Category Archives: Mobile

Android, Mobile, News

vivo Announces the X70 Series with Even Better Cameras

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Here is a trivia; which manufacturer brought the under-display fingerprint sensor technology to the masses? Here is another; which manufacturer brought the gimbal technology into smartphones? If you know your tech, you will quickly know that the answer to both question is vivo.

While Samsung jumped on the bandwagon of making under-display fingerprint sensors a thing, they were not the first who went to market with it. To be fair, the power button integrated fingerprint sensor was not a Samsung-first technology too. That was Sony.

vivo though is a manufacturer that is plenty known for its innovations for the smartphone industry. They were one of the earliest adopters in pop-up front-facing cameras too, if you have not known yet. They like introducing their new innovations in their flagships too.

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    Source: vivo
  • vivo x70 series
    Source: vivo

The X70 series that was just announced though, may not seem like they are about pushing new technologies. Rather, they are pushing the current boundaries of current technologies for flagship devices. In the grander scheme of things, vivo announced three new devices in the X70 series – the vivo X70, X70 Pro, and the X70 Pro+.

vivo X70 Pro+

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Source: vivo

We have to start with the Zeiss camera, because we just have to. It will still be the biggest draw for the vivo flagship class. The vivo X70 Pro+ is also the flagship of flagships for vivo. That also means you get an unparalleled Zeiss camera experience.

Fronting the camera array is a 50-Megapixel shooter. Alongside the main sensor is a gimbal-stabilised 48-Megapixel ultra-wide sensor that is becoming a staple for smartphone cameras. You also get a 12-Megapixel portrait lens and an 8-Megapixel periscope telephoto. Zeiss also made some effort in making the cameras extra special here with SLR-grade glass lenses for the main camera. Of course, the rest of the sensors gets Zeiss optics and Zeiss T* coating.

Additionally, vivo recently developed its own imaging chip they call the V1 imaging chip. The V1 chip is technically a completely separate AI processor just for the vivo X70 Pro+’s camera array that is supposed to perform better in reducing noise and in low-light videos. A separate imaging chip also means that the vivo X70 Pro+ can deal with photos and videos better.

Just special cameras do not make a flagship device though. It has to come with flagship class processor too. That special processor is Qualcomm’s latest and most powerful Snapdragon ever. The vivo X70 Pro+ is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ System on a Chip (SoC), the same one you will find on the ASUS ROG Phone 5S. because it does not have to handle its camera’s operations, the one of the vivo X70 Pro+ is freed to focus on other SoC demanding jobs like gaming even.

To match the power of the SoC, you get ample 12GB of RAM to deal with any tasks you can throw at the vivo X70 Pro+ simultaneously. 512GB of storage should also be ample enough to house all the high-resolution photos and videos from the cameras. You can record videos at 8K resolution, by the way.

Covering a large 4,500mAh battery alongside all the powerful internals is an expansive 6.78-inch AMOLED display. It offers WQHD 1,440p resolution that matches the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. At up to 120Hz in refresh rate and 240Hz in sampling rate, you are not going to be wanting for more in a modern flagship. The display is interrupted by a single punch hole on top of its display though. The punch hole houses a 32-Megapixel sensor for great looking selfie cameras.

The Funtouch OS 12 Android 11 device should be able to last you an entire day and more with the 4,500mAh battery. If not, you can fully charge the device within two hours with 55W charging via USB Type-C. If you prefer the convenience of wireless charging, it charges at 50W too. Of course, for an extra peace of mind, the entire package is IP68 certified.

vivo X70 Pro

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Source: vivo

Sitting below the sophisticated X70 Pro+ is the X70 Pro that also comes with quad camera set-up. You may not be getting the same sophisticated lens treatment from the X70 Pro+, nor the dedicated V1 imaging chip, but you are still getting a capable smartphone for photography when you need it. You still have a 50-Megapixel main sensor that is flanked by a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor. There is also a 12-megapixel portrait sensor and another 8-Megapixel telephoto sensor you can work with for various shoot conditions. The front-facing camera is still a 32-Megapixel unit as well.

It is a smaller device compared to its more premium brother. The display only measures in at 6.56-inch, which is still nowhere near small. The AMOLED display only features Full HD+ in resolution though. You still get up to 120Hz in refresh rate and 240Hz sampling rate when you need it.

