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Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Review: Everything You Need to Know

Jon

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25th October 2018

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Review: Everything You Need to Know

It’s becoming harder and harder to ignore the fact that the gaming industry is going through some form of boom with epic titles like Fifa 19, Spider-man and Red Dead Redemption all hitting the shelves around the same time. Now it’s time to add another title to that ever growing list of top games to play this Winter. Over the last couple of weeks I have had the pleasure of test driving the new Assassin’s Creed Odyssey game by Ubisoft and I have to say it’s bloody quality.

Roughly the 20th title in the Assassin’s Creed story, Odyssey boasts an incredible open-world covering the Ancient Isle’s of Greece in stunning detail and with over 50 hours of game-play it’s hard not to completely loose track of time. True story… my first night playing the game I did the usual “Ah, I’ll do an hour, see what it’s all about and hit the hay”, well I was wrong, 5 hours and 15 missed calls later I was finally ready to come back to reality.

Setting the Scene

Set over 2,400 years ago before the Peloponnesian war: a decades-long struggle between Athens and Sparta for dominion over the ancient Greek world, we begin our journey in a world in trouble. For the first time ever in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey title you get the choice to play as one of two characters, Alexios or Kassandra both of whom are descendants of the legendary Spartan Leonidas.

After choosing your character, we see a younger version of them fleeing Sparta due to some “difficult circumstances” which leads on to a new life as a glorified mercenary. On the remote island of Kephallonia, we start of completing a bunch of odd jobs that culminate with Kassandra getting pulled back into the conflicts of Greece revealing an underground cult who seek to run the nations politic and thus the main story-line begins.

As ever these ancient events are being viewed by a modern day character, Layla Hassan who some might remember from the previous Origins title. Anyway this time she is using the DNA- reading Animus to see events through the eyes of Kassandra in hopes of finding artifacts belonging to the Isu, an extinct race of powerful precursors who ruled Earth before humanity. As ever with Assassins Creed games we don’t hear much of this part of the story again for a long time. As a result you would almost be forgiven for thinking that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has no connection to the older games. I found this quite liberating as this is now the most accessible game in the series by which I mean you wouldn’t have had to have played the previous titles to enjoy this game to it’s fullest.

Action with consequence

OK, this is cool. Unlike previous games, decisions you make in dialogue and with the in game action has actual consequences in your story. Whether that’s inciting a rebellion, doing the nasty with a few willing civilians or making the decision to save or kill your own father these decisions will change the course of the game and your future interactions throughout.

While most of the decisions you make are based around the vast array of side quests it’s a very interesting feature for a game of this sheer size.

Explore Ancient Greece

In a world so beautifully crafted you really want to virtually travel the ancient nation and that’s why the new ‘exploration’ the world a lot more immersive. Exploration mode is turned on by default and you will recieve vague directions to objectives so you can head away and find everything by yourself. Speaking to the locals, completing side missions or scouting the world with your eagle, Ikaros, will help you get the information you require to find what you are looking for. Sure you can turn this feature off and have everything layed out for you but where’s the fun in that, right?

If you have the dedication and patience it’s a fun feature that will enable you to see the world how you wish while you go about the game in a manner that suits you best.

Main Story

Oddly, the main story in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has received mixed reviews with some calling it disjointed or confusing, but I disagree. True to the Assassin’s Creed narrative, you get to rub shoulders with the biggest names in Greece and while it’s done at a frantic pace I loved the idea of getting up close with legends of lore in the shape of Spartan kings and members of the Athenian society.

Personally they could have improved pacing which would have meant getting more time to get invested in and appreciate the characters. Then again it’s a minor complaint as with the hours of game play available you can forgive Ubisoft for wanting to speed things up a little bit. Even with these pacing problems the main story line is gripping and you will feel invested in your characters journey.

Another aspect of the main story I found interesting was the fact that the leveling system actually comes into play. If you have Kassandra at level 9 and the main mission recommends being level 12 to complete you will get your arse handed to you if you decide to throw caution to the wind and go for it anyway. These level gaps essentially force you to go and complete the side missions to develop your characters skills and weaponry thus increasing playing time and combating the frantic nature of the main story. Well played Ubisoft as many games make side missions optional and while in Odyssey they remain optional, best of luck getting through the main story without them.

New Mercenary System

In Origins we saw a mercenary system consisting of 10 incredibly powerful b**tards who wanted to murder you, this time we something a little bit different. In Odyssey what we get is 39 new mercenaries who wander the realm. If you cause too much hassle for the locals your bounty level will increase meaning these hired killers will come looking for you to collect the price on your head.

Oh and going back to the leveling system, each of these mercenaries have a level and fighting one above your pay grade will never end well. Trust me I tried. Literally I went for a wander one evening at level 12 and stumbled upon a level 35 merc. Two simple swiped later and I was toast. It’s kind of like a food chain in a sense, your job is to keep leveling up, remove all other pawns off the table to become the top dog. It’s actually quite similar to Shadows of Mordor in this sense that in order to make the game easier you need to get these guys out of the way but in order to do so you need to keep leveling up and causing trouble which brings them all out of the wood work. A fun added feature which really does bring something extra to the game.

Fight like a Spartan

Throughout the game Athenian and Spartan armies are at war to gain control. When either faction is in power you are able to totally destabilise their camp by burning supplies and killing captians. Once you have done enough damage to their base camp these Conquest Battles open up. Here you can enlist on either side in return for some high powered gear.

These Conquest Battles are mighty craic, literally hundreds of soldiers take to a field for an all out brawl. It’s a serious last man standing challenge with so many enemies to take down without dying yourself and this task can be made even harder. Remember those mercenaries I mentioned, well the other side can enlist one of these to try and take you down. Sure these can be difficult activities to complete but it’s in these moments where the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey combat system really comes to the fore.

If you have ever played an Assassin’s Creed game then you will know the basic mechanics. What Ubisoft have added here is not unlike the toggle wheel system Spider-man has where you select you abilities and special attacks. This gives you a rake of cool extras to use in combat from the big Spartan boot kick to unleashing a rain of arrows, carpet bombing style on your enemies. As with any game it wouldn’t be fair to just have all your abilities unlocked as a given so unlock more throughout the game by leveling up. Again when in combat use normal attacks to build up your adrenaline, once full you can pick your special attack. Simple fighting mechanics that have been honed over years of game development comes together to create a fun combat control system. It seems like this game more so than anything else in the Assassin’s Creed series, focused on combat over stealth. Good because everyone knows kamikaze fighting is far more entertaining than skulking in the shadows.

Honestly I can’t tell you how many times I used the Spartan kick ability and shouted the obvious – “This is Spartaaaaa!”

Killer Cult

In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey we see the Cult of Kosmos, the group who tore Kassandra’s family apart. 44 cultists that you have to hunt across the length and breadth of the games huge map. While this might sound difficult and unnecessary alongside the main story it’s actually a really immersive part of Odyssey. As part of the main storyline you will unmask some of the underground cult but the rest you have to go out and find all by yourself. This is done by completing small side quests, scouting the world for clues and reading stolen letters to figure out each members location.

Fans of older Assassin’s Creed games can rejoice as this keeps stealth controls as a big part of the game play. To find one of the cultists you will need to use Ikaros to scout for likely locations while another requires you to destabilize two heavily guarded Athenian island to draw out your target. Stealthy infiltration and sneaking around heavily guarded forts is the order of the day unless you have a death wish.

The Goosed Verdict

Well I had great craic, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is one of those games that leaves you wanting more…even after 50 hours of playing. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is not just another Assassin’s Creed title, tying together action, stealth and mercenaries into a brilliant RPG who’s sheer size and style truly brings Ancient Greece to life.

