DC Comics plans to “relaunch” its streaming service DC Universe as DC Universe Infinite, a comics-only subscription service. Since 2018, DC fans have been able to access comics, movies and TV shows through the DC Universe app, but last month, we learned that the streaming content would be “migrating” to HBO Max. For Warner Media, which owns DC Comics, it makes sense to have that DC Universe streaming content in HBO Max, not a separate service, but some fans may be less than happy with the change.
DC Universe Infinite will launch in the US on January 21st, and it will begin expanding globally in the summer of 2021. The service will include more than 24,000 comic books at launch. Users will also gain access to digital-first comics and exclusive events, and they’ll be able to get their hands on recently released titles six months after the physical editions drop in stores — as opposed to the current one-year waiting period. But they’ll lose access to DC Universe shows and movies.
BG&E2 is an ambitious game that’s huge in scope. Ubisoft showed off early gameplay at E3 2018, and over two years later, Brunier said there’s still “a lot more to do.” His crew at Ubisoft Montpellier is expanding and Ubisoft Paris has joined the project as a partner studio.
Meanwhile, Michel Ancel, the creator of Beyond Good & Evil and the former director of the prequel, has left Ubisoft. He wrote in an Instagram post that he’s stepping away from games to work at a wildlife sanctuary. Brunier noted Ancel hasn’t worked on BG&E2 for quite some time in any case, so his departure won’t have an impact on development. Both of them suggested BG&E2 is in good hands.
Ancel was also working on a game called Wild (appropriately enough), which we first heard about all the way back in 2014. He said that, like BG&E2, work on the prehistoric survival title is “going super well.”
NBCU’s distribution deal with Roku expired last week. Roku offered to extend the existing deal for TV Everywhere channels while the two companies negotiated an agreement to distribute Peacock. Comcast reportedly declined the offer, and it may force Roku to remove the TV Everywhere channels by this weekend.
If NBCU does force Roku to pull those channels, viewers will lose content from Bravo, E!, Syfy, USA and NBC. Though, Roku points out that viewers can still access NBCU channels through services like Comcast Xfinity, Charter and AT&T TV apps, as well as some internet streaming services.
“Comcast is removing the channels in order to try to force Roku to distribute its new Peacock service on unreasonable terms. While the NBC TV Everywhere apps represent an insignificant amount of streaming hours and revenue on our platform, we believe they are important to those consumers who use them, especially when so many Americans are at home,” a Roku spokesperson said in a statement shared by Variety.”
Update 9/18/2020 10:45AM ET: The two sides appear to be locked in a stalemate. In a statement provided to Engadget, an NBCUniversal spokesperson said:
“We are disappointed Roku is removing its users’ FREE access to NBCUniversal programming – 11 network apps, 12 NBC Owned Station apps, 23 Telemundo Owned Station apps – and continues to block access to the only free premium streaming service available in the market, Peacock. Roku’s unreasonable demands ultimately hurt both their consumers and their consumer equipment partners to whom they’ve promised access to all apps in the marketplace.”
The trackpad is also slightly wider than before, which gives you extra space for gestures like pinch to zoom or three-finger swipe to switch apps. The touchpad felt slightly sluggish, though, and I often just ended up connecting a Bluetooth mouse. The Surface Pro’s trackpad is more responsive, while the iPad’s smart keyboard folio doesn’t have one. Apple’s new Magic Keyboard does have a trackpad that works well, though.
The smaller Tab S7 also has its own keyboard cover, though obviously it’s more cramped. Keys are smaller and they feel a bit clicker than the S7+. It’s also missing the larger keyboard’s row of function keys, but you can still access shortcuts like DeX and screenshots by using the Fn button near the bottom left.
The keyboards are decent, but don’t work exactly as they would on a PC. Though shortcuts like Alt-Tab, Ctrl-Z and Ctrl-Backspace work, some aren’t supported, like Ctrl-Del or Ctrl + or – to zoom.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
As a laptop wannabe
Samsung did a lot of things to mimic a desktop experience, but there are a few ways the Tab S7 and S7+ fall short. The most obvious of Samsung’s laptop-emulating efforts is DeX mode, which you can trigger with on screen or keyboard shortcuts, but also automatically takes over when you snap on the cover.
I’ve had issues with DeX in the past, but in deeper testing, I’ve come to realize many of the problems don’t lie with Samsung. Android apps simply aren’t designed to work with a keyboard and cursor. Though DeX does an admirable job of mimicking a desktop experience by adding a taskbar and allowing you to launch multiple windows at once, there are still a few important disconnects.
