#normally I crank my screen brightness to get a better feel for the lighting but I forgot

[haloraptor]

Be careful not to get lost in rainstorms after dark. You might end up somewhere you shouldn’t be.

[impala1967dwinchester]

Dean Winchester: Pose

Picture found off of Google search 

Pairing: Dean x reader

Pov: Deans (Mentions of Sam X Eileen only once)  

Warning: cute Dean, Dean being funny, posing for Dean, maybe a kink i don't know, lots of sleep 

Summary: Dean buys you a new and very expensive camera thinking about how you said that you wanted to take pictures while you guys were in different states for hunts. What you don't realize is that Dean wants to take pictures of different scenery.

Word Count: 1.6k

Masterlist

Taglist: @akshi8278 @deanswaywardgirl 

I bought her a camera, not any camera an expensive camera. She always fussed about how on trips to motels and long drives she wanted to be able to have memories about where we were.

Like any good boyfriend would do I bought her a camera. Partly to stop her from pushing my buttons about a camera, but mostly because I wanted to see her smile.

I gave it to her as a random gift. Setting the box in front of her and sitting down next to her. She was in the library, just her and I. "What's this?" She asked.

"This my dear is called a gift." I said lightly pulling on the string connected to the green bow that was wrapped around the box.

"I can see that Sherlock, but I'm asking you what it is?" She said having a sassy tone. I rolled my eyes and spoke. "Well, that would ruin your gift now wouldn't it."

I pushed the gift closer to her. She dramatically huffed and set her phone on her lap. She quickly undid the green bow and tore through the newspaper that wrapped the gift.

Y/n could just barely see what the box said. "Dean?" She said excitement starting to crack through her voice. "Hmm." I hummed in response.

"Dean did you... is this..." Y/n said getting caught up in her words and most likely her emotions as well. "Yes, I did. And yes, it is." I said gently patting her thigh.

The camera was a brand-new Canon camera. Mostly made for taking scenery pictures. A wonderful camera according to all of the Amazon comments.

Unwrapping her gift Y/n tore into the box. Unfolding the flaps and opening the box. Taking the bubble wrap off of the many accessories that came with said camera.

Y/n pulled out her phone, searching up a video trying to figure out how to use her camera. “You know that there’s a packet of instructions and other such things in the box, right?” I asked her, taking her phone from her grasp.  

Looking up at me her eyebrow frowning, and giving me a stink eye. “I thought you didn’t know what instructions were?” She said coming back with a sassy comment.  

“Here.” I said pulling the packet from the box along with the camera. I unwrapped that. Setting it up, putting in an SD card, and taking the first picture on the camera.

The very first picture on her camera, was Y/n. She was smiling, dimples showing, eye bright under the flash of the camera. I can see the bookshelves, and the bindings of all books behind her.  

“Does it look good?” She questions me. I roll my eyes in love and frustrations for her question. “Of course, you look amazing my dear.” I said turning the camera around so she can see herself in the screen.  

At the start of our next hunt, I pack my bags, along with Y/n doing same. For this hunt it is just her and I. Sam and Eileen already on route to another hunt out near the coast.  

We pack the impala, and we are off. What I didn’t know was that Y/n and both packed her camera with her, and was going to use it the entire drive to our destination.

Our drive was peaceful, the radio playing my rock music, and both Y/n and I humming and singing. At one point I looked over at Y/n and she had her camera out taking pictures of the passing lands and hills. Bringing my attention back to the road, I continued to drive.

A few miles down the road I again look over at Y/n, this time instead of Y/n facing and looking out the window, she has her camera pointed towards me, I could see her finger pointer bouncing rather quickly on the button.  

“How many of those pictures are you going to take of me?” I asked bringing my attention back to the road again. “I plan on taking as many pictures of you as I want.” She said moving her head in a very odd way.  

The rest of the drive was fine. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Y/n set her camera done, and back into her bag. I then feel her, lightly place her head on my shoulder snuggling closer to me.  

“Are you tired dear?” I asked her. The only response I get it is a soft hum. “Okay my dear, I’ll wake you when we get there.” I spoke. Turning down the radio and cranking the heat up.  

The sun sets, and rises again. Just barely rising over the hills. I pulled in to another shitty motel. I pull into a spot, shutting the engine off, and gently waking Y/n up.  

“We are here, love bug.” I said kissing her forehead. Her eye flutter open, and she yawns, stretching her arms. Talking through her yawn “Where are we staying?” Y/n asks.  

“At another shitty motel, I thinks it's called the Clover” I said, “Let’s go get us a room, I need my four hours of sleep.” I said squeezing her tightly in my grasp, before letting her go and getting out of the impala.  

I headed to the front desk, getting a key to our room. A small flirt with the young lady at the front desk to speed the process up. When I leave the front desk, I see Y/n had her bags and my bags are next to her on the ground.  

“Let’s go get some sleep baby.” Y/n said, handing me her bag and linking her pinky together. I of course unlocked our room, and let Y/n walk in first, setting out things on the small kitchen table.

Y/n flops onto the not so bouncy bed. I strip of my boots, jeans, and to many flannels. “Wow, big boy. I thought we were going to sleep.” Y/n said a silly tone falling into her words.  

“I’m going to sleep, but I would like to sleep next to your bitchin’ body.” Y/n rolled her eyes before removing her boots, jeans, bra and then her shirt. Dean watched, something that he always did, something that Y/n had allowed long before they were together.  

I watched as Y/n lightly lifted the back of her shirt up unclasping her bra and removing it from the bottom front of her shirt. “You’ll have to show me that trick.” I said winking at her before falling into bed with her. “I sure will, lets sleep now.” She said, curling up against my side.  

I wake up long before Y/n does, like I had said before I only ever really need four hours of sleep. I leave Y/n to go find coffee and food, when I come back Y/n is still asleep now cuddling against the pillow that I was laying with.  

Sitting and looking through my phone. I wanted so badly to get on with this hunt, but the idea of it being just Y/n and I for a few days before the adrenaline and rush of this hunt was needed. Seemed like a great idea. Still seeing that Y/n was asleep.  

I dug out Y/n’s camera, and turned it on. I went over to the blinds just barely opening the shades. So, the morning afternoon sun can stream in finding their way to beam over Y/n’s body.  

I moved around the room, finding that as I did so I could get better angles of her face, body and hole frame. After what seemed like ten pictures, I had taken Y/n stirred in her sleep. Opening her eyes and cringing at the sunlight that had fallen on her face.  

“What are you doing?” She asked her morning voice a little deeper than her normal everyday “Well my dear, I’m taking pictures of this lovely creature in front of me.” I said pointing at her. In return she pointed back at herself.  

She giggled and smiled, taking the moment because it was there, I caught another picture of her smiling, hair a mess, the tips of her ears deepening as she giggled more, the top of her chest just barely showing.  

“You know you are beautifully photogenic.” I spoke. Y/n’s eyebrows furrowed and she gave me a look of ‘I’m sorry what did you just say’ her nose scrunched. “I’m sorry. That makes utterly no sense.” She said turning her face away from the beaming sun.  

“You understood what I meant, so that means it meant sense.” I said, knowing that I had only confused myself with my statement. I sat down next to Y/n leaning against the headboard.  

“Are we going to the hunt today? Because if so, I need to go get a shower, and get my FBI suit on.” Y/n said. I grabbed Y/ns hands before she could slip from the comfort of her boyfriend, “No hunt for today. We can start in a few days' time.” I said dragging her slower to my body.  

Grabbing the camera from the night stand table. I looked over at Y/n, “Take a picture with me my love.” I spoke. She smiles and slightly shook her head before leaving her head against my black Henley, I could feel like heat of her cheeks even through my shirt.  

“Alright you ready baby?” I asked. Again Y/n shook her head, figuring it out I was able to take that picture the flash now not needed because of the sun light falling into the room.  

“I love you.” Y/n said cuddling up closer to my frame. Smiling down to her, kissing her temple and speaking into her temple an. “I love you too my dear.”

Completed on: 03/21/2021 

[blindprof]

It’s Complicated

When people first hear me say that I am blind or severely visually impaired (B/VI), the most common reaction is surprise…followed by sympathy…followed most often by awkward silence. This is totally understandable. Unless you are regularly interacting with differently abled people, disabilities are uncomfortable. I feel uncomfortable and awkward around people who live with other forms of disability.

Heck, I’m still awkward around other people who are B/VI. And even this is understandable. Because each person is unique. Each manifestation of visual impairment is unique. Each path to and with B/VI is unique. Each person has unique life experiences, coping mechanisms, support networks, etc. We are all strangers in a strange land. I’ll have other posts dedicated to the whack-a-doo personal and social psychology of B/VI. For now, the focus remains on the physical, or rather the perceptual.

The second reaction is usually a question: “How bad is it” or “What do you see?” And my answer is “It’s complicated.”

In my first post, I laid out some more technical details: I have a visual field that is less that 10 degrees, night blindness, color blindness, uncorrectable myopia, light sensitivity, etc. But it’s not apparent how these details really affect what I see and how that impacts what I can do. This post will go into greater detail into what and how I see. Later posts will focus on how I (try to, with varying levels of success, stupidity, and hilarity) cope with these limitations.

It probably makes sense to start with my visual field, as this is the aspect of my vision that “qualifies” me as legally blind. However, before getting to that, we really need a basic understanding of how humans see. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it short and simple.

It may be easiest to compare the eye to a modern digital camera. A camera lens gathers and focuses light; it also constrains the amount of light passing through by altering the size of a mechanical aperture. In the human eye, these functions are performed by the lens and the pupil, respectively. In a digital camera, the lens focus light onto a CCD or CMOS sensor, which is a dense grid of light sensitive “pixels,” each generating a small electrical charge proportional to how much light (within a certain wavelength) is hitting it. The human retina is the biological, electrochemical equivalent. Finally, a digital camera has wires that transport these electrical signals to a computer, which then interprets the signals to create a digital image. Here, the human analogues are the optic nerve and the visual cortex within the brain.

As I noted in my first post, I have Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), which primarily impacts my retina. Due to the wonders of genetics and epigenetics, other parts are impacted. But for now, I’ll focus on the retina. Characteristically, people with RP find that their retinal “pixels”—millions of light-sensitive “rod” and “cone” structures, as well as protective retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells from which the disease gets its name—stop functioning from the outside in. We don’t know the exact cause, nor is there yet any proven way to slow, much less reverse the process.

Of course, this is a biological process that is unique to each individual. For me, it has progressed relatively slowly from childhood. I can recall early symptoms as far back as age 6. I’ll have a separate post at some point talking about progression. But it is notable the process is neither steady nor predictable. I’ll have periods of relative stability followed by periods of perceptible loss. It’s rarely like a light switch, but rather more like a dimmer. Each area of loss will appear darker with less usable information until it is just “clicked off” by the brain, presumably redirecting its limited processing resources to doing something other than trying to interpret shotty data from dying cells. For me, the progression has also been very spotty—for example, I retained some usable vision in the extremes of my left-right periphery until just a couple years ago, despite progressively losing most of my peripheral vision between there and my center.

The result today is that I have very little of my retina remaining that pretends to function “normally.” I can detect very high contrast light vs. dark in some of my periphery, but nothing there that you would qualify as usable sight. My central vision is still somewhat functional, but has been fading rapidly of late. As I said, it’s spotty, but on average in good light I have maybe 10-15 degrees total horizontal vision and less than 10 vertical. And much of that is probably equivalent to what most would consider to be peripheral vision. To help better “feel” what this means, here are a few examples of how this manifests itself in my day-to-day life.

When I’m sitting across a table from you, I can see your face but not your hands. If I’m not socially distant, I might be able to see your eyes or your mouth, but not both at the same time. I often creep people out during a conversation because I’m constantly losing eye contact and moving my eyes to different parts of their body. I promise, I’m not “undressing you with my eyes”—people talk with their entire bodies, and I’m simply trying to catch as many visual cues as possible.

When watching TV from 10 feet away, I can “see” my entire 55-inch screen. But less than a quarter of that is in my central vision. I have to move my eyes to see detail or read signs or captions. Sports and fast action scenes are difficult to catch. A fast action, dark scene with subtitles…oy…the Battle of Winterfell may as well have been a BBC Radio broadcast.

I can read, though usually only slowly and for short periods, especially if it is paper and ink. I see only a few words at a time, so my eyes have to constantly move. This causes a lot of eye strain, and I have trouble keeping both eyes properly oriented and occasionally have periods where one eye twitches uncontrollably—obviously I’m channeling my inner Mad-Eye Moody.

And of course, navigating unfamiliar or unpredictable environments is very difficult. I navigate by moving from waypoint to waypoint, and if I don’t know the waypoints or if things jump in my way, well, bad things happen. Or maybe funny things.

More on all of these and their many repercussions in future posts.

People ask, “What do you ‘see’ in the places where you have no vision? Is it blackness? Emptiness? Blurry?” Again, it’s complicated, but for the most part, my brain has just removed those areas from its visual processing “algorithm.” So, I see the same thing that you see when something is beyond your peripheral vision…just nothing. There are long periods of adjustment as I lose sight—kind of like losing a limb and still expecting it to be there. But eventually it’s just not a part of the picture that my brain paints of the world around me.

Unfortunately, that’s not all. Night blindness is often the first detected symptom for folks with RP. What is left of my retina doesn’t detect light well, so I need much more of it. The result is that I’m totally blind in low-light situations. I need direct light to see any kind of detail. I carry a flashlight everywhere I go and use it regularly day and night.

So, I need bright light. But it is also my nemesis. My eyes compensate like one would with a digital camera…by cranking open the aperture (pupil) and turning up the gain on the sensor. This does allow me to function semi-normally in certain situations. But it also results in severe light sensitivity. As with a camera, the wider pupil also results in loss of detail, and bright light can almost entirely wash any other visual information. To make matters even worse, although my pupils do function, they are VERY slow to adjust.

The results of all of that are varied. I’ll post more details in the future. But for example, I am no longer able to read a computer screen for any length of time without inverted colors. It’s like trying to read while staring at headlights. I truly need dark mode on all of my devices. Also, changing lighting conditions are challenging, especially when they are extreme. When I come in from outside, my eyes can take many minutes to adjust. And bright light sources like sunny windows in otherwise moderately lit environments can really cause havoc.

Finally, a common comorbidity with RP are cataracts, which cause hardening and blurring of the lens. Of course, this one hit me, as well. A number of years ago, I had cataract surgery. It was great. I was the youngest patient in the surgery center by like 30 years. The process involves using a magic wand to dissolve your natural lens and replacing it with a plastic one. This gets rid of the blurring, but entirely removes the ability to focus. As a bonus, I did go from needing coke bottle glasses to just needing a couple of diopters of correction. But this further complicates reading, and means I’m constantly donning and doffing my specs or having to look below them to read. Minor in the big scheme of things, but it does make me look and feel like a damn old fart.

Okay, if you made it this far, you deserve to be let off the hook for now. There’s more like the fact that my corneas—the eyes’ (usually) clear “lens caps”—now seem to cause my sight to remain blurry for the first couple of hours of each day. Or that the eye strain can sometimes get so physically painful that I have to close my eyes for long periods during the day. But this is a mostly complete and accurate snapshot of what I’m currently living with physically.

I guess I didn’t present too many funny or uplifting or forward-looking things in here. Truth is, you kind of have to muddle along with me through these sewers to eventually find the humor and hope in all of this. Because it’s complicated. But I’ll get there if you’re patient.

[itsaboutbee]

Pre-Fight - Pacific Rim au

Guess who finally finished another thing of her Pacific Rim au??? Anyway, its basically the pre-fight part of Bruise in “The Knifehead Incident” fic thing. I didn’t have anyone proof read which is my own fault but I hope you enjoy anyway!!

Title: Pre-fight

Fandom: Ninjago

AU: Pacific Rim

Ship: Bruiseshipping

Word count: 1222

Summary: Jay is cold and too awake, Cole is a dumbass and to alseep

Jay opened his eyes and was met by the cold concrete wall of the barley lit room they currently lived in. It was a small originally very cold looking and feeling room. It almost resembled a holding cell. The room didn't have a single window either so telling the time could be a difficulty at times. Thankfully after a while of staying there the two of them somehow managed to make the room a little warmer and more welcoming.

At least Jay felt like they did.

But the heavy metal door closing them away from the hallway outside still kept their sleeping quarters from being very homey. At the start of moving in Jay was barley able to open them, while his drift partner, Cole, easily shoved them open. Since the day the two of them had met in the academy Cole had gone from an outcast chubby acne ridden guy to a handsome mountain of a man everyone loved. Jay never really care much though, like yeah, he was a little jealous about all the attention Cole now got from girls and boys, but Cole's looks were never the reason for their shared bond.

It was different.

It always had been.

The ginger shifted in his bunk, he stretched and one of his legs slipped out from under the blanket. Jay shivered when the ice cold air of their room hit his bare skin. He immediately pulled his leg back under the blanket trying to figure out why in all world it was that cold. The ginger reached for the screen mounted on the wall next to him. He pressed the small clock button and a bright greenish light light shone him right in the face. He groaned quietly and squinted his eyes to see the numbers.

The redhead finally understood why it was so freezing cold, 4:27am in early January with the heating turned on low couldn't possibly keep his slender frame warm. Cole always insisted on shutting it down before going to sleep and Jay reluctantly did so, every time. Even though he knew he'd wake up super early because he was freezing.

The man pressed the small button once again and the light disappeared. He sat up almost completely silently and got out of his bed the same way. He put on his slippers and quietly walked over to his fellow pilot's bunk. Cole was still peacefully snoring away with one of his arms over his head, his blanket only covering half his chest and hair messily strewn all around his face, covering his eyes. Jay rolled his eyes and carefully pushed some hair out of Cole's face.

“Stupid buff man never gets cold does he?”, he softly mumbled while doing so. The dark haired male shifted his head slightly, nuzzling his hand with a satisfied smile forming on his face. He sighed in his sleep. Jay couldn't help but smile, “Handsome stupid buff man...”, he spoke a little louder.

After a few more lingering seconds he carefully pulled his hand back and shuffled towards the thermostat. The ginger cranked the heat up to a temperature more fit for his thinner frame. After hearing the soft crackling that indicated the heat was actually working he went to grab some clothes from the large wall closet. With an armful of clothes he entered the shares bathroom. After taking a nice and hot shower the room had already gotten to a more comfortable temperature. He dried off, only needing to dry his short hair with a towel to not get sick. He grabbed the clothes and started putting them on. A light grey under-shirt, dark blue work-pants with a belt, and a dark blue knit sweater. Once Jay was done he stood up straight and looked in the large wall mounted mirror. He analysed his appearance. A bright blue eye staring back at him, freckles littering his pale complexion, ginger hair messily sitting in every wrong way. The man quickly fixed his hair, his fingers grazing over the scar splitting his eyebrow in two. The one that took away the sight in his right eye, the same one that gave him the chance to actually become a pilot.

He smiled and let out a deep sigh.

The ginger turned and walked back out of the bathroom to the closet. He opened a drawer. Grabbing his ID card and clipping it to his belt he glanced over to Cole. By now the man had shoved the blanket down even further and had his second arm was hanging of his bunk completely. Jay grabbed his boots and slipped into them.

The second he had finished tying the laces a loud siren and red light spread through their room from the screens next to their bunks. The redhead let out a short yelp and landed on his butt.

“Bruise Control report to Bay 05; Level A37; Kaiju Codename 'Knifehead'; Category 4”, the recorded voice of their shared friend Pixal rang through the room from the speakers. Jay scrambled up from the floor and over to his partners bed. He shook the black haired male by his shoulders, “Wake up!! We're being deployed!!”.

All Cole did was roll to his side and wave his hand through the air trying to shove whatever was bothering him away. Jay once more shoved him and yelled, “WAKE! UP! WE'RE! BEING! DEPLOYED!”.

“Mhmgh five more minutes please”, the black haired male grumbled slowly waking up. Jay sighed and rolled his eyes. “How can he sleep through this? Normal people wake up from this even if they're used to it by now.”, he thought and stood up straight again, smirking when another idea immediately came to mind.

“Guess I'll have to find a different drift partner then~”, the ginger turned with a shrug and started walking to the door, still smirking.

Cole almost immediately snapped into a sitting position, “Hell no! I'm awake!!”. Jay turned around crossing his arms and leaning his hip out to one side. Cole jumped off his bunk with a fairly loud thump and quickly started getting dressed.

“No one is getting in your head except me...”, the burly man mumbled almost fully ineligible.

Cole hated when Jay drifted with anyone but him, even back in the academy Cole got rather agitated whenever Jay was paired with someone else. He already strongly disliked even thinking about another person possibly messing around in his Partner's mind. Jealousy? Most definitely a large part of it. Cole trusted Jay with all his heart but anyone else? Rarely.

“What was that?”, the slender man shifted to the other side to get a better look at Cole.

“Nothing nothing”, the dark haired man waved off while pulling his under-shirt over his head. Jay rolled his eyes and started to tap his foot impatiently, “Just hurry up!!”, he whined.

After only a short while Cole was finally dressed. Jay immediately spun around towards the door, he shoved the heavy metal door open as fast as he could and almost tripped down the steps to the hallway. Cole had tried to grab his arm but Jay was already running down the hallway within seconds. “COME ON!!”, the ginger motioned for Cole to follow him. The dark haired male sighed, “No pre-fight kiss it shall be...”, he started running after his drift partner.

[askguyslikeus]

((thank you to guest writer @listentotheshityousay !!!))

The dorm kitchenette is quiet at three in the morning. There's just the sound of running water as Jeremy washes out the measuring spoons, humming to himself to drown out the drone of the microwave. It's peaceful.

Consuming baked goods at this hour won't be beneficial to anybody's health, a snide voice rings out in his head.

So much for peaceful.

“This is gonna be beneficial to Michael’s mental and emotional health, so shut up,” Jeremy responds, rolling his eyes. “And like, it can’t be worse than that time we ate fried chicken off our floor after we dropped it.”