Sure the main elements are largely unchanged (if it ain’t broke don’t fix it sure) but with the new open dynamic you have more freedom to play the game how you want with your in game decisions having actual consequences. As with any game of this size you will have to bust through some filler content and the occasional glitch, which can be annoying, especially after flying through the uber-slick Spider-man. However this is only a minor complaint, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is one of the most compelling games I have played this year and it 100% lands in my personal top 5 games for 2018.

If you are a fan of Assassin’s Creed games, get on this right away. If the series isn’t normally your thing but you like the sounds of an epic adventure through Ancient Greece set in glorious detail and a mental amount of content to get through then this is the game for you.

The Haunting of Hill House

Dean

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24th October 2018

0

Every couple of months it seems like Netflix bring out a new series that takes the world by storm. And this is exactly what has happened with their newest horror series “The Haunting of Hill House”. This isn’t the first time Shirley Jackson’s famous novel has been adapted, but it is arguably the best one yet. Director Mike Flanagan tells a story that its full of spooks, heart and emotion that not only gets you on the side of the protagonists, but also makes you empathise with the ghosts that haunt the Crain family.

What are you in for?

The ten episode series tells the story of the Crain children now in adulthood who are haunted by the events that occurred in Hill House as children. As the series goes on, each episode becomes more intense when the Crain children are brought back together after a tragedy. When they are reunited, we watch each of their stories and how the ghosts of Hill House have left their mark on each of them.

However, it seems that as time went on, the family has drifted. The eldest, Steven, a writer who has made a living off a book about their experiences as children in the house has a broken relationship with his siblings. His sister Elizabeth, a mortician, has grown to resent him as Steven claims never to have actually seen anything in the house and blames it on metal illness they inherited from their mother, yet writes about it in his book. Elizabeth lives with her sister, Theo who is a psychologist but also possesses a unique power that the other seem to be in denial about. And there are the twins, Kevin, a recovering heroin addict. And Ellie, a newlywed who is drawn back to the house and kicks the series into gear from the get go.

“Hill House has no shortage of jump scares, but by no means relies on them.”

The success Shirley Jackson’s most successful novel speaks for itself, but Flanagans dialogue, cinematography and acting gives us a horror series we haven’t had in awhile, or ever. Over the past few years we have had The Walking Dead, American Horror Story and Stranger Things. All decent horrors series in their own right, but not edge of your seat, nail biting, hair raising horror. We only ever seem to get this on the big screen. And even then, most horrors these days rely on cheap jump scares. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good jump scare. It makes horrors enjoyable and usually breaks the tension. And Hill House has no shortage of jump scares, but it by no means relies on them.

“This is where the real genius of Flanagan’s horror comes from. Not every ghost has to make you scream.”

Throughout the series we see ghosts and faces in the background and in corners of the room that are often missed. But when you do see these faces in situations when you’re not supposed to be scared, they make your whole body clench up tighter than a ducks butt hole. Almost like adding enough salt to a dish that it doesn’t change it, but enough to know its there. This is where the real genius of Flanagan’s horror comes from. Not every ghost has to make you scream, just enough to send a chill down your spine. You can never seem to relax while watching Hill House as it keeps you glued to the screen.

Carla Gugino’s performance itself is amazing. Portraying the Crain children’s mother, Olivia Crain, Gugino shows us Olivia’s slow descent into madness as the ghosts take over her mind. This is the second time Gugino and Flanagan have worked together for a Netflix original the first being Stephen King’s adaption of Gerald’s Game, which we would also recommend. We expect both of them to pick up awards for Hill House and deservedly so. And hopefully this isn’t the last time we see Mike Flanagan team up with Gugino as they seem to have a flare for horror.

Between the horror, anxiety, emotion and beauty of this series, it is set to go down as a Netflix classic. We finally have a good horror series that scares you more and more every episode but you can’t stop watching. It is the perfect treat for the halloween season and we give it a solid 5/5.

Bohemian Rhapsody: A Biopic Worthy of Royalty

Gary

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24th October 2018

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Bohemian Rhapsody: A Biopic Worthy of Royalty

Ever since watching the trailer for Bohemian Rhapsody, everyone at Goosed has been waiting its release. The day finally arrived, and it was worth waiting for.

The Plot

When we think of Queen, the general thoughts are of gut wrenching guitar solos, big rock anthems and Brian May’s fabulous hair. And while Bohemian Rhapsody has all of this and more, it is at it’s heart, the story of Freddie Mercury, and his sometimes strained relationship with the other band members.

Spoiler Alert!

The movie starts off following Mercury on his way to the stage at Live Aid in 1985, giving you a sense that the movie is building to this point. Rewinding 15 years, it picks up with Mercury meeting future band mates Brian May and Roger Taylor after a college gig. It has all the characteristics of a feel god movie at this point, using some sharp humour to explore the creativity of Queen. There’s even a subtle tip of the cap to one of the most iconic movie scenes of the 1990’s. Bonus points if you can spot it during the movie.

From there, the movie moves quickly through the bands history, right through to when Mercury decides to quit Queen and go solo. Here, Bohemian Rhapsody takes a noticeably darker turn, touching on Mercury’s struggles with his sexuality, and his descent into a world of drugs, promiscuity and ultimately, isolation. Redemption eventually comes with the help of the “love of his life”, who continues to stand by him throughout.

The Cast

Rami Malek, known for his role in HBO’s World War 2 series The Pacific, is in the lead role for Bohemian Rhapsody. He delivers a performance that is worthy of Freddie Mercury himself, becoming the showman when on stage, and equally acting the role as the problematic, troubled soul with a massive ego. He is well backed by Lucy Boynton, Joseph Mazzello (the kid from Jurassic Park) and Ben Hardy (of Eastenders fame). Aiden Gillen plays the bands manager in the early part of the movie. Unfortunately, it’s hard not to imagine him as Little Finger throughout.

Verdict

Overall, Bohemian Rhapsody lives up to the expectation that came with the trailer. As with other biopic movies, such as Ray and Walk the Line, it covers the story of Freddie Mercury and Queen, but doesn’t shy away from the seedier side of his life. There is plenty of humour throughout, combined with some genuine heart felt moments. And of course, there are some quite epic performances from Malek and co. If you can stop yourself pounding your feet when We Will Rock You is on, you’re better than I am.

A really well made movie that you will enjoy, even if you’re not a fan of Queen.

Sony Xperia XZ3 Review: Specs, Features and Pricing

Jon

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22nd October 2018

0

Sony Xperia XZ3 Review: Specs, Features and Pricing

2018, the year the smartphone industry got interesting again. Over the last couple of days/weeks Martin has been test running the latest big shots in the form of the Google Pixel 3 XL and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. Yes, they are great phones ready to compete against the Apple’s and Samsung’s of the world but aren’t we missing one of the main competitors in the race to be crowed top dog? Sony… one of the major forces in the tech world. As a company Sony have cornered the TV, gaming and camera industries with ease and while their smartphones haven’t been able to recreate the companies success, it’s probably only a matter of time until they crack the code. And that’s exactly why the new Xperia XZ3 could be the surprise smash hit this year.

I personally have been using the impressive Samsung Galaxy S8 as my day to day phone for awhile now and I haven’t had much reason to really look for a change…Until now. Over the last couple of weeks I have been using the latest flagship from Sony, the Xperia XZ3 and I must say it’s by far Sony’s most impressive phone to date. So let’s take a look…

The Sony Conundrum

Before I get into the good stuff let me take a moment to get this one big gripe of my chest. Sony make really high quality products. Every single model they release has a spec sheet that is comparable if not better than most of the competition. The big problem for the Japanese manufacturers is simple…they release far too many phones. In their pursuit to gain a credible market share and to have the most powerful smartphone on the market at any point in time, Sony are releasing a new phone every 6 months. Apple for example really only release a new product every two years with the interim S models containing only slight under the hood tweaks while Samsung are operating in a very similar manner. This means from product to product we can see huge strides in innovation making their phones far more intriguing to most users. Beyond that, moving to an annual release means that brands like Apple and Samsung are spending more time tweaking their new toy to perfection before release whereas Sony are constantly working on the fly. The Xperia XZ3 is a well crafted phone with great specs, an amazing display but the problem for a customer will be this.. if I get a Samsung on a two year contract, by the time they are ready for an upgrade they are only one model behind but with Sony there have been four new releases. If Sony move on to an annual release I’m telling you this for a fact, they will be a huge force to be reckoned with. Anyway onto the good stuff.

