Oculus Rift officially supports the HTC Vive’s best feature

The Oculus Rift has technically supported room-scale VR since the system’s Touch motion controllers first went on sale last December. But purchasing an additional sensor didn’t guarantee foolproof 3D tracking for greater immersion right off the bat. Oculus labelled the feature “experimental,” alerting early adopters to the likelihood of bugs and other gremlins you might expect from in-development functionality. Six months and several updates later, however, Oculus has decided room-scale support is robust enough in its latest software release that it can ditch the beta tag and be called a bona fide Rift feature.

HTC’s Vive headset supported room-scale VR from the get-go, and Oculus has been playing catch-up for some time now. In its experimental phase, the Rift’s implementation wasn’t exactly user-friendly, leading Oculus to craft a four-part blog series conveying setup advice and educating owners about compatibility issues with older USB standards, among other things. While this may still serve as useful reference material, the notes accompanying the version 1.15 software release state “tracking with three sensors is now fully supported,” meaning there shouldn’t be any major issues getting it up and running.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Oculus

HTC U11 review

Research Center:
HTC U11

After the disappointing, incremental updates of the One M8 and M9, last year’s HTC 10 showed that the Taiwanese company still has ambitions in the smartphone market. The phone was deservedly popular with reviewers, but sadly failed to ignite public excitement.

This year’s HTC U11 is a much more dramatic departure from past flagships like the HTC 10, switching brushed aluminum for an eye-catching liquid-glass finish wrapped around a powerful, squeezable smartphone that offers tempting features. We think it’s excellent competition against flagships like the LG G6 and the Samsung Galaxy S8 thanks to a stellar camera, and fluid performance. Let’s dive in.

Beautiful, but big

The most noticeable feature of the HTC U11 is its liquid-glass surface. The U11 is one of the shiniest phones we’ve ever handled, and you really do need to see it in person to get an idea of how the refractive minerals baked into the glass change color as you tilt the phone. The eye-catching red U11 changes to gold, the white shows all the colors of the rainbow, and the black has a subtle hint of green. Our silver review unit is more of a light blue, but there is also a darker blue option.

HTC’s glass doesn’t just look good, it also curves slightly –on the front and back — to seamlessly blend into an aluminum frame. It’s very comfortable to hold, and the rear finish feels more like plastic in the hand than glass, because it’s not cold to the touch. The immediately obvious downside to an almost mirrored back is that it picks up grubby fingerprints and smudges. If you want to maintain its good looks, carry a microfiber cloth in your pocket, and be prepared to polish.

The next most visible feature is the U11’s size — this phone is big. The U11 has a 5.5-inch display, but the front has a spacious edges above and below. Even compared to last year’s Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, which also has a 5.5-inch display, the U11 feels big. Put it next to the impossibly slim Galaxy S8, which packs a larger 5.8-inch display, and the U11 feels monstrous.

It would be fair to say that HTC is not yet onboard with the bezel-less trend, or the new, longer 18:9 screen format that LG introduced with the G6. This could be a difficult obstacle for HTC to overcome, because, unlike Samsung and LG, the company does not have its own display division. From the front, the U11 looks undeniably dated and the S8 and G6 are much easier to manage one-handed

The HTC U11 has a Super LCD 5 screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, which offers a sharp 590 pixels-per-inch. It’s comfortable to read on for long periods, and games and movies look good. The brightness is limited, however, which can be a problem in direct sunlight.

The HTC U11 is silky smooth and lightning fast.

It’s debatable how important the elongated screen and tiny bezels are, but the lack of anything special in this department is certainly a weak point for the U11.

Below the screen there’s a recessed, glass fingerprint sensor. It’s usually fast and responsive, but we did find that it was triggered by our palm accidentally, more often than we’d have liked, and it occasionally took a couple of tries to unlock. The fingerprint sensor is flanked by capacitive touch buttons for back and recent apps. They only light up when pressed and there’s vibration feedback.

Look at the bottom edge and you’ll see that HTC has also made the switch to USB Type-C. You won’t find a 3.5mm audio jack on this phone, but HTC has provided USB Type-C earphones and an adapter in the box.

Lightning fast

Using the HTC U11 is silky smooth and lightning fast. Navigating around, jumping in and out of apps, and gaming are hitch-free. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering the U11 is packing a Snapdragon 835 backed by 4GB of RAM.

We played Injustice 2, Super Mario Run, and Asphalt Extreme, and didn’t encounter any performance issues at all. This phone is a dream for gaming. The Snapdragon 835 is Qualcomm’s current top of the line and it offers significant performance and efficiency boosts over previous chips. It debuted in the Galaxy S8, but you won’t find it in many other phones just yet — a boon for HTC.

When we ran the benchmarks on our HTC U11, the scores were impressive:

• 3DMark SlingShot Extreme: 3,631
• AnTuTu: 175,748
• Geekbench 4: 1,926 single core; 6,493 multi core

For comparison, the S8 scored 2,052, 155,253, and 1,762 single core, 5,723 multi core in the same tests, respectively, whereas the G6 (which has the older Snapdragon 821) scored 2,102 in 3D Mark, and 135,032 in AnTuTu.

The vast majority of Android phones we’ve owned have exhibited some increased sluggishness over time, so we’ll be interested to see if the U11 slows down. Right now, it’s one of the fastest phones we’ve ever used, and it has more than enough power for most people.

If you’re wondering about storage, the base model offers an ample 64GB with room for expansion via a MicroSD card slot.

