Supergiant Games’ excellent roguelike Hades, which was one of the best games of 2020, is coming to Xbox and PlayStation consoles on August 13th. It will be available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, PS4, and PS5. And if you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, you’ll have access to the game on August 13th as well.
Supergiant is also offering physical editions of the game in partnership with Private Division. The Xbox physical edition will work on both Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles, and there will be separate physical versions for PS4 and PS5. But if you pick up the physical or digital PS4 version of the game, you’ll be entitled to a free upgrade to the PS5 version.
The PS5 version of the game will also take advantage of some of the DualSense controller’s special features such as haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, Supergiant Games creative director Greg Kasavin said on the PlayStation blog.
As for performance, “the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of Hades run at 1080p at a target 60 frames per second,” Supergiant Games said on its blog. “The Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 versions run at 4K at a target 60 frames per second.” The Xbox and PlayStation versions of the game won’t support the PC cross-save feature that the Nintendo Switch version has, however.
Team Xbox will take to the stage alongside Bethesda to showcase a 90-minute presentation of games for E3 2021. It’ll last 90 minutes, and it’ll apparently show off games coming to Xbox this holiday season, games that’ll soon be coming to Xbox Game Pass, plus some other announcements. Microsoft is calling the event its “biggest moment of 2021 so far,” so Xbox fans shouldn’t miss this one.
Here’s how you can watch it:
When does the Xbox and Bethesda game showcase begin?
It’ll start at 1PM ET / 10AM PT on Sunday, June 13th.
How can I watch the Xbox event?
You can watch it at Xbox’s Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter pages. It’s available in other ways around the world, too. Microsoft says it’ll be available “simultaneously on channels across the globe, including Bilibili in China, Jeuxvideo in France, and VK in Russia, OTT platforms including Samsung TV+, Xumo, PlutoTV and Vizio, and regional Xbox pages on Facebook and elsewhere.”
The show will be broadcast in 1080p at 60 frames per second, but Microsoft says that videos in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second will be uploaded to the Xbox YouTube channel following the stream.
Novak Djokovic can win his second French Open title tomorrow – if he can beat talented Greek pro Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Men’s Singles Final at the Roland-Garros. Both players have aced their way to the finale, but who will win the legendary Grand Slam? UK fans can watch the 2021 French Open Men’s Final free on ITV Hub on Sunday! Make sure you know to watch a Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live stream for free from anywhere.
Played at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris annually, the French Open attracts the world’s top tennis players. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal found themselves in the same half of the draw but Federer withdrew at the quarter-final stage to protect his recovering knee injury, leaving the path clear for a Nadal–Djokovic semi-final.
World number three Nadal – the most successful player ever to have competed at the French Open – took a marathon first set but Djokovic levelled the match with the second, took the third set 7-6 and then cruised to victory in the fourth set. Nadal’s dream of 21st major title are now on hold.
Djokovic’s opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipas, faced a tough challenge it the semis. The Greek pro took the first two sets before 24-year-old German Alexander Zverev took the next two to level the match. But, in the end, it was Tsitsipas’ experience that won out as some 5000 Parisian fans cheered a masterful display (not to mention a few baseline zingers).
Djokovic has looked at home throughout this year’s Roland-Garros but can he fully recover from Friday night’s epic semi-final win over Nadal? Or will Tsitsipas win his first ever Grand Slam title? New balls please!
Here’s how to watch a Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live stream for free, and catch the clay court action from anywhere in the world.
Watch Djokovic vs Tsitsipas free in the UK and Ireland
ITV has the rights to air the 2021 French Open in its entirety on ITV4. Provided you have a TV licence, it’s completely free to watch Djokovic vs Tsitsipas and can be accessed by any viewer located in the UK.
Away from UK during the tennis? Simply use a VPN to access ITV Hub from anywhere, without being blocked. We recommend ExpressVPN as it comes with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee.
Djokovic vs Tsitsipas will also be shown live on Eurosport which you can watch in both HD (channel 521 and 522) and in 4K HDR on Virgin Media (channel 205 and 999).
Not a Eurosport subscriber? You can watch the 2021 French Open finals for £6.99 per month on Eurosport Player, or grab an annual pass for £39.99. Top tip: subscribe through Amazon Prime Video and get a free 7-day trial.
F1 live stream: how to watch the Formula 1 from anywhere
Watch Djokovic vs Tsitsipas free from anywhere in the world using a VPN
Even if you have subscribed to the relevant Djokovic vs Tsitsipas rights holders, you won’t be able to use them when outside your own country. The service will know your location based on your IP address, and will automatically block your access.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps you get around this obstacle. A VPN creates a private connection between your device and the internet, such that the servers and services you’re accessing aren’t aware of what you’re doing. All the information passing back and forth is entirely encrypted.
There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. As a rule, we’d suggest a paid-for service such as ExpressVPN which offers a 100 per cent risk-free money back guarantee. If you’re not happy with the service any time within the first 30-days, then you can cancel with no penalties at all.
French Open 2021 Try ExpressVPN risk-free for 30 days ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money back guarantee with its VPN service. You can use it to watch on your mobile, tablet, laptop, TV, games console and more. There’s 24/7 customer support and three months free when you sign-up. Try it – it’s easier than you think.
Watch a Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live stream in the USA
NBC is broadcasting full live coverage of the 2021 French Open, including the Men’s Final between Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas. You’ll need a cable subscription to NBC Sports, which will also allow you to stream the tennis live, via the NBC Sports app.
Don’t have cable? You can get a Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live stream on Peacock TV, NBC’s streaming service. Peacock costs just $4.99 a month and includes thousands of movies, TV shows, kids content and other live sport.
Going to be away from the States during the tennis? Simply use a VPN to access Peacock TV from anywhere in the world, without being blocked. We recommend ExpressVPN as it comes with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee.
Another option for is to watch NBC via a cable-replacement service such as Fubo TV. New subscribers get a 1-week free trial, cancel anytime. After that it’s $65 a month. So, not cheap, but Fubo does get you a ton of premium channels, from ESPN to A&E.
Lastly, US fans also have the option to subscribe to Tennis Channel Plus for $110 per year. This gets you Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live stream plus comprehensive coverage of over 100 ATP & WTA events.
Watch a free Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live stream in Australia
Channel 9’s Wide World of Sport is the place to see the 2021 French Open Men’s Singles Final live and free-to-air. Aussies can also get a Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live stream via the 9now website.
Watch a Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live stream in Europe
Eurosport holds the rights to broadcast the 2021 French Open Men’s Final in continental Europe.
You can get a Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live stream by purchasing a monthly or annual subscription to Eurosport Player here.
In France, you can see Djokovic vs Tsitsipas live on free-to-air channel France TV Sport. The same goes for Servus TV and ORF in Austria.
French Open 2021 schedule
May 30th – June 1st: Round 1
June 2nd – 3rd: Round 2
June 4th – 5th: Round 3
June 6th – 7th: Round 4
June 8th -9th: Quarter-Finals
June 10th -11th: Semi-Finals
June 12th: Women’s Singles Final
June 13th: Men’s Singles Final: Djokovic vs Tsitsipas
See Roland-Garros website for latest order of play
(Pocket-lint) – Arlo has a wide range of cameras, but is mostly known for its battery-powered outdoor cameras.
The Arlo Essential Indoor Camera, however, is a wired camera designed to sit indoors, sitting in the same sort of position as the ageing Arlo Q.
Design
Dimensions: 52 x 49 x 113.19mm
Privacy Shield shutter
Wired design
With no battery, the design of the Arlo Essential Indoor Camera is different to most of the rest of the Arlo range, because it’s not as deep, although the “face” of the camera is very much the same size as the rest of the family.
Rather than having a magnetic mount like other Arlo models, it sits on a stand with a ball mount, so you just have to take it out of the box, connect it to the power – and that’s just about it. If you want to wall-mount it, there’s a plate you can attach to the wall that the stand will clip into.
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As a wired unit, there’s a power supply in the box with 2m cable, although this is a USB cable so you could potentially power this device without that plug if you have built-in USB ports in your sockets or elsewhere.
One criticism is that the cable is rather stiff, so once you’ve placed your camera, you’ll need to make sure the cable doesn’t then move the camera out of position. It could so with a softer cable cover that’s more malleable.
