#i love the change from 1080p to 480p when the camera changes

[kallypsos]

THE X-FILES 3.23 ↠ Wetwired

[dxitydoo]

So... the iPhone SE...

Alright this one is gonna be a long one so scroll on past if you’re not interested. If you are, then buckle up because here’s a multi-part essay about my opinions on the new SE.

For anyone that saw my post about getting a new phone and wondered what phone I got, I got the new iPhone SE (yes, I’m an Apple person. Don’t come for me).

At first, I was seeing videos of people getting excited over the phone but now, as time has gone on, those same people are now making videos criticising the phone.

Admittedly, they have some good points to bring up. The battery of the new SE is not amazing. It doesn’t outlast my dad’s XR which is somewhat annoying to say the least.

My counter-argument to that is that it lasted a whole day of me playing games on full brightness in the sunlight and didn’t die on me once which is honestly incredible after the last phone i had but anywho we’ll discuss this later.

My problem with a lot of those videos is that I feel like they’re getting the wrong end of the stick about what the SE is trying to be and they’re comparing it to the wrong phones.

The Original SE

The original SE’s main selling point (seriously why did Apple name them like this this is confusing) was that it had the newer internals of the 6S (so the faster processor, the better camera, etc) in the smaller body of the older 5S.

That was why I, and a lot of others I’m sure, liked it. Because it was a newer phone but in a size I preferred.

It also didn’t break the bank.

The old SE was praised for combining new and old in a way that complimented the old form-factor and rejuvenated in while also allowing people to access the newer features that were coming out in updates. At the time of writing this (27/04/2020), the old SE still supports new iOS updates and runs iOS 13 with minimal hiccups (not counting the fact that iOS 13 isn’t the most bug-free of updates).

But now, in 2020, the new SE is released and people are criticising it for the same thing they praised it for back in the day. They’re complaining that it has Touch ID, that it doesn’t have a edge-to-edge display, that it’s small, that the battery isn’t good, that the camera doesn’t stack up.

Look.

Everyone is free to have their own opinion. If you don’t like the SE, that’s fine. You don’t have to. No one is forcing you to. Just keep scrolling coz I do like the SE and I’m about to defend it til I run out of breath.

The “Old” Body

The SE combines old and new. That’s it’s schtick, that’s its gimmick. It was the thing for the 2016 SE, its the same for the 2020 SE. Although I would’ve loved to see an SE with an edge-to-edge display like any of the X or the 11 range, I’m not super surprised it hasn’t happened.

In fact, the small changes they have made, such as all colours now coming with a black bevel (and the better colour matching between the bevel and the screen), make it look really high-quality and beautiful honestly.

It has the same body as the 6, yes, but it doesn’t look like the 6 because of that colour-matching. And I appreciate that.

Oh! And the back being the non-metallic colour? God that’s sexy. The back is more reminiscent of the 11 (or the XR, I suppose, depending on what colour you got) than the 6 or 7. So it’s not unchanged?

Touch ID and Haptic Touch

Again, a controversial topic. The Touch ID in the SE is like the 3rd Gen or something?? I don’t actually know. But it’s several generations in at this point and it shows.

I came from the original SE, which had one of the first ever generations of Touch ID (if not the first) and the speed with which this new phone unlocks is incredible compared to the older model.

I tap the button once and the phone unlocks instantly. That is it.

Maybe it’s cumbersome to have Touch ID back again after all this time but if you’ve come from a Touch ID phone, especially one of the older models (which really... I think that’s probably the intended audience), it’s a big improvement.

And look no further for someone who was viscerally against the fake button Haptic Touch thing.

I hated the idea of it. My view was I either wanted the real button or no button at all. Full stop. End of story. You’d never change my mind.

Yeah... the new SE changed my mind.

I have the haptics turned up to the highest setting and it actually feels like a real button. Its less spongy than a real button, of course, and feels stiffer (kinda? Maybe just shallower) but its actually a really satisfying feature.

