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Galaxy Samsung S6 to be Released in Stores Next Month + Details

March 29, 2015 By Roxanne Briean 342 Comments

After at least a couple of months without making a splash in the smart phones’ huge market, Samsung has finally presented to fans all around the world its newest model: Samsung Galaxy S6. The product comes with a new design, original components integrated in it and a more lean software and accessibility than the previous models that had Samsung’s TouchWiz interface, all these contributing to the most amazing phone that the company has created in years.

The passionate clients were very eager to evaluate this new smart phone, so read below about all the necessary details regarding the highly anticipated Galaxy S6.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Release Date and Price Plans

As predicted, Samsung launched its new leading smart phones at the most recent technology show in Barcelona, Spain: the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the S6 Galaxy Edge. Moreover, these mobile phones are an important forward leap for Samsung regarding style and development, the Galaxy S6 offering a steel and glass carcass similar to the iPhone 4, and the attention to details which were missing from its previous devices.

The device will be sold probably starting on April 10 in European countries the price tags are pretty much at the level that was anticipated. The new Samsung Galaxy S6 will be significantly more costly than the conventional models released before it, and remarkably will be available only in the 64GB and 128GB editions through formal channels.

The 64GB version will have a price of around $750 SIM free, while the 128GB model is yet to have an established price on the producer’s website. The standard Galaxy S6 (without some of the advanced options, such as leading software) will cost $600 for the 32GB version, while a 64GB or 128GB version has yet to receive an official price.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 will be available from April in more than 20 countries, with the phone being released in more regions thereafter. Vodafone has confirmed already it will be storing the S6 and is now getting preorders, and we anticipate all other significant high end dealers to do the same.

Vodafone is getting preorders for the Galaxy S6 Edge too, and is offering free package and a trade-in contract. Clients who pre-order the Galaxy S6 on the Vodafone Red L, XL, or XXL plans will get the free Samsung Wi-fi Charging Pad and case; while those who choose Red L plan will get $5 off the cost per month when they change their old Samsung mobile phone. These plans start at $45.50 a month with no advance fee, and $35.50 a month with $199 in advance.

AT&T has its pre-orders on the Samsung Galaxy S6 from $49.50 per month with a $89.99 fee in advance. Preorder now and you will have a free wireless charger.

T-Mobile offers the Galaxy S6 for $45 per month. For this, you receive 1,000 minutes, 4,000 text messages and the starting offer of 1GB of information.

Sprint’s suggested plans for the Galaxy S6 cost $53.49 per month with $40.99 fee in advance. The deal offers you 4GB of 4G information, countless phone calls and text messages and a wireless charger. The Samsung Galaxy S6 has Wi-Fi calls when bought through Sprint.

All other high-end shops and mobile providers will be getting pre-orders starting next month, and clients who have pre-orders can receive the new cell phone one day before its launch in the stores on April 10.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Design

Regarding the style, though, these new mobile phones really look the part. Samsung Galaxy S6 is rather eye-catching: just like a Samsung Galaxy Note, it has a rounded screen; but compared to the Note, its shapes run down on both ends of the screens, which makes for a more consistent and modern look.

Anyway you look at it, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is a thing of beauty. The double curves provide an exclusive overall look, and this goes together with the Gorilla Glass 4 covered and colored steel back panel, to create a device that truly is different from the others.

The S6 is offered in four colors: black and white – as usual – plus green and blue, and all of them feel and look excellent. Despite all the glass and metal, it has more compact dimensions than the previous Samsung Galaxy S5, being 142mm high, 70mm wide and 7mm thin, while weighing only 132g. The S6 provides the best compromise between monitor dimension and one-hand convenience.

Samsung’s designing teams have been able to even to prevent the mistake of having to move the control buttons around, like it was the case with the Galaxy Note. Here, on the Galaxy S6, the volume or power buttons are located in their normal positions on its right and left sides, incorporated in a slim silver metal structure.

However, there are a few disadvantages to this design. First, the detachable back panel, exchangeable battery and microSD port for memory expansion have been banished. Second, the Galaxy S6 does not have IP rating, meaning it is not water or dirt proof like the Samsung Galaxy S5. Third, the glass back panel can be easily affected by fingerprints. If you own these mobile phones, you are going spend a lot of time cleaning them to be spotless.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Display

The S6 has a 5.1” quad-HD AMOLED display of 1,440 x 2,560, and there is absolutely no question that it provides an extremely high quality of the images and videos. Since these performances are packed into a bit more compact screen than its competitors, the Samsung Galaxy S6’ resolution is also higher, attaining an incredible 576ppi.

