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Author: Shilpa

Samsung Galaxy A50 Review

Samsung launched as many as nine Galaxy phones last year. This includes the Galaxy A50, Note 10 and Note 10 Plus, along with the Galaxy S10, S10 Plus, S10E, S10 5G and the Galaxy Fold. Out of them all, the A50 device seems to be the most affordable one. It is a great competitor to the Motorola Moto G7 model which is an all-time favourite budget phone. While the A50 cannot shoot 4K videos, it does offer an excellent camera, a long battery life, and a trendy design. While the A50 can obviously not compare with the flagship Galaxy S phones like the Galaxy S10 and S10+, it is actually great if you consider it on its own merits.

Design and Display

The Galaxy A50 features a sleek design. The rear supports a flatter camera, thanks to which you will not have any noticeable bump. The phone comes with an on-screen camera notch for the front-facing camera. It is considerably smaller making less obstructive when you are using the device. The A50 has an in-screen fingerprint scanner, which means no outwards scanner, leading to a seamless look. The design of the Galaxy A50 is quite perfect, but it doesn’t come with water protection if that sort of thing is important to you. The Galaxy A50 has an AMOLED display. The screen is reported to be brighter, featuring rich colours and more details. The colour shift is not very severe with the A50 which means the screen will not appear dimmer at particular angles.

Samsung Galaxy A50 Review

A Quick Look at the Specs

The Samsung Galaxy A50 has an in-display fingerprint reader, but no water-resistance or stereo speakers. Designed as a budget smartphone, the A50 has all the features necessary to capture this market. Besides the must-have features, it also has a couple of things that most phones in this range don’t have. This includes the in-display fingerprint reader and the dual rear cameras. Look-wise, the Galaxy A50 looks pretty similar to Motorola’s G7 model. Both phones are known to have a selfie camera that nestles at the central notch. The screen has a bezel-less and rounded display.

The A50 is especially known for its slim bezels, slimmer chin, and a 6.4-inch 2340 x 1080 OLED screen. This means that the A50 has a larger screen featuring colourful and brighter content. The phone comes with microSD card slots for expandable storage and headphone jacks. With regards to the material used here, it is mainly plastic. However, Samsung calls it glasstic, since it looks and feels like glass, but is, in fact, plastic.

The Galaxy A50 has mono speakers, which offer decent quality audio. While the in-screen fingerprint sensor could do with an update, the phone comes with plenty of awesome specs. The issue with the fingerprint sensor is that it is not very accurate, although the company deserves credit for adding it even in a budget phone like this. An improvement update for the fingerprint sensor would be an excellent upgrade.

Samsung Galaxy A50

Performance and Battery

With regards to performance, the Galaxy A50 has a 64GB of internal storage. It is expandable up to 512GB using a MicroSD card. While it doesn’t feature wireless charging, it does come with fast charging capabilities. The phone will be powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 9610 processor. There is not a lot of difference between this and the Snapdragon 600 series chips. The phone has a 4GB RAM which is enough to give it stable performance, even if it is not particularly swift. The Exynos 9610 can easily handle lightweight tasks including multitasking and switching between apps. The device runs on Samsung’s Android Pie-based One UI.

The OS features gesture navigation, a nice UI, and of course, better speed and optimization. You might like to see the live icons for the Clock and Calendar icons and mess around with the dark mode as well. However, these are still not as great upgrades as better speed. Thanks to this, the graphics and animations load fast and hardly feel like its loading. The gesture navigation takes no time either. These are great additions for a device at this price. Coming to the battery, the Samsung Galaxy A50 will have a 4,000mAh battery which is large enough to accommodate a day’s use and more. You can improve its capacity by making use of One UI’s adaptive power saving. The phone also has 15W fast charging capabilities so charging it is no issue either.

Camera Review

The Galaxy A50 features a nice enough camera for this price range. As discussed earlier, the camera bump on the A50 is less prominent when compared to other models. If you don’t mind losing out on 4K video, you might actually enjoy using the higher-quality A50 camera. In an ideal situation, the camera can take clear, bright, and detailed images. Sharper pictures point out other details in the fine print. Even in low light, the camera tends to pick out the details and brighten up the colours. Most phones in this range have a camera that produces hazy photos in low light surroundings.