Squeeze me

One of the headline features for the HTC U11 is called Edge Sense and it allows you to squeeze the bottom edges of the handset to perform a variety of shortcuts, such as launching the camera, and snapping a photo. You can also configure it to launch Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa, turn on Wi-Fi or the flashlight, record your voice, or launch any other app of your choice.

It’s easy to set up and you’re prompted to try it out when you first turn on your U11. There are sensors running down each side of the phone that start below the power button. You can set the force you’re comfortable using, and vibration feedback as well as an onscreen animation will let you know it’s working. If you find you’re activating it accidentally, you can re-calibrate it to require more force.

If you enable advanced mode, you can set one action for a short squeeze and a different one for a squeeze and hold. This takes a little practice to master. By default, one squeeze will launch the camera and you can squeeze again to snap a photo. This may sound like a bit of a gimmick, but it’s actually a step forward towards a button-less phone design. HTC is trying to ease us gently into the idea with Edge Sense, and we expect further developments in this direction if it proves popular.

We had doubts about its usefulness to begin with, but there are situations where Edge Sense works nicely. The default camera launch is a quick shortcut and the ability to squeeze again to capture a photo, coupled with the reflective back, means you can easily use the rear camera for superior selfies. It also works when the U11’s screen, or your hands, are wet.

If you live somewhere cold and use gloves, then we can see Edge Sense coming in handy once more. It’s not an earth-shattering feature, but it’s interesting, and it’s nice to see HTC is still innovating. As smartphones lose the bezels and buttons, we are going to need new ways of interacting with them and squeezing feels like a natural gesture.

Android and Sense UI

The HTC U11 runs Android 7.1.1 with the Sense user interface on top. It’s not too far away from stock Android, and it will be instantly accessible for anyone who has used Android before. HTC is mostly content to employ Google’s suite of apps instead of doubling up with inferior versions of its own, as some Android manufacturers unfortunately still insist on doing.

Sense Companion is better than expected, but it’s not a reason to buy the phone.

Sense Companion is the most noticeable HTC addition here. It’s another AI assistant (which debuted on the HTC U Ultra), but don’t worry, because you can still long press the fingerprint sensor to launch Google Assistant. Sense Companion doesn’t compete as a voice assistant — it’s like a layer on your smartphone that learns by snooping on your activity (if you choose to allow it), and then offers up suggestions you might like.

AI helpers are often of dubious helpfulness, but much depends on what you expect. During our time with the U11, the Sense Companion reminded us to dress for rain when it was wet, it optimized a few apps to boost battery life, and it recommended some nearby eateries for lunch. It also tracks your activity, providing a weekly step count report, highlights points of interest when you’re out and about, and gives you traffic updates that might impact your commute.

It’s more useful than Google Now with preemptive suggestions, because it pops up over apps as a Facebook Messenger-like chat head. It’s better than expected, but it’s not a reason to buy the phone.

Plenty of stamina

With a battery capacity of 3,000mAh — the same size as the battery in the Galaxy S8 — we expected standard day-long performance, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised. The HTC U11 has no trouble lasting past bedtime, even with heavy use.

Much depends on which apps and games you use, signal strength in your area, and a few other factors, but the U11 seems to have good battery life. On average, it lasts more than a day — we ended a day of average use with about 40 percent remaining.

Speaking of charging, the U11 supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 technology. It juices up fast when the battery is low, but then slows down as it approaches capacity. To give an example, this morning it took half an hour to go from 22 percent to 69 percent, but another hour to reach 100 percent.

We’re a little disappointed that there’s no support for wireless charging, like you’ll find in the S8.

Camera is a contender

Everyone wants a great camera in their smartphone, but it has not been a strong point for HTC over the last few years. That may all be about to change with the U11. This is an excellent camera that gets consistently good results in a variety of different environments and conditions. We’ve really enjoyed our time with it so far.

Early indications that HTC might have got the camera right came from news that DxO Mark awarded it a score of 90, the highest score it has ever given a smartphone camera. For reference, the Google Pixel scored 89, the Galaxy S8 scored 88. and the iPhone 7 scored 86.

The HTC U11 has a 12-megapixel main camera with a large f/1.7 aperture, with Optical Image Stabilization, a dual LED flash, and HDR Boost. Photographers will appreciate the Pro mode with RAW format support.

During our testing in auto mode, we found quickly pointing and shooting with the U11 camera resulted in pleasingly great shots more often than not. It’s very fast to focus, captures a real depth of detail with very little noise, and the colors are vibrant, but realistic.

In sunny conditions, most photos turned out great, and low-light performance is equally impressive. There’s inevitably some blooming with bright lights, but the U11 compares favorably with other smartphone cameras. It’s great for close-ups, too, capturing microscopic details with a solid bokeh effect blurring the background.

The front-facing camera is rated at 16 megapixels with an f/2.0 aperture, HDR Boost support, and 1080p video recording. It’s ideal for video calls and capable of capturing detailed selfies, although we preferred the results when we used the squeeze function to snap selfies with the main camera.

Wired for sound

We were glad to find BoomSound speakers in the HTC U11, though the main speaker is bottom facing — we occasionally had to readjust our fingers to avoid covering it up. The volume and quality is good — for a phone – in fact, it’s one of the loudest phones we’ve ever tested. Call quality and clarity is also solid.

