Today during Electronic Arts’ annual EA Play E3 2018 press conference kicked off with quite a lot of new titles shown off, but no one could’ve expected that the big name publisher would be making some of their new reveals available immediately. One such unexpected treat came in the form of Unravel Two, the sequel to the popular original indie title Unravel. The game was developed by the same team of Swedish devs at Coldwood Interactive as the original and it’s looking pretty good.
Unravel Two takes many of the mechanics of the first and adds a few new twists, such as players are now connected to another yarn person and will have to figure out the best way to use their dynamic duo to do things like climb, swing, and tie knots to get through each area.
Players will have to solve many of the game’s new platform-based physics puzzle by either using the two characters in tandem or having a friend join help them out by using the new drop-in, drop-out co-op system.
From the press release: “Unravel Two is about the new bonds that form when we cut ties to the past,” said Martin Sahlin, Creative Director at Coldwood. “Like Unravel, it is a deeply personal game for the studio and our passion and life experiences are intertwined in the fabric of the journey players and their Yarnys will embark on. Unravel Two is about the unbreakable bond between friends and how hope and love can make the world around us a better place.”
The first Unravel was widely regarded for its highly-detailed backgrounds, clever puzzles, and the emotional heftiness of its plot. From all indications, it would seem that Unravel Two has set upon that same path as well. It is a bit unorthodox for EA to release a game that becomes available right after the reveal, but it’s a welcome surprise.
Unravel Two is now available on PS4 (£15.99), Xbox One (£17.99), and PC for £17.99
Lunar Great Wall Studios has today revealed new screenshots that reveal more of the world in ANOTHER SIGHT, due to launch on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2018.
The new screenshots released today showcase more of the world inspired by Neil Gaiman’s urban fantasy, Neverwhere, and brings new areas out from the shadows as more of the world of Another Sight is revealed.
ANOTHER SIGHT is a surreal fantasy adventure with steampunk elements set in 1899 towards the end of the Victorian era, in London. Built on heart, culture and character, ANOTHER SIGHT brings to life our two leading characters; Kit, a refreshingly bold teenager who loses her sight after the under-construction London Underground tunnel she was exploring collapses, and Hodge – a mysterious red-furred cat – she meets in darkness.
Together, they team up for an adventure through the unexpected. Kit and Hodge will need to explore the world both together and apart using each of their unique talents to tackle environments and solve intriguing puzzles. Kit and Hodge encounter a hidden society of the world’s greatest inventors and artistic minds such as Claude Monet, Jules Verne and other long-past cultural icons.
Another Sight Gameplay Features:
EMOTIVE DRIVEN – A story about a girl and her cat companion on a journey beyond sight and the real. A tale of warmth and intrigue is woven throughout the adventure, touching on trust, companionship and losing what we take for granted. Innovative gameplay and a story of the heart is galvanized by a soundscape given life to by a symphonic orchestra to accent memorable moments between Kit, Hodge and the journey they’re on.
MASTERS OF THE PAST – Throughout the journey, Kit and Hodge will meet virtuoso artists such as Claude Monet and other cultural-historical figures from the past, learning more about the world and dangers it presents. Each encounter visually impacts the world, taking on aesthetics of each creative movement from the famous characters Kit and Hodge meet.
HIGHLY CREATIVE GAMEPLAY – Use the unique abilities of each character to help Kit and Hodge traverse the world and overcome environmental challenges. Kit and Hodge can split up to investigate different areas of the locale that the other may not be able to reach, with both Kit and Hodge perceiving the world in very different ways, opening up different possibilities for overcoming their adventure.
ANOTHER SIGHT launches in 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.v
Here is the review of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM In-Ear Wireless headset which combines sleek design, immaculate sound performance and take-anywhere mobility. The neckband headset is made of high-quality materials, offers exceptional hi-fi wireless sound assured by Bluetooth 4.1 and Qualcomm apt-X.
With NFC for simple one-touch pairing, an integrated microphone, and a ten-hour battery life, it is the perfect companion to mobile devices.
Easy to use
Momentum in Ear Wireless has a soft sheepskin cap attached to the neckline and feels really comfortable. On the left side are all function buttons: a three-button remote control, an on/off button, and a handsfree microphone. The use is simple and the buttons are fast. In the right part of the bracket, the battery is placed.
Also, you get a battery that delivers 10 hours of interception and is fast-charging via USB in 1.5 hours. A good and tight fit is as in all the ear-fools essential and silicone plugs in four different sizes are included.
The connection is via a traditional Bluetooth search or via NFC. With the Momentum, In-Ear Wireless is apt-x compatibility and the sound is clear but still full of details. It sounds neat, clean and well-articulated with both precision and dynamics.
Type: Wireless in ear, dynamic Connection: Bluetooth (4.1) nfc. Frequency Range: 15Hz – 22,000Hz Sensitivity: 112 dB Sensitivity: -44 dB Handsfree function: Yes Battery life: About 10 hours
A Closer look at the Sennheiser MOMENTUM In-Ear Wireless headset buds
Quality costs, so even in this case, for the sum of £169.99 or Amazon, for that sum you get a pair of good-looking headphones that, besides sitting well, also deliver an amazing battery life.