You find more differences internally too starting with a battery that is a smidge smaller than the X70 Pro+. You get a 4,450mAh unit powering up a potent MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC. You can still opt for a 12GB RAM and 512GB storage combination if you really want with the X70 Pro. There is no wireless charging option here, but you can charge the X70 Pro at 44W via its USB Type-C.

vivo X70

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Source: vivo

Then there is the Vanilla, Plain Jane X70. It is the least powerful variant of the vivo flagship series. It is still no slouch though.

You get one less lens compared to its more premium brothers. Instead of the 50-Megapixel, you have a 40-Megapixel shooter at hand. That is also supported by a 12-Megapixel ultra-wide shooter and a 12-Megapixel telephoto sensor. Those are still very good camera set-up in the modern smartphone market though.

You get the same display that you find on the X70 Pro too at 6.56-inch. Underneath the display is the same MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC that is the beating heart of the X70. You will not be able to opt for a 512GB storage though. At the same time you get a slightly smaller battery too at 4,400mAh. The smaller battery should not affect its battery life performance though. You can still charge it at 44W as well.

Availability

For now, the device has only launched in China. We can safely confirm though that the vivo X70 sereis is coming to Malaysia at the end of September 2021. Specifically, you can expect to see the vivo X70 coming to Malaysia 22nd September 2021 onward. There is no confirmed pricing just yet. vivo is yet to disclose the full colour options for the vivo X70 series too. All we can say for now is; stay tuned.

Accessories, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

DJI Launches the DJI OM5 – Mobile Film Making Just Got A whole Lot Better for MYR 689

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When DJI launched the OM4, we thought that it was the best DJI could make a gimbal for smartphones. At the same time, they made a smartphone gimbal that was more affordable than ever, in terms of a fully featured gimbal for smartphones for that matter. Those were the few criteria that influenced our purchase of our very own DJI OM4 gimbals. Then the DJI OM5 launched.

The DJI OM5 and the DJI OM4 shares a lot of similarities, to begin with. They are both foldable, and ultra-portable, the DJI Om5’s design allowing it to be a lot more so. Both have a large battery that you can charge via USB Type-C. Both also feature the same magnetic modular design that allows a larger convenience and versatility with any number of smartphones. In some sense, the OM5 is really the OM4 in a different body.

Except there are some differences that make the OM5 a better smartphone gimbal for content creators and even floggers. For one the DJI OM5, while being more compact than ever, packs an extension rod that extends up to 215mm to create new angles and opens new shooting options, especially when your main contents are vlogs.

The DJI OM5 also comes with a slew of improvements on the software end to make film making on smartphones easier and better. With new ShotGuides, DJI automatically understands your environment and cleverly recommends templates and even guides for getting the best out of your smartphone and gimbal set up. The end goal is to achieve a video that looks professionally filmed on your smartphone. There is also ActiveTrack 4.0 that is supposed to be a lot more responsive and cleverer than before to ensure that your tracked subject is never out of frame even when the subject turns around.

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Source: DJI

The more compact design and clever folding mechanism makes the DJI OM5 even more portable than before. At just about 300g, it is even lighter than the OM4 that it replaces. If you already have a DJI OM4, the magnetic attachments are also compatible with the OM5. It still features all the software capabilities that made the DJI OM4 such a friendly tool for content creators. You still get Gesture Controls to remotely activate your DJI OM5 and smartphone to either take group photos or a group footage even. You still get TimeLapse, MotionLapse, HyperLapse, and even Panoramas function on the OM5 as well. For more creative flexibility and inspiration, Story Mode templates are there for you.

On top of all of that, the DJI OM5 also comes with a fresh new magnetic accessory that would really help in a lot of content creation situations, especially in low-light condition. The new Fill Light Phone Clamp is a friendly clamp for your smartphone just like the regular magnetic phone clamp you are familiar with if you come from the DJI OM4. Except, the new clamp comes with LED fill lights on the clamps itself. The built-in battery powered LEDs ads a fill light of sorts in three colour temperature options. It is also perfect for vloggers that needs the perfect sort of lighting anywhere.

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    Source: DJI
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    Source: DJI
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    Source: DJI
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    Source: DJI
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    Source: DJI

The DJI OM5 is now available in Malaysia for MYR 689. You can get your hands on one from DJI’s online retail partners, Shopee and Lazada, or DJI official stores across Malaysia. It is available in two colour options: Athens Grey and Sunset White. Currently though, only the Athens Grey variant is available. The Sunset White variant is expected to be available 15th September 2021 onward and will ship out 20th September 2021 onward.

