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Dyson Corrale Review: Is This Hair Straightener Worth Buying?

Marty
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0
Dyson Corrale Review: Is This Hair Straightener Worth Buying?

I love reviewing tech. I love reviewing tech mainly because I get to play with lots of toys. From time to time, a new gadget puts me outside my comfort zone and I have to learn on the job. I love these reviews more than any other which is why I was delighted to see a hair straightener land on my desk to review. The Dyson Corrale is typical of what you’d expect from Dyson in every aspect, but is it worth the fairly hefty price tag that comes with it? Let’s see.

What Is The Dyson Corrale?

In simple terms, the Dyson Corrale is a hair straightener. That’s a flat iron if you’re in the United States. It uses heat to make wavy curly hair, straight. But because the Corrale is engineered by Dyson, it does a lot more than that. Dyson is a world leader when it comes to developing products which not only achieve a goal, but also removes many of the issues which arise from compromise. While the company has become famous for creating some of the world’s best and most recognisable vacuum cleaners, they’ve never been shy to take a look at other areas in need of a keen engineering eye.

The Dyson Corrale is the result of Dyson deciding hair straighteners weren’t good enough. But what does the Corrale do that’s so impressive?

The Wireless Hair Straightener

Ok, look. My comfort zone is the tech side of things and I will come to the hair side in a bit, but just let me start. Regardless of my experience using a hair straightener, I know that wires are annoying. At the best of times, they get in the way and with a very hot device like a hair straightener, it can feel like it’s just a matter of time before you melt your way through your cable.

The Dyson Corrale is wireless. This brings with it many benefits but if you’re in Ireland or the UK one benefit is simply huge. You can easily work with your hair using the Corrale in the bathroom. Yes, if you’re in another country reading this let me explain. Building regulations in Ireland and the UK do no permit for a power outlet in the bathroom. Only when you’ve gotten ready to go out in a German bathroom do you realise just how convenient a power outlet beside the big mirror is.

With a 4-cell lithium-ion battery and 40 minutes charging time to reach 90%, the Corrale offers up to 30 minutes of wireless hair straightening. That’s 30 minutes of time you can focus on your hair in the bathroom with all your usual hair accessories and products within reach. No more dragging everything into the bedroom.

Wires Are Optional

While the wireless feature is awesome, it’s also optional. Sometimes that gathering in the bedroom is a bit of a ritual. The Corrale ships with a near charging dock which is nice for when you do your hair near an outlet. You can enjoy the wireless life and keep the battery charging in between pauses or just plug the Corrale in. This is possible because the charging cable that comes with the Corrale can either be connected to the dock or the straightener itself. It’s connected with a strong magnet that remains flexible while charging so it’s not too restrictive either. Importantly, the cable doesn’t just pop out for sport.

The Smarts

I’m almost certain that the conversation in Dyson would have popped up at some stage about whether or not this hair straightener needed an app or not. Well, they reached the conclusion that it didn’t need one. The correct conclusion. And that’s what we get with Dyson. It’s thoughtful design. Nothing is included on the Corrale just because it’s a nice idea. It needs to be functional and helpful and this piece of kit includes just the right amount of smarts to go with that.

Temperatures

The Corrale includes a neat little OLED screen. Plenty bright to get you some important info but not over the top to waste power. When you power on the Corrale, you can choose between three heat settings:

  • 165°C
  • 185°C
  • 210°C

Those temperatures are not estimates either. As you would expect from Dyson, this is all about precision with built in heat control double checking the temperature 100 times per second to ensure accuracy.

dyson coralle temperatures

Another thing that blew me away was just how quickly the Dyson gets up to temperature. We’re talking like, McClaren F1, 0 to 60 levels of impressive. Once switched on, it takes less than the time of a short Tiktok to be at the first temperature setting and within 40 seconds you can hit 210°C.

Safety

Now there’s one thing, even as a guy who doesn’t need to straighten my hair, I know about flat irons. People live in fear that around the time of the second drink on a night out, the hair straightener may have been left on at home. Not to worry with the Dyson as it knows you’re not using it and turns itself off after ten minutes of inactivity. You’ll get some warning beeps too.

Dyson says you can indeed store away your flat iron in the heat-resistant bag that it comes with straight after using. But they do recommend allowing it to cool first if you can.

Travel With The Dyson Corrale

Travel. Remember that? Well, my better half and I actually did travel over the Christmas, just after this arrived in to review. Considering she would be my guinea pig for all of this, I figured the Christmas break would be the best time to test drive it. I was a bit worried because there’s loads of stuff in the box about flying with this straightener. A slip of paper says it’s “designed to meet ICAO regulations” and you can carry it on board. But then gives advice on what to do before travel, including contacting your airline before traveling.

I did this. Ryanair had no issues with it whatsoever, but did recommend I speak with Dublin Airport to ensure security knew what this was. So I did. Dublin Airport’s security “confirmed there should be no issues travelling with [the Dyson Corrale] in carry on luggage. Indeed that’s how Dyson recommend you storing it for your travels, not in your checked bag.

One critical thing to note here is that the Dyson Corrale has it’s own kind of Airplane Mode. There’s a small tag you pull out which disconnects the power circuit. There’s even a way to store it in the heat resistant bag.

On the way home, I totally forgot to contact Hamburg Airport. As I went through security, I saw my other half being taken to the side by security. Sure enough, they pulled out the Dyson and started asking questions. Turns out this team just hadn’t seen one but at heard of them. They also wanted to make a joke at the expense of a bald colleague so who were we to deprive them.

Is The Dyson Corrale Any Good?

Ok, I’ve been leaning heavily on the tech side of this review up until this point. I guess it’s time I talk about hair. We put the Dyson through some of the standard tests and it delivered. Whether it be straight hair or curls, styling wit the Corrale was relatively simple. This is mainly down to, unsurprisingly for Dyson, design.

Benefits For All Hair Types

The easy set variable temperatures are a great help too but it’s the plates themselves that steal the show. The huge plates gives you a massive surface to work with, allowing you to quickly move through more hair. These manganese copper alloy plates flex too which not only means less heat is needed to achieve results, but you get 50% less breakage. This is a unique selling point of the Corrale. If you shy away from hair tools because of light hair or because you fear damaging your hair, it’s a tick in the column of pros for the Dyson.

Because of lockdown, my hair is actually a little long right now. So in the interest of science I’ve used the Corrale a few times myself. It’s incredibly easy to use but there’s something even more important to note. The first time I used it, someone complimented my hair and that felt good. Never rule out owning one of these.

Designed To Use

I’m going to hammer home this point because this is what Dyson does. They design clever pieces of kit. It’s a really good hair straightener, but it’s not unique there. What makes the Corrale unique is how quickly it gets to heat. It’s how handy it is to use wirelessly, but if you have to how well it works wired. The rounded outer design means you can also achieve great curls, not just straight hair.

Even the charging dock that comes with the Corrale is handy. Despite several indications that this piece of kit is great for travel, it’s ideal use case is still probably sitting on a locker near a power outlet where someone can do their hair daily.

