Motorola Moto Gamepad review

Smartphone gamepad accessories are often plagued with problems. Some pair with a flakey Bluetooth connection, and others feel excessively plasticky. The Moto Gamepad, a modular accessory for Motorola’s Moto Z smartphone series, solves those problems with a dedicated data connection, high-quality housing, and a built-in battery that lasts eight hours on a charge. On paper, it seems like the ultimate gaming accessory, but how well does it hold up?

What phones work, and the pairing process

Motorola’s Moto Z phones are capable of connecting to Moto Mods. These Moto Mods easily snap onto the back of the phones via pogo pins and magnets. There have been numerous Moto Mods so far, ranging from battery mods that add more juice to your phone to a JBL speaker attachment that cranks up the noise when you need it. The Moto Mods work with the Moto Z2 Force, Moto Z Force, Moto Z2 Play, and Moto Z Play.

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

In our review, we used a Moto Z2 Force with the Moto Gamepad. Unlike clip-on gamepads, which take a good deal of physical force to snap in place, the Gamepad connects magnetically to pins on the back of a Moto Z2 Force. Unpairing is as simple as prying the phone free of the connector’s magnetic field.

We were concerned the magnets wouldn’t be strong enough to hold up to more spirited gaming sessions, but the GamePad grabbed hold of our Moto Z2 Force and never let go. Even holding the phone upside down wasn’t enough to dislodge it from the controller’s vice-like grip.

Ergonomic, but with some faults

The Moto Gamepad looks and feels every bit its $80 price tag. The ergonomic right and left shoulders are easy to wrap your palms around, and the crosshatch texture lends grip to the otherwise smooth plastic. There’s a circular cutout for the Moto Z2 Force’s rear camera, a pass-through jack for 3.5mm audio, a lanyard loop, and a USB-C port on the bottom that charges the Gamepad and any phone paired to it.

The D-Pad is stiffer than we’d like.

How does it feel? The four action buttons on the right-hand side are satisfyingly springy, and the textured joysticks are move fluidly and they’re responsive. It doesn’t take much to move them in any direction, and there’s a satisfying click when you press down on them with force.

It’s not all good news, though. The D-Pad is stiffer than we’d like, and the home, select, and start buttons are too small and difficult to quickly press. Worse are the shoulder buttons. The right and left bumpers, which measure the width of an index finger, are separated by a millimeters-thin edge that make it difficult to tap one without accidentally tapping the other. It’s especially problematic in shooters like Shadowgun, where quick trigger movements are key.

We never had trouble finding said triggers, though. A transparent strip of plastic on the right and left bumper house LEDs that correspond to button presses. When you tap an action button on the Gamepad’s right side, the right shoulder button’s LED lights up (and vice versa). It’s a nice touch, but the lights can be distracting in dark rooms, and there’s no way to disable them.

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

Our biggest gripe with the Gamepad is its size. At almost nine inches long and one inch thick, it’s not the easiest thing to stuff in a bookbag, and the buttons aren’t built to withstand much abuse. Ideally, we would’ve liked to see see Lenovo take a page from the Nintendo Switch and make the right and left sides detachable.

Finding games

The Gamepad works in tandem with a companion app — the Moto Game Explorer — but it’s nothing to write home about. It’s a bare bones digital storefront that lists games by genre, and you can use a dropdown menu of genre filters (like Action, Arcade, and Casual) to help narrow the selection. Annoyingly, it’s impossible to install games from the this storefront as it merely acts as a link to the Google Play Store.

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

Moto Game Explorer can be helpful to quickly find Gamepad-optimized games, but the app’s disclaimer warns that not all titles are fully compatible, which seems to defeat its purpose. That’s about the extent of the Gamepad’s software integration. There’s a persistent notification that shows the Gamepad’s remaining battery, and a basic options menu (Settings > Moto Mods > About this Moto Mod) that lets you manually restart and update the Gamepad, but that’s it.

A mess of controls

In most apps, settings menus, and the home screen, the Gamepad’s triggers and D-Pad act as navigation keys, highlighting shortcuts and widgets on the home screen. Tapping the A button on a highlighted item selects it, and tapping the B button takes you back a step.

