Now is a pretty strange and desolate time, where people have been ordered to stay indoors for the foreseeable future to safeguard themselves as well as the society. Regardless of what the memes may suggest, the inherent human urge to socialize has slowly started to get to us, putting video calling services on a pedestal like never before.
While there has never been a shortage of these applications, some have been able to claim a bigger pie of our life. One of the more prominent winners was Houseparty, a face to face social network where all interactions are based around video conferencing. It’s a pretty simple premise - you sign in into the app, connect your contacts or social accounts to find your friends, and initiate group calls to them alongside small games. You can also see which friends are online and available for conversations. This simplicity in what it offers has made it win many hearts over the past few weeks, with the number of downloads growing exponentially, with over 2 million new users each week in March.
When everything was seemingly going great for Houseparty, a sudden series of events caused many users to delete the app out of panic. On March 31, incidents of users (in the form of screenshots) started making rounds on social media, which talked about how Houseparty was a scam, causing people to lose access to their Spotify and Instagram accounts, with some even talking about fraudulent transactions being initiated. Hacks, data breaches, and monetary scams are perhaps the worst kind of allegations any platform wants to face, especially one that has just entered the limelight.
Following the basic damage control protocols, Houseparty took to Twitter to deny all allegations of any breach, stating that the app was as safe as it always has been. Moreover, it even went on to state that this might be a smear campaign (presumably by a competitor), and any person who can shed more light or prove them right will be eligible for a bounty worth a million dollars (~ Rs 7.5 cr). That is unarguably a bold statement, mainly because any evidence didn’t back it. So we decided to take the matter into our own hands and try to verify the happenings.
False allegations?
Firstly, we checked the allegations. They were merely a bunch of screenshots from a few (non-Indian) users, each having a different story but of a similar nature. Thankfully, with the advent of the internet, it wasn’t too difficult to track these “users” down.
First up, we have Twitter user @williamzx7, who reported to have his FIFA account hacked. The screenshot did not mention any evidence of the hacking, just a cropped image of an email from EA (the developer of the game) with a security code; not enough to conclude it has a hacking. The more interesting fact is that the tweet is nowhere to be found on this profile. In fact, the last original tweet (not a retweet) was on March 4.
Next up was another Twitter user @iskagardner, who apparently had a transaction request done from her account. When we checked, her account was live and often-used. We were even able to find the exact tweet (it was cached in our browser), but it seems to have been taken down since. We tried asking her for more details, but she blocked us.
Then, we had @megycassidy, who apparently tweeted that Houseparty is hacking into people’s Spotify, Snapchat, and banking apps. No evidence was attached. Her Twitter profile was locked, and she hasn’t accepted our follow requests in over 24 hours so that we couldn’t verify this one.
A more interesting screenshot was from a Snapchat user @merrie-96, who shared images of similar tweets lashing out at Houseparty on her Stories, along with a caption stating that she had her Instagram hacked along with a £ 900 fraud transaction on her bank account earlier this week. We were able to track her down but couldn’t spot the exact story (Snapchat Stories disappear in 24 hours so that we will give the benefit of the doubt to her).
She was quick to ask us how we found her profile as she suddenly had a surge of follow requests. We explained the situation and disclosed our purpose of getting in touch with her. She admitted to having posted that story and told us that her Instagram was attempted to be hacked 12 times. She ignored our follow up requests for evidence and couldn’t tell us which phone she was using. She termed the situation as “strange” and “too coincidental” and concluded that Houseparty was the culprit by “putting 2 and 2 together.”
The next viral screenshot was from yet another Twitter user @harry-howell, who stated that this Spotify account was hacked. His profile is protected and is yet to accept our follow request, so this claim remains unverified. The same was true for the next person, who tweeted screenshots of other complaints, which were incidentally the same ones that we mentioned above.
Lastly, we had @clairenstewart, who shared images of suspicious login attempts into her Spotify and Microsoft accounts. However, her account did not exist when we checked on March 30, which could either mean that her profile has been taken down, or it never existed.
Thoughtfully targeted
So, at press time, we are unable to verify any of the allegations had that been doing rounds on the internet. We will update this bit if we can establish communications with any of them later. Some other smaller details that we spotted was that all screenshots were taken at the exact same time, one after the other (corroborated by the battery percentage). Not implying anything, but it could mean that the screenshots were intentionally taken one after another and didn't need much searching for.
They also seem to have been shared only in India and only over WhatsApp, which has a history of acting as a fake news and panic mill. Considering that Indian youth form a big part of Houseparty's user base, this doesn't come as a surprise as India also happens to be WhatsApp's biggest market.
But, is Houseparty actually safe to use?
Also, there's another entire technical side to this, about how an app can never access the accounts of other non-related, unlinked apps. By design, neither Android nor iOS allows that. The only permissions Houseparty is consented to include your friend list on Facebook and Snapchat, and your contacts, all of which you need to provide during the setup phase explicitly.
Correlation doesn't necessarily imply causation, as people can have their accounts compromised for a multitude of reasons. The only correlation was that Houseparty was apparently one of the new apps that they'd installed.
We are checking the local device permissions granted to Houseparty (which we recommend you also to check); neither revealed anything suspicious. It was granted permission to access the camera, contacts, microphone, and storage, essential to conducting a video call. It also asks for location data, but that is optional and non-essential to the core functioning of the app, so we denied that. The app’s limited feature set also makes for less possible backdoors for any mishaps.
News18 took that a step further and had cybersecurity experts have a look at the app’s code for any vulnerabilities, but was unable to spot any.
What if the allegations are legit?
One of the possibilities include users using the same password across multiple services, which are easier targets for hackers. Cyber-criminals are known to resort to credential stuffing attacks, were previously acquired password data is tried on other accounts of the same person. But even if that is the case, the onus of that is on the user and not on Houseparty.
Another remote possibility of why the attacks happened if we believe the claims, could be due to other malicious apps or websites recently visited by the complainants. We know for a fact that everyone’s internet usage and consumption has significantly increased in this period. It’s not too far fetched that some of them wandered too far and were thus targeted.
Houseparty as an app was launched in 2016. It clearly isn’t a new app that might have been developed with nether intentions. In fact, Epic Games, which is the developer of Fortnite and other high profile titles, acquired Houseparty last year, adding another layer of credibility to the mix. It’s a simple fact that if a giant like this actually gets proven guilty, its future is in shambles. They ideally wouldn’t take a risk so huge, even if the odds of getting caught were close to zero.
That confidence is also evident in the follow-up announcement from Houseparty, where it will be offering a bounty to anyone who can provide proof that this entire incident is a smear campaign. Houseparty seems confident that it is one, and continues to maintain its stance: “All Houseparty accounts are safe - the service is secure, has never been compromised, and doesn’t collect passwords for other sites.”
In the meanwhile, we are also in touch with the Houseparty team to get further clarifications and assurances from their side. While we wouldn’t go as far as terming them innocent just yet, most of the evidence does seem to point at that. Our independent efforts, too, couldn’t find any users in our circles who had any of their accounts compromised. In case you know someone who did, please reach out to us.
Until then, we don't see a reason to stay away from Houseparty. Just ensure you follow the general best practices to be safe on the internet.
Just three months after capping what was the best year for Indian startups, having raised a record $14.5 billion in 2019, they are beginning to struggle to raise new capital as prominent investors urge them to “prepare for the worst”, cut spending and warn that it could be challenging to secure additional money for the next few months.