Good
Easy operation
Good sound
Battery Life and fit
Bad
Wish the earbuds was magnetic so could stick together
VR exclusive games developer Fast Travel Games has today, in partnership with publisher Perp Games, announced that the boxed PSVR version of their debut title, action/adventure Apex Construct, is available across Europe at all major retail stores including GameStop, GAME and Amazon. The price is the same as the for the digital version, with most retailers listing the game for €29.99/$29.99.
Players in US will not have to wait much longer, as Apex Construct is set to hit retailers there in July.
Apex Construct is a single player action/adventure game built exclusively for VR, where players need to explore a shattered world to uncover its secrets while defending themselves from the synthetic creatures, utilizing an upgradable bow, arrow & shield setup. Progressing through the adventure, players will gradually reveal what actually happened to the world they once knew – and what their role is in the drawn-out conflict between two powerful AIs. Delivering full immersion through a highly interactive environment, players get to explore the surroundings at their own pace and with different movement options like Full Locomotion or Teleportation.
New game content called Cygnia Cup Challenge, a competitive mode where players need to hone their bow & arrow skills to climb global leaderboards, will be released for Apex Construct on PSVR later in June, free for all players owning the main game.
Apex Construct is also available digitally for PSVR on the PlayStation Store, and for PC on Steam, Oculus Experiences, VivePort & Green Man Gaming.
Honor has today announced that the Honor 10 will receive a software update. The COL-L29 8.1.0.120 (C432) update adds the Party mode app and optimises the fingerprint unlock experience and photography experience, the review of the Honor 10 will be up very soon.
The Honor 10 is unrivalled in delivering the most premium smartphone features and hardware at a competitive price, these updates will help to optimise the user experience further.
Party mode app – You can now connect several phones using NFC to play the same song simultaneously at parties, producing a multi-channel sound effect for a supreme audio experience.
Fingerprint unlock – The fingerprint unlock experience has been improved. The system automatically detects the compatibility of the current fingerprint and prompts users to delete and replace it if necessary.
Camera – Optimises prompts in Al lens. A text message is displayed to indicate the photo effect after a scenario is identified. The photographing effect of the front camera is improved for a more natural colour display.
Themes – Adds LaMer (living) theme and Greenlight live wallpaper, and updates Aurora theme materials.
HiCare – Relocates HiCare from the Tools folder to the home screen.
System – Enhances the overall power consumption for extended use.
Security – Integrates Google security patches released in May 2018 for improved system security.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and game developer, IO Interactive, today announced HITMAN 2, the follow-up to the video game, HITMAN.
Featuring entirely new hyper-detailed sandboxes full of living, breathing environments to explore, HITMAN 2 offers players the freedom to plan the ultimate assassination utilising an assortment of tools, weapons, disguises and a variety of stealth techniques to creatively trigger their own unique chain of events. HITMAN 2 will be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One X, Xbox One and PC beginning 13th November 2018.
“We are thrilled to partner with IO Interactive on HITMAN 2 and bring the latest game in this iconic franchise to the passionate HITMAN fanbase and new players,” said David Haddad, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “IO Interactive has done a fantastic job with the Hitman franchise, and this new game will provide a distinct gameplay experience for players to be creative in larger sandbox locations.”
“We are very proud to announce HITMAN 2 as the next exciting chapter in our ever-expanding world of assassination. Building on the success of our previous game, HITMAN 2 introduces exciting new features, new modes and franchise firsts to make for a larger and richer game,” said Hakan Abrak, CEO, IO Interactive. “We couldn’t have wished for a better partner than Warner Bros. to bring this game to our passionate community and introduce new players to our universe. Welcome back 47!”
HITMAN 2 takes players on a global adventure across a mix of bustling international locations, including a vibrant Miami setting with the colorful ambience of an in-progress motorsport race bringing a new backdrop to the series. From sun-drenched streets to dark and dangerous rainforests, each intricate location provides multiple paths to discover and unparalleled game depth.
Continuing the ultimate spy thriller story, HITMAN 2 allows players to take on the role of the masterful Agent 47 and embark on a mission to hunt the elusive Shadow Client and unravel his militia once and for all. However, when 47 learns the hidden truth about his past, nothing will ever be the same.
HITMAN 2 introduces new ways to play with the Sniper Assassin mode, a standalone feature that brings a co-op experience to the Hitman series for the first time, allowing two players to work together online to take down their targets. Sniper Assassin can also be enjoyed in a single player mode for those who want to play as Agent 47.
Sniper Assassin is available to play now as an early access bonus for consumers who pre-order the HITMAN 2 Standard, Gold or Collector’s Edition. The HITMAN 2 Standard Edition is available for pre-order now. The HITMAN 2 Gold Edition is available for pre-order now exclusively at GAME. The HITMAN 2 Collector’s Edition will be available for pre-order soon.
