Honor 6X review: Setting the standard for budget phones

The Honor 6X is proof that an affordable device doesn’t have to be a disappointing buy.

The bottom line

Cheap is cheap, but it doesn’t have to be a waste of money. The Honor 6X may be cheap and at times cheap out, but it’s definitely worth its $250 price point. In fact, if all you’re looking for is the most basic smartphone in a societally acceptable package, the Honor 6X is it.

That an affordable device doesn’t have to be disappointing is what Huawei hopes to rely on to sell its new Honor 6X in the United States. Unfortunately, it’s going to have a heck of a time getting the word out without a comprehensive marketing strategy, and without the crutch of a carrier partnership there is no entity on the ground actively evangelizing for the brand. It’s really too bad, because the Honor 6X is so much better than what the carriers typically offer in the affordable tier.

The Honor 6X is a really decent package. It features a good mid-range processor, a big battery, 1080p display, and a camera that takes photos worth sharing. Granted, it isn’t particularly distinguishable when you compare it to the other dispensable devices saturating the market, but the Honor 6X does set an example for how budget smartphones should be sold to money-conscious customers.

See at Amazon

The Good

• The camera actually works in a variety of lighting conditions
• The battery will get you through the day
• You really can’t tell how cheap it is

The Bad

• Micro-USB in 2017???
• It ships with Android 6.0 and EMUI 4.1 👎
• Over time, it probably will feel like a cheap phone

	5.94 150.9 mm
3.00 in76.2mm		0.32 in8.2mm

• Display:
  • 5.5-inches
  • 1080×1920 resolution (403 ppi)
• Camera:
  • 12MP + 2MB
  • ƒ/2.2, 1080p
  • 8MP front camera
• Battery:
  • 3340 mAh
  • Micro-USB
• Chips:
  • Huawei Kirin 655
  • Octa-core 4x 2.1 GHz + 4x 1.7 GHz
  • 3GB RAM
  • 32GB internal storage
  • microSD slot

About this review

I, Florence Ion, began testing the Honor 6X for this review on January 11, 2016. The phone was running Android 6.0 Marshmallow underneath the veil of EMUI 4.1.

Honor 6X Hardware

I like the look of and feel of this thing. Whereas most smartphones under $300 feel like bottom-of-the-barrel clearance bin finds, the Honor 6X’s solid construction tricks you into thinking you actually paid more for it. Of course, once you start using it, you’ll realize that you didn’t.

Most smartphones under $300 feel like bottom-of-the-barrel clearance bin finds but the Honor 6X’s solid construction tricks you into thinking you actually paid more for it.

The Honor 6X comes in three colors: gray, gold, and silver. The black and aluminum model featured here is a bit bland compared to its siblings, though the other two variants are worth hunting down if you’re considering purchasing one. Be forewarned, however, that the Honor 6X still employs Micro-USB. That might be favorable for those of you who’ve yet to upgrade to the new standard, but why would you choose not to? Especially when the Axon 7 Mini costs about the same and is equipped with USB Type-C! Join the club, Honor!

Let’s talk about that processor for a second. The Huawei-made Kirin 655 octa-core processor is capable enough to run Snapchat, Instagram, and a heavy load of mobile Chrome tabs just fine. Games like Solitairica and Reigns ran fine, too, though there was occasional stuttering in between scenes. Loading times were also longer than usual, and occasionally there were touchscreen delays, but the jury’s still out on whether it’s a software or hardware issue.

The battery life on the Honor 6X is extremely impressive. It’s a giant battery pack coupled with a lower resolution high definition display, so you’ll get the energy savings though you won’t have the most stellar 5.2-inch display on the block. That’s okay! The battery life is worth it. The Honor 6X managed about eight and a half hours in a PCMark battery rundown test with the screen set just above 200 nits. As long as you don’t use the Honor 6X at the highest screen brightness — you won’t, because it becomes almost too bright — you’ll likely experience similar results.

Honor 6X Cameras

The cameras are the best part of the Honor 6X.

