Get stuck into our bumper Black Friday product reviews!

Oculus Quest

If there is one gadget to pick up this Black Friday it is the awesome Oculus Quest. I know this review of the Quest is very late to the party but we have taken our time and here are our thoughts. When we reviewed the Go back in June 2018 I summed by saying:

The lack of friction for the user feels so good after years of faffing and fiddling and popping phones in and out and trailing headphone cables around that it felt like real progress. The Oculus Go is not breaking any new technical ground but it cuts the cord and shows us the way forward.

This liberation from accessories and cables is still its most compelling feature and makes it truly portable just like the Go. The Quest, however, does break new ground and feels like a serious upgrade. It’s not just one simple thing, it’s a combination of advances in different areas that make this nifty stand-alone HMD our new go-to headset.

---

The Oculus Quest does break new ground and feels like a serious upgrade
Share on X

---

---

The 1,440x1,600-pixel LCD is a small but pleasing update and the Quest uses fixed foveated rendering to go easy on the Snapdragon 835
Share on X

---

The 1,440×1,600-pixel LCD is a small but pleasing update and the Quest uses fixed foveated rendering to go easy on the Snapdragon 835 while the grainy black and white Passthrough camera is a functional, if not glamorous, feature. It does feel like you are walking through a 1990’s video game but it is a useful and practical update from Oculus.

 

I feel the real game-changer is ‘Oculus Insight’, their take on inside-out tracking. This is the introduction of two Oculus Touch hand controllers that work with the Quest’s new on-board sensors to track and map the movement of the user and the space and objects around them.

The foundation of Oculus Insight’s inside-out tracking is simultaneous localization and mapping, or SLAM, which uses computer vision CV algorithms to essentially fuse incoming data from multiple sensors in order to fix the position of an object within a constantly updated digital map. (Source: Facebook)

You can dive deeper into the creation of this amazing technology here on Facebook’s Tech site but suffice to say that packing an advanced SLAM sytem into the Quest where is had to run off a mobile chip and a small low-power battery was no mean feat, but boy does it work!

---

The real game-changer is ‘Oculus Insight’, their take on inside-out tracking
Share on X

---

Overall, Oculus Insight just makes the whole proposition of playing and working in VR without, or at least with much fewer, perceptual artifacts like swimminess (the disorienting sensation you get when your physical and virtual positions and movements don’t line up) and judder (visual strobing and smearing between frames), a reality. Facebook acknowledge that there is a long way to go but this initial accomplishment is a huge part of what makes the Quest so comfortable to use for longer periods of time and makes it feel, well, just right.

Oculus Insight marks the first time that fully untethered six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) headset and controller tracking has shipped in a consumer AR/VR device. Built from the ground up, the Insight stack leverages state-of-the-art computer vision (CV) systems and visual-inertial simultaneous localization and mapping, or SLAM. (Source: Facebook)

---

The Quest features externally mounted speakers, so you can listen in VR and still interact with sounds around you
Share on X

---

Like the Go, the Quest features externally mounted speakers, so you can listen in VR and still interact with sounds around you, in addition to two headphone jacks, one on either side of the headset, that let the user seal themselves off completely from the real world. It might have annoyed my colleagues but I stuck to using the speakers so I could keep chatting with them while in VR.

One drawback is that the app platform is not shared with the Go so you can’t get all the same apps, but Cnet has a good list of available games here. The Quest will be around for a while and with talk of the upcoming Oculus Link expanding its capabilities once tethered to a PC I’m sure that Oculus will be adding more ambitious apps and games as time passes and there are plenty there already to keep you busy. Having messed around with demos, video content, games and other VR whatnots I can say that the content is pretty good and will only get better.

---

At the moment the Quest is our recommended go-to HMD for consumer VR media or gaming and I'm betting it will remain our favorite cable-free VR experience for a good while yet
Share on X

---

Battery life was about 2 hours, sometimes a little more, which I think is fine for a device like this. The speed and fluidity of the VR interface was noticeably faster and smoother than the Go and browsing for content was easy and fun. The HMD felt generally more comfortable than the Go and the included glasses spacer really helped but did allow light to leach in around my nose, nothing that caused an issue, but worth noting.

At the moment the Quest is our recommended go-to HMD for consumer VR media or gaming and I’m betting it will remain our favorite cable-free VR experience for a good while yet. With Link technology and real-time hand tracking on the way in 2020 the Quest promises to become even more compelling.

Watch out for Black Friday deals but you can pick up a basic 64GB version here for $399

Animo Activity Tracker & Behavior Monitor for Dogs by Sure Petcare

I have three very active dogs so I was very keen to try the Animo from Sure Petcare. It’s basically supposed to be a Fitbit for dogs! I don’t really care how many calories they have burned but knowing that they get a good 1 hour plus of exercise a day reassures me about their health and, to be honest, mine as I get pretty much the same exercise as they do, following them around and picking up after.

---

Animo learns and interprets the unique activity and behavior patterns of your dog
Share on X

---

 

Animo learns and interprets the unique activity and behavior patterns of your dog. It’s with them 24 hours a day, giving you a greater understanding of their lives. Morning walks, sleeping under the table, barking at the postman; your dog’s days are action packed and now you get to know about it all.

