Gears Of War 4: From The Ashes

For over 15 years, the world of Sera was on fire. After a previously unknown species of sentient creatures - called the Locust - erupted from the ground, the world exploded in a war that dressed the planet in rubble. The Locust were eventually eradicated, but the war exacted a heavy toll. Nearly 25 years after that epic struggle, humanity has become an endangered species. Survivors huddle together in small, walled cities, and seek shelter from the hurricane-force gales that rip across Sera's surface. In the midst of this ecological meltdown, the next generation of heroes rises up to combat the planet's newest nightmare.

Huawei TalkBand B2

Half fitness band, half bluetooth headset and not much else. Huawei’s comfy effort is quite lacking.

Fitness wearables are still so new to the market that classifying them is a bit of a pain, especially for us reviewers. We have the likes of the Apple and Huawei Watch, which are smartwatches; there as an extension of your smartphone so you’ll spend less time reaching into your pocket to see a notification from a WhatsApp group you’ve been meaning to delete. You then have the Fitbit Surge and Microsoft Band, with dedicated features and sensors to cater to your fitness needs and wants. This isn’t necessarily a complaint; if a wearable can do everything at a master level we’d classify it in their own league.

Huawei Honor 5X

Huawei’s sub brand is back with another mid-range device for you to consider. It has a fingerprint sensor but is let down by lag and a below average camera.

Honor introduced the 5X in sparkly fashion. The sparks didn’t come from a sparkler but from a chainsaw, which was taken to the 5X at its official unveiling. It was a statement from Honor to say its new device is a departure from the 4X, offering premium features for less than £200.

It has always been the Honor way to bring premium features at low costs, the surprising inclusion here is the fingerprint sensor on offer. It is almost unknown to see one on a midrange device. This one is conveniently located on the back of the device. Is it overwhelming itself? Let’s find out.

Microsoft Lumia 650

Microsoft has revealed what could be its last Lumia handset and it’s quite the looker, but does it perform up to scratch?

The Lumia line is in a bit of a difficult situation, with sales declining at a catastrophic rate. Back in late January, Microsoft released figures that showed a whopping 57 percent decline in Lumia handset purchases, which is pretty much a death sentence. As the woes continue to build, perhaps its only hope is the rumoured Surface Phone... And that’s probably not going to be around for a while. With all this, you’d be expecting Microsoft to be focusing on producing some solid handsets to bolster their flagging Lumia line, yet it has released a budget phone that’s billed as a premium device. Hardware specs are not in its favour here, with a lowly processor and nothing to really catch our eye. Could it surprise us? Lets find out.

PressReader

This week, David Hayward keeps his eyes on the latest news

Keeping up with the world news can be a strenuous affair. There are plenty of politically motivated newspapers, news channels and so on, as well as countless other independent sites, papers, magazines and individual blogs to view. Getting to them all can be hard work.

Obviously, we could bookmark dozens of different sites and subscribe to a plethora of newspapers and their respective electronic versions, but there’s an easier way.

Google-Free Android

Long-term free software user Phil Thane on the final frontier, the Android phone

There are many reasons why you might want to avoid Google and all its works. High on many people’s lists would be Google’s continuing quest to find out everything it can about you, collate your browsing, purchasing, video-watching, emailing, calendar details, contact lists and map searches so as to get a better price when it sells you to an advertiser. You might object to its tax avoidance, copyright infringements, its proclaimed desire to digitise all the world’s information, with the unmentioned corollary that the company will then control all the world’s information.

Chromecast: Tips, Tricks and Apps

David Briddock explains how to get more from your Chromecast

In July 2013 Google released a small, thumb-drive sized HDMI device that quickly leapt to the top of the sales charts. Called the Chromecast, this £30 device brought the world of online streaming media to any television with an HDMI socket, and it promised desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone owners an affordable wireless big-screen experience.

Amazon Fire: Feeding The Fire

Installing Android apps on an Amazon Fire tablet increases its usefulness, as Chris Salter demonstrates

Amazon’s phone was never a runaway success. It was released in July 2014, but Amazon kept dropping the price, before it stopped selling the device in August 2015, with no follow-up announced.

However, that hasn’t stopped it with the Fire tablets. Amazon released the first Kindle Fire tablet in 2011 (a 7” tablet), running a modified version of Android called Fire OS. Since then, Amazon has increased the Fire range to include different sizes, ranging from 6 inches all the way up to 10 inches.

The FBI Vs Apple Inside Story

Mark Pickavance reveals some of the very telling subtext to a story that mainstream media and politicians can’t grasp

After the war on terrorism, the new target seems to be the war on privacy – or more specifically the war on encryption.

A recent focal point for these events is a spat between the FBI and Apple, because the agency would like Apple to hack its own encryption, which it designed to be unbreakable. Understandably, Apple doesn’t want to use its resources to do that, to prove that it lied to its customers when it told them their information was 100% secure.