 |
|
|
|||||
Its a slower October than usual in the tech industry, thanks mostly to Google and Microsoft having held their typical fall hardware announcements earlier this year. Still, weve seen a fair number of companies reveal new devices in the last two weeks, while Amazons October Prime Day raged on. Whether you were busy shopping or watching Elon Musk talk up robotaxis and cybervans, the Engadget team continued to review recently (and not-so-recently) launched products. As usual, this bi-weekly roundup is here to help you catch up, though because I missed last week's edition (as I was out on time off), the cadence is just a bit off. From Metas Quest 3S VR headset and the DJI Air 3S drone, to Sonys midrange suite of audio gear, these weeks have coincidentally been about the less premium, more affordable un-flagships, if you will. And it turns out you dont have to throw chunks of your retirement savings at companies to get solid devices that are well worth the money. Sony LinkBuds Fit and LinkBuds Open and Bose QuietComfort Earbuds reviews by Billy Steele The main thing I learned from Billy's recent reviews of Sony and Bose headphones is that flagship, premium-level noise cancelation is making its way down to the midrange products. And I, for one, am happy about it. Looks like most of the things you'll miss if you opt to save some money are features like spatial audio, head-tracking and stuff that's supposed to be make for a more immersive, intuitive listening experience. Personally, I'm okay missing out on those things for now I really just want decent sound, good voice quality and competent reduction of background noise. Definitely check out Billy's review of Sony's LinkBuds trio of devices even if you're not in the market for headphones, because he put his ears through literal pain to test the strangely designed earbuds for us. In fact, a rejected headline for the review was "Why am I in pain?" We salute you, Billy. Meta Quest 3S review: Impressive VR for $300 by Devindra Hardawar The Quest is arguably the industry's leading VR headset for consumers, especially considering it costs a fraction of alternative options while offering a relatively high-quality immersive experience. Unlike the Apple Vision Pro, which costs $3,500, the new Quest 3S is much more palatable at $300. And, as Devindra observes in his review, it's comfortable, fast and allows wearers to access Meta's large library of VR apps and content. To quote Devindra, "Its not Metas first $300 VR headset, but its still a tremendous accomplishment." DJI Neo and DJI Air 3S reviews by Steve Dent Continuing in the trend of excellent products that cost less than usual, the DJI Neo is an excellent drone for just $200. Calling it the best $200 drone ever made may sound hyperbolic, but we truly can't think of any other drone that cost the same that came close to delivering similar performance as the Neo. And though one of its main drawbacks, according to our reviewer Steve, is that it sounds like a banshee, I honestly think that would be a pro for me just for the pure comedy of it all. I never thought I'd be in the market for a banshee-sounding drone but here I am thinking $200 would be a fair price to pay for the aerial videos I could get, and I could easily lay upbeat, operatic singing over the footage anyway. On the other end of the spectrum, Steve's also tested the higher-end DJI Air 3S drone and Canon's EOS R5 II, both of which will cost you a lot more money. The good news is that Canon's EOS R5 II is now so much improved that it better takes on Sony's rival offerings, while bringing intriguing features like eye-control autofocus. Sure, it's still too early to be reliable. But if you have the money for these premium products, you'll get to experience bleeding-edge tech, maybe part of the appeal is that they may not always work well. reMarkable Paper Pro review by Dan Cooper I know Dan was a bit worried about giving a device as niche as the reMarkable Paper Pro such a high score, but after some discussion, we both agreed it fit. As it stands, the reMarkable Paper Pro is arguably the best e-paper writing tablet with a color screen, even after this week's announcement of Amazon's first color Kindle. Per Dan's review, the Paper Pro not only levels up with the addition of color, but also got much faster and reliable in the process. I particularly enjoy how much care has been taken to more seamlessly blen handwriting and typed text for a more natural note-taking and annotating experience. And though it falls outside this edition's general theme of being a less-expensive product with premium specs, I'm still incredibly tempted to find ways to cough up the $600 or so needed to bag myself a Paper Pro with the accessories Dan recommends. Phoenix Springs and Neva reviews by Jessica Conditt I'm not the most engaged gamer, but I love learning about games from Jess. She recently reviewed sci-fi mystery Phoenix Springs and dreamy platformer Neva, with pieces written so beautifully that I can't help but itch to check out