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Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture – a new art video game

April 17, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

From creators of Dear Esther, and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, The Chinese Room is dead set on creating yet another first person art video game, but this time it will incorporate elements from all of their previous games.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will be available exclusively for the PlayStation 4 – and most surely they will take advantage of Sony’s architecture to create a beautiful world to get lost in.

Players have the task of discovering where everybody in this little quirky village has disappeared – it’s like they vanished from existence all together. Where did they go? How did they leave this world? And more importantly why?

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture was revealed back in 2013 at Sony’s Gamescom presentation, and the trailer made us think of a post-apocalyptic scenario – goose bumps were all present on our arms. You can also feel the brooding sense of terror that comes paired with the unknown right here.

A new trailer has arisen on YouTube yesterday. It’s not as haunting as the launch one, but it still transports you into a unsettling state. It starts in a children’s class room, where you can see signs of fighting. This trailer is not for those who scare easily – more so, if you it gets stuck in your brain the whole day, you’ll probably go insane obsessing about what is really going on.

Dan Pinchbeck, creative art director in charge of the game, has hinted that it will feel somehow like Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day – ” Imagine reading a novel and you’re really into it, and 30 pages before the end someone comes up and takes it out of your hand and goes, ‘I’m afraid that’s it. Your time’s up.’ “, he said ” It’s an artificial conceit that doesn’t necessarily produce a good player experience.”. After playing an hour in the game, the player will be transported back to the beginning, having a limited time to explore the world and find out a way to solve this mystery.

Dan Pinchbeck has also went out of his way proclaiming the soundtrack to be – “[…] one of the best game soundtracks ever created.”. To be honest, the little track that spans 1 minute and 39 seconds that is available on Soundcloud is just heartbreaking. You can feel it immerse you in the terrifying world of uncertainty. And with their huge success with Dear Esther – the exceptional soundtrack created by Jessica Curry, and the magnificent world you are set in – I have no worries that the guys and girl at The Chinese Room will deliver an extraordinary game.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is set to be released this Summer, but, as I said before, only for the PlayStation 4. Hopefully we’ll see a port soon for other consoles, and PC.

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Second Destiny DLC to land in May

April 16, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The second Destiny DLC is called House of Wolves and it will land on the 19th of May.

Besides bringing new missions it will also try to fix some of Destiny’s issues regarding its shared economy – thus making leveling easier, and enticing players to keep at it, and buy upgrades, customize gear. Comparing House of Wolves with the first DLC, The Dark Below, one can see how much more work has been put into the new expansion – the first one was released last year, on the 9th of December, and offered a new cooperative Strike mission, and a six-player Raid.

House of Wolves adds a ton more to the content – with 60 new pieces of gear set to be added, and 14 new weapons.

New ships too, and it seems that Bungie’s creative team isn’t lacking the ability to make-up names – The Shark Wrestler, Never Liked Thermodynamics and Teatime With Marduk.

But we are more interested about the story, and what directions are the Guardians supposed to take. It’s rumoured that the game will be returning to the faction-based civil war with Wolves being considered traitors to the Queen.

A new Raid is set to make its appearance in the DLC – The Arena. It will take place in The Reef.

Destiny was released on the 9th of September last year, and has garnered a strong fan base – it received mixed to positive reviews. Most issues were regarding the plot and post-campaign content.

Bungie has referred to the game as a shared-world shooter, refusing the title of MMO. It feels exactly like a first person shooter that incorporates rpg elements, and is set in a MMO platform – why blatantly refuse this description is beyond my understanding.

Destiny ranks on Metacritic at the 75/100 mark – not bad, but also not exceptional. If you plan on giving it a go, take a look at a couple of gameplay videos on YouTube. I tried it, and it wasn’t for me. Here are the best ones I could find – Destiny Gameplay Walktrough Part 1, and Part 2.

Destiny is available for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

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The latest Humble Bundle from EA is Shockingly Awesome

April 16, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

Pay what you want and help charities with Humble Bundle: Origin Bundle 2.

Since launching in 2010, Humble Bundle has managed to raise over $50 million for charity. When you buy a bundle you can choose where the money goes – to the developers, to Humble Bundle itself, or to charity. The pay what you want platform has paired, once again, with EA to offer awesome games at a shockingly awesome low price, but this time you won’t be able to choose where the money goes – it will be sent by default to charities.

That’s right, EA, the embodiment of evil, Satan on Earth, has opted out of receiving money for their games. Even more so, every Facebook page, of each game that is included in the bundle, is plastered with ads and links so users know that they can get their games cheaper. Is this a trick to make me like you EA? Because if it is, it’s working!

All the money will go to these charities:

Girls Who Code – a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2012, and it helps young women to complete a college-level computer science education and gain skills to compete on the job market.
The V Foundation – that is set to make a difference by raising money for Cancer Research. They have awarded more than $115 million to more than 100 facilities nationwide, since its launch in 1994.
buildON – has a goal to educate and empower women that don’t have an education. Two-thirds of the world’s 785 million illiterate adults are female. It’s time for a change.

