‘Alto’s Odyssey’ took three years to make, and that’s all right

It’s been three years since Snowman, a tiny independent studio based in Toronto, launched Alto’s Adventure on iOS devices. Back then, Snowman was three people — Ryan Cash, Harry Nesbitt and Jordan Rosenberg — and Alto’s Adventure was their first real game. They didn’t know what to expect when they published it in the App Store for $2.99 in Feb. 2015, but the team hoped for the best.

That launch changed everything.

Alto’s Adventure was a huge success. Players devoured the serene, soothing experience set on the slopes of a snowy mountain range — it was an endless-runner snowboarding and llama-herding game, and its only mechanic involved tapping the screen to jump. Though gameplay was simple, the atmosphere and art told a larger story about comfort, risk and the warmth of home. Apple users ate it up, and the next year, Android players got a taste as well.

It’s been three years since Alto’s Adventure debuted on mobile devices, which means it’s been about three years since players have been asking Snowman about a sequel. This week, they got their wish as Alto’s Odyssey landed in the App Store for $4.99.

“The big elephant in the room is, this game’s taking quite a long time to release since the first one came out,” producer Eli Cymet said. “And that’s because we really wanted to pursue a feeling that was more natural to us.”

The Snowman team has flourished since 2015, and the studio now acts as a quasi-publisher for other independent developers, collaborating on projects like Where Cards Fall with Los Angeles studio The Game Band. Cymet joined Team Alto (the group within Snowman that’s dedicated to this particular franchise) after the launch of Alto’s Adventure but before Nesbitt and the crew added a consequence-free Zen Mode in June 2016.

This is one reason it took three years — and one high-profile delay — for Alto’s Odyssey to see the light of day: Developers were busy supporting the game they had already launched. This meant bringing Alto’s Adventure to Android and Windows, ensuring it was compatible with new hardware and software updates, and listening to player feedback to improve the game. That’s how Zen Mode happened, after all.

Image: Snowman

“As much as there’s been a focus on creating the right game, it’s also about having the right workflow and the right process, and working with the right people,” Nesbitt said. “So as the team has expanded to accommodate the new ambitions that we’ve got, then also there’s a lot to learn for how to work in that way and essentially just find a stable rhythm so that it’s not just a one-off situation. We want to keep on making games that people love and that excite us.”

From the first line of code to the last, Team Alto has been actively working on Alto’s Odyssey for just one and a half years rather than the full three. The rest of that time has been spent building a stable business and keeping existing players happy.

“Alto’s Adventure is our first foray into gaming,” Cash, the series director, said. “We’re kind of figuring a lot of this out on the way. Alto’s Odyssey will sort of only be our second step into this world. We were kind of, I don’t want to say blindly, hoping for the best. We’re kind of just making it up as we go. I think we’re feeling pretty good about it now, but we’re also pretty young in the industry.”

Snowman might be a young studio, but developers are taking a measured approach to their post-Alto’s Adventure projects. There’s hustle but no rush. No one on the team wants to push out a soulless game just because players expect it or, even worse, just to make a quick buck.

“We would get a lot of letters and sometimes physical mail telling us that Alto helped people relax at night and cope with illness or loss of a loved one,” Cymet said. “What that really taught us is that Alto as a series is strongest when it is about capturing these meaningful feelings and connecting with players on an emotional level.”

Alto’s Odyssey means a lot to Team Alto, and developers have poured their personal demons and triumphs into this deceptively emotional endless-running experience. Cymet, for instance, moved his family 2,000 miles from Vancouver to Toronto to join the Snowman team, and the feeling of displacement helped him develop a deeper relationship with the idea of “home” — one of the major themes in the Alto series.

“I think what I’ve learned, and what Harry and I have talked a lot about personally as we’ve reminisced during development and late nights and things, is that home isn’t necessarily a place,” Cymet said. “It’s the people you’re with and the people that make you feel supported and loved.”

The sequel also holds up a mirror to Snowman’s growth as a studio. While Alto’s Adventure encapsulated the comfort of home, Alto’s Odyssey is about letting go of familiar things and exploring new worlds. Rather than being confined to the slopes of snow-capped mountains, Alto’s Odyssey puts players in an array of desert biomes with dangerous new obstacles to conquer in gorgeous, sand-drenched settings.

