Best Phone For Gamers

Mobile gaming has come a long way from the days of playing Snake on your Nokia 3310. These days, with the right phone in your hand, there’s no reason to compromise gaming quality for mobility.

Best overall

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

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It sort of goes without saying that Samsung’s launch of their newest flagship phone didn’t go as planned. But battery issues aside, the Note 7 is hands down one of the best phones you can buy in 2016 — especially if you’re a gamer.

Featuring a brilliant 5.7-inch AMOLED display powered by a Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB of RAM, the Note 7 will have your games looking great and running smooth as butter no matter how much of a resource hog they happen to be. With 64GB of on-board storage and a dedicated microSD slot you should easily be able to load up all your favorite games. And let’s not forget the versatility of the S-Pen, which can totally change the way you play puzzle games. It takes a fantastic game like Brain It On! and makes it even greater by giving you the precise input you need to master every level.

On top of all the hardware features that make the Note 7 an outstanding device, Samsung’s software has built-in features that make gaming a breeze on the Note 7. If you’re a serious gamer, you’ll definitely want to dive into the advanced settings and turn on the Game Launcher and Game Tools. They help to optimize the phone for gaming so you never feel bogged down or distracted from your game.

Bottom line: The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was seemingly designed to be a gamer’s best friend, from the top-tier hardware to its convenient software tools for gaming.

Why the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the best

Gamer mode is a real gamechanger.

As we already mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has all physical components required to handle pretty much any game you toss at it. It delivers exactly what you’d expect from a top-of-the-line flagship device in 2016.

But what really separates the Note 7 from the rest of the pack is Samsung’s two gaming features: Game Launcher and Game Tools.

Game Launcher compiles all the games on your phone into one place, allowing you to keep your home screen uncluttered while still having all your favorite games just a tap away. Admittedly it’s nothing too earth-shattering, but it does include options for optimizing battery life and turning off distracting alerts during your game.

But the real hero is Game Tools, a discreet floating icon that pops up every time you launch a game. A quick tap of the Game Tools icon pops up with a host of important settings to improve your gaming session. Getting annoyed by all your notifications? You can quickly toggle a do not disturb mode that blocks all alerts for as long as you’re in the game. Sick of accidentally touching the Back or Recent keys and being taken out of your game? You get a quick option to disable the Recent and Back keys. You’re also able to use the menu to minimize the game, which keeps a floating icon on your screen so you can quickly check your messages or other notifications while your game stays running in the background.

If you’re the type that likes to stream as you game, you get built-in screen recorder tools, which even allow you to use the front-facing camera and record commentary as you play, so you can share your favorite moments like a pro.

Whether or not these tools are enticing for you or not, the fact that Samsung has included them in their latest software (they’re also available on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge) shows their commitment to creating the best phones for Android gaming.

Best for battery life

Moto Z Play

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We’ve also dealt with the battery drain of extended gaming sessions when you’re gaming on the go. There’s nothing worse than getting all caught up in the heat of the action, only to have a low battery warning ruin things. If you suffer from battery anxiety when gaming off charger, the Moto Z Play Droid is the perfect device to alleviate that stress.

The latest in Motorola’s modular lineup, the Moto Z Play comes with a massive 3,510 mAh battery that’s optimized by a more efficient processor and a lower-resolution display. Granted this your display won’t get quite as bright as other UHD displays, but the color calibration and viewing angles remain great. You’ll definitely enjoy the outstanding extended battery life you’ll get in exchange. When it’s time to top up, you’ll be able to give your phone up to 9 hours of charge in just 15 minutes with Motorola’s TurboPower wall charger.

Still not enough power? Take advantage of the Moto Z Play’s modular design and slap on the Incipio offGRID Power Pack and add an extra 2,260 mAh battery to your phone, along with charging efficiency and the added ability to wirelessly charge both the pack and your phone.

All this battery life business would be pointless if the Moto Z Play was a pain to use, but fortunately that’s not the case. As AC’s Daniel Bader wrote in his Moto Z Play preview, if you’re a fan of the Motorola’s past offerings — including their handy gesture and voice controls — you’ll be happy to know they’re all present in the Moto Z Play:

For anyone who has used a Motorola phone over the past three years, the software experience is a known quantity. […] I like it because it’s fast and fluid all the time, even with 3GB of RAM and a low-cost processor, and has truly useful add-ons that improve my life.