I remember first trying the fake button on the 7 and it vibrated at the wrong time or you’d try to press it to do one thing and it’d do another. It was confusing and made it very difficult to use.

I will say now I haven’t actually tried using an 8 so I can’t pass judgement on that but i like the SE.

And the Haptic Touch is really really nice.

I never thought I’d have a phone that has built-in rumble when playing games but here we are. This is the future.

Aside from being kinda nifty to feel the vibration in your hands when something happens on-screen, the Haptic Touch vibrates under your finger when interacting with the rotating dials to set timers or reblogging posts on tumblr. It’s a weird experience but not an unpleasant one and I like it way more than I was expecting to.

The Small Size

As for the size?

I really like it.

It’s big enough that it feels like a step-up from my old phone but not so big that I’m struggling to hold it (*cough cough* the XR *cough cough*).

Okay so my touch-typing is suffering a wee bit at the moment but tbh I started to struggle on my old phone before I upgraded coz the screen was just a little too small so it’s more a me thing than an it thing. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

The camera.

I feel the need to mention that my last phone was the 2016 SE so, maybe it’s because my standards are really low, or maybe I’ve never owned an 11 and, therefore, have no comparison for it that way? But I don’t think the camera is bad.

In fact, I would even go so far as to say the camera is really fricking good.

After using a phone with a front-facing camera that could barely shoot 480p, stepping up to 1080p on the front is Wild™. The difference between this new camera and the old one is incredible.

If you want a camera that shoots good quality photos, has good colour balance, can actually show the sky as blue when shooting through a window (yes this is how low my expectations are), then omg this phone is incredible.

Obviously, its never gonna beat the 11 with its two cameras and its not gonna be able to contend with the 11 Pro series with their three cameras but hey, the phone is like half the price so??

The Battery

Okay, so lets talk about the battery.

I know this is a bit of a sore spot with people because iPhones recently have been coming out with bigger and better batteries every year.

I did a quick check through and, according to Apple, the battery life is about the same as both the 7 and the 8, which makes sense as they all share the same body. Unfortunately, that means that its probably a size issue. As in, thats the longest a battery of that size can last in a phone. Which is kinda annoying.

But, this is a post about my experience with the SE and I haven’t ever owned a 7 or an 8. My mum owned a 7 and the battery on that was god-awful and I’ve had a much better experience with my SE than she did.

First of all: some context.

Again, a friendly reminder my last phone was a four year old SE. It was a 64GB one as well, so you know I’m being legit (they stopped selling the 64GB (in the UK at least) about a year after the phone’s initial release).

So the battery on my old phone was absolutely fine. At first. As time went on and the phone got older, it did, unfortunately, begin to struggle.

As a reference, a few months before I replaced it (given lockdown doesn’t give the most accurate overview of what it was like to use on a day-to-day basis), it wouldn’t make it through a day at school without dying at least once, sometimes twice.

I had to carry a portable charger with me everywhere I went.

I left my house when it was on 100% and, by the time I got to school after an hour on the bus, it would be on 60-70% on a good day.

Letting your battery die everyday is really not good for it but, try as I might, I couldn’t stop it from happening.

I tell you this to let you know that my criteria for a good battery is literally just “lasts me through the day”.

I’ve had my new phone for about three days now and it hasn’t died on me once.

I played games on it in bright sunlight with the phone on full brightness for several hours straight yesterday and yet it still lasted me through the day and then some. After being off charge for 11 hours, it just about hit 20% before I put it on charge.

Today, I was on social media: tumblr, instagram, youtube, for the majority of today. Both tumblr and instagram had an uncanny ability to completely decimate the battery life of my old phone. They could reduce it from 50% to 40% after 5 minutes. But, again, no problemo for my new phone.

It got to about 50% today before I put it back on charge to go have dinner.

I’d say that lasts through the day quite nicely.

Especially given it’s getting a lot more use than it would normally because a) I’m stuck inside with nothing to do and b) shiny new phone!!!

But I digress.

So, Why Does The SE Exist?