I hooked up the Animos to my dogs’ collars, got the app hooked up via Bluetooth and we all went on with our daily routines. Now this is the main issue I have with tech like this. It is not designed for your daily ‘real-life’ routines and behaviour and I am sorry to say the Animo was a total disappointment. I refuse to adapt my life to the tech that is supposed to help me, other that checking the apps, considering the data they provide and maybe, just maybe changing the way I do something.

 

Animo uses an adaptive algorithm that learns, interprets and gives you facts that are specific to your dog. This changes throughout your dog’s life, so you can understand more about your pet as they get older.

The way we run our days and the way we exercise our dogs just didn’t fit the Animo way of doing things and as I say, not unreasonably, tech is supposed to work for us not the other way around, this meant that within a matter of days the app was out of synch with the collars and apart from annoying notifications on my phone that the collars had not synched with the app recently I got no valuable data out of the devices.

It is not up to me to synch a $90 device with an app so that it can tell me something! It should just work and synch when in range or whatever. We should not have to ‘help’ expensive technology help us. I was promised data on activity, calories, sleep, behaviour and rest, but the way we live resulted in little or no data of any use or interest.

 

Animo sends alerts if your dog begins to show significant changes in behavior including barking, scratching and shaking. You can also discover long term changes in your dog’s sleep, where a decrease in quality may be a sign of arthritis or other environmental factor which is disturbing your dog at night.

This was a classic example of a cunning and interesting gadget that promised a lot gave me nothing I needed because it didn’t ‘just work’. Approaching 2020 things need to start ‘just working’ for us, the days of allowances and working with new systems is gone. If it doesn’t work for you, bin it, which is what I did with the Animo. However, if you really want a lot of data on your pets, are a detail-obsessed, tech-savvy and data-hungry person with little or no work or life distractions this might work for you.

 

You can pick up an Animo here for $89.60 or here for £59.99

 

SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder from Sure Petcare

Moving swiftly on to the next Sure Petcare product we are faced with the elaborate and very very niche SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder Connect. Now there is a clear market for this in the older and tech-savvy pet owners who dote over cats with very specific diet control challenges, are often away from home for days at a time and have the cash to invest in an expensive system like this at £169.98 or $252.79.

The one problem here is that in my experience this kind of older pet obsessed person can often be found shouting and stabbing frustrated fingers at the wrong side of an iPad or failing miserably to send an email from a smartphone rather than mastering a networked, programmable, automated pet feeder after absorbing the 28 pages of instructions the Feeder Connect comes with. Anyway…

 

It’s the ideal feeding solution for overweight cats, cats with medical conditions that require close monitoring of feeding or multi-pet homes where one pet steals another pet’s food.

Basically the Pet Hub wirelessly connects to the Feeder and is itself hardwired to your router and connects with the app on your phone allowing you to monitor the feeding activity of your cat while controlling functions of the Feeder Connect. The Hub comes in the cute shape of a cat’s head with ears that light up to indicate network activity.

 

The Microchip Pet Feeder Connect links to the Sure Petcare app via the Hub, which is connected to your home router. Each Hub can connect up to ten devices, including our connected doors.

You get extensive control over food weight and eating times and can add multiple pets if necessary. RFID pet tags control access to the food and a multitude of setting claims to fend off thieving feline siblings while a fascinating Training Mode introduces skittish pets gradually to the robotic automatic movements of the device.

 

Receive notifications and view the frequency, duration and times that your pet feeds within the app. Learn your pet’s normal pattern of feeding behaviour to notice changes which could be an indication of illness.

If you need this device it looks to me that it does an exhaustively good job but the complexity of operation might turn some off or prove frustrating there is no question that this is a solution to a specific problem.

You can get your hands on the SureFeeder and Hub here for £169.98 and here for $252.79

 

Live Planet 360 VR Video Streaming Solution

Live Planet claims to be the ‘worlds first and only plug and play VR camera’ but to be fair they are more than that. They also offer a simple and flexible distribution platform called VR Studio where you can upload, publish and share your 4K 360 VR videos. Those videos don’t even have to be from their own cameras, you can use the platform to distribute 360 content from cameras by Samsung, Insta360, and Kandao among others.

 

 

As the name suggests Live Planet focuses on filming and streaming of live 360 content and both their camera and platforms are optimised for this. From in-camera or through VR Studio you can share or live stream 4K 360 video to other platforms including YouTube and Facebook Live or in stereoscopic 360 VR video directly to HMDs from Oculus, Samsung or Google. Tech Trends spoke to Fahad Manzur, Product Manager at Live Planet to find out more.

