Garmin Vivosmart HR Plus

Since the Apple Watch arrived, it seems that every company in the wearables market has been hell bent on making a device that can handle it all – from fitness tracking to Twitter notifications – while also looking like a high-end fashion item.
The result has seen some slightly odd hybrid fitness trackers, such as the Fitbit Blaze and Moto 360 Sport, which look nice enough, but don’t quite cut the mustard for hardcore fitness fanatics.
Enter the Garmin Vivosmart HR+, a device that puts substance over style. Featuring built-in GPS, a waterproof design and week-long battery life, the Garmin Vivosmart HR+ is a fitness-focused tracker designed for hardcore runners, swimmers and cyclists.

Key Features

0.42-inch E Ink touchscreen

5ATM water resistance

5-day battery life

GPS

Heart rate monitor

iOS and Android apps

Manufacturer: Garmin

Review Price: £170.00

Mad Catz L.Y.N.X. 9

Mad Catz has always done things a little differently. The Rat gaming mouse looked like nothing before it when first launched 5 years ago, but has proven its staying power with a new version, the Rat Pro X, announced at CES 2015.
PC and console gaming is all well and good, but those markets aren’t growing; they’re flatlining. Mobile gaming on the other hand is going from strength to strength and it’s more than just casual gaming that’s fuelling the growth. Games such as BioShock and FIFA look and play great on phones and tablets – that is, if you have the right controller.

So it’s not quite such a surprise that Mad Catz has announced an incredible new mobile controller for those wanting the very best experience across mobile, tablet and even smart TVs. It’s called the Mad Catz L.Y.N.X. 9 and it’s part Swiss Army knife, part transformer, part Lego Technic and entirely bonkers. But bonkers in a good way.
Let’s leave the hefty £250/$300 price tag to one side for a moment and have a look at everything (and there’s a lot) that the L.Y.N.X. 9 has to offer.

Mad Catz L.Y.N.X. 3

The L.Y.N.X. 9, Mad Catz' insane $300 mobile controller launched at CES 2015, just got a little brother – the L.Y.N.X. 3. It was announced at MWC 2015 together with the SURFr mobile keyboard controller.
Mad Catz is a realistic company – it doesn’t expect everyone to fork out the cost of a new console on a mobile controller. That’s why the L.Y.N.X. 3 is much cheaper than the 9 at $79 as opposed to $299. Although even at that price it’s not exactly cheap.
The L.Y.N.X. 3 mirrors the design of its bigger brother. The handgrips and analogue sticks fold in to make the controller a small bundle that's easily pocketable. Rubberised wings can be attached to provide a more console controller feel without adding too much weight.

TomTom Curfer

TomTom's Curfer is a hardware and app combination that allows you to track your vehicle dynamics as you drive. One half is a hardware dongle called the LINK 100, which fits in your car. The other part is a smartphone app for Android and iOS that records information from this dongle and displays it in a number of useful ways.
The primary aim here is to let you track your driving, so you can see whether you're a smooth driver or too erratic, and which areas of your driving define your style. In theory, you can then improve the way you operate your car for a more economical performance.

The LINK 100 hardware uses an interface called OBD-II to communicate with your car. This is a system that's been standard across the globe for more than a decade. The OBD acronym stands for on-board diagnostics, and this is the port service engineers use to read information from the many computer systems that now control the operation of a modern car.
The OBD-II port can register a host of data about how the engine is operating, about the electrical and braking systems, and information regarding temperature from various sensors. It can also be used to change settings, cancel error messages, and even tune the car's performance. However, the Curfer system doesn't involve itself with any of this; it merely reads the information it can, and then passes this to the smartphone app for analysis.

Key Features

LINK 100 OBD II hardware

Curfer app for Android and iOS

Bluetooth connection between hardware and smartphone

Comprehensive view of diagnostic data from car

Socially shareable driving-style scores

Manufacturer: TomTom

Review Price: £79.00

Obi Worldphone MV1

It’s not uncommon to see companies introducing new phone ranges. But when Apple’s ex-CEO John Sculley burst onto the scene last year, launching two phones, pretty much the whole tech industry paid attention to him.
He’s the pioneer of the Obi Worldphone brand, which aims to create attractive but affordable smartphones targeted at younger buyers in developing regions across Asia, Africa and Middle East – as opposed to the US and Europe. Now, that’s quite a feat.
The company’s first phones, the SF1 and SJ1.5, were received well by techies right around the world and seen as viable alternatives to more known handsets like the Moto G and Honor 7. But that wasn’t enough for Obi.
Looking to achieve maximum impact on a global scale and to take advantage of the growing number of people wanting cheap phones, it decided it had to release another handset. Enter the MV1, an unlocked, dual-sim phone capable of running Android Lollipop or Cyanogen OS, and it’s available in the UK for a penny-pinching £119.