Lifestyle, Mobile, News

LG Develops the ‘Real Folding Window’, a Folding Glass Beater, Coming to Smartphones in 2023

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There are a lot of benefits that compensates to a folding PC in the early days too though. It was portable, which means you can set up anywhere and work from anywhere without needing an entire luggage load. The added portability also means you are a lot more flexible with work and locations that allows you to quickly get anything, and everything done from anywhere in the world. Of course, in the early days, you are compromised in battery life, but getting just a few hours window to send out a quick email or quick look at stuff you get from work is more than enough.

Fast forward to 2021 and battery life on portable devices has advanced tremendously. Processing chips are a lot more powerful today and a lot more energy efficient. We are at an age where mobile processing power can match desktop tower processing power. We are at an age where a laptop makes more sense than a tower PC and the tower desktop has been reserved to a niche group.

We have gotten a little side-tracked there, apologies. We are supposed to be talking about foldable smartphones, instead we rambled on about desktop tower PCs and notebook PCs. But it is important to understand why foldable smartphones are going to be the next big thing.

While at this point, the advantages of a candy bar type smartphone still outweigh a foldable smartphone in terms of build durability, optimisation, build quality, and even battery life, there are some arguments for a foldable device. A foldable smartphone can be a lot more versatile in different cases, or they can be a lot less intrusive and more subtle in another.

Take a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 for example. It is a regular candy bar smartphone in a lot of cases. When you need a little bit more display real estate for a better overview of your email, multiwindow spaces, and even just for pure entertainment, you simply unfold it to make it a sort of tablet. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 is a little pager like device when you do not need it to be always a nuisance in your face, and its smaller to store in your pockets or bags. When you need the larger display for whatever purpose, it becomes a regular candy bar device. Even Google is on board to produce develop their own foldable device in collaboration with Samsung.

Of course, the foldable smartphone is still very early in technology and one of the biggest problems with it is its durability. In the three iterations of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold device, that is always its point of contention. In fact, in its first attempt at a folding smartphone, Samsung had to delay the product shipment by a few months just to ensure that they have a better solution to protect their folding display. Samsung is still continuously developing the folding screen technology though.

Oddly enough, competition to Samsung’s folding screen mechanism and build material is not coming from a competing smartphone manufacturer. Well, when we say oddly, we kind of also expected it. The competition to the folding smartphone phenomenon comes from LG and what they call their ‘Real Folding Window’ glass technology.

Before you get confused, LG did make smartphone devices. They pulled out of the smartphone market recently enough that they are now not really a threat or competition to Samsung in the grander mobile device market. They are still one of the largest players in display manufacturing though, which is incidentally also Samsung’s forte. The announcement of their new foldable display technology should come as no surprise.

The ‘Real Folding Window’ glass as they call it is not really glass at all. It really is just a coated piece of plastic, to be fair. While it does sound pretty low tech to begin with, it is still complex to implement. They claim that this material allows the piece of ‘glass’ material to be bent on both sides of the device without sacrificing rigidity and durability while remaining free of creases. While it is not technically glass, LG Chem says that the material is as hard as tempered glass and could be even thinner. The prototype material they were able to produce is just a few micrometers thick and is rated to fold more than 200,000 times before any noticeable deterioration.

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Source: LG Chem

How LG achieved this feat with this prototype display cover material is by using a sheet of thin plastic film that is coated with more plastic film, specifically PET films. If you think that PET sounds familiar, you will be right. It is the material that you can find on modern disposable plastic bottles. It is a clever solution to a complex problem. It is also a more cost friendly option to developing new materials to begin with, which might mean that we will see more competitively priced foldable devices in the future.

You have to keep in mind that the material itself is just a cover though, and it has not addressed the fundamental problem in folding displays; the display itself. LG also says that the new material is not set to be commercialised just yet until 2023 at the earliest. LG is not unique in using PET in their material design though. Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 has a PET coating on their glass manufactured by a German partner that should prove to be more durable and feels better on the devices.