In an open letter to startup founders in India, ten global and local private equity and venture capitalist firms including Accel, Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital, and Matrix Partners cautioned that the current changes to the macro environment could make it difficult for a startup to close their next fundraising deal.
The firms, which included Kalaari Capital,SAIF Partners, and Nexus Venture Partners — some of the prominent names in India to back early-stage startups — asked founders to be prepared to not see their startups’ jump in the coming rounds and have a 12-18 month runway with what they raise.
“Assumptions from bull market financings or even from a few weeks ago do not apply. Many investors will move away from thinking about ‘growth at all costs’ to ‘reasonable growth with a path to profitability.’ Adjust your business plan and messaging accordingly,” they added.
Signs are beginning to emerge that investors are losing appetite to invest in the current scenario.
Indian startups participated in 79 deals to raise $496 million in March, down from $2.86 billion that they raised across 104 deals in February and $1.24 billion they raised from 93 deals in January this year, research firm Tracxn told TechCrunch. In March last year, Indian startups had raised $2.1 billion across 153 deals, the firm said.
New Delhi ordered a complete nation-wide lockdown for its 1.3 billion people for three weeks earlier this month in a bid to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
The lockdown, as you can imagine, has severely disrupted businesses of many startups, several founders told TechCrunch.
Vivekananda Hallekere, co-founder and chief executive of mobility firm Bounce, said he is prepared for a 90-day slowdown in the business.
Founder of a Bangalore-based startup, which was in advanced stages to raise more than $100 million, said investors have called off the deal for now. He requested anonymity.
Food delivery firm Zomato, which raised $150 million in January, said it would secure an additional $450 million by the end of the month. Two months later, that money is yet to arrive.
Many startups are already beginning to cut salaries of their employees and let go of some people to survive an environment that aforementioned VC firms have described as “uncharted territory.”
Travel and hotel booking service Ixigo said it had cut the pay of its top management team by 60% and rest of the employees by up to 30%. MakeMyTrip, the giant in this category, also cut salaries of its top management team.
Beauty products and cosmetics retailer Nykaa on Tuesday suspended operations and informed its partners that it would not be able to pay their dues on time.
Investors cautioned startup founders to not take a “wait and watch” approach and assume that there will be a delay in their “receivables,” customers would likely ask for price cuts for services, and contracts would not close at the last minute.
“Through the lockdown most businesses could see revenues going down to almost zero and even post that the recovery curve may be a ‘U’ shaped one vs a ‘V’ shaped one,” they said.
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The best smartphone of 2020: Top smartphones in the UAE, Saudi and Middle East
Our best smartphone list brings you the best phones available right now in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East. If you already have your mobile OS alliance set you'll want to check out either our ranking of the best Android phone or best iPhone.
If what's on offer in our best smartphone list is a little too pricey for your taste, then don't fear, as we've also got a list of the best cheap phones available right now.
With the first quarter of 2020 behind us, we've already seen some impressive phone launches such as the Galaxy S20 series, the Oppo Find X2 Pro and the Huawei P40 series. While some of these phones are still being extensively tested by us, the Galaxy S20 series has found its place in our best phones roundup- though it might not be the one you expected.
We know that it's not all about the high-cost, super spec phones all the time so we've made you a handy list of all the top smartphones that you can get on the market right now, assessing what really matters to you.
We test these phones rigorously, making sure that we check every angle and feature - but most importantly, considering whether they've got a decent battery, great screen, strong design and a cracking camera.
On top of that, they can't be too exorbitant in price either - not everyone wants or can afford a supercar of a handset, so we've made sure there are plenty of options for you there.
So let's get started on our list of the top phones - you can see them quickly below, and then we're set to talk you through the very best phone in the Middle East right now.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 is the best smartphone available right now. That covers both the S20 and the larger Galaxy S20 Plus, as there's very little difference between the two handsets aside from size and a couple of specs.
They take the very best of what's on the smartphone market and put it together in a compelling package that we loved testing.
Screen: Both these devices have phone screens that are a cut above the rest, and each is capable of a 120Hz refresh rate that will allow for far smoother scrolling and gameplay on your phone's screen.
Battery life: The battery life on the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Plus isn't the best we've ever seen on a smartphone, but larger batteries than the S10 series allow these devices to last longer and it'll be enough for your day.
Both devices come with wireless charging, and there's also a Reverse Power Share feature that allows you to top up your friend's phone too.
Camera: Samsung has improved the camera suite on the Galaxy S20 devices compared to the Galaxy S10. It may not look far better on paper, but larger pixels and improved software adds to the flagship experience.
Mini verdict: The S20 and S20 Plus are packed full of the best Samsung has to offer, and it comes together to give you the best smartphone experience around right now. If we had to pick one, we'd go for the bigger screen, larger battery slightly improved rear camera of the Galaxy S20 Plus, but both phones deserve their best phone crown.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 is the best smartphone available right now. That covers both the S20 and the larger Galaxy S20 Plus, as there's very little difference between the two handsets aside from size and a couple of specs.
They take the very best of what's on the smartphone market and put it together in a compelling package that we loved testing.
Screen: Both these devices have phone screens that are a cut above the rest, and each is capable of a 120Hz refresh rate that will allow for far smoother scrolling and gameplay on your phone's screen.
Battery life: The battery life on the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Plus isn't the best we've ever seen on a smartphone, but larger batteries than the S10 series allow these devices to last longer and it'll be enough for your day.
Both devices come with wireless charging, and there's also a Reverse Power Share feature that allows you to top up your friend's phone too.
Camera: Samsung has improved the camera suite on the Galaxy S20 devices compared to the Galaxy S10. It may not look far better on paper, but larger pixels and improved software adds to the flagship experience.
Mini verdict: The S20 and S20 Plus are packed full of the best Samsung has to offer, and it comes together to give you the best smartphone experience around right now. If we had to pick one, we'd go for the bigger screen, larger battery slightly improved rear camera of the Galaxy S20 Plus, but both phones deserve their best phone crown.
There's a new hero for iPhone fans, with the iPhone 11 offering the best mix of features and price. In fact, the iPhone 11 is so good that it has risen close to the top of our best smartphones list and is the iPhone we recommend to anyone.
The specs here aren't as impressive as they are on the iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max, but the trade-off in a lower price for this device makes it a must-have for many Apple fans.
Screen: This isn't the best screen you'll find on an iPhone, but it's still a vibrant display that's large enough to watch video on.
Battery life: The easiest way to describe battery life on the iPhone 11 is good, but not great. You'll get around a day of usage from the iPhone 11, but it's not as good as the Pro Max.
Camera: Expect a similar experience from the camera on the iPhone 11 as on the iPhone XR. If you want the best camera on an iPhone, you'll want the Pro, but it's still an impressive shooter on the rear of the standard 11.
Mini verdict: The iPhone 11 offers some of the best features from Apple in a more affordable package. Many will be happy with what the iPhone 11 can do, but others will want to look toward the high-spec iPhone 11 Pro or Pro Max to get the very best.
The Huawei P30 Pro is so close to being the best smartphone right now, and for some it will take top spot in their minds.
It's the best phone we've used when it comes to photography with 5x and 10x zoom capabilities and fantastic low-light performance.