Bottom line: Starting at just over $400, the Moto Z Play is the perfect companion for the mobile gamer with battery anxiety.

Best for touch responsiveness

HTC 10

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Serious gamers know that input lag is simply unacceptable. Any amount of lag can have a devastating effect whether it’s a coming down to a photo finish, or a frantic deathmatch shootout. While traditional gaming allows for full controller customization (whether we’re talking keyboard and mouse or controller), mobile gaming on a touch screen ultimately relies on the touch responsiveness of the sensors on the phone.

In that regard, there’s no better phone than the HTC 10. With their 2016 flagship, HTC boasts the 10 has the lowest touch latency of any smartphone on the market — iPhones included. While that’s not typically a frequently touted spec in 2016, it does make a difference for gaming.

Beyond touch responsiveness, as mentioned in our official review the HTC 10 is a fairly impressive phone that features outstanding high-definition audio output, a capable 12 megapixel camera, and fast performance thanks to the Quad-core 2.2 GHz Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB RAM. It’s all wrapped up in an aluminum unibody design with a curved back that’s ergonomically designed to fit comfortably in your hand.

Bottom line: Never blame your poor performances on lag again with the super responsive HTC 10.

Get your game on with the Note 7!

See at AT&T
See at Sprint
See at T-Mobile
See at Verizon

It sort of goes without saying that Samsung’s launch of their newest flagship phone didn’t go as planned. But battery issues aside, the Note 7 is hands down one of the best phones you can buy in 2016 — especially if you’re a gamer.

Featuring a brilliant 5.7-inch AMOLED display powered by a Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB of RAM, the Note 7 will have your games looking great and running smooth as butter no matter how much of a resource hog they are. With 64GB of on-board storage and a dedicated microSD slot you should easily be able to load up all your favorite games. And let’s not forget the versatility of the S-Pen, which can totally change the way you play puzzle games. It takes a fantastic game like Brain It On! and makes it even greater by giving you the precise input you need to master every level.

On top of all the hardware features that make the Note 7 an outstanding device, Samsung’s software has built-in features that make gaming a breeze on the Note 7. If you’re a serious gamer, you’ll definitely want to dive into the advanced settings and turn on the Game Launcher and Game Tools. They help to optimize the phone for gaming so you never feel bogged down or distracted from your game.

Bottom line: The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was seemingly designed to be a gamer’s best friend, from the top-tier hardware to its convenient software tools for gaming.

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ICYMI: Harnessing mother nature’s fury for energy

Today on In Case You Missed It: A Japanese engineer created a wind turbine that can harness energy from both typhoons and hurricanes, watch the video of it here. Meanwhile, researchers at Northwestern University developed a 3D printed bone made of ceramic and polymer materials that can encourage bone to regrow itself once it’s implanted.

Scripps Institution for Oceanography had bad news for humanity this week after the group said the world’s carbon levels went over 400 parts per million. There are three RIP items in the news this week, so get acquainted with the Rosetta Probe’s storied history, Blackberry’s decision to stop making its own handsets, and camera wearable company Narrative deciding to call it a day. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

Porsche Panamera (2017) preview: A tantalising tech-fest

Say hello to Porsche’s new Panamera, shown off in all its glory at the Paris Motor Show 2016.

But let’s cut to the chase: the last Panamera was always a bit of a difficult car to look at. As one of the people we talked to in Paris said: “it looked like a dog doing its business”. And it’s certainly true to say that the Panamera’s rear aspect was difficult to get on with. It had a hunchback quality, to put it kindly. But to drive it. Well, that was the business – of a whole other kind. 

• Paris Motor Show in pictures: The 16 best cars from the show floor

Cut to 2016 and new Panamera (2017) feels much more palatable, much easier to get on with – aesthetically at least. Whisper it, but it almost feels like Porsche has been looking at the Tesla Model S – even the window line bears some similarity.

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Look at the numbers and the clues are there – it’s 20mm lower at the rear of the roofline. And the whole car is longer. In fact, at over 5m long, you’ll have problems getting a Panamera into some parking spaces. Many cars this size are orientated around the person being chauffeured in the back. And while we folded ourselves into the back seat and were surprised at both how much space we had and how much control we had of in-car digital tech via the system in the rear, this is a Porsche – so the only place you really want to be sitting is in the driving seat.