HTC U11 Compared To

Nexus 6

HTC One Remix

Huawei Ascend Mate 2

Samsung Galaxy S5 Active

LG G Flex

LG Optimus G Pro

LG Lucid 2

Motorola Droid Razr HD

Sony Xperia P

LG Optimus 4X HD

HTC One S

Samsung Galaxy S II

Motorola Droid Bionic

Motorola Photon 4G

Google Nexus S

The U11 comes with a pair of fairly comfortable USonic earphones with active noise cancellation in the box with your U11. We were really impressed with the noise cancellation. When music plays, it drowns out the vast majority of background sound from your environment. Movies and TV shows are a lot more immersive with the earphones, too.

Price, availability, and warranty

You can pre-order the unlocked HTC U11 now from HTC or Amazon for $650. You can also pick it up from Sprint on a two-year contract at $29 per month. It will start shipping on June 9.

The HTC U11 comes with a standard limited 2-year warranty that covers manufacturing defects and faulty parts or components, but not accidents. The phone is IP67-rated, which is good because you’re not covered for water damage. Sadly, the U11 is not covered by HTC’s Uh-Oh Protection, which offers a free replacement for cracked screens or water damage when you buy your phone directly from HTC.

Our Take

We’re conflicted on the HTC U11 design. The liquid glass finish is gorgeous and the build quality is generally high, but fingerprint smudges quickly spoil it. The U11 also feels big, with an average display that has too much border around it.

Under the hood, the U11 offers unsurpassed speed and fluidity. The camera is one of the best we’ve used, the audio quality is above average, and we’re satisfied with the battery life. Squeezability is in its infancy, but it’s useful at times and points the way to a possible button-free future.

Is there a better alternative?

The most popular Android smartphone right now is the Samsung Galaxy S8 and there’s little doubt it outclasses the U11 in the style department, but it will cost you at least $100 more. The identically priced LG G6 is an even closer competitor. It’s not as powerful as the U11, but it has a great wide-angle lens and that new 18:9 screen format.

If you’re willing to wait, the OnePlus 5 is likely to offer cutting edge specs for a lower price this summer.

How long will it last?

The HTC U11 should comfortably last you two years, maybe three. It has the latest flavor of Android with Google Assistant onboard, and HTC’s president of smartphones, Chialin Chang, has confirmed that the handset will be updated with at least the next two major Android versions.

It also has the cutting-edge Snapdragon 835 inside, which is Qualcomm’s top chip right now. Based on our testing the U11 is powerful enough to satisfy your every whim for the foreseeable future.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you value substance over style, the HTC U11 is easy to recommend. It’s lightning fast, it delivers compelling audio quality, the camera gets excellent results with no fiddling required, and the battery life is solid. Sense Companion complements Google Assistant and Alexa nicely, and Edge Sense is the innovative cherry on top.

New Acer tablet has quantum dot technology, just like those super-desirable TVs

Why it matters to you

Tablets are awesome for watching movies, so you’d want the best screen possible. Acer’s new model uses the same tech as the best TVs on the market.

If you’ve been looking at a new television recently, you’ve probably come across the phrase “quantum dots,” a technology that enhances the screen’s colors. What you may not know, is you don’t have to buy a TV to enjoy the vibrant joys of quantum dot technology, because Acer has launched a tablet that uses it. It’s the Iconia Tab 10, and here’s what you need to know about it.

Acer’s not giving a massive amount away about the new tablet just yet, having announced it ahead of the Computex 2017 technology show in Taipei, Taiwan, where it will be shown for the first time. The screen almost certainly measures 10 inches, and is an IPS2 LCD panel with Acer’s usual wide viewing angle. We don’t know the resolution yet. The quantum dot technology, according to Acer, gives the display a wider color range with plenty of brightness, deep saturation, and improved color accuracy.

A MediaTek quad-core processor powers Android 7.0 Nougat, which includes a selection of special software tools designed by Acer. Examples include gestures to quickly open an app, a memory and storage cleaner, and guest modes for when you’re handing the tablet over to others.

The body is under 9mm thick, yet still manages to pack in a set of four five-magnet speakers and a special subwoofer, to really make the most of movies and games played on the colorful display. Acer’s MediaMaster visual and audio enhancements let you tune the performance to your liking. Finally, the battery inside will provide up to eight hours of use, and although we can see there’s a camera on the back of the body, the resolution isn’t known.

The Iconia Tab 10 has been announced relatively early. The release is apparently scheduled for October in the United Kingdom, with prices and exact specifications to be confirmed closer to the time. Acer’s also not saying anything about the international availability of the tablet. If quantum dot technology intrigues you, read Digital Trends complete guide on it here.

A ‘parasitic robot’ uses conditioning and LED lights to control a turtle

Why it matters to you

By tapping into animals’ natural instincts, scientists may be able to control their behavior without physically invasive operations.

Scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have made another cyborg turtle. In March, they developed a system that let people control turtles with their minds by maneuvering a blinder to guide the turtle in a desired direction (turtles apparently hate blinders and will move away from them).

Now, they’ve developed a “parasitic robot” that uses LEDs to steer the turtle in certain directions, reports IEEE Spectrum. The device could be used to develop animal-robot hybrids with the natural benefits of a living organism and the controllability of a machine.

Unlike the human-turtle interface, which relied on a barrier to make the animal move in the opposite direction, KAIST’s new method uses positive reinforcement to encourage the animal. With operant conditioning, the turtles are taught to associate a red LED with food by eating their meals next to LEDs for two weeks.

The robot, which attaches to the turtle’s back, hangs five LEDs in front of its face. As in the comic image of a dog chasing a sausage on a string, the turtle moves towards the shining LED, under the expectation of a reward. When the turtle responds correctly, the robot excretes a gel-type food substance from a syringe.

