Game of Thrones has earned the title of most pirated TV show several years running. That’s quite the honor and serves as proof that the immensely popular series is loved by millions.
That said, the show simply isn’t for everyone (hard to believe, right?). Should you happen to fall into this category, have zero intentions of ever watching the show but would like to at least know what the heck everyone is talking and just so happen to enjoy Samuel L. Jackson, the above clip will probably be worth your time.
In it, the actor recaps the first five seasons of the show in less than eight minutes in typical Jackson style which of course means plenty of vulgar language and lots of laughs. Even if you are up-to-date on the show, you’re sure to get a couple of laughs.
Found is a TechSpot feature where we share clever, funny or otherwise interesting stuff from around the web.
Pokémon Go, the augmented reality mobile game from Niantic and The Pokémon Company, is a bona fide overnight success. The game, which tasks players with getting off the couch and exploring the real world around them as they try to catch ‘em all, relies on cellular data most of the time meaning it’s eating through your data bucket as your play.
That is, unless you’re a T-Mobile subscriber.
The nation’s third largest wireless provider has announced that as part of its next T-Mobile Tuesdays offer, they’ll be rewarding customers with unlimited data for Pokémon Go. Rather than a full week or even a month’s worth of data, T-Mobile will make Pokémon Go data absolutely free through August 2017.
Its next reward day will also include a free Frosty from Wendy’s, a free Lyft ride up to $15 and half off select accessories including battery packs. What’s more, 250 people will win $100 to spend on PokéCoins and five people will win trips to anywhere in the US to hunt for new Pokémon with a guest.
The degree to which the game uses data is up for debate. According to Verizon, the game makes up less than one percent of its overall network data traffic. But regardless of how much data Pokémon Go does or doesn’t consume, it’s a timely marketing move by T-Mobile that could score it a lot of new customers. And if in a few months, the craze has died down considerably, T-Mobile won’t be out any money from the promotion.
After being around for over a year, Facebook has now decided to expand itsInstant Articles feature to Messenger. The update means that if someone sends one of the super-fast loading articles in the standalone messaging client, it can be viewed directly from within in the app.
Normally, clicking on a link in messenger entails having to wait for the mobile browser to load it up. But any Instant Articles that are shared – identified by the lightening bolt icon – will open ten times faster within Messenger itself, offering the same experience as the main Facebook app. Those speedy loading times are due to Facebook hosting the articles on its servers and displaying them in a layout suitable for mobiles.
“Currently, links shared via Messenger load in a mobile browser, which can be a slow experience, especially in places where low connectivity is an issue. Now people can have the same fast, interactive experience reading Instant Articles in Messenger that they have in the Facebook app, and publishers can tell beautiful stories and reach their audiences through both Facebook and Messenger,” saidFacebook Product Manager Josh Roberts.
It may be a great feature for news consumers, but there have been some questions raised about the level of control Instant Articles gives the social network. By keeping readers within its ecosystem, Facebook can collect more user data and show more of its own ads. And while Instant Articles publishers do get a cut of the revenue, it’s hard to image it's the same as what they’d recieve if people visited their own websites to view the story.
Facebook says Instant Articles will appear on Android today with iOS support arriving “in the coming weeks.”
Microsoft’s lofty goal to hit one billion Windows 10 installations just three years after its debut was apparently a bit too optimistic.
When probed on the matter by ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, a spokesperson for the Redmond-based company noted that they are pleased with their progress but due to “the focusing of” its phone hardware business, it will take longer than originally anticipated to reach the one billion monthly active devices goal.
If you recall, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson set the mark at Build 2015 just ahead of Windows 10’s summer launch. The one billion installation figure was to include all devices running Windows 10 including desktop PCs, tablets, notebooks, Windows Phones, Xbox One consoles, HoloLens headsets, Surface Hub conferencing systems and IoT devices.
Windows 10 got off to a hot start as it found its way to more than 300 million devices by May of this year so what caused Microsoft to dismiss the goal, you ask?
