Sony already hinted that it's working on a new PlayStation VR headset, promising "dramatic leaps" in performance, higher resolution, a wider field of view, better tracking and a new controller. On Tuesday, Sony reportedly revealed more specifics about the headset at a developer's summit, according to the YouTube channel PSVR Without Parole (below) and UploadVR, The Verge has reported.
The device is reportedly codenamed next-gen VR (NGVR) and features controllers with capacitive touch sensors that can detect when you're holding the controller or touching the buttons, and even sense the distance to your fingers. Sony also reportedly told developer's that it's planning optional VR support for all AAA releases, so you could play them either in VR or on your TV — much like it did with Resident Evil 7 and No Man's Sky on the PS4 and PS5.
PSVR Without Parole also noted that the next-gen PSVR will offer a 110-degree field of view that's 10 degrees wider than the PSVR. To make the most of those pixels, it will use flexible scaling resolution, along with foveated rendering that uses eye-tracking to improve resolution where you're looking. UploadVR, meanwhile, said that the the headset will feature high-resolution 2,000 x 2,040 OLED displays (4K in total).
We've already heard that the PSVR will connect to PlayStation consoles with a single cable, with no passthrough box required. It will also use inside-out tracking and offer adaptive triggers and haptic feedback on the controllers.
All told, the PSVR 2 (or whatever it's called) should have features mostly on par with rival headsets like the Oculus Quest 2 and HTC Vive Pro 2. However, Sony itself said that the headset won't launch until at least next year, and a Bloomberg report from June indicated it might not come until late in 2022. For now, though, all of that is still grist for the rumor mill until Sony announces something official, possibly later this year.
Earlier this year, Intel announced they were planning to retake the CPU manufacturing lead and "unquestioned leadership" in the PC world. These were impressive goals, but what was missing was any sense of how they'd actually achieve them. Now, we finally know Intel's plan.
Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger and SVP of Technology Development Dr. Ann Kelleher, laid out the company's plan for the future. For starters, Intel is renaming its manufacturing nodes. What used to be 10nm "Enhanced Superfin" is now just "7." This may feel a little duplicitous — "just wave a wand a you've got better technology!" — but to be fair to intel, the nanometer measurements of process nodes don't really correspond to anything physical any more, and in terms of density Intel's current 10nm chips are competitive with TSMC and Samsung's 7nm.
Looking beyond 7nm, Intel is targeting an aggressive release schedule with major product updates happening annually. We're expecting their Alder Lake chips this fall, which will mix high and low-powered cores, followed by now-4nm Meteor Lake chips that will move to a "tile" (chiplet) design, and incorporate Intel's 3D stacked-chip technology, Foveros.
Beyond that, Intel has technology mapped out for an EUV-based 3nm node that will use the high-energy manufacturing process to streamline chip creation, and a "20A" for angstrom node. This is one ten-billionth of a meter (meaning it's 2nm), and will be followed by a 18A node that Intel hopes to start moving into production in 2025 for products sometime in the 2nd half of the decade. Again, while node measurements don't really correspond to physical structures any more, a silicon atom is in the area of 2 angstroms wide, so these are seriously tiny transistors.
This release schedule seems aggressive, and Intel does not have the best track record of meeting targets for new nodes, but if it can even come close to these goals, expect your laptops and desktops to get a huge performance boost in the next few years.
For even more info on Intel's plans, and details on its EMIB interconnect technology and two new versions of Foveros, be sure to check out the video above. You can see our sources here.
If you’re a big Samsung fan, you’ve probably already marked your calendar for August 11th, when the company is holding its next Galaxy Unpacked event. Though it has held many events already in 2021, at least this time around it’s one that we’ve been anticipating. In recent years, Samsung has unveiled new Note phones every August. But at this coming Unpacked, the company will not be showing off a new Note. Thanks to the enterprising rumor mill and.. Samsung itself… We have a very good idea of what to expect on August 11th.
Foldables: The third generation
The company published a blog post this week in which its president TM Roh teased what’s to come. First up: Foldables. Yes, that’s plural. We’ll be seeing the third-generation of the Galaxy Z series, including the next Z Flip and Z Fold. If you’ll recall, the Z Flip is the smaller, Moto Razr-style phone that looks like a regular phone that you can close in half. Meanwhile, the Z Fold is more of a tablet-phone hybrid, where a 6.2-inch device opens up to reveal a 7.6-inch screen.
What might Samsung bring in new versions of these devices? Based on the leaks floatingaround the internet, the Z Flip 3 will possibly have a 1.9-inch outer screen, with a 6.7-inch internal flexible display. That external panel is significantly bigger than the 1.1-inch sliver on the older Z Flip, which could make it more useful when the device is shut. We’ve also seen reports that the inside screen will run at 120hz and sport dual 12-megapixel rear cameras and a 10-megapixel selfie shooter.
