Honor 8 Lite ditches the dual rear camera, comes with Nougat out of the box

The Huawei P8 Lite 2017 is being sold as the Honor 8 Lite in Finland.

The Honor 8 Lite is now official in Finland. The phone is currently up for pre-order in the country for €269 ($290), with deliveries slated to kick off from February 17.

Based on the image, the Honor 8 Lite is identical to the Huawei P8 Lite 2017 — which is now on sale from Vodafone UK for £185 ($235) — both in terms of the design and internal hardware. The Honor 8 Lite features a 5.2-inch Full HD display, HiSilicon’s 16nm Kirin 655 SoC with eight Cortex A53 cores, 3GB of RAM, 16GB storage, microSD slot, single 12MP camera at the back, 8MP front shooter, and a 3000mAh battery along with EMUI 5.0 based on Nougat. That’s the exact same hardware as the Huawei P8 Lite 2017.

It is possible that Huawei is simply rebranding the P8 Lite 2017 to the Honor 8 Lite in countries where the Honor brand is more popular. We should be seeing the P8 Lite 2017 — or the Honor 8 Lite — making its way to other markets in Europe over the course of the month.

Audi A5 (2017) review: Sporty looks, refined drive

The Audi A5 was launched in 2007 and revised in 2009 to put doors into the back of the Coupé version for a more conventional five-door arrangement, the Sportback as Audi calls it. So solid was the A5 that the second-generation A5 has only just appeared, launching late 2016.

The Audi A5 has always been one of our favourite Audi models. Those Coupé looks and that sporty stance stand it aside from many of the saloons that dominate this car segment. Flanked by the Audi A4 and the Audi A6, the A5 also affords better looks than the Audi A7 in our opinion (the executive sports saloon nearing the top of Audi’s models). 

There’s just something about the A5’s proportions that we’ve always liked, although we have to admit, the charms of the Coupé looks are outweighed by the conventional practicality of the Sportback. 

Audi A5 Sportback review: Same profile design, all new car

Rather than being a facelift model, this new version of the Audi A5 Sportback is all new. It’s built on the same platform as the new Audi A4; it’s a little longer, a little lower but also a little narrower than the outgoing A5 model.

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But Audi’s aim was to keep that distinctive profile, with the sweeping, dropping roofline. The Sportback loses those long front doors of the Coupé and eats further into the rear pillars so there’s more side window. The rear seats are more accessible here, but they are still not hugely spacious and the centre is rather small. 

The biggest visual change is the increase in creases and folds across the body of the car, particularly along the bonnet. This gives texture to what was previously a mostly flat hood. The white model we’ve pictured here perhaps doesn’t show this to best effect, but some of the darker colours are more muscular and menacing as a result of this added detail.

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Another change in this car is that it’s about 80-85kg lighter than the car it replaces (depending on the model you choose), about the weight of an adult passenger. That’s good for a number of reasons: not only is the design sharper, but the power and efficiency increase, too, while emissions are lower.

• Audi A4 (2016) review: All about the extras

Audi A5 Sportback review: Interior technology and comforts

Slip into the driver’s seat and you’d be forgiven for questioning which car you’re sat in. With many models in the Audi range and a uniformally high quality of interior spec, there’s a lot of familiarity here. We’re fine with that as the trim of the S line model – Audi’s biggest seller – gives you a plush finish, great attention to detail and plenty of toys.

S line comes with 18-inch wheels, LED headlights and sports suspension, but even if you were to opt for the SE model (the cheapest option) you get heated front seats, automatic lights and wipers and Audi Smartphone Interface, which gives you Android Auto or Apple CarPlay connections.

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Following the trend of recent Audi upgrades, one of the big options here is for the Virtual Cockpit. This fully-digital 12-inch driver display gives you customisation so you can change the size of the dials, switch to expansive mapping, as well as skipping through things like your entertainment or calling options. 

Virtual Cockpit isn’t standard in the A5, however, it’s a £250 upgrade and it’s only available if you take the Technology Package. That’s a fairly hefty hit of upgrade cost (over £1,000 depending on trim), but you get a larger central display and all the controls you need, like the touch MMI controller, mapping and a 10GB jukebox you can store your music on, in addition to SD card slots.