As an additional pre-order bonus, full game early access will be available for Gold or Collector’s Edition owners four days before release.
Wired Productions Ltd and developer Caged Element Inc. invite out-of-this-world speed demons to experience GRIP – a ferociously fast, futuristic arcade combat racer – arriving on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC via Steam in Fall 2018.
Members of the original team behind the classic arcade combat racer, Rollcage have come together with fans to celebrate the re-emergence of blindingly fast arcade racers; offering a true, wheel-gripping racing experience – where utter destruction serves one true purpose: be the first to cross the finish line.
“It’s a dream come true to once again find myself working on another great racing project,” said Robert Baker, principal programmer for GRIP and former lead programmer at Rollcage’s developer, Attention to Detail. “There are so many elements to GRIP that take me back, and I love the true racing experience that Rollcage, and now GRIP, both deliver. GRIP is truly poised to be the spiritual successor to the Rollcage games of the late 90s that so many people loved playing.”
Taking full advantage of the current generation of gaming hardware, GRIP accelerates ahead of the racing crowd by offering players speeds of over 767 mph – making it the fastest racing game on four wheels, across roads, ceilings and anything else players can land their tyres on to. The game will benefit from the enhanced power behind the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X, delivering eye-pleasing visuals with spectacular in-game physics and harnessing the potential that comes from building with Unreal Engine 4.
GRIP will see racers speeding their way around 19 breathtaking tracks across a variety of hostile and foreign worlds. Remaining focused on the task at hand, players must be merciless in their quest to cross the finish line; deploying an arsenal of 11 devastating weapons and power-ups to give them the advantage to take the lead against fierce competitors. From explosive darts, mines, and missiles to shields and turbos; these weapons will allow players to not only target other cars, but the environment surrounding them – blasting their way through structures or collapsing them unexpectedly onto unsuspecting opponents.
Racers can pick from a roster of 15 armoured cars – some swift and agile, while others are brutish and heavily armoured. Modifying further to suit their style, players can also customize each vehicle with an array of varied paint jobs, decals, wheels and other details. More information about the game’s cars, tracks, weapons and other modes – including Carkour and Arena – will be detailed by Wired Productions later this year.
Blackberry Mobile has just announced the new icon reborn with the Blackberry KEY2 at the launch event in New York today.
The Blackberry KEY2 features a classic QWERTY keyboard for those smartphone users who still aren’t used to typing on a touchscreen.
But it is also powered by latest version of Android, Android Oreo, and comes with a dual-lens camera on the rear.
Also, the Blackberry KEY2 also introduced the new Speed Key, it’s a shortcut key that gives users instant access to the apps, contact and functions they use the most.
The BlackBerry KEY2 has a redesigned intelligent keyboard as well as a 4.5-inch touch display that includes 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass.
Corning Gorilla Glass offers increased scratch resistance and creates a more seamless design and edge to edge look.
Key height on the BlackBerry KEY2 has been increased by 20 percent for a more comfortable and accurate typing experience.
Specs
4.5” LCD 3:2 Display
35 key backlit Physical Keyboard with a fingerprint sensor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 660
6GB RAM + 64GB/128GB + microSD
Dual 12MP Cameras f1.8 Main / f2.6 Telephoto
8MP Selfie Cam
Android 8.1
3.5mm jack
3500 mAh battery
It also includes an in-keyboard fingerprint reader.
BlackBerry Mobile said the KEY2 offers up to two days battery life, has 6GB of RAM and comes in two storages sizes – 64GB and 128GB. Both offer expandable storage thanks to MicroSD support. Also, the BlackBerry KEY2’s rear camera is made up of dual 12MP cameras and the handset is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.
The BlackBerry KEY2 will cost £579 in the UK and $649 in the US and will start shipping this month (June 2018).
Honor has announced GPU Turbo, which is a revolutionary graphics processing acceleration technology. With hardware-software integration, GPU Turbo dramatically increases graphics processing efficiency of mobile phones, providing global users with a smoother and faster mobile experience.
“We’re thrilled to achieve this technology breakthrough as Honor has been strived to provide the best user experience to our global customers,” said George Zhao, President of Honor. “With this GPR Turbo, we are confident that we can highly improve our market advantages by significantly enhancing our graphics processing efficiency and offering the impeccable mobile experience.”
GPU Turbo is a hardware-software integrated graphics processing acceleration technology. It reconstructs the traditional graphics processing framework at the lower layer system, greatly improving the user experience. After the exploration and accumulation in the field of graphics processing, Huawei and Honor have achieved a key technological breakthrough of improving graphics processing efficiency by 60% while reducing the SoC (System on Chip) energy consumption by 30%, exceeding the limits of the balance between smartphone performance and energy consumption. In addition, with greater rendering ability, Honor devices can achieve outstanding graphics quality with GPU Turbo, even if the mobile game application does not support HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging.
