Funko has announced a new line of Pop! figures based on several iconic PlayStation characters. These include a Ratchet & Clank 2-pack, Sam Porter Bridges from Death Stranding, Joel from The Last of Us, and Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal. All of them can be preorder today exclusively from GameStop, but they’re expected to ship in September and October.
Joel and Sam Porter Bridges are both $12, but Sweet Tooth and Ratchet & Clank are $30 and $23, respectively, because Sweet Tooth includes an ice cream truck and Ratchet & Clank is a 2-pack.
These aren’t the first PlayStation-branded Funk Pop! figures, and they certainly won’t be the last. We’ve already seen Funkos for God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Ghost of Tsushima, and Bloodborne. With the PS5 on the horizon and Funkos ever-growing popularity — as much as some people may hate it — only expect to see more in the future.
The Last of Us Part 2 was a contentious game to say the least, but one thing that most people can agree on is that Joel is easily one of the best characters ever made. Now you can have him in Pop! form if you’re a collector or just want to have some new merch.
Welcome to the 340th edition of Android Apps Weekly! Here are the big headlines from the last week:
Blue Mail was booted out of the Play Store last week. It eventually returned, but not before the conspiracy theories flew. Blue Mail simply had some similarities to TypeApp Mail according to Google. However, Blue Mail’s CEO believes it a retaliation for complying with the ongoing antitrust investigation of Google. Hit the link for all of the details.
PUBG Mobile is supporting high frame rate displays. It’s starting support with a series of OnePlus phones, including the OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7T, and OnePlus 8. It comes at the same time that Fortnite also opened up 90fps play on Android as well. The option is exclusive to OnePlus devices until early September.
Google launched Android’s competitor to Apple’s AirDrop this week. Nearby Share, despite its lame name, works almost identically to AirDrop. You can start the service and find people near you, connect to them, and share stuff. It works with Bluetooth, WiFi, and WebRTC. The system picks the best transfer protocol on a per file basis. Hit the link to learn more.
Dino Fun is a paint-by-numbers style coloring book app. It uses retro style pixel art as its base and people just zoom in and color as they want. When they zoom all the way out, they get a full picture. It calls itself a game, but it’s really just a coloring book app. The app features over 1,000 pixel art images, the ability to upload your own photos, and simple controls. It’s a relatively relaxing experience except for the ads. The ads can get a little bit annoying from time to time. The subscription is also quite expensive for what the app offers so we recommend sticking to the free version despite its obnoxious advertisements.
MazM: Pechka
Price: Free to play
MazM: Pechka is an adventure game with some visual novel elements. It tells the story Far East Russia and its inevitable collapse. The game takes place in episodes and players pay for such episodes to continue. The artwork and music do a great job of creating the atmosphere. Additionally, the storytelling is pretty decent as well. The developers already did a great job with similar games about Jekyll and Hide and The Phantom of the Opera. Pechka fits right in with how these developers work.
Calendar.AI
Price: Free / $4.99-$9.99 per month / $49.99 per year
Calendar.AI is a new calendar app for super heavy calendar users. At its core, it’s a usable and good looking calendar app with some smart features. For instance, you can create a meeting with a bunch of people. Those people can put their social links in their profile so you can quickly go to the meeting, click the person, and check out their Twitter account. The UI is perfectly serviceable with a day, 3-day, and week agenda view and multiple calendar syncing support. It also integrates with Zoom, GoToMeeting, Webex, and Microsoft Teams. The premium and pro subscriptions unlock the super smart stuff, but the free version still works pretty well.
Brawlhalla
Price: Free to play
Brawlhalla is Ubisoft’s latest mobile game. It’s a cross-platform fighting game with up to eight people in a single match. It’s an online PvP style game with some party game elements. That means there are several game modes to play with and you can play with friends if you want to. The game throws you into the deep end quite early and you’re playing right up there against players on console and PC as well so there is a bit of a learning curve at the beginning. It’s free to play, though, so you can take your time with it.
