#it takes up about 1 GB all together so its a pretty small game

[allovertheplace-writing]

I unironically re-downloaded Toontown Rewritten for the first time since 2016.

I don't regret it, it's still a lot of fun CLBDKS

[faqblog89]

Airships: Conquer The Skies For Mac

Airships Conquer The Skies

Airships: Conquer The Skies For Mac Os

Airships Conquer The Skies Cheats

Airships: Conquer The Skies For Mac Download

Airships Conquer The Skies Manual

Airships Conquer The Skies Planes

Dragons are large fire-breathing reptiles that use Suspendium to help them fly.1 Dragons can be encountered in the game. It is possible to tame dragons that have appeared and use them in one's army, or to fight the dragons and loot their nest. Dragons attack by shooting streams of flame, similar to a flamethrower, at enemy constructions. The juvenile form of a dragon is called a wurm, and has.

Heart&Slash is a 3D brawler that is set in a world where machines are all that remains from the Human civilization. You play as Heart, an innocent robot fighting to escape the grip of the evil and all seeing machine QuAsSy (Quality Assurance Systems). But make no mistake Heart&Slash is a hard game. HEART&SLASH; is a fast paced brawler with roguelike elements, inspired in equal parts by Bayonetta, Megaman and ADOM. It is also a throwback to our earlier years as gamers, when playing games was all joy. Started as a personal part-time project (you can follow the development process here), Heart&Slash; has grown into something bigger than initially intended. Heart&slash download for mac.

Airships: Conquer the Skies - In Airships: Conquer the Skies you'll need to use all of your creativity and skill to design and build fearsome airships and land vehicles to give you the edge in massive aerial battles.Construct your vehicles by piecing together a vast array of modules, choosing weapons, armour types, structures, equipment and resources in near endless configurations to allow you.

Setup airships conquer the skies 1 0 18 5 (42567) Size:205.89 MBTitle: Airships: Conquer the Skies - SoundtrackDate:17 Aug, 2018Developer:David StarkPublisher: David StarkGenre::Action, Indie, StrategyAbout This Game:The soundtrack for Airships: Conquer the Skies, created by Curtis Schweit.

Airships: Conquer the Skies game details

Demonstrate your battle prowess as the ultimate sky-commander in this multiplayer steampunk pixel air shooter. Tanki online – steam pack crack. Give intensive commands in this FTL-esk management simulator as you command an ever-growing ship into the finest vessel in the sky. Challenge your friends and defeat your foes in this ever challenging test of wit, strategy, and battle-prowess. Will you Conquer the Skies?

A powerful and inspirational story about family, friends, and the challenges we face. Martin Sheen plays Tom, an irascible American doctor who comes to France to collect the remains of his adult son (played by Emilio Estevez), killed in the Pyrenees while walking The Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way. Start quickly with the most recent versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and OneDrive —combining the familiarity of Office and the unique Mac features you love. Work online or offline, on your own or with others in real time—whatever works for what you’re doing. The way download for mac.

Here are the Airships: Conquer the Skies System Requirements (Minimum)

CPU: Info

CPU SPEED: 1.8 Ghz+

RAM: 256 MB

OS: Windows 7 or later

VIDEO CARD: 128 MB VRAM+ w/OpenGL

PIXEL SHADER: 2.0

VERTEX SHADER: 2.0

FREE DISK SPACE: 1 GB

DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 128 MB

Airships: Conquer the Skies Recommended Requirements

CPU: Info

CPU SPEED: 2.2 Ghz+ Dual-core

RAM: 2 GB

OS: Windows 7 or later

VIDEO CARD: 1 GB VRAM+ w/OpenGL

PIXEL SHADER: 4.0

VERTEX SHADER: 4.0

FREE DISK SPACE: 1 GB

DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 1 GB

Click here for the latest video card drivers

System Requirements Lab may earn affiliate commissions from qualifying purchases via Amazon Associates and other programs

Aug 22, 2018

This guide is intended to be used as an additional tutorial/refrence manual for a vanilla, non-modded, Airships: Conquer the Skies. It will include some of the less obvious features of ship design within it as well.

What Is Required to Make a Valid Airship?

Almost nothing is absolutely required to make a functional airship in this game. Ships without weapons can actually sometimes be viable, but we won't be covering specifics yet. All you need to make an airship is a form of lift, and a way to move about. You don't need to go high or particurlarly fast, but being able to do both is very helpful. This for example, is an incredibly cheap, and supprisingly decent medium level bomber, and it's only got two berths, for 6 sailors, a small propeller, and a tiny suspendium chamber. I could reduce the crew requirement even further by removing ths suspendium chamber and sticking a suspendium tank on instead, but the AI seems to be drawn towards shooting those, and suspendium explodes, so I didn't in this particular case. Of course going bigger leads to a tougher, and more durable ship, but cheap spammable ships are a very valid tactic to go with, until your enemy start to counter your designs. The example above, for example will pretty much die immediately if shot at with a few rifles, or explosives. Larger designs with redundancies are less vulnerable to being knocked out immediately.

Overlays

Overlays are a key tool to be using when designing an airship, landship, or building. They will show you where key weaknesses in your design are, and give hints on where you can improve on the designs. By default, the U key will bring them up as a shortcut key. Alternatively you can also click the button at the top of the screen to bring it up.

Overlay #1 - Pathing

Most modules have different components that take up a large area of the ship, wether it be suspendium chambers, engines, or just a whole bunch of bunks, your ship needs to be moved around in. All guns start with one clip of ammo loaded at the start of the fight for example, but poor pathing choices means that you aren't going to be able to reload those guns in a reasonable period of time. This ship for example is divided by the suspendium chamber. If that's inaccessable for any reason, the rest of the ship would be cut off crom the coal store. Fortunately the design only requires coal at the rear section however to power the engine, and said blocking suspendium chamber.

Overlay #2 - HP

This is a rather important overlay to look at occasionally. All components in a ship have a HP value that starts getting eaten away if the armor is broken through. This overlay is showing the HP pool of the modules behind the armor itself. Adding armor won't actually increase this HP pool of the component, but surrounding the component with other pieces will make them tougher to finally kill. Certain decorations can also add additional HP to any adjacent modules they touch as well as evenly distribute extra HP to the rest of the ship, so even decorative figureheads can become integral in making a survivable ship design, as you can see with the dragon figureheads over the cannons.

Overlay #3 - Water

All weapons carry a chance to set something it hits on fire, though explosives cary a higher chance, and flamethrowers have a significant ignition chance. Modules themselves can also catch fire if hit while their HP is low. Should you decide to add water to your ship, this overlay will show how long it takes your crew to get the water from the fire point to the fire itself. Generally sticking to under 4 seconds is safe for particularly flammable components, notably coal. Ammo, and other explodey weapons should have shorter times if possible.

Overlay #4 - Repair Tools

Tools are optional, but good to have around if you want your ship to keep fighting. This overlay will show how long it takes to bring tools from the repair bay or machine shop to it's needed location. You can't repair armor with tools, but you can repair internal structure.

Airships Conquer The Skies

I'm unable to confirm this for sure, but a damaged weapon can potentially explode if it was previously damaged, while firing, leading to an explosion. Repair tools help to reduce that chance.

Overlay #5 - Ammo

A fairly simple overlay. This shows how much time, in seconds it takes for ammo to reach its destination. If you can keep this metric under a second, you will have uninterrupted fire of the weapon meeting the time criteria.

Overlay #6 - Coal

Same as the above, but for coal and things which need to eat it to run. How much time it takes for coal to get to, commonly, suspendium chambers or engines of a variety of description, as well as a few specialty components. You want this as low as possible. You can get away with half the required time for the component to be reloaded, though that's incredibly dangerous in an actual combat situation. Not having coal usually means the ship will fall from the sky, or lose control of the engines.

Overlay #7 - Explosion Damage

Basically everything on an airship can explode. This overlay shows the intensity of any potential explosions, wether they be ammo explosions, suspendium explosions or potentially even rifle explosions. Try to keep key components out of the radius of the red tiles if you value them surviving a major explosion. This is especially true of ammo though, which likes to go off harmoniously if placed directly next to each other. This ship for example will almost end up being bisected if the ammunition cooks off.A good ship design, unless the vessel is designed to be disposable will try to ensure that an ammo explosion can still enable crew to move about the ship, as well as ensuring the ship can still move after the fact.

Armor Types: When to Use Which, and How to Unlock Special Armors

Wood Wall

Why use it? It's FREE, it's light, and that's about it. There's not much going for it, except the fact that it's the second lightest armor in the game. Why not use it? Unless you have a very specific idea which requires the lightest possible mass and lowest cost, it's a terrible idea to use this armor. Everything can go through it, even rifles. That tends to mean lots of ammo explosions. It's also completely useless against explosives, which will shred off almost all of this plate.

Wood Armor

Why use it? A decent HP pool to add on top of your modules, as well as a fairly decent pierce absorption make this quite an acceptable armor against lower caliber weapons, such as rifles. It can withstand a singular shot from a deck gun as well, which is quite good for the price. Why not use it? It's got some pretty poor blast damage absorption compared to steel wall armor, and as a result tends to be weak to explosive weaponry.

Reinforced Wooden Armor

Why use it? 'Barrel armor' has rather high HP at 65 per block of armor, and has some decent damage resistances against piercing and blast, triple that of regular wooden armor. It's also cheaper than actual steel armor. Why not use it? It is HEAVY, and costs a fair amount. It will slow down a ship mounting it exclusively, and it will significantly drop the service ceiling, almost as bad as using brick armor.

Steel Wall

Why use it? It's the same price of wooden armor, and it has a higher resistance against explosions, while also keeping the pierce resistance. It's also lighter than wooden armor. It's also almost capable of ignoring flak guns. Why not use it? Wooden armor can resist a deck gun shot, this armor can't. As a result, wood holds out slightly longer against larger guns.

Steel Armor

Why use it? It's got noticeable blast and piercing resistance, capable of ignoring rifle fire, as well as flak. It's got higher HP, and is overall very good armor. Why not use it? Weight, mostly. Cost may also be a factor.

Heavy Steel Armor

Why use it? It's twice as good as regular steel armor in every metric, and can ignore a large majority of weapons, including some powerful explosive weapons like grenades, but not bombs. Why not use it? It's very heavy, and very expensive to field.

