It'll be a short broadcast, clocking in at 20 minutes or so, but as we saw with Sony's blockbuster showcase in September, it can pack a lot into these events. The company didn't say what games will be featured nor did it rule anything out. However, the focus will be on third-party titles for PS4 and PS5.
Along with reveals from some of its partners, Sony is promising more info about previously announced games. Here's hoping for a firm release date for Bethesda and Tango Gameworks' delayed Ghostwire: Tokyo, which is scheduled for next spring. Square Enix's Forspoken is also penciled in for that timeframe, so perhaps Sony will reveal exactly when that game's coming too. And maybe, just maybe, we'll learn more about the PS5 version of Grand Theft Auto V, which is due to arrive in March.
Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone, aka "ConcernedApe," has made a surprise unveiling of his next game, Haunted Chocolatier. It has the same pixelated SNES look as Stardew, with characters, set-pieces and themes that are similarly cute and quirky.
"In this game, you will play as a chocolatier living in a haunted castle. In order to thrive in your new role, you will have to gather rare ingredients, make delicious chocolates, and sell them in a chocolate shop," according to Barone's blog on the new website. The video shows characters heading out into into a town, the castle, a mountain and other scenarios to seek ingredients and fend off creatures.
It's Barone's first game since Stardew Valley launched in 2016, but so far it's not a lot more than a demo. Barone has yet to finalize the gameplay systems, and said he doesn't even want to be "tied down to any particular concept of what the game is" ahead of launch.
Haunted Chocolatier does sound and look a lot like Stardew at first take. However, in a FAQ, Barone said there will be some substantial differences, particularly when it comes to gameplay.
Like Stardew Valley, Haunted Chocolatier is another "town game," where you move to a new town and try your hand at a new way of living. You’ll get to know the townspeople, achieve your goals and make progress in many ways. All of that is similar to Stardew Valley. However, the core gameplay and theming are quite a bit different. Haunted Chocolatier is more of an action-RPG compared to Stardew Valley. And instead of a farm being the focal point of your endeavors, it’s a chocolate shop.
Barone wouldn't reveal other details, like whether the new title is set in the same world as Stardew, nor a release date or even a general timeframe. He did say that it would be single-player only, with no plans for multiplayer. The game will "100 percent" come to PC, though he has "every intention of bringing it to the other major platforms as well."
This week brought our first official early Black Friday sale, courtesy of Best Buy. While we expect to see even more of these events before we hit Black Friday proper, there are a bunch of gadgets at record-low prices right now that are worth considering. Both Amazon and Best Buy knocked $150 off the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip foldable smartphone, and both retailers have some of our favorite Sony headphones and earbuds for less. Plus, the new Galaxy Watch 4 wearables are down to all-time-low prices thanks to a Samsung deals event on Amazon. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Sony WH-1000XM4
Engadget
Sony's excellent WH-1000XM4 headphones remain on sale for $248, which is a record low. These are our current favorite pair of ANC headphones and they earned a score of 94 from us for their solid sound quality, powerful ANC and multi-device connectivity.
The 256GB 12.9-inch iPad Pro is $200 off, bringing it down to $999. That's the same price as the 128GB version right now, so you're essentially getting double the storage at no extra cost. We gave the tablet a score of 87 for its gorgeous display, impressive performance and handy Center Stage camera.
The previous-gen Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds are down to $128, more than $70 off their normal price. We gave these buds a score of 89 for their excellent sound, great battery life and comprehensive companion app.
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 foldable smartphone is still on sale for $850, or $150 off. This is the most practical version of a Samsung foldable yet, and we gave it a score of 82 for its more durable design, attractive build and new water resistance.
Both the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic are down to record-low prices, $220 and $300, respectively. These remain the best smartwatches for Android users and we gave the Watch 4 a score of 85 for its comprehensive health tracking abilities, lovely screen and better support for third-party apps.
The Roku Streambar is on sale for $99 right now, or $30 off its normal price. We gave the compact soundbar a score of 86 for its good sound quality, Dolby Audio support, built-in 4K HDR streaming tech and its ability to work as a Bluetooth speaker. Also, the more advanced (and larger) Streambar Pro is down to a record low of $150.
Roku's most powerful streaming device, the Ultra, is on sale for only $69 at the moment. That's $30 off its normal price and a great deal if you want 4K HDR10+ and Dolby Vision content, along with speedy WiFi and the option to hardware the set-top box into your setup via its Ethernet port.