COVIDWISE
Price: Free
COVIDWISE is the first COVID-19 exposure app with Google’s new API (in the US). It’s specifically for residents of Virginia. The app relies on Bluetooth Low Energy to periodically generate anonymous tokens sent to other people’s phones. Basically, the app keeps you anonymous but also keeps track of all the phones you were close enough to for Bluetooth to connect. If someone you ran into tests positive, you get a notification letting you know. It also works vice versa for all the folks you run into if you catch it. This is also a great chance to see how this works in case your state or region adopts it eventually.
Thank you for reading! Try these out too:
If we missed any big Android apps or games news or releases, tell us about them in the comments!
The Galaxy A71 has an attractive design and updated internals, making it one of the best mid-range phones Samsung has to offer in 2020. One of the defining features of the phone is the battery life, with the 4,500mAh battery easily delivering over a day’s worth of use. You also get a 64MP camera at the back, 25W wired charging, and a massive 6.7-inch AMOLED display.
The Galaxy A51 has the same design as the A71 in a smaller chassis. You get a 6.5-inch AMOLED screen, 48MP camera, 4,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging, and One UI 2.0 out of the box. The Exynos 9611 chipset isn’t quite as powerful as the Snapdragon 730 that you get on the A71, but it is still usable. If you’re looking for a good budget option, the Galaxy A51 has a lot to offer.
When talking about the Galaxy A71 vs. A51, the one thing to keep in mind is that both devices share a lot of similar parts. They have a design aesthetic featuring vibrant colors and design flourishes, which you don’t get from the Galaxy S20 series. There are also exciting camera upgrades on offer, with the A71 featuring a 64MP camera and the A51 offering a 48MP primary camera at the back. So let’s take a look at what you’re getting with the 2020 Galaxy A series, and which phone you should pick up.
The Galaxy A71 and A51 bring fresh designs to the mid-range segment
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central
Samsung makes a lot of phones across various price points, and in recent years the Galaxy A series has gained momentum for offering features from the flagship Galaxy S and Note lineups at more affordable price points. The Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71 continue that heritage, with both phones featuring fresh new designs and hardware upgrades for 2020.
Both the Galaxy A71 and A51 have attractive new designs and vibrant color options.
Let’s start with the Galaxy A71. The phone has a plastic back with a laminated finish and a criss-cross pattern with a subtle gradient finish that accentuates the design at the back. The phone has the same rectangular camera housing as the Galaxy S20 series and upfront, you’ll find a centered cutout that’s identical to Samsung’s 2020 flagships.
While Samsung got rid of the 3.5mm headphone jack on the Galaxy S20 series, both the A71 and the A51 still feature it. Both phones also sport thin bezels, allowing Samsung to fit large AMOLED displays. In fact, with a 6.7-inch display, the Galaxy A71 is one of the largest phones in Samsung’s portfolio — only the Galaxy S20 Ultra has a bigger screen. The A51 has a slightly smaller 6.5-inch panel, and both phones offer FHD+ resolution (2400×1080) and a layer of Gorilla Glass 3.
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central
The fact that both phones are made out of plastic actually works in their favor. You don’t have to worry about the back panel shattering should either phone taking a tumble, and it makes the devices lighter. Going with a plastic back also allowed Samsung to fit larger batteries on both phones, with the A51 featuring a 4,000mAh battery and the A71 coming with a 4,500mAh unit. You’ll easily get over a day’s worth of use from a full charge on the latter, and the A71 also has 25W fast charging.
Both the Galaxy A71 and A51 are available in 5G variants in the U.S.
Things get interesting on the hardware side of things. The regular 4G version of the Galaxy A51 retails for $400 and features Samsung’s Exynos 9611 chipset, but there’s now a 5G model that is available for $500.
The Galaxy A71 is available in a single 5G option. and both the A71 5G and A51 5G feature the beefier Exynos 980 chipset. With the Galaxy A71 5G available for $600, you’re better off picking it up over the A51 5G, with the regular 4G-only A52 serving as a great entry-level option. Regardless of whatever variant you pick up, you’ll get 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage as standard.
