ZTE crowns its crowd-sourced Project CSX winner
Since the start of September, phone manufacturer ZTE has been running a crowd-sourced contest slash internet brainstorming session to figure out what features its customers want most in their next phone. Well, the results are in and ZTE has announced the grand prize project of that contest: it’s an “eye-tracking, self-adhesive phone”. Sure, why the heck not.
The eye-tracking system would utilize a pair of front-facing cameras capable of following the user’s eye-movement. This will allow the phone to, say, automatically scroll through webpages when you read to the bottom of the screen. Since these cameras work far more efficiently when the phone is stable, rather than in your hand, this device will incorporate self-adhesive polymers into the back of the case so that you can stick it against walls, railings or any other stable surface. What’s more, the screen itself will use a split screen design that will only display information to the person sitting directly in front of it. If you’re trying to shoulder surf someone or look at their screen from an oblique angle, all you’ll see is a static background image.
This idea garnered 36 percent of the vote against four other finalist ideas. Intelligent Smartphone Covers earned 21 percent of the vote, Stock Android Flagship Phone got 19 percent, VR-Interactive Diving Mask got 16, and Powerglove got just 8 percent. ZTE reports that “thousands of consumers from 176 countries” participated in the voting process. The company has committed to follow through and actually produce the phone. It plans to bring the phone to market in 2017 after crowdsourcing a name it.
Trump made a 30-year-old Janet Jackson song a hit again
Memes and Saturday Night Live sketches have been the only bright spots coming out of this year’s televised garbage fires presidential debates. Last night’s final meeting between priapic Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton was no different. But rather than a mustachioed man in a red sweater asking about climate change, we got Trump interrupting Clinton, calling her a “nasty woman” at one point. As a result Spotify reports that following the debate, streams of Janet Jackson’s “Nasty” have jumped 250 percent.
The music service won’t divulge exact numbers, so it’s hard to tell just how popular the song was prior. The increase is comparatively low versus other pop culture events, though. Spotify tells Engadget that when Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize last week streams of his catalog spiked 512 percent between the announcement and the next day. When Katy Perry and Missy Elliot played the Super Bowl halftime show last year, miss Mizzundaztood’s catalog bumped 676 percent with “Lose Control” skyrocketing 1,396 percent.
And again, if you watched the debate last night, we’re sorry. Bigly.
Google’s Daydream View VR headset is available for pre-order
Google announced via Twitter on Thursday that its forthcoming VR rig, the Pixel-powered Daydream View is now available for pre-order. The offer currently only extends to customers in the US, the United Kingdom and Germany. The Daydream will retail for $80 and can be ordered from either Verizon or Google itself. The headset relies on the new Google Pixel phone to generate VR images so you’re going to want to make sure you have one of those before plunking down your cash for this gadget. The headset is slated to ship in November.
The company also announced that its Chromecast Ultra is available for preorder. This 4K-capable streaming dongle retails for $70 at the Google Store. You can also pick one up from Best Buy, Wallmart, Target and Staples. It too is set to begin shipping next month.
Source: Google (twitter)
The Wirecutter’s best deals: Save $50 on an iPad Air 2
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read their continuously updated list of deals atTheWirecutter.com.
You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends atThe Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot—some of these sales could expire mighty soon.
iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi 128GB
Street price: $475; MSRP: $500; Deal price: $425
September’s Apple event brought with it news of lowered iPad pricing, at $425, this Best Buy deal is the lowest price we’ve found for the 128gb iPad Air 2, our pick for the best tablet. It’s available in Silver, Gold, and Space Gray colors with free shipping.
Dan Frakes writes, “Though it hasn’t seen a significant update since late 2014, the iPad Air 2 (with 128 GB of storage, though 32 GB will be enough for some people) is still the best overall tablet for most people. Despite the recent release of two iPad Pro models and a big update to the iPad mini in late 2015, the Air 2 continues to provide the best combination of speed, features, screen size, ecosystem, and price.”
Samsung SmartThings Hub
Street price: $100; MSRP: $100; Deal price: $75
A new low on a great smart hub. It’s only $4 less than our previous deals, but since this sale also includes discounts on a variety of other Samsung SmartThings devices, you can build up your smart home at a nicely discounted price.
The Samsung SmartThings Hub is our pick for the best smart hub. Jon Chase wrote, “The Samsung SmartThings Hub is a polished, powerful option for tech-savvy DIYers who have a desire for an integrated smart home but lack the budget for or interest in a professionally installed system. It’s easy to set up on your home network, and pairing it with other smart devices is largely seamless.”
He went on to say, “We did extensive research on hubs in general and the SmartThings hub in particular, and believe our experience is consistent with the reviews and findings of most other outlets: Namely, of all the hubs on the market, the Samsung SmartThings Hub is the most powerful and promising, but is best suited to devout tinkerers and those willing to spend a fair amount of time tweaking and refining their smart-home system.”