Across all categories of games, the Gamepad delivered on the promise of low-latency

For games, titles that implement Android’s controller API properly, like Gameloft’s competitive racer Asphalt 8, work flawlessly. In our testing, the on-screen button prompts matched the controller’s labels swiftly. The B button mapped to our spiffy car’s emergency brake, the right trigger to the accelerator, and so on.

Other games require a bit of finagling. In Shadowgun: DeadZone, we had to dive into the settings menu and assign each of the Gamepad’s buttons manually, and the navigation buttons (Home, Select, and Start) didn’t always bring up the menus we expected. Some games are only halfway compatible. In Pac-Man CE DX TV, some the menu screens didn’t respond to button presses, but the game stages themselves worked just fine with the triggers and D-Pad.

Across all categories of games, the Gamepad delivered on the promise of low-latency. We were especially impressed by the triggers’ responsiveness in Asphalt and Shadowgun, where inputs seemed instantaneous. The battery life didn’t disappoint either. Motorola pegs the 1,035mAh capacity of the Gamepad at providing eight hours on a single charge, but we easily exceeded that in our testing. A day of casual gaming drained the controller to 20 percent, at which point our test phone ran out of juice.  

Conclusion: Nice, but not essential

The Moto Gamepad is a good controller. The low-latency connection performs as advertised, and the build quality is, for the most part, a cut above the rest. But lack of proper software integration and customization make it a tough sell at its $80 price point, especially considering alternatives like the Moga Hero Power start as low as $25. What’s worse is the Gamepad only works on the Moto Z smartphone series. Other controllers work on a myriad of devices, but by buying the Gamepad, you will either have to keep purchasing Moto Z phones until Motorola stops using the same design, or just shell out for another gamepad when you’re through with the phone.

The Gamepad is exclusive to Verizon. If you want it, you’ll have to nab it from Verizon’s online store or one of its brick-and-mortar locations. 

Here’s the takeaway: You’re likely better off with a cheaper controller. Sure, it won’t have the lowest latency connection, but it’ll perform well enough to get the job done. For most smartphone games, that’s really all you need.

Editor’s Recommendations

• 6 Best Moto Mods for Moto Z Play, Moto Z2 Play, Moto Z Force, and Moto Z2 Force
• Moto X4 vs. Moto Z2 Force: Which Moto reigns supreme?
• Motorola’s 360-degree camera ushers in the future of modular smartphone tech
• Moto 360 Camera review
• Moto Z2 Force review

Samsung announces new Galaxy Tab A, available November 1 for $229

An affordable family tablet, just in time for the holidays.

Tablets have lost a lot of traction over the past couple of years, but that’s not to say the market for them has totally died out. Samsung is one of the few companies still releasing tablets in 2017, and following the high-end Tab S3 that came out earlier this year, we now have a much more affordable option with the latest entry in the Galaxy Tab A series.

Simply referred to as the Galaxy Tab A (8.0″), Samsung’s latest tablet is being targeted at families with kids in search of a big-screen entertainment solution that won’t break the bank. The Tab A comes outfitted with an 8-inch 1280 x 800 display with a brightness level of 480-nits. It’s surrounded by relatively thick bezels, and near the bottom is a physical home button with two capacitive buttons flanking it.

The Tab A features a metal frame to allow for a more premium feel in the hand, and small touches like USB Type-C and 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded with a microSD card are always great to see with less expensive gadgets.

Other specifications include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 425 processor, 2GB of RAM, 8MP/5MP rear and front-facing cameras, Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and a 5,000 mAh battery that’s rated to offer 14 hours of usage.

You’ll be able to purchase the Galaxy Tab A in Black and Silver from Samsung.com on November 1 for just $229.99.

The Galaxy Tab S3 is worth buying just for its S Pen

Get cute this Halloween with an adorable jack-o-lantern theme

This is Halloween. This is Halloween! Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!!

The holiday of candy, costumes, and crazily scaring people is upon us, and while not all of us still get to go trick-or-treating, that’s no excuse for not dressing up your phone. There are lots of ways to dress up a phone without getting tacky cases, and that’s why we’re bringing you a sweet and simple theme that reminds us that not only is Halloween here, but it’s for more than just horror shows.