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central
When it comes to the camera side of things, the Galaxy A71 with its 64MP f/1.8 lens fares better in most shooting conditions over the A51’s 48MP f/2.0 shooter.
Both phones have quad cameras, but the Galaxy A71 is in the lead here with its 64MP lens.
Both phones have quad cameras, and the rest of the sensors are identical across both devices: you get a 12MP wide-angle lens, a 5MP macro shooter, and a 5MP portrait lens. Honestly, aside from the wide-angle lens, there isn’t a lot of value here. The 5MP macro lens takes muddled shots and has issues focusing on subjects, and the 5MP portrait lens does a poor job with edge detection.
There’s little to differentiate between the two phones when it comes to the software side of things. Both devices come with Samsung’s One UI 2.0 out of the box, and they run Android 10. That’s a key distinction here because Samsung often rolled out mid-range phones with outdated software in the past. That isn’t the case on the 2020 Galaxy A phones, and for the most part, the software on offer is identical to what you’d find on the Galaxy S20 series.
Category
Samsung Galaxy A71
Samsung Galaxy A51
Operating system
Android 10 One UI 2.0
Android 10 One UI 2.0
Display
6.7-inch Super AMOLED+ 2400×1080 (20:9) Gorilla Glass 3
6.5-inch Super AMOLED 2400×1080 (20:9) Gorilla Glass 3
Chipset
Exynos 980 2 x 2.22GHz Cotex A77 6 x 1.80GHz Cortex A55 Mali-G76 MP5 8nm
Exynos 9611 4 x 2.30GHz Cortex A73 4 x 1.70GHz Cortex A53 Mali-G72 MP3 10nm
RAM
6GB/8GB
6GB
Storage
128GB
128GB
MicroSD slot
Yes
Yes
Rear camera 1
64MP, f/1.8 4K at 30fps
48MP, f/2.0 4K at 30fps
Rear camera 2
12MP, f/2.2 Wide-angle lens
12MP, f/2.2 Wide-angle lens
Rear camera 3
5MP, f/2.4 Macro lens
5MP, f/2.4 Macro lens
Rear camera 4
5MP, f/2.2 Portrait lens
5MP, f/2.2 Portrait lens
Front camera
32MP, f/2.2
32MP, f/2.2
Connectivity
Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0 NFC, A-GPS
Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0 NFC, A-GPS
Audio
USB-C
USB-C
Battery
4500mAh Non-removable
4000mAh Non-removable
Charging
USB-C 2.0 25W
USB-C 2.0 15W
Water resistance
No
No
Security
In-display fingerprint (optical)
In-display fingerprint (optical)
Dimensions
163.6 x 76 x 7.7mm 179g
158.5 x 73.6 x 7.9 mm 172g
Colors
Crush Black, Prism, Silver, Blue, Pink
Crush Black, Prism, Silver, Blue, Pink
Samsung Galaxy A71 vs. Galaxy A51 Two great phones, one big dilemma
Source: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central
The Galaxy A71 and A51 both feature fresh designs and much-needed hardware upgrades. That’s particularly the case with the A71, which offers robust hardware, an exciting 64MP shooter, and excellent battery life with 25W wired charging. Sure, they’re missing out on 90Hz panels and don’t have wireless charging or water resistance, but they deliver when it comes to the basics.
The Galaxy A71 is a great phone in 2020, and an ideal way to get started with 5G.
Both phones are launching in the U.S., but there’s a problem. With the Galaxy A51 retailing for $400 and the Galaxy A71 available in 5G trim for $600, these are not the most affordable options. If you’re willing to shell out over $600 for a 5G phone, you may as well get the OnePlus 8 and get the latest Snapdragon 865 chipset, a 90Hz display, decent cameras, clean software, and 30W fast charging. Of course, there’s also the Pixel 4a if you want a great camera with reliable internals for under $400.
However, if you’re upgrading from a Samsung phone and don’t want to switch to another brand, there is a lot to like here. You’re getting a vibrant screen, great new design, reliable cameras, and excellent battery life with both phones. The Galaxy A51 is the better deal if you’re looking for value, but if you want 5G connectivity, get the Galaxy A71.