However, color precision, lighting and contrast are more important than actual pixel density, and in this regard, we have assurance that the S6 display will be a hit. The screen surely looks excellent, with shiny, brilliant colors and ideal contrast (as you would expect from its AMOLED display). Elsewhere, there is a super resistant Gorilla Glass 4 on the top side, so the Galaxy S6 is capable to resist to major damages even better than the models before.

Samsung Galaxy S6: Camera, Sound and Call Quality

The S6 digi cam does not have extreme updates. It has a resolution of 16-megapixel, the same as the Galaxy S5 and maintains a super-fast detect auto-focus, the new model provides a broader aperture and visual picture stabilization.

These do not seem like major changes, but in reality, they make an impressive difference to the S6’s pictures and video performances. The camera is now capable to capture amazing pictures and sleek, constant videos clips. Noise is noticeable when filming cloudy things in low lighting, but even then, you will have decent results in difficult conditions.

The digital camera also features new options on the application front side. There is a new fast release function, which allows double-clicking the button to use the camera in just 0.7 seconds, according to the producer. The program has been simplified, making it easy to select all the various configurations. Samsung S6 has turned taking selfies into a fun and accessible activity: you can now tap a heart rate indicator on the back to capture self-portraits.

Samsung Galaxy S6: Operating System

The Galaxy S6 is the first real mass-market smart phone running on Android with a 64-bit processor. It will still need some time to have important NDK applications modified to 64-bit and then we do anticipate it to run with some problems due to the multi tasking on Android. The S6 is said to take an innovative approach by not using the Qualcomm Snapdragon system, since Samsung is choosing a new road and will instead force its own Exynos SoC.

Qualcomm has the reputation of making a customized CPU core, and in recent years, it has always been caught off guard by Apple’s 64-bit programs. In order to be more competitive against the ever-growing adversaries from Apple, Samsung Galaxy S6 will not be produced with these customized Qualcomm cores.

The Galaxy S6 is all about returning to the fundamentals. After a few flourishing and carefree periods of development, Samsung had to go back to the designing panel to re-think the ‘next big thing’, so this new model does not look so large, after the company’s product sales tumbled and the S5 model had lower reviews than the S4.

A lot of the story development regarding Samsung so far is not least due to the fact that Apple has delayed its product launching, for many years the clients complaining about their large-sized iPhones. Now, that we finally have both of them on an established market and a variety of powerful promoters from the communication firms, Samsung is beginning to feel the pressure, and now it is serious business for everyone. One thing is certain: the Samsung Galaxy S6 will be a very different smart phone, trying to demonstrate the best of the concept in just one device.

Image source: www.businessinsider.com

Nintendo Creates its Series of Games for Smart-phones

March 28, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Nintendo’s position on creating its own games for smart phones is stance that is extremely well-known since the company has denied for some time this concept. The organization has uphold this position for a long time before gradually taking one small step at a time by developing applications, and not games per se, for modern phones, and for those who are expecting to see one day similar games to Zelda and Mario appear on their intelligent phones, well that might become reality in the near future.

The company has lately declared that they will be joining forces with the Japanese corporation DeNA and both of these organizations will be developing a new series of games for mobile phones. Now, before thinking that this implies we will be seeing some unknown titles and figures wearing Nintendo’s trademark on them, this does not seem to be the situation, since all these games will have Nintendo’s technical compatibilities. However, they will not be exactly the copy of The Tale of Zelda for your smart gadget, but we consider this being a phase towards that route.

New cross-platform services working across smart phones, tablets, Nintendo hardware and PC will also be produced. Thanks to the statements released by the officials at Nintendo, they intend to focus their efforts on new applications that will be using Nintendo IP, these being developed specifically for the modern generation of portable devices. They did say that that the games and their characters will be aimed at building fresh experiences for those who are already familiarized with the famous Nintendo, gaming universe.

This cross-platform that is currently being produced will take the place of Club Nintendo, after this will be shut down in the course of 2015. During the press conferences held these days, the company’s representatives made it clear that their games for smart phones are now only in an early stage of development.

