Apple made it likelier you’ll get an App Store review reply

Most App Store users don’t leave negative ratings to be jerks — rather, they may have just had trouble figuring out an app or felt it was missing a key feature. If the developers spot the issue and can deal with it, they can turn a bad user score into a good one and educate other customers at the same time. To help, Apple has made it easier for developers by adding a new role in the iTunes Connect portal called “Customer Service.”

Up until March 2017 with iOS 10.3 and MacOS 10.12.4, Apple developers couldn’t reply at all to user reviews, even though Google Play devs had the ability starting in 2012. That put Apple sellers at a significant disadvantage, as it couldn’t follow up with complaints or, conversely, thank users for good reviews — two key parts of customer service.

The ability to respond to reviews was a welcome change, but Apple’s early implementation meant that developers had to assign customer service agents admin, legal or marketing status. That could give lower-level employees access to sensitive parts of the App Store, which is not ideal for security purposes.

Now, devs can get their best customer service people on the App Store, both on iOS and MacOS. It’s a bigger deal than it sounds — Google found that replying to reviews helps boost scores by 0.7 stars on average, a 14 percent improvement.

Via: 9 to 5 Mac

Source: Apple

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 debuts in India with Snapdragon 625 and 5300mAh battery

The Mi Max 2 combines a large screen with an even larger battery.

At an event in New Delhi, Xiaomi launched the Mi Max 2 in India. The phone’s main selling point is its large form factor, which at 6.44 inches puts it squarely in phablet territory. The Mi Max 2 also has a massive 5300mAh battery, with Xiaomi touting two-day battery life from a full charge.

The 6.44-inch LCD display has a Full HD resolution, and the device is powered by a Snapdragon 625 chipset clocked at 2.0GHz. There’s 4GB of RAM on offer, along with 64GB of storage as well as a microSD slot. The key differentiator from last year’s Mi Max is the design, with the Mi Max 2 looking much more polished thanks to the anodized aluminum chassis.

Other specs include a 12MP camera (Sony IMX386) at the back with 1.25-micron pixels and f/2.2 lens, 5MP front shooter, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, and an IR blaster. The 5300mAh battery offers Quick Charge 3.0, allowing you to charge up to 68% in just over an hour.

The Mi Max 2 will retail for ₹16,999, continuing Xiaomi’s aggressive pricing strategy in India. The phone will be going up for sale starting July 27, and will be sold at thousands of retail stores across the country on the same day. Xiaomi has also teamed up with Jio to offer up to 100GB of 4G data to those picking up the Mi Max 2.

To know more about the device, be sure to take a look at our detailed review:

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 review: Bigger is better

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 review: Bigger is better

With a 6.44-inch display and a massive 5300mAh battery, Xiaomi’s latest phablet is the ideal device for consuming multimedia on the go.

Last year’s Mi Max was Xiaomi’s first attempt at a phone with a screen size over 6 inches. The phone wasn’t the company’s first phablet, however, with the 5.7-inch Mi Note making its debut back in 2015. While the Mi Note was a flagship device, the Mi Max was targeted at the budget segment and primarily catered to those looking to consume multimedia on the go.

And the plan worked — Xiaomi sold over 3 million units of the Mi Max over the course of the last year. To understand why there’s a market for a phone that’s almost the size of a tablet, you need to know the socioeconomic factors at play. For millions of Indians, a phone is their primary gateway to the internet. As such, customers tend to prefer a device with a large screen, sort of a portable all-in-one that allows them to watch videos and movies, play games, and read books on the go.

Widespread rollout of 4G with the launch of Jio — which gave away unlimited data to hundreds of millions of customers for free — boosted the country’s cellular data consumption, and healthy competition in the budget segment made smartphones affordable. Easy availability of 4G combined with the rollout of video streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video made it possible for consumers to stream videos on the go for the first time, and that ultimately led to more interest in large-screened devices.