Drop down into the Panamera’s low, low driver’s seat and the view is at once familiar, yet very new. Where once Porsche had showered an array of buttons at the centre console – that seemed to have been based on a Vertu phone – now someone in Stuttgart has clearly seen an iPad and everything has gone touch-based.

It’s very, very techy inside – and we’re going to need longer with this car to properly decode it. But the headlines are that in front of the driver you keep Porsche’s signature five-gauge driving cluster. However, only the central rev-counter stays analogue – the four other gauges become screens (they’re actually a pair of 7-inch displays). Porsche didn’t divulge specs, but they’re high-resolution and blacks are deep.

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The bigger news is in the centre of the car, where a 12.3-inch touchscreen integrates into the cross-car dash panel. It’s very reactive, sharply rendered and capable of giving you just about any piece of info you could care to mention – from the car’s ride height, to your lap time, the current weather and even flight check-in ability. This console also runs Apple CarPlay – but not Android Auto. See our 911 review for Porsche’s philosophy on why.

Below the Panamera’s 12.3-inch screen, there’s a digital touch panel – where Porsche’s usual array of buttons are replaced by a large black panel – which gives haptic feedback from digital buttons and which also integrates a couple of beautifully knurled, analogue knobs. Deeply complex to look at, it’s surprisingly easy to jump in and make everything work, find what you want in the menu structure. But that’s on a Paris Motor Show stand, going nowhere. On an autobahn, at 140mph? We’re not so sure it’ll be so easy. Or safe. You even have to control the central air-vent, purely through the touchscreen.

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This is the issue for Porsche. It’s becoming – or trying to become – a much techier, modern brand but retain its heritage of racing and driving superiority. The Panamera 4 e-hybrid on the stand is testament to this. You can plug it in, go 50km on electric alone – but still have 462bhp at your disposal via the electric motor and 2.9 litre, bi-turbo V6.

Elsewhere in the range you can go for a 6-cylinder diesel or petrol engine, petrol V8 and range-topping V8 turbo. The last of which covers 0-60mph in 3.8-seconds. All come with a PDK auto gearbox, several are four-wheel drive and all are more efficient than their predecessors.

The Panamera is impressive as a static object and – given Porsche heritage – it’ll doubtless get better out on the road. But until Porsche drops a production version of the fully electric Mission-E concept it showed in Frankfurt last year, the Panamera carries a whiff of yesterday’s idea.

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A Tesla Model S doesn’t look as good, but it looks similar, it’s got more space, it’s cheaper, has equally impressive tech and is faster. A twin test between the two would make for fascinating reading.

For now, the Panamera remains the archetype, sporting German autobahn express. It does everything the old car did, just better. And now, you might even enjoy looking at it.

Volkswagen ID Concept preview: Electric atonement?

“What does the ID stand for?” “Isn’t Diesel’?!” shouted one lark across the Volkswagen stand at the Paris Motor Show.

Follow the auto industry and you’ll know the score by now about the pickle VW is in related to diesel emissions fixing. Yes, Volkswagen did some bad things. Volkswagen said sorry (but was a bit sorrier to American consumers than those in Europe).

And now Volkswagen has chastened, it’s re-inventing itself and going head-long into the electric car revolution. The ID, then, is our first look at this new future. 

• Paris Motor Show in pictures: The 16 best cars from the show floor

Rather confusingly, Volkswagen seems to be telling us everything about its future and what it’s trying to do in one concept, so there’s quite a bit to get your head around. Its press conference talked about this representing a combination of a vision for 2020 (a car like the ID will be on the road by then) and 2025 (when the ID’s autonomous capabilities will be reality, Volkswagen says). But it also said something about Volkswagen being represented in three ways today: through Tiguan (with its guide and inform infotainment system), the e-Golf (with its 300km battery range), and ID Concept with it’s “think new” approach – autonomous driving and near 600km battery range. Confused yet? We were.