Which does bring me onto some of the negatives about the Corrale.

Dyson Corrale: The Negatives

I’ve been pretty excited while talking about the Dyson until now but myself and herself have jotted down a few annoyances.

It’s Heavy

It’s hardly surprising that the Dyson is heavy. Big plates and built-in batteries will do that to you. But at 561g. For prolonged use, if you’re chasing perfect curls, this could turn into a bit of a workout. Then there’s the fact I got travel vibes off this piece of kit when I unboxed it. I just don’t think it’s ideal for travel.

It’s Not Ideal For Travel

While the battery power might suggest straightening away from home is handy, with just 30 minutes run time, for anything more than one night away, you’ll need to bring the charger. The charger is unwieldy and quite like a laptop charger. Already, you’re losing more and more space in your carry on with plenty of space already being dedicated to the iron itself.

When I opened this box up I saw a slip of paper for travel instructions along with details on flight mode. In practice, getting through security and with all the bits you need, there’s a lot here.

The Corrale is ideal if you are going to a wedding. An overnight event and you want to do your hair the once or maybe freshen it up after dinner. I imagine most would still bring the cable, but you’d get away with out. If you’re going abroad for a few days, the Corrale will take up a bit of your carry-on allowance.

It Gets Hot

I love that I get to include this headline. Some people opt to wear hair straightening gloves to protect their hands. Don’t let the chunky curved design of the Corrale fool you. The outer casing gets quite hot. While it’s good news for curling, it’s not great for your hands if you slip up.

Dyson Corrale: The Verdict – Is It Worth €500

Sorry if you got this far and had no idea what the price was. I should have prepared you for that.

Yes, the Dyson Corrale is just under €500 (€491.87 from Dyson to be exact). There are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who are currently staring open mouthed at their screen and those who just went “of course”.

The Corrale follows the Dyson ethos or uncompromising design. Take the travel scenario out of it and you have the world’s perfect hair straightener. If you ended up reading this review because the wire of your hair straightener ruins your morning every morning, you’ll justify that price in a second. If, however, you do your hair once a month or only on special occasions, it’s hard to see this outlay being justified.

You’ll know yourself if you would pay for Dyson to bring their uncompromising design approach to your hair straightener. Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone how much you paid for it.

I couldn’t resist a small test drive myself – for science.

Massive thanks to my other half, Laura, for her help, expertise and insight for this review.

The Netflix Effect: How What We Watch Shapes Who We Are

Alex
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The Netflix Effect: How What We Watch Shapes Who We Are

To state the obvious, 2020 was a rotten year. It was a year where nothing could be taken for granted and very few things were guaranteed. However, among the small group of things you could rely on there were two that stood out to me. People watching a lot of Netflix, and people trotting out the same tired joke “Oh I’ve finished Netflix this year”, cue eye roll.

Indeed, Netflix saw its viewer base grow by over 15.7 million in the first quarter of 2020 alone and was even forced to temporarily downgrade streaming quality in some regions to allow their servers to cope with a massive increase in traffic. These facts shouldn’t be too surprising, however, seeing as we were all stuck inside for most of the year as well as the fact that Netflix both brought back old favourites like Community and The Office (US) and released some brilliant new shows and specials like The Last Dance and Tiger King. We were given every opportunity to turn a blind eye to the realities of the pandemic and dive headfirst into pure escapism.

On its own the fact that people watch a lot of TV while stuck inside doesn’t seem like a remarkably interesting fact, and it’s not. But what if I told you that the content we watched led us to better ourselves in intellectual, recreational and literary pursuits?

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

A large number of the most popular series and movies on Netflix owe their overnight success to a pre-existing work (like Riverdale or A Series of Unfortunate Events), while many others remind us of a sporting hero or an intriguing murder case (like The Last Dance or The Ripper). This has two benefits, one for Netflix and one (potentially) for the audience. For Netflix, series with pre-existing fanbases seem like a no-brainer, fans of the Witcher already had an immediate buy in when it dropped last December. However, many other series (The Queen’s Gambit in particular) may influence their audience to take up a new hobby or pastime.

It goes without saying that some pop culture phenomena are ever present. If you were to look at the sales of, say, the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or even James Bond novels their sales figures are mostly consistent over their lifetimes. These franchises have long-term dedicated fans who aren’t going to buy the original books because a new movie is out. They’ve all been there, done that and (quite literally) bought the t-shirt. However, some series are more obscure with much smaller fan-bases. For example, before watching did you know that Bridgerton was based on a series of romance novels? Or how about the upcoming Fate: The Winx Saga? That’s based on a kids show on Nickelodeon. While the mainstream mainstays make the box-office big bucks, it’s these smaller titles that have an impact on our day to day.

Toss a Coin to Your Witcher

Henry Cavill as Gerlat of Rivia in The Witcher

The Witcher has been something of a phenomenon in the gaming community for quite some time. Hailed as the best game of 2015 and winning a record number of awards, Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt launched to universal acclaim. But before last year, if you’d asked someone what a Witcher was, or who you should toss a coin to for getting rid of a monster, chances are they wouldn’t know what you were talking about. Now though, more people than ever know about Geralt of Rivia and his exploits.

However, people didn’t just enjoy watching Henry Cavill swearing his way through the Northern Kingdoms on telly, they were hungry for even more by the time they were done. Thanks to Netflix’s blockbuster Witcher series the sales of Andrzej Sapkowski’s books went through the roof. In the month of December alone The Blood of Elves saw a 16 times increase in google searches, as did the other novels in the original series. The popularity of the novels seems like it will only continue to grow as well with Henry Cavill jumping on Instagram a mere 20 days after the show released to confirm he’d already started work on season 2. Hopefully we’ll see people continue the journey and see even more book sales for the once unheard-of fantasy masterpiece.

Whips and Sexy Vampires

Alucard, Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades take on the forces of Dracula in Castlevania

Keeping with the medieval fantasy theme for a bit, Castlevania is a series that, as far as video games go, is dead in the water. The classic side-scrollers haven’t seen a release in over a decade, and the reboot series hasn’t been seen or heard from in over 6 years. However, when Netflix announced its animated series searches for the series golden child Symphony of the Night skyrocketed and the number of people looking for good emulators (running an old game on a newer system) went through the roof. You couldn’t go on Twitter or Reddit without people asking where they could play the game with Alucard and Richter. Even more fans joined the hunt for a good copy of the game in 2018 and 2020 when seasons 2 and 3 of the series released. Clearly, not only can an adaptation of a franchise revitalize interest in the series, but it can do it multiple times in a row!