The big thing that stands the Arlo Essential Indoor Camera aside from some other cameras is the Privacy Shield. This is a physical plate that covers the lens, so when the camera is off, there’s a 100 per cent guarantee that it’s not watching you.
Just glancing at the front of the camera will show whether the white Privacy Shield is open or closed, adding extra peace of mind for those who feel uncomfortable having a lens pointing at them.
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If you’re one of those people who will connect the camera to Alexa or Google Assistant, you’ll know as soon as someone asks to view the camera, because the Privacy Shield will have to open, which you can see and hear.
There’s also an LED on the front, with the colour showing the status of the camera: blue means everything is fine, amber shows that there’s a connection problem. You can turn the LED off in the app if you want.
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Connectivity and setup
Wi-Fi (2.4GHz only) or SmartHub connection
Needs the Arlo app
The Essential name in this device lets you know that it will connect directly to your Wi-Fi. As per the Arlo Q previously, this is a device that works perfectly well as a standalone camera, so if you’ve never used an Arlo device before that doesn’t matter. You can also add this camera to an existing Arlo system, of course, and if you have an Arlo hub then you can connect directly to the hub too. The choice is yours, providing some flexibility.
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You will need the Arlo app on your phone, however, but once you start the setup process you’ll be guided through everything to get it working. The app controls the whole experience: you’ll be able to control what the Indoor Camera captures and when, giving you a full range of controls.
Unlike other cameras this Arlo’s Privacy Shield will be closed when it’s not in use and for added protection, you’ll only be prompted to unlock with biometrics when you want to make the camera live from the app to provide a live view.
Outside of this, the Arlo Essential Indoor Camera can be added to existing Arlo modes. If you have an existing system, you can have the Indoor Camera go live when you turn the other cameras on – and that can be manually, on a schedule, based on geolocation from your phone, or from any other condition, with a wide range of options in the app.
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The important thing to note about Arlo’s cameras is that they don’t capture all the time. They need to be “turned on” via a capture mode, after which they will then start recording once triggered either by motion or sound.
Video and audio capture and performance
2MP sensor, 1080p (Full HD) video
Motion and audio detection
Infrared (IR) night vision
Two-way audio
The Arlo Essential Indoor Camera has a Full HD camera on the front with a 130 degree field of view from the lens. It offers digital zoom up to 12x and had infrared illumination to provide night vision. Unlike some of Arlo’s other models, there’s no LED illuminator on this model.
There’s two-way audio, meaning you can capture audio or hear live audio, while also being able to reply via a small speaker on the rear of the camera. There’s no siren on this model either.
Detection can be triggered by motion or sound depending on the placement of the camera. In some conditions, sound might cause too many false alerts, but you can change the sensitivity or remove sound if you feel it’s not helpful.
Captured video is of good quality, with accurate colours during daylight and enough detail in low-light conditions from the IR illuminator to see what’s going on. The lack of resolution shouldn’t be a concern: typically indoor cameras only need a shorter range, while higher resolution on outdoor cameras is mostly about providing great detail when zooming.
The wide-angle lens also captures plenty in its field of view, so you can place it in the corner of the room and know that you’ll get good full coverage. You can crop the capture area to exclude the edges of the frame, for example, so you’re not just recording areas of wall that are irrelevant.
Arlo Smart and additional options
AI detection
Rich notifications
Alexa, Google Assistant integration
Arlo has started pushing its Arlo Smart subscription plan, providing additional features via that route. That means you buy the camera and then potentially face additional costs for additional features in the future.
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Arlo Smart unlocks 30 days of cloud storage. That will mean that everything is in the cloud and accessible for a month, so you can look through video and download whatever you need. This has the advantage over local storage in that you can access it from anywhere – although if you connect it to an Arlo SmartHub during setup, you’ll also have the option of storing video to a local microSD card in that Hub.
Without an Arlo Smart plan you’ll get notifications of anything that’s detected and you’ll be able to live stream, but you won’t get any cloud storage, so that’s a good argument for Arlo Smart. There is a three month trial included with the camera, so you can test out the features before deciding if it’s for you.
Beyond that, there are some clever artificial intelligence (AI) features that Arlo Smart unlocks. You can get alerts for specific things, such as vehicle detection, animal detection, package detection, people detection. While most of these don’t apply to an indoor camera, it means you can turn off animal detection, for example, if you don’t want a notification every time your dog walks past the camera.
Perhaps more useful is rich notifications. This doesn’t just send you an image of what triggered the camera, but you’ll get a little motion image, so you can see the movement. This can make it much easier to see exactly what’s happening and decide whether you need to take action or not.
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For example, we’ve had our indoor camera triggered by a spider spinning a web across the front of the lens. That’s not something we need to take action about and the rich notification shows exactly what’s happening, so there’s no need to open and unlock the app for a better look.
Arlo can be connected to Alexa or Google Assistant and that will mean you can talk to your device, for example an Echo Show, and view your camera via that device. Interestingly, this bypasses any of the security of the app, so in theory anyone in your house can ask to view your camera at any time.
As we said above, having the Privacy Shield is again a benefit here: if someone else in your house views the camera, you’ll see the Privacy Shield open, so you’ll know straight away.
Verdict
There’s plenty of appeal in the Arlo Essential Indoor Camera. It works as a standalone device for those who just want some degree of indoor coverage, although it costs quite a bit more than something like the Ring Indoor Cam – which might do much the same basic job.
But there are additional features that add appeal to the Arlo camera. The Privacy Shield is a great option for those who don’t like staring down the barrel of the lens all the time, or worry that they might be being watched.
Arlo Smart adds a range of advanced features, which while not as useful indoors as they are outdoors, does boost the experience for those who subscribe – and adding this camera into an existing Arlo system is likely to be a popular option.
Also consider
Ring Indoor Cam
Ring’s Indoor Cam offers similar specs and will do much the same job, but you’ll need a Ring Protect subscription to get the most out of this camera.
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Nest Cam IQ Indoor
This camera has comparable intelligence to the Arlo camera, but offers a 4K sensor so will capture high quality video.
(Image credit: The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games)
NBCUniversal will air live coverage of the Tokyo Olympics in 4K HDR, a first for a US broadcaster. The NBC Olympics coverage will also be accompanied by Dolby Atmos surround sound.
Events that will be featured in 4K HDR during the rearranged Tokyo ‘2020’ games include track and field, swimming, diving, tennis, beach volleyball, golf, gymnastics and more.
NBCU has yet to announce the schedule, but with the Olympics said to be “100% happening” and the opening ceremony expected to get underway at 12pm BST on Friday 23rd July, the clock is very much ticking.
Accessing high-quality coverage of the world’s best sprinters and swimmers might not be as easy as it sounds, though. NBCUniversal notes that while it will distribute 4K HDR coverage to its partners (i.e. cable and satellite TV networks), it will be up to those partners to decide whether to broadcast the coverage in 4K HDR or step down to a lower quality.
Not a cable subscriber anyway? NBC has confirmed it will stream live coverage of “selected” Olympic events though its Peacock streaming platform, but hasn’t yet said whether any of those streams will be in the 4K HDR format. The Peacock app is available on a long list of devices that now includes most Samsung smart TVs.
Still, with Japan’s borders closed to foreigners, and lingering uncertainty as to the level of athlete participation this year, NBCUniversal’s 4K HDR Atmos coverage could prove to be the best seat in house.
The BBC has the rights to broadcast the Olympics in the UK and has the capability to stream in 4K and HDR via the iPlayer app. Whether it will offer both for live events is yet to be confirmed, and the broadcaster has never offered Dolby Atmos before. There’s a first time for everything, though.
In need of a smarter set for Tokyo 2020? Here’s our guide to the best TVs and the best media streamers on the market. Live in Europe? BBC iPlayer and Eurosport 4K are expected to broadcast coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 4K HDR.
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Our pick of the best streaming services for TV and movies
Soon the Xbox experience will come baked right into your TV. That’s thanks to an Xbox TV app that Microsoft is launching that will bring games directly to your big screen with no console required.
Don’t have a smart TV? No problem. Microsoft has streaming devices in the works, too, which will bring Xbox gaming to any set with an HDMI port.
Microsoft made the announcement ahead of the E3 games conference, which kicks off tomorrow.
“We’re working with global TV manufacturers to embed the Game Pass experience directly into internet-connected TVs so all you’ll need to play is a controller,” the blog post reads.
