Motorola MBP36S Remote Wireless Video Baby Monitor review – CNET
The Good The Motorola baby monitor works fast out of the box. It is easy to use, and one of the most affordable camera/monitor combinations out there.
The Bad The third-party app is basically broken, and some of the features weren’t even testable as a result. Even on the monitor at short range, connection issues are intermittent.
The Bottom Line It’s a fine basic device if you’re just going to use it in the house, without the app. Even then, though, the connection issues would make me wary of relying on it.
When I first unpacked the Motorola Baby Monitor and powered it on, I was surprised to see the base station screen on which you watch your baby immediately sync with the camera’s view. Talk about a quick setup. The next week of testing it out, however, slowly chipped away at that first impression, and left me with an overall negative opinion of the product.
For $180, the Motorola Baby Monitor should feel like a solid mid-range video monitor. Sadly, half of the features listed for the device barely function thanks to a terrible app and a consistently low-performing connection.
Motorola’s greatest strength is its out-of-the-box usability. Like the comparable VTech Monitor, it’s perfect if you want to use the monitor mostly in-home. Leave the camera pointing at your child, run to the next room to do a little work, and you’ve got a screen right there with two-way audio and night vision. You can even pan and tilt the camera using the base station, albeit with noticeable latency.
You start running into problems when you download the third-party app that allows for monitoring via your mobile phone. In theory, this should add all sorts of features, like push notifications, motion and audio sensing, and video recording for later viewing. And Motorola would be one of the only companies offering both a base station and app. The problem is, the app’s connection is so intermittent, I could barely even try out those features, let alone use them with any sort of consistency.
Despite the features the company boasts on its box, the Motorola Baby Monitor boils down to a very basic product. Despite the problems with the app, I could’ve recommend the monitor if the connection between the camera and base station were perfect. But even that connection suffers often, which leaves the product with almost no viable audience.
Panasonic Wireless Home Baby Monitor Kit KX-HN6001W review – CNET
The Good Panasonic’s baby monitor has a great app and includes a hub for further build-outs… if users want to make that long-term investment.
The Bad The camera has no pan/tilt control, and the app can’t make up for the lack of a standalone monitor.
The Bottom Line Although the camera performs admirably, Panasonic’s device simply doesn’t have basic design features that make other monitors so convenient — whether that’s a standalone monitor or pan/tilt control.
What makes a smart baby monitor “smart?” Some devices are wearable, measuring heart rates and oxygen levels. Some are app connected. The Wireless Home Baby Monitoring Kit from Panasonic, shows off its smarts by integrating with a larger system — the Panasonic Home Network.
At $180, Panasonic’s video baby monitor is more affordable than much of the competition. Part of the way it cuts that cost is by excluding a standalone base station monitor. Instead, users can pull up the app on their phones to live stream their sleeping child. Like competitor iBaby, Panasonic maintains an impressive app and reliable connection.
The problem is, when you just use the monitor around the house, your phone gets tied up with the app, which can be frustrating if you’re hoping to multitask with it.
Panasonic’s Kit also includes a hub that can connect with devices like door/window sensors, motion sensors, and more — all for a more integrated and secure nursery environment. Without those additional purchases, the hub really only functions as an audio alarm when the camera senses motion. But for customers interested in setting up a DIY monitoring system for their child, the hub adds a lot of potential.
Panasonic’s device has a few major drawbacks. Most notably, the camera is one of the few in its price range without pan/tilt controls. In other words, once the camera is pointed in a direction, that’s where it stays until you physically move it. The second issue is the lack of sensitivity personalization when it comes to motion and sound alerts. Under the default settings, I was able to walk across the whole field of view for the camera. As long as I went slowly, the alarm never went off.
The final problem with Panasonic was actually my first impression. Setting up the hub and the camera, connecting them on my Wi-Fi, and installing the multiple firmware updates required — the whole process took over an hour (yes, you read that right). I’m glad to see Panasonic updating the firmware on these devices, as it shows at least some level of ongoing support. But setup for a baby monitor shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, let alone 60.
