#I’ve only ever had iPhones and if I want to upgrade its like cool I’ll get the next iPhone | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

droneseco · 4 years ago

Text

Black Shark 4 Gaming Phone Review: This Feels Like Cheating

Black Shark 4

9.00 / 10

Read Reviews

Read More Reviews

Shop Now

The Black Shark has the best controls and inputs for gaming. Its 720Hz touch response and pop-up triggers will actually make you a better gamer.

Specifications

Brand: Black Shark

Storage: 128GB, or 256GB

CPU: Qualcomm 870

Memory: 6GB, 8GB or 12GB

Operating System: Android 11

Battery: 4500mAh

Ports: USB C Type 2

Camera (Rear, Front): 48 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/2.0", 0.8µm, PDAF 8 MP, f/2.2, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1/4.0", 1.12µm 5 MP, f/2.4, (macro), AF

Display (Size, Resolution): 6.67-inches (1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio)

Pros

144Hz refresh rate

Vibrant AMOLED screen

720Hz touch sampling

Magnetic pop-up triggers

Excellent value specs

120W fast charging

Cons

Camera performance is mediocre

Heavy gaming causes phone to get too hot without using optional cooler

Using the phone while charging can be awkward to hold

Several competitive games don't support more than 60fps

Buy This Product

Black Shark 4 other

Shop

// Bottom var galleryThumbs1 = new Swiper('.gallery-thumbs-1', { spaceBetween: 10, slidesPerView: 10, freeMode: true, watchSlidesVisibility: true, watchSlidesProgress: true, centerInsufficientSlides: true, allowTouchMove: false, preventClicks: false, breakpoints: { 1024: { slidesPerView: 6, } }, }); // Top var galleryTop1 = new Swiper('.gallery-top-1', { spaceBetween: 10, allowTouchMove: false, loop: true, preventClicks: false, breakpoints: { 1024: { allowTouchMove: true, } }, navigation: { nextEl: '.swiper-button-next', prevEl: '.swiper-button-prev', }, thumbs: { swiper: galleryThumbs1 } });

A few weeks with this phone, and its changed my perspective on mobile gaming. I’ve never enjoyed mobile games as much as I want to. The biggest thing that's been holding me back, especially for MOBAS and shooters, is the notoriously hard-to-use and imprecise touch-screen controls. With Black Shark's latest release of the Black Shark 4, they’ve got a couple of tricks to fix all that, the two biggest being, a highly responsive touchscreen, and physical buttons.

To celebrate the launch, Black Shark is offering a $30 coupon off the purchase price of $479 at AliExpress. This is valid until April 30th. Also, the first 200 orders will get a bonus original fluorescent case, and a Black Shark "Gaming Finger Sleeve" (we are just as clueless about that one, I promise you). If you'd rather order from the official site, the first 100 orders get a free case and fan cooler.

youtube

We've been testing the Shark 4 for the past few weeks and were really surprised with not only how much more enjoyable games were compared to our non-gaming phones (an iPhone 12 mini and a Google Pixel 4a) but also how much better we actually were. In just two days, we quickly ranked up in games like Call of Duty Mobile, where we reached the master tier. We weren’t just playing better, we were outperforming everyone else. Coming from someone who doesn’t generally do all that well at shooters, that’s saying something. I used to be pretty skeptical about gaming phones, and for the most part, still am.

Of course, this phone does more than just game, but for this review, I’ll be focusing on the key features that make the Black Shark 4 not only stand out from other gaming phones but fundamentally changes the way you game with it.

Black Shark 4 Specs

Before even getting into the important game-related features, the device packs a lot of great specs at its price.

The Black Shark 4 uses the Qualcomm 870 processor, which is commonly found in many upper mid-range and affordable flagship devices. The Shark 4 Pro on the other hand, sports the beefier Qualcomm 888 which is currently Qualcomm’s most powerful processor.

The standard model is equipped with 6GB of RAM, which can be upgraded to 8GB or 12GB. Storage starts at 128GB UFS 3.1, which is very speedy, and can be upgraded to 256GB.

I’m reviewing the base version which includes the Qualcomm 870, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.

The Shark comes in 4 color options including Magic Black, Black, Blue, and Silver. In the test box, they’ve included a case as well which covers most of the phone’s rear but has a few cutouts, which I assume are for improved heat dissipation.

Important connectivity includes 5G, Bluetooth 5.2, USB Type-C 2.0, and (thankfully) a headphone jack, which can be handy for a latency-free audio experience while gaming.

It also has a fingerprint reader in the middle of the right side. It responds quickly and is situated at a reasonably good height to reach it easiest when holding the phone with one hand. Smaller hands might struggle, however, as it is still a bit of a stretch given how big this screen is.

Screen and Size

Equipped with a massive 6.67-inch AMOLED screen that supports HDR10+, you'll see impressively deep blacks and vibrant colors. Everything has a very punchy pop and combined with its size, this makes it great for watching movies and browsing the web. You definitely have a lot of screen real estate to work with here.

The display could do with being a bit brighter, which I primarily wanted when gaming outdoors. This is a pretty common downside to AMOLEDs however.

Holding the Black Shark 4 with one hand is ultimately not very comfortable, and I most often found myself using both hands. Likewise, even though the phone is relatively thin at only 0.39 inches (10mm), it’s 6.42 inches (163mm) tall and 3 inches (76mm) wide. It’s not very pocketable and will likely stick out a bit.

The plastic build helps keep the weight relatively low at just 7.41 ounces (210g), which is slightly less than the similarly sized 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max.

144Hz Refresh Rate | Benefits & Limitations

The screen is actually very special in some key areas. For starters, it has a 144Hz refresh rate compared to last years’ 90Hz. You can keep up with fast movement more easily whether gaming or just scrolling because more frames are shown each second compared to lower refresh rate screens. It can actually make the phone feel snappier and more enjoyable to use because of how fluid everything feels.

It's important to note, however, that not all games and applications can take advantage of that 144Hz display.

For mobile gaming, a higher refresh rate screen can be great so long as the CPU/GPU can keep up. There are a good number of games that now support 144FPS or uncapped FPS, though many of the more popular titles like Genshin Impact, Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG do not. Those are capped at 60FPS. Moreover, even if they did support it, you’d likely be hitting GPU/CPU bottlenecks unless you were playing at lower graphical settings.

While there are a growing amount of games and applications that support 144Hz, more graphically intensive ones still might not hit 144fps. Playing Genshin Impact, for example, with more demanding environments which had a lot going on, could easily dip the FPS to the low 40s and even 30s, with graphics set to maximum quality.

I don’t necessarily think fast refresh rate screens are a gimmick for phones, as they still have their advantages for certain games, apps, and the overall navigation of the phone. But they aren't as fully utilized as you might think. This is more of a limitation to the optimization of current games and the performance of current mobile chips.

Controls

720Hz Touch Sampling | Precise On-Screen Controls

What’s more impressive, however, and in my experience actually more beneficial to gaming, is its 720Hz touch sampling rate. Black Shark claims this to be “the most responsive smartphone touchscreen ever”. This high pressure-sensitivity makes it super easy to get precise movements for even the most competitive games.

Unlike with modern iPhones which have a 120Hz sampling rate, the slightest movements across the screen register more accurately. Higher sampling rates, as with the Black Shark, let the phone register your taps, flicks, and movements more quickly and frequently. This was immediately noticeable to me.

I've never been a huge fan of mobile gaming, primarily because the touchscreen controls never felt precise. With shooters=, I could never point and aim where I wanted to, making it overly frustrating. Movement and aiming with the Shark’s touch screen is a day and night improvement, but it doesn’t stop there.

Pop-Up Triggers

Introduced with last year‘s model, the magnetic pop-up triggers make their return with the Shark 4. The two top sliders reveal a left and right trigger button which can be custom mapped, via their Shark Center app, to any two A and B points on the screen. Having highly responsive physical buttons helped transform me from one of the worst at mobile shooters, to crushing the leaderboards.

