Red Dead Redemption 2 for PlayStation 4: Everything you need to know!

Here’s everything you need to know to prepare for Rockstar’s latest adventure in the wild, wild west.

Yes, it’s finally happening my fellow outlaws. Red Dead Redemption II is real and it’s coming to PlayStation 4 this year. After Rockstar Games’ massively successful open-world cowboy game set during the death of the Wild West, fans began clamoring for a follow-up that continued the story of the Marston family or embraced a new gunslinger.

After years of rumors and silence on Rockstar’s end, they finally surprised the world on one random morning in 2016 by announcing a sequel to their critically acclaimed western. It took over a year to get any actual concrete details regarding the game and frankly, it’s still a bit of a mystery but it sounds like it could be a mix of a story of a new outlaw and also fill in a massive gap in John Marston’s story.

The story so far…

Rockstar Games appears to be returning to the traditional one playable character route after successfully experimenting with three playable protagonists in Grand Theft Auto V but he’s not John or Jack Marston. Players will travel back to 1899 (12 years before the first game) to fill the boots and don the hat of a much less noble man that goes by the name of Arthur Morgan, a brute that’s running with Dutch van der Linde’s gang during their prime. While little is known about Arthur, we know he’s a much more sinister cowboy who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty. In the second trailer, we see him interrogating and roughing up several people who appear to owe money to Dutch’s Gang, perhaps for protection. He’s a brutal force that is loyal to Dutch and likely only Dutch.

It’s likely we’re going to see the rise and fall of the gang, with Arthur Morgan playing a pivotal role.

The story will see Morgan and Van der Linde’s gang stealing, running, and fighting to survive the rugged and cruel world that is the Wild West. Order has not yet been established, technology is slowly beginning to evolve into something far more advanced, and people like Dutch believe it’s important that things stay the way they are. The Van der Linde gang was always viewed as a Robin Hood-type of bandits, stealing from the rich to give to the poor and resisting the government in favor of a structure where it was an “every man for himself” situation.

The gang eventually evolved into something far more dangerous and unhinged according to an anecdote provided by John Marston, leading him to realize their Robin Hood act was all a front for their evil actions and crimes. The event that likely leads to the start of the downfall of the gang seems to be a heist in Blackwater which later became known as the Blackwater Massacre. In the plot synopsis for the game provided by Rockstar, it’s revealed that the gang is being hunted after they botch a robbery in the wealthy town that is seen toward the end of the first RDR.

Within the lore of the series, the Blackwater Massacre was a massive shootout that took the lives of over 30 people. Civilians, cops, and criminals were among the casualties of the bloody shootout, actual details of why the battle took place remain a mystery to the residents of Blackwater because the officials went to great lengths to cover it up. Why? Well, we’ll likely find out in Red Dead II.

Most people involved died or were criminals who escaped but one of the few survivors was the legendary lawman, Landon Ricketts. Ricketts is in the first game and Marston teams up with him in Mexico, Marston knows him for his status but the two don’t seem to know each other. It’s entirely possible that Marston was uninvolved in the heist or was playing coy and using him to further his quest for redemption.

How does it connect to the original Red Dead Redemption?

So, what’s the connection to the first Red Dead Redemption? Well, Rockstar is being very, very careful not to say much about this game and how it connects to the first game but it will shed light on the stories John told in the first game as well as provide more depth to the men we hunt down in that same game.

John Marston is indeed in the game but Rockstar has noted that this is Arthur Morgan’s story, not John’s.

Given this game takes place long before the events of the original game and has a direct link to it via Dutch van der Linde and his gang, it’s hard to imagine Rockstar isn’t trying to expand John Marston’s story in some way. With games like Grand Theft Auto, there have been very subtle connections tying the games together but none of them are direct sequels or relate to each other in any way. With Red Dead Redemption II, Rockstar had the chance to name the game something like Red Dead Revolution, Red Dead Retribution, or something along those lines given that the series so far has gone Red Dead Revolver and then Red Dead Redemption. They purposely named it in a way that links the two games.

Marston was also a substantial part of Dutch’s Gang, he was taken in by Dutch when he ran away from the orphanage he lived in. He was raised by this gang and lived with them for a large majority of his life and in the fallout of him abandoning the gang, it all went to hell and it was more or less disbanded. John Marston is indeed the game, he’s heavily featured in new screenshots and is seen in the newest trailer once or twice but Rockstar says this is Arthur’s story, not John’s. That doesn’t mean that we can’t expand on the character, it just means he will not be the focal point of the narrative.

Major gameplay innovations are coming in the western sequel

Since Rockstar has been pretty prude about Red Dead Redemption II, we only have the word of the press who have seen the game in action to understand how the game plays. There will be more details in the future regarding what the gameplay will look like but for right now we’ll just give you the basic rundown of what we know. For starters, Rockstar seems to be creating their most realisitic world yet and abandoning some of the most video game-y aspects in their formula for something with more depth.

According to Rockstar, they’ve been developing Red Dead Redemption II for eight years, starting as they were wrapping up the first game. In that time, they’ve been handcrafting a world with lots of detail and creating systems that may be fairly unexpected from them. A large portion of the game is centered around managing the gang, Arthur is Dutch’s right-hand man and he helps keep everything running smoothly. This means you’ll help perform odd jobs for gang members, go hunting to get food for the camp or get money to line their pockets with, and so on.

Rockstar has been very clear that you don’t have to do this and you won’t be severely punished if you don’t but the gang will make comments if you leave them hanging for days on end. If you do choose to take care of your gang, you’ll be rewarded in ways that have not yet been revealed and your gang will grow stronger.

Also on tap is a new dialog system that allows you to approach situations with more options than just shoot and kill. Each NPC has their own set of branching dialog, with the player able to talk niceties or show a degree of impatience in any given encounter. And this isn’t just a black and white morality system either. Some choices will be gray areas, some will be lore-advancing, some will lead to friendships, and others will most certainly erupt into bloodbaths. It’s unclear if there will be any more to this system – such as a relationship mechanic that gauges each NPC’s level of warmth toward you – but it’s something.