The new Galaxy Buds 2 are down to $130 right now, or $20 off their normal price. It may be $5 more than their record low, but this is still a good deal to consider if you've been eyeing a pair of the company's true wireless earbuds. We gave the Buds 2 a score of 84 for their comfortable design, improved sound quality and adjustable ambient sound mode.
The latest Apple TV 4K is on sale for $130 at Verizon right now. This is the best price we've seen it, and you'll get the model with the latest processor, support for Dolby Vision and Atmos and the much improved new Siri remote.
The 2TB Crucial MX500 internal SSD is down to an all-time low of $170. This is a good option if you need extra storage in your desktop or laptop, and we like that it has AES 256-bit hardware based encryption and integrated power loss immunity.
This Bluetooth-connected Rubik's cube is $10 off thanks to a coupon you can apply on the product page, bringing the toy down to roughly $50. Rather than going nuts trying to solve the puzzle on your own, this one has a companion app that actually teaches you how to do so. You can then complete challenges, better your skills and try to get atop the global leaderboard.
NordVPN, one of our favorite VPNs, is running a sale on a two-year subscription. You can sign up and pay $99 for two years, plus you'll get an extra three months free. We like NordVPN for its speed, its no-logs policy, the thousands of servers it has to choose from and that one account supports up to six connected devices.
Another one of our top VPN services, Tunnelbear, is offering a two-year subscription for $100. You'll save 58 percent if you sign up with this deal, and we think Tunnelbear is one of the easiest VPNs to use, especially for those that don't want to go crazy configuring their connections.
After a long run of teasing the RGB-lit Zephyr mask, Razer is finally ready to sell it to die-hard fans — or possibly cosplayers. The Zephyr costs $100 or there’s a $150 Starter Pack with three replacement filter kits. Alas, the Starter Pack is already listed as "out of stock," and the mask by itself is still "coming soon."
Yes, you can customize the lighting through a companion app, but the highlight is a dual-fan active air filtration system with N95 filters — something I’d never thought I’d be writing about a Razer device.
Microsoft’s dual-screen ambitions continue to struggle. Upgraded hardware and a new Glance Bar don’t mean much when the Duo 2 is still plagued with inconsistent, finicky software. The new triple-camera array is held back by an atrocious camera app, and thermal issues cause the device to hang. All of this will cost you $1,500.
Yes, Sony is finally releasing an Uncharted movie after trying to make one for over a decade. Sony Pictures included a handy reminder at the end of the trailer about a remastered bundle of Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy that's coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in early 2022.
Gaming chairs have proliferated over the past few years, and until now, they’ve tended to be overpriced and visually unappealing. Think: lurid colors, Bond villain lair aesthetics and giant drink holders. As Buyer's Guide Editor Kris Naudus puts it, Razer’s new Enki chair is still a bit over the top, but at least it’s a more affordable kind of over the top.
It costs $100 for six months, double the current premium tier price.
NVIDIA has unveiled its next-generation cloud gaming platform called GeForce Now RTX 3080 with "desktop-class latency" and 1440p gaming at up to 120 fps on PC or Mac. The service is powered by a new gaming supercomputer called the GeForce Now SuperPod and, at $200 for a year, costs double the price of the existing Priority tier, which recently doubled to $100.
Sony has finally revealed its mainstream $2,500 Alpha A7 IV full-frame mirrorless camera, and it looks to have been worth the wait. Borrowing technology from the recent A1 and A7S III models, it has some substantial improvements over the A7 III introduced well over three years ago. There’s an all-new 33-megapixel sensor, 4K 10-bit 60 fps video, new AI autofocus tricks and a lot more, including some new live streaming and sharing features, though they're not quite up to the level we've seen on other recent cameras. You can do video and audio streaming over USB-C at up to 1080p 60 or 4K 15p if resolution is a priority over smooth video.
The A7 IV is clearly a massive leap forward for Sony's "basic" full-frame mirrorless camera series, putting it on par — or ahead of — most rivals. The only deterrent is the $2,500 price tag ($2,699 with a kit lens), which is $500 more than the A7 III cost at launch.
We help you narrow down the multitude of choices available.