Samsung is not just sitting by and passing their work on the foldable displays on the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 as the perfect foldable display technology though. We mentioned that they are reportedly working with Google to manufacture Google’s first foldable smartphones. Other manufacturers are also relying on Samsung to ramp up production of their foldable displays. They are also betting that Samsung could come up with a viable glass solution for foldable displays as Samsung has been reportedly working with Corning for their next version of a foldable display.

LG’s participation in the battle for foldable display supremacy is huge though. It ramps competition up, which should ramp innovation and competitiveness of each brand up. It will also eventually lead to a price war, which also means lower prices for the new technology. Lower prices is always good for us consumers who are always hungry for more innovation.

Android, iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Switching Between iOS and Android is Painless with WhatsApp Now.

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Switching digital platforms is still a thing in the modern world. Switching platforms today though is harder than ever before, especially when you buy a smartphone. You get to choose between an Android or iOS smartphone if you go out to the market today to buy yourself a new one. Most of the time as well, you are going to stick to what you had before.

There is a reason why it is difficult for you to change platforms when it comes to smartphones. A lot of times, your operating system (OS) and its apps require you to have a functioning account with its particular provider to take full advantage of the system and its ecosystem of apps and services. For example, if you are on an Android smartphone you are required to have a functioning Google account to access Google’s Play Store and their own apps like Gmail and Calendar. Likewise, if you are on an Apple iOS device, you are required to have a functioning Apple account.

There is an added complexity on Android devices too, because Android devices come from different manufacturers. Different manufacturers have their own unique ecosystem too that requires you to have a functional account that could be tied to their ecosystem. One of the most famous ecosystems outside of Apple and Google right now is Samsung’s ecosystem which requires you to have a functioning Samsung account.

Of course, there are ways manufacturers have made porting from one platform to another easier over the years. The most notable effort of all is Samsung’s Smart Switch which makes porting and transferring data over any Android or even Apple device a breeze. It is not perfect though.

For the longest time, one of the most popular messenger apps that is available on both iOS and Android has been the biggest obstacle to switching platforms. That app is WhatsApp. There is a clear problem why too.

WhatsApp stores its data on your device. It regularly backs your messaging data into a cloud storage. On an Android device, the cloud storage of choice is Google Drive, which requires you to run a Google account anyway. On an Apple iOS device, you are relying on Apple’s iCloud storage services, which incidentally requires you to have an Apple account. You can see the problem here in itself.

While transferring your WhatsApp data over from platforms has been impossible if you are doing it over wifi, Samsung has rectified that with the latest Smart Switch version in Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 announcement. But what if you are not on a Samsung Galaxy device? Or, what if you want to switch from an Android to an Apple instead?

That function is now hitting other Android and iOS devices. The service now allows you to transfer your entire chat history and conversations from one smartphone to another, no matter the platform. The transfer also includes your entire WhatsApp media library for good measure.

Of course, there are some caveats. Your WhatsApp can only be transferred over from one platform to another via a wired connection. At the time of writing, your Samsung Smart Switch will require a USB Type-C connection with the donor Apple device to extra all its data, including WhatsApp data. While WhatsApp have not specified the transfer method, we are assuming that a cabled connection is the most viable way to data to be shared between an Android and iOS device without having to merge and mash Google Drive and Apple iCloud services together.

This opens up a whole other world of possibility for smartphone users though. Since transferring data between platforms are becoming easier, changing your smartphones is a simpler affair than ever before. That also means that the power to decide is now in the hands of the users more than ever. You get to choose which platforms works best for you every single time you want to upgrade your device, and that should mean more competitive pricing on even more powerful devices, especially in between platforms.

Business, Mobile, News

vivo Announces the Imaging Chip V1 – Its first In-house Imaging Chip

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vivo seems to be doubling down on its commitment to delivering the best imaging on mobile devices. The company only recently signed an agreement with ZEISS to co-develop camera technologies for mobile. Now, it is looking to spread its wings into creating imaging processors. Vivo announced its first foray – the Imaging Chip V1 – last week in Shenzen, China.

The Imaging Chip V1 is the result of over two year’s of research and development by over 300 personnel. vivo is viewing the Imaging Chip V1 as its first step towards pushing the image processing envelope forward. The company will be focusing on four strategic tracks to achieve its ambitions; image system, operating system, industrial design and performance. While the announcement comes in the midst of a chip shortage, vivo’s Executive Vice-President and COO, Hu Baishan, remains confident that vivo is able to meet its own needs and demands, ruling out collaborations at this time.