If you do choose to go off and do things like hunting, you’ll be able to see the amount of depth that Rockstar has added to its hunting system since the original game and Grand Theft Auto V. You’ll find yourself stalking animals, choosing your weapon carefully so you don’t damage pelts/meat, and tracking an animal by following blood trails after you’ve hit it. Once you’ve tracked the animal down, you may find it still alive, bleeding out and yelping. Arthur will then take out his knife and stab the animal in the heart to end its suffering and take what you want from it.

You can then string up your kill on the back of your horse and take it back to camp to feed your people or sell it in town and take the money for yourself. Regardless of what you choose, your hunt will rot and decay over time so the longer you have it on the back of your horse (yes, it’s literally on your horse, not in an invisible pouch), the less valuable it’ll be. If you were to kill an animal (or even a person) behind and let it sit in the wild, vultures, coyotes, and other creatures would come and munch on the remains.

It looks as if Rockstar will be carrying over the heists from GTA V as we see Arthur Morgan robbing a bank and holding up a train in the second trailer. It’s unclear how much of a focal point these will be in the game since it was the core of GTA V’s campaign but one has to imagine it plays a similar role given you’re a gang of notorious western criminals.

We do know there will be some depth to those heists, though. Players can go loud or quiet, create distractions, choose who you bring with you (some can be done solo but isn’t recommended), and use a bunch of other different variables to create different outcomes throughout the heists. All of this will result on if and when law enforcement shows up amongst other things. It’s unclear if you can have gang members die or get critically wounded in these heists like in Grand Theft Auto V or just how dynamic these systems are. Grand Theft Auto V’s heists were heavily scripted, if you chose a certain crew member to come with, they’d always die on the same mission in the same spot because it was coordinated by Rockstar’s writing. It was more of the illusion of choices having consequences rather than them actually having any meaning at all.

Some major changes are also coming in combat with the ability to dual wield weapons like Max Payne, bows and arrows used for hunting and maybe even some stealth combat as we see Arthur Morgan taking a knife to someone’s back in the dead of night. We also see Arthur brutally beating people up in the third trailer, suggesting Rockstar has refined their melee combat to create more intense and fun brawls.

A cowboy’s best friend

A cowboy’s best friend isn’t his fellow outlaws/lawmen, it’s his horse. In the original Red Dead Redemption, your horse was almost supernatural in the sense it teleported to you and was basically immortal. You didn’t have much of a connection to it because outside of its speed and stamina, there was nothing too special about the horses. In Red Dead Redemption II, Rockstar plans on changing that.

Your horse in the sequel will be very special. Perhaps the most significant change from the first game or any Rockstar game for that matter is that you won’t be able to carry every single weapon with you. The joke of pulling an RPG out of your rear end in GTA wouldn’t apply in this game as you’ll only be carrying small weapons such as handguns on your person, rifles and other gear will travel via your horse. We’re not sure if you can sling at least one rifle over your shoulder while walking around but you can expect most of your guns to be unavailable if your horse isn’t nearby.

Your horse won’t be disposable in this game, it’ll mean a lot more to you because it has lots of value. You’ll grow a bond that effects how scared it gets when put in danger, how far it gets from you, and more. Rockstar hopes that this bond won’t just serve a gameplay effect but a personal and emotional one to. If your horse gets critically wounded, you can attempt to heal it with medical supplies, if you don’t have any you can try and run into town quickly and gather some and run back. You may come back to your horse dead, making you realize that you left that poor animal that loved you to die thinking you abandoned it in its final moments. Brutal stuff, I know. Should it die, you’ll have to start that bond all over with a new horse and presumably any gear you can’t carry off of that horse’s corpse is lost.

It adds a whole new layer to an aspect that’s iconic to westerns but doesn’t have a lot of attention paid to it.

When you can play it and when we’ll know more

The only questions remaining are when we can play the game and when we can expect more firm details from Rockstar. The game is currently scheduled to release on October 26th, 2018 for PlayStation 4 as well as Xbox One, and we can likely expect some news regarding the game in June or July via a Game Informer cover story or a new breakdown directly from Rockstar. As of right now, we’ll just have to hold our breaths and keep waiting to saddle up again.

Pre-order isn’t available just yet in most places for Red Dead Redemption 2, but for those looking to pick up the original game to play through before the sequel drops, you can find the Game of the Year Edition for $20

See on Amazon

Update May 23rd: We’ve dropped a ton of fresh news and background info on this game for you to enjoy!

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

Keep your internet activity private and secure for life for only $85

There has never been a better time to get onto a VPN. With all of the data breaches, sales of personal information, and more lately, it’s a great idea to consider protecting your online habits. This keeps targeted ads away, ads a level of security in terms of your personal data, and ultimately gives you peace of mind when online, whether you’re browsing, streaming, gaming, or whatever.

The CyberGhost VPN lets you remain anonymous online and protects you every step of the way, and right now at Android Central Digital Offers, you can get a lifetime subscription for only $84.99. If you enter code cyberghost15 at checkout, you’ll get an additional 15% off! You’ll save over $650. That’s VPN access to over 1300 servers worldwide, for up to five devices, with 256-AES bit encryption, for life.

The best part of subscribing to CyberGhost VPN is that it opens up geo-locked content to you from all over the world, no matter where you’re browsing from. Check out British Netflix, Malaysian news sites, and anything else that may be restricted due to your location. CyberGhost provides you with a 30-day money back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied with its service, and it features a no log policy, so your activity is never recorded or monitored.

If you’re worried about your personal data being compromised, need your connection as secure as possible everywhere you go, or simply want access to region-specific content all over the world, then subscribe to CyberGhost VPN for only $84.99 and get a lifetime subscription. Add promo code cyberghost15 for an extra 15% off at checkout.

See at Android Central Digital Offers

Amazon’s creating a facial recognition system the government can use

Law enforcement will be a “common use case” for the tech.

Privacy is a luxury that seems to be slipping away from our world with every day that passes, and Amazon’s currently working on a system to ensure it disappears ASAP.