With the pandemic still upon us and Work From Home directives continuing, a monitor is one of the most important computer buying decisions you can make. Luckily, there’s never been more choice, and we’ve seen vast improvements in color accuracy, size and resolution since our last update. Steve Dent is here to help with your buying decision. Do you need HDR, and if so, how bright should your monitor be? What size do you need? Let’s dive in.
Amazon's deal of the day is all about Samsung today, with products on sale ranging from laptops to Galaxy S smartphones to storage. That includes a 30 percent discount on Samsung's thin and pretty 13.3-inch Galaxy Book Pro laptop with an OLED display (on sale for $840), the Galaxy S21 Plus smartphone at $750 ($250 off), and the Galaxy Watch 4 priced at $220 — $90 off the regular $310 price.
Some of the best deals are on Samsung's laptops. The Galaxy Book Pro stands out not just because it's pretty, thin and light but because of that gorgeous AMOLED display. The 13.3-inch model in "Mystic Blue" is the standout deal, priced at just $840 for a savings of $360 (30 percent). It weighs in at just 1.92 pounds, offering an Intel 11th-gen Core-i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and 21 hours of battery life.
Another great option that's far more on the budget side is Samsung's 11.6-inch Galaxy Chromebook 4, available for $179 or 28 percent off. It comes with 64GB of storage, 4GB RAM, Gigabit WiFi, Chrome OS and an HD Intel Celeron Processor N4000.
As for smartphones, the deals are focusing on Samsung's high-end Galaxy S21 models. First up is the Galaxy S21 Plus that comes with a big 6.7-inch Full HD+ display and variable refresh rate up to 120Hz. It's just as capable under the hood, with a Snapdragon 888 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, 8K video and 5G capability. The regular price for that model is a cool $1,000, but you can get one today in Phantom Violet or Phantom Silver for $750, a 25 percent savings.
If you want the very best Galaxy device, that would be the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The camera in particular is more capable, with a 108-megapixel sensor and Samsung's 100X "Space Zoom," along with 8K video and other features. It's got a larger, higher-resolution 3,200 x 1,440 display, a bigger battery, and more RAM and storage (12GB and 256GB, respectively). Normally priced at $1,200, that model is available at $950 in Phantom Black or Phantom Silver, 21 percent off the normal price.
Next up is watches and wireless earphones. We found Samsung's latest Galaxy Watch 4 model to be the best Android watch you can get, in part because it's using a new version of Wear OS built in collaboration with Google. It looks nice, offers comprehensive health tracking, has a bright and crisp screen, supports more third-party features and offers Samsung's touch-sensitive rotating bezel. Amazon's $220 sale price is not only the cheapest we've seen, but you get a free wireless charger, to boot.
In our Engadget review, we said that Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro were its best earbuds yet, thanks to the comfy fit, good sound quality and wireless charging capability, with the main drawbacks being mediocre battery life and the lack of an iOS app. Amazon's selling them today for $140, which isn't quite the lowest price we've seen, but still a good 30 percent off. If you're willing to risk it, you could hold out for possibly a better Black Friday deal in about a month.
Finally, if you're looking for storage, Samsung has you covered there, too. Samsung's T7 portable SSDs are popular for their relative portability and incredible USB 3.2 Gen2 write/read speeds of around 1,000 MB/s/1,050 MB/s — ideal for video editing and fast storage transfers. The T7 portable 1TB model is a particularly good deal, priced at $130 instead of $170 for a savings of 24 percent.
And if you need a smartphone storage bump without compromising performance, Samsung's EVO Select microSDXC UHS-I cards deliver 100MB/s, allowing fast photo transfers and video capture. The Samsung 512GB EVO Select model is now on sale for $55, for a savings of 21 percent.
Innersloth has been promisingfor months that it will bring Among Us to Xbox and PlayStation sometime this year. Sure enough, the Mafia-style social deduction game is coming to PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on December 14th.
Just like on PC, Among Uswill be included with Xbox Game Pass on consoles. Those on PlayStation, meanwhile, will get an exclusive Ratchet & Clank cosmetic at a later date. Among Us has crossplay support, so you'll be able to play with friends across PC, Nintendo Switch and mobile.
Innersloth also revealed details about the physical editions of Among Us for PlayStation, Xbox and Switch. Along with the base game and all of the DLC, the $30 Crewmate Edition includes a poster of the Skeld map, stickers and a holographic card. That version will hit Europe on December 14, Japan and South Korea two days later, and then the US, Canada and Latin America on January 11th.
