’t messing around here. With a glitzy San Francisco launch event and a big online marketing push, the brand is serious about the U.S. market, and in the Honor 8 it finally has as phone that’s good enough to make a real impact. But this isn’t just a blip.
As we’ve discussed before, Huawei’s due some major software changes, and the imminent arrival of EMUI 5 — likely based on Nougat, if recent leaks are any indicator — should address EMUI 4.1’s remaining quirks and bugbears. Huawei’s software is nowhere near as bad as it once was, but still it remains a point of weakness in the company’s 2016 handsets. If EMUI 5 addresses this as thoroughly as we expect it to, with features like Google-style notifications, a proper app drawer and other visual tweaks, things could get really interesting.
And as a Huawei-owned brand, Honor will eventually benefit from all those changes too.
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How to avoid a driving warning in Pokémon Go
How do I avoid that annoying driving warning in Pokémon Go?
How many times a day do you hit that “I’m a passenger” button? Too many. In an attempt to decrease the number of Pokémon Go players in the world who think it’s a good idea to play while driving, Niantic’s last update added a pop-up message when the GPS determines you exceeding the speeds humans are able to travel using two legs.
You can dismiss the message quickly by letting the app know you’re a passenger, but there’s a whole lot of people out there tired of seeing this warning pop up when they’re not anywhere near a moving vehicle.
Since Pokémon Go relies heavily on GPS for most of the game’s behaviors, there are ways to avoid this driving warning in many situations. Here are some quick tips!
Watch your speed
Sometimes the simplest answer works. Pokémon Go awards distance traveled for eggs based on straight lines. The game pings your phone, waits a few minutes, and pings again. If the distance between those two pings is determined at under 6.5mph, your egg distance is increased accordingly.
If you’re riding a bike or skateboard — or trolling a giant parking lot in a car so you can cheat and get your eggs unlocked faster — remember to keep it under 6.5mph. You’ll avoid the driving warning, and get the maximum travel distance for your eggs.
Make sure Wi-Fi is enabled
A big problem with the current Pokémon Go driving warning is when it happens as you’re sitting at your work desk trying to catch that Magmar while your boss is distracted. You clearly aren’t driving, so why is this happening?! The short answer is something called GPS drift. Your phone can’t get or maintain an accurate GPS connection, so your avatar drifts in a radius around your position, since it’s not possible to get a clear lock.
If GPS drift is getting you down, turn on Wi-Fi to get rid of it
The only thing you can do about this is enable Wi-Fi, which your phone will use to help gain a more precise location. WiFi access points are fixed, and can frequently be used an an additional data point in keeping your GPS position locked. You don’t need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network; you just need to have it enabled so it is scanning for available networks.
Set Location Accuracy to High
Many phones will automatically adjust how frequently your GPS attempts to grab a precise location when battery saver mode is enabled, and on several phones that location accuracy setting isn’t adjusted back to High until you explicitly tell the phone to do so.
More: Getting a ‘GPS signal not found’ error in Pokémon Go? Here’s how to fix it!
Head to the Location tab in your settings panel, and make sure the Locating Method option is set to high. This will ensure you are able to get the best possible GPS connection, which will help you maintain a stable position in the game.
Deep nerd — a window and a remote access app
There are some situations where these tips just plain won’t work, either because the GPS in your phone isn’t very good or the building you work in is a few rods short of a Faraday Cage. Watching your avatar rubber band between potential GPS points, immediately followed by a warning that you’re driving too fast while standing in the bathroom at work, is deeply frustrating.
The only real solution here is to go where the GPS will work well and set your phone up so you can access it remotely, which really isn’t the best idea ever but it’ll scratch the itch. Set your phone up somewhere near an outdoor window, and use a remote access app to check in on Pokémon Go a couple times during the day. If you see something worth catching you can wander over and catch it, but otherwise you’ll be safe to get your work done.
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High-speed wireless network are everywhere, but the U.S. is way behind on data speeds
The U.S. lags behind many countries in terms of data rates, but a rising tide has lifted worldwide access and speeds.
If you live in any sort of relatively populated area around the world, chances are you have access to a solid LTE or at least 3G connection. High-speed mobile networks are practically ubiquitous, but that doesn’t mean the experience is anywhere near the same around the world. Data from OpenSignal’s latest State of Mobile Networks report backs up this notion, showing how widespread mobile connectivity is today, as just how big of a disparity there is in terms of data speeds around the world.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that in most developed countries you’re going to be on a 3G or higher speed network a vast majority of the time, with OpenSignal’s crowd-sourced data showing that 23 countries around the world have 90% or higher 3G/4G network availability. Even though we all prefer to be on an LTE network, the truth is that combining 3G and 4G into one metric makes sense — you can get plenty done on a modern 3G network, and they’re still extremely important to carriers’ operations.