According to marketing materials that the ACLU obtained, Amazon’s building a new technology called “Rekognition” that’s designed for facial tracking. Per the ACLU —

Powered by artificial intelligence, Rekognition can identify, track, and analyze people in real time and recognize up to 100 people in a single image. It can quickly scan information it collects against databases featuring tens of millions of faces, according to Amazon.

The most common use for Rekognition seems to be targeted at law enforcement. Rekognition will be able to ID “people of interest” and is described by Amazon as a “person tracking” technology. Furthermore, as the ACLU notes —

Amazon not only markets Rekognition as a law enforcement service, it is helping governments deploy it. Amazon lists the city of Orlando, Florida, and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon among its customers.

Of those mentioned above, the Washington County Sherrif Department became a Rekognition customer back in 2017. Since then, the department has created a database of faces using around 300,00 mugshots and even made a mobile app that deputies on the force can use to cross-match people with the information they already have.

As the ACLU continues —

With this technology, police would be able to determine who attends protests. ICE could seek to continuously monitor immigrants as they embark on new lives. Cities might routinely track their own residents, whether they have reason to suspect criminal activity or not. As with other surveillance technologies, these systems are certain to be disproportionately aimed at minority communities.

What are your thoughts on Amazon creating a technology like Rekognition and allowing governments to use it? Is this a good thing that’ll help to keep everyone more secure, or is it a violation of privacy that’ll likely be abused by those that have access to it? Sound off in the comments below.

Amazon might sell an Alexa robot in 2019

What is YouTube Premium? Everything you need to know!

The service costs $11.99/month and gives you access to a ton of stuff.

Back in 2015, YouTube Red launched as a way for people to get an even better YouTube experience than what was offered in the free version. For $9.99/month, YouTube Red gave you access to ad-free videos, all-new original shows, and much more.

YouTube Red is now being replaced by YouTube Premium, and for folks that are hardcore or just moderate YouTube users, it’s definitely worth checking out.

What’s included?

As mentioned above, YouTube Premium comes with a load of goodies that make its monthly fee well worth the asking price.

All of the old features from YouTube Red are here, including:

• Ad-free videos
• Play videos in the background
• Download videos for offline use
• Access to all YouTube Originals content

In addition to these perks, a YouTube Premium subscription also gives you full access to YouTube Music. With a YouTube Premium plan, you can use YouTube Music to listen to music without ads, let your tunes play in the background, and download songs/playlists for offline listening.

How much does it cost?

That’s all fine and dandy, but how much will you be paying for all this?

YouTube Premium costs $11.99/month, and you can cancel or change your plan at any time. However, YouTube now has a second, more affordable option you can check out called YouTube Music.

What’s the deal with YouTube Music?

For a cheaper $9.99/month, you can subscribe to YouTube Music. That monthly fee will allow you to listen to music ad-free, let songs play in the background, and download them so you can keep jamming even when you’re without an internet connection, but you won’t get any of the perks in the bullet list above.

If you subscribe to YouTube Music but decide you want to upgrade to YouTube Premium later on, you can make that change at any time.

You’ll access your tunes through the recently upgraded YouTube Music app, and while new features are in the works, it’s already pretty great in its current form.

Download: YouTube Music (free)

What if I was already subscribed to YouTube Red?

YouTube Premium is a pretty great deal, but old YouTube Red subscribers might think differently. YouTube Premium has all of the same features that were previously found in Red, but it now costs $2 more each month.

Thankfully, if you were previously subscribed to YouTube Red on or before May 21, 2018, you get access to all of YouTube Premium for YouTube Red’s old pricing of $9.99/month.

YouTube Music has the potential to solve Google’s streaming conundrum

Save $100 on the Nest Secure wireless alarm system for today only

Grab it now!

Home Depot currently has the Nest Secure wireless alarm system available for just $399, which is a savings of $100. It still sells for its full price everywhere else, including Best Buy and from Nest itself. The kit comes with 1 Nest Guard, 2 Nest Detects, 2 Nest Tags. The keypad can be armed and disarmed in a number of ways, including from your home or using the app from anywhere in the world.

Using the Nest app, you can get alerts for when you forget to arm the system, give someone a one-time code to disarm the alarm, and more. Wondering how the Nest Secure stacks up against Ring’s upcoming alarm option? Be sure to check out the similarities and differences now.

See at Home Depot

Best travel cases for Oculus Go

Travel in style

Since it is named the Oculus Go, you’re going to want a way to travel around with it while also keeping it safe. While it’s plastic outer shell will probably protect against a small drop, you’re going to want to keep this thing safe when you’re not using it. The best way to ensure that you Oculus Go doesn’t get harmed while you’re on the go is to keep it safe in a traveling case.

Whether you’re looking for a hard case or just something that you can carry everything in, there are loads of options to choose from. These are the best travel cases for your Oculus Go that will fit most needs.

InfiniApps Semi-Hard Travel Case

This semi-hard traveling case is perfect for your Oculus Go, with loads of room for the headset as well as any extra cables or even your headphones. Although it states it’s for Samsung Gear VR, it will be able to fit you Go in it, and it will be able to keep it safe and protected.

See at Amazon

This traveling case by InfiniApps is available for $20, so make sure to pick it up now.

GRAPHEIN Hard Travel Case

Graphein’s hard case is perfect for your Oculus Go, and its hard exterior will be sure to keep it safe. It’s designed to hold the headset, headphones, controllers, and any other accessories you may need while you’re on the go. With the soft egg crate foam on these inside, this case will protect your headset from any bumps and bruises while you’re out and about.

See at Amazon

Make sure to get your hands on this hard travel case while it’s available for just $26.

Hermitshell Hard Shell Travel Case

This is another great option for a hard shell case, and this one can fit just about anything in it. You can fit in your headset, headphones, cables, and so much more inside of this case, and it will all be secure with the hard exterior. You will never have to worry about your headset getting bumps or bruises with the protection from this case.

See at Amazon

This case comes in at $24, and it’s a great buy for anyone looking for a nice traveling case.

BAGSMART case

This traveling case is one of the largest traveling bags I’ve seen, it can hold almost anything. It’s TSA approved as well, so the size is perfect for your carry-on for all your flights. Not only will it fit your headset, but you can fit every other necessity you need inside this bag.