Chris Velazco / Engadget
Meanwhile, the Z Fold 3 is rumored to have a similar setup to the existing model, with a 6.2-inch exterior panel and a 7.6-inch version inside. It’ll probably have triple 12-megapixel cameras and two selfie cameras on either side. Both models are reported to be rated IPX8 for water resistance, though dust-resistance clearly still remains a challenge. These are all educated guesses based on what’s been leaked, so I’d take the details with a grain of salt.
What has been confirmed is that the foldables will support Samsung’s S Pen. The stylus has been a hallmark of the Note series and the company enabled support for it on its flagship S series earlier this year. In his blog post, Roh said the S Pen was specifically designed for its foldables.
A stylus made for the pliable screens on foldables has been a widely requested feature, and would make the larger, opened up displays more useful. Of course, Samsung shared little else about this S Pen besides the fact that it's coming, so there are plenty of unknowns at the moment. How will it avoid damaging the softer, flexible screen? What size is its nib, what is its pressure sensitivity and will the foldables have onboard slots to house it? Will it have Bluetooth support for remote control actions? Clearly, these are things we'll have to wait till Unpacked on August 11th to learn about.
Wearables: New headphones and Wear OS watches
Samsung also already spilled the beans on its upcoming Galaxy Watch running the new Wear OS that it co-engineered with Google. We’ve also seen plenty of leaked renders of the purported Galaxy Watch 4, which is likely to come in an Active and a Classic edition. The latter might be available in three sizes instead of just two, and appears to feature the popular rotating bezel Samsung’s watches are known for. Expect to see more details about the hardware and the UI at Unpacked, in addition to pricing and availability.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
That’s not the only wearable that will make an appearance. We’ve also seen leaks indicating new Galaxy Buds 2 might show up at Unpacked. The company’s next wireless earbuds appear to have a more refined design and more color options. One report based on a beta version of an upcoming plugin on Samsung’s update server also indicated the possibility of active noise cancellation, touch controls and a simplified battery interface.
That’s pretty much all we know so far, though I wouldn’t put it past Samsung to have something else hidden up its sleeve for the event. Will Blackpink show up? I wish. But as for actual hardware, this is already a pretty long list of things to expect come August 11th. Samsung’s launch kicks off at 10am Eastern that day, and you should come watch it with us on Engadget’s YouTube channel. We’ll be starting at 9:40AM Eastern with a pre-show and hanging around after Samsung wraps to answer your burning questions. I hope to see you then!
Samsung is releasing the 12.4-inch Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G, a cheaper sibling to its flagship Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, on Thursday, August 5th. The "FE" stands for "Fan Edition," a term that was also used with the Galaxy S20 FE smartphone, and is essentially a roundabout way of saying this is a less flashy alternative.
In terms of specs, that boils down to a less powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chipset, compared to the S7/S7 Plus' 865+ processor. Here, you get an LCD instead of the Plus' AMOLED display with 2,560 x 1,600 resolution versus 1,752 x 2,800 pixels. Samsung hasn't mentioned if the refresh rate will match the 120Hz on the S7 range.
Samsung
Another area where it falls short is the camera: 8MP on the back and a 5-megapixel one for selfies. Comparatively, the S7/S7 Plus feature a dual camera setup, with a main 13-megapixel camera accompanied by an ultra wide 5-megapixel offering, with a front 8-megapixel snapper. The FE also poaches the S7 Plus' 10,090 mAh battery and supports quick charging. Its metal unibody design should still feel as lavish.
Samsung
Prices for the 5G tablet start from $669, which gets you the base model in black with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage (expandable to 1TB with an SD card). Samsung previously said the slate would also offer a 6GB/128GB configuration, though that is likely to cost more. The FE 5G will initially be available at Samsung.com, AT&T and Verizon, and will arrive at T-Mobile, UScellular and other retailers in the coming days.
A $530 WiFi model is also available to pre-order today, ahead of a September release date, in three extra colors including pink, green and silver. Both tablets come with an S-Pen stylus out of the box.
That really leaves you to decide whether you want the FE or last year's Tab S7 ($650/$850) or Tab S7 Plus ($850/$1,050). Of course, if you're after something even cheaper, you can always settle for the $159 Tab A7 Lite.
When will see the end of the notch or the hole-punch camera? The fight continues to make in-screen smartphone cameras a viable option. Last year's ZTE Axon 20 5G was the first phone to attempt the hidden selfie camera, but it struggled with image quality. It’s a predictable issue: The camera has to face out through the screen, affected by whatever the pixels are displaying.