Turtles are great subjects for such experiments thanks to their good eyesight, strong long-term memory, and hard shell, which functions as a platform for the robot. They’re also amphibious creatures, so if and when this technology is used in the real world situation, the turtle wouldn’t be afraid to swim.

But what real world applications could this device possibly have?

Robots have relatively limited mobility and are prone to break down. Building a robot that can traverse a pile of rubble, for example, is tough. While turtles aren’t the fastest or most mobile animals around, they may still be able to access areas that robots can’t, allowing them to assist in things like search-and-rescue missions.

Just to be clear, the researchers ensured that the animals were cared for under international guidelines for animal well-being.

OnePlus 3T will continue to be on sale in India until ‘later this year’

OnePlus 3T isn’t getting discontinued in India.

OnePlus announced yesterday that it would discontinue the OnePlus 3T in global markets to make way for its 2017 flagship. With the OnePlus 5 slated to launch sometime next month, OnePlus is undoubtedly looking to ramp up production of its upcoming phone.

While the OnePlus 3T won’t be available once the current stock runs out in global markets, Indian customers will be able to pick up both the 64GB and 128GB variants of the handset from Amazon India, OnePlus’ own website, and its retail store in Bangalore until “later this year.”

In a statement, OnePlus said:

The OnePlus 3T (both 64GB and 128GB variants) will continue to be available for purchase in India until later this year. OnePlus products and accessories are available through all three official sales channels, including oneplusstore.in, Amazon.in and the OnePlus Experience Store in Bangalore.

There’s a reason why OnePlus wants to continue selling the OnePlus 3T even after the OnePlus 5 launches in the country, and it has to do with pricing. The OnePlus 5 is rumored with a dual-camera setup at the back, a QHD display, and will be the first phone in India to be powered by the Snapdragon 835. With the OnePlus 3T selling for ₹29,999 ($465), it is clear that the OnePlus 5 will retail at a higher price point.

Pricing alone determines how well a product does in India — and if the OnePlus 5 costs ₹35,000 ($540) or more, there’s a very real possibility that customers wouldn’t be interested in picking up the phone. By making the OnePlus 3T available, the company is providing an alternative. It’s also the reason why India is one of the few markets where you can still pick up the OnePlus 3.

OnePlus didn’t provide a specific timeframe for when sales of the OnePlus 3T will cease in the country, but we’ll let you know once we hear more.

OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 3

• OnePlus 3T review: Rekindling a love story
• OnePlus 3T vs. OnePlus 3: What’s the difference?
• OnePlus 3T specs
• Latest OnePlus 3 news
• Discuss OnePlus 3T and 3 in the forums

OnePlus
Amazon

Hello Motorola: The oldest phone maker plans its grand comeback

Motorola is aggressively trying to court phone buyers with old ideas and new tricks.

By Motorola’s own admission, it wasn’t in a great spot just a year ago. Its third-generation Moto X line hadn’t sold quite as well as previous years despite enormous technical improvements, and the integration into newish owner Lenovo had been hitting some bumps.

Chief among them was how to integrate Motorola’s brand equity and enormous technical mastery into Lenovo’s sprawling worldwide distribution network. Would Motorola be subsumed into Lenovo, leaving just remnants of the world-renowned phone maker, or would Lenovo let Motorola stand on its own, as previous owner Google managed to do.

When the company unveiled its Moto Z lineup last June, consisting of the ultra-thin Moto Z and ultra-strong Moto Z Force, more emphasis was placed on the accompanying modular attachments — Moto Mods, as they’re called — than the phones themselves. Sure, the Moto Z was the first phone in the U.S. to remove the headphone jack, reportedly necessitated by its ultra-slim design, but design aside, the story was more about the platform than the hardware.

The unveiling itself was also new for Motorola, as it was part of Lenovo’s annual Tech World showcase; previous hardware unveilings had been separate, even well after the Chinese company’s acquisition of Motorola from Google in 2014. It seemed likely that, while the Moto brand was to live on in the phones themselves, Motorola as a phone company would slowly disappear, subsumed into its parent company’s market dominance.

But that isn’t happening. According to Jan Huckfeldt, Motorola’s chief marketing officer, Motorola is not only poised for a comeback, but the entire Lenovo smartphone strategy is rallying around the brand, which, he says, is one of the most recognizable in the world.

The Motorola name isn’t going anywhere. In fact, soon it’s all you’ll see.

“A year ago, we weren’t in a good spot,” he tells Android Central during a press briefing in New York in late May. “We didn’t really handle the challenges [of being integrated into a larger company] well.” Despite the success of phones like the Moto G series in countries like Brazil, where Motorola holds over 20% market share, the company lacked a unifying message for all of its smartphones. Was it a Lenovo Moto G? A Motorola Moto Z? Or just a Moto X, no company necessary? In India, for example, Lenovo and Motorola not only sold side by side, but in some areas competed; the Moto E3 Power went up against Lenovo’s Vibe K6, while the more expensive Moto G series stood next to the Lenovo Z2 Plus.

Technology companies are generally comfortable disrupting and cannibalizing their own product lines as long as the sales stay within the company, but Huckfeldt acknowledges that a lack of a unifying message was confusing consumers in a market that was already overwhelmed by choice.

“On average, people consider two brands when shopping for something like a phone. They go in and they have something in mind already.” Motorola, he says, is distinctive and has a heritage that people like. They know the brand, but more than that they have good memories of it — a simpler time, before smartphones and social media and information overload.