A Royal Rumble

Anya Taylor Joy as Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit

The Queen’s Gambit is the latest and most extreme example of the Netflix Effect. Premiering on Netflix in October 2020, the series was trending on every platform for nearly two full months with over 62 million viewers making it the most viewed limited series on Netflix ever! No surprise seeing as it is one of the most critically acclaimed TV series of the year. For the 5 of you who haven’t seen it yet, The Queen’s Gambit is the story of Beth Harmon an orphan in the 60s as she deals with adoption, drug addiction, and being the only woman in the male-dominated world of professional chess. To say that the show renewed people’s interest in the ancient game would be an understatement. Nearly overnight the original novel became a New York Times bestseller (37 years after it was first published). This is despite there being buzz around Heath Ledger being teed up to direct an adaptation in 2007. Not only that, but the number of searches for chess sets on eBay increased by 250% and sales of new chess sets went up over 1,000%! Searches for “Chess” were at their 5-year peak in October, as well as chess.com seeing millions of new users set up accounts and start playing online. All this, because of one TV show. This long into the pandemic, the idea that people are just looking for something to learn or do almost becomes irrelevant. If people wanted to learn chess they had already 8 months to do so. No, people chose to teach themselves chess because of The Queen’s Gambit, not alongside it.

What will you watch next?

I’m sure if you look back at your Netflix watching you’ll find other examples of new interests or hobbies that have snuck into your life. Did you watch Space Jam after watching The Last Dance as I did? Have you started listening to a new true-crime podcast? Or how about what you might find in the new year? Will you be keeping up to date on the Witcher novels in anticipation of season two? You might find yourself with an interest in Nascar after watching The Crew with Kevin James. Turns out that when a piece of media we consume grabs our attention we as people will throw ourselves into the deep end to try and find more. It’s only natural that we want to continue enjoying something we love. Embrace it and lose yourself in new worlds of fun. Or just see what else is trending and find a new world to explore.

Sage Bambino Plus Review: The Best Espresso Machine For Working From Home

Marty
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Sage Bambino Plus Review: The Best Espresso Machine For Working From Home

It’s been a terrible year. I’m not going to dance around that. But when we look at the legacy of this pandemic, global acceptance of remote working or working from home will be one of the few positives we remember. The Irish government has introduced new legislation to encourage remote working and I would imagine the goal here is to decentralise the Irish workforce from Dublin. As one of the “home office” generation, I noticed I was spending far too much in the local coffee shop. It’s all well and good “supporting local business” but it was going to leave me broke. So I invested in a coffee machine. I might be stretching “tech” here a little but, but given there’s plenty of people out there in the same boat, here’s everything you need to know about buying the best espresso machine for your home office.

Are Espresso Machines Worth It?

I’m going to start here because I remember a time when I wasn’t convinced. Espresso machines do a lot more than those tiny little cups of coffee, thought I’ve grown to love them too. Basically, every coffee drink imaginable starts with an espresso. Just check out this handy chart:

Coffee style chart courtesy of Craft Coffee Guru

Can you see the common denominator? Yup, everything needs espresso. Once you have an espresso machine it opens up the world of gorgeous homemade beverages. Over the Christmas, I got to use another espresso machine and made some lovely Gaelic Coffees. Honestly, having an espresso machine is awesome.

That’s the emotional side of having a machine justified, but what about the financial? Well, before I got my espresso machine, we were buying two coffees probably three of four times a week. That’s over a grand a year on coffees. Some weeks with less, some weeks with more but regardless, buying coffee is expensive. Even with the additional expenses of adding in milk or your milk alternative (I’m an oat milk man) along with coffee beans, if you like popping out for a latte you could save a small fortune by getting yourself a coffee machine.

Sold. Now what do you need to look out for.

What To Look For In An Espresso Machine

The reason I’m writing this is because I did a lot of digging and asking around before picking a coffee machine. I learned a lot. I learned that there’s a difference between an appliance and a commercial level machine that goes beyond the sheer volume of coffee the machines churn out. Before I bought the Sage Bambino Plus, I had picked up a €100 espresso machine in Lidl. It was grand, but I wouldn’t have seen my beloved cream that I now seek in every cup. I could never go back.

Basically, if you think you’re going turn out to be a bit of a coffee nerd and start chasing the perfect cup coffee, you might want to go for a slightly higher end espresso machine. Something like the Gaggia Classic. If you know this is a fad, follow what I did and grab a €100 espresso machine from Argos or Lidl when they’re on sale. Bit if you’re working from home and enjoy really good coffee, you can’t go wrong with the Sage Bambino Plus. It has all the traits of a perfect espresso machine when working from home. The simple reason is that the Bambino Plus is an appliance more than a commercial grade espresso machine. It’s easier to use than most commercial espresso machines but still delivers a certain degree of room for you to perfect your cuppa.

Pressurised Or Non-pressurised Baskets

Image from Coffee Forums

These are the four baskets included with your new Sage Bambino machine. The thing in the middle at the bottom is your portafilter. That’s the handle thing that fits into the machine. The four baskets do very different jobs. The two on the right are pressurised baskets. These are for single and double espresso shots and are great when you’re buying ground coffee beans from the supermarket. This is because you don’t want that much control and just want the machine to make an espresso. On the left are non-pressurised baskets. These are for when you buy whole beans and grind them yourself. More on grinding later, but the important thing to remember is that you get all of these so the machine well let you do what ever you like as you get used to making home coffees.

Milk Frothing

Take another look at that coffee style chart. Foamed milk is also massively important. Milk foaming wands are common on espresso machines, but they’re tough to master. Foam too long and you burn the milk. Also, good luck cleaning the wand. Don’t froth long enough and you’ll have yourself a cold coffee.

The Bambino Plus is one of the few machines on the market with a auto-froth function. At least one of the few on operating on this level. Just fill the jug included with your machine with milk or oat milk. Pop the jug under the wand and hit the button. You’re done.

I’ve used the frothing function for hot chocolates and even baking too. Handy thing to have in the kitchen. The bonus of it being automated is that it also cleans itself too.

Grinding

The Bambino Plus doesn’t have a grinder built in but there is another Sage machine that does. I don’t recommend this though for one very simple reason. If you buy that machine and the coffee machine breaks, your grinder is useless. If the grinder breaks, it’s taking up a lot of space on the counter for just an espresso machine.

I’ve gone ahead and bought the matching Sage Smart Grinder Pro. This means when I buy new beans I need to play with the grind settings a few times to get the perfect espresso, but when it’s done it’s done. You can feed the hopper and forget, even setting a grind time too.

Why The Sage Bambino Plus Is Perfect

Look, I’m after flying through that but the reason I did is because I wanted to get to this bit. Why I believe this is the perfect espresso machine for your home office. At the end of the day, it’s ok to want a nice coffee to start your day. The ritual of making a coffee is something I really look forward to every morning. But if I had one of the other machines which can be a lot less forgiving on grind size or tamping, the chances of you messing up your coffee and having to start over is much higher.

The setup I have lets your morning coffee be quite a simple routine but also ensure you’re having a really nice cup of Joe. Well, once you buy nice beans of course. Cloudpicker’s Sam is my own coffee of choice.

But you don’t have to buy fancy coffee or even buy whole bean. The pressurised baskets mean you can just grab ground coffee beans from the local supermarket and start making your own lattes.

While the set up isn’t cheap, it’s perfect for small to medium homes who love a good coffee. Once you consider the potential savings over the life of having a machine like this, the price looks much smaller.