That was truly disgusting, the Squip agrees.

“We’re college students. We eat a lot of gross shit.” He turns the faucet and shuts the water off, wiping his hands with the dishrag. “Stop judging.”

If only your eating habits were the only troubling part of your lifestyle…

Jeremy scowls. “Okay, you know what?” He isn’t in the mood to listen to another lecture about vegetables and hygiene and cholesterol. “I’m not doing this.”

He heads out of the kitchenette and walks four doors down, pushing the door to his dorm room open. Michael’s laying on the bottom bunk bed, Jeremy’s phone held above his face as he taps away intently at the screen.

“Jer? You done already?” Michael asks, tilting his head towards Jeremy’s direction. He drops the phone in his distraction and it smacks him in the face. “Ow!”

“I told you not to hold phones like that,” Jeremy says absent-mindedly. He knows Michael’s never going to learn his lesson on that anyway. He squats down to open the mini-fridge and dig out a new bottle of Mountain Dew Red. He cracks it open, ignoring the Squip’s aggrieved grumbling, and chugs half the bottle.

“Electronic Voldemort being an ass again?” Michael asks when Jeremy’s done. His tone is joking, but there’s that telltale hint of worry in his eyes, in the slight furrow of his brows, and Jeremy wants to chase it away. Michael’s already had a shitty day and he doesn’t need to be worried about the voice in Jeremy’s head right now.

So Jeremy shrugs and leans forward, folding his arms on the bed and resting his chin on them to give Michael an easy grin from up close. “More like trying to be my health coach. As if any college student ever cooks balanced meals or eats vegetables.”

“Hell no,” Michael scoffs, rolling closer to lay on his stomach, his face inches from Jeremy’s. “Not even Jake does that.” A beat. “Well, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t.” Another beat. “I mean, he eats plenty of junk food and vegetables—shit, does that make it a balanced meal?”

“Depends on the ratio, I guess?”

Michael scrunches his nose. “I saw him eat, like, three pieces of broccoli once.” An ominous pause. “Uncooked.”

“Gross.” Broccoli isn’t that bad, but uncooked? Jake must be a masochist.

“‘Average person eats three pieces of broccoli a year’ factoid actually just statistical error,” Michael deadpans. “Average person eats zero pieces of broccoli per year. Jacob Dillinger, who lives in a cave and eats over ten-thousand each day, is an outlier and should not have been counted.”

Jeremy starts laughing just before Michael starts to crack up, too. “A cave?” Jeremy wheezes, gasping for air. “He lives in the dorm across campus.”

“Tell me that cave is an inaccurate description of a college student’s dorm room,” Michael says between chortles.

Jeremy looks around their dorm room. “So this is our cave now?”

“Fuck yeah it is. Which reminds me.” Michael rolls away, settling onto his stomach and stuffing a pillow under his chin as he grabs Jeremy’s phone again. “I have a camp to attend to.”

Jeremy pushes himself up to sit on the side of the bed Michael just vacated and leans over to see Michael’s screen. “Did you get Kyle to come over?”

Michael scowls. “Not yet. Almost done building that fucking table, though, so his smug wolf ass is gonna be mine, soon.”

“What, my ass isn’t enough for you?” Jeremy pokes Michael in the ribs. “Plus, technically this is my phone, so his smug wolf ass would be mine.”

Michael bats Jeremy’s finger away. “Tone it down, you furry. Let me bask in my sweet, sweet upcoming victory.”

“You could’ve just downloaded Pocket Camp onto your phone,” Jeremy says, but he’s not really complaining. He’d been playing on and off for a while, but he hadn’t developed an obsession with the game the way Michael has over the past few days after trying it out on Jeremy’s phone during a fit of boredom. He doesn’t mind Michael stealing his phone for a while every day, and it’s worth it, to see the tension that’d been in Michael’s shoulders earlier all bled out, the smile on his face much more relaxed.

He watches Michael finally coax Kyle into their camp and almost gets smacked in the face when Michael flails his arms victoriously with a whoop. “Gotcha now, sucker,” Michael crows. He’s already tapping away, moving onto the next step, humming as he mutters, “Gotta catch em all.”

“That just gave me some really intense Pokemon Go flashbacks.” Jeremy blinks away the vivid memories of chasing down the whereabouts of a Dratini behind a 7-Eleven at two in the morning. Michael had announced he was disinheriting Jeremy when he found out Jeremy was Team Mystic (“Remember when I told you that you could have my Gameboy and my Magic The Gathering card collection if anything happened to me? I take it back. I’m taking you off my will, Jeremiah.”), and then promptly cancelled the disownment in favor of recruiting Jeremy into kicking some Team Instinct ass.

“Man, I walked so much for that Flareon.” Michael squints at the phone screen. “Fuck, I need more Bells. I should get somebody to buy my shit.”

Jeremy pulls out Michael’s phone from where it’s been stashed in his hoodie pocket to check the time. The screen flashes 3:14. “Michael, nobody’s going to be awake at this time on a Tuesday night.”

“Nuh-uh. PJ will sure as hell be awake,” Michael says.

Jeremy thinks about that for a sec. “You know what, that wouldn’t surprise me.”

There’s a minute of silence as Michael switches from the game to open Jeremy’s message app, tapping furiously at the phone screen, and then he’s grinning up at Jeremy with a smug slant to his mouth, the way he smiles whenever he’s having an I told you so moment. “She’s awake.”

“Why is she even awake?” Jeremy asks with a laugh. “It’s past three in the morning!”

“I don’t know, maybe she’s staying up to play Pocket Camp just like me,” Michael says with a fond snort.

Jeremy’s about to say that Michael’s up playing Pocket Camp to destress from a bad day when his brain tugs at that train of thought, derailing him from saying anything. Aren’t you forgetting something? echoes in his head, sounding eerily like the Squip’s voice.

He’s blankly staring at the wall, mystified, when Michael’s voice drags him back to the present. “Hey, weren’t you making Nutella cake?”

Jeremy blinks, then looks down at Michael, who’s giving him a curious look.

“Yeah,” Jeremy says, as his derailed train of thought is replaced back on the metaphorical traintracks, starting off slow and steady. “I was.”

Michael stares at him.

Jeremy stares back.

The thought train cranks up the speed from one to eleven, his thoughts all crashing into him at the speed of light. From the look of rapidly dawning horror on Michael’s face, he’s on the same track (ha fucking ha) of thought.

“Did you just,” Michael says very slowly, “leave the stuff in the kitchen?” Even more slowly: “In the microwave?”

“Oh fuck,” Jeremy blurts, and that’s the exact moment the fire alarm starts blaring.

-

See, the thing is, the microwave on their floor is a piece of shit that’s probably older Jeremy and Michael’s ages combined. It has many buttons but no settings work aside from Fires of Mordor, and its timer settings operates solely on thirty-minute intervals, for some reason. So it’s the duty of the poor dorm residents who use it to stop the microwave accordingly using their own timers.

It hasn’t been replaced because, for all it’s shitty, fire-hazard qualities, it still works and it hasn’t actually caused a fire yet.

But just because it hasn’t caused any real fires doesn’t mean it hasn’t set off any fire alarms. There’s been enough fire alarms this month that a few days ago, Rich--who had been spending the night on their top bunk--had literally clamped the pillow over his head and went back to sleep.

It’s a building full of hungry, easily distracted college students and the world’s most tyrannical microwave. It’s the worst combination possible.

So it’s absolutely normal for Jeremy and Michael to be standing outside their building in the middle of the night, surrounded by dozens of their cranky, sleep-deprived neighbors, waiting for all-clear to head back in.

A lot less normal for Jeremy to have been the cause of the fire alarm, though. Usually people set off the fire alarm trying to make popcorn. Jeremy set it off trying to make Nutella mug cake. Which is probably a scorched hell cake now.

“Holy shit,” Jeremy mumbles, still kinda in shock about the whole thing. “I almost burned down a building with a cake.”

“Good thing Rich isn’t sleeping over at our place today,” Michael says. “He’d either be really proud of you or really disappointed.”

Jeremy stares at the dorm windows, feeling indignant. “I used the last of my Nutella for that cake.”

Michael makes a choking noise from beside him, and Jeremy remembers that fuck, he’d been making that cake to cheer Michael up after a shitty day. And then he went and had the whole building evacuated instead.

“Oh my god,” Jeremy moans, dragging both hands down his face as the shame properly kicks in. “I was supposed to make you feel better, not get us kicked out of our room.” He turns to Michael to apologize. “I’m so s—Michael?”

Michael, he realizes, is doubled over and wheezing, laughing so hard that he’s nearly crying. He straightens up and hooks an arm over Jeremy’s shoulder, pulling him in, still giggling breathlessly as he leans against Jeremy, grinning as bright as the rising sun.

“Actually,” Michael says, sounding happier than any Nintendo game or baked good could make him, “this is just what I needed.”

[dipulb3]

Samsung Q80T series (2020) review: High-end design, excellent picture, approachable price

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Samsung Q80T series (2020) review: High-end design, excellent picture, approachable price

In 2020, Samsung’s TV lineup seems skewed more than ever toward higher-end models: There are three series with 8K resolution, a bunch of lifestyle models such as The Frame, The Sero and even a crazy-expensive outdoor television called The Terrace. Among relatively “normal” TVs, the Q80T stands out. It’s not cheap, but it is the least expensive Samsung QLED TV to feature full-array local dimming, which gives it an excellent picture.

Like

Excellent overall image quality

Superior styling

Wide range of sizes

Numerous features, voice options

Don’t Like

More expensive than competing TVs with similar picture quality

The Q80T’s big brother, the Q90T, also has FALD and I expect it to perform even better, but once again there’s an issue with price. In the 55- and 65-inch sizes the Q90T costs basically the same as my favorite high-end TV for 2020, the OLED-powered LG CX, and in my experience the OLED will have a better picture overall. That puts the Q80T in roughly the same price-to-performance sweet spot as the Sony X900H, the Vizio P-Series and TCL 6-Series.

I compared all four in my basement TV lab side-by-side and the Samsung Q80T was indeed excellent, but despite costing more than the other three, it didn’t put out a better picture. Instead its strength lies in design, with sleeker looks, an excellent remote and, yes, that Samsung nameplate. Like the others it’s also well-suited to pair with an Xbox Series X or PS5 thanks to variable refresh rate capability and 4K/120Hz input. 

If you have your heart set on a Samsung, you want a great picture and you don’t have money to burn, the Q80T is pretty sweet. But if you’re brand-agnostic, the Vizio and TCL are both better values.

Sleekness from the stand up

When you pay a little extra for a Samsung you expect superior design, and the Q80T delivers. The most obvious upgrade is the stand: Samsung uses a central pedestal, which to my eye looks a lot sleeker than the two separate legs to either side that most new TVs employ. The base is a single slab of metal, flush against the tabletop. An angled chunk of metal and plastic supports the panel, creating a nice floaty effect.

Black with a minimal frame around the image, the Q80T also has a textured backside and a cable management system that lets you channel power and HDMI from their ports through the stand, making for a cleaner look.

David Katzmaier/CNET

Samsung’s clicker is also among my favorites, with minimal buttons and just the right feel in-hand. Channel and volume keys click up and down, Ambient mode gets its own button as does the mic for voice, and even the Netflix and Amazon app shortcut keys are nicer than on other remotes: They lack garish colors and instead just match the rest of the wand.

Ambient mode is designed to show stuff on the screen when you’re not watching TV. It’s a cool feature if you don’t like the big black rectangle of an inert TV, and can display your photos, designer art, the weather, headlines and even adjust backgrounds to match your wall.

David Katzmaier/CNET

Alexa and Google join Bixby

Samsung’s homebrew Bixby voice assistant is built into the Q80T, as you’d expect, but new for 2020 you can choose the overwhelmingly more-popular Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant instead. You can select between the three in the menus and whichever one you choose will be available when you press the mic button on the clicker. 

Alternately you can set the remote’s mic to listen for the “Alexa” or “Hey, Google” wake words, allowing you to issue commands hands-free (it worked well as long as I stayed relatively close to the remote). And like most TVs you can also pair the Q80T with separate Alexa or Google speakers. 

David Katzmaier/CNET

Beyond voice, Samsung’s on-screen smart TV system is excellent, with quick responses and plenty of apps, and I’d take it over LG or Vizio’s systems. I still like Roku and Android TV (found on Sony TVs) better overall, however, because they have even more apps. Just like most TVs now (including Roku), Samsung has the Apple TV app and works with Apple’s AirPlay system.

Full-fledged features and HDMI connectivity

Full-array local dimming sets the Q80T apart from cheaper Samsung TVs. This technology, which improves LCD image quality significantly in our experience, boosts black levels and contrast by making certain areas of the picture dimmer or brighter in reaction to what’s on the screen. The step-up Q90T and the company’s 8K models have more dimming zones and brighter images than the Q80T, but Samsung doesn’t say exactly how many zones each has. 

Key features

Display technology LED LCD LED backlight Full array with local dimming Resolution 4K HDR compatible HDR10, HDR10+ Smart TV Tizen Remote Standard voice

Like all of Samsung QLED TVs, as well as most higher-end TVs from Vizio and TCL, the Q80T’s LCD panel is augmented by a layer of quantum dots — microscopic nanocrystals that glow a specific wavelength (i.e. color) when given energy. The effect is better brightness and color compared to non-QD-equipped TVs. The Q80T uses a true 120Hz panel, which improves the TVs’ motion performance, but as usual the “Motion Rate 240” specification is made up (note that the 49- and 50-inch sizes are 60Hz/MR 120).

The set supports high dynamic range content in the HDR10 and the HDR10 Plus formats. It lacks the Dolby Vision HDR support found on most competitors’ HDR TVs. I’ve seen no evidence that one HDR format is inherently “better” than the other, so I definitely don’t consider lack of Dolby Vision a deal-breaker on this TV — instead it’s just one more factor to consider.

Gaming features are one of the Q80T’s strong points. It’s compatible with variable refresh rate, as well as the FreeSync and G-synch VRR formats, available from devices including select PCs, the Xbox Series X and PS5, although the latter doesn’t support VRR yet. The Q80T also accepts 4K/120Hz input on HDMI 4, which is conveniently marked with a little game controller icon. The TV supports Auto Game Mode too, which lets it automatically switch to game mode to reduce input lag when it detects you’re playing a game. (Note that the 49- and 50-inch sizes lack 4K/120Hz input and VRR.)

David Katzmaier/CNET

4x HDMI inputs

2x USB ports

Ethernet (LAN) port

Optical digital audio output

RF (antenna) input

Remote (RS-232) port (EX-LINK)

This list is mostly solid, unless you happen to own a legacy device that requires analog video (component or composite) or audio. The Q80T is one of the few TVs that doesn’t at least offer one analog input, audio or video.

Picture quality comparisons

Click the image above for picture settings and HDR notes.

David Katzmaier/CNET

The Q80T is an excellent performer overall, with good local dimming and contrast, excellent brightness, color and video processing. It fell short of the black levels and brightness of some less-expensive TVs, such as the Vizio P-Series and TCL 6 series, especially with HDR material, but showed less blooming and a slightly cleaner image, earning the same score of 8 (Excellent) in this category. I preferred the Vizio and TCL overall for image quality and liked the Sony X900H a bit less, but all four occupy the same general plane.

Click the image above to see the picture settings used in the review and to read more about how this TV’s picture controls worked during calibration.

Dim lighting: I started with the excellent-looking Blu-ray of Parasite. In brighter scenes the Samsung generally matched the image quality of the others — all four were excellent overall. Differences emerged in darker scenes, for example during Park Dong-ik’s ride in the back of the car in Chapter 4. The TCL and the Vizio both showed darker, more realistic “black” in the shadows and letterbox bars, with less bleed from bright areas into dark, compared to the Sony and Samsung. The latter two were close, but the Samsung has a slight edge over the Sony. The differences weren’t drastic — all four TVs have very good black levels and contrast — but still visible side-by-side.

Here’s where I mention an unusual thing Samsung did with settings, which I liked. The Brightness control handles backlight level but there’s an additional Shadow Detail slider under Gamma (where it should be) that controls exactly that (and does a lot of the same work as a standard Brightness/black level setting). According to my measurements it does what it claims: boosts brightness at low levels (5% to 20%) as you creep up. The default “0” setting is the most accurate but cranking it up did reveal more, yes, details like the car seat cushions and floor of Parks car became more visible.

Bright lighting: These days TVs just seem to be getting brighter but the Q80T is an exception, measuring dimmer than many TVs at its level including the TCL, Vizio P and Sony, and even slightly dimmer than the Q70 from 2019. It’s still bright enough for just about any room, however, and has plenty of punch to make HDR look impactful.

Light output in nits

TV Brightest (SDR) Accurate color (SDR) Brightest (HDR) Accurate color (HDR) Hisense H9G 1,239 1,238 1,751 1,498 TCL 65R635 1,114 792 1,292 1,102 Sony XBR-65X900H 841 673 989 795 Vizio P65Q9-H1 768 629 1,305 1,084 Hisense 65R8F 717 717 770 770 Samsung QN65Q80T 664 503 1,243 672 Vizio M65Q7-H1 595 424 588 480 LG OLED65CX 377 290 690 634

Don’t let the high score in Dynamic fool you. Aside from being woefully inaccurate, it fluctuated quite a bit, starting out at over 1,200 nits but falling almost immediately to around 300. Most other TVs don’t show such dramatic fall-off, and none of the Q80T’s other modes did either. 

For the Accurate measurements in SDR I used the Natural picture mode in combination with the Warm color temperature setting (the default temperature for Natural is quite blue). I prefer Vizio and TCL’s approach of a dedicated, accurate bright-room picture mode.

Unlike previous Samsung TVs I’ve tested the Q80T didn’t excel at handling ambient light. In a bright room all of the TVs in my lineup were better at reducing the brightness of reflections to preserve the fidelity of the image. The difference wasn’t massive but definitely noticeable in dark areas of program material.

Color accuracy: The Samsung’s Filmmaker Mode and Movie modes are both accurate before calibration but I prefer the former because it disables most video processing by default (see below). After calibration, as expected, it was excellent. During Parasite, colors like the green lettuce and red kimchi in the cafeteria in Chapter 4, as well as the skin tones of the family as they eat, looked natural and well-balanced. Then again so did the other displays — it was difficult to see any real color differences even side-by-side with non-HDR colors.

Video processing: As usual the Samsung aced my tests in this category, delivering true 1080p/24 film cadence with film-based sources and plenty of motion resolution (1,000 lines) with video-based sources. The TV achieved both results with a Picture Clarity setting of Custom with Blur Reduction at 10 and Judder Reduction at 0, so if I had this TV I’d “set it and forget it” right there. Note that Filmmaker Mode’s default setting is to turn Picture Clarity off, which results in less motion resolution, but you can adjust it to taste.

You can also add more smoothing or soap opera effect by increasing Judder Reduction or choosing Auto instead of Custom. Meanwhile the LED Clear Motion option makes motion even sharper with the help of black frame insertion, at the expense of flicker and a dimmer image.

Samsung continues its tradition of excellent input lag in game mode with a score just over 14 milliseconds with both 1080p and 4K HDR sources.

Uniformity: With demanding, full-field test patterns the Q80T’s screen was quite uniform, with more-even lighting from edge to edge than the Vizio, whose sides looked slightly dark, and slightly less-even lighting than the TCL. With program material I saw the same minor issue on the Vizio while the others were very similar (note that uniformity can vary from sample to sample). From off-angle the Samsung was the best LCD TV I’ve tested, maintaining color fidelity, brightness and contrast better than the others. 

HDR and 4K video: With high dynamic range sources the differences between the four TVs became more apparent, and the Vizio and TCL looked slightly better than the Sony and the Samsung overall. The Q80T’s highlights appeared a bit dimmer than the others, including the Sony, while its black levels were lighter and less realistic than the TCL and Vizio, it’s contrast did beat the Sony’s.

Watching the Spears and Munsil HDR benchmark’s test montage, the ferris wheel at night (4:51) was a good example, with a slightly gray-blue cast to the sky, and less pop in the lights on the Q80T. It still looked great, with plenty of punch and contrast I expect from HDR, but next to the TCL and Vizio it didn’t convey quite the same sense of realism — although it looked better overall then the Sony.

Brighter scenes, like the closeups of flowers and insects (3:26), showed less of a difference but the Samsung still appeared very slightly dimmer than the TCL and Vizio, an impression backed up by spot measurements of my light meter. Colors were crisp and vibrant, however, and the orange of the monarch butterfly for example appeared a bit deeper and more saturated than the TCL, if not quite as powerful as the Vizio.  

The Samsung and Sony had one advantage during the montage however: they were slightly cleaner than the TCL and Vizio in the first fade up from black to a bright sky. The latter two showed faint, subtle banding in the sky as the image brightened, while the two “S” TVs didn’t. 

Another advantage: The Q80T was the best among the three at controlling blooming, so stray illumination wasn’t an issue even in difficult mixed bright-and-dark scenes. One major reason, I suspect, was its less-aggressive brightness compared to the more blooming-prone TCL and Vizio.

Switching over to Parasite in HDR, the Samsung’s image held up better than before thanks to its ability to control blooming and maintain black levels (at the expense of brightness). During the dark Chapter 4 car ride, for example, the Q80T’s black levels were darkest and it showed less stray illumination in the passing streetlights. On the other hand those lights and other bright spots were more brilliant on the TCL and Vizio, and both exposed more shadow detail than the Samsung — while the Sony had the best shadow detail and the worst contrast. I still ended up preferring the TCL and Vizio overall, but the Samsung was much closer.

In brighter scenes where blooming is less visible the superior light output of the other TVs shined gave them more characteristic HDR punch, particularly in highlights like the sun as TK approaches the house in Chapter 3. The Samsung still looked brilliant, saturated and impressive, but the TCL and Vizio looked just a notch more-so in my side-by-side comparison.