Oppo has announced its third-gen under-screen camera which, based on a sample shot, shows a lot of promise. Even if it’s a company’s own sample, there’s no noticeable haziness nor glare. The company explains this is possible through a combination of electronic engineering and AI smarts. Oppo says it trained its own AI engine "using tens of thousands of photos" to achieve more accurate corrections on diffraction, white balance and HDR.
Then there’s the display. Earlier designs lowered the pixel density in the area above the camera to let more light into the sensor. This, however, made a noticeable patch above the camera. But now, Oppo — or whichever company is making its smartphone displays, possibly Samsung — figured out a way to boost light transmittance by shrinking each pixel's geometry. In other words, it keeps the same pixel density, but more light can reach the camera sensor.
Oppo hasn’t mentioned a date — or new phone — for the under-screen camera, but ZTE claims to feature an improved version of its under-screen camera in its new Axon 30 5G, which launched in China last week. The timing is all a little too coincidental.
While it’s no Mac Pro with in-house silicon, Apple has updated the Mac Pro with new high-end GPU options. AMD's Radeon Pro W6800X, W6800X Duo and W6900X cards tout 50 percent improved performance per watt over their Vega II predecessors. All of them include four Thunderbolt 3 ports and an HDMI 2 connector, with support for Infinity Fabric Link that lets up to four GPUs (such as two W6800X Duo modules) talk to each other five times faster than PCIe.
That performance will, of course, cost you: $2,400 extra to configure a new Mac Pro with the W6800X inside, $4,600 for the W6800X Duo and $5,600 for the W6900X. Go all-out and you can spend $9,600 on two W6800X Duos or $11,600 on two W6900X modules. Continue reading.
Boeing will have to wait yet again to test its Starliner spacecraft. The company and NASA had planned to launch the capsule on Tuesday on top of an Atlas V rocket at 1:20 PM ET yesterday, but the company had to delay the launch due to "unexpected valve position indications in the propulsion system" that engineers spotted during pre-launch preparations. Continue reading.
As promised, we bought Krispy Kreme’s celebratory Xbox donut, with powdered sugar nexus design. Do we own an Xbox? No. But do we like donuts? Yes. Continue reading.
For a limited time, but probably until ‘Halo Infinite’ actually arrives.
Microsoft and 343 Industries have partnered with Waze to bring the Master Chief and Escharum, his Banished foil in Infinite’s upcoming story campaign, to the navigation app. It’s also possible to change your car’s live map icon to either a Warthog or Ghost and update your profile “mood” to feature the visage of the Spartan or alien war chief. Continue reading.
The retailer's contactless payments system is available at 53 of its physical stores.
Amazon is offering $10 in promotional credit to get people to sign up to its palm print payments system, according to an offer spotted by TechCrunch. The retailer launched Amazon One last fall as a contactless way of authenticating purchases and allowing entry into stores using a biometric device. The sign-up process is the only part that requires you to touch the device. After that, you just hover your palm over the scanner to enter a store and complete purchases.
Amazon is aware of privacy concerns and promised to secure palm data using encryption and dedicated secure zones with restricted access controls. For those worried their data could be monetized, Amazon also committed to keeping palm data separate from its other customer data. That said, a $10 voucher may not sway those already put off by the horror stories around the company’s facial recognition tech and Alexa voice recordings. Continue reading.
After going down briefly earlier today, Apple's website has returned with a new design that reintroduces a "Store" tab not unlike the one it removed nearly six years ago, MacRumors has reported. That leads to a dedicated buying section where customers can select from its product lineup, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. With the new tweaks, you'll no longer need to visit each product page and track down the "buy" button to see options or make a purchase.
Along with a horizontal list of products, the Store page shows the latest products, promotions, accessories and more. It now more closely resembles the Apple Store app, as MacRumors pointed out.
Clicking on a category like "iPhone" in the Store tab takes you to a carousel that shows all the current models available, like the iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12, iPhone SE and iPhone XR. Once you select a specific model like the iPhone 12 Pro, it takes you to the buy page for that item where you can start to select color, storage and other options. Previously, you would have needed to click on the iPhone product page, scroll down to find a specific model and click on the "buy" button.
Apple's website had a Store tab before the 2015 redesign, but it essentially shunted you to a completely different domain. The new design works differently: You still remain on the Apple.com site, and the Store tab simply gives you a different way of navigating to the buying section. A subtle change, but significant considering the enormous worldwide traffic to Apple's website.