each title so I can feel the way she clearly does about them. Phoenix Springs even follows a technology reporter and covers my favorite genres (science fiction and mystery), while Neva's art looks simply gorgeous. I don't yet know if I'll ever find the time to play new games, but these two have certainly been added to my list. Upcoming reviews: On the horizon The Engadget team geeks out about a multitude of things, and as we get started on our holiday gift guide writing, we're thinking about products we like for ourselves and our loved ones. Many of us love e-readers and writing tablets. I certainly have my eye on one of the new Kindles that were announced this week, particularly the new Kindle Scribe and possibly the Colorsoft. Those won't be available until later this year, so for now I'll keep hungrily eyeing the reMarkable Paper Pro. I'll also be wondering what Amazon hardware chief Panos Panay has up his sleeves, other than cans of Diet Coke something I learned he (like many people) enjoys when I got the chance to speak with him in an interview this week. Many of us are millennials and have gigantic soft spots for retro gaming. Our executive editor Aaron Souppouris talked to the folks at Analogue, and you can read his beautifully constructed piece to learn more about the upcoming Analogue 3D. This week, Apple sort of surprised us by announcing the new iPad mini, which has been tweaked to offer more storage and power with an A17 Pro processor. It'll also support Apple Intelligence, of course, and though it seems like a minor update, some of my coworkers and I still love the idea of a small tablet. If only it had a better screen. All of those recently announced things are on our review roster, alongside things like the Google TV Streamer and Samsung Galaxy S24 FE that launched in the last few weeks. As we approach November and all the holiday shopping that brings, hopefully the hardware launches properly slow down. We're still anticipating an Apple event for Macs, and can still remember being surprised by the announcement of Humane's AI Pin late last year. But for now, we're chugging along while occasionally bathing in nostalgia and longing for a simpler time.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-budget-friendly-gadgets-that-are-good-140033873.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
Playing Spilled Mushrooms has been a humbling experience. There I was, thinking Im good at both puzzles and card games, when I found myself briefly stumped on my very first delivery in this card puzzle game about gathering mushrooms. Thats what I get for underestimating a game with cute animals in the cover art. In Spilled Mushrooms, a Playdate game, you are a mushroom delivery-person who has messed up bigtime: youve spilled the mushrooms (obviously), and somehow done so in such an extreme way that theyve ended up scattered across multiple habitats. Oops! You have a week to collect them all and get them to their intended destination. But in what sounds like my dream scenario youve befriended the wildlife, so you have a support network of animals willing to help you fix your mistake. The game requires some light math and a lot of strategic thinking. Each animal is able to gather a specified number of mushrooms and do so for as many days as are written next to the hourglass symbol on its card. The Hippo, for example, can pick up five mushrooms in one shot, but only for one day. Meanwhile, the Porcupine can only grab one mushroom at a time, but will do so for six days. Each animal also has a unique trait that has potential to interact with the other cards in its habitat. The Moose or Elephant will increase other animals collecting capacities while the Grizzly Bear will do the opposite. The Platypus well, Platypus is confused. As you play, youll earn little tokens that can be used to help you stack the deck with cards you want to see in your hand. You can only place one card per turn, and there are three habitats to clear over the course of the seven in-game days that make up a round. Each of those sites will hold a different number of mushrooms. Once I dusted the cobwebs off my brain and got the hang of the games flow, I was able to redeem myself and start winning some rounds. But successfully collecting all your mushrooms on the first (... or second) try isnt a given. The puzzles take a few minutes to solve and theyre procedurally generated, so youll get something new every time. Sometimes, theyre pretty hard. Spilled Mushrooms also gives you the option to create a custom delivery, in which you pick the habitats, mushroom counts and available animal cards. Despite the challenge, Spilled Mushrooms is a really relaxing game and one that I keep getting sucked into for long stretches of time. Its reminiscent of Wingspan with its nature focus and tranquil soundtrack, so its a great thing to pick up when you want to unwind at the end of the day or, conversely, ease yourself into thinking while you have your morning cup of coffee. This one will probably be in my regular rotation of games for a good while.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/spilled-mushrooms-is-my-new-playdate-card-game-addiction-140006678.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
