AMD announces RX 480, first graphics card based on Polaris architecture

AMD has announced its new RX series of graphics cards, based on their brand new Pascal macro-architecture, and the first card to be released is the RX 480.

The biggest talking point here is the price, which is $199 for the 4GB model. This is part of AMD's big push for VR where they are trying to get more people to experience VR by bringing down the price of PC hardware. The RX 480 is being touted as the cheapest VR-ready graphics card out there right now. Even if you're not into VR, what it means is that you can still get excellent 1080p performance out of this card for that price.

The RX 480 is the first graphics card in the world based on the 14nm FinFET process and 4th generation GCN microarchitecture. It will have 36 compute units and 5 GFLOPS of performance. The base model will have 4GB GDDR5 VRAM and there will also be 8GB variants, with 256GB/s memory bandwidth and 256-bit memory bit-rate. There is also one HDMI 2.0a port and three DisplayPort 1.3 connectors with FreeSync support. The TDP of the card is 150W and it uses a single six-pin power connector.

Asus has a VR headset of its own, with leather straps no less

Today is a big day for Asus, as the Taiwanese company has unveiled three new smartphones,a MacBook killer, and a few Surface Pro competitors. There is however another product that it's working on, but which hasn't been officially announced for whatever reason.

And yes, it's a VR headset. Recently we've seen a lot of smartphone makers also showing VR headsets - ZTE did so just last week, for example. So it looks like Asus simply couldn't miss bringing its own take to this nascent market.

Unfortunately no official details about the headset are known at this point, even if it was present at Asus' Computex event as the picture above can attest. It seems to be made out of metal, and the straps look like they're leather, which is a neat differentiating feature in an otherwise pretty standard package.

You get a touchpad and buttons on one side for navigation, a la the Samsung Gear VR, except you're not going to put a Samsung smartphone inside it - obviously any of the three new Zenfone 3 models should fit. That said, their 1080p resolution might not work wonders in VR.

Samsung built a 5.5 inch 4K smartphone screen for VR

Remember when just a few short years ago, the smartphone industry was shifting from 720p (1280x720px) to 1080p (1920x1080px) displays and we thought: What for? We don’t need so much resolution just to read text and see pictures off the screen, right?

Well, no one would have predicted at that time that we’d be sticking our phones into VR headsets to enjoy an immersive virtual reality experience powered by our everyday smartphones and the displays they power.

The demand for 4K (3840x2160px) has since sky-rocketed. Especially with Google recently announcing its VR platform called Daydream and 4K TVs becoming more and more common, there is more reason for consumers and OEMs alike to be interested in even higher resolution screens with pixel densities soaring past 800 ppi. (Samsung’s 5.5 inch 4K display is at 806 ppi!)

Source: UploadVR.com

Smasung’s recently showed off its newest 5.5 inch 4K AMOLED display at San Francisco’s Display Week conference. The screen’s display read “High Resolution for VR”. The display features a 97% color gamut and 350nit brightness.

The current VR experience in smartphones is limited by the resolution of the screens that are inserted into the VR device (Gear VR, Google cardboard, Loop VR, just to name a few). Even the Galaxy Note 5 or the Galaxy S7 both have QHD (2560x1440px) and the VR experience is still somewhat a novelty.

So reasonably, the next step to improve the VR experience with smartphones would be to bump up the resolution.

Leak reveals Samsung is working on a Gear VR controller

The Oculus Rift shipped with an Xbox controller, soon the Samsung Gear VR will have a controller of its own too. Instead of reusing a console controller like the Oculus, Samsung designed a custom device.

The advantage of going bespoke is that the controller snugly fits inside the Gear VR headset when not in use, making it easier to transport (and portability is the Gear VR's main advantage).

The controller itself bears the Oculus logo and has a single analog stick, four action buttons and two shoulder buttons. It connects to the phone over Bluetooth and reportedly weighs a hefty 300g (an Xbox One controller is around 220g).

   

The leak didn't come with price and launch date info, hopefully, we won't have to wait until IFA to see it. Samsung's earlier GamePad had more controls, but it didn't gain much popularity.

will.i.am launches i.am+ EPs Bluetooth earphones exclusively on Apple Store

Musician will.i.am, more commonly found these days releasing tech products than music albums, has come up with yet another device - a pair of Bluetooth wireless earphones.