We think that’s worth the punt if you’re a technology fan, as the combination of all these elements (not forgetting the USB connections, Bluetooth, DAB radio and CD player) lifts the Audi to a level of sophistication that affords you just about everything you could think of.

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All of Audi’s systems will work in tangent with your connected phone too, so if you have your iPhone connected, it takes over the central display, yet you still have access to various car-based features too. A best of both worlds, leading to things like Google Maps for your display, while streaming music from Spotify. 

Audi A5 Sportback review: On the road

Technology isn’t limited to the interior and there’s a full range of tech to assist the driver too. You get cruise control as standard as well as pre sense city, the system designed to stop you driving into obstructions that suddenly appear, detected by the front camera. Parking sensors are also standard, with the option to upgrade to full 360 degree cameras.

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If you want to go further, the driver assistance pack contains a whole range of safety systems that will detect cars and junctions, give you adaptive cruise control, detect speed limits, identify lanes and help you avoid crashes at all speeds. This isn’t autonomous driving, but it uses a lot of the same technologies with the aim of keeping you safe.

• Audi Piloted Driving: A real-world glimpse into the future of self-driving cars

Whisked away in comfort, one of Audi’s aims in the A5 was to reduce the noise levels in the cabin. Having driven the 190bhp diesel, the 252bhp petrol and the 354bhp petrol of the Audi S5 there’s not a lot of engine noise – although that last engine on the S5 has an exhaust note that’ll make you smile when you put your foot down and tear through the higher rev ranges, even if it’s a bit of a drone at low rev ranges. 

In the model that will sell the most – the 2.0-litre 190bhp TDI – you won’t know you’re sitting behind a diesel. But the one thing that all these models seem to suffer from is some of the hissing road noise. You probably won’t notice that when you’ve got a car full of people and the radio on, but it’s something we noticed cruising along varied road surfaces on our Cotswold test route.

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That aside, with comfortable seats (various types of leather are standard as you move through the trim levels), the Audi offers sports suspension as standard that does keep things firm, but it’s not overly harsh. That fits the sporty positioning of this car, combined with Audi’s familiar drive select options that will change the car’s setup based on the driving style you want.

Select Dynamic and knock the 7-speed S tronic gearbox into S and you’ll be revving high with weightier steering and a more responsive throttle for a more enticing drive. That double clutch gearbox is quick to hop up and down gears with barely a pause for breath and whichever model you choose, the A5 is pacey enough.

The diesel manages to hit 62mph in 7.9 seconds, the petrol gets there in 6 seconds. The Audi S5 is a whole different beast hitting 62mph in 4.7 seconds. There is also a 6-speed manual option (that we didn’t test) and there’s the option for Quattro all-wheel-drive as an upgrade to the front-wheel drive standard, par for the course that Audi made its name on.

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The lighter steering that it defaults to at lower speeds in auto mode can feel a little disconnected, something that’s likely to push you toward a custom mode with heavier steering, but that’s common to many Audi models.

Verdict

The Audi A5 delivers exactly what it promises: sporty looks, sporty-ish drive, leaving you with a car that’s a little easier to love than the slightly more ordinary Audi A4. The question is whether the Audi has the allure to divert you from something like the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé or Mercedes C Class.

But even at its lowest trim, you’re getting a good spec for your money and a high quality of interior, with lots of options to add levels of sophistication to a car that’s wonderfully comfortable to drive and, boy, doesn’t it look good?

EU roaming charges will end this year, standardised wholesale prices to come into effect

The European Commission has delivered the news we’ve all been waiting for, roaming charges throughout the EU will come to an end on 15 June 2017. The European Commission, Council and Parliament have come up with a set of standardised wholesale prices that operators will charge each other when customers use the various mobile networks. You as a customer will be able to use your same tariff abroad without being charge any extra.

• Free phone use abroad at last, roaming charges officially scrapped
• Best roaming plans: Which is the cheapest network for EU and abroad?

Prices will be capped at 3.2 cents per voice minute, 1 cent per SMS message and €7.7 per GB of data, but this will decrease year on year: €6 per GB as of 1 January 2018, €4.5 as of 1 January 2019, €3.5 as of 1 January 2020, €3 as of 1 January 2021 and €2.5 as of 1 January 2022.