“Odyssey, as the name suggests, is about going outside of that [comfort zone] and challenging yourself,” Nesbitt said. “And I think that’s sort of a parallel with a lot of our personal experiences, having made the game and then suddenly finding ourselves in this whole new world that we have to either grab it by the horns or let it steamroll over you. I think we can all relate to that.”

Speaking of change, Alto’s Odyssey is hitting a vastly different App Store than Alto’s Adventure. Nowadays, there are options to pre-order iOS games, and Apple highlights developer stories in the Today tab — two features that didn’t exist in 2015. In three years, the mobile market has shifted from offering premium $10 games to having an influx of $0.99 titles to finally being overrun with free games packed with in-app purchases. Not that the industry is frozen in place today: There’s been a recent newfound appreciation for premium titles as many players realize the actual cost of freemium games.

Cash says the premium mobile market is alive and well — and it could have a major impact on the video game industry overall.

“If you make a game for PS4, you’re making a game for people who play video games,” he said. “And I think, with mobile, it’s a sort of unique opportunity where you can reach almost everyone on the planet, so to speak, who has a phone. If you’re able to make a game for that platform, you have the potential opportunity to reach someone who may not consider themselves a gamer. You have a chance to be someone’s first foray into gaming.”

With Alto’s Odyssey, Snowman has this opportunity once again.

Blizzard will host a tournament for the 15-year-old ‘Warcraft III’ 

Out of nowhere, Blizzard introduced a public test realm (PTR) last fall for its 15-year-old game Warcraft III. PC fans of its current best-sellers like Overwatch play on PTRs to try out new features before they’re released to everyone, so creating one for an old title clearly implies greater plans. Today, as was rumored, we know what those are: A new gameplay patch and a tournament at the end of February featuring top players from the game’s heydey to the present.

Announcing the Warcraft III Invitational! See the latest PTR changes in action with @followgrubby, @Back2Warcraft and more!

Learn more: https://t.co/NWhZ6IjO9x pic.twitter.com/rdAxYVFSkf

— Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) February 22, 2018

Blizzard will host ‘the first Warcraft III Invitational’ at their Irvine HQ on February 27th and 28th, with Twitch streams hosted by two casters from Back2Warcraft, the site and community helping to keep the game’s competitive scene alive. The exhibition’s matches will include Free-for-All, 4v4 and other competitions — one hopes that it might include some old-school Defense of the Ancients, the map mod that inspired the MOBA genre. Attendees include players old and new, like Grubby, Lyn, MaDFroG, Happy and others.

While a new patch for a 15-year-old game sounds impressive (and it is), Blizzard has been quietly updating the game annually for awhile. Still, patch 1.29 will bring some long-awaited changes like widescreen support to prevent screen-stretching and hero tweaks, as well as new features like support for 24-player game lobbies. The patch goes live on the PTR first (details here).

Why would Blizzard want to breathe new life into an old game? They already remastered StarCraft last year, which was originally launched in 1998 , so it’s possible that a renovated version of Warcraft III is on the way. Blizzard could be spotlighting a community that’s long toiled by themselves to keep the game’s competitive scene alive, with the tournament and new patch as a thank-you gesture. Or the studio could be shoring up the old title in hopes of elevating it to eSports material, given how long the original StarCraft scene has endured. Whatever the case, the attention can only mean good news for fans of Warcraft III.

Source: Battle.net forums

Wirecutter’s best deals: Dell’s P2715Q 27-inch 4K monitor drops to $400

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here.

Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB SSD

Street Price: $230; Deal Price: $200

If you have a need for speed where your storage is concerned, this is a nice opportunity to save. The Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB SSD is down to $200, around $30 off the recent street price and the lowest price we’ve seen for it. At this price, it’s well worth considering versus other storage options out there.