See at Amazon

Bagsmart’s travel case is a great option for your travels, and it comes in at only $26.

Oculus Go

• A parent’s guide to Oculus Go
• Oculus Go vs. Lenovo Mirage Solo
• Best Gamepad for Oculus Go
• Best Battery Backup for Oculus Go

Oculus Go 32GB
Oculus Go 64GB

Metal vs. plastic vs. glass: Which is the best phone material?

Three impossible choices.

Phones all look the same once you scrape away a few details. They’re rectangles designed to fit (mostly) into one’s hand and a display where we can tap and poke the things we see to find other things poke and tap. You can even make phone calls with them!

It’s those details, though, that makes the difference. Speakers, bevels, buttons and the physical size are the things that make a Galaxy Note different from a Moto E4. They also are a big part of the price and what we use to decide which one is better for our uses. One of those details that’s always a point of discussion, and sometimes a point of detraction is what the body of a phone is made of. Oddities like wood or gold phones aside, you’ll find three different materials are being used to make phones is all sizes: metal, plastic, and glass.

Which one is best?

Metal

Metal, done very well on the Nokia 6.

Plenty of phones use a metal band or a faux-metal finish over plastic trim, but there are also plenty that are made of metal. Usually, that means some manner of aluminum alloy that’s very thin and light because the buying public is in love with thin and light. Nobody wants a 3-pound phone built from cold forged steel to lug around all day.

Metal screams premium.

For many, metal equals premium. Seeing an aluminum phone polished or anodized with a crisp finish does make a phone look good, so naturally, a lot of people associate them with high-quality, even if only subconsciously. But this isn’t always the case as aluminum can be cheaper than other materials. Blame our perception here.

A metal phone can be a great phone. It can also be a bad phone. Let’s look at the pros and cons.

Pros

• That premium look. As mentioned, a phone that’s well built will always look good with a metal design. Metal is beautiful and we can’t help but feel that anything beautiful is automatically premium. For many, having a premium phone is important.
• It’s “modern”. Metal is a big part of the industrial design school of thought. Minimal markings and no extraneous parts to take away from a single piece of metal with a certain shape is a complete design aesthetic, and it often ties in well with a premium look. There are plenty of fans of this type of design.
• Heat transfer. That way a cold metal phone feels when you first pick it up provokes a thought. It doesn’t have to be a good thought, but if you ever noticed that your phone felt cold you were thinking about it. Touch is one of our senses, and it’s an important one.

All of these “pros” work together to give the impression that the small metal object you’re holding is simply a superior product. Some people feel differently, but most people can’t say a phone like a Pixel or ZTE Axon Pro felt bad or was built poorly.

Cons

• Bends and dents. Metal deforms fairly easily — especially light, malleable metal like aluminum —and tends to keep its new shape, at least the types used to build phones. We’re not talking about people on YouTube bending phones for a living; we’re talking about sitting on your phone and bending it or dropping it and putting a big dent in that premium shell. (Buy a case?)
• RF transmission. This means your LTE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth signals. Radio frequencies of the safe variety have a tough time transmitting through dense material. This can mean your phone needs to have antenna lines or glass cutouts for the antennas and probably won’t support wireless charging if it’s made of metal.
• Heat transfer. The same thing that makes a metal phone feel solid and cold when you first pick it up will also make it feel hotter after you’ve used it for a while. Heat sinks and heat pipes (also made of metal) try to offset this, but a metal phone will always have a hot spot where the chipset is. And sometimes they can get uncomfortably hot.

The same material that can make a phone feel premium can also stop it from having premium features, like smooth lines without antenna bands or wireless charging. And they look a lot less premium when you dent or bend them.

Plastic

The Honor 7A is one of the few plastic phones you can buy in 2018.

Plastic comes in all shapes, colors, and sizes. Man-made materials have that advantage. That means plastic can also come with a number of different finishes, and phones can feel slimy or even soft when made of plastic. Plastic is also cheap and very workable which means curves and design elements can be used with plastic that isn’t feasible with other materials.

Any shape and any color, and tough as nails.

Some plastic phones look and feel great. Of course, others don’t. Consumers can be influenced by their experience enough to think all plastic phones are a slippery, glossy, slimy mess even when they’re not and the general perception is that Plastic phones are cheap. But a plastic phone can be great, too.

Unfortunately, it’s becoming difficult to find phones made of plastic. Even inexpensive brands like Nokia and Motorola are moving on to metal-bodied phones, and that makes me a little sad.

Pros

• Cost. Not the cost to the consumer, but the costs of making the phone from beginning to end. Using plastic means manufacturing equipment is easier to tool, which means designers have more freedom to work with the shape, which means phones don’t always have to look like a flat slab and still be reasonably priced. We love things that look nice and things that are reasonably priced. We love it more when they are both.
• Resilliance. Plastic is tough. Like football helmet tough. You might be able to break plastic but it will take a lot more abuse than metal or glass, and for the most part, it will snap right back into shape if it gets bent or dinged.
• RF transmission. Plastic can be designed to be tough but still allow radio waves to pass through with very little signal loss. When you’re building or using a phone, this is important.
• Millions of colors. You can make plastic that’s any color imaginable. Companies like Nokia (the Nokia of old, R.I.P.) and Sony have put this to the test and orange, lime, pink, yellow and even brown phones have all been offered and had their fans. Black is also a color for folks who like to keep things tamer.

Plastic gives a manufacturer the freedom to build a phone that’s tough and beautiful. And we’ve seen some very high-end phones from almost every manufacturer that were plastic, and nobody complained that they were plastic.

Cons

• They feel bad. At least, they can. One of our favorite phones was LG’s G2. One of the phones we always complained about when it came to the finish of materials was the LG G2. It was the phone that coined our use of slimy when talking about bad plastic. Don’t even get us started on the Galaxy S III.
• They can stain. The plastic on the phone can be stained by a colorful case or spending too much time in a cup holder in Florida-style weather, and some plastic finishes can stain you or your clothes. Remember the orange red Nexus 5? It did both.
• They look cheap. Not all of them, of course. HTC, as well as that Nokia of old, built some gorgeous phones that were plastic. The LG Optimus 3D was not my favorite phone. Not even close. But it was plastic and the body, the build, and the finish were stunning. But for every good plastic phone, you can buy there will be four or five bad plastic phones in equally bad plastic clamshells on a hook at Walmart. That makes people equate plastic with cheap.