At heart, I’m a PC gamer. Especially when it comes to first-person shooters and MOBAS, nothing has really come close to a mouse and keyboard in terms of fast and precise controls for me. That is until this phone arrived.

Honestly, at times it felt like I had an unfair advantage. Comparing the gameplay of just using the onscreen controls vs having the physical buttons is a huge difference. For shooters especially, being able to map your triggers to aiming down and the other to firing, makes you much more competitive. Your thumbs can focus on movement and aiming while your index fingers can handle shooting.

Combined with that high 720Hz pressure-sensitive screen, it actually gave me more precision and comfort compared to using an Xbox controller. While I don’t think I’m as good using this phone compared to my PC controls, it's by far the second closest thing.

Cooling

Keeping temperatures cooled is especially important with gaming phones. For the past few weeks, I’ve tested a number of long gaming sessions to see if the phone ever got hot to the touch or uncomfortable. Black Shark has upgraded their liquid sandwich design cooling system, which it claims is 30% more effective at heat dissipation. More graphically intensive games like Genshin Impact do stress the phone more and after a few hours, it can still get too hot.

FunCooler 2Pro

But, that’s where you then attach the optional "FunCooler 2Pro". Atrocious product naming aside, the heatsink and seven-bladed fan cools the phone noticeably in seconds. You can even see the temperature drop with its built-in display on the front. Of course, this has customizable RGB lights, because what doesn’t these days?

When paired to your phone’s Bluetooth, it can even be programmed to change colors based on the game you’re playing. At full “Frozen” speeds, it can get pretty audible, but it genuinely feels like a freezer is attached. Quieter fan speeds are available for when you don’t need that arctic cool. For less than $30, if you plan on gaming hard with this phone, it’s a no-brainer. Props to them for also making this compatible with other phones too, even iOS.

I would have liked to see a more integrated way of connecting and powering the cooler, however. Now you’ve got to remember to pack an additional charger and cable for the cooler if you take this on the go. Instead of having to power both the phone and cooler individually, a single charging solution would have been more convenient and easier.

Cameras

Cameras are more of an afterthought on gaming phones but are still worth mentioning. The Black Shark 4 has a triple camera system on the back and a front selfie camera.

The main shooter is a 48MP f/1.8, while the other two rear cameras are an 8MP ultra-wide and a 5MP macro. Compared to the iPhone 12 Mini (which sports a 12MP f/1.4 main sensor and a 12MP f/2.4 ultrawide) photos and videos overall weren’t nearly as polished and punchy as I'm used to, but by no means does that mean the Shark 4 was bad.

Most daytime side-by-side comparisons for stills were pretty close in fact. High contrast scenes, though, highlighted (pun intended) the weaknesses of these cameras and their processing. Switching between the 3 cameras and their modes, too, was much slower than I was used to. There was a noticeable delay before you could snap a photo and it wasn’t as seamless as iPhone’s and other implementations which allow you to tap to zoom in and out to switch between the cameras.

Selfies were alright. They did struggle with sharpness, however, looking overall soft, as well as struggling again in high contrast scenes.

Low-light shots were actually pretty decent if you held still for long enough. Most impressive, it seemed to retain the dark blacks, instead of making them bright purples like some cameras with their night modes often do.

That said, more cameras and higher megapixel counts do not give you the full picture (pun also intended). The 48MP images never looked sharper than 12MP iPhone shots, even when cropped in. Taking photos with the full 48MP was also a slow experience which required switching to a different mode as well as taking longer to actually capture the image.

I don’t see much practical use for the 5MP macro camera, given the niche use case and low resolution. It feels like an easy way for them to advertise having more cameras, while not necessarily having a single great one.

Video recording is decent but also has some quirks. The OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) is best for slow panning or tilting movements—anything too fast and it came off as very digital. 4K recording is limited to the main camera only; switching to the ultra-wide lens brings the resolution down to 1080p.

Battery and Charging

Between all that, you have a 4500mAh battery that supports 120W charging (and that's not a typo), whcih can charge the phone to full in less than 17 minutes. That’s fast. Even using the standard 67W charger, you’ll charge to 100% in less than 25 minutes.

If you’re like me and frequently forgetting to charge your phone overnight or use your phone heavily for longer sessions, the combination of a long-lasting and quick charging battery is great.

One downside, though, is the placement of the USB-C port. While yes, the bottom middle is the most obvious and commonplace for the port, charging the phone and gaming at the same time can be very awkward, causing your hand to cramp as you try to hold and play around it. Moving the port to say the middle left or right side would have been a unique feature and way for a gaming phone such as this to distinguish itself from a “traditional phone”.

Not Just for Gaming

I used to think gaming phones were more of a gimmick without any noticeable benefits compared to their non-gaming variants. In a lot of ways, this is still true, especially with those potential bottle-necks I mentioned earlier holding the phone back from taking full advantage of their higher refresh rate screens and being stuck with the same clunky touch-screen controls.

The Black Shark 4 has addressed the biggest issue with mobile gaming, giving you a more responsive screen as well customizable triggers. This is the first phone I actually enjoyed playing more competitive mobile games on. Not only that, I was actually really good at them, which I think is reason enough to get this for most people.

Even if you’re not that big into gaming, you’re getting some pretty killer specs in an awesome package for less than $500 that are hard to match, let alone beat.

Black Shark 4 Gaming Phone Review: This Feels Like Cheating published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

1 note · View note

rfsak2 · 7 years ago

Text

Cactus, Part XI

I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter. Hope you enjoy this too!! Drop me a line and hit that little heart on the bottom. I need your love and affection...

Cactus, Part XI Summary: Support. Harry/Jamie Warnings: A jerk who says jerk things.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. She’d had a migraine all day.

She appreciated rock. She loved it in all it’s many forms: soft, glam, indie, grunge, she even veered into the land of 80s hard rock every once and awhile. She loved music.

But as with everything in life, she was allowed to have a preference and screamo just wasn’t hers. Especially when the bloody band’s guitarist didn’t know the first thing about writing melodies or playing them for them for that matter.

Hence why she was brought in.

Not that the guitarist appreciated it.

He didn’t. Loudly and obviously.

“I don’t need help from some upgraded groupie.”

The producer grit his teeth and frowned. “You do if you want to make a debut album that does anything, if you want to make music that someone will listen to. You need a melody. Right now all you have is a mush of noise that doesn’t make any s-”

“That’s what it’s supposed to sound like.”

“Well right now, it doesn’t sound like anything. Even your average screamo fan isn’t going to be into this.”

“Good!” He threw his hands in the air. “It’s not for public consumption. It’s art.”

The producer rolled his eyes. “You dumbass, welcome to being signed to a major label. There is no such thing as ‘not for public consumption’. If you’d wanted that you should’ve stayed with your indie label.”

She sighed. “Look, I’m not here to do your job or change-”

“No you’re just here to steal my place in the band.”

She rolled her eyes. “I have two bands, I don’t need another one, promise. I just-”

“Want to find another man to-”

The lead singer stepped forward. “Hey, man that’s not necessary.”

“Don’t need another one of those either.”

“Look, bitch, just because you suck some fam-

The producer shoved to his feet. “That is out of line! The-”

She held her hand up and stood, setting her guitar in its stand. “Look, dude. I don’t give a fuck about your opinion my relationship. Couldn’t really careless and it’s none of your bloody business. Also has absolutely nothing to do with this. I’m a guitarist and a fuckin’ good one. I can help you, but I won’t if you don’t want it. It’s fine. No skin off my nose. I get paid either way.”

The lead singer nodded. “I want her help.”

She looked at the guitarist, who shrugged. “Don’t want any watered down fake-psychedelics on this record. Don’t want none of that pop shit.”

“C’mon, man, even you were busting a nut over some of the solos she wrote for Styles.”

“Co-wrote, with our friend Mitch, by the way.” She shrugged. “It’s up to you though. I can help. Write ya a couple melodies and get right back out of your hair. But it’s up to you.”

The guitarist made a noise in his throat. “Fine. I don’t like whammy though. And I play exclusively on heavy strings. Like the sound better.”