• This theme’s Trick or Treat wallpaper comes from the outrageously talented Adam Grason, who has done beautiful work for companies like Google and Disney. This festive piece features a black and white cat posing inside a jack-o-lantern carved with an adorable cartoon face. While the original may work for 16×9 phones, in the era of the tall phone, we’ve given you little bit more leeway by extending the orange background.
• Zwart’s icons cut into the orange wallpaper and transform our home screen (and app drawer) into a jack-o-lantern. If you prefer something a little lighter, try Whicons or the orange variant icons in Glim.
• Using KWGT Pro and Material Music Komponent, we’ll add a color-matched music widget to our theme in the form of a Trick Or Treat KWGT Preset.
• For those wanting a weather widget, 1Weather offers easy to theme and elegantly minimal weather widgets.

How to apply your wallpaper

Long-press an open space on your home screen.
Tap Wallpapers.

Tap Pick image.

Select your downloaded Trick or Treat wallpaper.
Make sure your image is centered on the screen to your liking.

Tap Set wallpaper.

How to apply an icon pack

Open Zwart.
Tap the three-line menu icon.

Tap Apply (the icon with the arrow in it).

Tap your launcher.

Tap OK or Apply, depending on your launcher.

How to apply an individual icon

Long-press an icon you wish to change.
Tap Edit.

Tap the icon window to change the icon.

Select your desired icon pack.
Tap the open app icon in the top right corner of the screen to enter the pack’s icon picker. It’s hard to see with that white header, but it’s there.

Search for the app icon you wish to use using the search bar at the top of the screen or the section tabs.

Tap your desired icon.

Tap Done.

How to apply the music widget

Before we begin, download the Trick or Treat preset and copy it into the Kustom/widgets folder using the file manager app of your choice.

Long-press an open space on your home screen.
Tap Widgets.

Under KWGT, press and drag KWGT 2×2 to the top of your home screen.

Long press your new widget until a menu appears.
Tap Resize.
Drag the edges of the widget to the edges of the screen.
Tap your new widget to configure it.

Under Exported, tap the Trick or Treat Music Preset.

Tap Save the floppy disc icon on the top right bar of the screen.
Tap Layer.
Tap the + and – icons to adjust the scale of the music komponent until the album art is flush with the left edge of the box.

Tap Save the floppy disc icon on the top right bar of the screen and return to the home screen.

How to apply the weather widget

Long-press an open space on your home screen.
Tap Widgets.

Press and drag the 1Weather Compact Widget to the desired location on your home screen.

In the widget settings window that appears, tap Background color.
Tap Light. For the Compact widget, this will set your widget’s icons and text to black.

Tap Accent.

Tap the pale yellow.

Tap Done.

Setting Nova Launcher’s colors

Open Nova Settings.
Tap Folders.

Tap Folder background.

Tap Pixel Launcher.
Under Window, tap Backgrounds.

Drag the Transparency at the bottom of the window to 23%.

Tap Custom (the circle with the three dots).
Set color to c4e23b0d.
Tap OK.
Go back to the main Nova Settings menu.

Tap App & widget drawers.

Tap **Background.
Tap Custom.
Set color to c4e23b0d.

Tap OK.

Setting Action Launcher’s colors

Open Action Settings.
Tap Quicktheme.

Tap Folder icon background.

Tap the orange color option.
Tap OK.
Tap Folder & Shutter background.
Tap the orange color option.

Tap OK.

Questions?

Let us know in the comments below!

OnePlus 5T: Specs, Release Date, Rumors, and Latest News!

What does the OnePlus 5T have in store for us? We’ll find out soon!

The OnePlus 5 may not have stirred as much interest as previous OnePlus devices, but it has proven to be a solid handset with plenty to like — especially at its $479 starting price.

But as OnePlus did with the OnePlus 3T, released just five months after the OnePlus 3, the company is readying a quick successor to its latest flagship, aptly titled the OnePlus 5T.

This year, though, things may be different: OnePlus is expected to launch a new phone with roughly the same specs but a very different design, eschewing bezels and capacitive keys for the trend of the year — an all-screen front.

Care to learn more? Let’s round up what we know about the OnePlus 5T so far.

A design to remember

This is going to be the most drastic design change to the OnePlus line ever.

The OnePlus 5 looked a little different from the OnePlus 3 line — mostly in a good way — but it was pretty generic, a big black slab of metal and glass with a front fingerprint sensor and big bezels surrounding the 5.5-inch 1080p display.