The i.am+ EPs, as they are called, are a pair of single cord in-ear earphones that run behind your neck like the Jaybird X2 or the Plantronics Backbeat. But while these two are designed to be used during workouts, the EPs are meant for casual listening, as they don't have a secure fit design or sweat resistance.

What you get instead is a spun metal finish on the back of each speaker that resembles vinyls. A remote control on the left side lets you control your music playback and the microphone lets you make calls or talk to Siri. The earphones themselves don't seal your ears but rather sit inside like Apple's own EarPods.

The EPs come in limited edition box set with lifestyle booklet custom-made by will.i.am, and also features his voice when you turn them or connect to Bluetooth.

The i.am+ EPs are available in black and gold for $229.95 and available exclusively through Apple online store.

PLAYSTATION 4 THE REVIEW

PLAYSTATION 4

THE REVIEW

In the seven years since the introduction of the PlayStation 3, we've seen our gaming consoles transform into living-room hubs through constant evolution and software updates. Those updates weren't always smooth – though on PS3, they were always happening – but it's easy to see just how far the platform has come.

Meanwhile, the designers of the PlayStation 4 were taking notes and designing a console that, feature by feature, sought to address the failings of its predecessor. The PS3 was notoriously difficult to program for, thanks to its proprietary silicon. So the PS4 was built to be developer-friendly, with a familiar, PC-like architecture. The PS3 was announced with a bizarre, boomerang-shaped controller, and launched with the rumble-free Sixaxis controller before settling into the never-great DualShock 3 controller. So the PS4 comes with the DualShock 4, inarguably the best controller Sony's ever made. And the PS3 launched at an abnormally high price point, costing $200 more than its competition. So the PS4 carries a far more aggressive price, asking $100 less than the competition this time around.

While Sony in 2006 was focused on driving adoption of the Blu-ray standard, envisioning another home media boom that never quite materialized, Sony in 2013 has no such distractions. The PS4 isn't built to sell 3D TVs, or Blu-ray discs or any other corporate mandate. It's a gaming console, a clear message that Sony has been quick to repeat.

That focus has resulted in a console that's better positioned than the PlayStation 3 was in 2006 to compete in an expanding turf war for the living room. But that same focus has also kept Sony from taking the kinds of chances that make generational leaps so exciting.

THE CONSOLE

HARDWARE & DESIGN

The PS4 is Sony's most attractively designed piece of hardware. It's a beautiful system, with a sharp, slightly angled profile accented by a light bar that acts as a console status indicator.

On the back, PS4 has gone digital-only with HDMI/optical ports, and no analog audio or video outputs. We appreciate the internal power supply — it sounds like a small thing, but it's one less object to sit on the shelf next to or behind the PlayStation 4.

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In the bad column, it's a collection of moderate to minor annoyances. The PS4 doesn't support the new 802.11ac wireless standard, instead relying on an 802.11b/g/n radio at 2.4 GHz — no 5 GHz support here either, all of which is disappointing to see on a consumer device in 2013. More annoyingly to many on staff, the PS4 doesn't include an IR port for universal remotes, nor does it support Logitech's PlayStation 3 Bluetooth Harmony adapter or the PS3 Bluetooth Blu-ray remote. This omission seems to signal Sony's abandonment of the media aspirations that drove much of the PS3's basic design.

Players who want to game privately on their consoles might be temporarily annoyed at the absence of Bluetooth headphone audio support for the PS4 at launch.

This is offset somewhat: the PS4 can broadcast all game audio (and voice chat) to the audio/mic jack on the DualShock 4, which is compatible with all headphones and mobile headsets using 1/8 inch audio adapters — though enabling game audio output on the DualShock 4 disables all audio via HDMI and optical out.

Despite these problems, Sony nails the fundamentals with the PS4 hardware. The half-gloss, half-matte finish is a pleasant visual compromise. It's a grown-up machine, designed more like a stylish DVD player than a gaudy video game console. It's a small, attractive system, and one that also happens to pack more powerful hardware in its diminutive frame than any other console.

The PS4 is Sony's most attractively designed piece of hardware.