You can pick up a Sage Bambino Plus from Harvey Norman for €449 and the Smart Grinder Pro for €250 from Cloudpicker.

sage bambino plus review

Melomania Touch Review: The Best Earbuds For Sleeping

Marty
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Melomania Touch Review: The Best Earbuds For Sleeping

During the middle of lockdown, where we had to behave but were allowed travel the country and go shopping, I went to Kildare Village. Working at home had left me short on sweatpants so I popped into Under Armour to pick up some bits and pieces. The guy behind the counter was horrified to hear I was buying fitness clothing to sit at my desk. I couldn’t have cared less. Buying the right products for the right usage is always the right thing to do. Cambridge Audio sent over a pair of their new Melomania Touch true wireless earbuds and I love them. Sure enough, they’re great for listening to music but they’re also the best earbuds I’ve found for listening to stuff in bed.

Who Is Cambridge Audio?

Cambridge Audio is the kind of brand I can get along with. You know why? Because on their website they say that they, and I quote: “want to save the world from shit sound”. Now that, ladies and gentlemen is a mission statement. Lots of people listen to music on terrible audio equipment, whether it be headphones or earphones and Cambridge Audio wants to do something about that.

hifi setup from Cambridge audio

They started out building stereos and that craic, but they specialised in really high quality equipment. Today, they still produce high end Hi-Fi equipment with a modern spin. Now, this high end equipment isn’t cheap, but don’t let that scare you away from the new bits and pieces the company is working on; namely their ear buds.

The Melomania Touch Wireless Buds

The Melomania range from Cambridge Audio isn’t new. Last year they stormed onto the market with an impressive pair of “bullet” earbuds. Personally, design-wise, these weren’t for me, but the specs were mind blowing. Mind blowing is wee ear buds like that giving you a 9-hour battery life without using the charge case.

The Melomania Touch look to be more up my street in terms of design. Theirs specs look good too.

Melomania Touch Review

The Melomania Touch that I’ve been sent to test drive are stunning for many reasons. If you’ll indulge me, I’ll share those with you now.

Audio Quality

Straight in, no kissing. Regardless of all the other things I like about these buds, if the sound was awful Cambridge Audio immediately failed. The good news is that the audio is great. Can they compete with fantastic over-ear headphones like my beloved Bose QC 35ii or the mightily impressive Huawei FreeBuds Studio? Alas, no they can’t. But these are right at the top of the list of the best in-ear buds I’ve tested. This is down to highly respectable audio quality along with great isolation and an app with an actually useful equaliser.

It’s important that I emphasise the point that the sound quality of these buds might not meet expectation if you look at them and think “oh, they look like stage monitors so that must be the target market”. There’s a bit of bleed between the mids and treble and the bass isn’t the most powerful on in the world. But I am being a complete earbud snob to be honest. 90% of music lovers will pop these in and realise their old earphone were crap and that’s enough for me.

Design

Right, so they didn’t screw up the sound which means they’ve done a lot of the work. Far from home and dry though. As I mentioned, it’s impossible to ignore the likeness between these buds and professional stage monitors. I don’t for a second thing that’s an accident. The result is the Melomania looking pretty cool.

I’d argue that you look cooler than Justing Timberlake mainly because he felt the need to put his initials on his own monitors for Joe Biden’s inauguration. Note – these are not monitors from Cambridge Audio and this point is really just a vicious tangent.

Justin Timberlake and his personalised monitors totally unrelated to this review

Getting back to the Melomania Touch buds, the design is perfect. I’m guilty of often taking buds out and using them without trying the different bits and pieces because they usually just fit. However, these didn’t feel right at all. So I changed the bit that locks the buds into my ear. Just like that they were perfect. I couldn’t even feel the buds in my ears. I could completely forget about them. They’re nice and light, completely secure and I look just like Justin Timberlake.

Guys, we’re winning.

Design Part Deux: The Best Buds To Sleep With

I’m looking at that headline and I know I should change it but let’s leave it.

I didn’t really know I was in the market for a pair of earbuds to wear while sleeping until I realised these were perfect. I like listening to podcasts about various things, including doomsday prepping. Purely for the laugh like. I don’t have an underground bunker. Yet.

The Justin Timberlake likeness is uncanny, I know.

But my better half often jokes that she knows more than I do because I fall asleep while she has to listen to it. Seems only fair I wear earbuds but have you ever tried to sleep with headphones or buds in? It’s a nightmare. At least it was until I tried these buds from Cambridge Audio. The security in the ear, the low profile design, all of it comes together to be the perfect pair of buds to sleep with. This remains true even if, like me, you’re a belly sleeper!

The people behind the design claim to have looked at data from 3000 pairs of ears in the design process in an effort to make the comfort factor next level. I don’t know if that specifically helped but these are crazy comfy buds.

Functionality

Yes, they sound great but what else do you get for your money. Well, these earbuds, like their predecessors, pack in 9-hours of battery life which is just insane. I couldn’t imagine ever wearing any earbuds for that length of time, even as comfy as these are. But I like to know that if I really want to, I can. The charge case also holds power which means you get up to 50 hours of battery on the go.

I fell asleep with these buds in for about 7 hours one night and they were still going. Would they go the full 9 hours? Maybe. But if you have a real use for a 9-hour battery life, I want to hear about it.

The Melomania app doesn’t disappoint either. It’s showing off a modern design and lets you control plenty of audio features. Let more of your surroundings in for safety, use the equaliser to tune to your tastes or find your missing buds.

One thing I really like in the app is the ability to turn some of the touch controls on or off. Sorry, but for me touch gestures are usually awful and unintuitive. I really like the you can just turn everything off except pause so I know what tapping the bud will do.

It’s been a bit of a love in here, but I do have one complaint. The charge case doesn’t support wireless charging. This is a problem for me. I love when I travel somewhere and I just bring the one charger for my Pixel 5, knowing I can charge everything with reverse wireless charging. I’ll admit, this won’t impact many but we were near perfection here people.

Melomania Touch: The Verdict

I think you know it’s positive right? I was really impressed with these buds. The sound quality is great and the design is perfect. The lack of wireless charging is a small blip but then again, with battery life of 9 hours and up to 50 hours with the charge case you’ll likely never even experience this first world problem.

The added bonus here is if you’re looking for the best earbuds to wear while sleeping. I think there’s a market out there for this and these buds are the answer to that question. They’re a great pair of buds regardless but that’s a nice little niche for them to land into.

The Melomania Touch are available to buy now directly from Cambridge Audio for €140. Regards the whole Brexit thing, you can shop with ease because I’ve asked Cambridge Audio and they’ve said:

“All orders placed on the website cambridgeaudio.com are delivered from their warehouse in Germany, so it’s within the EU and with no additional taxes or charges to pay. Only UK orders are now delivered from the UK. All EU orders are now shipped from Germany, with free delivery and 100 day free returns”.

Three Has Fastest Network While Virgin Has The Greenest Broadband

Marty
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Three Has Fastest Network While Virgin Has The Greenest Broadband

Internet connectivity. Has there ever been a time like the past few months where your internet has meant so much to you? If your internet isn’t great and you’re in the market I might have something to sway you a little. In the past 24 hours, two Irish networks have be determined the fastest and the greenest way of staying connected. Three has been voted Ireland’s fastest network by the good people at Ookla while Virgin Media is now providing Ireland’s greenest broadband.