Panasonic’s baby monitor isn’t the best device for its price. But for parents with an interest in DIY setups and large monitoring systems, it could be a good foundation for future investments.
Summer Infant In View Digital Color Video Baby Monitor review – CNET
The Good The Summer Infant Video Baby Monitor is affordable, and the basics work well for the most part. You can have it up and running in under a minute.
The Bad Reliable night vision is notably absent from the features, the resolution is low and there are some minor connection problems.
The Bottom Line The Summer Infant Monitor is a solid product if you’re on a tighter budget, but some missing features mean it won’t work in every situation.
With so many video baby monitors and smart cams that cost between $200 and $300, finding a product with both a camera and base station monitor for $130 seems like a steal. And that’s exactly how much the Summer Infant In View Digital Color Video Baby Monitor will set you back.
Of course, for a lower price, you’ll also get fewer features. That means no app connection, no pan/tilt control, and most notably, no night vision. The device still works, but the missing features definitely limit the use cases.
For instance, you can really only use Summer Infant to monitor your child from another room, because there’s no remote viewing via an app. Again, most people use monitors when they’re just a room away, but I like having app connection, so you can check in with your child when you’ve left them with a sitter.
The Summer Infant also won’t monitor a whole nursery very well, because you can’t move the view to follow your child around a room. Finally, the room must always be at least somewhat well-lit. Otherwise, you can’t see anything.
All these limits mean Summer Infant is best suited for monitoring your napping kiddo from a room or two away — and only if that room has some light. In that capacity, it works well. I especially like one design feature: a small LED strip along the top of the base station monitor. The strip lights up as the camera senses sound, so you don’t necessarily need to keep the monitor volume up — you can just keep an eye on the lights.
Besides the lacking features, Summer Infant works pretty reliably. Its streaming resolution is too low to see if your child’s eyes are open or closed from a short distance, but you can see major movements and hear sounds. Similarly, the connection between the monitor and camera sometimes cuts out, but in my time with the device, such cuts were rare and brief.
Overall, Summer Infant’s Monitor is basic, but reliable. You’ll need to make sure the crib has some light around it at night, so you can still see the baby, but getting a camera and base station monitor for $130 isn’t a bad deal.
North Face’s Access Pack was made for obsessive gadget lovers
A lot of backpacks and messenger bags now come standard with padded laptop sleeves. Whether that’s due to most people taking a notebook or tablet with them, I don’t know, but laptop bags are a thing, with an increasingly wide range of prices, shapes and styles. The North Face Access Pack caught my attention for a couple of reasons. First, it’s an established bag and apparel maker that’s made something for people like me. The company already has several backpack designs with laptop sleeves — and even battery packs — built-in.) Then there’s the fact that it’s been sold out for a while (despite the $235 asking price) on the company’s retail site. It’s in demand. So I demanded to try one.
The bag has a rigid shell that makes it look like it’s constantly filled to the brim. It isn’t. The Access Pack is constructed from a stylish mix of grey and black nylon panels, with the padded straps making it surprisingly comfortable to carry around all day. There’s also a clasp that goes across your chest, keeping the bag high on your back. It all looks looks cooler than it has any right to — at least for a brand that many of us associate with brightly colored windbreakers and navy fleeces. All told, the rigid shape and understated (perhaps too understated) colors make for a stylish work backpack.
The backpack’s primary compartment shuts with a satisfyingly meaty latch that’s quick to operate and quicker than drawstring toggle or a zip. It folds out to reveal a surprisingly wide opening, making it easy to dip your hand in and reach around. The laptop sleeve itself is entirely separate, in a padded water-resistant, zippable pocket along the back of the bag.
This is also where you’ll find one of the Access Pack’s notable features: pull tags for the pockets. When it comes to laptops up to 15 inches big, a hardy nylon handle at the top of the sleeve pulls at the base of bag, gently drawing your laptop toward you. It’s not entirely effortless — you’ll need both hands — but the handle means the laptop smoothly slides out without having to grasp deep into the sleeve for the machine. There’s also an extra zipped compartment in the back specifically for glasses or sunglasses, with a solid enclosure to help avoid any accidents.