 

“Live streaming is the main focus at Live Planet. You can shoot and control the camera through a browser or our dedicated Android and iPhone apps through the cameras built in WiFi and if you are logged into your Live Planet Studio account just connect the camera to the internet via an ethernet cable and you can start streaming right away. You can stream to your Studio account or to YouTube or Facebook and even custom RTMPs.” he explained

---

The whole idea behind Live Planet is to create a great quality 360 video stream right out of the camera
Share on X

---

Now, I have shot and edited HD, 4K & 8K 360 video from Insta360 and GoPro cameras for distrubution on YouTube and edited still 360 files into interactive 360 experiences and was resigned to the tedium of stitching multiple numerically numbered video files from multiple different microSD cards into a final 360 video file then exporting it to Adobe for audio synch, micro-adjustments, stabilization and colour correction before sending it off to the next application for further work and frankly, life is too short. With this system all that processing is managed during the shoot via the Live Planet app and in camera during the filming, leaving you with the stream that you broadcast live or a single MP4 on a single microSD card for sharing or just backups. Yes, Live Planet really does make it that simple.

 

“The whole idea behind Live Planet is to create a great quality 360 video stream right out of the camera, you shoudn’t need to do much, or any, touch ups in post before sharing it online. We try to give content creators as simple as possible journey to shoot and share their 360 video. You can use the in app camera controls to set up the shot and adjust the colours before you start recording then the camera handles all the stitching and audio synching as it records, outputting a great quality live stream or an easy to use MP4 that just needs publishing.” continued Manzur

---

The Live Planet player is a pleasant YouTube-like experience
Share on X

---

The camera packs a lot of clever tech into a really small package. It comes safely packed in a small pelican case along with mains power connector and an ethernet cable for firmware updates and live streaming. This basic camera package now sells for $7,995 including 50GB of storage in your VR Studio online account. The camera can also run off a portable battery leaving you free to move around and record 360 footage pretty much anywhere you like. Live streaming in 4K however, requires a hard wired ethernet connection to a router due to the bandwidth requirements. This is not a deal killer but will require some advanced planning and coordination so your event venue has ready the equipment and connection you need.

 

“Our Goal is to create the first end to end VR ‘streaming’ system. We are focused on creating a user friendly experience that removes the need for third party solutions for shooting, stitching and sharing 360 VR content. For a YouTube or Twitch influencer who has an existing live stream audience Live Planet enables them to take that live stream experience to a brand new level and stream 360 VR video to their subscribers right on the same platform.” said Manzur

Live experiences are at the heart of the Live planet ecosystem so it is no surprise that live music performances have proved incredibly popular but the Studio platform supports everyone from musicians and podcasters to travel bloggers who want to share their experienes in a fresh new format. The Live Planet player is a pleasant YouTube-like experience. Click the image below to visit the player and watch KT Tunstall and others performing.

---

The launch of our VR Studio provides a place to upload, host and share your 360 content to all major VR headsets
Share on X

---

 

“We want to conect with influencers and artists who are interested in pushing the boudaries of live broadcasting to capture and hold an audiences attention in VR. The launch of our VR Studio provides a place to upload, host and share your 360 content to all major VR headsets and web platforms including publishing directly from your Studio account to YouTube. What’s exciting right now is people are innovating on all fronts in VR, the whole indusry is pushing forward really fast. Headsets have taken a giant leap forward, even in the past two years. It’s an exciting time. Manzur concluded

To sum up, the Live Planet system makes broadcasting your live event to the web in 4K 360 easier and cheaper than ever before. The company is also constantly evolving the product and I have heard that in-camera still photo capture and 6K recording are on the way soon so this is a platform that should stay relevant for a long while. It is a compelling option for venues and artists who want to ride the booming trend of 360 VR video.

 

Tom Atkinson is Reviews & Dep. Editor at Tech Trends. Follow him on Twitter @techtrends_tech

 

The post Black Friday Product Reviews appeared first on Tech Trends.

As a scorching summer draws to an end, Tech Trends has another round-up of cool tech products and gadgets for your delectation.

Wunder360 S1: 3D Scanning & 360 AI Camera

The Wunder360 will put new technology in the hands of more people and as a first device to start learning about 3D capture and design it is a steal and recommended by Tech Trends
Share on X

All in all, this is a very ambitious camera but is held back by the physical quality of the device. However, it does only cost $300, currently $139 for early birds on Indiegogo, and the downsides here are outweighed by the fact the Wunder360 will put new technology in the hands of more people and as a first device to start learning about 3D capture and design it is a steal and recommended by Tech Trends.

BitsBox Coding Kits

Teaching children the skills they need to understand – and make – tech products (as opposed to just using them) is something I’m very passionate about. Even for kids who don’t go on to become programmers or anything along those lines, the knowledge of what goes on “under the hood” is always going to be valuable, as are the concepts of applied logic, persistence, and collaboration which come with building things with code. Read the full review here.

Varidesk Pro Plus 36 + Dual Monitor Arms

Samsung Galaxy S9+

At first Tech Trends was excited to get hold of the S9+ but less thrilled once we turned it on. I used to be a Samsung Galaxy smartphone fan, in fact, my first smartphone was an S2 and I stuck with them for years before stepping out and trying LG and Sony before stepping back in 2016 to an S7 which was an OK phone. So I feel I am qualified to review the enormous S9+. Sadly I’m not impressed, not at all impressed. Read the full review here.

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

The post August 2018 Tech Trends Product Reviews appeared first on Tech Trends.

This month we’ve had a wearables bonanza with two very cool smartwatches coming our way, plus some very impressive AR books and toys, enjoy!