I’m gonna be real. I don’t think the iPhone SE (2020) is trying to be anything fancy. It’s not trying to be the next iPhone 11, it’s not trying to replace the XR. If anything, it’s replacing the 8.

I don’t think the SE is a bad phone. It does everything it says it does and it does it well.

I think the YouTube reviewers have it slightly wrong. I don’t think they should be comparing the SE to the 11 or the XR because, realistically, the people who own those phones aren’t gonna be buying the SE for themselves.

The people who are gonna be buying the SE are the people who have the 5s or the old SE or the 6s or even maybe the 7. (I’m not sure how noticeable the jump would be from 8 to SE, given they have very similar specs).

They’re the kind of people who want a new phone but don’t have the money to go for the more expensive XR or 11 range.

Or maybe they don’t want a giant phone because idk bout you but I have small hands and the XR is both large and heavy and that’s not practical. Plus, the XR with women’s jeans? Really? Not happening.

So, while I understand why reviewers are comparing the SE to the 11s or the XR—because the SE has the internals of those two and is closer to them in terms of release date—I don’t think it’s actually realistic.

TL;DR

YouTube reviewers are comparing the SE to the recent phones when they should be comparing it to the older ones, which is the more likely transition. The iPhone SE has a lot more going for it than people say and I really like it.

[entergamingxp]

a decent port of a truly classic game • Eurogamer.net

15 years after its initial release on PlayStation 2, Devil May Cry 3 is still among the best action games of its kind – but getting a decent remaster for modern systems has proven elusive, with the game receiving a procession of barebones conversions over the years. The good news is that with the game’s recent arrival on Nintendo Switch, we do get an excellent rendition of this classic brawler, but the bad news is that it’s still some way off delivering what you might call a perfect port.

There is a sticking point in terms of its value on the eShop. PS4, PC and Xbox One received an HD Collection back in 2018 that provided the trilogy in one purchase, while Switch users (outside of Japan at least) need to buy each conversion individually, amounting to a higher price tag overall. However, with DMC3 there is at least extra work put into the port, where you get Switch-exclusive features. There’s limited two-player support via a co-op mode that has Dante and Vergil surviving waves of enemies in the Bloody Palace. Here, you can use the JoyCons held sideways if needs be, plus it even lets each player use weapon loadouts from the solo adventure. It’s a neat arcade-style extra – one that but still, the main adventure is the big attraction.

Switch users also get a significant addition to the main single-player game. There’s a new Freestyle mode, letting you change Dante’s play style on the fly, available right from the start of the game – as opposed to choosing between Trickster, Royal Guard, Swordmaster and Gunslinger types between each level. With a burst of colour, the role of the B button changes, opening up options for even more lavish mid-air juggles.

Still, fundamentally Switch brings the same core game as the Special Edition on PS2, though clearly we’ve come a long way in image quality. While we’re looking at original quality textures, we do get 1080p resolution when docked, dropping to native 720p in mobile mode. Bafflingly though, there is no effective anti-aliasing on the image most of the time – not even the basic pass you’ll find in the PC version of the game. Performance-wise, DMC3 hits its targets exactly as it should – it’s a locked 60 frames per second from start to finish, with only select cutscenes dropping to 30 (likely down to animation tick rate from the original game). In short, the basics are fully covered and it’s particularly great to enjoy a classic once more, especially as a mobile experience.

There are only a couple of drawbacks to this port. First of all, original textures and effects are all you’re getting – there’s no sign of any revamp in the assets whatsoever. Resolution is obviously higher, but the core artwork is stripped from a vintage 2005 game – and it shows in often murky, low-res texture maps. In a world where modders are experimenting with AI upscaled art with some fascinating results, I do wonder whether this kind of process may eventually appear in more commercial games.

Here’s a look at how the Switch version of Devil May Cry 3 looks, with both docked and mobile play tested.