Three Is Ireland’s Fastest Network

If you’ve ever typed “speed test” into Google, there’s a fair chance that you’ve reached the Ookla Speedtest page. This is what they do for a living. It’s their bag and now they’ve independently verified that Three is Ireland’s fastest mobile network.

Ookla compared 485,674 user-initiated tests taken on the Speedtest iOS and Android mobile apps from all major mobile networks in Ireland in the second half of 2020. Three Ireland’s Speed Score was marked at 26.16 bringing them in ahead of Vodafone at 23.74 and eir at 20.76. These scores mean, following on from their 5G launch last year, Three achieved the best overall data performance in download and upload speeds in addition to the highest peak speeds for both download and upload.

Speed is of the essence these days, a point driven home my Three CEO Robert Finnegan who said, “our customers have never relied more on Three for mobile connectivity; they need to work remotely, to educate remotely, to stay in contact with loved ones and of course to entertain themselves”.

Virgin Media Offers Ireland’s Greenest Broadband

Virgin Media is now offering Ireland’s greenest broadband. Partnering with Energia, Virgin will power their broadband network with 100% green energy. The partnership with Energia is the latest initiative from Virgin Media that builds on ongoing wider sustainability measures and plays an important part of a large climate action programme. Virgin Media has committed to achieving the Low Carbon Pledge with Business in the Community Ireland, aiming for a further 50% reduction in Virgin’s carbon footprint by 2030. 

Peter McCarthy from Virgin Media says, “we have made a considered commitment to increase the amount of renewable energy in the grid that powers our networks and supports our ongoing commitment to a future with 100 percent renewal energy. Partnerships like this are important in helping us get there. We are looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint, and we know energy is one of our biggest areas of opportunity, so this is another great example of finding solutions to be more environmentally responsible”.

Dublin Smartphone Film Festival: Attend A Festival In Lockdown

Marty
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Dublin Smartphone Film Festival: Attend A Festival In Lockdown

Do you remember the really early days of lockdown where we weren’t sure how much new entertainment we’d have for a while? Like, do you remember when Fair City stopped filming? They were some pretty dark days but thankfully they’re somewhat behind us we’ve got some live sport and a limited amount of new Netflix to keep us going. Oh, and Fair City is back. At the same time there’s been a notable drop in new TV to watch and a massive slump in movies. Thankfully, the 2021 Dublin Smartphone Film Festival is going ahead which means you can attend a movie festival from the comfort of your own home.

What Is The Dublin Smartphone Film Festival?

The Dublin Smartphone Film Festival is now in its fourth year. The name is a bit of a give away, but this festival is dedicated to films and shorts captured on mobile devices. That’s mobile phones and tablets which and the whole idea is why we love the film festival. Filming a movie should be about creativity, not needing a load of expensive kit. For this very reason, Goosed.ie has been a sponsor every year and this year is no different.

Well, it obviously is very different but we’re still a sponsor.

It’s Ireland’s only festival of its kind and in 2021 it’s one of the few festivals that will go ahead. Speaking from experience, the film festival will out perform your expectations. I’ve enjoyed watching movies created by people I’ve never heard of and even been moved by some of them.

The public’s reaction to the festival over the past few years is a reflection of the quality on show.

Festival founder Robert Fitzhugh said “we just could not believe the success of the festival in the past three years. We sell out each year before the doors even open”. 

The 2021 Dublin Smartphone Film Festival

The 2021 Dublin Smartphone Film Festival ploughs on this year despite the pandemic. Like many other events which are going ahead, the festival will move online for this year so you can enjoy it all from the comfort of your own home. That’s probably an overused term now too, right? We’ve spent so much time at home, is there any comfort even left!

On the 30th January 2020 the festival will begin showcasing the best and brightest mobile filmmakers from around the world.  The event will show short films, documentaries, animations and music videos, along with educational workshops. With over 200 entries from more than 25 countries there’ll also be awards with categories include Best Fiction, Music Video, Documentary, Animation, and of course best Irish.

One big change this year, along with going online, is that the 15 minute limit on entries has been lifted. All of this means that the festival programmers have assembled an outstanding program with strong original concepts and inventive use of the technology. The festival has teamed up with SV Assets and, of course, ourselves here at Goosed.ie to provide amazing prizes and gifts for some lucky filmmakers.

The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have brought about an incredible period of creativity

Robert Fitzhugh, Dublin Smartphone Film Festival Founder

What To Expect From The Festival

I’m really excited about the festival this year and I won’t lie, that’s largely because of the pandemic. If we’ve learned one thing from lockdown it’s that people have been getting blood creative instead of bored. Just look at Tiktok! Robert sums it up nicely saying, “this year is unfortunately going to be a little different. It doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be great. The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have brought about an incredible period of creativity with people forced to use the tools they have at their disposal to tell stories”.

The Dublin Smartphone Film Festival will take place from the 30th of January to the 6th of February on XERB.TV. Head on over and buy your ticket today. You can pay €5 for a single screening or €15 for full access.

2020 Game: An Hilarious Look At An Awful Year

Marty
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2020 Game: An Hilarious Look At An Awful Year

The very worst things in life deserve to be laughed about at some stage. While the year 2077 made headlines for all the wrong reasons, we can now also celebrate the steaming dumpster fire that was 2020 in game form.

What Is 2020 Game?

2020 Game is a trip down memory lane for the year that was 2020. It starts with the Australian bush fires and immediately makes you say “oh yeah, that was 2020 too”. Yep, that was 2020 too. Take a second to appreciate that. From there you go through it all from Black Lives Matter to the US Presidential elections. It also includes some references to something called COVID-19, what ever that was.

A 5G mast spreading COVID-19. 2020 Game nails the madness

Why Did We Need 2020 Game?

2020 Game is the brainchild of Max Garkavyy. Actually, I need to build that up just a little but more. It’s the first game Max has ever developed. He currently works in a boring office job and created this game in his free time over six months. He’s mulling over whether or not he should go full on Mr. Anderson and quit big corporate to follow his dreams.

I think he should do it and I’ll tell you why.

2020 was a shit show. Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. But here we are, just 14 days into 2021 and Max has created a game that made me laugh about the worst year in recent memory. And I mean it was full on deep belly laughs at being stuck in quarantine in a game and running away from a 5G mast spreading COVID-19, again whatever that is.

Back in the day, I studied history. One of my lecturers was great at bringing up alternative sources. Moving away from the books he looked at the movies to learn more about what was happening in society. Personally, I think 2020 Game is something we could look back at in a few years and relive the worst year ever with a smile on our faces.

Play 2020 Game now on your laptop or your smartphone. The only rule is that if you laugh you have to donate to Max’s fund so he can go live his dream.

P.S: I better mention that it was my friend Rodrigo that sent me this or I’ll never hear the end of it. Go listen to his band on Spotify.