The money will go through PayPal Giving Fund, and you can learn more about it right here.

At the current moment, the average price is $4.89, but you can pay whatever you want.

If you don’t beat the average price and, for example, you pay only $1 you’ll get: Dragon Age: Origins, Peggle, Dead Space 2, Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault War Chest, and Command and Conquer: Generals, plus its expansion Zero Hours.

If you do beat the average price, then besides the standard games, you’ll also get: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, Dragon Age 2, Bejeweled 3, Mass Effect 2.

Each game can be redeemed on EA’s Origin, or Valve’s Steam – some will be available only on Origin. You can see which game goes were by looking under the game’s picture and hovering with your mouse on the elements displayed there.

The Humble Bundle: Origin Bundle 2 will end in 14 days and until then more games will be added in the beat the average price bracket – at no additional cost. If you bought the bundle at $5, you’ll get ulterior added games without having to pay anything.

Let’s take a look at the games offered.

Dragon Age: Origins

Released in December 2009, Dragon Age Origins is set in the fictional land of Ferelden during harsh times of strife and anguish. Doom is knocking on the kingdom’s doorstep – a demonic invasion is set to conquer and destroy everything. That is unless you, the player, can stop it. It’s one of the best RPG’s to have been released in the past decade, with over 60 hours of game time for you to indulge in.

Peggle

Peggle is for the casual gamer. It’s a puzzle video game that challenges the player to shoot pegs, with a limited supply of bullets, in order to achieve a high-score and get to the next level.

Dead Space 2

The sequel to the exceptional 2008’s Dead Space, Dead Space 2 continues the story of Isaac Clarke and his torment of finding himself yet in another Necromorph outbreak. It’s a third-person survival horror shooter that isn’t for the feint hearted – I swear, I tried to play this game when I got back home from work one at night and I had to sleep with the lights on after a one hour session – It also has multiplayer!

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault War Chest

Released in 2002, Medal of Honor is a fascinating first person shooter that tells the tale of brave soldiers that have fought in WW II, starting with D-Day. Its level’s are compared with Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.

Command and Conquer: Generals, and Zero Hour

A real time strategy game released in 2003. The game takes place in the future where the world is sickened by terrorist plots. It starts with a nuclear disaster in Beijing set off by the GLA. You can play with three factions: USA, China and the Global Liberation Army.

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare

Basically it’s a tower defense game, but also a multiplayer third person shooter. You take control of the zombies, or the plants, and you wreak havoc. It’s mindless fun.

Dragon Age 2

The sequel to 2009’s Dragon Age: Origin falls a little bit short if you compare it to its behemoth of a predecessor, but that doesn’t mean it ain’t a good play. New graphics, a new story line, and also new spells, weapons, and armor to choose from, it’s one hell of a game. You’ll need about 30 hours to finish the game, half of the first installment’s game time.

Bejeweled 3

Another casual games for puzzle lovers. It’s a tile matching game, in which you need to match certain elements to achieve a high score and pass on to the next level.

Mass Effect 2

BioWare’s best action role playing game is about how humanity, threatened by a insectoid species known as The Collectors, fights back, and defends not only the human race, but every other living being in the galaxy. You are Commander Shepard, the toughest man alive, and your only goal is to save mankind. I highly urge you to play the first installment before taking this beast on. You’ll understand the plot, and the first one is also an incredible gem.

Where’s my credit card?! I need to buy the bundle at once! I already have a couple of these games, but I can gift the ones I already own to my friends. Time for some Command and Conquer: Generals multiplayer!

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You Can Now Play Hearthstone on Your Smartphone

April 16, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has been released for Android and iOS.

In an attempt to make me late all the time, and to stop me focusing in important meetings, Blizzard has released Hearthstone for smartphones – curses!

I’m not mad, it’s an incredible fun an addictive game, something that we definitely needed for our smartphones – I didn’t get into all that Candy Crush Saga games, or Subway Surfer, they really felt too casual for me.

The interface has been redesigned to fit smaller screens, and the content is pretty much the same – only your time will be wasted trying to put in a few more games before starting work, or during it.

If you’re not familiar with Hearthstone, let me tell you the essentials.

What is Hearthstone? It’s a digital collectible card game, or for short CCG, and it’s also free to play. Although it offers unlimited paid content, and limited free content – but don’t let that throw you off, even if you don’t pay for additional content you’ll still have tons of fun playing it.

It was released in March 2014, and it was received with open arms and overwhelmingly positive reviews. It’s easy to get into, and the tutorial explain every single thing you need to do in the game – of course, advanced tactics are to be practised over and over again. Superb card animations, great voice-overs, and well paced unlockables keep Blizzard’s motto true ” just one more game…“.