Retailing for just ₹16,999, the Mi Max 2 offers incredible value for money. Does the device have what it takes to be the ideal multimedia phone? Let’s find out.

About this review

I (Harish Jonnalagadda) am writing this review after using the Mi Max 2 for two weeks in Hyderabad, India on Jio’s 4G network, with usage spread across two devices. The phone picked up a stability update with bug fixes two days into the review period, and is currently running a MIUI 8.5 build based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. It is on the May 01, 2017 security patch. The device is an Indian retail unit provided to Android Central for review by Xiaomi India.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Specs

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Hardware

The first-generation Mi Max was utilitarian, and its design reflected that. However, that isn’t the case with the Mi Max 2. With 2.5D curved glass at the front and smooth flowing curves round the back, along with a unibody anodized aluminum build, the phone certainly has an upmarket look.

The design is also consistent with other Xiaomi phones launched this year, but the Mi Max 2 isn’t just a larger version of the Redmi Note 4. While it has the same finish, particularly in the matte black variant, the antenna bands have been moved to the top and bottom of the phone, giving it a cleaner look at the back. The phone will be sold in a matte black color option in India, which is a smart move by the company as the black version certainly looks much more enticing than the gold model.

The power and volume buttons are located to the right, and the speaker is located at the bottom. There’s a secondary speaker tucked into the earpiece that adds to the soundstage, and the configuration is similar to that of the HTC U11. The speaker combination gets sufficiently loud, and it doesn’t get distorted at high volumes.

Unlike the Mi 6, the Mi Max 2 offers a 3.5mm jack, which is located at the top of the phone. Infrared sensors have been a mainstay on Xiaomi phones for several years now, and that hasn’t changed with the Mi Max 2, allowing you to control your TV, air conditioner, or set-top box with the phone. There’s also a fingerprint sensor located at the back, and its location just beneath the camera sensor makes it easy to access with your index finger when holding the device one-handed. The sensor itself is fast to authenticate, and I haven’t had any issues with it. Considering the screen size, however, Pixel-style gestures for bringing down the notification shade would’ve been great.

Samsung managed to fit a 6.3-inch screen in the form factor of a 5.5-inch phone with the Galaxy S8 Plus, but there’s no such bezel-less display on offer with the Mi Max 2. This is a big phone, and you notice it from the moment you switch on the display. The 6.44-inch screen uses an LCD panel, like most Xiaomi phones, and while colors aren’t as saturated as what you’d find on AMOLED, there’s plenty to like here.

You can hold the Mi Max 2 in one hand, but you’re not going to be able to use it one-handed.

The device gets sufficiently bright to be viewable in direct sunlight, colors are accurate, and viewing angles are excellent. You can adjust the contrast levels, and there’s also the option to toggle sRGB mode. In short, this is the closest you’re going to get to a tablet-style form factor while still retaining the ability to make and receiving calls. The large screen is great for viewing video and playing games, and the dual speaker configuration makes it an enjoyable experience.

The curves at the back and the sleek 7.6mm profile make the Mi Max 2 easier to hold, but you’re not going to be able to use it one-handed. Thankfully, MIUI allows you to shrink the size of the screen down to a more manageable size — you can choose between 4.5 inches, 4.0, or 3.5 inches.

The Mi Max 2 is powered by the Snapdragon 625 and comes with 4GB of RAM, along with 64GB of storage. The Snapdragon 625 does a good job of crunching through everyday tasks, and while you’ll notice the odd stutter in visually demanding games, you won’t notice any slowdowns in browsing or when it comes to viewing videos.

Battery life

While the screen size is the same as last year, Xiaomi managed to cram an even larger 5300mAh battery into the chassis. The battery on the Mi Max 2 is in fact larger than that of the Mi 5000mAh Power Bank, and Xiaomi fit in a screen and the rest of the internal hardware in a chassis that’s thinner at 7.6mm (the Mi Power Bank comes in at 9.9mm). The battery combined with the large screen makes for a potent combination, particularly if you’re interested in viewing a lot of multimedia content.