The $50 Impostor Edition includes the same gear as the Crewmate package, along with a purple crewmate plush, an enamel pin and a lanyard. The $90 Ejected Edition comes with even more goodies, including a steelbook case, a beanie and, best of all, a fleece blanket. Both of those editions will ship in spring 2022.
Among Usexploded in popularity in 2020, two years after its debut, as Twitch streamers and YouTubers started playing it en masse. People were also looking for ways to connect with their friends during COVID-19 lockdowns and, for many, lying to their buds about what they were doing in Among Us' med bay fit the bill perfectly. It's coming to Xbox and PlayStation just in time for more people to play and argue with their loved ones over the holiday season.
With the COVID pandemic still upon us, a monitor is one of the most important computer buying decisions you can make. Luckily, there’s never been more choice, and we’ve seen vast improvements in color accuracy, size and resolution since our last update.
It’s great to have lots of choice, but it can also make your buying decision a challenge. For example, do you need HDR, and if so, how bright should your monitor be? How important is color accuracy, refresh rates and input lag? What size do you need? Should it be curved or straight?
Luckily, we’ve done the research and can help you figure all that out depending on your specific needs and, most importantly, budget. Read on to see exactly what to look for in a monitor and which makes and models to choose.
The basics
Screen size, resolution and display format
In this day and age, screen size rules. Where 24-inch displays used to be more or less standard (and can still be useful for basic computing), 27-, 32-, 34- and even 42-inch displays have become popular for entertainment, content creation and even gaming these days.
Nearly every monitor used to be 16:9, but it’s now possible to find 16:10 and other more exotic display shapes. On the gaming and entertainment side, we’re also seeing very wide and curved monitors with aspect ratios like 21:9. If you do decide to buy an ultrawide display, however, keep in mind that a 30-inch 21:9 model is the same height as a 24-inch monitor, so you might end up with a smaller display than you expected. As a rule of thumb, add 25 percent to the size of a 21:9 monitor to get the size you need.
4K is nearly a must for content creators, and some folks are even going for 5K or all the way up to 8K. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll need a pretty powerful computer to drive all those pixels. And 4K should be paired with a screen size of 27 inches and up, or you won’t notice much difference between 1440p. At the same time, I wouldn’t get a model larger than 27 inches unless it’s 4K, as you’ll start to see pixelation if you’re working up close to the display.
One new category to consider is portable monitors designed to be carried and used with laptops. Those typically come in 1080p resolutions and sizes from 13-15 inches. They usually have a lightweight kickstand-type support that folds up to keep things compact.
HDR
HDR is the buzzy monitor feature to have these days, but be careful before jumping in. Some monitors that claim HDR on the marketing materials don’t even conform to a base standard. To be sure that a display at least meets minimum HDR specs, you’ll want to choose one with a DisplayHDR rating with each tier representing maximum brightness in nits.
However, the lowest DisplayHDR 400 and 500 tiers may disappoint you with a lack of brightness, washed out blacks and mediocre color reproduction.If you can afford it, choose a model with DisplayHDR 600, 1000 or True Black 400, True Black 500 and True Black 600. The True Black settings are designed primarily for OLED models, with maximum black levels at .0005 nits.
Where televisions typically offer HDR10 and Dolby Vision or HDR10+, most PC monitors only support the HDR10 standard, other than a few (very expensive) models. That doesn’t matter much for content creation or gaming, but HDR streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other services won’t look quite as punchy.
Refresh rate
Refresh rate is a key feature, particularly on gaming monitors. A bare minimum nowadays is 60Hz, and 80Hz refresh rates and up are much easier on the eyes. However, most 4K displays top out at 60Hz with some rare exceptions and the HDMI 2.0 spec only supports 4K at 60Hz, so you’d need at least DisplayPort 1.4 (4K at 120Hz) or HDMI 2.1. The latter is now available on a number of monitors, particularly gaming displays. However, it’s only supported on the latest NVIDIA RTX 3000- and AMD RX 6000-series GPUs and requires a very powerful PC.
Inputs
There are essentially three types of modern display inputs: Thunderbolt, DisplayPort and HDMI. Most monitors built for PCs come with the latter two, while a select few (typically built for Macs) will use Thunderbolt. To add to the confusion, USB-C ports may be Thunderbolt 3 and by extension, DisplayPort compatible, so you may need a USB-C to Thunderbolt or DisplayPort cable adapter depending on your display.