I’ve been playing since release day, and I think I have more than 50,000 games in my backpack. After all this time playing I can say that I’m not bored at all. I still find crazy card combos to win the game, and I still get my hiney kicked on occasion. I also have an arch nemesis that goes by the name KragKiller003 – one day, one day you will feel my wrath!

There are 9 classes from which you can choose from, and every class has a designated hero:

Druid – Malfurion Stormrage
Hunter – Rexxar
Paladin – Uther Lightbringer
Mage – Jaina Proudmoore
Priest – Anduin Wrynn
Rogue – Valeera Sanguinar
Shaman – Thrall
Warlock – Gul’dan
Warrior – Garrosh Hellscream

Almost all the classes from World of Warcraft, except Monk and Death Knight – we will probably see them in the near future.

Every class has specific abilities, unique hero powers, and class-specific cards – which include equipments, minions, and spells.

For example I can play the mighty Druid Malfurion Stormrage and use Shapeshift to give myself +1 Attack on my current turn, and +1 Armour. Then if I have enough mana crystals I can choose to play an additional card – maybe Swipe that deals 4 damage to an enemy and 1 damage to all other enemies, or probably I’ll play the Ancient of War card that lets me choose between inflicting 5 damage, or pumping up my health to +5 and giving the card Taunt. Taunt forces my enemy to attack that specific card until it’s no longer on the table.

But wait a second there. What are mana crystals? Think of mana crystals as food. You start the game with 0, and each turn you get another one until you hit the limit of 10. You use food, mana crystals, to put down cards, use equipment or spells. There are also some specific cards that give you mana crystals, but never above the limit.

I know it seems complex if you read about it, but download the app, it’s free, and start playing it. You’ll learn how to destroy your foes in no-time.

Will we meet on the battleground?

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Titan Souls – the game that just beats you to the pulp

April 16, 2015 By Kenneth Scott Leave a Comment

Hidetaka Miyazaki, the president of From Software, and the man that brought us Demon Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2 has stated that the health bar in a game represents the character’s ” will to live”, and when that health bar is low you try to focus, and against all odds, you feel the need, the adrenaline rush to come out triumphantly.

Developer Acid Nerve first released Titan Souls as a flash game, but with a bit of luck, publisher Devolver Digital stepped in. They ported the game to a new engine that made the graphics cooler, improved performance and ensured that the game runs smoothly – also they added more content.

The original release featured only 4 titans for you to battle, but now the roster is up to 20 – they are also accompanied by a new soundtrack.

Titan Souls is a game that doesn’t give you a health bar, but instead it gives you Achilles’ heel – swap heel with your entire body. One hit and you’re dead.

You have a bow, an arrow, and the ability to roll and run, that’s it. Yes, I said an arrow, as in singular. But don’t despair, once you shoot the arrow, you can press a button and it will come back to you – while retrieving the essential piece of ammo, the only piece of ammo, that you have you can also do damage to Titans.

You require finesse, coordination, and patience – forbearance to analyse thy enemy and strike at the perfect moment is crucial. You need to pay attention to the Titan’s pattern, hold in tight and kill it. Like you, some Titans can be killed with one perfect shot, while others require more scheming, and a lot of deaths on your behalf.

The game won’t tax you as harshly as the Souls franchise. Once you die, you’ll return to the last checkpoint – your punishment consists of running back to the entrance and starting the event.

It seems easy enough – get into the boss fight, walk around, kill the Titan, reap glory. But fortunately it isn’t a boring game. Once you managed to find the perfect recipe to win, and you strike the final blow everything turns to black and white, a single cymbal hit encompasses the moment, the game freezes for a few seconds to let you realize that you did it, you won!

It’s available for Windows on Steam for 14,99 EUR, or if you want the collectors edition that consists of a digital artbook, the world map, full original soundtrack, and desktop wallpapers, it will cost you 19,99 EUR. It’s also available for the PS4, PS Vita, Mac and Linux.

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5 Smartwatches to Choose from if you Don’t Like Apple

April 15, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Apple’s new smartwatch hit stores last Friday, and it has been reported to have sold over 1 million units on launch day – as it was expected.

But not everyone likes Apple, or their OS. Here are 5 smartwatches to choose from if you don’t like Apple.

Motorola Moto 360

It was launched in September of 2014 and at this moment there is a huge price drop of almost $100 if you buy it from Google’s device store – it’s about $165.

If you don’t make it in time, don’t fret, Amazon and Best Buy are also selling the gadget but at a slightly higher price of $180.

It has a beautiful design, it doesn’t feel clunky on your wrist, but it has a low battery life of almost 12 hours. And if your wrist isn’t large enough, it will look entirely goofy on your hand. But all in all, it’s definitely worth it at that price.

LG G Watch R

It’s about $349, almost on par with Apple’s price, but this one actually looks and feels like a watch. It has a bright, clear round display, and its performance is more than acceptable, but it can only be charged with a dock, and its battery lasts about 2 days – a lot more than Motorola’s Moto 360 half-day lifespan.

