As we get busy opening presents, it’s time to reflect on the past year, and it’s been an amazing one!

2017 was definitely an interesting year for tech, so before we turn our minds towards what 2018 might have in store for us, it’s worth taking a little time to look back at the highlights of the past twelve months.

Tech Trends continued to gain more views and recognition as we build up our audience with what we hope is some decent content that manages to inform without taking itself too seriously.

2017 was definitely an interesting year for tech
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Earlier this year we were named one of the Top 50 virtual reality blogs and have just been nominated for the UK Blog Awards for the second year in a row, which is nice!

Twitter still faces the strange paradox of having its financial future constantly in question while being the medium through which Trump wipes out billions of dollars from corporate valuations
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January brought with it the inevitable start of the Trump presidency, and the crushing realisation of the power of social media. Later we would find out more about how Russian tampered with the democratic process in both the US and UK, by using platforms like Facebook, but nowhere was this impact more evident than on Donald Trump’s preferred soapbox – Twitter, which faced the strange paradox of having its financial future constantly in question while being the medium through which he would wipe out billions of dollars from corporate valuations. Following a piece I wrote about how Twitter should be regarded as a public service, I was interviewed on Canadian Radio about its future which – at the time of writing – looks no clearer than it did back then.

On a happier note, the Tech Trends team had a chance to review a lot of awesome gadgets, software and other products and to travel all over the world this year, starting with our amazing tour of the Orlando Tech Scene where we visited the awesome lab and studio facilities at Full Sail University.

Tech Trends did a whole lot of globe-trotting this year
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Universities like Full Sail are increasingly getting behind the immersive tech revolution, and that’s not only happening in America, as was evident during our recent visit to Birmingham University or in the way that institutions like the University of St Andrews’ used VR to allow people to travel back in time – although maybe not quite in a Doctor Who sort of way. In fact, the power of VR to preserve and bring memories back to life for future generations was the focus of a project we covered with Royal British Legion for Remembrance Day.

Later in 2017 we visited the beautiful Basque Country, got to check out the famous Silicon Slopes of Utah at the Pluralsight Live conference in Salt Lake City and went to Holland to learn how the Dutch are (quite literally) driving innovation in smart mobility tech.

We also met some of the brightest and most entrepreneurial young minds in the world at the Imagine Cup in Seattle, and spent an incredibly hot few days at the Teradata Partners conference in Los Angeles where we saw how Big Data can also be Beautiful with an exhibition dedicated to data visualization.

From seeing the latest Mixed Reality Tech unveiled at Microsoft Build and checking out the latest EdTech at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, to hosting a discussion on how Mixed Reality has the potential to transform the way we learn at the START Summit in Switzerland, we certainly had our share of awesome conferences in 2017.

We were guests of HP at the Cannes Film Festival and found time to check out the Raindance VR Arcade for the second year in a row, and saw how it is now possible to 3D Print Designer furniture at a pop-up shop in Manhattan. Later in the year we also went back to take another bite of the Big Apple during NYVR Expo

Not all our travels took us that far, but that doesn’t mean they were any less interesting. It was amazing to go to Bestival and Reading festivals to have our infinity 360 degree selfies taken at the Samsung Hypercube, or find out how crowdfunding is helping to power the economy in Cornwall, and even see how home-grown cosmetics company Lush was embracing the digital revolution.

That last one still counts as one of the craziest events I’ve been to anywhere; It’s not every day, after all, that you can see Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn making a bath bomb and Brian May from Queen hurtling down a slide on the same day…

It was more inspiring than ever to see all the ways that technology makes a real difference in people’s lives, from helping refugees get an education to celebrating diversity, even though episodes such as the Google Memo debacle served as a sharp and foul-tasting reminder that there’s still a long way to go if we are to make the tech industry itself more inclusive.

Data was a big theme throughout 2017, and it was fascinating to wrap up the year with a visit to Mozilla’s bold installation in London, aimed at educating people about what is actually being done with their data, and encourage us all to be more proactive about safeguarding our rights and privacy.

2017 was also a momentum-gathering year for Social VR, as many platforms like Linden Lab’s Sansar were finally unveiled to the public, and instantly started to foster some incredible creative content from the community, as I’ve seen first-hand when judging their Halloween experiences competition in October.

We also saw how Mixed Reality is being used to train surgeons, and even Astronauts, witnessed the power of VR experiences to generate empathy and change people’s minds, saw how tech is enabling new forms of artistic expression, engaging young people with politics, or climb mountains in virtual reality.

And having the chance to interview HoloLens creator Alex Kipman about his vision for  the future of computing and how Microsoft developed its groundbreaking immersive sound technology was definitely one of the high points of the year for me. 2018 is definitely looking like the year of Mixed Reality, and we can’t wait to see the shape that takes.