Samsung Gear S3

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.

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. Read the full review here.

RRP: £349

Tech Trends AR Toy Box:

Fun Educational AR Cards

It’s a good job I am a great big man-child as some of the most exciting advances in commercially available VR & AR are coming to market cunningly disguised as books and toys! So today I’m gleefully rummaging in the Tech Trends AR Toy Box for some STEM-based educational stuff as well something much more terrifying… The Educational option comes from ReTrak who are offering three Utopia 360° 4D+ Augmented and Virtual Reality kits for kids of 5+, The Space, Dinosaur and Animal Zoo 4D+ Bundles are literally amazing and I was blown away by the quality of the AR implementation and the educational content. Read both full reviews here.

RRP: £40

Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual

Next in my AR Toy Box is an excellent interactive book from Carlton Publishing featuring my favourite film of all time, Alien. Boy this is a treat for a geek like me, an Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual. The book was produced in partnership with 20th Century Fox and is full of detailed content on the marines, the tech and the universe of the films, with lots of high quality images and production artwork, But the AR is the USP here, and it doesn’t disappoint. Read both full reviews here.

RRP: £25

Suunto GPS Smart Watch

Who says that tech folk can’t be outdoorsy? This sturdy GPS smartwatch is the perfect geeky companion for all your fresh air pursuits.

As a Tech journalist I have to admit I spend most of my time staring at a computer screen (or a tablet screen, smartphone screen, TV… well, you get the picture, haha). But living in the great wilderness that is Somerset (it’s in the UK for any Americans that need to look it up) and with no fewer than three lively dogs to my name I also get dragged out of the house in all weathers to get wet, muddy and lost.

While I might not be your typical outdoorsman, however, I still like to think I could hack it in the wild, sharpening sticks, skinning seagulls and falling in rivers, that sort of thing. So I was keen try out the Suunto Traverse smart GPS watch. Very much a GPS navigation tool the Traverse is perfect for Hiking, Mountaineering, Trekking, Walking, Backpacking, Climbing and (less so in the UK as we have killed everything except the cows & sheep) Hunting. Read the full review here.

RRP: £325

Corkcicle Tumbler

Continuing Tech Trends’ crusade for ultimate hydration we took a sip from this very cute Corkcicle Tumbler. Promising at home or on-the-go, triple-insulated beverage security, the Tumbler promises to keep your drink cool for 9 hours or hot for three without freezing or cup sweat, I hate cup sweat, nothing worse! The Corkcicle Tumbler comes in two sizes and 13 colours. I have to say it rather attractive as far as insulated cups go, and it does do the job, as my coffee stayed hot for the two hours it took me to drink it on the train to Cornwall. Note of warning though, be sure to keep the sip slider closed when you are not drinking or all that lovely heat will disappear out the spout! Colours are a bit on the girly side perhaps, but I am secure enough in my masculinity so this was no biggie.

RRP: $24.95

Box Appetit by Black + Blum

Extreme Tupperware Tech! Long day of coding ahead? No time for lunch out? You’re going to need a lunch box full of healthy home made sarnies, celery sticks, and maybe even a Dairylea triangle and an apple to keep you going… Box Appetit by Black & Blum does the job in style, including an inner dish for food separation, sauce pot for dressings or condiments, and a fife (fork + knife) with a cutting edge for easy one handed eating.

RRP: £19.99

Joto the Robotic Drawing Board

Joto is the next generation drawing machine, combining elements of robotics and artificial intelligence with pen and ink. First launched via a Kickstarter campaign in early 2017, it sold over 1,800 units in just four weeks and raised over £362,000 – smashing its original target of £100,000. Joto was named the public’s favourite design at this year’s Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition at the Design Museum, and will be made available to consumers via an exclusive partnership with Selfridges later in 2017. Business customers already using Joto technology include Twitter, Google, IBM, Intel and Liberty of London.

Basically a connected whiteboard that draws with a pen, the Joto is happy sketching everything from works of art to messages. At the push of a button, Joto turns pixels on a screen into pen and ink drawings. Check out the video below to see how it brought the Tech Trends logo to life.

 “Most of the content we love is stuck on our screens, and as a result so are we. We’re seeing a new movement looking to engage people beyond the screen, indulging in both old and new technology, that embraces all the qualities we have lost with digital media. Examples of these success stories range from vinyl to Alexa. It’s the start of a new generation of technology in the home,” Jim Rhodes, the founder of Joto, explained to Tech Trends.

It’s great to see companies exploring the potential of creative robotics, and the design and art community is eagerly embracing the potential of the new technology in their work. Top names already creating exclusive artwork for the new medium include graphic designer Anthony Burrill, Mr. Bingo and Supermundane. To demonstrate the versatility of Joto, the team has launched 365 Days of Art, which will see a network of artists create and share unique designs with the Joto community via the app.

Creative robotics is an exciting new intersection between the worlds of design and technology,” adds Rhodes. “The response has been amazing, and with our ‘365 Days of Art’ project, top artists, designers and illustrators will be able to distribute their work on the Joto platform, letting users discover a new piece of art on their wall every day of the year.”

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

Augmented Reality can be serious, useful, and educational. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be a lot of FUN!