The bag’s structured shape comes with a cost: It weighs around 4 pounds. I otherwise haven’t paid attention to how much backpacks weigh, but when empty the Access Pack is noticeably heavier than softer backpacks I’ve owned, which might not make it not ideal for, say, a quick coffee break.
It was fortunate, then, that I was auditioning this bag as a possible new work backpack. With laptops, adapters, chargers, cameras and miscellaneous technology to test, I need a lot of pockets just to make some semblance of order from a nest of cables. Inside the main part of the bag are two phone-size pockets (spare phone, battery pack), pen holders that I didn’t trust — pens leak on me — as well as a deep internal pouch that’s good for magazines and bigger tablet models. (My iPad Mini got lost in there, if that’s any indication of what can fit inside.)
As with the laptop sleeve, North Face added pull tabs to the two phone compartments and the tablet pouch. They’re lighter, rubberized tabs that have some elasticated give. The things you’ll put in here will weigh less, obviously, but I’m cautious about how much abuse these pull tabs could take, day after day. Two weeks of daily use didn’t break anything yet. Do you need these tags? No. But the laptop assistance, in particular, helps when you’re trying to get to work in a tightly packed cafe or even on a train or plane. (I’ll admit I didn’t fly during my time with the Access Pack. Apologies.) The smaller internal tags make retrieving what’s in them just as easy as if they were in the main bag compartment; the less effort I have to make, the more organized my bag will be.
There’s also a stretchy pouch just underneath the aforementioned latch that serves as an excellent pocket shrapnel and gum receptacle. Yes, I’m running out of synonyms for space, but we’re almost done. There’s also a pair of zipped pockets at the front. They’re both relatively narrow but deep, and while they overlap with one another, they’re completely separate: good for cables, maps and other slim items.
The hard thing about assessing backpacks is that how you use it (and when, where) inform what you look for in a bag. Everyone’s different. There’s no built-in battery pack for charging your phone, although there are plenty of pouches to store one, and the shell means it seems to bump into things and people moreso than other bags I’ve used. Those smartphone pockets are a little too tight for phones around the size of a Galaxy Note 7, and there’s no way of securing the main compartment; at least if there were zips, you could lock them together. (Yes, you can do that for the laptop part.)
The Access Pack is classy-looking bag whose design is centered around gadget storage and removal. However, you have to consider whether these convenient features — and modern looks — warrant a $235 upgrade. They don’t quite cut it for me.
Source: The North Face
iBaby Monitor M6S review – CNET
The Good The iBaby Monitor M6S has a great app and lots of bonus features. Plus, its streaming and pan/tilt responsiveness are excellent.
The Bad The camera has no accompanying monitor, and the motion and audio sensors are too sensitive.
The Bottom Line There’s a lot to like about iBaby, but it feels a little pricey for something with no standalone monitor and poor alerts. It’s still one of the best higher-end products of its type, though.
When it comes to smart home tech, you can usually go one of two directions: the big-name company route, or the startup route. For baby monitors, either way you go, you’ll get the same basic product: a smart camera with two-way audio, night vision, and a couple distinguishing features thrown in. The real differences lie in performance.
iBaby is probably the most notable startup in the video baby monitor market. Its premiere product, the $230 iBaby Monitor M6S, is just a camera — foregoing the standalone monitor for a well-designed app. At a consistent 1080p, the M6S’s video and connection quality is some of the best on the market. Plus, the device includes small but thoughtful additions to its feature list, like recorded stories and lullabies.
The iBaby Monitor M6S stands out in a few technical areas. It streams reliably even when you’re away from home, and also remains responsive to pan/tilt control. You can look around the room with an easy touchscreen interface (as opposed to competitor Samsung’s clunky touchscreen) on the mobile app, and the two-way audio is high quality.