Refurbished Nikon D7200 DX DSLR w/ Lens Bundle
Street price: $1,250 (new); MSRP: $1,450 (new); Deal price: $850
We’ve featured this deal at this price before, and it’s still a great purchase. While we’ve seen the camera body alone for $80 less, this deal comes with 2 lenses (18-55mm and 55-200mm) that are good practice lenses, or at very least lenses that you can sell to recoup part of the cost of the bundle. Beach Camera is an authorized Nikon retailer, and Nikon is offering a 90 day warranty on the camera.
The Nikon D7200 is our pick for the best midrange DSLR. Amadou Diallo wrote, “The D7200 is considerably more expensive than a beginner DSLR—but the extra expense will buy you a 24-megapixel APS-C camera that takes clean, detailed photos at high ISOs, as well as a professional-grade autofocus system that works in near darkness. You also get dual SD card slots, so you’ll never have to worry about running out of storage space. After dozens of research hours poring over reviews and test results for 12 different cameras, and real-world shooting with the top contenders, we’ve determined that the Nikon D7200 is the one we would buy.”
Refurbished Apple Airport Extreme Wireless Base Station
Street price: $180 (new); MSRP: $200 (new); Deal price: $100
At $100 refurbished, this is the lowest price we’ve seen on the Apple Airport Extreme Wireless Base Station, which runs $200 new. This router is GeekSquad refurbished and includes a 90 day warranty. It includes free shipping.
The Apple Airport Extreme was highlighted as our also great pick for best wifi router (for most people), with the caveat that it was recommended only for all-Apple households. David Murphy writes, “The Apple AirPort Extreme is the easiest router to set up in an all-Apple household, but its performance at longer ranges doesn’t match that of our top pick, and it lacks features found in other, cheaper routers….Whether you’re using iOS or macOS, you can easily get started with Apple’s router and use it as your primary router or as a new access point in your Apple network. Basic features such as Time Machine backups and remote connections to USB storage (using Apple’s “Back to My Mac” feature) work great with Apple devices…”
Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.
Engadget’s first thoughts on the Nintendo Switch
We now know that Nintendo’s next-generation game console will be the Switch, a hybrid device offering portable and home gaming in one. But there’s a lot we don’t know. What games will it launch with? How much it will cost? What’s that screen like? Will it play games on a TV at 1080p? How long will the battery last? We’ll find out more about the Switch before its March 2017 release, and the answers to those questions, and more, will likely dictate our overall judgement.
Nonetheless, we’re nothing if not opinionated, and seeing Nintendo launch a new console has got us talking. So without further ado, here are eight Engadget editors with their first take* on the Switch.
*Other opinions are also valid.
Nick Summers
Associate Editor
The Nintendo Switch is both a portable and home console, and that’s brilliant news. In a year or two — once the Wii U and 3DS are inevitably retired — that means every Nintendo studio will be making games for the same system. Brilliant. If you’re a Switch owner, you should (emphasis on “should”) get a steady stream of titles every year, regardless of the support from third parties. Pikmin, Metroid, Fire Emblem. All of these franchises will soon be focused on the same console and player base, building out a library that’s attractive to more and more people.
The 3DS has a wonderful back catalog: I want that quality and diversity replicated on a big-screen TV. If Nintendo can deliver on that, I’ll be in, regardless of whether it has Mass Effect: Andromeda or not. As for the hardware itself? It looks a little finicky to me, with lots of intricate parts for children to break or lose. I’m worried about the ergonomics too — some of the different controller modes look a tad cumbersome. Sure, there’s an (optional) stand-alone controller, but that should be for home use only. When I’m out and about, I’ll be using the “Joy-Con” attachments — I just hope they’re comfortable over extended play sessions.
Devindra Hardawar
Senior Editor
Even though we’ve been hearing rumors of a hybrid console from Nintendo for a while, the Switch’s debut still floored me. Once again, Nintendo is going in a completely different direction than Microsoft and Sony. Based on the little we’ve seen of the Switch so far, it seems like a far more intriguing attempt than the Wii U. In many ways it reminds me of the original Wii; it introduces entirely new ways of playing games — local multiplayer anywhere FTW! — though it might seem like a gimmick to some.
If anything, the Switch shows how far we’ve come in mobile hardware. NVIDIA claims it’s powered by a custom Tegra processor that has the same technology as its current desktop GPUs (we’re still waiting for more specifics). The demo video shows off complex titles like Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. At the least, the Switch seems more powerful than the Wii U, which was Nintendo’s first foray into HD gaming. Instead of pursuing 4K like everyone else, it looks like Nintendo is trying to redefine what’s possible on mobile.
In the end, Nintendo is going after the gamers who will prioritize the flexibility of gaming anywhere over bringing the most pixels possible into their living room. And after seeing both Sony and Microsoft work themselves into a tizzy to support 4K, and in the process confusing the heck out of consumers, I can’t blame Nintendo for trying something different once again.