So Motorola is going all in on… Motorola. On phones, it’s phasing out the Lenovo name in all countries but India, where the Chinese vendor has significant marketing sway, and it’s no longer going to hide the brand that brought you the RAZR. Don’t worry, Lenovo’s tablets and laptops aren’t going anywhere.

“Where they zig, we’re going to zag.”

Huckfeldt also points out that Motorola is not resting on nostalgia alone; while the current advertising campaigns harken back to the good ol’ days of “Hello Moto,” the assets themselves have been refreshed and made more colorful and aggressive. He notes the industry’s tendency to follow Apple into minimalism; Motorola is pushing back against that, choosing to align itself with what Huckfeldt calls “techcentrics,” the early adopters that lead a brand out of obscurity. Because as much as Motorola has maintained its identifiability, its smartphone share has dwindled in North America as Samsung and LG have become the de facto Android brands.

“Where they zig, we’re going to zag,” he says. “When less is more, we want ‘more is more.’” Huckfeldt believes that, along with better phones themselves, two elements are going to capture people’s attention: the well-regarded “batwing logo,” which like the Motorola name itself has been repurposed with a more flexible, modern aesthetic; and the aforementioned “Hello Moto” pneumonic device, which is not only present in every television commercial but (annoyingly) front and center each time a Moto phone boots up.

Relying on its well-worn brand assets while unifying its product line appears to be working. Motorola has sold more Moto G5s in Latin America than all the previous Moto G versions combined, and had the best first-day sales in India to date.

Some of the marketing efforts haven’t been particularly well received — a most recent ad called The Designers imagines two German designers throwing darts at an iPhone-like phone cutout to decide what to change next — but the message is clear: your phone is probably boring, and Motorola has something exciting.

That something exciting, the Moto Z line, is, a year later, still fairly fresh, though it remains to be seen how the company supports the Mods program in 2017 and beyond. Curiously, Motorola likely knew it was painting itself into a design corner when it committed to support the Moto Mods platform on the current Moto Z line for at least two years, which means we already know the size of the next flagship, for better or worse. And while Motorola has found some success with the Moto Z, boasting sales of two million units between the Z, Z Force and enthusiast favorite, Z Play, those numbers are still quite small even compared to its own far more conservative Moto G lineup.

If rumors and recent announcements are to be believed, Motorola will take steps to further unify the look of its Moto line this year, so a €99 Moto C should be visually indistinguishable from a $699 Moto Z. “We want everyone to immediately recognize a Motorola phone,” says Huckfeldt. He also wants everyone to recognize a Motorola commercial, a Motorola logo and a Motorola soundbite. The idea in 2017, he says, is to overwhelm people with Motorola — to remind phone buyers and technology fans alike that the company is present, innovative, and relentlessly different. That alone isn’t going to sell phones, but it’s true that the Motorola name is considerably more ubiquitous than it has been since it was acquired by Lenovo, and despite significant executive overhaul there are enough people at the top with experience and wherewithal enough to understand what needs to change and what doesn’t.

Even a year in, it’s not clear how history will treat Motorola’s decision to bet the farm on snap-on modules, but what is clear is that the company is already hedging. While nothing has been shared publicly just yet, a leaked slide from what appears to be in internal presentation shows what appears to be the impending launch of a new Moto X, which would sit above the mid-range G line while eschewing the modularity of the Zs. Along with a newly-launched Moto C and rumors of a refreshed Moto E, Motorola could have, by year’s end, a suite of similar-looking, uniformly-branded phones, catering each one for a particular market.

“We wanted to make better use of what we had,” says Huckfeldt, referring to the Motorola name and logo as world-class assets.

“This is a premium brand. People respect it.”

Moto Z2 Play pictures and further specs revealed, Snapdragon 626 and 3,000mAh battery confirmed

Earlier this week, pictures and some specifications of the forthcoming Moto Z2 Play smartphone were found on the website of the TENAA, China’s mobile certification agency.

Now further alleged specs have been revealed, thanks to a posting on GeekBench.

It is said that the handset was tested by an unknown individual using GeekBench benchmarking software and the results were subsequently posted online. If true (and not from a prototype or dummy), it seems the Moto Z2 Play will come with an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 processor, running at 2.21GHz. It will also have 4GB of RAM.

GeekBench

The previous TENAA posting revealed the front, sides and rear of the forthcoming device and the page listed specifications not on GeekBench.

According to the communications regulator, the phone will measure 156.2 x 76.2 x 5.99mm and weigh 145g. It will also come in either black or white, which sort-of matches the previous picture leak (which showed a white-fronted handset with a gold rear casing).

Lenovo / TENAA

It will have a 5.49-inch (5.5-inch, basically) OLED screen with a Full HD, 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution.

Android 7.1.1 will be installed from the off, and the storage space on the device will be 64GB.

The listing also suggests that the rear camera will sport a 12-megapixel sensor.

One bone of contention is the battery size. The TENAA lists it as 2,820mAh, as rated by the agency. However, as with the previous leak, Lenovo has confirmed that it’s actually, fractionally larger than that.

An official tweet from manufacturer Lenovo, posted on Friday 20 May, states that the battery size will be 3,000mAh, as previously thought.

@AnbhuleAnant Hi Anant. Moto Z2 Play has Non-removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery. Auxen_Lenovo

— Lenovo (@lenovo) May 20, 2017

That’s still smaller than the phone’s predecessor, which had a 3,150mAh battery, but maybe there’s more cunning battery saving techniques at play (no pun intended).