Company’s president, Mr. Satoru Iwata, has been asked how Nintendo can maintain the image of a company that creates products that are safe for children, as opposite of many games today that are free-to-play, with violent scenarios and how kids are sometimes exploited when playing them. Iwata declared that he wants to keep consumer trust, saying that Nintendo likes to put its values on creating games that are safely played by children of all ages.

The Japanese giant in gaming industry has resisted entering into the market of mobile games for several, but even so, recently they have experimented different free-to-play scenarios. This indicated a certain interest from the company and its will to take a dive onto the portable gadgets scene.

Even in February this year, Nintendo’s officials were still skeptical regarding the idea of producing mobile games, since the prices for the products created for smart phones or tablets are declining very quickly.

According to the news coming also from DeNA, they say that in order to make sure that all their clients will have a high quality of game experience (the main factor that supports the partnership between Nintendo and DeNA), only a variety of new games compatible with intelligent devices, including mobile devices, will be sold, rather than renewing older games that were initially designed for Wii console or for Nintendo’s 3DS gadgets. We assume the objective here is to gradually entice customers to play more new games on the Nintendo programs. It is quite relaxing to see a games giant like Nintendo taking a flexible position regarding this subject, but do not expect programs for Wii or 3DS in the near future.

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Mortal Kombat X – Who’s next?

March 27, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

One of the most loved and played arcade fighter games of the 90’s will release a new installment on the 14th of April 2015 – Mortal Kombat X.

We are expecting new challengers, a rehash of an old game mode, a new non-linear, original story-line, and an antagonist that will combo the nostalgia out of us.

Finish Him – Mortal Kombat X style!

Back in 2011, when the original creators Midway Games filled for bankruptcy, Warner Brothers swooped in and bought them out of their misery – furthermore creating NetherRealm Studios. Later that year, in April, the company released Mortal Kombat ( also known as Mortal Kombat 9) for the PS3 and Xbox 360 – according to editor Jeffrey L. Wilson of PC Magazine, it was the most anticipated release of the year.

Gulping review after review, at the end of the day the tally was – extremely positive. Mortal Kombat won several Game of the Year awards for the best fighting game of 2011:

Spike Video Game Award
Golden Joystick Award
Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ D.I.C.E Summit Award

Metamorphosing the player into a vicious, blood thirsty warrior that would destroy you in mere seconds, tearing your every limb apart, wasn’t that well received in Australia – not by the huge fan base that it garnered since the 90’s, but by the country’s censorship department. Australian Classification Board refused their classification, and didn’t allow the game to be sold in stores, or digitally, banning them all-together because of ” violence that exceeds strong in impact“. The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service added Mortal Kombat to the prohibited items list. Warner Bros. fought the decision, trying to appeal it, but with no success – it was also banned in South Korea due to its excessive depiction of violence, blood, and gore that would come in the way of a developing young child. Alas, justice has be served in 2013 when Australia adopted the R18+ classification for video games – the ban was lifted in February of 2013, and Mortal Kombat was on shelves on 1st of May 2013.

It’s not that odd that it was banned in certain countries. The game is the living embodiment of violence. With the new added feature of energy meter, a player could harness its powers and perform counters, or deadly attacks – the most lethal one being the X-Ray move. If successfully performed the game would enter a short cinematic whereupon you could see, for example, Scorpion cracking his enemy’s skull and crushing his ribcage – auditory, and visually it’s shocking, but sweet damn if it ain’t the sweetest thing an arcade fighter lover can experience. You can watch the whole clip right here. Be advised, it’s not for the faint-hearted.

Almost every challenger has 3 fatalities available to use, and a babality – it’s like a fatality, but if the player pushes the right buttons it turns the enemy into infant. Melting faces, disembodiments, carving your name with a Katana into your arch-nemeses’ eye balls, or just simply throwing them into another hellish dimension is what makes fatalities so unique and loved – and the fact that you need to work on your button combination to get it right. If you want a dose of cruelty and despair, you can check Mortal Kombat 9’s top 15 Gruesome fatalities.

Come Over Here – Mortal Kombat X!

Like its predecessor, Mortal Kombat X will shock everyone, and it will surely be banned in some countries – looking at you South Korea.

Pinning two players against each-other, fighting to the death, performing special moves, on-time blocks, clenching counter-attacks, and of course the decisive X-Ray technique can alleviate a ton of stress from your daily problems – and it’s fun as hell!