Augmented Reality Cards & VR Headset

It’s a good job I am a great big man-child as some of the most exciting advances in commercially available VR & AR are coming to market cunningly disguised as books and toys! So today I’m gleefully rummaging in the Tech Trends AR Toy Box for some STEM-based educational stuff as well something much more terrifying… The Educational option comes from ReTrak who are offering three Utopia 360° 4D+ Augmented and Virtual Reality kits for kids of 5+, The Space, Dinosaur and Animal Zoo 4D+ Bundles are literally amazing and I was blown away by the quality of the AR implementation and the educational content.

Now that was pretty enthusiastic,  so let’s look a bit more closely at what impressed me so much. Each bundle includes a VR headset for your mobile phone, a set of AR cards, which activate the experiences. However the magic and, I imagine, the real work is in the Android and iOS apps you download to bring the science to life.

Bundles includes a VR headset for your mobile phone and AR cards to activate the experience
Share on X

You are probably familiar with image-activated AR by now, where you open the app on your phone or tablet, point the camera at the image and the augmented elements pop up, overlaid onto the real-world image you can see on your screen. This is the technique used by ReTrak, but it is better implemented than any such tech I have tried previously and the interactivity and content is nothing short of excellent.

The app interface offers several ways to interact with the AR. With the dinosaur, for example, you can make him roar, wave his head around, or walk forward. You can also read pop up fun facts on the creatures and even remove their flesh (not in a gruesome way, we’ll come to that later in our next product) and watch their animated skeleton prance around. You can also look at two dinosaurs side-by-side if you place the cards next to each other.

The app interface offers several ways to interact with the AR
Share on X

The coolest function by far, however, is “drive mode,” where you can make your dinosaur walk, swim or fly around the room using a handy little virtual joystick. This lets you point the camera away from the card and really enjoy the environment with your pet AR dinosaur. It is this mode that really makes the most of the screen capture function as you can take in-app photos of the creature standing on your friends lap of perched on their head, and share them on social media.

You can make your dinosaur roar, wave its head or walk around
Share on X

It’s all pure childish fun, and there is even a “flip 90 degrees” option so you can make the dinosaur climb the walls! Oh and of course, there is a swap camera mode so you can take a selfie with the monster. The VR headset offers a lot more equally detailed and info-packed content, but expands the AR/VR world to immerse you in a Jurassic environment, or deep space.

You can capture in-app images of your AR friends and share them on social media
Share on X

I was a dino nut as a child and these 4D+ Augmented & Virtual Reality Bundles combine the card collecting madness that every child (at least every man-child) goes through with the latest AR tech and solid educational content, so what’s wrong with them? The price? No, at around $30 (or £40 in the UK) the bundles are a real bargain, you just need to make sure your phone or tablet is a 2016/17 model and powerful enough to handle the AR & VR content.

• Animal Zoo (multilingual): Learn the alphabet, animal names, sounds and spelling. Features an interaction mode, allowing you to match food cards with the animals to feed them. 5+
• Space Exploration: Explore planets, space objects and historic missions. Includes a virtual 360° tour of the International Space Station, solar system and the ability to drive rovers with on-screen controls. 7+
• Dinosaur Experience: Bring the extinct dinosaurs back to life while learning about the origins and size of each creature, seeing their skeletons and using the drive-mode to navigate. Includes a virtual 360° tour of prehistoric times. 7+

The 4D+ bundles are already in Barnes and Noble and are launching in Brookstone, Staples and Walmart soon. They are also available on www.utopia360vr.com.

ALIEN: AUGMENTED REALITY SURVIVAL MANUAL

This Alien book was a genuine geeky treat
Share on X

Next in my AR Toy Box is an excellent interactive book from Carlton Publishing featuring my favourite film of all time, Alien. Boy this is a treat for a geek like me, an Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual. The book was produced in partnership with 20th Century Fox and is full of detailed content on the marines, the tech and the universe of the films, with lots of high quality images and production artwork, But the AR is the USP here, and it doesn’t disappoint.

A book like no other. An experience you’ll never forget. The Alien movie franchise has been shocking audiences for more than 35 years, and the series is set to continue into the future, which is where this book comes from. 
This special interactive edition has been beamed back to us from the future reality witnessed in the movies. Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual was written for new recruits of the U.S. Colonial Marines to impart knowledge of identification and combat of Xenomorphs.

There are seven interactive AR experiences, Egg Hatching, Drop-ship Simulator, Face Hugger Autopsy, Chestburster Sim, Alien Queen Encounter, Weapons Training and Xenomorph Tracking. I was also pleased to find that throughout the book are scattered AR-activated film clips. This worked very well, but it would have been nice to fill the screen with the clip then exit out of the player and back into the AR interface, but that really is nit-picking.

I was blown away by the quality of the AR implementation and the educational content
Share on X

Now I have done a lot of AR demos, and can confidently say that these are some of the best out there. You get a real mix of experiences, the Chestburster alone is worth the money, social sharing gold, producing a saveable selfie-style video of you, just as the evil worm bursts out of your chest and slithers away. Excellent! The egg hatching is a predictable but fun shocker while the face hugger autopsy features an awesome finger-controlled laser scalpel dissection, and yes I was so involved I forgot why cutting up an Alien is a bad idea… The drop ship is also great and what freak wouldn’t enjoy trying out all the weapons? The Alien Queen and the Xenomorph are fantastically detailed, glistening with slimy menace.