And while the networks are in place around the world, the situation in data speeds isn’t nearly as rosy. Measurements of overall speed across 3G and 4G networks shows usual suspects South Korea and Singapore at the top of the charts, averaging 41 and 31 mbps downloads, respectively. Things trail off quickly, though, with the U.S. averaging download speeds of just 12 mbps — 38th place worldwide, according to the data. Most of South America averages under 10 mbps, while most European countries are in the mid teens or low 20’s of mbps in download speeds.
Average network speeds in the U.S. are just 12 mbps — 38th in the world
Breaking down a level further for those of us in the U.S., there’s obviously a large gap between carriers in this large country, with each generally offering either better speeds or coverage, dramatically changing depending on where you are geographically. Even when averaging things out across the country, you have decisions to make like getting the fastest measured LTE speeds from T-Mobile, or the most measured widespread LTE coverage from Verizon.
Because of this large gulf in data speeds, OpenSignal still finds Wi-Fi use to be extremely high and on the rise in most areas, even those with higher-than-average mobile network speeds. Users in small countries like the Netherlands spend 70% of their time on Wi-Fi networks, but even smartphone owners in the U.S. spend over 50% of their day connected to Wi-Fi.
So even in 2016, with some of the most amazing little computers in our pockets, we’re still looking to make large improvements in our networks around the world to support them. We’ll probably never be happy with the speeds being offered, and there are massive logistical hurdles to offering the fastest speeds in every corner of every country, but the near future should hold notable bumps in overall network quality.
This smart stud finder works with your phone to do 3D-image sensing
There’s a new stud finder available that’s unlike any typical stud finder you can buy from a local hardware store.
It uses Vayyar Imaging’s 3D-image sensor technology, but it’s super easy to use. Simply get your hands on the Walabot DIY stud finder, then download the Walabot DIY app from the Google Play Store, and connect the accessory to your smartphone’s USB port (so, an Android device, basically). From there, all you have to do is hold it against a wall, and it’ll let you see inside your walls.
The Wallabot DIY can detect not only studs but also plastic and metal pipes, electric wires, and basically anything up to four inches behind the wall. It can even sense motion, meaning you’ll be able to use it in order to find mice or any other pests inside your walls. It’ll visualise the actual location of whatever is there and serve up a preview via the app, so it’ll prevent you from making a mistake with the drill.
The only downside to this handy smart tool is its $200 (about £150) sticker. At that price, you’re better off getting a basic version if you only plan to hang a frame or two. But if you’re a total DIYer, this is the gadget you need to take your home repair skills to the next level.
Pizza Hut in UK made a playable DJ pizza box and will give them out
Pizza Hut’s latest marketing gimmick in the UK is pretty awesome – and techy.
The pizza chain has introduced the “world’s first playable DJ pizza box”. It’s a real-life cardboard pizza box that turns into a touch-sensitive deck, complete with a mixer and other controllable buttons. Printed electronics maker Novalia helped Pizza Hut create this battery-powered contraption that will fully connect to your computer or smartphone over Bluetooth. It even works with pro DJ software like Serato DJ.
Pizza Hut released a video, embedded above, to demonstrate how the thing works. As Rinse FM’s DJ Vectra shows, you can eat your pizza, then open up the box, turn on your paired device, and start scratching, rewinding, controlling pitch, and adjusting crossfade. But before you get all excited and think you can finally become a DJ for cheap, you should know this slipmat will be hard to get your greasy paws on.
Pizza Hut said it’ll only give a small number of them away. Only five will be doled out across Pizza Hut’s 350 UK restaurants. To find out where they will be available, keep your eyes on Pizza Hut’s UK Twitter account.
Introducing the WORLD’S FIRST playable #PizzaDJDecks. We’re giving 5 away across the UK. Stay tuned for clues ???? ???? https://t.co/jHFoVK2Yp3
— Pizza Hut UK (@pizzahutuk) August 17, 2016
How we trained AI to be sexist
You’d never know from Jacqueline Feldman’s background that she’d become a passionate proponent of gender equality for artificial intelligence. She went the dreamer’s route at college, attending Yale for English literature and writing. She prefers casual dresses and writing from the comfort of her Brooklyn apartment surrounded by books, where she has the option of climbing to the roof for cool air on sweltering nights.