It measures 46.4 x 53.6 x 11.1mm – it is slightly thinner than the Moto 360, so it will understandably sport the same goofiness on your hand if you have petite arms.

Pebble Time

Now this is a smartwatch that puts everything else to shame – especially in the battery life department, because it can last up to one week. The only thing that I can say it lacks from the Pebble Time is its design – it looks like a toy watch. Its color e-ink display just doesn’t do it for me, even though its perfect for a long lasting battery. It’s only $199, and for what it offers at that price it’s a steal.

MetaWatch Strata

It has the exact same functions as any other smart watch on the market, but it’s cheaper – only $179. It’s only compatible with Android phones, and the iPhone 4S.

ASUS Zenwatch

For only $199, the ASUS Zenwatch sports a beautiful leather band, and all the capabilities of a smartwatch. It has an Amoled Display that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 – so you don’t bump into a desk and shatter your smartwatch into a million tiny pieces.

I’m really digging the path that smartwatches are going on – more battery life, while at the same time focusing on its performance, and utility. Ain’t gonna’ buy one just yet. I’ll wait 2, maybe 3 generations.

How about you? Are you a happy smartwatch owner? Or this trend doesn’t intrigue you?

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Take animated selfies with new app named Kong

April 15, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

Path, a well known social network designed specifically for photo sharing, has just released its new app named Kong. It lets the user create animated selfies. But how does it work? It’s simple. It turns your selfie into animated GIFs by just one press of a button.

You can find selfie in the Oxford English Dictionary – whether you like it or not, it’s here to stay, so why not indulge in it?

After you add text, emojis, filters you can share your creation with your friends via SMS or E-mail, but also on social networks like Twitter or Facebook – it’s shared automatically to Kong users.

With Kong, Path is attempting to build a huge on-line community based on selfies – but not just by taking random photos. Through gamification, users can follow different channels, or hash-tags like #cutecry, #MyReactionWhen, and post their own creations.

You can also follow channels that cover specific locations like #NewYork, #Dubai where users are encouraged to make gifs in those places, or referencing them.

The one thing that comes straight into mind is how everyone will spam channels with their thousands of selfies stored on their smartphones. You don’t need to worry about this, because every user has permission to post just one entry in each channel. This ensures that spammers would not have their way, and also it pumps up the game – you will try hard to create the most interesting selfie to post on Kong.

People are so in love with selfies that Path’s founder, Dave Morin, will swim in a lake filled with gold coins by the end of 2015. This idea is on the margins of early Facebook.

Dave Morin is trying to monetize the app by looking to partners with brands that would have their own channels – #Starbucks, #Nike, #Google and the likes.

You can download Kong for Android and iOS – if you have Apple’s smart watch even better, it’s also available for download on the store.

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HP Spectre x360 Review

April 15, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Hewlett-Packard has formed an alliance with Microsoft, and with the help of engineers from the Windows team they released the Spectre x360.

HP’s Spectre x360 is the company’s new flagship notebook, and boy, isn’t it beautiful – premium design, high-performance, comfortable keyboard, stunning screen, and a battery-life that is to die for. Also, it starts at $899!

Borrowing the best things from its competitors!

HP’s new device borrows all the best things from Apple, and Lenovo. The beautiful design inspires me to think of a MacBook and the hinge mechanism is actually from Lenovo – they even call the mechanism the same way as Lenovo’s Yoga line. This ain’t a bad thing at all, and it’s not like they stole trademarked words.

The Spectre x360 is designed almost like a MacBook air – a unibody CNC-machined aluminum, and it’s specific wedge shape. But even though the resemblance is uncanny, it feels like a different kind of beast all together. For example the hinge – you poses full control over it, and it feels smoother, it folds into itself.

It weighs about 3.26 pounds, that is 1.47 kg, and measuring 0.63-inch, 15.9mm, is one of the thinnest notebooks out there. The machine keeps its thickness in tablet mode, or when its folded shut – a minor feat, but a good one whatsoever. The Quad HD model is a little bit lighter than the 3.26 pound full HD one, and it stands at 3.17 pounds – 1.43 kg – you can’t even sense the difference.

Even though the Spectre x360 is one of the thinnest notebooks out there, it still feels a little bit clunky, and on heavy on the side. You won’t get tired carrying it in a tote bag on your shoulder, or a backpack, but you will feel its weight when you use it in tablet mode. I recommend restin the device in your lap – unless you go to the gym daily, then by all means, do a biceps routine with it too.

Let’s talk ports, sockets, and what you can connect to it. It sports three USB 3.0 connections, a HDMI socket, a Mini DisplayPort, an SD card slot, a headphone jack and a volume rocker – that is designed especially for tablet mode. If you’re looking for adapters, you should know that HP sells Ethernet and HDMI to VGA adapters for $30 a piece.

A comfortable keyboard, and a new track pad!