Of course, iBaby isn’t perfect. While receiving push notifications based on sound and motion detection is a cool idea, it stops being cool when, even at the lowest sensitivity settings, every shadow or switch of the A/C has you checking your phone. I ended up disabling push notifications while I was at work, simply because I was receiving one almost every 5 minutes.
The second problem with iBaby is its reliance on an app. Sure, the app works a lot better than much of the competition, but without a standalone base station monitor, parents using iBaby to monitor a child who’s just a few rooms away will either constantly be checking their phone, or draining their batteries by leaving it on.
In other words, it might seem low-tech to have a standalone monitor, but it’s really handy — especially if you use your phone for work, and can’t simply relegate it to background baby monitoring.
The iBaby Monitor M6S is one of the best cameras on the market, but its lack of a standalone monitor leaves a hole that a mobile app can’t fill. Between that and the more expensive price, iBaby ends up being just good, when it could’ve been great.
Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse review – CNET
The Good Navigating Windows is a breeze with the Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Bluetooth mouse. The wireless connection frees up your USB ports for other devices, its contoured shape gently cradles your hand, and the shortcut buttons will (probably) increase your day-to-day productivity.
The Bad The mouse is designed for right-handed users only, and the glossy plastic finish is a sticky situation in warm weather. Not all features work on Macs and Chromebooks.
The Bottom Line Microsoft’s Sculpt Comfort is a dongle-free Windows wireless mouse that delivers superior ergonomics at a rock-bottom price.
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Microsoft’s Sculpt Comfort is a dongle-free Windows wireless mouse that delivers superior ergonomics at a rock-bottom price.
Sarah Tew/CNET
If you’ve just picked up a Windows laptop or tablet PC and just can’t stand using the stylus, Microsoft’s Sculpt Bluetooth mouse is the best wireless solution we’ve found to free yourself from the cramped restrains of USB transceivers, because let’s face it — sometimes even one dongle is one too many.
Logitech has long been the Michael Jordan of wireless mice, offering the best mousing performance for the buck, but the Sculpt Bluetooth mouse is swiftly catching up with some clever features — like touch-sensitive shortcut buttons and the company’s own BlueTrack scroll-everywhere laser sensor — that makes navigating Windows 8 and 10 environments a breeze.
The price is an easy pill to swallow too — as of the time this was written, you can pick one up at Amazon or Best Buy for under $25, which converts to about £20 or AU$35.
Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse (pictures)
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First, it’s important to note that this mouse is for right-handed users only (sorry, lefties). The shape slopes upward and gently rises back toward your palm, so it’s really comfortable to use for long stretches of time. The left side has a trim pad for your thumb to rest.
It actually reminds me a lot of the old Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer, in that it’s lightweight and molded to cradle your hand. My only design complaint is the shiny plastic finish can get a little sticky if you’re using it in hot environments.
See that blue Windows stripe on the left side of the mouse? It’s both a universal shortcut button and a touch-sensitive touchpad that registers up and down swipes with your thumb.
All the buttons on the mouse are remappable once you download the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center software. You can choose to assign the Windows button to do things like open the Start Menu, launch Cortana, or access any of your applications or tasks — it’s really up to you to decide what works best for your day-to-day productivity.
Same goes for the thumb swipes, but I prefer to use them to move me back and forward in a web-browser window. Another sweet feature is the mouse provides haptic feedback (aka a little vibration) whenever you swipe it to let you know it’s registered the action. You can also disable it if you want.
Samsung SEW-3043W BrightView HD Baby Video Monitoring System review – CNET
The Good Samsung’s video monitor is reliable and offers a solid package of features.
The Bad The touchscreen doesn’t work very well, and the lack of an app means remote viewing won’t be possible.
The Bottom Line Despite a couple of weaknesses, Samsung’s video monitor is one of the more solid offerings on the market.
Buying a video baby monitor can be tricky. These gadgets range from $100 to $250, and their features are all over the place. Some have recorded stories to read to your child as they go to sleep; others don’t even have night vision. Either way, finding the right product is always a balancing game between the price and the device.