Interviewing HoloLens creator Alex Kipman was definitely one of the highlights of the year for me
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So thank you to all our readers for giving us the excuse to see and talk about these things, and we hope to continue to be your guide through the weird and wonderful world of tech in the new year and for many years to come. As we continue to grow and welcome a stellar host of new contributors on board, there are exciting times ahead, and we hope you will join us on that journey.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Tech Trends Team & mascots!

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post #MerryChristmas From Tech Trends! appeared first on Tech Trends.

Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, Tech Trends has your back with this special holiday bumper edition of desirable gadget reviews.

Lelo Sona Cruise

Technology is changing the world and traditional ways of doing things are being challenged every day. Getting your rocks off is one of them so Tech Trends, always up for a little onanism, was excited to receive the cute looking Sona Cruise from Lelo. More like standing next to the Marshall stacks at a rock concert than leaning on the washing machine on spin, that’s the best way to explain the cunning technology behind the new Sona Cruise.

Conventional vibrators transmit energy (and pleasure) through physical contact with the buzzing tool but the Sona Cruise emits sonic pulses, sound waves that penetrate and radiate deeper below the surface skin providing by all accounts a thrilling experience like no other. Another plus is that the Sona Cruise doesn’t leave you sore as the pulses generated by the sound pad mean you don’t need to hold it against the sensitive areas, just near. This thing is also beautifully made, the ABS Silicone is gorgeous to touch and the design is funky and comfortable to use.

The Sona Cruise doesn’t leave you sore as the pulses generated by the sound pad mean you don’t need to hold it against the sensitive areas, just near
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It’s 100% waterproof. So if you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, your chariot has arrived. It also makes it super easy to clean. Sona Cruise is made from a single piece of silicone, and this one-piece design keeps it watertight – even at the charging socket. Perfect for the bath, shower or hot tub or a cheeky one in the swimming pool! Because the Sona Cruise is not like a conventional pleasure product, it doesn’t sound like one. It’s quiet and restrained – perfect for users who need discretion. What’s more, it’s USB-rechargeable, so you can take it anywhere you go. An hour of charging will give you an hour of pleasure.

RRP: Currently reduced from £159 to £89

The Sona Cruise is made from a single piece of silicone, it’s 100% waterproof and super easy to clean
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Aukey 1080p Webcam

The nice people at Aukey have sent Tech Trends several of their very well made tech toys recently. The 1080p PC-LM1 Stereo Webcam is another fine piece of kit at a bargain price. The 1/3” CMOS sensor provides a very good image at 1080p in well-lit conditions but as with all small HD sensors it gets a bit grainy and smudged if used in dark rooms. The camera can also take 2-megapixel photos.

The Stereo mic worked very well in my tests and it proved to be truly plug and play on both Macs and PCs
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The Stereo mic worked very well in my tests and it proved to be truly plug and play on both Macs and PCs. Overall this is a match for Webcams twice this price and looks good to boot! Like all Aukey products, it comes with a 24 month guarantee which is unheard of in this price range but all their products we have tested so far have been solid and reliable in use which breeds confidence.

• High-definition 1080p webcam with 1/3″ CMOS image sensor and 2 built-in stereo microphones. Delivers sharp, smooth video for video chats and recording
• Excellent video quality with 1920 ×1080p Full HD streaming and recording. Good performance even in more dimly lit rooms (≤5 lux minimum illumination). Fixed focus keeps things in focus up to five meters away
• Stream and capture clearer and more detailed video, also with stereo sound
• Easy to use – Plug & Play no drivers or software to install; just plug this webcam into your device’s USB port. Compatible with Windows XP/ 2000 /2003 / Vista/ 7/ 8/ 10, Mac OS 10.6, and Android 5.0 or above, works with Smart TV, Android TV Box, Skype, MSN, FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, Youtube, Yahoo Messenger etc
• Conveniently clip this camera onto flat-screen computer monitors and laptop computer screens or stand it on desks and other flat surfaces
• Package Contents: AUKEY PC-LM1 1080p Webcam, User Manual, 24-Month Product Replacement Warranty and Friendly Customer Service

RRP: £30.99 on Amazon.co.uk

Overall this is a match for Webcams twice this price and looks good to boot!
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Honor 7X Smartphone

You might not have heard of Honor here in the UK but they are part of the Huawei Group and produce some compelling smartphones. Honor is the number one smartphone e-brand in China in 2017 in terms of sales performance. They have also announced a new global growth strategy that aims to make it a top-three smartphone brand worldwide in five years. They are already the number one and number three e-brand in Finland and Russia respectively and Honor’s sales grew significantly on Black Friday in the United States and Europe this year. Read the full review here.