Geek Box

Test Result Score Black luminance (0%) 0.003 Good Peak white luminance (SDR) 664 Good Avg. gamma (10-100%) 2.22 Good Avg. grayscale error (10-100%) 0.64 Good Dark gray error (30%) 0.90 Good Bright gray error (80%) 1.37 Good Avg. color checker error 2.70 Good Avg. saturation sweeps error 2.01 Good Avg. color error 1.29 Good Red error 1.34 Good Green error 0.59 Good Blue error 1.13 Good Cyan error 1.38 Good Magenta error 1.61 Good Yellow error 1.70 Good 1080p/24 Cadence (IAL) Pass Good Motion resolution (max) 1000 Good Motion resolution (dejudder off) 1000 Good Input lag (Game mode) 20.77 Good HDR10 Black luminance (0%) 0.005 Good Peak white luminance (10% win) 1243 Good Gamut % UHDA/P3 (CIE 1976) 91.85 Average ColorMatch HDR error 5.52 Poor Avg. color checker error 2.65 Good Input lag (Game mode, 4K HDR) 20.37 Good

Samsung QN65Q80T CNET revie… by David Katzmaier

Portrait Displays Calman calibration software was used in this review. 

[charger-batteries]

Asus TUF Gaming A17 Review

Asus' TUF gaming laptops are priced and positioned below its elite Republic of Gamers (ROG) models, but the TUF Gaming A17 gives you more than you might expect for $1,099.99. It combines a beefy eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 4800H "Renoir" processor with a very ample 16GB of RAM and a positively generous 1TB solid-state drive. It backs its 17.3-inch full HD display with a capable Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU. It offers longer battery life and tougher construction than many competitors, passing MIL-STD 810H tests against shock, vibration, and environmental extremes. The GTX 1660 Ti won't max out the system's 120Hz-refresh-rate screen—and the screen isn't the most gorgeous thing you've seen—but the A17 is a good option for plus-size gaming on a budget.

TUF-Guy Credentials

Available in Fortress Gray or Bonfire Black (my test model TUF706IU-AS76 was the former), the A17 combines an aluminum lid with a plastic keyboard deck and underside. The lid is decorated by four faux corner screws and an ungainly winged-shield logo that (sort of) spells "TUF" if you squint at it sideways. The rear edge of the lid is sliced away to reveal a strip of the deck with "TUF GAMING" lettering.

Medium-thin bezels surround the 1080p non-touch screen, and a slight bump in the top bezel accommodates the webcam. The camera lacks IR face recognition capability and there is no fingerprint reader, so you can't use Windows Hello to bypass typing passwords. Chiseled lines bracket the keyboard, which features translucent W, A, S, and D keys. A hexagonal power button occupies the top right corner.

Though ponderous next to a 15.6-inch system, the Asus is not too big and heavy for a 17.3-inch gaming rig, measuring 1.0 by 15.7 by 10.6 inches and weighing 5.7 pounds. That undercuts the HP Omen 17 (1.6 by 15.8 by 11 inches, 7 pounds). There's little flex if you grasp the screen corners, though some is noticeable if you press the keyboard deck.

The only ports on the notebook's right side are a USB 2.0 port and a Kensington lock slot. On the left, you'll find Ethernet and HDMI ports, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Type-C port, an audio jack, and the connector for the AC power brick. Asus forgot an SD or a microSD card slot.

Colorful, Comfortable Keys

Pricier gaming laptops tend to divide their RGB keyboard backlighting into multiple zones or allow for the programming of individual keys, but the A17 shows just one color at a time. Using the Fn and cursor arrow keys, however, you can adjust the ample brightness of the key lights, or choose among color cycling, breathing, or strobing effects.

There's a Home/End key at the far top right of the layout, but you're most likely to access Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down via the numeric keypad, which will mean awkward toggling of Num Lock as you switch from data entry to navigating a spreadsheet. The typing feel is pretty good, a little shallow and plasticky, but fairly snappy and firm. The good-size touchpad has two rubbery buttons. It glides and taps smoothly.

As for the TUF Gaming's biggest asset—the 17.3-inch screen—it offers support for adaptive sync and a 120Hz refresh rate for games. (Asus says the TUF works with G-Sync monitors plugged into the USB-C port via a DisplayPort adapter.) Alas, though, the native display is the least-appealing feature of the TUF Gaming A17. It's dim even at the top backlight setting, making white backgrounds look dingy, and colors appear muddy and muted. Viewing angles are broad, and the contrast and detail are decent, but overall the screen is no better than bearable.

The 720p webcam captures adequately bright and colorful but rather soft-focus and noisy images. Sound from the bottom-firing speakers isn't very loud, even cranked to the max, but it isn't bad—short on bass, but clear and able to distinguish overlapping tracks. DTS:X Ultra software lets you make a minimal difference in the audio's character by choosing among music, movie, RPG, shooter, strategy, and voice presets, or playing with an equalizer. A free 14-day trial of DTS headphone software is included.

High Marks in Performance Testing

We've tested 17-inch gaming rigs that cost three times as much as the TUF Gaming A17 (Asus' own ROG Strix Scar 17 comes to mind), but for our benchmark comparisons here I chose four more or less affordable gamers. Two are 17.3-inch machines, the Aorus 7 SA and HP Omen 17—which stretches the definition of "affordable" by some $500 over the TUF, splurging on a GeForce RTX 2070 GPU that makes it the favorite in our graphics tests. Two are 15.6-inch systems, the Dell G5 15 SE and our $999 Editors' Choice winner, the MSI Bravo 15. You can see the contenders' basic specs in the table below.

Productivity and Media Tests

PCMark 10 and 8 are holistic performance suites developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark). The PCMark 10 test we run simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet jockeying, web browsing, and videoconferencing. PCMark 8, meanwhile, has a storage subtest that we use to assess the speed of the system's boot drive. Both yield a proprietary numeric score; higher numbers are better.

Like its rivals, the A17 blew past the 4,000-point mark that indicates excellent productivity in PCMark 10. Like nearly all modern laptops with PCI Express-based solid-state drives, all five contestants aced PCMark 8's storage subtest.

Next is Maxon's CPU-crunching Cinebench R15 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads.

Cinebench is often a good predictor of our Handbrake video editing benchmark, in which we put a stopwatch on systems as they transcode a brief movie from 4K resolution down to 1080p. It, too, is a tough test for multi-core, multi-threaded CPUs; lower times are better.

The eight-core, 2.9GHz (4.2GHz turbo) AMD Ryzen 7 4800H is one potent processor (in the 45-watt desktop replacement and gaming rather than 15-watt ultraportable class), and it gave the Asus, Dell, and MSI superb results in these tests.

We also run a custom Adobe Photoshop image-editing benchmark. Using an early 2018 release of the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, we apply a series of 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG test image. We time each operation and add up the total. (Lower times are better.) The Photoshop test stresses the CPU, storage subsystem, and RAM, but it can also take advantage of most GPUs to speed up the process of applying filters.

The MSI and Dell slipped a bit in this exercise, but the TUF posted a first-rate time, even if its ho-hum screen and lack of an SD card slot make it an unlikely choice for avid photo editors.

Graphics Tests

3DMark measures relative graphics muscle by rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting. We run two different 3DMark subtests, Sky Diver and Fire Strike. Both are DirectX 11 benchmarks, but Sky Diver is more suited to laptops and midrange PCs, while Fire Strike is more demanding and lets high-end PCs and gaming rigs strut their stuff.

As expected, the Omen 17's GeForce RTX 2070 graphics claimed first place, but the Asus delivered a creditable performance, a notch above low-cost gamers with GeForce GTX 1650 GPUs.

Next up is another synthetic graphics test, this time from Unigine Corp. Like 3DMark, the Superposition test renders and pans through a detailed 3D scene, this one rendered in the eponymous Unigine engine for a second opinion on the machine's graphical prowess.

The Asus, Dell, and Aorus essentially tied for second place behind the HP. Spending more will get you higher frame rates, but these are more-than-acceptable results.

Real-World Gaming Tests

The synthetic tests above are helpful for measuring general 3D aptitude, but it's hard to beat full retail video games for judging gaming performance. Far Cry 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider are both modern AAA titles with built-in benchmark routines. We run these tests at 1080p resolution using both moderate and maximum graphics-quality presets—Normal and Ultra for Far Cry 5 under DirectX 11, Medium and Very High for Rise of the Tomb Raider under DirectX 12.

Once again, it trailed the Omen 17, but the A17 posted very satisfactory results for its price, easily surpassing the desirable 60-frame-per-second mark even at the games' finest image quality settings. We've tested many budget gaming laptops that wish they could do this well.

Battery Rundown Test

After fully recharging the laptop, we set up the machine in power-save mode (as opposed to balanced or high-performance mode) where available and make a few other battery-conserving tweaks in preparation for our unplugged video rundown test. (We also turn Wi-Fi off, putting the laptop into airplane mode.) In this test, we loop a video—a locally stored 720p file of the Blender Foundation short film Tears of Steel—with screen brightness set at 50 percent and volume at 100 percent until the system quits.

We like to see at least four hours of battery life from a gaming notebook. The Asus more than doubled that, winning this event. Actual gaming will, of course, drain the battery faster than mere video viewing, but with the A17 it's at least possible.

One of the Better Deals in a 17-Inch Gamer

With its 1TB SSD—and a second M.2 slot accessible by unscrewing the bottom panel—the Asus TUF Gaming A17 is a welcome change from low-cost gaming laptops with a skimpy 256GB of storage, and its Ryzen 7 processor is a real powerhouse. But while you can live with the screen, you won't be thrilled with it; I waffled between giving the laptop three-and-a-half and four stars on our rating scale, and the display narrowly tipped me to the lower score.

Still, its less-than-dazzling display doesn't negate the TUF Gaming A17's above-average value when you tally up the rest of the components. Good 17.3-inch budget gaming rigs are scarcer than their 15.6-inch counterparts, and if you desire a big screen but lack a big checkbook, this sturdy performer deserves consideration.

[queenofchildren]

The spy and the movie guy

So, @leralynne inspired me to write some Minty to celebrate Season 5, and since I had this cute fic idea sitting around on my blog, I went for it. I present to you: International spy Miller and actually not his presumed informant Monty and Wednesday night movies. [also on ao3]

As far as informant meet-ups go, this one is pretty much by the book: Walk up to the informant as he stands in the agreed-upon spot, say the code-phrase and wait for the reply, then steer the conversation towards the intel – in this case, a flash drive with enough dirt to incriminate a bunch of people involved in a variety of illegal activities.

Sure, the meeting-place is a bit out there, perhaps – a ramshackle little movie theater that looks like it's been frozen in time in the 1950s. But while the flickering neon sign, threadbare red carpet and faded gold ornaments of the ARKADIA are unusually atmospheric for a simple informant meet-up, Miller decides he likes the place. It's got charm, and it reminds him of going to the long-closed Tivoli theater to watch old Westerns with his Dad.

It's also not a bad choice for a place to subtly make contact: Shortly before the start of the evening's feature films, the lobby is filling up with people, buying popcorn, meeting up with friends and looking at the posters and movie paraphernalia lining the walls. For a moment, Miller is surprised how busy the place is on a Wednesday evening, then he sees the posters advertising the weekday's reduced-price promotion. All the better, he thinks - no one will pay any attention to him when he steps up to the man currently standing in front of the poster for Hidden Figures, holding a gigantic bucket of popcorn and looking at his phone with a dismayed expression.

He sort of fits the description he sent he agency beforehand: Asian, late twenties, dark, floppy hair, regular to slim physique. (Although Miller wonders if that wasn't a bit too modest a description – the guy's wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and despite its loose fit, there's undeniable definition to his arms and chest.) Still, the description doesn't have to fit 100%, he knows – that's what the code-phrase is for after all.

Miller slowly makes his way over, taking a moment to study each poster until he's finally standing in front of his destination. The man hasn't moved, which only cements Miller's belief that he is in fact the contact he's looking for.

Picking up a leaflet with the theater's current program, he thumbs through it for a moment before he pretends to quote from it:

“Katherine Johnson knew: once you took the first step, anything was possible.”

The man looks around for a moment, trying to find out who Miller is talking to – which, alright, may be a little theatrical, but if it makes him feel safer about this endeavour, Miller won't make him feel bad about that. Then the man apparently decides that he's devoted enough time to the surprised act, and turns towards Miller to look at him – and startle him thoroughly with his beaming smile and happy exclamation:

“You read the book!“ When Kane sent him the code-phrase, Miller hadn't imagined hearing the informant's reply with quite so much enthusiasm – usually, these sort of meetings are quiet, subdued affairs where everyone is trying to draw as little attention as possible. But here, in this place that looks like it fell out of time, and on this guy who seems like he can probably muster up enthusiam for anything, it works somehow.

Miller nods, a little thrown by the impossibly bright smile directed at him.

“It's pretty good. I wanted to see if the movie can keep up.“

“Oh, it definitely can,“ the informant nods, still every bit as enthusiastic. “I've watched it three times already, and I bawled my eyes out every time.“

This is getting stranger by the second. Sure, the code-phrase was related to the movie, but usually, they'd have moved on from their original smoke screen of a topic to, well, exchanging the actual information. So Miller does something he doesn't usually have to do: He prods.

“So, you got anything for me?“

There's a note of confusion on the other man's face now, but after a moment's hesitation, he nods towards the giant bucket of popcorn he's holding.

“The popcorn's pretty good here. And I bought way too much because my asshole friend cancelled on me last-minute.“ Another hesitant beat, shorter this time. “We can share, if you like.

Miller suppresses a sigh. It happens sometimes: Informants get freaked out at the last minute. At least this one hasn't skipped out on him entirely. Now it seems Miller just has to calm him down enough to get that data.

“I would like that.” He smiles, warm and inviting, and can tell from the way the other man's eyes widen that the charm did its trick. The whole “seduce and confuse”-approach isn't normally his thing (that's Bellamy's specialty), but he can flirt his way into a target or informant's trust in a pinch. Still with his warmest smile in place, he holds out his hand. “My name's Miller, by the way. Nathan Miller.”

The informant smiles back and Miller notes absently that ignoring his grumpy and aloof nature in order to crank out some charm isn't as much of a chore as it usually is.

“Monty.”

The door to the auditorium next to them opens at this moment, the usher allowing in the first guests, and Monty steers determinedly towards him, supposedly to enjoy his fourth screening of the movie. Miller curses quietly at the thought of potentially wasting two entire hours on this simple assignment, no matter how good the movie, but follows him anyway. He has no choice if he wants that flash drive, but there's a tiny part of him that is also intrigued by this man, who seems fairly normal but then goes around endlessly rewatching movies so he can cry about them.

He is also, Miller realises five minutes into the movie, the kind of person who comments. A lot.

Which, under any other circumstance, would annoy the hell out of him, because Miller likes to watch his movies in stoic silence and then think about them alone afterwards. He does not need to analyze things as they happen on screen, or to hear little fun facts about the actors or the filming, or to hear other peoples' opinions on the movie before they've even finished watching. And yet, that's exactly what Monty provides – and Miller finds that he likes it.

Because Monty, it turns out, is funny as hell and smells very good, both of which Miller finds out when he first leans across the armrest to comment on soomething, and soon the flash drive is completely forgotten as he's nodding along with Monty's commentary and stifling inappropriate laughs and leaning in a little more each time Monty inclines his head towards him.

"I swear to God, if they don't give Taraji an Oscar for this, I will riot," Monty declares, then adds sheepishly: "On Twitter, at least."

Miller laughs softly, and when he looks at Monty, the light from the movie screen dimly illuminating his face, the other man is looking back at him, eyes wide and mouth parted slightly, and Miller knows what it means from countless hours of body language interpretation courses. He also has a pretty good feeling that he himself is looking much the same way right now. And Miller realises, right there in that darkened movie theater, that he's fucked. Not only has he now wasted almost two hours and is still no closer to getting that data, but, he realises, he's enjoying himself far too much. There's a pleasant little hum inside him every time Monty leans closer to share his thoughts on the movie; shoulder brushing against Miller's, warm breath rushing past his cheek, his low whisper vibrating through Miller's over-alert body, and Miller goes from “international super spy” to “teenager with a crush” within the span of less than two hours.  

He's almost relieved when his phone lights up, minutes away from the end of the movie, and there’s a message from Kane to distract him from this torture.

SOURCE SAYS YOU NEVER MADE CONTACT. WHAT HAPPENED?!?

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

Monty isn't his source.

Monty is simply a chatty, funny, incredibly cute cinephile who has nothing better to do than befriend the other poor souls who are damned to go to the cinema alone.

And then, for the first time in possibly ever, Miller has an unprofessional thought as Kane's words fully register: If Monty isn't your source, a selfish little voice whispers in his head, that means you can see him again.

And so, when the movie ends, Miller doesn't rush off back to headquarters immediately, as he should. He turns to Monty as they're filing out of the theater and says:

"This was fun. Wanna do it again some time?"

Monty stops in the middle of the hallway, throwing the ordered exodus of moviegoers around them into disarray, to stare at Miller for a moment. Then that smile makes another appearance, just as startling as the first time.

"I'm here most weeks for the Wednesday special."

This time, Miller doesn't have to consciously bring himself to smile back – it happens all on its own. "See you next Wednesday then.”

Monty nods, looking a little overwhelmed, and Miller actually winks at him giddily before he remembers that he needs to go and lets the crowd sweep him towards the exit.

The lightness in his chest lasts all the way back to headquarters, and not even the prospect of having to explain his monumental fuck-up can ruin it.

He should definitely go to the movies more often, Miller decides.

The debrief goes over better than expected – Kane isn't exactly pleased, but Miller has never majorly messed up before, so he lets it slide. The only awkward moment comes when Bellamy asks:

“So if the man you thought was the informant didn't give you any intel, what the hell were you doing at that theater for two hours?”

Miller can only reply dumbly: “I watched the movie.”

Luckily, this is where Kane's passion for psychology saves him: Instead of reproaching Miller for not ditching the useless non-informant, Kane actually praises him for gaining his trust.

“Sometimes an informant isn't ready to get into the details right away. In such cases, building up a rapport is crucial.”

Bellamy huffs and Miller grins smugly and all but floats home that night. Against all odds, he got out of this fuck-up with nothing more than a mild reproach. Kane already managed to re-establish contact with their source and convinced him to try another pick-up. And in less than a week, he'll see Monty again.

Nathan Miller has snuck past Fort Knox-worthy security measures, jumped off cliffs, faced down armed assassins, and fought his way out of a whole bunch of seemingly impossible situations. And yet, he's never been more nervous than he is now, standing in front of the ARKADIA on a rainy Wednesday to see La La Land.

Monty is nowhere in sight, and for a short, stupid moment Miller thinks he forgot about their not really a date-thing. Or perhaps he decided to avoid the creepy dude who randomly quoted stuff at him and then followed him into the cinema to steal his popcorn?

But just as he's about to lose his nerve and leave, he spots a shock of dark hair, and then Monty is standing before him wearing jeans and a striped shirt and the same impossibly bright smile he wore last week.

“Hi!” He says breathlessly, then adds: “Sorry I'm late. My bike refused to cooperate.”

Miller wants to blurt out that he almost thought he wouldn't show at all and admit how fucking happy he is that he did, but then the usher calls out that their movie is about to begin, and they hasten inside.

The experience is exactly as great as the last time, quietly shared jokes and Miller's heartbeat speeding up every time Monty's shoulder bumps into his, and Miller knows with sudden clarity that he never wants to give this up again.

He's back next week for another Oscar nominee, and then the week after that, and of course they're catching Moonlight the week after the Oscars. But watching movies soon becomes secondary to just meeting Monty, and soon his favourite thing about Wednesdays is standing in the lobby after the screening to go over every little scene until they're asked to leave because the ARKADIA is closing for the night. Instead of ending the conversation there, Monty suggests they head to a nearby coffee shop, and with a cup of hot coffee in hand, it's easy to move on from the movie to other topics, some more related (favourite movies, books, musicians) some less. When the conversation eventually turns to their love lives and Monty mentions that he's bisexual, Miller can't stop smiling the next day at work.

Tonight, Monty is nursing his second double Americano in preparation for a night shift to update some company's IT system. Miller briefly considers helping him out with a caffeine pills, one of the many supplements available to him at the agency and strong enough to keep anyone up for days. But of course that would only raise questions, so he stays silent, sips his Cortado and listens as Monty animatedly explains that this upcoming job will be the most challenging thing he's ever done and he can't wait to get started.

Miller briefly considers telling Kane to look into recruiting Monty at the agency, where he could have a new challenge to freak out about every day. But he knows he won't, because a selfish little part of him knows that Monty is the only thing in his life that the agency doesn't have a say over and wants to keep it that way. Their Wednesday evenings; movies and too much popcorn and stories from life as a normal person with a flat share and a cubicle desk and a nagging Mom – these evenings are his, and his alone.

“I'm sorry, listen to me rambling. You probably just want to go home and sleep, and here I am raving about boring computer stuff.”

“No!” Miller replies, so quickly and ferociously Monty draws back a little. “I don't mind listening when you talk about your work. It sounds like you've got a really cool job ahead of you.”

Monty's already smiling again. “I really do. But I'm still going to stop talking about myself. I feel like we never talk about you.”

Miller swallows hard. Monty's not wrong, their conversations do revolve more around Monty than around him – but then, there's a reason for that. He can't share much about his life with Monty no matter how much he wants to – and boy, does he want to. He's come up with a cover story that isn't too far from reality and told Monty that he's a police officer, training to be on a swat team. It's a good choice, because it accounts for showing up with a black eye or talking about harsh training sessions, and he knows a little bit about it because of his Dad. It's not the same as talking about what his life is actually like, about the amount of government-sanctioned snooping and stealing and, yes, killing he's done so far in his short career. But it's better than not talking to Monty at all.