The Galaxy A71 has a massive 6.7-inch AMOLED panel backed by excellent battery life, decent internals in the form of an Exynos 980 chipset, and a 64MP camera that takes good photos in most lighting conditions. The phone has a lot to offer in the mid-range segment, and while it may lack a high refresh rate and other extras, it does a great job delivering the basics.
With the Galaxy A51, Samsung did a great job porting the design from its premium devices to a much more affordable price point. The AMOLED panel is vibrant and offers rich colors, the camera is decent enough for most lighting conditions, and you get One UI 2.0 out of the box. The aging hardware is an issue though, and while you’ll see the occasional slowdown, the A51 is decent value.
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True wireless earphones have truly been commodified. With many smartphone manufacturers making their own versions, a product has to stand out in all the right ways to make an impact. Amazfit — the purveyors of some of our favorite fitness wearables — recently launched its own take on true wireless earphones with an interesting fitness-focused twist. The Amazfit Powerbuds join the likes of the Jabra Elite Sport in offering heart rate tracking built into the earphones.
In the Android Authority’s Amazfit Powerbuds review, we find out if a fitness focus is enough to stem strong competition.
Amazfit Powerbuds: How’s the design?
Amazfit has taken a fashion-forward approach with the design of the Powerbuds. The casing of the earbuds is compact enough and features a unique red overlay atop the matte black plastic. Each earbud weighs about 6g, and while I could always feel the weight in my ear, I never felt bogged down — even after hours of listening.
Looking in from the outside, the Amazfit fit compactly in the ear, but the heart rate tracking assembly prevented it from resting flush against my outer ear. However, I can’t really complain here as the earbuds never fell off once, even with a spot of running. The sensor for heart rate tracking is located on the right earbud, and it’s designed to be in constant contact with the ear to ensure a consistent reading.
Touch gestures on the Amazfit Powerbuds can be a bit hit or miss, but can be customized extensively.
Both earbuds include touch surfaces for control. I’m not a big fan of gesture-based control on true wireless earphones, and while the Amazfit allows for a lot of flexibility in setting up the controls, my experience was a bit hit or miss. You can configure single, double, or triple taps for controlling playback, enabling pass-through mode, or invoking Google Assistant. In my time with the earphones, there were a few instances where multiple taps weren’t recognized.
Amazfit includes a range of silicone tips in the box. I found the fit to be good enough, but despite trying multiple tips, I could never achieve a tight enough seal and ambient noise was always audible — even with the music turned up loud.
Elsewhere, Amazfit has a very nifty trick up its sleeve. The included ear hooks are magnetic and easily latch on to the earbuds. When it comes time to stow them, the hooks slot back into the case to ensure you don’t end up losing them.
The case is on the larger size, but makes up for it with the convenience of offering storage for the ear hooks. It definitely won’t slide into a coin pocket, but is discrete enough in a regular pocket and didn’t cause any unsightly bulges. I wish the lip on the outside of the case had a bit more depth as it was particularly hard to open one-handed.
The built-in magnetic storage for ear hooks is a handy addition to the case.
The buds slot in securely and are held in place by magnets, just like most true wireless earphones. A single LED placed on the outside indicates charging status, as well as when the headset enters pairing mode.
Speaking of which, Amazfit has a somewhat inconvenient approach to this. You must hold down a button on the inside of the case to put the earphones in pairing mode. This can be a bit of a nuisance if you need to jump between devices while still wearing the Powerbuds.
Overall — minor nitpicks aside — there is little to complain about the Amazfit Powerbuds’ design. The build quality lives up to the positioning. The IP55 rating is more than welcome given the fitness focus, and the included easy-to-store earbuds are a nifty addition.
How do the Amazfit Powerbuds sound?
For a fitness-focused pair of true wireless earphones, the Amazfit Powerbuds sound remarkably good. Elevated bass is often the norm with workout earbuds, but that really isn’t the case here.