Sleek Design

From the moment you open the box it’s hard not to be impressed by the Xperia XZ3. To be fair to Sony they have made huge strides in their design over the last number of years and once again we have a phone that delivers sexy appeal in spades. Just look for yourself.

It feels almost sacrilege to put something this good looking in a case but we would highly recommend it. With a high gloss finish and a curved shape on the front and rear of the phone we would imagine this would be quite susceptible to scratching. To give the Xperia XZ3 credit it’s a sturdy smartphone – due to the high gloss finish I find the phone a bit slippy in the hand (hence getting the case) but having dropped it a couple of times I can say that the polished frame has not picked up a single ding or scratch. This is as a result of the Gorrilla Glass 5 that the display and body are made from.

Just in terms of design alone, at 9.9mm thick and weighing in at 193g the Xperia XZ3 is not what you would class as a slender or light phone. Not that is matters one bit, thanks to its tapered design it still feels elegant and comfortable to hold.

On the rear of the phone you will notice the single lens camera mounted in the centre line about a third of the way down the body with the fingerprint scanner just below. The placement of both have been up for debate on the last couple of releases from Sony and to be honest I struggle to understand the reasoning for placing the finger print scanner in such a location. My stubby fingers mean I regularly put my fingertip over the camera lens, leading to smudges which isn’t ideal. Having said that the scanner itself is very quick and accurate so just on a personal note if the camera position and fingerprint scanner were slightly higher up the phone it would be perfect.

Other highlights in the Xperia XZ3 design include a SIM card/microSD card tray that can be removed without a pin and a physical camera button which is always a nice touch. I also enjoy the fact this is probably the only flagship phone I have seen without “The Notch” but they have gone with the crowd and removed the 3.5mm headphone jack which might not be to everyone’s taste but they Sony do supply the 3.5mm to USB-C dongle in the box.

In summary, move the fingerprint scanner and you have possibly the most attractive phone I have seen on the market this year. That’s before we even look at the best part.

TV Quality Display

Here’s where things get very interesting, the screen is essentially a shrunken down version of their Sony Bravia TV which is incredible considering over the last few years Sony have taken a bit of stick for their display quality. Not anymore! Sony has gone OLED and it’s a real game changer for the brand.

The OLED display delivers deeper blacks and supports HDR for better contrast and more lifelike colours. Watching a YouTube clip alongside my Samsung Galaxy S8 an iPhone X and the Sony Xperia XZ2 it’s hard not to pick the XZ3. I would be willing to put a wager on with Martin the screen on this piece of kit will trump anything he has been testing with the Pixel and Mate hands down. Why? simply this display is just that good, vibrant colours, deep blacks and fine details, it’s the best screen I have seen on smartphone to date.

The reason it’s the best display on the market, the XZ3 also gives you resolution options that no other phone on the market supports right now, up to 1440p, 60fps in HDR, with the Note 9 only going up to 1080p with HDR and the iPhone not even specifying HDR at this moment in time.

But that’s not all…. if you go into the setting on the Xperia XZ3 you will notice there are a bunch of options to improve video enhancements which will take effect across all main video applications not just the camera. Don’t be shocked if we see Apple doing business with Sony in the future to create the next generation of future iPhone displays.

Sont company has finally bridged the gap between its not-quite-sharp-enough Full HD flagships of old and its overkill 4K Premium series. Couple this with HDR upscaling, Sony’s TRILUMINOS Display for mobile, X-Reality, and Dynamic Contrast Enhancer you really get a display that works in tandem with the XZ3 design to produce the best smartphone display on the market.

Battery Power

I might not have been totally honest coming into this.. I am a bit of a Sony fan. Back in the day when working in the old phone shop I sported the Xperia Z1 through to the Z3. Even since those days the battery on Sony phones has been something to admire, with the new Xperia XZ3 being no exception. At a whopping 3,3300mAh this is the biggest battery Sony have wedged into a phone but with a bigger display to handle the question was, would it last the day?

I decided to give the Xperia XZ3 a proper test, go a full day start to finish without a top up charge and see how long it lasted. Now obviously it couldn’t be a normal day, I really wanted to see what the Sony was made off. From waking up at 7:30am to putting down a full work day, heading to the airport, flying to London and finding my hotel by 10pm, the XZ3 held up amazingly well. Using Instagram, Spotify, Acast and Maps throughout the day and with the help of the extremely handy Stamina mode that kicks in on the last 15%, we made it to the hotel that night with just 3% left in the tank. Well played Sony, well played.

That’s a serious heavy workload for any phone so if you just use your phone for the normal everyday stuff, the XZ3 will easily clear the day. Unless you watch a lot of video, then you might want to pack a powerbank just to be safe.

Camera Quality

Main/Rear Camera

Who ever thought we would see the day where we have to define that the camera on the back of the phone is the “main” one. Guess that’s the selfie loving world we live in now. Anyway the XZ3 is equipped with the same 19MP f/2.0 that the original XZ1 model sports but while the spec might look the same, rest assured the camera in the XZ3 is much better.

In the Xperia XZ3, Sony have streamlined their user interface which means less swiping to change between the different modes. Better again the frequently used settings are always shown on the screen so you spend less time fiddling about while prepping your shot. While the UI is much better, image quality is also greatly improved vs the previous models. Showing off better clarity, low-light performance and dynamic range the XZ3 feels like a brand new camera.

The new Google Pixel and Huawei Mate just edge the new Sony in terms of overall camera performance thanks solely to their dynamic range and detail. That’s not to say the XZ3 is a bad camera, honestly it’s by far the best camera Sony have produced just if the main camera is the main reason you buy a phone then there are better available.

Selfie Cam

I’m not the biggest man for selfies in the world as most front facing android cameras have a habit of showing of my many chins but again the Sony Xperia XZ3 managed to exceed expectations. With a souped up 13MP camera with a wide 23mm equivalent lens and improved digital stabilization means selfies have never looked this good.

Luckily for me Sony have integrated a beauty mode that will brighten you eyes and slim down your face (goodbye chins!!). Alternatively if you happen to be one of them pretty people you can turn this feature off for more natural looking pics or you can use the bokeh mode too blur out the background to make that strong jawline pop even more. I showed this to my rather pretty housemate and he might have lost himself in the lens for longer than either of us would care to admit. So all around big seal of approval for the front facing camera on the XZ3.

Video

Now this is where Sony really comes into its own. The XZ3 digital stabilization will work incredibly well in good lighting, while the 4K HDR footage is just a joy to behold.

This is another area I would happily put the Sony up against any of the competition and fully expect it to come out on top. The dynamic range on video is far better than any of the competition when viewed on a compatible HDR screen which means if you’re a video buff and your willing to put in the time to get the best results then no other phone on the market is going to come close to the Xperia XZ3. Put it like this, there is no other phone on the market at all that can capture 960fps in Full HD slow motion. If video is your thing then forget the competition because there is none.

Side Sense

This shall be dubbed the Marmite feature because you are either going to love or hate it, there is no middle ground. In the XZ3 we see a new way of enabling one-handed use of the long 6inch display. It’s called Side Sense.