We expect to find out more soon, with the Moto Z2 Play tipped for release in the coming weeks.

What is Pokemon Magikarp Jump and how do you play it?

There’s a new Pokemon game out on Android and iOS, bringing another little fix of Pokemon fun for you. This one, as the name suggests, is all about magikarp.

Considered to be the weakest and potentially least exciting Pokemon character of them all, the game focuses on bringing a little more excitement to the world of magikarp, so that critter you basically ignored in Pokemon Go, gets the chance to have some love.

Fortunately it’s all wrapped in Pokemon charm, with crazy music and plenty to do. Here’s everything you need to know about Magikarp Jump.

What’s the point of Magikarp Jump?

Like other Pokemon games, Magikarp Jump is about catching, training and competing. Note we don’t say battling, because the competition is based around seeing how high you can get your magikarp to jump.

The aim, therefore, is to look after your magikarp: catch a good ‘karp, feed it, train it and finally compete with it, until it’s time to retire it and start again.

The competition itself is simple and involves very little actual skill, you just press the jump button and your Magikarp jumps, aiming to jump higher than your competitor. If you jump higher you win, you progress up the ladder, gain XP as a trainer and collect bonus coins.

Simple huh? It’s not quite as simple as that.

Understanding your magikarp’s stats

There are two elements to your magikarp, there’s JP – jump power – and there’s the character level. The character level defines the size of your Pokemon, growing as you continue to eat.

Magikarp level

When you catch a new magikarp it will have a particular level and JP. The level that you can power your magikarp up to will be defined by the XP of your trainer: the more you battle, the higher the maximum level your magikarp can be and the bigger it will grow.

As your magikarp gets bigger, other things happen, like any patterning will become clearer. There aren’t just orange Pokemon, there’s a wide range of different patterns. You’ll be rewarded for this growth with additional diamonds or coins, which you can spend in town to buy other elements in town – for example buying decorations or friendship items which can aid in training or growth.

Jump power

Jump power (JP) is really what it’s all about, because when you go head-to-head with an opponent, you need to make sure you can out-jump them.

Jump power is slowly raised by getting your magikarp to eat the various berries that appear in its pond, through training, as well as through the help of friends. You can, for example, have Pikachu on your team, adding jump bonuses to help you along. But there’s a lot to training and growing your JP, which is what the game is really all about.

How to train a winning magikarp and raise JP

Training makes the biggest difference to the jump power of your magikarp so you’ll need to put that fish on a good regime to raise the JP at a rapid pace.

You can only train when you have Training Points, which gives the game a time element – you can’t just slam a load of training, you’ll have to wait for TP to be restored before you can train again, to keep you coming back.

Training exercises are randomly picked and you don’t actually have to do anything, you go to the training and get your bonus once it is complete, however, you can improve the performance of your training:

• Coins can be used to upgrade the training effect and increase your JP faster
• Coins can be used to upgrade the food in the pond to raise your JP faster
• As your trainer XP level raises, you get access to more types of training
• Diamonds can be used to buy training or performance aids and power ups
• Retired magikarp in your pond can provide a boost to JP

Time is a big factor in Magikarp Jump. We’ve mentioned that training is limited by those points, but if you don’t win in competitions, you’ll find you can’t compete either. You can buy LP Restore or Training Soda from Town using diamonds, which helps understand the economics of the game: the more coins and diamonds you have, the more you can boost training effects by upgrading everything.

Is Magikarp Jump free?

The game itself is free, but it uses what’s called the freemium model, offering in-app payments to give you benefits that would take you a long time to earn in the game.

You can play Magikarp Jump free without having to part with any real money and this is what you should aim to do. That means playing more, collecting the coins and diamonds you earn along the way and exchanging them for the bonuses in Town.

If you really can’t wait, there are in-app purchase options for more coins and diamonds, as well as an exchange system so you can trade one thing for the other. The purchasing options work just as they do in other games: if you want to spend a load of real cash you can, but you really don’t need to – just play the game and the rewards will come.

What about random encounters?

This is actually the part of Magikarp Jump that’s the most interesting. There are a wide range of random encounters that happen and bring some variety or a little boost. You might lose a jump and someone will come and restore a TP with a little praise, so you can train and get back out there.

In your pond you might find other interlopers that deposit a load of food for you, so you can munch up everything. Other times you’ll just be given stuff that you can sell or use to give you boosts in other areas.

It’s this random element that brings interest, because it takes some time playing the game before you really get to see what it’s all about.

Is Magikarp Jump as good as Pokemon Go?

We’d say no. While both lean heavily on the world of Pokemon, Pokemon Go’s magic really lies in the magic of discovery and that real-world exploration and gathering element. Magikarp Jump takes a pretty tame Pokemon character and builds an interesting world around them.

But Magikarp Jump is addictive, because there’s so much to collect and so much progress to be made, unlocking things along the way. It’s the sort of game you and dip in and out of constantly so it’s sure to be a surefire hit with kids. The simplicity also means it’s great for younger players.

Once you get to the end and complete a competition, your ‘karp then retires to your pond and the process repeats, with your trainer and benefits slowly increasing.

Magikarp Jump is available for Android and iOS right now.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 front panel leaked in video, confirms Infinity Display.

Following the dummy version of the Galaxy Note 8 that leaked earlier this week, a video claiming to show the front panel of Samsung’s upcoming phablet has been posted to YouTube, courtesy of Slashleaks.

• Samsung Galaxy Note 8: What’s the story so far?