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The reality is, the ID appears quite simple. It follows VW’s clean aesthetic. Where VWs recently have been sharp-edged, here we get a very soft front-end, moving towards a sharper rear with elements that recall a Golf’s C-pillar and an Up’s boot panel. But the ID is more interesting because its battery makes the floor flat – which means the designers have been able to give the ID the wheelbase of a Passat, and the interior cabin space of that car, but in a footprint that’s shorter than a Golf.

The seats in the rear fold up, the boot space is family car sized, but the elements that stops you in your tracks is the dashboard. It’s a super-plain, fabric covered element with no buttons at all. In normal mode, the ID’s steering wheel seems relatively normal – the hub’s directly fixed to the column, and the gear selector’s on the wheel which is unusual – but there’s just a single screen display which is in the usual place, behind the steering wheel, in the dash. This display is (3D) map-dominated.

But the magic happens when you place your hand on the steering wheel boss. The screen then blinks and the steering wheel pulls itself into the dash, neatly slotting around the screen and integrating seamlessly. The ID is now in autonomous mode. Place your hand back on the steering boss, and the wheel shuttles out again, so you’re back in charge of driving.

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The ID is quite typical of a concept car: it features coach doors (opening from the centre), no B-pillar, lighting as a means of communication, and no grilles or gills as it’s electric aspects don’t need normal cooling. The tyres are blue, and the wheel design runs into the tyre (this won’t make production).

But it is based on VW’s forthcoming MEB (Modular electric) platform, which will underpin a production car which follows the ID by 2020 and then a wider range of EVs. These cars will have varying power outputs, a range which varies between 400-600km and should be cost competitive with today’s internal combustion engine cars.

For all that, we think the ID looks a little apologetic. VW says it’s friendly, but most of the time we were with it, it simply looked sad. The ultimate “sorry”? The designers say the EV powertrain allowed them to experiment and do radical things. But it looks nothing like as radical as a BMW i car, for instance.

Perhaps that’s the point. VW is trying to atone for its dieselgate, it’s trying to create itself a future which truly embraces electric drive, autonomy and software-heavy cars. It wants to create a get-able, and reasonably normal set of electric cars that people will want to buy.

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You can’t necessarily judge much from a concept, but the basic ingredients for Volkswagen’s electric future seem fundamentally fine. But given a Tesla brand which is already the electric standard bearer and a slew of updated EVs you can buy today – like the Renault Zoe with its new 400km-range battery launched at this Paris show – quite what new-thinking the VW ID brings to the party, or what it’s unique selling point will be, we’re not sure. Roll on 2020, when we’ll hopefully find out.

Land Rover Discovery (2017) preview: Seven-seat family disco

The British star of the Paris Motor Show 2016 was undoubtedly the new Land Rover Discovery.

You’ll be aware that there’s already a Discovery Sport, but big brother Discovery promises to do more than it’s sibling – it’s more luxurious, more powerful, has more space… more everything.

• Paris Motor Show in pictures: The 16 best cars from the show floor

Dimensions-wise, these changes mean that the new Discovery is 141mm longer than before (at 4970mm), and it’s got a longer wheelbase for better cabin volumes. But it’s also lower and narrower, which should make it wieldier in tight situations (such as multi-story car parks which sometimes proved the previous Discovery’s nemesis).

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Land Rover is acutely aware that the Discovery is a favourite with well-heeled families, as its seven-seat status has made it a firm favourite. You can get the Discovery Sport with seven seats of course, but its rearmost seats are good for kids only, whereas the full-fat Disco can accommodate two adults. We got back there and can say that, headroom-wise, a six-footer fits in easily.

You also get your own cubby spaces, power point and kids isofix points. Legroom subjectively seems tighter than the old car, but the middle row slides to redress the balance if you like.

While we’re on the subject of seating, one thing we weren’t convinced about was the electric folding nature of the five rear seats (three in the middle row, two at the rear). While having a button in the boot to fold the rearmost row we can see as useful, when juggling people versus luggage, the middle row’s electric folding mechanism seems slow – it’s a nice idea, but the amount of time it takes the outer seat to topple forward to allow access to the very back row makes you question whether an electric, motorised unit makes sense. We look forward to standing waiting for it to do its thing while we and our kids get rained on.

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One area you won’t get rained on is under the boot tailgate. On the last Discovery, the tailgate split – so the glass lifts up, while the body section folds down to create a ledge to sit on or slide things into the boot. In new Disco, the whole lot goes up, but the ledge is still there, just folded into the boot. Fold it down and it supports up to 300kg of people or stuff – more than enough for pulling your wellies on while sheltering from an English shower.