Kris Naudus
Senior Editor, Database
I’m a sassy young woman living in the big city and working hard for my money. I got no time for games. Well, not like I used to, anyway. I love the console experience for how big and immersive it can be. However, as I’ve gotten older it’s been increasingly hard to find the time and energy to sit down and focus on an expansive world that requires dozens of hours to explore. I’ve gravitated more toward my Nintendo 3DS, but it’s not on the same grand scale, by design.
Thus it’s no coincidence that the Switch reveal video was very much a lifestyle showcase, featuring people in my general “young adult” age group and how they would use the Switch. No more scheduling time every night for Zelda, no more declarations to “treat yo self” by playing Mario for a few hours. The Switch is a home console that works around your schedule. I might actually be able to get back into JRPGs. Though I probably wouldn’t bring it to fancy balcony parties.
James Trew
Deputy Managing Editor
There’s going to be lots of talk today about what the Switch means for Nintendo, what it means for consoles and what it means for the future of gaming. Or something. All I know is what it means for me: It’ll be the first home console I’ll buy in nearly 20 years. I mean it: I’ve not had a gaming console under my TV since the Super Nintendo. OK, I briefly owned a Wii (for a review) and lived in shared houses with Xbox/PlayStations, but nothing’s convinced me to part with my cash for a long while. Switch, on the other hand, pushes all of my buttons — in a good way.
I’ve not been abstaining from games since the SNES, obviously. I mostly play retro or handheld consoles (and retro handhelds, especially). So the idea that I could return to modern home gaming and get a new handheld makes Switch a no-brainer for me. The fact that it’s Nintendo just sweetens the deal. There’s something else I like about Switch, too. The Wii and Wii U weren’t … terrible, but the smurfy design and the cutesy Mii characters, etc. didn’t resonate with me. Switch seems to shed some of that overt softness for a slightly more grown-up feel while still looking, somehow, “Nintendo.”
Sean Buckley
Associate Editor
Last year, I predicted that Nintendo’s next console wouldn’t just be a Mario-powered Xbox — launching a standard-issue game console would have stripped the company of everything makes it fun, unique and worthwhile. I’m so glad I was right: The Switch is exactly what Nintendo needs to compete with Microsoft and Sony.
The Nintendo Switch has the potential to become the console Nintendo’s been trying to build for generations — the console gamer’s /essential/ second device. Think about it: Nintendo hasn’t tried to compete on raw power in over a decade, instead trying to woo in gamers with some sort of hook that sets its hardware apart from Sony and Microsoft. It hasn’t always worked (sorry, Wii U) but this time, it just might.
The Switch isn’t the console with the goofy motion controllers. It’s not the underpowered machine with the weird tablet, either. It’s the modular home game console you can take with you and play on an airplane. It’s not trying to replace the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 in your entertainment center, but it can live alongside it. And when you have to leave the house, and can’t take those high-powered boxes with you? Well, you’ll have the Nintendo Switch.
This bridges a gap Nintendo’s been trying to close for awhile. Remember when the company launched Smash Bros. on both the 3DS and the Wii U? When it brought Hyrule Warriors to its portable device? How it recently announced that Super Mario Maker would be shrunk down to fit on its stereoscopic foldable? That’s what the Nintendo Switch is. It’s the company giving its portable gamers what they really want: home console games. Better still, it doesn’t split its own market — Microsoft and Sony die-hards who only buy Nintendo consoles for exclusives no longer need to buy two devices to play all their favorite franchises. Just one. And they can take it to the airport, on the bus, to a friends house or can simply just play it in bed. That’s a much better pitch for being the console gamer’s essential second device than the Wii U or 3DS ever had. And that’s exactly what the Switch needs to be.
Jessica Condit
Senior Reporter
Jess was too busy writing about other new consoles to contribute her unabridged thoughts. That’s a shame, but nonetheless, we’re reliably informed that this GIF accurately represents her feelings on the Switch:
Introducing Nintendo’s next game console, Switch https://t.co/nZEPC0HWuw First impression: pic.twitter.com/dGsUyx510Z
— Jessica 👻 Conditt (@JessConditt) October 20, 2016
Aaron Souppouris
Senior Editor
I have a fairly large, open-plan living area. If I take my Wii U GamePad to the kitchen (about 15 feet from my TV) it loses signal. As a huge Nintendo fan, all I really needed was a better Wii U. That means more portability, a better screen, and better battery life. The Switch is definitely more portable — I could take it to someone else’s kitchen. Given the lack of a stylus, it’s almost certainly going to have a nicer screen, without the horrible resistive touchscreen overlay. The one thing I don’t know about is endurance, but I’m pretty sure it’ll last the time it takes me to cook a meal.