The Samsung 960 Evo M.2 SSD is our upgrade pick in our guide to the best SSDs. Andrew Cunningham, Ben Keough, and Nathan Edwards wrote, “If you have a legitimate need for faster storage, you should buy the PCIe Samsung 960 Evo, which can quadruple the read speeds of the fastest SATA drives and more than double the write speeds. It’s more expensive—$50 more than the 850 Evo for 500GB and $110 more for 1 TB—and you’ll need a desktop or an M.2 PCIe-equipped laptop to use it. But the 960 Evo is a lot cheaper than our previous upgrade pick, the Samsung 960 Pro, while still delivering excellent performance. Just remember that the difference between a SATA SSD and a PCIe SSD isn’t as noticeable as the difference between a SATA SSD and a spinning hard drive.”

Plantronics BackBeat FIT 500 Bluetooth Headphones

Street Price: $100; Deal Price: $80

Looking for on-ear headphones that can stand up to sweat and water? If so, the Plantronics BackBeat FIT 500 are a nice option. Our on-ear pick in our guide to the best wireless workout headphones, they typically cost $100 but have seen this $80 price more often since the holidays. Even so, we haven’t seen them lower. They’re available in Black and Teal.

The Plantronics BackBeat FIT 500 are our on-ear pick in our guide to the best wireless workout headphones. Lauren Dragan wrote, “The Plantronics Backbeat Fit 500 are the only on- or over-ear Bluetooth workout headphones that we have ever liked. Every other headphone we tested was uncomfortable, fell off, was poorly constructed, sounded terrible, absorbed sweat, or all of the above. The Backbeat Fit 500 are in a sweet spot of snug-fitting but flexible enough to grip your noggin securely without giving you a headache. They have a nano-coating that resists sweat and water damage, and the earpads wipe clean for easy sanitizing. The controls are intuitive to use, and easy to find without fumbling around. The Fit 500 sound really great, with plenty of bass that isn’t muddy like much of their competition. Plus, with an 18 hour battery life and optional cable, you won’t need to worry about charging frequently.”

SanDisk iXpand 128GB

Street Price: $90; Deal Price: $75

The 128GB version of the SanDisk iXpand iOS thumb drive is down to $75 from its typical street price of $90. We’ve posted a previous deal at $72 and we’ve seen it fall even lower on rare occasions, but this is still a solid drop. Deals on this iOS thumb drive occur regularly but typically don’t last long, so if you’re in need of more storage for your iPhone or iPad, grab one while this price lasts.

The SanDisk iXpand is the runner-up iOS thumb drive for those in need of extra storage in our guide to the best accessories for your iPhone and iPad. Dan Frakes, Nick Guy and the Wirecutter Staff wrote, “If the JetDrive Go 300 goes out of stock or jumps in price, we like SanDisk’s iXpand as an alternative. Its app crashed a couple of times during our video-transfer tests, which was frustrating, but it was a full minute faster than any other model at copying data over USB 3 to the iPhone, and its app was the easiest to use.”

Dell P2715Q 27-Inch 4K Monitor

Street Price: $435; Deal Price: $400

At $400, this matches the lowest price we’ve seen for this monitor from Dell. The P2715Q is aging at this point and we’d love to see it drop lower as a result, but it has stubbornly refused to do so. The typical street price has been around $435 in recent months, so this is still a decent savings. We’ll continue to monitor it in the hope we see deeper discounts in the future, but this is a solid deal if you’re seeking an affordable 4K monitor now.

The Dell P2715Q 4K monitor is our runner-up pick in our guide to the best 4K monitors. John Higgins and David Murphy wrote, “If the LG is sold out or too expensive, you don’t mind thicker bezels, or you need only DisplayPort to connect to your monitor, consider the Dell P2715Q. It’s a few years old—it was our previous pick—but it’s even more color-accurate than the LG, has a great stand and VESA support, and comes with a built-in USB 3.0 hub. It also has Dell’s legendary three-year pixel-perfect warranty. Its HDMI port can’t run a 4K monitor at 60 Hz, but its DisplayPort input can, so that’s not a dealbreaker for most people, nor are its fat bezels, compared with our other picks. It’s a better buy for most people than the newer Dell U2718Q, which is inaccurate enough that it’s not worth recommending right now.”