Eufy Security Review: Smart Wireless Home Security

Marty
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Eufy Security Review: Smart Wireless Home Security

I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life. One of them is the hallmark job of a man who’s had a lot of jobs; door-to-door salesman. I sold house alarms, or as I would tell people “I’m selling peace of mind”. Yeah, I’m not proud of that chapter in my life, but it did give me quite a bit of knowledge about home security. Back then, monitored house alarms were all the rage. Today, technology has advanced to a point where you can monitor your own house alarms. Eufy Security is one such security system that I’ve been testing out. If you’re in the market for a great value home security system then this is for you.

Who Are Eufy?

Eufy is a sub-brand of the well-known Chinese gadget maker, Anker. I’m a massive fan of what Anker makes because the quality is extremely high while the prices remain notably competitive. I already have some Anker Soundcore audio accessories, phone chargers and a Eufy RoboVac and have to say I’m mighty impressed with the quality you get, even before you see the great value price tag.

My first sight of the Eufy Security System at a New York launch event.

When Eufy sent over their security system for me to review I was excited. I had first seen this system at an Anker launch event in New York so I was excited to see the real deal land in for testing. Now, there was no point installing this in my apartment so I instead opted to give it to my Mam. A great year to install a security system to keep an eye on things!

The Eufy Security Kit

The basic Eufy security kit is the Eufy Cam 2C. This includes a HomeBase 2 and two cameras.

The Eufy Cam 2C takes less than five minutes to install

The HomeBase 2

I’ll start with the HomeBase 2 even though there’s not a whole lot to talk about here. The HomeBase 2 sits in your home and is a required part of the system. By that I means you can’t just buy a camera and connect it to your WiFi. One big positive of the system when it comes to privacy is that it doesn’t rely on cloud storage. Instead, your HomeBase 2 module has a 16GB drive capable of storing up to three months of footage.

That’s of course depending on how much activity it captures.

If you have quite a large area you need to cover, you can daisy chain these home base modules together. This means if you have two HomeBase 2 units you can connect them to each other and expand the overall quality of your video streams. I actually had to do this to boost the signal to some external cameras. The vast majority of people won’t need to do this but it’s handy to know.

One final handy thing to note is that while it’s always best you connect the home base module to your home broadband with a cable, you can use WiFi if you need find the perfect spot for peak signal quality.

The EufyCam 2C

This is the really important part of the system: the camera. These cameras will be your eyes, ears and even voice when you’re away.

Quality Video Streaming

These particular cameras are capable of streaming 1080p HD video. There are also pro versions of the cameras which can stream 2K video. For our setup, 1080p was ideal because, you know…rural broadband.

Today, 1080p is widely considered to be the absolute minimum acceptable camera quality and I tend to agree with that. But that’s not to say these cameras are just acceptable quality. They’re great quality and that’s not just during the day either. At night, you can activate a small light or watch what’s going on with the built in night vision.

The quality of the cameras is actually rather important these days too. If the purpose of your camera is to identify someone in the event of a break in and the cameras actually aren’t clear enough, you could find yourself in some GDPR hotwater. The reason being if you’re recording video it has to be high enough quality to carry out the reason you’re recording. That’s absolutely not a problem for this Eufy system.

Smart Cameras

The smart part of this cameras kicks in when it comes to knowing when to send you an alert. The built in AI can tell the difference between a person walking around your garden and the neighbours cat calling in for a visit. This featured called “human detection” can be disabled you rather know about everything going on.

Activity zones leave you in control of what triggers alerts

If your camera is setup facing a busy walkway or road, the camera has one final trick up its sleeve. You can set an activity zone for each individual camera. This means any movement outside the designated area of the cameras view will be ignored.

The Wireless Security Camera System

Probably the smartest part of the entire system is that all of these cameras are wireless. Installing the cameras took just a few minutes each with a handy sticker in the box providing a drilling guide. The vast majority of installations will just need an electric drill.

This sticker makes fitting the cameras simple.

One in place, you can forget about these cameras for about three months thanks to built in batteries. Eufy advertises 180-day batteries but I’ve only really ever witnessed about three to four months of battery life in a cycle. That will vary on how often you check the cameras and their proximity to the HomeBase 2. When it’s time to charge, they’re nice and handy to screw off their mountings. Plug the camera in for five hours and you’re up and running again for another three months at least.

The cameras are also IP67 rated so they’re fine to sit outside in the Irish weather.

The wireless nature of the camera means they’re easy to install but also easy to add to. I’ve added a few extra cameras to the system and even a smart doorbell. I better talk about that actually.

Eufy Doorbell 2K

I didn’t really want to the 2K version of Eufy’s smart doorbell but it was massively reduced on Black Friday so it seemed worthy upgrade to my Mam’s system.

The Eufy Doorbell 2K installed

The Eufy Doorbell features quite a few neat features that set it apart from the average doorbell. The built-in 2K camera means you can see who’s at your front door, whether they ring the bell or not. You can speak with them, tell them to leave the package because you’re on the way home or tell them that you’ll be gone for the day. Until you have a smart doorbell, you don’t realise how handy it is. For me it’s great to be able to know when there’s people around my home place. Peace of mind for everyone.

Fitting the doorbell was as easy as the rest of the kit. I think that’s actually the overarching theme of the entire system; ease of installation. You press the sync button on both the doorbell and the HomeBase 2 then two screws later your smart doorbell is fitted. It also comes with a nice angled plate which you can use to perfect the viewing angle of the camera.

Integrating the Eufy Doorbell with Amazon Echo Show

The last hurrah of this system is an integration with Amazon Alexa. If you have something like an Amazon Echo Show, you’ll be able to not only hear when your door bell rings on your Echo device, but you’ll be able to see who’s at the door too. For me, this is very close to what I thought homes of the future would look like back in the nineties. You know, like Bill Gates’ gaff.

Is The Eufy Security System Any Good?

The price tag that comes with the Eufy Security system is a fraction of installed home alarm systems, particularly if they’re monitored. Even other similar systems on the market are more expensive. The Eufy system we now have in place leaves me wondering why you would need anything more?

The app is great and keeps be notified of everything going on around the system. It even sends screenshots of movements and people ringing the doorbell so I know if I need to jump in and chat with someone. Installation was remarkably easy. I had set aside a day to install everything and it was done in a few minutes.

You can expand the system beyond what I have too so I fail to really see any catches with the entire system. Sure, the batteries would be awesome if they lasted the full 180-days but three months is plenty in between charges too.

One of the biggest benefits of the system is that there is no reliance on the cloud. Competitor systems like Amazon Ring or Arlo require cloud storage and that means monthly subscriptions. Eufy’s Security system means you buy the system and you’re done.

Eufy Security Systems: The Verdict

I don’t like using terms like “flawless” when it comes to gadgets, but the Eufy Security system I’ve set up here really isn’t far off it. I love that you don’t tie yourself into a monthly subscription and that the quality of the cameras is extremely high. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from an Anker company to be honest. The modular nature of the system means it’s easy to get a base system and expand over time.

The alarm systems I used to sell would cost the guts of €1300 per year when you through in the cost of monitoring with the hardware. That’s nearly five times more than what a system like this would cost you and at the end of the day no-one will monitor your home better than yourself.

