In September, during the iPhone 11 launch, Apple said it’ll soon ship Deep Fusion, a new feature that’ll boost the phone’s excellent camera performance. The feature is now rolling out to everyone with the latest iOS 13.2 update.
If you haven’t updated your phone yet, you should go to Settings > General > Software Update to download and install the latest version.
According to the iPhone maker, the new feature enhances the level of details and reduces noise in a photo, thanks to “computational photography mad science.” Behind the scenes, the phone takes multiple frames at different exposures, and then processes pixel by pixel to improve the image quality; just like SmartHDR, but smarter.
To use Deep Fusion, you don’t have to do anything fancy. Just go to the camera app and start taking photos. The feature is enabled automatically, and you don’t need to press any buttons to switch it on.
But what if you want to see the difference between a non-Deep Fusion and a Deep Fusion photo? Go to Settings > Camera, and turn on the Photos Capture Outside the Frame toggle. Apple says Deep Fusion doesn’t work in that mode.I’d like to see the camera app gain a toggle button for this in its main interface.
At the moment, the internet’s quitedivided on declaring Deep Fusion as the camera feature of the year. Here are two photos I took from my iPhone 11 – the first one is with Deep Fusion, and the second one is without. As you can see, it’s quite hard to spot any improvements in this instance.
A photo with Deep FusionA photo without Deep Fusion
That said, it’s possible to get better results in some circumstances. We tested Deep Fusion using the iOS 13.2 developer beta earlier this month, and we were quite impressed with the detail in those trial shots. We’ll surely be taking photos of more blankets and sweaters with the stable rollout to see if the feature really makes a world of a difference to iPhone 11’s photos. Stay tuned to Plugged for more.
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After months of speculation, it’s been officially announced that Death Stranding is coming to PC – and it will arrive on gaming computers “early summer of 2020”.
The revelation comes from Hideo Kojima himself, the iconic creator of Death Stranding (and best known for the Metal Gear Solid series of games).
That means that Death Stranding is no longer a PS4 exclusive – though PlayStation gamers are getting the game (much) earlier, with it launching on PS4 on November 8, 2019.
Thanks to all of you who have been supporting #DEATHSTRANDING!DEATH STRANDING release on PS4 is November 8, 2019!!Furthermore, KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS is happy to announce that DEATH STRANDING will be coming to PC in early summer of 2020!!#kojimaproductions #deathstrandingpc pic.twitter.com/Sk4clWWY1XOctober 28, 2019
So, this is great news for PC gamers who have been eyeing up Kojima’s strange-looking game. We’re still not completely sure what the game is about, but considering Kojima’s legacy in producing some of the best games ever made, we can be pretty sure that PC games – alongside PS4 owners – will have a treat in store for them.
The new Nvidia Shield devices that leaked last week are both going on sale today. There’s the $199.99 Nvidia Shield TV Pro, with a design identical to that of the previous model, and the all-new $149.99 Nvidia Shield TV. Both now feature Dolby Vision, in addition to the HDR10 and Dolby Atmos audio that were offered by the previous Shield, and they come with a redesigned remote. The other big new feature is an AI-powered upscaling system that makes 1080p content look more detailed and closer to 4K quality.
I’ve spent a few days testing the tube-shaped Shield TV, and I think it’s going to appeal to an even wider audience than the home theater enthusiasts who’ve been drawn to the Shield for its sheer horsepower and software (Android TV) that allows for plenty of tinkering. Want to load the Shield up with emulators and game ROMs? Have at it. Sideload to your heart’s content.
Both the Shield TV Pro and Shield TV include Nvidia’s Tegra X1+ chip, which is “up to 25 percent faster” than the older device. The Shield has always been strong when it comes to performance, and I don’t think you’ll find a faster Android TV experience anywhere. This kind of speed and fluidity is rivaled only by the Apple TV 4K. Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, and other apps open near-instantly and are buttery smooth as you scroll around for something to watch. Google Assistant responds quickly, and Android TV can now be included in routines created with the Google Home app.
I’ve grown rather bullish on Android TV in my time using the Shield. The home screen is nicely customizable and isn’t laced with ads like a Roku or Fire TV. You can Chromecast to the Shield TV, and voice commands through Google Assistant work reliably. Google is also finally improving the Play Store on Android TV for easier discoverability.
AGREE TO CONTINUE: SHIELD TV
Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.