Samsung Galaxy A50 Camera

The A50 has a wider dynamic range as well. While the HDR effect may look unrealistic at times, it is not really that bad. The smartphone also comes with a second wide-angle camera that works out well for capturing landscapes and scenery. The consistent camera quality of the smartphone offers colour saturation, better sharpness, and excellent low-light performance. Unfortunately, the A50 doesn’t have a dedicated night mode which makes the night images taken on this phone not as great as the others.

Verdict

The Galaxy A50 is a wonderful budget flagship by Samsung. Besides the fingerprint scanner that could do with some improvement, there is very little that the lacks. With a huge battery, a competent camera, and decent performance, the A50 is a perfect budget model. If you are looking for phones that can last you through the day as you click superior photos, this is the one for you.

January 23, 2020
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite Review

Those who couldn’t afford the Samsung Galaxy S10, don’t fear. The company is coming out with a more affordable model – the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite. With many of the features remaining the same, there are some nice touches to the product, justifying the release of yet another ‘affordable flagship’. This was quite unexpected since the Samsung Galaxy S10e was released just last year as an affordable alternative to the S10. In fact, the company even released a Lite Note model.

The price of the S10 Lite has not yet been mentioned. However, chances are high that it will be priced lower than the Galaxy S10e. Samsung has also not mentioned the country where the smartphone is likely to be released first. Since it could come with a Snapdragon 855 chipset, signs point to a US release. There is also likely to be an Exynos chipset version for the European countries. Or, Samsung might just decide to go ahead with the Snapdragon chipset worldwide.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite review

Design And Display

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite does not give off the feel of a premium phone compared to the existing S-series phones. It is larger in size when compared to the S10 and even the S10 Plus. It is pretty similar to the S10 Plus 5G model. The most prominent feature of the smartphone is that it replaces the horizontal rear camera strip for a solid rectangular lens block. The screen is crisp and sharp with a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen. It is Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080). Similar to the S10e smartphone, the S10 Lite doesn’t take up with the curved waterfall edges either. At the front is a punch-hole for the front-facing camera. Don’t worry, it is much smaller now. Again, it is at the centre instead of the usual top right. To put it simply, this new model by the company is basically a simplified version of the S10 Plus. Some luxury features have made their way here and the product ended up as a mid-range model.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite boasts of three cameras in its rear suite. The phone does not have any telephoto lens and the company does not seem to have thought of it either. Instead, you will see there is a 5MP Macro lens for up-close photography. This is ideal for clicking bugs, flowers, and more. This addition suggests that the developers took feedback from the users with regards to the camera. Requests poured in from those who want to shoot wider and closer-in, but not from further away. Looks like Samsung has listened to them after all. The 48MP main lens comes with a Super Steady OIS. The selfie camera has a 32MP sensor, but we do not know yet how the images will turn out despite the impressive camera specs.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite Camera

The rear camera has a noticeable bump. The back also has “Super Steady OIS” stamped on the back to boast about its wonderful optical stabilisation. While it is super and steady, there are many other devices out there that offer OIS camera units. The 48MP main sensor is designed to get more resolution than the standard S10. The default method uses four pixels and combines them into one to get better colour, sharpness, and detail in the image.

Coming to the standard and ultrawide camera, we don’t see it giving S10 Lite the same kind of versatility that the S10 Plus was used to. The newer model also doesn’t come with an optical zoom. It only has a dedicated macro lens. While it does work well, it doesn’t seem to offer enough to justify its retention. One nice touch here is the presence of the 32-megapixel resolution on the front camera, which is something new for a Lite model.

Performance And Battery

Coming to the specs and performance of the Galaxy S10 Lite, it is reasonably good enough for a mid-range flagship. However, it does not have anything that can compete against the 2020 flagships. The phone naturally runs on the Snapdragon 855 chipset. The smartphone comes with an 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage, which is good enough for most users, including watching movies, using the internet, taking photos, and more. Coming to the battery, the S10 Lite features a massive 4,500mAh one. This even surpasses the S10 Plus’ 4,100mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite

The reason behind the larger battery in the Lite is that it is bigger than most S10 variants. This makes more space for a battery. Except for the S10 Plus, most S10 variants didn’t have sufficient battery life to make it last through the day. The Lite’s 4,500mAh is a surprise for a Lite model, especially considering the premium ones are short of battery! Although the model is a Lite variant, there is nothing all that light about it. It runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, similar to the other S10 models. The phone runs on Android 10 software with Samsung’s UI 2 skin. The experience was smooth and fast, and no major issues were apparent during use in the demo mode.