The Samsung SEW-3043W BrightView HD Baby Video Monitoring System is certainly more expensive than many competitors’ products, clocking in at $230. But it also offers one of the best suites of features. While a few major design limitations hold Samsung’s device back from greatness, it is still one of the better high-end video baby monitors out there.
Samsung has all the requisite features for a higher end video baby monitor: pan/tilt control, consistent 720p resolution, night vision, two-way audio, and sound alerts. Navigating the settings on the base station monitor to take advantage of those features is also quick and easy, as opposed to Motorola’s monitor.
A few feature omissions stand out to me, though. Most notably, there’s no additional app for remote viewing or video recording and playback. While that means the device is likely more secure, it also means you can only use it around the house.
The second problem with Samsung’s monitor is the base station screen itself. Unlike most competitors, Samsung boasts a touchscreen interface. But the touchscreen is so outdated that anyone with a smartphone will quickly feel frustrated using it. You have to press hard on the screen for it to register, and there is no swiping or scrolling. Instead, the buttons are located on the screen, rather than beside it. In the end, the touchscreen detracts from the quality of the user interface rather than enhancing it.
Despite those problems, Samsung’s device works well. I only experienced a few connection hiccups during the days I tested it, and none of them lasted more than ten or fifteen seconds. While $230 does feel pretty pricey for a video baby monitor, it’s a fair price for reliability.
VTech Safe & Sound Owl Digital Video Baby Monitor review – CNET
The Good VTech’s Safe & Sound Monitor performs the basics well. Its streaming connection is reliable, and its pan/tilt control is responsive. Plus, the owl design is a cute addition.
The Bad The monitor’s feature list is short, and the camera’s resolution is disappointingly low.
The Bottom Line Some odd design decisions, like the low-res camera and the owl’s glowing red eyes, mar an otherwise solid device. Plus, the price seems a little high for the basic features, no matter how reliable they are.
For anyone browsing baby monitors, it quickly becomes evident that VTech is a mainstay of the market. The company has developed many of the smartest audio-only monitors, and more recently, it has introduced video monitors to the mix. The VTech Safe & Sound Owl Digital Video Baby Monitor, VTech’s most feature-rich offering, sells for about $200 online and at retailers.
The Safe & Sound Monitor might fall in the middle of the market when it comes to price, but its feature list is one of the shortest around. While the basics of two-way audio, pan/tilt control, and night vision are there, there’s no app connection. Without app connection, there’s no push notifications or remote viewing on your phone. The device doesn’t offer any lullabies or stories. In fact, there’s no real special features that stand out at all.
The simplicity of the Safe & Sound Monitor is also a strength, though. While the bells and whistles of other monitors might not be part of this device, neither are the connection problems or latency issues. The streaming, although at a strange PlayStation Portable-level resolution of 480×272, is consistent. The pan/tilt control of the camera is responsive. All around, it’s a solid device.
One other strange design choice is worth noting: The camera that looks like an owl is a fun design feature for kids, but when the lights turn off and night vision is activated, the owl’s eyes turn red. My infant son was too young to really notice, but for older toddlers, having an creature with glowing red eyes watching them at night might not go over so well.
The VTech Safe & Sound is worth checking out if you know you’ll primarily use the monitor for in-home monitoring, and only on the most basic level. In that context, it’s reliable. But if you’re looking for fun features for the kid, or remote monitoring, look elsewhere.
Sony Xperia XA review – CNET
The Good With a super-skinny bezel, the Sony Xperia XA is a great-looking phone that’s comfortable to use in one hand.
The Bad Its low screen resolution, short-lived battery and meagre amount of built-in storage are major setbacks. Sony has loaded the phone with a horrible mess of bloatware.
The Bottom Line Unless slick style is your only concern, skip the Sony Xperia XA for a cheaper phone with better features.
Sony’s recent phones, such as the Xperia X, have been too blocky to be called truly stylish. Not so with the Xperia XA. This 5-inch phone has an edge-to-edge display with only the merest sliver of a bezel. It gives the XA a lusciously premium look that belies its affordable price tag.