Brick Wall

Why use it? It's cheap, and it's got a lot of HP, at 45. Why not use it? It's extremely heavy, as it's intended for buildings, and it has no damage absorption features. Enough rifle fire can easily get through it if they all hit the same spot.

Stone Wall

Why use it? It's rather cheap for armor, a lot of HP, great for buildings. Some resistances, but not much. Why not use it? There's no reason to not use it on a building. Using it on a ship will basically prevent it from moving however due to the sheer mass.

Massive Stone Wall

Why use it? Take regular stone wall and add half of all the stats, and double the blast resistance.

Why not use it? It's MASSIVE. I don't think it's possible to make a ship armored completely in this type of armor.

DragonHide

This requires clearing an Elder Dragon nest in order to be used by your Empire in Conquest. Why use it? It has NO weight, it's got a HP pool comparable to barrel armor, and it's nearly got the blast and pierce resist of steel armor. Why not use it? Killing an Elder Dragon nest is very hard to do without specialized ships. It's also very expensive to field.

Shell Armor

This armor requires clearing a Turtledove nest to be used by your Empire in Conquest. Why use it? HP of steel armor, a bit of pierce and blast resistance, and the kicker here is, the armor generates it's own lift. Enough to get most small ships off the ground on their own without added suspendium. Why not use it? It's a bit expensive, on par with steel armor, but doesn't net you the damage resistances that steel provides.

Boarding, Your Crew, and Other Thoughts on the Matter

Boarding ships is a thing in this game, and without proper planning, chances are that you're going to lose your ship unless you plan ahead to deal with boarders.

Airships: Conquer The Skies For Mac Os

What is the goal of a boarding team? Their primary goal is to reach the bridge and take it out, if they successfully manage to do that, they will offically capture the ship (note that this does not apply to mech spiders, or any monsters, who just want to kill the crew). Unfortunately, there is no hard counter against being boarded, but there are plenty of soft counters you can add onto your ship to make boarding a nightmare.

Countering Boarding

Guards are almost overpowered, a single guard barrack can usually withstand an assault from most types of humanoid boarder.

Speed counters most boarders, except Air Dragoons (though that depends on the command cooldown). If you dodge your ship out of the way of boarders, they can, and often will plumet to the ground after missing their jump. This does require a bit of micro however.

Small arms are very potent counters to boarders, most weapons can directly target troops approaching the ship, as well as any additional small aircraft being deployed. Rifles, gatling guns, flamers, and even grapeshot guns are good counters to boarding.

Excess crew can defend the ship. Sailors aren't very good at defending a ship as they only have pistols instead of rifles, and presumably less training, but they can defend a ship on their own in a pinch if they aren't already busy with another task.

The sickbay works for your etire crew, sailors and guards. If you lose a guard, chances are that you might be able to get them back if they can get to the sickbay.

Buildings are crewed by soilders, not sailors, as a result they are slightly more resistant to being boarded than ships.

Place supply doors in akward positions for your crew and any possible boarders. Ideally, if you have guards, you want to force the enemy to run into them. If not, you want them kept as far as possible away from the bridge to buy as much time as possible for the crew to possibly defend the ship.

Boarding the Enemy

There is a small variety of boarding troops, each of which best on certian ship designs.

Marines need to actually directly jump aboard a targeted ship to get on board it. They are also extremely susceptable to dying due to missing their jump against a moving vessel. You do get 8 per barrack however, and they are decent boarders and ship defenders.

Grenadiers are fewer per barrack, but it appears they are a bit more effective at taking out defenders than marines. They also have the benefit of having grapples, so they usually won't die if they miss their jump. They can, and often will try to swing ship to ship to reach their target.

Air Dragoons are somewhat special, as they can be deployed anywhere and board almost anything since they use jetpacks. They are about as effective as the grenadiers, but they are also extremely squishy outside of an airship as they are extremely slow. They are great counters to bombers not mounting rifles or other forms of small arms.

Mech spiders are mean. Their sole purpose to board the target ship and shred any crew within them. You can't capture with them, but they are extremely tanky boarders, and they have the same, if not more mobility with grapples as dragoons.

Airships Conquer The Skies Cheats

Airships: Conquer The Skies For Mac Download

Recommended for You:

All Airships Conquer the Skies Guides!

You May Also Like:

Airships Conquer The Skies Manual

Airships Conquer The Skies Planes

[tech-battery]

The Asus RT-AX86U Is a Wi-Fi 6 Router That Doesn't Sacrifice Looks for Power

Wi-Fi 6 has accelerated its creep into mainstream wireless networking, urged along by the similarly accelerating spread of gigabit internet. Until the last few months or so, purchasing a Wi-Fi 6 device has largely been a decision more about future-proofing and less about immediate gain. That’s quickly changing, however, with all manner of wireless device manufacturers releasing products boasting about blazing this and blistering that, and it’s finally time to take a serious look at 802.11ax routers.

The Asus RT-AX88U was an early entrant in the field, and the company now has several follow-ups, including our best gaming router runner-up: the RT-AX86U. There, I gave it credit for being extremely fast and for its restrained physical design. However, I took issue with Asus’s UI decisions. In the end, I concluded that I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good gaming experience. Now I’m taking an even deeper dive to find out: Is this router worth it for just any old person and not just gamers presumably reading this in a hoodie with some kind of RGB lighting and heat vents? I think so, and you should, too.

As far as the design of the Asus RT-AX86U goes, there isn’t much to say, and frankly, that’s a good thing. It’s neither a slab nor a monolith, neither an ancient alien artifact nor an air freshener chic pod (though it can be a Gundam, apparently). It’s black, it stands upright, and it has three stabby, removable, adjustable antennas jutting from the top. It has four outgoing gigabit ethernet ports—one of which is an auto-prioritizing gaming port—in the back, a gigabit WAN, and a 2.5-gigabit LAN/WAN port for those lucky enough to be able to make use of it. Two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports give you a fast NAS if you’ve got a hard drive lying around.

Getting it set up is a quick process, refreshingly letting me choose up front whether to separate the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. Knowing that I would need to reconfigure some real dumb smart devices, I opted for separation, and my network was up and running in about five minutes.

But it should be noted there are two ways to handle setup and management. One is via a lovely mobile app, and the other is via the browser, and I hate the browser-based UI of Asus routers. It’s just a weird, unfocused, confusing mess. If you’re the type of person who wants deep, granular control of your home network, but don’t want to shell out for expensive enterprise-grade hardware, you could do a lot worse than Asus, but prepare to hunt for the settings you need to adjust. Trudging through the settings reveals menus and submenus that stretch out seemingly to infinity, with an intimidating depth that would have most people regarding it with narrowed eyes and a feigned understanding, muttering, “Yes, I see,” as they slowly mouse up to click the X button on that tab.

The intro screen has a basic network topology map which gives you a diagram of what all is connected, and a section where you can split out your 2.4 and 5 GHz bands or update your network SSID and password. After that, you get the shiny feature-y stuff, the majority of which, like the specific data-type prioritizing Adaptive QoS, Traffic Analysis, and various media modes and security, is powered by Trend Micro.

Together they offer a host of security features in the AiProtection section, promising to block malicious sites, protect you from Distributed Denial of Service attacks, and network vulnerability attacks like Heartbleed, while also monitoring outgoing traffic for suspicious packets from virus-infected devices. Each tab under this section gives you reports of suspicious network behavior, with downloadable logs for your review. In testing at wicar.org, the router blocked all but two of 10 sites, with Safari catching the last two. It seemed to work well, though the experience is barebones, and unlike the rest of the settings for the router, there are no opportunities for customization, just toggles for each of the three categories of protection. But using this, or a few other key features powered by Trend Micro, will bring you eventually to this EULA notice:

It seems that in order to have access to Trend Micro’s features, you must agree to give them access to all kinds of data, which may include your e-mails or your web browsing history. It’s spooky stuff, as usual, but thankfully all fairly easy to opt in or out of, as well—so long as you can bear the ensuing message about the valuable capabilities you’ll lose out on. So, it’s not quite the deal with Ursula the Sea Witch I initially worried it was, and, in the end, the details in the EULA are perhaps not unexpected for security software like this. I reached out to both Asus and Trend Micro for their input on what sort of data they collect and how exactly it’s used, and we’ll update here when we get a response.

Deeper in the menus, you will find a surprisingly pleasant Open NAT section with pre-configured port reservations for specific games and consoles, and NAS options that include support for Apple’s Time Machine backup software. Most people will go wall-eyed looking at options past these, but it’s worth noting that if you want to use features like OFDMA and MU-MIMO, beamforming, and, I don’t know, the actual Wi-Fi 6 standard, you’ll want to push on into the advanced settings—just don’t expect to understand much of what you are presented with here, unless you have studied networking down to a very specific level. That said, if you have time and sufficient grit, you can sift through it and find some truly powerful options.

Now, for all the shade I throw at the browser interface, Asus actually does a pretty decent job with their mobile app. Appearance-wise, it’s far from the tidy design of most of Asus’s competitors; the app looks the way we might have imagined the UI of the future would in the early aughts or late ‘90s—all sci-fi space controls floating against a star field, complete with animations that are just there to look neat. While very silly, it’s a breath of fresh air after using the web interface, with more of the stuff you would want quick access to right there on the home screen, like Adaptive QoS mode switching, letting you quickly switch priority to games, video conferencing software, media streaming, and more.

While not quite as robust as the browser UI, the mobile app is far more user-friendly, even if it isn’t perfect. I greatly appreciated seeing signal noise shown for individual devices—also an option in the browser—which helps a lot when placing them for the best signal, which is especially important for things like smart speakers, which can be made or broken by your choices regarding network topology.

Looking at the feature list, it’s not unusual to wonder why in the hell you would want to command your router with Alexa. But, in the interest of being thorough, I grabbed my long-banished Echo Dot to test, and I did find some genuinely useful bits here—temporarily activating your guest network, for example, or pausing wifi. Perhaps the most useful of the bunch is the ability to change Adaptive QoS modes without going into the app.

The main shortcoming of Alexa Skills remains: Every command must be prefaced with “Alexa, ask my router…”, followed by a prescribed set of phrases you must memorize (or look up every time, defeating the purpose). The pricier RT-AX88U gives you a small selection of more natural-sounding phrases like, “Alexa, pause my wifi.” I tried anyway; not only did it not work, but Alexa pretended not to know who I was.