All the plastic phones that were tough, looked good and came in a plethora of colors have to compete with the bottom-of-the-barrel plastics used in phones that have none of those qualities. It’s not fair to compare things this way, but you usually won’t find a phone you think is plain ugly or that feels slimy that’s not made of plastic. Stereotypes are sometimes real.

Glass

The OnePlus 6 and Galaxy S9+ keep everything under glass.

We started seeing glass phones with the iPhone 4 and Nexus 4. They aren’t completely glass, of course, but there are plenty of phones with full glass backs to go with the full glass front. They can be beautiful and give a look that compliments a great design. They can also be fragile; phone screens break all too often and so do glass backs.

It only looks wet.

Using glass also adds to a phone’s price. Cheap pieces of soda-lime glass you may find at the hardware store aren’t suitable for a phone. Instead, specially made ultra-clear low-expansion glass and composites like Gorilla Glass are used and can add a lot to the final price. Exotic materials like synthetic sapphire can be exceptionally clear for the wavelengths of light a person can see, and very scratch-resistant. They are even more expensive, often prohibitively so.

Pros

• RF transmission. Glass is dense, but still allows radio waves to pass through fairly easily. This means your LTE signal, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth will be stronger without any long antenna cutouts.
• They look great. Phones with a glass back can have a feeling of depth if anything is under the glass. Glass can also shimmer and give the illusion of being wet. Both of these effects together can make for a stunning look. Samsung is a total pro at this, and its recent glass-backed Galaxy phones are simply beautiful.
• They feel good in your hand. Glass can be polished until it’s very smooth. Because it’s inert it will also feel solid and cold like metal does. When you hold a glass-backed phone in your hand it just feels like a luxury product. Everyone loves luxury products, even if it’s only an illusion.

Cons

• Glass breaks. There is nothing any company can do to make thin glass unbreakable. That means when you drop your phone (and you will) you have to worry about breaking both sides.
• Glass scratches. Everything will scratch, but glass seems to be the best at doing it. No matter what a company tells us about the Mohs scale or hardened polymers, glass will scratch. Scratches on a phone with the wet and deep illusion like a Galaxy S9 look terrible when they have a big scratch across the back.
• Glass is slippery. When your hands are damp holding a glass phone is like squeezing an ice cube. It can pop right out of your grip and when you consider that glass breaks and glass scratches, you have a recipe for disaster.

Glass-backed phones can look amazing. That silky wet look of a Galaxy S9 or the disco ball look of the Nexus 4 makes for a beautiful looking piece of gear. We want our expensive things to be beautiful.

Unfortunately, glass is also a really risky material to use in a phone. It needs to be thin (glass is heavy!) so when you use hardened treated materials like Gorilla Glass the risk of breaking increases because hardened glass is more brittle. It’s a catch-22 situation that we gladly put ourselves in because of how great it looks.

So which is the best?

That depends on just who you ask.

If you were to ask me, I would say that glass is the best. I like the way it looks and I like the way it feels. I know it will break or scratch easily, and I’ll take that risk. I’d also tell you that plastic is probably the real best because it is more workable, more resilient, and is better for radio transmission. And good plastic can both look good and feel good. But I like glass better.

Glass is best. No, wait. Metal. Or Plastic.

While there is no one winner here, there is a loser. Metal. Metal looks and feels good, but it’s a horrible material to build a phone with. It’s easy to bend, it’s easy to dent, and radio waves hate it. But there are plenty of people to tell me I’m wrong because it also looks and feels good while you’re holding it.

That’s OK. The important thing is that you buy what you like, and because so many different companies build Android phones there’s a good chance it’s out there. I might be on team glass and you might be on team metal but you don’t have to use my phone and vice-versa!

Your take

Which team are you on? Do metal or glass look so good that their shortcomings are forgivable? Or do you just love plastic and the range of colors or the soft feel of a quality finish?

Get into the comments and let us all know which you like and why. Then be happy we have more to choose from than a single phone or its plus version.

Updated May 2018: Because phones still come in metal, plastic, or glass and we still have a tough time deciding which is best.

OnePlus 6: Everything you need to know

Unlock the secrets.

The OnePlus 6 is now available, and it’s a compelling option for someone looking for an unlocked phone at a reasonable price — starting at $529 to be specific. But price aside, it’s a great choice for anyone, even those considering more expensive options, thanks to a combination of hardware and software, and a community that continues to support the company and one another.

Here’s everything you need to know about the OnePlus 6!

The latest OnePlus 6 news

May 23, 2018 — The OnePlus 6 is now available!

It was only announced a week ago, but the OnePlus 6 is now available to order from oneplus.net starting at $529 USD.

Are you ordering?

Read our review and watch the video

First thing’s first, watch the video and read the review. There’s plenty about the phone to learn, even though much of it is familiar. But the essential question a review tries to answer is, Should you buy this thing? And the response is an unrestrained, Yes.

The OnePlus 6 is the company’s finest phone ever, with excellent design, build quality, battery life and, for the first time, cameras.

Read the review

Review the specs

Once you’re done reading the review, you should, ahem, review the specifications. The phone is powerful — like one of the most powerful on the market today — with plenty of headroom and legroom (it’s proverbially spacious is what I’m trying to say) for whatever you want to throw at it. Apps-wise, not like object-wise.

OnePlus 6 specifications

How does it compare to other phones?

Of course, the OnePlus 6 doesn’t exist in a bubble — you have to compare it to other devices if you’re going to decide whether you should buy it. Thankfully, we’ve done most of the work for you, comparing it to the best flagships on the market right now.

• OnePlus 6 vs. Google Pixel 2 XL: Which should you buy?
• OnePlus 6 vs. Samsung Galaxy S9+: Which should you buy?