It's an impressive technical achievement. It's also compact enough to fade into your entertainment center without being distracting or ostentatious, and we appreciate that it retains the PS2's and PS3's ability to stand vertically. Those of you with frisky pets or children may want to invest in the vertical stand, sold separately, for some added stability.

Oh, and it will charge controllers over USB while in standby mode. Finally.

CONTROLLER

DUALSHOCK 4

We can say this unequivocally: The DualShock 4 is the best controller Sony has ever made.

Now that the PlayStation 4 and a new console generation are upon us, a contingent of Polygon's editorial staff feels free to finally admit a deep, unbridled hatred of the DualShock 3. The sticks were too close together, too squishy; the triggers weren't triggers; those of us with bigger hands had difficulty using the controller for very long.

DUALSHOCK 3

DUALSHOCK 4

DUALSHOCK 4

Sony has solved every one of these problems with the DualShock 4. Its sticks are farther apart, with semi-concave pits in the middle designed to hold the tips of your thumbs in place. The shoulders feature actual concave triggers with pull similar to an Xbox 360 controller.

The controller is just a little heavier, just a little bigger. It's much more comfortable to hold over long periods of time. Making even die-hard DualShock 3 haters on the Polygon staff converts, the DualShock 4 is the most immediately apparent improvement offered by the PS4.

The DualShock 4 is the best controller Sony has ever made.

There are several small touches that, as with the console itself, underscore a sense of general hardware quality and polish. The DualShock 4's front-facing light glows blue for the primary connected player and changes colors based on the order in which it's synced to the console. Games can also take over the light and change its color, but the most practical use is the amber glow the DualShock 4 emits while it's charging.

While Sony has seemingly done nothing to expose or surface it, the DualShock 4 also introduces refined gyroscopic and accelerometer-based motion control. It's an incredible improvement from the Sixaxis and the DualShock 3.

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IMPERFECTIONS

The DualShock 4 isn't without some minor issues: the new options and share buttons are far too flush with the face of the controller and take too much pressure to use. It quickly proved easier to use the PlayStation button — now situated between the controller's analog sticks — to suspend a title to take quick breaks.

But our biggest complaint for a controller that some at Polygon otherwise consider the best they've ever used: the battery life.

The new touchpad works well for certain functions, like selecting weapon modes in Killzone: Shadow Fall. But it proved a poor mouse substitute inAssassin's Creed 4's map screen, with slow, latency-prone movement. We'll need more opportunities to use it in more titles before we can determine whether this is a hardware or software problem.

But our biggest complaint for a controller that some at Polygon otherwise consider the best they've ever used: over the course of 100-hundred plus hours with the DualShock 4, the battery life appears to sit somewhere in the 7- to 8-hour neighborhood, a fraction of the 30-hour battery life on the DualShock 3. As the system only includes one micro USB cable 1.5 - 2m in length, marathon sessions might happen on your floor near the PS4. As with the DualShock 3, the DualShock 4 battery isn't intended to be replaced, though enterprising users may be able to find replacements online in the coming years.

GAMES

LAUNCH LINEUP

After we've spent approximately four weeks with the PS4 at review events and with review hardware, Sony's primary goal for the system is clear.

There are pros and cons to this approach. This drive toward games first will in all probability lead to a strong ecosystem of exclusives and multiplatform titles on the PS4. The emphasis on powerful hardware dedicated to gaming software is already yielding tangible advantages over the competition, with games like Battlefield 4 running in higher resolution on the PlayStation 4 than the Xbox One.

Make no mistake: the PS4 is demonstrably more powerful than the competition.

However, at launch, the PS4 has failed to muster a software library that sells that hardware.

Downloadable shooter Resogun is a beautiful bright spot in the PlayStation 4's lineup, and even better, it's free for PlayStation Plus subscribers. But Sony's major AAA launch exclusives are impossible to recommend. Killzone: Shadow Fall is gorgeous but poorly designed and boring for the duration of its campaign. Sony Japan's Knack is a surprisingly difficult grind, which drags on for too long with too little to say or do.

Worse for Sony, the delta between most next-gen and current-gen releases this fall has proven minimal beyond superficial visual improvements. While games like Assassin's Creed 4 look better on PlayStation 4, they aren't enough to recommend stepping onward and upward to a new console.