Xiaomi touts 18 hours of video playback, 19 hours of reading time, 10 days of music playback, and 9 hours of gaming with the Mi Max 2. That’s in line with what I’ve seen in the two weeks I used the Mi Max 2 — the phone easily lasts two days on a full charge with moderate use, with screen-on time exceeding 10 hours consistently. This is tablet-class territory, and the Mi Max 2 is in fact better than most 7-inch tablets when it comes to battery life. And you won’t look as weird taking calls on the Mi Max 2.

The battery life on the Mi Max 2 is nothing short of astounding.

Standby time is similarly excellent, and even if you’re one to use cellular data throughout the day, you’re not going to notice a sharp decline in battery life. More importantly, the Mi Max 2 offers Quick Charge 3.0 over USB-C, allowing you to charge up to 68% of the battery’s capacity in just over an hour, or enough juice to last an entire day.

As always, you can always maximize battery life by limiting background apps, and MIUI will give you suggestions based on your usage patterns to eke out the most out of the 5300mAh battery. That said, unless you’re streaming video throughout the day or gaming non-stop for over eight hours, you’re not going to run out of battery on the Mi Max 2 any time soon. Finally, Xiaomi noted at the launch event that the Mi Max 2 beat out the Nokia 3310 when it comes to battery life.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Software

Like the Mi 6, the Mi Max 2 is running the latest build of MIUI 8.5 based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. The update is slated to roll out to Xiaomi’s older devices shortly, but it’s great that the Mi Max 2 is running Nougat out of the box. That said, the main drawback with the phone in terms of software — and one that’s a letdown considering its screen size — is the ability to use multi-window mode.

MIUI doesn’t offer a split-screen mode by default, and even though the feature is baked into Nougat, Xiaomi hasn’t implemented it yet in its Nougat-based builds of MIUI. That said, the company has announced at the launch event that it is rolling out split-screen mode in the latest beta build of MIUI, and the feature should make its way to the stable release in the coming weeks.

The Mi Max 2 doesn’t have split-screen mode yet, but it’s rolling out today.

There’s no way to restore apps from your Google account when setting up the device, with Xiaomi instead relying on its own Mi Cloud service. If you’ve used a Xiaomi device in the past, you’ll be able to restore content and settings stored in the Mi Cloud onto the Mi Max 2. You do get the option to choose between Swiftkey or Gboard when setting up the phone.

Then there’s the usual bells and whistles — you can run two apps simultaneously, there’s a built-in video editor in the gallery, and you get an audio recorder as well as a QR reader. You can also take scrolling screenshots, and use a three-finger gesture to take a screenshot, much like OxygenOS. Quick ball also comes in handy, allowing you to launch apps with ease.

MIUI has thousands of themes that let you customize every facet of the interface, and with the Mi Max 2 Xiaomi is rolling out a new theme that gives you an enhanced version of Quick ball through which you can launch up to 21 apps directly from the lock screen.

There’s also a blue light filter that prevents strain on your eyes when viewing the screen at night. The feature is dubbed Reading mode, but unlike what you get on the OnePlus 5, it doesn’t turn the screen monochrome — it alters the color temperature of the display to warmer hues. Given the screen size of the Mi Max 2, it would’ve been ideal had the device offered a similar monochrome mode for reading text.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Camera

The Mi Max 2 uses the same primary camera sensor as the Mi 6 (Sony’s IMX 386). Xiaomi used different imaging sensors in each of its devices last year, which led to vastly varying results. This time around, the brand is reusing sensors to make the camera quality consistent across devices in the same segment.

That said, there’s no OIS in the Mi Max 2. The phone takes detailed images in daylight conditions, and Auto HDR makes a noticeable difference. However, shots in low light or artificial lighting conditions have a lot of noise. Furthermore, the phone takes a few seconds to process images, so you won’t be able to take a series of shots in a hurry.