Key Features

5-inch, 720x1280 display

16GB of internal storage

Expandable memory up to 64GB via MicroSD

Android Lollipop 5.1/Cyanogen OS 12.1.1

Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 CPU

8-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front cameras

Manufacturer: Obi Worldphone

Review Price: £119.00

Honor 5C

Honor phones are an interesting bunch. The brand basically exists so that Huawei can continue targeting the affordable end of the market, without hindering its push to rebrand as a premium phone maker.
That's why past Honor handsets such as the Honor 7 and Honor 5X have featured the strengths and weaknesses of Huawei phones – great hardware held back by the firm’s Emotion UI.
When I first picked up the Honor 5C at the phone’s London launch, I got a strong feeling history was repeating itself. But after a couple of hours with the device, I found myself warming to it, and left the event feeling the Honor 5C has the potential to be a worthy rival to the insanely good-value Moto G4.

The Honor 5C is undeniably excellent value for money as a piece of hardware. It has internal specs that match, if not beat, the Moto G4's. But its use of Huawei’s Emotion skin will be a sticking point for many buyers. I can’t help but feel Honor should follow Motorola’s example and load its handsets with an unskinned version of Android.

New Cristiano Ronaldo game

Name game Cristiano Ronaldo: Kick'n'Run and while my experience of the game and her grandmother does not differ significantly from the game Subway Surfer and as previously reported and are working of course on Android devices, it operates somewhat device area of 52 Mb large area means big on calculation capacity storage device.
 I would advise everyone the experience of the game they are very interesting effects on the availability give the aesthetic of the game and I think that everyone is obsessed with football upon its experience they are already worth the experience.

Cobra CDR 855 BT

The CDR 855 BT is a tiny dashboard camera from Cobra. It only offers Full HD video resolution, not the Super HD that is increasingly common. But it has a few other tricks potentially up its sleeve, and can double as an action camera. With the increasingly crowded dashboard camera market, does Cobra have enough to stand out from the crowd? Sadly, it turns out not, as most of the promised extra features failed to work during my tests.

The bundled windscreen mount is pretty standard, and as usual is designed to dangle the dashcam down from the top of your windscreen. A spacer screws into the mount, and the CDR 855 BT then slides onto this firmly. It’s not quite a quick release, but it isn’t too painful to get in and out if you want to take the camera away from the car when unattended.
I had a few issues getting the Cobra CDR 855 BT to stay attached to the windscreen on one of my test vehicles, however. After about the fourth attempt it seemed secure, but the suction cup is quite small and I’ve had similar issues with the Xiaomi Yi Car WiFi DVR, which also has a small cup. A more effective suction mount would have been an improvement for both these products.

you don't get a power adapter that will allow you to plug in your sat-nav as well, but at least the cable and plug are separate, with a standard USB connection between the two. There are two USB cables in the box – a long one for your car, and a shorter one for when you want to hook the device up to your computer to download footage. The long one only supplies power, and won't work for data.

Key Features

2Mpixel sensor

Full HD 1,920 x 1,080 maximum resolution

2-inch LCD display

GPS via Bluetooth smartphone connection

G sensor

Manufacturer: Cobra

Review Price: £114.56

The Fitbit Blaze

The Fitbit Blaze is being marketed as the ultimate “smart fitness watch”. What that means in layman's terms is that this is Fitbit’s attempt to create an all-in-one wearable that can offer robust fitness tracking, as well as basic smartwatch functionality.
At first glance, the Blaze looks like a not-so-attractive cross between the Apple Watch and Fitbit Surge. However, following a few weeks of having it wrapped around my wrist, I found plenty to like about the Blaze, and I can see that it could be a solid – albeit pricey – option for casual runners and those just getting into exercising.