What about to other OnePlus phones?

Yeah, OnePlus owners like to keep it in the family, so to speak, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see many upgrading, or thinking of upgrading, from an existing OnePlus device, like a 3, 3T, 5, or 5T. Of course, with the company releasing two phones a year these days, it won’t be long until the next upgrade cycle hits, but that also means that the existing phones age quite well, thanks to frequent software updates (the joys of not going through carriers).

If you have a OnePlus 5 or 5T, you can probably hold onto those phones for a bit longer — unless you need the camera improvements. OnePlus’s 2016 phones, on the other hand, may be getting a bit long in the tooth and could use a replacement.

• OnePlus 6 vs. OnePlus 5T: Should you upgrade?
• OnePlus 6 vs. OnePlus 5: Should you upgrade?

Is the OnePlus 6 camera that much better than before?

This photo was taken in nearly pitch-dark conditions. OnePlus ramps up the light sensitivity to ISO6400, which would normally produce a lot of grain, but this photo is totally usable thanks to better software processing.

Yes! The OnePlus 6 has a larger 16MP sensor than previous OnePlus devices, with pixels that are 19% bigger, so low-light photography is immensely improved. It’s not going to overtake the Huawei P20 Pro or Pixel 2 for Low Light Champion Of The World, but it’s reliable in all conditions, and that’s more important than anything else.

The camera is probably the biggest improvement over previous OnePlus models.

The phone’s main sensor is aided by a fast ƒ/1.7 aperture, so true depth of field is a thing, along with drastically improved image signal processing from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845. Together, the phone is able to detect the correct settings more quickly, take multiple shots if necessary, enable HDR mode automatically, and reduce or eliminate grain in dark conditions.

There’s also Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), which was in the OnePlus 3 line but removed in last year’s series for unknown reasons. It’s back now, and paired with a larger sensor and faster main lens, the results speak for themselves.

On the other hand, the OnePlus 6’s secondary camera has less to do — it’s a 20MP sensor with an ƒ/1.7 lens, but its main purpose is to facilitate portrait mode which, while good, isn’t enough reason to have a second sensor in the first place.

Is the notch distracting?

The notch is what it is. You may hate it out of an aversion to all things Apple, or you may learn to live with it and forget it’s there. Most people will fall somewhere in the middle — it’s a character trait, like a freckle or a certain hairstyle.

What it does, though, is open up spme additional real estate on the 6.28-inch screen, which is great. But it also limits the number of icons that can be seen in the notification area, which is a bummer. Plus, the clock on the left side of the notification bar will never make sense. If you watch the video below, though, you can see ways to tweak the notification area to your liking. And you can also disable the notch altogether if you want to.

How’s the software?

It’s good! Running Android 8.1 Oreo, OxygenOS has turned into one of the most enjoyable, reliable versions of Android to date. OnePlus has also added a number of additions to make the whole thing run more smoothly, especially if you’re looking to maximize your screen real estate.

One of the more interesting changes to the software is a set of gestures that eliminates the bottom navigation keys, relying on swipes up from different areas of the bottom edge to go back, home, and enter multitasking. It’s different, but not bad. You’ll have to try it yourself.

As for tips and tricks, we’ve already got that list going, so if you’re looking to make the most of your OxygenOS experience, we have you covered.

• How to enable navigation gestures on the OnePlus 6
• How to disable the notch on the OnePlus 6

What’s it cost?

The OnePlus 6 starts at $529 USD for the base model and goes up to $629 for additional RAM and storage. There are three configurations and three colors, though one of the colors, Silk White, is only going to be available in early June and will be manufactured in limited capacities.

Here’s how the pricing breaks down in various regions.

6/64	$529	€519	£469	$699
8/128	$579	€569	£519	$769
8/256	$629	€619	£569	$839

See at OnePlus

Tell me more about the colors

There are three colors: Mirror Black, Midnight Black, and Silk White.

• Mirror Black is going to be the most common, since it’s the only color offered in the cheapest tier. It’s shiny, reflective glass, so it gets fingerprint-y, but that’s OK because you’ll likely put the phone in a case (see below). It’s also a little slippery, which is to be expected. Mirror Black is offered in 6GB / 64GB configurations for $529.

• Midnight Black is the color we’ve come to expect from OnePlus over the years, though the matte-looking finish belies a glass back, too, like the Mirror Black. Midnight Black is only available in 8GB / 128GB and 8GB / 256GB configurations for $579 and $629, respectively.

• Silk White is the most limited of the three colors, and will be available June 5. It’s also covered in glass, but like the Midnight Black model it has a matte finish and is easier to grip. Its white back has rose gold accents, and it’s definitely the nicest and most unique of the three colors. It will only be available in the 8GB / 128GB configuration, for $579, and once the run is sold out, OnePlus is not making any more.

I heard there’s an Avengers version — TELL ME EVERYTHING

Yes, you heard right: OnePlus has once again worked with Disney on licensing a special version of the OnePlus 6 for the Chinese and Indian markets. Last year, OnePlus offered an understated Start Wars variant of the OnePlus 5T, and now the Avengers version takes advantage of the hype behind the recent film release.

The Avengers version comes in a unique box and includes an Iron Man case and a OnePlus/Avengers co-branded medallion, which is neat. And while there’s a familiar glass back on the Avengers Edition, it has a Kevlar-style design underneath. Because Kevlar=superheroes, or something.

While the special edition isn’t coming to the U.S. officially, I’m sure that some entrepreneurial Indian and Chinese resellers will do the dirty business of importing some of them at a huge premium to this side of the world.

This is the OnePlus 6 Marvel Avengers Edition

The OnePlus 6 doesn’t work on Sprint or Verizon

The OnePlus 6 technically supports the CDMA bands for Verizon and Sprint in the U.S., but the phone lacks certification for their networks, so those users — just under half the smartphone-wielding U.S. population, is out of luck.

We’ve got your full technical explainer below.

The OnePlus 6 doesn’t work on Sprint or Verizon

Do you like cases?

As it does with all of its phones, OnePlus has unveiled a series of first-party cases for the OnePlus 6, and they’re all pretty great.