The reliance on old assets manifests elsewhere too. While many of the cutscenes are engine-driven and run at native resolution, some of them are pre-rendered, low resolution FMVs that don’t hold up particularly well. It’s the same problem as the HD Collection, even on PC where you’d hope to see sky-high resolutions. The one silver lining is that these original videos were all originally presented in a 16:9 letterbox aspect ratio – which translates well on Switch’s widescreen display.

But even here there are issues – you’re effectively getting a cropped 324p version of what was originally a 4:3 480p video. Couple this with the block compression artefacts, and it creates a jarring disconnect with the sharp 1080p image of gameplay. That’s a shame because these scenes are often beautifully choreographed, with stylish action that rewards finishing a level. The impact of these low resolution scenes is mitigated to a certain extent by playing in portable mode, but it is still irksome, nonetheless.

There are a few other downsides too. The customisation menus are also built from old artwork too, meaning that they still present with a 4:3 aspect ratio – in line with the HD Collections elsewhere. More disappointing for Switch users specifically is the use of low resolution effects. It’s likely a trade-off to keep everything flowing at 60fps, but downed enemies create a burst of quarter resolution pixelated dust in their wake.

Regardless of the issues, I do think that there is much to like about the Switch version of Devil May Cry 3. Effects work aside, docked mode is a match for the specs of the PS4, Xbox One and PC modes. Meanwhile, we have new modes for multiplayer and an extra Freestyle option in solo play. Most importantly of all though, the Switch platform itself provides the strongest benefit – DMC3 is now a brilliant mobile experience. Loading is near-instant between each area, often small by nature to factor in PS2’s limited memory resources. Nevertheless, it all flows beautifully on Switch, which I think is the saving grace here. Animations are snappy and satisfying to this day, right down to the series’ iconic enemy juggles with gunfire as you pace the ground below. Overlooking the basic texturing, if this game debuted today, the mechanics alone make this a brilliant ride.

I’ve loved returning to it – I just wish that some degree of modernisation could be available as an option. Yes, making some attempt to include new assets would be welcome, but other aspects could do with an upgrade too, such as the unwieldy third-person camera work. Fundamentally, the genius is in the gameplay, which still runs fluidly, where the thrill of combat holds up wonderfully. It’s a perfect stand-by for Bayonetta fans, waiting on the edges of their seats for the next release. While I don’t think the Switch additions necessarily justify the decision to split Devil May Cry 3 into its component games as individual releases, I’d still recommend it. While the conversion is still relatively basic compared to the quality of other remasters, at least the basics are in place here – and that’s enough to deliver a decent experience from a game that’s suffered from so many subpar conversions in the past.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/02/a-decent-port-of-a-truly-classic-game-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-decent-port-of-a-truly-classic-game-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[cloudienews-blog]

Survey: Sero 7 Lite is a $99 tablet that isn't the most noticeably awful thing ever Be that as it may, there's a wide hole amongst "usable" and "lovely to use."

Two-and-a-half years back, we assessed a tablet called the Maylong M-150. It was a $99 Android tablet sold only at Walgreens, and there is a word for the general population who spent their well deserved cash on it: "rubes."

We (without exaggeration) called the Maylong M-150 the "most exceedingly bad device ever," yet the circumstances are different. Android has enhanced significantly, equipment has turned out to be both speedier and less expensive, and the Nexus 7 (still one of our unequaled most loved Android tablets) begins at a simple $199. At the point when Hisense declared its $99 Sero 7 Lite tablet close by its Nexus 7-esque $149 Sero 7 Pro two or three weeks back (a different survey is expected), we figured the time had come to return to this value indicate see what, in the event that anything, had changed.

Could Benjamin Franklin get you a decent tablet in 2013? We'll run the Sero 7 Lite through the wringer to discover.

Body and construct quality: Feels somewhat superior to $99

The Sero 7 Lite doesn't have the fabricate nature of something like the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire, however it's not as awful as I was anticipating. It has an all-plastic back and a glass front, and moderately thick dark bezels encompass its 7-inch touchscreen. The tablet is somewhat bigger in stature and width than the Nexus 7 (7.87" by 4.80" by 0.41" contrasted with 7.81" by 4.72" by 0.41"), yet the two weigh essentially the same (0.73 pounds for the Sero and 0.75 for the Nexus).