Mr Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market said: “…when travelling in the EU, consumers will be able to call, send SMS or surf on their mobile at the same price they pay at home. The agreement makes “roam-like-at-home” sustainable for people and businesses, while ensuring cost recovery and keeping national wholesale roaming markets competitive.”

Of course, the reality of no roaming charges only applies to countries and customers that are part of the EU. In a couple of years, that won’t include the UK. Until the UK officially leaves the EU, the mobile networks will most likely do what the EU says, but once we leave, it’s not clear what they’ll do. It’s possible the different networks could offer roaming package deals to keep prices as low as possible, but even then the UK networks will be able to charge pretty much whatever they like.

Android gets a Nintendo game at last, Fire Emblem Heroes also on iOS

Nintendo has finally released a full game on Android. Fire Emblem Heroes beats Super Mario Run to the punch, with the Android version of Mario’s first mobile outing planned for March.

An iOS version of Fire Emblem Heroes is also now available.

Android did get Miitomo, Nintendo’s cute social app last year, but this is the first proper game from the Japanese publisher.

• Super Mario Run for Android confirmed for March, pre-registration open
• Super Mario Run review: Is Mario on iPhone worth £8?
• Super Mario Run: How to play, how much does it cost and what phones and tablets is it on?

Fire Emblem Heroes is based on the successful tactical RPG brand that has appeared on Nintendo consoles since 1990, when Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light was released for the Japanese Famicom (NES).

The most recent, Fire Emblem Fates, came out for the 3DS in 2016 in the US and Europe and was pretty much universally loved.

Fire Emblem Heroes is more streamlined than the console games, focusing on quick fire, on-the-go tactical battles on “bite-sized” maps. There is a main story mode, but the action generally involves turn-based fights between the different in-game factions and heroes.

You can also fight against other players around the world in an arena mode.

The game is a free download on Google Play and iTunes with in-app purchases. However, these are optional and not needed to play the game.

Nintendo’s next big mobile game release – after Super Mario Run on Android – is expected to be based on Animal Crossing.

The Morning After: Thursday February 2nd, 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Another day, another Boston Dynamics robot. Also, Tesla made a name change and “shared reality” is a thing.

Moving forwardTesla pulls an Apple, drops ‘Motors’ from its name

Reflecting the company’s ambitions for solar and electric energy in more places than just your car, Tesla Motors has chopped off a bit of its name. Now known as simply Tesla (which you probably called it anyway), the company can push its Powerwall batteries and Solar City roofs under one brand name along with its famous EVs.

After all these yearsNintendo’s first-ever Super Bowl ad is for the Switch

You don’t have to wait for the big game to watch Nintendo’s big ad. Its first-ever Super Bowl ad is up in an extended cut on YouTube, trying to sell the upcoming Switch console to hardcore gamers, casuals and families alike.

Who hasn’t wanted to do this?The State of New York sues Charter over slow internet speeds

According to NY AG Eric Schneiderman, from 2012 on, Spectrum internet customers paid for plans promising 100Mbps+ speed but ended up with connections that were frequently 70 percent slower. Worse, investigators believe the poor performance was intentional, with execs aware their system couldn’t live up to the promised speeds and even creating interconnection bottlenecks.

Not everything needs a cloud connectionProject Nursery HD Baby Monitor review

Looking for a way to keep an eye on the little one? Dan Cooper tried out the Project Nursery setup, with a micro USB powered camera that broadcasts on its own 2.4GHz signal, the Parent Unit with a 5-inch display, and a wrist-wearable 1.5-inch “Mini Monitor.” With night vision and remote control over the camera, he found it has all the necessary features, although the $300 price tag is a little high. For a cheaper option, there’s also a $200 version with a 4.3-inch display and no Mini Monitor.

Boston Dynamics is back‘Handle’ robot combines wheels and legs

During a presentation, Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert showed off a couple of new robots, including this “Handle” model. While the company’s previous metallic terrors have focused on walking, this one includes wheels, perfect for spinning and leaping around on smooth surfaces. It may not have the go-anywhere chops of Atlas, but its impressive speed and agility would be perfect for hunting humans on a basketball court maneuvering around a controlled environment like a warehouse.

The company says it was done to give a “better user experience”The OnePlus 3T cheats by boosting its performance for benchmarking

Alternative facts are even popping up in benchmarks, as XDA posters discovered the OnePlus 3T and Meizu Pro 6 Plus both turn up the juice on their CPUs when a benchmark is running. Now, OnePlus says it will fix the behavior in its next operating system update.