The keyboard and track pad are made from scratch by HP, and in all fairness they seem better than what’s on the market at the moment. It’s a little bit shocking that the team behind Spectre x360 didn’t implement Microsoft’s Precision touch pads, and it went with one from Synaptics. The track pad feels like HP’s last generation flagship notebook, the Spectre 13 – it’s a wide click pad, elongated so that Windows 8 users can perform specific gestures on either end of the track pad’s touch zones. It’s really helpful when swiping to expose the Charms Bar, but that feature will go away in Windows 10, and Microsoft’s new OS will be released in a few months.

All in all, the touch pad is comfortable and you won’t get frustrated when you use it – and I think that’s the most important part.

The standard model of the Spectre x360 comes with a 1080p display, but for a few hundred bucks extra you can upgrade it to a 2560×1440 one. The full HD display, as the Quad HD one, is perfect for watching movies, and I can surely compare its quality with the new 13-inch MacBook Pro – you can read a full review of Apple’s latest gadget right here.

The dual audio speakers branded on the laptop’s bottom side are somehow incomprehensible, visually I mean, but they are on par with what the competitors are offering.

When it comes to reading, and writing speeds, it doesn’t shine in any way – at least, not compared with Apple’s latest MacBook Pro Retina that has whooping speeds of up to 1.6/GBs. They are not bad, it’s just that they aren’t something you buy the Spectre x360 specifically for. It stands at 555 MB/s (reads), and 270 MB/s (writes).

Intel’s fifth generation processors make the x360 a beast!

Intels’ fifth generation Core processors aren’t staying away from HP’s latest device, and it will come paired with their new Broadwell processors. To quote myself from another article regarding their name – ” It has a nice ring to it, somewhere on the lines of what I would expect to see in a James Bond movie – Mission Broadwell, or commonly known in spy communities as The Life Ender.” – with a notebook like this, of course my social life will die as soon as Mortal Kombat X, The Witcher 3 and GTA V will hit stores.

It ranks pretty great in benchmark tests – PCMARK7 – 4,965; 3DMARK06 – 8,810; 3DMARK11 – E1,667 / P932 / X265; for the HP Spectre x360 2015, 2.2GHz Intel Core i5-5200U, Intel HD 5500, 8 GB RAM version.

Battery life expectancy is top-notch!

The Spectre x360 amazes when it comes to battery life expectancy – HP states it has a runtime of 12 hours and 30 minutes, but of course it depends on your configuration a.i. the lowest res model will definitely last longer. In a continuous video loop test I got to the half-day mark, but not with much – it lasted 12 hours and 13 minutes. I turned Wifi off, but brightness was set to the 40 percent mark. It can last this long due to the fact that Microsoft and HP shut down certain parts of the system when not in use – like the hinge sensors that tell the device in what mode it is in. Their low fan noise also conserves energy.

Regarding its state in the software department, the Spectre x360 is fully optimized for Windows 8.1. After all, it was built with the help from Microsoft’s Windows team. But it’s not just fully optimized for Windows 8.1, it’s better optimized than its competitors. The notebook will, of course, be shipped with Windows 8.1, but it’s a clean version, so you don’t have to worry about bloatware. It comes built in with HP’s own apps like Connected Photo, but you also get Netflix, The Weather Channel, and Hearts Deluxe. McAfee comes paired with the device – not just a trial version, but a one year free subscription to their LiveSafe service.

With Windows 10 coming out in just a few months from now, you’ll have nothing to worry about when you’ll be able to upgrade, for free, your copy of Windows 8.1. Right after shipping of the Spectre x360, both HP and Microsoft have stated that one of their primary focus is to shift engineers to the Windows 10 architecture so the new device can run smoothly when it comes out.

You can choose from 3 configurations!

If you want to buy HP’s newest flagship notebook, you should know that you have to choose from 3 configurations.

The standard model is $899 for Core i5-5200U processor, 4GB of RAM and a 1080p touchscreen. It’s the only one fully customizable – meaning you can double the RAM for $50, add a Quad HD screen for $100, upgrade the processor to a dual-core i7 processor for $150, and even change the 128GB standard storage space for a 256GB, and 512GB disks – $50, to $200.

The $1,150 model consists of a 1920×1080 display, a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage.

The last model in their roster, and the best one also, will make you cough up $1,400 for a higher-res 2560×1440 screen and a 512GB SSD – it has the same processor as the mid-level $1,150 model.

But before you settle down and buy this marvellous beast, take a look at what the competition has to offer!

The Competition

Dell XPS 13

It comes with a 13-inch display, weighing in at 2.6 pounds, that is 1.1 kg, and with a superb Ultrabook design that we have been accustomed to with Dell – it was also nominated for one of the finalists positions in 2015’s Best of CES awards. It comes paired with a Mini DisplayPort, a headphone jack, 2 USB 3.0 connections, a Kensington lock slot, and a full-sized SD card reader.