The announcement of the Imaging Chip comes as the latest in a series of collaborations and announcements from vivo as it looks to cement itself as a leader in mobile imaging technologies. That said, the company hasn’t revealed any details of the capabilities of the chip. However, if rumours are to be believed, the upcoming X70 series of smartphones will be the first to have the Imaging Chip V1. We won’t have to wait very long as the X70 series is expected to launch in October.

Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound Brings aptX Lossless

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Audio has gone through a mobile renaissance in the past few years. The number of companies developing technology to enable lossless, audiophile-quality sound has drastically increased. Just this year, services like Apple Music, Spotify and TIDAL have started offering spatial and lossless music on their services. Now, Qualcomm is looking to complete the experience with high fidelity, lossless sound over Bluetooth with their new aptX Lossless. This new Lossless standard will come built-in to the aptX Adaptive standard.

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Source: Qualcomm

Qualcomm’s aptX Lossless come as part of their Snapdragon Sound Technology which looks to up the ante when it comes to sound on mobile devices. The new standard will allow users to experience lossless CD-quality sound. Qualcomm claims that the new technology in the aptX Adaptive standard will produce high quality, lossless audio which will be mathematically bit-for-bit exact.

Qualcomm isn’t just revealing another standard with aptX Lossless, the technology behind it will also be ensuring better connectivity while streaming lossless audio. AptX Adaptive will work in tandem with Qualcomm Bluetooth High Speed Link technology to deliver sustainable bitrates to support lossless audio. Using these technologies simultaneously, Qualcomm is able to deliver data rates beyond 1Mbps yet seamlessly scale down to 140kbps in more congested RF environments. This helps minimize any dropouts or glitches for a more reliable listening experience.

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Photo by Sound On from Pexels

While the technology sounds promising, we will only be seeing aptX Lossless capable devices become commercially available in 2022. It may still be a little bit before we see the aptX Lossless standard become ubiquitous. That said, we’re looking at a growing demand for lossless audio among consumers with technologies like Spatial sound and 360 Audio becoming more mainstream.

Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Podcast, Social Media

Spotify Launches Blend for You to Share Playlists and Compare Musical Tastes

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Sharing your playlist with your friends in the old days means that you have to copy a whole music library you have created over a USB drive, or a CD. That was the days before content streaming services like Spotify came to be. Even when Apple’s iTunes was a thing, it served more like a digital music library that requires you to have the music files stored in your device.

Before the days of Spotify too, you still had to pay money for individual songs and albums if you want to legally listen to them and own them for your own personal consumption or even share it with your friends. Obviously, sharing your music library before then is still a grey area in terms of copyright.

Spotify may not be the first music streaming service and cloud-based music library to exist. It is, in 2021 at least, the most successful thus far. This is amidst the rise in other services like Deezer, Tidal, YouTube Music, and more. If you think about it, Spotify has a tough competition to work with especially in Tidal and YouTube Music at this point. Tidal features a higher quality music streaming that allows music to play at near lossless quality while YouTube Music offers a more robust and complete music library compared to Spotify. At some point Taylor Swift criticised Spotify’s royalty structure and pulled all her assets away from Spotify.

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Source: Spotify

When spotify launched, sharing your favourite songs and curated playlists is made super easy. You only need to share a URL with your friends now and you can listen to it at anytime where you have internet or data. Of course, your friends can still comment on your music selection and judge your music taste according to what you have just shared. You could also say sometimes that you share the same music taste with your best friends, but you would not really know how similar sometimes.

Spotify introduced Blend Playlists in June 2021 as a Beta feature. It was introduced as a way for two users to create a shared playlist that is dedicated to their shared musical tastes. It is also created as a new way for friends to interact and bond over their love of music.

The feature is now out in full force on your Spotify. Blend Playlists also now allows you to customise the playlist with unique cover arts for easy identification. The Blend feature also scores your music taste compatibility with your friends. Of course, you can share those on social media to brag that you and your besties are very similar to one another.

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Source: Spotify

Blend is not a personally curated list though. It is still a curated list, but it is curated via Spotify’s clever mechanism that adds and changes the playlist to adapt to your listening behaviour combined with your friend’s listening behaviour that you share the list with. The best part is that both you and your friend can have a similar playlist experience but in completely different situations and locations at the same time.