The rest of my smart home experience on this router, initial difficulties aside, was a good one—lightbulbs flicked on and off, routines ran, and my chosen smart assistant didn’t hesitate to respond to my requests.

The RT-AX86U is powered by a 1.8 GHz quad-core CPU with 1 GB of RAM and 256 MB Flash memory. Theoretically, it can transmit up to 4804 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, or up to 861 Mbps on the 2.4, but you’ll never see those speeds, nor should you expect them. It has four antennas—one of which is an internal, printed circuit board antenna, and works all the way up to the 160 MHz band, which is a key component of Wi-Fi 6, and necessary to reach the fastest speeds the router is capable of. It has a long list of other terms that describe how powerful it is.

As I’ve noted previously, the RT-AX86U is great for gaming. I wanted to take it further, so I decided to stress test the router, streaming music at the highest quality available on multiple devices, watching a 4K nature documentary on Apple TV, which is known for its high-bitrate streaming, conducting a video call with a friend, and playing CS:GO on official servers. This is a realistic scenario in my home, and the RT-AX86U aced it—I saw no sign of buffering or stuttering anywhere, my friend reported clear audio and smooth video, and in-game ping seemed unaffected. In raw numbers, I had to move into my back yard to get anything slower than the max I’m getting from my ISP, finding that I had good, usable internet even at the farthest reaches of my yard, which is about a fifth of an acre.

I tested file transfers with a 734 MB copy of Ernest Saves Christmas—a typical use case for network storage—and found the transfers to be very fast, with the limiting factor seemingly the actual read/write capability of the router. Transfer speeds reached as high as 465.79 Mbps, but averaged between 310 and 350 Mbps, and hardly budged at any distance. Write speeds were about half that.

After determining that the RT-AX86U was gross overkill for my needs, I thought I would look at Asus’s AiMesh, which lets you use multiple Asus routers to create a mesh network. Self-healing and pretty straightforward to set up, an AiMesh network can definitely get you that kind of blanketed internet plants crave.

I tested the mesh capabilities with the addition of an RT-AX82U, and for some reason, setting this up ended up actually being the only way I could finally get my “smart” bathroom light switch to join my new network. I came to this experience with the breezy setup of Eero already in mind and found it similarly easy with Asus. Network performance was as expected, with devices generally connecting to the node closest to them or, at least, with the lowest amount of signal noise, and no real noticeable changeover time. Basically, mesh networking is a revelation to anyone who hasn’t used it, and that much is true here, as well.

In the end, the Asus RT-AX86U is a great router, with speedy performance and easy setup, despite an annoying menu system. Actually getting down and dirty in the settings is a pain, thanks to confusing, incompletely explained technicals and messy organization, but basic and intermediate settings can be easily changed in the mobile app. Security and device prioritization for the router is decent, though I recommend you review the EULA before proceeding to make sure you’re comfortable with the exchange you must make to take advantage. The mesh setup was fairly painless. The RT-AX86U met and, in some cases exceeded, my expectations, at least where it counts. Of course, you’re going to pay for it, at MSRP $250—though you can find decent discounts at the usual online retailers.

Whether you just want lag-free gaming or you need something that can handle a heavy overall load, this router does it with aplomb. We are rapidly approaching the day when recommendations like this one isn’t just about future-proofing, but you will find in the RT-AX86U a router more than capable of meeting the unexpected demands put upon all of us this year. If you’ve got a smaller home that needs a lot of power and would prefer to check out mesh networking at a later date, this is absolutely the router for you.

[adrastiana]

More things that happened

Yes that's an Inland Empire reference. :P

So I've discovered that more stuff was stolen. Earlier in the month my room smelled like cigarettes and people who don't bathe regularly. So I think it may have been recent. I am very upset. I have to move soon and have no idea where I am going so I guess I have bigger fish to fry. But this just made it worse.

When I went into the back of the closet to gather the remainder of my games I noticed that the small plastic case I kept GBA games in had its lid ajar. You have to pull the handles up and click them to the lid to close it. So if someone was in a rust or couldn't figure it out then they would likely not do it right.

I checked and Breath of Fire 2, Shining Soul 2 and Harmony of Dissonance were all missing. I thought the two Castlevania games were together in a separate case that will hold one GB/GBC or two GBA games. But I guess not. I usually try to group things together. Anywaiz, I think one or two PS1 memory cards were taken as well. Because I am almost positive I had more left from the initial theft than I do now.

Also missing is Twilight Princess for Gamecube and Ys 1&2 for DS. I am devistated.

I also discovered that Phantasy Star Universe for PS2 is not in the case. I think it may have been in the PS2 and I was so upset at the time I didn't give it much thought. I thought that Resident Evil Outbreak was the last PS2 game I played. But thinking back I am pretty sure that it was PSU now.

I cannot find the Ratchet & Clank HD collection for PS3 either. I am wondering if the disc is in the system, which is hidden in a large box of Comcast equipment. I cannot find the sleeve for the game. It was a pack-in so it came in a sleeve and not a plastic case. I am hoping that it turns up. If not I think it is easily replaceable. Still pisses me off though. -_-

At least my Gamecube, 3DS, PSP and PS3 are untouched. Although I cannot find my PSP charger. I thought I hid it under some heavy clothes on top of a chair. But the PSP was under there in its case. So I don't think that it was there. Because I know they're dumb but not that dumb. Why would you take a random charger? The PSP charger is really weird looking too. Plus it's a cumbersome pain in the ass. To make it worse despite being official the plastic on the plug that goes into the console has started to degrade. It looks kind of nasty. Since my battery asplode from old age I need that charger to play. Hope I can find it.

And to make things even worse, I dug into my armoire to get out Wind Waker and discovered the game inside was Ocarina of time. Now I ave two. My sister claims she bought it back from some guy she wouldn't give me the name of. But I thought at the time the case was way too filthy so it definitely wasn't mine. It looked like years of grime and not just the grossness of some piece of reseller scum who is also a slob. So I can't even play Wind Waker. And I have an extra Ocarina of Time. I wish I had looked inside the case back in the summer. I wish I had confirmed. But I was just so mad that I hid it and that was that. I hid my Gamecube and PS3 away because I feared that they would also be taken. So I didn't play those systems at all since then and I just couldn't look at the remainder of my collection. It was just too painful. Same with my CDs and DVDs.

Speaking of CDs, I don't know if this happened in the summer when stuff was taken or what. But I was packing the sad remainder of my CD collection and noticed that Return Of The Killer A's (Anthrax) had a broken case. The bottom hinge was cracked off so the top just comes off now. I do no remember that being an issue before. And inside of the case was the software CD for my PC monitor.

WTF? o.O

I literally have no clue. No clue at all. By the way, the music CD is still inside. I think this was a mad scramble and errant discs were shoved into cases. I did not check many of my CD cases. It was just too much to gandle. I can't take any more of this.

There's also what I assume is a blank CDR in my cabinet under what was left of my CDs. Again no clue. I have not burned a CD in a very long time. But my sister's boyfriend burned TV shows all the time. Maybe he had the dumb idea to replace some of the music CDs with CDRs for weight or something. I don't know. It ain't my CD. And I can't really check it out right now to see if anything is on it.

I confronted my sister about all this and all I get is a nasty attitude. Is she still defending him? She claims they broke up permanantly. Sure Jan.

She claims no one messed with my CDs recently because no one wants CDs. Well someone sure as hell wanted them last summer. She says no one was in my room but I beg to differ. someone stole those games. Someone needed to get high.

The piece of human filth was begging his dad on the phone for money on multiple ocassions. I overheard everything. At one point his dad hung up on him. Mind you this is a guy in his 40s with no job who is able bodied. I think he got frustrated that his parents wouldn't give him anything so he went through my stuff when I wasn't home. Yeah I should have gotten a lock but I have a feeling that it would have been picked anyway. After all, that happened to my mom. Nothing keeps this loser out. He steals from his parents too. I have heard them yelling at him over the phone about missing valuables.

I think I mentioned before that the cops were not helpful at all. They would not grant a restraining order and told me that I didn't have proof that he stole from me and that my sister had the right to invite him over. They told me that I should move. Can you believe that? I pay all the damn bills and I am the one that needs to leave to resolve the issue? Give me a break.

My sister defended him and lied and took off when I called the police both times. She was protecting him when she should have been protecting me.

And now we have to leave by the 22nd. It is all her fault. She has no income and failed to obtain a social security card and birth certificate like she was supposed to. So she cannot even get benefits. I told her to apply for the SS card online. It is free and it comes pretty fast. She did nothing. She had a year to get it together. I could not pay the mortgage after our stepfather died. So it defaulted and went into foreclosure. Had she gotten an income and stopped freeloading we could have done something as I was in contact with the mortgage company and they were trying to work something out. But I still didn't have enough to pay it and the utilities and everything else. I had to go on food stamps. And as I was applying those creeps were in my room cleaning me out to buy drugs. And then they do it again when I am applying for utility assistance. Ungrateful scum.

They were mad and verbally abused me for not giving them $20 and tokens. My sister's boyfriend was yelling at me and calling me a bitch. In my own house. Once the authority figure had died everything went to hell and there was no one left to protect me or stand up for me. So a couple weeks after that episode the stealing began. And that was my summer. Full of bullying, verbal abuse and epic freeloading. And I should have left. But when you are being abused you don't exactly think straight all the time. I didn't want to burden people with my problems. I was afraid to ask for help. I was afraid if relatives found out what my sister had a hand in that they would cut her off from any sort of help and she would die somewhere

So now I have until Friday and have no idea what will happen. I guess I need a storage unit. I have packed a lot but ran out of boxes. No idea where I am going or what will happen. I do get some money out of this but have to split it with my sister who will likely buy cigarettes and other junk with her half like the irresponsible child that she is. I'd rent a room if I could afford it. But Philly is kinda high rent and I am currently in the Far Northeast. That is not a cheap area. My primary care doctor is here. I don't really want to leave the area. But it's not like I was originally from here. I used to want to go back to the old neighborhood. Not anymore.

I hope I don't end up homeless. I'm worried about my dog.