The camera in the Mi Max 2 is a definite step up from the first-gen model, but the performance in low-light conditions isn’t quite there with the likes of the Mi 6.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Bottom line

Xiaomi has managed to carve out a niche for itself with the first-gen Mi Max, and with the Mi Max 2, the brand has refined its model for the ultimate phablet. The all-metal anodized aluminum chassis gives the phone a premium feel, and the 5300mAh battery fundamentally changes the way you use your phone. The one downside with the device is the lack of a multi-window mode, but Xiaomi is fixing that with a forthcoming software update.

The Mi Max 2 rounds out Xiaomi’s portfolio for 2017 in India. The brand launched four devices in the country this year — the budget Redmi Note 4, the entry-level Redmi 4A, and the Redmi 4 aimed at the sub-₹10,000 segment. What’s consistent across all four models is great battery life, but the Mi Max 2 takes things to a whole new level.

What’s also consistent across all of Xiaomi’s 2017 models is the aggressive pricing. Launching for just ₹16,999 and offering 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage, the Mi Max 2 definitely punches above its weight. There’s no mention of when the Mi 6 will make its debut in India, but Xiaomi has effectively sown up the budget segment with the launch of the Mi Max 2, offering a selection of devices that cater to different market needs.

The phone will go up for sale in India starting July 27. If you’re interested in picking up the Mi Max 2 outside of India, you’ll have to resort to sites like GearBest, where the device is available for $279.

See at GearBest

‘Wolfenstein 2’ and ‘Evil Within 2’ will support 4K on Xbox One X

You’d be forgiven for thinking that most of the games getting 4K support on Xbox One X will come from either Microsoft itself or Ubisoft, but there will definitely be some high-profile releases in the mix beyond what’s been mentioned so far. The official Xbox website has let slip that Bethesda’s Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and The Evil Within 2 are both slated to run in 4K with high dynamic range visuals. It’s not certain that this is picture-perfect 4K, since some One X titles use upscaling and other tricks to reach the higher resolution, but you should still notice a difference over 1080p.

We’d add that neither improvement is shocking, since they’re both major titles. Doom and Fallout 4 are already in line, too. Still, it’s good to know that you’ll have a healthy selection of 4K(ish) games the moment the One X is available.

Via: GameSpot

Source: Xbox.com (1), (2)

Tech Hunters: Looking back at Nintendo’s failed Virtual Boy

Long before the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, Nintendo was experimenting with a VR headset of it own. At first glance, the black-and-red Virtual Boy looked every bit as capable as the virtual reality headsets that were popular in the 90s, promising access to stereoscopic 3D worlds from the comfort of your living room. However, Nintendo got it wrong — really wrong. With its two-legged stand, which led to many a bad back, and uncanny ability to induce eye strain, the Virtual Boy was gamble that never paid off.

Released in August 1995, the Virtual Boy sold over 750,000 units during its brief life span. For some, that would be considered a success, but Nintendo was riding high from the success of the SNES, which had shifted over 20 million units by the time the 32-bit console hit North American shelves. Within six months, Nintendo had discontinued the system and shifted its focus to the development of the Game Boy Pocket and the Game Boy Color.

Even though it’s considered a failure for Nintendo, the Virtual Boy has become an intriguing collector’s item for gaming enthusiasts. In this week’s Tech Hunters episode, Julia Hardy tracks one down to find out more about the headset that was perhaps a little too ahead of its time.

Tech Hunters is a 10-part video series that uncovers the devices we were once obsessed with, looking at how they disrupted the tech industry, and what they’re worth today. From the pocket pet obsession with the original Tamagotchi, to mix-tapes and Sony Walkman, Tech Hunters explores the audio, visual, interactive and transport innovations that have shaped today’s culture.

Samsung will mine scrapped Note 7s for parts and rare metals

Samsung will kick off its Galaxy Note 7 recycling efforts this month and expects to recover 157 tons of rare metals from the controversial device. The phone’s fiery history is pretty hard to forget, but to refresh your memory, Samsung had to pull it from shelves and discontinue its production after numerous reports of the model catching fire came out. Samsung has recently released refurbished Note 7s in Korea, but it still has to deal with a mountain of phones it won’t be able to sell anymore.

