Nintendo had its strongest Switch quarter ever this holiday season, moving 10.81 million units to reach a total of 52.48 million sold as of the end of 2019. That means it’s now overtaken the SNES to become Nintendo’s third best-selling home console of all time behind the Wii and the NES.
Pokémon Sword and Shield were a huge hit over the holiday season, moving more than 16 million copies. That’s almost 4 million more than Super Smash Bros. Ultimate registered in its launch quarter a year ago, although Pokémon went on sale about three weeks earlier. Luigi’s Mansion 3 was another big success, selling over 5 million copies.
Nintendo’s Switch hardware sales are up about 15 percent year-on-year, which the company attributes partly to the launch of the cheaper Switch Lite while also noting the December launch in China — though that’s unlikely to be a major factor yet. The 3DS, meanwhile, is now officially a non-factor with just 260,000 consoles sold even in a holiday quarter.
After teasing a 5.1 surround sound solution with the introduction of wireless speakers in 2018 and a soundbar in 2019, Roku is finally doing the thing. If you already own a Roku Soundbar you’ll be able to add additional speakers and a subwoofer for a 5.1 surround sound experience. More importantly, it will actually be super easy to set up and cost half as much as a similar system from Sonos.
Once you’ve experienced a 5.1 surround sound setup, it’s tough to go back to your TV’s built-in speakers, or even just a soundbar. But right now, 5.1 systems are split into three categories. The first is the cheap box systems like what you can get from Vizio. Soundbar, sub, and satellite speakers are all included in the box. Set them all up, tinker a little, and you have decent 5.1 surround. Or you can spend a lot of money ($1,000 or more) and build out your own system with a wide range of speakers, amplifiers, and an AV receiver. Home theater enthusiasts love this setup because it’s infinitely customizable and will sound great, but it’s also time-consuming to set up and really, really pricey.
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Finally, there’s...Sonos. Sonos has cornered the market on easy to set up 5.1 systems that you can build up at your own speed and that will sound as good as the big fancy custom setups. But Sonos is not cheap. It’s nearly $1,600 for a Sonos soundbar, sub, and two satellite speakers. Sure you can spread out that cost into more agreeable chunks—a $600 sub here, a $200 satellite speaker there, but it’s still costly.
Roku is hoping to do the same thing...only at a price more people would be willing to pay. First, you’ll need the soundbar. That’s required, and $180. You can get the sub at the same time which brings the cost up to $300 total. Or you can buy it separately for $180. Then it’s time to buy the speakers. They come as a pair for just $200. That means a total setup is $500 to $560, depending on whether you buy the sub with the soundbar or not.
Roku’s setup is more than $1,000 less than Sonos’s. There are caveats, of course. You’re relying on the Roku ad factory to effectively subsidize the cost of your system. Roku’s wireless audio system won’t let you stream music directly from the internet as the Sonos system will, or optimize audio for the room you’re in. There’s also no built-in Alexa or Google Assistant as you’ll get with the Sonos One speakers.
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As for how much you’ll compromise on audio quality...I’m not sure yet. To get a good understanding of how one system compares to the other, you need to listen to them side by side. I didn’t get that opportunity when I checked out the Roku system back at CES. A Roku representative played a demo reel of films for me, which sounded nice and seemed to give some clear distinction between the left and right rear channel—though the three separate channels the soundbar handle didn’t have quite as much distinction. Then the rep played a clip of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” which seemed to sound as rich and bass-heavy as when I listen to it while wearing a great pair of headphones.
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A Roku rep continued to walk me through the setup process for speakers. As with all things Roku, it was incredibly simple: You turn on the speaker, navigate to the setup menu in the soundbar’s built-in Roku, and choose the speaker you want set up. You still have to deal with the garish and outdated UI that Roku is known for, but overall I get the appeal—even if I would like to spend more time with the system before I go calling it a Sonos killer. Roku appears to have crafted a very affordable and very clean-operating 5.1 surround sound system that can be built at your leisure and set up with little fuss.