Honor is the number one smartphone e-brand in China in 2017 in terms of sales performance
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Aukey Ground Loop Noise Isolator

These Aukey products are great, affordable stocking fillers for technophiles the world over. This Ground Loop Noise Isolator filters out the background hiss or buzz that can ruin your music and is particularly useful in car stereo systems or with cheaper home stereo systems whose electrical components and power supplies are not quite as capable as more expensive options. I hooked this up with the Bluetooth Audio Receiver lats month http://techtrends.tech/tech-trends/november-2017-tech-trends-product-reviews/ which I had linked to my Marantz amp but is powered via USB plugged into my TV.

These Aukey products are great, affordable stocking fillers for technophiles the world over
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This poor quality supply of power to the Bluetooth Receiver will inevitably affect the sound so I was keen to see how this gadget improved things. I powered it up connected my Galaxy S7 via Bluetooth and blasted out my current favourite track, Higgin & Kissin by Big Black Delta. There was a definite improvement in the sound feeling clearer and more solid but also a little peakier. Generally, it was an improvement and keen to try it out on my other computer stereo set up. At £8.99 get one and give it a go, it can only make your setup sound better!

• ELIMINATING BUZZING NOISE: Eliminate hiss, buzz, and other background interference caused by ground loop noise. Designed to improve sound quality on car stereo systems and home speaker systems when the audio source is physically connected by 3.5mm audio cable
• WORKING PRINCIPLE: Filters out noise instantly for clear, uninterrupted, uncompromised sound. Lose the noise; keep everything else
• PLUG AND PLAY: Nifty little gadget that just plugs in; no other setup needed
• COMPATIBLE MODELS: Works with any audio device that has 3.5mm audio jacks, for your Car Audio System/Home Stereo, when grounding issues persist
• PACKAGE CONTENTS: AUKEY GI-L1 Ground Loop Isolator, 3.5mm Audio Cable, User Manual, 24-Month Product Replacement Warranty and Friendly Customer Service

RRP: Reduced fro £11.99 to £8.99 on amazon.co.uk

The new Add-X feature displays exclusive offers and adverts, tailored to the user’s age and gender, on the phone’s lock screen
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Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus with Add-X

Wileyfox is a London based smartphone maker focused on offering consumers a mobile experience that is intuitive, highly spec’d and competitively priced. Wileyfox is proud to be a disruptive company and this December launched its revolutionary “Add-X” range – an extension of its well-regarded Android premium and high-spec’d Swift 2 and Spark ranges, but with added value for savvy consumers. What deal-seeking shopper wouldn’t love an upfront price discount on their new premium Wileyfox smartphone of up to 42%. Yes, that’s right if you choose the Add-X version of the top spec Swift 2+ or Spark phones you will get up to a 42% discount. What, Why, How the flip….?

The new “Add-X” feature displays exclusive offers and adverts, tailored to the user’s age and gender, on the phone’s lock screen. This doesn’t interfere with access to personal notifications, date and time and users can simply swipe right to unlock their phone as normal or swipe left to see more.

“At Wileyfox we’re committed to shaking up the competition again, to give our customers the best smartphone for their budget. And with Add-X we’re smashing expectations at an even higher level reducing the costs across our range upfront, while also giving the consumer even more ways to be “wiley” Michael Coombes, CEO of Wileyfox explained

Wileyfox is a London based smartphone maker focused on offering consumers a mobile experience that is intuitive, highly spec'd and competitively priced
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Examples of offers could include a discount or a preview of a sale, selected to provide Wileyfox customers with brands, products and services they would want to see. Not only that but over time through the proprietary AI and machine-learning technology, the Add-X platform adapts to the user’s behaviour and learns to serve the user with more of the brands and offers they are looking for. Advertisers now on the Add-X platform include Dominoes and Ministry of Sound, among others.

“As Wileyfox is committed to consumer experience, there is a highly selective process to which brands and products can advertise over the platform. There will be no adverts for porn or money-lending companies. Only users over the age of 18 will receive adverts for alcohol brands.” Coombes continued

Wileyfox claim Add-X has no impact on the phone performance plus all the existing phone features operate on the phone as usual. They have optimised the handsets’ power management systems to ensure they perform to the same standard as non Add-X Wileyfox phones and the impact of Add-X on data appears to be negligible – they claim less than 20MB per month. The advertising subsidises the cost of the mobile phone, without tieing the user to an Operator.