Screen: The large 6.47-inch screen on the P30 Pro may 'only' have a Full HD+ resolution, but it's bright, clear and colorful providing an excellent canvas for your apps and games.
Battery life: There's no worry when it comes to the P30 Pro potentially running out of juice, the battery life here is excellent. We regularly got to the end of the day with 30% or more left in the tank.
Camera: The cameras are the P30 Pro's real party piece, providing staggeringly good 5x and 10x zoom, and a digital 50x zoom with gets you insanely close to objects far off in the distance. Its low-light capabilities are also top-notch.
Mini Verdict: The P30 Pro not only sets a new standard for Huawei, it sets a new standard for the entire mobile industry. Its cameras are quite simply astonishing, the design is eye-catching and the power plentiful. It’s a true flagship smartphone.
Want something a bit more from your iPhone? You're in luck with the iPhone 11 Pro as it features some improved spec including a more high-end rear camera that can compete with the very best.
It'll cost more than the iPhone 11 did on the page before, but if you're after one of the top iPhones this is the best option with a smaller display than the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
Screen: It's not the largest screen on the market, but it looks great compared to the iPhone 11 and will suit you if you're looking for an iPhone with a smaller display.
Battery life: The battery life is slightly longer than the last few generations of the iPhone, but don't expect anything game changing here when it comes to the length your phone will last for.
Camera: Apple has put most of its focus into the rear cameras on this device, and while the design of the rear of the phone has been controversial these cameras can create some truly stunning photography that competes with the very best camera phones.
Mini verdict: You'll have to spend a bit extra to get the iPhone 11 Pro, but it's well worth it if you want a phone that sports iOS 13 but comes with top-end features.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus is one of the largest phones there is, but this stylus-toting handset is our second favorite phone you can buy right now.
It's expensive, but it features some of the best specs you'll get on a smartphone in 2019.
Screen: The screen on this phone is huge and the Infinity-O cutout means there's little interruption to the display here, allowing for an immersive experience.
Battery life: We found the battery life on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus to easily last the whole day, plus the fast charging tech means you're able to pump it up quickly when you're nearing 0%.
Camera: The camera setup on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus isn't the best on the market, but it's impressive and offers a lot of fun features that you may want to play around with.
Mini Verdict: Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 Plus is a remarkable device, but it's only for those who want a large phone and don't mind spending that bit extra on a device. The S10 Plus will be more suitable for most, but the Note 10 Plus is a great phone too.
The iPhone 11 Pro Max is the biggest phone Apple has created, and it's also the most high-spec'd phone from the company.
It's expensive even by iPhone standards, but it features an all-screen, notch-toting, almost bezel-free design with masses of power under the hood. The big upgrades compared to the iPhone XS Max are the improved cameras and boosted power.
Screen: The 6.5-inch OLED screen on the iPhone 11 Pro Max really grabbed our attention - it's fantastic for video streaming and gaming.
Battery life: This is some of the best battery life we've ever experienced on an iPhone, with further optimizations within iOS and a larger cell inside the phone itself. It's still not game-changing, but it's better than other Apple handsets.
Camera: The triple camera setup on the iPhone 11 Pro Max is fantastic. This is the first time Apple has implemented three rear cameras, and it offers a great experience. Plus, it can be fun to use.
Mini verdict: If your hands are as big as your bank balance, the iPhone 11 Pro Max takes Apple's smartphone to a whole new level with an improved camera and more.
Yeah, that's right - Samsung now offers two versions of its S Pen-toting Note range, and this one comes with a lower spec than the one you've read about earlier in this list.
The Galaxy Note 10 is better for those with smaller hands, thanks to its much smaller display and smaller dimensions, but the battery life suffers a little for that.
Screen: This may be a Samsung Galaxy Note handset, but the display isn't anywhere near as big as you'd expect. It's a 6.3-inch display with an Infinity-O cutout for the selfie camera.
Battery life: The battery is where the Galaxy Note 10 begins to suffer a little as we found it regularly ran out before the end of a full day, but it's enough for average usage.
Camera: The rear camera of the Galaxy Note 10 is similar to all other flagship Samsung phones released in 2019, and it's good but not the best we've seen on a smartphone.
Mini verdict: The Galaxy Note 10 isn't as high-spec as the Galaxy Note 10 Plus, but if you want a stylus on a smaller phone than the gargantuan Plus then you may want to opt for this.
The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom boasts an attractive pop-up selfie camera, cutting-edge chipset and competitive camera lineup, making it one of the best phones available right now.
Odd name aside, there's a lot to like with the Reno 10x Zoom, and if you're looking for something a little different for you next phone this could be just the ticket.
Screen: Thanks to the pop-up selfie camera, there's no notch intruding on the display and with almost zero bezel you're treated to an eye-popping 93.1% screen-to-body ratio. It just looks great.
Battery life: The battery on the Reno 10x Zoom lasts for about a day of medium-to-heavy use, and a day and a half if you use it a little less. That's what we expect from a modern smartphone, so no issues here.
Camera: Despite what its name may suggest, this phone actually offers up a whopping 60x zoom, which gets you alarmingly close to objects far in the distance. It's a digital zoom, so quality degrades a little, but even the 5x optical zoom is impressive.
Mini verdict: The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom is a stylish phone – between its sleek look, asymmetrical pop-up and delicate back colours, it looks great – and, surprisingly for a Chinese smartphone with its own UI, the software is good to look at too.
If you're looking for an affordable flagship phone which doesn't have any major compromises on features or functionality, stop looking and check out the OnePlus 7T.
Screen: One of the highlights of the 7T is its large 90Hz display. It can compete with most top-end handsets and offers great colour accuracy and response.
Battery life: The OnePlus 7T battery provides all-day use from a single charge. It's unlikely to go much further than a day, but it's what we've come to expect these days.
Camera: The OnePlus 7T camera feels like a significant improvement over the OnePlus 7, with some impressive software wizardry on tap to optimize your images.
Mini verdict: The OnePlus 7T is the best 'T' upgrade to any OnePlus phone to date and an attractive proposition for those who find the OnePlus 7T Pro too bulky.
Like the look of the new S10 and S10 Plus, but not a fan of their lofty price tags? Well fear not, as Samsung has catered for you with the Galaxy S10e.
The Galaxy S10e has many of the flagship features of its pricier siblings, while offering a more palm-friendly size and a few compromises to help keep the cost down.
Screen: You don't get a QHD resolution here, instead you'll have to accept a Full HD+ 5.8-inch screen - but the Super AMOLED display provides plenty of colour and pop.
Battery life: We found battery life lasted a day on a single charge - which is what we've come to expect from phones - plus its wireless charging and Wireless PowerShare making topping it up, and you other devices, even easier.
Camera: The dual camera setup on the S10e isn't quite as good as the triple cameras on the S10 and S10 Plus, but they're still highly capable snappers producing quality photos with ease.
Mini verdict: It’s hard not to recommend the S10e to anyone who prefers a smaller phone. Size queens, look elsewhere - this smartphone is for folks who want to text and browse apps one-handed without compromising performance.
You're at the end of our best smartphone guide, but that doesn't mean we can't help you still - if you're stuck on which model is for you, we've got a tool that can compare all the phones together and you can decide which one suits you best based on the cost.
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It’s been three years since Royole, a little known Chinese company, wowed crowds in Las Vegas with its groundbreaking all-in-one virtual rea...