Verdict

While we know a lot of the specs of the Galaxy S10 Lite, it is still hard to predict if the phone is good value for money, without having any idea of its price. However, with new features, a larger size, and a huge battery, the smartphone is certain to attract attention. Many are also wondering if the upcoming Galaxy S11 series will get its own affordable ‘e’ version, which could make the S10 Lite model get pushed aside.

While the smartphone features decent specs and is likely to make a bang if it were launched separately and not part of the S10 series, it is impossible to predict just how well it would be received as a Lite version of S10. However, it has many points in its favour. A larger screen, a better battery, Snapdragon 855 processor, a good enough camera, and so much more make up the S10 Lite smartphone. I think all we can do for now is to wait and watch.

January 23, 2020
Cyberpunk 2077 Release Date, Price, Trailers, Gameplay And News

Cyberpunk 2077’s teasers and trailers give us a peek into the gameplay. Looking at all that, it would be a miracle if we can wait until CD Projekt Red’s dystopian RPG is actually released. The game is expected to make its way to Xbox One, PC, and PS4. Cyberpunk 2077 is set to be a vast open-world game, rich in colour, vibrant with futuristic gadgets, and tons of branching storylines. The extended trailer let us get a peek into a metropolis of the future where body modification is the major trend. Players will have the role of an outlaw moving about in the sleazy parts of the city. Check out all that we know here about Cyberpunk 2077 including trailers, announcements, and more. The trailer comes ahead of its anticipated 2020 release.

Cyberpunk 2077 CD Projekt Red

Cyberpunk 2077

The release date of Cyberpunk 2077 has not yet been confirmed, but it is to be sometime soon. Interestingly, tabletop RPG called Cyberpunk 2020 by the company which is the base of the upcoming game was set in 2020! Developer CD Projekt Red is expected to give us more looks into the game as the arrival date rolls closer. Since the game will not be working on Sony or Microsoft’s new consoles, chances of a next-gen model are pretty negative.

With the new screenshots that make it our way, we do see that the game has some active combat, a stunning car for cruising along the Night City, and we have even had a sneak peek into the dialogue system. Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to Google Stadia. As of now, the release date for the game is set to be September 2017, 2020. Previously, the date was 16 April, but there a delay which pushed back the date.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 Multiplayer

While the multiplayer possibility is something that has not yet been confirmed, we can be sure that it is coming. The multiplayer was on and off depending Polish government grant applications and so on. In September last year, its status turned to “confirmed but not scheduled”. The developers mentioned that they do plan to add some multiplayer angle to the game, but it would only be after they have some DLC and other single-player content. While this means we will have to wait for some time, but at least, we do know that they are going to bring in multiplayer games.

The Gameplay

The game is played in the first person. Players would be in the role of a gun-for-hire roaming on the streets of the Night City. This is where you get introduced to the game’s fast-paced gunplay. Cyberpunk 2077 blends together different aspect of the game, such as dialogue, the backstory, and some hacking and engineering skills. At some places, you will notice the third-person aspect in some driving and in-between scenes. The dystopian future is shown in colourful, vibrant colours and detailed backgrounds. While the game promises hours of fun, do keep in mind that the release is several months away. This means that anything could change.

January 23, 2020
Google Pixelbook Go Review: Value Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Not all Google products are received with equal popularity. Pixel Slate, released last year, features excellent hardware couple with really poor software. On the other hand, Pixelbook released in 2017, made a huge splash and it looks as if nothing could go wrong with it. The company is now working to release Google Pixelbook Go, a scaled-back Pixel Chromebook. Maybe this could establish a new mid-range value for Chrome OS laptops. In the Pixelbook box, you will see the device, a 45W charger, and USB-C cable, and some documentation.

Design and Display

The Google Pixelbook Go has a magnesium shell which gives the user a feeling of luxury as they handle the device. This black laptop features matte-paint-on-metal finish, making it elegant and sophisticated. The 13.3-inch display of the device makes it smaller than the Apple MacBook Pro. The Go has two USB-C ports. There are no memory card slot or reader and USB-A ports. The laptop features a full-sized keyboard, stereo speakers, and an oversized trackpad. The keyboard has a dedicated Google Assistant button. Google calls the Pixelbook Go’s keyboard Hush Keys. This means that there will be little to no noise as you tap away on the keyboard.