To use Nvidia’s Shield TV Pro or Shield TV, you must agree to:
Google terms of service
Google privacy policy
Google Play terms of service
Nvidia terms of service
Nvidia privacy policy
The following agreements are optional:
Location data
Diagnostics
Final tally: five mandatory agreements and two or more optional agreements
The Shield TV’s design is certainly unconventional. You’re not going to mistake this thing for an Apple TV or Roku. And at over 6 inches long, the Shield TV is by no means a streaming “stick.” It’s not meant to hang off from your TV’s HDMI port. Instead, Nvidia thinks most customers will either hide it behind the TV or even leave on the floor behind their entertainment cabinet.
At both ends of the tube are different ports: HDMI, microSD, and a remote finder button on one side, and ethernet and power on the other. The microSD slot is so close to the HDMI port that access will almost certainly be obstructed by any HDMI cable’s housing, so you might have to remove the cord whenever you load up a card with new movies or other content. Still, I’m glad Nvidia included expandable storage here since the Shield TV itself only has 8GB onboard.
The Shield TV Pro, which has a more traditional set top box design, has double the storage (16GB) and more RAM (3GB instead of 2GB on the Shield TV). Those numbers still strike me as low for a $200 device, however. The Pro is the only one of the two that can be used as a Plex Media Server, and you also get two USB 3.0 ports for plugging in external drives, keyboards/mice, or Samsung’s SmartThings Link. I’ve been reading some early feedback from disappointed customers who hoped Nvidia would get more ambitious with this hardware. Besides the ever-so-slightly-faster processor refresh (for an aging chip) and Dolby Vision, there’s really not much that’s new, and the Shield TV Pro lacks Wi-Fi 6 and HDMI 2.1.
Neither version comes with a game controller anymore. The Shield gamepad can still be purchased separately, and Android TV also supports Sony’s DualShock 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One controllers. Nvidia’s GeForce Now game streaming service comes included and is still free — for now — while in beta. Google’s own Stadia service isn’t expected to arrive on Android TV until sometime next year, so Nvidia doesn’t have to sweat that competition just yet.
The remote that does come in the box is vastly improved. It now features buttons for power, volume, and rewind / fast forward. The voice search, home, and back buttons are still present, and at the bottom is a dedicated shortcut button for Netflix. It’s the only service that gets this treatment, and Nvidia told me that’s because Netflix is far and away the most popular service among its customers.
At the upper right corner of the remote is a button that you can customize to open any app (I predict Plex and Kodi will be popular choices), launch the settings menu, take a screenshot, or any number of other possibilities. The remote’s buttons are backlit and activate when motion is detected. It runs off two AAA batteries and has Bluetooth (for communicating with the Shield) and IR (for controlling your TV and soundbar).
The 2019 Shields support Dolby Vision, HDR10 (not HDR10+), Dolby Atmos, and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound. So you’ll find plenty of 4K HDR movies and TV shows from all the usual suspects, and the Netflix app finally outputs Atmos on Shield. But there is one disappointment: the Shield TV won’t play HDR from YouTube since Nvidia hasn’t gotten behind the VP9 profile (and has no plans to).
For any content that isn’t in 4K, it’s worth trying out Nvidia’s new AI-enhanced upscaling. When done well, upscaling can make it seem like you’re watching content at a higher resolution than the original source material; everything looks crisper and more detailed. But TVs and streaming gadgets tend to do a subpar job at it. Nvidia says it trained a “deep learning neural network” on how best to upscale 1080p and even 720p video to 4K, and it runs that neural network in real time whenever you’re playing video on the Shield TV and Shield TV Pro. Here’s more from Nvidia on how it works:
We trained a convolutional neural network (CNN) to predict the residual (difference) between a regular linear scaled video and high-resolution 4K ground truth video (reference quality). After training the network with tons of video content, it gets really good at predicting the difference between the two videos. Then, when fed only the scaled video content, it can apply the prediction and produce near-4K results. Once trained, the neural network model runs in real-time on the Tegra X1+ processor and upscales video just before it is displayed on the TV.
So, is it a gimmick or does it really work? I’d vote the latter. Nvidia’s system makes a noticeable difference, and it’s not just blanketing everything with a coat of sharpening. The AI upscaling doesn’t work for 60fps video, nor does it run when you’re playing games. But for everything else, you can have it optimizing the on-screen picture at all times. And I came away very impressed.