Whatever happens happens. I will just have to live through it. I am used to suffering through bad times. But this is the worst yet. My family was evicted when I was nine. But we got a place to rent. I am just ill prepared. I hope everything works out in some way. If I don't post for a long time then that means I am likely unable to. I guess that's life. That's just the way it is. Hopefully the "it is" won't be too bad.

Sorry about the length. I don't think you can read more cut on the app. If you can I can't find it. ><

[cdrforea]

Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e Review: A Slice of Luxury

New Post has been published on https://bestedevices.com/samsung-galaxy-tab-s5e-review-a-slice-of-luxury.html

Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e Review: A Slice of Luxury

"The Galaxy Tab S5e is an almost perfectly designed Android tablet for your home and a great companion for games and movies."

Slim and light

Breathtaking AMOLED screen

Attractive, simple software

Long battery life

Inexpensive

Audio disappointed

Camera is simple

Would you like this vacation an excellent price for a tablet? Check out our favorite Black Friday tablet deals.

We all want a little bit of luxury. A slightly more expensive hotel than usual when we go on vacation, tick the leather when ordering a new car and buy a mobile device that feels more expensive than it really is. This is the definition of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e. Together with the stunning screen, this is one of the main reasons why you will buy one in the store.

I spent a few weeks on the tablet and can happily say that you won't put it back on the shelf when you take it home.

Luxurious design

Samsung has distinguished itself with the style of the Galaxy Tab S5e. There are no new ways – it is a tablet and therefore quite fixed – but it manages to get all the crucial individual aspects right. The screen is the right size at 10.5 inches, the metal unibody weighs only 399 grams and is surprisingly light, while the 5.5 mm thickness contradicts virtually every belief. Any thinner and lighter, and it would be a piece of paper.

The frames around the screen are narrow, but there is still enough to grab and hold the tablet. But they're almost acceptable – you have to hold them loosely – otherwise it's too easy to accidentally touch the screen and rewind when viewing content, even with normal sized hands. The slim, cool-looking metal housing and the thin screen bezels give the Tab S5e the decisive luxury air. You really want to hold it and it puts a smile on your face when you do it.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The thin housing on the back means that the camera lens is in a bump. This in turn means that it comes into contact with any surface on which the tablet is exposed. In addition to the Samsung and AKG trademark on the back, the camera lens and antenna bands are the only distractions. It's incredibly clean, simple, and stylish. On the sides there is a connector for a Samsung keyboard, four speakers, a microSD card slot and a USB charging port of type C. It doesn't have a 3.5 mm headphone jack, which is a shame.

Any thinner and lighter, and it would be a piece of paper.

Where's the fingerprint sensor? It is located in the power switch on the right edge directly above the volume rocker. Samsung has used this with great effect on the Galaxy S10e. The Tab S5e is precise and fast, but a little too small and possibly a little too high on the body. I searched for it too often and felt my thumb along the side. I would look for it sometime and that is unfortunate. It's not that Samsung has room on the side of the Tab S5e, and a longer sensor – like that of the Sony Xperia 10 Plus – would have been a welcome ergonomic addition.

The tempting slenderness of the Galaxy Tab S5e is one thing, but it worried me a bit. Even though it never hurt, the thin frame worried me about durability. I took it on a long flight and it spent a lot of time in a backpack where I feared it would be subjected to loads that would bend the frame. It never happened, and even when the tablet is physically rotated, there is no excessive movement. I would be happier if I kept the slim, attractive Tab S5e in a bag or case on the go.

Breathtaking screen, average sound

Samsung makes good screens. No, not good, I mean stunning screens, and the Tab S5e is another one to look at in astonishment. The 10.5 AMOLED panel has a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 and looks great in any situation. There is so much color and life that even videos you are familiar with get a new look. I saw the last two episodes of Stranger Things 3 on an airplane and had to turn down the brightness almost all the way down, but the picture was still excellent and the shadows and dark scenes didn't suffer at all.

It’s not just a video that’s great. The low weight also makes it an excellent alternative for e-book readers and is ideal for games. I read with the Amazon Kindle app for many hours and changed the background color from white to a paper-like tone, which didn't tire my eyes. The light, easy-to-hold body enables longer gaming sessions even when playing. Reckless Racing 3 is fun and is visually enhanced thanks to the breathtaking colors and the screen.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

There's no question about the Tab S5e credentials when it comes to the visual experience, but what about the sound? The Tab S5e has four speakers that have been tuned by AKG – Samsung's audio experts. The speakers support Dolby Atmos. The audio is realigned when the tablet moves from portrait to landscape and vice versa. Despite all of these efforts, the sound is good, but not great.

There is a lot of volume, but voices are often lost in the mix, and increasing the volume only aggravates the situation. The chassis vibrates with noise, but not really with bass, because there is simply not that much. This is to be expected as there is not much space in the body for loudspeakers and sound chambers and the loudspeakers can be easily dampened when the tablet is held. We also had a similar listening experience with the Galaxy Tab S4.

Power and battery

On paper, the Galaxy Tab S5e doesn't impress with its technical data, since it deserves a relatively simple smartphone – a Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 processor and 4 GB or 6 GB RAM (corresponds to what is included in the Google Pixel 3a). In reality, it's more than enough to drive the tablet for the tasks it is meant to do – watch, surf, and read movies. I never had any problems playing.

Here are some benchmark results:

AnTuTu 3DBench: 152.646

Geekbench 4 CPU: 1,604 single core; 5,627 multi core

3DMark Sling Shot Extreme: 1,536 (volcano)

These numbers cannot keep up with the more expensive tablets with higher performance, but they are not displayed in daily use. The Galaxy Tab S5e never feels like a midrange smartphone despite the numbers and processor. It is wiped out in tests by Apple iPad Air, its direct competitor in terms of price.

The willingness of the Tab S5e to only sip energy increases its usefulness.

The battery on which the show runs has a capacity of 7,040 mAh and provides more than enough energy for long-term use. When used daily for a few hours, with apps and while watching videos, the battery lasted five days before it needed to be charged. The best thing is that it is in standby mode for days and uses almost no power. Tablets are not always used every day, so the Tab S5e’s willingness to drink only energy increases its usefulness.

Another great performance aspect of the Galaxy Tab S5e is WiFi, where I found signals I received more reliably than my phone when I was far from my router. This is important if you are streaming videos at home.

Basic camera

Would you like to take photos with your tablet? Sure, it's not ideal, but if necessary, the Galaxy Tab S5e will take it with its single 13-megapixel lens with a 1: 2.0 aperture on the back. On the front there is an 8 megapixel camera with the same aperture. The results are decent, with some attractive colors and contrasts, details in the shaded areas, and a nice blue sky with no oversaturation.

The pictures don't have much life and you don't want to take many in low light. Close-ups suffer from a lack of detail. The camera app has an editing suite with filters and basic tools to adjust your picture. Use the selfie camera and there are Snapchat style face filters and a live focus mode for a software generated bokeh effect. Everyone works very well, but their attractiveness will be a niche.

Whenever the Galaxy Tab S5e camera is put into action, it does more than provide enough results, but you can get a better camera experience on Apple's iPad Air.

A UI software

Samsung has installed its own One UI Version 1.1 software via Android 9 Pie. The experience is very similar and pleasant to that of a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. A user interface is clear, logical and clear. No, it doesn't look like Android on a Google Pixel, but its consistent layout makes it stylish and modern, and that's a big plus. App icons are uniform in size and shape, and navigation is quick and responsive, if a little slow at times.

Slowness is not a performance issue, but rather a design decision, as Samsung wants you to admire the transitions and scrolling. I don't know – sometimes it's a bit blurry – and I just want to find my app.

One problem that can affect others like me is the transfer of video content from a computer to the tablet. Connect it to a MacBook via USB, and you're out of luck if you want to transfer files. Android Device Manager is not working, and Samsung's outdated Mac app is not. It simply refuses to recognize what pain is when I want to have a video on my tablet. In the end I loaded a video with Google Drive. Yes, it worked, but it's awfully lengthy.

Then there's Bixby. On the home screen, swipe right to display Bixby Home, where a selection of maps contains information from some apps, Google Play, News, YouTube, and the tablet gallery. Among the helpful cards like the news, there are some curiosities like Giphy. Fortunately, you can edit which cards appear, but you can't mix the order.

The software of the Galaxy Tab S5e is easy to use, easy to adapt and also pretty.

I certainly haven't used Bixby Home very often, but Samsung has worked hard to improve the virtual assistant. The Galaxy Tab S5e has Bixby Voice, and you can activate the virtual assistant with the power button. Set this up and what can you do? Bixby's voice is surprisingly lifelike; It recognized my commands most of the time and the wake-up word "Hey Bixby" made sure it was always on. Many of the features are designed for use on a smartphone and not on a tablet that stays at home. For example, Bixby's quick commands are useful when you change profile settings for work or in the car. I don't take my tablet much out of the house, which makes this and many other commands superfluous.

Apart from that, the software of the Galaxy Tab S5e is easy to use, easy to adapt and also pretty. It makes a significant contribution to ensuring that the Galaxy Tab S5e is pleasant to live and use.

Price, availability and guarantee

The Galaxy Tab S5e costs $ 400 with 64 GB of storage or $ 470 with 128 GB and can be purchased from Samsung, Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers. In the UK, the 64 GB Tab S5e is £ 380 and the 128 GB is £ 420. If you want a 4G LTE version, it is only available from Verizon in the US and costs $ 480 plus the data plan you choose. In the UK, the 4G LTE model is unlocked and starts at £ 430.

Samsung provides a one-year warranty on the tablet against manufacturing defects in the United States, but not against accidental damage. The UK warranty is two years.

Our opinion

The Galaxy Tab S5e is an almost perfectly designed Android tablet for your home and the perfect companion for playing and watching movies and videos. The sophisticated software and performance ensure that it does not irritate, and thanks to the long-lasting battery it is always ready for use. The price is $ 399 (MSRP), and sales often drop to around $ 350.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes, and it's the tablet most people will think about – the Apple iPad. You should take a look at the Apple iPad Air, which has a 10.5-inch screen. It starts at $ 500. The smaller 9.7-inch iPad starts at $ 330, but the larger screen bezels make it look older. IPad software is great, app support is better, the screen is similarly good, and it will keep its value for the future – important if you want to resell it to fund an annual update.