The XA will set you back $280 in the US, £240 in the UK and AU$499 in Australia. Design this slick is not usually a high priority for phones of this price.
But that’s where my positive feelings for this phone end. The price is still too steep for its low-resolution display and unimpressive specs, especially when you compare it to the cheaper and more powerful Motorola Moto G4 Plus.
Yes, the XA has a cool design, but it comes at a too high a price.
Edgeless screen
- 143.6 by 66.8 by 7.9 mm
- 137 grams (4.83 ounces)
- Tiny bezel around the display
The almost total lack of edge around the sides of the screen strikes you immediately. It doesn’t curve at the side like the Galaxy S7 Edge. It gives it a classy look. It makes the XA feel smaller than you might expect from a 5-inch phone. I could comfortably stretch my thumb across the display to type with just one hand and it slid easily into my pocket.
The screen itself is a letdown, though. It has only a 720p resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 293 pixels per inch, which is low for a phone of this size and price. The Moto G4 Plus costs significantly less, but it packs a full HD panel with a much more impressive 401 ppi. While apps such as Twitter and Facebook look fine, small text is fuzzy and high resolution images lack clarity.
Colours don’t impress, either, and the display is not very bright. Though Sony was able to squash the screen into a small space, it picked the wrong screen to squash in.
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Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The back panel is plastic, but my white model had a pearlescent finish that glints with a pinkish sheen when it catches the light. Hardly a killer feature, but it’s a welcome touch and a key element of the XA’s aesthetic appeal.
What you won’t find on the phone is a fingerprint scanner, which is disappointing given that most of Sony’s recent phones, like the Xperia X, have it. It’s yet another point where the cheaper Moto G4 Plus wins out. If Motorola can add a fingerprint scanner without ramping up the price, why can’t Sony? Without a scanner, you’ll have to type in your PIN at the terminal when using Android Pay, for example. That’s just not as fast and easy as using your finger.
Sony Xperia XA spec comparison chart
| Sony Xperia XA | Motorola Moto G4 | OnePlus 3 | Apple iPhone SE |
| 5-inch; 1,280×720 pixels | 5.5-inch; 1,920×1,080 pixels | 5.5-inch; 1,920×1,080 pixels | 4-inch; 1,136×640 pixels |
| 294ppi | 401ppi | 401ppi | 326ppi |
| 5.7×2.6×0.31 in | 6x3x0.39 in | 6.01×2.94×0.29 in | 4.87×2.31×0.3in |
| 144x67x7.9 mm | 153×76.6×9.8 mm | 152.7×74.7×7.35 mm | 123x58x7.6mm |
| 4.8 oz (137 g) | 5.47 oz (155 g) | 5.57 oz (158 g) | 3.99 oz (113 g) |
| Android 6.0 Marshmallow | Android 6.0 Marshmallow | Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow | iOS 9.3 |
| 13-megapixel | 16-megapixel | 16-megapixel | 12-megapixel |
| 8-megapixel | 5-megapixel | 8-megapixel | 1.2-megapixels |
| 1080p | 4K | 4K | 4K |
| 2GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 | 1.5GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 | 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 | Apple A9 chip (64-bit) with M9 motion co-processor |
| 16GB | 32GB | 64GB | 16GB, 64GB |
| 2GB | 2GB | 6GB | 2GB |
| 200GB | Up to 128GB | None | None |
| 2,700mAh (nonremovable) | 3,000mAh (removable) | 3,000mAh (nonremovable) | 1,624mAh (nonremovable) |
| None | Below screen | Home button | Home button |
| Micro-USB | Micro-USB | USB-C | Lightning |
| None | Water-resistant | Notifications toggle, dual-SIM, Dash Charging | None |
| $280 | $249 | $399 | $399 (16GB); $499 (64GB) |
| £240 | 32GB: £229; 64GB: £264 | £329 | £359 (16GB) £439 (64GB) |
| Converts to AU$390 | 16GB: AU$399; 32GB: AU$449 | Converts to AU$540 | AU$679 (16GB); AU$829 (64GB) |
Clean software, with too much bloatware
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow
- Lots of preloaded bloatware
- 64-bit, octa-core processor
The XA runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, largely untampered with — thank you, Sony, for not adding a special skin. That makes it easy to use for Android experts and novices alike.