There’s no word on when the app will launch, nor which TV makers will offer it. There’s also no mention of which games will be available, although the suggestion appears to be that it will tied into Microsoft’s Game Pass Ultimate service, which gives subscribers unlimited access to over 100 top-tier games (including all first-party Microsoft titles) for £10.99 ($14.99, AU$15.95) a month.
The spec of your TV will likely matter a bit, too, but the speed of your internet connection will likely be a bigger factor. Both the Xbox Series X and S are powerhouse consoles, so with no dedicated games machine in the equation, all that processing grunt will have to be handled somewhere.
“We’re also developing standalone streaming devices that you can plug into a TV or monitor, so if you have a strong internet connection, you can stream your Xbox experience,” the post goes on. These could be a streaming stick or dongle along the lines of the Google Chromecast with Google TV and Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, or it could be a bigger, Apple TV 4K-sized device.
The Vergedescribes it specifically as an xCloud streaming stick, but this appears to be an assumption on their part as Microsoft hasn’t confirmed this in the announcement.
Microsoft is also opening up cloud gaming to more devices by enabling it through the Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Apple Safari web browsers. According to Microsoft, “players will be a click away from gaming on almost any device.” Again, there’s no word on hardware or internet requirements.
Xbox’s Phil Spencer has previously hinted at these developments, saying in November that he would expect the TV app to land within a year. So it could be a Christmas treat for anyone still unable to lay their hands on a new Xbox.
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EA released a free next-gen update for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on Friday, and the announcement comes with good news for people who own a physical copy of the game but have a discless next-gen console: EA will let you convert your physical copy to a digital one so you can take advantage of the upgrade, the company says in an FAQ.
If you want to upgrade your disc version to digital, click this link to EA’s support website. If you click on the Digital Edition PS5 or Xbox Series S icons, then “Codes and promotions,” then “Replace disc with code,” then “Select Contact Option,” you’ll be taken to a form to fill out to request your digital code. The form says an EA support representative will email you within 72 hours after you fill it out.
Jedi: Fallen Order’s next-gen update adds 4K / HDR resolution, improved 60fps performance, and “significantly faster” loading speeds, according to EA. It also adds a performance mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X that runs at a 1440p resolution and 60fps — when turned off, the game runs at a 4K resolution at 30fps. Those options might be disappointing for players who were hoping for a way to play in 4K and 60fps on next-gen consoles. And Xbox Series S players won’t be able to pick from either mode; the Series S version of the game will be capped at 1080p / 60fps, EA says.
You’ll also be able to transfer your saves, and if you do that, unlocked trophies and achievements will carry over, too.
(Pocket-lint) – OnePlus added the Nord CE 5G to its more affordable Nord range of smartphones, joining the OnePlus Nord, OnePlus Nord N10 and OnePlus Nord N100.
Sitting just below the OnePlus Nord in terms of specifications, rather than replacing it, here is how the OnePlus Nord CE 5G compares to the Nord to help you work out which is right for you.
Design
Nord: 158.3 x 73.3 x 8.2mm, 184g
Nord CE 5G: 159.2 x 73.5 x 7.9mm, 170g
The OnePlus Nord and Nord CE 5G look similar on first glance, especially from the rear. Both have a pill-shaped rear camera housing in the top left corner, and both come with a flat display.
Dive a little deeper and there are some standout differences between the two models though. The original Nord has a plastic frame, but offers a glass rear. It also has an alert slider like other OnePlus devices, though it doesn’t have a headphone jack.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G meanwhile, features a plastic frame, as well as a plastic rear and though it offers a headphone jack, it misses off the alert slider.
In terms of physical size and weight, the OnePlus Nord CE 5G is slimmer and lighter than the Nord, but fractionally taller and wider. Both come in three colour options with the Nord available in Blue Marble, Gray Oynx and Gray Ash, while the Nord CE 5G comes in Blue Void, Charcoal Ink and Silver Ray. Neither has an official IP rating.
Display
Nord: 6.44-inch, 2400 x 1080 (408ppi), 90Hz
Nord CE 5G: 6.43-inch, 2400 x 1080 (410ppi), 90Hz
The OnePlus Nord and Nord CE 5G have very similar specifications when it comes to their displays too. The Nord has a 6.44-inch screen with a 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, offering a pixel density of 408ppi.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G meanwhile, has a 6.43-inch display, also with a 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution that puts its pixel density at a slightly higher 410ppi because of the 0.1-inch reduction in size. That difference is not something you would notice though.
Both devices have a 90Hz refresh rate, both come with an AMOLED screen and both have a 20:9 aspect ratio. They also both have a P3 colour gamut.
Nord CE 5G: Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G, 6/8/12GB RAM, 128/256GB storage, 4500mAh
The OnePlus Nord runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G platform, supported by either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage. It’s not available in the US though, with the Nord N10 model placed there instead.
There’s a 4115mAh battery under the hood and it supports 30T Warp Charge fast charge but there is no wireless charging.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G 5G platform, supported by 6GB, 8GB or 12GB or RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage. You’re looking at a very similar loadout here really, with the Nord CE 5G taking a slight dip in processing power but this isn’t likely to be something you’d notice in everyday use.
The Nord CE 5G has a larger battery capacity than the Nord at 4500mAh, and it supports 30T Plus Warp Charge fast charging, but again, there is no wireless charging.
Cameras
Nord: Quad rear (48MP main + 8MP ultra wide + 5MP depth + 2MP macro), dual front (32MP main + 8MP ultra wide)
Nord CE 5G: Triple rear (64MP main + 8MP ultra wide + 2MP mono), single front (16MP)
The OnePlus Nord has a quad camera on the rear made up of a 48-megapixel main camera with 0.8µm pixels and a f/1.6 aperture, a 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens with f/2.25 aperture, a 5-megapixel depth lens with f/2.4 aperture and a 2-megapixel macro lens with f/2.4 aperture.
There’s a dual front camera with a 32-megapixel main camera offering a f/2.45 aperture, and an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera with f/2.45 aperture.
The OnePlus Nord CE meanwhile, has a triple rear camera with a 64-megapixel main camera with 0.7µm pixels and a f/1.79 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens with f/2.25 aperture and a 2-megapixel mono-lens lens with f/2.4 aperture.
The front camera is a single lens with a 16-megapixel sensor, offering an f/2.45 aperture.
In terms of video capabilities, both the Nord and Nord CE 5G support 4K video recording at 30fps and 1080p video at 30fps and 60fps. They also both support super slow motion video, but the Nord CE 5G offers 1080p at 120fps and 720 at 240fps, while the Nord has 1080p at 240fps.
The Nord CE 5G’s front camera is also only capable of 1080p video, while the Nord offers 4K video from its front camera.
Conclusion
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G and Nord offer similar designs, but the Nord CE 5G has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a plastic body, while the Nord has an alert slider and a glass rear. The Nord CE is also slimmer and lighter.
Both have very similar displays and they both offer similar hardware loadouts, though the Nord has a more powerful processor on board and an extra camera on the front and rear, while the Nord CE 5G has a larger battery capacity.
Overall, the two handsets are pretty much on par, with both tipping the scales in their own areas. The Nord CE 5G is fractionally cheaper than the Nord, but there isn’t a huge amount in it so the decision will likely come down to which features you are more bothered about.
Sharp has announced its new 4K TV range just in time for the Euro 2020 kick off, and there are some seriously affordable big-screen options. Both the DL and DN ranges come with very slim bezels, the Android TV operating system, HDR tech and sound by Harman Kardon.
HDR10 and HLG formats of HDR come as standard, and the DN series TVs also have Dolby Vision on board. The DN sets also feature Sharp’s Active Motion 600 technology, which sharpens up movement and reduces distortions, and 12-bit HDR colour coding to improve the smoothness of shading and reduce banding and colour disruptions common to standard non-HDR sources. The 65-inch model has a slim, full-aluminium body enhanced with a high brightness LCD/LED panel producing 400 nits output.
And there’s plenty of audio tech to get your teeth into (or ears into, rather). As well as integrated speaker systems from sonic specialists Harman Kardon, there’s Dolby Atmos tech onboard (though only on the DN models) to give 3D audio. The DN range also benefits from DTS Virtual:X post-processing tech, apparently improving clarity and ensuring better-quality high frequencies. Again, the 65-inch model gets a little extra – in this case, a 15W Harman Kardon sub to go with the 10W stereo speakers, making a 2.1 system.