Monty seems to accept the story in any case, although his look of relief when Miller says he has nothing to do with cyber crime tells him he should definitely never mention Monty's name around Kane. And probably also find out a little bit more about his new buddy before he gets any more... attached. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to get access to the agency by befriending or seducing one of its agents, and while Miller always thought that couldn't happen to his sarcastic, bristly, mistrustful self, that was before he met Monty.

The thing is, with his boundless enthusiasm and determination to have faith in the good in people, Monty brings an outlook on things into Miller's life that, after years of spying on people, has been almost completely lost. But Monty's no wide-eyed ingenue: He's astute and perceptive, and his moral judgment, when he can be persuaded to judge anyone or anything at all, is as harsh as it is absolute – and this too is refreshing, because in Miller's world, pragmatism is king, grey areas are his preferred place of action, and too often he has to make choices expecting to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

Still, it takes a long time for Miller to finally admit to himself just how hard he has fallen for his accidental friend. But then a mission goes sideways, a bullet slips past the edge of his kevlar vest and buries itself in his side – and all Miller can think is that it's Tuesday and getting shot most likely means he'll miss movie night.

Then he blacks out.

It takes over a week until Miller is awake and lucid and strong enough to make a phone call from the hospital phone. Luckily, he still knows Monty's number by heart, because he never saved it in his phone and only ever contacted him from various burner cells to make sure Monty can't be easily traced back to him – a safety precaution he hates but that comes in handy now, seeing as his phone is trashed beyond repair.

When Monty picks up the phone and says his name, Miller's throat tightens for a moment because he's so happy to hear him – and so scared Monty won't want to talk to him, given that he bailed on their last movie night without so much as an explanatory text.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“I'm sorry I stood you up,” Miller blurts out.

“Nate?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn't think I'd hear from you again, after you stood me up and didn't even text. Twice.”

This is the part where he needs to explain, Miller knows – but instead, his mind gets caught on that last little word.

“Twice?”

There's a moment of silence at the other end of the line, then the sheepish response: “I returned the week after that. I thought maybe you'd show up and explain... I'm a hopeless rom... optimist like that, I guess.”

Miller's heart skips. Did Monty just almost call himself a “hopeless romantic”, thus implying he thinks of them in romantic terms?

God he hopes so. And decides, then and there, that if Monty forgives him, he's going to make one hell of a big romantic gesture as soon as he gets out of this hospital.

“I can explain now.”

“You don't have to. It's your time, you can spend it however you like, with or without me.”

“I'm at the hospital, Monty.” Miller says bluntly, suddenly impatient. He needs Monty to understand, which means he needs to explain. “I got shot.” And then because that feels like it might raise a lot of questions and because he just remembers his very convenient fake backstory, he quickly adds: “While I was on patrol.”

“Shit, Nate, I had no idea! I'm sorry I gave you flak for standing me up...”

Miller laughs softly, then stifles it immediately when pain twinges through his chest.

“You couldn't know. For all intents and purposes, it looked like I stood you up, and I'm sorry.”

But Monty won't be appeased. “No, you don't understand! You know how when you get stood up, your friends try to cheer you up with all these wild explanations?”

Miller doesn't, really, but then Murphy and Bellamy are hardly the kinds of friends he confides in about his love life.

“Well, my friend Clarke tried to do that when I told her, she suggested that maybe you were caught in a shootout, and I....” he breaks off, strangled, then continues with an anguished voice: “I actually said “he better be”! I'm a horrible person, Nate!”

Now Miller can no longer hold back a fond laugh, chest pain be damned. But he's filled with such warmth and affection for this man who came out of nowhere and is the definition of that silly “precious cinnamon roll”-meme and made his life 1000 per cent better.

“You're not a horrible person, Monty. You were hurt, I get it. And it's not your fault I got shot. Things went South, it happens. I'm recovering now, okay? They moved me out of the ICU into a regular ward and everything. Just...” He swallows, suddenly nervous. “Just don't watch Guardians of the Galaxy 2 without me, please?”

“Are you kidding? That won't be released for another month! I'm not waiting that long!” There's a brief pause, and Miller wonders hopefully if it's due to nerves on the other end as well. “Which hospital are you in? I'm stopping by as soon as I'm finished here.”

Heart feeling like it's about to burst, Miller gives him the name and address of the hospital, and Monty promises to swing by as soon as possible. Which means two things: He's going to see Monty again soon. And he's going to need a shower and some clothes that aren't hospital-issued, and pronto.

Unfortunately, by the time he's achieved that, there's still no sign of Monty, and Miller already feels exhausted again, an unfortunate side effect of recovering from a bullet wound. No matter how much he fights it, soon his body succumbs to the tiredness, and he nods off.

When he wakes up, Miller wonders for a moment if he died in that shooting after all.

For one thing, his room smells like popcorn. For another, there's a giant Marvel logo hovering in mid-air before him, and it takes him a startled moment to work out that it's actually projected onto the wall. The projector in question is set up on one of those tall hospital bedside tables. And next to it, clicking around on the laptop attached to the projector, is Monty.

“Hi,” Miller croaks, and Monty looks up and almost drops his laptop in his haste to set it down and rush over to the bed.

“Hi! How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good, I guess?” Honestly, right now he's mostly very confused. “What's going on here?”

“Well, I figured since you missed our last two movie nights, we could just catch up here.”

Well, clearly, Monty beat him to his big romantic gesture.

“How the hell did you get the nurses to let you do this?”

Monty shrugs, but there's a hint of pink appearing on his cheeks that disproves the attempt at casualness. “I may have told them a bit of a sob story.”

Miller grins – knowing Monty, this is going to be good. “Oh yeah? What did you tell them?”

“Well, I told them you're my boyfriend and that it's our one year anniversary and we were planning to celebrate it at the cinema where we had our first date, but with you getting shot and all...” He blurts it out all in one rush, then shrugs again. “They were all very moved.”

Miller would laugh because honestly, with that talent for lying, Monty would probably fit right in at the agency. But Monty isn't laughing right now – instead, he's suddenly looking very nervous.

“I hope that doesn't bother you.” He swallows visibly. “It's a little hard to imagine, you and... well, me.”

The vulnerability on his face makes Miller feel like his chest is bursting, and he's relatively sure it's not because of the gunshot wound. Before he knows what he's doing, he's taken Monty's hand and pulled him closer.

“I don't think it is.” Monty's eyes widen, and Miller loosens his grip on his hand, but only enough so that he can softly trace the lines on his palm. He shrugs, then wonders if his nervousness is as apparent as Monty's was just now. “In fact, I like the idea.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Because I like you. And I like watching movies with you, and as soon as I'm out of here I want to do that again but as a date, and....”

He doesn't get any further, because suddenly Monty is kissing him and Miller has no idea what he was even going to say anymore. He tastes like caramel popcorn and minty chapstick and he feels like the best thing that ever happened to him or, for that matter, earth in general. It's only when he rises up from the bed, chasing Monty's lips a little too eagerly, that pain shoots through his chest and reminds him where he is and why heatedly making out may not be the best idea just now.

But then, there's always time for that later, after they've watched the movie and he's recovered some more.

“So, what movie did you bring?”

Monty presses play on his laptop, then promptly clambers back onto the bed as the movie starts playing.

“The first Guardians of the Galaxy, obviously.”

Miller makes an appreciative noise and burrows into Monty's side, a little overwhelmed by the fact that this is now something he's allowed to do. He no longer needs shoulder bumps and almost-touches across an armrest to sustain him – he can just snuggle right on up to Monty.

Monty himself is unusually quiet for once, perhaps a little overwhelmed by all the developments as well, and it gives Miller time to think. Finally, his brain zeroes in on one particular puzzle.

“You know what still baffles me?”

Monty transfers his attention from the screen to Miller and waits for him to explain.

“A stranger walks up to you, starts randomly quoting a book and then demands that you give him some of your popcorn. Why did you not get the hell out of there immediately?“

Monty smiles, and the faint trace of red on his cheeks flares up once more, to Miller's delight.

“The way I remember it, a super hot stranger walked up to me, hit me with the best pick-up line I ever heard, and then wanted to share my popcorn. I thought I was dreaming at first.“

Miller feels his own cheeks heat up a little as well.

“The best pick-up line you ever heard?”

Monty nods earnestly, and Miller has to admit, he has a point. Beside him, Monty grins.

”And I mean, it worked for you.“

“Yeah,” Miller agrees and leans in for another soft kiss, just because he can. Some day soon, he's going to have to explain to Monty what was really behind that pick-up line – but not just yet. “Thank God it did.”

[lxsprit]

scene || elevation and conflict

         A television screen buzzed with the residue of static left even after the counter clerk had adjusted the antennae. The video flickered for a moment more before a young woman with a head of golden brown hair in a high ponytail stood from a round, red stool where she had been in the company of her coworkers. Her fingers crackled with a faint current of electricity before she tapped the screen a couple of times, clearing the resolution of the video feed significantly. With a gracious thank you from the clerk, she merely nodded once before returning to her seat at the table of five.

          “Hey, can you turn it up?” a voice spoke above the noise, intended to cue the employee who stood, polishing the countertop absently. “Looks like it’s about the Spilled Harmony Fest.” A murmur arose in the crowd and soon excited chatter overrode the sound of the news onscreen once again, but the clerk smiled as he complied, cranking up the volume just enough to be heard clearly above the quieting ambiance.

                              — - [… and it looks as if there’s rumors of an up and                                       coming band taking over EverBlooM’s top spot                                       on the Lead Decree at this year’s Anvanum Music                                       Festival!]

There was a lull in the excitement as the news was heard, a creeping silence blanketing the café in anticipation of a more in-depth explanation. The brunette glanced at her companions around the table, and they all seemed amused at the reaction. “Hey, Ethan, think they’re talking about us?” another brunette asked, her hazelnut curls falling in a flirty frame on one side of her face and a braid pulling the other side behind her right ear.

          “That’s a little presumptuous, Angie,” said the oldest of two males in their group. His eyes were lively and their color matched short, chestnut locks, with his athletic physique accentuated by the sleeveless vest he wore. “We’re not even recognizable enough to cause an uproar here at the café.” Which wasn’t wrong—after all, they frequented the place so often that they didn’t even need to contact each other to know the others would be there. Still, it was a relief to them that they could come here and feel comfortable enough not to have to wear disguises, especially with the peculiar hue of the other male’s hair. “It’s actually impressive how few people recognize us, even after touring for the past couple of months.”

A faint chuckle fluttered like roses in the air as a redhead rested her chin against her hand, watching the other four with bold, violet eyes. “Well, you guys haven’t actually done a concert here in Anvanum yet—that one’s saved for Spilled Harmony.” With a brief moment of consideration, and an exchange of glances within the group, they all seemed content with the explanation. “But according to Harmony Records’s news bulletin, they’re considering a few changes in administration now that the CEO’s son is taking over the company, and a lot of the old bands who reigned on the Decree are being dropped from their contracts because they’d prefer to switch over to Spilled, Inc., to save their reputations before the business tanks.” Glancing over at the fifth member of the group, the gold and jewels adorning her earrings glimmered from the light reflecting off of their table. “And Sterling, here, was nominated as the new face of the performance department.”

It was only then that the one who stood out the most at the table lifted his gaze from the cup of coffee in front of him, viridian eyes meeting those of bright amethyst. “Don’t call me that in public.” His voice was low—almost as if he didn’t want to be heard—even though he uttered it as a command. Slouched in his seat, he lifted a hand to run through silvery locks to get them out of his face, sharp eyes like daggers. “I’ve told you countless times.”

          “But I like that name better than ‘Evander.’ It suits you more.” Her pout could be heard in her very voice, even though Evander had averted his eyes already, shifting his focus back onto the monitor across the café. A frown infringed upon her normally graceful features, and she leaned to the side, her shoulder pressing up against his. “Sterling.”

A sigh left his lips, and he began to tap his foot against the tile—a habit he really needed to train himself not to feed. “What, Amethyst?”

          “That’s not fair.”

          “And neither is tempting me with how close you are to m—”

          “You guys being so close almost makes me jealous,” the braided young woman interjected, now leaning forward on the table in front of her. “Amy, can’t you share little ol’ Evan with the rest of us? What’s not fair is that you get to hog him all to yourself now, right, Lea?”

The blank-faced woman from earlier seemed to snap out of an absent trance as she glanced over at Angie, her tone blunt and lacking any trace of sarcasm. “Not interested.”

          “You can’t even pretend to be jealous of us~?” At this point, the redhead was practically wrapped around the silver-haired male, and the brunet of the group had his face in his hands, shaking his head at the idiocy he was surrounded with. “Don’t do that, Ethan. You’re just upset because you’re surrounded by girls who don’t want to date you.”

Ouch. That almost hurt Ethan’s pride as he let out a slight chuckle, more wry than out of amusement, though. “I’m not upset over a couple of loose girls and my sister not wanting to date me. I’m more interested in the types who leave something up to the imagination.” Lea’s nose crinkled as she imagined what it would look like to show an interest in her own brother—not something she wanted to think about, ever again. “What even happened to you, Amy? You used to be the company prude, and now you show more skin than the dancers at Spilled.”

          “Is there something wrong with wanting to look pretty for the person you’re in love with?” Amy’s tone was matter-of-fact, and she raised her brows, eyes falling to half-lids in response to the accusatory attack. “Besides, Spilled’s dancers are absolutely flawless and deserve to be recognized more than those assholes from EverBlooM.”

          “Anyway,” Angie heckled, eyes focused still on Amy, though now trained on her arms around Evander’s. “You mentioned Evan’s going to become some high and mighty symbol or something for the entire department? What about us?” Her gaze traveled to the two siblings who looked uncomfortable at her sudden change in tone. They knew how Angie was, especially when it came to the question of their popularity.

There was a calculated silence as Amy mulled over her words. She knew that when it came to talking to this headstrong woman, she had to be delicate with her word choice in order to appease her ego. “You and the other two get to ride on his coattails,” she mused, her words sharp as the glare she was receiving now from the braided woman. “Whether you three understand this or not, the ‘Big Boss’ formulated this band revolving around Sterl— Evan, and his talents. That’s how things work around here—members of a band are chosen based on their talents, not their relationships. Lea and Ethan, here, were lucky they’re both such great musicians that they weren’t separated in the ranks.” Finally relinquishing custody over Evander’s arm, Amy crossed hers over her chest and leaned back in her seat. “If you want to be part of a more democratic system, you can leave and run to Spilled, Inc., just like the others who were dropped from the ranks and start over from the bottom, just like they’ll have to.”

Her words were like venom, and Angie had to fight herself not to talk back—after all, this redhead, despite her superiority complex, was their manager. “I never said I planned on leaving, Amy.” She took a deep breath and calmed herself, gaining silent sighs of relief from her bandmates as Amy successfully subdued the demon bassist among them.

Still, there was a tension that remained thick in the air, nearly suffocating them as they resolved to staying silent. Only Evander finally spoke up to shift the stillness, still paying more attention to the screen than those sitting around him. “Looks like Seraphin’s about to blow a fuse talking to the interviewers.” It was only then that the rest of them recalled that the news broadcasting had been on the entire time, and they saw the raven-haired singer among his bandmates onscreen, his posture and expression emanating an aura of distaste as he was questioned about how he felt about the current standings.

                              — - [I don’t know what the city’s thinking, putting all of                                       its resources into a band that no one’s even heard                                       of. Sure, the sound is different, but who the {bleep}                                       are they to steal the spotlight from veterans like us?]

After cautioning him about his language, they allowed him to continue.

                              — - [Harmony’s already in shambles now that Mr.                                       Veilles is out of the picture, and everyone’s running                                       to our company to save their skins, so it’s risky to                                       put one of their inexperienced bands at the top of the                                       Lead Decree in the…]

          “He’s just jealous,” Angie commented, disinterest dulling her eyes. “How can EverBlooM be a ‘veteran band’ when they’ve been performing for just as long as we have?”

Ethan sighed for probably the thousandth time that day, shrugging his shoulders as he reminisced about when they all first started in the industry. “It’s not about how long we’ve all been at it—he’s playing on the fact that we didn’t explode in popularity as quickly as they did.” Which wouldn’t have been much of a problem if it wasn’t pointed out that way. “Plus, he’s riling up fans for the sake of ratings. You know that.”

          “That’s true, I guess,” she admitted, a defeated fall of her shoulders prompting a chuckle from Amy just before the jingle of her phone caused the redhead to jolt. Now it was Angie who had the last laugh. “Wow, Amy, you almost hit the ceiling.”

Hilarious. Amy rolled her eyes briefly before glancing down at her phone and standing from her stool. “Oops, looks like I need to take this. The Big Boss probably wants to talk about the setlist for the next show.” As she gathered her things, she flashed a look at Evander, who had a distant gaze for a while now. Leaning over and pulling scarlet locks behind her ear, she placed a peck on his cheek and woke him from his hypnotic state. “I’ll see you tonight, Sterling. The meeting’s probably about you anyway.”

With a nod, Amy was on her way, and the forced-friendly atmosphere surrounding the group vanished in a second. “Yeah, just about you, I guess,” Angie hissed. “What are the rest of us to the company anyway? Chopped liver?”

          “According to the company, only the voice of their top band qualifies as being the ‘face’ of our department,” Ethan tacked on, the bright glimmer of his eyes gone now as his eyes narrowed and drifted to look out the café window. Lea merely sighed and slumped back in her seat, looking up at the ceiling. “What the hell’s so special about an albino loser that gets us completely dismissed regardless of what we have to put up with?”

Evander didn’t respond. He never did in the face of the relentless attacks he received from his bandmates. Only listened—he couldn’t stop them if he wanted to, because he agreed with them. Admitting that fact was something he couldn’t bring himself to voice, though, and that only angered the rest of the band more.

Angie stood with the screech of her stool causing heads to turn in their direction, and she placed her hands on the table, blood-polished fingernails tapping impatiently. “Well, if you’re not going to respond, I’m going home. I only stayed put because Miss Manager would have thrown a fit if I’d left earlier than she did.” Plucking up her purse, she scoffed once more at Evander’s silent response, before strutting her way out of the café.

          “… Chin up, Evan; she’ll warm up eventually. It’s only been… what, three years?” Ethan chuckled as he patted Evander’s shoulder, rising and nodding his head in the direction of the door to prompt Lea that they were leaving.

Soon, it was only the silver-haired male, who released a deep-seated breath and groaned faintly while he ran his hand through his hair once more, this time allowing his fingers to linger and massage his aching scalp.

They’ll come around, Sterling.

They’ll see you want this situation as little as they do.

Another deep breath calmed his anxiety, and he finished the remnants of his coffee. The acidity of its stale flavor stung at his tongue as he sloshed the liquid around and swallowed, placing the cup back down before he rose from his seat, patting his back pocket to find a pack of cigarettes.

Maybe then, you won’t have to torture yourself with so many bad habits to deal with this shit.

[kristablogs]

The next generation of race car drivers started out as gamers

Getting ready for the raceway increasingly means cutting your teeth on virtual tracks. (The Voorhes/)

James Baldwin’s confidence overtakes his ability midway through his fourth lap of Silverstone Circuit. The track, home to the British Grand Prix and among the most famous in racing, features a tricky series of sweeping curves best approached with a delicate balance of gas and brakes. Baldwin, however, attacks them at 110 miles per hour, risky given the damp morning’s freezing cold. His tires skate across the slick pavement and he careens onto the grass. After hitting the brakes, he cranks the shuddering steering wheel to the left, turning into the skid. The car skitters for several seconds and just misses a wall, but the move arrests his slide and gets him pointed the right way. Baldwin exhales, downshifts, and roars back onto the track. Within moments he reaches 110 again for the sprint down a short straight, then heads into the next turn. Chastened, he takes this one at a more prudent velocity.

The 22-year-old Brit watches this drama not through the visor of a helmet, but on the screen of a racing simulator. Baldwin is among the best esports drivers in the world, one of several dozen who earn a living competing in the digital domain. Now he’s preparing for his professional motor-sports debut on a bona fide road course.

Baldwin earned his shot a few months earlier, when he won the second season of World’s Fastest Gamer, a reality television series that saw 10 would-be Mario Andrettis compete for the chance to go wheel-to-wheel with seasoned pros. They raced on virtual and physical asphalt and dirt tracks and faced a series of challenges designed to test their problem-solving and leadership skills. When filming started in October 2019, Baldwin hadn’t done much more real-world driving than tooling around town. Fourteen days later, he crossed the finish line at Las Vegas Motor Speedway doing more than 130 miles per hour in a machine he called “fast enough to be scary.”

That isn’t as foolhardy as it might sound. Hyper-realistic driving games and hardware that mimic the sensation of hurtling around a track have made it possible to go racing with minimal experience in a proper car. Research suggests that the skills needed to master titles like Gran Turismo or Forza apply to competing in events like the 24 Hours of LeMans, one of the most grueling contests in motor sports. Baldwin now joins a handful of sim hotshots who have made that jump, something you don’t see in other sports, says Darren Cox, who launched World’s Fastest Gamer after a career in the auto industry. He notes that people who excel at, say, playing soccer on their Xbox aren’t going to find themselves appearing in the World Cup. “You can’t kick a ball around in FIFA and become the next Ronaldo,” he says.

The line between the virtual and real worlds began to blur in 2008, when Cox launched GT Academy, a TV program that turned gamers into drivers. When the show’s inaugural winner went on to finish second at LeMans in 2011, Formula One, Nascar, and other leagues started paying attention. Several have since joined the automakers that compete in them to launch online teams and tournaments in a bid to attract new drivers and, more importantly, fans. Many involved see gamers crossing over in greater numbers within the decade.

Not everyone believes the next champions will emerge from the world of esports, however. Skeptics argue that the physical and mental demands—let alone the inherent feel for the machinery—needed to compete at the upper echelons require experience, not simulation.

Baldwin is determined to prove them wrong. After winning his shot, he started working with a coach to hone the skills to handle the 700-odd-horsepower McLaren he’ll drive throughout Europe sometime in 2020. As he clocked hours in the simulator and miles around Silverstone, the COVID-19 pandemic put the date of his debut on hold. Nonetheless, Baldwin will spend the intervening time enduring an arduous schedule of workouts to prepare his body—and mind—for the challenges ahead. “This has been my dream since I was a kid,” he says. “Because of my esports experience over the last couple of years, I believe I will be able to compete at a very high level in the real world.”