Panel type
The cheapest monitors are still TN (twisted nematic), which are strictly for gaming or office use. VA (vertical alignment) monitors are also relatively cheap, while offering good brightness and high contrast ratios. However, content creators will probably want an IPS (in-plane switching) LCD display that delivers better color accuracy, image quality and viewing angles.
If maximum brightness is important, a quantum dot LCD display is the way to go — those are typically found in larger displays. OLED monitors are now available and offer the best blacks and color reproduction, but they lack the brightness of LED or quantum dot displays. Plus, they cost a lot.
The new panel on the block is MiniLED. It’s similar to quantum dot tech, but as the name suggests, it uses smaller LED diodes that are just 0.2mm in diameter. As such, manufacturers can pack in up to three times more LEDs with more local dimming zones, delivering deeper blacks and better contrast.
Color bit depth
Serious content content creators should consider a more costly 10-bit monitor that can display billions of colors. If budget is an issue, you can go for an 8-bit panel that can fake billions of colors via dithering (often spec’d as “8-bit + FRC”). For entertainment or business purposes, a regular 8-bit monitor that can display millions of colors will be fine.
Color gamut
The other aspect of color is the gamut. That expresses the range of colors that can be reproduced and not just the number of colors. Most good monitors these days can cover the sRGB and Rec.709 gamuts (designed for photos and video respectively). For more demanding work, though, you’ll want one that can reproduce more demanding modern gamuts like AdobeRGB, DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 gamuts, which encompass a wider range of colors. The latter two are often used for film projection and HDR, respectively.
Engadget picks
Best monitor around $200
Acer KG241Q
Acer
Whether you need a monitor for gaming, entertainment or work, Acer’s 24-inch KG241Q offers a lot of value. Resolution is limited to 1080p, but it delivers a 144Hz refresh rate and comes with AMD FreeSync support. Other features include a 1-millisecond lag time, 300 nits of brightness, HDMI and DisplayPort inputs and a tilting stand. The downsides are tricky access to the ports and a TN display that looks dim at an angle, but it’s a heck of a steal right now at $155.
Moving your budget up by just $100 opens up a whole lot more options. A case in point is our pick for content creation chores, the ASUS ProArt PA278QV. You get a larger 27-inch size, increased 2,560 x 1,440 resolution and a superior IPS panel. As with other ProArt models, the PA278QV is designed specifically for photo and video editing, with a 100 percent Rec.709 gamut, Calman verified color accuracy and ProArt presets and palettes for different kinds of work. It also offers DisplayPort and HDMI ports and tilt, swivel, pivot and height adjustments. That’s a lot of monitor for a current street price of $315.
There are numerous decent gaming monitors around $300, but we’ve managed to narrow it down to one: Dell’s S2522HG. For a monitor in this price range, you get a lot: a 24.5-inch IPS 1080p display with a 240Hz refresh rate, 400 nits of brightness, 1-millisecond response time and AMD Free-Sync and NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility. It comes with HDMI, DisplayPort and SuperSpeed USB 3.2 Gen1 inputs, along with a stand that allows for height adjustment, tilt, swivel and pivot. You can pick one up now at Amazon for $320.
LG’s 27UK500 is a nice all around monitor that can cover gaming, entertainment and some content creation. The 27-inch 4K IPS display covers 98 percent of the sRGB gamut and supports HDR10 with 10-bit color, though it only outputs 300 nits of brightness so it isn’t DisplayHDR certified. If you like 4K gaming, it can handle that decently thanks to AMD FreeSync support, a 60 Hz refresh rate and a 5-millisecond response time. The downsides are a tilt only stand, but it’s very well priced at just $347.
For creatives, the BenQ PD2700U pushes all the right buttons. The 27-inch 4K IPS panel delivers 10-bit HDR color and covers 100 percent of the sRGB gamut with Calman verified Delta E color accuracy less than 3. It’s also a fine choice for entertainment and gaming with 350 nits of brightness, a 1300:1 contrast ratio, viewing angle of 178 degrees and a 5-millisecond response time. It has tilt, swivel, pivot and height adjustment and most of the ports you need, including HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4. You can pick one up now at B&H for $500.