What Sony has done, though, is load the phone up with a whole mess of software right out of the box. Beyond its own PlayStation app, there’s an Xperia Lounge app and something called What’s New (confusingly, all have different curated lists of games, music, movies and so on). There’s a handful of third-party apps too, including AVG antivirus, the Kobo ebooks app and Amazon’s shopping app.
The few widgets preinstalled on the home screen also make the phone feel somewhat cluttered from the first time you switch it on. Thankfully, you can uninstall some of them, but it’s a tedious process that you should be spared.
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Andrew Hoyle/CNET
It’s particularly annoying that the XA comes with a very limited 16GB of internal storage, of which fully 6GB is taken up by the Android system files and preinstalled nonsense. You’ll absolutely want to use the microSD card slot to save your images, videos and music as you’ll eat up the on-board space very quickly.
The XA runs on a 64-bit octa-core processor, which delivers enough power to make swiping around the Android interface a smooth experience. Apps open quickly and photo editing in Snapseed, for example, is smooth. It copes with gaming reasonably well — both Asphalt 8 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were playable, although frame rates noticeably dipped in more intense moments. Less demanding games such as Candy Crush will play fine.
Microsoft Project Scorpio Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
The shiny new Xbox One S was just a taste. Microsoft’s Project Scorpio — coming in the fourth quarter of 2017 — will be the true main meal. According to Microsoft, it’s both the future of Xbox and the most powerful game console ever made.
The catch: It doesn’t play any new games. Instead of trying to sell gamers on a brand-new generation of video game hardware, Project Scorpio is all about upgrades.
What do you mean, upgrades?
According to Microsoft, Project Scorpio won’t have any exclusive games. Not one.
Instead, Scorpio will play the same games you can play on an Xbox One or Xbox One S — but some of them at much higher fidelity.
With 4.5 times the power of an original Xbox One, Microsoft claims Project Scorpio can run those same games at ultra-high-def 4K resolution at a butter-smooth 60 frames per second. Compare that to today’s Xbox One, which still struggles to output many games at 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution (1080p).
Scorpio is kind of like sticking a new PC video card into your game console.
So all my Xbox One games will run at 4K?
Not necessarily. Games will need to be designed to take advantage of the higher resolution, and Microsoft claims it won’t force developers to actually do that.
However, Microsoft says some new games are already being developed with Scorpio in mind, and Scorpio will also unlock the potential of a handful of existing titles.
Games like Halo 5, The Division, The Witcher 3 and Doom dynamically dial down their graphics whenever the Xbox One can’t handle the load. With Project Scorpio, there won’t be a need to throttle. Microsoft says games which use dynamic scaling will consistently look better than before.
Check out Xbox’s Project Scorpio coming Holiday…
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Doesn’t the cute white Xbox One S already do 4K?
Yes and no. The Xbox One S can display 4K images to your TV, but that isn’t the same thing as rendering games at 4K.
Or, put more simply, you can watch 4K Blu-rays with an Xbox One S, but games won’t look much better.
Still, the One S does now support HDR (high dynamic range) with a handful of games, which should mean color saturation and contrast in those titles as long as you’ve got an HDR-compatible TV.
Why would developers bother supporting Scorpio instead of just the cheaper Xbox One?
Ah, but game developers already support a wide variety of Windows PCs, and Scorpio is just one more point on that continuum.
The same game that runs on an Xbox One (with an estimated 1.33 teraflops of graphical performance) needs to run on a 9-teraflop Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, and on a 6-teraflop AMD RX480 graphics card as well. (That last comparison might be particularly handy, since the Scorpio also has a 6-teraflop AMD GPU.)
And don’t forget that Microsoft is trying to merge the worlds of PC and console gaming — some games will be designed for both Xbox and Windows from the very beginning.