But once Feldman was hired to write the personality of a chatbot for Kasisto, a startup that focuses on artificial intelligence software for banks, she became vocal about the importance of taking gender out of the identity equation. Under her watch, MyKai, the bot she was hired to craft a personality for, would be neither female nor male.
Feldman’s boss at Kasisto, Dror Oren, says the work the team has done with the bot made him more outspoken about the need for equality in tech than he’d have imagined going into the project, and he’s a self-proclaimed feminist to begin with. Now, he’s hyperaware of the differences between the personality of Kai and overly feminine answers inside similar products made by most large tech companies.
Kasisto is on to something. There’s Apple’s Siri, which the company occasionally promotes with titillating commercials reinforcing gender stereotypes, like the one where Jamie Foxx flirts with the female virtual assistant, asking if she has a crush on him. There’s Amazon’s Alexa, which the company introduced in a roll-out video featuring a “man of the house” explaining all of the feminized assistant’s functions, while his fictional wife asks one question and gets chastised for it. And then there’s Amy, a bot that schedules meetings via emails that’s made by x.ai. The company proclaims on its site that Amy is asked out about once a month, which the company says makes it “blush.”
Play with any of those products and you’ll find the same flirty attitude promoting the gender stereotypes that make equal-treatment folks irate. Ask it to marry you and Alexa will say, “Sorry, I’m not the marrying type” or “let’s just be friends” to date requests. If you ask Siri “Who’s your daddy?” it will answer “You are…” before asking to get back to work. Microsoft’s Cortana sassily replies, “Of all the questions you could have asked,” to come-ons, something feminists will tell you makes the bot complacent in its harassment.
Kai, on the other hand, will tell users via text to stop bothering it or say it’s time to get back to banking.
Sure, many of those other companies now have a male-voice option, but those aren’t the defaults in the US, and when producing commercials for those products, the female voice is the star of the show.
Feldman says all this sexualized AI can be harmful to society.
“Some of these female-gendered personalities have what are called Easter eggs programmed into them,” said Feldman. “These are supposed to be surprising moments in the interaction, and they’re often jokes that are somewhat demeaning to the personality speaking with you.”
She adds: “If you tried that conversation on a real woman, you’d really be bothering her.”
That’s not to say Easter eggs shouldn’t exist; they’re one of the delights of AI. But rather than demeaning through a typically sexist or flirty joke, Kai will make self-aware jokes about not being alive. If you text it goodbye, it may reply, “That is the X in the top right, right?” When asked if it believes in love, Kai will respond, “Love throws me for a loop. Unconditional love is an infinite loop,” which is a nod to what happens when computers freeze. These sorts of answers make Kai distinctly artificial, not human.
Women continue to earn 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt their standing in society if the tech world at least thought more carefully about gender in AI. The stereotypically ladylike, deferential responses of so many virtual assistants reinforce society’s subconscious link between women and servitude. The average person’s only interaction with AI may be a female voice that can’t quite say “no, stop that,” and that’s not OK.
Even those that avoid being overly feminized, like Google’s voice assistant, aren’t entirely gender-free. Google’s lacks a girls name, but still has a woman’s voice. Those in the field will often point to findings like those of now-deceased Stanford professor Clifford Nass, who said people prefer the sound of a woman’s voice to a man’s.
Kasisto was able to avoid some of these tech landmines because Kai’s personality has to be conveyed only by the written word. But the company isn’t buying the idea that society simply prefers a female voice as a reason to keep feminized personalities in a strictly assistant role. In fact, they say, mixing up gender in artificial intelligence in tech would be good for everyone. Companies are clearly thinking about it on some level; for example, in the UK and France, Siri defaults to a man’s voice, unlike the woman’s voice we hear in the US.
“I don’t want to sound pretentious around it, but I think they [ other companies ] need to think seriously about how they’re designing bots,” said Oren, Feldman’s boss and co-founder at Kasisto. “I feel that we’re putting Kasisto values out there. We want to feel proud with the way our bot interacts because it reflects our values as a company.”
Amazon and Google declined to comment for this story, and Apple didn’t respond to requests for an interview. Deborah Harrison, one of Microsoft’s personality writers for Cortana, says the team considered benefits to either gender when beginning to craft the personal assistant but settled on female because they felt women are perceived as being more helpful than men. Still, she said they felt the weight of their decisions.
“This industry — digital assistants and AI research — is in many ways in its infancy, so the interactions we design now will, for better or worse, begin to become standardized through familiarity,” Harrison said via email.