Key Features

Multiple strap options

PurePulse Heart Rate monitoring

Five day battery life

1.2-inch. 240x180-pixel colour screen

iOS and Android support

Manufacturer: Fitbit

Review Price: £159.99

Samsung to launch Galaxy X foldable smartphone in 2017 alongside S8 and Note 7?

Samsung may be set to launch five flagship devices in 2017, with new foldable smartphone the Galaxy X joining familiar names like the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 7 in its high-end lineup.

So far, 2016 has been a pretty stellar year for handsets, and for Samsung in particular. Its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices have taken home plenty of plaudits, and we haven't even arrived at the Galaxy Note 6 yet.

But 2017 could be even bigger for the South Korean electronics giant, after rumours surfaced linking the mobile manufacturer with the release of a foldable smartphone potentially called the Galaxy X.
At least, that's the latest from occasionally reliable Samsung blog SamMobile. Highlighting some slightly shady-looking social media reports out of Korea, it now says that the foldable Galaxy X will join the firm's flagship range alongside the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 7 as soon as 2017.
It's not first time we've heard rumours that Samsung is developing a handset with a foldable screen, of course. These murmurings date back a good few years and are ultimately linked to various patents held by Samsung.

Apparently being developed under the codename 'Project Valley', the leaks suggest that the Galaxy X will look like a normal handset when closed, but will fold out to double in size and (by the sounds of it) more closely resemble a tablet.
When might we be able to expect this futuristic device? If Samsung follows previous launch patterns, the new Galaxy S8 and S8 Edge are most likely to appear in spring 2017, with the Galaxy X potentially arriving alongside the Note 7 in the autumn.

The Mad Catz S.U.R.F.R

Mad Catz launched two new products at MWC 2015 – the pocket-sized L.Y.N.X. 3 and the S.U.R.F.R, a crazy combination of gaming controller and mini Bluetooth keyboard that works across platforms.
It can never be said that Mad Catz doesn’t think outside the box. The S.U.R.F.R is a unique device and one that could bring the best of both worlds to the ever-expanding range of Android and PC TV set-top boxes.

The S.U.R.F.R is an impressive controller. The rubbery, soft-touch qwerty keyboard is a revelation. The keys are small, but have a raised centre to make them easy enough to differentiate and provide a satisfying click when pressed. In fact I wrote several paragraphs using the S.U.R.F.R without making a single mistake. That surprised me, considering I struggle to write out a password correctly on the mini Bluetooth keyboard I use with my set-top PC.

iPad Air 2

Since our original review of the iPad Air 2, Apple has launched a 9.7in iPad Pro and dropped the price of the iPad Air 2 by £50. Below are some things that are worth considering before you splash out on an iPad Air 2.

The first thing to consider is that the iPad Air 2 is still £150 cheaper than the 9.7in iPad Pro, so if your budget doesn't stretch to the £499 Apple is asking, then you can stop reading this and skip to the review below. If money is burning a hole in your pocket and you're tempted, read on...

The iPad Pro runs Apple's latest A9X processor. In the 12.9-inch iPad Pro it provided stonking processing performance and we can't expect much less from it in 9.7in form factor. Equally good will be the upgraded screen that supports Apple's genuinely Impressive Pencil. It has a maximum brightness of 500nits and also supports the wide DCI P3 colour gamut, for richer and more vibrant colours.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the new display is that it supports Apple's own True Tone technology. True Tone will see the screen change colour temperature based on what light source it's under. This means under soft, warm lighting, whites will look equally warm, while under artificial lights you'll get a purer white. The net effect of this is that you'll get accurate colours no matter your lighting conditions, which will be very handy for those working in colour-sensitive professions.

Key Features

9.7-inch low reflectivity Retina screen

A8X tri-core 1.5GHz processor and quad-core GPU

8-megapixel rear camera

Touch ID

iOS 8.1

Manufacturer: Apple

Review Price: £399.00

Battery life may not be the Galaxy Note 7's killer feature after all

By now everyone’s pretty sure the next Samsung Galaxy Note is skipping the '6' and going straight to '7' so now we can turn our attention to features, right? Right.

In the build up to the summer release, rumours have suggested Samsung will kit the phablet out with a gigantic 4,000mAh battery.
However, those reports may have followed in the traditions of blokes around the globe by exaggerating the size somewhat.
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Russian Blogger Eldar Murtazin (via BGR) reckons the new large-screen handset will probably offer a slightly more modest 3,600mAh cell.