NetherRealm Studios released in April of 2013 another arcade fighter game called Injustice: Gods Among us with almost the same game mechanics as Mortal Kombat X, the difference being some added features – some flopped, but some were overwhelmingly positive received by fans. In this new installment of violence and fun, the company wants to bring features from their other games. Like fighters being able to interact with the stage’s environment – bounce off of walls, use a tree as a pummelling mattress, or simply just helping yourself to a weapon that you found scattered on the floor.

Mortal Kombat X will also feature the awesome brutality. It will make a comeback from 1995’s Mortal Kombat 3 Ultimate Mortal Kombat – it’s a form of fatality that also lets you punch in a certain button combination to perform a sadistic game winning attack.

The Sprint Gauge, that was last seen in Mortal Kombat 4 will be up for use in the new game.

A new feature will be added called Quitality, and its designated more towards multiplayer – it will instantly kill the one who leaves the game before the match has finished. It’s a well thought strategy to make the multiplayer experience a better place, where quitters are a thing of the past.

Game modes will be back of course. The traditional Story, 1vs1, Ranked, King of the Hill, Survivor and Test your Luck will be present in the game. New modes will make their entry to the franchise. Living Towers – it’s built upon a former MK mode called ” Challenge Tower” where the play conditions will change every hour, forcing players to be focused all the time. Faction Wars will let players choose from 5 different factions – Black Dragon, Brotherhood of Shadow, Lin Kuei, Special Forces, and White Lotus – siding them in a cross-platform tournament, and every win will add points to the team that you will represent. You will earn special rewards if your faction wins the week.

Regarding the story-line, Ed Boon, the original creator of Mortal Kombat, has stated that they want to go a different way – they are tired, and the fans are tired, of the same linear story that has plagued Mortal Kombat since its inception. It will be refreshing and ” showcasing some of the game’s oldest characters including Scorpion and Sub-Zero, while introducing new challengers that represent the forces of good and evil that tie the tale together.” said Boon.

Mortal Kombat X will add 9 new challengers to the roster of fighters: Kung Jin (cousin of Kung Lao), Takahashi Takeda (son of Kenshi), and Jacqueline Briggs (Jax’s daughter), Cassie Cage, D’Vorah, Erron Black, Ferra/Tor, Kotal Kahn.

Mortal Kombat X will be released on 14th of April 2015 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The PS3 and Xbox 360 release has been pushed to mid-2015. Pre-ordering the game will add Goro as a bonus fighter. The price will most likely be 59,99$, but you can buy it now on Steam for 49,99$ – a gift for early birds.

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Rumors Regarding Nintendo’s new Console Emerge

March 27, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Last week, during a press conference, Nintendo announced that they will be releasing a new console by the name of NX. It’s their next generation hardware concept and they said that we will know more about it next year. At the same time, they also revealed that they will be making mobile and PC games in partnership with a company named “DeNA”.

This statement has spawned numerous statements, including an article written this week, that claims that this is nothing more than an admission of failure by Nintendo regarding their WiU console. Of course, this is just speculation because we don’t know anything really about the NX. We don’t even know what type of gaming console it will be, if it’s a hand held or a standard console, or something else entirely. It is not impossible for it to be a completely different concept that they came up with and nobody expects.

This also could very well seem as an “admission of failure”. It is well known that the WiU, essentially, lost all its third party support and that it will be extremely hard to get them back on board, unless they will pay them a lot of money. There are a few studios left that are willing to work with Nintendo but at the end of the day, to produce anything on that specific console that isn’t their own work seems like a losing battle.

This is not the first time that Nintendo had this problem. With hand held devices they had quite a lot of success because third party developers released a great number of quality games for them, but with home consoles there have been situations where that was not the case. Take for example the Game Cube and N64. Both devices had great Nintendo developed games, but suffered when it came to games put together by other companies and because of that, they had a rather short lifespan.

The WiU also struggled in the same way, but not as much as the others did. There were a lot of fun, casual games, dancing games, family games or party games that were released by third party developers later in the console’s life. At this moment, the WiU is practically a wasteland for other game developers. Only “indi devs” and the occasional studio, like “Platinum” (that are literally being paid by Nintendo), that are willing to create a game for them. The majority of good games, few as they are, are developed by Nintendo themselves. Surprisingly, there seems to be a valid market on the WiU for ports of existing indi titles such as “Shovel Knight” or “Spy Chameleon”.