Esports ace James Baldwin with the ­McLaren he’ll drive in his live racing debut. (The Voorhes/)

On a bright, clear morning in November 2019, Baldwin and three other finalists on World’s Fastest Gamer stood on the pavement of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The circuit, 20 minutes northeast of the Strip, has seen Nascar drivers approach 200 mph, but no one had any illusions of reaching such a number during the 22-minute dash that would determine the show’s grand prize winner. Moments later, Baldwin pulled a helmet over his spiky blond hair and folded himself into a sleek fiberglass-bodied racer called a Mitjet EXR LV02.

The pack sprinted away from the starting line. Californian Mitchell de Jong led for two laps before Baldwin squeaked by. He ruthlessly built a 10-second lead—forever in auto racing—by the time the checkered flag waved. Cox congratulated him as he climbed from the cockpit, sweaty and elated. “We’ve just watched a group of kids, most of whom had never raced a car in their lives, get into a superfast sports car and dominate this track after just two weeks of practice,” Cox said.

Baldwin began training for his big-time debut two months later. He started at Brands Hatch Circuit, near London, before switching to Silverstone. The track is not far from where he grew up watching Formula One, the pinnacle of motor sports. At an age when most kids learn to ride a bike, he begged his mother and father to let him take up karting, often the first step toward a career as a throttle jockey. As hobbies go, it’s not cheap—a few thousand for a decent machine, and, at the uppermost levels, as much as six figures in expenses each season. Still, they relented, and over the next several years Baldwin did well enough to move up in 2015 at age 17 to a larger, more powerful ride in the Formula Ford division. He entered four events in six months, compiling a decent record but spending $20,000 doing it. “My parents were like, ‘We have to stop now,’” he recalls after a session in the simulator at the track.

Baldwin switched to playing the racing sim Project Cars in his bedroom when he wasn’t in a classroom studying engineering. The title is among the most popular in a genre that dates to 1974, when people used to drop quarters into Atari’s Gran Trak 10 arcade game, which featured a genuine steering wheel, shift lever, and pedals. Despite the realistic hardware, the experience was more Mario Kart than Indy 500. That remained the norm until the mid-1990s and the debut of seminal titles like Gran Turismo, Grand Prix Legends, and others that featured lifelike physics, environments, and driving techniques.

The rise of online gaming in the early 2000s has allowed players to compete against each other, more like they would on the track. Dabblers get by with consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but hardcore competitors often favor computers with peripherals like a steering wheel, shifter, pedals, and seat. “Once I transitioned to a more realistic simulator, not only did I get faster, but I had more fun,” Baldwin says.

He started entering tournaments and in 2018, at age 20, joined Veloce Esports, a gaming team in London. He quit school, and within a year ranked among the world’s top competitors in Project Cars 2, prompting Cox to offer him a spot on World’s Fastest Gamer.

Cox grew up wanting to try karting, but turned to video games because his parents couldn’t afford it. He studied politics and economics in college before going to work for Renault and then Nissan, where he led its global competition operation. The automaker launched a marketing campaign with Gran Turismo in 2006, and Cox invited aficionados of the game to lap a track with professional drivers. “Some of the instructors came up to me after and said, ‘You know, a bunch of these guys can really drive,’” he says. “That was my light bulb moment.” Seeing a chance to cultivate talent and attract new racing fans, in 2008 Cox launched GT Academy, an unprecedented television series in which Gran Turismo players competed for a seat on Nissan’s racing team. The show, filmed in Britain, ran for eight seasons, aired in 160 countries, and drew 100 million viewers at its peak.

A new generation of drivers are getting their start on consoles instead of racecars. (The Voorhes/)

It also launched several careers—impressive, given that most contestants had never climbed behind the wheel of anything faster than the family hauler. The show’s first winner, Lucas Ordóñez of Spain, has since competed in 112 events and racked up 21 top-three finishes, including two at LeMans. Jann Mardenborough earned his driver’s license just two years before winning season three. Nissan spent six months preparing the Brit for the 2011 24H Dubai endurance race, where his team placed third. He’s been at it ever since. “The transition from the virtual to the real world felt completely normal,” says Mardenborough, who now competes with Kondo Racing in the Japanese Super GT series. “Being a 19-year-old at the time probably helped; I didn’t have the self-preservation part of my brain telling me to back off.”

The pivot could not have come at a better time. Formula One saw viewership in Britain, where most teams are based, plummet 24 percent between 2018 and 2019. Nascar has lost more than half of its live and TV audience since 2014. The sport is on a “constant quest” to counter declining viewership, and “esports presents an intriguing opportunity to access a potentially valuable new demographic,” according to a 2017 report by Nielsen analysts. The tactic worked for soccer. A 2016 University of Michigan study cited the success of the FIFA game franchise as a factor in the sport’s surging popularity in the US.

In 2015, Cox founded his own outfit, which joined the Canadian firm Torque Esports in 2017. One year later, he launched World’s Fastest Gamer. The first season aired on ESPN and CNBC. Some 400 million people tuned in, and Rudy van Buren of the Netherlands won the grand prize: a job as a simulation driver for McLaren Racing, helping perform virtual tests of its Formula One cars. Impressive, but Baldwin will face the ultimate challenge of driving a McLaren 720S GT3 for Jenson Team Rocket RJN in the 2020 GT World Challenge endurance championship series. “Of course people in recent years have been on a similar journey, going from esports into the real world, but no one has gone in at the level of racing we are,” Baldwin says. “I am determined to show what is possible.”

Given Baldwin’s resolve to prove he can handle a $600,000 carbon-fiber rocket on wheels, it is perhaps ironic that he still spends much of his time in a simulator. But then, so do many pros. Teams at every level rely on the machines, which can cost as much as eight figures, to precisely replicate navigating any course, in any conditions. They allow drivers to acquaint themselves with a car or track and help engineers analyze vehicle performance. The technology is so precise that it has in many cases largely replaced expensive physical testing.

That explains why Baldwin’s training relies so heavily on it. If he isn’t in his rig at home, he is squeezed into the form-fitting seat of a simulator built by Allinsports, an Italian firm founded by a former Formula One engineer. His hands grip a steering wheel flanked by gearshift paddles (the computerized controls long ago replaced conventional stick shifts), and his feet depress gas and brake pedals. His eyes rarely leave the curved 48-inch screen before him. The hardware, about the size of a recliner, sits in the corner of a conference room overlooking Silverstone.

An off-the-shelf program called rFactor 2 allows Baldwin to experience nearly any circuit in the world, in any of dozens of cars. He can adjust his ride’s suspension, tune its engine, even customize the paint job. The software models factors like the damage tires sustain in a skid and how traction varies as the rubber wears and pavement conditions change. The system uses these calculations to provide surprisingly tactile feedback. The steering wheel shudders and vibrates, the brake pedal demands a firm push, and, like the McLaren he’ll drive, everything requires a deft touch to avoid a stall or spin.

James Baldwin practicing in a racing simulator. (The Voorhes/)

Evidence suggests the skills Baldwin has honed in the digital realm will serve him well as he crosses over. Cognitive psychologists at New York University Shanghai and the University of Hong Kong showed that gamers are much better than other people at processing visual information and acting on it. They also found that driving sims can help anyone “significantly improve” those abilities in just five to 10 hours, leading the researchers to believe that such software could be effective training tools. Their 2016 study builds on work by Daphne Bavelier and Adrien Chopin, cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne in Paris, respectively; their 2012 inquiry revealed that playing titles that feature highly dynamic situations and demand rapid decision-making can improve perception, attention span, and spatial cognition. Chopin has little doubt that esports players can become racers, given the authenticity of the vehicles, environments, and controllers. “Because of these characteristics, it is essentially the same task,” he says. “What you learn in the game should be transferable.”

Still, Baldwin knows he must hone his abilities through real-world experience. He’s lapped Silverstone in several cars, learning how to handle them at racing speeds. (So far he’s achieved 170 mph.)

This past March, he spent two days zipping around Circuit Paul Ricard in France in the McLaren. “The team was very happy with my performance,” he says. “They said my pace and consistency were great. And I didn’t crash, which was a massive tick in the box for them.” Naturally, he crammed for that test by driving a virtual version. Still, Baldwin concedes there are some things a simulator can’t prepare him for. “A real car is hot, it’s sweaty, it vibrates,” he says. “It sounds silly, but you don’t actually realize this until you get in and start driving.”

Beyond heat and noise, gamers have a lot to learn. They often miss subtle signals from the tires and suspension that can help them go faster and avoid problems, says Ross Bentley, a coach who has trained them. And while esports drivers possess excellent reflexes, concentration, and hand-eye coordination, they often lack the fitness long stints at speed require, says Mia Sharizman of Renault Sport Academy, the automaker’s driver recruiting program. During a race, competitors can lose several pounds, experience as much as five times the force of gravity, and endure heart rates as high as 170 beats per minute. “You need to be able to have core and neck strength to withstand the extreme G-forces, leg strength for the braking, and, most importantly, mental fortitude to be able to function while knowing that your life is at risk,” Sharizman says. “It’s extremely difficult to replicate that type of scenario and environment.”

Fortunately, Baldwin has some appreciation of this from his childhood racing experience. He’s working with Simon Fitchett, who has spent seven years training Formula One drivers, to prepare his body and further sharpen his concentration. “It’s hard to focus my mind sometimes,” he says. But the greatest challenge may lie in mastering fear, something Juan Pablo Montoya, whose long career includes stints in Formula One and Nascar, saw competitors struggle with while he was a judge on World’s Fastest Gamer. “A fast corner in a simulator is nothing. You press a button and you try and you try until you get it right,” he says. “When you’re doing 150 or 180 miles per hour on a track in a corner and you have to keep your foot down, the reality sets in. That’s when you’re going to start seeing the difference between the guys who can make it in reality and the guys who can only make it in esports.”

Baldwin will face that test when he finally rolls up to the starting line at Brands Hatch Circuit outside London, fulfilling a childhood dream. He has no doubt he’ll pass. “As long as I’m finishing first,” he says, flashing a cheeky grin, “then it should all be good, right?”

This story appeared in the Summer 2020, Play issue of Popular Science.

[scootoaster]

The next generation of race car drivers started out as gamers

Getting ready for the raceway increasingly means cutting your teeth on virtual tracks. (The Voorhes/)

James Baldwin’s confidence overtakes his ability midway through his fourth lap of Silverstone Circuit. The track, home to the British Grand Prix and among the most famous in racing, features a tricky series of sweeping curves best approached with a delicate balance of gas and brakes. Baldwin, however, attacks them at 110 miles per hour, risky given the damp morning’s freezing cold. His tires skate across the slick pavement and he careens onto the grass. After hitting the brakes, he cranks the shuddering steering wheel to the left, turning into the skid. The car skitters for several seconds and just misses a wall, but the move arrests his slide and gets him pointed the right way. Baldwin exhales, downshifts, and roars back onto the track. Within moments he reaches 110 again for the sprint down a short straight, then heads into the next turn. Chastened, he takes this one at a more prudent velocity.

The 22-year-old Brit watches this drama not through the visor of a helmet, but on the screen of a racing simulator. Baldwin is among the best esports drivers in the world, one of several dozen who earn a living competing in the digital domain. Now he’s preparing for his professional motor-sports debut on a bona fide road course.

Baldwin earned his shot a few months earlier, when he won the second season of World’s Fastest Gamer, a reality television series that saw 10 would-be Mario Andrettis compete for the chance to go wheel-to-wheel with seasoned pros. They raced on virtual and physical asphalt and dirt tracks and faced a series of challenges designed to test their problem-solving and leadership skills. When filming started in October 2019, Baldwin hadn’t done much more real-world driving than tooling around town. Fourteen days later, he crossed the finish line at Las Vegas Motor Speedway doing more than 130 miles per hour in a machine he called “fast enough to be scary.”

That isn’t as foolhardy as it might sound. Hyper-realistic driving games and hardware that mimic the sensation of hurtling around a track have made it possible to go racing with minimal experience in a proper car. Research suggests that the skills needed to master titles like Gran Turismo or Forza apply to competing in events like the 24 Hours of LeMans, one of the most grueling contests in motor sports. Baldwin now joins a handful of sim hotshots who have made that jump, something you don’t see in other sports, says Darren Cox, who launched World’s Fastest Gamer after a career in the auto industry. He notes that people who excel at, say, playing soccer on their Xbox aren’t going to find themselves appearing in the World Cup. “You can’t kick a ball around in FIFA and become the next Ronaldo,” he says.

The line between the virtual and real worlds began to blur in 2008, when Cox launched GT Academy, a TV program that turned gamers into drivers. When the show’s inaugural winner went on to finish second at LeMans in 2011, Formula One, Nascar, and other leagues started paying attention. Several have since joined the automakers that compete in them to launch online teams and tournaments in a bid to attract new drivers and, more importantly, fans. Many involved see gamers crossing over in greater numbers within the decade.

Not everyone believes the next champions will emerge from the world of esports, however. Skeptics argue that the physical and mental demands—let alone the inherent feel for the machinery—needed to compete at the upper echelons require experience, not simulation.

Baldwin is determined to prove them wrong. After winning his shot, he started working with a coach to hone the skills to handle the 700-odd-horsepower McLaren he’ll drive throughout Europe sometime in 2020. As he clocked hours in the simulator and miles around Silverstone, the COVID-19 pandemic put the date of his debut on hold. Nonetheless, Baldwin will spend the intervening time enduring an arduous schedule of workouts to prepare his body—and mind—for the challenges ahead. “This has been my dream since I was a kid,” he says. “Because of my esports experience over the last couple of years, I believe I will be able to compete at a very high level in the real world.”

Esports ace James Baldwin with the ­McLaren he’ll drive in his live racing debut. (The Voorhes/)

On a bright, clear morning in November 2019, Baldwin and three other finalists on World’s Fastest Gamer stood on the pavement of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The circuit, 20 minutes northeast of the Strip, has seen Nascar drivers approach 200 mph, but no one had any illusions of reaching such a number during the 22-minute dash that would determine the show’s grand prize winner. Moments later, Baldwin pulled a helmet over his spiky blond hair and folded himself into a sleek fiberglass-bodied racer called a Mitjet EXR LV02.

The pack sprinted away from the starting line. Californian Mitchell de Jong led for two laps before Baldwin squeaked by. He ruthlessly built a 10-second lead—forever in auto racing—by the time the checkered flag waved. Cox congratulated him as he climbed from the cockpit, sweaty and elated. “We’ve just watched a group of kids, most of whom had never raced a car in their lives, get into a superfast sports car and dominate this track after just two weeks of practice,” Cox said.

Baldwin began training for his big-time debut two months later. He started at Brands Hatch Circuit, near London, before switching to Silverstone. The track is not far from where he grew up watching Formula One, the pinnacle of motor sports. At an age when most kids learn to ride a bike, he begged his mother and father to let him take up karting, often the first step toward a career as a throttle jockey. As hobbies go, it’s not cheap—a few thousand for a decent machine, and, at the uppermost levels, as much as six figures in expenses each season. Still, they relented, and over the next several years Baldwin did well enough to move up in 2015 at age 17 to a larger, more powerful ride in the Formula Ford division. He entered four events in six months, compiling a decent record but spending $20,000 doing it. “My parents were like, ‘We have to stop now,’” he recalls after a session in the simulator at the track.

Baldwin switched to playing the racing sim Project Cars in his bedroom when he wasn’t in a classroom studying engineering. The title is among the most popular in a genre that dates to 1974, when people used to drop quarters into Atari’s Gran Trak 10 arcade game, which featured a genuine steering wheel, shift lever, and pedals. Despite the realistic hardware, the experience was more Mario Kart than Indy 500. That remained the norm until the mid-1990s and the debut of seminal titles like Gran Turismo, Grand Prix Legends, and others that featured lifelike physics, environments, and driving techniques.

The rise of online gaming in the early 2000s has allowed players to compete against each other, more like they would on the track. Dabblers get by with consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but hardcore competitors often favor computers with peripherals like a steering wheel, shifter, pedals, and seat. “Once I transitioned to a more realistic simulator, not only did I get faster, but I had more fun,” Baldwin says.

He started entering tournaments and in 2018, at age 20, joined Veloce Esports, a gaming team in London. He quit school, and within a year ranked among the world’s top competitors in Project Cars 2, prompting Cox to offer him a spot on World’s Fastest Gamer.

Cox grew up wanting to try karting, but turned to video games because his parents couldn’t afford it. He studied politics and economics in college before going to work for Renault and then Nissan, where he led its global competition operation. The automaker launched a marketing campaign with Gran Turismo in 2006, and Cox invited aficionados of the game to lap a track with professional drivers. “Some of the instructors came up to me after and said, ‘You know, a bunch of these guys can really drive,’” he says. “That was my light bulb moment.” Seeing a chance to cultivate talent and attract new racing fans, in 2008 Cox launched GT Academy, an unprecedented television series in which Gran Turismo players competed for a seat on Nissan’s racing team. The show, filmed in Britain, ran for eight seasons, aired in 160 countries, and drew 100 million viewers at its peak.

A new generation of drivers are getting their start on consoles instead of racecars. (The Voorhes/)

It also launched several careers—impressive, given that most contestants had never climbed behind the wheel of anything faster than the family hauler. The show’s first winner, Lucas Ordóñez of Spain, has since competed in 112 events and racked up 21 top-three finishes, including two at LeMans. Jann Mardenborough earned his driver’s license just two years before winning season three. Nissan spent six months preparing the Brit for the 2011 24H Dubai endurance race, where his team placed third. He’s been at it ever since. “The transition from the virtual to the real world felt completely normal,” says Mardenborough, who now competes with Kondo Racing in the Japanese Super GT series. “Being a 19-year-old at the time probably helped; I didn’t have the self-preservation part of my brain telling me to back off.”

The pivot could not have come at a better time. Formula One saw viewership in Britain, where most teams are based, plummet 24 percent between 2018 and 2019. Nascar has lost more than half of its live and TV audience since 2014. The sport is on a “constant quest” to counter declining viewership, and “esports presents an intriguing opportunity to access a potentially valuable new demographic,” according to a 2017 report by Nielsen analysts. The tactic worked for soccer. A 2016 University of Michigan study cited the success of the FIFA game franchise as a factor in the sport’s surging popularity in the US.

In 2015, Cox founded his own outfit, which joined the Canadian firm Torque Esports in 2017. One year later, he launched World’s Fastest Gamer. The first season aired on ESPN and CNBC. Some 400 million people tuned in, and Rudy van Buren of the Netherlands won the grand prize: a job as a simulation driver for McLaren Racing, helping perform virtual tests of its Formula One cars. Impressive, but Baldwin will face the ultimate challenge of driving a McLaren 720S GT3 for Jenson Team Rocket RJN in the 2020 GT World Challenge endurance championship series. “Of course people in recent years have been on a similar journey, going from esports into the real world, but no one has gone in at the level of racing we are,” Baldwin says. “I am determined to show what is possible.”

Given Baldwin’s resolve to prove he can handle a $600,000 carbon-fiber rocket on wheels, it is perhaps ironic that he still spends much of his time in a simulator. But then, so do many pros. Teams at every level rely on the machines, which can cost as much as eight figures, to precisely replicate navigating any course, in any conditions. They allow drivers to acquaint themselves with a car or track and help engineers analyze vehicle performance. The technology is so precise that it has in many cases largely replaced expensive physical testing.

That explains why Baldwin’s training relies so heavily on it. If he isn’t in his rig at home, he is squeezed into the form-fitting seat of a simulator built by Allinsports, an Italian firm founded by a former Formula One engineer. His hands grip a steering wheel flanked by gearshift paddles (the computerized controls long ago replaced conventional stick shifts), and his feet depress gas and brake pedals. His eyes rarely leave the curved 48-inch screen before him. The hardware, about the size of a recliner, sits in the corner of a conference room overlooking Silverstone.

An off-the-shelf program called rFactor 2 allows Baldwin to experience nearly any circuit in the world, in any of dozens of cars. He can adjust his ride’s suspension, tune its engine, even customize the paint job. The software models factors like the damage tires sustain in a skid and how traction varies as the rubber wears and pavement conditions change. The system uses these calculations to provide surprisingly tactile feedback. The steering wheel shudders and vibrates, the brake pedal demands a firm push, and, like the McLaren he’ll drive, everything requires a deft touch to avoid a stall or spin.

James Baldwin practicing in a racing simulator. (The Voorhes/)

Evidence suggests the skills Baldwin has honed in the digital realm will serve him well as he crosses over. Cognitive psychologists at New York University Shanghai and the University of Hong Kong showed that gamers are much better than other people at processing visual information and acting on it. They also found that driving sims can help anyone “significantly improve” those abilities in just five to 10 hours, leading the researchers to believe that such software could be effective training tools. Their 2016 study builds on work by Daphne Bavelier and Adrien Chopin, cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne in Paris, respectively; their 2012 inquiry revealed that playing titles that feature highly dynamic situations and demand rapid decision-making can improve perception, attention span, and spatial cognition. Chopin has little doubt that esports players can become racers, given the authenticity of the vehicles, environments, and controllers. “Because of these characteristics, it is essentially the same task,” he says. “What you learn in the game should be transferable.”

Still, Baldwin knows he must hone his abilities through real-world experience. He’s lapped Silverstone in several cars, learning how to handle them at racing speeds. (So far he’s achieved 170 mph.)

This past March, he spent two days zipping around Circuit Paul Ricard in France in the McLaren. “The team was very happy with my performance,” he says. “They said my pace and consistency were great. And I didn’t crash, which was a massive tick in the box for them.” Naturally, he crammed for that test by driving a virtual version. Still, Baldwin concedes there are some things a simulator can’t prepare him for. “A real car is hot, it’s sweaty, it vibrates,” he says. “It sounds silly, but you don’t actually realize this until you get in and start driving.”