The cheapest active VR headset could be the perfect remote working tool
It’s been three years since Royole, a little known Chinese company, wowed crowds in Las Vegas with its groundbreaking all-in-one virtual reality (VR) headset, the Royole Moon.
The device has some great features that could make it the perfect tool for remote working, and it's currently on clearance sale for just over USD 390 at AliExpress (roughly GBP 315/AUD 640).
Two advanced AMOLED displays combine to produce a gigantic virtual 800-inch curved screen. The Moon displays content in Full HD 1080p resolution, at over 3,000 pixels per inch, with an ultra-high contrast ratio of 10,000:1 and a blisteringly fast image response rate of 60Hz.
The Royale Moon features active noise cancellation, reducing external sound by 92% (or 22dB) and isolating wearers from their surroundings. This means users can wholly immerse themselves in a presentation, working document or video without distraction - although this could be a little daunting for claustrophobic individuals.
The headset supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and HDMI connection from smartphones, game consoles, PCs, laptops and more. It also comes with 2GB of memory and 32GB storage to save your favorite movies, videos, images, and audio directly to the device.
As for the caveats, the headset unfortunately runs on a proprietary fork of Android, as opposed to a stock version. Its battery pack is convenient enough but leans on a microUSB port to charge, and there’s also no microSD slot for additional memory.
Fitness is being promoted everywhere from social media to news articles, and for good reason – exercise promotes healthy habits and is extremely beneficial for your mental health. If you’re wanting to jump on the bandwagon (or have already), you can track all those calories you’ve burnt with the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 and save a cool AU$150 all in one go!
The Galaxy Watch Active 2 is the latest addition to Samsung's Tizen watch range - it’s slimmer, lighter, and arguably more comfortable than its predecessor and includes a rotating digital bezel.
This quality smartwatch features a stunning 1.2-inch 360 x 360 display and is smaller compared to a lot of other smart-wearables out there, making it less clunky and more stylish.
In addition to this, Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 sports top-end fitness features with 39 workout modes, a heart rate and ECG sensor, and a health app with stress and sleep monitoring.
With the discount applied, this is an incredible deal on a top-of-the-line smartwatch that’s sure to keep you on track so you can smash your fitness goals. You can grab the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 in either Black or Rose gold directly from Microsoft until April 19.
While the game is only available on PS4 for the time being, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered will also arrive on PC and Xbox One on April 30.
Predictably, the remaster boasts a number of visual enhancements, such as HDR support and resolutions of up to 4K on consoles, while the PC version will be fully optimized, offering uncapped framerates and ultra-wide monitor support.
"No Russian."
As the name would suggest, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered will only include the single-player portion of the beloved game. Thankfully, that means the inclusion of such classic missions as 'Cliffhanger', 'Takedown', and the highly controversial 'No Russian'.
Of course, multiplayer enthusiasts haven't been left entirely in the cold – those who purchase the game will also receive the Underwater Demo Team Classic Ghost Bundle for immediate use with the current Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game and the free (and standalone) Call of Duty: Warzone battle royale mode.
The bundle includes a new UDT Ghost Operator skin, two weapon blueprints, a weapon charm, new finishing move, voice quip, animated calling card, emblem and two Battle Pass tier skips.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered has been priced at $19.99 (£19.99 / AU$35,95). You can check out the action-packed PS4 trailer below.
Dark Sky for iOS is one of the most popular weather apps available, and Apple has clearly taken notice, because now the tech giant has officially acquired the “hyperlocal” weather app.
Compared with other contenders in the same category, Dark Sky is noted for having more granular detail on the weather at a user’s actual location, offering “down-to-the-minute forecasts” via a pleasing user interface.
News of the acquisition was announced via a blog post from the app developers which also outlined the key changes that the purchase will bring. Most notably among them will be the discontinuation of the Android and Wear OS version of the Dark Sky apps.
“The app will no longer be available for download. Service to existing users and subscribers will continue until July 1, 2020, at which point the app will be shut down. Subscribers who are still active at that time will receive a refund.”
That same July 1, 2020 cutoff applies to weather forecasts, maps and embeds from the Dark Sky website, which will be shut down on that date.
Along with the death of the Android app, Dark Sky’s API (application programming interface) will no longer be available for others to use, meaning that other popular apps like Carrot Weather that rely on the API will have to find an alternative solution, although they’ll be given until the end of 2021 to do so.
For those currently using the iOS app, “there will be no changes at this time”, according to Dark Sky, so you can continue to purchase the app via the iOS app store.
With that said, it’s very possible we could see Apple’s own weather app get a makeover at some point down the line given how well-received Dark Sky’s user interface and hyperlocal capabilities are, so here's hoping.
Update 31/03/20:Limited food delivery slots are becoming available throughout the day at Tesco, Sainsbury's and more, but they're filling up quickly. Supermarkets ask you to visit a store in person, if you can, to help them prioritise food delivery slots for elderly or vulnerable customers. If you need to order food online, keep checking your local online supermarket throughout the day. A number of meal delivery services are still operating too - details below.
Online food delivery services are under strain - but we're starting to see small signs of progress. Following the government's strict advice to stay at home to help combat the spread of coronavirus, there's been a huge surge in people looking to buy food online.
That's meant it hasn't been easy to book an online grocery delivery in recent weeks. But with many online supermarkets starting to release small numbers of slots for elderly or vulnerable customers throughout the day, chances are that if you need one - and keep trying throughout the day - you'll be able to find a slot eventually.
We're assessing the situation daily, and we'll tell you which supermarkets are offering food delivery slots as soon as they open.
While the major supermarkets work around the clock to speed up the supply chain, we've taken a look at how they're dealing with the increased demand. We'll be constantly updating this page, but it looks like it'll be mid-April before new food delivery slots are opened up. You'll find full details below.
Please remember to use all food delivery services responsibly. Only order what you need to preserve stocks for others who might be in need.
Grocery delivery: our process
We signed up to all the major supermarkets below, and created a shopping basket full of popular goods. We then compared five different locations to provide a sense of what stock is available in each area and whether delivery slots are currently offered.
Your situation may differ, but the locations we covered were: London, Leeds, Portsmouth, Manchester and Bath. Here's the latest on which supermarkets are offering online grocery delivery today...
Unless you’re already registered as a Sainsbury’s online customer, Sainsbury’s has paused all new online registrations.
Update 30/03/20): If you have an existing account, food delivery slots are now showing for March 31 and April 1, but some users still can't book a delivery slot as the elderly and more vulnerable are being prioritised first. The amount available will vary depending on your area, put it's a positive sign that Sainsbury's are beginning to cope with the unprecedented demand. The company offers a click & collect service but this is still unavailable.
In a message to customers, Sainsbury's Chief Executive Mike Coupe has provided more insight into how the company is delivering to the elderly or vulnerable: "Many of you have written to me to tell me you are elderly or vulnerable and are struggling to book online delivery slots. We are doing our absolute best to offer online delivery slots to elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers. These customers have priority over all slots."
Sainsbury's revealed that their customer Careline has had "one year's worth of contacts in two weeks".
Mike Coupe went on to add, "I apologise to our regular online customers, who I know are feeling very frustrated at not being able to book slots. Please bear with us and I hope you can understand why we feel the need to prioritise elderly and vulnerable customers at the moment."