It will now collect those devices’ camera modules, chips and displays for use as replacement parts on phones sent in for repair. The company will also recover cobalt, copper, silver and gold from the phones that it can either sell or use in the production of its other phones. It plans to team up with both domestic and foreign companies for the recycling initiative, though it didn’t name any of them in its announcement. Samsung won’t recover the $5.4 billion in profit it lost due to the Note 7’s failure by salvaging parts and metals. But by doing this, it’s staying true to the promise it made back in March to recycle the devices in an environmentally-friendly manner.

Source: Reuters, Samsung

‘Windjammers’ brings 16-bit frisbee duelling to PS4 and PS Vita

You’d be excused if all of Sony’s tentpole game announcements during the PlayStation Experience show last December blinded you to the best news of all: The 16-bit deep cut Windjammers would get ported to current systems. But the time for excuses has passed. You have only six weeks to prepare before the re-release comes out for PS4 and PS Vita on August 29th. Better polish your competitive frisbee game.

Windjammers is like if Pong was updated for the early 90s into a 1v1 flying disk tournament infused with special attacks and neon-drenched Miami tones. That description probably doesn’t ring a bell, as the game barely made it beyond arcade machines to Neo Geo consoles. It only emerged from obscurity in 2010 with a three-year stint on the Japanese Wii Virtual Console, after which its rights holders yanked it from the digital marketplace.

But the PlayStation revival, as told by Waypoint’s Patrick Klepek, hinged on an enduring French fan community, the retro game publishing website DotEmu and perhaps a bit of feverish love by Giant Bomb’s staff. As DotEmu’s Arnaud De Sousa noted in the PlayStation Blog, the resurrection won’t just be a straight port to the PS4 and PS Vita: The team spent almost a week in June gathering feedback after a closed beta to refine the game into esports-ready shape. So alongside Street Fighter V and Dragon Ball Fighter Z, you might see folks hurling charged frisbees at each other in glorious 16-bit if players worldwide find Windjammers as deep as its diehard French fans.

And if you really like it, there’s apparently 90s neon fan merch on the way.

Source: PlayStation

MelodyVR’s music app will have songs from the biggest labels

When MelodyVR finally launches its virtual reality platform for music, it’ll have experiences to offer from all three major record labels. After signing up both Warner and Universal Music within the past few months, it has now forged (PDF) a worldwide multi-year licensing and distribution deal with Sony Music Entertainment. The startup calls the team-up “an extremely significant milestone,” since it will now be able to use Sony’s vast catalog, which includes music from artists signed by Columbia, Epic, Legacy, Masterworks, RCA Records, Sony Classical, Sony Music Latin and Syco Music. According to VRFocus, experiences featuring Sony’s tracks will launch on the platform, but the record label can use them elsewhere after some time.

On its website, MelodyVR describes its platform as the “destination for music in virtual reality” and promises VR experiences of live performances. Its application is already slated to arrive on the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, Google Daydream, Android and iOS. Plus, the company has inked a deal with Microsoft to release the app for Windows 10. But now that it’s done securing the label partnerships it needs to launch, it will start focusing on expanding its app’s distribution network even further.

MelodyVR didn’t say when its app will make its debut, but you can sign up for beta access if you want to be among the first to try it out.

Via: VR Focus

Source: EVR Holdings (PDF)

Intel could launch 8th-gen CPUs as early as this year, starting with new i5s

Why it matters to you

If the rumors prove true, Intel’s low-power, high-performance chips could help ultra-mobile laptops give full-sized computers a run for their money.

Retail listings for an upcoming refresh of the Acer Swift 3 suggest that Intel may have plans to release a new line of low-power quad-core i5 processors before the end of the year.

