If your Gear VR has frozen after you reorient the screen, give this a shot!

Being unable to reorient your display is frustrating, but there is a way to deal with the problem.

From time to time while playing in VR on Gear VR, you may end up needing to reorient your display. Whether it’s due to drift, or you’ve somehow contorted yourself into an uncomfortable position is irrelevant. What matter is that reorienting is an easy and painless process. However some folks have been having issues with their Gear VR freezing up after reorienting the display using the quick menu.

Read more at VRHeads.com

Which Android tablets have the best camera?

If you want an Android slate with a camera that’s not a total afterthought, your only real option is Samsung’s Tab S line.

The Android tablet space is kinda weird right now, ahead of major changes expected later in the year in the world of Google laptops, tablets, and convertibles. If you need an Android tablet right this second, the best options are Google’s Pixel C and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2 series, soon to be superseded by the Tab S3. For more laptop-like productivity, there’s Lenovo’s Yoga Book. But of this subset of decent Android tablets, only Samsung’s Tab S2 treats the camera as more than an afterthought.

Before we begin, it’s worth noting that the Galaxy Tab S3 will be landing imminently, with an upgraded 13-megapixel shooter behind an f/1.9 lens — alongside improved post-processing, thanks to the Snapdragon 820 processor. So if you can hold out a little longer, the Tab S3 will offer higher-resolution snaps.

Few Android tablets prioritize photography, but the Tab S2 makes a decent effort.

There’s also the question of whether a tablet is the best device to be taking photos on to begin with. Larger Android phones, like the 5.9-inch Huawei Mate 9 and LG V20, have smaller displays than many of the tablets out there, but depending on your use case, may be a better fit and will certainly take better photos than a full-sized slate. Tablet photography still carries something of a stigma, after all.

Anyway, back to the Tab S2. This model, released in 8.0- and 9.7-inch flavors in late 2015, features an 8-megapixel rear camera behind an f/1.9 lens and video recording up to 1440p. And right now, it remains the best-performing camera in an Android tablet.

In our review of the 8-inch version, Andrew Martonik talked up its photographic quality relative to competitors, and we’ve seen little in the past year to challenge the Tab S2’s solid (if unspectacular performance.)

Images are pretty good, at least for a tablet but won’t be rivaling shots from last year’s flagship or even some mid-range phones. Dynamic range isn’t too great, and while the camera is quick to capture shots, I wasn’t blown away by the results. It was useful for snapping pictures of things around the house and getting the occasional shot when I was out and about, but it’s worth remembering that the phone you certainly have on you anyway will probably offer a better experience.

More: Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 review

The “for a tablet” part is important there. Android tablets have struggled to shrug off the perception that they are, first and foremost, content consumption devices, and so the competition here is relatively weak.The bottom line: Even in this, the most capable of Android tablet cameras, you can expect relatively run-of-the-mill low-light performance. And don’t expect to be blown away by daylight performance either, especially if you’re judging it by the standards of modern smartphones.

Nevertheless, if you’ve gotta be that guy taking pictures on his tablet and you don’t want an iPad, this is the best performer in a tricky market segment.

See Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 on Amazon

See Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 on Amazon

Grab yourself a Samsung Gear VR for just $50 at T-Mobile for a limited time

Our friends at Thrifter are back again, this time with a way to save you 50% on a Samsung Gear VR!

If you haven’t already picked up a Samsung Gear VR, today is the day to grab one. Right now you can save 50% on the purchase at T-Mobile, dropping the price down to just $49.97. This discount is on the latest version of the VR headset which offers both a Micro-USB and USB-C connection type. This is a perfect way to dabble into the world of VR without a huge investment and can provide countless hours of entertainment for yourself and your family.

Odds are this won’t stick around long at this price, so be sure to grab one now before they are gone!

See at T-Mobile

For more great deals on tech, gadgets, home goods and more, be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

Engadget giveaway: Win a Harmony Elite and Amazon Echo courtesy of Logitech!

Logitech’s Harmony series has come a long way and now with the Elite remote control you can do more than ever before. This universal remote not only lets you control all your media devices (from TVs to streaming media players), but it also handles a variety of smart home products. You can use the Harmony Elite to adjust your Nest thermostat or connected lighting systems, all from that well-worn spot on the couch. As if that wasn’t enough, the Elite universal home control also supports Alexa. Now you can even take the remote out of the equation, by simply using your voice along with one of Amazon’s smart speakers. Logitech has provided us with just such a pair — a Logitech Harmony Elite and Amazon Echo — so that one lucky reader can have total home control with minimal effort. You’ll still need to head down to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning, but that counts as exercise, right?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
• Contest is open to all residents of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winners will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive one (1) Logitech Harmony Elite remote control and one (1) Amazon Echo smart speaker (total value $550).
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
• This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Engadget and AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.
• The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
• Entries can be submitted until March 15th at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!