The cameras are the best part of the Honor 6X — and I didn’t think I’d be saying that about a budget device. The Honor 6X is equipped with dual rear-facing 12-megapixel and 2-megapixel cameras, both of which offer a wide aperture range (actual aperture is f/2.2) and can shoot 1080p video.

While you’re not getting flagship quality photography here, the Honor 6X does perform well in low light situations and comes equipped with a manual shooting mode that lets you hold the shutter open for up to eight seconds. That’s more than you’ll get with other phones at this price.

Of course, budget phones come with their compromises. The camera will produce blown-out, overexposed outdoor scenes and blurry indoor candids from time to time, so when you get frustrated with that part of using a $250 smartphone, you can employ any of the Honor 6X’s 16 different camera modes to cheer you up.

It’s nice to see that Honor is honoring its users on a budget by not forcing them to compromise.

Take a chance at light painting (samples of which you can peep in the gallery above), set up a time-lapse, or get up close with the wide aperture mode, which allows you to shoot photos with a shallow depth of field (you can also sample that in the gallery above). There aren’t many smartphones at this tier that offer such a range of camera modes, so it’s nice to see that Honor is honoring its users on a budget by not forcing them to compromise.

Honor also takes great pride in its abilities to market to the youth of the world, which is why it didn’t skimp on the front-facing camera. The Honor 6X boasts an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, which looks good! I’m still not a fan of the beauty mode, though, because I feel like it’s too intense at times. But I finally figured out how to use that makeup mode and it can be convincing if you stick to the natural looks. The augmented reality couldn’t keep up with my facial expressions, though:

Overall, I’m pleased with the Honor 6X’s camera performance, and while it’s more consistent at pointing-and-shooting than the Axon 7 Mini, it doesn’t offer as much dynamic range.

Honor 6X Software

The Honor 6X comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow buried underneath Huawei’s rickety EMUI 4.1.

There’s not much to say about an Android smartphone that ships with 2015’s operating system in 2017. The Honor 6X comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow buried underneath Huawei’s rickety EMUI 4.1. I don’t like an interface without an app drawer and my heart palpitates at the mere thought of having to unlock the 6X and witness its cramped home screen.

Thankfully, EMUI 5.0 is en route to deliver the Nougat update, as well as the ability to hide those oft-used apps in a drawer of their own. For now, you can rest easy knowing that the Honor 6X has some of the same features your Pixel and Galaxy S7-wielding brethren, like a night mode that yellows out the screen so that it’s not migraine-inducing, and fingerprint gestures that are a cinch to set up.

Honor 6X The Bottom Line

A budget smartphone doesn’t have to be a compromise. Rather than bundle in extraneous features, Honor paid attention to how the general populace uses their mobile devices and built around that, so that even if you’re dropping a mere $250, you’re still using something that can keep the pace with everyone else.

The execution of the Honor 6X is certainly promising, but I’m still doubtful about whether it will have any major traction with its sale numbers. Until Huawei gets a carrier in the bag, it’s left floundering for buyers on Amazon, and that’s really too bad. I would love to see more U.S. carriers push the purchase of a device like the Honor 6X over the LG K3, for example. People who are “on a budget” deserve smartphones that work well.

The Honor 6X isn’t the perfect implementation, but it is paving the path.

See at Amazon

How to watch 360-degree and 3D YouTube on PlayStation VR

How do I watch 360 YouTube on PlayStation VR?

A big update to YouTube in the PlayStation Store has enabled a PlayStation VR mode, and that means the ability to watch 360-degree videos through your PSVR has arrived! 360-degree YouTube videos let you totally immerse yourself in the recorded content, but unlike most of your VR apps and games, you can’t really move around in these videos. YouTube for PSVR is best used sitting down, and if your goal is to watch as much 360-degree video as possible, here’s a quick guide for you!

Star Wars: Force Arena review: The best and worst of mobile gaming, plus Star Wars

Bringing Star Wars action to mobile like you’ve never before.