Back in March, Myerson conceded that Windows 10 Mobile would no longer be a focus for Microsoft over the coming years. This is the primary reason why Microsoft won’t hit its 1B goal; having to rework its overreaching Windows 10 upgrade prompt tactics has only steered it further off course.
In related news, Microsoft’s free Windows 10 upgrade offer ends July 29. If you haven’t yet upgraded to Windows 10 and are planning to do so free of charge, your time is ticking.
Microsoft will bet you a new laptop that it can upgrade your (compatible) PC to Windows 10 Time is running out to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. After July 29th, Windows 7 and 8.1 users will have to pay to get Microsoft’s latest operating system. Microsoft has rather infamously been urging PC owners to take advantage of the free offer. However, so far over 350 million people have decided to take the plunge to the latest version of Windows. Winbeta
U.S. to allow foreigners to serve warrants on U.S. internet firms The Obama administration is working on a series of agreements with foreign governments that would allow them for the first time to serve U.S. technology companies with warrants for email searches and wiretaps -- a move that is already stirring debates over privacy, security, crime and terrorism. Brad Wiegmann, a senior official at the Justice Department, discussed the administration’s efforts during a public forum on Friday at a congressional office building in Washington, D.C. The first such agreement is being assembled with the U.K., he said. The WSJ
VR is a revolution in control more than immersion Holopoint is a VR archery game, and it's almost impossible to explain why it's so good without sounding like a wanker. It doesn't look like much. You're in a dojo, and some blue cubes straight out of My First Unity Project hang in the air around you. You shoot arrows at those, holding your bow in one hand and drawing back the arrow with the other. Sometimes they shoot at you. Eventually some holographic samurai show up and wade slowly toward you from all sides, feet sliding across the floor in a mismatched animation. You shoot these also. Eurogamer
Lepton image compression: saving 22% losslessly from images at 15MB/s We are pleased to announce the open source release of Lepton, our new streaming image compression format, under the Apache license. Lepton achieves a 22% savings reduction for existing JPEG images, by predicting coefficients in JPEG blocks and feeding those predictions as context into an arithmetic coder. Lepton preserves the original file bit-for-bit perfectly. Dropbox
Forget Iron Man: skintight suits are the future of robotic exoskeletons Children with a rare neurological disease were recently given the chance to walk for the first time thanks to a new robotic exoskeleton. These devices -- which are essentially robotic suits that give artificial movement to a user’s limbs -- are set to become an increasingly common way of helping people who’ve lost the use of their legs to walk. Robohub
Sandia storing information securely in DNA Experiments at CERN’s LargeHadronCollider generate 15 million gigabytes of data per year. That is a lot of digital data to inscribe on hard drives or beam up to the "cloud." GeorgeBachand, a Sandia National Laboratories bioengineer at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, is exploring a better, more permanent method for encrypting and storing sensitive data: DNA. Sandia
Google had an Oculus competitor in the works -- but it nixed the project Google recently shut down an internal project to create a high-end standalone virtual reality headset akin to devices from Facebook’s Oculus and HTC, according to sources familiar with the plans. The decision likely stems from Google’s effort to streamline its more ambitious projects, an ongoing slog at the company. In this instance, Google is shifting more resources behind mobile VR... Recode
Samsung in talks with BYD to buy stake in electric-car maker Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest maker of phones and memory chips, said it’s in talks with BYD Co. about investing in the Chinese electric-car manufacturer. Details including the size of the investment will be disclosed when they’re confirmed, Samsung said Friday in an e-mailed statement. The investment in BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., would bolster Samsung’s semiconductor business for cars, the South Korean company said.Bloomberg
A smaller version of Raspberry Pi 3 is coming soon A smaller version of the popular Raspberry Pi 3 will go on sale in a few months. Raspberry Pi is developing a new version of its Compute Module, a single-board computer that plugs into specific on-board memory slots. The new Pi will be more like a mini-computer inside a computer, and it won't come with a power supply. PCWorld