When it comes to battery life it falls short – only 8 hours of runtime.

The 13-inch display has a 1080p resolution, but you can upgrade it too to 3200×1800.

The standard model will make you dig in your pockets for $800 and it consists of an Intel Core i3-5010U Broadwell processor, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, Intel HD 5500 Graphics and a matte 1920×1080 screen. You can upgrade the RAM up to 8GB, processors to i5, and i7, and also its storage space. If you want the high-performance device it will cost you $1,900!

MacBook Pro Retina

This one is the most expensive of the bunch, but it offers incredible quality, and a battery life on par with the Spectre’s – 11 hours and 23 minutes isn’t bad at all. But Apple’s device truly shines when it comes to their new PCIe-based SSDs – it can reach speeds of 1.6 GB/s and max sequential write speeds of 1.5 GB/s. It leaves the Spectre way behind with it’s 555 MB/s (reads), and 270 MB/s (writes) speeds.

The standard model is a whooping $1,299 and its bundled with a 2.7GHz fifth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Graphics 6100, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB PCIe-based solid-state drive. For $100 more you can get a 2.9GHz Core i5 processor. For the 3.1GHz Core i7 CPU version it will cost you $300 more. You can double the RAM to 16GB for $200. Upgrade the storage space to 256GB, or 512GB SSD. There is also a 1TB version in the works, and rumours have it it will cost up to $1,799.

For more detailed information, I highly recommend you to read the MacBook Pro Retina 2015 Review right here.

The Conclusion

HP’s Spectre x360 is a really great laptop. No, it isn’t the best one on the market, but for $899 it’s a tough cookie. Your other options consist of Dell’s XPS 13, but it’s battery life just makes me want hurl it into a river, and Apple’s MacBook Pro Retina which is the most expensive one.

You decide. What are you inclined to buy? Tell us in the comments section below!

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Moto 360 has an incredible price drop

April 14, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

It seems like everyone is afraid of Apple’s new smart watch. Moto 360 has an incredible price drop – you can buy it for about $165!

Google’s device store puts the Moto 360 at $165 with a leather strap, and that’s $85 off from the original price of $250 – the wrist wear device is just several months old.

If you manage to run late to the party don’t worry because Amazon and Best Buy are also selling the Android Wear device, but at a higher price – $180.

It’s probably a hint that Motorola wants to clean out its current stock of smart watches to prepare for the sequel.

The Moto 360 was officially launched on September the 5th of 2014, and it was seen as the best Android Wear device at the time – although that isn’t saying much. It sports a beautiful design that is fully customizable, it’s not clunky on the wrist, and it even has wireless charging but that’s jut about it. It only comes in large size, and those of us who have petite arms will just look goofy trying to wear the device. The battery life is terrible – 10 to 12 hours and you need to recharge it.

It doesn’t have a ton of features, and you’ll mostly play with them in the first day or so before getting bored and completely forget about its functions. I mostly used it for notifications and time keeping – I used to give it voice commands, but after my first week I wouldn’t be bothered to do such thing.

Yes, the heart sensor and pedometer are a nice touch, but it’s novelty soon diminishes and you are just left with a normal watch that also pairs your phones notifications.

The Moto 360 is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. It doesn’t only protect it from scratches, but also if you somehow drop the watch, or bump into something, it won’t shatter into millions of small pieces.

For $165 is quite a bargain, and if you have that amount of cash just laying around, I recommend you go for it. It’s a new piece of technology and it’s cool as hell. You’ll be amongst the few who support this new pioneering gadget!

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MacBook Pro Retina 2015 Review

April 14, 2015 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

The new MacBook Pro Retina seems to be exactly like the 2013 model – but don’t let the design trick you.

For starters, it’s still sporting a 13-inch display, and its design basically looks the same, but it feels different. Probably due to the fact that Apple has changed the touch pad on their new device – it’s a new technology that is trying to make our lives easier by navigating without a mouse. The Force Touch Pad, complemented by a feature called Force Click, is based on something Apple likes to call – Taptic Engine; which produces a rather intriguing tactile feedback so the user has a better understanding on what’s happening on the screen.

The new MacBook Pro Retina is faster that its predecessor, has a longer battery life, a beautiful screen that is perfect for movie marathons – it doesn’t make you feel sluggish after staying in front of it for 5 hours; and a new redesigned, super comfortable keyboard.

If you’re a tech aficionado like me, you have most definitely tried the MacBook in Apple’s store before deciding if you truly want to buy it – or until employees begged you to go home. It’s built out of exactly the same materials that its predecessors were built. It’s made out of aluminium, and this time it’s a bit heavier than the last model – from 3.46 pounds to 3.48 pounds, or for you metric users 1,56 kg to 1,57 kg. All of it envelopes a beautiful display that stands out at 2560×1600, and the keyboards that have the perfect spacing between them.