She turned away to grab her guitar and rolled her eyes, who did this fucker think he was? The next Slash? She shot a look at the producer who gave her an apologetic shrug. “Duly noted. Let’s do this shit.”

Later, migraine still sitting heavily behind her eyes, she stopped at the Whole Foods. Harry was due back today after a week in New York for a photo shoot. The only food they had in the house currently was junk food and the poor boy would be exhausted, she should get some real food in him.

She was was trying to decide if the broccoli looked fresher than the zucchini when her phone rang. FaceTime audio, meant he was still on the plane’s wifi.

“‘ello, beautiful monster.”

She smiled. Two years and she still couldn’t get enough of him. His voice still made the center of her chest warm, still made her want to bury her face in his shoulder, let him wrap himself completely around her. The way she was currently feeling, mutual bathtime was on the list tonight. “Hey gorgeous boyfriend of mine.”

He chuckled. “God I miss yeh, woman. Need yeh… badly. Gonna bury myself so deep in yeh when I get home…”

“I missed ya too.” She felt her cheeks heat and she turned her phone down. “But you need to be careful with all that, baby. Don’t need PhoneSex-gate part two.”

She could practically hear the one-hundred watt stunner on his face. “No one around te hear, love. Promise.”

“You’re in a flying metal tube. Not really anywhere to not hear ya.” She smiled. “So cool your jets and we’ll follow up on that suggestion when ya get home.”

“They are never cool when it comes to you, y’know that. But, I’m gonna hold yeh to that… and to me.”

She snorted. “Was that a pun? Not your best work, Hazza.”

He sighed. “I’m tired and horny for yeh, love, give me a break. Still in studio?”

She shook her head forgetting that he couldn’t see her. “No. I’m at Whole Foods. Any requests for welcome home dinner?”

“You.”

She flushed again. “Haz… I’m serious.”

He chuckled again, the sound deeper and a little more stimulating. “So am I, love. Just wantcha. Don’t much care about what else happens tonight.”

She smiled. “Should I just get take-out then? I’ll grab some breakfast stuff and I can make breakfast in the morning.”

“What time d’yeh have to be in studio tomorrow?”

“Don’t. The guitarist is an asshole and the producer’s givin’ him a day to cool off.” She sucked her tongue. “Not gonna help much. Can’t cure bein’ a prick.”

He was quiet for a minute and she knew her very astute boy was putting two and two together from past conversations. “What did he do?”

“Don’t worry about it, baby. It’s handled. What do you want for breakfast?”

“What did he do, Jamie?”

She sighed. “Hazza-”

“Don’t Hazza me. What did he do and how long has he been doin’ it?”

She fought against the migraine and the exhaustion that tempted her with snapping something rude at him. She knew he was just trying to help. “He’s just… just bein’ a twat, y’know? Doesn’t want help obviously and his only response to that is to-”

“Harass you?”

“Not physically.”

“What did he say?”

“Just bitchy comments about our relationship, Hazza. I swear, it’s not a big deal.”

He huffed. “Because if it was, you’d tell me, right, pretty girl? You’d tell me.”

“Of course. If I didn’t feel like it was under cont-”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s under control or not, love. I want te know.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t like it when you give in so easily, monster. Don’t trust it. Just means you’re not planning on doin’ it.”

She laughed. “It’s just not a-”

“Don’t say it again, love. It is a big deal. It’s a big deal that yer being harassed in yer workplace because of yer relationship with me. It’s a very big deal. To me, at least.”

“It’s just…” She sighed.

“Just what, love?”

“There’s not much that can be done. If someone wants to be a pig-headed jackass and comment on somethin’ that isn’t his business, he’s gonna do it. All I can do is defend myself.” She shrugged.

“I can defend you, love. And if they’re not willing to listen to you, they will definitely listen to me. Why else was I blessed with height and a deep, scary voice, if not to knock some sense into chauvinists?

“That is a valid point and you know that I appreciate your chauvinist-knocking skills. But I can’t have my rich, famous boyfriend steppin’ in to fight all my battles, baby. Ruins my street cred.”

He laughed and she felt like the conversation was back on track. “Fine. Okay. I want waffles and bananas and bacon, British bacon, none of that crunchy American shite.”

She chuckled. “Okay. That I can do. When do you land?”

“Within the hour at this point.”

“Okay, we left your Rover in its normal spot. What do you want for dinner, gorgeous?”

“Thank you, love. Chinese?” He yawned. “From that one really good place in Chinatown?”

She smiled. “Yeah, I can do that-”

“Excuse me…?”

She jumped, almost dropping her phone, and turned toward the girl. “Yeah?”

“Who’s tha’, love?”

“You’re Jamie Schwartz, right? Harry Styles’ girlfriend?”

She nodded sort of dumbly. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to the fact that people, people who were not related to the music industry at all, knew her name.

“Jamie?”

“Are you on the phone with him?” The girl edged closer and Jamie took a step back, almost tripping over the low shelf of the vegetable aisle.

“Jaime? Are yeh okay?”

She nodded and then remembered, he couldn’t see her. “Yeah… I’m fine, baby. Just a fan. Just a second.” She smiled at the girl. “Yeah. I’m Jamie. What’s your name?”

“Candace.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” She shook the girl’s hand. “Sorry about that. I’ve a bit of a migraine. Makes me a little slow on the uptake.”

The girl shrugged. “I just wanted to say that the BTS of the tour is fantastic and you all looked like you had a blast.”

“BTS?”

“Behind the Scenes.”

The video of all the random shit they did to keep busy on the tour. She smiled. Harry had sent it out via youtube and twitter not long ago. Twitter fuckin’ imploded.

He hadn’t even really intended to ever release something like that, in fact most of it was shot on someone or another’s iPhone, not by his professional photography team, but so much of it had been legitimate comedic gold and it just seemed unfair to keep it to themselves.

It had everything from dance numbers (chiefly from The Best Song Ever music video complete with everyone wearing one of Harry’s big cheesy grins) and compilations of her and Mitch’s Riff-Offs, band members falling asleep in random places (shot mostly by Harry) and of her saying ‘Let’s do this shit’ over and over again… set to a sick drum beat laid down by Sarah.

It really was great.

Jaime smiled. “Oh. Yeah, we did have a blast. Fun group to tour with.”

“I think Harry may be the most extra person alive.”

“He has his moments.” Jamie smiled. “He can be dramatic but it keeps life interesting.”

“I am not dramatic!”

She grinned at the girl who probably couldn’t hear Harry and spoke into the phone. “Yes, you are, baby. But I do love you anyways.”

Candace smiled. “I also wanted to tell you that… I know you’ve gotten some hate from the fand- from his fans, that some people have said some really horrible things about you, but most of us love you and think you’re great and we want you two to be happy.” She took a deep breath. “We all, the normal fans, we all think he seems like he’s the happiest we’ve ever seen him. I want to thank you for that.”

Jamie smiled and set the broccoli that she’d been holding this whole time down. She held her arms out and wrapped Candace up in a hug. “Thank you, Candace. That is very much appreciated.”

She nodded and waved before quietly excusing herself.

“What did she say, love?”

Jamie smiled. “She said that they think you’re the happiest you’ve ever been. And then she thanked me for it. Sweet girl.”

She placed the take-out order as soon as Harry had to hang up to land. She made it home maybe ten minutes before he did, popping the cork on a bottle of wine and letting it breathe almost as soon as the grocery bags hit the counter.

She had just put the groceries away when she heard the door open. She smiled and made for the foyer, pausing in the archway to watch him toe off a boot. He was holding their take-out, plastic bag containing those distinctive cartons and he smiled at her.

“Come ‘ere, gorgeous woman.” He set the bag down and opened his arms. He caught her as she all but threw herself at him. Wrapping her legs around him, she sighed into his neck.

“I missed you, baby.”

He grinned and squeezed her tighter. “Ah… my pretty, little monster. I missed yeh too.”

“Even though it’s only been a week?” She leaned back and cupped his face in her hands.

Pursing his lips for a kiss, he nodded. “After the first five minutes, darling.”