If you want a more productive Samsung Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab S4 remains a good buy if you're on a tight budget. On the other hand, the new Galaxy Tab S6 is available if you want the latest Samsung Galaxy Tab hardware.

For more information, see our best tablet guide.

How long it will take?

The Galaxy Tab S5e is not waterproof and also not particularly durable. So you have to treat it well if you want it to last a long time. If you do this, there is no reason why the Tab S5e will not last for years. In contrast to smartphones, tablets are not so quickly out of date. Since drastic improvements are rare in subsequent models, there is less temptation to change them regularly.

There is no reason why you can't use the Tab S5e for three to four years if you only use it as a media player and for basic apps.

Should you buy it

Yes. The Galaxy Tab S5e is luxurious, powerful, and not overly expensive. It's not the best tablet, but it's a solid mid-range pick and will appeal to Android loyalists.

Editor's recommendations

[hermanwatts]

SUPERVERSIVE: Pokémon Sword and Shield is why I stopped using number ratings

“Pokémon Sword and Shield”, the new pokemon games for the Nintendo Switch, just came out amidst a whole heaping of controversy (though by modern standards of “controversy” admittedly tame). As a result a fascinating dichotomy formed between critic reviews and user reviews. On Metacritic, the critics gave it an 81 of 100; with users it’s stagnated around 4 of 10.

This, of course, is not unique, but what makes it fascinating is that, unlike in other cases where one would simply put more stock in the user score, we have good reason to believe neither score is giving us a particularly accurate reflection of the game’s overall quality. To figure out why, and review it properly, we need to take a look at the unusual circumstances surrounding the games’ release. I, as a huge and unashamed fan of the pokemon franchise, will of course be happy to take on the challenge.

First we have “dexit”, the term given to denote the 400 or so odd pokemon cut out of the game. It is the first time since generation three that not every single pokemon was transferrable to the next generation.

There’s also Gamefreak’s unusual PR surrounding the issue. When pressed as to why, Gamefreak gave a few reasons – better animations, remade models, improved graphics, and the sheer amount of time, effort, and space it would take to get all of the pokemon in. They also cited an attempt at balancing the game more properly for competitive play.

Then the game came out, and it became clear the models (at least most of them in most circumstances) were reused, many of the animations were the same (some were improved and some of the new ones do look great, but not all of them), and there’s about 6 GB of free space on the cartridge left over just begging to be filled by pokemon, an option Gamefreak has repeatedly shot down.

The models especially really annoyed people, since it explicitly stated by the head of Gamefreak, Masuda, that they were going to be remade. As a result of this, just before release (after data miners released the dirt they had on the models) #Gamefreaklied started trending on Twitter.

Now, do *I* think “Gamefreak lied? No, I don’t. That’s a long issue, but suffice to say that I do believe some models were remade and some animations were updated – but people expected more and didn’t get it. And that pissed people off.

The news that the exp share was going to be automatically left on also made people annoyed; even I criticized the exp all in Ultra Sun and the lack of an option to turn it off did not appeal.

Suffice to say, popular sentiment was already strongly against the games before release.

And then they came out.

And reviews started dropping in.

Long story short: 81 on Metacritic. 93 of 100 by IGN, with the critic even calling it the best pokemon game. Multiple 9+ of 10s by other outlets. Even one perfect score.

Hmmmmm…

Perhaps you can see why angry users decided to flood Metacritic – and everywhere else people were getting reviews – with 0’s to 3’s.

Well, I had been looking forward to this game for months. Trailers looked great, I loved the visual aesthetic, and the first pokemon game on the big screen was something I was simply not going to pass up. So I got Sword. I finished in around forty-five to fifty hours, and can confirm a few things.

The infamous 9.3 of 10 IGN score got a LOT of flak, and on one hand it’s easy to see why. The game’s big setpiece, the “Wild Area”, a massive hub that can be entered at any time teeming with a huge variety of pokemon, lags and has lackluster textures on close up objects. It is also relatively bare. Outside of the pokemon and dens where you can conduct “Max Raid” battles with other players – another nifty addition to the game where you team up with three other players to take on a super-charged wild pokemon – there isn’t much to see.

The good

  The bad – bland and poorly textured. Cool I can finally get a Mechamp though.

The graphics are hit and miss. Cities look gorgeous, and the aesthetic is bright and fun, but routes are mostly bare bones (albeit with some beautiful looking panorama views in places). Battle animations are another mixed bag: Sometimes they look fantastic, and sometimes they look embarrassingly bad (I’m looking at you, double kick).

The characters and character animations are maybe a hair above average, nothing special. The story is extremely straightforward and linear; there’s little exploration to be had of the region itself – the game expects you to explore the wild area. “Pop ins” are a hilarious problem as well, with pokemon literally appearing out of thin air and disappearing again depending on which direction you step. And as beautiful as the towns look there is rarely a whole lot to them and they really need more people to fill them out.

Plus…dexit.

Now, all of this probably leads you to believe I’m going to give the game a bad review, right? Not so. I loved it. And not for subjective reasons either; there are legitimate reasons to love this game.

Let’s rewind back to that infamous IGN review: I actually think it makes quite a lot of sense. Here’s the thing: Sword and Shield is a pokemon game. It uses the standard pokemon formula – you are a player starting on a journey to become the new Pokémon League Champion. To do that you need to beat the leaders of 8 gyms (or 7 to 8 trials in the case of gen 7) specializing in various pokemon types. These gyms are spread throughout the region. Battles will get progressively harder as the game goes on, culminating in a final battle with the Champion for the title. Along the way you’ll have run ins with an evil team and since the Crystal version will tend to get wrapped up in a larger story involving the game’s mascot legendary.

Sword and Shield uses this formula, and it executes it well. So there’s step 1. Step 2: Does Galar have enough personality as a region, new pokemon included, to justify setting a game there? Having played for about forty hours now, I can say that the answer is most definitely yes. Galar can have more going on but there’s no denying that it’s a really fun place with a lot of personality and cool stuff to look at. So there’s another check.

Step 3: Does it improve anything from previous games?

Oh HELL yes. The wild area, for all of the flaws I mentioned earlier, is fantastic to actually play in, an absolute blast to explore and look for new and interesting pokemon. Not to mention, it’s big – big enough that Gamefreak can be proud of it anyway. Teaming up with other players in max raid battles is a ton of fun.

There is also a noticeably lower barrier of entry into the competitive scene, with effort values and individual values able to be altered relatively easily to create a competition-viable pokemon. This is something Gamefreak specifically focused on and by all accounts they seemed to be 

The graphics are only sometimes up to snuff with other Switch titles but are a definite step up from previous pokemon games, and the visual aesthetic is terrific. Animations, again, could be better but some, at least, are an undeniable improvement.

The soundtrack is incredible. I mean it is legitimately one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard in a game. It may be the best soundtrack in a franchise famous for having great music.

The small quality of life upgrades – a PC with you at all times, the move relearner, deleter, and name rater found in every pokemon center, the ability to turn off cutscenes, no HMs – are all great. None are unique to Sword and Shield but even so it deserves credit for bringing them all together in once place. I have never played Let’s Go so I can honestly say that having pokemon appear in the overworld is something I never knew I needed. It’s such a massive improvement, and adds so much life to the environments, that it spoils me when I go back to play previous games.

My favorite improvement, though, is the gym battles. Holy crap are gym battles cool. The soundtrack changes as the battle progresses, a huge crowd cheers along to the music, and dynamaxing – a mechanic that supersizes your pokemon for three turns for a power boost – seemed gimmicky in trailers but turns out to be insanely cool. The battles aren’t the hardest in the world but they’re the main reason the game justifies itself for the Switch.

So essentially we have a standard pokemon game but with better graphics, (some) better animations, an open world area full of dozens – maybe hundreds – of pokemon and special co-op battles, cooler gym battles, a lower barrier of entry into competitive battling, an incredible soundtrack, and tons of quality of life improvements. In that sense there is a very real way this can be legitimately called the best pokemon game.

It is also a game with little exploration outside of the wild area, noticeable glitches and bugs, graphics and animation that don’t take full advantage of the Switch, a fairly easy difficulty curve (though I would argue not nearly as easy as gen 7, at least until the Ultra games), and half of the pokedex unable to be transferred into the game.

And, incidentally, while a lot of the characters are fun and memorable the story is borderline nonsensical, easily the worst in a pokemon game. Now the appeal of pokemon games is NOT and never was the story – if anything it’s the least important aspect – but after the pretty good story of Ultra Sun it was at least a little disappointing. The fun characters make up for it to an extent, but not entirely.

In THAT sense there is a very real way this can be legitimately called the worst pokemon game.

What do I think?

I see repeatedly that I need to analyze it “as if it wasn’t a pokemon game” and I don’t understand this at all. It IS a pokemon game. That’s a major part of its appeal, as it should be. It executes the standard pokemon formula well.

If I had to give my recommendations, here goes:

Would I recommend it to someone who just doesn’t like pokemon with an eye to converting them? No, definitely not. If you don’t already like the series this won’t convince you.

Would I recommend it to somebody interested in trying a pokemon game for the first time? Absolutely! It’s a ton of fun and I think it would turn a first time player into a fan of the franchise unless they just don’t like pokemon’s standard gameplay style, in which case none of the pokemon games are going to do it for you.

So tell it to me straight, Senpai: Would you recommend it to long time fans of the series?

It’s hard for me to answer that question. All I can say is if you’re looking for a standard pokemon game but with better graphics, animations, and a cool open world area specifically designed for catching pokemon, you’ll love it; I certainly do. If you’re looking for a significant upgrade now that Game Freak is finally on a home console or something with more content, or if you’re mad about dexit, you’ll be disappointed. Draw your own conclusions.

A note: In case you’re wondering why I think most of the negative reviews are review bombs as opposed to actually negative reviews, it’s because I read them. Many of them spread blatantly false information: No, the game is not only 14 hours unless you speed your way through. No, the game is not absurdly easy; it’s about as easy as Sun/Moon, meaning, too easy for my taste but certainly playable, especially if you’re focused on building a large team (I lost battles more than one time even when seriously trying to win). No, the game is not incredibly laggy throughout or full of glitches that ruin the game, and yes, there is music in the legendary fight. No, there is absolutely NOT a bug that deletes all of the save files on the Switch. There is not “almost no postgame”, but about the average amount of postgame content as the majority of games in the series outside of Gen 2, Emerald, and Heartgold/Soulsilver.