Inside the playlist factory When he’s choosing your music for you, Carl Chery, 37, is in Culver City, California, sitting at his desk in an office with no signage, trying to decide whether Drake and Future’s “Jumpman” (jumpman, jumpman, jumpman) has jumped the shark. Or sometimes he’s at home in his one-bedroom apartment on the border of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, walking around in his living room with new Gucci Mane blasting from a Beats Pill.BuzzFeed
Tearing apart the Nintendo Playstation The mid 90s were a weird time for video game hardware. There were devices that could play videos from compact disks. Those never caught on. Virtual reality was the next big thing. That never caught on. The Sony PlayStation was originally an add-on for the Super Nintendo. That never caught on, but a few prototype units were produced. One of these prototype ‘Nintendo Playstations’ was shipped to a company that went into bankruptcy. Hackaday
TR's VR journals, part one: setting the stage Over the past couple months, I've been places. I've dangled from the side of a rock wall hundreds of feet above crashing waves. I've set foot on a shipwreck deep beneath the ocean and hung out with a humpback whale. I've laid waste to pallets of unsuspecting fruit with a pair of katanas. I've led a research mission on an alien world full of exotic life forms. I've been to Taipei to look at a bunch of new PC hardware. (OK, that last one actually happened.) The Tech Report
Crossover for Android runs on Chromebooks! Sometimes, you find yourself staring at something you could never have imagined being possible based on its humble beginnings. The Wright Brothers pilot the airplane for 12 seconds; then, Neil Armstrong lands on the moon. The first microcomputer kit is made available in 1975; then, 120 million computers are sold in the world so far this year! Codeweavers
HTTPS is not a magic bullet for Web security We're in the midst of a major change sweeping the Web: the familiar HTTP prefix is rapidly being replaced by HTTPS. That extra "S" in an HTTPS URL means your connection is secure and that it's much harder for anyone else to see what you're doing. And on today's Web, everyone wants to see what you're doing.Ars Technica
'Pokémon Go' isn't very good but it will be huge anyway The thing no one warns you about when you decide to become a Pokémon trainer is the humidity. It's hot and muggy on my first day hunting down Pikachus and Geodudes in Brooklyn, and my already clammy hands are getting even sweatier from the heat of my phone -- Pokémon Go runs hot. Vice
Shopping for a gaming notebook can be tough, especially if you’re looking to supplement a beefy desktop machine. On one hand, you can go all out with a massive system that rivals your trusty desktop but then again, who wants to haul around a 10+ pound brick all day? Conversely, there are plenty of slim notebooks to choose from but finding one that’s even halfway decent at gaming is a challenge.
With Razer’s refreshed Blade notebook, the gaming peripheral specialist aims to strike a blend of portability and power in a chassis that anyone would be proud to own. It’s not the fastest gaming notebook on the planet but at just 4.5 pounds with a profile that’s thinner than a dime standing on its side, you’ll have no trouble tossing it in your backpack as you walk out the door.
The 2016 Razer Blade ships with a 14.0-inch IGZO QHD+ (3,200 x 1,800 resolution, 16:9 ratio) LED backlit display with capacitive multi-touch. In my opinion, multi-touch on a traditional notebook – one that can’t transform into a tablet – is just as worthless as a multi-touch on a full-size AIO.
The panel looks incredible although given its high resolution, you’ll almost certainly want to scale it up a bit unless you have a penchant for tiny text. This is incredibly easy to do in Windows 10 by simply right-clicking on the desktop and selecting “display settings.” Here, you can adjust the scaling on-the-fly by dragging a slider. I tried a couple of different settings before settling on 175 percent.
Perhaps the only thing not to like about the screen is that it’s glossy and has a high reflection factor.
Powering the new Razer Blade is Intel’s sixth generation Skylake Core i7-6700HQ processor with Intel HD Graphics 530, a quad-core, eight-thread chip that runs at 2.6GHz (Turbo up to 3.5GHz). It’s paired with 16GB of dual-channel DDR3 (2133MHz) that’s soldered to the motherboard, Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M graphics with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM and 256GB or 512GB of PCIe M.2 solid state storage.
Nvidia’s Optimus technology switches between integrated and discrete graphics based on application demand. In my experience, it does a fine job at it although you can always go in into the Nvidia Control Panel and assign a specific GPU to handle individual programs as you see fit.