With the OnePlus 5T, the company is going in a new direction — well, new for OnePlus — with an all-screen front and an updated design. While the OnePlus 5 was already considerably rounder than any of its predecessors, the OnePlus 5T takes that to the logical next step, bringing the screen closer than ever to those rounded aluminum corners. It’s a 6-inch screen with a 2:1 aspect ratio, with a resolution of 2160×1080 pixels.

In a set of leaked images from Weibo (above) we see the front of the OnePlus 5T — and its cool-looking new launcher — along with a render of the phone’s back, replete with new fingerprint sensor placement.

Of course, with the 6-inch screen taking up most of the phone’s front, the fingerprint sensor has to go somewhere — so it’s moving to the back, right above the OnePlus logo.

Aside from the new fingerprint sensor, the phone’s rear isn’t expected to look much different to the OnePlus 5: all-metal (so no wireless charging) with a logo just above the middle and a dual camera setup on the left side.

Android Authority received a nice render of the OnePlus 5T showing off its larger 6-inch display, rounded aluminum corners, and bottom-firing speaker.

OnePlus 5T specs

The OnePlus 5T, aside from having a larger 6-inch screen in a new 2:1 aspect ratio, is expected to have similar specs to its predecessor: a Snapdragon 835, 6GB to 8GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB of storage, a 3300mAh+ battery, and a dual camera setup.

But it’s that camera setup that also may get a nice boost: GSMArena is reporting a dual 20MP setup (up from a 16MP primary sensor and secondary 20MP sensor on the OnePlus 5) with an upgraded ƒ/1.6 lens for the main, along with the same ƒ/2.6 for the secondary telephoto sensor.

We may also see a slight bump in battery capacity: the same leak points to a 3,450mAh battery in the OnePlus 5T.

Here’s what we know so far:

Operating System	Android 8.0 Oreo
Display	6-inch AMOLED, 2160×1080 (402 ppi)2:1 aspect ratio Gorilla Glass 5
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core 2.45GHz
GPU	Adreno 540
RAM	6/8GB LPDDR4X
Storage	64/128GB UFS 2.1
Expandable	No
Battery	3450mAh
Charging	USB-CDash Charge
Water resistance	No
Rear Camera 1	20MP, f/1.6
Rear Camera 2	20MP, f/2.6
Front Camera	tbd
Security	Rear one-touch fingerprint sensor
SIM	Dual Nano SIM

It’s pretty safe to conclude that the OnePlus 5T won’t be waterproof, nor that it will have wireless charging. What we don’t yet know is whether OnePlus made any other major changes, like an upgraded front-facing camera, or a higher-quality OLED display.

A new camera

As mentioned above, the OnePlus 5T is expected to have an upgraded camera system over the OnePlus 5. We liked what we saw in many of the photos in that phone, but it definitely let us down in low light situations — hopefully this new one will rectify that problem.

Cool photo, must have come from a great camera 😉 pic.twitter.com/DyiULnyTYN

— Carl Pei (@getpeid) October 25, 2017

OnePlus co-founder teased the new camera in a tweet, remarking that it “must have come from a great camera.”

Launching with Oreo

We’ve already seen the OnePlus 3 and 3T receive beta versions of Android 8.0 Oreo, so it’s safe to assume that the OnePlus 5T will launch with Android’s latest delicious flavor.

Based on the existing beta, we shouldn’t expect any drastic changes to the overall design of the UI — OnePlus likes to hew as close to stock Android as possible — but it should be relatively fast, lightweight, and have some excellent add-on features, like offscreen gestures, a nice, fast launcher, and plenty of customization options.

Price, launch date, and availability

The last thing we need to talk about is pricing and availability.

We’re pretty sure that the OnePlus 5T will be slightly more expensive than its predecessor; OnePlus has increased pricing for every model since the OnePlus One in 2014. But how much more is the question? My educated guess is a $499 starting point for the 6GB/64GB base model, rising to $559 for the upgraded 8GB/128GB option. Expect an exclusive color in the more expensive model at first, too.

Got a second, reliable confirmation here, claiming a post-11/20 release. https://t.co/KDvBH8y7NO

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) October 25, 2017

As for launch dates, we’ve heard everything from mid- to late-November, which makes sense given that the OnePlus 5 is no longer available for purchase — it went out of stock at the company’s website a while ago and hasn’t been replenished.

The ever-reliable @evleaks believes that the phone will launch in late November, likely after November 20. That means its launch event is likely mid-November. Fun!