Of course, this experience is not just limited to you and your best friends. It is a good way to start sharing a curated playlist with your family members, or a loved one. This is a way to keep your bonds as strong as they are in these trying times where face time and physical interaction has to be limited.

The feature should now be available on the Spotify app. You can supposedly access the feature from the “Made for you” hub on mobile devices. You simply hit “create blend” and invite your friends to create a Blend Playlist with whichever friends you choose to have a blend with (if the person accepts) and let Spotify do everything for you there. To our knowledge, we have found that the feature has not been made available to us (could just be us). The Spotify app is available for free on both Android and iOS via Google Play Store and Apple Play Store respectively.

iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

More Apple Spatial Audio! This Time on Clubhouse!

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Apple’s Spatial Audio is sure making its rounds. In the previous weeks, the excellent virtual surround sound audio technology makes its way into Netflix apps for the iPhone and iPad. You can now use your Apple AirPods Pro and AirPods Max with Spatial Audio when watching Netflix on your iPhone or iPad. It does make sense too, in a sense. You get more immersive experience from your pocket devices.

Spatial Audio is nothing new though. Apple has implemented their own 360 virtual audio technology in they own apps. Apple’s Music app has embraced the surround sound technology since the beginning. Even Apple’s Apple TV+ has integrated the technology for a while now. The feature will be coming to other apps like Spotify eventually, of course you do have to wait for the clever developers to tinker with the technology and its algorithms a bit more.

There is one other app that just got Spatial Audio for their app though. That app in question is Clubhouse. They announced this milestone on their Twitter page, very much like any respected app organisation on Social Media platforms. Now is the time you start asking; “why?”

Again, surround sound technology is not exactly new. The technology does add a bit more in terms of realism in films. In Music, it adds a sort of depth perception of a recording studio, or stage. The technology puts your right in the middle of the action. In the case of Clubhouse, while you might argue that the reason the developers added Spatial Audio feature to the app on Apple devices is “because they can”, it is a bit more than that.

Yes, over the internet, you are getting high-quality voice calls from Clubhouse itself. It is the next best thing to hanging out with a bunch of people physically. At the same time, you are connecting with so many people from all over the world. You can just sit in a ‘club’ with hundreds of people all from different regions of the world practically.

While that is already impressive enough, there is a way to make it better. Yes, the answer to that is surround sound. Again, surround sound is more than just an entertainment technology. It can add a perception of space and depth around you with the right headphones. That is exactly what Clubhouse is trying to achieve here. They wat to add that sense of perception, that sense of realism.

The addition will also mean that Clubhouse is realty now the next best thing in terms of hanging out with your friends in this trying times. It may not make you choose clubhouse over other similar platforms at this time. It does add some sense of intimacy with other clubhouse users and friends on the platform though. You would really feel like you are talking to the person next to you.

The update is now rolling out for the Clubhouse app on iOS. There are still limitations to its implementation which also means you might not hear that much in difference when you get on the app, especially on Bluetooth audio. Clubhouse, on their Twitter post is also saying that Android will get its fair share of Spatial Audio soon. Clubhouse is now available for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Android, Gaming, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Netflix Games is Going to Be a Thing – Tests for Android Starts in Poland

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Netflix has pretty much changed the way we consume contents. To be fair, this whole streaming business started becoming a thing when YouTube started blowing up. To be fair to that also, YouTube’s rise to popularity is contributed by the increase in interest with short form contents and independent content creators.

In some sense Netflix’s rise in popularity is a little different than YouTube’s astronomical rise. Of course, Netflix has been in the general entertainment industry for longer than we know them to be the top Over-The-Top (OTT) content streaming service known to man today. Instead of dabbling in independent film makers, Netflix dabbles is offering the big budget film and on-demand TV shows on a single platform. You can watch all that Netflix has to offer in terms of films and TV shows at any time you want and at an affordable price. It did for films what Spotify has done for music. It democratizes big budget contents that were traditionally made for a scheduled TV programme or even the theatres. It put the controls of consuming these contents right in your palms and at home.

Their disruptive business model proves to be a winner with us, the users. Netflix, currently anyway, is still the top performing content streaming platform in the world with a huge global presence. Their success in the world of end-user entertainment platform leads to plenty of “me too” products we see today like Amazon’s Prime Video, Paramount+, HBO Max, and even Disney+.