This year, there’s a fancy new protective bumper made of woven nylon, and while it adds a bit more bulk than the typical snap-on, I think it looks and feels awesome.

These are the official OnePlus 6 cases you can buy at launch

What are your thoughts on the OnePlus 6?

Let us know in the comments!

OnePlus 6

• OnePlus 6 review
• OnePlus 6 vs. OnePlus 5T: How much changes in six months?
• OnePlus 6 vs. OnePlus 5: Should you upgrade?
• These are the official OnePlus 6 cases
• The OnePlus 6 doesn’t work on Verizon or Sprint
• Join the discussion in the forums

Twitch will start streaming Doctor Who on May 29

Enjoy seven doctors over 26 seasons.

If you’ve been dying to catch up on Doctor Who but haven’t been able to tear yourself away from Twitch, you’er in luck. The streaming Mecca will be showing more than 500 episodes of the British classic, starting with 1963’s “An Unearthly Child.”

The streaming kicks off at 11 a.m. Pacific time May 29. And the classic eps are just for starters. From the Twitch blog:

Join us and tons of other fans in Twitch chat for over seven weeks of classic Doctor Who, starting with the 1963 episode “An Unearthly Child.” Together we’ll make our way through the first seven Doctors spanning 26 seasons. Come relive (or experience for the first time ever) the origins of the iconic Daleks, the Cybermen, and the trusty Sonic Screwdriver. New episodes will air every day for eight hours starting at 11AM PDT followed immediately by two eight-hour repeat blocks, so no matter where you live you won’t have to miss a beat.

We’ll of course have exclusive Doctor Who emotes for everyone who subs to /twitchpresents, as well as a shiny new Tardis Cheermote, but there are plenty more reasons to stick around. First, we’re partnering with Yogscast to bring you seven new episodes featuring a cast of Doctor Who screenwriters, experts, and fans who will introduce each new Doctor and highlight some of the best upcoming story arcs.

Twitch has some giveaways in order, too. A Tardis money box (it’s bigger on the inside, right?), a Doctor Who-themed Monopoly set, and a Doctor Who doormat.

Oh, and a trip to London Comic Con. More deets on all that here.

Twitch is available as a desktop app, a Roku channel, on iOS, on Android and Android TV, on Xbox One, on PlayStation 4, on Amazon Fire TV, and of course online at Twitch.tv.

Introducing CordCutters.com

• The hardware you need
• All about streaming services
• What channels are on which service
• FREE over-the-air TV
• How to watch sports
• Join the discussion

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Review: Lumos is a Clever Smart Bike Helmet With Apple Watch-Enabled Turn Signals

Earlier this month, smart bike helmet Lumos debuted at Apple retail stores and online, leveraging technology to help make your ride safer. Outfitted with a total of 48 LEDs on the front and back in red, white, and yellow, the Lumos helmet significantly increases your visibility to drivers and pedestrians while also allowing you to signal upcoming turns.

Since its Kickstarter launch, Lumos has supported bike helmet turn signals using a two-button remote mounted on the handlebars, lighting up yellow LEDs on the corresponding side of the helmet at the front and rear. A brand-new feature adds Apple Watch gesture support, letting you calibrate the system to detect bicycle arm signals based on watch orientation and automatically turn on the left or right signals on the helmet accordingly.

My wife Laura is an avid cyclist, so she was a good test subject for the Lumos helmet, which she has taken out on several group rides over the past few weeks. She came away impressed with some of the helmet’s features and the comforting feeling of being more visible as it became darker in the evening, but other aspects still need some tweaking.

Installation

Mounting the turn signal remote is a relatively simple affair, using a pair of rubber rings to wrap around the handlebars and secure the remote base, and then the remote itself simply twists onto the base to lock it in. It’s an easy installation process that fits a variety of handlebar diameters, although if you’ve already got a headlight and bike computer mounted on your handlebars you might find yourself running out of room to mount the Lumos remote.

Remote base attached on left side of handlebars
In fact, given the other items already on her handlebars, Laura’s only option was to mount the remote base on her grip tape, which made securing it a bit tricky with the uneven and somewhat squishy surface. She would have preferred some sort of stem mounting option to keep it within easy reach on her crowded handlebars. But depending on the style of bike you ride and the accessories you have, the crowding may not be an issue for you.

Remote attached to base
Crowding issues aside, the simple installation process is a benefit for commuter cyclists in particular, making it easy to take the remote with you so that it doesn’t get stolen from your parked bike. The remote also needs to be recharged periodically, so easy installation and removal are key.

Getting on the Road and Signaling

Pairing everything up is also simple, just holding some buttons on the helmet and remote and coordinating with the iPhone app and then you’re good to go. It’s easy to use the remote to signal left and right turns, with large, easy-to-press buttons that light up while a turn is being signaled, although you do have to manually press the button again to turn off the signaling.

Gesture-based Apple Watch signaling should make life significantly easier while also encouraging riders to use arm signals that help make drivers aware of upcoming movements, although Laura had a bit of trouble getting it to work consistently at first. There is a calibration process that walks you through holding your left arm straight out to signal a left turn and then pointed upward to signal a right turn.

Yellow lights in chevron shape flash when signaling a left turn
The calibration process is quick, requiring you to hold your arm in a neutral position on the handlebars and then while signaling left and right, but once she was out on the road for her first ride, Laura found that gesture recognition was rather finicky. Initially, it would register only one direction, and after she stopped and recalibrated only the other direction would register. Several recalibrations during that ride failed to result in consistent signaling.

On her second ride, however, she apparently found a sweet spot in the calibration, as it was much more consistent in recognizing her arm movements and properly signaling. On the downside, limitations in the movements the watch’s accelerometer can detect did result in some unintended signaling. Waving to a friend or even scratching her nose activated the turn signals, and with your hands frequently moving around on the bike to adjust grip, wipe away sweat, or grab a drink of water, it’s easy to unintentionally activate the turn signals.

When using the Apple Watch to initiate turn signals on Lumos, you have to shake your wrist to turn off the signal once you’ve completed your turn, and Laura found that she had to shake rather vigorously to get the signals to turn off.