The Pixelbook Go has a 13.3-inch LCD with 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD and 16:9 aspect ratio. It can be used quite comfortably in both sunny and dim areas. The glossy finish of the Concore Glass is highly reflective, meaning you could have trouble with reflecting lights on the panel. The touchscreen is responsive and works accurately enough to keep everyone happy. There are rumours that a 4K variant will make it to the market sometime later in the year.

Google Pixelbook Go Review

Performance

The Pixelbook Go comes in 8GB or 16GB RAM variant with 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB storage. The original variant runs on Core i5 processor while the higher-end Core i7 CPU will be seen on the upcoming 4K model. The laptop works well, is highly responsive, and fast. Multi-tasking was no problem either. One time the Go slowed down was when dealing with physical media cards. The Go works smoothly and swiftly with browsers, games, editing software and more.

Battery

The Pixelbook Go’s battery lends the device all the power it needs to last a day. According to Google, the battery can last for about 12 hours of mixed-use, including standby time. The laptop features USB-C charging and charges rapidly. This is wonderful since it is almost double of what MacBook Pro offers its users. Charging for about 20 minutes will let you work on Pixelbook Go for about two hours.

Google Pixelbook Go

Software

The GO features Chrome OS 78 but was running on OS 77 when it first released. The automatic update is reassuring since it means security is updated and we know that Google is keeping an eye on it. To set up the machine, all you need to do is to sign in with your Google account. If you have used Chrome before, all your settings and bookmarks will make its way to this device as well.

Value For Money

Although Pixelbook Go offers a convertible design, pen support, and good enough specs, some feel it is priced a bit too high. Excellent battery life, good display, and the stunning design make it all worth it. However, it is not an easy job justifying the price, despite these advantages.

January 23, 2020
Huawei 5G Smartphones: Sold Over 6.9 Million In 2019

Huawei recently announced that it had managed to sell nearly 6.9 million 5G smartphones in the last year alone. This figure includes HONOR’s devices as well. In comparison with other OEMs, Huawei announced more 5G smartphones in 2019 than anyone else. For instance, some of them include Mate 30 5G, Mate 20 X 5G, Mate X 5G, Nova 6 5G, and of course, the HONOR V30 5G series. The Chinese manufacturing company shared information regarding this. It looks like a large percentage of the 5G devices manufactured by the company was sold within China itself.

Huawei Mate X 5G

Having control of about 25.8% of the market in China, Huawei and HONOR are leading the industry. Huawei, on its own, claims about 15.4% of the smartphone market. While HONOR has not yet quite caught up with Huawei, it does boast of a 10.5% market share. It is interesting to note this since HONOR is Huawei’s sub-brand, even if it working as a separate entity right now. With regard to the smartphone market, China has the largest one across the globe. While India’s smartphone market grew in leaps and bounds last year, it has still to catch up with China. While 2019 introduced 5G to the world, 2020 is the year of spreading this tech. Huawei plans to ship more 5G devices than the last year. As of now, Huawei sells six 5G phones under its name and two more under HONOR.

Sale of 6.9 million 5G handsets

It is stunning that Huawei managed to sell about 6.9 million 5G devices in 2019 alone, especially considering the fact that we have simply not seen that many 5G phones on the market. It looks like 2020 is heading a completely different direction more OEMs than ever are working to release 5G smartphones and more. While 5G has been introduced to the world successfully and it has been accepted equally enthusiastically by the users, the rollout is quite slow. This means that it will take about a couple of years for the entire world to truly run on 5G. On the other hand, 4G is the standard across the globe. While we are sure that 5G will phase out 4G when the time comes, when will it come?

Huawei 5G

Overall, Huawei sold about 240 million smartphones last year, of which only about 6.9 million were 5G devices. The impressive fact here is that the company managed to sell these many devices despite the US ban. For comparison, Huawei sold about 206 million smartphones in 2018. This means that with the US ban, the sells only increased for the Chinese giant. Although the US ban is still in place, Huawei is not backing off. IN fact, the company has been working on HMS or its own set of apps since Google’s services cannot be made available on its phones. Although the work has been going ahead perfectly, there is still time before this can be achieved. One of the major challenges faced by Huawei is to replace the Google Play Store. We are yet to see what Huawei is planning for this.