Up front, the Discovery feels much more luxurious then before – the steering wheel is from the Range Rover, the centre panel is lathered in gloss black, and you get (up until now reserved for Jaguar) InControl Touch Pro – JLR’s colourful, 10-inch widescreen infotainment system with a host of apps available and some functions on your mobile phone.

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Land Rover has built some clever stuff in here too – like “commute learning” where the car learns your regular journeys and proactively suggests the best route based on live traffic info. The ability to lock the car via an app or your smartwatch is handy if you’re going outdoor Bear Grylls-ing and are worried about losing the key. Just don’t forget to clean your boots before getting back into your fully carpeted, blonde-leather trimmed Discovery.

From everything we can see inside, the Discovery still looks like a stellar form of transport for epic trips, seven up. It’s got more competition than before though. If moving people and stuff is your only concern, then we’d point you to a Volvo XC90 – its interior is more modern, its seats equally accommodating and you get more boot space seven-up.

• Volvo XC90 review: Setting the SUV standard

Of course, the Volvo won’t see which way the Discovery has gone when you venture off road. Land Rover says the Discovery’s all-terrain abilities are class-leading. So if you’ve got wading, track-scrabbling or sand, snow, rocks or mud to traverse, we’re sure you’d be a fool to believe Land Rover is wrong.

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The new Discovery is available for the first time with JLR’s new Ingenium, four-cylinder diesels in two power-outputs – the bigger, kicking out 240bhp – which should mean you’ll need less fuel to get you where you need than in the earlier Discovery.

You can also get the 258hp V6 diesel, which will sound more cultured and refined, but with just 18bhp power advantage, it does make us wonder about the point. Emission fall, accordingly.

We’ve left the exterior design to last as it’s the most controversial aspect of the new Discovery, playing big bro to Discovery Sport, but largely binning the square, product-like aesthetic of the old car which so many people loved.

The new Discovery immediately appears more sporting and aggressive. Many will like that. Our issue is that it’s now a whisker in style away from Range Rover – which seems like an odd move (surely, better to differentiate two brands and products to spread appeal?).

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And many Discovery signatures – the bump in the roof, the asymmetric tailgate window and the alpine (high level) windows behind the C-pillar – all become sad shadows of their former selves. So slight or so whimsical are they, that it’s as if the design team deliberately got rid of them, only for some higher power to insist they get shoe-horned back into the design at the last minute. Shame.

No matter, the Discovery feels and looks impressive. If it drives as well as recent Land Rover products, and upholds the family standard off-road, it’ll be a winner.

Land Rover used to go by the tag line “the best 4x4xfar”. Don’t bet against the fifth-generation Discovery still being the 4×4 to beat.

Apple Ordered to Pay $302 Million in Damages to VirnetX in Patent Retrial

Apple has been ordered to pay more than $302 million in damages for using VirnetX Holding Corp’s patented internet security technology in its FaceTime platform without permission.

According to a Reuters report filed late on Friday, the verdict was handed down by a federal jury in Texas that has a reputation for awarding favorable verdicts to plaintiffs in cases involving patent infringement.

The U.S. district judge presiding over the case, Robert Schroeder, previously threw out VirnetX’s $625.6 million win over Apple from a previous trial because he said jurors in that case may have been confused.

The case with Nevada-based patent licensor VirnetX originally began in 2010, with a jury eventually awarding the company $368 million in 2012, but that decision was thrown out in 2014 after the court decided there were problems with how the trial judge had instructed jurors on calculating damages.

VirnetX continued to pursue Apple in relation to patents it believes the company infringed upon. The previous two suits were combined by the licensor’s lawyers, and in February, a jury returned with an even bigger verdict, $625.6 million – one of the highest ever in a U.S. patent case.

However, Schroeder later voided the result, saying that the repeated references to the earlier case could have confused jurors and were unfair to Apple.

In the latest trial, reports Reuters, jurors were asked to determine damages on two VirnetX patents that Apple had already been found to infringe, and to determine both infringement and damages on another two patents. The final $302.4 million award was in line with what VirnetX had been demanding.