I thought it was quite interesting, double tap either side of the screen and you get this quick menu to access the applications you use the most. It’s very similar to what we saw on the Samsung Note Edge in a way but here Side Sense has a back button that can be activated by swiping up or down on the edge of the display. Quick access to your most used bits and pieces can be cool but it’s not for everyone. If you accidently do the swipe motion on the corner of the display then Side Sense will pop up exactly like it should but I can see how some people might be bothered by this. Grand, if you don’t like it just hop into the settings and turn it off. Personally I found it useful as although I have about 101 apps installed on my phone there are only about 6 that get used on a regular basis.

Sony Xperia XZ3 Spec Sheet

	Xperia XZ3	Google Pixel 3
Size	158 x 73 x 9.9 mm	145.6 x 68.2 x 7.9 mm
Display Size	6 inches	5.5 inches
Weight	193g	148g
Protection	IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins)	IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins)
SIM	Nano	Nano and eSim
Display Type	pOLED QHD+ (2880 x 1440) HDR display4 • TRILUMINOS™ Display for mobile	P-OLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours
Operating System	Android 9	Android 9
Internal Memory	64GB	64GB or 128GB
Expandable	Yes, micro SD upto 512GB	No
RAM	4GB	4GB
Main Camera	19MP	12MP
Selfie Camera	13MP	2 x 8MP
Cable Type	USB C	USB C
Headphone Jack	No	No
Battery	3330 mAh	2915 mAh

I’m just going on a hunch here but I reckon that the Google Pixel 3 and the Sony Xperia XZ3 here are both going to be slugging it out for market share and as you can see from the above the two are way to close to call. The main differences in Sony’s favour really surround the battery, display quality and the expandable memory. The only thing that could affect Sony is a perception that the software is “buggy” which might put of potential customers. The XZ3 has shown zero problems on that front and I would happily move over to this as my day to day phone without hesitation.

Pricing and Availability

Right now you can get the Sony Xperia XZ3 directly from the manufacturer for €799 or from Three for €579.99 on prepay or on the Ultimate Flex Max €60 per month contract with an upfront cost of €79.99.

Three have managed to get the exclusive launch access so once pricing becomes available on the remaining networks we will update the pricing here.

The Verdict

The Sony Xperia XZ3 is almost perfect. This is by far the best phone Sony have produced and by God it’s a true beauty to behold. It’s sleek, sturdy and the screen quality is downright gobsmacking. Personally I wasn’t a fan of the fingerprint scanner placement but that’s really a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things.

Realistically the new Google Pixel and Huawei Mate 20 Pro are taking the plaudits right now as the new players in the game, but don’t rule out Sony just yet. Between the incredible OLED display and the 4K HDR video capture, Sony have made a phone that is ready to step up and join Google and Huawei in the race to knock the big boys of the top. Should you buy it? It’s really a matter of taste and what’s you prioritize in a phone, I personally like Sony and anyone like me should definitely consider their latest edition. If your not a big Sony fan but you enjoy watching YouTube or Netflix on your phone, then this could be the one for you.

Daredevil Season 3: Worth the Watch?

Jon

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21st October 2018

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While the world is understandably gripped with the latest season of Making A Murderer, another of Netflix’s top drawer shows returned for it’s third season. Daredevil, the shining light of the Netflix/Marvel collaboration is back and boy does it have a lot to live up to. Last week we got the news the ill fated Iron Fist and and Luke Cage have both been cancelled following largely negative reviews meaning once more it’s up to Matt Murdock to save the N-MCU. Considering the strength of the Marvel cinematic universe it’s strange to see the TV series struggling so badly, luckily Daredevil is able to shake of the negative reviews to produce one of their strongest series to date.

Going back to basics

In the latest season of Daredevil we see a return to the crime and vigilante world of Hell’s Kitchen. Moving far away from the magic and fantasy of Iron Fist and The Defenders is a good bit of business for the series as the returning cast all hit top form in a more realistic world setting (well as realistic as a Marvel superhero series is going to get).

Right from the get go we see Matt Murdock AKA Daredevil struggling with an emotional and physical and moral breakdown. We see a man torn by an internal struggle between his sense of self and his role as the blind crimefighter. This struggle is a theme carried throughout the series as he battles his inner demons and to be fair while he’s a miserable sap at times you can imagine if you were running around all night wearing fighting crime at night you would eventually become somewhat withered by it all.

If you have watched the previous Marvel-Netflix collaborations you will know there is a lot of history predating this series but thankfully this season is about rebuilding so most of what’s gone on before is kindly forgotten. While taking some time from a building falling on top of him, Daredevil is in recovery hiding out in the local church while Wilson Fisk puts the wheels in motion to escape prison.

Fisk once again shows why he is the true Kingpin when it comes to complicated villains, as in prison he tuns snitch on the Albanian mob to get himself out to return to his love interest Vanessa. Now i’m trying to be careful to not give too much away to those who haven’t watched the series so let’s just say that Fisk going rogue instigates a series of events culminating in him hiding in a high rise apartment overlooking New York after a botched prison escape.

The news of Fisk’s “release” doesn’t go over well in Hell’s Kitchen, Foggy and Karen fight back in their own ways–still working at the Bulletin, Karen starts investigating what Fisk is really up to, while Foggy attempts to get at him through legal means.

But if they are trying to take Fisk down, what’s Daredevil at? Well all the goings on surrounding his escape, Fisk is forced into hiring/manipulating a highly trained FBI agent to imitate our man Daredevil to cause carnage on the streets of the city in order to ruin his image. Enter our main protagonist, Bullseye.

Bullseye

As the fight announcers say, “Let’s get ready to ruuuuuuumblee!”. Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter aka Bullseye is a depicted as a similar style character to our old buddy The Punisher who has taken a slightly different path. Throughout the series he proves to be a deadly presence with obsessive sociopathic tenancies and perfect aim and when his personal life starts to fall apart, Fisk is right there to turn the screw.

Throughout the series the character can be seen growing from a troubled FBI agent to becoming Daredevils biggest enemy. Right up to the end we see a complicated man who becomes a lean mean killing machine, after battles with Murdock and the FBI he is deadly to say the least. Will there be a Punisher style series just for Bullseye or have Netflix just teed themselves up for a grand start start for the another Daredevil series? At this moment it’s hard to tell but we reckon a full series would be a great watch.

For those of you who rememeber seeing the god awful 2003 Daredevil movie (yes the one with Ben Affleck), you will remember Colin Farrell’s Guinness-chugging Irish thug portrayal of the character. Let’s just say this Bullseye is a far cry from the man who chokes old ladies on planes with strategically-placed peanuts.

Colin Farrell as Bullseye in Daredevil (2003)

The Goosed Verdict

A much better showing for the Marvel-Netflix collaboration, by going back to basics and focusing the narrative around the original core characters makes a huge difference. This coupled with the introduction of a proper villain in Bullseye means we get a story line that fans actually care about. Better yet you don’t need to be fully caught up on the previous seasons. What that says about the forgettable nature of what came before I’ll leave up to you but what we do know is this, The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is back. If you are fan of the superhero genre or got your kicks from The Punisher, then Daredevil Season 3 is a must watch.

The Amazing Spider-man: Possibly the Best ps4 Game This Year?

Jon

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20th October 2018

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The Amazing Spider-man: Possibly the Best ps4 Game This Year?

Spider-man, Spider-man…I can do whatever a Spider-man can, with my PlayStation 4 control and that’s enough to keep me happy. At its core, Insomniac Games’ new adventure strives to make you feel like Spider-Man and it delivers in spades! From the moment the initial screen loaded to the story line ending credits, this game had me hooked in a way that no game has managed to do in a long time. Thanks to a brilliantly written story-line, gorgeous cut scenes and epic web slinging mechanics, Insomniac’s first foray into the realm of Marvel superheroes is an open world of crime and combat that excites from the outset.