Over the past ten years, the demand for graphics processing capability in smartphones has surged, with display resolution evolving from VGA to 1080p and soon-to-come 4K. Mobile games dominate the gaming space. Unlike the past days of leisure and educational mobile games, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games today demand heavily on smartphones’ graphics processing capability.
Cutting-edge technologies and applications that also demand high graphics processing ability like AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality) and image rendering, which have become increasingly popular on mobile phones. GPUs for mobile platforms have always faced a series of technical constraints like storage, heat dissipation and energy consumption.
These factors make it challenging for smartphone developers to cope with the upsurge of demand for mobile graphics processing. As such, Huawei and Honor are launching GPU Turbo, a key technological breakthrough developed based on the companies’ accumulated experience in the graphics processing field.
GPU Turbo will benefit mobile games that demand high graphics processing efficiency, enhancing the speed and optimizing users’ gaming experience dramatically. GPU Turbo will become the core capability of Honor smartphones, resulting in an excellent integration between smartphone hardware and EMUI software, as well as a smoother top layer graphics application. In addition, GPU Turbo can support AR and VR in the future and can be applied in the sectors including virtual teaching, online shopping and telemedicine to create the best visual experience for users.
GPU Turbo will be first introduced to Honor Play. It will be gradually applied in other popular Honor smartphones, such as the Honor 10, Honor View10, Honor 9 Lite and Honor 7X. The technology will also be opened to worldwide Honor users.
MotoGP18 is now available in stores and on digital for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for £49.99, Windows PC/STEAM for £39.99, and will release on June 28th on Nintendo Switch at £49.99.
A new engine, enhanced graphics, reworked physics, faithful reproduction of all in-game elements, a new compelling career mode and all the official content from the 2018 MotoGP season are only some of the elements that will make Milestone’s videogame the most immersive and realistic MotoGP experience ever.
Key features of the videogame include:
• The official 2018 MotoGP season, with all the riders and all the 19 official tracks, including the new Buriram International Circuit in Thailand;
• Faithful reproduction of riders, tracks and bikes, thanks to the Drone Scanning system, for a 1:1 recreation of all the track details, and the 3D scanning technology, to include real MotoGP riders’ faces in the game for the first time ever in the series;
• Exclusive improved features to make the game experience as immersive as ever, such as new cutscenes, the spectator mode designed to follow other players with different cameras to enjoy the online matches and brand new interactive tutorials;
Enhanced AI, Bike Physics and Collision System, with innovative riding aids to offer a more enjoyable simulation at every level;
New scalable damage system and tire management system;
• A compelling career mode to climb the ladder from Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup to MotoGP class, including an innovative bike development setup, to significantly increase the bikes’ performance, as well as the MotoGP ID to keep track of such progress.
Moreover, this year will also see the launch of the new MotoGP eSport Championship with more challenges, more chances to win and an increased number of platforms available to compete on, making it sure to be a bigger and better show than ever before.
This year the MotoGP eSport championship will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, giving more opportunities for gamers to become World Champion.
Kicking off on July 18th, the MotoGP eSport Championship will see 8 online challenges, with 2 Semi Final live Events and the Grand Final in November, live from Valencia. The live Semi Final 1 event will take place at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on September 7th and will feature the fastest 12 gamers. On November, 2nd the live Semi Final 2 event will be held at the Movistar eSports Center in Madrid, where the quickest 12 from the final four challenges will compete for a place in the Final. The Grand Final will once again be hosted in Valencia during the MotoGP season finale on November 16th, with a BMW M240i Coupé up for grabs as the top prize for the Championship winner, with some additional exclusive experiences.
Miramar has been one of the most eagerly anticipated travel destinations for Xbox players and we’re excited to be able to offer this hot new destination to all players of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS on Xbox One.
Here is a little more about the up-and-coming travel hotspot in the video guide below, voiced by David Mitchell, showing all the intriguing sights and sounds of Miramar.
When playing on the new map, gamers will experience large, densely built towns, rocky hills, and wide-open expanses.
Along with the new map comes an assortment of new weapons including the R45 revolver, the Win94 lever-action rifle, and the sawed-off shotgun, as well as vehicles specially designed for the barren terrain of Miramar – the 6-seat van and off-road pickup truck.
The new map is available today and you can purchase PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS from the Microsoft Store for £24.99
Parrot has today announced the newest drone called ANAFI, it has taken too into account the users’ feedback to meet four essential needs: Image quality, flight performance, foldability and ease of use of the software and the piloting.
·Of these four key imperatives ANAFIwas created, an extraordinary drone that intends to mark a turning point in the world of drones:
·An ultra-portable, compact, rugged, lightweight and foldable UAV with a USB-C charging system.
·A 4K HDR camera with a zoom, a 21MP sensor, a 3-axis stabilization system with, for the first time, a 180 ° vertically rotating camera and a lossless zoom up to x2, 8.
·An impressive flight time of 25 minutes made possible by a ‘bio-inspired’ design combined with a smart battery.