Let’s start with the things that Samsung could improve: When I launch Chrome in DeX mode, it should enable the desktop version by default instead of making me find and enable the setting. Also, I’d like complete keyboard shortcut support so I can hit Ctrl-0 and go back to my original zoom setting or use Ctrl-Del to delete the word ahead in a sentence. I’d also love for Shift-Space to no longer trigger the Language shortcut. It constantly trips me up whenever I type “I” and the system eats up the space that was supposed to come. For example, I’ll end up typing “SPen” instead of “S Pen”, or “Ithink” instead of “I think.”
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
There are a lot of little issues with DeX mode that Samsung will need to work with developers to fix. YouTube, for example, will stop playing a video if I go to another app in DeX mode, but it will launch what I was watching in a Picture-in-Picture viewer outside of DeX. Netflix also struggles in DeX mode. The system will prompt you to restart the app if you want to run it fullscreen, but when you do it just goes back to the same windowed version that you can’t resize.
Speaking of, DeX lets you run pretty much an unlimited number of windows at the same time, and while you can resize a majority of them like Chrome, Telegram and Google Play, you won’t be able to do that with Instagram and Netflix. I understand why some apps need to retain a certain aspect ratio or size, but this inconsistency can be infuriating.
That’s a relatively small issue compared to my main complaint: Android simply wasn’t built for a mouse and keyboard. This comes up the most when I’m trying to write a long review or chat with friends. When I finish typing a message in Telegram, for example, hitting the Enter key doesn’t send it through — it moves to a new line. I’d need to either click the “Send” button on screen or use Ctrl-Enter, which is the exact opposite of how it would be on a PC. This isn’t a DeX problem. The same happens when I use the app outside of DeX mode — Android doesn’t understand that when a keyboard is attached, I want the enter key to send messages.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
I also can’t use the cursor to select chunks of text. On a PC, I would be able to hover my mouse over some words, then click and drag to highlight whatever I want. On the Tab S7+, the cursor doesn’t change when it’s hovering over text, and I’d have to first double click to highlight a word before dragging the selectors. Worse, in apps like Slack, I can’t even select words with the mouse at all, so if my editor sends me a headline suggestion, I can’t copy and paste it into Google Docs. Oh, and even better, right-clicking only works sometimes. Often, though, you’ll find you can’t right click on a conversation in a chat app to see more options. In some cases right clicking actually closes the app altogether. Fun!
Outside of DeX mode, you can also run up to three apps side by side with Samsung’s Multi Window feature, but the available configurations are limited. Also, some apps like Slack don’t work well when confined to a small tile, and only display useless information like the channels you have open.
There are ways to work around some of these issues, including using the web apps in Chrome and requesting the desktop version of those sites or using my finger to select text. Individually, many of these issues aren’t dealbreakers. But taken together they paint a damning picture of why it’s so hard to use Android tablets as productivity machines. I applaud Samsung for trying to make the best of a difficult situation with DeX mode, but Google needs to work harder with its partners to improve Android for these larger screens. iPadOS has evolved and now works better with cursors, and while Windows is not the most touch-friendly interface, it’s great for productivity.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Samsung Notes and the S Pen
One thing the Tab S7s are good for is taking notes. Samsung includes the S Pen, which has been upgraded to offer better latency and also acts as a remote control for things like taking selfies and advancing presentation slides.
To help you make better use of the stylus, Samsung also includes six months free use of Clip Studio Paint, which comes pre-installed in the Tab S7s. The Fans of the app, which was previously available on Apple and Windows platforms, may find this helpful. It’s better than Samsung’s own Notes for drawing more nuanced works, though I still wish the company could improve its palm rejection.
I was already impressed by Samsung Notes’ ability to parse my terrible handwriting to index my to-do lists and make them easier to search. With the latest software, Samsung also added the ability to import PDFs, making it much easier to sign and edit documents. I especially like the new audio bookmark feature that lets you record sound while you take notes and have your words timed to the clip for playback.
I scrambled to write down lyrics to a song as I recorded it playing, and Samsung Notes accurately matched what I typed to the part of the song I was transcribing. This new tool is a great companion to apps like Otter.ai or Google’s Recorder, which transcribe your recordings but don’t let you write your own notes timed to when something was said.
Performance and battery life
When it wasn’t annoying me with keyboard or mouse issues, the Tab S7+ performed admirably. The Snapdragon 865+ processor and 6GB of RAM kept things running smoothly even when I had 12 apps open in DeX mode including YouTube, Google Docs, Slack, Telegram and Chrome. There was no delay when switching and launching apps, though it sometimes took a while for the app drawer search engine to show results. Getting in and out of DeX mode also took a few seconds.