While Netflix is still the king in content streaming platforms, they want to be more than just providing watched contents. They want to dabble in interactive contents. You can see Netflix experimenting with interactive contents when you look back into Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, a kind of movie where you can decide what your ending would be. It is like playing a game, except you are doing it on your browser and it involves a live-action content.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, while a successful endeavour, is a huge undertaking though. It is time consuming to create, it is also complex to work with, which are all usually translated into the final cost of production in terms of currency. There is a cheaper way to do what Netflix wanted to do with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, create actual games and host them on Netflix itself. That is what they want to do into the future though.

Netflix’s own exclusives have inspired games like Stranger Things 1984 and Stranger Things 3. While they are not strictly games you play on the PC or even a console, they are still games that puts you in the shoes of the main characters imagined from the Netflix exclusive series, ‘Stranger Things’. Yes, we are saying that they are mobile games.

So, Netflix is trying to make games and launch a gaming platform of their own. That is nothing new though. Since Google announced their Stadia platform, their competitors have all been jumping on board and are betting their futures with Cloud Gaming. In other words, everyone wants to get into game streaming, since the gaming industry is on a steady rise. Netflix wants that piece of action too.

Of course, at this time, Netflix has only confirmed that they are going to be integrating mobile games into their platform instead of a whole dive into cloud gaming. In that sense, Netflix Poland has already started testing their gaming platform. The experience, so far, has not been reportedly great though.

You are not accessing a completely different app, which is great news. While you are accessing the Netflix app to get to the games that are on offer though, it is not the third-party app store experience that Netflix wants you to believe at this time. The games that are on offer, at least according to current reports, are the two Stranger Things titles we mentioned earlier. They are not cloud based gaming as well, at this time anyway. You still have to download the games to play the games. Users are also led to the Google Play Store for the games to be downloaded too.

Once downloaded though, the games can only be launched via the Netflix app, which is a little counterintuitive. The games are tied to your Netflix credentials instead of your Google Play credentials though, which kind of makes sense. Reportedly also, the games you play through Netflix will not feature any ads or in-app purchases. Currently also, Netflix is focusing on bringing mobile optimised games on their platform, hence the test starts with smartphones. In some sense, it does sound a lot like Netflix is trying to create a platform that is likened to Apple Arcade. Unlike Apple’s Arcade though, membership is free as long as you have an active subscription with Netflix, for now anyway.

At the time of writing, there are only two game titles available on Netflix’s gaming section. The test is also only currently conducted in Poland with no other regions being confirmed at this time. Netflix also says that the iteration that is being tested in Poland is a very early development. While it does not feature cloud gaming yet at this time, it is not ruled out, at least from our point of view anyway. Still, would you play games on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.

Android, Computers, Mobile, News

Chromebooks are Losing Microsoft Office 365 Apps

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When Google introduces the Chrome OS and the Chromebooks along with it, everyone was kind of thrilled. Finally, a new operating system (OS) that could take on the giants that are Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s Mac OS, even Linux maybe. Sadly, it was not to be that way and the Chrome OS turned out to be something completely different.

The Chrome OS has grown into something completely different though. It has grown into a unique OS that proved popular amongst schools and students because of its simplicity. Because its interface mimics that off an Android smartphone as well, but for a bigger screen, navigation is much more intuitive as well.

The Chrome OS started out as a completely web-based OS which would require you to be constantly online to make it function. Google’s Play Store has added plenty of offline capabilities to Chrome OS and allow the Chromebook to be a productivity and learning powerhouse it is today. One of the best additions for productivity on the Chrome OS is Microsoft’s Office 365 apps like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and even Excel.

It looks like that might change soon though. Microsoft’s Office suite will be leaving the Google Play Store from the 18th of September 2021 onward. That also means that apps like outlook will not be supported on Chrome OS. Microsoft claims that the move of removing their apps from Google Play Store is a part of their effort to optimise the Microsoft experience on the Chrome OS and Chromebook.

You still can access Microsoft’s suite of apps online though. Outlook.com and Office.com will still be available via web and signing into Microsoft account should be a breeze. The only problem is that you must be constantly online for that though. At the same time, the web experience is different compared to the Android App version.

Alternatively, there are Google’s G Suite apps still available on Chrome OS. Of course, with the Chrome OS, the native Google Apps should feel a little more optimised and seamless with your Google account. At the same time, you have an offline experience with G Suite apps on Chromebooks.