Sure there is a small learning curve when you first get going with every web sling bringing an instant fear of a deathly plummet but once you figure that out it’s easy to amaze your mates with feats of acrobatic madness.

The Storyline

Thank Christ we don’t have to go through the usual back story, when we first meet Peter Parker he’s already a seasoned pro, holding down a job, helping Aunt May and trying to get back in Mary Jane’s good books. This slightly older Spider-man dynamic gives the game a great starting point as everyone’s favourite web slinger already has a great relationship with the NYPD — particularly with police captain Yuri Watanabe, who regularly calls “Spider-Cop” for his help. Just listen to the calls between Yuri and Spidey, they will brighten up your day with some quality puns.

Anyway with most of Spider-mans greatest enemies behind bars, someone has to takeover. Enter, Mister Negative and his henchmen, the Inner Demons who plan to steal an Oscorp bio-weapon known as Devil’s Breath to cause chaos throughout the city. Without going into any details that will ruin the game you have to play as Spider-man, Mary-Jane, Peter and another character throughout the game to take down Mr Negative and a few other familiar faces.

Oh and there’s a rake-load of side missions that will really help you get up to speed with the game play, unlock extra powers and allow you to face off against a couple of other well known villains.

Combat Mechanics

Pretty much the off we are thrown into the thick of the fight and if you have ever played the Batman Arkham Knight series then you are going to pick up the combat control here in a matter of minutes.

“Spider sense” will allow you to acrobatically dodge attacks in style while building combos increases a focus meter that will allow you restore health of perform a really cool one-shot-drop style attack on your opponents. As usual in these type of games Spidey starts with some basic enough controls but as you develop throughout the game and increase your level you gain things called skill points. These skill points then let you acquire new fighting moves, swing mechanics and defensive abilities.

Sure kicking and punching is grand craic and all but the real fun comes in the form of the web-shooters. Grab items from your environment to throw at your enemies, tie them up or sick a bunch on spider-drones on them, you can do it all. Importantly each aspect of the combat mechanism fells natural while the movement and timing fits perfectly with Spider-man’s unique style.

Things like how you move through vents, spy on potential threats and move with stealth are clear rips from the Batman Arkham Knight series but once in the midst of the action you won’t even care.

Suit Powers, Gadgets and more

There are a bunch of suits to unlock throughout the game. Each suit isn’t a simple fashion accessory to customise your main main but each suit and gadget you unlock brings another dimension to your in fight capabilities. Upgrades are achieved through tokens, which aren’t too hard to find (side missions and busting crimes will picks these up).

But that’s not all, each suit that you unlock comes with its own unique suit power. Whether it’s a set of extendable arms or unlimited focus you can mix and match suits and powers, so you won’t be stuck wearing a costume you don’t like just for the power.

Anyone who knows anything about Spider-man knows gadgets are a big part of his arsenal, so of course they play a big part in The Amazing Spider-man. Change the way your hero’s web attacks work by simply pressing L1 and scroll through the selection wheel to find the weapon that suits you best. Again at the start you begin with the simple Web Shooter but as you progress through the game you unlock things like web drones and electric web that will alter how you want to attack your opponents.

I personally enjoyed the Trip Mines, they will stick your opponents to the nearest wall while you deal with other problems.

Each gadget comes with a limited number of uses, and must be replenished by taking down enemies. Luckily, they can be upgraded, allowing for more uses and additional power.

Loads of side missions

As with any open world game like this you can approach the main story line at your own discretion allowing you time to complete challenges, puzzles and side missions. Completing each mission will earn you a token, that you can use to upgrade your gear.

Clearing enemy bases earn Base Tokens, taking photos of listed buildings get you Landmark tokens while taking down local criminals will get you Crime Tokens. Specific gear requires a certain number of each token so just zip around for a while taking a few pics and cracking a couple skulls to seriously upgrade your kit.

Each side quest is listed on your in game map, all you have to do is track down the local police station to reveal everything in the area. Each district has 2 or 3 stations, on finding them you have to “hack” into the tower and badabing badaboom you have your map ready to rumble.

Alongside these mini missions there are also a couple of mini journeys that are split over a few missions with a self-contained story that has you interacting with characters that aren’t crucial to the plot of the campaign.

Cracking Graphics and Cut Scenes

Just from the pictures taken from the game we think you will agree, this is a truly spectacular looking game. The Amazing Spider-man was designed to maximize the potential in the PS4 Pro’s 4K abilities with each character created in superb detail (just look at this close up of his costume, the detail is so good you can almost feel it). Facial expressions, wrinkles, eye detail the game has it all, rarely do you see a game with such detailed graphics that the transition from cut scene to game play is completely seamless.

Sure the characters look brilliant but that isn’t a scratch on the scenery. The island of Manhattan is rendered in such a way that skyscrapers offer an exceptional level of detail (crawl over a random window and you’ll actually be able to see into the apartment, it’s not creepy I promise). As I said the game was designed for a PS4 Pro but it doesn’t loose it’s detail on the standard console resolution due to a resolution of 1440p at 30fps frame rate, which is then up scaled to 4K. This is as a result of a thing called dynamic resolution scaling that changes the fine details depending on how frantic the action is at any point in time.

The Goosed Verdict

I wanted this game to work so badly and thankfully it was everything I hoped it would be and more. The story line is so immersive, the cut scenes are to die for and the gameplay is downright deadly. Better yet the ending of the story leaves Insomniac games open for a follow up title which I already can’t wait to get my hands on.

If there is any negative to take away it’s this, despite the cleverly constructed side missions, none of these has any impact on the main story outside of unlocking a couple of power up options… that you can get by without. It’s a shame because the side missions really help bring Spidey’s New York to life so it would have been nice if they made any impact on the story.

That’s just me being picking though. Sail through the high rises of New York, smash the face of a few enemies and complete a bunch of side quests and generally feel like you are the Spider-man, what more could you want?

Making a Murderer Season Two: The Steven Avery Updates

Marty

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19th October 2018

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Making a Murderer Season Two: The Steven Avery Updates

Three years ago, a complete phenomenon took over on Netflix. It was called Making a Murderer. This documentary told the story of Steven Avery, a man who was wrongfully imprisoned, serving 18 years of a 35-year sentence before being released. Just two years after his release, he was at the centre of another case; the murder of Teresa Halbach. Assuming you’ve watched season one, there are spoilers ahead as I dive into the first two episodes of season two.

What Happened in Season One?

Watching back some of the reminder scenes brought a lot of it back and just how crazy the whole story is. Avery, wrongfully imprisoned, released and then accused of another murder while, at the same time, suing Manitowoc County for $36-million. The prosecution side was led by Ken Kratz, a very unlikeable type who was later publically shamed for a sexting scandal and right back at the very start of it all, it appeared that police had coerced a confession from Brendan Dassey, Avery’s nephew.

What’s Different in Making a Murderer Season Two?

Season one focuses on the murder of Teresa Halbach and who the police came to suspect, arrest and charge both Avery and Dassey, despite some questionable evidence gathering along the way. Again, if you’ve reached this stage without watching season one, stop and go watch it.

Season two is the natural progression. The two men are in prison and desperately seeking support to continue their efforts to clear their names. The early episodes re-introduce those involved from the first season while also introducing some new protagonists; namely Kathleen Zellner.

Who is Kathleen Zellner?

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we’re talking about real people who are involved in a real-life murder case. So it does feel weird to say it like this, but the true stars of the first season were Avery’s legal team of Dean Strang and Jerome Buting. The public became obsessed with these guys, so much so they’ve been touring and giving public talks since appearing on Netflix in 2015. Soon after Avery lost his case, these legal team stepped aside and since 2016 he has been represented by Kathleen Zellner.