From the hardware point of view, Nintendo continues to develop games that run at 60 frames per second, that are colorful, fun and esthetically pleasing. Although they mostly get a more casual kind of customer, they also have some hardcore gamers that play titles like “Smash Brothers”, “Bayonetta 2” or “Xenoblade Chronicles X”.

The great problem is that other than that you are basically only relying on the WiU shop to provide you with new games for your system. To be frank, this is a console that gets turned on every couple of months and it can’t even be compared to the PS4 or the Xbox One which get new, good games every few weeks.

This is where Nintendo slips when it comes to market share. They simply have difficulty getting decent games on their system. It is not like they don’t have great games, it’s just that they don’t have enough of them coming out on a regular basis and in the end a constant stream of apps is what sells consoles. I wish they could get a “Zelda” game out every year, but if they did that it would probably ruin the critically acclaimed franchise. So, all you do is wait for those big, killer applications and in the meantime your WiU just sits quietly in the corner collecting dust.

If we were to look at the latest sales figures for the WiU, we would notice that only 9,2 million systems were sold since its launch in November 2012, a very low number considering their renown and stature within the gaming community.

Is it more likely to be a hand held device? Well, the 3DS seems to be going strong right now and they have just updated it, so it is unlikely that it will be a hand held device. That probably means that it will be a standard home console.

This also implies that the WiU had a relatively short life when you compare it to the PS3 or to the Xbox 360, but that isn’t unheard off. It is actually only in recent years that we’ve ran into unusual situations, where consoles had seven to nine years lifespan. For example, did you know that there was only a four year gap between the release of the Sega Saturn and the release of the Sony Playstation? This is actually unconceivable now. We had the Xbox 360 came out in 2005 while the Xbox One was just recently released, in 2014. That’s a huge nine year gap.

That being said, it is entirely possible for us to get Nintendo’s new console sooner than we have expected. What would they do with it is still a mystery. Obviously they will need to add more power under the hood and, of course, to regain the support of third party developers more than anything else.

Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata hinted that they will be going in an entirely new direction with this system, saying that “If you only expand upon existing hardware, it’s dull. In some shape or form, we’re always thinking about how we want to surprise players as well as our desire to change each person’s video gaming life.”

We don’t know anything for sure about the NX for now, so everything said is pure speculation, but we will definitely discover more next year.

I can’t wait for more information to be released, but as soon as they do, I’ll be sure to keep you informed.

Android 5.0.1 Lollipop will come to Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo

March 27, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Good news for Galaxy Note 3 Neo owners – Android 5.0.1 Lollipop will come to your device. With Android 5.0 already being rolled out by AT&T for Note 3, we are certain that it won’t be long for the Neo to get some love. Samsung France announced on Twitter that the update will come out sometime in the second quarter of 2015, so we should be expecting it to roll out in April, May or June – worst case scenario is July.

In an avalanche of announcements, it seems like Samsung is at its end promoting their flagship phones, and tablets, and now is prioritizing their other, not so popular, not so advanced products – we should be expecting updates to be announced soon for Galaxy S5 Sport, Galaxy S5 Mini and Galaxy Alpha.

The Note 3 Neo is Note’s 3 international celebrity – it didn’t perform that well in the US, but somehow it did great in the UK, France and the rest of Europe. The Neo was introduced last year in February and it’s a smaller, less powerful version of the Note 3. Here are some of its technical capabilities:

Super AMOLED capacitive touch-screen,
Display of 5.5 inches, 720 x 1280 pixels
CPU Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex A7 & dual-core 1.7 GHz Cortex A15
GPU Mali-T624
16GB internal memory – with the option to add an microSD card up to 64GB
2GB RAM
Primary Camera – 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Secondary Camera – 2 MP, 1080p
Video – 1080p@30fps
Li-Ion 3100 mAh battery

It’s available in Black, White, Green, Pink and Red.

With Android 5.0.1 rolling out, one should expect tons of issues to be fixed, and other features to be added. Sadly, this isn’t the case. Other owners of flagship phones that already have Android 5.0 have reported memory leaks, connectivity problems and other annoying random bugs that appear with no repro rate – making them hard to fix.

Android 5.1 Lollipop will be rolling out for Samsung’s flagship phones, and it is to be expect that Android 5.0.1 will be the last major update for their non-flagship products. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but it’s most likely that Android 5.0.1 will be the last major update for Galaxy Note 3 Neo, Galaxy S5 Sport, Galaxy S5 Mini and Galaxy Alpha.