Beyond heat and noise, gamers have a lot to learn. They often miss subtle signals from the tires and suspension that can help them go faster and avoid problems, says Ross Bentley, a coach who has trained them. And while esports drivers possess excellent reflexes, concentration, and hand-eye coordination, they often lack the fitness long stints at speed require, says Mia Sharizman of Renault Sport Academy, the automaker’s driver recruiting program. During a race, competitors can lose several pounds, experience as much as five times the force of gravity, and endure heart rates as high as 170 beats per minute. “You need to be able to have core and neck strength to withstand the extreme G-forces, leg strength for the braking, and, most importantly, mental fortitude to be able to function while knowing that your life is at risk,” Sharizman says. “It’s extremely difficult to replicate that type of scenario and environment.”

Fortunately, Baldwin has some appreciation of this from his childhood racing experience. He’s working with Simon Fitchett, who has spent seven years training Formula One drivers, to prepare his body and further sharpen his concentration. “It’s hard to focus my mind sometimes,” he says. But the greatest challenge may lie in mastering fear, something Juan Pablo Montoya, whose long career includes stints in Formula One and Nascar, saw competitors struggle with while he was a judge on World’s Fastest Gamer. “A fast corner in a simulator is nothing. You press a button and you try and you try until you get it right,” he says. “When you’re doing 150 or 180 miles per hour on a track in a corner and you have to keep your foot down, the reality sets in. That’s when you’re going to start seeing the difference between the guys who can make it in reality and the guys who can only make it in esports.”

Baldwin will face that test when he finally rolls up to the starting line at Brands Hatch Circuit outside London, fulfilling a childhood dream. He has no doubt he’ll pass. “As long as I’m finishing first,” he says, flashing a cheeky grin, “then it should all be good, right?”

This story appeared in the Summer 2020, Play issue of Popular Science.

[infotainmentplus-blog]

Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS review: Is it worth that premium? Huawei is one of the few brands keeping the luxury phone trend alive. It doesn’t have diamond-encrusted notches or Vertu-level pricing, but the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS reaches well beyond its Huawei P20 stablemates with a 1,695 euro (~$1980) price. Unlike Vertu’s simple “glue precious stones onto this two-year-old phone” philosophy, Huawei and Porsche Design opted to actually bring tangible improvements to this phone. Is the Mate RS actually worth the price though? That’s what our Huawei Mate RS review will tell you. Huawei Mate RS review notes: I used the 256GB Mate RS for just over two weeks as my primary smartphone. I stuck to home Wi-Fi for the most part but used the Cell C network otherwise. The phone runs EMUI 8.1, based on Android 8.1, and has the May 2018 security patch. Show More Design “This looks just like a Galaxy S9 Plus,” was my first thought upon peeking at the front of the phone. Just like the S9, the Huawei Mate RS has a dual curved display, with curved corners and tapered left and right edges — which make the phone feel thinner than it is — and a notch-less top bezel. With its dual curved display and reflective glass back, the Mate RS certainly feels like a Huawei flagship. The phone’s reflective glass back certainly feels like a Huawei flagship, even down to the separate Huawei and Porsche Design logos. I usually moan about glass backs due to their fingerprint magnetism, but the Huawei Mate RS didn’t gather nearly as many prints as I thought it would. I’m not sure if this is due to an oleophobic coating or a tweaked finish, but it certainly made for a pleasant surprise. The company also changed a few things compared to the Huawei Mate RS’ P20 stablemates, delivering a vertically stacked triple-camera setup in the middle rather than off to the side. The other big design change is that Huawei and Porsche Design shifted the fingerprint scanner to the rear. There’s also an in-display fingerprint scanner, so if you’re going to have two, it makes sense to slap the second one on the back. All in all, there’s some Huawei DNA in here, but the Huawei Mate RS feels very different to the P20 series. Which is a good thing, given our impressions of last year’s Porsche Design Mate 10. Related Articles 40 megapixel shootout: Huawei P20 Pro vs Lumia 1020 Consensus has long held that, when it comes to photography, more megapixels is not always better. Quality over quantity, as they say. Yet in 2018, an industry-leading smartphone shooter boasts a 40 megapixel camera — the … Huawei P20 Pro review: The Galaxy S9 killer 40MP, the world’s first triple camera, 5X Hybrid Zoom, artificial intelligence in all the ways, and the most unique color on any smartphone ever. These are just some of the features Huawei is hoping will … The phone’s power and volume keys are on the right, its IR blaster is on top, and there’s a dual-SIM tray on the left (no storage expansion here). Its speaker and USB Type-C port are at the bottom. There’s no 3.5mm jack here, unfortunately, so you’ll need to use the included dongle for your legacy headphones. The phone has IP67 water and dust resistance, so it can survive a pool dunking or rainy weather, but its glass design makes it less durable, as glass doesn’t usually hold up too well after a tumble. You should probably use the included case or buy one for maximum protection. While it’d be a shame to cover up the Mate RS’ beautiful frame, dropping a phone this expensive would be even worse. Display The Mate RS features an AMOLED screen, much like the Huawei P20 Pro — but this time without a notch. I still don’t understand why more brands don’t retain a minimal top bezel instead of forcing a notch, but c’est la vie. The Mate RS also delivers a resolution boost over the P20 Pro’s Full HD+ display. Its 2,880 x 1,440 screen soundly trumps the P20 Pro, landing between the standard S9 and S9 Plus. You can’t watch 4K videos natively, but text is sharp and viewing photos is a pleasure. We noticed some color shift on the edges of the display, but that’s unfortunately normal for phones with curved displays. Read: The Mate RS doesn’t have a notch because Porsche Design hated the idea The phone’s 6-inch 18:9 AMOLED screen melts into the borders when turned off while delivering those trademark deep blacks when on. Huawei even lets you turn UI elements like the navigation key dock and first-party apps black (these don’t work in third-party apps). In any case, it’s clear the Mate RS screen is a technical improvement over the P20 series. If things still aren’t quite to your liking, you’ve got a few adjustable settings. There’s manual and automatic color temperature adjustment, a blue light filter, and size tweaks for text and other UI elements. Performance Under the hood, the Huawei Mate RS sports the flagship Kirin 970 chipset, 6GB of RAM, and 256GB or 512GB of storage. The internal storage unfortunately isn’t expandable, but it’ll more than enough for most people. The Kirin 970 doesn’t have the latest Arm cores like Qualcomm, nor does it have as many cores as Samsung’s GPU, but the phone is still one of the fastest I’ve used in a while. Apps launch quickly, scrolling through the Twitter feed is usually effortless, and web browsing doesn’t feel slow at all. The Kirin 970 is older than its rivals' flagship silicon, but it still delivers the goods The phone also handles multitasking without breaking a sweat. I tried jumping from the YouTube app to the preinstalled music player to several games and beyond, and came back to find my YouTube video still paused on the same spot. Not bad. In the gaming department, I usually use NASCAR Heat Mobile as my pixel-pushing title of choice, owing to its field of more than 40 cars. The Mate RS offered a very smooth experience, with little perceptible slowdown. We also tried a few more graphically intense games, like FZ9, PUBG Mobile and World of Warships, and all of them ran smoothly (or as smooth as can be for PUBG). So if you want to play visually demanding games on the go, the Mate RS will definitely let you crank things up. We ran the phone through Antutu and GeekBench 4 to get a feel for where it stands compared to the competition. The Kirin 970 shows its age here, lagging behind Qualcomm and Samsung’s latest silicon. The Mate RS’s scores are closer to last year’s devices, like the OnePlus 5T and Google Pixel 2 XL. The Antutu score of 210,117 lags behind the OnePlus 6‘s more than 260,000, and the Mate RS’s GeekBench 4 numbers aren’t as impressive as the OnePlus 6’s 2,454 single-core/8,967 multi-core figures. So the Mate RS delivers smooth performance in practice, despite benchmarks that lag behind other 2018 flagships. Battery Endurance is another story — this phone chugs on and on. The Mate RS’ 4,000 mAh battery easily handled a day of music videos on YouTube, sprinkled with WhatsApp messaging. Heck, I got between seven and eight hours of screen-on time out of the phone most days, all while listening to YouTube for most of the workday too (Wi-Fi and mobile data enabled, auto-screen brightness and smart resolution enabled). If you need a phone that can deliver two days of usage, the Mate RS won’t need to stretch as much as rival devices. Unlike the P20 series, the Porsche Design phone also supports wireless charging, which worked fine with my Samsung convertible charging pad. However, the phone often vibrated, indicating it wasn’t charging properly. Moving the pad to a flat position fixed the issue. Charging time wasn’t as brisk as a fast charger, but it certainly beat charging through a computer. There are two fast chargers in the box (with American and European plugs), presumably for the benefit of the high flyers this phone is marketed towards. Cabled charging will get you to 50 percent capacity in around 30 minutes compared to 45 minutes or so with wireless charging. Fingerprint scanners Huawei might not be the first company to include an in-display fingerprint scanner, but the Chinese brand might be the first to include two scanners. After using the Huawei Mate RS for a while, I can see why. Editor's Pick Vivo Nex review: Frustratingly imperfect, undeniably desirable (Update: Video added) The best part of the move to truly bezel-less phones is the weird and wacky solutions to the question of where to put everything that used to live above and below the display. Front-facing cameras, … The under-glass fingerprint scanner takes about a second or two to unlock. It’s “fast” enough to not be a major issue, but long enough that you can’t just quickly tap and go as with the rear scanner. I don’t really mind the unlock time, but the accuracy can be irksome. It felt like maybe one out of every four or five attempts were unsuccessful. Sometimes three attempts in a row didn’t do the trick either. This is sadly par for the course at this stage of the under-glass scanner game. Blindly trying to unlock your phone via this scanner (made by Goodix) is an issue too, as you have to hold on a very specific part of the display. Even subtle haptic feedback would’ve improved the experience. A Vivo Apex-style approach (made by Synaptics), which turns the entire lower half of the display into a scanner, would’ve been cool, but the tech probably isn’t ready yet (Vivo even switched from Synaptics to Goodix with the Nex, the commercially available version of the Apex concept phone). If the under-display scanner was the only option, I’d probably get used to it. Fortunately, the rear scanner is present, more accurate, and as fast as they come, so I never had to. The rear scanner supports the usual Huawei tricks like swiping down for the notification shade, lateral swipes for browsing photos, and acting as an extra shutter key. If unlock speed and accuracy are important to you, use the rear-mounted scanner; the in-display scanner is just too slow and unreliable. My only real complaint here is I’m not always sure when I’m touching the scanner. I would’ve liked the ridge around the fingerprint scanner to be more prominent or the scanner to have a different feel from the rest of the back. Speaking of biometrics, the Huawei Mate RS doesn’t use any fancy 3D facial recognition, but face unlock is super fast anyway. I’d say it probably takes one or two seconds at most for the phone to recognize my mug. Unlock times and accuracy are generally fine in low-light, but pitch black darkness is a no go. Camera The Huawei Mate RS has a virtually identical camera setup to the P20 Pro. It’s got a triple camera setup on the back (40MP f/1.8, 20MP monochrome f/1.6, 8MP telephoto with OIS), and a 24MP front-facing shooter. Daytime shots are vibrant and sharp — though not always perfect. I noticed some color bleeding on occasion (mainly when using the wide aperture mode) and Android Authority’s own Rob Triggs previously explored the P20 Pro’s tendency to over-sharpen images. Focusing isn’t always reliable either, (especially when using the aperture mode) though overall the phone is a photography powerhouse. The Master AI mode also automatically tweaks settings when it recognizes a scene. It works well for flora, food and landscapes, but I found it occasionally annoying. When I wanted to take a photo of a page from a book, the phone insisted on switching to the document scanning mode. This could be useful, but a “do you want to scan a document” prompt would’ve been preferable when all I wanted was to share a page on Twitter. The company’s camera app could also do with a few UI tweaks. Why is there a quick toggle for Moving Images but nothing for HDR? As it is, you have to dive into the settings menu to enable HDR. The phone generally delivers great dynamic range, although HDR does a good job of taming elements like clouds and the sky. It’s not quite as dramatic as the difference between SDR and HDR on the Pixel 2, but it has its uses. It still tends to occasionally saturate everything and give a cartoony look to scenes, but Huawei is way past the ghosted HDR snaps of the Ascend P8. Overall the Mate RS is a photography powerhouse, but it has its quirks. The triple camera combination delivers two more major perks: better digital zoom (up to 5x) and better low light shots. You don’t quite get DSLR-quality zoom, but I was very happy with results most of the time. Either way, it’s preferable to the bog-standard zoom of most other phones out there. A shot at 1X zoom. A picture at 3x zoom. Going to 5x zoom yields many details. The Huawei Mate RS delivers great night shots on its own, but its night mode takes things up a notch. When set to auto, the phone basically acts like it’s doing a long exposure, but it’s actually stacking a series of shorter exposures to reduce blur and improve brightness. The results can be fantastic, although some elements can look weird (cars won’t leave light trails but will still look blurry). DOWNLOAD THE FULL-RES PHOTOS The night mode also lets you adjust shutter speed and exposure. When you adjust the shutter speed, it actually behaves more like a manual mode, delivering proper long exposures. Nevertheless, if you want to do light painting and other low-light tricks, Huawei’s dedicated mode is still available here, offering presets for the usual stars, traffic lights, water, and so on. Huawei’s aperture mode is back too, along with the ever-popular portrait mode feature. Blurry edges still creep in when you look closely, and portrait lighting effects are unpolished and feel like a lame copy of the iPhone’s effect. Still, I like the added flexibility of the aperture mode, especially when combined with the preinstalled filter that delivers color pop effects. Hopefully, the company will add more editing options, because I’d like the ability to highlight exactly what should appear in color or monochrome. As it is now, you can adjust the aperture to tweak the effect, but that’s all. Everything in focus tends to get the color treatment. Fortunately, these leaves were grey already. The Huawei Mate RS supports 4K, 1080p at 60fps, 1080p at 240fps, and 720p at 960fps recording, to name the main video shooting modes. The super slow-mo isn’t quite as nifty as Sony’s solution, which allows you to record a standard clip and tap a “slow-mo” button when you want to record a 960fps snippet. The 720p resolution makes for some jagged edges, and focusing can occasionally be an issue, but it’s a neat tool to have nonetheless. It's disappointing the extra cash doesn't get you photos any better than the P20 Pro, but the results are still great. The 24MP selfie camera does the job just fine as well, although it can blow out backgrounds like the sky during the day. Unfortunately, HDR isn’t available via this camera, which is a shame. Portrait mode shots are also a treat here, though my habit of throwing in a thumbs up throws off the dodgy edge detection. Low-light shots predictably see a drop in detail and jump in noise, but there’s always a screen flash to help. On one hand, it’s disappointing to see your extra cash isn’t buying anything more in the camera department compared to the P20 Pro. On the other, the P20 Pro’s photography experience is so great that I’m happy with the results anyway. Software EMUI 8.1 shows how far the Android skin has come, with its mix of skeuomorphic design and Samsung’s TouchWiz. It’s still not everyone’s cup of tea, but it delivers some useful features and carves out its own identity. As with many Chinese skins, Huawei ditches the app drawer out of the box. I’ve grown used to this change after using the Xiaomi Mi 4 and Huawei P9 as daily drivers in recent years, but you can always turn the feature on in the display menu. EMUI has plenty of useful features, but there's still room for improvement The company also opted to include a gesture-driven UI, like last year’s P10 series. Fortunately, this isn’t enabled by default so you can easily avoid it. I would’ve liked to see a Samsung-style faux home button, as the ability to press hard to go home, no matter the app, has become mighty convenient after using the Galaxy S8. Speaking of older additions, Huawei retained the double knuckle tap gesture for screenshots, which, in theory, I find more intuitive than Samsung’s wax-on-wax-off palm gesture. It’s not the best gesture in practice, as the phone occasionally misses my double tap. You can always just hit power and volume down instead. There’s a theme store for changing up the look of EMUI, a phone manager hub (for tweaking mobile data settings, cleaning up storage and more), the preinstalled music, video, and gallery apps, and Huawei’s Health app. Other solid software features include a biometric safe for media and apps, an eye comfort mode for filtering blue light, a mobile data blacklist for apps, Dolby Atmos support, flip to mute, drawing a letter to open apps, and a simple, easy UI for anyone that finds EMUI a bit too complicated to navigate. There’s also bloatware like Booking.com and Quik, though it feels like Huawei is long past the Galaxy S4 stage of tossing in everything and the kitchen sink. Specifications Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS Display 6-inch curved OLED display 18:9 aspect ratio 2,880 x 1,440 resolution Processor Huawei Kirin 970 RAM 6GB Storage 256GB or 512GB Cameras Rear: 40MP main camera 20MP monochrome lens 8MP telephoto lens Front: 24MP camera Battery 4,000mAh Non-removable Wireless charging Software Android 8.1 Oreo Porsche Design skin Colors Red, Black Price 256GB version: €1,695 (~$2,103) 512GB version: €2,095 (~$2,599) Availability April 12 - China, Hong Kong, and Macau Sometime later - France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K., and Switzerland Gallery Pricing and final thoughts The 256GB Huawei Mate RS has a European price of 1,695 euros, compared to the P20 Pro’s 899 euro (~$1,050) price tag. Meanwhile, readers in the U.K. can expect to pay 1,500 pounds (~$1,980). Up the ante to 512GB and you’ll be paying 2,095 euros (~$2,450). It’s unclear if the U.K. will receive the 512GB model. For what it’s worth, the device retails for 26,000 rand (~$1,920) here in South Africa, which is more or less in line with European pricing. The Huawei Mate RS is available in black or red. So fans of the twilight P20 Pro are out of luck. The phone may be eye-wateringly expensive, but it’s more than just a rebranded Huawei flagship — unlike previous Porsche Design phones. Between the notch-less OLED screen, generous storage space, wireless charging, and dual fingerprint scanners, the phone certainly has several notable perks. So if you like the idea of a P20 “Premium” and don’t mind spending the cash, it’s definitely worth a look, even if you don’t end up walking out with one. Everyone else should wait for Huawei’s next flagships which may well include some of the same additional features. That’s it for our Huawei Mate RS review. What do you think of this premium phone? Let us know in the comments. , via Android Authority http://bit.ly/2m3QMEw

[itsworn]

First Drive: 2018 Ford Mustang GT

Sleek, athletic, smart, and powerful—that describes the 2018 Ford Mustang GT, which hits the streets with aggressive front-end styling and the next-gen Coyote V8 delivering 460 horsepower, 420 lb-ft of torque and sub 4-second 0-60 mph times.

Ford is especially proud of the latest 5.0L, which produces 1.52 horsepower per cubic inch. Extracting 35 additional hp from the outgoing 435 hp 5.0L Coyote V8 was not easy, but Ford accomplished the feat turning old and new performance tricks. Engineers increased the bore from 92.2 mm to 93.0, they upped compression to 12.0:1, improved head and intake flow, and employed a new dual-fuel injection system that utilizes direct and port injection. The 5.0L also has two additional knock sensors, new crank and rod bearings, and a composite oil pan to reduce weight. Fun factor is increased with a 7,500-rpm redline, up 500 rpm from last year.

While the S550 chassis remains, the mid-phase Mustang refresh presents with a lowered snout that’s aggressive in appearance and more aerodynamic. The rear now features LED taillamps for a more technical look, smoothed styling, and a performance spoiler is optional. Most noticeable is the dual bright exhaust that’s standard on EcoBoost models and the quad-tips that are standard on the GT.

Mustang is one of the most customized cars on the road, and Ford gives owners many options for personalization right from the factory. For 2018 there are 11 exterior color choices, including the new poppin’ Orange Fury metallic tri-coat, the classy Royal Crimson, and Kona Blue returns to the lineup. You can add Recaro seats, a dozen wheel choices and the fully customizable 12-inch LCD instrument cluster featuring different screens and 26 color options. The cluster can display up to eight gauges, and you can use MyMode to save settings for suspension, steering and exhaust note.

“Premium trim level features give the interior an enhanced look and feel, with a hand-stitched wrap for the center console armrest, a look that is mirrored across the instrument panel and down the sides of the center stack,” said Carl Widmann, Mustang chief engineer. “Restyled seating surfaces feature new patterns and color choices, including tan, Showstopper Red, Midnight Blue with Grabber Blue accents, and Ebony with Alcantara® suede accents.”

Clearly, the 2018 Mustang is all about performance and technology; Ford has crafted the new pony with a multitude of visual, electronic, and mechanical options guaranteed to help you become a better, faster driver—and to enhance your “Mustang” experience. For instance, Active Valve Performance Exhaust System lets you select from normal, sport, track and quiet modes. And the system features a time-configurable Quiet Start function, which lets drivers schedule when to lower or increase the volume of the 5.0-liter engine’s roar.

Another Mustang first, are features like Ford driver-assist technologies, including Pre-Collision Assist with pedestrian detection including Distance Indication and Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Keeping System, and Driver Alert System. “The driver assist systems use radar and cameras to recognize objects in the road, and may take autonomous emergency action—such as braking—to mitigate or avoid a collision,” explained Widmann.

Let’s Ride

Just $25,585 puts you behind the wheel of the EcoBoost Fastback. The 2.3L turbo-four boasts 310 horsepower, 350 lb-ft of torque and that’s enough output to run solid 13s at the strip. Better yet, the EcoBoost has about 150 lbs less on the nose and that makes it super nimble and a blast in the corners. The engine also delivers excellent economy, as much as 31-32 mpg highway. Stepping up to a V8 will run you $35,095 for the base GT—the reward is 460 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque. The GT comes standard with a manual six-speed, optional is the new 10-speed SelectShift automatic. We were anxious to compare the 10-speed compared to the outgoing 6-speed auto, so chose an auto-equipped Stang from the fleet of available testers.