Star Wars: Force Arena is a mobile game that’s brimming with potential, combining the most popular trends in mobile gaming — collectable cards, tower defence, and mobile online battle arena (MOBA) — into one cohesive strategy game that’s addictive as hell and a blast to play. Star Wars fans will love it, especially if they enjoyed the latest film in the franchise, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as the game allows for hypothetical recreations of intense battles between heroes from the Rebel Alliance and the Imperial Empire.

Essentially a marriage of the gameplay from Clash Royale and Vainglory, South Korean game developers Netmarble have done a great job of combining the troop card casting fun of Clash Royale with the smooth MOBA-style fun of Vainglory, throwing you into the boots of your favorite Star Wars characters in action-packed battles. Win and your rank increases, helping you to reach higher tiers that feature better cards in your card packs and pitting you against similarly ranked opponents.

READ: Beginner’s Guide to Star Wars: Force Arena

But before I go too much further praising this game, let’s discuss the most glaring weakness — strip everything away and this is but another card collecting game, where the actual goal outside of the thrilling three minute online skirmishes is to unlock more card packs and upgrade your troop cards using credits you’ve either earned in battle, or purchased via in-app purchases. This tried and tested mobile formula is fantastic for padding the pockets of game developers, but is a constant point of frustration for many mobile gamers. If you’re the type that justifies investing your own money into the game to make progress smoother, the in-game Shop will help you reach your goals. If you hate this gameplay model all together, you’re not going to like it here.

Strip everything away and this is but another card collecting game… If you hate this gameplay model all together, you’re not going to like it here.

For the rest of us, Star Wars: Force Arena offers tightly refined gaming that really brings out the “war” side of Star Wars like you’ve never experienced. But before heading into battle, you must first build your battle deck around a Legendary card — heroes from the original Star Wars trilogy as well as newer characters to the Star Wars franchise from Rogue One are currently available. This is the character you will be controlling on the battlefield. The remaining seven card slots are filled with troop or support cards which you summon into battle by spending regenerating energy points.

Each hero has special abilities and skills that offer advantages and disadvantages in the battle arena, and it takes some amount of experimenting to learn how to properly play with each character. Fortunately, you’re able to trade in a Legendary card for a new, random hero if you don’t like your current stock of heros. As you progress, you will eventually unlock Unique cards, which are super-charged troop cards that are linked to a specific hero. As you advance to the higher tiers, you may find yourself hamstrung in battle if you don’t play a hero with its associated Unique card, as they have the potential to really swing the momentum in the heat of the battle.

There are 10 Legendary cards available for both the Rebels and the Empire, each paired with their Unique troop, along with 20 other support and troop cards for both sides, which opens up seemingly limitless deck combinations and allowed for a great mix of strategies.

Battles take place in a number of iconic locales from the film franchise, and configured in the same two-lane tower defence formation as you find in Clash Royale for 1 vs. 1 battles, and an expanded three-lane arena available for 2 vs. 2 battles. Matchmaking is typically quick and I’ve experienced few connectivity issues during battles. Teaming up for a 2 vs. 2 battle is especially well-executed here, as the bigger arena allows for truly epic battles to unfold. There’s also a guild system included, which allows you to chat, play friendly battles against fellow guild members, and team up to battle other guilds in 2 vs. 2 battles (feel free to join the AndroidCentral guild!).

Nailing the look and feel of Star Wars is important for fans, and this is easily the best-executed I’ve seen and heard on mobile.

The music and overall presentation here is on point, with sweeping cinematic scores really setting the tone under the familiar sounds of laser blasts, lightsaber hums, and the screeching squalls of Tie Fighters overhead. Nailing the look and feel of Star Wars is important for fans, and this is easily the best-executed I’ve seen and heard on mobile.

Adding to the replayability are missions, which help you to unlock new Legendary cards and earn credits by completing goals such as earning victories for the Empire, or updating cards. It’s an extra layer of support that rewards committed players and helps to ease the grinding nature of upgrading cards and levelling up.