Phonejoy Gamepad 2

The Phonejoy Gamepad 2 is a pocket-sized controller that can be expanded to accommodate your smartphone, which it connects to via a Bluetooth link, turning your handset into something more akin to a dedicated portable games console. It has an internal rechargeable battery which lasts around 14 hours per charge, and is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. As the name suggests, this is an evolution of the earlier Phonejoy Gamepad.

Key Features

Dual analogue sticks, D-pad, four face buttons, four shoulder buttons and two analogue

Supports phones with screens of up to 6-inches

iCade support

14 hour battery life

Manufacturer: Phonejoy

Review Price: £45.00

Thrustmaster T150

The Thrustmaster T150 is one of the most affordable force feedback race wheels for PS4. If you want to try out a ‘proper’ gaming wheel but don’t want to spend upwards of £300 on the Thrustmaster T300RS and a decent pair of pedals, you’re in the right place.
Those who have already owned a few force feedback wheels will likely find the pedals cheap-feeling and may not like the residual notchiness of the force feeback. However, when the Thrustmaster T150 costs half the price of its big brother at £110, it’s one of the best choices if you have a feeling it may end up gathering dust in-between two-week-long obsessions with racing game X.

New to force feedback wheels? They give you realistic physical feedback about what’s going on with the car you’re driving. Almost any bargain basement wheel lets you turn, accelerate and brake with greater fidelity than a gamepad or keyboard, but force feedback wheels use motors to pull against you as you drive.
They mimic the sort of forces you might feel in the real world as you slide a mini Cooper around a corner, and then lose control only to crash into the barrier because the real world doesn't actually work like Mario Kart. Force feedback lets you feel the moment your tires lose grip.
There are two main versions of the Thrustmaster T150 on sale. The normal one and the Ferrari edition. Both work with the PS4, PS3 and PC.

samsung galaxy note 7

A new news reports for a range of features, and a date for the formal disclosure of telephone South Korean company Samsung's new "Galaxy Note S7 / Galaxy Note 7S7".
And may An_i on the Internet a leaked copy of a Chinese site that specializes bears the name "MyDrivers" the date chosen by the company to reveal her new Galaxy Note S7 appears, and the image appears promo announcement of the phone, and that the company has chosen for that date of August 2 / August next.

 

 On the other hand, the other specialized sites indicated that the Galaxy Note S7 new phone will come with a number of features including a concave screen Super AMOLED measuring 5.7 inches in addition to that the phone will come first in two processor Exynos 8893 and the second processor Snapdragon 821 with 6 GB Ksah memory access random and between 64, 128 and 256 GB of internal storage.
In addition to the Walnut 7 will come with a camera accurately 12 megapixel Ksah and 4000mAh battery.

Mad Catz R.A.T Pro S

The new Mad Catz R.A.T Tournament Grade gaming mouse line is currently filled with three entries. The R.A.T Pro S is the middle-of-the-range option, priced at £59.99.
It lacked the vast customisability of its big brother the R.A.T Pro X, but it's a lightweight gaming mouse with a few perks of its own.
Is it one of the best wired gaming mice though? I've put it to the test to find out.

Key Features

Eight programmable buttons

Three on-board profile slots

24 programmable commands

Optical sensor

Manufacturer: Mad Catz

Review Price: £59.99

 

 

ISAW Wing WiFi Action Camera

The ISAW Wing is the less expensive sibling of the ISAW Edge, missing the headline 4K video shooting, while including a slightly less comprehensive mounting bundle. Although it's quite a bit cheaper, there's still plenty to commend this GoPro-alike. So exactly how much has been lost to achieve the considerably reduced price?

ISAW Wing – Shooting Specification

The most noticeable omission, as already stated, is the 4K video resolution. There are no 2.7k or 1440p options either. The 1080p Full HD resolution remains, but is available at only 30fps rather than 60; 720p runs at a maximum 60fps rather than 120. As a result, there's a considerable reduction in video-shooting options, and the top still-image resolution has dropped from 16 megapixels to 12 megapixels, with no RAW capability either.
In practice, the main loss here other than 4K is the ability to shoot at a higher frame rate and then play back at a slower one for smooth slow motion. Since this is something action camera users do regularly, it's something to consider when purchasing, and could make the £60 extra for the Edge money well spent. There's a 960p (1,280 x 960, with a 4:3 aspect) shooting format available too, which also runs at 30fps.