A software update allowing the various speakers to work together as a surround-sound system will come to Roku boxes in an update in February. In February you’ll also be able purchase much cheaper versions of all four speakers from Walmart under the Onn brand. The Onn-branded Roku soundbar will retail fro $130, the sub for $130, and a pair of wireless speakers will cost $150. That means a total system will cost just $410...provided you’re OK with buying your speakers at Walmart and don’t mind the Onn branding.
After some hints, an updated roadmap, and extensive beta program, the Android 10 update is now rolling out for the Samsung Galaxy S9 with Germany and those on Verizon’s Xfinity network in the US first in line.
The update brings with it the stable One UI 2.0 update which we’ve taken a closer look at on the Galaxy Note 10+ in recent weeks. Considering that a very recent roadmap hinted at a February release in the Netherlands, getting Android 10 a few days early feels like a gift.
[Update 01/29]: Good news for US Note 9 owners as it appears the Android 10 rollout has started according to SamMobile. The software version for this Android 10 update is N960USQU3DTA4, however, it’s worth noting that this may change depending on your local carrier. It’s also great to see that the January 2020 security patch is included in the update.
If you’re in the US and have the Galaxy Note 9, it may be worthwhile checking your device Software updates panel regularly as the rollout continues over the coming days and weeks.
Confirmation has come from Reddit, with posters in the US and Germany sharing information on the Android 10 upgrades they’ve received on their Galaxy S9 and S9+ devices. This is especially great news for those in the US, as often we see Exynos hardware get updates ahead of Snapdragon models. It also is a big hint that we’ll see the “big four” US carriers start rolling out their own localized update versions.
Being a full OS upgrade, this is a sizeable update at around 2GB and will bring with it firmware version G9600USQU7DTA5 and even includes the January 2020 security patch. It’s a little smaller for those in Germany at around 1.8GB but it too comes with the January patch.
Samsung has really done a superb job at getting all of the main Samsung Galaxy flagships right up to date with Android 10 this time around. Although we likely won’t see the Galaxy Note 8 and S8 get the upgrade, those with the S9, Note 9, S10 and Note 10 can now enjoy all of the benefits of OneUI 2.0 — with all updates being released within weeks of each other.
If you do have the Samsung Galaxy S9 and have seen the Android 10 update on your device, be sure to let us know down in the comments section below. We expect a wider rollout to happen over the coming days and weeks as more OS localizations are made.
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Windows 10 November 2019 Update came with no new features but offered plenty of bug fixes and system stability. These fixes and improvements were supposed to make the Windows 10 less annoying to use, but that didn’t happen for all users. Instead, users running Windows 10 November 2019 update faced a frustrating File Explorer bug, which remained unsolved for more than two months.
The good news is Microsoft finally has a fix for the annoying File Explorer bug. Users complained about the freezing of the Windows Explorer search bar. The bug also blocked users from right-clicking on the search bar of the File Explorer, thus preventing affected users from pasting anything in the File Explorer search bar. Now, with the latest Cumulative Update KB4532695 installed, you’ll no longer see these issues arising again.
Terming the Windows File Explorer bug “not a pressing issue“, Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc informed us that the company will start working to fix the issue after the holidays. And this explains why it took more than two months to bring a fix for the annoying bug.
If you want the File Explorer bug fixed, the only option that you have is to install the latest Cumulative Update. In order to download the update, head over to Settings> Update & Security> Check for updates.
Code discovered in the latest version of the Google Phone app has revealed more details about its unannounced call recording feature, 9to5Google reports. Most intriguing is a snippet of code that suggests the upcoming feature addition could also support call transcription, which would be similar to the Recorder app that the company debuted on the Pixel 4. XDA Developershas since managed to get the call recording feature partially working on a Pixel 4, but not transcriptions.
The newly uncovered code also gives us an idea of how Google is attempting to overcome the “security and privacy implications” that prevented call recording from being included in Android 10. Code snippets suggest that the app will warn you to comply with local laws while using the feature, and it also plays a short audio clip to warn participants when a call is being recorded.
Recorded calls can reportedly be played back from the call log according to XDA Developers, and can also be exported as .wav files if you want to listen to them elsewhere.
