Xbox One X: Is It A Big Deal?

In just a couple months people will be able to pick up what Microsoft is calling, “The World’s most powerful console”. They aren’t lying, it is the most powerful console and hopefully that counts for a lot. Many critics are assuming this console won’t set the world on fire, and won’t even sell as well as the PS4 Pro.

The Xbox One X went up for pre orders during Gamescom and it sold out in just a day. That’s really good news for Microsoft, but the console being sold out doesn’t mean much when consoles like the Wii U sold out when pre orders went live and ended up selling very poorly during it’s lifetime. This is a good start though, and plenty of Xbox fans will pick an X up since it is a giant improvement from the original Xbox One.

Along with Xbox fans, I do believe PS4 players are also going to hop back onto Xbox with the X.  When this generation first begun, Many gamers left Xbox due to the poor decisions they made, and it seemed like they were moving away from a lot of the great things the Xbox 360 provided. Xbox wasn’t all about the games anymore, and it wasn’t the place where gamers wanted to be.  I was very anti-xbox until Phil Spencer became the head of Xbox. Once Phil came around, xbox was starting to look like it’s old self.

Microsoft was pushing out updates to the console that fixed lots of problems. They were making changes and decisions that benefited gamers. Phil did a lot to maintain and win back old Xbox fans, he even got me to finally purchase an Xbox One.

Xbox has backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games and now even with original Xbox games, the most reliable online service, the easiest way to find people to play games with, and one of the best controllers I’ve ever used in my life. However, that wasn’t enough to win people back from the terrible mess up they had during the reveal of the Xbox One and the first year it was available to purchase. Once Xbox fixed most of what was wrong with it, the power of the console became the new tagline for many people. Those who switched from Xbox to Playstation stayed because they were already playing on a console that was more powerful.

 

The Xbox One S was a great improvement from the original Xbox and provided 4K streaming, HDR, and beautiful new form factor. This gave Xbox a much needed boost in sales.

Sony didn’t market the PS4 Pro very great, and The Xbox One X is much more powerful. With the X, you’ll be able to see dramatic differences in games even without a 4K TV.

With all of the great features Xbox has and with the Xbox One X coming out shortly, I do believe Xbox will start to see a major jump in sales. Many critics will be surprised how well the Xbox One X will sell.

 

 

The Galaxy S8 Plus

I’ve only had Samsung’s new handset for a day or so, but it’s awesome. The Galaxy S8 Plus is a big phone with a 6.2 inch display, but it’s only slightly taller than the iPhone 7 Plus. The phone has very thin bezels, the smallest we’ve seen on a premium device. There isn’t any physical home button this time around, but instead there are on screen buttons at the bottom of the screen.

The phone might take some time getting use to for people who aren’t familiar with large phones. The phone is pretty tall, but it’s not as wide as most phones. This makes the phone easier to hold in the hand. The UI is much cleaner than previous Galaxy phones and very enjoyable. I haven’t tested much features out yet, but what I have has been great!

Is this a perfect phone? No of course not, but it is close to it. Not everyone is going to like this phone, but I think a lot of people are going to. I’m sure there will be few people who jump from an iPhone to this new device. Check out Grouvy Today’s review of the Galaxy S8 if you want more information on the device, and check out Phone Unboxing’s unboxing of the Galaxy S8.

Do You NEED A Computer?

We have seen plenty of tablet’s come out over the years that claimed they were  2 in 1 computers. Two in one computers are typically tablets that are also computers. None of these have been as great as dedicated computers, but some have come close. Microsoft’s Surface Pro’s have done a fairly good job, but they cost an arm and a leg if you want the higher end versions.

Not everyone really needs a computer and can get by with just their phone. Things can get a little difficult to do like properly scaling powerpoints, or printing things out from your phone. Thankfully Samsung has an easy solution for this and it’s called Dex. Samsung revealed their new smartphones, the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus a few weeks ago. With these new phones you can convert your phone into a desktop computer by docking it into the Dex. The docking device allows you to charge your phone, and connect it to a monitor via HDMI. This also lets you plug up to 2 devices into it through USB 2.0. Once connected you can use the phone as a computer, but also use it as your phone. You still get your notifications, and can call people. The thing is, you can only use apps that Samsung has for you and not all of them are properly optimized for a desktop version just yet.

So can you survive this world without a computer? Well, sort of. Sure you can get by and only use your phone or maybe a tablet, but you won’t be able to do things that require a  lot of power or be able to do some serious multi tasking. I’m sure eventually we’ll live a world where everything we need lives in one place.

 

Huawei’s Next Big Thing

The Tech company, Huawei has slowly made a name for itself with their android based devices in the last few years. The Chinese company has done very well with pricing their phones at a good price for good quality. I wouldn’t consider them to be budget prices, but not as pricey as an iPhone or a flagship Samsung device. They are getting things ready to release their P10 and P10 Plus devices.

The Huawei P10 has 5.1 inch display that has a 1080p resolution, while the Plus variant comes with a 5.5 inch display and a 1440p resolution. The slightly bigger version is very similar to the 5.1 inch model with the exception of a bigger display, a bigger battery, a f/1.8 summilux lens and the resolution. It seems like a lot of differences, but for the most part you’ll still have roughly the same experience with either device.

Along all these specs, the device also comes sporting a 64-bit octa-core processor, 4gb of ram, and 64gb of storage. Out of the box this sleek device is running Android 7.0 and you can get it a ton of different colors. The P10’s camera is one of the best on the market with a 20mp lens, and a 8mp front facing camera. The Plus variant comes with a whopping 3,750 mAh battery.

Samsung, for some time now has been one of the biggest Android based smartphones, being sold. I have strong feeling that Huawei will give Samsung a run for their money, literally. The P10 looks super promising, and Huawei has managed to cram all of this tech into an extremely slim phone, with it coming in at just 6.98 mm. The only bad thing I can think of about the phone is the fact that it isn’t dust and water resistant like the many phones out in the market are.