Because great deals don’t just happen on Thursday, sign up for our daily deals email and we’ll send you the best deals we find every weekday. Also, deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go here.

Amazon inks deal with Televisa for Spanish-language shows

Amazon may be producing more and more of its own shows, but it’s also playing catch-up trying to follow industry trends in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. To shore up its dearth of Spanish-language content, the company just signed a deal with Televisa to license several of its upcoming scripted series.

It’s unclear how many different series will be included, or what they will be about, aside from “with a focus on multicultural characters and storytelling,” according to Variety. We only know they will average eight to ten episodes each and will be developed, produced and distributed by the media company’s subdivision Televisa Alternative Originals.

As Variety points out, this deal is likely Amazon’s attempt to compete with Netflix’s Spanish-language content, which includes global hits like Narcos. But this is also an about-face for Televisa, which took its content off of Netflix in 2016 to stream on its own service, Blim. But the Mexican multimedia company might have changed its tune after declining broadcast ratings as more folks in the country turn to online content.

Source: Variety

App Store Pages Now Able to Feature Up to 10 Screenshots

Apple this morning informed developers that they’re now able to offer up to 10 screenshots in their App Store product pages for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV apps, allowing them to show customers more of an app’s experience.

In the App Store, each app has its own product page that offers up a description and images to explain its function or gameplay.

Previously, app developers were limited to a total of five screenshots plus up to three 30-second preview videos for demonstrative purposes, which is increasing to 10 images plus videos.

For apps that run on multiple devices, developers will be able to provide 10 tailored screenshots for each device.

For customers, the expanded screenshot limit means developers will be able to offer a clearer, more expansive picture of what an app is capable of, providing a better idea of an app’s feature set ahead of purchase.

Tag: App Store
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Apple Pay Promo Offers Free Delivery With Instacart

For the last few months, Apple has been offering regular promotions to entice customers to use Apple Pay within various apps.

This week, Apple has teamed up with Instacart to offer free delivery on groceries purchased in the Instacart app using Apple Pay through February 28.

To get the deal, customers will need to spend at least $35 per order, and taxes and service fees still apply. Free delivery is also contingent on availability, as Instacart has something called “Busy Pricing” which is an added fee during the busiest parts of the day.

Free delivery from Instacart for orders over $35 normally requires a membership to Instacart Express, a service that costs $14.99 per month or $149 per year. Apple’s free delivery offers an opportunity for potential Instacart customers to test Instacart Express.

Without Instacart Express, normal Instacart orders cost $5.99 in delivery fees.

Apple’s new promotional email also highlights several grocery stores that offer Apple Pay, including Raley’s, Giant Eagle, Sprouts,
Stop & Shop, Whole Foods, and Wegmans.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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Employment Questionnaire and Two Signatures From Steve Jobs Going Up for Auction

An auction site is set to sell off three pieces of Steve Jobs memorabilia, including a rare employment questionnaire filled out by the former Apple CEO.

Jobs filled out the application in 1973, just after dropping out of Reed College, where he attended school for approximately six months and then audited classes for another year and a half.

On the document, Jobs lists “english lit” as his major, and Reed College as his address. He lists “Computer” and “Calculator” as skills, along with “Design” and “Tech,” and says that he has special abilities that include “Electronics” and digital “Tech or Design Engineer.”

Auction site RR Auction expects the questionnaire to fetch upwards of $50,000 at auction.

Along with the questionnaire, the site also plans to auction off two documents that feature a rare Steve Jobs signature. The first is a Mac OS X technical manual that Jobs signed back in 2001, and there’s a short story that goes along with the signature, obtained in a parking lot following an Apple training session in Cupertino.

“It was afternoon, the end of my training day and I just got into my car when I saw Mr. Steve Jobs walking into his car. I rolled down my window and called up his name. He asked me whether he knew me. I told him I certainly knew who he was and immediately asked him if he would be kind enough to sign my Mac OS X Administration technical manual. He refused and said ‘I feel weird doing that.’ I refused to back down. After a bit of cajoling on my part, he finally told me to hand over the manual and pen. He said ‘give me those’ and he autographed my manual,” in a letter of provenance from the consignor.