Finally, as with any online game, the issue of keeping things balanced is something that will make or break the experience for the average gamer. As of the writing of this review, Netmarble is preparing to release its first game balance update based on in-game data and community feedback gleaned from the early days since its global release. You can read more about the changes being introduced on the Star Wars: Force Arena forums, which are also a great place to provide your own direct feedback to the game developers. It’s early in this game’s cycle, and given the hype surrounding the Star Wars franchise as a whole, this game should be well-supported throughout 2017.

If you’re a Star Wars fan, there’s a good chance you’ve already checked out Force Arena. If you haven’t, you really owe it to yourself to give it a try. Despite the familiar free-to-play catchings of the card collecting mechanics at its core, the strategy and action it delivers in battle is as good as it gets on Android, all while staying fairly true to the source material.

Download: Star Wars: Force Arena (Free w/ IAPs)

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How to clear your Google Play search history

We all have searches we’d rather forget.

We all go on app kicks that could skew our future search results. We may need to cover our tracks after searching for certain kinds of apps) on Google Play. We need to clean things up after our stupid friend/coworker/kid brother searches for apps on our phone as a joke. And when it comes to cleaning our Google Play search history, things are blissfully simple.

Open Google Play.
Tap the three-line menu button.

Swipe up to scroll down.

Tap Settings.

Tap Clear local searches.

Now, notice that the setting we used only clears Google Play Search history on the local device. If you want to clear search history from more than one device, you’ll need to visit your My Activity page in Google and delete the searches individually. You might also want to take the time to purge some other “activities” from your history.

Android Central 321: U, Mi and Huawei

This week, Jerry, Russell and Daniel catch up on everything that happened after CES 2017 (plus a bit that happened during CES), including the HTC U Ultra and U Play announcements, the Huawei Mate 9, Daydream, and the NVIDIA Shield update!

Plus, Nintendo! How does the Switch fit into a mobile-first gaming world? And does Nintendo’s next Android game, Fire Emblem Heroes, hold the same influence as Super Mario Run?

Show notes

• Huawei Mate 9 review
• HTC U Ultra & U Play preview
• All about Daydream
• NVIDIA Shield Android TV review
• All about Nintendo Switch!

Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/androidcentral321.mp3

Here’s a neat Chrome + multi-window trick you probably didn’t know about

It’s easy to open links in the opposite window, or juggle Chrome tabs between both viewports.

Android 7.0’s multi-window feature is great, letting you split your display between two full screen apps. But it comes with a few caveats, including the fact that you generally can’t run different instances of the same app in both windows.

Google Chrome, however, is smart enough to juggle tabs between windows, letting you view different pages in each half of the screen. It’s a neat trick that you might not be aware of, so here’s how you do it.

Creating two Chrome windows

Open Chrome
Long-press the recent apps key to open multi-window mode.
Tap the overflow menu (three dots) in the top right corner
Tap Move to other window

That’s it! Your Chrome tab will pop into the lower half of the screen. And you can use this feature to juggle tabs between the lower and upper half’s of the screen at will.

Opening a link in a new window

First, you’ll need to have Chrome open in multi-window mode.
Long-press the link and tap open in other window

That’s it! The link will pop into the lower window and you’ll be good to go, with the original page up top and the new one down below.

It’s worth remembering that you can open links from the lower window in the upper one using this trick – it doesn’t matter which window you’re starting from.

Happy multitasking!

Android Nougat

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• Google Pixel + Pixel XL review
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Sonos is planning a new speaker with built-in Alexa voice control

Sonos will one day launch a speaker you can control with your voice via Amazon Alexa… and maybe even Google Assistant.

It seems like every company is making an Amazon Echo-like speaker, but Sonos isn’t your average company. It makes premium speakers and has been consistently innovative on how it allows customers to control those speakers, either individually or all synced up, among other things. Just last August, for instance, it even announced that it would add Alexa Echo support to its existing speakers.

• Sonos: What is it and what are the alternatives?
• Sonos tips and tricks: Get the most out of your multi-room
• What is Sonos Trueplay and how does it work?