Zellner is known as a specialist when it comes to freeing the wrongfully accused. I still struggle with how I feel about the case and whether or not I think Avery is guilty, but if he’s not Zellner is the woman who’ll get him off the hook. Zellner has righted more wrongful prosecutions than any private attorney in America and in the opening episodes of Making a Murderer season two says if you’re guilty, hiring her is the stupidest thing you can do because she’ll find out your guilty.

How Does Season Two Play Out?

I’m afraid I’ve got no idea who season two plays out. I’ve only had the chance to watch two episodes and they spend a lot of time running through the case to date, updating us on Avery and Dassey along with seeing some early blood splatter testing by Zellner and her team. She’s bought the iconic Rav 4 four-by-four found on the Avery lot which Halbach drove and through some quick tests decides that positioning of the blood is not consistent with what sent Avery to prison.

Being totally honest, the first two episodes aren’t as gripping as season one. There’s a lot of setting up and reminding to be done. I’m actually shocked that season one first appeared on our screens nearly three years ago. The reason it’s taken so long for season two? The US criminal system moves extremely slowly. One of the documentary’s creators said Making a Murderer really just follows individuals “fighting for the right to have a court listen to their arguments” The creators are uncovering a convoluted post-conviction process where the odds are stacked against the defendant.

I knew this process was very long and slow, it took years to come down, and I knew the odds were against you. But I don’t think I understood how the door to the courtroom is closed and you have to fight so hard just to get into court to present your evidence. I thought when you found evidence that would matter, but there’s a lot you can’t count on.

Whether or not season two can live up to the phenomenon that was season one or not remains to be seen. Two episodes in, I could really see this going one of two ways. There may not be much more of a story left to tell, or perhaps the story is only getting started. You’ll just have to watch season two in full to find out. I’ll do up a full review once I binge on the rest of season two.

Making a Murderer season two is streaming today on Netflix Ireland.

Does Shopping With CeX Ireland Actually Save You Money?

Marty

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16th October 2018

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Does Shopping With CeX Ireland Actually Save You Money?

You might have spotted that I recently went on a wee rant about the price of things in Urban Outfitters. I’ve often heard retailers moaning about online leading to the extinction of the high street shopper, but in truth, it’s savvy shoppers looking for a deal and moving online is the real cause. Very often, shopping on the high street will cost you money and who doesn’t like a few bob staying in the pocket.

One day, back in 2015, I was browsing through a few bits in CeX; the granny’s drawer of high street gadget shopping. I came across a first generation Chromecast which, despite being second hand, cost more than a brand new second generation Chromecast. I was flabbergasted and at that moment I realised why so many high street shops are closing their doors; they’re an absolute rip off.

Three years on, I’m checking out CeX again to see if they’ve changed their ways and ask once again, do you really save money by shopping in CeX?

What is CeX – The Computer Exchange

CeX is a UK based company, founded in 1992 and eventually coming to Ireland in April 2011. CeX provides a service where customers can visit stores to exchange electronic devices for cash or store credit These items are then assessed and resold by CeX. The model has proven extremely popular, with the first Irish store achieving €1.3 million in sales in the first year and a further 24 branches opening since nationwide. Sounds like everyone wins right?

CeX Trust Pilot

The general perception around CeX is that it provides very good value. Consumer reviews website Trust Pilot states the retail exchange specialists have earned an 8 out of 10-star rating, supplied by customers of the store. A quick read through the comments left by customers does indeed suggest the vast majority of shoppers enjoy a good experience with CeX. One question remains, however. Is CeX good value?

Is CeX Good Value?

I’ve picked out ten popular tech gadgets from the CeX website to check them against buying from other retailers. The gadgets are considered to be in Class A condition which is practically as good as new. These are often at the higher end of the price spectrum but are still classed as “used items”. To check if a better price can be found, I turn to our friends over at PriceSpy. This price comparison website trawls the internet looking for the cheapest price on electronics.

Let me start with the gadget that started it all.

Google Chromecast

CeX Price: €48
Google Store Price: €39

Ironically enough, it looks like PriceSpy doesn’t take the Google Store into consideration. This is a pity as Google has just started paying attention to Ireland, launching the Google Home, Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL over here.

Regardless, I know the price of these in the Google Store and despite them being second hand in CeX, they cost €9 more. They’re not signed by a celebrity or anything either. That’s just you paying more for something that’s been used by someone else.

Apple TV 4th Generation

CeX Price: €145
Apple Store: €159

One all. The latest version of Apple TV is actually cheaper than it is to buy directly from Apple. You’ll save €14 by going with CeX. Of course, there’s a but. Don’t forget this is a used Apple TV. The big question is – would you rather buy something brand new or save €14 and get an Apple TV that’s been through the ringer?

Apple Earpods – Lightning Connector

CeX Price: €29
Apple Store: €28

Another win for CeX, but only just. You can save a whole euro when you buy replacement Apple Earpods with CeX and not straight from Apple.

But you know, used in-ear earphones. That’s gross.

Apple Airpods

CeX Price: €170
Apple Store: €179

Yet another win for CeX, but I do hope you’re seeing the trend emerging here. Save €9 when you buy used in-ear wireless earphones over buying lovely clean new ones directly from Apple.

Amazon Echo Dot – Second Generation

CeX Price: €50
Amazon.co.uk: €46 or €56

Amazon has just announced their third-generation range of Echo products so you’d expect CeX to drop prices accordinglNaturallylly they don’t which means it’s now cheaper to buy a brand new Amazon Echo Dot from Amazon.co.uk over CeX. If you want to stretch a little further, you get a brand new third-generation Echo Dot for just €6 more than last year’s model in CeX.

Apple iPhone 8 64GB

Here’s where things start to get a little silly…

CeX Price: €815
Apple Store: €709

If you want to buy a used iPhone 8 from CeX it will set you back over €100 more than a brand new one from Apple. Think of the warranty you’d get with Apple and knowing that phone is brand new versus one that’s been through the wars. I just don’t understand how CeX charges so much for used goods.

People are wandering in off the streets every day and buying phones at these mad prices.

Apple iPhone Xs 64GB

CeX Price: €1280
Apple Store: €1179

Apple’s latest flagships are the iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max. You can pick these up from stores on the high street, from CeX or directly from Apple. Naturally, many people will pick these up on a contract which does cost more than the direct price from Apple. It’s hire purchase, so networks make some money by spreading your plan over 24-months.

CeX, on the other hand, is again charging over €100 more for a second-hand iPhone Xs than Apple charge you for a brand new one.

Seriously.

CeX: The Verdict

There may be benefits to shopping with CeX, but I’ve yet to really find one. I’ve never shopped with CeX because it’s just so easy to pop into another store or grab something off Amazon. CeX is taking in items from the public in exchange for rather small sums of cash or store credit. Then, they drive up the price to a ridiculous high and wait for some poor soul to wander in without researching and make a purchase.

Take my advice:

Shop smart
Shop around
Check Price Spy
Never assume second hand is always cheaper

Amazon Introduces the New Echo 3rd Generation

Jon

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16th October 2018

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Amazon Introduces the New Echo 3rd Generation

The true smart home…a dream of tech heads the world over is slowly but surely becoming a reality, largely thanks to Amazon and their Alexa range. The ability to control things in your house like temperature, plugs, bulbs and TV was a pipe dream a mere 5 years ago but since Alexa and her range of skills hit the market we have never been closer to full home integration. That’s why Amazon have doubled down on Alexa and built her a whole new suit of hardware – pretty much all of which are available to buy right now!

What’s new?

In short…everything. Amazon have updated pretty much everything in the range, with older products like the Echo or Show getting a full face lift. They have also brought a few interesting new products to market to make it easier than ever before to add Alexa to any room in your home.

“We want you to have access to Alexa everywhere—in your kitchen, in your living room, in your office, and more,” said Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President, Amazon Devices International.