Siempo’s smartphone encourages you not to use it

Do you find having a computer in your pocket that’s connected to the sum total of human knowledge a bit… distracting? The founders of Siempo do, which is why they’ve dreamt up a smartphone that encourages you to live more in the moment. Rather than the usual Android home screen, Siempo only lets you do a handful of things to ensure you don’t spend all day staring at it.

For instance, the launcher will not give you a list of apps, but a series of options that force you to do a task and then put your phone down. The “Intention Field” lets you save notes or create reminders, send texts or create a contact when you meet someone new. “Mindful Morning,” meanwhile, will ask you to block off the phone for a period of time in the AM so you can read, exercise or meditate.

Everything you’d normally expect to see in a smartphone is still there, but buried deep beneath the software to ensure it’s not easily accessible. You’ll still be able to use the phone’s map and camera features, but the web browser and email apps have apparently been “restrained,” although it’s not clear what limits will be imposed.

This dedication to avoiding spending time on your phone is also shown with a very physical mute button on the side of the device. When pressed, your phone will mute all notifications for a pre-determined period of time, although you can set emergency contacts who can break through that wall.

Siempo hasn’t gone into the details about what specs its eponymous device will carry, but it’s fair to say this won’t be a device for stats nerds. The limited listing describes an unlocked GSM device with a 1 GHz quad-core CPU and a 4-inch display covered with Gorilla Glass. Elsewhere you’ll find a “high resolution camera,” 1,600mAh battery and the usual connectivity that you’d expect.

As an outlandish project, it’s no surprise that Siempo is launching on Kickstarter, with pre-order prices starting at $280. Latecomers will have to spend $319 to nab the device, which is expected to begin shipping by December 2017. Although it would seem to make more sense, to us, to just buy an existing low-end smartphone and buy Siempo’s launcher to run on top.

Source: Kickstarter

Sony’s first 4K OLED TV starts at $5,000

Sony’s first consumer OLED TV, the XBR-A1E was easily its best product at CES 2017, but now comes the rub: How much is it? Before I answer that, know that Sony sets tend to be expensive to begin with. And on top of 4K OLED, this one has advanced video processing, all the flavors of HDR (Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG), the first-ever “Acoustic Surface” sound system that’s integrated within the panel, an ultra-thin, near bezel-less design, a stand-mounted sub-woofer and Android TV support, including Google Cast and Google Assistant.

With all that in mind, the 55-inch XBR-55A1E and 65-inch XBR-65A1E will cost $5,000 and $6,500 respectively. Those sets are now on pre-order at Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers, and will arrive in stores starting in April. Sony has yet to release a price for the 77-inch model, but brace yourself for a much bigger jump in price over the 65-inch version.

Expensive? Well, it’s more than LG’s mid-range B-, C- and E-series, all of which have improved panels for 2017. However, it’s cheaper than LG’s high-end G- and W-series OLEDs, which start at $7,000 and $8,000 for the 65-inch models, respectively. LG’s W model is thinner (it’s too thin to support itself so you need to wall-mount it) but the XBR-A1E is still pretty slim, and unlike LG’s Crystal Sound, Sony’s Acoustic Surface audio tech is actually available for purchase.

Source: Sony

Teams is Microsoft’s most intriguing productivity app yet

Group collaboration software isn’t anything new, but in recent years we’ve seen an explosion of new solutions aiming to redefine how teams work. There’s Slack, of course, which has spread across startups and big organizations like wildfire. But even before that, companies relied on things like Hipchat, Yammer and plain old IRC. When Microsoft first unveiled its own offering last fall, the not-so-subtly named Teams, it initially seemed like the software giant was just jumping on the latest productivity bandwagon. It also seemed a bit redundant, since Microsoft owns Yammer. But it quickly became clear that Microsoft had some big ideas in store.

Today marks the next major step for Microsoft Teams: It’s opening up to all Office 365 commercial organizations, a figure that includes more than 85 million monthly users. It’s also packing in several new features, like the ability to schedule meetings without leaving the Teams interface. As it evolves, Teams is looking more and more like the ideal productivity solution from Microsoft, wrapping in elements from other Office 365 apps while also delivering entirely new ways to work together.

On the surface, Microsoft Teams looks like a slight twist on the Slack formula: a row of rooms on the left pane, and an fast-scrolling wall of text on the right side. But Teams quickly differentiates itself. Threaded messaging is core to the app’s experience, for example, allowing you to quickly browse and jump into conversations without confusing them with later messages. That’s something Slack has taken three years to release, and its implementation also feels like an afterthought. And on top of the message window is a row of tabs that points to things like shared files, a team wiki and whatever else you’d like.

As for what’s new since we first saw Teams, Microsoft has added features like the ability to continue email conversations by mailing Teams groups, and integrating bots and other app connections. The company says more than 150 software integrations will be headed to teams soon, including Growbot and Trello. So, instead of having a separate app or browser window open to check on your group’s Trello list progress, you can simply make it a tab atop a Teams room’s chat window.