The face hugger autopsy features an awesome finger-controlled laser scalpel dissection
Share on X

There are lots of little nice touches throughout the book such as the “Secondary Objective” of each AR experience being ‘Survival’ (Ha Ha). Many franchise books feel rather forced, but bearing in mind the ambition behind this book, browsing through and trying out the AR features feels fresh and genuinely entertaining. If this is the future of books then I can’t wait to see what’s next

Protecting yourself and mankind against this significant and ever-growing threat is the goal. 
Study a Xenomorph autopsy, witness an Alien egg hatch in real-time, and see the deadly attacks of a face-hugger first-hand. For new recruits, you will also get to see what the life of a USCM pilot is like, and witness ‘on the scene’ footage of the marines in action, in the form of movie excerpts. 
Whether it’s the first day of your USCM training, or you’re a hardened marine veteran, Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual is vital to shore up your knowledge of the Xenomorph threat, and ensure your prolonged survival as you travel the stars to protect the United Americas Colonies and interests.

 

The book packs in a lot of detail for fans of the franchise and author Owen Williams, a veteran film journalist and Alien fan, makes sure the tone and feel fits the brand. Retailing for a very reasonable £25 here in the UK this book is a statement of intent from Carlton that publishing needs to evolve and embrace technology. Development on a publication and paired app project like this might be a big investment but we need more bold moves such as this from publishers to make sure books and print are not left behind in the new media revolution. Hats off Carlton, a splendid success!

For companies looking to get into VR/AR/MR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance on how these technologies can enhance and support your brand strategy.

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

The post Tech Trends AR Toy Box 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
Share on X

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
Share on X

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
Share on X

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
Share on X

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
Share on X

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
Share on X

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
Share on X

Weighing only 130g the Gear 360 is light and comfortable to hold
Share on X

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
Share on X

The camera has a capable internal battery that charges via a simple USB-C port
Share on X

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
Share on X

We tested the Gear 360 camera at Reading and Bestival
Share on X

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
Share on X

• 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.

The Samsung Hypercube Installation landed at Reading Festival to make VR content more social and give festivalgoers the ultimate selfie experience 

Music festivals are a main fixture of summer and in spite of all the mud some of the world’s most popular gigs happen in England. But while Glastonbury might be the first name that springs to mind, Reading Festival – which happens just outside London at the end of August is the oldest one still going. Since it started in 1955, it hosted music legends from Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Metallica, Green Day and many more.

Reading is the oldest ongoing popular festival in existence
Share on X

Groups of up to 30 people were taking collective 360 degree selfies
Share on X

But as nice as all the music was, I was there for the VR, so headed for the giant shimmering cube that Samsung had setup to give festivalgoers the chance to create what they called a “unique interactive audio-visual experience.” With groups of up to 30 people taking turns to create a ‘360 Infinity Selfie’ through collective user-controlled performance.

You could personalise the experience by choosing different effects and music on the Galaxy S8
Share on X

The ‘Hypercube’ where it all happened was a bold and rather striking 40-foot-tall structure that all the way through the day attracted large crowds- bigger than some of the stages around it. Those long queues were efficiently managed by a friendly team in Samsung t-shirts, who briefed everyone as they waited for their turn. They also kept the crowd entertained by letting them try out some content on the new Samsung Gear VR, and registered their email addresses on tablets so they could be sent their selfie videos afterwards.

As I got to the head of the line, we were all instructed to put on some plastic overshoes so as not to smudge the mirrors on the floor with footprints. This was definitely getting curiouser and curiouser.

Once they got inside the mirrored room, people gasped audibly
Share on X

Once inside the cube’s small antechamber, our guide proceeded to psych everyone up and tell us what to expect when entering the next room where the selfie action would happen.

This being a typical British summer day (i.e. unbearably hot and muggy) many in my group were looking rather sunburned and more than a bit wilted. So it was a credit to the enthusiastic steward (smart move by Samsung to hire young actors for that job) that he managed to whip up the crowd to shout at the top of their lungs that they were ready to go into that blissfully air-conditioned room.

Once they got inside the infinity room, however, people needed no encouragement to shout and gasp, as it was genuinely impressive. Every surface was covered in shiny mirrors, where projected lights created hypnotic patterns that were striking without being disorientating.

Every surface of the Hypercube chamber was covered in shiny mirrors
Share on X

The light effects were dazzling without feeling disorientating
Share on X

At the centre of the room was a pillar with about a dozen or so Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphones, setup so that users could quickly choose what kind of music and graphics they wanted to beam out during their experience.

The beauty of it was that all the individual choices went into the mix, so each group of strangers instantly bonded over producing that shared visual and soundscape. We then had about 30 seconds of intensive dancing around to those sounds and lights as a 360 camera suspended from the roof captured the giant selfie action.