Acer’s Nitro XV252Q is the only gaming monitor under $500 that supports 360 Hz refresh rates, but there’s more to it than just that. The 24.5-inch HD display outputs 400 nits of brightness, so it’s DisplayHDR 400 certified for HDR games and movies. It also comes with AMD FreeSync compatibility, a 99 percent sRGB color gamut and DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 connections. You can tilt, swivel, pivot and adjust the height by up to 4.7 inches, and it looks pretty snazzy, with very slim side and top bezels.
Dell’s 27-inch, 4K U2720Q IPS monitor offers 4K HDR performance for a decent price. It conforms to the DisplayHDR 400 spec while offering 10-bits of color and 99 percent sRGB coverage, with a Delta E color accuracy of less than two out of the box. So this is a good monitor for HDR movies and doing some graphics chores, particularly HDR video work — all for under $700.
Though it’s marketed as a gaming monitor thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate, 1-millisecond response time and G-Sync support, Acer’s 4K quantum dot Predator XB273K is really a jack of all trades. It’s also DisplayHDR 400 compatible, covers 90 percent of the challenging DCI-P3 color gamut and offers a Delta<1 color accuracy. You also get tilt and height adjustments, HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 ports and pivot and height adjustment.
Apple’s $5,000 Pro Display XDR is much too rich for most of us, so the next most logical option is LG’s $1,300 Ultrafine 5K display, also sold on Apple’s Store. With a 27-inch 5K panel, you not only get very high resolution but also 500 nits of brightness (albeit, without HDR capability). It’s color-accurate out of the box, making it great for video- and photo-editing work on a Mac or MacBook. Finally, it supports Thunderbolt 3 with daisy chaining and power delivery, all of which is very useful for Mac users.
If that model is too much, you can also consider LG’s 24-inch Ultrafine 4K. For nearly half the price ($700), it offers many of the same features (including the powered and daisy-chained Thunderbolt ports, color accuracy and more) in a smaller size and with just a bit less resolution.
Ultrawide 21:9 monitors are a great option for some types of content creation, flight sims and financial work. The best model this year (with perhaps the worst name) is MSI’s Optix MPG341CQR. With an 1800R curve and 3,440 x 1,440 resolution it’s ideal for gaming, with the 120Hz refresh rate, 1-millisecond response time and HDR 400 also helping in that regard. It also offers a frameless design, tilt, swivel and height adjustment and HDMI 2.0/DisplayPort 1.4 ports. It also has an LED strip that provides helpful cues for in-game status like remaining health or ammo, too.
To best complement your laptop, a portable monitor should be small, lightweight and not too expensive. The model that best meets all those requirements is ViewSonic’s VG1655. At 15.6 inches and weighing under 2 pounds, the 1080p 60 Hz IPS display can be toted around fairly easily but still provide crisp, clear visuals. It’s also reasonably bright at 250 nits, comes in standard and touch version, packs dual speakers and has a built-in stand with a cover.
If you’re gaming on the bleeding edge at 4K and 120Hz, you’ll first need either a fast PC or PS5/Xbox Series X console. If you’ve got that and would prefer to use a monitor rather than a TV, your best bet will soon be Acer's Nitro XV282K display. Along with 4K resolution at up to 144Hz, it offers a 1-millisecond refresh rate, 10-bit color and 400 nits (DisplayHDR 400 compatible) of brightness. It comes, of course, with an HDMI 2.1 input, along with DisplayPort 1.4. It’s not yet available, but should arrive soon for $900.
ASUS still holds the prize for best luxury monitor, but it discontinued the previous mini-LED $4,000 ProArt PA32UCX monitor and replaced it with the $5,000 PA32UCG-K display. It uses the same mini-LED tech, but ups the ante with 1,600 nits of brightness, an HDMI 2.1 port, 4K 120Hz resolution, 10-bit, 98 percent DCI-P3 coverage and an impressive 85 percent Rec.2020 coverage. Oh, and it’s one of the few monitors out there that supports Dolby Vision, along with HDR10 and HLG.
You’re probably doing it wrong if you’re using a $5K monitor for gaming. However, it does support AMD FreeSync (good for gaming creation) and has a 5-millisecond response time, very respectable for a display essentially designed for professional colorists. And to that end, color accuracy is calibrated to Delta E < 1 and it’s a true 10-bit panel delivering billions of colors.
Faster than we think, 8K video will be upon us, so you might be pondering an 8K monitor to stay ahead of the curve. Dell’s UP3218K is part of its UltraSharp lineup for creators, so it not only delivers 8K (7,680 x 4,320) 60p resolution but other nice pro features, too.