“Not only can consumers buy a better phone for less, but during the lifetime of the phone they will be presented with many great offers, which can over time save them even more than the cost of the phone. Protecting customer data is a priority. No customer data is shared with any advertisers or other parties. Customer profiling data is only used to tailor the customer experience.” Concluded Coombes

Ok, but what are the phones like? Well, Tech Trends received a lovely pink Swift 2 Plus with Add-X and first impressions were very good. Lovely packaging a nice long USB-C cable and the phone clear upgrade on the previous Swift model and has a nicely machined metal body and good looking 720p screen. I was pleased to see that the overall handset quality is only a step behind the big boys in machining and finish and is more than acceptable for the price bracket.

I was pleased to see that the overall handset quality is only a step behind the big boys in machining and finish and is more than acceptable for the price bracket
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The 16MP & 8MP back and front cameras are good and the fingerprint sensor is quick and easy to set up. Located on the back of the phone it means there is no need for a home button on the front so the Swift 2 feels like the much more expensive Samsung Galaxy S8, Sony Xperia and iPhone X plus it runs Android 7.1.2! The 1.4GHz Snapdragon 430 paired with 3GBs of RAM mean it is pretty quick to use and multitasking is no problem and the 32GBs of storage is enough for most users. It also has NFC, Duel SIM functionality and Quick Charge 3 a serious list of features that most mid-priced handsets can’t offer.

The Wileyfox 16MP & 8MP back and front cameras are good and the fingerprint sensor is quick and easy to set up
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It is not a speed demon but then it is not meant to be and for the price Tech Trends hasn’t seen many better options. Maybe most importantly we felt that Add-X was only minimally intrusive and did not ruin the fun to be had playing with the Swift 2. It’s a really nice phone and we can thoroughly recommend it. I am also pleased to see a British company innovating in this market and who knows where Wileyfox will go from here.

I was pleased to see a British company innovating in this market and who knows where Wileyfox will go from here
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Dough Universe

Since the days of Texas Instruments Little Professor and Speak and Spell there have always been toys that tried to blend education and play – albeit with mixed results – but few have sought to educate, entertain and prepare children’s blossoming creative minds for the flourishing worlds of technologies to come. Tech Will Save us aims to change all that. Their mission is to inspire kids everywhere to use technology to create new things, solve life-changing problems, and invent their own future in a world where 65% of kids in school today may well have a job that doesn’t exist yet. Read the full review here.

Tech Will Save Us is on a mission to inspire kids to use technology to create new things, solve life-changing problems, and invent their own future
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Aukey USB Quick Charge 3.0 Mains Charger

If you are anything like me you burn through your devices’ batteries and are constantly plugging them in, swapping them around and screaming for the right lead. Well, this six port USB mains adapter will solve some of my problems and I was very excited to try the two Quick Charge 3 ports on my Galaxy S8. The other 4 ports are no slouch and use adaptive AiPower Tech for Samsung S8, iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPad Air 2/iPad Pro, Nexus, LG G5 and more.

If you are anything like me you burn through your devices’ batteries and are constantly plugging them in, swapping them around and screaming for the right lead
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The charger is tuned to support healthier battery function and faster USB charging speeds, AiPower intelligently adjusts power output to match the unique charging needs of all your USB powered gear. With up to 2.4A of dedicated adaptive output per AiPower USB port, your devices will each receive the safest maximum recharge rate possible. The charger is compatible with a full range of USB connector types, from A to C so will work for most devices out there. The Quick Charge 3 worked a treat and charged my S8 up to 50% in 40mins and 100% in around an hour and a quarter, now that is impressive! When you take the 24-month guarantee into account this is another great product from Aukey at a very reasonable price.

The Aukey charger is tuned to support healthier battery function and faster USB charging speeds
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• Quick Charge 3.0 – Charge compatible devices up to 4 times faster than conventional charging
• Adaptively charges all 5V USB powered devices including Android and Apple devices at up to 2.4A
• Plug everything in at once and charge simultaneously at full speed
• Built-in safeguards protect your devices against excessive current, overheating, and overcharging
• Package Contents: Package Contents: AUKEY PA-T11 Charging Station, 2.6ft Detachable Power Adapter, User Manual, 24 Month Warranty Card

RRP: £24.99 on amazon.co.uk

Tom Atkinson is a Digital Producer & Photographer at R3Digital and Reviews & Dept. Editor at Tech Trends. Follow him on Twitter @R3Digital

The post December 2017 Tech Trends Product Reviews appeared first on Tech Trends.

This classy smartphone has some lofty ambitions and a very attractive price tag.