January 23, 2020
Google Duo Doesn’t Require A Phone Number Anymore

Google recently rolled out a significant change to its Duo video calling service. Now, you will no longer need a phone number to make calls. Users would be able to make and receive calls from the web. No need to link Duo to a phone number. Since the feature was rolled out silently, the exact date of the update is not known, but if you check the service out, you will notice that the feature is already live. However, it still needs more work since it doesn’t work with G Suite accounts. This makes receiving calls a bit difficult although you will be able to make calls easily.

Google Duo

If you make your way to duo.google.com on a non-G Suite account that is not linked with a phone number, you will see that you are directed to the main site instead of being asked to add and link a number to continue. At the main site, you will be able to search your Google contacts and place audio and video calls. There is no change in procedure for placing calls and the whole thing works just as it would have had you linked your number.

Email-only Duo Accounts

Without announcing the new change or feature, Google went right ahead. It is now possible to make calls on the web with Duo. There is no need whatsoever to link your phone number before you do. You will be able to make calls regardless of your email address. On the other hand, you will be able to receive calls only if a standard Google Duo account makes the call to a Duo-linked email address. One trouble here is that since these email-only Duo accounts don’t have corresponding phone numbers attached, there is no way you can search for them. You will only be able to make the call if they show up in your notifications if you called them recently or if they show up on your recent call history.

Google Duo Calling

Of course, if you are going the email-only way, you will have to make peace with the constant pop-ups that show up, asking you to add your phone number. If you do, your family and friends would be able to locate you more easily. If you use a G-Suite account, you will not be able to make use of this feature. You will only be able to enjoy the Duo service by using your phone number and continuing.

Mobile Version of Duo

Naturally, Google must have been planning this for quite some time. The fact that this feature was introduced with no promotion whatsoever is a surprise. As of now, the change can be seen on Google Duo on the web. However, the support pages have not yet been updated. They still mention that Duo can only be used when a phone number is associated with your account. So far, there has been no update of whether the mobile version of Duo will also receive the change. The update can only be seen on the website.

January 23, 2020
Xperia 5 Plus: Sony Will Announce New Xperia Smartphones At MWC 2020

The upcoming Mobile World Congress or MWC 2020 is scheduled to take place in Barcelona, Spain. The OEMs are all geared up to exhibit their latest flagship devices and more. There have been reports that Sony is planning to make an announcement here. Samsung has already unveiled its Galaxy S20 series and the Galaxy Z Flip foldable phone. It looks like Sony is planning to talk about its Xperia 5 Plus Android phone having a 21:9 display aspect ratio. Many believe that other manufacturers may be revealing their foldable or other design smartphones. At the CES2020, many thought Sony would reveal the Xperia smartphones. However, that did not happen. The company is either delaying the launch or it is simply not ready for the market yet.

Sony MWC Press Invite

According to a press invite, the Sony Press Conference will occur at the MWC Barcelona 2020. It will take place on February 24, 2020, Monday, 8:30 AM CET, at the Sony Booth, Hall 3, Fira Gran Via, Barcelona. For those who cannot attend, they can view the live streaming of the event. While not a lot of details have emerged, we do know that Sony is working on a new flagship phone. There have been speculations that it could be Xperia 5 Plus. Other reports mention that a mid-range smartphone powered by Snapdragon 765 processor could also be released. The Sony Xperia 5 is expected to be bezel-less with a punch-hole cam. Besides these, the Sony Xperia Compact may be launched sooner than we think as well.

Sony Xperia 5 Plus

The Xperia 5 Plus by Sony is part of a range of premium devices by the company. In November 2019, Sony talked about the various flagships and mid-rangers that is set to be released this year. While Sony has not been able to capture the smartphone market, it looks like things could change. The company is working on promoting their latest attempt at functional phones by sending out press invites for a press conference scheduled to happen before MWC 2020. If you look at Sony’s older schedules, you will notice that it prefers to hold its press conference at MWC on the opening day of the show. Regardless of its predictable timing, what the company plans to unveil will be a true surprise.

Sony Xperia 5 Plus

Chances of Sony’s 2020 flagship being the Xperia 5 Plus is very high. It is the larger variant of the Xperia 5 that was exhibited last year at the IFA. The smartphone will have a 6.6-inch display and run on Snapdragon 865. The phone could also have a quad-camera setup at the rear. It will have the usual range of sensors, including the main sensor, ultrawide, telephoto, and more. The selfie camera will have an 8-megapixel sensor. Despite the fact that the model has very little bezels, the smartphone will come with front-facing stereo speakers and have the 3.5mm headphone jack. The latter is quite natural considering the fact that Sony is a music accessory company as well. Besides the Xperia 5 Plus, the company is expected to launch Xperia 3 as well.