As it were expected, Apple built in the same ports that we are accustomed to – two USB 3.0 connections, a HDMI port, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, a headphone jack, and of course an SD card slot. No, there’s no love for the standardized USB Type-C port – it boggles the mind, but at least this model is also scratch-proof.

The all new Force Touch Pad

Apple is taking risks this year. First off they stated that only clients who make an appointment would be able to buy their new smart watch – and it paid off – and now you find out that they completely changed the touch pad. Why change it if it ain’t broken? Everybody loved the last one – users, and reviewers had absolutely no problem with it.

The Force Touch Pad isn’t awful, it isn’t even mediocre, it’s actually pretty great, but there are some features that just don’t warrant a change. It can let you fast forward at 60x the normal speed if you hard press down on the skip button in QuickTime, you can search for word definitions, or Wikipedia previews by using Force Click, and of course you can annotate in Mail and Preview. The only really great thing that has come from this is the fact that in the near future developers can build features into third-party apps as well – not only Mac built-in apps.

The Taptic Engine can be a deal breaker

Apple has spent quite a lot of time redesigning their touch pad, and coming up with the Taptic Engine. There are no moving parts to the mechanism, and Apple’s engineers trick you into thinking that you are actually clicking something, but nothing depresses. Veterans of the MacBook will feel awkward using the new touch pad, and if you are a computer addict like me, then you’ll sense the change immediately – and it won’t go away for a long time. New users don’t have anything to worry about – yes, it doesn’t feel like your normal touch pad, but, like I said before, it’s not bad, it’s a pretty good change.

I don’t think that Apple’s gamble will pay off this time. Yes, these are cool features, but when are you going to use them? It’s much more easier to just open a new tab and Google search, instead of using Force Click to pop up the definition and Wiki preview. Are there millions of users out there that use fast forward at warp speed in Quicktime? Have they all complained about the fact that it takes them 10 seconds to find what they were looking for? – instead of 9 using the hard-press on skip.

The new MacBook Pro Retina will be paired with Intel’s fifth generation Core processors named Broadwell. It has a nice ring to it, somewhere on the lines of what I would expect to see in a James Bond movie – Mission Broadwell, or commonly known in spy communities as The Life Ender. But don’t worry, Intel isn’t going to end your life with its new tech – mostly your social life. Apple’s new device will make you choose between Core i5 and i7 chips – but only dual cores. Intel will be releasing its new Broadwell quad cores this summer.

Benchmark Tests

Although its weapons of choice is a high performance 2.7GHz Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, it doesn’t make a big difference comparing it to the last model. Here are OS X benchmark tests from Geekbench and Xbench for Apple’s different models:

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (early 2015, 2.7GHz Core i5, Intel Iris 6100):

GeekBench: 6,293 (32-bit) / 7,062 (64-bit); Xbench: 487; Battery life: 11:21;

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (late 2013, 2.4GHz Core i5, Intel Iris graphics)

GeekBench: 6,288 (32-bit); Xbench: 428; Battery life: 11:20;

13-inch MacBook Air (mid 2013, 1.3GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 5000)

GeekBench: 6,021 (32-bit); Xbench: 304; Battery life: 12:51;

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (late 2012, 2.5GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000)

GeekBench: 6,812 (32-bit); Xbench: 378; Battery life: 6:07;

As you can see, there’s not a huge difference between older models – except the 32-bit 2012 model. The only worthwhile difference that I can say is really notable is the battery life. Sacrificing an hour and a half for a slight increase in performance isn’t what I am really looking for.

Gaming wise, it was tested with the same game as the 2013 model – Batman: Arkham City – and it’s frame rate increased from 32 fps to 33 fps. An incredible minor change that nobody can sense it.

But let’s not just focus on processor benchmarks, or gaming capabilities, let’s talk about disk speeds. Apple has stated that their new PCIe-based SSDs are twice as fast as the first ones they ever used – and it can reach speeds of 1.6 GB/s and max sequential write speeds of 1.5 GB/s. That’s a huge improvement from the last model, and more so, it really stands tall amongst its peers – I don’t think I have recently tested a model that can pump up those disk speeds.

It took also me about 15 seconds to reach the login screen – not bad at all!

Battery Life hasn’t changed that much

Apple has stated that if you use the MacBook Pro Retina for web surfing it will last you up to 10 hours, and up to 12 hours of continuous video playback. Dana Wollman of Engadget has reported logging in 11 hours and 23 minutes of ” […] video looping test, using an episode of Breaking Bad purchased through iTunes.”. It’s on the margins Apple has stated.

Although 11 hours and 23 minutes really fairs well in terms of battery life, it’s somehow disappointing comparing it to the 2013 13-inch MacBook Air model that can last up to almost 13 hours. I always hoped that with the passing of years technology will focus more and more on battery life expectancy rather than high-performance. It’s a good thing that technologically speaking we have more performance driven devices accessible on the go, but I wouldn’t feel ashamed with a 24 hour battery life using Intel’s 2010 processors.