I might sound unenthused about the Switch, but I’m really not. It’s just that I was absolutely going to buy one anyway. I’m happy for Nintendo that (for now at least) third parties are on board, but in reality I’m likely to be playing those cross-platform games on my existing systems. I buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games, and this will definitely have lots of those.
Timothy J. Seppala
Associate Editor
It looks like Nintendo has finally started paying attention to the competition, but not in the way I expected. Rather than aping Microsoft’s and Sony’s designs of oblong boxes (or sandwiches like the PlayStation 4 Pro) the console looks like a piece of lifestyle gadgetry that’d unobtrusively hang out on an end table or bookshelf — not dominate a chunk of your A/V rack. And it maintains the “friendly” look Nintendo has been hawking for decades. I’m a fan.
What concerns me though isn’t its software lineup (a new 3D Mario game! More Splatoon!), graphics prowess or even the tablet-centric nature of the system. No, it’s the iPod Shuffle-like controllers and my gigantic hands. My hand spans the width of a full-size keyboard, and my mitts cramping up is a major reason why I don’t play games on my phone or my 3DS. For the same reason, I doubt I’ll be breaking out Mario Kart on any road trips. The Wii U GamePad’s ergonomics and I don’t get along either, but at least it’s too big to lose in a couch cushion
For me, “portable gaming” means a console I can easily carry in my messenger bag or backpack and hook up at a friend’s house. And for that, the Switch looks perfect.
The Switch shows desperate Nintendo is the best Nintendo
Nintendo has something to prove. After the Wii U flamed out spectacularly, the company needed to do something truly different to stay afloat in the console world. Its answer is the Switch, a new hybrid portable/home gaming system that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before. While Microsoft and Sony are simply trying to shove in faster hardware to support 4K and HDR, Nintendo is going back to its roots with a device that evokes memories of spending carefree afternoons with your Gameboy, or going head-to-head with your friends in Mario Kart on the SNES. The Switch is a reminder that Nintendo innovates best after it fails; when its back is against the wall and it’s not just reacting to pressure from the competition.
We last saw that desperate, innovative Nintendo with the launch of the Wii. When it was first announced, we all made fun of its name, underpowered hardware and gimmicky motion controls. We worried about Nintendo’s focus on “casual” players and move away from “real” gamers. But after 100 million units sold, the critics were proven wrong. Nintendo ended up outselling the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and both Microsoft and Sony rushed to develop motion controls of their own of their own.
The Wii came after the failure of the Gamecube, a purple lunchbox of a console (who puts a handle on a gaming system?!) that sold a mere 21 million units. Its skew towards kids pushed third-parties away, which ultimately made it hard for Nintendo to go against the Xbox and PlayStation 2. Aside from its funky controller (and the promise of first-party Nintendo titles), there was simply nothing to really differentiate the Gamecube from the competition. The Gamecube also followed the so-so response to the Nintendo 64, which was stuck with cartridges while Sony and Sega were wowing us with the possibilities of games on CDs.
It’s tough to say much about the Switch at this point, since all we have to go on is a three-minute trailer and some press material from Nintendo. But at first glance, it appears to be everything I wanted with the Wii U. Most importantly though, it does something unique and useful. The Wii U felt like a response to tablet gaming, but its big-screened GamePad was clunky and developers never quite took to it. Super Mario Maker is the best example of what’s possible with the Wii U’s controller, but it came long after most gamers wrote off the system.
One of the Wii U’s few useful features — playing games right on the GamePad, instead of your TV screen — was limited by an incredibly short range. That makes sense, since it’s piping lots of data to the controller wirelessly, but it was annoying nonetheless. A big reason games have taken off on slates is because they let you play games on large screens from anywhere.
Rather than trying to improve that remote play feature on the Wii U, though, it looks like Nintendo built the Switch entirely around that concept. Dock it to your television, and you can play games on the big screen. Attach the “Joy-Con” gamepads to the side of the display, and you can take the Switch anywhere. Simple. You don’t have to worry about reception issues. But Nintendo also doubled-down on portable gaming by giving the Switch a kickstand. You can snap off the controllers, holding one in each hand, to game as you would on your couch from any location.
Most intriguingly, you can just hand one controller over to a friend for a Mario Kart match. I honestly can’t remember the last time I actually sat on a couch and played someone in a local multiplayer session. With the rush towards online gaming, local multiplayer has felt like a dying trend over the last decade. That was never lost on Nintendo, though — and the Switch seems like it’ll revive the magic of gaming with nearby friends.
Developers will likely appreciate the Switch’s straightforward design, as well. Instead of worrying about creating a second-screen experience for games, they can just focus on making games as usual for a single screen. It’s important to note that the Switch is docked when it’s connected to your TV — you’re not actually holding the screen, as you would with the Wii U. Instead, you’re holding the Joy-Con or classic controllers to play games on your television, as you would with any other console.