Key Features

CMOS with 12-megapixel photographic ability

MP4 recording at up to Full HD at 18Mbits/sec

Waterproof to 40m with bundled housing

Decent mounting kit included

Wi-Fi remote control functions

Manufacturer: ISAW

Review Price: £119.99

THE ONEPLUS 3

It is year three in OnePlus’ great experiment to produce flagship handsets at a fraction of the price of rivals. The OnePlus 3 has been designed to compete with phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge but costs only £309, rather than the £500-600 that you'd pay for another brand.
This is easily the sleekest phone that OnePlus has launched to date, and if you're after as much as possible for the money then this handset is easy to recommend. There’s little here not to like, especially since OnePlus has done away with the invite-only purchasing strategy adopted for its previous handsets.

Key Features

5.5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen

6GB dual-channel DDR4 RAM

64GB storage

Android 6.0.1

OxygenUI

Snadragon 820 CPU

Manufacturer: OnePlus

Review Price: £309.00

SAMSUNG GEAR S3

The next-generation Samsung Gear S3 “super-luxury” smartwatch will arrive this year, apparently.

That’s according to the Korea Herald, which reports that the unconfirmed wearable is set for launch in 2016.
The Herald cites its source as de Grisogono, a luxury jeweller that it says has partnered with Samsung to create the device.
“We are currently collaborating with Samsung to develop its next-generation smartwatch,” a de Grisogono official is reported as saying.

t’s said that de Grisogono was “approached by Samsung” as the company is a “fitting partner to lead its foray into the ultra-luxury accessories market”.
It wouldn’t be the first time the companies had worked together; both firms were jointly involved in creating the recent limited edition spin-off of the Samsung Gear S2, priced at $15,000.

 Best Smartwatch 2016
 https://youtu.be/8SY7mb_T4Po

THE BEST OF LAPTOP

Asus Transformer 3 Pro

I’ve never seen a Surface Pro competitor look quite so similar to Microsoft's finest. The Asus Transformer 3 Pro takes so many design cues from the Surface Pro 4 that I'd put money on the majority of people mistaking the device for something that has come straight out of Redmond.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that, but is the Transformer 3 Pro actually a worthy competitor? From my initial impressions, I'd say "probably".
The two are near-identical when it comes to technical specifications. First up, the screen: Asus has fitted a 2,860 x 1,920 pixel display to the Transformer 3 Pro, narrowly pipping the 2,736 x 1,824 pixels on the Surface Pro 4. It may not be obvious, but the Asus machine is actually 0.4-inches larger than the Surface Pro 4, with a 12.6in diagonal. 

It looks fantastic, not least because of Asus’ quoted 121% sRGB colour gamut volume. The tablet will get an optional Asus Pen stylus, too, which has 1,024 points of pressure sensitivity – a boon for designers. There wasn’t a stylus on display at the Asus booth, but judging by the pictures of the device, the pen doesn’t appear to benefit from the same magnetic attachment as on the Surface Pro 4.
The Transformer 3 Pro is 8.35mm thick without its keyboard dock and weighs 795g, putting it on a par with Microsoft’s tablet. It will ship with a keyboard dock as standard, however, giving it a one-up on Microsoft. The whole assembly feels very solid; Asus hasn’t cut costs in the build quality department.

Asus ZenBook 3

Asus’ ZenBook range has proven enduringly popular with reviewers and buyers alike, offering fantastic specifications and reasonable build quality at a market-leading price.
With the ZenBook 3, announced alongside several other new devices at Computex today, Asus has produced a laptop that's thinner and lighter than any that have come before it. The ZenBook 3 is just 11.9mm thick and weighs 910g. That’s thinner and lighter than the ZenBook UX305.

Dell XPS 13 9350

 

Mere months ago Dell wowed me with its first 2015 XPS 13 laptop. Featuring a slick design, powerful components and a beautiful display the XPS 13 waltzed in and won the coveted TrustedReviews Awards Best Laptop award.
In fact, the XPS 13 was so good that I couldn’t think of any serious ways Dell could improve it at the time. But with the new year approaching, Dell has done just that with its latest XPS 13 refresh.