How to sign up for an account
Due to the huge increase in online orders, new registrations have been paused for the time being. To sign up for a Sainsbury’s online account, enter your email address and fill in your details on the following page. Once you’ve finished, you can start shopping.
Benefits and perks
You can collect and spend Nectar Points with each online food shop. A Delivery Pass is also available, which can help you save up to £156 per year.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Elderly customers and those deemed as vulnerable will be offered priority delivery slots.
Tesco
Next delivery slot: none currently available (last updated 30/03/20)
Update (30/03/20): While our research showed a couple of Tesco food delivery slots popped up yesterday for March 30 and April 3, we're now not seeing any in the areas we're testing. Nevertheless, we're hopeful that yesterday development offers some evidence that availability is starting to improve.
Tesco CEO Dave Lewis has reached out to customers in a new message this week: "We know that it's difficult right now to get a delivery slot for online shopping. We are at full capacity for the next few weeks and we ask those who are able to safely come to stores to do so, instead of shopping online, so that we can start to free up more slots for the more vulnerable."
Tesco has a decent selection of food items online, but getting hold of them at the moment can be tricky. Most brands are in stock, but eggs, hand soap, pasta, milk and bread are the exception, with some items sold out.
According to Tesco, new slots are offered up at 23:30 each day:
How to sign up for an account
Enter a valid email address and password, and confirm whether you have a Clubcard or not. You’ll receive one automatically upon registering if you don't. Fill in your personal details, including your phone number and UK Postcode. You can then select if you’d like to receive offers and vouchers from Tesco or not.
Benefits and perks
Online shoppers can collect Clubcard points and Tesco has begun price matching Aldi on both its own-brand and branded products. A Delivery Saver pass is also available for regular customers, and comes with the added benefit of priority delivery slots during the busy Christmas and Easter periods.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Customers who shop online are encouraged to shop in-store where possible to help free up delivery slots for the elderly customers and those who are self-isolating.
Due to increased demand, Tesco isn’t accepting any new Delivery Saver customers right now either. A restriction of only three items per customer on every product line is in place, and multi-buy promotions have also been removed.
An 80 items limit is now in place for all online orders.
Asda
Next delivery slot: none currently available (last updated 30/03/20)
Update (30/03/20): Asda will still let you register as new online customer, but online delivery slots are not available up until April 19. Click & Collect slots are also unavailable.
Similar to Ocado, Asda has now implemented a queue system to deal with the high volumes of traffic its website is receiving. There's no estimate as to where you are in the queue, though, or how long you'll have to wait. Items such as pasta, hand soap and toilet roll are also in high demand.
In an email to customers, Asda CEO Roger Burnley has shared some information regarding how the company is working to deliver online shopping: "We're providing our drivers with hand sanitiser and gloves, and making as many online shopping slots available as we can. We're encouraging those that are able to safely shop in person to do so - this allows us to deliver to the highly vunerable."
Roger Burnely went on to add "If you are self-isolating or have additional needs, please advise us in the 'other information' section when placing your order."
How to sign up for an account
Registering is quick and easy with Asda (it says as much on its website), simply enter your email, a password and then enter your delivery postcode and you’re good to go. You can choose whether to receive exclusive offers and the latest info from Asda too if you’d like.
Benefits and perks
Competitively priced and with a Delivery Pass available, Asda online shoppers can save up to £80 and £100 by choosing a 6-month or 12-month pass. Offers are clearly highlighted on the Asda website, so you’re never likely to miss a cracking deal.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Customers are limited to a three item maximum on all food, toiletries and cleaning products when ordering online.
When placing an online delivery order, anyone who is self-isolating is advised to fill in the ‘Other information’ section to advise where their order should be left, i.e. on the doorstep.
Ocado
Next delivery date: none currently available(last updated 30/03/20)
Update (30/03/20): No more slots are available, according to Ocado's website. The company has seemingly ditched its queuing system in favour of a daily update that states whether or not delivery slots are available.
The company is also bringing order cut-off times forward, so customers are encouraged to complete their order in one session to avoid disappointment later. If you visit the Ocado website you’ll be placed in a virtual queue, which can take up to four hours (the brand has paused the app due to high demand).
In an email to existing customers on 25 March, Ocado Retail CEO Melanie Smith has said that "no matter how hard we work, we will not have enough capacity to serve the unprecedented levels of demand".
She went on to say that "new delivery slots will be released every day for the coming week, as and when we have capacity".
Iit's currently unclear whether Ocado are allowing new customers. If you do not have a delivery booked already, Ocado's website notes that there is "limited availability over the next few days".
How to sign up for an account
You can sign up to Ocado using a Facebook and PayPal account, or simply fill in your details such as your email address and postcode to register.Tick the box if you’d like to opt out of Ocado’s offers, vouchers and gifts before you hit ‘Register’.
Benefits and perks
New customers can enjoy three months free delivery with Smart Pass, and Ocado also offers one-hour delivery windows.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Ocado had to temporarily suspend its service due to high demand, but is now its back online. Customers can only book one delivery slot every seven days to free up more slots for other customers.
Some products are limited to one or two per order, and a small number of bulky items have been removed from sale to make more room in each delivery van. The company has shared how stockpiling has affected its service during the coronavirus outbreak.
Anytime Smart Pass members who joined before 2020 will be placed in a temporary priority queue so they can book a delivery slot each week. Ocado will send an email and text message between the hours of 09:00 and 17:00 to give members access to the queue.
Morrisons
Next delivery slot: none currently available(last updated 30/03/20)
The Morrisons website has recovered after being down for a few days, but there are still no delivery slots available at this time. There is also a very small selection of pasta.
How to sign up for an account
To sign up for a Morrisons online account, firstly enter your postcode to check if Morrisons deliver in your area. Once you’re given the all clear, enter your details and a password to register. You can also receive tailored offers, coupons and communications from Morrisons.
Benefits and perks
You can use a Facebook account to sign in, and Morrisons Quick Shop fills your trolley with the top things you might be wanting to buy with a single click. A Delivery Pass is also available with regular choices for those looking to do their weekly shop online.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Orders must be finalised 48 hours before delivery. Morrisons are working on introducing a number of measures to help reduce the amount of substitutes and missing items that some customers are encountering with their online food shops:
Waitrose
Next delivery slot: none currently available (last updated 30/03/20)
Waitrose is still accepting new customer registrations - however, all delivery and click & collect slots are unfortunately unavailable right now. You can still amend or cancel existing orders, though.
Update 30/03/20: Waitrose has updated its website to inform customers its supporting the vulnerable and elderly by giving them priority access to its home delivery and Click & Collect slots.
It doesn't look like many will open up in the near future either, as the brand isn't confirming any new slots at the moment - but that could well just be a lack of communication to the social media team:
How to sign up for an account
Signing up to Waitrose is simple - just fill in your details, such as your address and contact number, then click ‘next’ and you can start shopping straight away.
Benefits and perks
Waitrose has a number of attractive introductory offers, including a £30 saving on your first three online grocery shops. The website also includes hundreds of recipes and lists the ingredients so you can quickly add them to your basket.
Coronavirus measures and policies
The company has paused its online voucher codes along with any offer incentives until further notice. Some products have are restricted for a limited time, with customers only allowed to buy a maximum of two packets of toilet roll and three of any specific grocery item.
Entertainment products are also no longer available to order online for the foreseeable future. Substitutions for online orders cannot be returned to your driver if they have been handled, and drivers will not enter homes.