Neither Apple nor VirnetX have commented on the latest case, although Cupertino will surely exhaust all avenues for appeals before accepting the result. In the meantime, it is facing another court proceeding over whether it willfully infinged the patents, which could lead to higher damages.

Apple is also set to contend with the trial in a second lawsuit filed by VirnetX over newer versions of Apple security features, as well as its iMessage platform.

Tags: patent trials, VirnetX
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Tim Cook Tells Utah Tech Audience: Encryption ‘Makes the Public Safe’

Apple CEO Tim Cook drew cheers from a Salt Lake City audience on Friday as he reiterated the company’s unwavering commitment to encryption and privacy protections for its customers, according to local media reports.

The comments were made during a Q&A session at the yearly meeting of the Utah Technology Council (UTC), a trade and advocacy group representing more than 5,000 technology and life-sciences companies across the U.S. state. The 55-year-old CEO was invited along with Utah senator Orrin Hatch to take the stage at the Grand America Hotel and field questions from a public audience.

Tim Cook in Q&A with senator Orrin Hatch (Image: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
Calling encryption “one of the biggest issues we face,” the CEO noted that most iPhone users have more personal data on their phones than in their homes. “Encryption is one of the things that makes the public safe,” he said. “We feel we have a responsibility to protect our customers.”

“We believe the only way to protect both your privacy and safety from a cyberattack is to encrypt,” Cook told about 1,400 industry executives, tech workers and Apple fans. “We throw all of ourselves into this and are very much standing on principle in this.”

Cook was responding to questions regarding the lingering impact of Apple’s dispute with the FBI over the agency’s demand that it build a “back door” into its software, following the use of a locked iPhone by the primary suspect in the San Bernardino mass shooting last December.

Apple refused to comply with the request from the federal agency, which dropped its pursuit of the company when investigators apparently discovered another way to retrieve the data on the suspect’s phone.

Salt Lake City audience listen to Q&A (Image: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
During the Q&A session, Cook also talked up the emerging field of augmented reality and underscored the importance of digital photo technology in preserving personal memories, which led him onto the subject of Apple’s co-founder, Cook’s late friend and colleague, Steve Jobs.

The CEO spoke fondly of keeping the former chairman’s office intact at the company’s Cupertino campus in California, where Jobs’ personal knickknacks remain in place five years after his death from pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.

“His spirit will always be the DNA of the company,” said Cook. “Jobs’ vision was to make the best products that enrich people’s lives. Lots of things will change with Apple, but that will never change.”

Senator Hatch and @tim_cook greeted a group of elementary and middle school students earlier for some selfies. #UtahTechTour #UTC #utpol pic.twitter.com/r1q4A8CrwD

— Senator Hatch Office (@SenOrrinHatch) October 1, 2016

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: Tim Cook, privacy, Encryption
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GoPro Hero5 Black vs Hero5 Session: What’s the difference?

GoPro announced the Hero5 Black action camera, Hero5 Session and the Karma drone in September 2016. Both the new action cameras are compatible with the drone and both offer some exciting features and good advancements over their predecessors.

How do they compare to each other though and which one is right for you? Here are the differences and similarities between the GoPro Hero5 Black and the Hero5 Session.

GoPro Hero5 Black vs Hero5 Session: Design

• Hero5 Black has a touchscreen for easier control
• Both offer one-button recording
• Hero5 Session is smaller and more subtle

The GoPro Hero5 Black is the larger of the two action cameras being compared here. The camera lens is positioned next to a small monochrome LCD display on the front, while a two-inch built-in touchscreen display sits on the rear, offering easy control of settings, such as resolution and field of view (FOV).

The removable battery and microSD card slot are hidden in the bottom, while the USB type-C port and micro HDMI port are hidden behind a flap on the right. The large recording button sits on the top.

The GoPro Hero5 Session is smaller and more subtle than the Hero5 Black, perhaps making it more appealing to those who want to mount it on a helmet or elsewhere on themselves. It has a built-in battery and the USB Type-C port and microSD slot can be found on the right behind a flap.

A very small monochrome display is positioned on the top of the Session behind the large recording button, while a small button on the rear offers access to settings, which consequently appear on the screen. To change settings on the Session without the app, users need to use the small button and the recording button to skip and select various options. It’s a little more fiddly than just tapping a touchscreen but you get used to it.