I’ve still got it.

You can start your own home Eufy Security kit from just €239.99 on Amazon.de.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Launch: Everything You Need To Know

Alex
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Samsung Galaxy S21 Launch: Everything You Need To Know

Samsung’s yearly Unpacked event kicked off a little earlier than usual this year. The showcase of the new phones and accessories usually takes place around the Mobile World Congress, but with that event being postponed Samsung have taken matters into their own hands and decided to launch their new flagship line a whole month early. We were watching along live to bring you all the latest news and updates! 

Galaxy Buds Pro

samsung galaxy buds live

Samsung’s new earbuds are up first. Touted as the next generation of in-ear devices, they are presented to us in a sleek charging pod that has the same exterior as last year’s Buds Live case. A new sleek silver sheen on a more rounded form factor really sells these as being the earbud of the future. Intelligent Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) is the real focus here, something that’s been absent from the Samsung Earbuds ecosystem until now with an updated interior, boasting two speakers in one (a tweeter nestled inside a woofer) the Buds Pro promise a richer sound than ever before.

The addition of Smart 3D audio promises to adjust the sound you’re hearing in each bud depending on how you move your head relative to the device you’re playing your media on. It will certainly be interesting to see how this is implemented and whether it can be turned off to prevent any interruptions you may see if you’re on a plane or public transport.

The new ANC feature apparently eliminates up to 99% of external noise, with the option to allow voices to cut through any sound you may be listening to for those important everyday conversations. This is a big step up from the current Ambient Sound feature as it seems to isolate voices specifically, not all other sounds like the current earbuds. Design choices as well as intelligent software promise to cut out any wind or traffic noises that may interrupt any phone calls too.

Smart Switch is back so you can seamlessly jump from device to device so there’s no messing around with settings if you get a call while watching something on your tablet.

Boasting IPX7 these offer the highest level of water resistance in the whole Buds line. Always a nice feature to have so there’s no fear of a sweaty workout, or a run or walk in the rain!

These new earbuds will set you back €239 and will be available from January 15th. However, Samsung will throw a pair in for free if you order their top of the line phone (more about that device later!).

Galaxy Smart Tag

The newest smart device in Samsung’s lineup, Smart Tag will work with the new Smart Things Find app on Galaxy devices. This will allow you to find any manner of things if they go walkabout from your keys to your beloved family pet! The tag will even emit sound to enable it to be found easier by you or even passers-by. The app also uses advanced AR to offer you a point-of-view map to your missing devices as well!

If your valuables are out of your phone’s range though don’t worry, Smart Tag will use other Galaxy devices around it to pinpoint its location and help you to be reunited as quickly as possible!

The tags even have a button that’s compatible with Smart Home routines. You could, for example, use your smart tag on your keys so they never get lost, but also so they can be used to turn off the lights as you leave the house. Nifty or what?

Smart Tag isn’t available for purchase on its own right now but, like the Buds Pro you can get one for free if you pre-order the S21 or the S21+

The New Samsung Galaxy S21 Series

S21 and S21+

Behold. The new range.

Here we come to the real stars of the show. The new Galaxy S21 and S21+ are up with the “fastest chip ever in a Galaxy product”. A cool new “Contra-cut” camera design is the distinguishing feature here, along with a far wider offering of colours for the back plate too. First impressions? This thing looks stunning! Almost a shame to put a case on it. The new matte finish even promises to prevent the inevitable build-up of fingerprints on the back. The new camera design also promises to make the camera more durable and more robust than ever before. These two features, along with an even tougher glass screen means that a case is nearly unnecessary for many people.

As always Samsung’s best-in class display is being shouted out here. AMOLED is the name of the game once again, now offering an intelligent adaptive refresh rate that will offer 48 and 120 frames per second depending on the task at hand for an optimum experience. Eye Comfort Shield, A new intelligent blue-light filter also promises to keep our eyes in good shape too, cutting out some of the harsher light shades as we’re scrolling.

The Camera’s AI has been updated as well to offer even more professional looking photos from the 12 and 64 megapixel lenses (a wide, ultra-wide and telephoto lens as in the S20 range). New subject separation capabilities offer to enhance your portrait taking experience too, making your snaps feel even more true-to life, regardless of lighting. The AI even seems to be optimised for our four-legged friends as well as people, so your pooch will be just as stunning on Instagram as they are in real live. The Selfie camera has also been given a boost to ensure the white balance is uniform regardless of lighting. So, whether you’re on a sunny beach, or a dimly lit restaurant you’re sure to look your best.

Single take is back, using AI to create a multitude of the best shots from a single point-and-shoot mode. This has been one of my go-tos for my mobile photography on my S20+ and I’ll be very excited to see how it performs on the new hardware!

On the video front, Director’s view offers multiple feeds from all your cameras at once so you can choose the one you want to record on the fly. This is sure to keep any amateur directors very happy!

As for security, you can remove location data and even set expiry dates on any files shared between devices. 

One UI 3 offers a feature on the new hardware that we probably all wish we had. Object Eraser. This will allow you to erase people, stray objects, or animals from all your snaps at a tap! Who needs photoshop?

You can get yours from January 29th from €879 for the S21, or €1089 for the S21+. Pre-orders are open now and you can even trade in your old device to get a discount!

S21 Ultra

S21 Ultra now supports S Pen

This is our final piece of hardware for the day and it was introduced as an altogether more formidable beast! Offering a more powerful processor, a more vibrant screen and an incredible camera setup that promises studio quality photos from the 4 lenses. As usual, the S20 Ultra offers everything one step above the S21+ with an extra emphasis being on the incredible camera to provide a truly remarkable photography experience. 

The returning “Space Zoom” has been upgraded to offer much crisper, more lifelike image quality than its predecessor. 10 times optical zoom, working in tandem with sophisticated AI promises the clearest photos possible with 10X digital zoom on top of that, again offering 100X zoom overall. The camera will now use its advanced laser sensor to automatically focus and select the appropriate lens depending on the distance to your subject. For example, if the subject is detected within 30cm, the Macro lens will jump to the head of the queue without you having to do anything.

Two new S pens on display with a standard and a pro model available, both compatible with the S21 Ultra only. These are going open source as well so expect to see a variety of pen devices compatible with your S21 Ultra in the future!

 The S21 Ultra will set you back €1299 (or more if you go for the higher memory options) and is available from January 29th. Though you do get free Buds Pro if you pre-order so the hardcore among you may be tempted by it!

Everything else

Something we’ve suspected (or feared) for a while is that these new phones won’t ship with a charging block in the box, meaning you’ll have to use an old one (if you even have one) or buy one separately. This has a particular sting to it seeing as Samsung lambasted Apple for it when they did something similar before sneakily deleting their tweets about the subject a few months ago.

Some great news on the smart device front, Google Nest devices are now fully compatible with your Smart Things app! Something we’ve been waiting on for a while! Even cars have been added, through Android Auto. A new interface allows you to use the full Google Nest suite right from your car, a new “Heading Home” command will signal your smart devices to get to work to make your house warm and clean when you arrive!