The panel shows what was already believed to be the case anyway, that the Galaxy Note 8 will have the same Infinity Display as its Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus cousins. That means no physical buttons to be found anywhere on the front, instead just a full screen. It’s claimed the Note 8 will come with a 6.3-inch display, only 0.1-inches bigger than the S8 Plus. As with any leak and rumour, this one should also be taken with a pinch of salt, as the only thing that suggests it’s the panel from the Note 8 is some writing on a note on the table. Not exactly what you could call ‘official’, then.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is expected to be the first Samsung phone to adopt a dual-lens camera on the back. This is something that has only been suggested by usually reliable leakster Ming-Chi Kuo, but is further backed up with the dummy model that was recently outed. The model is thought to be one sent to a case manufacturer and clearly shows a vertically-arranged, dual-lens camera on the rear.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is expected to be the first Samsung phone to adopt a dual-lens camera on the back. This is something that has only been suggested by usually reliable leakster Ming-Chi Kuo, but is further backed up with the dummy model that was recently outed. The model is thought to be one sent to a case manufacturer and clearly shows a vertically-arranged, dual-lens camera on the rear.

• Samsung Galaxy Note 8 dummy show vertical dual-lens camera
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8 to be the first Samsung phone with a dual camera
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8 said to have 6.3-inch 18.5:9 screen

As you’ll be all too familiar with by now, the Galaxy Note 8 has a lot of pressure on its shoulders, as it needs to recover from the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7. All eyes will be on the phablet when it’s released, most likely in September, so Samsung needs to pull out all the stops.

Volvo V90 review: An effortlessly modern and elegant estate car

Unless you’re a fully paid-up Volvo hater (and we’ve found a few), then it’s hard not to admire what the Swedish company is doing at the moment. The “human-made” advertising campaign cuts to the heart of the brand’s Scandinavian design appeal and marks a point of change in the brand’s portfolio.

For years there’s been a genuine lack of alternatives in the premium car space, with the “default” BMW 5-Series, Mercedes E-Class and Audi A6 being the obvious go-to choices. But Volvo has recently and rather suddenly got its act together in a way which just might upset that German applecart. For the new V90 is a great car (as is its saloon sister, the S90).

The aforementioned Beemer and Merc have each just been refreshed and are truly astounding products — sophisticated and dripping with tech — so to see the Volvo D5 Powerpulse AWD Inscription model (as tested here) compete in a different way, shows that Volvo is on top form.

Volvo V90 review: The antithesis of the turbo brick

Of course, Volvo estates have always been different. Their unapologetically square aesthetic — complete with upright tailgate — always gave them a unique appeal throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s models. It made Volvo estates beloved of antique dealers and upper-middle class families. Because of the engine hanging out front, these cars were known as the “turbo brick”.

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Then Volvo stagnated, BMW and Audi took over the mantle of being the preferred transport of upwardly mobile European families. Their angled rear-screens meant the 5-Series Touring and A6 Avant were less commodious in the boot than a V70 or V90, but few cared — factors such as image, performance and technology made the German cars more appealing.

The V90 is Volvo’s newest riposte. While it may ditch that upright screen and not even have the biggest boot in its class, objectively it represents a far more appealing proposition than Volvos of old.

The form is much easier to love, and by a turning of the tables, the V90 manages to be a far better resolved piece of estate car design than either the new 5-Series or E-class with their fussy detailing and occasionally afterthought estate attributes.

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Simply put: the Volvo estate now isn’t a square turbo brick. It’s effortlessly modern, elegant, impeccably resolved.

Volvo V90 review: No apologies needed

Up front, the Thor’s hammer headlamps which debuted on XC90 make a second appearance — presenting a face for which apologies are no longer needed. It’s distinct and commanding, so the V90 will clear a fast lane as well as any Audi. But it doesn’t resort to the naked aggression of the German cars.

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Step inside the V90 and the difference becomes even more marked. Instead of the stark, black-plus-black business suit of a traditional executive car, you can go down the spec route of our test car — high quality blonde leather, fine crystal-cut aluminium bezel details and modern, open-grain wood.

One benefit of Volvo’s touch-based Sensus in-car technology system is that it cleans up the cabin environment, presenting a space that isn’t bewilderingly full of buttons.

Dropping down into the leather chairs, the V90’s environment seems to have borrowed from the historic approach of ones of its core rivals. Mercedes-Benz used to say of its car interiors, that they should lower your heart rate by 10 beats per minute. The clam, warm, reassuring qualities of the new Volvo’s interiors do just that too.

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We can’t think of a car interior the small side of £100k that has the ability to make you feel as good as when sat in the V90.

Volvo V90 review: Design front and centre

So Volvo has succeeded in generating a very appealing car, before you even turn the wheel.

But this is supposed to be the part where we tell you the Volvo is terrible to drive and actually you should just buy a German car anyway, right? Well, when you do drive the Volvo in anger, it remains consistent in its design approach, by prioritising calm, refined progress over dynamic excellence.

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Many who are stepping out of the more powerful versions of 5-Series, E-Class and A6 are likely to feel that the Volvo is a step backwards in the driving experience it offers. With their adaptive suspension set-ups, the German cars certain ride and steer with greater panache. The V90 uses a very unusual rear spring set-up and is sometimes caught out by road conditions, yet most of the time comfort is the standout quality of the drive. So long as you don’t start trying to drive it on its door handles it remains composed.