An escape room designer built a puzzle game around ‘Zelda’‘Defenders of the Triforce’ is a fun but tedious adventure

Instead of a traditional escape room experience, designer SCRAP uses the “real-time puzzle format” in a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time retelling. As Sean Buckley discovered, that means “doing math, deciphering glyphs and turning in worksheets to a cast of Zelda-themed taskmasters.”

But wait, there’s more…

• ‘Star Wars: Battlefront 2’ will have a story mode
• PlayStation VR bundles are back
• Developer combines HoloLens and Vive for ‘shared reality’
• GoPro’s troubled Karma drone is back on sale
• Zenimax lawsuit scores a partial win against Oculus worth $500 million

EU probing Valve and five publishers for geo-blocking games

The legislative body of the European Union is launching an antitrust investigation into regional pricing and geo-blocking practices on Valve’s Steam store. In a statement, the European Commission says it’s investigating “bilateral agreements” between Valve and five publishers: Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax.

The investigation is focused on activation keys, whose primary function is as an anti-piracy tool. After buying a physical copy of a game, users need to submit an activation key to prove they own it and add it to their Steam library. Once done, the game is then available on any device that the user is logged into.

Although that’s an accurate description of what activation keys are supposed to be for, in reality, they serve another, arguably damaging purpose: enabling a giant third-party market. Companies like G2A and Kinguin resell activation keys at discounted rates, which is great for getting games on the cheap but not so great for keeping smaller developers in business.

While games bought directly through Steam are almost entirely region-free, the same cannot be said for activation keys. The Commission believes that Valve has agreements with the five publishers that may require the use of activation keys “for the purpose of geo-blocking.” The example it gives in its statement is that a key bought in certain countries (it lists the Czech Republic and Poland) may only work within those countries. These regional restrictions are made clear on the Steam Support site.

The European Union, although a single market, contains diverse economies and currencies, with GDP per capita varying from around $95,000 down to $7,000, depending on the country. As such, video game publishers price their retail games differently in, for example, the UK and the Czech Republic. While this makes business sense, by geo-blocking these games publishers may be breaking EU competition rules, as they’re preventing parallel trade within the single market.

Valve, for its part, is being investigated for facilitating that rule-breaking. There is no indication that the Steam store itself is in any trouble, as geo-blocked games are rare there, and Valve makes it easy for users to change their location to look at different prices.

The five publishers, for the uninitiated, are all big names in video games. ZeniMax owns Bethesda, Arkane, id, and other developers, typically publishing under the Bethesda brand. Capcom develops series like Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Dead Rising. Bandai Namco was a huge name in arcade gaming, and currently publishes the Dark Souls games internationally. Focus Home is mostly focused on publishing indie titles regionally, while Koch Media owns Deep Silver, which develops its own games as well as handling regional distribution for companies like Atlus (its big release for 2017 will be Persona 5).

At the time of writing, none of the companies involved have commented on the investigation, but we’ll update this article once they do.

Source: European Commission

ASUS is being investigated for price manipulation in Europe

In one of several antitrust investigations launched today, the European Commission has begun probing tech brands ASUS, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer for suspected price manipulation. As the press release explains, the Commission believes the companies may have broken competition rules by stopping online retailers in Europe from setting their own prices for products including household appliances, laptops and hi-fi equipment. The companies also stand accused of potentially influencing price tags on a broader scale, since many retailers use software that automatically changes product pricing based on what competitors are offering.

The European Commission isn’t able to share any more information on the investigations at this time, but for Philips at least, it wasn’t unexpected. A company spokesperson tells us a preliminary probe into alleged pricing restrictions began in 2013 and “we continue to engage and cooperate fully with the European Commission” as it becomes a more formal enquiry. We’ve reached out to all the other companies named for their take on the antitrust investigation, and will update you when we hear back.

Source: European Commission

YouTube App Gets iPhone Lock Screen Controls for Chromecast Streaming

Chromecast users can now control YouTube streaming to their TV from the lock screen of their iPhone, thanks to the latest update to the YouTube app.