AMD’s Radeon RX 480 graphics card.
Sean Hollister/CNET
But all my existing Xbox One games will work?
Yep, even the earliest ones. “This thing will play Ryse: Son of Rome, a launch game for your Xbox One,” Microsoft’s Phil Spencer told Eurogamer.
What about my Xbox One accessories? Will I need to buy new controllers?
Microsoft says every single Xbox One accessory should work, too. “Our commitment is to make sure every single game and every single accessory works across all of those platforms,” Microsoft’s Mike Ybarra told The Guardian in July.
How about the 200+ older Xbox 360 games that were updated to work on the Xbox One?
Microsoft hasn’t said so for sure, but presumably the growing library of backwards-compatible Xbox 360 titles — including Alan Wake, Mass Effect and Red Dead Redemption — will work as well.
What if I don’t have a 4K TV?
You might be better off with an original Xbox One. “Scorpio is designed as a 4K console, and if you don’t have a 4K TV, the benefit we’ve designed for, you’re not going to see,” Microsoft’s Phil Spencer told Eurogamer.
But you might play your Scorpio games in VR instead.
Virtual reality?
Yes. Microsoft says one of the reasons it’s using such a powerful graphics chip is so it can drive a VR headset. We’re not sure which headset, though.
Back in May, one rumor suggested Microsoft would partner with Facebook and support the Oculus Rift headset.
But when Project Scorpio was officially announced in June, Microsoft said it would be able to play Fallout 4 in VR — a title which has so far only been confirmed for the rival HTC Vive.
CNET’s Dan Ackerman plays Fallout 4 in VR.
Josh Miller/CNET
Or maybe the Scorpio will simply support any VR headset you plug in. After all, the Xbox One runs Windows 10, and Microsoft plans to make Windows 10 computers support VR headsets starting next year.
Either way, you shouldn’t expect VR experiences to be much better than an existing baseline VR-ready PC. In our review of the AMD RX480 graphics card (again, same 6-teraflop performance as Scorpio) we found it just barely good enough for today’s VR.
By the way, VR might be the exception to the “no-games-will-be-exclusive-to-Scorpio” rule. Since the original Xbox One and Xbox One S don’t support VR, any VR experiences could be exclusive to the console.
If the original Xbox One plays every game, and the Scorpio adds 4K and VR, why would I buy the intermediate Xbox One S at all?
It’s small and cute?
But seriously, if you don’t already have an Xbox One, and you can’t wait till 2017, the Xbox One S is great. It’s better than the original Xbox One in practically every way.
But if you already have an Xbox One, you’ll definitely want to wait.
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The Xbox One and One S side by side comparison
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Will the Scorpio be small and cute, too?
Unlikely. The only glimpse we’ve seen was of a jet-black monolith. And yet, Xbox operations boss Dave McCarthy told GameSpot that the “40 percent smaller” guiding principle behind the Xbox One S might “remain consistent when we move to Project Scorpio.”
Read what you will from that.
How much will Scorpio cost?
The only thing we know is that it’ll cost more than the Xbox One S — which currently starts at $300, £250 or AU$400 for the 500GB model and stretches up to $400, £350 or AU$549 for 2TB of storage.
“It’s going to be a premium price over what we’re selling this one for, and both of them will exist in the market at the same time,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer told Eurogamer.
Is it really going to be called “Project Scorpio”?
Nah, that’s probably just a codename.
Is this the end of game consoles as we know them?
Only if Scorpio is a success. Microsoft’s betting on a future where you never need to buy a new library of games, but the company’s Aaron Greenberg says it’s definitely a bet. ” We’re going to learn from this, we’re going to see how that goes,” he told Engadget.
What are Sony and Nintendo doing these days?
Sony may announce its own similar 4K-ready, VR-ready PlayStation Neo at an event this September, and the new, incredibly elusive Nintendo NX is coming next March.
Got any other burning questions about Project Scorpio? Send ’em along to sean.hollister@cnet.com.
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