To close, Samsung reiterate again how closely they work with Google to ensure they can deliver the best experience to their users. This also goes to show they for some users, Samsung may be the only name in the market now that Huawei have been forced to move away from the Android ecosystem.

That’s all for our quick round up! For more tech specs and purchasing details check out Samsung.ie, Carphone Warehouse, Eir, Three and Vodafone for all the info you’ll need!

MXGP 20 – On your bike!

Alex
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MXGP 20 – On your bike!

With each new console generation, we take greater and greater steps towards lifelike graphics and realistic physics in gaming. MXGP 20 exemplifies this expertly with gorgeous visuals, an involved physics system, and  colourful level and course design with wonderful details throughout. This is by far the most in-depth, realistic racing game I have ever played, bar none.

However, all this realism may come at a cost to new players who, as I was, might be overwhelmed with the depth and complexity of many of the game’s systems. Also, while visually stunning, this game also doesn’t do enough to take advantage of the PS5’s extraordinary power to set it apart as being a true next gen game.

Looking’ Good!

My experience of Motocross in videogames is admittedly limited to Excitebike for the NES and Motor Storm on PS3 (both brilliant games in their own right) so it’s no exaggeration that when I first saw MXGP 20 in action I was blown away. Racing games are usually held up as the poster children for the new graphical capabilities of new consoles and this game is no exception. I’d honestly be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a real-life marketing photo of a bike and some of the images on the bike selection screen here. The outline and animation of the helmeted rider is also picture-perfect.

What a wonderful world

Each track is also a sight to behold. The tracks made of realistic mud, dust and puddles obviously being the focus of detail but there are wonderful touches everywhere. The grassy areas of some tracks provide some welcome splashes of colour while the dirt that’s kicked up by each racer cakes onto the bikes and riders alike as they tear their way around the track.

mxgp 2020 review

Looking through the POV camera really highlights the amount of care that went into creating a living breathing world, even if it did somewhat impede my ability to compete in the race. The cheering crowds aren’t to be sniffed at either. They’re a far cry from the flat sprites that populated racing games of old. Each spectator is its own fully rendered 3D model with its own unique animation cycle. In particular, the animation cycle of the race marshals is over a minute long which is an obsessive level of detail considering you generally only see them for half a second at a time.

Even small touches that I’ve seen before like mud being caked onto the camera to simulate a dirty mask are done spectacularly here making the whole package a visually stunning muddy mess!

Play how you like

The stunning graphics of this game are given lots of chances to shine throughout the game’s many modes of play. From the usual career and freeplay modes to multiplayer and a new and improved track maker, there’s really something for every mood here!

Workin’ hard for the money

As you’d expect, career mode is as straightforward as it gets. Progress through a series of races, mirroring the real MXGP season, winning as many as possible to earn money and glory. You can do this by either racing for a Motocross team or by choosing a real-world sponsor to support you. Either way you’ll be given set challenges and targets for each race in order to maximise your earnings for victory.

Using your hard-earned cash, you can then buy new parts for your bike, or a new bike entirely, as well as cosmetic upgrades for your rider. While it’s quite straightforward on the surface, Career mode offers a lot of depth in terms of the ability to upgrade or tune your bike on a race-by-race basis and even change your sponsor or team in the middle of a season for greater or otherwise more useful rewards.

I want to break free!

Freeplay also makes an appearance in a couple of different ways. There’s the traditional experience of choosing a track and racing in a series or time attack that nearly every racing game has, but there’s also a sandbox mode that is much improved over other entries in the series. This Playground mode places you in a square kilometre of a small Norwegian valley and gives you free reign to do as you please from navigating your way across the fjords to taking part in one of the three particularly challenging tracks on offer.

Track Maker is one of the areas that this game really shines for me. I’ve seen track makers in other games before of course but the sheer depth of options and possibilities here are seriously impressive. Not only can you create the top-down layout of the track however you like as normal (from a vast selection of pre-made sections), but since this is Motocross you can choose the track surface type as well. This time around you’re able to use the natural terrain to your advantage to create a track with slopes and dips that mirror your surroundings. Similar to a Mario Maker stage, you’re free to dip in and out to play through any section of your creation so see how it plays so you can make alterations or finishing touches on the fly.

Pump the brakes for a second

While the core experience is a fantastic emulation of the real thing, MXGP 20 does fall down in a number of areas. The most glaring issue is the load times. There were instances where I was waiting up to 30 seconds for a track to load in career mode which is pretty far off the mark for a next-gen console. It may not sound like a lot but when you consider that games on the PS5 generally have a few seconds of loading or no load times at all it all becomes more glaring. Spider-Man and Demon’s Souls for example are as graphically demanding or even more so and have a maximum load time of 5 seconds in my experience. This is even more unforgivable when you remember that this is a cross-gen game, running on PS4 and Xbox One as well. 

Stuck in the mud

However, the far bigger issue, in my opinion, is how little this game does to endear itself to newcomers to the series. As I said, I have little experience with Motocross games. I do, however have good experience with racing games in general. I started MXGP and selected medium difficulty assuming it would offer a challenge but nothing too overwhelming, expecting to finish in or around 10th out of 20 in my first race.

mxgp 2020 review

Boy was I wrong. I was launched into highly detailed bike customisation menus that I didn’t understand before starting the first race in the game. Upon which I was presented with a list of controls and left to my own devices. No explanation of how the bike’s parts affect each other, no advice on how to manage my rider’s weight on the bike, not even a racing line that has become a staple of games like Forza and Gran Turismo. I was on my own.

“No worries,” I thought “I’ll just quit the race, reset the difficulty and go again.” No dice. Once you start a race, there’s no way of quitting the game (I understand that this is likely a way to prevent people from cheating by quitting a race they’re doing poorly in, but this should be treated as a forfeit in my opinion). So, I finished the race (in dead last after being lapped) and headed back to the main menu, only to find that I was locked in to my difficulty choice from the beginning of the game.

Through some file management jiggery-pokery I was able to set the game to ”Very Easy” difficulty, hoping that this would offer me some kind of fighting chance. Nope. Still came last in my first race and 15th in my second. I did, admittedly, start to get the hang of the controls on the second, far less technical track (why would the game start on an intentionally difficult track anyway?) but this was over an hour into my gameplay experience and I had been seriously turned off. Had I been offered a tutorial or more information as to how the bike customisation options worked, I may have had a more positive experience, but the game was completely soured for me after that.

MXGP 20: The Verdict

But that’s just my personal experience as a novice. If you’re a fan of the series I would whole-heartedly recommend this game, or hey if you’re happy to put in the time to learn the intricacies of the controls by all means go for it! This is an absolutely gorgeous game with a lot to offer the player. The bike customisation options give you the finest level of control over your ride as possible and the track creator will be sure to keep you entertained for hours perfecting the ultimate course for your ultimate bike. Just be warned that this is a game that will take a lot of getting used to for beginners.

A visually impressive game that offers a wealth of content to long term fans and casuals alike. However, a steep learning curve and long loading times may put some players off

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