·A new intuitive app with automated movements of the drone and the camera
An ultra-portable design
ANAFI is the drone you will always have at your fingertips and with you. At the beach, hiking, skiing, at a party with friends … Every moment of life, as simple as it is, becomes with ANAFI a unique moment, that you can capture a professional image from any point of single view.
The observation of insects is at the origin of the ANAFI concept. We followed the anatomical structure of an insect. ANAFI is divided into 3: the head (the camera and the gimbal), the thorax (the electronics and the mechanics is gathered in the centre), the abdomen (it is the big battery on the scale of the drone) … It to the beauty of a robotic beetle … Folded, it is mysterious like an insect coiled in its chrysalis.
This design principle has proven to be very functional. It is sturdy, lightweight, well balanced and folds very easily. The field of vision is very clear, the gimbal is protected. The electrical connections are short. Despite an exhausting development, The Parrot engineers have surpassed themselves. They have identified the main challenges that the company has imposed to realize this new generation drone, half robot, half insect.
·Ultra-compact
ANAFI is a 320 g (0.70 lb) ultra-compact, robust and foldable drone. Its four arms fold and unfold in less than three seconds
It is the same for its remote control, Parrot Skycontroller 3, which unfolds in 1 second and then, it automatically connects to ANAFI.
·Ultra-lightweight and robust
Thanks to a unique assembly of carbon fibre filled with hollow glass microbeads, ANAFI weighs only 320 g (0.70 lb) without compromising its robustness and performance. ANAFI is the lightest drone in its category!
·Ultra-portable
Equipped with a USB Type-C connector, ANAFI can charge with phone and PC chargers. It connects by car, a computer, the cable of a smartphone or a ‘powerbank’
·Ready to fly
Complete with a carrying case, like a cocoon, ANAFI is protected and at hand, ready to fly
Breathtaking images
Taking videos and aerial photos is the main use of drones.
ANAFI is a flying camera that embeds the best software and hardware solutions of the moment.
The optics specially developed for ANAFI, withstands temperatures from -10 ° C to + 40 ° C.
ANAFI uses a latest-generation Sony IMX230 sensor and an Ambarella video processor to produce spectacular 4K HDR (30fps) and 21MP photos.
4K camera and 21MP sensor
ANAFI films in 4K HDR and 4K Cinema (4096 x 2160). The implementation of HDR videos in 4K is a real technological feat, ANAFI is the only drone on the market to do this.
HDR enhances the rendering of backdrop scenes for incredibly detailed video and balance between light and shadow. Ideal for filming a sunset or a very bright sky for example. The 4K Cinema format offers more pixels on a 17: 9 ratio for professional quality videos.
ANAFI, through its dedicated mobile application FreeFlight 6, allows you to choose between three video modes:
·4K Cinema: 24 fps
·4K UHD: 24, 25, 30 fps
·1080p: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 or 60 fps
A revolutionary gimbal
ANAFI‘s camera is mounted on a “gimbal” stabilized on 3 axes that combine the best of mechanical and digital stabilizations.
Lightweight and hyper-powerful, the stabilized gimbal on 2 axes makes it possible to take photos and videos hitherto impossible to achieve with a drone of this category thanks to a vertical tilt of -90 ° to + 90 °!
It can also tilt horizontally from -40 ° to + 40 ° to ensure stabilization of the horizon, whatever the flight conditions.
In addition, the digital stabilization provides + 5 ° to -5 ° EIS in the direction of flight allowing impeccably well-kept travelling’s when the drone is driving at high speed.
This unique system limits the angular vibration to 0.004 ° for super stable photos and videos.
The camera is equipped with a wide-angle lens (110 °) with 2 aspherical lenses designed to limit stray light and chromatic aberrations, regardless of the light conditions.
A lossless zoom
ANAFI is equipped with a lossless zoom of x1.4 in 4K and x2.8 in full HD (1080p) It is also possible to zoom in x3 in digital zoom.
The oversampling technique was used to create a lossless digital zoom. This involves capturing more pixels than necessary, then resizing the image to create a zoom effect while maintaining the same pixel size.
This is possible thanks to the ANAFI 21MP sensor (5344×4016) which offers 1.4x resolution higher than 4K (3840×2160) and 2.8x higher than 1080p (1920×1080). You discover, from a distance, unsuspected details of a building, take a close-up of your children or observe wild animals without disturbing them.
ANAFI also has a unique effect: the Dolly Zoom. Automatic, this feature allows you to zoom in on a fixed subject while moving the background away. A bluffing and fully automated effect used by great movie directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick who made it a cinematographic reference.
Professional settings
Experts and professionals of the photo/video can access and modify the settings:
While ANAFI has an exceptional photo and video capabilities, it also displays outstanding performance for such a compact and lightweight drone.
A smart battery
ANAFI‘s battery is much more than just a battery!
It is a smart polymer lithium battery optimized to obtain the best power density in a small volume and a high rate of discharge, which allows ANAFI to achieve an exceptional flight time of 25 minutes for a drone of its size.