Sonos told Variety on Friday it is now testing the feature, which allow anyone with an Amazon Echo or Dot to control their Sonos systems. Furthermore, it is planning a Sonos speaker with microphones and built-in Alexa. When asked it a Sonos speaker with Alexa is in the works, CEO Patrick Spence said: “Yes, there will be.” He’s magined a future where Sonos customers can use multiple voice systems.

So, instead of just Alexa, you could use any voice assistant to control your Sonos speakers. he compared the idea to how Sonos already offers support for a multitude of competing music services. Sonos is even open to supporting Google Home, which offers the Google Assistant.

It’s unclear if Google or Amazon would even allow such a thing to happen. Spence wouldn’t elaborate on demands from the partners, but he argued that exclusive deals for voice control aren’t “gonna work in the home”, especially since people use different phones and platforms.

NVIDIA’s new Shield TV is more of the same, with a better gamepad

We expected NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang to introduce a revamped Shield TV at CES; what we didn’t expect was for the new device to practically be a carbon copy of the original. Sure, it’s a lot smaller, but inside it’s running all of the same hardware we saw in 2015. And yet, NVIDIA claims it’s still much more powerful than any other set-top box. That’s a testament to how robust the company’s X1 chip is, but it’s disappointment new for anyone who was hoping for something fresh. On the bright side, the new $200 Shield comes with a new controller that’s light years ahead of the last one. It’s not revolutionary, but you can think of it as a refined spin on NVIDIA’s original set-top box concept.

Hardware

It’s a smaller Shield TV — that’s pretty much it! Of course, though, there are some advantages to a more compact footprint. Now you can easily hide the set-top box in your entertainment center; it doesn’t need to take up any prime territory. Style-wise, the new Shield keeps the sharp, angular design from the original, which is still pretty fetching. It’s certainly has character, which feels refreshing when set-top boxes otherwise tend to look boring.

On the back of the box, you have two USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet jack and the usual HDMI and power connections. There’s no microSD card slot this time around, but you can expand the Shield’s paltry 16GB of storage with USB flash drives. Under the hood, there’s the aforementioned X1 chip along with 3GB of RAM. One nice bonus: The Shield’s slim remote is now included in the box; previously, you had to buy it separately for an extra $50. The new one drops the rechargeable batteries and headphone jack as well, and sports a matte finish instead of brushed metal, but it otherwise still looks like an enlarged Apple TV remote.

If you’re looking for sweeping, dramatic changes, you’ll find them in the new Shield controller. It’s slimmer, sleeker and far easier to hold than its bulky predecessor, which was simply a first-gen mess. Honestly, it would have been hard for NVIDIA to make things worse. The new controller sports an attractive polygonal design, which makes it look like it actually belongs with the Shield. Remember that the original model was repurposed from the Shield tablet, and it had all the ergonomics of a cheap third-party PC gamepad.

Most importantly, everything about the new controller feels good: Every button is more responsive and the analog sticks are much more fluid. The directional pad is a bit stiff, but even that still feels improved.

Current Shield TV owners can also pick up the new controller for $60 on its own. And, to the company’s credit, the older device will also get access to all of the big software upgrades coming to Shield this year. (More on those below.)

Software

The new Shield runs Android 7.0 Nougat, but it doesn’t look any different than the Android TV interface that the last model launched with. On the home page, there’s a row of highlighted content up top, along with apps you can hop into below. The overall interface is pretty basic, but it still feels more modern than what we’ve seen from Roku’s recent streamers. One useful upgrade: You can finally switch between your recent apps easily by double-tapping on the play button. (A command Apple TV owners already know well.)

NVIDIA also laid out an ambitious smart home strategy for the Shield with extensive integration with the Google Assistant. Unfortunately, I couldn’t test out that feature during my review, and it won’t be available until later this year. It certainly looks promising, especially when used together with NVIDIA’s Spot, which will let you shout commands at the Google Assistant from any room in your house. I can’t imagine many people would actually make the Shield the centerpiece of their connected home, but it’s an intriguing strategy nonetheless.