Echo Dot

Price – €55.99

OK, this is the piece that really caught my attention. The nex-gen Echo Dot has swapped out it’s shiny plastic exterior for a new fabric design that looks so slick and comes in three different colours (Charcoal, Heather Grey, and Sandstone), so no matter the room it won’t stand out like a sore thumb. The Echo Dot doesn’t just give Alexa a stunning new body, the speakers inside are much louder and sound a helluva lot better.

With the Echo Dot you can do the usual weather, play your favourite music in a multi-room music grouping, set timers and alarms, and control compatible smart home devices from just this one small device. Genuinely if you are in the market for a smart assistant or something to control your smart home, then this is the one. Unless you would like more sound, that’s where the Echo Plus comes in.

Echo Plus

Price – €159.99

The Echo Dots big brother – The Echo Plus got a very similar redesign with its long fabric shell and higher quality speakers to boot. With the built in Zigbee smart home hub you will be able to connect all smart with one simple voice command “Alexa, discover my devices,” and sit back as it automatically discovers and sets up compatible lights, locks, plugs, switches, and more without the need for additional hubs or apps.

Echo Input

Price – €39.99

The smallest of the Echo range – as someone said to me “it’s the size of a good finger”. At 12.5mm tall the Echo Input lets you add Alexa to your existing speaker. Amazon claim that an awful lot of people use their Echo to plug into something else, so now you can do this with a cheaper and smaller device. Unlike Echo Dot, which has a built-in speaker, all audio is played through the connected speaker rather than through Echo Input itself. So that old Hi-Fi system sitting in the corner gathering dust might just be about to get a new lease of life. This device is not available quite yet but we should see it before the end of the year. Hopefully before Christmas as I can really see this being a nifty little gift for someone.

Echo Sub

Price – €134.99

If you follow us on Instagram you would have seen me messing around with this piece of monster music equipment. Playing Foggy due in a meeting room in London city center… probably not my smartest move in the world but what have you.

The Echo Sub is a giant wireless sub-woofer for anyone who loves their tunes and wants to pump up the volume when listening to music or podcasts.

The wireless speaker will connect itself to any compatible Echo devices, well two of them at a time anyway. What’s cool about this is the fact it will work alongside any other speakers you have to improve thing like the base, while with their inbuilt equalizer feature you can adjust sound settings through the Alexa app. Really it’s ideal for music lovers but as it’s not Alexa enabled in itself I wouldn’t be rushing out to get it as your first device.

Amazon Smart Plug

Price – €27.99

The Amazon Smart Plug in the most basic sense will allow you to make any device in your home smart. Plug this into the socket and plug your toaster, coffee maker or whatever you want into the Smart plug and viola that’s it you can now power it on and off through Alexa. Literally as soon as the plug is on it will search and pair with your Alexa powered devices so you are ready to go without any real setup.

But why would I want a smart plug I hear you ask? Think about it like this right, you wake up in the morning half dead to make coffee, whereas now you can tell Alexa to turn on the coffee maker at 6:30 and a boiling hot pot of brew will be ready to pour by the time you crawl out of your bed.

Availability and more

All these products are available to order now, but some features, namely on the Echo Show will not be available in Ireland straight away. While most people won’t see the value in a lot of the range, techies will be enthused by the likes of the Sub and show. If you are starting out with your first voice assistant or smart home you could do a lot worse than going for the Echo Dot, Smart Plug and Philips Hue bulb combination. That combo will set you back less than €150 and will allow you control lights and a plug socket as well as having Alexa to play music or make your shopping list. Trust me if you start with this it won’t be long until you want the rest. Just wait for the day you want a smart microwave (currently only available in the States but it’s 100% real)

Huawei Mate 20 Pro Launches in Ireland: The Year of Huawei

Marty

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16th October 2018

0

Huawei Mate 20 Pro Launches in Ireland: The Year of Huawei

I’m going to be honest with you from the outset here. Even as recently as last year, I wouldn’t have been comfortable having Huawei as my daily runner smartphone. They’ve been making great phones for years, arguably back as far as the P8, but they just weren’t as good as the heavy hitting flagships. I’ll admit, I didn’t pay the Mate 10 much attention and as a result, my socks were properly blown off by the P20 Pro earlier this year. Now, with the exception of the past few days as I’ve been testing out the Pixel 3 XL, the P20 Pro became my go to phone. It replaced the Note 8, a phone I really loved.
The P20 Pro is really an incredible phone but the Chinese manufacturer wants to go one step further before closing out the year. Huawei has just launched the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. I was lucky enough to be brought over to London last week by Huawei to get an exclusive sneak peek at the Mate 20 series and I’ve got to admit – 2018 is the year of the Huawei.

Huawei Taking Over Ireland in 2018

Huawei has had one hell of a 2018 already. Earlier this year, they launched the P20 Pro, a smartphone which I personally think made smartphones cool again. The triple camera setup is incredible which led to it being granted the top spot on the DxOMark scale, leaving every other smartphone, including iPhone, in their wake. They even stole second place as the biggest smartphone distributor from Apple too. You think they’d be happy enough with that right?
Unfortunately for Samsung and Apple, that’s not the case. With the P20 and P20 Pro really shaking up the regular consumer market in Ireland, Huawei is now taking aim at young entrepreneurs and business people with the Mate 20 series.

Meet the Mate 20 Series

Huawei is launching two new flagships to join the P20 and P20 Pro. The bigger brothers to this phones will be the Mate 20 and the Mate 20 Pro. The Mate 20 Pro will deliver some of the most incredible specs and tech I’ve ever seen in a smartphone, while the Mate 20 will deliver similar but slightly watered down specs.
Most impressive is the Mate 20 Pro and this is what I spent most of my time in London playing with. While you can expect to see a much more in-depth review from me in the coming weeks, here are some first impressions I got during the sneak peek session.

What Makes the Mate 20 Pro Different?

In-screen Fingerprint Scanner

One of the very first bits of tech to stand out on the Mate 20 Pro is the in-screen fingerprint scanner. After setting it up, I couldn’t help but proclaim loudly – “we’re living in the future”.

We’re living in the future

When Apple killed the headphone jack, there was a logical alternative available in wireless audio technology. When they killed the fingerprint sensor, there was nowhere else to go. Sure, they have facial recognition and so too will the Mate 20 Pro, but the new Huawei flagship has truly gone above and beyond what I thought I’d see in a smartphone for another few years. A sensor beneath the screen means you can not enrol your fingerprint to your smartphone and then unlock it by pressing a specific spot on the screen.

My mind was blown, seeing a fingerprint scanner below a fully functional smartphone screen. I won’t pretend to understand how it works, but it’s bloody impressive.

Fast Charge – No, Seriously Fast Charge

They say a watched pot never boils. Maybe Huawei should enter the pots and pans industry. I’ve never seen phone charging quite like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. With a 4200 mAh battery and the smaller Mate 20 having a 4000 mAh battery, the Mate 20 Pro can achieve a 70% charge in just thirty minutes. That’s a day and a half of battery life, in just thirty minutes. It’s ludicrous. It charges so fast, you can actually see the charging progress, pardon the pun, bolting along.

This is all possible because of Huawei’s 40-watt supercharger, but don’t worry. As scary as that sounds, you won’t have a Samsung Note 7 style incident happening with your Mate 20 or Mate 20 Pro. Huawei rather cleverly enlisted the help of TÜV Rheinland who specialises in mapping the safety of manufacturing processes. Basically, they make sure Huawei’s batteries don’t go boom.
Apple supports fast charge but then has the audacity to not include this as standard out of the box. Huawei, Google and Samsung, to name but a few, include fast charging as standard. Consider that a very reserved rant ended.