A lot of this false information came from people watching pirated streams on hacked systems played by people who specifically wanted the game to fail. People who didn’t play the game shouldn’t be allowed to give reviews, folks. And no, NOT all bad reviews are review bombs; only a lot.

In short: I loved it, you might or might not, it is not a poorly designed game but it doesn’t take the series to the next level like a lot of people hoped. Score: Blergle out of 10, would play again even if other people wouldn’t. Play at your own risk.

SUPERVERSIVE: Pokémon Sword and Shield is why I stopped using number ratings published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[goadapter-blog]

HP Envy AIO 27 Review

Beauty and perform come with each other nicely with all the HP Envy AIO 27,a desktop Pc which has every thing you have to help it become the middle of the electronic enjoyment globe.As opposed to a lot of all-in-one methods,the Envy has all its principal elements packed in to the base,enabling the 27-inch QHD contact screen to stay light with a slim bezel.That is not all,the HP Envy AIO 27 is basically the Go Go Gadget of desktop PCs.The base also characteristics a 19-inch long Bang & Olufsen sound bar that naturally blends in together with the rest of your foundation while offering quality sound for music,videos,and games.Meanwhile,the screen has a built-in pop-up webcam,which can be pushed down in to the display for added privacy and security.Ports,which include a SD card reader,HDMI In and Out,and USB 3.1 Type C,can be found on the right side and back of the base.When you add internal capabilities such as a Core i7 CPU,16GB of memory,Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M graphics and both a 128GB SSD and 1TB hard drive,you may have a system that goes beyond mere looks.HP has taken the all-in-one Pc concept in a different direction together with the Envy All-in-One.Instead of building the Pc with all its components behind the display,HP has put the CPU,the motherboard,the storage,and the discrete graphics card in to the base.The result is an all-in-one with a very skinny display,but 1 that's particularly well suited to enjoying media.Because of its high-end components and attributes,the Envy All-in-One hp envy m6 charger has plenty of power for both multimedia creation and satisfaction,though we'd primarily recommend this system for the latter.

Design

Since the screen in the EnvyBest Price at Amazon doesn't really have to house components,it is really thin.And because the speakers have also been moved to the base,there's no will need for thick bezels on the sides; you get what's practically an edge-to-edge exhibit surface.The display is supported from the bottom by a chromed metal arm that gives it the appearance apple a1083 charger of floating.The system is mostly dark charcoal gray,using a slightly darker shade for the fabric grille covering the speakers.It measures 18 by 24.2 by 7.5 inches overall,so it will fit on a dorm-room desk or the dresser in front of one's bed.That display measures 27 inches diagonally,and has a 2,560-by-1,440 resolution.It's higher than full HD,though some AiOs,like the Asus Zen AiO Pro,have resolutions of 4K.It's not pretty as wide as the 21:9 aspect-ratio display on the HP Envy Curved 34-A051 Signature EditionBest Price at Amazon,our last top pick,but most online video content fits the Envy All-in-One's display just fine.IPS technology ensures that you can view the screen Lenovo ThinkPad T510 Charger from any angle,making it perfect for watching a movie with friends.Speaking of which,the speakers are as loud and clear as an external soundbar,so you're in good shape to watch in a bedroom or den.A pop-up camera in the top from the display can be used to log in with Windows Hello or make Skype calls.Since the camera hides away,it's an extra measure of security in the parts of the home where you'd expect extra privacy.The display has Technicolor certification and a 99-percent sRGB color gamut.While that is a tad narrower than the DCI-P3 color gamut in the Apple iMac 27-inchBest Price at Amazon,these certifications help make sure that the colors are mostly accurate in videos and TV shows.The display also has a night mode that casts more yellow,so you can surf websites with less of the blue light-weight that affects sleep cycles.The display has a 10-point contact sensor,and can tilt so you can use it from either a sitting or standing position.In contrast to the iMac,though,you can't mount the Envy All-in-One on the wall or on an articulated arm,a single with the couple of drawbacks to its design.Because the base is wide,HP incorporated a ring-shaped volume control on its surface.It is touch sensitive,so you can tap the middle to pause music,and draw your finger Lenovo Y700-15ISK Charger around the circumference from the circle to raise and lower the volume.It's kind of like the old Apple iPod contact wheel,and is just as easy to learn to use.You will be applying it to control the volume more than you will the buttons on the included wireless keyboard.Speaking with the keyboard,it feels a good deal more luxurious than the simple plastic a single on the HP Envy Curved.It's full size,but like the Apple iMac's keyboard,it has a short Z-height and is rechargeable.The included wireless mouse is a little oddly shaped,having a body resembling a small bar of soap,and with a palm rest hanging over the bottom to help it fit in your hand better.Connectivity solutions are excellent,including a headset jack,an SD card reader,and a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 on the right side of your desktop.That trumps the iMac,which lacks USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 and has its SD card slot inconveniently placed in the back.On the HP's back panel,you are going to find the jack for the AC adapterSamsung S24C230BL Charger ,an Ethernet port,an HDMI-in port,an HDMI-out port,a button for switching the HDMI source,four USB 3.0 ports,and the power button.Wireless connections are handled by way of 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2.This version of the system is configured for power users.It comes with 16GB of RAM,which is certainly enough memory for most games,viewing multiple video streams,and multitasking.There's also a 128GB solid-state drive boot drive,that has some preinstalled software,including Instagram,3D Builder,Amazon,Candy Crush Soda Saga,Farmville 2,Houzz,Netflix,Office,OneNote,OneDrive,Simple Mahjong,Twitter,Priceline.com,and Dropbox,as well as a 5,400rpm 1TB SATA hard drive for storing files.The system comes using a one-year warranty.

Performance

The HP Envy 27's design looks very clean and elegant.The slim display is balanced on a slender metal stand,connected on the base where all the Pc components reside.This design by HP is different from most All-in-One devices that are usually top-heavy.The build quality is solid too.There are no loose parts or rattling when moving the device.The 27-inch display has a 9.5mm bezel on the top and sides,and 11.1mm on the bottom.While it's not technically edge-to-edge,the small bezel helps keep a minimal footprint.The HP Envy 27 has an IPS display with QHD resolution.It's not as sharp as higher-end UHD displays,but many people won't notice the difference.The viewing angles are great,and I didn't see any color shifting when tilting the display screen.The stand only allows you to tilt the monitor up or down,so you'll also need to move the base if you must swivel the display left or right.I was also disappointed that you can't adjust the height on the display.Another issue I found is that Envy's exhibit Asus ROG GL702VS Charger is highly reflective.It's fine when browsing the web or utilizing apps with light backgrounds,but the reflections are noticeable when watching movies or making use of Adobe Creative apps which have darker backgrounds.On a positive note,the display screen is highly responsive to touch.I didn't have any issues with tapping,scrolling or pinching to zoom.There's also a webcam available for video calls and Windows Dell OptiPlex 7040 Charger Hello authentication.It pops up from the top of your monitor,so it keeps the top bezel to a minimum.You can also hide the webcam when you're not applying it by pushing it down.There are no buttons or ports on the display screen itself.They're all located on the bottom.The right side has the 3-in-1 media card reader,headphone/microphone combo,and USB 3.1 Type-C port.The back includes four USB 3.0 ports,HDMI 2.0 out,HDMI 2.0 in,Ethernet jack,power port,and Kensington lock.The addition of HDMI input is interesting because it lets you use the Envy's display for another device like a laptop.If your laptop has an HDMI 2.0 port,you'll be able to take advantage of the Envy 27's native resolution at 60Hz.

The HP Envy 27 All-in-One also includes a wireless keyboard and mouse.The keyboard has an excellent build quality and with sufficient critical travel.While there's no backlighting available,there are light-weight indicators for the Num Lock and Caps Lock keys.I don't have anything at all to complain about the keyboard other than the size on the Up and Down arrow keys.I wish HP made more space to include full sizes for these buttons.There's a micro-USB Acer Predator 17 Battery port to charge the keyboard when it runs out of battery.I'm not a fan in the included wireless mouse.The plastic material feels cheap,and I found it uncomfortable to hold.If you don't like it either,there are plenty of other selections like the Logitech MX Performance.The HP Envy 27 has four front-facing speakers located on the bottom.They are angled up at 45-degrees,so they're firing off sound in the general direction Lenovo 01AV406 Battery of the ears instead of across the desk at your keyboard.And they sound amazing! They're loud,clear,and very capable of bass-heavy music.While you can use the keyboard to adjust the volume,HP also includes a touch-enabled dial on top from the base.Swipe clockwise to increase the volume or swipe the other way to lower the volume.You can also pause by tapping the dial or skip songs by swiping right.Even though I'm happy with the default sound settings,you can customize the audio working with the built-in HP Audio Switch app.There are presets for Music,Movie,and Voice.The HP Envy 27 performs well with everyday tasks.Switching between multiple apps isn't a problem,and they open quickly thanks for the Intel Core i7 processor HP 15-au100 Battery and 16 GB of RAM.Working with Adobe Creative apps like Photoshop,Lightroom,and Premiere Pro is surprisingly smooth too.The only problem I found is a strange a single.The display screen intermittently turns black whenever I watch a Netflix video in full display,despite acquiring the latest graphic drivers.It's annoying,and the only workaround is to maximize the app window instead of watching the video in full display.You can certainly do some gaming on the HP Envy 27 using the NVIDIA GTX 950 graphics card,but keep your expectations low.If you desire to play decent frame rates,most in the recent games like Gears of War 4 and Battlefield 1 want to be set in low settings.Gears of War 4 plays at 45 frames per second on 1080p at low settings and Battlefield 1 plays at 60 frames per second on 1080p at low settings.If you're looking for numbers,the HP Envy 27 got a multi-core score of 13,225 on Geekbench 4 MSI BTY-L76 Battery and 3,417 on the 3DMark Fire Strike Benchmark.Since HP's not marketing this as a gaming Computer,these results shouldn't be surprising.