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Gear VR headset made by Samsung to hit stores today

March 27, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Best Buy is the first retailer to put Samsung’s Gear VR on shelves starting today – in over 100 stores all around the country. It was available to purchase for a short time earlier this year also, at the price of 199,99$ – we expect the price to remain the same. The official name for the virtual headset is Gear VR Innovator Edition – a model designed specifically for developers, but that doesn’t mean a home user can’t try it out.

If you’re planning on buying one of these bad boys you’ll need to have the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The phablet works as the VR’s eyes and ears – think about it as the screen and processor that helps the VR function properly. The Gear VR was developed using the same software as the Facebook owned Oculus Rift.

Some users have stated that they made the VR headset also work by pairing it with Note Edge, but Samsung doesn’t recommend any tinkering to its hardware, nor software – they do not offer support for any smartphone, or tablet, except the Galaxy Note 4.

Samsung has hinted that the Gear VR Innovator will be also available to Samsung S6, and S6 Edge users – at this moment the company is performing extensive tests regarding the compatibility of the software.

In a strategy to somehow take the spotlight from Oculus Rift, and engulf all of their fan-base, Best Buy will set up demo stations in over 100 stores so potential customers can give it a try before deciding whether or not to buy it.

Virtual Reality headsets can immerse you in a 360° video environment allowing you to explore new alien worlds, sing along on-stage with your favourite performer, watch movies like you are a part of them, and experience a video-game from a complete new perspective.

There are also some warnings regarding the usage of Virtual Reality headsets – some users have reported feeling nauseous, and entering a state of dizziness for a couple of minutes, while wearing the Gear VR Innovator, or other VR devices. Not all owners have reported such problems, and it seems to be random – depending on person to person. Rumours have it that adding a virtual nose, so its users sees it constantly, will alleviate these issues by adding a balance compass.

Is this a trend that will eventually pass? Or are we witnessing the revolution of home entertainment?

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God of War 3 to be remastered for the PS4

March 26, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

On the 20th of March, the tenth anniversary of the God of War franchise, Sony Santa Monica Studios announced their plan of remastering God of War 3 for the PS4. It’s a strategy to fill up PS4’s game bibliotheque, which at the moment is lacking titles – after one year and a half, there are almost 150 games available to buy, with only 40 of them being exclusive Sony.

God of War creators will bring a new HD experience to veterans of the franchise – full of silky smooth textures, jaw-dropping cinematics, fluid combat and unforgettable boss fights. Santa Monica Studios are adding a photo mode so users can take pictures of gruesome decapitations, or unique feats of glory. With 1080p graphics, running at 60fps, who wouldn’t want screen caps of tearing enemies limb from limb?

Kratos is a Spartan warrior that seeks justice and vengeance. Bloodthirsty, and with a will to make things right, Kratos embarks on a journey to defeat the one that tricked him into killing his own family, and becoming the Ghost of Sparta – the God Ares. After years of torment and despair, he finally brought the chains of justice to Ares, and was finally able to ascend to Olympus as the true God of War, only to be tricked once again, but this time by his own father – Zeus.

God of War 3 is set immediately after his father’s trickery – with Kratos siding with the Titans, and wishing to destroy the very foundation of Olympus. Reigniting the Great War, there is only one goal set – to obliterate every single creature that stands in his way, whether it is God, Titan, or mortal, and bring chaos to a world that needs a new start.

With Uncharted 4 being delayed, one could only hope to get a hand on a copy. It hits stores on July 14th in the US, and July 17th in the UK. As far as the price goes, we could only presume that the traditional 59,99$ is more than enough for a remastered version with a ton of bonus goodies, we hope, to take the pain away of not being able to play Uncharted 4.

Until its release, you can check out the announcement trailer that it’s packed with epic fight scenes, and the doom that awaits the Gods.

Do you think Kratos will finally get his well deserved peace? Or will he succumb to Zeus’ powers?

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Nexus Android 5.1 – What to Expect?

March 26, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Android 5.1 Lollipop has been rumoured since 2014. We never thought it would come out of development hell, but two weeks ago Google announced that the new Android 5.1 update will begin to roll out. Fast forward two weeks to the present and the update is available only for select Nexus users, leaving the rest to wonder what bug fixes have they actually fixed. Android 5.0, 5.0.1, and 5.0.2 are clustered with lock screen issues, connectivity problems and some down right weird bugs that don’t have a repro rate, and appear randomly. Android 5.1 will probably fix them all, probably.