All Power to Huawei

The charging innovations don’t end there for the Chinese manufacturer. For the first time, Huawei will introduce wireless charging into their range. While wireless charging is cool, it’s often quite slow, especially when you consider how fast wired charging has become. Again, thanks to Huawei’s upping of the power a bit, the Mate 20 Pro, powered by a14-watt wireless charger can charge 160% faster than the iPhone X.
While that’s pretty neat, Huawei had another charging trick up their sleeve. It the ultimate display of power over other smartphones, the Mate 20 Pro will feature Wireless Reverse Charging. The battery is so impressive on this uber-flagship that Huawei know you’ll be the one with extra juice to share. So, if you’re out and about and your mate’s phone is running out of juice, you can place your phones together and give them some power. The only obvious caveat here is that your friend needs to be using a phone which supports wireless charging. It’s worth pointing out, however, it doesn’t need to be a Huawei smartphone.

The Mate 20 Pro Camera

It’ll have to overtake the P20 Pro, right?
Huawei continues to team up with Leica lenses to deliver a best in class experience with the Mate 20 Pro. With a centre-mounted, triple lens array the Mate 20 Pro can shoot wide-angle, telephoto and ultra-wide shots with ease.
Combined with the mighty Kirin 980 chip announced at IFA 2018 in Berlin, the Mate 20 Pro can offer 134% more artificial intelligence power than the chip which powers earlier Huawei smartphones. This means the phone itself can spot what you’re trying to capture and actually adjust settings accordingly. The P20 Pro is capable of identifying 10 to 15 shooting scenarios, but with the additional power of the Kirin 980 chip, the Mate 20 Pro can identify and adjust shoot settings for up to 1500 scenarios. For me, this is the true birth of smart phones. Think about it: what’s actually so smart about smartphones? We tell them to do everything, but now the Mate 20 Pro will actually do a lot of the heavy lifting for you and ensure you’re taking a great shot.

For me, this is the true birth of smart phones

I only had a very brief chance to test out the camera on he Mate 20 Pro, but from what I saw I was fairly impressed. One of the most incredible shooting modes uses the wide-angle lens, allowing you to capture epic, dramatic shots, shots I’ve never seen a smartphone capture before.
Considering I’m now also testing out the Google Pixel 3 XL, I’ll be able to really put the Huawei 2018 flagships through their photo shooting paces; watch this space.

Security

The Mate 20 will depend on a read fingerprint scanner to unlock the phone. For the Mate 20 Pro, I’ve already touched upon the in-screen fingerprint – pun wholeheartedly intended, but there’s also some serious facial recognition. Now, Huawei isn’t breaking ground here to be fair with the technology behind their facial recognition resembling that of the iPhone X, iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max. You’ll hear words like dot projector, infrared camera and flood illuminator used to describe the technology in both.
At the end of the day, you and I both know we’ll all be using the in-screen fingerprint right? Still, I’ll give this a more thorough test in the coming weeks.
Another security feature is one I’m a massive believer in; the Password Vault. With more and more data breaches taking place these days, you should be using different passwords for every website you sign up to. I’ve been using LastPass, a password manager, myself for the past year or so and would you believe I don’t know passwords for most sites I use. Instead, I just know a passphrase which locks LastPass which in turn provides me with access to whatever sites I’ve set up. If one site gets hacked, I just need to change the password on the affected website and not every other site I’ve ever used.
Long story short, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro will include a password manager. Sorry, that was a really long story that could have just been short, but you should really start thinking about password managers. This kind of carry on is going to become the new normal in personal online security.

Huawei Watch

I’m not a Huawei fanboy, but I have become a massive Huawei advocate. For smartphones, that’s a very recent thing, but for wearables, it’s been a few years. I bought the first Huawei Watch and absolutely loved it. I recently parted ways with it and bought the Huawei Watch 2, mainly because I want to use Google Pay – a feature I’ve been promised is coming soon. Huawei’s wearables have been quietly making quite a dent into the wearable market, growing 147% market share in the past twelve months – making them the fourth-biggest wearable manufacturer in the world.

Wear OS Out – Lite OS In

Until now, that growth has come from Huawei’s focused on their Wear OS range, but now they’re changing things up a bit. Just like Samsung runs their wearables on a homemade OS called Tizen, Huawei is now launching a new wearable which runs their own Lite OS.

I will admit, after seeing Samsung’s Tizen I have some major reservations about Huawei’s move into a Lite OS-powered wearable. Will they quickly roll out support for popular apps like Google Maps and Spotify? That aside, the new Huawei Watch does have some mightily impressive stats.

For Fitness Fans

Huawei is focusing on the fitness wearable market. You know, people who enjoy the swim-tracking power of Garmin or the constant tracking power of a Nokia Steel HR. If you want your new Huawei Watch to track your sleep patterns and give you notifications, you’ll only need to charge it every 30-days. Think about it; a wearable that you only charge twelve times a year.
Now you can crank up the level of information your watch gives you and depending on how far you want to crank it, you’ll get between 22 hours and two weeks of battery life.
When it comes to looks, the new Huawei Watch continues Huawei’s style of actually looking like a watch. One strap has a lovely leather outer but rubber inner, meaning it’s the perfect dress or gym wearable.
But I digress…

Huawei Mate 20 Pro: First Impressions

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro might do the impossible; top the P20 Pro. Now, with that said I need to make an important point. They are not directly competing. Huawei is going for a dual flagship because different people want different phones. The P20 Pro will suit some, the Mate 20 Pro others. I’m going to take some time to decide which person I am and come back to you soon with a much more in-depth review and then, hopefully, I’ll be able to point you towards which phone you’ll prefer.

Where to Buy the Huawei Mate 20 Pro in Ireland

Huawei smartphones can sometimes be hard to come by, however, the Mate 20 Pro will be available from Irish networks. Better still, if you order early you can get yourself a Huawei Watch and a wireless charger for free. Not too shabby eh?

Register your interest in the Mate 20 Pro with Three Ireland.

Setting the Scene

Action with consequence

Explore Ancient Greece

Main Story

New Mercenary System

Fight like a Spartan

Killer Cult

The Goosed Verdict

What are you in for?

“Hill House has no shortage of jump scares, but by no means relies on them.”

“This is where the real genius of Flanagan’s horror comes from. Not every ghost has to make you scream.”

The Plot

Spoiler Alert!

The Cast

Verdict

The Sony Conundrum

Sleek Design

TV Quality Display

Battery Power

Camera Quality

Main/Rear Camera

Selfie Cam

Video

Side Sense

Sony Xperia XZ3 Spec Sheet

Xperia XZ3

Google Pixel 3

Size

Display Size

Weight

Protection

SIM

Display Type

Operating System

Internal Memory

Expandable

RAM

Main Camera

Selfie Camera

Cable Type

Headphone Jack

Battery

Pricing and Availability

The Verdict

Going back to basics

Bullseye

The Goosed Verdict

The Storyline

Combat Mechanics

Suit Powers, Gadgets and more

Loads of side missions

Cracking Graphics and Cut Scenes

What Happened in Season One?

What’s Different in Making a Murderer Season Two?

Who is Kathleen Zellner?

How Does Season Two Play Out?

What is CeX – The Computer Exchange

CeX Trust Pilot

Is CeX Good Value?

Google Chromecast

Apple TV 4th Generation

Apple Earpods – Lightning Connector

Apple Airpods

Amazon Echo Dot – Second Generation

Apple iPhone 8 64GB

Apple iPhone Xs 64GB

CeX: The Verdict

What’s new?

Echo Dot

Echo Plus

Echo Input

Echo Sub

Amazon Smart Plug

Availability and more

Key Features of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro

Huawei Taking Over Ireland in 2018

Meet the Mate 20 Series

What Makes the Mate 20 Pro Different?

In-screen Fingerprint Scanner

Fast Charge – No, Seriously Fast Charge