What’s still unclear is when the new functionality could launch. However, a big new feature like this feels like a prime candidate for one of the new “feature drops” that Google is promising to provide for its Pixel handsets. The Google Phone app is currently the default dialer app on Google Pixel, Android One, and Xiaomi’s European smartphones.
Update January 29th, 7:40AM ET: Updated with firsthand impressions from XDA Developers.
Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S20 — the successor to last year’s Galaxy S10, and the company’s next flagship — at its upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event on February 11th.
Per the rumors, Samsung will have three new flagship phones this year in the US (internationally, it’s a bit of a different story): the Galaxy S20, the Galaxy S20 Plus, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra. There are also rumors of a new foldable, the Galaxy Z Flip, for a total of four new flagships.
But if you can’t wait until the big announcement, don’t worry. Here’s everything we know so far:
S20 and S20 Plus
The two bread-and-butter phones are the S20 and S20 Plus, the direct sequels to last year’s Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus models (think of them as basically a Galaxy S11 and S11 Plus, by the old naming standards).
There are three big changes that Samsung’s expected to make with the S20, though: a new 120Hz display, an overhauled quadruple rear camera system, and updated processors that will include 5G support by default (at least in the US).
The 120Hz display has already been thoroughly leaked, thanks to an S20 Plus unit that’s made its way out into the wild. A leak from XDA Developers shows the display in action, revealing the super-fast 120Hz refresh rate that should offer far smoother animations. According to the leak, though, you’ll only be able to use the faster refresh rate with the lower FHD+ resolution. The higher-res WQHD+ setting will only work at 60Hz.
The rear cameras on the S20 are also getting upgrades. Last year, the S10 and S10 Plus offered three lenses: a wide-angle 12-megapixel (77-degree) lens, telephoto 12-megapixel (45-degree) lens, and an ultra-wide 16-megapixel (123-degree) lens. The new S20 models are expected to bump that up to the following specs:
The new phones are also expected to be even bigger than last year’s. According to a leaked spec sheet from Ishan Agarwal at MySmartPrice, the S20 will have a 6.2-inch screen, which is just slightly bigger than the 6.1-inch S10 from last year. The rumored 6.7-inch S20 Plus is closer to the similarly sized S10 5G model (which also had a 6.7-inch display), rather than the 6.4-inch S10 Plus. The larger S20 Plus is also expected to feature a bigger battery (4,500mAh) than the S10 Plus (4,100mAh).
Both of the new phones are expected to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Galaxy Note 10 lineup when it comes to overall design, featuring a taller 20:9 aspect ratio and a single, centered hole-punch selfie camera — an Infinity-O display, by Samsung’s branding.
Both models are expected to feature an ultrasonic fingerprint reader once again, as opposed to the conventional optical scanner used by most other in-display readers. It isn’t clear yet whether Samsung is using the same, occasionally problematic model as the S10 or Qualcomm’s new second-generation 3D Sonic Max sensor.
And finally, early rumors have confirmed that, much like the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Fold, the new S20 models will both sadly forgo the 3.5mm headphone jack, marking one of the last high-profile flagships to lose the audio standard.
S20 Ultra
The regular S20 models are all well and good, but the real star of the show is shaping up to be the S20 Ultra: an ultra-premium model with a bigger screen, beefier battery, and some truly absurd camera specs.
The S20 Ultra takes basically everything about the S20 and S20 Plus and just adds more. The display is still a 120Hz 20:9 panel, but the S20 Ultra reportedly has a massive 6.9-inch screen, making it even larger than the 6.8-inch Galaxy Note 10 Plus from last year. The battery is equally big at 5,000mAh, and it offers more RAM (up to 16GB).
But the groundbreaking upgrades come with the cameras. Like the S20 Plus, the S20 Ultra is expected to feature five lenses, with four rear cameras and a front-facing hole-punch selfie camera. But it’s the hardware here that’s different. Instead of a 12-megapixel main camera, the S20 Ultra is expected to feature the 108-megapixel sensor that Samsung has been working on for months. That ultra-high resolution sensor is apparently being combined with some software enhancements to enable a combined zoom of up to 100x, which Samsung is apparently calling “Space Zoom.”