HP on Monday announced new versions of its Envy AIO programs with 27-inch displays.The latest all-in-ones are upgraded across-the-board Samsung NP470R5E Battery together with the newest six-core Coffee Lake CPUs as well as NVIDIA's Pascal GPUs.On the outside,the 2018 Envy AIO 27 retained design in the previous-generation methods along with 4K and QHD IPS display options from its predecessor,but internally it is a brand-new system and platform.The hardware is centered around Intel's six-core Core i7-8700T CPU, accompanied by NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1050 GPU with 4 GB GDDR5 memory.This is a significant upgrade from the quad-core Kaby Lake+Maxwell GPUs used in the previous generation. The new techniques HP 15-f059WM Battery will come with up to 16 GB of DDR4 memory,and an up to 2 TB hard drive.Moving on to I/O.On the wireless side of things,the new units have dual-band 2x2 802.11ac Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth 4.2.When it comes to physical connectors,the system is outfitted with a GbE,four USB 3.0 ports,one Thunderbolt 3 port,HDMI input & output,a TRRS audio connector,an SD card reader and so on.The addition of Thunderbolt 3 port is important as it enables owners to use external graphics and storage subsystems with their AIOs,basically upgrading them and hence prolonging their lifetime.Next up is audio.Just like the existing versions,the new models arrive having a dual-speaker soundbar co-developed with Bang & Olufsen that is controlled by a capacitive touch-sensitive dial located on the base with the computer.As for audio input,the all-in-one Pc has a dual microphone array to ensure proper conference Asus G751JY Battery calls.Speaking of your base,it is noteworthy that the 2018 ENVY 27 has an upgraded wireless charging unit that can charge modern phones faster. HP plans to start selling the new ENVY 27 AIOs this month at prices starting at $1,400 for a QHD model with 8 GB of RAM and a 1 TB HDD.

Verdict

The HP Envy AIO 27 is an ideal desktop laptop for home entertainment.It has a beautiful look,which is complemented by an impressive set of hardware functions Acer Aspire V3-575 Battery and mid-range sound bar packed into solid base.Booting from SSD and loading games from its spinning drive was a breeze,and it's easy to sit in front of bright 27-inch screen and binge shows from Netflix. The system's flaws start to show once the movie credits roll.The Envy may well have fancy looks,but they come at the cost of usability.The densely-packed keyboard,which is nearly dwarfed by the included mouse,makes everyday tasks like web browsing and email a real pain.This could be solved by buying some new peripherals and maybe some extension cords,but that somehow seems wrong after dropping over a grand on a desktop. Additionally,appreciation for the screen's picture quality is diminished by its distracting glare.This is an issue that is certainly compounded by how the keyboard doesn't have backlighting,making it difficult to use in darkened rooms and the fact that you will need to reach around the pc to reach the USB 3.0 ports.Given its hardware specs,performance,and competitive price,the HP Envy AIO 27 makes plenty of sense for anyone considering an all-in-one desktop system.This could be the ideal computer system for cord cutters who want anything in 1 convenient package.The HP Envy is well worth a second or third look.

[bestnewsmag-blog]

New Post has been published on Bestnewsmag

New Post has been published on https://bestnewsmag.com/acer-announces-predator-triton-700-gaming-laptop-core-i7-geforce-gtx-10/

Acer Announces Predator Triton 700 Gaming Laptop: Core i7, GeForce GTX 10

Acer this week announced its new excessive-stop gaming PC,

the Predator Triton seven-hundred. Designed to strike a balance between functions and weight, the laptop functions a quad-middle Intel CPU, a but unspecified NVIDIA GPU, 16 GB of reminiscence, as well as a mechanical keyboard. In the meantime the laptop measures in at simply 18.nine mm thick and weighs around 2.6 kilograms, or roughly approximately the dimensions of a mainstream notebook from a decade in the past.

The Acer Predator Triton 700 comes with a fifteen.6” FHD display and is based on Intel’s middle i5-7300HQ or core i7-7700HQ processor, relying on the specific version. The PC is ready with 16 GB of DDR4-2400, up to two 512 GB SSDs, Rivet Networks Killer DoubleShot Pro community solution (presenting a 2×2 802.11ac c084d04ddacadd4b971ae3d98fecfb2a and a GbE controller), Thunderbolt three connectivity, and other features one could assume from a high quit computer. N terms of overall design, the Predator Triton seven hundred is one in all a number of new thinner-and-lighter excessive-give up gaming laptops to hit the market in latest years. As the popularity of gaming notebooks has persisted in rising, various makers of such Desktops started to diversify their lineups with thinner machines geared toward game enthusiasts, basically splitting this area of interest products to instructions that range from performance and weight/dimensions. With the Predator Triton seven-hundred, Acer is looking to carry the overall performance of a gaming computer to the “thin-class” gaming laptops and offers us a concept what to anticipate from subsequent-gen gaming notebooks in preferred.

A feature of the Predator Triton seven hundred that Acer is specifically happy with – and is a first-rate aspect of allowing the laptop to be as small as it’s far – is its cooling device, which has five heat pipes and two skinny AeroBlade three-D enthusiasts with curved steel blades that create multiplied airflow. A large Corning Gorilla Glass plate that acts like a touchpad covers the cooling machine and the innards of the PC, while the backlit mechanical keyboard is living towards the user, giving the system a totally specific look.

Meanwhile, one of the things that Acer isn’t disclosing are the images processors alternatives available: the handiest element we understand is that the device runs an undisclosed GeForce GTX 10-series processor and that the high-five up configuration scores ~17,000 factors in 3DMark11 (based totally on Acer’s presentation). This type of overall performance level is commonplace for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GPU (while running with the i7-7700HQ), however, this GPU consumes one hundred ten W of electricity, so it is not clear whether a fifteen.6”/18.9mm chassis with blowers offers sufficient cooling capability to save you considerable throttling. Typically, surprisingly skinny gaming notebooks use GeForce GTX 1060 images chips with around 80 W TDP, however, such GPUs hit around 12,000 – 13,000 in 3DMark11 (with the identical CPU). it’s exceedingly probable that Acer can be imparting a GTX 1060 version as a mid-variety configuration anyhow, so the real query is what genuine GPU will cross into the high-five up configuration. NotebookCheck.internet speculates that the Predator Triton seven hundred is ready with a but unannounced version of NVIDIA’s GP104 GPU with a drastically reduced TDP.

Wrapping things up, the Acer Predator Triton seven-hundred gaming computer might be to be had in Europe and North The united states this August. MSRPs will start from €3399 and $2999, relying on configuration, with precise specifications and costs varying from a marketplace to marketplace.

Keep Your Expert Image By using Cleansing Your Pc Display screen

as this ever befell to you:

Do you stroll right into a coffee save or even a conference room for an essential client meeting? You have been searching ahead to the assembly for weeks. Your presentation is absolutely organized. You have the whole thing you need, and the customer appears absolutely excited about speaking to you. The introductions go genuinely nicely and you sit down to begin your presentation, that you’ve prepared on your Pc. With tremendous anticipation, the customer watches you open your Pc, most effective to look smudges everywhere in the Screen. Fingerprints, dust, filth… And is that a touch of coffee from in advance this morning? Immediately your face turns pink as you glance at the consumer. They look a little disgusted at the situation of your computer Screen. This meeting might have long past a good deal otherwise in case you had arrived with a clean Laptop Display screen.

Avoid Gaming Embarrassment With An easy GeForce Laptop Screen

That situation is pretty embarrassing, isn’t it? No person desires to be stuck in that form of state of affairs. Now not handiest are you inflicting a direct distraction to your customer, who was sincerely excited to view your presentation a couple of minutes ago, however you are also smudging your Expert Photograph. The device you operate at your activity ought to be as polished as your agency’s Photograph, especially within the eyes of your clients or customers.

Use Microfiber Display Cleaners For Cleaning Laptop Monitors

Believe this situation unfolding some other ways. What in the case had you a microfiber Cleansing material that you used properly before you left your workplace? While you arrived at the assembly, your Laptop could already be in outstanding circumstance, and you would be geared up to give your presentation. Or, perhaps you wiped clean the Display right before you left, however, there were some dust particles in your Pc bag. When you opened your Laptop, your arms left a few fingerprints on the Screen. However, due to the fact You have got your Display screen Cleanser adhered for your Laptop (along with your enterprise brand on it, of course), Cleansing your Display earlier than you start your presentation is easy. The client could be very inspired along with your attention to an element, as well as together with your Display Cleanser.

Various promo agencies need you to Keep away from the ones embarrassing conditions. It’s crucial to always present your clients with an Expert Photograph. They microfiber tour cloths are great for tucking into your Pc bag to make sure that your Display is usually presentation-geared up. Sticky Cleansing pads are the first-rate accent and without difficulty accessed because they stick right in your Pc. Microfiber is the first-class material for Cleaning your Pc Display screen. They are gentle and made with cut up-ended era, which is designed with a negative electrostatic price. That means they attract the dirt and dust in place of just pushing it around like cotton or other materials.

Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT Video Card Listed As “Unknown Tool” in Home windows XP – Signs and symptoms and Answer

A great example of a hardware Tool that plays a primary function inside the performance of your PC is the video card, along with Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT. however what happens when your Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT video card is diagnosed as an unknown Device in Windows XP? What are the feasible Symptoms and causes of this trouble? And what are the practical steps you need to take to fix this problem? These are the questions that we are able to discuss.

viable Symptoms and reasons

In most cases, having a pictures card diagnosed as an unknown Tool will result in poorer 2d pictures decision and your computer will Not be able to render 3-D pictures. That is common because of an incompatible, old, or missing driving force. in the case of the lacking driver, Home windows XP will install a familiar video driver, which typically would not offer all the capabilities of the particular video driving force.

Every now and then, it may also result in distorted and unrecognizable photos display or Blue Display of Demise (additionally referred to as BSoD). Most customarily, This is due to a corrupt driver.

practical Steps for Solving This hassle

The advocated Answer is to put in the trendy model of Tool drivers, which may be discovered at the vendor’s website. Below are the sensible steps which you want to recall to restore the unknown Device associated hassle of the Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT video card.