The usual apps are present and correct, including Netflix, Prime Video, Spotify, Deezer and Tidal. Google Chromecast tech lets you stream content from your mobile device or laptop to the big screen, and of course Google Assistant lets you control it just by speaking.
Unusually, the 50-inch models have more HDMI inputs than their 65-inch siblings (four compared to three). Go figure.
The entry-level 50-inch 50DL3KA costs £530, and the 50DN3KA (with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision) is £550. Stepping up in size, the 65-inch 65DL3KA is £730, and the 65DN3KA is £750.
They will all be available “this summer”. So probably not in time for Euro 2020 after all. Ho hum. if you need a set for then, why not check out our list of best TVs?
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(Pocket-lint) – Whether you agree with the polarising design or not, Apple’s AirPods became an overnight phenomenon back in 2017. Since then those in-ear wireless buds have gone on to become the number one sellers in the world – and you only have to head to any city street to see how many people are wearing a pair.
Following the launch of a tweaked second-gen AirPods earlier in 2019, Apple has deemed the headphone popular enough to expand the range with the AirPods Pro. But this isn’t just about offering tweaks; no, it’s a completely redesigned experience, adding active noise-cancellation (ANC) and more.
But with so many in-ear headphone choices on the market, do the AirPods Pro offer a decent package or are you better off going with Bose, Sony, or a myriad of other options? We’ve be wearing them since launch.
A pro design
Each bud: Measures 30.9 x 21.8 x 24mm maximum / Weighs 5.4g
Wireless charging case included (45.2 x 60.6 21.7mm / 45.6g)
There are two elements to the AirPods Pro that you need to worry about: in the ear and in the pocket.
The carry case, which doubles as the charging case, is shorter in height but wider in design than the one you’ll find with the original AirPods. It’s still very much just as pocketable, in fact one of the most pocketable in-ear headphones cases on the market, and comes in a gloss white finish. It’s also included as standard.
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The AirPods Pro headphones slot into the case and instantly drawn in by magnets and start charging immediately. Charging can be done via a Lightning cable or by putting the case on a wireless charging pad, even the newer MagSafe charging pucks.
The Pro design is considerably different to the AirPods. The most noticeable difference is the inclusion of silicone tips to improve the fit or ‘seal’, while the thin rod that hangs out of your ear isn’t especially long. This short length will certainly appeal to those who thought the originals’ design just looked odd.
Finding your fit
Three silicone tip sizes; small, medium, large
Vent system for pressure equalization
Ear Tip Fit test via iOS 13.2
Uses Apple H1 chip
Connecting the AirPods Pro for the first time is incredibly simple. You simply open the case near your iPhone (running iOS 13.2) and press ‘connect’ on the screen. It’s as simple as that thanks to the use of Apple H1 chip – as also found in the AirPods and Beats Powerbeats Pro.
Unlike AirPods, the Pro requires a secondary step, which involves running an Ear Tip Fit Test. Using both the internal and external microphones within the headphones, iOS 13.2 analyses the sound and tweaks its profile to sound better for you.
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The process, which involves playing some music, takes about five seconds. It’s during this time that it will determine whether you’ve got a good fit, and if not recommend you change the silicone tip to another size – there is a small, medium, and large options included. For us the medium worked perfectly and we were up and running with a minute.
The silicone tips feel a little tight in the ear – more so than the standard AirPods, but not that they’re uncomfortable – so Apple has included air vents to try and reduce potential pressure and isolation build up. It calls this a “vent system for pressure equalization”, and in all the time we’ve been wearing them they’ve been fine. It doesn’t hurt wearing them for a long period of time, and if you have concerns over whether or not they would be as easy to put in and out as the standard AirPods, they aren’t.
Active Noise Cancelling (ANC)
Internal and external microphones actively listen for noise changes
Adaptive EQ and Transparency Mode
One of the main features of the AirPod Pro is ANC, or active noise-cancelling technology. This uses the in-built microphones to check the ambient noise around you over 200 times a second and react accordingly, dumbing down external sound. This is the same process as other noise-cancelling headphones, designed to negate wind tear and other real-time sounds around you as best as possible.
You can also dial-down the feature if you want to hear more around you – a feature called Transparency – which allows you to hear people talking, given the frequency cut-off. This is all controlled via a squeeze of the AirPods Pro, via your iPhone volume control settings, or using the Apple Watch.
We’ve used them on the London Underground, the train, by the sea side, cutting the grass, and on a plane, and in all cases the Pro earbuds cut out the majority of the noise. Classical music fans will no doubt love the Pros, as will those that want to really immerse themselves in the music.
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Switching between the two modes with that squeeze will take a little getting used to, as there’s a specific indented area where you need to squeeze. Precision is key; as is speed: do it too quickly and you’ll stop the track. It’s yet another new control mechanism that you’ve got to learn. Overtime it has become second nature.
Another interesting side effect is wearing the AirPods Pro while talking. Because of the microphones both internally and externally that are trying to cancel the noise, your own voice is amplified when in Transparency mode. The best way to describe it is akin to speaking into a microphone while wearing headphones to hear yourself. You don’t get that experience when you’re on a call with ANC on, although the silence is somewhat alien if you’re used to hearing lots of noise around you all the time when on a call, and if the environment you are in is loud, we’ve found your voice is cancelled out, according to the person at the other end. Our advice is not to use ANC when talking to people on the phone.
Music sounds better with you
5 hours battery life / 4.5 hours with ANC enabled
Custom high dynamic range amplifier
Custom high-excursion Apple driver
We’ve tested the new AirPods Pro with a range of music, from dance tracks from Ministry of Sound, to the Interstellar soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, and everything inbetween from Pink Floyd to Billie Eilish.
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What is clear is that the AirPods Pro are considerably better than the standard AirPods and certainly hold their own compared to the competition.
The originals focus of the AirPods was on ease of use rather than amazing sound quality, whereas the AirPods Pro address that latter point espeically when you factor in support for Apple’s Spatial Audio technology that’s now rolled out on Apple Music and is available on both the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max and will be coming to more apps and services later this year with iOS 15.
Following the launch we’ve been listening to a number of tracks in Spatial Audio. Some tracks are clearly enhanced by the new experience, while others are barely noticeable. When you do notice it though, the results are amazing. The best way we can describe it, is that It’s a bit like 4K on your TV. Some can see the changes instantly and refuse to watch anything else, while others will be more than happy with the HD footage and wonder what the fuss is about. Apple has big plans for Spatial Audio bringing it to everything from FaceTime calls to games. All that’s left is to see whether the industry embraces it and then runs with it. That’s where things will really start to get interesting.
The Spatial Audio feature also works with movies and that really sings when connected to an iPad or iPhone, especially when it’s been recorded in Dolby Atmos.
But you don’t need Spatial Audio to enjoy the AirPods Pros. They work perfect well in standard stereo whether that’s listening to music, watching a movie or TV show, or taking a voice call. Sure, the Pro doesn’t come as bass-focused as the PowerBeats Pro, for example, but still certainly delivers a decent sound for what they are. For many they will be more than good enough for commuting, especially once you factor in the ANC performance and when available Spatial Audio.
Best USB-C headphones for Android phones 2021
By Dan Grabham
·
Verdict
We are incredibly impressed with the ease of setup and quality of sound that the AirPods Pro deliver. Active noise-cancellation makes a huge difference to ambient noise, making these in-ears far more capable than the originals, and Spatial Audio enhances the music experience to the “next level”.
The Pro is more comfortable to wear and better sounding than we were expecting from Apple, too, given the previous AirPods experience.
But with Beats offering the Powerbeats Pro for a smidgen less cash, the AirPods Pro isn’t the only H1 chip-touting in-ear wireless headphones in town. They will be better if you want to be more “active” or are worried that the AirPods Pro will fall out – they shouldn’t but we also know that some people’s ears just aren’t suited to this type of headphone.
And falling out, or should we say taking out, is one of the big advantages here. Popping them in and out of our ears for the last two years has been easy, and if you make a lot of calls, that’s almost worth it on its own.
The ease of use and great sound, make this a great buy.