The following article discusses the fifth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks and older Treks. Theres no such thing as dead in Star Trek, the sprawling, perpetual opus that has thrived in spite of itself for almost sixty years. What started as a cornball space-ships and punch-fights show for atomic-age kids and their parents has become (gestures around) all this. So Im not writing too much of an obituary for Star Trek: Lower Decks despite its fifth season being its last. Given Paramounts fluid leadership right now, I can easily imagine that decision being reversed in the future. So this isnt so much of a goodbye as a farewell for now. Lower Decks fifth season picks up not long after the fourth left off, with Tendi still repaying her debt to the Orions. I dont think its a spoiler to suggest the status-quo reasserts itself soon after given, you know, all the other times this has happened. The crew of the Cerritos is then thrust into the usual sort of high-minded, lowbrow yet full of heart hijinks that weve come to expect. Naturally, Im sworn to secrecy, but the fifth episode where its title alone is a big spoiler is a highlight. Ive seen the first five episodes of the season and as with any sitcom, there are a few misses in between the hits. One episode in particular is trying to reach for an old-school Frasier plotline, but it falls flat given the thinness of the characters in question. Thankfully, Lower Decks is able to carry a weak show on the back of its central casts charm. Sadly, as it tries to give everyone a grace note, some characters youd expect would get more focus are instead shunted to the periphery. You can feel Lower Decks straining against its own premise, too. A show about people on the lowest rung of the ladder cant get too high. As a corrective, both Mariner and Boimler use this year as an opportunity to mature and grow. I wont spoil the most glorious running gag of the season, but their growth comes in very different ways. If theres a downside, its that the show still relies too much on energy-sapping action sequences to resolve its episodes. But thats a minor gripe for a show that grew from the would-be class clown of the Trek world to the most joyful interpretation of its ethos. Ive always loved how, when the chips are down, Lower Decks delights in the bits plenty of newer Treks would rather ignore. The show is, and has been, a delight to watch and something for the rest of the franchise to aspire toward. Paramount+ Ive been looking for a way to describe Lower Decks target audience for years, but only now has it hit me. Its a show written by, and for, the people who grew up watching Star Trek in the VHS era. Creator Mike McMahan is just four years older than me, barely a teenager when The Next Generation went off-air. So while hed have encountered Deep Space Nine and Voyager as first-run, everything else would have been discovered through re-runs and tapes. You can almost track that timeline of discovery as Lower Decks broadened its range of hat-tips each year it ran. Of course we got a parody of the first two Trek films in the first season both were ever-present on Saturday afternoon TV when I was a kid but its not until the third that we get a nod to First Contact. As Enterprise ran out of gas, you can feel McMahan and cos delving into the behind-the-scenes lore and convention gossip about those later series. If youve seen the series five trailer, youll spot the gag about Harry Kims promotion, something the character never got on Voyager. If youre fluent with Treks behind-the-scenes drama youll know the handful of reasons why, and why its funny to nod toward that now. But thats not the only subtle gag that points a sharpened elbow into the ribs of major figures from the series creative team. Im sure if you dont spot them all, Reddit will have assembled a master list half an hour after each episode lands on Paramount+. Paramount+ I wont indulge in theorizing as to why a popular and successful show like Lower Decks is ending (its money, its always money). But, as weve seen countless times before, its not as if its hard to revive a successful animated show when wiser heads prevail. Hell, even McMahan told TrekMovie hes prepared for that, and even has some spin-off ideas in the works. But for now, lets raise a toast to Lower Decks, the animated sitcom that became the cornerstone of modern Star Trek. The first two episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks season five will arrive on Paramount+, Thursday, October 24, with an additional episode landing each week for the successive eight weeks. The series and season finale will air on December 19.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/star-trek-lower-decks-bows-out-on-business-as-usual-200017641.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||