All online deliveries will be bagged as well to make them easier to collect quickly.
As many of us get used to working from home for the foreseeable future, it's more important than ever to have one of the best home printers in your house. Just like in the office, you need a printer in your household that can handle printing without a snag. After all, your time at home is now just as important as your time at work ever was, especially given the current situation and compulsory work from home periods.
The best home printers need to be more versatile than regular printers since the modern household needs to print out a wide range of documents. You'll often find you need to print out forms and documents in your day to day.
Plus, a home printer that can do an excellent job printing your holiday snaps will save you from shelling out a lot of money. And, unlike big and bulky business printers, these are all-in-one printers that take up a small bit of space.
No matter what size of household and family demands you have, you’ll find the best home printer for you on this list. And, our price comparison tool makes sure you get the best deals on the one you pick as well.
The Brother MFC-J6945DW is a monster printer. It’s incredibly efficient, being able to print for up to a year without having to change its ink cartridge. And, it’s also a feature-rich and intuitive machine perfect for any home or small business office. You can print to it from just about any device wirelessly and, for mobile, you don’t even need a network to do it, thanks to its NFC (near field communication) technology that connects directly to the printer. While interfacing with its 9.3cm colour display, you can even print from and scan to the cloud.
Thanks to its 6-colour individual ink system, the Canon Pixma TS9160 delivers exceptional photo quality results. The Canon also is very flexible with its connection capabilities, allowing for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to print. And you’re not limited to any device. If you want to print from a tablet or smartphone or even from the cloud, the Canon can handle it. The printer also comes with some photo-specific features such as Photo Blue ink as part of the six-colour system and built-in creative filters to add something a little extra to your photos. Lastly, this printer comes in a choice of three different two-tone colour options, giving you some cosmetic choices that you don’t really see with printers.
Whether you’re trying to run a more eco-friendly household or you’re just fed up with having to run out go get ink at the most inconvenient times – in the middle of printing your important documents, for example – you might love the Epson EcoTank ET-7750. It's a multi-function printer that sits at the top of the EcoTank product tree and although price is alarming, it's worth every penny. The five-colour refillable ink tank system is a huge improvement in image quality thanks to the addition of a dedicated photo black pigment ink, and the build quality is streets ahead. This machine can also handle A3/magazine-sized paper and boasts fast duplex print speeds and high-resolution photo printing.
When we tested it, this was the smallest laser printer around and likely to remain so. Being as small and inexpensive as an inkjet, yet with all the speed, economy and consistency of a laser, the LaserJet Pro M15w is in many ways the ideal home printer. It manages to hold one hundred sheets of paper and print on them at the respectable rate of 19ppm. There’s no duplex mode, sadly, and no display, but at this price it’s hard to argue.
This humble all-in-one can scan and copy, but its real strength is in printing photos. Frustratingly, there’s no Ethernet port, nor a USB port for printing from a flash drive and it churns very slowly, but the results are surprisingly good for such an affordable inkjet. The supplied starter cartridges are rather light on ink, but if you replace them with high-capacity carts, then the running cost is competitive too.
Known as Epson's all-rounder, this all-in-one inkjet printer admittedly costs a pretty penny up-front, but delivers low-cost performance in the long run thanks to its high-yield ink tanks and two years worth of ink included – according to Epson, you can get a total of total of 15,000 text pages (or 12,000 color pages) just from the ink that comes supplied in the box, which is exceptionally great value. If you're looking for a great printer for your home office that will go the distance before needing to be topped up again, the Epson WorkForce ET-4750 is a great option.
This stout laser printer takes up relatively little space, given its high capacity for paper and toner. It means you can keep printing quickly and efficiently and with lower running costs than an equivalent inkjet. The display is rather fiddly, but in all other respects, this colour printer is easy to use and can be relied upon for immaculate mono and colour documents time after time.
This big Brother blurs the line between home and office printer by combining the fast print speed and high capacity of a laser machine with the superior photo finish of an inkjet. We would recommend it for both applications because although it is smaller than the laser equivalent MFC-L8690CDW, the inkjet MFC-J6945DW can handle A3 paper. There’s really nothing that this fully featured 4-in-1 can’t do and it carries out all tasks satisfactorily.
If you want all the functionality of a photocopier-style four-in-one, but can’t justify the expense of a premium machine, then the Lexmark MB2236ADWE is likely to fit well in your office. The smaller size is an advantage and the price is attractive. Printing is fast enough and so is the quality provided you stick to dedicated laser paper. It’s a pity there’s no Wi-Fi Direct facility, or an active front USB input, but that aside, you're getting a lot for your money here.
The Brother HL-L2300D specs are impressive for the price: it promises 26ppm print speeds, has 8MB of RAM on board and delivers a maximum resolution of 2,400 x 600 dpi. The paper tray holds 250 sheets, there's a second single-sheet paper feed for labels, envelopes and thicker media, and the printer can print double-sided without any human intervention. Of course, you won't find any bells or whistles here, but honestly, its simplicity is refreshing. With no overly complex Wi-Fi or cloud features to configure, installing the HL-L2300D is as simple as plugging a cable into it, and that means there's no danger that it'll go in a huff when you need to print something important. It's compact, quiet and impressively fast, and it offers a lot of bang for your buck. Double-sided printing is particularly good to have in a printer that costs so little to buy and run.
PS5 (or PlayStation 5) is the next-generation PlayStation, releasing in late 2020. So far, Sony has remained pretty tight-lipped about its next-gen console - to the point that we still don't know what it will look like - but the company recently gave us our first official look behind the curtain during its first PS5 reveal event.
PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny provided us with a deep dive into the PS5's system architecture, revealing the technical inner workings of the PS5.
And while we're still waiting to find out what the console will look like, and which games we'll be playing on it, at least we now know (almost) precisely how the console's innards will work, and how powerful they'll be.
So what else do we know about the PS5 so far? News began trickling out about the console in early 2019, when Mark Cerny, confirmed that the company was working on the successor to the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro. We know the next console will have 4K ray-tracing, a solid state drive and backward compatibility with a huge swath of the PS4's game catalogue.
Want all the juicy details? Here's everything we know about the PS5 so far – and what we hope will be revealed the closer we get to launch.
What is it? The Sony PS5 is the next-gen PlayStation console, replacing the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro.
When will it release? "Holiday 2020" in the US, says Sony, so between October and December 2020.
What can I play on it? Only a few titles have been confirmed, but expect all of Sony's big franchises, as well as in-development exclusives like Ghost of Tsushima.
Will PS5 have VR? Oh yes. The next-gen console will be compatible with current PSVR hardware, and there are also rumors of PSVR 2.
What will the PS5 cost? The PS4 and PS4 Pro were both $399 / £349 at launch, but we expect the PS5 will cost somewhat more. Leaks have suggested around the $499 mark.
Can I play PS4 games on the PS5? The PS5 will definitely be backwards compatible with "almost all" PS4 games - earlier generations are still to be confirmed. It will launch with support for the majority of the top 100 PS4 games, according to Sony's Mark Cerny.
Sony has officially confirmed that the PS5 will release "in time for Holiday 2020" in the US, so likely some time between October and December 2020. A leak has suggested that the release date will be November 20, 2020 but that's yet to be confirmed – but it's in the right window, and it would leave time before Christmas to get those orders in.