You might not have heard of Honor here in the UK but they are part of the Huawei Group and produce some compelling smartphones. Honor is the number one smartphone e-brand in China in 2017 in terms of sales performance. They have also announced a new global growth strategy that aims to make it a top-three smartphone brand worldwide in five years. They are already the number one and number three e-brand in Finland and Russia respectively and Honor’s sales grew significantly on Black Friday in the United States and Europe this year.

Honor's global growth strategy that aims to make it a top-three smartphone brand worldwide in five years
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With our slogan, “For the Brave”, the Honor brand was created to meet the needs of digital natives through internet-optimized products that offer superior user experiences, inspire action, foster creativity and empower the young to achieve their dreams.

Well, lofty ambitions indeed, and the not so young among us were gratified to hear that Honor’s aspirations also stretch to “people who are young at heart” so a rejuvenated Tech Trends reporter threw away his walking stick and hobbled along to the Global Launch of Honor’s latest phones in London and was blown away by a bold media event. BMX’s hopped, wheelied and span around the stage and the light show and flashy brand videos where suitably loud and blinding, but as nice as all that was, I was keen to get my hands on some hardware, so headed over to the demo room.

Honor launched two new products: the Honor View 10, a new flagship and the Honor 7X, a mid-range player but impressive none-the-less
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Honor was launching two new products: the Honor View 10 – a new flagship which claims state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) and superior performance – and the Honor 7X, a mid-range player that for the first time, is bringing ‘full-view’ #Maxyourview display to the market. Both smartphones are offered at extremely competitive price points with Honor View 10 available in January at 499.9 euro/449.99 GBP and the Honor 7X at 299 euro/269 GBP. Tech Trends should be reviewing the AI powered View 10 early in the new year, but was handed a 7X at the show and wow, budget smartphones have come a long way (all the way from China in fact) and we are impressed!

Mr. George Zhao, president of Honor, said: “’For the brave’ is in Honor’s DNA. It drives us to constantly deliver innovative technology, aesthetic design, best-in-class quality, delightful experiences and accessibility for young generations. Honor is also a young lifestyle co-creator, inspiring people to pursue their dreams and live life to the full.”

First impressions of the Honor 7X are very good and it is huge! The beautiful-feeling, silky-smooth back feels wonderful in the hand when contrasted with the giant glass front. This is the first smartphone to feature the new Honor ‘FullView’ 18:9 display, a 5.93-inch edge-to-edge, bezel-less screen that delivers remarkable display quality for its extraordinary high screen-to-body ratio. It’s a good screen all around, blacks are great, but whites could be a little crisper, the contrast, however, is good, so reading on the 7X is a real pleasure. Colours are a little muted unless the screen brightness is around 75% but remain pleasing.

The beautiful feeling silky smooth back feels wonderful in the hand when contrasted with the giant 5.93-inch glass front
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The dual-lens 16MP + 2MP rear camera with a large aperture (F/0.95 – F/16) and Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) ensures quite good images but picture quality is only average and won’t rock your world. Detail is fine in good lighting but flat areas of colour are rather noisy and sharp edges look a bit ragged and over sharpened. With its large aperture, dark scenes come out alright but sometimes look a bit milky and washed out. The camera app is nice to use and options are well laid out with the settings accessed by swiping left or right. Not to say the camera is bad, it just isn’t excellent.

The 3,340 mAh battery didn’t keep us going for the claimed 24 hours but will comfortably get you through a busy day with power to spare. You can really feel the grunt of the powerful octa-core Kirin 659 processor and combined GPU running at 4x 2.36GHz and 4x 1.7 GHz. It’s also equipped with 4GB RAM and makes the Samsung Galaxy S7 look like a slouch. Flipping through the drawer, opening apps, using the camera, editing photos and loading web content feels speedy and fun. In fact, it was so fast it was just fun to pick up and use.

You can really feel the grunt of the powerful octa-core Kirin 659 processor and combined GPU running at 4x 2.36GHz and 4x 1.7 GHz. It’s also equipped with 4GB RAM
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“The Honor 7X is the leading choice for users who want to enjoy rich functionality with the benefits of a bezel-less phone, while considerate on their budget,” said Zhao. “We are immensely proud of the quality control it undertakes in producing every phone – Honor 7X was dropped over 4,800 times in the lab in testing – so users can be assured that better value for money doesn’t compromise our high-end quality.”

The fingerprint scanner is excellent and faster than anything I have used except the Galaxy S8 and the rear location works very well for me. Tech Trends thinks music quality is vital in a smartphone, after all, it is one of its primary functions these days, so we are happy to report that the 7x gives a great performance via the 3.5mm jack (yes people it has one!) and via Bluetooth. Overall the sound is very well balanced with good solid bass, nice clear mids and treble that is crisp but not sharp, impressive.