For now, the new Shield offers all the same basic voice commands as the last model. You can tap the microphone button to ask simple questions about the weather or recent sports games, and the Shield will respond quickly with a Google Now-esque card on your TV screen. And of course, you can also use the microphone button to perform voice searches for apps and things to watch.

As a streaming media player

You can watch Netflix, Hulu and most of the major streaming video services on the Shield TV. No surprises there. What’s unique, at least among Android TV devices, is that Shield actually features an Amazon Video app. Remember that Amazon is still at war with both Google and Apple; its apps don’t work with the Chromecast, and, for whatever reason, there’s still no way to stream Amazon’s videos on the Apple TV. The app itself is nothing special, but its mere existence is notable.

The new Shield had no trouble streaming 4K and HDR content from both Netflix and Amazon, not that I expected it to struggle. That’s something Roku’s far less powerful devices can do these days, so something as powerful as the Shield shouldn’t break a sweat.

As a gaming device

One big change this year for all of NVIDIA’s Shield devices is its revamped GeForce Now service. It’s now powered by GeForce 10-series GPUs, which should be able to handle high-end games easily. NVIDIA says it’s also made various upgrades to the service that should help it run more smoothly and with less latency than before. That’s pretty important when you’re trying to play games that are being rendered remotely and streamed to you over the internet.

I was able to load up The Witcher 3 in about the same time it takes to launch on my gaming rig. At 1080p/60 fps and ultra graphic settings (the highest GeForce Now can current support), it simply looked great. I had to look very hard to find compression artifacts, and the only truly noticeable issue I encountered was some occasional audio drop-out. Most importantly, I didn’t feel any lag while running and jumping, and I had no trouble getting into the rhythm of the game’s combat.

Similarly, I had a blast with Shadow Warrior 2, a fast-paced shooter where you’d really notice input lag. It suffered from more compression artifacts than The Witcher 3, but it was still impressive. My brain had a lot of trouble reconciling the fact that a modern PC game was being rendered on a server somewhere and piped to my TV through a tiny box.

Naturally, the quality of your GeForce Now experience will come down to your networking internet setup. It was fine when connected wirelessly on my 802.11AC network on a Netgear Nighthawk router, which is backed by a fairly reliable 100Mbps cable connection. But if any part of your internet connection is flaky, you can expect to encounter plenty of issues. I’m sure it would perform even better when connected over Ethernet, but personally that’s something I’m trying to avoid in 2017. (Though I’d recommend it if you want the best overall experience.) The streaming service will also cost you: It’s $7.99 a month for access to a select library of games, and you’ll have to buy new titles at full price.

If you just want to stream games from your PC, there’s NVIDIA’s Gamestream feature. It basically renders games on your computer and pipes that over to your TV; much like GeForce Now, but on your home network. It’s only available to GeForce video card owners, but given that they’re the primary audience for the Shield, that’s not a very harsh restriction.

It was a cinch using Gamestream to stream Gears of War 4 on my TV with a 1440p (2K) resolution, ‘ultra’ quality settings and 5.1 surround sound. There wasn’t any lag or compression artifacts; it looked like I just strung a long HDMI cable to my TV from my computer. And I would know: That’s how I usually play PC games in my living room. Of course, Gamestream’s performance is dependent on both your network setup and the hardware in your computer. (I have a decent gaming rig powered by an NVIDIA GTX 1080 GPU, so I didn’t really need more power.)

Some titles, like Forza Horizon 3 and Dishonored 2 exhibited some strange texture issues when played over Gamestream, but those also look like problems that some driver and software updates could fix. When it worked properly, though, it was hard not to be impressed by the feature.

Being an Android TV device and all, the Shield can also play actual Android games. And I’m not just talking crummy little mobile games; there are older, big name titles like Resident Evil 5 and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance available. But while it was nice to have the option to play those games, they were mostly disappointing. Resident Evil 5, for example, was a stuttering mess that crashed almost every time I loaded it. To be honest, I’d rather spend time playing GeForce Now and Gamestream titles, as opposed to suffering through bad versions of older games.