This would put the PlayStation 5 in direct competition with Microsoft's Xbox Series X, which is releasing during the same period. Game on.
Sony hasn't officially confirmed a PS5 price yet and, according to the company, that's because it hasn't actually decided how much the next-gen console will cost.
In a quarterly earnings call (via Spiel Times), Sony's chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki revealed the company still hasn't nailed down the PS5 price.
"What is not very clear or visible is because we are competing in the space, so it’s very difficult to discuss anything about the price at this point of time, and depending upon the price level, we may have to determine the promotion that we are going to deploy and how much costs we are prepared to pay," Totoki explained.
“First, we must absolutely control the labour cost, the personnel cost, it must be controlled, and the initial ramp up, how much can we prepare initially, we will work on the production and the sales and we will have to prepare the right volume as we launch this," Totoki continued.
“It’s a balancing act it’s very difficult to say anything concrete at this point of time," Totoki said. But we do know that Sony is aiming for "the best balance so that we will be profitable in the life, during the life of this product."
While Sony may not have a price nailed down, there have been rumors about how much the PS5 could cost. One such rumor has suggested that the console will cost $499 in North America when it launches.
Naturally this should be treated with skepticism, but it would be welcome news if the console did launch at this price, as it's only $100 more than the launch price of the PS4 and PS4 Pro.
However, a report in Bloomberg suggests that the rising costs of DRAM and NAND flash memory parts – crucial for the smooth functioning of the console’s onboard processor, and also in high demand for new smartphone releases – makes balancing the books for the PS5 retail price difficult, and that Sony may even be putting off its pricing decision to figure out what cost to put on consumers.
The report states that manufacturing costs are expected to hit $450 per console unit – around £350 / AU$670. That makes it highly likely the RRP will start above that, not lower than £470, and probably closer to the $499 price tag that the Xbox One (and Xbox One X) first launched with.
Microsoft’s plans for the Xbox Series X are key here, as Sony could well decide to sell the hardware at a slight loss to stay competitive with the other console. The PS4 benefited from a lower cost than the Xbox One, and Sony likely won’t be keen to reverse that for this generation.
We can expect that the console's price will be in line with the technology it uses, but Sony will also have to be aware of its competition. It's unlikely, with the Xbox Series X, that Microsoft will repeat the mistake it made by launching the Xbox One at a prohibitively high price point, so Sony will have to ensure that it doesn't make a similar mistake by making the PS5 too expensive.
When it comes to the PS5 and Xbox Series X, players see 'affordable price' as the most important factor according to a Twitter poll by Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon. Boon asked Twitter users what the most important thing was for them when it comes to next-gen consoles.
The poll received a total of 50,295 responses, with a 37.5% majority of users saying 'affordable price' was the most important factor. 'Plays last-gen games' (AKA backwards compatibility) came second with 30%, 'better graphics' received 19.2% of votes, while 'exclusive games' was the least important with just 13.2% of votes.
It's worth noting that a Twitter poll isn't exactly reflective of the overall player base, especially as it's unlikely younger players will be on the platform. So, while this poll can be useful as a steer, the reality is likely to be a lot more complex. Regardless, we expect price to be a key factor in whether players pick up a PS5 or Xbox Series X - even if it's not the most important.
External storage: USB HDD support (PS4 games only)
Optical drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray drive
Sony finally lifted the hood on the PlayStation 5 during its first official PS5 reveal event, giving us a better idea of the specs the next-gen console will offer. But what do we think?
What's interesting so far is Sony's commitment to custom silicon, with a full focus on raising gaming capabilities to the next level, without alienating developers now comfortable with developing on the PS4. Custom hardware in the PS3 proved to be a difficult element for devs to get their heads around, but the PS5 aims to be as developer-friendly as possible.
The importance of the SSD As has already been explored, the SSD is key to the PlayStation 5 experience. Internal storage will be built in at 825GB for the custom SSD – that's less than you'll find in the Xbox Series X, but with just as clever an implementation of the technology.
SSDs don’t just load faster, but allow for bigger open worlds, theoretically. Developers don’t need to make games with smaller worlds due to the limitations of mechanical hard drives, while SSDs will also allow system memory to be used more effectively.
SSDs have more bandwidth, so data can be loaded from the SSD when it’s needed, rather than heaps of potentially needless data being loaded into RAM. In pure gameplay terms that means that games will suffer less from texture pop-in, while load times will be hugely reduced when using a game's fast-travel option. Booting up from standby should be generally much faster, too.
You'll also have more control over how you install and remove games, meaning you could just install a game's multiplayer mode rather than the full block of data. This will allow for launch of direct gameplay, allowing players to jump straight into aspects of different games (such as match-making, continue save game etc) without having to boot up the full game.
This means you could be able to jump into Overwatch match-making, for example, straight from your home screen and would prevent the need to take steps such as booting up an entire game and selecting particular games modes. It would also make it easier for players to quickly jump between the games they have installed.
As for expandable storage, Sony appears to be allowing for off-the-shelf NVMe PC drives, rather than proprietary storage systems that Xbox will primarily be relying on. However, there aren't many drives on the market right now that use the PCIe 4.0 interface required – they need to be capable of at least a 5.5GB/s transfer speed.
"NVMe PC drives will work in PlayStation 5," said Cerny. "The only problem is that PC technology is significantly behind PS5. It'll take some time for the newer, PCIe 4.0-based drives with the bandwidth required to match Sony's spec to hit the market."
PS4 games on the PS5 will work just fine if saved to a regular HDD, however, so you won't need to tap into that precious SSD space unnecessarily.
A custom processor and GPU – what that means for backwards compatibility We were already aware that Sony will be using AMD's Zen 2 CPU processor tech, with eight cores and 16 threads. The reveal stream, however, also revealed that the PS5 will be delivering 3.5GHz frequencies – so, the PlayStation 5 would be running 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz (at variable frequencies) over the PS4's 8x Jaguar Cores at 1.6GHz. That's a huge jump in performance.
Move over to the GPU, and you're looking at the AMD RDNA 2 GPU, itself customized. It makes use of 36 compute units capped at 2.23GHz. A compute performance peak of 10.28TF was stated.
What's smart is that the combination makes it simple for the PS5 to easily handle PS4 backwards compatibility – through GPU architecture rather than hours of coding. Almost all of the top 100 PS4 games will be fully compatible at launch. PS4 games will be supported natively on the GPU silicon, but here the GPU seems to be emulating PS4 and PS4 Pro graphics chips, which is a strange solution, and not as interesting as Xbox Series X's method, which will also be capable of upscaling previous Xbox generation games and adding HDR to previously HDR-less titles.
Tempest 3D audio tech Perhaps the biggest reveal of the day was the 3D audio support, thanks to the new Tempest Engine. It's an incredibly powerful system: if the PSVR can support "50 pretty decent sound sources," according to Cerny – with the PSVR's distinct audio system being one of the more complex audio systems in gaming at the moment – the PS5's Tempest Engine can support hundreds.
The example Cerny used described it in terms of rainfall. Today, the sound of rain in a game is a single audio track, but the PS5 would theoretically be capable of letting you hear individual raindrops, in relation to where the player character is.
"Where we ended up is a unit with roughly the same SIMD (single instruction, multiple data) power and bandwidth as all eight Jaguar cores in the PS4 combined," said Cerny.