In addition, the ANAFI battery continuously monitors its charge level (regardless of the temperature and ageing of the cell). During a flight, ANAFI evaluates the load level and returns to its take-off position.
The ANAFI battery has an integrated charger, compatible with the latest USB standard (USB-C) and can thus be charged via a phone charger, power bank or laptop. It adapts to the power source, the charge is faster when it identifies a powerful charger.
Last but not least, the ANAFI battery has a hibernation mode to protect its internal chemistry. To activate it, the user must fully charge it before the first flight.
An ultra-silent flight
ANAFI’s its shape, the materials used and, the design of its propellers … have been optimized to make it the quietest drone in its class.
Omnidirectional Wi-Fi
Each foot of ANAFI is equipped with a dual-band antenna (2.4GHz & 5GHz) to ensure an optimal connection with the remote control Parrot Skycontroller 3 regardless of the orientation of the drone.
This omnidirectional transmission system uses Wi-Fi compliant protocols developed by Parrot.
ANAFI constantly monitors its Wi-Fi environment in order to switch to another channel when the one it uses is too crowded. This guarantees optimal spectrum utilization performance and allows ANAFI to fly up to 4kms, for example in the mountains without obstacles or interference, keeping video transmission.
Impressive flight performances
The FreeFlight 6 application offers two manual control modes: Film and Sport. In sports mode, ANAFI achieves speed peaks up to 55km/h (33 mph) and withstands winds of 50km/h (31 mph)!
Users can customize settings such as the inclination of the drone, its rotation speed, the speed of the camera tilt, etc.
Ease of use
A new dedicated application: FreeFlight 6
The FreeFlight 6 application has been developed for ANAFI and offers a modern and intuitive interface.
The main features are accessible directly from the homepage The flight interface adapts to all users: Beginners have access to automatic control modes, such as SmartDronies or CineShots; professional photographers can select or customize camera settings.
The FreeFlight 6 application and the Skycontroller 3 long-range remote control have been jointly developed. The interaction between the two allows users to control the movement of the gimbal and the zoom with two dedicated keys very convenient. And change the settings directly on the smartphone screen.
Automatic movements
ANAFI offers automatic control modes: the SmartDronies, the cameraman mode and the Follow Me, which use a neural network to revaluate the target track for each image, with a focus on the shape recognition tracking system. A learning process was carried out by the Parrot engineers with a database of images of people and vehicles.
With ANAFI, Parrot once again disrupts the drone universe and redefines the standards with a new-generation drone, ultra-portable, equipped with a 4K HDR camera, super-efficient and easy to use!
ANAFI can be pre-ordered today and will be in store from July 1st, 2018 for £649 / 699€ / $699 in selected consumer electronics retailers, on Amazon.com and Parrot.com.
Motorola is back with this year, Moto G6 is back with a completely refreshed design, here is the review of the Moto G6.
What’s in the Box
Moto G6
15 W Turbo CHarger
USB-C Cable
User Manual
Sim Ejector Pin
Design
It looks totally different from the earlier G series mobiles. It has a premium glass body design with aluminium frame. Moto G6 has a curved back and it has a thin and elegant profile.
It has a USB – C port for charging at the bottom.
On the top, it has a single SIM card and an SD card. It has 3 mics around the body for voice, noise reduction and audio recording. The power button on the right has a textured finish to help differentiate it from the volume buttons.
Overall, the Moto G6 is an ergonomically designed mobile. It is easy to hold in the hand. It has Corning Glass protection on the front and back. It looks a bit fragile but elegant in design. I would recommend to use it with a good back case. The mobile is resistant to accidental water splashes.
Display
Moto G6 has a full vision display with no notch. It is a 5.7-inch screen supporting full HD plus resolution. It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
The display is bright and the colour reproduction is vivid. The proximity sensor is fast. The display on Moto G6 has good sunlight visibility and viewing angles. Moto Display feature shows you the notification on the lock screen as you approach the mobile. You can also respond to notifications.
Camera
Moto G Series always promises good camera experience. Falling in that line, the G6 has a 12 MP + 5 MP rear camera. The primary 12 MP (f/1.8) + 5 MP (f/2.2 has a larger pixel size and aperture, with the front camera has an 8 MP camera.
The camera UI has pro-mode, portrait, spot colour, panorama, text scanner, face filters and a few other modes that are good utility value. It also has a smart layer to detect objects and landmarks. Video mode also gets the slow-motion and time-lapse modes apart from the live face filters.
The camera app supports live photos and auto HDR. Moto G6 can shoot a max of 1080p videos at 60 fps.
Under ample light conditions, the images are sharp and colour reproduction is accurate. Focusing is a bit jumpy, but once locked, the images are pleasant. Portrait mode edge detection is not perfect and the background blurring is also not accurate. Under low light conditions, the mobile can shoot good photos with accurate colours and very less noise. The video has electronic image stabilization for smooth footage. Overall, the Moto G6 gives you a very good camera experience as promised.