Each group of strangers bonded over creating a collective experience
Share on X

Making VR content sticky and shareable is a big challenge
Share on X

The entire experience only took three minutes or so (not counting time spent in line of course) and people were encouraged – with the promise of prizes – to share it using the #ShareTheStage hashtag. All in all it was textbook social media best practice, with the added 360 element. And that’s what makes it so interesting.

People used the #sharethestage hashtag to share their 360 experiences
Share on X

Virality is about striking the balance between easily replicable and personalised content
Share on X

Virality is about creating something that is easily replicable, yet provides enough scope for variation so that each experience is also unique and personal. A great example of this is the Ice Bucket Challenge that raised over $100m for ALS research in a month.

Producing compelling and easily accessible content that people want to share is probably the biggest hurdle facing VR at the moment, so what’s interesting about the approach Samsung is taking here is that they struck that sweet spot between simplicity and wow factor.

There was a real communal sense of enjoying the technology together
Share on X

There was a real communal sense of enjoying the technology together, and that, it seems to me, is what content makers looking to make VR content “sticky” need to focus on – creating an emotional connection to the moment and to one another.

This article was originally published on VRScout

Samsung’s 360° Infinity Selfies Are Hit With Music Festival Crowds via @alicebonasio #GearVR https://t.co/qOmB4jLXi4 pic.twitter.com/sT8loQ7wT1

— VRScout (@VRScout) September 3, 2017

Tech Trends is a Samsung consultancy and media partner. We retain full editorial control over all content published on our site, and all articles accurately reflect our opinions and experience.

The post Creating the Ultimate 360 Degree Selfie appeared first on Tech Trends.

Does Samsung’s latest smartphone push all the right buttons? Tech Trends gets down and dirty with the S8. 

I didn't miss having a home button at all
Share on X

When I first realised that the Galaxy S8 was entirely buttonless, I wondered whether I’d miss the functionality of the home button in any way, but the short answer to that has been a resounding “No”. The most impressive thing about this phone is its screen, and the fact that you don’t get a button, together with the gorgeous Infinity Display, means that every inch of real estate on this baby is pure, vivid screen. And that’s no bad thing in my book. Besides, for those – like me – who are upgrading from the previous Galaxy models, there is still the exact same button functionality, in the same place where the physical one used to be. So your brain soon gets used to it, and starts wondering why we ever put up with buttons in the first place.

After spending some time with the S8, I can say it's the best screen I've ever used
Share on X

Personally, I have always favoured Samsung SuperAMOLED smartphone screens and felt the colours and contrast were better than the competition, and after spending some quality time with the S8 can honestly say it is the best screen I have used. Blacks are dark and silky while colours are bright and bold but don’t feel fake. These qualities carry across from the interface to enjoying videos, games and photos and once you switch the default resolution from FHD+ to WQHD+ detail and sharpness leap to another level and the quality of this SuperAMOLED panel shines. You will not get tired of looking at your Galaxy S8, which is no bad thing considering how often most of us check our phones every day.

The quality of this SuperAMOLED panel shines
Share on X

Video plays smoothly and without lag or stutter
Share on X

Watching HD and 4K video is a great experience, the high quality colour and sharpness of the screen stand out at the maximum resolution of 2960x1440px but notably video plays smoothly and without lag or stutter at this resolution, which is very impressive when you consider the pixel density is 570dpi. That’s a lot of pixels to push around, so it’s clear Samsung have made sure the S8’s hardware is powerful enough to handle high quality media streaming video without a hitch. We can’t focus on the technical excellence of the screen without discussing its 18.5:9 display ratio, almost bezel-less design and curved corners that really help the S8 stand out visually and make it so comfortable to hold. I actually can’t stop fondling this phone! It’s so nice to hold and play with I keep picking it up to just feel it.

The S8 is so nice to hold and play with I keep picking it up to just feel it
Share on X

I was not a fan of the S7 Edge as all, as I found the edges quite sharp and uncomfortable but the Galaxy S8 is a pleasure to hold and use, smooth and glossy with a very nice weight to it. Some find the longer, narrower format odd but I enjoy the way it fits my hand better and it doesn’t mean we sacrifice any screen real estate with the S8 display measuring 5.8″ which is still big. The Infinity Display rolls cleanly off at the edges (in a far more tactile and pleasing way that on older Galaxy S models) and the curved corners of the screen mirror the corners of the device. Both these effects combine to make the eye and the hand flow around the handset and focus your attention on the content you are engaging with while your awareness of the edges are diminished. It really is a lovely piece of design with form and function working in harmony.

The curved corners of the screen perfectly mirror the corners of the device.
Share on X

The full width of the screen can be filled with your video or photo content
Share on X

The buttons appear and disappear depending on what you are doing and the full width of the screen can be filled with your video or photo content with a further tap on the screen, leaving nothing blocking or hovering over your images. YouTube already works with this feature and a little icon button pops up offering to get the interface out of the way leaving you to enjoy the film. This feels so liberating and fresh I think it will draw a new army of fans to Samsung.