This is a highly recommended phone if your budget is more mid than max, coming with 64GB of internal storage, extendable via micro SD up to 256GB, the Honor 7X runs EMUI 5.1 based on Android 7.0
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This is a highly recommended phone if your budget is more mid than max, coming with 64GB of internal storage, extendable via micro SD up to 256GB, the Honor 7X runs EMUI 5.1 based on Android 7.0. It is available to purchase from December 5, 2017, in selected markets, including Europe (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Ukraine and Turkey), Russia, United States, Middle East (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iran), India and Malaysia.

The Honor 7X can be ordered at Honor online at the extremely competitive price point of £269.99.

Tom Atkinson is a Digital Producer & Photographer at R3Digital and Reviews & Dept. Editor at Tech Trends. Follow him on Twitter @R3Digital

The post Product Review: Honor 7X Smartphone appeared first on Tech Trends.

Raindance Film Festival this year is embracing Virtual Reality with over 40 immersive experiences competing in ten separate categories.

Well, summer is now officially over, so it’s time to get out your mac, brollies and wellie boots. On a happier note, it’s also Raindance time! 2017 sees the 25^th Raindance Film Festival running now from the 25^th – 30^th September. 25 is a significant anniversary for any independent festival and one that sees Raindance looking to the future of film-making and storytelling during a tough time for independent cinema.

It's a tough time for independent Cinema, but Raindance is looking to the future and embracing immersive storytelling
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Tech Trends was invited to the very red Raindance offices next to Trafalgar Square to talk about the future of the festival and the exciting programme for this year. Maria Rakusanova is the Director of VR and New Media and VR Curator at the festival and she brings with her a fantastic industry background at Samsung as well an unstoppable enthusiasm for Virtual Reality, and boy has she made an impact!

20 pieces were showcased at this year's VR arcade at Raindance
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Raindance is the first film festival in the world to acknowledge ten categories of VR storytelling with 20 pieces taking part in the VR Arcade, running from the 29^th – 30^th Sept at Covent Garden’s excellent Hospital Club and 40 experiences competing in ten categories for the inaugural Raindance VRX Award to be announced on the 29^th September.

Big film festivals around the world have opened their doors to VR before, with a few even offering an award or two, but as Maria explains, the technical medium and the ambitious creators out there are now producing work that is more exciting and groundbreaking than ever before. This year’s festival entries certainly reflect that, which is why Maria decided it was the right time to welcome VR and other emerging immersive technologies into the main competition alongside traditional cinema and really recognise the exciting work being produced in the medium.

Creators are producing more exciting work than ever before
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It felt like the right time to welcome VR into the main festival competition
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You can check out all the VR categories here, but since here at Tech Trends we’re always keen to try out new experiences we tried quite a few of them ourselves.  The most interesting for fans of traditional cinema, and a strong contender in the Best Cinematic Narrative Experience category is Alteration from Dir. Jérome Blanquet. Here the narrative jumps around elegantly as you follow Alexandro, a volunteer for an technical experiment who is targeted by a malicious Artificial Intelligence hell bent on feeding off his digitized subconscious.

The experience uses beautiful cinematography mixed with the new tricks of 360 VR video to create a very absorbing and unsettling mood that sucks you into Alexandro’s head and memories. I really loved this one!

The most fun, interactive and annoying experience we tried is from creative Tender Claws and is entered in the Best Mobile Interactive VR Experience category. Virtual Virtual Reality is a fully computer generated VR environment where hectoring AI Overlord, Chaz badgers you through a series of levels – each with a small challenge attached – to which you advance by donning a Virtual VR headset, dropping you, level by level, further into (Virtual)VR.

This was really fun and the critical encouragement of Chez has to be experienced! The way you change levels is really simple but effective and the cartoon characters and environments belie a complexity of design with the challenges making use of the Daydream HMD and controller, a really fun experience overall. There are too many awesome experiences to detail them all here, but they are all open to the public to try at the VR Arcade this year so we strongly advise you to pop along this Friday or Saturday and test them out for yourselves.

Festivalgoers could experience VR storytelling for themselves in the latest edition of the Raindance Film Festival in London
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Raindance is also famous for its education and training programs, and Maria has thrown VR filmmaking onto this mix as 2017 sees the festival partnering with Facebook to deliver the VRX Summit on awards day (September 29^th ) when Award nominees, jurors and special guests from Facebook and Blend Media will take part in a series of talks, panel discussions and keynotes on all things 360 & VR.