The competition

There are countless cheaper video streaming options out there, like the $150 Apple TV and all of Roku’s devices (which can also handle 4K/HDR videos starting at $100). Even in the gaming arena, the Shield is going up going against Valve’s $50 Steam Link, which can also bring PC games to any TV in your home. That device also works with a variety of controllers, like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4’s, as well as Valve’s $50 Steam controller.

If you’re intrigued by the Shield and need more built-in storage, there’s also the $300 Shield Pro. That’s basically the older Shield box with a 500GB hard drive. On top of that, you’ll also get the microSD card slot and micro-USB port (for a direct PC connection) that were left off of the smaller box.

If you’re considering shelling out $200 for the Shield, it’s also hard not to consider an actual gaming console. Both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One S start at around $300 today, and you can often find deals and bundles that drop the price significantly. If all you care about is games, it makes a lot more sense to invest in boxes that can actually power them all without the need for a streaming subscription.

Wrap-up

The new Shield is a lot like the old Shield: a niche streaming device for gamers with money to burn. While it would have been nice to see some major upgrades this time around, the fact that it can still perform fairly well with aging hardware is a sign that it’s conceptually sound. And, at the very least, it proves that NVIDIA finally learned how to make a decent game controller.

Still photos by Shivani Khattar.

Is Tidal being honest about its subscriber numbers?

It’s no secret that Tidal is well behind the likes of Spotify and Apple Music when it comes to subscriber numbers. A report today from Dagens Næringsliv indicates that the Jay Z-led streaming service is even further behind than it’s admitting. The Norwegian newspaper says it reviewed internal documents, including reports on payments to record labels, that show a big discrepancy between what the company was publicizing and the actual subscriber totals.

When Jay Z tweeted that Tidal had hit 1 million subscribers in September 2015, payments to record labels show the actual number was around 350,000. In March 2016, the company revealed it had hit the 3 million mark, but Dagens Næringsliv reports payments to labels a month later show that sum was 850,000. According to the newspaper, Tidal internally reported the total at that time to be 1.2 million subscribers. Earlier that month, Tidal parted ways with its then CFO and COO, reportedly over a dispute concerning the release of — you guessed it — subscriber numbers.

Tidal has admitted an issue with its accounting in the past. As The Verge notes, the company filed a lawsuit against its former owners after it discovered the actual subscriber number at the time Jay Z took over to be well short of the 540,000 total it was given. Of course, that revelation placed the blame squarely on those who were in charge before Mr. Carter paid $56 million for the service.

We reached out to Tidal for a comment on the matter but have yet to hear back.

Source: Dagens Næringsliv (Norwegian)

Trump’s White House website deletes climate change, LGBT pages

As Donald Trump takes over the White House today, a number of folks on Twitter have been pointing out that many crucial pages on WhiteHouse.gov have disappeared, including those relating to climate change and the LGBTQ community. While certainly troubling to the many millions of Americans worried about how the incoming administration will handle such topics, what’s happening on the White House website is little more than a transition — every page that was up on the site under the Obama administration has been removed, not just ones relating to topics that the new president doesn’t care about.

Climate change and LGBT pages both removed from Whitehouse website. At this point I have to force myself to be surprised

— Eric Hoyer (@HalfCourt_Hoyer) January 20, 2017

Just as the @POTUS Twitter account transitioned to the Trump administration today at noon, everything that was previously on the White House website has been removed and replaced by new pages. All of the old content from President Obama’s administration can still be found at the Obama White House archive. Similarly, all tweets from the Obama administration that were previously on @POTUS are now located at @POTUS44.

That’s not to say that this change isn’t worth being concerned about. Trump has made it very clear that he thinks climate change is a hoax, and his wretched plan for “energy independence” places the environment at the end of his list of concerns. It’s depressing that the new White House site doesn’t have any information about climate change and how the country will combat it, but it’s not at all surprising when you consider Trump’s priorities. And with VP Mike Pence’s track record of homophobia, it’s also not a shock to see the LGBT page disappear from the White House. Depressing, but not surprising — sums up the first day of the administration pretty well so far.