Even at this early stage, it seems like Nintendo has managed to intrigue developers more than it ever did with the Wii U. Its initial lineup of third-parties include Capcom, EA, Activision, Bethesda, Epic Games, Konami, Ubisoft and Square Enix. We’ve seen games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and NBA 2K running on it, along with first-party titles like Splatoon, Mario Kart, and of course, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. All of those publishers are a good sign, since a console is only as strong as the games and developers supporting it.
Sure, there are valid concerns around the Switch. We don’t know anything about its battery life, actual graphical quality or cost. And while my Twitter feed has been freaking out over it, there’s still a chance the Switch might not take off with consumers. For now, though, I’m excited. Instead of repeating its mistakes, Nintendo seems to be learning from them. And that’s a good thing for gamers everywhere.
Welcome to Google’s NYC home
Google has made minimal forays into real-world retail shops thus far. There’s a good reason for that: the company has long been more focused on software than hardware. That’s slowly changing over time, but Google went all-in on its own hardware brand when it announced the new Pixel smartphones, Google Home, Daydream VR headset and Google WiFi router earlier this month.
For most consumers, buying hardware sight-unseen is still a tough proposition, so Google is finally making it easier for consumers to check out all its new gadgets — in New York City, at least. The company’s pop-up retail location opened its doors this morning, and while it wasn’t exactly an iPhone-level stampede, there were a couple dozen people waiting to get in when it opened. A steady stream of passers-by came through in the hour I spent at the store.
It’s worth noting that Google’s space isn’t actually a store: you can’t buy any products here. Not even the Pixel phones which just went on sale this morning. Google will help you buy one online or direct you to the nearby Best Buy to pick one up, but no one will be walking out of the Google pop-up with a new Pixel phone, Daydream headset or even a Chromecast.
Instead, it’s all about the experience, and the Google pop-up certainly features a bunch of weird but intriguing ways to show off its new products. It’s as much visual spectacle as it is a space for product demos — just take the “Pixel wall” that greets you when you walk in. It’s a giant mechanical wall with dozens of rotating colored blocks (or pixels) that can display various images. A Google spokesperson said it was meant to be a physical representation of the screens we look at constantly, and it definitely sets the quirky tone that you’ll find throughout Google’s space.
There were two product display areas that clearly stood out: Google Home and Daydream. Despite the fact that trying Daydream involves covering up your eyes, Google didn’t skimp on the Daydream area’s design: a whimsical 180-degree forest scene set the stage for what you’d see when you slip the headset on. It was designed to match the Daydream “home screen.” Something simpler would have worked — but Google’s shop is all about every step of the experience, so it needed to put effort into these design flourishes, even if they don’t directly impact the product demo.
The Google Home demo areas were just as elaborate. The pop-up shop featured both a living room and kitchen, closed off from the rest of the store, both tricked out with Google Home and WiFi devices. The living room also had a 4K TV hooked up to the new Chromecast Ultra. Visitors can enter the rooms and ask Google Home a bunch of questions — each room has prompts around to give you an idea of the types of things you can ask it. In the living room, you can ask it to start playing video on the TV or adjust the lights, while the kitchen had prompts to play a “making dinner” playlist, among others.
For the Pixel phones, Google chose to focus primarily on photos. It’s not the easiest thing to show off in a store, but Google’s giant photo sphere proved to be a good demonstration of the Google Photos backup app. Three Pixel phones spread around the sphere let users change what pictures were on display, and the phones themselves did that by cycling through various searches in the app (bridges, graffiti, selfies, and so forth). In that way, Google employees working the store can talk to the intelligence of the Google Photos app that lets you search for images without tagging them. Plus, it looks very, very cool.
There’s also a special area to show off the Pixel’s low-light photography bonafides — a small, curtained room off to the side of the photo sphere is filled with LED light strings coming down from the ceiling that create some pretty dazzling visual patterns. Naturally, there’s a Google employee in the room with a Pixel, ready to snap your picture standing amongst the lights so you can see just how well the camera works in dark conditions.
Aside from those displays, there wasn’t a lot else to show off with the Pixel — Google has the obligatory large demo table, with devices playing a loop of various features. But the Google Assistant isn’t easy to show off on a phone in a loud store. But at least you can get your hands on the devices, see how they feel, snap some shots on the camera and play around with the slightly tweaked version of Android on display here.
Beyond just seeing what Google was showing off, I wanted to see how the public was reacting to the pop-up shop. Most of the people I talked with knew the shop was coming, though a few said they just saw it while walking by and wanted to see what was going on. Simon, visiting from Switzerland, told me that “I knew about the shop ahead of time, but just because I walked by two days earlier and saw it being set up.” He said he came to see the Pixel phone mostly and wants to buy one, but also wanted to check out other stuff like Home that he wasn’t necessarily going to buy.