She smiled and leaned in for the kiss. “I love you.”

“Love yeh too.” He carried her into the kitchen and set her on the counter, almost knocking over to open wine bottle and the glasses she’d set out.

She just managed to catch one of the glasses before it rolled away and cackled. “You are a menace. I swear, I just want to wrap you up in bubble wrap.”

He grinned. “I didn’t see them, love. Didn’t expect them to be there. Too busy suckin’ on yer neck.”

Leaning forward, she cupped his jaw and leaned in to slip her tongue into his mouth. He groaned, pulling her forward on the counter so she had to lean against him to stay upright.

She drew back and he followed her tongue, drawing her bottom lip between his as he started tugging rather incessantly at her flannel button-up. He tugged it down her shoulders until it got stuck in her elbows and pulled away from her lips to rasp, “Need yeh naked, love. Please.”

He reached down to unbutton her jeans and paused. “Wait, monster. Is your head still hurting?”

“Huh?”

He grinned. “You told the girl that you had a migraine. Are you okay now?”

“I love you.” She smiled up at him and kissed him. “Yes I’m fine. Please don’t ever stop being you, Haz.”

He blushed and kissed her again, his hands unbuttoning her jeans.

Shrugging the shirt off, and started at his buttons, not that there were many to undo, God bless him. She was working a hickey into his jaw, when she remembered. “Dinner, baby.”

His shirt dropped behind him and she ran her hands over his chest. He shook his head. “Need yeh naked. Now. Been hard for yeh since I called yeh. Love, I need yeh.”

She groaned and leaned forward to suck harshly on his collarbone, hands smoothing up his chest to bury in his hair. “Okay… We’ll eat later, we’ll eat... “ She moaned against his skin as he shimmied one large hand into her jeans, cupping her intimately.

Later, laying on the couch after a long, hot bath and reheated Chinese food, they settled in to Netflix binge, each sporting a nourishing layer of her Oatifix face mask and a glass of wine. He laid back against her, head against her breasts, his weight pleasant and comforting against her.

She ran her hands through his fringe, keeping the unruly hair from drifting into the sticky paste.

“Still no studio tomorrow?”

“Nope.” She shrugged. “It won’t do anything. You just can’t fix fucktard.”

He smiled softly. “What did he say, love? Tell me the truth.”

She sighed and ran her fingers through his fringe. “I knew you wouldn’t let this go.”

“Monster, I could tell yeh were still angry when I talked to yeh on the phone. Yeh never hold onto to things like that. So how bad was it?”

Jamie smiled. “Well, apparently I make ‘pop shit’ and I’m after his job.”

He looked rather amused. “In a screamo band? Yeh want his job in a screamo band?”

“Evidently. I also have a nefarious plan to contaminate his ‘art’ with my fake-psychedelics.”

“Oh?”

She chuckled and carded through his hair again. “Also, I think I have a right to do this… because I suck your dick. I mean he didn’t really get to finish that thought, Benny shut him down pretty quickly, but that is where it was going.”

Harry glowered at her over his shoulder, the expression a bit softened by the paste on his face. “Oh really?”

She shrugged. “It pissed me off for sure but I was going to let it go. I know the truth, this asshole clearly doesn’t. Also I suck your dick and I enjoy it, so why shouldn’t I?” Harry laid back against her chest and chuckled. “But then he finally ‘agreed’ to let me help and told me that he hated whammy and only liked heavy guitar strings. Like who the fuck are you? You don’t pay me, the studio pays me to help you sound your best. I don’t care what you like. If what you liked was good, they wouldn’t have brought me in.”

He snorted but arched to watch her face. She smiled and kissed his hair.

“That’s why all their shit sounds so muddy, they need at least one person not just strumming to some indiscernible beat.” She rolled her eyes. “So I tried to introduce a subtle melody, nothing crazy, just something to break up the constant wha-wha-wha. I ruined it by mentioning that he’d be able to play it on heavy strings if he wanted but that it’d be easier and more comfortable to play them on mediums.”

Harry turned to face her fully, pulling her legs into his lap. “And then wha’?”

She ran a hand over her face and sipped at her forgotten wine. “I shouldn’t have said anything. In the back of my mind, I knew I was poking at him-”

“You were offering your professional opinion which is part of your job. You’d be remiss not to mention it.” Harry shrugged. “He’s the fuckwit that let it hurt his feelings.”

She went to kiss his cheek but remembered that his face, like hers was covered in an oat-y, gritty mask. “We need to get this stuff off our faces.”

He nodded and let her up, throwing an arm over her shoulder. “And then what happened?”

She sighed. “He just lost it, ranted about me trying to change his style, the whole style of the band, called me some names, made some insinuations. His bandmates tried to check him but then he hollered at them for a bit and stormed off.” Jamie huffed.

He frowned and motioned her into the en suite before him. They took up position at their respective sinks and he sighed, washing his face. “I like the way this stuff smells.”

She nodded. “It makes me think of how warm and sweet your mom’s house always smells.”

“Yes! That’s what it is!” Harry grinned. “I couldn’t place it.”

She threw a towel at him. “You’re drippin’.”

He grinned. “So were yeh… not three hours ago.”

She let him pull her into his arms and kissed at his jaw. “You and your dirty puns…”

“Nothing dirty here, love. I am so fresh… so clean, clean. Took a bath, washed my face.”

She laughed, throwing her head back. “Very true.”

He kissed her head. “What’re yeh planning te do then, love?”

“About that guitarist?” He nodded and she shrugged. “I’ve already written the melodies for the songs that needed it most. I’ll deliver them to Benny. I get paid anyways. He’ll just have to figure it out for himself.”

He nodded. “Sounds good.”

She kissed his chest, right next to the little monster charm she gave him almost a year ago. “Thank you for listening. I appreciate it.”

“Thank you for telling me.” Harry buried his face in her hair. “I just want te support yeh the way yeh support me.”

She smiled against his skin. “How do you mean?”

“Love, whenever I’m with you, I’m allowed to just be me. I can be goofy and stupid. I can be sensitive and intelligent. I can like football and candles and take baths in rose-scented water and do face masks with you. You don’t judge. You won’t judge. I don’t feel like I’m being edited at all. None of that will turn you off…”

She made a face. “I don’t know, baby… the Packers though…”

He put his hand over her mouth. “Shh… woman, don’t ruin the moment.”

She smiled under his palm and kissed it. “I love you. For you. That includes but is not limited to those suits I’m not as fond of as your other suits, your candles, your god-awful taste in NFL teams and everything else. I love you.”

“Which suits?”

She mimed zipping her lips.

“But no, love. Really. Which suits?”

Part X Up Next: Part XII

#harry styles #harry styles/reader #harry styles/oc #harry styles fanfiction

14 notes · View notes

fadingfartconnoisseur · 7 years ago

Text

10 Essential Travel Items Everyone Should Pack in 2018

Every year there are new travel gadgets and gear upgrades coming on the market. A quick “travel” search on Amazon will almost always lead to 10 or 15 purchases. But not all of these travel items are actually worth packing and some of them may seem cool, but you’ll never actually use them.

After travelling for nearly 10 years with nothing more than a 40 liter backpack, we’ve learned to really minimize our travel gear. But that’s not to say we don’t have a few luxury items in our bags. There are some things in our packs that you’ve most likely never heard of, and others that are common, but we feel they should be obligatory for long-term travel.

In this article I’m going to list 10 of the best things we have in our bags, as well as some things we’re planning to buy in 2018. These are items that we couldn’t travel without and we don’t think you should either!

Note: The most important thing you travel with is your backpack itself. Don’t miss our buyers guide for the best travel backpacks of the year and make sure your pack does everything you want it to.

1. Handpresso

We absolutely love the Handpresso, a compact, hand pump espresso machine. As coffee lovers who aren’t crazy about brewed coffee (we only like lattes), this is one travel item that we wouldn’t leave home without.

Simply pump it 30 times, add hot water and a pod of your favourite coffee and voilà, you’ve got the perfect cup of espresso. For budget travellers who find themselves ordering lattes at coffee shops everyday, the Handpresso can be an enormous money saver.