The 10-bit native IPS panel delivers 400 nits of brightness, though the UP3218K isn’t an HDR monitor. It also delivers 1.07 billion colors and covers 98 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, with a Delta E of less than two out of the box. It’s also one of the few monitors that flips around 90 degrees, making it good for portrait photo work.
This monitor isn’t cheap either at $3,500 (8K monitors are still very rare), but Dell’s UP3216Q 4K monitor has most of the features for less than half the price. It’s not quite as bright at 350 nits and covers just 87 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut, but it offers 1.07 billion colors and is just as precise for color correction out of the box.
Sony has finally revealed its mainstream $2,500 Alpha A7 IV full-frame mirrorless camera and it looks to have been worth the wait. Borrowing technology from the recent A1 and A7S III models, it offers large improvements over the A7 III introduced well over three years ago. Key features include an all-new 33-megapixel sensor, 4K 10-bit 60 fps video, new AI autofocus tricks and a lot more.
The A7 IV resembles the A7S III in terms of size and layout, but you can now select between still, video and S&Q (slow and quick) options with a new dedicated dial below the mode dial. Each mode completely changes the settings and control layout of the camera to favor either photo- or video-centric controls. As with the A7S III, the video record button has been moved to a more practical spot on top for vloggers.
It comes with a 3.68-million dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) with a more comfortable 120 Hz refresh rate, up from the 2.36-million dot, 60Hz EVF on the A7 III. For videographers, the A7 IV offers a flip-out 1.03 million dot rear LCD display, making the camera far more usable for vlogging than the A7 III.
Sony
The 5-axis in-body stabilization delivers 5.5 stops of shake reduction, up slightly from before, but far below the 8 stops promised by Canon's like-priced EOS R6. However, it now offers an "active mode" for movies that helps smooth footsteps.
In terms of storage, the A7 IV offers two slots, with the top dual slot taking either SDXC UHS II (up to 300 MB/s speeds or CFexpress Type A (up to 800 MB/s), and the bottom slot compatible with SDXC UHS II only. On the A1 and A7S III, by comparison, both slots support both those formats. As for battery life, the A7 IV delivers 610 CIPA shots on a charge, compared to 700 on the A7 III.
The 33-megapixel backside illuminated (BSI) sensor provides a significant resolution boost over the A7 III's 24.1-megapixel sensor, while still offering good low-light sensitivity, Sony told Engadget. However, it doesn't offer the stacked chip-on-sensor technology of the A1 and A9/A9 II, so it lacks the sensor readout speeds of those models.
As such, the A7 IV is limited to the same 10 fps shootings speeds as the A7 III, both with the mechanical and electronic shutter — whereas the A1 can shoot at triple that speed. However, the A7 III was limited to around 90 RAW frames at a time, but the A7 IV can shoot an incredible 828 uncompressed RAW+JPEG images in a burst, provided you capture to a CFexpress Type A card.
Powered by the A1's BIONZ R processing engine, it offers the same 759 phase-detect AF points as the A1 with around 94 percent sensor coverage. It also comes with the same AI-powered image tracking that can process spatial information "in real time at high speed," Sony said. That means more tenacious tracking, along with faster and more accurate eye AF for humans, animals and birds.
Perhaps the biggest improvements with the A7 IV are on the video side. Where the A7 III was limited to 4K/30p with 8 bits of color depth, the A7 IV can handle 4K at up to 60 fps with 10 bit, 4:22 All-I capture — putting it on par with Canon's EOS R6 and the Panasonic GH5 II. 4K 30fps is super-sampled using the entire 7K width of the sensor, while 4K/60p uses a 4.6K Super35 1.5X crop. That means there's no pixel binning, so video should be very sharp.
It supports a number of video file types, including XAVC S All-I at up to 600 Mbps for 4K/60 10-bit, 4:2:2 movies. All of the video modes, except one S&Q setting that requires CFexpress Type A, can be captured to an SD UHS II card. However, unlike the A1 and A7S III, there's no support for 16-bit RAW video capture to an external recorder. RAW video isn't found on the EOS R6 either, but is available on Panasonic's $1,800 GH5s and the $2,000 Nikon Z6 II.