This article was originally published on 29 October 2019 and has been updated to reflect its full review status
Also consider
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Beats Powerbeats Pro
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Like the sound of active noise-cancellation but want more bass and bigger sound? That’s where Beats comes into play, if you’re willing to pay the extra for the improved quality.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti continues the Ampere architecture rollout, which powers the GPUs behind many of the best graphics cards. Last week Nvidia launched the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, a card that we felt increased the price too much relative to the next step down. RTX 3070 Ti should do better, both by virtue of only costing $599 (in theory), and also because there’s up to a 33% difference between the existing GeForce RTX 3070 and GeForce RTX 3080. That’s a $100 increase in price relative to the existing 3070, but both the 3070 and 3080 will continue to be sold, in “limited hash rate” versions, for the time being. We’ll be adding the RTX 3070 Ti to our GPU benchmarks hierarchy shortly, if you want to see how all the GPUs rank in terms of performance.
The basic idea behind the RTX 3070 Ti is simple enough. Nvidia takes the GA104 GPU that powers the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti, only this time it’s the full 48 SM variant of the chip, and pairs it with GDDR6X. While Nvidia could have tried doing this last year, both the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 were already struggling to get enough GDDR6X memory, and delaying by nine months allowed Nvidia to build up enough inventory of both the GPU and memory for this launch. Nvidia has also implemented its Ethereum hashrate limiter, basically cutting mining performance in half on crypto coins that use the Ethash / Dagger-Hashimoto algorithm.
Will it be enough to avoid having the cards immediately sell out at launch? Let me think about that, no. Not a chance. In fact, miners are probably still trying to buy the limited RTX 3080 Ti, 3080, 3070, 3060 Ti, and 3060 cards. Maybe they hope the limiter will be cracked or accidentally unlocked again. Maybe they made too much money off of the jump in crypto prices during the past six months. Or maybe they’re just optimistic about where crypto is going in the future. The good news, depending on your perspective, is that mining profitability has dropped significantly during the past month, which means cards like the RTX 3090 are now making under $7 per day after power costs, and the RTX 3080 has dropped down to just over $5 per day.
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti: Not Great for Mining but Still Profitable
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Even if the RTX 3070 Ti didn’t have a limited hashrate, it would only net about $4.25 a day. With the limiter in place, Ravencoin (KAWPOW) and Conflux (Octopus) are the most profitable crypto coins right now, and both of those hashing algorithms still appear to run at full speed. Profitability should be a bit higher with tuning, but right now, we’d estimate making only $3.50 or so per day. That’s still enough for the cards to ‘break even’ in about six months, but again, profitability has dropped and may continue to drop.
The gamers among us will certainly hope so, but even without crypto coin mining, demand for GPUs continues to greatly exceed supply. By launching the RTX 3070 Ti, with its binned GA104 chips and GDDR6X memory, Nvidia continues to steadily increase the number of GPUs it’s selling. Nvidia is also producing more Turing GPUs right now, mostly for the CMP line of miner cards, and at some point, supply should catch up. Will that happen before the next-gen GPUs arrive? Probably, but only because the next-gen GPUs are likely to be pushed back thanks to the same shortages facing current-gen chips.
Okay, enough of the background information. Let’s take a look at the specifications for the RTX 3070 Ti, along with related Nvidia GPUs like the 3080, 3070, and the previous-gen RTX 2070 Super:
GPU Specifications
Graphics Card
RTX 3080
RTX 3070 Ti
RTX 3070
RTX 2070 Super
Architecture
GA102
GA104
GA104
TU104
Process Technology
Samsung 8N
Samsung 8N
Samsung 8N
TSMC 12FFN
Transistors (Billion)
28.3
17.4
17.4
13.6
Die size (mm^2)
628.4
392.5
392.5
545
SMs / CUs
68
48
46
40
GPU Cores
8704
6144
5888
2560
Tensor Cores
272
192
184
320
RT Cores
68
48
46
40
Base Clock (MHz)
1440
1575
1500
1605
Boost Clock (MHz)
1710
1765
1725
1770
VRAM Speed (Gbps)
19
19
14
14
VRAM (GB)
10
8
8
8
VRAM Bus Width
320
256
256
256
ROPs
96
96
96
64
TMUs
272
192
184
160
TFLOPS FP32 (Boost)
29.8
21.7
20.3
9.1
TFLOPS FP16 (Tensor)
119 (238)
87 (174)
81 (163)
72
RT TFLOPS
58.1
42.4
39.7
27.3
Bandwidth (GBps)
760
608
448
448
TDP (watts)
320
290
220
215
Launch Date
Sep 2020
Jun 2021
Oct 2020
Jul 2019
Launch Price
$699
$599
$499
$499
The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti provides just a bit more theoretical computational performance than the 3070, thanks to the addition of two more SMs. It also has slightly higher clocks, giving it 7% more TFLOPS — and it still has 27% fewer TFLOPS than the 3080. More important by far is that the 3070 Ti goes from 14Gbps of GDDR6 and 448 GB/s of bandwidth to 19Gbps GDDR6X and 608 GB/s of bandwidth, a 36% improvement. In general, we expect performance to land between the 3080 and 3070, but closer to the 3070.
Besides performance specs, it’s also important to look at power. It’s a bit shocking to see that the 3070 Ti has a 70W higher TDP than the 3070, and we’d assume nearly all of that goes into the GDDR6X memory. Some of it also allows for slightly higher clocks, but generally, that’s a significant increase in TDP just for a change in VRAM.
There’s still the question of whether 8GB of memory is enough. These days, we’d say it’s sufficient for any game you want to play, but there are definitely instances where you’ll run into memory capacity issues. Not surprisingly, many of those come in games promoted by AMD, it’s almost like AMD has convinced developers to target 12GB or 16GB of VRAM at maximum quality settings. But a few judicious tweaks to settings (like dropping texture quality a notch) will generally suffice.
The difficulty is that there’s no good way to get more memory other than simply doing it. The 256-bit interface means Nvidia can do 8GB or 16GB — nothing in between. And with the 3080 and 3080 Ti offering 10GB and 12GB, respectively, there was basically no chance Nvidia would equip a lesser GPU with more GDDR6X memory. (Yeah, I know, but the RTX 3060 12GB remains a bit of an anomaly in that department.)
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Design: A Blend of the 3070 and 3080
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Unlike the RTX 3080 Ti, Nvidia actually made some changes to the RTX 3070 Ti’s design. Basically, the 3070 Ti has a flow-through cooling fan at the ‘back’ of the card, similar to the 3080 and 3090 Founders Edition cards. In comparison, the 3070 just used two fans on the same side of the card. This also required some tweaks to the PCB layout, so the 3070 Ti doesn’t use the exact same boards as the 3070 and 3060 Ti. It’s not clear exactly how much the design tweak helps with cooling, but considering the 290W vs. 220W TDP, presumably Nvidia did plenty of testing before settling on the final product.
Overall, whether the change significantly improves the cooling or not, we think it does improve the look of the card. The RTX 3070 and 3060 Ti Founders Editions looked a bit bland, as they lacked even a large logo indicating the product name. The 3080 and above (FE models) include RGB lighting, though, which the 3070 Ti and below lack. Third party cards can, of course, do whatever they want with the GPU, and we assume many of them will provide beefier cooling and RGB lighting, along with factory overclocks.
One question we had going into this review was how well the card would cool the GDDR6X memory. The various Founders Edition cards with GDDR6X memory can all hit 110 degrees Celsius on the memory with various crypto mining algorithms, at which point the fans kick into high gear and the GPU throttles. Gaming tends to be less demanding, but we still saw 102C-104C on the 3080 Ti. The 3070 Ti doesn’t have that problem. Even with mining algorithms, the memory peaked at 100C, and temperatures in games were generally 8C–12C cooler. That’s the benefit of only having to cool 8GB of GDDR6X instead of 10GB, 12GB, or 24GB.
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti: Standard Gaming Performance
TOM’S HARDWARE GPU TEST PC
Our test setup remains unchanged from previous reviews, and like the 3080 Ti, we’ll be doing additional testing with ray tracing and DLSS — using the same tests as our AMD vs. Nvidia: Ray Tracing Showdown. We’re using the test equipment shown above, which consists of a Core i9-9900K, 32GB DDR4-3600 memory, 2TB M.2 SSD, and the various GPUs being tested — all of which are reference models here, except for the RTX 3060 (an EVGA model running reference clocks).