Be it treble highs, vocal mids, or just the deep lows of a bass guitar, the Amazfit Powerbuds sound accurate all the way through. Vocals sound crystal clear, and clarity is retained even with other instruments thrown into the mix. That’s not to say that the earphones are light on bass.
The Amazfit Powerbuds deliver great sound, fitness features, and excellent battery life at an affordable price point. The microphone quality isn’t worth writing home about, but the other features make up for it.
Tracks like The Box by RoddyRicc will have you bobbing your head, but it’s a measured bass that doesn’t mask vocal frequencies.
As I was listening to Borderline by Tame Impala, the falsetto vocals didn’t sound shrill or overbearing. This is a sure sign that treble notes aren’t emphatically emphasized by the dynamic drivers. Sure, you might not hear all the intricate vocal details, but for the price and primary function as workout earbuds, the Amazfit Powerbuds more than deliver on audio quality.
The Amazfit app lets you dial in the sound exactly how you like it.
Audio can be further tweaked to suit your preferences. The accompanying Amazfit app has a range of presets, as well as a 10-band equalizer to dial in the sound exactly to your preferences. Finally, Bluetooth codec support includes SBC and AAC. Most modern phones should default to AAC, affording you high-quality music listening from streaming sources. Although, Android users may want to force SBC streaming, since AAC performs unreliably across Android devices. The operating system has a hard time with consistent streaming quality via AAC.
All the fitness features
The Amazfit Powerbuds has a unique feature up its sleeve. The sensors on the right earbuds can be used to track your heart rate during activities. This makes a lot of sense if you’re tied into Amazfit’s fitness wearable ecosystem, but not so much if you’re not. Few — if any — third-party apps let you enter heart rate data manually, and you’ll want to be truly invested into the Amazfit ecosystem to reap the benefits.
While running trails remain closed, I took the Amazfit Powerbuds for a quick walk around the block to compare the heart rate measurements against my Fitbit Ionic. The results were reasonably consistent across the devices with a small enough margin of error.
How’s the battery life?
The Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus might set the standard for battery life amongst true wireless earphones, but the Amazfit Powerbuds don’t fare too badly either. Amazfit promises eight hours of use on a single charge. In my testing, I got a little over seven hours of use from the Amazfit Powerbuds with the volume set around the 60% mark.
The Amazfit Powerbuds consistently delivered over 7 hours of battery life.
The battery case gets you two full charges in addition to the eight hours that the earbuds promise. Totaling 24 hours of playback, the battery life should suffice for most users. Fully charging the earbuds takes just north of an hour, and a quick 15-minute charge promises three hours of use which should suffice in a pinch.
Are the Amazfit Powerbuds good for calls?
The Amazfit Powerbuds are fairly hit or miss for cellular calls. While the connectivity was good enough, audio on both ends was a bit muffled and often sounded tinny. The electronic noise cancellation didn’t do a particularly good job at cutting back on ambient noise either. The Amazfit Powerbuds would not be my first choice if making calls is a primary use case.
Amazfit Powerbuds True Wireless EarphonesBuy it Now
$99.00
Priced at $99 in the US and Rs. 6,999 in India, the Amazfit Powerbuds true wireless earphones sound great and have excellent battery life. The fitness features work as advertised but I wouldn’t necessarily buy the earphones just for that, unless you are already tied into the Amazfit ecosystem of fitness wearables. The IP55 rating is great to have and the magnetized ear hooks are a very well-thought-out addition.
There are other options like the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 and the Redmi Buds S that deliver decent sound at similar or lower prices, but the feature set here is hard to match, and that makes the Amazfit Powerbuds true wireless earphones a win in my books.
Overall, there’s little to fault here and if you are in the market for a new pair of fitness-focused earphones that also sound great, the Amazfit Powerbuds true wireless earphones get a resounding thumbs up from me.
The longest of cycling’s five Monuments finally takes place this weekend – read on for full details on how to get a live stream of the 2020 Milan-San Remo with our guide below.
Having been postponed from its scheduled date back in the spring, the 111st edition of the La Classicissima di Primavera has been rejigged for this weekend’s revised date.