GoPro Hero5 Black vs Hero5 Session: Video capabilities

• Both offer up to 4K video capture
• Both have SuperView, Wide, Medium, Narrow and Linear FOVs
• Hero5 Black capable of higher frame rates at some resolutions

Both the GoPro Hero5 Black and the Hero5 Session are capable of capturing up to 4K video at 30 frames per second (fps). They also both offer 2.7K, 1440p, 1080p, 960p and 720p resolutions, while the Hero5 Black is also capable of 480p.

The Hero5 Black offers higher frame rates than the Hero5 Sessions in most resolutions other than 4K and 2.7K at 4:3 ratio however. The Hero5 Black is capable of 2.7K at up to 60fps, 1440p at up to 80fps, 1080p at up to 120fps, 960 at up to 120fps and 720 at up to 240fps. The Hero5 Session is capable of 2.7K at up to 48fps, 1440p at up to 60fps, 1080p at up to 90fps, 960p at up to 100fps and 720p at up to 120fps.

Both the Black and the Session offer high bitrate video at up to 60Mb/s and they both have looping video and auto image rotation features, as well as GoPro Protune software.

In terms of FOVs, the Hero5 Black and the Hero5 Session both offer SuperView, Wide, Medium, Narrow and a new option called Linear, but restrictions apply based on the resolution chosen.

For example, SuperView, which is the FOV that distinguishes GoPro devices, is not available for 4K recording on the Hero5 Session and Narrow isn’t available for 720p recording. The higher frame rates on the Hero5 Black also have FOV restrictions. SuperView can only be used at 24fps when filming in 4K for example, 1080 (120fps) is only available in Wide and Narrow FOVs and 1080p (80fps) is restricted to SuperView only.

GoPro Hero5 Black vs Hero5 Session: Photo capabilities

• Hero5 Black has a higher resolution sensor
• Hero5 Black has better low-light performance ultra-sharp and image quality
• Same features including burst, time lapse, night lapse

Both the Hero5 Black and the Hero5 Session are capable of capturing images separately or simultaneously to video. They also both offer time lapse and night lapse and the interval options are the same.

For time lapse, the Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session have 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30 and 60-second intervals, while night lapse has an auto option, along with 4, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30-second intervals, as well as 1, 2, 5, 30 and 60-minute intervals.

The Hero5 Black has a higher resolution sensor, offering photo, night photo and burst at 12-megapixels wide, compared to the Hero5 Session’s 10-megapixels wide. Both capture burst at up to 30fps.

The Black has professional grade low-light performance, while the Session opts for consumer grade. GoPro also says the Black has ultra-sharp image quality with reduced distortion, while the Session just offers reduced distortion.

GoPro Hero5 Black vs Hero5 Session: Audio capabilities

• Same audio capabilities

The GoPro Hero5 Black and the Hero5 Session offer the same audio capabilities. Both have external microphone support, both are able to handle twice the dynamic range of the Hero3+ and both also offer increased audio range to the Hero3+.

The two devices have mono 48kHz, AAC compression with advanced multi-band automatic gain control and they both support 3.5mm stereo microphones via an optional adapter that can be bought separately.

GoPro Hero5 Black vs Hero5 Session: Features and hardware

• Both have voice control, waterproofing without housing and video stabilisation
• Hero5 Black has touchscreen, RAW image capture and GPS location tagging
• Hero5 Black has larger battery and micro HDMI port

The GoPro Hero5 Black and the Hero5 Session both offer simple one-button control as we mentioned, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built-in, advanced wind noise reduction and video stabilisation. They are also both waterproof up to 10-metres without housing and they will both allow for auto upload to the cloud with GoPro’s Plus subscription.

Additionally, the two devices also have voice control functionality. They will respond to 12 specific commands, such as “GoPro Take a Photo” or “GoPro Stop Recording” and they will both understand these commands in seven languages, with more coming.

The Hero5 Black offers a few extras compared to the Hero5 Session though. The two-inch touch display built into the Hero5 Black’s design is one of the biggest differences allowing for simpler setting control as we said previously, as well as on-screen exposure control. The Hero5 Black also has the ability to capture RAW and WDR images, and your GPS location.