Like YouTube for Android devices, version 12.03 of the iOS app adds play, pause, previous, next, and volume controls to the iPhone’s lock screen whenever YouTube is casting to Chromecast devices, smart TVs, game consoles, and other living room devices. The same controls can also now be found in the iOS Control Center.

In addition, the update enables iPhone owners with a paired Apple Watch to access the same controls from their wrist. YouTube is available to download for free from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tags: YouTube, Chromecast
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‘Fire Emblem Heroes’ Launches on iOS App Store

Nintendo’s newest mobile smartphone game, Fire Emblem Heroes, is officially rolling out globally on the iOS App Store [Direct Link], with players in Japan, Australia, and Europe already able to download it. Announced last spring, Fire Emblem on smartphones adopts the tactical role-playing gameplay of the popular franchise, with a few mobile-optimized tweaks. These changes mainly center around battle maps that have been designed to specifically fit smartphone screens.

To attack, players tap and drag their allies over the enemy forces, while paying attention to a rock-paper-scissors weapon types system that greatly affects attack power in the heat of battle. The main game lies in the “Story Maps,” where players will fight through enemy defenses to complete objectives, eventually earning Orbs that summon classic Fire Emblem characters to fight for them in battle.

Orbs will be one of the monetization points of Fire Emblem Heroes, as players can also choose to skip earning them through Story Maps and pay for the booster item in the game’s shop. Nintendo hasn’t yet detailed what else will be available as an in-app purchase in the game, but it did confirm Fire Emblem Heroes will be free-to-download with IAPs as its main revenue model.

Also included in the game will be an Arena mode where players can fight against rivals around the world to earn high scores, increase rankings, and get exclusive rewards to increase the abilities of each hero. Additionally, Training Tower will let players hone their Fire Emblem skills with randomly generated maps, and Hero Battles will pit players against new Heroes during limited events — winning will convince them to become an ally.

The official website for Fire Emblem Heroes has more information about gameplay, including its Home screen where players will check notifications, view their friend list, and peruse various other front-end features each time they log in. Fire Emblem Heroes is launching simultaneously on the iOS App Store and Google Play, similar to Miitomo but unlike Super Mario Run, which remains exclusive to Apple devices with a planned launch on Android in March.

For those keeping count, that makes Fire Emblem Heroes the third official release for Nintendo’s original smartphone gaming plan it detailed back in 2015. We now know that Animal Crossing and the unknown fifth game won’t launch before March, and Nintendo recently reported that its future on mobile devices won’t end after the launch of the fifth game made through its partnership with DeNA. This week, the company confirmed its intention to release two to three smartphone games every year.

The game will be available in over 30 countries by the end of today, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, and more. The full list of launch countries can be found within a link in the top right section on the official Fire Emblem Heroes website.

Fire Emblem Heroes is available as a free download on the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]

Tags: Nintendo, Fire Emblem
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Apple Invents Wearable Battery Charging Module for Apple Watch

Apple is weighing up the possibility of developing a wearable battery module to charge an Apple Watch while it’s being worn, according to a patent published on Thursday (via AppleInsider).

Details of the invention were released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, under the title “Charging apparatus for wearable electronic device”. The module uses an inductive element to transmit power to the smartwatch, similar to the one used in the existing Apple Watch magnetic charging cable.

Two embodiments are described in the patent. The first shows the charger embedded in the wristband – an idea similar to previous inventions – while the second depicts a separate module that sits underneath the watch chassis and attaches to an existing band.

The induction component in the portable module is capable of both transmitting and receiving power, and aligns itself with the smartwatch or an external charging source using magnets. Apple proposes the use of heat-dissipating circuitry to ensure the module is comfortable to wear against the skin, while various wired solutions are also described for charging the device itself when not in use.

It’s impossible to say whether the patent will see use in a future product, but Apple is clearly investigating various battery life solutions that don’t sacrificing the thinness of the Series 2 design, which is already slightly thicker than the first generation. Improving the battery life of the next Apple Watch is also reportedly the “main task” of Quanta, the Taiwan-based company responsible for manufacturing the wearable.

Extending the time between charges would allow users to wear their watch to sleep over consecutive days, which would give Apple the opportunity to introduce sleep tracking features into the next WatchOS, as well as potentially introduce resting heart-rate tracking – a primary indicator of overall health. Extended battery life could even potentially usher in a future Apple Watch with an always-on display.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Tag: patent
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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