The earthy plastic back of the tablet really doesn't feel too terrible to hold—it does not have the marginally rubber treated, grippy surface of something like the Nexus 7, however it's sensibly tough at the cost. It flexes a bit on the off chance that you press on it, particularly toward the center where the Hisense logo is, yet the development and the weight of the tablet are vastly improved than I was anticipating.

So, when the tablet is in dynamic utilize, the highest point of it can get pretty toasty—not sufficiently hot to be at all hazardous, however absolutely sufficiently warm to make the tablet smell faintly of consumed plastic. It doesn't rouse a huge amount of certainty, however since the tablet didn't torch my loft I'm willing to depict it as a minor disturbance as opposed to an arrangement breaker.All of the Sero 7 Lite's ports are arranged over the highest point of the tablet, and it really accompanies two or three things that the Nexus needs. The first is a microSD card opening, which can extend the tablet's irrelevant 4GB of inner stockpiling by up to 32GB. The second is a smaller than expected HDMI port, which underpins 1080p and 720p at 50 and 60Hz (576p at 50Hz and 480p at 60Hz are likewise accessible alternatives). You can pick the HDMI yield determination physically in the tablet's settings, alongside overscan settings.

Something else, the tablet doesn't accompany many livens, and even things we would consider "minimum essentials" are entirely careless. There isn't a back confronting camera, however the 0.3MP front-confronting camera ought to suffice for video visiting and (grainy, low-res) selfies. The single, back confronting speaker is peaceful and has positively no bass deserving of the name. Nonetheless, the tablet's amplifier worked superbly well with Google Now and the sound quality out of the earphone jack isn't any more awful than my Nexus 7.

The screen: Definitely looks like $99

The body of the tablet isn't the stature of value, yet the screen is the place you're truly missing out. For one thing, it's a 7-inch 1024×600 show with 170 pixels-per-inch, which you'll certainly see in this present reality where screens with 200, 300, or even 400 PPI are turning into the standard. The more concerning issue by a wide margin is picture quality: the show is extremely cool (in the blue sense, not the Fonzie sense), hues are washed-out, the difference proportion is low, and these issues are exacerbated by shallow review points.

Indeed, it's elusive anything decent to say in regards to the show, other than it's a five-point capacitive touch issue that appears to be sensibly responsive and exact (the Maylong utilized a resistive touchscreen rather, which is significantly less lovely to associate with). Everything on it looks overcast and pale blue, and the differentiation proportion is poor to the point that it aggravates the pixel thickness look than it really is. Enable me to show utilizing an original Kindle Fire, which likewise has a 7-inch 1024×600 show.

Those of you with long recollections may review that we established this Fire a year ago to show how Amazon's Android fork was keeping its equipment down. We took it out of retirement and re-flashed it with the RC4 work of CyanogenMod 10.1 so we could run a portion of the same applications on it and the Sero 7 Lite side-by-side.The two screens share the very same resolutions and pixel densities, yet message looks far more atrocious and blurrier on the Sero 7 Lite. The difference proportion on the screen is bad to the point that Android's textual style smoothing exacerbates those textual styles look in numerous applications—the unobtrusive dim edges added to the letters drain excessively into white and dark foundations. All in all, it's likewise hard to recognize diverse shades of dark or dim from each other, which may bring about extra issues in a few applications.

At last, the glass that covers the front of the tablet does not have any kind of oleophobic, unique mark safe covering. The tablet's screen rapidly turns into a smudgy chaos through the span of only a few hours, and those smircesh demonstrate hard to dispose of.

The screen is usable, yet it aggravates my eyes a little to peruse message on it for broadened timeframes. It's a poor screen, plain and straightforward, and it's the main motivation to spring for a more costly tablet.