No love for the Nexus 4?

We are all wondering why Nexus 4 wasn’t a part of Google’s initial announcement of Android 5.1 – at the current moment, Nexus 4 is running on Android 5.0, and Android 5.0.1, not releasing 5.1 would seem like a huge mistake on their part. But I’m really confident that the update will most likely be rolled out within 2 months. Worst case scenario is that Nexus 4 owners will have to wait until Summer hits. Why am I so confident? Well, basically, a Google employee named Sascha Prüter, posted a “cryptic” message to G+ ” Locked and loaded! #LMY47D” – he did the same when Android 5.0 was released for Nexus 4. So it’s safe to say that good things come to those who wait.

Nobody is expecting Google to go out of their way announcing the update for Nexus 4. No, we don’t expect anything actually. It will most likely be made stealthily. But we do expect to be shocked if the update doesn’t come. I don’t want to create a panicky mob, but we need to think of the possibility, even if the chances are incredibly slim, that they might skip the update entirely – and we all know what that means, don’t we? Hello Android 6.0. Hello waiting a year for it to come out.

Even if it’s going to be announced you’ll still have to wait for it. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll be on the select few list that will get the update early. I need to remind you that there are Nexus 6, Nexus 5, Nexus 10, and Nexus 7 2012 users that still don’t have Android 5.1 installed. Google takes its time, and the speed that the rollout is being made is terribly, terribly slow.

There is a way to guarantee your spot on the list, but it requires some mind boggling workarounds and know-hows to get it – use the factory images from the AOSP to make it work, alongside the OTA file that will most surely be captured on Google servers. If you’re successful, then you’ll have Android 5.1 sideloaded without having to worry about the infinite queue.

What does Android 5.1 change?

One of the greatest, but at the same time minor, changes that Android 5.1 will make is how a user accesses Quick Settings. At the moment, you need to drag down the notification bar twice for it to appear and you have access to auto rotate settings, screen brightness, Bluetooth, Wifi, airplane mode, location, and other toggles.

Android 5.1 adds a ton of new animations and effects to smooth out the rough edges – making them more fluid, more life-like. Tapping on auto-rotate will animate the little icon telling you that it has been selected.

Android 5.0 added ” Screen Pinning”. It doesn’t seem confusing, but the fact of the matter is that using it is confusing. Most owners don’t even know they have it available for use on their phone. What it does is that it lets you pin an app on the screen and lock it – with a password of your choice. It’s a great thing if you’re, let’s say, handing the phone over to a friend and you don’t want him to accidentally close the app you were before you got the call, or your little child wants to play a game, and you don’t want him meddling in your contacts, or buying a ton of games from the store. You can turn it on, and off as you like. Android 5.1 makes it more intuitive to use – it even explains how to properly use it.

Android 5.0 tackled the idea of “Alarm Volume” but 5.1 Lollipop refines it. Go the alarms tab, and turn the volume up or down – you will control the alarm volume; instead of just turning up or down the default notifications sound that made absolutely no sense. At least they added it to be refined.

Regarding device protection, Android 5.1 is at the top of the game. If you have a password, or a PIN protection, it will remain in the phone’s memory even if someone tries to reset it to factory settings – afterwards you will be needed to sign into your G-mail account for proof of ownership. It’s a great way to combat smartphone theft, and if you lose it, you’ll rest assured that nobody will try to use it without repercussions.

Dual Sim support is made smarter with Android 5.1 – no more wasting time to backtrack and change the Sim. If you need to call someone, a drop down menu appears and lets you select with which Sim you want to perform the action.

We would love a Silent option, that is actually silent – turning off the vibrations too; but one could only dream. We would also love if they added a function so we could Reboot the phone, instead of just Powering it off.

Android 5.1 fixed memory leaks issues, but others appeared in their place. Only time will tell if the update is a divine gift, or a hellish burden.

Image Source: 1,2,3,4

Microsoft apps to be bundled with Android tablets

March 26, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Good news for Microsoft and Android lovers. Maintaining the ideas of CEO Satya Nadella of prioritizing mobiles, and cloud services, some upcoming Samsung tablets will come with pre-installed Microsoft apps – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype. Also by purchasing the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge, owners will have immediate access 100 GB of free storage on OneDrive.