I was surprised when I saw that the Tab S7+ didn’t even hit 10 hours on our battery test, giving out at 9 and a half hours. Then I remembered the screen was running at 120hz, which understandably uses more power. I re-ran the test at 60hz and the Tab S7+ got a respectable 11 hours and 58 minutes. The Tab S7 lasted much longer thanks to its LCD panel, getting 11 and a half hours in 120hz and 12 and a half in 60hz. In the real world, I usually got about a day of work out of the Tab S7+ before needing to plug it back in. The iPad Pro 2020 delivers similar runtime in real-world testing, while the Surface Pro 7 falls short here, barely making it to 8 hours on our test.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Wrap-up
As tablets, the Tab S7 and S7+ shine. They have beautiful displays and come with the useful S Pen and note-taking software, making them great machines for entertainment or digital artists. But as a laptop stand-in, the Tab S7s still need work. Samsung has improved the productivity capabilities of these devices by using high-end processors and offering some helpful software, but some keyboard shortcuts are still missing. More importantly, Android needs to get better at supporting desktop-style environments and apps.
For $650 and $850 respectively, the Tab S7 and S7+ are excellent but expensive Android tablets. In a pinch, they’re even good enough for banging out quick emails or edits. Just don’t expect these to replace your laptop.
This week, it’s (almost) all about Apple as Cherlynn and Devindra are joined by Valentina Palladino to dive into Apple’s event on Tuesday. Is the new Apple Watch Series 6 impressive? Is $279 for the Watch SE a good price? Then, Devindra tells us about his review of the Oculus Quest 2 and NVIDIA’s RTX 3080. Then, we look at the crazy LG Wing before catching you up on the flood of news in tech this week.
Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Sony’s stellar WF-1000XM3 are still near the top of our list, but the true wireless earbud industry has changed a lot since their introduction. The M3s offer powerful ANC that automatically adjusts based on your activity, or thanks to a recent update, your location. The sound is also excellent and touch controls work reliably. Heck you can even find these on sale for well under $200 if you keep an eye out. However, they are big and bulky — sticking out of your ears like antennae. They lack the comfort of some of our other picks. While Sony packed in a ton of features here, the M3 has a lot more competition now.
Sure, there are cheaper options, but for $80, it’s hard to beat the Anker Soundcore Spirit Dot 2. These true wireless earbuds are smaller than a lot of the competition which makes them more comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. Anker also delivers ample bass here, which means they can handle hip-hop, electronic and other genres that rely on low-end. They’re also IXP7 rated, so they’ll easily double as your new workout partner.
There’s no denying that AirPods are extremely popular among iPhone owners. And there’s a good reason. The earbuds integrate seamlessly with iOS. Plus, the more recent models offer hands-free access to Siri, on top of core features like quick pairing. In addition to active noise cancellation, the AirPods Pro have one very important thing the “regular” AirPods don’t: comfort. And when you factor in the spatial audio improvements in iOS 14, the Pro model is well worth the extra investment at this point.
Google’s first set of Pixel Buds were largely a bust. They weren’t true wireless, and overall, they felt incomplete. The company went back to the drawing board for its 2020 model — ditching the cord entirely and further integrating with Google Assistant. The Adaptive Sound feature that’s meant to be a stand-in for ANC isn’t great and you can find several options with better battery life. However, for the price, Pixel Buds offer solid sound quality, a comfy fit and direct access to Assistant the Android faithful will find useful.
Sennheiser made quite the leap from its first true wireless earbuds to version 2.0. The company figured out the touch controls, extended the battery life and added active noise cancellation. The Momentum True Wireless 2 is also the best sounding set of true wireless earbuds we’ve tested. As we noted during our review, Sennheiser consistently creates an audio profile that highlights minute details of songs, from the subtle attack of acoustic guitar strumming to the deep sub of synths and drum machines. The company’s trademark tone is warm, pleasant and inviting. The downside is these are pricey at around $300 and you can find better battery life (and wireless charging) elsewhere. In terms of pure audio quality though, this is the clear top pick.
The Galaxy Buds Live might be the hot new thing, but the Galaxy Buds+ are actually Samsung’s best option. The company went all-in with iOS integration this time around, which means iPhone owners are privy to the many of the same features and customization options as users with Galaxy devices or Android phones. The tiny size of the Galaxy Buds+ makes them comfy to wear for hours, and the affordable price won’t break the bank.
The app ban has come despite a possible partnership between Oracle and ByteDance. Yesterday, Trump said that he didn’t like that deal, according to Bloomberg, while adding that he was “not prepared to sign off on anything.”
The DoC’s wording makes clear that it wants the apps to disappear in the US. It has not only banned the apps, code and updates, but any payments associated with WeChat. By November 12th, it will also prohibit:
Any provision of internet hosting services enabling the functioning or optimization of the mobile application in the U.S.;
Any provision of content delivery network services enabling the functioning or optimization of the mobile application in the U.S.;
Any provision directly contracted or arranged internet transit or peering services enabling the function or optimization of the mobile application within the U.S.;
Any utilization of the mobile application’s constituent code, functions, or services in the functioning of software or services developed and/or accessible within the U.S.