The helmet also beeps while the turn signal is activated, which gives you some important feedback considering you can’t see the lights on your head. The beeping is clearly audible to others around you, which can be a benefit or annoying depending on your environment and your biking companions, although you can adjust the frequency of the beeping.

The beeping is also nondirectional, as it comes from the main electronics center in the rear of the helmet. It would be nice if Lumos had a speaker on each side near your ears to give you audible confirmation of which signal is flashing. At the very least, different beeping tones or patterns for each direction would be helpful.

It would also be nice if the remote and Apple Watch worked better together, such as allowing either one to deactivate the turn signal regardless of which method was used to activate it, or having the appropriate button on the remote flash when the signal has been activated via Apple Watch. As it stands, the two methods of triggering the turn signal work essentially independently.

One interesting benefit to using Lumos is that it encourages more consistent use of arm signals in general. With many riders not adequately signaling their turning intentions, tying those signals into the watch on your wrist and your helmet gives you extra motivation to use those arm signals. Some of that is undoubtedly a novelty effect that will wear off with regular usage, but it still provides a bit of incentive to signal.

Lighting Modes

Lumos offers three distinct lighting modes, steady, rapid flash, and slow flash. Which one you use is largely personal preference based which one you believe will make you most visible, but it’s worth noting that the helmet’s battery will last significantly longer if you use one of the flashing modes rather than steady mode. Switching between modes is accomplished by short presses on the single power button at the rear of the helmet. It’s easy to do unless the helmet is on your head, so make sure you decide which mode you want before you start riding, or else pull over to a safe place to change it. For the most part, however, it’s simply going to be “set it and forget it” at the beginning of your ride.

Rear lights at dusk
Laura felt that all three modes were sufficiently bright, offering a comforting feeling that she could be easily seen on the road, particularly as it started to get darker out in the evening. The lights appeared roughly as bright as the taillight she uses on her road bike, although Lumos advises that the helmet should not be used as a substitute for mounted bike lights.

The front helmet lights in particular are only intended to make you more visible, and you’re still going to want a more focused headlight for your bike to help you see where you’re going and make you even more visible at dusk or at night.

Front lights in daylight
As with regular bike lights, Lumos really won’t do much for you during the day, particularly in bright sunlight.

Braking

Lumos has rolled out a new beta feature that illuminates extra red lights on the rear of the helmet to signal that you’re coming to a stop. The feature is intended to automatically sense hard braking using an accelerometer inside the remote control.

Unfortunately, Laura was unable to get the feature to activate properly during her on-road testing. The feature seemed to work in simulated stopping scenarios holding the remote in the hand off the bike, and it briefly worked during some testing on the bike when the helmet stopped registering gestures from her Apple Watch, so maybe there was some conflict between the watch and the remote. Hopefully this is something Lumos can continue to refine to make it perform more consistently, and as noted it is still considered a beta feature.

App Tracking

The Lumos iPhone app includes a variety of features, including battery status of the helmet and remote, as well as advanced tracking for your rides. With GPS tracking, the Lumos app will map your rides and break down various statistics like calories burned, watts generated, and more.

The app can also be set to automatically start tracking when the helmet senses you’ve begun riding, so you can’t forget to hit the start button on your tracking. Lumos also supports Strava and Apple Health, making it easy to integrate with your other exercise and health tracking.

Battery Life

Lumos says the battery on the helmet last about six hours in flashing mode or about three hours in steady mode. That’s pretty accurate based on Laura’s testing, which saw a fully charged helmet drop to 46 percent at the end of a ride that lasted about an hour and 45 minutes with the helmet in steady lighted mode. The remote should last anywhere from a week to a month on a single charge, depending on use.

Both the helmet and the handlebar remote charge using a USB-A cable with a proprietary magnetic connector on the other end. The connector allows for low-profile ports on the helmet and remote, but the magnetic connection isn’t the strongest. On the helmet in particular, Laura had to be very careful to make sure it was connected properly and then be extremely gentle when moving the helmet at all during charging to prevent the cable from coming loose. Fully charging the helmet takes a couple of hours, while the remote is a bit faster.

Wrap-up

A decent bike helmet can cost $100 or more, and lights for your bike quickly add up as well, so $180 for a helmet with a bright array of lighting mounted high on your front and back doesn’t seem out of line, not to mention the added safety factor of turn signals and potentially brake lights. If you don’t need the turn signals and brake light capabilities, Lumos offers a cheaper “Lite” version of the helmet for $140 that only has the front and rear lights for visibility.

The regular Lumos helmet is offered in Pearl White, Charcoal Black, and Cobalt Blue, while the Lite version is available in Polar White and Charcoal Black. The regular and Lite versions are also available through Amazon.

Laura was impressed with the fit of Lumos, as she frequently has trouble finding helmets that fit well and that was certainly not the case with Lumos, even though it’s designed as a one-size-fits-all helmet for head sizes of 54–62 cm (21.3–24.4 inches). The helmet does not, however, include the increasingly popular MIPS technology that can lessen forces experienced in certain types of impacts.

Lumos is really aimed at commuter cyclists, where frequent turns in congested urban environments and relatively short rides are the norm. It’s a bit less useful for road cyclists who take fewer turns and for whom longer rides might exceed the battery life of the helmet, although those rides are typically in daylight when lights are less important. Even for road cyclists, the bright lights mounted on your head offer great visibility to vehicles around you, and it’s comforting to know the most important part of your body is most visible.

There are a few quirks with Lumos, most of which should be able to be fixed via software updates, so hopefully Lumos will continue to refine performance based on user feedback and data collected from testing.

Even with those quirks, the safety factor Lumos brings is a tremendous benefit that makes the helmet worth considering, and the Apple Watch turn signal gestures are a clever way to make the technology integration feel more natural. Overall though, Lumos does seem to require a decent bit of fiddling to keep things working properly, which might be okay if you’re into the latest tech gadgetry, but if you just want to hop on your bike and go, you might not get as much fun out of it.

Note: Lumos provided the bike helmet to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.

Tag: Lumos
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