That gives us two sets of results. First is the traditional rendering performance, using thirteen games, at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K with ultra/maximum quality settings. Then we have ten more games with RT (and sometimes DLSS, where applicable). We’ll start with 4K, since this is a top-tier GPU more likely to be used at that resolution, plus it’s where the card does best relative to the other GPUs — CPU bottlenecks are almost completely eliminated at 4K, but more prevalent at 1080p. If you want to check 1080p/1440p/4K medium performance, we’ll have those results in our best graphics cards and GPU benchmarks articles — though only for nine of the games.
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The RTX 3070 Ti does best as a 1440p gaming solution, which remains the sweet spot in terms of image quality and performance requirements. Overall performance ended up 9% faster than the RTX 3070 and 13% slower than the RTX 3080, so the added memory bandwidth only goes so far toward removing bottlenecks. However, a few games benefit more, like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Dirt 5, Horizon Zero Dawn, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Strange Brigade — all of which show double-digit percentage improvements relative to the 3070.
Some of the games are also clearly hitting other bottlenecks, like the GPU cores. Borderlands 3, The Division 2, Far Cry 5, FFXIV, Metro Exodus, and Red Dead Redemption 2 all show performance gains closer to the theoretical 7% difference in compute that we get from core counts and clock speeds. Meanwhile, Watch Dogs Legions ends up showing the smallest change in performance, improving just 3% compared to the RTX 3070.
The RTX 3070 Ti makes for a decent showing here, but we’re still looking at an MSRP increase of 20% for a slightly less than 10% increase in performance. Compared to AMD’s RX 6000 cards, the 3070 Ti easily beats the RX 6700 XT, but it comes in 6% behind the RX 6800 — which, of course, means it trails the RX 6800 XT as well.
On the one hand, AMD’s GPUs tend to sell at higher prices, even when you see them in places like the Newegg Shuffle. At the same time, RTX 30-series hardware on eBay remains extremely expensive, with the 3070 selling for around $1,300, compared to around $1,400 for the RX 6800. Considering the RTX 3070 Ti is faster than the RTX 3070, it remains to be seen where street pricing lands. Of course, the reduced hashrates for Ethereum mining on the 3070 Ti may also play a role.
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Next up is 1080p testing. Lowering the resolution tends to make games more CPU limited, and that’s exactly what we see. The 3070 Ti was 7% faster than the 3070 this time and 11% slower than the 3080. It was also 7% faster than the 6700 XT and 6% slower than the 6800. While you can still easily play games at 1080p on the RTX 3070 Ti, the same is true of most of the other GPUs on our charts.
We won’t belabor the point, other than to note that our current test suite is slightly more tilted in favor of AMD GPUs (six AMD-promoted games compared to four Nvidia-promoted games, with three ‘agnostic’ games). We’ll make up for that when we hit the ray tracing benchmarks in a moment.
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Not surprisingly, while 4K ultra gaming gave the RTX 3070 Ti its biggest lead over the RTX 3070 (11%), it also got its biggest loss (17%) against the 3080. 4K also narrowed the gap between the 3070 Ti and the RX 6800, as AMD’s Infinity Cache starts to hit its limits at 4K.
Technically, the RTX 3070 Ti can still play all of the test games at 4K, just not always at more than 60 fps. Nearly half of the games we tested came in below that mark, with Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion being the two lowest scores — and they’re still in the mid-40s. The RTX 3070 was already basically tied with the previous generation RTX 2080 Ti, which means the RTX 3070 Ti is now clearly faster than the previous-gen halo card, at half the price.
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti: Ray Tracing and DLSS Gaming Performance
So far, we’ve focused on gaming performance using traditional rasterization graphics. We’ve also excluded using Nvidia’s DLSS technology in order to provide an apples-to-apples comparison. Now we’ll focus on ray tracing performance, with DLSS 2.0 enabled where applicable. We’re only using DLSS in Quality mode (2x upscaling) in the six games where it is supported. We’ll have to wait for AMD’s FSR to see if it can provide a reasonable alternative to DLSS 2.0 in the coming months, though Nvidia clearly has a lengthy head start. Note that these are the same tests we used in our recent AMD vs. Nvidia Ray Tracing Battle.
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Nvidia’s RTX 3070 Ti does far better — at least against the AMD competition — in ray tracing games. It’s not a complete sweep, as the RX 6800 still leads in Godfall, but the 3070 Ti ties or wins in every other game. In fact, the 3070 Ti basically ties the RX 6800 XT in our ray tracing test suite, and that’s before we enable DLSS 2.0.
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Even 1080p DXR generally ends up being GPU limited, so the rankings don’t change much from above. DLSS doesn’t help quite as much at 1080p, but otherwise, the 3070 Ti ends up right around 25% faster than the RX 6800 — the same as at 1440p. We’ve mentioned before that Fortnite is probably the best ‘neutral’ look at advanced ray tracing techniques, and the 3070 Ti is about 5–7% faster there. Turn on DLSS Quality and it’s basically double the framerate of the RX 6800.
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti: Power, Clocks, and Temperatures
We’ve got our Powenetics equipment working again, so we’ve added the 3080 Ti to these charts. Unfortunately, there was another slight snafu: We couldn’t get proper fan speeds this round. It’s always one thing or another, I guess. Anyway, we use Metro Exodus running at 1440p ultra (without RT or DLSS) and FurMark running at 1600×900 in stress test mode for our power testing. Each test runs for about 10 minutes, and we log the result to generate the charts. For the bar charts, we only average data where the GPU load is above 90% (to avoid skewing things in Metro when the benchmark restarts).
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Nvidia gives the RTX 3070 Ti a 290W TDP, and it mostly makes use of that power. It averaged about 282W for our Metro testing, but that’s partly due to the lull in GPU activity between benchmark iterations. FurMark showed 291W of power use, right in line with expectations.
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Core clocks were interesting, as the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti actually ended up with slightly lower clocks than the RTX 3070 in FurMark and Metro. On the other hand, both cards easily exceeded the official boost clocks by about 100 MHz. Custom third-party cards will likely hit higher clocks and performance, though also higher power consumption.
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While we don’t have fan data (or noise data — sorry, I’m still trying to get unpacked from the move), the RTX 3070 Ti did end up hitting the highest temperatures of any of the GPUs in both Metro and FurMark. As we’ve noted before, however, none of the cards are running “too hot,” and we’re more concerned with memory temperatures. The 3070 Ti thankfully didn’t get above 100C on GDDR6X junction temperatures when testing, and even that value occured while testing crypto coin mining.
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti: Good but With Diminishing Returns
We have to wonder what things would have been like for the RTX 3070 Ti without the double whammy of the Covid pandemic and the cryptocurrency boom. If you look at the RTX 20-series, Nvidia started at higher prices ($599 for the RTX 2070 FE) and then dropped things $100 with the ‘Super’ updates a year later. Ampere has gone the opposite route: Initial prices were excellent, at least on paper, and every one of the cards sold out immediately. That’s still happening today, and the result is a price increase — along with improved performance — for the 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti.
Thankfully, the jump in pricing on the 3070 Ti relative to the 3070 isn’t too arduous. $100 more for the switch to GDDR6X is almost palatable. Except, while the 3070 offers about 90% of the 3070 Ti performance for 80% of the price and represents an arguably better buy, the real problem is the RTX 3080. It’s about 12–20% faster across our 13 game test suite and only costs $100 more (a 17% price increase).
Well, in theory anyway. Nobody is really selling RTX 3080 for $700, and they haven’t done so since it launched. The 3080 often costs over $1,000 even in the lottery-style Newegg Shuffle, and the typical price is still above $2,000 on eBay. It’s one of the worst cards to buy on eBay, based on how big the markup is. In comparison, the RTX 3070 Ti might only end up costing twice its MSRP on eBay, but that’s still $1,200. And it could very well end up costing more than that.
We’ll have to see what happens in the coming months. Hopefully, the arrival of two more desktop graphics cards in the form of the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti will alleviate the shortages a bit. The hashrate limiter can’t hurt either, at least if you’re only interested in gaming performance, and the drop in mining profitability might help. But we’re far from being out of the shortage woods.