The greatest issue for those switching from German brands is likely to be the engine. The D5 Powerpulse (so named because the engine features a novel anti-turbo lag design), produces 235bhp — which is not unimpressive from its 4-cylinder, 2.0-litre capacity. In general, it’s refined and fast enough — 0-60mph takes 6.9 seconds, which isn’t too shabby. Compared to a BMW straight six-diesel however, the Volvo’s diesel engine lacks culture, lacks firepower and isn’t as economical (it returned 45mpg in our hands, but that included 300 miles of motorway). We await with keen interest the arrival of the T8 plug-in hybrid petrol version.

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Nonetheless, four-wheel drive on this model makes for easy, unflappable progress in all-weather conditions and the Volvo has appealing big-car stability.

Volvo V90 review: An assault on the Sensus

Using the 9-inch centre portrait touchscreen and 12-inch TFT driver display in-car entertainment system, the V90’s experience is little changed from the XC90 that we drove in 2015.

That means that the V90 is an interesting, but ultimately mixed-bag from an on-board technology point of view. Most things you might want, in spec-terms, you get as standard. The large touchscreen has multi-touch capabilities (pinch-to-zoom and so forth), but because it’s actually an infra-red screen tech, you can use it with gloves on.

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A head-up display (HUD) is an option (but wasn’t fitted to this review car), as is Apple CarPlay (£300) and Volvo’s Pilot Assist technology (featured as standard) will do the driving for you in certain circumstances.

Because the V90’s hardware is relatively new and clearly backed by decent-spec processors and memory, it all works and responds quickly. The way things are set out means it’s quite easy to use even for a first timer. The lack of physical buttons means you’re relatively limited in the choice of things to adjust unless you want to go delving into sub-menus (which is a good thing), and you do still get some physical touchpoints such as a volume knob (again, a good thing).

On-screen buttons are big, the graphic aesthetic is clean and congruent with the rest of the interior. Spend some miles behind the wheel actually using it and you’ll discover quirks that sometimes become irks. The UI design is very wireframe-like, which means it lacks much in the way of finesse or colour/grading to help you out when using it at a glance on the move. Notably, it looks like in the next update of this system will address this (which will debut on the XC60).

Layout and logic are other bug-bears: the screen layout hops about from menu-to-menu page, so it’s hard to learn consistently where on-screen buttons are likely to be, particularly once you get past the initial pages.

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Despite online connectivity, programming the satellite navigation system can be a frustratingly time-consuming faff — with the Volvo system insisting you enter things in a set order which it prescribes. Despite online connectivity and search options, it repeatedly failed to find some very obvious, well known landmarks. Happily, getting your phone running through the system is easy and the large, 9-inch screen means the V90 allows you to run Apple CarPlay in one segment of the window, while having other car-native apps visible in the other sections of the screen.

We’d like to see the option of a little more variation in the cluster arrangement (for instance, to reduce content to just display speed, much in the same way that Peugeot now offers). Also the sat nav map and turns integration in the cluster is graphically woefully compared to what Audi offers.

Volvo V90 review: A premium price tag

Volvo’s ascension to the premium big league is confirmed by the V90’s price. Rather than undercutting an Audi A6, BMW 5-Series or Mercedes E-Class, the V90 goes toe-to-toes with them.

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Assuming you can get over any brand snobbery this seems entirely reasonable, and the standard equipment list is generous: that 9-inch Sensus system, sat nav, connected services, 8-speed auto box, LED lights, leather upholstery, pilot assist, adaptive cruise control, a powered boot, heated seats and of course Volvo’s famed safety qualities are all standard.

But it’s tricky not to review a premium car without referring to the all-important options list. Our test car came with nearly £10,000 of options, but we don’t think they made a great difference to the core experience or verdict. Some £5000-worth were made up of the Xenium pack: £2k for panoramic roof, 360-degree park camera and park pilot; plus £3k for the Bowers and Wilkins sound system.

We’d stick to the Winter Plus pack, for adaptive lights, heated wheel, nozzle jets (£925), CarPlay (£300, a price that feels mean given it’s standard on low-spec Seat and Skoda cars) and the 19-inch alloys (£700), which set the design off nicely.

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Notably, this D5 Inscription V90 is above the new £40k threshold for an additional £310 per year. And it is unlikely to be the one which makes sense for company car drivers — the combination of the D5 engine and all-wheel drive system tip the CO2 to 129g/km, whereas the front-drive D4 is 119g/km.

For those with more generous budgets or un-encumbered by tax regimes, the D5 is the one to have though — we’ve briefly driven a D4 and the extra 45 horsepower and all-wheel drive (AWD) make the D5 experience preferable on the road.

Verdict

Not only is the V90 a likeable car, it’s a talented car — which is illustrative of Volvo’s new found premium qualities.

Ok, so the Volvo doesn’t outpoint a BMW 5-Series or Mercedes E-Class in many areas, but what makes it likeable is its confidence to tread a different path. While certain recent cars we could mention feel like they have been so closely benchmarked against German opposition that they almost lose their own character (cough, Jaguar and Alfa), the V90 says “here’s a different way”. We like that.

The V90 is spacious, supremely refined and comfortable, and in this D5 AWD guise it’s possible to cover ground very quickly. The luxe interior, with its competitive tech, will make you feel better about life every time you step into it, too, and we happen to think this is the best looking large estate car out there.

By normal automotive journalism standards, the V90 isn’t top of the class. But perhaps it’s time to assess things in a different way. If you’re looking for an antithesis of the go-faster, aggressive, hyper-competitive executive world, it’s well worth trying the Scandanavian option.