Ash, a New York City resident, said that he knew about the shop ahead of time and came because he “wanted to see what the Home could do, it’s fun to see it in action.” And Patrick from Brooklyn said he was “impressed with Google’s setup, especially that huge photo globe.” But he also said his Nexus 6P was good enough still that he wasn’t itching to upgrade. Surprisingly, I didn’t see a lot of other Nexus devices in the crowd, but there were plenty of iPhone-toting visitors checking out Google’s latest.
If you’re in New York City between now and the end of the year, a quick stop at Google’s shop (at 96 Spring Street) should be a priority for anyone who is a fan of what the company is doing. Right now, there’s no good way to get a sense of how Google Home works unless you stop in here. And while you can check out the Pixel at Verizon and Best Buy stores, you’ll definitely get a more immersive and fun experience here. It’s just too bad you can’t walk out with a shiny new phone.
Apple’s Eddy Cue on Existing TV Interfaces: They’re ‘Pretty Brain Dead’
Apple iTunes chief Eddy Cue today sat down with HBO CEO Richard Plepler for a joint interview during Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, where both spoke passionately about the television industry, the partnership between Apple and HBO, and how TV will improve in the future.
According to Eddy Cue, television “needs to be reinvented” because of confusing, hard to navigate interfaces. “You live with a glorified VCR,” he said. “You’re still setting things to record. There are 900 channels, but there’s nothing to watch.” He went on to say that there’s incredible stuff to watch, but the interface makes it impossible to find content. “The problem is the interface,” he said. “The ways you interface with it are pretty brain dead.”
Because Apple has been unable to negotiate the deals it needs to create its own streaming television service, the company has taken another approach to revolutionizing the television experience, through the Apple TV. The Apple TV, with a full App Store, now serves as a platform that allows content providers to offer content while Apple exercises greater control over the interface.
Apple has been aiming to improve the way we interact with the television through features like Siri, universal search, and live tune-in, which allow users to conduct voice searches, find content across multiple apps, and play live content automatically without needing to search through a directory, all of which Cue alluded to in the interview.
Using HBO Now as an example, Cue said it’s representative of a much better television service with an easier to navigate interface than what he sees on his cable box or satellite.
Cue believes that television will continue to improve gradually, getting better each year as restrictions relax and content providers become more comfortable with emerging technology. “It’s moving rapidly,” he said. “Look, it’s gonna get better every year.”
On competition, he said Apple can compete with companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify but “still be together” because all of those services are on Apple’s platform. Cue says Apple’s platform will win if the company gives customers the best way to pay for and access content, even content coming from direct competitors.
On Apple’s partnership with HBO, Cue said that though HBO has more than 1 million subscribers on Apple devices, the relationship between the two companies “at the beginning” and will continue. Both Cue and Plepler offered high praise for one another and said they have a strong partnership. Cue said he loves working with Plepler because he “cares about making the best stuff,” while Plepler said Cue offers solid counsel and is easy to work with.
I said to him ‘look, our natural DNA is not tech – it’s content. We have a long learning curve and we could use your counsel and input.’ They gave us great input and counsel. I call them for counsel all the time, so it’s been a great partnership. […]
They’re a pleasure to do business with. I’ll never forget that any time the two of us got on the phone when there was an impasse, we solved it together in 10 minutes. That’s rare.
Despite Plepler’s praise, Eddy Cue’s “hard-nosed” negotiating tactics are said to be one of the reasons why Apple has not been able to establish a stronger foothold in the television industry with its own streaming service. Cue and Apple refuse to settle with content providers for less than what Apple wants, which led to Apple walking away from its latest streaming television plans after networks refused to unbundle channels and demanded higher prices than the company was willing to pay.
Apple’s focus is now on the Apple TV set-top box and on serving as an intermediary between people and content, but the company is also making some investments in original television programming.
Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple TV Universal Search Adds Popular Spanish Network Telemundo
Apple has added Telemundo Now to the universal search function on the fourth-generation Apple TV, enabling U.S. users to search for TV shows on the world’s second most popular Spanish-language channel. Telemundo, owned by NBCUniversal, is syndicated worldwide to more than 100 countries in over 35 languages.
For those unfamiliar with universal search, it’s a feature that allows users to conduct Siri voice searches or text-based searches to find TV and movie content across a wide range of channels. At launch, universal search only supported a few channels, but Apple has been rapidly expanding the feature to encompass additional channels.
Apple TV universal search is now available for a wide number of apps in the U.S. and Australia, but the feature is limited to iTunes and Netflix in Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In some other countries and regions, only movies in iTunes are supported.
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HTC 10 second opinion: Six months later
It’s time to revisit the best Android-powered phone of 2016 that nobody wanted to buy, the HTC 10.
The HTC 10 is extremely responsive, has the best touchscreen we’ve ever used, has acceptable battery life, and comes with a very competitive camera. On top of it all is the best third-party Android offering of them all according to the majority of original reviewers (and obviously biased users) and world-class audio playback through the headphone jack. Yet it hardly made a dent in the market.