January 23, 2020
OneSearch: Yahoo Has A New Bing-Based Search Service

Yahoo was once the be-all of the internet. This was during the internet’s baby years, sometime before Google came. However, today, we see Yahoo is barely surviving as a subsidiary of Verizon. In terms of a search engine, it doesn’t have a powerful enough product to place in the market. That doesn’t mean that the company is sitting quietly. They are working on building one! The new OneSearch is now available on the web. It can even be accessed via an Android app. Basically, it is Bing with more added features and really sturdy security in place.

OneSearch Verizon

Currently, the OneSearch website is part search engine and part sales pitch! If you visit the website, you will notice that the search bar is located at the top followed by the reasons why OneSearch is an amazing option. Some of the benefits include no ad tracking, no cookies, and no retained search history. In fact, if you enable the “Advanced Privacy Mode”, it is designed to encrypt your search terms in transit. If you want to confirm that OneSearch is powered by Bing, you can see it towards the bottom of the page. While the results are the same, you will not be able to enjoy Microsoft service integration and other features on the Bing website. While there is no clue yet if this service is good enough, at least we know it exists.

OneSearch Search Engine Features

The latest privacy-first search engine in the market in the one Verizon recently introduced. It was launched just last Tuesday by Verizon Media. As with its competitors, it can be used on both your smartphones and laptops. However, the main area where it differs is regarding privacy. Where OneSearch is mindful of its user’s privacy, other brands in the market don’t seem to be. The search engine does not retarget, tracking cookies, or indulge in personal profiling. This means that companies will not be able to advertise you for targeting based on your search terms. In addition to this, Verizon has also mentioned that it will not share its users’ data with advertisers. It looks like someone is thinking about the users for once.

OneSearch

If you are talking about quality, Verizon mentioned that OneSearch is designed to offer completely unbiased and unfiltered search results. Another thing you might like to know is that the company will not store their customers’ search history. You can be at peace since the search engine will encrypt both the search and the results. Again, what link you click on the results page cannot be tracked, which in turn cannot be used for target advertising.

In the Advanced Privacy Mode, the search result links will automatically self-destruct, within the specified 60-minute limit. This allows addition protection to the users if more than one person is using the same device and in other similar cases. Although you will still see ads on OneSearch, it will not be based on your browsing history or cookies. In addition to Yahoo and TechCrunch, OneSearch is the latest by Verizon Media.

January 23, 2020
Spotify Swaps Like Button For Album Art In The Mini Player

Spotify loves making changes to its app. In a recent server-side test, they replaced the like button in the mini player with the song’s album art. While it looks amazing, there is a loss of function here with this change. While this may look like a tiny change with little to no consequences, it does cost us a bit. The recently changed interface by Spotify has not made the users very happy. The latest update is all about the change of the positions of some buttons. Since most of them were useful, it makes the layout more difficult to use.

Spotify Album Art

Out of all the streaming subscriptions out there, Spotify has become well known due to its ability to predict what you would like to play next. It does this by analysing the music for which you give likes. This means Spotify will find it much harder to understand what you want to play without the necessary heart songs. Of course, there are other ways to heart a song. For instance, using the full media player and hearting it from there. However, this means going around and doing more work on what could have easily been achieved then and there. In this era where companies are working to make devices as straightforward and usable as possible, users balk at the idea of complex workflows or long processes.

In Detail

In the last update, Spotify changed the places of “Repeat” and “Go to queue” buttons into the sub-menu. The sharing button has made its way into the now-vacant place. Before this happened, the more useful “Repeat” and “Go to queue” buttons were right there where we want them. Now, we would have to go to the three-dot menu located on a corner of the screen. Besides being at their old place, the share button can also be seen as part of the song’s “Now playing” screen and also in the sub-menu as well. Users believe that there is absolutely no reason for this UI change. It does not make a lot of sense. It invariably makes life harder. Many users have expressed their not-so-happy opinion on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.

Spotify

Which UI?

Spotify is currently working on testing different versions of the mini player. While the album art is located on the left, the like button shows up near the pause/play button on the right. So far, it is still in the early stages and there is no word on which UI they are going to choose. The change might not become permanent or be rolled out widely. In the iOS version, this is how things have been for the last few months. Looking at the feedback of the users, maybe the developers would get things back to normal or maybe find a middle ground to keep everyone happy.