The signed manual is expected to go for approximately $25,000 when it’s placed up for auction, and it’s being compared to a signed magazine cover that sold for $50,000 back in October of 2017.

The third document is a newspaper clipping from 2008, which features an image of Steve Jobs speaking at the Worldwide Developers Conference where the iPhone 3G was introduced. Jobs signed the newspaper at the Fraiche Yogurt shop in Palo Alto, California where he was eating frozen yogurt with Tony Fadell, who also signed the document.

Steve politely declined several times, stating that everything at Apple was a group effort, so he didn’t like to sign and take credit for everything. My mom is pretty persuasive and was eventually able to convince Steve to sign; but under Steve’s condition that the person sitting with him would have to sign it as well. That friend turned out to be Tony Fadell, known as the Father of the iPod, who was working at Apple during that time and instrumental in the design and development of the first iPod which later morphed into the iPhone.

The signature on the newspaper is expected to fetch somewhere around $15,000 when it is auctioned off.

The three Steve Jobs auctions will kick off on March 8 and will end on March 15 at RR Auction.

Tag: Steve Jobs
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Apple’s Elk Grove Repair Facility Makes ~20 Accidental 911 Calls a Day

Repair technicians who work at Apple’s repair facility in Elk Grove, California make frequent accidental 911 calls when testing Apple devices, Elk Grove police dispatcher Jamie Hudson told a local Sacramento news site.

The influx of calls started back in October of 2017, which coincides with the introduction of the Emergency SOS feature that was added to the iPhone with the launch of iOS 11.

“We’ve been seeing these calls for the last four months from Apple,” said police dispatcher Jamie Hudson.

Dispatchers say the calls started back in October of 2017, and typically there’s no one on the other line.

To activate Emergency SOS, iPhone 8 and iPhone X simply owners need to press and hold on the Side button while also holding the two volume buttons at the same time, or rapidly press on the side button five times. Older iPhone users simply need to press the Sleep/Wake button five times in rapid succession to call emergency services.

An Emergency SOS feature is also available on the Apple Watch and is activated by pressing on the side button of the device. It’s not clear which devices are making the accidental calls, but placing a 911 call can be done with simple button presses on either device.

Elk Grove Police have received an average of 20 accidental 911 calls per day from Apple, adding up to about 1,600 calls since October. Police dispatcher Hudson says the calls take “valuable seconds” away from real 911 calls that could be life and death situations.

“The times when it’s greatly impacting us is when we have other emergencies happening and we may have a dispatcher on another 911 call that may have to put that call on hold to triage the incoming call,” he said.

It’s not just the Elk Grove Police department that’s affected — the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Communication Center has also received 47 accidental 911 calls since January 1, and sometimes, dispatchers can hear technicians working in the background. There is a loud tone and a countdown that plays when Emergency SOS is activated with the auto call feature, but it may be that repair technicians are not able to hear it.

In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said the company is aware of the 911 calls coming from the repair facility and is working with law enforcement officials to put a stop to it.

“We’re aware of 911 calls originating from our Elk Grove repair and refurbishment facility. We take this seriously and we are working closely with local law enforcement to investigate the cause and ensure this doesn’t continue.”

Emergency SOS is a feature that’s enabled on every iPhone and Apple Watch by default, and it can’t be disabled, so Apple may need to come up with a unique solution for its repair facilities.

While Emergency SOS can’t be turned off, there are settings that can be turned on to cut down on accidental calls. On Apple Watch, “Hold to Auto Call” can be disabled by opening up the Watch app, choosing the “General” section in “My Watch” and then selecting “Emergency SOS.”

On iPhone, auto call can be disabled by opening up the Settings app, navigating to “Emergency SOS” and toggling off “Auto Call.”

With Auto Call disabled on iPhone or Apple Watch, the same button presses will still activate emergency services, but you will need to use physical interaction in the form of a finger sliding across the screen to call 911 (or other emergency services numbers depending on your country).

Emergency SOS was recently credited with saving a woman and her 9-month old baby after she was hit by a drunk driver. The woman lost her phone in the collision, but was able to use the SOS feature on her Apple Watch to make an emergency call.