The navigation buttons appear and disappear depending on what you are doing
Share on X

The main concern with the lack of a button on the front and smaller side mounted ON/OFF button is the new placement of the fingerprint scanner on the back of the handset. LG have had great success with this same feature and (while drawing some criticism from rather unimaginative elements of the tech press) reported very positive user experiences with a rear mounted scanner, so I am confident that S8 users will adapt. The new larger scanner is located next to the camera on the back of the phone, which is a comfortable place for the tip of my forefinger to rest, and while I do not personally use this feature (I’m an old-fashioned pin kind of person) conscious S8 users will also have access to iris and face recognition functions, as well as the good old “pattern swipe” option.

There are many security options available for keeping your phone content safe
Share on X

I was happy to see Samsung have retained a physical headphone jack
Share on X

I was happy to see Samsung have retained a physical headphone jack for those of us who don’t want to shell out on Bluetooth cans. Testing out the audio quality with a pair of excellent SoundMAGIC E10s I can report that it is much the same as on the S7 which means very good indeed, tight bass and smooth mids with no peaky treble led to a enjoyable session streaming Google Play Music. However if you are a bit old fashioned or an Audiophile like me you might want to store your music as FLAC on your device and the S8 comes as standard with 64GB of internal storage which is as much as most people will need for apps and photos. For those of us who have to have thousands of their favourite tracks on their phone, however, the S8 will also take a micro SDXC card up to 256GB. The included headphones performed well and tout the AKG logo, claiming to have been tweaked by the audio specialist, but to be honest I would always spend a few extra quid on a well-rated pair from another manufacturer to get best results as the on-board DAC is very capable.

The S8 comfortably got me through the day with around 30% battery left at bedtime
Share on X

Now on to grunt! Depending where you buy your Galaxy S8 it will be powered by either the Exynos 8895 or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, both very good CPUs whose strength lies in their power and efficiency. With a surprisingly small 3000mAh battery the S8 needs all the help it can get to keep you Twittering, WhatsApping and streaming media through a long day. I am probably a moderate smartphone user but am pleased to report that my Exynos 8895 version S8 comfortably got me through the day with around 30% battery left at bedtime, so power users might run into issues, but to be honest this battery should be enough to keep most people happy. If you do forget to charge it overnight the rapid charge feature really is fast, and will get you from 0% to 40% in half an hour, so plug it in while you shower and dress and you are good to go again.

While other smartphone makers are moving onto Dual Camera technology in their flagship handsets Samsung has not radically redesigned the S8 camera from the old S7 version, but after testing it out in some extremely difficult conditions and comparing it to the S7 it is clear a lot of work has been done on the software under the hood. The S7 had the best mobile camera I had used and I can say with confidence that the S8 shows improvements in some key areas. The 12MP Dual Pixel sensor now sports faster autofocus and a really impressive F1.7 lens which when combined with next generation image processing produces the best low light photos I have ever seen from a smartphone.

The S8's camera is the first one that I have confidence will capture the moment for me
Share on X

The photos are bright and clear with natural colours and fantastic detail. Low light was always the Achilles heel of mobile phone cameras with a high percentage of users expecting good results wherever they happen to be, but this is first time I have been truly impressed with low light results from any manufacturer. Below is a Twitter video and gallery of images we took on the S8 at Reading Festival last week and the ones taken inside the Samsung Hypercube 360 Experience are simply outstanding, considering the conditions were pitch black broken by crazy strobing coloured lights with infinity mirrors and dancing revellers all around.

Incredible Infinity Room @OfficialRandL – Hats off to @SamsungUK for this Hypercube setup #ShareTheStage pic.twitter.com/kkvjCOb9pB

— TechTrends (@techtrends_tech) August 26, 2017

Other software advances are clear to see in the evolution of TouchWiz (newly rebranded as Samsung Experience) which now looks sleeker and less childlike than previously. It has too many updates to discuss all of them here, but the two key ones that stood out for me were the much more stylish default interface, and the swipe-up to open the app drawer. All in all it feels a lot fresher and more modern that I had expected, and really highlights the poor design of TouchWiz going back several years. The one feature that drives me crazy, however, is that the new tap to wake function only works on the home button, not anywhere on the screen like on other devices. This is a small but significant niggle, and perhaps one that could be fixed with an app or patch.

The interface feels a lot fresher, stylish and more modern that I expected
Share on X

Samsung are really pushing their personal assistant Bixby
Share on X

With the S8 Samsung are really pushing their personal assistant Bixby, even giving it a dedicated button on the left side of the screen. This tech is pretty new and can be a bit frustrating, but after registering my voice by reading a few lines of text and following a brief tutorial I was able to use Bixby’s voice recognition to open Gmail, start an email to a specific contact and give the email a subject, which was pretty cool. I was also able to open WhatsApp, write and send a message to a specific contact, which even cooler! These technologies only improve with use as machine learning gets better with more data being fed in, so if you want to use Bixby and contribute towards its evolution go for it and your reward will be a better robot PA going forward.

There is much more I could discuss but to avoid getting hopelessly techie I will just finish by saying that I am very impressed by this phone, and it is easily the best Samsung smartphone to date, combining truly excellent design with powerful hardware and, yes I will say it again in case you missed it, an awesome screen!

RRP: £689

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 Galaxy S8 appeared first on Tech Trends.