According to PC Perspective, the retail listings state clearly that the processor is a quad-core Intel Core i5-8250U. That model number suggests it’s not just a new quad-core i5, but a new 8th-generation processor.

Intel’s latest processors, the 7th-generation or “Kaby Lake” models, came out in 2016, but the 8th-gen designation on the i5-8250U is a little misleading. Intel’s processor roadmap for 2017 reportedly illustrated the company’s plans to release “Kaby Lake-R” processors in the second half of 2017, so this new quad-core i5 processor might not be the same leap we saw from the 6th-generation to the 7th-generation. It’s more of a refinement, than a brand-new generation, despite its label.

So what’s the big deal, if it’s just a new processor coming out right on schedule? Well, according to stats Benchlife dug up, this new Core i5-8250U has some very interesting properties.

Namely, it’s a very low power quad-core chip, which means you’d end up getting some great multi-tasking performance without nearly as much heat buildup or power consumption. That means more horsepower, without cutting into battery life.

Not only does this new processor offer quad-core performance in a lower-power package, it does so with hyperthreading. So those four cores can actually emulate eight cores, giving you some seriously impressive performance in a very lightweight package.

After doing some digging, PC Perspective found a number of results in the Geekbench database for the i5-8250U, from upcoming laptops like the Dell XPS 13 9360. According to the Geekbench results, the i5-8520U with hyperthreading is capable of outperforming a current generation i5-7200U in multi-core performance by about 54 percent.

Its single-core performance is about the same, though, so it’s a boost you’ll only notice when you’re doing some serious multi-tasking or running processor-intensive applications. Still, it’s an impressive leap forward for a low-power chip. And it’s just further proof that ultra-mobile laptops really are slated to give their full-sized cousins a run for their money in the near future, as the performance gap between them gets slimmer and slimmer.

GPD introduces a 7-inch netbook running Windows 10 on Indiegogo

Why it matters to you

If you’ve been searching for a tiny Windows 10 notebook PC that you can stick in your pocket, then GPD has you covered.

The Windows 10PC ecosystem is incredibly broad and deep, with just about every conceivable form factor running Microsoft’s latest and greatest operating system. And every now and then, some thought-to-be-defunct machine type makes another appearance, and this time it’s the netbook. Typically smaller, lighter, and cheaper systems, netbooks were introduced in 2007 and were a craze for a few years before being killed off by tablets and low-cost “normal” notebooks. Now, GPD, typically a maker of Android handheld consoles, has introduced a netbook-like device for Windows 10, the GPD Pocket.

The GPD Pocket looks like a very small notebook PC, which was the typical netbook form factor as well, except Windows 10 is arguably much better suited for small screens like the Pocket’s 7-inch 1,920 x 1,200 display. While Windows desktop apps will be hard to use on such a small device, Windows 10 apps should scale nicely and be perfectly usable.

The Pocket runs everything with an Intel Atom x7-Z8750 CPU with 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 128GB of eMMC storage. That is not going to break any performance records, but it should be suitable for web browsing and productivity tasks. A 7,000mAh battery should keep things running for a few hours, at least.

In addition, GPD gave the Pocket a very MacBook-like magnesium alloy chassis that measures a diminutive 180mm x 106mm x 18.5mm, and it weighs a relatively light 480 grams. It has a tiny keyboard and a red nubbin for controlling the cursor, and connectivity comes by way of a USB 3.1 Type-C port, a USB 3.0 connection, and HDMI. Wi-Fi is 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.1 rounds out connectivity.

GPD has naturally been working on fleshing out the design and generating prototypes. In fact, in March the company released a video of a first-stage prototype that shows the diminutive Windows 10 PC in action:

The Pocket was being crowdfunded on Indiegogo at the price of $399 and it raised over $3,000,000. An Ubuntu Linux configuration was also listed for the same price. Now, GPD has started taking orders for the Pocket at Gearbest.com, which has the machine available for $496 with shipment in August 2017.

Updated: Added order information and updated specifications.