In addition to contacting 911, Emergency SOS serves another important purpose on the iPhone — it quietly and discreetly disables both Touch ID and Face ID, allowing iPhone users who are being threatened to lock down their phones and require passcode entry instead of biometrics.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Seven astrology apps for those who want to know what fate has in store

Love astrology? The great thing about living in the modern era is that you can access astrological insights on the go thanks to astrology apps.

Trying to figure out whether it’s the right time to approach a sensitive topic with a loved one? Or are you trying to decide whether you should take that job you were unexpectedly offered?

Luckily, there’s a bevy of astrology apps for you to tap into. From the ones that deliver daily horoscopes and provide much-needed context to your daily reality to those that teach you the basics of astrology.

Ahead, we’ve rounded app a list of astro apps you might want to try out.

iHoroscope

What it is

An app which serves up daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly horoscopes. But that’s not all, you’ll also get access to some intriguing extra features.

Why you should try it

• iHoroscope is the go-to place for comprehensive horoscopes. Get your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly horoscopes right on your smartphone.The app also generates summer, fall or Valentine’s Day horoscopes.
• You’re invited to test your love compatibility with other signs.
• The app offers users the opportunity to chat with psychics. Ask the right questions and get the insights you crave for.
• Learn more about the Chinese horoscope and find out what your Chinese sign means.

Install iHoroscope

Daily Horoscope

What it is

Daily Horoscope is another app that delivers your daily horoscope (including tomorrow’s horoscope) at your fingertips. Unlike other competing apps, Daily Horoscope also lets you customize your astrological experience by allowing you to change colors and font size.

Why you should try it

• On top of delivering your daily horoscope, the app also lets you learn more about the Chinese horoscope.
• Daily Horoscope offers the ability to scroll back up to a week, if you want to put things in perspective.
• Users can access your own zodiac sign compatibility horoscope.
• You get a special bonus if you download this app: enhance your astrological knowledge with the druid horoscope.

Install Daily Horoscope

Zodiac Horoscope

What it is

Zodiac Horoscope lets you discover what fortune has in store for you via daily horoscopes made by professional astrologers. Daily, weekly and monthly scores are also available for health&wellness, love&dating, and career&work.

Why you should try it

• The app provides readings for all twelves signs of the sun zodiac, as well as a compatibility checker with other zodiac signs.
• Use the app to uncover your lucky numbers. But be careful, you need to use them wisely.
• Includes a fun feature that allows you discover what colors are suitable for wearing today, so you can be in harmony with the universe.

Install Zodiac Horoscope

AstroSage Kundli

What it is

An app which lets users explore the astrological tradition in Indian, Vedic and Hindu cultures. If you think Chinese horoscopes are overrated, this app might be for you.

Why you should try it

• The app gives you access to an impressive library of astrological knowledge. You get personalized horoscopes complete with predictions, moon sign horoscopes, insightful readings, as well as charts.
• Want to become an astrologer yourself? This app will teach you all about astrology via text and video tutorials, as well as lessons.
• Users get access to a moon sign calculator, sun sign calculator, and a love compatibility calculator.

Install AstroSage Kundli

Daily Horoscoper Club

What it is

A horoscope app that brings an extra component into the equation: tarot. The Fairy Oracle Tarot will help you answer life’s biggest questions.

Why you should try it

• Unlike most horoscope apps, the Daily Horoscoper Club offers feminine predictions and energy horoscopes.
• The app lets you generate a variety of charts including Natal Chart, Personality, Emotion and Intellectual mode, Love Value and Love pattern.
• The app contains a database of customizable quizzes which help players knowing themselves better
• Based on the astrological principles, the app generates a free astrodice report that gives you an additional perspective on what’s happening in your life.

Install Daily Horoscoper Club

Labyrinthos Academy

What it is

An app for mystical students who want to unlock their unconscious selves by learning the intricacies of tarot reading for free.

Why you should try it

• Teaches you tarot by virtue of simple exercises. Start by practicing card meanings and give quick readings to others.
• The app allows you to expand your knowledge of monsters and mythical creatures of lore.
• As you begin your journey, you select an avatar which you will be able to grow as you advanced through the classes.