Just think about it. One large latte at Starbucks is around $3.65. We purchase a bag of ground espresso coffee at the grocery store for just $4.50 and that bag makes around 40 cups of coffee. Add a bit of milk and we calculate that we’re not paying more than 15 cents per latte.

If a person who normally orders 1 large latte from Starbucks every day, decided to use Handpresso instead, they’d potentially save up to $105 per month on coffee. That’s enough to pay for the Handpresso Pump itself!

Aside from the money savings, we just love this little pump. We purchase delicious ground beans from all over the world. Colombian dark roast in Colombia, rich Java from Indonesia and tasty espresso from Italy. We wake up every morning and instead of walking to a coffee shop or conglomerate, we make lattes right in our rooms and drink them on our deck.

If you love espresso, then you should travel with a Handpresso pump. The only real downside to them is that they’re quite heavy at around 800 grams. Even though we only travel with 40 liters, we still find space for this essential item.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR HANDPRESSO ON AMAZON

Bonus Hack: Pick up a boil coil on Amazon as well. This handy little gadget can boil water in minutes and is super compact. Simply plug it in and add it to a cup of water and you can have boiling hot coffee in no time. The boil coil is also great for tea, cooking a cup of noodles or even for making hard boiled eggs.

2. Zipper Cubes

We still swear by these things. They keep your bag organized and ensure that everything is compressed down so that you can pack more in your bag than you would by just rolling clothes and stuffing them inside.

mesh packing cubes

We purchased Eagle Creek Zipper Cubes and they’re incredibly durable. We’ve had them since 2010 and we’ve packed them so tight that we’ve had to kneel on them and pull on the zippers just to do them up. To this day, the zippers have held up and they’re still working like new.

There are a lot of these brands on the market, but the only ones we’ve ever used are Eagle Creek and we know that they last.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR PACKING CUBES ON AMAZON

3. DJI Spark

When we first bought our DJI Phantom 3 back in 2014, drones were mostly reserved for professional videographers, vloggers and bloggers who wanted arial photography. These days, drones have become smaller, more durable and easier to fly.

The DJI Spark is so tiny that it can pretty much fit into any backpack or luggage. It comes with a hard foam case to keep it protected and it takes great videos and photos. If you like to get unique photos while you’re travelling, then this thing is perfect.

It sets up in minutes, can be flown using just a smartphone and has a bunch of cool features like follow me, hand gestures and point of interest. The drone can be flown by a 12 year old and DJI has made it very simple to get excellent cinematic shots.

If you’re a new blogger, I definitely recommend picking one of these up. At just $400 you really can’t go wrong. But even if you’re not a blogger, the DJI Spark is perfect for getting cool video clips and beautiful photos from the sky while you’re travelling.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR DJI SPARK ON AMAZON

4. Power Bank

Believe it or not, Dariece and I didn’t travel with a power bank until mid-2017. I really don’t know how we did it. iPhones and other devices barely last a day, so we were always walking around with electronics that were completely dead and useless.

Today we travel with 3 different power banks, in 3 different sizes for different situations. There’s no need taking out the heavy power bank if you’ll only be gone for the day, and the smallest one we have only charges the iPhone to 50%, so we only use that one if we’re running out the door and we realize our phones are dead.

The first power bank we have is the TP-Link Power Bank (pictured above) which has 20,100 mAH, enough to fully charge our iPhone 6s Plus 3 times over (nowhere near 6.5 times as the manufacturer claims).

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR A POWER BANK ON AMAZON

Our second powerbank is the Mi 10000 Power Bank. It’s half the size of the TP-Link, and this one fits in our pocket and charges the iPhone 6s Plus about 1.5 times.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR MI 10000 POWER BANK ON AMAZON

Finally we pack the Travel Card. This thing is about the size of two credit cards stacked on top of each other, but it doesn’t hold much charge. If we’re lucky, it’ll give the iPhones a 50% charge, but we can only usually rely on it for around 35%. Still, it’s great if we just need a quick boost in battery and don’t want to carry around anything heavy.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR THE TRAVELCARD ON THEIR WEBSITE

5. Noise Cancelling Earbuds

I wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about surrounding “noise cancellation” until I tried on a pair of Bose Quietcomfort 20 Noise Cancelling Earbuds. These things are super comfortable and they actually cancel out most noise from around the room or airplane.

The best part is that you don’t have to actually listen to music in order to cancel out the noise. You can simply put in the earbuds and turn on the noise cancellation feature and the earbuds will scan the audio climate in the room and counteract any noise by sending the opposite signal into your eardrum. They work like a charm and really need to be heard to be believed.

Oh, and they’re Bose, so you know they sound amazing when they’re playing music.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR BOSE EARBUDS ON AMAZON

6. Laser Lite Ear Plugs

Continuing on the theme of blocking out unwanted sound, I wouldn’t travel without a good set of ear plugs. When I have the opportunity to order my favourites from Amazon, I always choose Laser Lite Foam Ear Plugs.

They’re soft, comfortable and block out the most sound possible without hurting your ears. You can pick up a pack of 200 of them for just over $20 and they’re worth every penny. To get the most out of them, you’ll have to pinch them down and insert them into your ear, and then let them expand deep within the canal.

Bonus Hack: Put in your laser lite ear plugs and then use ear cancelling headphones or earbuds as well. The combination of the two will drown out any crying babies, loud music or even barking dogs when you’re trying to get some shut eye.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR EAR PLUGS ON AMAZON

7. Good Compact Camera

Every traveller needs to be carrying a good pocket camera. If you really don’t care about what your photos look like and never plan to take pictures in low light, then your iPhone or Android device should do the trick (assuming it’s a newer model with 10+ megapixels).

If you want to take some better photos and great videos while you’re travelling, without packing the size and weight of a full DSLR or mirrorless, then I recommend the Canon G7x Mark II. This camera has some incredible features, takes great photos (when not in Auto mode), and produces some of the best video of any camera in its class.

If you’re not a Canon fan, then you may want to go with the Lumix LX10. This one outdoes the G7x II with 4K video and rack focusing photography, meaning you can take the photo now, and decide where to focus later. A great feature that’s definitely worth the money. Also, the LX-10 has a Leica lens which promises clearer, more crisp photos.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR LX10 ON AMAZON

I’m going to be upgrading our camera in the next few months and there’s a good chance I’ll go with the Lumix, but having used the G7x Mark II for over a year, I can say it’s an excellent camera and I highly recommend it.

Bonus Hack: Both the G7x II and the LX10 lack an external mic port. If you plan to do any video with these cameras, the built in mics sound terrible when there’s even the slightest bit of wind. The solution is to pick up a small mic muff, cut out a piece and glue it over the built-in mic at the top of the camera. The sound becomes less tinny and the mic works amazingly well in windy conditions.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR G7X MARK II ON AMAZON

8. Lems Shoes

I can’t speak highly enough about these amazing travel shoes. My Lems Shoes have lasted me for over two years and I wear them quite a bit. They’re extremely comfortable, can be used in place of dress shoes and running shoes in most cases and the best part is that they roll up into a ball for easy packing.

Without a doubt these are the best shoes I’ve ever owned and if they ever wear out, I’ll buy another pair right away. For men and women, these are simply the best travel shoes on the market.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR THE MEN’S LEMS SHOES ON THEIR WEBSITE

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR THE WOMEN’S LEMS SHOES ON THEIR WEBSITE

9. Luggage Tracker

I have to be honest, we promised ourselves we’d pick up one of these things after Turkish Airlines lost our luggage back in 2016. We “forgot” to buy one and in December of 2017 Alaskan Airlines misplaced our luggage.

On both occasions, we were able to get our luggage back in a week, but it’s that horrible feeling you have that you’ll never see your backpack again. If we had a luggage tracker in our bags, we would have known exactly what airport they were at and we could’ve even told the airline so that they could retrieve it faster.