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 260

The Yoga 260 brings together two of Lenovo's signature laptop lines. It combines the ThinkPad's business features and design with the folding touchscreen of its Yoga devices. Whether you're after a reliable workhorse or a versatile touchscreen hybrid, the Yoga 260 should be the ideal device.
Available in a few configurations that begin at £899 and rise to £1,299, the Yoga 260 is competitively priced for a ThinkPad product. But is it the ultimate business ultraportable device?

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080

The GTX 1080 is Nvidia's latest top-end graphics card, ready to take on this year's two-pronged assault of VR and 4K gaming.
If you’re wondering why Nvidia's made such an enormous song and dance out of a consumer graphics card launch, it’s because the company spent ‘billions’ on getting its new architecture to market and now has to make the numbers add up. Both financially and in GPU performance.
The performance of the GTX 1080 really isn’t in doubt – a company like Nvidia wouldn’t launch its flagship graphics card without full confidence that it’ll do a good job. I can say right now that this is the best GPU you can buy.
The real intrigue, and something we won’t see resolved for a few months, will come from how it compares to the rest of the market – both third-party 1080 cards and whatever AMD hits back with.

Key Features:

• New Pascal architecture
• 8GB GDDR5X memory
• 2560 CUDA cores
• 1607MHz base clock speed
• 320GB/s memory bandwidth
• Manufacturer: Nvidia
• Review Price: £620.00

Samsung Galaxy S7 vs iPhone 6S

The Samsung Galaxy S7 is now on the market, heralding the next round in the ongoing Samsung vs Apple smartphone grudge match.
Now that our review is in, we can confirm that the Galaxy S7 is a serious contender for the top smartphone crown. It might pack a familiar design, but a faster CPU, improved battery, and a stunning-looking camera could well be giving Apple more cold sweats than the FBI.
Of course, it wasn't too long ago that Apple released its iPhone 6S flagship. Many saw that phone as one of Apple's best ever 'S' devices, so it's not like Samsung has the market all sown up right up until the launch of the iPhone 7.

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of Samsung's new handset and how it stacks up against Apple's current iPhone.

Samsung Galaxy S7 vs iPhone 6S: Design

 

 

Samsung Galaxy S7: 7.9mm thick, 152g, metal alloy, glass front and back, IP68 certified, Black/Gold

Phone 6S: 7.1mm thick, 143g, Series 7000 anodised aluminium back, Space Gray/Silver/Gold/Rose Gold

Apple iOS 10

As expected, Apple has unveiled the latest iteration of its mobile operating system, iOS 10 at WWDC. For everything from the iOS 10 release date to device compatibility and key features, read on.
Here's everything you need to know about iOS 10.

A developer preview of iOS 10 has been made available immediate, after which a public beta should break cover in July. The full stable release will land with the iPhone 7 in September, we'd expect. Here's how to download the iOS 10 beta today

Android N

With the I/O developer conference now behind us, Google has unveiled a stack of new details about Android N.
For those who missed it, Android N is the developer build of the next version of Google’s mobile operating system. The original version of the OS was released earlier this year, but Google has since released a stream of updates that fix existing issues add new functions to the OS.
The beta build currently available is more stable than the initial developer pre-release. But be warned it’s still far from final software. So even though Google’s claimed it’ll be fine to run on most tablets and smartphones, you still run the risk of unexpected crashes and performance issues.
You also still have to agree to a fair amount of tracking from Google, which aims to monitor the build to spot and fix bugs ahead of the full version’s release.
I’ve downloaded the OS onto my spare Nexus 6 and taken it for spin, so you get the benefit of discovering Android N’s coolest new features, without risking your smartphone or tablet.

the top games from all the consoles, PC in 2017 (except mario an sonic)

Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic

 

Now Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games arrives with the motion controls dumped and any Wii U-specific features sidelined. Yet, strangely enough, it’s the strongest and most innovative

Steep

At every E3 Ubisoft, unveils a big new game at the close of its press conference. This year it was Steep, an extreme sports snowy adventure that sees players ski, snowboard and parachute their ways across the beautiful French mountains.
Usually these unveilings get a raucous reception from the audience, setting Twitter ablaze. Steep was different. It failed to garner much excitement from those in attendance at its reveal playing it has done little to change my opinion.
Steep gives you free reign in an open world environment across the Alps and Alaska. You can choose whether to don a pair of skis, a snowboard, wingsuit or paraglide your way around the powder-white planes. There will be plenty of challenges around the mountains where you can try and beat your fiends and improve your own scores, too.