There is also a larger battery on board the Hero5 Black, which is also removable, unlike the Hero5 Session’s. The Black has a 1200mAh capacity, compared to the Session’s 1000mAh capacity. Both have a USB Type-C port and microSD slot, while the Black also has a micro HDMI port.

GoPro Hero5 Black vs Hero5 Session: Price and what’s in the box?

• Hero5 Session is £100/$100 cheaper
• Same mounts included in box

The GoPro Hero5 Black costs £349/$399. The camera itself is in the box, along with the frame, rechargeable battery, mounting buckle, curved and flat adhesive mounts and a USB Type-C cable.

The GoPro Hero5 Session costs £249/$299. In the box, you’ll find the Session camera itself, the standard frame, mounting buckle, curved and flat adhesive mounts and a USB Type-C cable.

GoPro Hero5 Black vs Hero5 Session: Conclusion

The GoPro Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session offer many of the same features. They are both capable of up to 4K video recording, they both offer voice control functionality, they both have video image stabilisation and they both have the same audio capabilities, as well as waterproofing up to 10-metres without housing.

The Hero5 Session is cheaper, smaller and more subtle, but controlling it is more difficult than the Hero5 Black and its touchscreen. The larger device also offers higher frame rates at some resolutions, a higher resolution sensor with better low light capability and a couple of other additional extras, such as RAW image capture and GPS location tagging.

Ultimately, it will depend on what you need from your action camera as to which of these is better for you. You don’t miss out on a huge amount by opting for the Hero5 Session, but for some of you, the higher frame rates, touchscreen control, slightly larger battery and extra features like RAW images and GPS capture will be worth the extra cash.

• GoPro Hero5 review: A new breed of hero
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Here are the best deals from Amazon’s Great Indian Festival

Amazon has kicked off the Great Indian Festival sale, where the retailer is discounting thousands of products over the course of five days. We’re looking at price cuts on best-selling phones for the first time, heavy discounts on Bose and Sennheiser audio products, and so much more. Here are the best deals from Amazon’s Great Indian Festival:

Mobiles

• Moto G4 – 2GB RAM/16GB storage – ₹10,999 – ₹1,500 off
• Moto G4 Plus – 3GB RAm/32GB storage – ₹13,499 – ₹1,500 off
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 – 3GB RAM/32GB storage – ₹10,999 – ₹1,000 off
• Xiaomi Mi Max – ₹13,999 – ₹1,000 off
• LeEco Le Max 2 – ₹17,999 – ₹5,000 off
• OnePlus 2 – ₹19,999 – ₹3,000 off
• Lenovo Z2 Plus – Snapdragon 820/3GB RAM/32GB storage – ₹17,999 – cashback and launch offers
• Lenovo Vibe K5 – ₹6,999 – ₹500 off
• Lenovo K4 Note – ₹9,999 – ₹2,000 off
• Samsung Galaxy On7 Pro – ₹9,990 – ₹1,200 off
• Samsung Galaxy On5 Pro – ₹7,990 – ₹1,200 off

Accessories

• Sennheiser HD 598 SE – ₹6,999 – ₹1,919 off
• Audio-Technica ATH-M50x – ₹8,499 – ₹1,500 off
• Bose QuietComfort 25 – ₹17,640 – ₹7,560 off
• All-New Kindle e-reader – ₹4,999 – ₹1,000 off
• Xiaomi Mi Power Bank 20000mAh – ₹1,899 – ₹600 off
• Power banks – Up to 65% off
• Headphones – Up to 60% off

Wearables ₹

• Xiaomi Mi Band 2 – ₹1,999 – ₹500 off
• Garmin vívosmart HR – ₹9,369 – ₹5,621 off
• Fitbit Surge – ₹19,999 – ₹5,000 off
• Fitbit Blaze – ₹15,999 – ₹4,000 off
• Fitbit Charge HR – ₹9,999 – ₹5,000 off
• Fitbit Alta – ₹10,399 – ₹2,600 off
• Fitbit Flex – ₹6,799 – ₹1,700 off
• Jawbone Up3 – ₹8,999 – ₹6,000 off

We’ll add more deals as they go live throughout the course of the sale. If you want to take a look at all the products on sale, just head to Amazon. Find something interesting? Let us know in the comments!

See at Amazon