This is an enormous challenge for the PS4. As a system focusing on games, that's where it currently lives or dies. Just as problematic, Sony's currently announced slate of platform exclusives is thin — shy of Infamous: Second Son, there's little to carry the PS4 through the spring and summer of 2014. This is a notoriously precarious period for new consoles, as demonstrated by the software struggles of both the PlayStation Vita and the Wii U in the year following their release, and we're not sure what bridges Sony intends to build between release and holiday 2014.

Sony's repeated emphasis on indie titles has borne little fruit for launch outside of the disastrousContrast, which appears for free on PlayStation Plus. We expect that 2014 will be dotted with some of the titles that Sony brought to this year's E3 and Gamescom stages — but their absence from view has us wondering what happened and, more specifically, why they couldn't make it for launch.

To be clear, we're not saying there won't be good, interesting software for the PS4. We think that's inevitable. But we don't know what that software will be, or when it will see release.

XBOX ONE THE REVIEW

The Xbox 360 that exists in 2013 bears little resemblance to the console that Microsoft launched in 2005. It’s so different, in fact, that it helps to think of the company’s new Xbox One as an evolution, not of the original Xbox 360 but of the one that exists today.

Over that eight-year span, the Xbox 360 underwent radical transformations. In 2008, the "New Xbox Experience" delivered an entirely new interface, customizable player Avatars, eight-player party chat and Netflix streaming, a first for video game consoles. In 2010, the first iteration of Kinect and the platform’s voice and gesture controls redefined the 360 once again.

That focus on entertainment never diminished the Xbox 360's gaming bona fides, however. Between first-party exclusives like Halo, third-party console exclusives like Left 4 Dead and timed exclusives like The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, the Xbox 360 never wanted for games. The Xbox Live Arcade program made games like Castle Crashers, Braid andLimbo into household names. Despite its investment in entertainment, the Xbox 360 was always a video game console.

But there was a sense that the Xbox 360's greater aspirations as a mainstream portal for entertainment were restrained by hardware created before our current age of streaming video, tablets and smartphones.

So when examining the Xbox One, it may seem familiar. This is what Microsoft has been working toward all these years, effectively showing its next-generation hand as early as 2008. While the Xbox 360 was upgraded, the Xbox One was developed in parallel, but as a beginning, not an end. And despite its familiar elements and concepts, the Xbox One still manages a genuine sense of wonder, all without losing sight of the strong gaming foundation the Xbox was built on.

THE CONSOLE

HARDWARE & DESIGN

The nicest description most Polygon staff could manage for the Xbox One's silhouette is "inoffensive" — there's no sugarcoating the console's lack of visual flair. Microsoft has created a system designed to blend into the other components of your home entertainment center, and it does that ... for better or worse.

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The console lacks the profile and space-saving considerations of the PlayStation 4 — or even the original Xbox 360. Not only is the console larger than the original Xbox 360, but the new Kinect sensor is larger than the first one. Even the massive power brick from the last generation makes a not-so-welcome return.

It's quiet, and it runs relatively cool. But if you’re looking for subtlety, this is not the console for you.

However, given the Xbox 360's notorious reliability problems, it's a little reassuring that the Xbox One was given so much room to breathe. It's quiet, and it runs relatively cool. But if you're looking for subtlety, this is not the console for you.

Like the PS4, the Xbox One has gone digital-only with its audio and video — you'll only find HDMI and optical audio ports. For network connectivity, Microsoft has added a gigabit Ethernet port. It doesn't support 802.11ac, but the Xbox One does connect to 5 GHz wireless networks.

A single game can occupy as much as 50 GB — and that's before any DLC, expansions, or major title updates.

The Xbox One also features an HDMI input in the back. This is designed for the system's television capabilities, but it will actually work with any HDMI device. If you're as disappointed as we are by the lack of backwards compatibility this generation and want to keep an Xbox 360 or PS3 plugged in here, we've got some bad news: It works, but our most lag-sensitive editors wouldn't want to play that way.

There are also three USB 3.0 ports — two on the back and one on the side — that are currently only useful for charging controllers and connecting the imminent Killer Instinct Fightstick from MadCatz.