"If we were to use the same algorithms as PSVR, that's enough for something like five thousand sound sources – but of course we want to use more complex algorithms, and we don't need anything like that number of sounds."
Perhaps best of all is the way you'll get to experience this – even a lowly pair of headphones at launch will be able to take advantage of the sense of presence and directionality Sony is promising here, with the company also committing to later support multi-speaker surround systems with the tech.
But this is an ongoing project for Sony. To accurately model surround data positioning, Sony needs to create a Head-related Transfer Function, or HRFT, map. Essentially, that's a distinct algorithm that works best if the system knows the precise shape of your ears.
"Maybe you'll be sending us a photo of your ear, and we'll use a neural network to pick the closest HRTF in our library," Cerny teased. "Maybe you'll be sending us a video of your ears and your head, and we'll make a 3D model of them and synthesize the HRTF. Maybe you'll play an audio game to tune your HRTF, we'll be subtly changing it as you play, and home in on the HRTF that gives you the highest score, meaning that it matches you the best.
"This is a journey we'll all be taking together over the next few years. Ultimately, we're committed to enabling everyone to experience that next level of realism."
There's still no official reveal of what the PS5 will look like. So for now, we're dealing with speculation. We've seen several leaked images of the PS5 dev kit, with each showing the same console design, along with the above render based on one of those images, courtesy of Let's Go Digital).
What does the render above show us? There are a number of buttons: on/standby, reset, eject (for the double-layer 100GB-reading Blu-ray drive), system initialization and network initialization, all on the front-left. There are also a number of status lights, numbered '0' to '7', which likely relate to CPU cores engaged, but which could also be status lights for controllers connected.
To the right are six USB ports (one USB 2.0 and five likely USB 3.0 ports – the final port being obscured by a cable). A small circle above could well be a camera built into the console, according to earlier patent filings.
Interestingly, rubber feet appear to be on the top side of the console, suggesting that devs are being encouraged to either flip the console for stress testing and convenience, or to stack them when working on demanding games.
However, these images should only really be used to speculate on what the final design of the consumer console will be, rather than considering it wholly indicative on the machine to come. If we look at older PlayStation dev kits, the final product rarely resembles the dev kit.
Dev kits are specially designed to be robust, and to support a console working under extreme load so as to allow the developers to push their creations to the maximum without frying the hardware they're working on. They're also designed to help developers find any flaws in the final PS5 consumer hardware design.
With Sony still several months away from the launch of the PlayStation 5, there's plenty of time for its team to create something a little less alien-looking.
While we may not know exactly what the PS5 will look like, Sony did reveal the PS5's official logo at CES 2020. It's essentially just the PlayStation 4 logo with a '5' replacing the '4'.
But Sony PlayStation president, Jim Ryan, did tease during Sony's CES keynote that “there’s plenty to share about the PS5 in the months ahead. And we look forward to sharing more details, including the content that will showcase the platform and the future of gaming”.
We're expecting Sony to host another PS5 reveal around June or July to reveal the console's price and design - similarly to how it did with the PS4.
The PS5 will come with a new controller, according to Sony. The PS5 controller (we don't know the official name yet, though DualShock 5 is a good guess) will include haptic feedback to replace the DualShock 4's rumble technology, designed to improve the controller's feedback and therefore player immersion.
The PS5 controller will also feature adaptive triggers, which Sony says have "been incorporated into the trigger buttons (L2/R2)". These adaptive triggers will allow developers to program the resistance of the triggers to simulate actions more accurately.
In an interview with Business Insider Japan (translated by Gematsu), SIE CEO Jim Ryan said: “3D audio and the haptic feedback support of the controller are also things that, when you try them, you will be surprised at how big a change they are. Even just playing the racing game Gran Turismo Sport with a PlayStation 5 controller is a completely different experience. While it runs well with the previous controller, there is no going back after you experience the detailed road surface via haptic control and play using the adaptive triggers."
The majority of the PS4 library, including PSVR games, will be supported by the PS5; that much is known. But we're now hearing more about confirmed – and rumored – PS5 games.
But what about third-party titles? We've had confirmation that Gearbox's new IP Godfall is coming exclusively to PS5, as is a title from Bluepoint Studios that's rumored to be a Demon's Souls remake. We will also see a remake of THQ Nordic's cult classic Gothic, Gollum, WRC 9, Dying Light 2 and Outriders land on PS5. In addition, Ubisoft has confirmed that Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Gods and Monsters are all coming to Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 - with a new Assassin's Creed and Far Cry also rumored to be coming to the platforms. We also know Rainbow Six Siege will be available on PS5 and Xbox Series X from launch.
In addition, not only has EA has said that Battlefield 6 will be coming to Xbox Series X and PS5, but the company has sung the praises of the incoming next-generation machines during an investor call.
"The power of the new consoles is gonna be substantially greater than existing consoles," said EA CFO Blake Jorgensen.
"We can do a lot more [with PS5 and Xbox Series X]. Things we’re doing will blow people’s minds."
While this is a good start, we're expecting plenty more third-party games to be announced in the coming months.
According to a survey by GDC, when it comes to developer interest it seems the PS5 is already beating Xbox Series X – and the Nintendo Switch.
That's according to GDC's State of the Game Industry 2020 survey, which surveyed 4,000 game developers on a variety of industry topics ahead of GDC 2020 in March. And, of course, the next-gen consoles were top of the agenda.
When asked which platform they planned to launch their next project on, 23% of those surveyed said the PlayStation 5, while 17% said the Xbox Series X and 19% said the Nintendo Switch .
When it comes to the platform devs are most intrigued by, the PS5 once again leads the pack when it comes to consoles, with 38%, but the Switch only just behind on 37%. Again, the Xbox Series X is seriously lagging behind, piquing the interest of just 25% of devs.
The survey also revealed that 10% of developers are currently working on a game for the next-gen consoles.
However, while we know of a few third-party games in the pipeline for the PS5, there's still no confirmation on what the PS5's launch titles will be, but we're expecting first-party games to take the lead.
In addition, Sony has confirmed that the PS5 will prioritize AAA games over indie games in an effort to focus on "serious gamers".
PS5 games: all the games confirmed and expected on the PlayStation 5
Rumors have cropped up suggesting that Sony will double down by launching the PlayStation 5 Pro at the same time as its base-model PS5.
Spotted by Wccftech, noted Japanese games journalist Zenji Nishikawa made the claim in a video on his YouTube channel, and while that kind of thing wouldn't normally be considered a rock-solid lead, Nishikawa has been proven correct in the past with his predictions about the PS4 Pro and Switch Lite.
According to Nishikawa, the PS5 Pro will cost around $100-$150 more than the basic PS5 console. The report states that Sony is taking this approach because it has "acknowledged the interest in a high-end model and wants to give players what they want right from the beginning of the generation".
NeoGaf user FXVeteran (via TweakTown) has since added fuel to the fire by claiming Sony plans to release two PlayStation 5 models at the same time: a PS5 Pro and a PS5, with the PS5 Pro being "top of the line" to compete with the Xbox Series X's potential iteratively more powerful versions.
While a PlayStation 5 Pro is likely on the cards, we don't think it'll release at the same time as the regular PS5. In our opinion, it's more likely that Sony will wait around three years (2023) before giving the console an upgrade - usually this happens mid-cycle and the PS5 lifecycle is estimated to be around six to seven years.
Tired of future-gazing? Why not check out the best PS4 games right now.
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