If you’re familiar with Razer’s Blade line of notebooks, you’ll feel right at home. In terms of design and styling, the Blaze is more or less a larger version of the Blade Stealth we looked at a few months ago. Along the right edge of the system, you’ll find a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) port, a traditional USB 3.0 port, an HDMI 1.4b port and Kensington Lock slot. On the opposite side is the AC charging port, two additional USB 3.0 ports and a combination audio jack with a single activity LED along the front edge. Under the hood, you’ve got a Killer Wireless-AC 1535 NIC (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth 4.1).
The inclusion of a Thunderbolt 3 port is a welcome one. If you’re unfamiliar, this versatile port offers 40Gbps of bandwidth (twice as much as Thunderbolt 2) but what’s most impressive here is that it utilizes the USB Type-C interface and can do many things at once. With a single reversible cable, for example, you can drive two 4K monitors, recharge the system and transfer data all at the same time. It makes single-cable docking for workstations a reality and truly is the “one cable to rule them all.”
On the bottom of the Blade are two anti-skid pads that run the length of the system, two vents hiding intake fans and 10 screws which hold the cover in place. By using long strips of anti-skid pads rather than the typical four small feet, the Blade has an incredible grip and won't skate around on your desk.
Since the RAM is soldered in place and the battery is of the integrated type, the only reason you’d ever need to get inside would be to replace or upgrade the solid state drive.
Speaking of, the Blade ships with a 70Wh rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery that Razer says is good for up to five hours in their testing. Included with the system is a 165 watt power adapter measuring 5.9 x 2.36 x 0.87 inches that shouldn’t take up too much space in your travel bag.
Razer has positioned its familiar snake logo in the center of the lid. I did notice that if you push down on or around the backlit logo, there’s a lot of flex which is a bit concerning. Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to affect the display on the other side, even when a good deal of force is applied.
Opening the lid, you’ll find the 14.0-inch QHD+ display framed by a moderately thick bezel, both of which sit behind the display’s glass. This gives the illusion that the bezel isn’t as wide as it really is and is more aesthetically pleasing than a solid, separate bezel. Atop the display is a 2.0-megapixel webcam with dual microphone array should you want to some Skyping.
The full-size anti-ghosting keyboard is slightly recessed and comes alive courtesy of Razer’s Chroma backlighting system which features individually lit multi-color keys. With it, you get access to 16.8 million colors per key as well as several different lighting effects like breathing, reactive, wave, static and so on.
You can create multiple profiles for different moods and even different game types with the ability to go online and download specific profiles for games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch. If you’re into custom lighting, Chroma will be right up your alley and if not, you can simply disable the backlighting or set it to a static, single color and call it a day.
The keyboard itself is more than adequate for a gaming notebook and the layout leaves nothing to be desired. That’s worth some merit as it’s surprisingly easy to screw up a keyboard by simply rearranging a couple of keys. There’s virtually zero flex in the board so it doesn’t feel like you’re typing on mushy Jell-O. If I had to single out one shortcoming, it would be that the key travel is a tiny bit shallow, though this likely stems from my love of mechanical keyboards and Razer's desire to produce a thin machine.
At four and 1/8 inches wide, the touchpad is plenty large for a system of this size. Rather than integrate the mouse click buttons directly into the touchpad, Razer went with physical click buttons, a practice that isn’t nearly as common as it used to be. This will ultimately come down to personal preference although considering its intended target, I suspect most serious gamers will rely primarily on a standalone mouse or maybe even a gamepad.
A set of stereo speakers covered by pinhole grills flank the keyboard with the power button located centrally above the keyboard. The wrist rest area is spacious and only gets lukewarm during intense gaming sessions. This is due in part to Razer’s dual-fan cooling system -- more on that in a bit.
The new Blade packs a lot of technology into a slim and lightweight chassis measuring 0.70 (height) x 13.6 (width) x 9.3 (depth) inches and 4.5 pounds. Our price as configured here today is $1,999. Should you opt for the larger 512GB SSD, expect to pay $2,199.