Dr. Olga Russakovsky, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon, was spurred to action by how tech treats women, period. She told Engadget she started a computer-science camp for girls called SAILORS while at Stanford because of the disproportionately low number of women in the field. In 2011, only 18 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 20 percent of doctoral degrees in computer and information sciences were earned by women.
When designing the camp program, she tailored it to how girls learn, as opposed to conventional programs that tend to favor boys. Part of the problem with sexism in artificial intelligence appears to be that there aren’t enough women involved in its creation.
Russakovsky applauds work by anyone in artificial intelligence who tries to create an environment that includes women as equal beings. This isn’t about an overly PC society getting its dander up over nothing. One study she cites found there is a hidden gender bias within a large sample of news text, randomly sampled, online. She worries these subservient values will grow more entrenched over time, keeping women underrepresented in her field.
It’s possible that some of the loudest criticism of personalities like Cortana (which was initially based on a nude video-game character) has had some effect at large tech companies. Apple added a male voice option to Siri in 2013, two years after Siri was introduced. And personal scheduling software company x.ai introduced a male option a year ago, after debuting with female-only Amy.
But even these maddeningly slow additions might do little to actually reverse sexism within the very DNA of artificial personalities.
Until more people in computer science ‘fess up to the problem of overly sexualized bots, we seem doomed to travel along the same rutted tracks of homogeneous design, with too few women involved in the development of our Siris, Amys, Cortanas and Alexas. That leaves the small teams at companies like Kasisto at the forefront, dragging AI into a more inclusive world. Here’s hoping their colleagues at larger companies wake up and do the same.
Celebrity augmented reality ‘holograms’ are coming
Get ready for celebrity ‘holograms’ beyond the usual 2D illusions. RadicalMedia and Uncorporeal are partnering on 3D captures of celebrities for augmented reality and eventually virtual reality performances, giving digital stand-ins a greater presence. You could go to a venue and see a convincing virtual concert or lecture no matter where you sit, and with more freedom of movement for the star of the show. The technique encircles a green screen stage with 48 cameras, creating a hologram-like effect that not only works in any AR or VR format (including future headset tech), but can carry over to 2D video.
RadicalMedia isn’t ready to say which celebs will be involved, in part because it’s still negotiating deals. However, it expects to showcase its project within a year, when it also expects augmented reality tech to reach the public. It’s not certain just how sophisticated it’ll be in practice. AR hardware like Microsoft’s HoloLens is rolling out even as I write this, but the $3,000-a-pop pricing isn’t realistic for a theater or lecture hall with hundreds of people. The most advanced presentations may be reserved for smaller-scale, shorter presentations where just a few headsets are enough. Oherwise, you might end using phone-based headsets (or no headset at all) to get a good-but-not-great viewing experience.
Source: Variety
Apple is making a documentary with Cash Money Records
Cash Money Records’ deal to stream some of its music exclusively on Apple’s subscription service appears to be about more than just tunes. Bloomberg reports that Drake and Nicki Minaj’s record label is working with Apple on a documentary as well. The two companies are already quite familiar with each other as Drake’s Views From the 6 was an Apple Music exclusive the first week after it was released. Drake was also on stage at the event where Apple Music was first revealed to the world.
http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-signs-game-changing-label-deal-cash-money-records/ @thelarryjackson @applemusic #Biggathenlife #lifestyle
A photo posted by Birdman5star (@birdman5star) on Aug 16, 2016 at 2:46pm PDT
Thanks to an Instagram post from Cash Money co-founder Bryan Williams, who goes by his stage name Birdman, news of the collaboration surfaced this week. The post was a picture of Williams alongside Apple Music’s head of original content Larry Jackson. After the image showed up on the social network, much of the speculation surrounded the possibility of Apple wanting to lock down Cash Money’s upcoming releases as exclusives for its music service.
According to Bloomberg, that’s not the case as sources indicate Williams and Jackson were discussing Apple backing a documentary about the record label instead. There’s plenty of history to hash out in a film, as Cash Money is also home to Lil Wayne and other well-known hip-hop artists. And the relationship between Weezy and the label hasn’t always been amicable.
As far as Apple is concerned, a music documentary would be the latest in a string of original video projects. While reports of the company’s desire to produce its own television content surfaced about a year ago, we’ve since learned about the reality series Planet of the Apps that will showcase software and the folks who make them. There’s also Vital Signs, which is rumored be a semi-autobiographical look at the life and career of Dr. Dre. Last but not least, the most recent exclusive video announcement from Apple was that it had agreed to terms with CBS to create 16 episodes of “Carpool Karaoke,” a popular segment from The Late Show with James Corden.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Bloomberg
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