Install Labyrinthos Academy

Palm Reading Personality Test

What it is

What does the palm say about you and your personality? This app will help you understand more about yourself by analyzing the shape, size, and lines of your hands.

Why you should try it

• With this app installed on your phone you don’t have to visit the local palm reader to get a reading.
• Take 5 to 10 minutes to answer a series of questions and you will receive a personalized reading of your palm.
• The app also teaches you the basic of palmistry. Learn about what the shape and sizes of your lines symbolize and more.

Install Palm Reading Personality Test

Which astrology apps have you used before and recommend? Let us know in the comment section below.

UHANS Max 2 review: A mega-phablet that won’t break the bank

China has been rapidly taking the phone world by storm, seriously undermining its Western and Korean rivals with powerful devices sold at affordable prices.

Chinese tech products used to get a bad rep, often being labeled as fakes, clones or just sub-par imitations. But the comparison wasn’t always warranted. Today things have gone through a sea of change, as more and more promising companies keep springing up like mushrooms after the rain.

OPPO, Xiaomi or ZTE have been pumping out well-specced handsets at low prices for years, but a new wave of smaller brands has also attracted some attention. Companies like Bluboo, UMIDIGI or Doogee might not be household names yet, but they are beginning to leave their mark on their industry.

It’s also the case of UHANS, a young Chinese brand that’s trying to make a name for itself. Since it was founded in 2014, the company has released a few smartphone models including the Max 2 which I recently spent a few weeks with.

Phones seem to be constantly growing in size, so phablets aren’t quite as distinctive as they used to be. But a metal giant of 6.44-inches still has the effect of drawing at least some attention to it, right? Enter the UHANS Max and its larger than life persona.

Design and packaging

UHANS is a small company, but you wouldn’t necessarily think so when looking at the packaging. Our review unit came in a visually appealing, minimalist dark blue box with the UHANS logo placed discreetly in the top left corner.

Take the lid off and you’ll be confronted with the Max 2 – the whole 6.44-inches of it. Yes, it’s a big phone indeed – the classic kind. Unlike many handsets launching today, the Max 2 does not have a bezel-less display nor does it benefit from the modern 18:9 aspect ratio.

It’s pretty standard in this respect: it boasts relatively slim side bezels, but the chin and forehead are very prominent. It has a physical home button which also doubles as a fingerprint scanner and on-screen buttons to help with navigation.

UHANS Max 2 next to the OnePlus 5T

Because I have smaller hands, holding the Max 2 was a bit awkward for me. Its size is definitely a bit over the top while I’m concerned, but that’s not to say I’m labeling it as unusable. Far from it, I’m just saying it takes some time getting used it.

The UHANS Max 2 doesn’t look like it’s dirt-cheap

I liked the fact that for such an affordable phone, the UHANS Max 2 boasts a sturdy metal back, although the top and bottom are made of plastic for some reason. As a result, the phone is not too slippery and is not a magnet for icky fingerprints either which is always nice to have (although a lot of people use a case with their phone).

I’m not too crazy about the dual-camera arrangement on the back. It looked pretty decent in the promo pictures I’ve seen, but in person, it’s quite unaesthetic with the flash awkwardly positioned between the two sensors. What’s more, the camera bump is quite prominent, so you need to be extra careful when placing the device flat on a surface to avoid the camera glass getting scratched.

On the front side, you’ll notice the notification LED and a second dual-camera arrangement. There aren’t many phones with dual selfie cameras out there and the Max 2 is one of them. More on picture quality later on in this review.

At the bottom, you’ll find two speakers and a microUSB port in-between, while the power button, volume rocker, and dual SIM card slot live on the right side. The left side has been left clean and unadorned. The top side is home to the 3.5mm headphone jack, so yes you can use your favorite pair of headphones with the phone.

Display

The screen on the UHANS Max 2 is pretty decent, but will definitely not wow you. The phablet features fullHD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) which is enough to produce clear and crisp images. I found the colors to be a bit faded out, but fortunately, you can access the MiraVision tool (in Settings) and adjust various parameters including contrast, saturation, and picture brightness. There’s a Vivid mode for those who like me, prefer brighter colors.