Additionally, the phone will also reportedly feature a 48-megapixel telephoto lens, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 3D ToF sensor on the back. The front-facing camera is also getting upgraded to a 40-megapixel sensor, compared to the 10-megapixel sensor on the other models.
Assuming the leaks are accurate, all this would add up to making the S20 Ultra the biggest, most powerful phone Samsung’s ever made. Those specs won’t come cheap, though, with XDA’s Max Weinbach claiming that the phone will cost $1,300.
5G
Where last year’s S10 lineup was strictly LTE-based, with just the pricey S10 Plus 5G offering support for next-generation networks, all three S20 phones in the US will apparently offer 5G by default, and a single model may be able to support multiple US carriers. The US models are expected to feature Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 865 chipset — which has mandatory 5G support — making it likely that the S20 lineup will also serve as the biggest test for fledgling 5G networks yet.
Internationally, Samsung is expected to use its Exynos 990 processor, and offer both 4G and 5G variants, at least for the regular S20 and S20 Plus.
Go big or go home
Unfortunately, compared to Samsung’s 2019 lineup, there are no rumors this year about a replacement for last year’s smaller Galaxy S10E model, which featured a 5.8-inch display. While the foldable Galaxy Z Flip may fill the role of a physically smaller device for small phone fans, it seems that if you’d like a standard Galaxy S20 phone this year, the smallest size available will be the 6.2-inch S20.
Galaxy Buds Plus
The S20 lineup isn’t expected to be the only news for Samsung: the company is expected to announce a second-gen version of its Galaxy Buds headphones, the aptly named Galaxy Buds Plus. The new model appears pretty similar to last year’s version, but reportedly will offer twice the battery life and improved active noise isolation technology (they won’t feature true noise cancellation, though, like Apple’s recent AirPods Pro do).
According to a post from leaker Evan Blass, Samsung will also be offering the new Galaxy Buds Plus for free to customers who preorder the S20 Plus and S20 Ultra, but apparently not the standard S20.
On the latest tech edition of Sick Sad World, a joint investigation by Motherboard and PCMag dug into Avast's Jumpshot subsidiary. This less-famous arm of the antivirus company collected web browsing data from people running the scanning software -- right down to detailed collections of clicks on particular websites -- and resold it to third parties. Worse, many people using the software had no idea what they'd opted into. So, good morning. How closely did you read the last TOS you agreed to?
Ever since Apple's big mobile launch event, fans have been waiting for the software that will allow them to use all of the iPhone's cameras to record video at once. Just choose which lenses you want to capture footage with (you'll need a Pro model to use both the wide- and ultra-wide rear cameras at the same time), set focus and you're ready to go. It can format the various inputs as a split screen or as picture-in-picture. Oh, and did we mention that the DoubleTake app is free?
On Monday morning, GM revealed plans for a $2.2 billion investment that will turn the Detroit-Hamtramck facility into its first assembly plant completely devoted to EVs. GM is planning to start building an all-electric truck in late 2021, followed soon after by the Cruise Origin ride sharing vehicle.
Cherlynn gives her verdict on the Elite Dragonfly, which is a business laptop in name only. With its light weight, small size and attractive design, the Dragonfly looks more like a stylish ultraportable than a clunky notebook your company's IT department handed to you. It offers powerful multitasking chops, though you won't be able to play many games on it. The Dragonfly's battery life may also lag behind some of its rivals, but is still long enough to get you beyond a work day.
Atari might not have the cultural cachet it used to, but that isn't going to stop it cashing in on brand recognition and nostalgia. Next challenge? The hospitality industry. Atari will license its name and branding to a real estate developer, which will build eight hotels across the US. The first location will break ground this year in Phoenix. Others in Austin, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle will follow.
The main draw of the Atari hotels will likely be their esports studios. There are no details about what these will include, but each hotel will also have an "Atari gaming playground." Assuming the esports studios are venues where pros compete, the "playgrounds" could be guest lounges equipped with gaming PCs. The hotels will have a few accoutrements beyond the standard pool and gym -- restaurants, bars, bakeries and movie theaters will also feature, according to plans.
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