If you can actually find the RTX 3070 Ti for close to its $600 MSRP, and you’re in the market for a new graphics card, it’s a good option. Finding it will be the difficult part. This is bound to be a repeat of every AMD and Nvidia GPU launch of the past year. If you haven’t managed to procure a new card yet, you can try again (and again, and again…). But for those who already have a reasonable graphics card, there’s nothing really new to see here: slightly better performance and higher power consumption at a higher price. Let’s hope supply and prices improve by the time fall blows in.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the company’s attempt at bolstering its sub-$700 lineup targeting a segment of the gaming market that predominantly games at 1440p, but needs an upgrade path toward 4K UHD. Cards from this segment are very much capable of 4K gaming, but require a tiny bit of tweaking. There are also handy features like DLSS to fall back on. NVIDIA already has such a product in the RTX 3070, so why did it need the new RTX 3070 Ti? The answer lies in AMD’s unexpected return to the high-end graphics market with its Radeon RX 6800 series “Big Navi” graphics cards. The RX 6800 was found to outclass the RTX 3070 in most games that don’t use raytracing, and the more recently released RX 6700 XT only adds to the pressure as it trades blows with the RTX 3070 at a slightly lower price.
The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is among a two-part refresh by NVIDIA for the higher-end of its GeForce RTX 30-series “Ampere” product stack, with the other being the RTX 3080 Ti we reviewed last week. NVIDIA attempted to set the RTX 3070 Ti apart from the RTX 3070 without significantly increasing manufacturing costs (i.e., without having to tap into the larger GA102 silicon). It did this with two changes. First, the RTX 3070 Ti maxes out the GA104 chip, enabling all 6,144 CUDA cores physically present as opposed to the 5,888 on the RTX 3070—a 4% increase. Next, NVIDIA gave the memory sub-system a major boost by giving this card 19 Gbps GDDR6X memory instead of the 14 Gbps GDDR6 on the RTX 3070. This in itself is a 35% increase in memory bandwidth even if the memory size remains the same at 8 GB. Slightly higher GPU clock speeds wrap things up. The idea is to outclass the RX 6700 XT and make up ground lost to the RX 6800.
The “Ampere” graphics architecture debuts the second generation of NVIDIA’s ambitious RTX real-time raytracing technology that combines raytraced elements with conventional raster 3D to significantly improve realism. It combines second-generation RT cores, fixed-function hardware that accelerate raytracing, now even even more raytraced effects, third-generation Tensor cores, which accelerate AI deep-learning and leverage the sparsity phenomenon to significantly increase AI inference performance, and the new Ampere CUDA core that doubles compute performance over the previous generation, leveraging concurrent INT32+FP32 math.
The new GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition graphics card comes with an all-new design that looks like a cross between the RTX 3080 FE and RTX 3070 FE. It implements the same dual-axial flow-through concept as the RTX 3080 FE, but with styling elements that remind more of the RTX 3070 FE. The design involves two fans, one on either side of the card, and the PCB being shorter than the card itself, so fresh air drawn in by one fan is exhausted from the other side for better heat dissipation. NVIDIA is pricing the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition at $599, a $100 premium over the RTX 3070. We expect that current market conditions will have the card end up at around $1300, matching the RTX 3070 and slightly below the $1400 RX 6800 non-XT.
The MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Suprim X is the company’s top custom-design graphics card based on the swanky new RTX 3070 Ti high-end graphics card by NVIDIA. The Suprim series represents MSI’s best efforts in the areas of product design, factory-overclocked speeds, cooling performance, and more. NVIDIA debuted the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 Ti to augment its RTX 30-series “Ampere” graphics card family, particularly as it faced unexpected competition from rival AMD in the high-end with the Radeon RX 6000 series “Big Navi” graphics cards. The RTX 3070 Ti is designed to fill a performance gap between the the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080, letting NVIDIA better compete with the RX 6700 XT and RX 6800, which posed stiff competition to the RTX 3070. Cards from this segment are expected to offer maxed-out gaming at 1440p with raytracing enabled, and also retain the ability to play at 4K UHD with reasonably good settings.
The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is based on the same GA104 silicon as the RTX 3070, but NVIDIA made two major design changes—first, it has maxed out the GA104, enabling all 6,144 CUDA cores as opposed to 5,888 on the RTX 3070; and second, it is using faster 19 Gbps GDDR6X memory in place of 14 Gbps GDDR6 memory. The memory sub-system alone sees a significant 35% uplift in bandwidth. The memory size is still 8 GB.
The GeForce “Ampere” graphics architecture debuts the second-generation of NVIDIA’s path-breaking RTX real-time raytracing technology that combines raytraced effects, such as reflections, shadows, lighting, and global-illumination, with conventional raster 3D graphics to increase realism. “Ampere” combines second-generation RT cores with third-generation Tensor cores that accelerate AI, and faster “Ampere” CUDA cores.
The MSI RTX 3070 Ti Suprim X is an attempt by MSI to match NVIDIA’s Founders Edition cards in terms of aesthetics. A premium-looking, brushed metal cooler shroud greets you, with its trio of TorX 4.0 fans, and a dense aluminium fin-stack heatsink. MSI has given the RTX 3070 Ti its top factory-overclock at 1860 MHz compared to the 1770 MHz reference. In this review, we take the card out for a spin to show you whether MSI has aced a better-looking and better-performing card than the NVIDIA Founders Edition.
Palit GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GameRock OC is the company’s most premium custom-design implementation of NVIDIA’s latest high-end graphics card launch. The RTX 3070 Ti along with last week’s RTX 3080 Ti launch, form part of an attempt to refresh the high-end segment in the face of competition from AMD and its “Big Navi” Radeon RX 6800 series. This segment of graphics cards are targeted at those wanting maxed out gaming at 1440p with raytracing, but also the ability to play at 4K UHD with reasonably good details. NVIDIA already has such a SKU in the RTX 3070, but this was embattled by the RX 6700 XT and RX 6800, which is possibly what the RTX 3070 Ti launch is all about.
NVIDIA created the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti out of the same GA104 silicon as the RTX 3070, by maxing it out. You hence get all 6,144 CUDA cores physically present on the chip, compared to just 5,888 on the RTX 3070. Another major change is memory, with NVIDIA opting for fast 19 Gbps GDDR6X memory over 14 Gbps GDDR6. This results in a significant 35% increase in memory bandwidth over the RTX 3070. The memory size remains 8 GB, though. Wrapping things up are the slightly higher GPU clock speeds. The resulting product, NVIDIA believes, should be competitive against the RX 6800, restoring competition to the sub-$600 market segment.
Palit bolstered the RTX 3070 Ti with its highest factory overclock, at 1845 MHz boost frequency, compared to 1770 MHz reference. The GameRock OC series from Palit always represented over-the-top designs, and this card is no exception. A neatly executed “icebox” pattern tops the cooler shroud, which isn’t unlike the G.SKILL Trident Royal memory modules. This element is illuminated with addressable-RGB.
At this time Palit is unable to provide any MSRP for the GameRock OC. I’d estimate that it’ll end up around $1350 in the free market, so $50 higher than the RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition.
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Late on Monday night, Apple flipped the switch on two new features for its Apple Music subscription service: immersive Dolby Atmos spatial audio and lossless-quality streaming. It feels like the company is really only excited about one of them, though, and it’s not the latter.
Eddy Cue is Apple’s senior vice president of services and the person who oversees Apple Music. He didn’t mince words when he told Billboard that the sudden proliferation of lossless audio isn’t going to significantly evolve or change how we listen to music. “There’s no question it’s not going to be lossless,” he said when asked about what technologies will bring about the “next-gen” of music streaming. Cue firmly stands on the side of the crowd that argues most people can’t hear any difference between CD-quality or hi-res tracks and the AAC or MP3 files that’ve been filling their ears for so long now. He did acknowledge that the higher-bit rate tracks might matter to music lovers with particularly sharp hearing or premium audio equipment, but he was also direct about how niche that group is.
“The reality of lossless is: if you take 100 people and you take a stereo song in lossless and you take a song that’s been in Apple Music that’s compressed, I don’t know if it’s 99 or 98 can’t tell the difference.” Cue revealed that he has regularly done blind tests with the Apple Music team, and they confirm how rare it is for anyone to be able to consistently recognize lossless audio. “You can tell somebody, ‘Oh, you’re listening to a lossless [song],’ and they tell you, ‘Oh, wow. That sounds incredible.’ They’re just saying it because you told them it’s lossless and it sounds like the right thing to say, but you just can’t tell.”