Needless to say, we plan to buy a luggage tracker in the new year and never lose our luggage again. During my research both in 2015 and this past few months, the Trakdot consistently tops the lists as the most recommended luggage trackers on the market.

There are two main downsides to any luggage tracker, one is that their batteries can run out if you forget to charge them and then they’re completely useless, and two is that they usually come with a paid yearly subscription (Trakdot is $24.99 per year).

Either way, at this time there’s no better solution to lost luggage, so if you care about your bags as much as we do, it may pay to pick one of these things up for around $40 and put your mind at ease.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR THE TRAKDOT ON AMAZON

10. Bluetooth Speakers

Everyone these days travels with Bluetooth speakers. When you’re getting ready to go out for the night or just chilling on your beach hut patio looking out at sunset, having a bit of music playing in the background can really set the mood.

Not just any bluetooth speakers will do either. You’ll want to have a nice mix of durability and excellent sound. We currently have the JBL Splashproof Portable Speaker, and it has amazing sound. Plus, we use it with wet hands at the beach and it hasn’t been damaged yet. The latest model, the JBL Waterproof Flip 4 Speakers are so waterproof that you can even submerge them in water and not ruin them, plus they’re lightweight and very durable.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR JBL FLIP 4 SPEAKERS ON AMAZON

You can take them to the beach and not worry about them getting wet or sandy and they sound crystal clear. For just under $90 on Amazon, they’re also an excellent deal.

If I was going for pure sound quality and didn’t care about weight and size, I would go with the Soundlink Mini II Limited Edition. They’re still small enough that you can travel with them, but at a pound and a half they’re quite heavy, plus they cost around $200. If you don’t mind the extra half pound in weight and don’t care about waterproofing, they’re probably your best bet for sound quality.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP FOR JBL SOUNDLINK MINI SPEAKERS ON AMAZON

Don't Forget Your Travel Insurance!

No matter where in the world you are planning to travel, make sure to have insurance before you set off on your adventure - it's the one thing you should always pack. World Nomads is a popular insurance choice among backpackers, travellers and adventurers. Just enter your information below to get a FREE quote. Safe & happy travels!

Travel Smart in the New Year

It’s amazing how a well-packed bag can help make travel more enjoyable. Packing the right gear can save you time and money, make for nice ambiance and keep you comfortable on the road. Make sure you check out our packing lists: The Ultimate Packing List For Full-Time Travellers, Travel Packing List for Men, and our Travel Packing List For Women for more great packing ideas.

What are you favourite travel items? Surely you have some things in your bags that you wouldn’t travel without. Share with us in the comments below and if we really like it, we’ll add it to this post!

The post 10 Essential Travel Items Everyone Should Pack in 2018 appeared first on Goats On The Road.

via Travel Blogs http://ift.tt/2CQ5J79

#IFTTT #Travel Blogs

0 notes

sentrava · 7 years ago

Text

Fa La La: The Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide

It’s my favorite time of the year, you guys: It’s officially socially acceptable to listen to Christmas tunes around the clock, plus I have a valid excuse to spend hours scouring the Internet in search of great gift ideas for you to give your loved ones! (I may also have shopped a little lot in the process. Oops.)

Note: Some of these featured products are from our sponsors, while others are affiliate links that will earn me a small commission.

So without further ado, here’s what I’m digging this year:

FOR THE NOMADIC SOUL

Have a friend or family member in your life who is only satisfied when doing something new, exciting and/or unique? (I know a little something about that!) Well, Tinggly has the cure that ails them. I’ve always been a fan of giving experiences instead of mere stuff, and this is the perfect solution: You can gift your loved one a personalized box that contains a voucher to a bucket list kind of item that most people only dream of. Dinner with a NASA astronaut? James Bond sightseeing tour in Thailand? VIP helicopter over the Vegas Strip? Yoga retreat in India? Tango lesson in Buenos Aires? Tinggly has something for every taste. I also love that you can choose your box by theme: birthday, Christmas, wedding, couples and more.

FOR THE SUN BUM

True story: I allot more space in my luggage to sunglasses than I do to anything else, as heaven forbid I be photographed in the same shades over and over again! But I can’t help it: I’m always outside doing something fun, and if there’s one thing fashion-wise that I care about the most it’s what’s on my face. And I love the selection of women’s sunglasses available at Sunglass Warehouse. I’m a huge fan of Aviators—bonus points if they’re mirrored—and Sunglass Warehouse has so many different kinds of Aviators in stock, many available for under $20. (With as much as I change out my shades, I like keeping my cost per item as low as possible.) For those shopping for the holidays, Sunglass Warehouse is offering 40% off one pair of shades from now through Nov. 30 with the code SPENDLESS40.

FOR THE TECH-HEAVY TRAVELER

We’ve all been there before: You’re traveling all day and your iPhone quickly depletes of all power. It’s near impossible to locate an outlet at an airport, and even my backup battery usually dies well before my travel day has ended (a nightmare scenario as I rely on it for ride-sharing when I finally reach my destination). Which is why Lynktec’s Reeljuice 5X Power Bank + 10 Watt Rapid Wall Charger is my new favorite thing; it’s got four feet of retractable charging cord, and it gives me FIVE full charges before it needs to be re-powered. No more fighting my fellow fliers for coveted outlet space at the airport; in fact, I can even charge my phone while I fly. I’m giving one of these bad boys away down at the bottom of the post, but you can also get 25 percent off (site-wide!) with the code LUNATICATLARGE25.

FOR THE SCIENCE GEEK (OR THE TWEEN)

This Lock Pick Beginners Box is at the very top of my DIY-loving husband’s own list, and for good reason: It gives you the tools (literally and figuratively) that you need to learn how to pick locks, with two different sets of practice locks that have clear sides so that the trainee can see what’s going on behind the scenes with the mechanisms. This is the perfect present for a dude—what husband/boyfriend doesn’t love tinkering?—but also would be a fantastic and affordable option for your fidgety, problem-solving tween.

FOR THE PHILANTHROPIST

You guys know my love for St. Jude runs deep. It’s just so cool what they do there: On top of being one of the top research facilities in the world, St. Jude also ensure that its patients don’t have to worry about a thing (like, for example, cost or lodging for the family) other than getting better. I donate to St. Jude periodically throughout the year, but I’m loving their new initiative, This Shirt. All you have to do is sign up to donate $20 to St. Jude monthly, and you get this exclusive Tee that all your favorite country artists (and your favorite blogger!) are wearing. Because helping others is really the reason for the season.

FOR THE ETERNAL STUDENT

Alert, alert, self plug coming! Kristin Sweeting and I are headed to Portugal next July to teach the ultimate writing, photography, marketing and business workshop—and we’d love for you to join us! We’ve extended registrations through Dec. 31 and have a handful of spots left (and a really amazing group attending so far!). Come learn the ropes of the biz with us while surfing, roaming, doing yoga and exploring Lisbon’s charming surrounds with us in your downtime. Bring your significant other or business partner or come solo. Just think of it as continuing education, a tax write-off and a vacation all rolled into one! As a Christmas special, I’m including two one-hour coaching sessions for anyone who signs up by Dec. 15, one by Skype prior to the trip and one in Portugal.

FOR THE AT-HOME COOK

We’re always experimenting in the kitchen, and try to eat as clean (i.e. no processed food) as possible, meaning that adding herbs and spices is clutch for our style of dining. I’ve had a subscription to Raw Spice Bar for the past year, and I love that every three months, a collection of six individually packaged, freshly-ground, seasonal spices arrives in my mailbox and that I don’t have to commit to buying the entire spice jar before I know I like it. You can even customize your diet to Paleo, vegan, vegetarian, healthy or “eat anything” and, of course, buy more from the Raw Spice Bar shop if you like what you tried.

FOR THE HEALTHY DINER

I’m all about collecting cookbooks, even if SVV is technically the chef in our household. My current favorite is A Beautiful Mess Weekday Weekend, which just came out this month and compiles even more healthy, vegetarian recipes than Elsie and Emma post on their blog. If you already own ABM, may I suggest the following: Laura Lea Balanced, Body Love and Cravings (maybe technically not healthy, but who doesn’t want to look like Chrissy Teigen?!).