Lastly, unlike the Xbox 360, the Xbox One has a Blu-ray drive, meaning those of you with a soft spot for physical media won't need to keep a second device around. That drive is partnered with a 500 GB internal hard drive, where all games are installed. While that may sound like a lot of room, a single game can occupy as much as 50 GB — and that's before any DLC, expansions or major title updates. While unfortunately missing on day one, Microsoft has promised support for external storage after launch, a significant improvement from the expensive proprietary storage options available on Xbox 360.

CONTROLLER

A SMALL STEP FORWARD

Microsoft had the unenviable task of redesigning something that nobody thought was broken. The Xbox 360 controller was universally praised, so it shouldn't be surprising that the Xbox One controller is familiar. Improvements have been made to the triggers, which now feature rumble motors; the D-pad, which is now a cross; and the thumbsticks, which are now smaller and more accurate. It's a comfortable controller with a good amount of weight, and a great texture not only makes it feel more premium but ameliorates the gross, slippery feel following a long session with the Xbox 360 controller.

XBOX 360

XBOX ONE

Not all the changes are home runs, though. The new bumpers split opinions at Polygon — some editors feel they're more difficult to click than the 360's shoulder buttons. When compared to moving the "Black" and "White" buttons on the original Xbox controller to the shoulders on Xbox 360, this modification seems superfluous at best and a detriment at worst.

We haven't been able to fully deplete a charge on our controllers in a week and a half of constant play.

The Xbox One controller features a more recessed space for the battery, as opposed to the outward bump found on the back of the Xbox 360's controller. By default, it uses standard AA batteries — while the rechargeable AA battery users on staff adapted quickly, others were nonplussed that there wasn't a rechargeable option in the box.

But you won't spend a lot of time worrying about batteries. We haven't been able to fully deplete a charge on our controllers in a week and a half of constant play. While the controller's micro USB port won't charge a pair of rechargeable AA batteries — that will have to be done separately, just like the Xbox 360's controller — it will disable the controller's proprietary wireless connection in favor of the direct wired connection. It's a small but valuable improvement from the Xbox 360 controller.

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One of the most exciting additions to the controller is actually behind that unusually long battery life. The controller works in coordination with Kinect to monitor its use. When you put the controller down to watch a movie, it enters a low-power state. It’s a smart way of extending the utility of Kinect in a practical way.

When you put the controller down to watch a movie, it enters a low-power state.

The Xbox One also supports the Wi-Fi Direct standard for, well, direct wireless connections between devices. This kind of connection eliminates your wireless router from the equation, reducing latency and speeding up transfer speeds — which Microsoft is using for the Xbox One's new, improved version of SmartGlass (discussed later).

GAMES

LAUNCH LINEUP

Bad news first: The Xbox One's hefty lineup of exclusive titles isn't without its misses. Crimson Dragon is a disappointing follow-through on its potential as a successor to Panzer Dragoon. LocoCycle is reprehensible in almost every way — it's racist, sexist, amateurish and monotonous. Ryse is beautiful but boring (and thankfully short).

But Microsoft has secured a comparatively large number of Xbox One-exclusive titles for launch, assembling a lineup with broad appeal. Dead Rising 3is technically impressive and a fun playground, with bad writing and so-so controls — but running from hundreds of zombies across the hoods of cars feels like a truly next-gen experience.

The Xbox One is a hundred dollars more than its direct competition, and several third-party games run in lower resolution than they do on the PS4.

Zoo Tycoon is a flawed but compelling game with a surprising amount of depth. Powerstar Golf is a simple but delightfully approachable casual golf game, filling the hole left by Sony's missing-in-action Hot Shots Golf series. Killer Instinct is a pretty decent reboot for the long-dormant franchise, despite some trepidation about its business model. And Forza Motorsport 5 is the best of the bunch, a strong evolution for the series despite a reduced number of tracks and cars.

The Xbox One costs $100 more than its direct competition, and several third-party games run in lower resolution than they do on the PS4. Every exclusive title is beset by long load times. But Microsoft has managed to complement an otherwise competent collection of third-party releases with a strong lineup of games that are only available on Xbox One.