For years, Google has been doing a lot of work to make people aware of computer science and programming. In this article, we’ll be talking about Google’s latest effort to promote computer science and programming. Google launched a new Education website called Google CS Education which is a collection of different programming tools and other basic resources for the beginners.
Google CS Education
Google CS Education
This new website is mainly focused on three stages:
Learn Computer Science
Participate in Academic Opportunities
Access Career Opportunities
The main goal of Google CS Education website is to teach computer science in the simplest way. So that even a kid can learn such stuff.
This page contains resources for both student and the educator. It also includes the coding tools and technology.
Apart from learning computer science and programming, you can also use this portal to explore scholarships by visiting the ‘Participate in Academic Opportunities’ tab.
You can also explore multiple Contests and internships that are organised by google by clicking on the ‘Access Career Opportunities’ tab.
This one-stop place for learning includes some well-known learning programs like Google’s Made with Code, igniteCS and CS First.
As much as we love our powerful gaming PCs at TechSpot, we also appreciate the little things, such as the recently reviewed MSI Cubi 2 Plus or Asrock DeskMini 110. Both of these systems have a small footprint, adhering to Intel's mini-STX standard and boasting capacities under 2L.
The DeskMini in particular has become somewhat of a favorite thanks to its flexible design and relatively low cost. For $130 this barebone supports desktop Skylake processors using the box cooler, along with a number of storage options which includes two 2.5" drives. It might be one of the bigger STX systems you will come across at 1.92L, but also among the most powerful except for its graphics performance.Asrock is pushing the DeskMini 110 as a productivity device for office type work, which makes sense, but with the ability to support high-end CPUs such as the Core i7-6700, its lack of GPU power makes the system a bit unbalanced. The best iGPU solution the DeskMini will have is the Intel HD Graphics 530 and, well, we know it to be a stinker in terms of performance.
This rules out pretty much all STX systems as potential gaming rigs, which is true for almost all small form factor PCs as well.
For as long as I can remember Intel has been promising integrated graphics greatness and almost every generation they manage to disappoint. The one time I came away impressed was with the Iris Pro Graphics 6200, which is part of the $290Core i5-5675C. Thanks in part to its large high speed L4 cache or eDRAM, the i7-5775C laid waste to AMD's fastest APUs.
Intel has since upgraded to Iris Pro Graphics 580 which features 50% more execution units while retaining that huge 128MB eDRAM. The clock speed has been set at 1GHz resulting in 1.15 GFLOPS of power. That's all great except that Intel's flagship graphics is not available in affordable processors and it's yet to be seen into a single socketed processors, instead limited to Skylake-H processors.
In an effort to capture some of the lucrative gaming market, Intel has developed a new NUC aimed at enthusiasts and gamers with the Iris Pro Graphics 580. The Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK is marketed for "intense gameplay," but we'll have to see about that.
Right out of the gate we can tell this won't be a cost effective gaming solution -- unless it can outperform a Radeon RX 480 -- the barebones NUC6i7KYK sells for $630 and requires you to bring your own storage, memory and operating system, which could easily push the price beyond $1,000, as was the case with our build.
Skull Canyon NUC Up Close
The NUC6i7KYK is without a doubt the best looking NUC we have seen thus far. In fact, it might even be the best looking mini PC full stop. The redesigned chassis looks very aggressive and you can tell Intel is trying to attract enthusiasts and PC gamers alike.
The NUC6i7KYK measures a mere 211mm wide, 116mm deep and 28mm tall (8.30" x 4.56" x 1.10").
On top we find the Skull branded logo which Intel typically associates with its gaming-oriented products. The NUC features an all-black design garnished with a range of different textured finishes. The skull is etched into a matte section of the lid and adjacent is a large glossy area featuring a small honeycomb pattern.
For those not keen on the scary looking terminator-like skull, the NUC comes with another less intimidating plain panel. This panel gives the NUC6i7KYK a more professional look and will probably be preferred by those not looking to use the NUC as a gaming device.
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From the front we find a slim but long panel which continues the design theme from the top. Starting from the left users will find a hexagon shaped power button which illuminates white when the device is active. Next we have an SD card slot which is handy for photography buffs and next to that are two USB 3.0 ports, one of which is a charging port. Finally, there is a headphone/mic jack and an IR receiver.