Your thoughts?

Is the OnePlus 5T enough of an upgrade for you? Or is OnePlus ridiculous for once again replacing its flagship less than six months after it debuted? Let us know in the comments below!

OnePlus 5

• Complete OnePlus 5 review
• OnePlus 5 specs
• Which OnePlus 5 model should you buy?
• Camera comparison: OnePlus 5 vs. Galaxy S8
• The latest OnePlus 5 news
• Join the discussion in the forums

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Walmart tests shelf-scanning robots in 50-plus stores

You may have seen stores deploy shelf-scanning robots before, but they’re about to get one of their largest real-world tests to date. Walmart is expanding a shelf-scanning robot trial run to 50 additional stores, including some in its home state of Arkansas. Machines from Bossa Nova Robotics will roam the aisles to check for stock levels, pricing and misplaced items, saving human staffers the hassle of checking everything themselves. There will be technicians on-site just in case, but the bots are fully autonomous. Thanks in part to 3D imaging, they can dodge around obstacles and make notes to return later if their path is completely blocked.

Walmart stresses that the robots are there to supplement humans, not replace them — to eliminate drudgery and the expenses that go with it. This helps workers get to the task of filling empty shelves, and that’s a job that the company doesn’t see ending any time soon given the difficulty robots still have when grabbing objects. “Store associates will always be better at that,” Walmart’s Martin Hitch told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. And the chief of Bossa Nova rival Simbe Robotics, Brad Bogolea, added that shelf checks can cost a major retailer hundreds of millions of dollars per year. However expensive the robots may be, they could pay for themselves very quickly.

Whether or not the robots see wider use will, unsurprisingly, hinge on the success of this wider trial. Early results are positive, however. And given that Walmart has already made a point of using technology to automate processes like grocery pickups, it’s hard to imagine the company turning robots down. The main question is whether or not robots will remain complementary. After all, Walmart is fond of cutting costs whenever possible, and doesn’t exactly put its staff on pedestals. While jobs are safe from automation for the foreseeable future, it’s easy to imagine robots eventually taking over those positions that don’t require human-to-human interaction.

Via: Reuters

Source: Walmart, Arkansas Online

Piccadilly Circus’ billboard is alight once more, and it’s watching

The iconic lights illuminating London’s Piccadilly Circus were switched back on this morning, nine months after going dark to accommodate some serious renovations. The huge advertising space is no longer home to six distinct screens. Instead, owner Land Securities has swapped these out for one giant, curved LED display with a greater-than-4K resolution that measures around 790 square metres in total. The upgraded screen allows for more dynamic ads that can move around or take over the whole space, and incorporate mod cons like livestreams. With a bevvy of cameras and sensors, the Piccadilly Lights can also respond to the local environment and deliver targeted, responsive ads.

When this was first revealed not too long ago, it was suggested the huge billboard could use facial recognition technology to deduce the age, gender and even mood of passers-by, as well as the make and model of cars — using that info to deliver targeted ads. Combine that with all the data users of the billboard’s free WiFi hand over, and you’re looking at a Minority Report-esque, intrusive nightmare.

The reality probably isn’t so frightening. It would be hard and pretty pointless, for one, to use the whole space to target one person or car that disappears down Regent Street 5 seconds later. Land Securities downplays the intrusiveness of the monitoring tech in its announcement today, claiming it “allows the screen to react to certain external factors, such as weather or temperature. This feature enables brands to display creative and innovative content, such as weather appropriate clothing.” Further hoping to allay concerns it’s an instrument of Big Brother, Land Securities also says it “does not collect or store any personal data and is unable to record images or audio.”

Source: Land Securities

Nearly Half of MacRumors Readers Polled Say They’ll Pre-Order the iPhone X on Friday

Just over six weeks after the iPhone X was unveiled, pre-orders for the highly-anticipated device will finally begin on Friday at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time.

Of the nearly 2,500 readers who responded to our Twitter poll, 45 percent said they plan to pre-order the iPhone X as soon as Apple flips the switch. The remaining 55 percent of users indicated they will not be pre-ordering at this time.

Will you pre-order the iPhone X tonight? 📱

— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) October 26, 2017

iPhone X can be pre-ordered through Apple.com, but we recommend using the Apple Store app to complete the process as quickly as possible.