There will be 3 versions of Microsoft’s Office 365 available, not only for business customers, paired with Samsung’s Knox security software suite:

Business
Business Premium
Enterprise

Striking a deal with Samsung isn’t enough for Microsoft, and this strategy will most likely be a worthy attempt at dominating the already saturated marketplace. By 2016, Microsoft is planning on offering Dell owners, and other OEMs from various countries, the same deal – free Microsoft apps, pre-installed. They will most surely be extending to countries as Canada, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Pakistan, and some countries in Africa.

Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of Microsoft’s business development, sees a bright future not only for Microsoft, but for OEM’s also. ” For OEMs, these deals will increase the value of and enrich people’s experiences on Android devices. Original device manufacturers are important because they extend Microsoft services to the ecosystem. More specifically, they help to reach a greater number of other device manufacturers, resulting in even more choice for customers around the world.”

Forbes has stated that Microsoft is in advanced talks with CyanogenMod about bringing their pre-installed apps to them. CyanogenMod is currently trying to ” Put a bullet through Google’s head” by taking a hold of the OS chess table, currently dominated by Android and iOS. Raising 80$ mil from investors as Twitter, Qualcomm, Telefónica, and media entrepeneur Rupert Murdoch, their goal is make their way, slowly, but surely, towards an even playing field.

“These deals demonstrate how we are working with hardware partners in new ways to deliver rich experiences through their scale,” says Johnson. “We’ve proven that we’re not afraid to look outside ourselves to reinvent ourselves.”

It’s unclear at this point how Microsoft is playing the game, how are they planning to get a profit from offering free software, but the alternative would be to let Google, who is already offering for free Google docs, sheets, and slides, to snowball in an area that Microsoft was head-dog – software.

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U.S Cellular announces LG G Flex 2

March 26, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

On 26th of March, US Cellular has announced that it will be selling LG’s G Flex 2. A 5.5-inch curved display smartphone at the price of 149,99$ – only with a 2 year contract. Smartphone isn’t quite the right term to describe it, nor is tablet, because the G Flex 2 is more of a phablet.

Is it worth committing to a carrier for 2 years just for the low price of 149,99$? Let’s break it down a little bit and see what it has to offer.

Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 810 processor at 2.0GHz 64-bit octa-core CPU, Adreno 430 GPU
Non-removable Li-Po 3000 mAh battery
Internal memory up to – 16 GB, 2 GB RAM/ 32 GB, 3 GB RAM
Primary Camera – 13 MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, laser autofocus, optical image stabilization, dual-LED flash
Secondary Camera – 2.1 MP, 1080p@30fps
Video – 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps,

It seems like quite a catch at that low price. It’s worth mentioning that you can add a microSD card up to 128GB, it will run Android 5.0 Lollipop, it has Corning Gorilla Glass 3, and it will come in Platinum Silver, and Flamenco Red.

” At U.S. Cellular, we strive to provide the best wireless experience by providing the latest devices, a high quality network and national coverage that keeps customers connected in cities and rural communities,” said Joe Settimi, vice president of marketing for U.S. Cellular. “LG has created a unique device that is packed with cutting-edge features, and we are thrilled to bring our first curved smartphone to our customers.”

G Flex 2 is LG’s second try at a curved display phablet – hopefully this time they have learned not to make the same mistakes as its predecessor. Although it was innovative, the original G Flex was flawed, and it felt underwhelming.

There are a couple of tech reviewers, and tech aficionados that have already tested the G Flex 2 for about a week now. There are a couple of problems that they have encountered such as performance and overheating issues, that the curve is really not that useful at all, and the plastic seems tacky, and really cheap.

Going to LG’s home page, and just reading a little bit about their new phone, something caught my eye that I think everybody that expresses the intention to buy the G Flex 2 should know – ” The flexibility of this product is limited. This phone may be bent flat when facing down for a limited period of time only. Do not bend inward or twist.”

It comes down to one question – Do you really need a curved phone? What use do you have for it?

Image Source: 1

Samsung Galaxy S6 Release Date and Price Plans

Samsung Galaxy S6 Design

Samsung Galaxy S6 Display

Samsung Galaxy S6: Camera, Sound and Call Quality

Samsung Galaxy S6: Operating System

Finish Him – Mortal Kombat X style!

Come Over Here – Mortal Kombat X!

No love for the Nexus 4?

What does Android 5.1 change?

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