FOR THE NEW HOMEOWNER

Earlier this year, my interior designer friend Kendall Simmons and her husband Kane launched Salut Home, a thoughtfully curated collection of home goods and accents, and I drool over all their colorful offerings every time the email hits my inbox. My current obsession? Their new collection of Leah Singh pillows (all things Leah Singh, really)—they have 96 styles in stock! And bonus, they’re on sale for Black Friday (use the code LEAH20), or you can sign up for their newsletter and receive a promo code for 10 percent off.

FOR THE SHUTTERBUG

While I’ll never fully replace my DSLR, ever since my mom gave me the Canon G7X Mark II for Christmas last year, it’s replaced my Canon 6D in my purse as my daily camera. It’s still got the manual settings so I can play around with the exposure, but is small and compact and great for videos. (Check out the travel videos I’ve been making for evidence.)

FOR THE BIG KID IN YOUR LIFE

For SVV’s last birthday, I got him a Phantom 4 Pro+ drone, and he loves it. He was a former aviation tech in the Navy and daydreams about flying all the time. Coupled with his penchant for photography, it was the perfect gift (and has come in handy on many a work project for us, too!). I think the P4 Pro is great for someone who does photography professionally; however, if your loved one isn’t that well-versed in drones yet, I recommend a cheaper, lighter model like the DJI Spark as a starter drone.

FOR THE ADVENTURER

I’ve had five different GoPros since I got my first one seven years ago, and the quality has improved significantly. After watching some of my YouTubers film exclusively with the GoPro Hero 6, I’m adding the newest model to my wishlist for our upcoming ski adventures (and it finally comes equipped with an LCD screen, too—you used to have to buy those a la carte).

FOR THE DOG OWNER

I bought a pair of travel pillows from the entrepreneurs behind Doggie Duffel, and I’m intrigued by their latest (fully-funded) project that’s essentially an all-in-one travel kit for your pup. Ella doesn’t have one of these yet, but I think I know what she’ll be finding under the Christmas tree…

FOR THE ART LOVER

I’ve been a long-time fan (turned friend) of Leslee Mitchell’s, and every time her gorgeous photography pops into my feed, I mentally bookmark it for the next time I’m doing a room makeover. I recently snagged several of her toy car prints, and I’m absolutely in love! Any giftee would be lucky to own a series of prints from this talented artist.

FOR THE SPORTY GIRL

Pretty much all my travel apparel comes from Gap Fit or Athleta—after all, I’m a girl who places comfort above style, but with most athleisure, luckily you can have both!—and a few pieces I’m loving this winter are: this metallic sweatshirt, this jersey keyhole top, this pullover hoodie and these black, leopard-print leggings.

JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.

FOR THE VINTAGE LOVER

Wish you’d grown up in the 70s? (Me, too.) You can embrace a bygone era with this sleek record player in a portable brief case that doubles as a CD player and has USB ports. Bonus: It comes in five different colors!

FOR YOUR FRIEND WHO WORKS FROM HOME

You know that girl who works in her coziest pajamas and barely leaves her computer desk all day long, except to refill her coffee/water/bourbon glass? (AHEM.) Welllll, how much would she love to upgrade from her ratty old PJs to this amazing unicorn onesie? (Really bad, I’ll tell ya!) For one that’s a bit more subtle, Nordstrom currently has this beauty on sale.

Stocking Stuffers Under $50

Savannah Bee Co. body products. I was stoked when I recently spotted Savannah Bee’s entire line, like this body butter, for sale at Target!

Geometric rings. Psst, SVV, looking for something small to get me? Start here.

Paddywax candle. My favorite candles are those that you can reuse the container as tabletop decor after it’s burned out.

Herb mill and grinder. As someone who’s very lazy in the kitchen, I love any tool that does the hard work for me.

S’well bottle. My cousins gave me one of these nifty canteens two years ago, and it’s been a game changer in my travels as I no longer have to abuse the planet by buying bottled water.

Stocking Stuffers Under $20

Taylor Swift’s reputation album. The Old Taylor can’t come to the phone because she’s out there SLAYING it with her new album. Man, this one is going to rack up the awards, and it should be in any music lover’s repertoire of tunes.

Flamingo ornament. I’m a sucker for all things flamingos and also ornaments, and Nordstrom at Home has a whole lot of cute, travel-themed ones, many of which are on sale.

Vintage maps. SVV and I are map lovers to the core. We own more than 30 globes and a number of vintage maps, but those are tough to find, which is why I like this Etsy store, which has both domestic and international city prints.

Monogrammed copper wine stopper. Because who doesn’t want their initial atop their vino?!

Twist Magazine’s winter issue. Launched by my good friend Keryn, this new travel publication is a gorgeous glossy that’s the perfect stuffer for the family traveler.

A taco holder. What taco lover doesn’t need this in their life?!

Stocking Stuffers Under $10

Sheet masks. I’ve been addicted to sheet masking for a year now, and while the TonyMoly variety pack is my go-to order, I’m equally as obsessed with these reindeer and penguin masks from Target.

eos holiday lip balm. I keep an eos in every bag I own, and I just popped this trio of holiday flavors (peppermint mocha, vanilla bean, ginger) into my shopping cart!

A manatee tea infuser. Or if manatees aren’t your thing (you crazy), there’s also a sloth, shark or loch ness monster.

iPhone charging cords in myriad colors. Show of hands if you, like me, are always on the hunt for that missing iPhone/USB/mini-USB cord?

The Oregon Trail Card Came. Because kids these days don’t even know what it’s like to ford a river and then die of dysentery when you’re almost there.

Pop socket. This little doodad changed my life—and made me stop dropping my iPhone altogether. I didn’t know how I’d feel about it, but I love it.

Rare earth magnets. We bought these to tack things to our wall on our four-month RTW cruise, and they’ve been a game-changer on actually keeping all of our cards and photos up on the fridge. They never fall, like, ever.

Since it doesn’t feel like the holidays until I start giving away gifts, I’m giving away one big C&C stocking stuffer grab bag, full of some of my favorite things, including the Lynktec charging station, a selection of Raw Spice Bar spices, and plenty of other stocking stuffers for you to give your family and friends (or keep for yourself—I won’t judge!). The value of this box o’ fun is currently over $300—also brimming with music, beauty items, and other odds and ends I’ve purchased and wanted to share with you—though I’ll likely continue to add to that as I finish my Black Friday shopping.

All you have to do to enter is tell me your favorite holiday tradition. Don’t have one? Tell me what’s the top of your Christmas wishlist! It’s that simple. Leave a comment below, and I’ll randomly choose a winner of this bag o’ fun on Dec. 1.

PIN IT HERE

Fa La La: The Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide published first on http://ift.tt/2gOZF1v

0 notes

game-refraction · 8 years ago

Text

Game Review: NieR - Automata (PS4)

I played very little of the original NieR back on the Xbox 360 some 7 years ago. The main protagonist just wasn’t that interesting and the world and gameplay were just nothing really to write home about. When it was announced that Platinum Games would take on the development chores for its long-awaited sequel, I was met with slight skepticism since Platinum Games track record has been less than stellar recently. NieR: Automata at first wasn’t the game I had hoped it to be, but after a solid 20-30 hours with the game, it started to get its hooks into me and frankly, I was glad to be along for the ride.

NieR: Automata tells a few stories from various points of view, swapping control to several characters during the 40+ hours I spent with the title. It’s also a game that is meant to be completed several times over, a concept I’ll touch upon shortly. The game attempts to fuse several different playstyles together to offer not just variety, but ways in which to keep you on your toes, and more or less this fusion of various bits of gameplay works well and gives NieR: Automata a unique voice among its genre.

There are 5 core endings that tell the entirety of the story in Automata, each being unlocked after completing the game over and over. Your first two playthroughs will be very similar to one another, with maybe an hour or two of different moments. The 3rd playthrough; however, was my favorite of the bunch and felt like an instant sequel to the game I had just finished twice over. There are 21 additional endings that are mostly jokes or abrupt endings that relate in some ways to moral issues or character motivations.