Batman: The Telltale Series

The Telltale style of games had begun to wear thin for me. After being completely underwhelmed by the second series of The Walking Dead, I felt the team and the episodic storytelling format had grown stale. However, after watching the team present the first 30 minutes of episode one of Batman, I am back on board, and it has little to do with the Caped Crusader himself.
Telltale confirmed the entire series of Batman will be complete before year’s end. With the first episode due in the very vague ‘summer’ – though Telltale admited it is very soon – that means we’ll be getting practically a new episode every month. It’s great to know that investing in the first episode I’ll finally be getting consistency and can remain invested, much like Square Enix’s approach to the excellent Hitman rebirth.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

To emphasise that this might be the company’s most important game ever – and arguably the biggest draw at E3 2016, with the queue to play it stretching almost six hours long – Nintendo devoted its entire booth to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Here, at last, was the game every Nintendo fan had craved since it was first teased three years ago, playable for the first time.

 

 

Paragon

 

Making a MOBA game is like baking a cake - the slightest deviation from the recipe and the final product ends up flat, overpowering, or simply inedible. Although I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the slices of Paragon I’ve devoured during its closed alpha, it’s flavour has occasionally fallen closer to Victoria sponge rather than seductive red velvet. Epic Games has spent a great deal of time, as it should do, refining the game’s fundamentals, but as I discovered while meeting the team in Berlin last week, Paragon is about to enter a new phase of development: the cherry on top.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands

The first instalment of Ubisoft’s popular tactical squad-based shooter since 2012’s Future Soldier sees something of a reboot, and if early indications prove accurate, Wildlands could propel Ghost Recon into stellar realms. The first Ghost Recon game to boast a fully open world, ditching the franchise’s gimmicky reliance on technology in favour of high-octane missions that you can approach however you want. The result is a deeply enjoyable sandbox-style romp.
Wildlands has an interesting premise, albeit a scary one if you happen to come from Bolivia. It’s set in the present day, but posits an alternate reality in which a corrupt government has allowed Santa Blanca, a Colombian drug cartel, to move into Bolivia, effectively taking over the country. As an elite Ghost, you’re fighting on two fronts: your primary objective is to destabilise the drug cartel and ultimately take out El Sueno, its leader, but you also have to contend with a corrupt military backing El Sueno. The more disruption you cause, the more resistance the locals will be able to organise.

Samsung Galaxy S8

Everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S8

Update (20 June 2016): Reports from the Chinese media suggest that the Samsung Galaxy S8 will feature a dual-lens camera, in line with recent rumours about Apple's next phone. It's also suggested that the new Samsung flagship will boast a 4K display, apparently to improve the phone's VR prospects.

Samsung has a reputation for building bloody good phones, so it would be surprising – and frustrating – if the Galaxy S8 was any different. We're still months away from launch, but the cogs are already in motion for the coming of Samsung's next flagship smartphone.
Don't forget – the smartphone market is easy to predict. After all, we already know what processors, modems, and camera technology will be available for Samsung to utilise ahead of next year's Galaxy S8 debut. Some of the likely Galaxy S8 features include Qualcomm's Snapdragon 830 chip, a huge 1/1.7 image sensor, and a hi-res 4K/UHD display.
Samsung is expected to launch five flagship devices in 2017, according to recent rumours. One of those is tipped to be a foldable Galaxy X, but familiar entries look likely too: think the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Edge, and Galaxy Note 7.
Nevertheless, we're a long way from the Galaxy S8 release, so the phone remains a relative mystery for now. Here's our round-up of everything we think we know about the Samsung Galaxy S8...
 

The good news is that it might actually happen. A report by the Korea Herald on June 8 cites predictions by industry analysts at UBI Research that the Galaxy S8 will feature a 4K display. According to the market experts, there's plenty of evidence to support the theory. Researchers at the firm were quoted as saying:
“Samsung Display showcased a 5.5 ultra-high definition 4K display with a pixel density of 806ppi for virtual reality devices at the Society for Information Display, a display trade show, in California in March. Considering various factors including the production yield rate for the next-generation display expected to improve in the coming months, the 5.5-inch AMOLED will be deployed in the next Galaxy smartphone, presumably, named the S8.”
Of course, the word of industry analysts isn't gospel – they often get things wrong. But still, it's more evidence that a move to 4K displays is a sensible (and likely) one.