Looking back it’s not hard to see why — it was priced the same as phones from Samsung most people felt were just better. Unfortunately, making a great phone that is in many ways better than the competition isn’t enough, and you need to slash your prices to move phones that don’t have one of two company logos on the back in 2016. That’s a shame because it means that many of us didn’t take the time to look at the HTC 10, and we missed out because of it.
Which brings us back to the HTC 10. If you’ve been using it you know how nice it is, even today, after many subsequent releases. For everyone else, let’s take a look at how it’s weathered.
The hardware, six months later
The hardware on the HTC 10 has been proven to be both physically durable and able to hold up well while using it to do normal day-to-day things that can often adversely affect the performance of some phones. You don’t really need the quarterly factory reset to keep things running smoothly, and six months of being carried around in a laptop bag with a set of headphones — the HTC 10 is my primary audio player — haven’t scratched its metal chassis beyond a few surface abrasions.
The HTC 10 is not thin and it’s not light. But it feels great to hold.
To quickly revisit, the HTC 10 has an aluminum unibody with a 5.2-inch display. It’s not thin and it’s not light. There’s also a front-mounted fingerprint sensor, capacitive buttons, and a 12 MP camera that DXOMark rated the same quality as the Galaxy S7 if you’re into numbers to describe quality.
Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 with 4GB of RAM and the magic needed to provide USB 3.1 and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 through the USB-C port on the bottom. This means the HTC 10 is not USB-C compliant and contributes to the confusion surrounding a simple set of USB standards that companies have set aside in favor of proprietary methods and the accompanying licensing dollars.
There is also a headphone jack. And it’s a shame that we even have to mention that.
See the HTC 10s full specifications
What’s not there are “waterproofing” and wireless charging. These were once written off as gimmicks when certain phones didn’t include them but now are called essential since they appear on popular models. I have no idea if either is important in the overall scheme of things, but I do like wireless charging and wish it was there.
HTC followed the same path they’ve been on since the HTC One M7.
HTC also changed Boomsound. The two front facing speakers have been replaced with a single speaker around the front and a bottom-ported speaker that plays lower frequency sounds. I like the change, many do not. The raw volume we had with the M7 through the M9 has been replaced by a sound that’s clearer and more separated without the distortion that came with the previous models. It’s very different, and it’s easy to see why fans of one aren’t fond of the other.
In general, HTC followed the same plan of building a good smartphone they’ve used since the HTC One M7: Tough industrial design (HTC is the father (mother?) of the antenna band), larger bezels, and an unapologetic thicker profile with bevels and swelling in the places needed to feel like you have a good grip.
If you want the thinnest and lightest phone you can buy, you just aren’t going to like the HTC 10. But if you’re OK with something a little more chunky designed to be easier to grip and hold on to, you might. Either way, you can expect it to still look good after six months of normal use.
Six months of HTC software
Here is where things usually aren’t quite so shiny and happy. Android phones can do a whole lot of things and they have a whole lot of settings and a whole lot of apps. Combined, this often leads to sluggish performance over time that can only really be fixed with a factory reset. I hate resetting my phone and setting it up all over again, and I assume most of us feel the same way. That’s why I’m really happy that the HTC 10 hasn’t shown any problems here.
The software is lean and fast, but sparse on the feature side.
I’ll go out on a limb and say this is because of the operating system. HTC builds this version of Sense more like a themed version of “vanilla” Android than a complete custom job with overhead cams and dual exhaust. While there are some overlapping apps — HTC uses their own dialer software and contacts app for instance — the basic software feels a lot like what you could get from a Nexus phone with a third-party launcher and a handful of apps from Google Play.
If you’re just interested in using your phone for smartphone stuff like messaging or social media with a few phone calls thrown in along with on-the-go web browsing and some simple games, you would probably love it. If you want your phone to be able to do more or if your phone is your primary entertainment and information device, you might not. Including the right amount of the best bells, whistles, and gimmicks is hard because no two people are the same.
What I want may not work for you, and vice-versa. HTC does a good (not great) job here for me, and I’ll dare say they do it better than anyone else has so far. That means it is not going to be great for a lot of other people. Think simple, beautiful, and functional all at once and you’ll have an idea if what using the HTC 10 is like. Only you know if that sounds like something you want.
There are a couple of misses, though. The Boost+ app pairs a few really good features with the ridiculous notion that killing off background processes for no reason is a good thing. There are undoubtedly a few models of Android-powered phones that need random junk in the background shut down. The HTC 10 is not one of those.
I also absolutely hate the TouchPal keyboard and the seemingly endless things it needs updating from Google Play. That’s easy enough to fix, but I find it odd that the lightest factory software is paired with the most bloated keyboard you can imagine. And I think HTC should have included a stand-alone gallery app in tandem with Google Photos for people who would rather not use it. The latter two of my gripes are minor and likely not the popular opinion, but I think everyone can agree that Boost+ needs to die.