Different models, different prices

The 13-inch Retina display MacBook Pro can start from $1,299 with a 2.7GHz fifth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Graphics 6100, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB PCIe-based solid-state drive. But you can choose to upgrade the standard laptop to a 2.9GHz Core i5 processor for $1,399, or you can dig deep down in your pockets and find another $300 if you want a 3.1GHz Core i7 CPU. Not happy with the RAM they are offering? You can double it to 16GB for $200. Need more storage for those HD movies? No problem – you can choose from a 256GB model that will cost $1,499, and a 512GB SSD for $1,799. There is also a 1TB option for $500, but it’s only available for the $1,799 model as an upsell.

Kinda expensive isn’t it? Well, before you settle down and buy it on impulse, check out the competition first. It will only take you a few minutes, and it’s just down below.

The competition

Dell XPS 13

Like the MacBook Pro Retina, it also sports a 13-inch display – and it has ranked as a finalist in 2015’s Best of CES awards. It weighs about 2.6 pounds, that is 1.1 kg, and the design is one you would be accustomed to Dell’s previous models of Ultrabooks. On the edges you can find a Mini DisplayPort, a headphone jack, one of two USB 3.0 connections, and of course the power socket. That’s just the left side, on the right side you have a Kensington lock slot, a full-sized SD card reader and the second USB 3.0 socket.

The only downside seems to be that it doesn’t have an HDMI port – I for one use it a lot, for presentations or just connecting my laptop to a big screen so I can watch a movie.

Battery life consists of 8 hours – not much if you ask me.

For a 13-inch display it can pump up a 1080p resolution, that goes up to 3200×1800. But if you are planning on having it with a touch screen so you can profit off of it’s superb display and resolution you’ll need to cough up $1,300 instead of the standard price of $800. It also comes bundled with Intel’s fifth-generation Core CPU code-named Broadwell – a dual-core 2.2GHz Core i5-5200U CPU and 8GB of RAM for the $1,300 model, but don’t fret, the standard one is almost as good.

$800 for the basic model that consists of an Intel Core i3-5010U Broadwell processor, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, Intel HD 5500 Graphics and a matte 1920×1080 screen which I think is more than enough for everyone. But you can upgrade it to i5, even i7, more RAM, more storage – the high-performance, top of the line model, will make you unburden yourself of about $1,900. Definitely worth it!

HP Spectre x360

It starts at $900, and even though it has Hewlett-Packard’s name on it, it was built from scratch with the help of Microsoft’s engineers. The windows team was closely collaborating with HP on optimizing everything – from the fan noise, to how comfortable the keyboard should be. The Spectre is HP’s flagship notebook at this moment.

It weights about 3.26 pounds, that is 1.47 kg and its casing consists of a unibody CNC-machined aluminium frame. For a 13-inch laptop it’s just perfect.

On the edges you’ll find three USB 3.0 connections, an HDMI socket, a Mini DisplayPort, an SD card slot, a headphone jack and a volume rocker – designed specifically for tablet mode. One nice little thing that is nice to have is the Ethernet and HDMI-to-VGA adapters – they are sold separately by HP for $30 a piece.

The standard model comes with a rich and beautiful 1080p display, but you can choose to upgrade it up to 2560×1440 for a few hundred dollars – it also comes packed with a nice touch screen.

HP has stated that the battery will last up to 12 hours and 30 minutes – but it will depend on its configuration.

The entry level model is $900, and for that kind of money you will get a Core i5-5200U processor, 4GB of RAM and a 1080p touch screen. This is the only version that can be customized – you can double the RAM for $50, add a Quad HD screen for $100, upgrade the processor to a dual-core i7 processor for $150, and even change the 128GB standard storage space for a 256GB, and 512GB disks – $50, to $200.

The $1,150 model also has the 1920×1080 display but its technical capabilities are stronger – Core i7 CPU, 8GB of memory and 256GB of disk space.

Their high-performance model will cost you $1,400 for a better higher-res 2560×1440 screen and a 512GB SSD – it has the same processor and RAM as the mid-level model.

The Conclusion

Although is MacBook Pro Retina is the most expensive laptop on the market offering the same technical capabilities like the Dell XPS 13, and the HP Spectre x360, when you buy an Apple laptop you buy it for the simplicity and quality that it stands for. I’m pretty happy with using the new MacBook Pro Retina, but I also have other laptops that I work on, or game on. In the end it depends on your taste – and if you are sick with Windows’ OS.

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Borrowing the best things from its competitors!

A comfortable keyboard, and a new track pad!

Intel’s fifth generation processors make the x360 a beast!

Battery life expectancy is top-notch!

You can choose from 3 configurations!

The Competition

The Conclusion

The all new Force Touch Pad

The Taptic Engine can be a deal breaker

Benchmark Tests

Battery Life hasn’t changed that much

Different models, different prices

The competition

The Conclusion

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