Camera Samples
All camera samples was taken with Auto HDR on.
Moto Performance
Moto G6 is powered by a Snapdragon 450 processor. I can hear you screaming, but Moto phones are always not about top specs, but good user experience. It has 3GB RAM with 32GB internal memory respectively.
The stock UI with no visual skin gives the mobile a fast performance. Gaming on Moto G6 has been smooth for the most part of it. There were no frame drops noticed and no overheating even after 30 min of continuous gaming. It supports Dolby audio and has active noise cancelling for audio over 3.5 mm audio jack.
The front speaker is placed below the earpiece and it is louder than the bottom speaker. Though it is not the loudest mobile speaker we have seen, front firing dual speakers is a boon.
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The fingerprint sensor is on the front and it is fast and accurate. It is multi-functional and be used for navigation, app lock, etc… Moto G6 has FM radio and it also supports face unlock.
Software
Moto G6 is running on Android 8.0 with no skin just like any Moto mobiles out there. It has a few custom apps like the camera and the moto app.
The moto app is the nerve centre of the mobile. Moto Key helps to access apps and devices with a fingerprint. Moto Actions has a bunch of action, Moto Display controls the display features and finally, the new Moto Voice makes the mobile respond to your commands. The UI experience is fast and has no lag. It has a very smooth performance, thanks to the perfect software optimization.
Power
Moto G6 is powered by a 3000 mAh battery, which may seem to be a small capacity in papers, but in reality, the mobile gives a good battery life. Thanks to the deep battery optimization, Moto G6 can last for more than 1.5 days of moderate usage and on intense use, it gives a screen-on time off of 6 to 7 hours. The included 15 W turbocharger can charge the mobile for 0 to 100% in less than 2 hours.
Pros
Cons
Premium Design
Updates need to be quicker
Water splash resistant
A functionally rich camera app
Smooth user experience
Audio experience
Like to say a thank you to Vodafone UK for the review unit of the Moto G6 available starting at £18 per month or you can get it from Amazon for £210.99 Single sim 3GB RAM / 32GB ROM (Deep Indigo) or the Amazon Exclusive Dual Sim £239.99 (4GB RAM / 64 ROM).
Star Wars has been a true passion of mine since first watching Episode IV: A New Hope as a kid and as a universe and franchise it pretty much became the foundation of everything that I consider makes me a nerd. I have ridden the nostalgia train fully since Disney purchased Star Wars from George Lucas and triggered a brand new trilogy along with the stand alone spin off film Rogue One and animated series in Star Wars: Rebels and I can hand on my heart say that I enjoyed The Last Jedi despite the mixed reaction to it as I still have faith the pay off for the events that upset so many fans in Episode VIIII ill be worth it….hopefully. But I certainly had mixed feelings heading into Solo: A Star Wars story, so much that I had to watch it a second time with fellow die hard fans just to make sure I had my thoughts straight on it but still came out of the cinema with the same feelings and well, Solo exists….but it really doesn’t matter that it does.
*Beware of some spoilers ahead for Solo: A Star Wars Story*
The road to get this film on cinema screens was as tough as a Deathstar trench run starting with how the original directing pair of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller was fired due to creative difference with Lucasfilm. Ron Howard was then brought on board to pick up the pieces leading to a whole bunch of reshoots and even recasting of roles in the year that followed. The troubled production had me worried but not as much as my feelings about the origin story they were trying to tell because as a fan I never thought out or needed to know the origin story of Han Solo to be made into a film considering how it had been told in the expanded universe and honestly, Han was never one of my favourite Star Wars characters.
But let’s start off with a positive point in that Solo: A Star Wars story is fine as a film which does not damage the Star Wars universe as much as you may fear it does. But what the film fails to do is actually enhance that universe or blow your mind as a fan and is potentially the best example that the powers that be are trying to ride the nostalgia train one film too many. By now most fans will be fully aware of box office numbers which make Solo the first real big screen Star Wars flop so diving into why the film didn’t work for me might explain why it also failed to light up the box office as well and no, I do not believe it suffered because Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2 released in the weeks before it.
So the film tells the origin story of Han Solo and how he first meets Chewbecca and Lando as well as how he became the owner of the Millennium Falcon and just how the ship made the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs. These are all part of the legend that is Han Solo but to finally put in on the big screen just left me feeling flat about those very things. We begin the film on the planet Corellia known as a starship building world. Here orphans are forced to work for criminal gangs everyday in return for food and shelter and this is where we meet a young Han and his girlfriend Qi’Ra who are trying to find a way to escape the planet together. To do so means doing one last secret job without being caught by the gang’s leader or the security forces on the planet. With a stolen sample of Coaxium which is powerful and expensive hyperspace fuel, they attempt to bribe their way off world on a transport however in the chaos Qi-Ra is caught just as Han crosses the boarding gate but is unable to help Qi’ra and can nothing more than stand helpless as she is taken away. Still being hunted, Han quickly jumps into an Imperial recruitment station and signs up to pilot training program and as he only had his first name of Han, is given the surname as Solo by the recruitment officer in order to complete the application. Han vows to become the galaxy’s best pilot and return to Corellia in order to rescue Qi-Ra and escape.