There are several characters in NieR: Automata, but only 3 of them that you’ll play a substantial amount of the game as; 2B, 9S, and A2. Yes, those are the names of each of the protagonists and not models of the latest iPhone. You play as a collective of androids, a group called YoRHa. These androids were created by humans to battle a group of invading machines that forced humanity to flee to the moon. YoRHa takes the fight back to earth to reclaim it from this alien machine threat.

You start the game as 2B, partnered up with 9S. 2B is calm, composed, and she is unwilling to let emotion get in the way of the mission. 9S is a scouting class of android, not designated for combat, but glad to have a partner as he usually is solo on his assignments. The two form a strong bond and together must defeat countless machines, both small and colossal in size. Once you complete 2B’s campaign, you’ll swap to the viewpoint of 9S, as this will allow you to see his side of the story during moments where 2B isn’t present. During this playthrough, you’ll see about a few hours or so of new content as well as the ability to wrap up any side quests you didn’t complete or missions that you did not discover. 9S also has a hacking mechanic that can lead to some interesting confrontations and gameplay moments.

Sometime into your initial playthrough, you’ll encounter A2 and it won’t be until much later that you discover who the character is and what they mean to your journey. A2 is also the star of the third playthrough and easily my favorite character in the game. While 2B has some good moments and character work present throughout the many completions of this game, she just wasn’t as interesting as A2. While there are moments where 9S was an engaging character, that second playthrough just hurt the character overall for me, as the repeated 10 hours of gameplay with very little to change it up, just didn’t do it for me. Hearing the same lines of dialogue, the same jokes and the fact that the amazing boss battles are pretty much skipped during his campaign, just made his chapter, and him, my least favorite thing about the game.

The supporting cast doesn’t favor much better, as there are only a small handful of characters who you will even remember their names. Pascal, the robot in the forest is about the only character that even came close to making me care about them. There are some story-focused characters in the main village, a few merchants, and some various toss away characters that peddle their wares near the desert, all of which are easily forgettable. You’ll visit dozens and dozens of NPC’s for various side quests but they all tend to offer variations on fetch quests and rarely anything substantial. Two characters that I really wanted to like were the twins, a pair of girls who you’ll encounter in the main base camp. While most of your interactions are with them in this camp, the moments in the late game where you’ll encounter them outside the camp just didn’t have the impact I wanted and the visual novel that follows that moment really slowed down the game when it really should have been ramping up to the finale.

Platinum Games is known for exciting and fast paced combat and NieR: Automata doesn’t disappoint. Battles are intense affairs that will have you learning enemy patterns to find an opening and knowing when to dodge and retreat to avoid taking heavy damage. Combat is downright brutal on hard and a bit more tolerable on normal. You’ll find katana’s, broadswords, spears, basic swords and a few more variations on weapons that can all be upgraded and set to easily swappable weapon sets to switch on the fly during battle.

Each character is outfitted with a robot companion called a Pod. These robotic helpers can be equipped with skills like lasers, hammers, gravity bombs, spears and more. Upon finding a second pod, I found a nice balance in the game having one set for lasers as the rapid shooting and charged shots to be really effective and during its cool down I would then swap to the second pod and attack with its spear as it handled crowd control rather well. Pods can be upgraded to boost their damage and trust me, it can be crucial to do so.

Swinging swords and dodging attacks are only part of the combat in NieR: Automata as you’ll often take to the skies in a transforming flying mech. These encounters often result in bullet-hell type encounters that will have you dodging energy blasts and small circles of death that will fill the screen constantly. These encounters happen in a variety of different playstyles and often will switch back and forth to keep you alert and entertained. These types of bullet-hell mechanics are not entirely exclusive to the mech portions of the game as many bosses and enemy types will attack you in this way while on foot, it just happens far more often during these flying missions.

2B, 9S, and A2 all share the same upgrades and items that you’ll encounter on your journey, and considering this game is meant to be completed over and over again, the systems of progression feel worth it and it can feel rewarding to put so much time and effort into unlocking new weapons and discovering new skills to see them show up again upon starting a continued new playthrough for each character.

Skills are used through a system called Chips. These Chips have a numeric amount of what can be equipped. If your Chip has a storage value of 40, then all skills must add up to 40. I upgraded my Chip to 120 and was able to kit out my characters with enough skills and passive abilities to my liking. These skills can range from earning more experience during battle, boosting defense or weapon damage, to allowing items to be auto-picked up instead of having to press X on each item drop I would encounter. There is a wealth of skills to learn and should you fuse skills together to make their effects more potent, then those skills will raise in their numeric value and take up more real estate in your Chip. You can setup and customize different Chips should you feel that certain encounters can benefit from a different Chip setup and therefore it can be a deep and rewarding system should you want to put the time into it.

Nearly all the forces against you are composed of various types of robots, some tiny and mostly cute looking, to large and colossal in nature. Most of the typical foes can be taken down pretty easily and without much effort, but larger and more complicated enemies will require some fast dodging and clever tactics. The game also features some incredible boss battles that are a real highlight of the game. My favorite, mostly due to the theatrics of its design is in the amusement park encounter as not only is the boss wonderfully designed, but the whole battle itself is just exciting. There is also a battle near the finale of the game that has you swapping back and forth to different characters battling two separate bosses that are pretty much identical to each other, yet the fights themselves are entirely different and boy is it fun.

While NieR: Automata isn’t a flat out gorgeous title, it still is a very good looking game. There are some sections of green here and there but the game does suffer from a very bland brown color scheme for much of its length. The main cast of characters have some pretty decent looking models but the NPC’s that fill up the game are just painful to look at, especially in a game of this console generation.

If I had to list my favorite element to NieR: Automata it would be its music. Composer Keiichi Okabe, who has worked alongside game director Yoko Taro for quite some time now, has delivered one of the best soundtracks ever created. There are so many songs here that I constantly hum when not playing the game or look forward to when I would jump back in for another playthrough. What I found refreshing about the soundtrack as well was the fact that the songs don’t loop as multiple tracks were created to transition from song to song and given the nature of battle or a change in environment, the song choices would change as well. The vocals of a few of the tracks are also stunning and feature some of the best singing I’ve heard in an original song created for a video game.

When not decimating tiny robot after tiny robot, I’d come across a few parts and mechanics to the game that I found lacking. I found the map system to be poorly designed as it can be hard to read and often I would be set on a path only for it to be a dead end or I would end up going in the wrong direction as there is no compass marker on the mini-map. Because of this, I would constantly have to check my map to make sure I was heading in the right direction and having to do this had become quite the chore. There is also no way to set an objective marker to be seen in the game world as it can only be seen via the mini-map. I also found the menu to be pretty bland and while it can be fairly easy to navigate, it felt almost like a placeholder for a menu system that they didn’t get around to making.

My last complaint comes due to the open-world nature of the game. I found that after the intense and exciting first hour or so of the game that the sudden drop into the open-world made the game’s pacing screech to a halt. I also found most areas in the game to be reused far too often, as several areas lose their charm after you’ve revisited them a dozen or so times. I found myself far more engaged in what was going on when it was focused on a pivotal part of the plot or during a boss encounter. I feel that if the game had been less open-world and more compact that I would have enjoyed myself far more as the large open-world is far too barren for its own good.

NieR: Automata is a game that needs to be beaten more than once and while that sounds like a huge effort of seeing the same content again and again, it more or less isn’t. Each playthrough will almost always leave you with more questions than answers even if you think you know what is going on. The open-world elements can drag the game’s pacing down a bit and the side quests themselves can feel like your typical open-world filler, but the main story beats and the engaging characters, especially A2 and her Pod, can give this game a new and refreshing feel, even after 20 or so hours in.

NieR: Automata was played on a PS4 Pro console with a retail copy and all screen shots were taken via the screen capture software built into the console via its twitter share system.

Game Review: NieR – Automata (PS4) was originally published on Game-Refraction

0 notes