The first thing I noticed after slipping inside was the softer feel of the interior. Most of the touch-points are, well, softer to the touch, including the steering wheel, which is fitted with a firm and beautiful leather rim. Firing the engine requires a simple tap on the new aluminum “start” button, which is illuminated with a nifty red “Horsebeat” glow.

In addition to the 10-speed, our GT tester was equipped with the popular (67G) Performance Pack, which adds $3,995.00 to the MSRP, the new 12-inch digital dash, and a few other options. “The Performance Pack includes front lateral-link ball joints (bushings are standard), Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires (255/40/19 front and 275/40/19 rear), unique anti-roll bars and springs, passive dampers or optional MagneRide and four bolt-in structural braces,” said Mike Del Zio, vehicle dynamics engineer at Ford. The braces include strut tower, radiator, subframe and K-member. “Also included are special EPAS (electronic power assist steering) tuning and 3.55 gears (auto) and 3.73 manual,” he added. Both are equipped with a Torsen differential and our ‘Stang had the optional MagneRide. It also featured the Active Valve Performance Exhaust, which sounded fantastic.

Cruising the southern California beaches was fun, but the excitement level ramped up when I hit the twisty canyon roads. I selected “Sport” mode from the five available driving modes and pushed down on the throttle. Ford has flat-out delivered with this GT. With the exhaust howling, I laid into the Coyote and started to climb the canyons. The Mustang ate corners quicker than the Double-Double I had earlier, and it never flinched when tossed around hard. It’s amazingly balanced and that makes you feel like a real driving hero.

It’s nimble and slices through turns with minimal body roll and really gives you confidence. The tires remain compliant with the road, even over bumps and imperfections, and the balance from front to rear is spot on. Braking is nice, with a firm pedal and linear modulation. I never experienced understeer or oversteer, though admittedly, I never got near the limit. My take-away on the Performance Pack is that it makes a great daily driver and would be really fun at any track day. I can only imagine how capable the PP2 will be once it is released.

Using the racy toggles at the bottom of the center stack, you can also select from three modes of steering feel, and should you feel the need, you can utilize the line lock for better burnouts. Another feature we loved was the Sync Connect, which lets you control certain vehicle functions through your smart phone. For example you can remotely lock or unlock the car, and not only start the car, but schedule a start time.

“This is one of the most aggressive refreshes you’ll ever see for a vehicle—we can’t wait for people to drive this car,” said Widmann. “We identified everything that is important to Mustang fans and delivered across the board, and we couldn’t be happier with the end result. Performance is at the core of Mustang DNA, offering drivers a unique thrill of acceleration and cornering for the ultimate fun-to-drive experience. On all models, new shock absorbers make for better ride control, a new cross-axis joint in the rear suspension leads to increased lateral stiffness, and innovative stabilizer bars bring sharper response and handling.”

Not to diminish the fun you can have with a stick, but the 10-speed auto is down-right amazing. Set in “Drag Mode” the transmission is calibrated to upshift lightning quick with virtually no delay. And the insanely low 4.696:1 First-gear ratio gets the Stang moving in a hurry. The trans features seven underdriven gears and three overdrive ratios. The calibration allows it to shift smoothly during normal driving, yet it knows when the driver is requiring more performance. The engineers urged me to try drag mode, so I found a straight section of road, selected drag mode and tried a launch (or two). Drag racers will love it—“Drag Mode” gives you a rush of acceleration with a bark from the tires on every insanely quick upshift. Though it’s hard to admit, I feel the auto would out-perform all but the most skilled stick drivers. In addition to crisp upshifting, downshifts occur rapidly under hard braking and it rev-matches with a fantastic blip of the throttle and a cackle from the pipes.

Those who prefer three pedals will love the upgraded manual, which features new ratios that are matched nicely to the torque of the engine. The V8 driveline includes a twin-disc clutch and dual-mass flywheel to handle increased torque capability and deliver more efficient clutch modulation. Clutch take up was smooth and required what I’d consider the right amount of effort. It wasn’t too light or too heavy. The shifter operates smoothly and finding the gates is easy whether “granny” or “power” shifting.

Coming Soon! Performance Pack 2

If you think the GT is good, the Performance Pack options enhance Mustang’s capabilities both on and off track. Ford offers two levels, PP1 and PP2, the latter will be available in the coming months.

“Designed to out-corner the competition, PP2 is geared to enthusiasts who want to carve corners, be it on your favorite road or on track,” said Tom Barnes, Mustang vehicle engineering manager. “Team Mustang has honed the Performance Pack Level 2 for the new 2018 Ford Mustang GT. A passion to create something special is what really drove this project, and that really showed in the off-the-clock way we went about doing our work,” he added.

Longtime tire and wheel engineer Chauncy Eggleston led development of unique 19-inch wheels that help provide notable steering and handling response improvements. Mustang veteran Jonathan Gesek, former aerodynamics specialist at NASA, and now with Ford’s aerodynamics group, spearheaded development of a high-performance front splitter and rear spoiler. And Jamie Cullen, Ford supervisor for vehicle dynamics development, led road test efforts to ensure the car delivers ultra-responsive steering, braking and handling performance.

“The result of their covert efforts is available to order now and will reach North American showrooms this spring when pony car enthusiasts can get the new 2018 Ford Mustang GT with Performance Pack Level 2, a collection of drive-enhancing components designed for—and by—people who love the thrill of taking the wheel of a true performance car,” added Barnes.

Performance Pack Level 2 includes all of the features of PP1, such as the unique chassis and antilock brake tuning, unique stability control and electric power-assisted steering, Brembo™ six-piston front brake calipers with larger rotors, a K-brace, larger radiator, silver-painted strut tower brace and a Torsen rear differential with 3.73 axle ratio. “The PP2 is highlighted by a lower stance, a redesigned front splitter and rear spoiler, and 305/30/R19 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires wrapped around split-fitment aluminum wheels—19×10.5-inch front and 19×11-inch rear,” added Barnes.

The PP2 Mustang is 1.5-inches lower to the ground and the Sport Cup II tires are 1.5 inches wider than the Performance Pack Level 1, enhancing grip and feel. PP2 is available only with the six-speed manual transmission. Also standard on the PP2 is the custom-tuned MagneRide® dampers and quicker steering calibration in the EPAS to provide better response. Other PP2 improvements include a 67-percent stiffer rear stabilizer bar, a 12-percent stiffer front stabilizer bar, 20 percent stiffer front springs and rear springs that are 13 percent stiffer.

Formerly available only on the Shelby GT350 and GT350R, MagneRide® active suspension is new to the Mustang GT. “It can be ordered with the Performance Pack—and standard with Performance Pack Level 2,” said Carl Widmann. “The active damping system uses sensors positioned around the vehicle to adjust the suspension based on various inputs, including speed, steering angle, brake pressure, lateral and longitudinal acceleration, engine torque, drive mode selection, and even outside air temperature.

“Critical to the success of the package is improved aerodynamics scores, which the team achieved by adding larger and lower front splitter and redesigned rear spoiler. According to the engineering team. Our targets were aggressive and we nailed them.”

According to Widmann, the front splitter creates about 24 pounds of downforce at 80 mph, planting the tires and improving front grip. To balance the front downforce, Ford uses a new, subtle, rear spoiler. It’s worth noting, Ford used an innovative approach to creating the new Performance Pack, as parts such as the rear spoiler were rapid-prototyped using a 3D printer.

Barnes added, “The only visual cues on a car outfitted with the new Performance Pack Level 2 are black detailing on the splitter and spoiler, the tire spat on the back edge of the rear wheel wells and the 10-spoke Dark Tarnish wheels, which are exclusive. Customers who opt for Performance Pack Level 2 also have a unique opportunity to select Recaro® seats in either leather or cloth to help stay firmly planted while cornering.”

The post First Drive: 2018 Ford Mustang GT appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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REVIEW – BCC 11 for Media Composer

There are some certainties in the industry we work on, and one of them as become the yearly (or so) updates to our favorite applications and/or effects packages, and a lot has happened for a certain company, namely Boris FX, in the last few years.  In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at the new release of Continuum from Boris FX, version 11 for AVX, and see what this year’s offering has for editors out there.

I wanted to get the introduction out of the way to talk a little bit about the journey that editors (especially Media Composer editors) have been on with Boris FX in the last few years.  Effects, and the effects pipeline for us was a little disjointed.  We had Boris FX on one side, offering use effects, but more importantly important workflow tools (Chroma Key, Flicker Fixer, Magic Sharp) that we need for any situation we run into.  But, there was a gap.  I pretty big gap when it came to things like Motion Tracking and Roto work which, to be honest, was a huge pain in MC, as the motion tracking tool was terrible, and you can only get so far with Animatte.  Well, one of the biggest shockers in post production in longer than I can remember happened a couple of years ago, when Boris FX decided to purchase Imagineer Systems, makers of Mocha, and not only integrate Mocha tracking into almost every effect in the package, but they took things a huge leap ahead of that, and released a stand alone effect version of Mocha Pro for Media Composer editors to use directly in their timelines.  This brought an unprecedented new workflow for Media Composer editors who, from time to time, can be very stubborn, and not want to leave their MC timelines.  Now you can do all the tracking and roto work you need to do, without having to export a single frame from your timeline.  So, that does beg the question, along with Mocha Tracking, what was added in BCC 10?  Well, here’s a quick breakdown:

Beauty Studio – A state-of-the-art skin retouching/digital makeup tool to make your talent look perfect.

Title Studio – The next generation of 2D/3D titling and motion graphics tool for designing and animating at any resolution. Includes support for MAXON CINEMA 4D models.

BCC Remover fills in missing pixels & removes objects with clone and auto-fill options.

BCC Dropout Fixer restores tape based damaged footage with field dropouts.

BCC Reframe reformats and stylizes “vertical cell phone footage” into 16 x 9 for broadcast.

BCC Light Leaks adds organic & naturalistic “in-camera” light and exposure effects.

BCC Video Glitch recreates the distressed look of compression artifacts, signal loss & corrupt digital video.

BCC Cross Glitch mimics abrupt digital signal transitions.

BCC Cross Melt conveys a new organic look and feel.

BCC Lights Leak Dissolve creates a light exposure-based transition.

BCC Cross Zoom combines zoom, glow, and dissolve into one simple transition.

Okay, let’s be honest.  That’s a lot.  You had the Imagineer Team working with the BCC team to get that integration working, and you had the BCC team developing these new effects.  This release was a home run.  So the big question is, how do you follow it up?  Well, it’s simple.  You take a look at an effect or effects you might not be completely happy with, and you improve on them, and that’s the main focus of the BCC 11 update.  Let’s take a look at what’s new in BCC 11.

BCC PRIMATTE STUDIO

When I first heard that this was going to be the main focus of the BCC 11 release, the light bulb clicked on in my head.  It makes perfect sense.  As I always say, there are two things that editors hate doing more than anything.  Tracking/Roto, and Chroma keying.  Well, we got half that solved in BCC 10 with the Mocha integration/Mocha Pro plug-in, and now in version 11, we’re going to focus on keying.  Awesome, but I wasn’t really ready to have to re-teach myself Chroma keying, but it was definitely worth it.  Here’s what you need to know about Primatte Studio (PS).

It’s all about the details in PS.  The details and the tools at your disposal.  With PS, about 65% of your keying work can be done automatically by pressing the “Auto Analyze” button in the new HUD of the effects window.

Once that’s done, you normally assume that you’re going to head over to the “Final Matte” view, where you’ll get a look at what your matte looks like.  Well, not in here.  We’re going to head over and check the “status” of our matte in the “Matte Status” view, and you get something that looks a little like this:

To be honest, this just looks almost like digital noise, but what it actually is, is PS telling you what is opaque (white) semi-opaque/transparent (grey), and completely transparent (black).  What’s very interesting about this slightly different workflow is that if you switch over to your “Final Matte”, you won’t notice about 90% of the problems going on here, but if you switch back to your “Final Composite”, chances are you’ll notice issues right away with all they grey “semi-transparency” going on with you key.  Now you can go in and start to clean things up, and you can go with the rectangle tool for this.  Dealing with the background first, make sure you tell PS you want to “Clean BG”, and then simply lasso over the grey in the background, and it will mostly disappear with a few strokes of the mouse.  Now you can do the same with the foreground by choosing “Clean FG”, and doing the same technique.  In many cases, this might be all the work your matte needs, and once you’ve done this, you’re good to go, but let’s be honest, if you do any type of keying work, on even a semi-regular basis, you know that garbage matting is the easiest way to eliminate most of unneeded key area, so you can focus in on just the green directly around your talent.  Well, you guessed it, Mocha is integrated directly into PS, and you can create not only outside masks (a garbage matte around your talent to eliminate as much green screen as possible, to get the best looking key possible), but you can also do inside masks as well (mask drawn around the inside of your talent to eliminate areas that are unnecessary to the keying process, and you want to force PS to make them completely opaque), and they can be either keyframed inside of Mocha BCC, or you can obviously do a completely motion track of the area as well, and save yourself a ton of time in the process as well.

With all this being said, you can create pretty good keys, but one thing that just about every editor does their best to avoid, and that is hair.  Especially strands of hair that will probably get completely lost in the keying process.  Well, believe it or not, not only do you have the ability to bring back those lost hairs by using the “Restore Detail” parameter, but you also have the ability to “Make FG Transparent”, which is the PS way of letting you remove green coloring in small areas like hair, or around other small think details, even on the most compressed footage, to give you a key like you’ve never seen before.  Now, I did mention the rectangle tool, and that tool is perfect for larger tasks like cleaning up the FG and BG, but for more specific and detailed tasks, like restoring detail, or working make the FG transparent, and removing all the green from any key attempt, you can use the point tool which, much like it sounds, is simply a pointer that you can draw on the screen with, to give yourself pinpoint accuracy, to make sure only the details you need altered are.  I’ll be honest with you here.  If you had asked me before working with PS if I was a good keyer, I would have told you yes, but with everything that I’ve learned from working with PS, I’d say that my keys are now easily ten times better than they were before.

There are a few more things I want to talk about in PS  before we move on, and the first is the “Adjust Light On” parameter.  Many people would overlook this parameter, as it’s not really clear about what it does.  Something about turning a light on.  Well does it ever do that.  In many cases, when you do an auto analyze of a green screen, it might look something like this:

What the Matte Status window is showing you is how uneven your background green screen is lit.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could adjust the light on that green screen to even it out a little?  See where I’m going here.  Yes, that’s right.  You can even use PS to even out poorly shot green screens, to make your keying job that much easier,. Here’s the same shot with the “Adjust LIght On” parameter selected.

An absolutely staggering difference.  Now, there are other parameters here you can adjust like Color Correction (basic CC, but CC none the less), Light Wrap and some Matte Refinement tools as well, but the last feature I want to talk about is the Edge Color Correction, and how it works, and how you can make it work for you.  My biggest problem with a parameter like this, is that i never really know how much of an edge I’m adjusting, even though I can go in and adjust the edge width first thing.  It still doesn’t tell me exactly how wide the edge is, which would be a big help.  Well, a great trick and workaround is before you worry about adjusting your edge size, crank the brightness all the way up, and as soon as you do, you’ll get a white halo around your talent, showing you the actual edge that’s being adjusted.  Now you can adjust your edge width to the exact size you want it to be, bring that brightness back down to zero, and you can now start making adjustments to the other parameters like Tint Edge, Temperature Edge, ect.  All of these parameters, plus the ability to make Geometric changes (Scale, Rotation, Position, etc) and even adding Drop Shadows, makes Primatte Studio the new gold standard for keying inside of Media Composer.  Alright, let’s move on and talk about another new effect in BCC 11, and that is the new Broadcast Safe filter.

BCC BROADCAST SAFE

It’s funny that this effect has taken as long as it has to get into BCC, but again, it’s a welcome one.  Editors are accustomed to working with footage that is outside of legal video ranges, and they fix this problem the way most people do, by color correcting their footage to bring either the white levels down, or the black levels up, to keep everything inside of a legal range.  Well, what happens when you’re at the eleventh hour and a show that you stepped into a the last minute has been rejected, because video levels in it were too hot?  Well, you don’t have time to go back through the whole show to fix them, so you go with the standard “Color Effect Clip”, which is when you apply the Color Effect effect, it clips all your video at one hundred and zero, so everything in the show is now legal, sacrificing quality, as any detail that was in those over exposed areas has now been clipped out.  Well, that’s where BCC Broadcast Safe comes into play.  Not only do you have the ability to clip from within the effect if you want to (which you don’t), but what this effect is designed to do is to give you the ability to use a preset to confirm all your footage to by actually lowering (or raising) the luminance values, as opposed to clipping.  A uniform raising/lowering of those levels will keep the details in your footage, and let’s you do the job in about five seconds, as opposed to having to go through the entire timeline looking for problematic shots.  Simply apply the effect to the top most layer in your timeline, make any adjustments that you need to, and the effect will trickle down to the layers below it.  Genius!

BCC VR

With many editors coming across VR workflows in their current projects, the Continuum team has developed five effects to help you deal with common VR issues you’ll run into, and all of these are available in your Media Composer timeline.  The effects include:

VR Reorient

VR Insert

VR Blur

VR Sharpen

VR Flicker Fixer

What’s also very cool is that if VR is your thing, and you’ve already purchased Mocha VR, you get the VR unit free.

  There have also been some updates to the Title Studio effect including adding 3D render options including depth-of-field and many more presets & templates.

Alright, let’s get specific now, and talk about a workflow update that is almost worth the price of the upgrade itself.  With GenArts now completely part of the Boris FX family, editors will be wanting to incorporate Sapphire effects into their current BCC effects pipeline.  So how does this new pipeline work?  Well, in the past, users of BCC AVX have been accustomed to having to work with a “Multi-Filtered” workflow.  What that basically means is that you would apply an effect, and turn on the “Multi-Filter Start”, to get things rolling.  For every effect you add, you need to keep the “Multi-Filter” going by selecting “Multi-Filter Mid”, until the last effect you apply, which would be the “Multi-Filter End”.  Now, the big issue with this workflow is that it’s completely limited to BCC effects, and nothing else. Now keep in mind that this workflow is the same whether you’re applying the effects to footage or to titles.

So, what’s the big update you ask?  Well, editors in Media Composer are accustomed to adding multiple effects to footage/titles by alt dragging different effects onto a clip to create a stacking order.  The concept now works the same with BCC with one major difference.  With every effect you apply, the “Background” will be set to “None”.

Now you can stack any effect you want, from either BCC or Sapphire, to create the exact look you want, with each effect’s background set to none.  When you get to the last effect, simply switch the “Background” to be “Layer Below”, and you’ll now see the BCC/Sapphire effect stack in your timeline.  Editors in other NLE’s might not think this is a big deal, but for Media Composer editors this is huge, and opens up a big door for us to be able to do more in our edits, without having to go to After Effects.

PRICE

A new BCC AVX licence will run you $1695 US which, for me, is pretty steep, but what’s great to know is that Boris FX has a few different licensing options to keep the price as low as possible.  That $1695 will get you version 11 with all the updates that come for it, but once version 12 rolls around, you’ll have to pay an upgrade cost of $595 US.  This upgrade cost is the same if you’re currently running BCC 9 or 10.  If you’re running BCC 8 or earlier, you’re looking at an upgrade price of $695.  Now, here’s where you can start to save some money.  You can subscribe to BCC, with an annual subscription cost of $695 which, assuming you keep your subscription going on a yearly basis, will get you upgrades for BCC past version 11.  Now keep in mind, we’ve been specifically talking about the BCC AVX license, but if you’re like me, and are using After Effects, Resolve, etc, you really want one license to encompass everything, and Boris FX has an option for that.  If you want to go the subscription way, I’d suggest an AVX, Adobe and OFX license that is the same price ($695 US) as the AVX only subscription license, but you obviously get the effects for all the host applications (Avid, Premiere, After Effects, Resolve/Fusion) for the one price.

  So that does ask the question, should you spend your hard earned money to upgrade or subscribe to BCC 11 if you’re a Media Composer editor?  Well, the first question to ask yourself is, do you wish you could add effects to your timeline titles?  If the answer is yes, then you should subscribe.  The second question to ask yourself is, do you do any type of flashy titling work that would look even better in 3D?  If the answer is yes, then you should subscribe.  Do you want to take your keying work to the next level level in Media Composer, and not have to export all your footage to After Effects to do it?  If the answer is yes, then you should subscribe.  I’m sure that you can see where I’m going with this.  With the staggering amount of tools, effects, “studio’s” (Beauty, Primate, Title, etc), Mocha Integration and workflow enhancements, if you don’t have BCC, you’re absolutely doing your clients a disservice.  If you even plan on doing one keying job this year, Primatte Studio is worth the upgrade to version 11.  One thing that’s important that I mention, before I wrap things up is that if you are working with Media Composer | First, and you want to work with Boris Continuum Complete (current or otherwise), Sapphire or Mocha Pro, you will need to purchase it through the Avid Marketplace, as if you don’t, the effects won’t appear inside your application.  If you want to go this route, once you’ve made your purchase through the Avid Marketplace, check in your account where your MC|F license is, and you should see the license for BCC.  Once you do, you should be able to launch, and you’re off to the races.  For everyone else you can head over to the Boris FX website, and make your purchase there.  You can get more information, and download a free two week demo of BCC 11 for Media Composer at www.borisfx.com .

The post REVIEW – BCC 11 for Media Composer appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

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Samsung Q80T series (2020) review: High-end design, excellent picture, approachable price

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Samsung Q80T series (2020) review: High-end design, excellent picture, approachable price

In 2020, Samsung’s TV lineup seems skewed more than ever toward higher-end models: There are three series with 8K resolution, a bunch of lifestyle models such as The Frame, The Sero and even a crazy-expensive outdoor television called The Terrace. Among relatively “normal” TVs, the Q80T stands out. It’s not cheap, but it is the least expensive Samsung QLED TV to feature full-array local dimming, which gives it an excellent picture.