All of that means that the White House is trying to leave no loopholes that would allow access to the app. And since it dropped the news on Friday, with the ban going effect Sunday, ByteDance and its partners will have little to no time to attempt to delay or reverse the decision. It will also force hosting services to react quickly to remove the app, given the November 12th deadline.
TikTok has 100 million users in the US, while WeChat has 19 million daily active users, according to Reuters. The order doesn’t prevent companies from hosting WeChat and TikTok outside the US, not does it affect other Tencent games and apps.
“We disagree with the decision from the Commerce Department, and are disappointed that it stands to block new app downloads from Sunday and ban use of the TikTok app in the US from November 12,” a TikTok spokesperson explained to Engadget. “Our community of 100 million US users love TikTok because it’s a home for entertainment, self-expression, and connection, and we’re committed to protecting their privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.”
The spokesperson also detailed what the company has done in an effort to appease the White House.
“In our proposal to the US Administration, we’ve already committed to unprecedented levels of additional transparency and accountability well beyond what other apps are willing to do, including third-party audits, verification of code security, and US government oversight of US data security,” the spokesperson said. “Further, an American technology provider would be responsible for maintaining and operating the TikTok network in the US, which would include all services and data serving US consumers. We will continue to challenge the unjust executive order, which was enacted without due process and threatens to deprive the American people and small businesses across the US of a significant platform for both a voice and livelihoods.”
Update 10:48AM ET: This post has been updated with a statement from TikTok. It has also been updated to make clear that US companies will be barred from hosting TikTok and WeChat starting on November 12th.
Disintegration is set around two centuries in the future. The characters are neither human nor machine, but rather armored beings with human brains, with all the good and bad that entails. In the single-player campaign, pure robots are bent on eliminating humanity, while the hero Rohmer Shoal leads the transhumans in a fight to save it.
V1 Interactive is a relatively small studio and Disintegration already was already ambitious in terms of the look, themes and gameplay. The multiplayer mode perhaps was a step too far, though the developer expressed no regrets: “We believe the video game industry needs constant innovation, and we will continue to take risks, follow creative visions, and support new ideas.”
Good morning to everyone still trying to find a PS5 or NVIDIA RTX 3080. I’m not sure how this is still an issue in 2020, but both devices have had a launch period that boggles the mind and has frustrated many people who are just trying to hand over hundreds of dollars so they can do some ray-traced 4K gaming.
If you’re looking for a new Xbox, this is the easiest way to get one.
Microsoft already announced that pre-orders for the next generation of its Xbox consoles will start next week, and now we have more details on exactly when that’s going to happen.
But what about Xbox? Well, pre-orders for the $499 Xbox Series X and the $299 Xbox Series S start on September 22nd at 11AM ET / 8AM PT for the US and Canada. US retailers taking orders online will include at least the Microsoft Store, Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club and Newegg. The big question now is Series S or Series X? Continue reading.
Apple Watch Series 6 hands-on: A few new tricks in a very familiar package
There are only a couple hardware updates, but that’s not a bad thing.
We’ve taken a look at Apple’s new hardware in person, so let’s start things off with the Apple Watch Series 6. (More interested in the Apple Watch SE? Read about that right here.)
We knew there were no major changes, but we homed in on that new sensor. The blood oxygen sensor and the accompanying app in watchOS 7 are the big new fitness features on the Series 6. Like measuring ECG, measuring blood oxygen requires only a few taps on the Watch’s screen, but you need to wear the Watch in a certain way to get a successful reading.
It took seven attempts of fiddling with the placement before Valentina Palladino, who tried out the new wearable, got it to work. The Series 6 does feel faster than its predecessor, but is that enough to be worth upgrading from the Series 5? Continue reading.
‘The manufacturing of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems has ended.’
Three years after launching the Switch, Nintendo is putting the 3DS out to pasture. Back in July, the gaming giant shut down the Wii U and 3DS eshops in dozens of regions. Now, it has officially discontinued the family of handheld devices, in its myriad iterations. Yep, the 3DS, 3DS XL, 2DS and 2DS XL have all come to the end of the line. It’ll be interesting to see if Nintendo figures out a way to translate dual-screen games to the Switch — or its next-gen iteration. Continue reading.
Ridley Scott’s creepy android series Raised by Wolves is getting a second season at HBO Max. The streaming platform has confirmed the show’s renewal merely a couple of weeks after its successful launch on September 3rd. According to Deadline, the show grew its audience by 50 percent in its second week and has become the service’s top-performing original, so a renewal doesn’t exactly come as a surprise.
Raised by Wolves’ story revolves around two androids — Father and Mother — raising children on a barren planet after Earth has been destroyed. Of course, things aren’t as simple as they seem, and you’ll soon find yourself watching a story about the remnants of the human race torn apart by religious differences and a powerful robot programmed to protect her brood.