Still a gruelling 299 kilometres, the route has been adjusted inland to avoid tourist hotspots as part of Coronavirus precautions. The race’s iconic Via Roma final 40 kilometres nevertheless remains the same.
Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Julian Alaphilippe is out to defend his 2019 victory although his preparations in the run up to Saturday’s event have been less than ideal, with the Frenchman having a torrid time during last weekend’s Strade Bianche after suffering multiple tyre punctures.
Hopes are high meanwhile for Lotto Soudal duo Caleb Ewan and Philippe Gilbert with Belgian star Gilbert out to win the last remaining race of cycling’s five Monuments that has so far eluded him.
Read on to find out how to watch the Milan-San Remo no matter where you are in the world.
Milan-San Remo – where and when
The one day event takes place on Saturday, August 8 and begins in Milan at 11.10 CET local time – that makes it a 10.10am BST start. Making it a 5.10am ET, 2.10am PT for U.S. cycling fans and a 7.10pm AEST start in Australia.
Watch the Milan-San Remo online from outside your country
We have details of all the US, UK, Australian and Canadian broadcasters of this weekend’s cycling further down in this guide. If you’re intent on watching the Milan-San Remo, but find yourself away from home then you’ll run into problems when trying to stream your domestic coverage online from abroad as it’s likely to be geo-blocked.
That’s where using one of the best VPN (Virtual Private Network) options can be a lifesaver. They allow you to virtually change the ISP of your laptop, tablet or mobile to one that’s back in your home country, letting you watch as if you were back there.
VPN’s are incredibly easy to use and have the added benefit of giving you a further layer of security when surfing the web. There are lots of options, and we recommend ExpressVPN as our #1 pick due to its speed, security and ease of use. It can be used on a vast array of operating systems and devices (e.g. iOS, Android, Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick,
Roku, games consoles, etc). Sign up for ExpressVPN
now now and enjoy a 49% discount and 3 months FREE with an annual subscription. Or give it a try with its 30-day money back guarantee. Looking for other options? Here are some alternatives that are on sale right now.
No matter where in the world you may be, a VPN is one of the easiest ways to watch the Milan-San Remo. Get in on this deal now!
How to watch the Milan-San Remo online in the U.S.
Cycling speciality streaming service FloBikes is the place to head in the US for those looking to watch this iconic race.
A subscription to FloBikes will set you back $30 per month or $150 for the year, and gives you access to most of the cycling season’s biggest races.
You can also use the popular streaming service Fubo.tv to gain access to the big race. It starts at $55 per month but you also need to add the $12 Cycling Bundle to be able to watch the Milan-San Remo action this weekend.
On top of the regular Fubo package, you will need to add the Cycling Bundle so that you can tune in and watch all the racers pedal their hearts out. The extra costs $12 per month, but it can be used on nearly any device so it’s easy to access whether you’ll be at home or not.
How to stream the Milan-San Remo 2020 live in the UK
Eurosport has exclusive live coverage of the Milan-San Remo in the UK, with Eurosport 1 is the channel to head to via Sky, BT TV or Virgin Media. If you’re looking to watch the race on a laptop or mobile device, you’ll need to grab the standalone Eurosport Player twitch costs £6.99 a month or £39.99 for the whole year.
How to stream the Milan-San Remo live in Canada
Like the US, Canadians can watch all the action from Italy via streaming service FloBikes.
A monthly subscription will cost you $30 while a yearly account will set you back $150 ($12.50 per month), which will give you access to coverage of major cycling events throughout the year. You can also give Fubo.tv a shot.
On top of the regular Fubo package, you will need to add the Cycling Bundle so that you can tune in and watch all the racers pedal their hearts out. The extra costs $12 per month, but it can be used on nearly any device so it’s easy to access whether you’ll be at home or not.
The Milan-San Remo is being shown Down Under via Eurosport.
Unfortunately the channel is now no longer available via Foxtel or Kayo Sports, with the network now exclusive to PVR streaming box service Fetch TV, with the service priced at $8.99/month
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