Like

Excellent overall image quality

Superior styling

Wide range of sizes

Numerous features, voice options

Don’t Like

More expensive than competing TVs with similar picture quality

The Q80T’s big brother, the Q90T, also has FALD and I expect it to perform even better, but once again there’s an issue with price. In the 55- and 65-inch sizes the Q90T costs basically the same as my favorite high-end TV for 2020, the OLED-powered LG CX, and in my experience the OLED will have a better picture overall. That puts the Q80T in roughly the same price-to-performance sweet spot as the Sony X900H, the Vizio P-Series and TCL 6-Series.

I compared all four in my basement TV lab side-by-side and the Samsung Q80T was indeed excellent, but despite costing more than the other three, it didn’t put out a better picture. Instead its strength lies in design, with sleeker looks, an excellent remote and, yes, that Samsung nameplate. Like the others it’s also well-suited to pair with an Xbox Series X or PS5 thanks to variable refresh rate capability and 4K/120Hz input. 

If you have your heart set on a Samsung, you want a great picture and you don’t have money to burn, the Q80T is pretty sweet. But if you’re brand-agnostic, the Vizio and TCL are both better values.

Sleekness from the stand up

When you pay a little extra for a Samsung you expect superior design, and the Q80T delivers. The most obvious upgrade is the stand: Samsung uses a central pedestal, which to my eye looks a lot sleeker than the two separate legs to either side that most new TVs employ. The base is a single slab of metal, flush against the tabletop. An angled chunk of metal and plastic supports the panel, creating a nice floaty effect.

Black with a minimal frame around the image, the Q80T also has a textured backside and a cable management system that lets you channel power and HDMI from their ports through the stand, making for a cleaner look.

David Katzmaier/CNET

Samsung’s clicker is also among my favorites, with minimal buttons and just the right feel in-hand. Channel and volume keys click up and down, Ambient mode gets its own button as does the mic for voice, and even the Netflix and Amazon app shortcut keys are nicer than on other remotes: They lack garish colors and instead just match the rest of the wand.

Ambient mode is designed to show stuff on the screen when you’re not watching TV. It’s a cool feature if you don’t like the big black rectangle of an inert TV, and can display your photos, designer art, the weather, headlines and even adjust backgrounds to match your wall.

David Katzmaier/CNET

Alexa and Google join Bixby

Samsung’s homebrew Bixby voice assistant is built into the Q80T, as you’d expect, but new for 2020 you can choose the overwhelmingly more-popular Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant instead. You can select between the three in the menus and whichever one you choose will be available when you press the mic button on the clicker. 

Alternately you can set the remote’s mic to listen for the “Alexa” or “Hey, Google” wake words, allowing you to issue commands hands-free (it worked well as long as I stayed relatively close to the remote). And like most TVs you can also pair the Q80T with separate Alexa or Google speakers. 

David Katzmaier/CNET

Beyond voice, Samsung’s on-screen smart TV system is excellent, with quick responses and plenty of apps, and I’d take it over LG or Vizio’s systems. I still like Roku and Android TV (found on Sony TVs) better overall, however, because they have even more apps. Just like most TVs now (including Roku), Samsung has the Apple TV app and works with Apple’s AirPlay system.

Full-fledged features and HDMI connectivity

Full-array local dimming sets the Q80T apart from cheaper Samsung TVs. This technology, which improves LCD image quality significantly in our experience, boosts black levels and contrast by making certain areas of the picture dimmer or brighter in reaction to what’s on the screen. The step-up Q90T and the company’s 8K models have more dimming zones and brighter images than the Q80T, but Samsung doesn’t say exactly how many zones each has. 

Key features

Display technology LED LCD LED backlight Full array with local dimming Resolution 4K HDR compatible HDR10, HDR10+ Smart TV Tizen Remote Standard voice

Like all of Samsung QLED TVs, as well as most higher-end TVs from Vizio and TCL, the Q80T’s LCD panel is augmented by a layer of quantum dots — microscopic nanocrystals that glow a specific wavelength (i.e. color) when given energy. The effect is better brightness and color compared to non-QD-equipped TVs. The Q80T uses a true 120Hz panel, which improves the TVs’ motion performance, but as usual the “Motion Rate 240” specification is made up (note that the 49- and 50-inch sizes are 60Hz/MR 120).

The set supports high dynamic range content in the HDR10 and the HDR10 Plus formats. It lacks the Dolby Vision HDR support found on most competitors’ HDR TVs. I’ve seen no evidence that one HDR format is inherently “better” than the other, so I definitely don’t consider lack of Dolby Vision a deal-breaker on this TV — instead it’s just one more factor to consider.

Gaming features are one of the Q80T’s strong points. It’s compatible with variable refresh rate, as well as the FreeSync and G-synch VRR formats, available from devices including select PCs, the Xbox Series X and PS5, although the latter doesn’t support VRR yet. The Q80T also accepts 4K/120Hz input on HDMI 4, which is conveniently marked with a little game controller icon. The TV supports Auto Game Mode too, which lets it automatically switch to game mode to reduce input lag when it detects you’re playing a game. (Note that the 49- and 50-inch sizes lack 4K/120Hz input and VRR.)

David Katzmaier/CNET

4x HDMI inputs

2x USB ports

Ethernet (LAN) port

Optical digital audio output

RF (antenna) input

Remote (RS-232) port (EX-LINK)

This list is mostly solid, unless you happen to own a legacy device that requires analog video (component or composite) or audio. The Q80T is one of the few TVs that doesn’t at least offer one analog input, audio or video.

Picture quality comparisons

Click the image above for picture settings and HDR notes.

David Katzmaier/CNET

The Q80T is an excellent performer overall, with good local dimming and contrast, excellent brightness, color and video processing. It fell short of the black levels and brightness of some less-expensive TVs, such as the Vizio P-Series and TCL 6 series, especially with HDR material, but showed less blooming and a slightly cleaner image, earning the same score of 8 (Excellent) in this category. I preferred the Vizio and TCL overall for image quality and liked the Sony X900H a bit less, but all four occupy the same general plane.

Click the image above to see the picture settings used in the review and to read more about how this TV’s picture controls worked during calibration.

Dim lighting: I started with the excellent-looking Blu-ray of Parasite. In brighter scenes the Samsung generally matched the image quality of the others — all four were excellent overall. Differences emerged in darker scenes, for example during Park Dong-ik’s ride in the back of the car in Chapter 4. The TCL and the Vizio both showed darker, more realistic “black” in the shadows and letterbox bars, with less bleed from bright areas into dark, compared to the Sony and Samsung. The latter two were close, but the Samsung has a slight edge over the Sony. The differences weren’t drastic — all four TVs have very good black levels and contrast — but still visible side-by-side.

Here’s where I mention an unusual thing Samsung did with settings, which I liked. The Brightness control handles backlight level but there’s an additional Shadow Detail slider under Gamma (where it should be) that controls exactly that (and does a lot of the same work as a standard Brightness/black level setting). According to my measurements it does what it claims: boosts brightness at low levels (5% to 20%) as you creep up. The default “0” setting is the most accurate but cranking it up did reveal more, yes, details like the car seat cushions and floor of Parks car became more visible.

Bright lighting: These days TVs just seem to be getting brighter but the Q80T is an exception, measuring dimmer than many TVs at its level including the TCL, Vizio P and Sony, and even slightly dimmer than the Q70 from 2019. It’s still bright enough for just about any room, however, and has plenty of punch to make HDR look impactful.

Light output in nits

TV Brightest (SDR) Accurate color (SDR) Brightest (HDR) Accurate color (HDR) Hisense H9G 1,239 1,238 1,751 1,498 TCL 65R635 1,114 792 1,292 1,102 Sony XBR-65X900H 841 673 989 795 Vizio P65Q9-H1 768 629 1,305 1,084 Hisense 65R8F 717 717 770 770 Samsung QN65Q80T 664 503 1,243 672 Vizio M65Q7-H1 595 424 588 480 LG OLED65CX 377 290 690 634

Don’t let the high score in Dynamic fool you. Aside from being woefully inaccurate, it fluctuated quite a bit, starting out at over 1,200 nits but falling almost immediately to around 300. Most other TVs don’t show such dramatic fall-off, and none of the Q80T’s other modes did either. 

For the Accurate measurements in SDR I used the Natural picture mode in combination with the Warm color temperature setting (the default temperature for Natural is quite blue). I prefer Vizio and TCL’s approach of a dedicated, accurate bright-room picture mode.

Unlike previous Samsung TVs I’ve tested the Q80T didn’t excel at handling ambient light. In a bright room all of the TVs in my lineup were better at reducing the brightness of reflections to preserve the fidelity of the image. The difference wasn’t massive but definitely noticeable in dark areas of program material.

Color accuracy: The Samsung’s Filmmaker Mode and Movie modes are both accurate before calibration but I prefer the former because it disables most video processing by default (see below). After calibration, as expected, it was excellent. During Parasite, colors like the green lettuce and red kimchi in the cafeteria in Chapter 4, as well as the skin tones of the family as they eat, looked natural and well-balanced. Then again so did the other displays — it was difficult to see any real color differences even side-by-side with non-HDR colors.

Video processing: As usual the Samsung aced my tests in this category, delivering true 1080p/24 film cadence with film-based sources and plenty of motion resolution (1,000 lines) with video-based sources. The TV achieved both results with a Picture Clarity setting of Custom with Blur Reduction at 10 and Judder Reduction at 0, so if I had this TV I’d “set it and forget it” right there. Note that Filmmaker Mode’s default setting is to turn Picture Clarity off, which results in less motion resolution, but you can adjust it to taste.

You can also add more smoothing or soap opera effect by increasing Judder Reduction or choosing Auto instead of Custom. Meanwhile the LED Clear Motion option makes motion even sharper with the help of black frame insertion, at the expense of flicker and a dimmer image.

Samsung continues its tradition of excellent input lag in game mode with a score just over 14 milliseconds with both 1080p and 4K HDR sources.

Uniformity: With demanding, full-field test patterns the Q80T’s screen was quite uniform, with more-even lighting from edge to edge than the Vizio, whose sides looked slightly dark, and slightly less-even lighting than the TCL. With program material I saw the same minor issue on the Vizio while the others were very similar (note that uniformity can vary from sample to sample). From off-angle the Samsung was the best LCD TV I’ve tested, maintaining color fidelity, brightness and contrast better than the others. 

HDR and 4K video: With high dynamic range sources the differences between the four TVs became more apparent, and the Vizio and TCL looked slightly better than the Sony and the Samsung overall. The Q80T’s highlights appeared a bit dimmer than the others, including the Sony, while its black levels were lighter and less realistic than the TCL and Vizio, it’s contrast did beat the Sony’s.

Watching the Spears and Munsil HDR benchmark’s test montage, the ferris wheel at night (4:51) was a good example, with a slightly gray-blue cast to the sky, and less pop in the lights on the Q80T. It still looked great, with plenty of punch and contrast I expect from HDR, but next to the TCL and Vizio it didn’t convey quite the same sense of realism — although it looked better overall then the Sony.

Brighter scenes, like the closeups of flowers and insects (3:26), showed less of a difference but the Samsung still appeared very slightly dimmer than the TCL and Vizio, an impression backed up by spot measurements of my light meter. Colors were crisp and vibrant, however, and the orange of the monarch butterfly for example appeared a bit deeper and more saturated than the TCL, if not quite as powerful as the Vizio.  

The Samsung and Sony had one advantage during the montage however: they were slightly cleaner than the TCL and Vizio in the first fade up from black to a bright sky. The latter two showed faint, subtle banding in the sky as the image brightened, while the two “S” TVs didn’t. 

Another advantage: The Q80T was the best among the three at controlling blooming, so stray illumination wasn’t an issue even in difficult mixed bright-and-dark scenes. One major reason, I suspect, was its less-aggressive brightness compared to the more blooming-prone TCL and Vizio.

Switching over to Parasite in HDR, the Samsung’s image held up better than before thanks to its ability to control blooming and maintain black levels (at the expense of brightness). During the dark Chapter 4 car ride, for example, the Q80T’s black levels were darkest and it showed less stray illumination in the passing streetlights. On the other hand those lights and other bright spots were more brilliant on the TCL and Vizio, and both exposed more shadow detail than the Samsung — while the Sony had the best shadow detail and the worst contrast. I still ended up preferring the TCL and Vizio overall, but the Samsung was much closer.

In brighter scenes where blooming is less visible the superior light output of the other TVs shined gave them more characteristic HDR punch, particularly in highlights like the sun as TK approaches the house in Chapter 3. The Samsung still looked brilliant, saturated and impressive, but the TCL and Vizio looked just a notch more-so in my side-by-side comparison.

Geek Box

Test Result Score Black luminance (0%) 0.003 Good Peak white luminance (SDR) 664 Good Avg. gamma (10-100%) 2.22 Good Avg. grayscale error (10-100%) 0.64 Good Dark gray error (30%) 0.90 Good Bright gray error (80%) 1.37 Good Avg. color checker error 2.70 Good Avg. saturation sweeps error 2.01 Good Avg. color error 1.29 Good Red error 1.34 Good Green error 0.59 Good Blue error 1.13 Good Cyan error 1.38 Good Magenta error 1.61 Good Yellow error 1.70 Good 1080p/24 Cadence (IAL) Pass Good Motion resolution (max) 1000 Good Motion resolution (dejudder off) 1000 Good Input lag (Game mode) 20.77 Good HDR10 Black luminance (0%) 0.005 Good Peak white luminance (10% win) 1243 Good Gamut % UHDA/P3 (CIE 1976) 91.85 Average ColorMatch HDR error 5.52 Poor Avg. color checker error 2.65 Good Input lag (Game mode, 4K HDR) 20.37 Good

Samsung QN65Q80T CNET revie… by David Katzmaier

Portrait Displays Calman calibration software was used in this review. 

[davidegbert]

Huawei P10 Review: Is Evolution Enough?

Evolution or revolution? We’ve accepted tick-tock strategies from many top tier manufacturers. Apple’s is most obvious, iPhone 6, then the 6S launches a year later. Samsung’s shift from Galaxy S5 to S6 was significant. The move from S6 to S7 was focused on refinement. Yet, when other manufacturers adopt similar strategies, we’re apt to be increasingly critical of evolutionary improvements.

For Huawei this year, both technology and design feel somewhat iterative, but does the collection of smaller improvements in total raise this phone up above the sum of its parts? Let’s take a look at the Huawei P10.

Hardware and Design

If it feels like we’ve been discussing this hardware for a while now, it’s because we have. The P10 inherits a lot of what we liked from last year’s Mate 9. Screen resolution, chipset, RAM, storage options, and cameras are all shrunk down and crammed into a smaller form factor. For those of us with hobbit hands, it’s a much easier size to use one-handed while on the go. The P10 is just a touch taller, and slightly skinnier, than a Galaxy S7.

Where the Mate as a phablet is something of a big old diesel truck, Huawei’s focus for the P10 is on aesthetics and design, making it more of a small roadster. The P10 draws some obvious inspirations from other popular phones, rounding corners and softening edges from last year’s more angular P9. Bolder color options are appreciated though, as we’ll be spending our review time with the dazzling blue model. This hyper cut back panel shimmers in sunlight, but achieves the goal of remaining nearly impervious to fingerprint smudges. It’s a refreshing change of pace from glass back phones, and helps with just a bit of additional grip over traditional aluminum rear cases.

Fingerprint

One of the larger departures from previous Huawei phones, the fingerprint sensor moves to the front bezel. It requires more of a reach to unlock than rear mounted sensors, but it also doubles as a one stop shop for navigation. A single tap is a back button, long press will take you home, but the gesture swipe to use multi-tasking is the hardest piece of muscle memory to reprogram. Going on week two with this phone, I still miss this gesture about half the time I try it.

At any time, you can just swap back to normal on screen controls, sacrificing a few pixels at the bottom of your display.

Display

We’re treated to a properly usable 1080p display. The HD resolution looking sharp enough at this 5.1” screen diagonal. Color and contrast are well represented for an LCD, and the brightness is competitive for a phone in this tier. In our basic Lux testing, the P10 edges out the LG G6, while falling far behind the burst outdoor brightness mode found on the Galaxy S7.

Software

Happily we get another improvement to Huawei’s custom software EMUI. Now on version 5.1, you get options to swap your homescreen from apps to an app drawer, and the general layout for notifications and settings is closer to stock android. There’s still a lot of UI customization, especially to things like confirmation dialog bubbles, but all the pieces are generally where you would expect them to be. We no longer suffer that odd mish-mash of iOS design found in the old EMUI notification shade.

New for the P10, Huawei is promoting a partnership with GoPro, and the new photo gallery app delivers improved tools for editing and sharing videos. Similar to some of the filters and templates you might find in Google Photos or Instagram. It’s a fun add on for folks who like to share short clips with family and friends.

We still get the benefits of Android 7, split screening apps and alt-tab style swapping, though accessing those features takes an additional bit of hunting if you’re using the fingerprint scanner navigation gestures. Nougat improves performance alongside Huawei’s aggressive resource management and garbage collection. Our Mate 9 is aging well in that regard, so we’re optimistic that the P10 will also perform well over time with future updates.

Performance

Speaking of performance, we’re still impressed with this chipset. Huawei’s Kirin 960 processor is a screamer, just nipping at the heels of the Qualcomm 835 benchmarks we’ve seen leaked. It easily bests the Pixel and OnePlus 3T with the Qualcomm 821. This kind of horsepower is gross overkill for covering the communication basics, but cranking up some graphics intensive games, the P10 drives Marvel Future Fight very well, probably the smoothest we’ve seen from any Android we’ve reviewed using high quality settings. No small feat for how poorly optimized that game is on Android. Better optimized titles will run like butter. Performance on Implosion for example has been phenomenal.

Radio performance is very competitive for a metal phone with antenna bands. We routinely saw LTE performance falling just slightly behind the Galaxy S7, somewhere around 2-3dB depending on the connection to AT&T towers. However, WiFi performance regularly reached farther than the Samsung at the edges of my home network.

Camera

In our early testing, we’d be hard pressed to see significant differences in camera performance between this phone and the Mate 9. Though the camera module is sunk flush with the rear housing, we still have the same dual camera system. A 12MP color sensor and a 20MP black and white sensor work in tandem on all still photos to improve contrast, color, and clarity. Hardware image stabilization on the color sensor improves low light performance and reduces hand shake in video capture.

New for this phone, we get a “Portrait Mode” in addition to the terrific Wide Aperture setting. This add on incorporates beauty filters options normally found on the selfie camera. Where the Wide Aperture mode easily bests the background blur options found on other phones, this Portrait mode is a lot more destructive to skin tone at max settings. It also seems to create a harder border around your subject, so we’d recommend using it judiciously, maybe dialing back the effect to around level 3.

We won’t be using this phone to dig deep into a Real Camera Review, but for folks interested in a deep dive, our Mate 9 camera review will cover those bases for you. We’ll try to get our hands on a P10 plus to see how it might differ from this camera.

On the whole, these sensors deliver some of the best still photos we’ve ever seen from a phone, and improvements to video, like h.265 UHD files and image stabilization, are greatly appreciated. There’s been some nay-saying or fear mongering about HEVC video, but we wouldn’t let that concern you as these video files are fairly easy to work with.

Audio

Headphone performance is adequate to good. Again, similar in performance to the Mate 9, though with a wider frequency response on 24bit files. We also see very subtle improvements to noise floor and dynamic range, but we’d be hard press to hear any significant differences. Though disabling the headphone DTS mode, we see more EQ tweaking which the user is unable to completely disable.

The speaker performance is one of the weaker links of this phone, performing well for notifications, but it’s not going to break any records for music and movie playback. On the whole, it’s unlikely the P10 will make our list of audiophile phones at the end of the year, but it gets the job done well enough for most daily use situations.

Bluetooth users might also be annoyed at how poorly this phone will hand off the connection between audio accessories. A common gripe on Huawei hardware, if I have headphones connected and get in my car, the phone won’t automatically prioritize the car for hands free calling. Manually disabling one accessory will occasionally lead to the Bluetooth connection locking up, requiring me to manually reestablish the connection in my car’s stereo settings. Not a process one would want to undertake while operating a motor vehicle.

Battery

Battery life is very good for this capacity. During our streaming test, the P10 was well competitive against current flagship phones. Streaming thirty minutes of HD video over WiFi resulted in a 5% battery drain. This translated to good daily run time, making it to dinner with moderate use and room to spare.

For power users, recharging during the day is made a lot easier with Huawei’s supercharger. A quick top off will easily deliver hours of run time after a short stint plugged in. Only 15 minutes on the charger topped off 19% of the cell. Huawei’s performance here is top tier, and is very impressive for how cool the phone remains while charging.

Conclusion

In a way, this phone isn’t really getting a fair shake, as the most immediate comparison people make is against the bigger brother Mate which only just made it to the United States about a month ago. Remembering that this is an update to the P9, nearly every aspect of this phone is noticeably better than last year’s fashion flagship. Screaming performance, better battery life, significantly faster charging, and an evolved camera system. It’s admirable that Huawei packaged all of these improvements while also playing with some new design elements and focusing on fresh color options.

There are precious few compromises to make now. We’re expecting more phones to arrive this year with rated enhanced water resistance for example, and it’s about time Huawei disclose IP ratings for all of their phones. The P10 Plus is rated IPX3, but we have no official confirmation on whether the smaller P10 is even rain resistant.

To return to the question at the top of this article, evolution or revolution, it’s curious to see complaints of this phone online “not improving enough”. While we wait for Samsung to eat up the first batch of Qualcomm 835 processors, you can get that power now in the Mate 9 and P10. At the time this review was published, there’s literally no more powerful (non-Huawei) Android phone on the market, and we’re still week away from a proper Galaxy S8 launch.

The toughest competition this phone might face is likely to come from Huawei’s sister brand, as we wait to see what the next Honor might bring using these parts and pieces. Until then, the P10 offers a compelling solution for folks looking to shop something different. Personally, it’s nice getting these features in a phone I can use with one hand.

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