The opening to the film was ok if rather corny to say the very least, it had a big action sequence and some attempts at comedy to show this was going to be a light-hearted story for the most part but the arduous task for the cast of telling this story of a young Han Solo was already failing for me after 30 minutes and never improved right through to the final credits. I will say that the performance by Alden Ehrenreich was honestly fine for this role but for me at least never really made me think that this was the younger version of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo which was made even harder for him really by possibly the worst performance on the big screen yet by Emilia Clarke as Qi’Ra. Clarke just never managed to really show any change in Qi’Ra even after the film picks up the story three years after she was captured and only really hints that she had to do terrible things in order to survive. Learning that she rose the ranks of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate should have allowed her to showcase the toll that took on Qi’ra but the moment she is reunited with Han she is just smiling and laughing like nothing had changed her which only serve to make the moments where she would go full badass and kick someone’s butt feel forced and emotionally flat.
Donald Glover gave a great performance as a young Lando Calrissian and even brought some of Billy Dee Williams original performance style into his own but successfully made it his own for the most part and really set the seeds for the friendly but never fully trusting relationship between Lando and Han that we would see in Empire Strikes Back. Lando has a droid co-pilot in L3-37 in the film voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and some very peculiar dialogue more then hints that the droid and Lando have a full relationship….in ALL things which just felt very wrong and very out of place. For me the real star of the film was Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett who becomes the blueprint and father figure almost of Han’s future scoundrel persona and does a great job throughout of being the type of man that Han would become with his don’t trust anyone attitude to people but also instilling the honour among thieves code that Han would be seen to have in a New Hope.
I had hoped that even if the overall film would disappoint me that at the very least the key moments of Han meeting Chewie and then getting the Millennium Falcon stand out for me but although executed well, just didn’t get me all fanboy smiling. I did enjoy the moment Han and Chewie met which showed some of the playfulness we would see the characters have in the original trilogy and in The Force Awakens but so many of the action sequences failed for me with the big train heist looking like a higher special effects moment than the same train heist that can be seen in the TV Show Firefly. None of it really felt fresh or captured my imagination enough for me to say “oh yes, that is how I pictured that event happening” when it came to characters coming together or setpieces like the Kessel Run, which in particular felt like nothing more than a let’s have a big effects scene for the IMAX crowd.
Overall my disappointment came from the simple fact that as a fan this was not a origin story I needed to see on film compared with Rogue One which took a few lines of film dialogue and managed to tell a refreshing never told before story of the people behind the theft of the Deathstar plans and what it took to put them in the hands of Princess Leia in the moments before A New Hope starts. Now that was a story I wanted to know and rather than seeing this depiction of Han Solo’s origin I would have preferred to have seen the Obiwan Kenobi film of his time on Tattooine after Revenge of the Sith put him there watching over baby Luke Skywalker for decades. As a Star Wars I want and am perfectly happy to have a Star Wars story told every year on the big screen but they have to be more about enriching the universe with untold stories rather than trying to cash in on the nostalgia sentiment for a character like Han Solo which if reports are true, and this was supposed to be the start of a possible trilogy for the character.
Questions about Star Wars fan fatigue are floating about to explain why Solo has done so poorly for a Star Wars film but perhaps the reality is just that it was a story no fan needed or wanted to see told this way. The cameo towards the end of the film was a nice touch and anyone who has watched Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels would have seen it coming the moment Crimson Dawn was brought up and so by connecting the big screen universe once again to that of the animated expanded universe just as Rogue One had put in little nods and easter eggs to the animation shows. With the Boba Fett spin off film now officially confirmed as the next standalone Star Wars film after Episode 9, it is obvious that the anthology series is still very much a big plan for Lucasfilm and again like Rogue One could be a great opportunity to expand on a character who had too brief a presence in the Star Wars film universe as long as they dare to push the envelope as Rogue One did and not the bland by the numbers approach they took with Solo. The Han Solo we see at the end of the film is different from the young man at the start of the film but there is a big distance between that and the Han we meet in A New Hope, a smuggler who is only looking after himself and Chewie but surprises everyone when he comes in at the last minute to save the day. This Han Solo is too happy and hopeful and not yet burned by betrayal to be the cynical man we know with the Harrison Ford Han Solo.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is an ok film to sit back at home on the sofa with some popcorn and watch some Star Wars but never feels like a blockbuster or must see Star Wars film. It exists and that’s ok but I went in never feeling the need to have the story told and came out the cinema not feeling any happier now that it was told. Maybe if Ron Howard had been the director from the very start it would have been a different film with a different tone but sadly for me, it was an average story in an average film that probably will never be a go to Star Wars for me in the future to watch.