Video autofocus is improved with faster and more accurate tracking. The A7 IV is also Sony's first camera to support both human and animal/bird eye tracking for video. If the A7 IV's AF works nearly as well as the A7S III, it should be nearly on par with Canon's Dual Pixel AF.
What about overheating, the EOS R6's primary bugbear? With a heat-dissipating body structure, the A7 IV can record 4K 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 video continuously for more than an hour, Sony claims. The R6, meanwhile, is limited to around 40 minutes at 4K/30p before a cooling off period is required.
With most camera lenses, pulling video focus from a foreground to background subject can cause an ugly change in framing. The A7 IV's Focus Breathing Compensation system essentially uses a digital zoom to compensate for that, making the transition smoother. However, since the system needs to track lens elements, it only supports Sony-branded glass — and only the rather expensive G and GM models, at that.
If you'd rather focus manually, the A7 IV is debuting a new feature called Focus Map. It overlays colors onto a scene showing the parts within, behind and in front of the depth of field (DOF). That's supposed to help you pull focus quickly and in the right direction toward your subject. Related to that is the new "AF Assist" function borrowed from Sony's FX6 cinema camera that allows for manual focus, even during autofocus operation.
Lastly, Sony has introduced new live streaming and sharing features, though they're not quite up to the level we've seen on other recent cameras. If you use Sony's Imaging Edge mobile app, it will now use Bluetooth to maintain a continuous connection, rather than disconnecting as before.
It also offers faster transfer speeds with 5GHz WiFi and superspeed USB-C 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps). You can do video and audio streaming over USB-C at up to 1080p 60 or 4K 15p if resolution is a priority over smooth video. That allows for webcam or livestreaming via apps like OBS with digital audio and effects like soft skin. The camera can also record internally while you're live streaming, providing a backup. Unlike Panasonic's GH5 II however, you can't transmit via RTMP to Twitch, YouTube or other services without a phone or laptop.
The A7 IV is clearly a massive leap forward for Sony's "basic" full-frame mirrorless camera series, putting it on par or ahead of most rivals. The only deterrent is the $2,500 price tag ($2,699 with a 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS kit lens), which is $500 more than the A7 III cost at launch. I'd wager, though, that it's going to be just as popular as the original, provided it delivers the promised performance — so stay tuned for our review. The A7 IV is set to arrive by the end of December 2021.
Even though Holland plays a much younger version of the character (which Mark Wahlberg's Sully jokes about in the opening moments) than in the games, the enjoyable-enough trailer incudes some of the most memorable moments from Drake's globe-trotting adventures. There isn't a bit where he clambers up a train carriage that's dangling over a cliff, but there's the cargo plane set piece from Uncharted 3 and a ship trapped inside a cave, just like in Uncharted 4. The clip includes some underground exploration too.
The film's set to arrive in theaters on February 11th, following several delays. Attempts to make an Uncharted movie stopped and started over the years, with directors including David O. Russell, Seth Gordon and Shawn Levy being attached at certain points before Zombieland and Venom helmer Ruben Fleischer saw the film through. The project had been in development for so long that, for a while, Wahlberg looked set to play Drake, rather than the character's mentor.
Some viewers might be coming to the franchise with fresh eyes (maybe because they need more Tom Holland in their lives), and they might want to play the games to see what all the fuss is about. Sony Pictures included a handy reminder at the end of the trailer about a remastered bundle of Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy that's coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in early 2022.
In case the trailer doesn't quite match up to what you might have expected, or Holland doesn't seem like the right person for the gig in your opinion, it's worth checking out this short fan film from a few years back in which Nathan Fillion plays the rogueish treasure hunter. It's a blast.
Facebook Messenger's augmented reality effects are no longer limited to individuals. The social media company has introduced a Group Effects feature that, as the name implies, enables AR effects for everyone in a video call. Some of the 70-plus effects are just for giggles (such as giving everyone a beard), but others are shared experiences like games. You can compete to build a hamburger, if you're so inclined.
The feature is available today in both regular Messenger calls and Messenger Rooms, and should be "coming soon" to Instagram. If you have the option, you can tap the smiley icon in a group call to pick Group Effects.
The addition could help Facebook compete against Snapchat and others that have had AR games for a while. It might help Facebook shift its focus to the metaverse, for that matter. If nothing else, it's an acknowledgment that group video chat is still important even as the pandemic (hopefully) winds down. Shared AR may help you keep in touch with distant friends more effectively than basic face-to-face chats.