As a fairly dedicated Slack user, I was surprised by just how thoughtfully designed Teams was after using it for a few days. It’s easier to follow threaded conversations, since they actually look like threads instead of weird off-shoot chats. It’s far simpler to start video chats with teammates, and you can even schedule video meetings from within rooms. And given that Teams supports video chats with up to 80 people, it could conceivably end up replacing conference calls for some workers. Even the mere act of creating new channels seems a lot more fluid than Slack, reflecting the fact that working groups tend to evolve quickly over time. A private chat between a few colleagues could end up becoming a channel to house conversations around a new corporate project, for instance.

On the mobile front, the Teams iOS and Android apps are both clean and well designed. Oddly enough, the Android app is the most advanced version, since it supports video and audio calls. That’s something both Windows Phone and iOS will have to wait for.

Microsoft is quick to admit that Teams won’t be the perfect solution for every time. But the company is positioning Office 365 as a bouquet of options for any group hoping to work together. If you don’t need the rich collaboration features of Teams, you can just rely on Yammer, Word, Excel and other traditional Office apps. Given that Teams won’t cost Office 365 customers anything extra, though, it has a good chance of seeing some quick pickup. One of Slack’s biggest criticisms is that it’s expensive, so having an app built into a product suite you might already own seems instantly more compelling.

Spotify integrates itself into Waze (and vice-versa)

Drivers use their smartphone for both navigation and music, so why not put the two together? Waze and Spotify have announced that they’ve done just that: You can now navigate with Waze within Spotify and access Spotify playlists from Waze. After you set up a playlist, it’ll automatically play when you start your journey, while letting you “easily” change songs. At the same time, you can browse playlists (and switch from one app to the other) when your vehicle is at a full stop.

The partnership is somewhat surprising, as Waze is owned by Google, which has its own Play music-streaming service that competes with Spotify. However, Spotify’s 50 million-strong subscriber base dwarfs Google Play (and every other music service), so it could be a way for Google to prod all those users into trying the Waze platform.

That would have a couple of benefits for Google: It would improve Waze’s crowd-sourced traffic accuracy, and possibly drive Spotify subscriber’s to Waze’s new ride-sharing platform. That service has a strong need for more users, especially since Google is planning to expand it to other cities beyond the Bay Area. For Spotify, which has been pursuing off-beat partnerships (like one with the New York Times), it could further bolster its user ranks.

Whatever the reason, the feature should be handy, especially for Spotify subscribers who already using Waze. The feature is rolling out to Android users around the world (not iOS for now) over the next few weeks, so you may have to be patient until it comes to your region.

Sex toy maker agrees to stop collecting intimate data

It can be quite costly to violate the privacy of sex toy users, apparently. Standard Innovation has settled a lawsuit accusing the company of collecting “highly intimate and sensitive data” from its We-Vibe vibrators without their owners’ knowledge and sending it to the company’s servers in Canada. The agreement will create a $3.75 million US ($5.06 million Canadian) compensation fund that will pay up to $10,000 US to buyers who used the companion We-Connect app, and $199 US to those who just used the vibrator. More importantly, the company has agreed to both stop collecting sensitive info and to purge the info it has collected until now.

Standard Innovation didn’t have to admit wrongdoing as part of the deal, but it stresses that it has rethought both its privacy policy (which is now more explicit about data collection) and its app requirements. You no longer have to register your device or provide identifying info when using the mobile app, and you can opt out of sharing any anonymous data. Opt-in policies are usually better for privacy, but the moves should still help assuage customers worried that someone might be studying their most sensitive activities.

The lawsuit underscores the mounting concerns over connected devices and the information they share. We-Vibe and We-Connect were only supposed to be sending data for the sake of product improvement and diagnostics, but users were neither told about that nor reassured that their info wasn’t going to be sold to advertisers or otherwise misused. Companies increasingly have little choice but to treat privacy as a significant concern, if not a primary concern — if they don’t, the consequences can be severe.

Via: The Verge

Source: National Post

‘Trinity’ will be the first interactive VR sci-fi TV show

Virtual reality production studio UNLTD today revealed that it is working on the world’s first interactive sci-fi TV show. Speaking at SXSW, the company announced the premise for Trinity- a show set in a future where humanity has long become extinct. With only a few surviving androids left on Earth, the story follows the robotic resistance as they take a stand against the all-powerful singularity threatening to destroy them.

After speaking about the challenges of filming in VR, producer John Hamilton promises that Trinity will be an experience which allows ‘viewers to move around an episode in a way that hasn’t been seen before’. The live-action series will be split into five fifteen minute episodes and is to be released on all available virtual reality platforms.

In order to create an experience that it deemed immersive enough, UNLTD opted to develop its own proprietary camera to film Trinity. Combining a mix of high-end visual effects, interactive engines and 360 scripting, we can get a brief glimpse into the aesthetic of the ambitious sci-fi with the 2D teaser trailer below.

With most VR content dividing userbases thanks to money-hatting from hardware manufacturers, it’s nice to see projects becoming more platform agnostic. Behind the project is director Patrick Boivin, a pioneer of stop-motion video. A full release date has yet to be confirmed, but a pilot will be given to ‘select partners’ this fall.