You can’t watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 4K on Netflix, but I definitely noticed more clarity in clothing and on faces when AI-enhanced upscaling was switched on. You can set the remote’s customizable button to toggle this feature on and off if you want, and there’s even a “demo mode” where you can drag a slider along the current frame to see the difference it makes and what part of the image it’s enhancing. By default, detail enhancement is set to medium, but it can be cranked up or lowered if you find it’s producing weird artifacts that aren’t in the source content. I haven’t really encountered that, so I’ve kept the AI upscaling enabled.
The 2019 Shield TV is immediately shooting up near the top of my recommendations list for those who want a top-notch streaming experience in their living room. At $149, it still hangs onto the best elements of the pricier Shield TV Pro — speed, flexibility, and that great new remote — and leaves power user features for the power user product. There’s definitely a feeling of sameness to the Pro model, and I doubt current Shield owners will be compelled to upgrade until Nvidia makes more meaningful hardware advancements. But for those new to Android TV, there’s no device better at showcasing it.
Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge
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Though we loved the 13-inch Surface Laptop when it first shipped two years ago, a lot has changed for thin and light premium laptops since then. Now the line just doesn't stand out the way it once did, even the new 15-inch model. At first it isn't clear who the 15-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is for: Compared to the rest of its many competitors, it's not particularly light, or fast or feature packed. It's not inexpensive or full of cutting-edge tech and it doesn't have a long battery life. But it's reasonably light, sufficiently fast, looks pleasantly sleek, is partly upgradeable, backward-compatible with previous power supplies and sold by Microsoft. So it probably does make sense for one class of laptop buyers: enterprise.
The pricing for the 15-inch model starts at $1,199 (£1,199, AU$1,999), but that version has only 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. Windows 10 takes 20GB, and if you're a Microsoft Office shop that will take another 6GB, and with that little memory you'll run a pretty large swap file. You really can't run anything on that configuration except maybe cloud-based applications, and even then it's barely really enough memory to hold Windows and a lot of browser tabs. It's possible that this configuration was intended to run a lightweight version of Windows rumored to compete with Chrome OS, but who knows.
Our $1,699 (£1,699, AU$2,799) test configuration, with 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD, is the minimum configuration I could recommend, and even that storage is only enough if you don't save a lot of files locally or download video for travel. And that's a lot to pay for what you get compared with competitors: Laptops like the Lenovo Yoga C930, which is smaller at 14 inches but superior in every other way for hundreds less, or the LG Gram 17, which has a slightly larger footprint (a 17-inch display in a 15.6-inch size) but delivers a lot more for the same money. On sale it might be a different story, though.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch)
Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch)
Price as reviewed
$1,699 (£1,699, AU$2,799)
Display
15-inch 2,496 x 1,664 (201 ppi, 3:2 aspect ratio) pen and touch display
PC CPU
AMD Ryzen 5 3580U Microsoft Surface Edition
PC Memory
16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2667MHz
Graphics
AMD Vega 9
Storage
256GB SSD
Ports
1 x USB-C, 1 x USB-A, headphone jack, proprietary power
Networking
Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), Bluetooth 5
Operating system
Windows 10 Home 1903
Weight
3.4 lbs/1.5 kg
The design is essentially the same as the 13-inch Surface Laptop 3, which means it's basically a bigger Surface Laptop 2, which was essentially just the Surface Laptop. There are two nontrivial differences: a monitor-compatible-via-dongle USB-C port replaces the mini DisplayPort connector and it's more easily opened, so the SSD can be upgraded (the memory is still soldered and the battery difficult to remove). It also has a metal keyboard deck rather than the odd Alcantara fabric.
Google Play Music has been the official Google music streaming service for years, and it’s just hit a landmark figure on the Play Store.
The music app has reached five billion downloads on the Play Store, according to Android Police. This reportedly makes it the sixth app to cross this mark, following Chrome, Gmail, Maps, Search, and YouTube.
It’s worth noting that all these apps are pre-installed on Android devices, boosting the listed download figures in the process.
Editor's Pick
10 best music streaming apps and music streaming services for Android!
Music streaming has grown up tremendously since its inception and is now among the best ways to listen to music. Many streaming services let you listen for free, which has helped curb the need for …
Unfortunately, this could be the apex of Google Play Music’s growth, as Google will pre-install YouTube Music instead of Play Music on future Android phones. Google confirmed the news on the YouTube blog last month, saying all new devices launching with Android 10 and Android Pie will offer the app out of the box.