Tech Trends was sad to miss yesterday’s 360 Filmmaking Masterclass presented by experts from Facebook’s 360 team, covering topics including camera systems and audio techniques, but Maria confirmed Raindance’s commitment to VR, AR and emerging storytelling technologies in future festivals, so we can’t wait to hear more. Watch this space, but in the meantime Raindance are running a Hands on VR Course on the 21 & 22^nd October so do sign up to get those virtual hands dirty!

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

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The post VR is the Future of Storytelling at Raindance 2017 appeared first on Tech Trends.

Tech Trends straps on the latest smart watch from Samsung.

I still remember my first watch. A red and blue, plastic, made in China, digital beauty that was also a Transformer. The fact it told the time was incidental. The reason I loved it was because of all the other crazy stuff it did. If we’re honest, smart watches are the grown-up version of that, still targeted at the same people. The difference is that now the “grownups” of my generation have a bit more pocket money to spend on their toys, and those toys can actually do a lot of the things that we couldn’t imagine back then.

Smart watches are about much more than just telling the time
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Looks are also important, of course. A watch you choose to wear all the time should look the bollocks. I know my Transformer one was the king of the classroom, if only for a week. It’s a great feeling. And that’s the feeling I got as I unboxed the Samsung Gear S3 smart watch, in spite of it looking – sorry Optimus Prime – a whole lot classier than my childhood companion. Papa’s got a brand new toy, and it’s pretty awesome.

Packed behind the 1.3” Super AMOLED touch screen and safely sealed inside the IP68 certified steel body are a 1 GHz processor, 768MBs of RAM, 4GB of storage and a huge 350mAh battery that promises a 3 day charge. All of this weighs in at 59gms and is attached via a very nice quality leather strap that is conveniently punched for wrists of all sizes.

So, what is it like to use? Let’s get the obvious out the way first, yes it tells the time but you can choose how, with a multitude of watch faces available and even more that you can download. So whether you’re a classic, analogue or digital person, there’s a watch face for you. So now we’ve got the timekeeping bit out of the way, what else can this baby do? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Initial setup and linking to my Samsung Galaxy S7 phone was very straightforward, and I soon had the watch synched with my calendar, Gmail and WhatsApp, and impressively the connection was rock solid. Over two weeks testing I never once lost the link between phone and watch. Location detection and weather is useful and accurate in my experience but you need to use a third party app like Here WeGo to get reliable maps and directions working independent of your phone. I did feel the lack of Google maps here but Here WeGo is a functional replacement.

Initial setup and linking to my Samsung Galaxy S7 phone was very straightforward
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A key feature expected of smart watches are fitness aids, and Samsung’s own Health apps tend to get good reviews, so the first thing I did when I strapped on the S3 was get out of the house and start moving. Within a few minutes the S3 detected that I was walking briskly, congratulated me (thanks!) told me how long I had been walking and how many calories I was burning, hooray!

When I stopped walking, the watch also detected that, and gave me a quick summary of my walk, and based on the number of calories I had burned, classed it as a healthy walk. Of course, it had no way of knowing that my brisk walk had taken me to the coffee shop where I proceeded to have a latte and a bacon sandwich. It’s not THAT smart.

The fitness app worked well, giving me lots of options and suggestions to make me more active
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After a while the app did warn me that I had been inactive for a while and encouraged me to exercise some more, which I did after I finished the last bit of bacon. As you can tell, I’m not the most active of folks, but joking aside this did get me thinking about my physical activity and caloric intake a bit more, and every little helps! And there are a lot more features and functionalities such as setting reminders to drink more water, easily logging how many glasses you’ve had each day. A quick twist of the dial will also show you more info on number of floors climbed, heart rate, number of steps taken, etc. You can also choose how naggy you like the app to be, so if – like me – you get tired of the constant nudges you can tone them down a bit.

Overall, the wireless charging works smoothly and the battery life held up pretty well even with days of intensive use. The screen is also lovely to look at considering its relatively low resolution. The only downsides to it were that although the buttons were nice, the twist dial that you use to navigate the menus was a bit too delicate, I would have liked a more solid-feeling one like in an old-school watch, but that’s a personal preference. The keyboard was also completely unusable, at least for me.

Downloading new apps for the Samsung Gear S3 via the Samsung Galaxy App Store is easy
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The main complaint I had is the same one everyone makes about Tizen devices – the app ecosystem is nowhere near as advanced as Android or the Apple app store – but having said that, I don’t need my watch to do everything my phone does, I still have a phone for all that, and wearing the Gear S3 I was able to find a good option on the Samsung Galaxy App Store to do everything I wanted, so it’s more of a niggle than a real issue. A huge plus was that downloading new apps via the Samsung Galaxy App Store is easy – done through the Get More Apps option within the S3’s Apps menu – downloaded and installed very smoothly via your phone. Very impressed with that side of things.