1) Be Certain of the Tool Identification:

This is a precautionary degree that you have to think about. You must make certain which you have the suitable model/name of your video card, mainly if there are more than one unknown devices for your computer. if you deploy the wrong drivers, you could become inflicting even greater issues. Comply with These steps to confirm the Identification:

Click on start proper Click My laptop Click Tool Supervisor proper Click on the Unknown Tool Click on Houses Select Details tab Browse to Device Instance Id Be aware of VEN_ and DEV. Nvidia GeForce GT 9500 IDs are VEN_10DE (Vendor Id = 10DE) and DEV_0640 (Tool Id = 0640) 2) affirm the Windows XP OS-kind:

Common Device drivers for Windows XP are compatible with both OS type, either 32-bit or 64-bit OS, but Not for all Device drivers. So, it is endorsed to Take note of this facts to Avoid installing incompatible Tool drivers. Please Comply with Those steps:

Click start Click on Run type msinfo32.Exe Search for System kind: It’s both x86-Based totally Pc (32-bit OS) or x64-Based totally Laptop (sixty four-bit OS) 3) Download Procedures for the Official Seller’s website:

Knowing the model/call of the portraits card will lead you to the Respectable website of its producer or Vendor, the safest region to Download the Tool drivers for any hardware Tool. Here are the stairs to Download its drivers:

inside the higher left side of the homepage, the primary to be had tab is the “Download DRIVERS” tab. Roll over that portion and Choose “Download Drivers” from the furnished drop down list. You will be redirected to the NVIDIA motive force DOWNLOADS web page which gives options:

a) Manually find drivers:

This feature requires filling out a form consisting of five categories. the primary class is the Product type, which is GeForce. The second one is Product Collection that is GeForce nine Series, even as the third class will let you specify the Product which is GeForce 9500 GT. The fourth category will ask in your Working System, so make certain to pick out the driving force for your accurate OS kind, whether it’s miles Windows XP or Home windows XP 64-bit. The final class will permit you to choose your preferred language.

Clicking the quest button will redirect you to a web page with beneficial evaluations for the Tool driving force along with Release Highlights, Supported Merchandise, and further statistics. Finally, you may now Download the Tool driving force in your Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT By clicking the Download button and in a while installation it in your computer.

B) Routinely locate drivers:

This selection will deploy the Nvidia Smart Experiment device on your laptop. After the Test, This option recommends the cutting-edge well-matched Device drivers. in case you aren’t a skilled Pc user, it may be best to apply This feature first to see whether or not it’s going to locate your hardware well.

To recap the vital steps that we mentioned: first, earlier than downloading the driving force for the Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT video card, ensure the Identity of your Device together with (version/call) to prevent incorrect Tool driver Download. 2nd, Take note of the OS-type to Avoid compatibility problems. Lastly, Download only from the Authentic Supplier’s internet site; be very careful at the same time as providing the precise Details inclusive of model and OS-kind; study the to be had descriptions/critiques of the Device motive force. Don’t forget the use of the “Robotically discover drivers” choice first if you are not a skilled Pc person.

[cdrforea]

Fossil Gen 5 Review: The Best Wear OS Can Do Needs To Be Better

New Post has been published on https://bestedevices.com/fossil-gen-5-review-the-best-wear-os-can-do-needs-to-be-better.html

Fossil Gen 5 Review: The Best Wear OS Can Do Needs To Be Better

"Great looks and smooth performance characterize the Fossil Gen 5."

Slim look

Solid construction

Customizable battery modes

Snappy, smooth performance

Day battery

Wear OS needs more app support

Fitness functions must be expanded

Google's Wear OS watches struggle to stand out from others, but some stretch their heads just above the status quo with chic looks and decent performance. This is the case with Fossil Gen 5.

The price of $ 300 is reasonable for a fashionable stainless steel Wear OS watch like this, but as usual, the problems with Wear OS smartwatches revolve around the software experience, which often feels like an afterthought .

Stylish, versatile and well-made stainless steel housing

Most Wear OS watches try to look like traditional watches, and the Fossil Gen 5 is no different. It opts for a more understated, masculine look without looking too brave. It works just as well in a gym as it does with a suit and tie, although you may want to make some adjustments to the dial as the pre-installed options aren't particularly appealing.

We checked out the Carlyle style, the more masculine option. There is also a "Julianna" model that takes a more feminine approach. The differences are purely cosmetic, since both are the same size and have the same properties.

The watch is also 3 ATM waterproof and perfect for swimming but not suitable for diving. The bracelets are interchangeable with 22 mm tapes. However, I'm pretty happy with the standard silicone wristband.

Corey Gaskin / Digital Trends

With Wear OS watches, it is always a guessing game to find out what buttons you have and what they do. The Fossil Gen 5 has three on the right side – the middle one also serves as a rotating crown for scrolling through lists. True to the stylistic roots of Fossil, the standard action for the top button is a shortcut to preset watch faces that you have customized so that you can easily change the look of your watch. Double-clicking this button can also launch Google Pay. The middle button is exactly what you'd expect, a home button that shows your app list when you're already at home.

An app toggle would be perfect here if Wear OS would support it, but I would at least settle for music controls so I don't have to use any of the other buttons. The bottom button is set to Google Fit. However, you can get there just as easily by swiping directly on the screen. Fortunately, both the top and bottom buttons can be configured to launch any app of your choice (although not many are available). However, for inexplicable reasons, you cannot select shortcuts for double printing.

The basics are covered

The basics are covered with regard to initial applications. They have an alarm clock, an agenda, a stopwatch, a weather app, Google Fit and some other required apps. These all work well and perform their functions properly, with the alarm clock being a minor exception.

There was a persistent error that forced you to find the alarm application (or check notifications) to turn off the alarm when it wakes you up. This error occurs when you turn off the display before bed and the alarm does not appear on the screen after the time has elapsed. However, if you leave it on, this error disappears.

Google Fit also does a great job of fitness tracking, which, together with the heart rate sensor and GPS, can log your workout data from every activity with the general exercise option, or specifically with certain activities. You won't get the most comprehensive health suite here, as you won't find the more detailed and varied training tracking options of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, nor the sleep tracking features. For those who don't care about a watch that allows them to more accurately count their repetitions, track certain exercises, and quantify their sleep at any capacity, the Fossil Gen 5 should do the job well.

Corey Gaskin / Digital Trends

Google Assistant is also on board so you can translate languages, set reminders, or ask questions like you could on another smart device. However, it is a bit slow here.

Overall, Google's Wear operating system performs well. With an atypical 1 GB of RAM and the latest Snapdragon Wear 3100, it's the smoothest Wear OS watch I've ever used. I haven't noticed any delays, freezes, or stuttering when I use it. The Fossil Gen 5 always did what I wanted it to do immediately.

I really like the rotating crown for scrolling through lists, although inexplicably it doesn't work on some specific screens. Similar to navigating the operating system, the rotating crown is satisfactory and responds with the right resistance to keep the scroll tactile and accurate. I actually prefer the feeling of the rotating crown of the Apple Watch, which is a little loose and sensitive to my taste.

The Fossil Gen 5 is the first Wear OS device to support connected phone calls to iPhones.

Speaking of Apple, the Fossil Gen 5 is the first Wear OS device to support connected phone calls to iPhones thanks to Fossil's own work. When you take calls on Gen 5, the speaker works so well that you don't have to have the watch in your ear, but you should be fine to hear a call with the watch near your mouth.

The only other problem I have with the core experience is a fairly consistent problem with connectivity. On both my iPhone 11 Pro and my Galaxy Note 10, I frequently noticed that my phone had notifications that my watch never received, only to find that it was disconnected from my phone for an unknown time. Every time this happened, I had to go into Settings, turn Bluetooth back on because it was mysteriously turned off, and wait for it to connect to my phone again. I tested this on another device and had no problem. Therefore, there is probably a defect in my device. However, you should contact Fossil support if you have the same problem.

Wear OS lets good hardware manufacturers down

It's unfortunate, but true: Google's Wear OS is the only viable option for Android-compatible smartwatch manufacturers that aren't Samsung. Wear OS doesn't have much to do with polish or functionality, but where it lags behind are the app experiences on offer. While Samsung Tizen also has problems supporting third-party apps, it is still ahead of Google in this regard and also offers a more comprehensive first-party app experience.

As mentioned earlier, with a Samsung Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch you are much better off if you focus on fitness. This is also the case if you want certain third-party app integrations. Wear OS has apps like Strava, Google Maps, Uber and Spotify. However, if you're looking for an app outside of those apps or Google's app suite, you won't have many options.

Corey Gaskin / Digital Trends

The App Store for Wear OS is pretty sparse and lacks the quality and quantity of the Apple Watch. Even Samsung watches are better with third-party support, but not much.

As much as I like Samsung's watches and Tizen OS, there are certain navigation, aesthetic and functional options that I simply prefer with the Fossil 5 and Wear OS. But with poor health features and poor support for third-party apps, it is difficult to win the Fossil Gen 5 over its non-wear OS competition for much more than its looks.

Lasts about a day

Fossil hasn't added a larger battery, but now offers some battery modes that let you squeeze out a little more juice. Each of them takes advantage of the functionality of running the battery, but in a custom mode, you can choose which you can do without to save a few hours of use.

The day mode, in which your watch remains fully functional, lasts all day, but be sure to put it on the charger before going to bed. Without a sleep tracking feature that forces you to do so, this is a pretty small question.

Price, availability and guarantee

The Fossil Gen 5 costs $ 300 and comes with a two-year warranty for defects.

Our opinion

If Wear OS is your jam, the Fossil Gen 5 is the best thing you can do. It combines versatile looks with a solid stainless steel construction.

Are there alternatives?

For Wear OS you have a few options from designers like Michael Kors, Montblanc, Armani Exchange and others. For about $ 50 less, you can also buy a Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro, though it's a little bulkier and less aesthetic than the Fossil watch.

In addition, you can get the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 for $ 20 less or at the same price, depending on the size of the case you chose. This watch maintains a minimalist look, but has deeper health and activity features, and slightly better support for third-party apps.

And then there's the Apple Watch. One could say that the Fossil Gen 5 looks better, but can hardly keep up in practically any other aspect. You can also purchase a Series 3 for just $ 200 and use the same features, or spend $ 50 more on Series 4 ECG functionality.

How long it will take?

With a generous two-year warranty, water resistance from 3 ATMs, and a solid stainless steel construction, it's quite possible to have this watch for two to three good years before battery life becomes an issue.

Should you buy one?

Yes. It is one of the better looking and most powerful Wear OS watches.

Editor's recommendations