Both the left and right sides of the device are ventilated and measure 116mm deep and the right side features Kensington lock support.
Spinning around to the back we find a few important connectivity options, a Thunderbolt 3 port being the most notable. Users will also find an HDMI 2.0 port, Mini-DisplayPort 1.2 and another two USB 3.0 ports. There is also a Gigabit network jack, combo speaker/TOSLINK audio output and a 19v DC power input.
Underneath we find four rubberized feet and fixing points for VESA mount support and I should point out that the VESA mount plate and screws are included in the package. The underside of the NUC also provides access to the internals via the removal of four small screws.
Before we jump inside to take a look at the hardware I should also mention that the NUC6i7KYK comes with a 120w (19V @ 6.32A) power brick with a separate power cord to the wall. There is also a quick start manual that provides directions on how to add memory and SSDs to the unit.
Skull Crushing Performance
Intel has ensured easy access to the internal workings of the NUC6i7KYK which is important as users will need to install their own SO-DIMM memory and M.2 SSDs inside before the device can be used. Once the bottom cover has been removed users get their first look at what lurks inside. That said what you're seeing here is only half the story.
On the opposite side of the PCB we find the H170 PCH (Platform Controller Hub) along with the mighty Core i7-6770HQ processor and lest we forget Intel's Wireless-AC 8260 WiFi adapter (802.11ac, dual-band WiFi with Bluetooth 4.2).
Getting back to the business side we find two unpopulated SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 32GB of DDR4-2133 memory. Therefore we filled them with a pair of 16GB G.Skill DDR4-2133 modules for good measure. Next you'll find a pair of M.2 slots, both of which connect directly to the Intel H170 PCH using the PCIe x4 interface.
The M.2 slots support 80mm long SSDs and Intel has provided our sample with a Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB pre-installed. For those wondering the dual M.2 slots do support RAID and it can be enabled at the BIOS level.
This means in addition to the $630 price for the Intel NUC6i7KYK itself, our test configuration also houses $120 worth of DDR4 memory and a $320 storage device. That pushes the total build cost minus software out to $1,070 -- quite a price indeed.
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A big part of that cost is the Core i7-6770HQ processor which unlike the Skylake-U parts is a fully fledged quad-core chip boasting Hyper-Threading support. Despite its modest 45-watt TDP, the 6770HQ operates at a base frequency of 2.6Ghz and it can boost as high as 3.5GHz depending on the load. The L3 cache has been downgraded from 8MB to 6MB, but keep in mind you are getting that huge 128MB L4 cache as well. Also squeezed into the multi-chip module package design is the Iris Pro Graphics 580 graphics operating at between 350 and 950MHz.
Intel suggests a retail value of $378 for this processor, which is more than its flagship 6700K desktop model and explains why the company didn't go with its most extreme Skylake-H model, the Core i7-6970HQ, as it commands a retail value of $623.
The Thunderbolt 3 port that we found on the rear I/O panel supports external graphics adapters such as the Razer Core, though that device isn't a cost effective means of boosting the NUC6i7KYK's gaming performance as the enclosure alone costs $500. Still, if you happened to have such a device already for enhancing your laptop or something, then it could also be used in conjunction with this Intel NUC.
Unfortunately, I don't have a Razer Core to test the performance but it's concerning that Intel has connected the Thunderbolt 3 controller directly to the H170 chip rather than the Core i7 processor. This limits the graphics card to PCIe 3.0 x4 bandwidth as it must use the DMI 3.0 link between the CPU and the PCH, which could cripple the performance of discrete GPUs using the Thunderbolt 3 interface and therefore make it somewhat pointless. Anyway, this is only a concern if you plan to shell out $500 for an external dGPU enclosure and then of course $200+ for a graphics card.
The Zenfone 3 release date is expected to be in two weeks, meaning we'll be able to test out the 6GB of RAM and other specs in full. Here's how it performs so far.
Zenfone 3 Deluxe represents a major upgrade to Asus' spelling-challenged smartphone series with a component design and specs you won't find on any other Android today.