Six months later, the HTC 10 feels the same when I’m using it as it did when it was new. Granted I’m not the type of person who wants (or needs) their phone to act as a phone, a tablet, a portable PC, a game console, and a movie player. I think I could do all those things on the phone, but I have no idea how well it would fare after a few months of it. Hopefully, someone can chime in down below in the comments here.
Six months of great music
One thing I do most all day every day is listening to music. When I’m not in front of my messy stereo setup I have at my office desk I’m doing it through my HTC 10.
There’s a very short list of phones that deliver really good audio with a set of quality headphones. The HTC 10 is on that list, I can’t rank which phone is better when it comes to the sound (the LG V10, ZTE Axon 7, Xiaomi Mi Note and the HTC 10 are all great) but when it comes down to which one I want to use there is no contest. Like everything else you can do on the HTC 10, the software gets out of your way while you’re listening to your music and is quietly there when you need it. I had been using the LG V10 as my music player and pocket camera previously and was able to tolerate LG’s heavy-handed approach to Android whenever I needed to do anything else. With the HTC 10, I don’t feel like I have to fight the software.
You’ll love the way your music sounds through a pair of good headphones.
Since Android’s beginnings, I’ve always felt that it would be perfect for a fully connected high-end music player. I’ve never had the pleasure of using a top of the line Sony Walkman with Android on it (Dan, buy me a Sony Walkman please) but if I were to remove the phone abilities from the HTC 10 it would be very close to what I’ve envisioned. That’s basically how I use it every day — with my Project Fi data-only SIM. I have used it when traveling (the 10 and an unlimited T-Mobile account are my go-to when far from home) because I can have my great sounding music, my calendar, my address book, Google Maps and everything else all in one unit.
Six months of heavy use here and I still love the way the HTC 10 sounds. I’m sure things have burned in a little and it sounds different than it did when it was new, but not in any way I can notice. I’m listening to some Parliament Funkadelic right now while I’m writing this on my porch with my Chromebook Flip, and P-Funk sounds as good as it ever did.
Other stuff that’s important
There are some other things we need to talk about that just don’t fill out their own section. Important things, though.
The display is a great LCD. That means it’s not as bright, it’s not as saturated, and not as poppy as an AMOLED display. I seriously think this is the single biggest thing that held the HTC 10 back — sitting on the shelf at the AT&T store beside a Galaxy S7 that’s the same price makes the screen look bad. Nobody wants to spend money on a bad screen, even if it’s not really bad. LCDs just don’t look as appealing as AMOLED to most of us (myself included). All that aside, the display is clear, has great viewing angles and is very close to being color-correct on the couple of HTC 10s I’ve seen. They just don’t have that punch and look washed out compared to the amazing screens from Samsung.
The HTC 10 is a great phone for folks who want a clean, elegant, and simple experience. People who want more should look elsewhere.
Nothing stands out when it comes to battery life. It’s not terrible nor does it make me want to say it’s amazing. It lasts as long as most other phones I have here, give or take an hour or two. If you’re going to be depending on it during a long day, bring a charger or a battery pack. You might not need it, but better safe than sorry.
Phone calls and network connection are great everywhere I’ve been except where I live when using T-Mobile. On AT&T, (I’m using the unlocked model) it’s great. From what I gather from various sources, network features on T-Mobile are in a bit of a limbo, especially in areas where they are repurposing the older 2G network — like where I live. I don’t know all the details but have gathered enough to say this is why T-Mobile quietly stopped selling it. Since I’m not using it as a phone when I’m home, I can deal with it. You might not have that luxury so be on the lookout if you pick one up and use T-Mobile. I just wish whoever needs to fix it will sort it out.
More: HTC 10 review
I like the camera. The automatic mode does great in low-light, and the manual modes are topped only by the LG V10. Samsung’s GS7 is superior when things are well lit, but any of these three cameras can take great pictures that are more than good enough to share on social media or with family and friends, and absolutely acceptable to be ready to grab a once-in-a-lifetime moment and do it well enough that you’ll want to keep it.
Some final thoughts
I think the HTC 10 is the best phone made in 2016. Everything there is done the way I like it, and other than wireless charging I really don’t care about the things that may be missing. On the software front, the phone is super responsive and sits with the LG G5 at the top of the pile when it comes to how fast apps will open and switch to the foreground. The audio is better than most anything else you’ll be able to buy and the camera matches well against all the competition.
But I’m not the only person buying phones. It’s easy to see why it was outclassed in the minds of many, and why it didn’t seem to be worth the asking price. You have to decide what kind of smartphone user you are to know if the HTC 10 could be right for you. If you enjoy a simple experience that does what it was designed to do very well, it might be worth a look when the inevitable price drop after CES and MWC happens next spring. But if you’re looking for more and don’t mind an experience that’s a bit more complicated and cluttered (because it has to be) while filled with many more features, the HTC 10 will never be for you.
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