Apple’s first batch of iPhone X inventory will likely sell out very quickly, so time is of the essence. Given consistent reports about the iPhone X being in tight supply due to production issues, waiting even five minutes to place your pre-order could result in your order being shipped several weeks or months later.

MacRumors has a live countdown on our front page that indicates exactly when iPhone X pre-orders begin around the world.

iPhone X will go on sale in more than 55 countries and territories on Friday, November 3. Apple confirmed that stores will have stock available for walk-in customers on launch day, but availability will likely be extremely limited. On the same day, the first pre-orders should begin arriving to customers.

In a separate Twitter poll earlier this week, the iPhone X in Space Gray with 256GB of storage proved to be the most popular pre-order choice among over 6,500 readers who voted. The least popular configuration was Silver/64GB.

Which iPhone X model do you plan to pre-order?

— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) October 24, 2017

iPhone X starts at $999 in the United States with 64GB of storage, while the 256GB model is available for $1,149.

Related Roundup: iPhone XBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Caution)
Discuss this article in our forums

‘Find It On eBay’ searches with pictures instead of words

Finding stuff you actually want to buy on eBay is getting a whole lot easier thanks to the online shopping site’s new Image Search function. Instead of trying every possible search term combination to come up with the exact thing you want, you can now simply upload a photo (Image Search) or click “Find It On eBay” when browsing another website, and the eBay app will surface relevant listings. Find It On eBay is now live on Android, while Image Search is live on both Android and iOS.

The feature uses a deep learning model called a convolutional neural network, which sorts through eBay’s billion+ listings to find items based on visual similarity. And as shoppers continue to search with pictures, it gets smarter, improving the results it returns, meaning you’ll no longer have to ask strangers where they got their shoes from — you can just snap a covert picture instead.

Twitter blocks ads from two Russia-backed media agencies

Twitter has announced that it will no longer allow two prominent state-owned Russian media organizations from advertising on its platform. The company revealed on its Public Policy blog that it has decided to “off-board” advertising from any account related to either Russia Today / RT or Sputnik. The decision is effective immediately, and is based on a belief that both enterprises interfered with the 2016 US elections.

“This decision was based on the retrospective work we’ve been doing around the 2016 US election,” wrote an as-yet unnamed Twitter representative. In addition, the company cited evidence provided by a Director of National Intelligence report on election hacking, dated January 6th, 2017. As a consequence, RT and Sputnik may no longer purchase advertising on the site, although their accounts will not be suspended.

RT and Sputnik are both news organizations that are funded by Russia’s government, both of which being decried as propaganda outfits. In the US, RT employees have to register as “foreign agents,” and in the UK, the channel has been reprimanded for misleading its viewers. Sputnik, meanwhile, is described by The New York Times as RT’s “more outspoken, flashy younger sibling,” modeled in the spirit of BuzzFeed.

Twitter has pledged to take the $1.9 million in cash it believes that it has earned from those accounts since 2011, and donate it to charity. Specifically, Twitter will hand the money to “support external research into the use of Twitter in civic engagement and elections,” that will focus on preventing future election hacking. The company will provide more details on which organization will receive the money in the future, but declined to add more at this time.

This comes on the heels of another announcement, where Twitter revealed that it will identify all politically-motivated advertising and disclose who purchased it. Although it does raise questions as to why it’s taken until now for Twitter to act on the issue. Earlier this month, it was revealed that Twitter took a whole year to take down a fake, Russian-created Twitter profile purporting to represent Tennessee’s Republican Party.

Source: Twitter

Netflix will stream a ‘Stranger Things’ aftershow for die-hard fans

It’s safe to say that the second season of Netflix’s Stranger Things is pretty eagerly anticipated, and now the streaming company is capitalizing on its popularity. Beyond Stranger Things is a new aftershow for the series hosted by Jim Rash. All seven episodes of the series will premiere tomorrow, October 27th, along with the second season of Stranger Things. You can see a trailer for the aftershow below.

It’s certainly not the first popular series to come paired with an aftershow special; The Walking Dead and Star Trek: Discovery both have them. But the fact that Stranger Things episodes release all at once, rather than week-by-week, makes this an interesting choice. It certainly has the star power to attract viewers, citing interviews with the creators, producers and cast of the show. But will people switch over to watch Beyond Stranger Things between binging episodes? I guess we’ll find out.

Source: YouTube