Hopefully Google keeps Play Music around until YouTube Music achieves feature parity at the very least. Right now, the new app lacks Play Music’s cloud locker functionality, the ability to halt autoplay, and sleep timer functionality, to name a few features.
What would it take for you to use YouTube Music? Let us know in the comments!
A device used by Samsung to launch a Cara Delevingne selfie into space has apparently made a dramatic return to Earth. Nancy Mumby-Welke of Gratiot County, Michigan, heard a loud crash outside her farmland home this weekend and discovered a large object in her backyard. “Unbelievable look what just fell out of the sky and 911 is baffled and it’s caught up in our tree,” she posted to Facebook along with a photo.
“We realized it had fallen from the sky,” Mumby-Welke told NBC News. “It looked like a satellite.” The device carried both a Samsung logo and that of South Dakota-based high-altitude balloon manufacturer Raven Industries, which eventually came to collect the crashed apparatus.
“No injuries occurred and the balloon was subsequently retrieved,” Samsung said to NBC. “We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.” The company claims the landing was “planned” and happened in a “selected rural area.”
As PR stunts go, this one was over the top even by Samsung’s standards. The “SpaceSelfie” program involved a photo of Cara Delevingne that was taken on a Galaxy S10 Plus and was supposedly “the world’s first selfie sent to space.” Users could then upload their own photos to a website for a chance to see them displayed on the screen of a Galaxy S10 5G on board the balloon.
“Our relentless pioneering spirit continues to show that amazing things happen on Samsung screens – even from the stratosphere.” Samsung Europe CMO Benjamin Braun said at the launch event. “Our ethos is Do What You Can’t and the Samsung SpaceSelfie is just that. We continually break the boundaries of what is possible with innovation and tonight’s SpaceSelfie launch is no different.”
October is almost over, and with a few days remaining, it’s possible an AirPods Pro launch still materializes. After all, it was reported that the newly designed wireless earphones would be unveiled later this month, with the product expected to arrive with an expensive price tag. According to Ben Geskin, who has revealed some interesting rumors concerning the iPhone 12’s design has made an important revelation, so let us check out these details right away.
It’s Unclear if Apple Will Host a Proper Event to Showcase the AirPods Pro Launch
Ben Geskin, who is widely known for creating unique concept renders of various smartphones and other machines believes that the AirPods Pro launch is expected to take place next week. Of course, some readers might be confused with the terms ‘this week’ primarily due to different time zones. Geskin didn’t reveal the date of the rumored launch, no doubt creating additional confusion in the process.
AirPods Pro will be shown next week on Tuesday / Wednesday at an event / session with journalists at Apple's local offices pic.twitter.com/HFLqpHAGkg
Thankfully, some people participating in the Twitter thread stated that Geskin’s currently resides in Latvia, and during the time he posted the tweet, it was still a Sunday. Using these facts, this immediately translates into the unveiling happening during the last few days of October and not during the first week of November. According to Geskin, the AirPods Pro launch will either take place on Tuesday or Wednesday (launch might not be held on Wednesday since Apple will release its Q4 2019 financial results), with the press possibly being debriefed about the product at Apple’s local offices.
Did the sources say anything about MacBook Pro 16? Also confirm if it's 29/30th Oct. or 5/6th Nov?
Hopefully, the AirPods Pro launch means we’ll get to see the wireless earphones in various color options, as reported earlier. Sadly, we’ve only seen an alleged white colored case so far, so let us hope Apple introduces more finishes in the near future.
He lives in Latvia, it’s still Sunday in where he lives, so he probably meant next week as in the week of October 28th.
Will the AirPods Pro Features Justify Its Pricing?
To bring you up to speed, previously leaked code found in iOS 13.2 beta states the AirPods Pro launch should be accompanied with features like active noise cancellation, as well as rubber tips that block out ambient sound for an improved audio experience. We’re also hoping that this ‘new design’ is accompanied with an improved battery life statistic, otherwise, the rumored $260 price might appear as a ripoff to a lot of customers.
Like always, we recommend that you treat this info with a pinch of salt for now, and we’ll be back with more updates for you in the future. Are you looking forward to an AirPods Pro launch during the last few days of October? Let us know by commenting below.
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