The product: 10-inch UI, 7-inch screen

How about we begin with the well done: the Sero 7 Lite is running a to a great extent without bloatware, stock adaptation of Android 4.1.1 with full access to the Google Play store, Google Now, and the greater part of that form of Android's other significant components. There are a couple pre-introduced applications, the majority of them borne of the tablet's Wal-Mart eliteness: the Vudu video player application, Sam's Club and Wal-Mart applications, the AccuWeather Plus application, and a duplicate of the (free) Kingsoft Office suite. Something else, basically everything is stock; stock email application, stock program, stock textual styles and symbols.

That a $99 tablet wouldn't accompany Android 4.2 when most significant organizations' items still don't is not amazing, but rather that it doesn't in any event accompanied Android 4.1.2 and its different bug fixes is somewhat odd. Much more odd is that the tablet doesn't utilize the reason assembled 7-inch tablet interface presented by Jelly Bean and the Nexus 7, however the "old-style" 10-inch tablet format presented by the Motorola Xoom and Android 3.0. The Xoom held this interface in its Android 4.1 refresh, yet the Nexus 10 and Android 4.2 swapped it out for something more reliable with the telephone and 7-inch interfaces.As somebody used to the Nexus 7, I understand that my inclination for the "telephone like" 7-inch tablet format might involve individual taste. So, it's hard to disregard how much screen land the format squanders, particularly while in representation mode—enough for no less than two full columns of use symbols. The old 10-inch interface was dependably more practical in scene mode, however in picture mode (the way I hold 7-and 8-inch tablets more often than not) you're not making the best utilization of the screen.

This perception reaches out to a portion of the applications, which attempt to utilize a design and dispersing planned for a 10-inch tablet on a 7-inch screen and simply wind up looking cramped. We pulled up the Settings and Gmail applications to exhibit what we mean.Alternate launchers can help with some of these issues—with a bit of tweaking, I could get Nova Launcher to give me a Nexus 7-esque look-and-feel on the tablet's home screen, however the notices and framework settings were still on the base of the screen rather than the top and applications that attempt to utilize their "10-inch" designs were as yet tricky. Once more, it truly comes down to what you're utilized to—if, as I do, you favor the 7-inch Android design as presented in Jelly Bean on the Nexus 7, the "old-style" format on the Sero 7 Lite will make you somewhat insane.

Internals and execution: A respectable SoC matched with moderate stockpiling

Within, the Sero 7 Lite is the very meaning of barebones. It has 2.4GHz 802.11n (cordiality Ralink) however no 5GHz band bolster, no Bluetooth, and no GPS. It has just 4GB of inherent stockpiling (fortunately expandable by means of microSD), however it in any event has a respectable 1GB of RAM.

Given the greater part of this data, the chip that powers the tablet is a wonderful amazement. Chipworks says it's a Rockchip RK3066, and since I've never keep running into one of these I did some additional burrowing. It has two Cortex-A9 CPU centers running at 1.6GHz (the Nexus 7's Tegra 3 utilizes four A9 centers that keep running at 1.3GHz when just a single center is locked in and at 1.2GHz whatever remains of the time). It's combined with a quad-center ARM Mali 400 GPU, which is the same GPU utilized as a part of Samsung's $399 Galaxy Note 8.0.

In benchmarks, the greater part of this equipment performs well, and now and again surprisingly better than the Nexus 7. Applications that support less, speedier CPU centers to increasingly and slower ones will run somewhat quicker on the RK3066, and the GPU beats the Nexus 7 more often than not (however the slower CPU shields it from coordinating the Note 8.0). We've likewise incorporated the Nexus 10 in these diagrams to give some logical data about how this "esteem" tablet stacks up against a portion of the speediest Android equipment as of now available.The CPU and GPU benchmarks are entirely amazing at the cost. Nonetheless, subjective execution doesn't exactly coordinate with these numbers—the tablet once in a while stammers or stops, particularly while being made a request to do a few things immediately. To make sense of why, look no more remote than the modest NAND streak the tablet utilizes for storage.The irregular velocities are the ones you'll truly need to take a gander at here, since they're a portion of the most reduced.