Perhaps Google has started preparing for the launch of its upcoming Nest camera products, which is why they showed up on the company's store for a very brief period. While the listings are no longer available as of this writing, The Verge was able to catch a glimpse before they disappeared. Apparently, the tech giant will launch a battery-powered Nest camera good for indoors and outdoors, another camera that comes with floodlights and a wired camera for indoors. There's a battery-powered Nest doorbell among the leaked products, as well.
Google (screenshots courtesy of The Verge)
Unfortunately, the listings didn't link to individual product pages and only took curious users back to the main Google Store page. We'll have to wait for official information to know more about the devices. By releasing a battery-powered Nest doorbell and a floodlight-equipped camera, however, Google will finally be able to offer a veritable rival to Amazon's security devices. When the tech giant first announced that it'll launch a new Nest lineup back in January, it didn't say when the products will be available. It did say, however, that the lineup is for 2021, so they'll most likely be out for purchase in the coming months.
Until recently, there was only one smartphone on the market equipped with an under-screen camera: last year's ZTE Axon 20 5G. Other players such as Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi had also been testing this futuristic tech, but given the subpar image quality back then, it's no wonder that phone makers largely stuck with punch-hole cameras for selfies.
Despite much criticism of its first under-screen camera, ZTE worked what it claims to be an improved version into its new Axon 30 5G, which launched in China last week. Coincidentally, today Oppo unveiled its third-gen under-screen camera which, based on a sample shot it provided, appears to be surprisingly promising — no noticeable haziness nor glare. But that was just one photo, of course, so I'll obviously reserve my final judgement until I get to play with one. Even so, the AI tricks and display circuitry that made this possible are intriguing.
Oppo
In a nutshell, nothing has changed in terms of how the under-screen camera sees through the screen. Its performance is limited by how much light can travel through the gaps between each OLED pixel. Therefore, AI compensation is still a must. For its latest under-screen camera, Oppo says it trained its own AI engine "using tens of thousands of photos" in order to achieve more accurate corrections on diffraction, white balance and HDR. Hence the surprisingly natural-looking sample shot.
Oppo
Another noteworthy improvement here lies within the display panel's consistency. The earlier designs chose to lower the pixel density in the area above the camera, in order to let sufficient light into the sensor. This resulted in a noticeable patch above the camera, which would have been a major turn-off when you watched videos or read fine text on that screen.
But now, Oppo — or the display panel maker, which could be Samsung — figured out a way to boost light transmittance by slightly shrinking each pixel's geometry above the camera. In order words, we get to keep the same 400-ppi pixel density as the rest of the screen, thus creating a more consistent look.
Oppo
Oppo added that this is further enhanced by a transparent wiring material, as well as a one-to-one pixel-circuit-to-pixel architecture (instead of two-to-one like before) in the screen area above the camera. The latter promises more precise image control and greater sharpness, with the bonus being a 50-percent longer panel lifespan due to better burn-in prevention.
Oppo didn't say when or if consumers will get to use its next-gen under-screen camera, but given the timing, I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be the same solution on the ZTE Axon 30 5G. In any case, it would be nice if the industry eventually agreed to dump punch-hole cameras in favor of invisible ones.
WhatsApp is adding disappearing photo messages to its app. Called “view once” photos, the new feature allows users to send photos and videos in chats that can only be viewed a single time before disappearing.
The Snapchat-like feature is similar to Instagram and Messenger’s disappearing photo features. When snapping a picture in WhatsApp, users can select the timer icon to set the photo to “view once.” Unlike regular photo or video messages, the “view once” images won’t preview in the chat and can’t be downloaded to your device.
Facebook is billing the feature as one for “private moments” or for sending potentially sensitive information like Wi-Fi passwords. As always, people should be wary of just how “private” these kinds of messages really are. In a help article, the company notes that the recipient can still take a screenshot or record their screen while opening a “view once” photo and, unlike Snapchat, WhatsApp won’t let the sender know when a screenshot has been taken. The company also points out that “view once” photos that are reported will be made visible to WhatsApp.
In 2021, the University of New Brunswick and Sheridan College outside of Toronto will allow students to add their ID cards to Apple Wallet and use their iPhones and Apple Watches to access facilities and pay for food and other items and services across campus. In the US, “many more” schools, including Auburn University, Northern Arizona University, University of Maine and New Mexico State University, will adopt the software this fall.
It will likely take many more years before every school offers digital student ID cards, but the technology is clearly becoming more ubiquitous. In April, Apple said it saw more students use their mobile IDs to make purchases and access campus facilities than their plastic counterparts for the first time since it launched the software. In the fall, the University of Alabama, one of the early adopters of the tech, will exclusively issue mobile IDs to students with the necessary hardware, marking a first for the platform.
