Imagine this: You're sitting in you're living room, playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on your television, and then you're parents walk in to watch a sports game. Instead of saving your game and making way for the sports game, you pull a companion tablet out of it's charging dock and presto: Now you're playing Mario Kart on a tablet, and you can bring it into your bedroom for some privacy. That's exactly the idea with Nintendo's latest console—announced in October of 2016 with some more details released this January, and a release date of March 3, 2017. The device successes the massive failure of the Wii U console announced in 2012, and serves as Nintendo's chance to bounce back from it's lackluster sales of the Wii U and it's "New" Nintendo 3DS handheld. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and even some third-party content like Skyrim are slated to launch this year for the Switch, and they're all played with Nintendo's latest odd controller; Joy-Cons. These so-called "Joy-Cons" are kind of like two pairs of Wii remotes, and can snap on and off the Switch tablet and a 'grip' that turns the two Joy-Cons into a more conventional game controller. In addition, some developer communities have been suggesting a concept of "different Joy-Cons for different games," which may or may not be adopted by Nintendo. Other parts of the Switch's hardware include a USB-C port for charging and a 720p display (if you play on your TV it goes all the way up to 1080p), but Nintendo decided to follow in Apple & Moto's footsteps and remove the headphone jack. This means there will be no private listening without using the USB-C charging port. The major concern with the hardware, however, it the issue of battery life. Nintendo says one will get six hours of battery life on a charge, but for more high intensity games, that will only equate to three hours of gaming. That's an inferior amount of play time than the social media/casual games/web browsing combo that usually kills today's phones in a few hours. Another concern is content. While there will certainly be more than enough games from Nintendo itself, the company's consoles have always been famous for lacking third-party titles. As said earlier, games like Skyrim will make an appearance in the Switch's catalogue, but that may just be where it stops. For more adult games, and just overall more games, it seems that consoles like Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's Xbox One lineup will reign superior when it comes to content. So, with all these downfalls, will it be worth a buy? That question remains to say answered, as it has not been released. Our recommendation? Wait a month after its release and then check sales figures. If it seems like people are buying the Switch, give it a go. There's nothing wrong with getting a Switch of your own. Roan Thibault is the editor-in-chief of Mirror Journal. Please again note that this is NOT A REVIEW, and do not treat it like such.
Today, smartphone giant Samsung held a press conference to reveal what caused their defective Note7 phones' battery to explode. Surprisingly, the theory that the battery was packed too tight into the handset's frame was incorrect. According to the company, they discovered there were actually two different causes of battery explosions, after months of research by hundreds of researchers. The batteries that were made by Samsung subsidiary Samsung SDI, which were sold internationally, suffered "an electro deflection and incorrect positioning of the negative electro tip" in the top right corner of the Note7's battery. After the first wave of reports about Note7 explosions came out, Samsung switched to their Chinese battery supplier, Amperex Technology Limited (which also makes iPhone batteries) to supply batteries for all Note7 devices in their new "safe" editions of the handset. Unfortunately, these batteries had a spot where the battery swelled and then short-circuited the phone. Samsung also says that to ensure a phone like the Note7 doesn't happen again, they will now conduct eight battery safety checks on every Samsung phone from now on. The first check will be a durability test, followed by a visual inspection on the battery, an X-ray, a charging test, a TVOC test, a battery disassembly test, a heavy use test, and finally an OCV test. These checks, Samsung hopes, will prevent it's rumored S8 phones and many more to come free of issues. Roan Thibault is the editor-in-chief of Mirror Journal.
The social media giant Twitter has been making some changes to it's platform. In 2015, for example, the network rolled out Moments, which sum up news in a collection of tweets. More recently, Twitter has been testing a new "Explore" tab, which is where the search function will be moved, along with trending topics and the Moments feature. So far, it is unknown if this will roll out to the public, as it's currently in a testing phase. Additionally, VentureBeat reports that Twitter is also testing a new timeline layout to replace the flipbook-esque layout currently in Moments. To see a preview of both of these features, please feel free to click "Read More." Roan Thibault is the editor-in-chief of Mirror Journal.
HTC, was once a behemoth of the smartphone industry, famous for their signature dual front facing speakers with unmatched audio quality. Today, the company's growth has been stagnating, with more and more consumers becoming unaware of HTC's products. Last week, the company unveiled their latest flagship—the U Ultra. Will this phone again go unnoticed by all but the most hardcore HTC fans? The short answer is, probably. Only time will tell, but the handset still has no standout features to offer. The main reason why this will be ignored is again, price. The U Ultra is priced similarly to last year's 10, and will boast a $749 price tag. Luckily, the U Play loses features for a more manageable midrange price which is yet to be disclosed. The rest of the features aren't exactly enticing either. Like the Moto Z and the iPhone 7 before it, the headphone jack will be dropped, and it will rely only on USB-C audio. The dual-screen setup has already been seen in LG's V series of phones, and like the V10 & V20, it's still in the wrong place—the top. The Sense Companion, HTC's AI assistant, has yet to beat Google's Assistant, and the 5.7-inch screen size is also standard in a sea of ever-so-similar phones. There are a few good things going for it, like the beautiful glossy design and a near-stock build of Android Nougat, however. There are a few things that need to be worked out from previous versions, like the issue we had with the HTC 10 where the home screen crashed, and the fact that the camera records in a hard-to-edit format (MKV) with hi-res audio turned on in the 10. To conclude, the HTC U Ultra stuffs several compelling features into one package, but it may just be too little, too late for HTC in the ultra-competitive (no pun intended) market of smartphones. Roan Thibault is the editor-in-chief of Mirror Journal.
Note: While this overview of the U Ultra contains some strong opinions, we were not able to obtain a unit of the device to review. Do not treat this article like such. |
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