Users are doing their bit by requesting Spotify to go back to its original UI. Many mention that the extra step is annoying and totally insensible. Spotify has not spoken about this yet.

January 23, 2020
Best Social Multiplayer Games To Play At A Party During The Holidays

If you have ever been to a party where you have been bored, join the club! Games are a great way to keep people engaged in a party – especially during the holidays. You really want to relieve stress from work or school, then this is the right place for you. Most of us own a smartphone in today’s world, making it easier to entertain ourselves. Here is a list of Social Multiplayer Games handpicked for you. You will be able to play these at any party. Most of these games will require an Android phone but you can also try your luck searching for the iOS version.

Escape Team

If you have ever played the escape room in real life and have been fascinated with it, then this game is for you. The main aim of the game is to solve escape room-style puzzles. Ensure that you have a pen and paper handy so that you can note down all the clues. You will also be able to download and print the missions from the Escape Team website and then find out the corresponding puzzle in the app and solve it. A minimum of 2 players are required to start the game. It can be played by up to 4 players. The game is available on the Play Store for free. However, it will require about $5 to unlock all the missions once you are in the game.

Social Multiplayer Games – Escape Team

The Jackbox Party Pack

This is one of the most innovative multiplayer game that is available on the App Store. Though you will have to shell out close to $25 on this one, it is worth the price. The main aim of the game is to get people talking and laughing in a party. The game can be played by 1 – 100 players. There are many versions available on the Play Store. The only difference between the versions is the games that are included in each version. That is why it is a good idea to check the description before buying the version. The best part of this game is that you will not need any special controllers. The smartphones, tablets, or laptops will work as your controllers.

Selfie Games

If you are after a session of laughter, then you must try this game. The app “Selfie Games” is available on the Play Store for no charge. However, one person (the host) will need to make an In-App Purchase ($7) in order to create a game. Do note that you will need a Chromecast / Fire TV / Computer / Smart TV to play. The game needs a minimum of 3 players and can accommodate up to 10 players. All player will need to download the app and connect with the host. Random selfies are taken, and everyone will need to come up with a fake caption for each of the selfies. More the number of times your caption gets chosen, the more the points you make. The aim is to ensure that you have a catchy caption with a silly selfie!

Psych

Psych

This game will test how good you are at bluffing with answers. Do you have what it takes to bluff? Psych is a game where all the players will have to come up with a fake answer to a question that pops up in the app. The same question is then presented to all other participants with 4 options which consist of one real answer, one fake answer, and two other wrong answers. You will get points if participants pick your fake answer. Though the app is free to download on Google Play Store, there are loads of In-App Purchases available. All players will need a good internet connection to play this game comfortably.

Triple Agent!

Triple Agent! is an extremely fun party game that revolves around espionage. Each player is given a secret identity, such as a VIRUS double agent or a Service agent. Only the VIRUS agents know the identity of the members in each team. The goal of the game is for the Service agents to find and remove the VIRUS agents while the latter tries to confuse the Service agents. The game can be played on a single phone and it can accommodate about 5 to 7 players. The paid version allows for 9 players along with several more features.

Who Can’t Draw

Need to find out who is the worst artist of the party group? – This game is a must-try then! The app is available in Google Play Store for free. The Android game is very simple where the first person gets a word and has to depict the word using a picture. The phone is then passed on to the other participants and they draw what they think the previous person drew. You have 15 seconds. When the phone reaches the last person, they have to find out the word which was shown to the first person. The more the number of people, the more the chance that the last person will not find the word. It is interesting to see how the interpretation of the word changes when the phone travels from one person to another.

Out of the Loop

This is a great option if you don’t want to play something strenuous. It is specifically designed to be played on one phone. With nine players, the phone is passed around the group. You will first need to choose a category and pass the phone around so that everyone can take a look at the word, that is, everyone except the one who is out of the loop. Once this is done, players can ask each other questions and try to judge by the answer who was not in the loop. Once the round is over, everyone can vote on who they think was out of loop.

Quick Mentions

While the above-mentioned games are sure to bring fun and cheers to your social event, there are so many more fun games out there. Some honourable mentions include Spaceteam, Ticket to Ride, and Chwazi Finger CHOOSER.

January 16, 2020