If you go by the message that Cue and Apple are pushing, the Dolby Atmos-powered spatial audio feature is where the true breakthrough is. “When I look at Dolby Atmos, I think it’s going to do for music what HD did for television,” Cue said in the Billboard interview. And then he really went in:
“I think this is going to take over everything. It’s the way I want to listen to music when I’m in my car. It’s going to be the way I listen to music immediately with my AirPods. It’s going to be the way I listen to music in my house. In a way, it won’t feel very good when I’m listening to something that’s not Dolby Atmos because it’s so good. It’s like when I’m watching HD, it’s hard to go back.”
“This requires somebody who’s a sound engineer, and the artist to sit back and listen, and really make the right calls and what the right things to do are,” Cue told Billboard about mixing for spatial audio. “It’s a process that takes time, but it’s worth it.”
Problem is, with much of the Dolby Atmos content on Apple Music I’ve sampled so far, it doesn’t seem like everyone is making those right calls. It’s a hit-or-miss game of exploration, and songs that truly showcase the immersive potential of Atmos are more often the exception than the rule. In many cases, spatial audio tracks have an artificial wideness to them, unfamiliar placement of vocals and instrumentation, and just sound… off. Distant? Too reverb-y? Pick your preferred interpretation. Yet, Apple is so confident in Apple Music’s spatial audio that essentially overnight it became the default for millions of customers listening with AirPods.
But let’s back up a bit.
What is spatial audio supposed to do for music?
In a word, it’s all about immersion. Here’s how Cue hyped it: “it makes you feel like you’re onstage, standing right next to the singer, it makes you feel like you might be to the left of the drummer, to the right of the guitarist.” On its website, Apple says “music created in Dolby Atmos is freed from channels, allowing artists to place individual sounds all around you.”
Whoa there. Like all of Apple’s senior executives, Eddy Cue knows how to pitch something. But if you slap on your AirPods and expect to feel like an invisible person standing in the middle of a recording session, you’ll probably be underwhelmed.
When it’s done well, spatial audio does indeed give music a unique feeling of breadth. And it’s in a different way than a high-end pair of headphones might bring the most out of a stereo track’s soundstage. In particular, vocals often have a very distinct placement in the mix and cut through better than on traditional stereo tracks. That’s the most consistent advantage I’ve noticed with spatial audio music. But because of the different mix, you’ll very likely also pick up on details or sounds that ordinarily don’t stand out in the regular version of a song. And on the best Atmos tracks, everything has a lot more room to breathe.
But when engineers don’t put much care into an Atmos mix, it really shows. Sometimes giving everything so much space can take the impact or crunch out of guitars. Or other aspects of a track fall flat. I’ve included just a few samples below where the spatial audio version of a song is an obvious downgrade from the original. But there are many, and when you hit a few in a row where the vocals sound weird or something’s amiss, it can detract from the listening experience.
How many songs are available in Dolby Atmos spatial audio?
Apple currently isn’t providing a hard number, and is instead only saying that “thousands” of tracks are available with spatial audio at launch, with many more on the way.
How do I know when I’m hearing spatial audio on Apple Music?
You’ll see either a Dolby Atmos or Dolby Audio logo appear on the Now Playing screen beneath the album artwork.
A few random, good examples of Apple Music spatial audio:
“Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones— This is one where I nearly buy into Cue’s description. Close your eyes, and you could almost transport yourself to a small club where the spread of this mix feels like a live version of Jones’ career-making hit. Stereo doesn’t take you to the same place.
“Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga — With a very surround sound-esque mix (skip to the second verse at 1:23 for the best examples), this is a great example of an old pop hit with an excellent spatial audio treatment.
“Boom” by Tiësto and Sevenn — A fun, lively track that does give off a nice surround sound effect.
“Black Skinhead” by Kanye West — This one is another good example of the “beyond two-channel” openness that spatial audio can provide.
A whole lot of jazz and classical — If there are two genres that naturally lend themselves to spatial audio and Dolby Atmos, it’s jazz and classical. Orchestras can sound truly massive, and it’s a captivating way to listen to jazz ensembles where it’s easy to hear even the quietest notes.
Other examples where it just sounds wrong
“Buddy Holly” by Weezer — The guitars basically lose all life in this mix and vocals dominate the entire thing in a way that just sounds strange and bad. And yet this song is on Apple’s own playlist meant to showcase Atmos.
“Follow Your Arrow” by Kacey Musgraves— Apple mentioned Musgraves as an artist to check out with Atmos. And while her most recent album Golden Hour sounds… fine… her breakthrough Same Trailer Different Park is pretty rough in spatial audio format. “Follow Your Arrow” seems to lose most of its background vocals, and even the main guitar melody is way quieter here than in the regular mix. It almost comes off like a demo recording.
“What’s My Age Again?” by Blink 182 — This is another song that Apple seems to think makes spatial audio sound good, but I’d strongly argue it does the opposite. Mark Hoppus’ muffled vocals legitimately sound like they were recorded through a phone.
“Alex Chilton” by The Replacements — Is that enough cowbell for you during the chorus? It overpowers everything else and makes me feel like I’m in the old Christopher Walken SNL skit, only with a different band.
I’m curious to hear some of your examples that sound great, and others you’ve found that are a disappointment with Atmos.
Do I need AirPods or Beats headphones for Apple Music spatial audio?
No. Apple Music’s spatial audio works on:
All headphones and earbuds
The loudspeakers on supported iPhones, iPads, and Macs
Apple TV 4K
If you set Dolby Atmos to “always on” in settings for the Music app, you’ll see a pop-up advising that it probably won’t sound right on all speakers, but Apple Music will still play the spatial audio mix if that’s your preference. In fact, Apple clearly states that you can “listen on any headphones” to Apple Music’s spatial audio.
How do I turn off Apple Music spatial audio if I don’t like it?
iOS and iPadOS: Go to Settings > Music > Dolby Atmos (under “audio”), and there you can pick between automatic, always on, and off.
If you’d prefer to leave Atmos on by default but want to quickly switch to a regular stereo version of any song that’s playing, just pull down Control Center, press and hold on the volume slider, and toggle off spatial audio. Apple Music will switch over to stereo. If you turn spatial audio back on, you’ll return to the Atmos track.
macOS: In the Music app, open preferences and select the “playback” tab. Halfway down you’ll see an “audio quality” section and Atmos is in there. You get the same three automatic / always on / off choices as on Apple’s mobile devices.
Head tracking is coming to Apple Music spatial audio this fall
Apple Music’s spatial audio is currently much different than the spatial audio experience you get when watching movies and TV shows on an iPhone or iPad. For videos, Apple includes a head-tracking feature that adjusts the sound placement as you turn your head to keep it anchored to the source device. This trick is exclusive to the AirPods lineup, but it’s a very impressive effect.
Apple has said it plans to bring this sound-changes-as-you-turn-your-head feature to Apple Music in the fall — likely with iOS 15.
Is this just a gimmick?
That’s really the question that remains to be answered. But Apple isn’t alone in hyping multidimensional music (nor is it the first to do so). Amazon, Tidal, and others are also increasingly pushing the experience. I recently reviewed an extravagant Sony speaker that positions 360-degree audio as its main selling point.
Are people like Eddy Cue and Zane Lowe right in their insistence that spatial audio will revolutionize how we consume music in the same way that stereo did? Or is this a gimmick like 3D TVs that will fizzle out and be forgotten within a few years? If it’s going to be the former, it’ll take a lot of work and creativity from artists, producers, and mixers to make this format shine.
Because right now, for every Atmos spatial audio track that’s a standout on Apple Music, there are a dozen others that are quite meh — or worse than in stereo. We’re still in the early days, and now that Atmos is officially part of Apple Music, hopefully the consistency will improve. When you do find those mixes where they totally nail it, it’s something special.
Apple should make it easier to switch between Atmos and stereo
But in the meantime, and to avoid turning people off from Atmos when they land on a lackluster mix, Apple Music should make it easier to go back and forth between spatial audio and regular stereo tracks on a per-song basis. One solution could be displaying a choice when you tap on the Dolby icon, similar to the “go to artist / album” options that appear when tapping on an artist’s name.
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