The notifications interface is really nice, where they pop up accompanied by a pleasant vibration and are then stored for review. Twist the dial anticlockwise to see them again and simply swipe up to pop in the trash and dismiss. Twisting the dial clockwise to access widgets is also very neat, adding extra app widgets such as calendar and world clock easily.

To add app shortcuts – for example Here WeGo – these could only be added to the App Short Cut Screen, which only allows 4 shortcuts, and that felt rather limiting. You can, however add multiple App Shortcut Screens and edit them so each screen shows four different apps. This is great but needs a bit of setting up and I would like to be able to twist the dial to the app I want and just touch to activate it.

The Samsung Gear S3 Reminded me of how much fun watches can be
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I had stopped wearing a watch years ago, but after trying out the Samsung Gear S3 I have become a convert again. Not only is it really useful to be able to see your notifications and read your emails without constantly having to fish your phone out of your pocket, but it reminded me of just how much fun watches can be – even though it doesn’t become a Transformer. Maybe there’ll be an app for that soon though.

Tech Trends is a Samsung consultancy and media partner and this is a #sponsored post. However, we retain full editorial control and all reviews accurately reflect our experience in testing out the products.

The post Product Review: Samsung Gear S3 appeared first on Tech Trends.

Capturing 360 photos and video is a breeze with Samsung’s nifty little camera.

Launched alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the new Gear VR, this is an updated version of Samsung’s Gear 360 camera and app which allows you to capture, edit, view and share 360 photos and videos, and even live stream in 360 straight from your phone.

You can even live stream 360 video straight from your phone
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The new Gear VR is a beautiful, palm size camera featuring two fish eye camera lenses that simultaneously capture the world around in stunning 360. The 2017 version is a real improvement on the original version, not least because it’s now truly pocket-size, while the previous iteration was simply too big to be easily portable.  Your videos and images are stored on the camera on an SDXC card (up to 256GB & sold separately) but can easily be synched to your phone or computer via bluetooth or Wi-Fi for you to edit, save and share in any way you want.

The new Gear 360 sports dual 8.4 MP cameras and produces pleasing, sharp and colourful images that when saved off the Gear 360 are not too large to impact your data allowance when sharing on social media. The 360 videos it produces can go up to 4K resolution but are similarly well compressed, giving your sharp and clear content compatible with 360 capable platforms including YouTube.

Samsung's Gear 360 sports dual 8.4 MP cameras and produces sharp and colourful images
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Weighing only 130g the Gear 360 is light and comfortable to hold
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Weighing only 130g it is light and comfortable to hold. It comes with a cute rubber ring base to help stand it on a surface or attach a tripod or similar via a standard quarter inch thread in the base. Check out some of the images I captured at Reading & Bestival music festivals this year. Images can be exported in several formats including panorama and the now famous ‘Little Planet’ look.

Images can be exported in several formats including panorama
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The camera has a capable internal battery that charges via a simple USB-C port
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This tidy little camera couldn’t be easier to use with a simple power button plus start and stop trigger for recording and a menu button to toggle through the settings. It has a very capable internal battery that charges via a simple USB-C port and never showed signs of struggling to get me through a day out. Simply charge it up, pop in a micro SDXC card and off you go!

Both the PC and Mac software and the iOS and Android apps are simple to use and quickly synch with the camera via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi so you can save and share your videos and images. It really is a breeze to snap a few pics, synch them with the app on your Galaxy S8 and post then to Facebook so your friends can live the moment with you in immersive 360.

Software apps are simple to use and quickly synch with the camera
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We tested the Gear 360 camera at Reading and Bestival
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To test it out Tech Trends took it to Reading Festival and then Bestival to capture the raucous experience in rain and sun. After two day’s hard use we were really impressed with the Gear 360 and can vouch for its sturdy design as we dropped it repeatedly in the mud while pushing through the crowds of festivalgoers, the little camera took the hits without problems and kept on shooting throughout the day. Both the Android and Mac Apps worked very well, linking quickly making it easy to achieve the right look you want before sharing the experiences online. All in all, this is a great little 360 camera that fits in your pocket and has the juice to keep going all day!

The battery lasted quite well
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• Give friends and family a look into your life as it happens with social 360° live streaming
• Capture every moment in high-quality 4K 360° videos
• Easily edit and share content by using the Gear 360 app
• Comfortably hold the slim and sleek grip

Tech Trends is a Samsung consultancy and media partner and this is a #sponsored post. However, we retain full editorial control and all reviews accurately reflect our experience in testing out the products.

The post Product Review: Samsung Gear 360 appeared first on Tech Trends.