The phone is making a name for itself with 6GB of RAM, when all but one of thebest phones in 2016 so far top out at 4GB of RAM. You should be able to open more apps on its 5.7-inch display without slowdown.
Yes, the ZTE Axon 7 was just announced to have a 6GB of RAM variant, but it wasn't shown off at its Beijing launch event next to its still-very-promising 4GB version. I could test the Asus Zenfone 3 at Computex 2016.
6GB of RAM and ready to go
It also includes the latest Snapdragon processor, starts with 64GB of internal storage and includes a 23MP camera, all of which are impressive numbers on paper. It'll just miss Android Nougat, but does run Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
But do these Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe specs compute into anything meaningful? The Taiwanese release date is set for mid-July, while the US release date isn't for several weeks, according to Asus. So I went hands on with the forthcoming phone while in Taipei, Taiwan to determine more in the meantime.
Design
The Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe is being touted as the world's first full-metal unibody phone with an invisible antenna design, and that's technically true.
It beats Apple's iPhone 7, rumored to be anti-antenna lines too, by three months, and the new LG G5 has a gap meant for modular add-ons; it isn't really unibody. Samsung Galaxy S7 is made of glass.
That leaves the Zenfone 3 Deluxe to steal some thunder with a sleek look of its own. I like the full-metal body and the seamless unibody design, and the invisible antenna lines are a nice perk.
What's more important to me than any of that, though, is the fact that the phone does away with the plastic that made last year's Zenfone 2 design downright unlikable. I dug the specs and the software customization, but it felt cheap. Like, not even good plastic. This new design begins to right that wrong.
It measures 156.4 x 77.4 x 7.5 mm, which doesn't make it as thin as the Nexus 6P (7.3mm thin), but it's close and, when testing it, it felt better than the thicker, non-Deluxe Zenfone 3 (7.7mm thin).
The power button and volume rocker are now on the right side (instead on of the back), but there's an oddly shaped rectangular fingerprint sensor on back. You don't actually press it in. There's still capacitive soft buttons for home, back and recent on the front, going against the trend of using purely on-screen buttons. I tend to like my buttons always being at the ready like this and not sometimes vanishing at the worst possible moments.
A slight camera bump and top-mounted headphone jack
I had a big problem with Zenfone 2's top-mounted power button, which I described as "squishy." I'm happy to report than while the Zenfone 3 Deluxe side-mounted buttons feel a bit shallow, they're at least clicky. This is all the more important now because the Deluxe camera can be launched by hitting the volume down button twice when the phone is asleep.
Like a lot of phones in 2016, it pivots to USB Type-C, sticks with one speaker (but of course promises stellar audio, according to the company's marketing efforts) and comes in three colors: Titanium Gray, Glacier Silver and Sand Gold.
Display
Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe has a spacious 5.7-inch screen that competes with theSamsung Galaxy Note 5 in size. Even more relevant, I fully expect the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to be the same size, too.
Its large Super AMOLED panel takes on a 79% screen-to-body ratio. That means less bezel on the sides and more screen space to work with. The capacitive buttons on the bottom do eat into significant screen space.
A better screen, but still 1080p
Under the Computex lighting, it also appears to be brighter, fixing be biggest issue I had with the Zenfone 2. Taking last year's phone outside snap photos was a headache due to its dull screen; I couldn't see what I was shooting and just hoping the photos turned out okay (they didn't, last year's camera was also mediocre).
I'll have to test it outdoors in a full Zenfone 3 review soon, but the brightness seems to have been ratchet up thanks to the new AMOLED display.
Clearly still a prototype, as you'll read I was reminded of on the next page
What remains, though, is the same is 1080p resolution. You won't find a pixel-dense quad HD (aka 2K) panel like the Android rivals that Asus is trying its best to mimic.
I'm okay with Full HD 1080p displays on phones of this size, but the company does appear to be working on an Asus VR headset.
As I experienced with the Huawei VR headset, 1080p can be problematic when the screen is sitting two inches from your face.
WHAT IS A HANDS ON REVIEW?
'Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view. For more information, see TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee.