There’s also an Adaptive brightness tool, which once toggled on can optimize the brightness level for available light.

That being said, the Max 2’s display visibility in broad daylight is alright but granted, it’s winter here and most days are pretty gloomy and dark, so I haven’t had much chance to use the phone in bright sunshine.

Performance

The UHANS Max 2 comes equipped with a MediaTek MT6750T processor clocked at 1.5GHz with Mali-T860 GPU and backed up by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage (microSD card slot available).

This configuration is enough to sustain most of my daily activities including reading emails and articles, browsing social media, chatting, playing a few games, talking on the phone and watching a video or two on YouTube. Yes, given its large size, the phablet is perfect for watching all kinds of video on it.

Navigation in most cases was pretty smooth, although I had the phone freeze in a few instances when I was trying to switch between apps rapidly. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before things returned back to normal. As a side note here, I also noticed the phone is extremely slow to reboot or start, which can be quite annoying especially when you’re in a hurry to do something.

The phone comes with a pretty stock version of Android 7.0 Nougat on board and doesn’t include any bloatware. The icons could use a re-design, but sadly there’s no built-in option to allow you to tinker with them a little bit. Fortunately, you can always install an icon pack or third-party launcher. There’s also an app drawer – if you’re into that.

The Android on board of the Max 2 is pretty bare, so you’re not given a lot of extra options.

Cameras

The creators of the UHANS Max 2 obviously meant this to be a device for people who love to take photos with their phone. For this purpose, the handset has a total of four cameras. Two (13-megapixel + 2-megapixel) on the back and another two (13-megapixel + 2-megapixel) on the front.

I never used a dual-selfie camera before and well, the results were quite intriguing. In broad daylight, the selfies came out extremely detailed (see galleries).

If you’re skittish about your imperfections shining through the good news is that the selfie camera has a few beautifying modes including skin smoothing, face slimming, skin whitening and…enlarging eyes – for those who want to get freaky.

You also get a bit of bokeh on your selfies, which as you probably know is not a feature normally offered by most smartphones.

You can achieve the bokeh effect by using the main camera set as well, but sometimes the software goes crazy and ruins the background blur. In some cases, it seemed like the camera was trying to apply a “pixelated” effect instead of bokeh.

Sure, some shots came up looking pretty nice. But as is the case with most budget phones, you need good light and a steady hand to get decent results. Even so, colors seem quite washed out. The UHANS Max 2 is also a bit slow to focus. Snapping pictures in low light yields standard grainy results. No surprises here.

AT&T’s 3G network is the only solution for those who really want to give this big monster a go in the US.

The camera app includes some advanced features so you can change exposure, ISO, white balance and select a screen mode (Night, Sunset, Party, Portrait).

No, you won’t win any photography contests with the UHANS Max 2. But, under the right conditions, you can actually get some pretty nice shots to show your friends.

Battery

The UHANS Max 2 is powered by a 4,300 mAh battery which takes a lot to recharge. There’s no fast charging here, so be prepared to wait a while for the phone to fill up.

Once full, the phone’s battery life runs out pretty quickly. Playing intensive games, snapping pictures, talking on the phone and exchanging messages on WhatsApp drained the device well before my bedtime.

Since I’m located in Eastern Europe, I could use the UHANS Max 2 on a 4G network without a problem. But given that the Max 2 was not meant for the US, it won’t work on most networks in the country. AT&T’s 3G network is the only solution for those who really want to give this big monster a go in the US.

In case you’re wondering, phone call quality was quite ok. I did not experience any interruptions, the sound was clear and loud enough.

Conclusion

Priced at around $164, the UHANS Max 2 is a recommended purchase for those who want a phone for media consumption. The big screen is perfect for watching videos on YouTube or Netflix, but it’s also great for navigation when driving. Bonus: it has a sturdy metal back that looks pretty nice (save for the awkward dual camera).

Unfortunately, US customers won’t be able to use for anything more than a portable media player or gaming device. This is okay, though, if you have consistent Wi-Fi at your disposal. But, if you go off the grid, the phone becomes just a device you can take some average photos with.