The Morning After: Monday, July 3rd 2017
Everything's okay.
Hey, good morning!
Yes, it's Monday, but you might've missed some interesting things over the weekend: kangaroos that confuse self-driving cars, some 'Zelda' DLC that's a perfect fit and a new Sony smartphone that could be a contender.
Samsung's resurrected Galaxy Note 7 launches on July 7th
If you've missed the Galaxy Note 7 since it was discontinued over chronic battery fires, you now have a second chance at ownership... if you're willing to book a flight to Seoul. Samsung has confirmed recent rumors and its own teaser by announcing a refurbished version of the Note 7, the Galaxy Note Fan Edition, that will launch in South Korea on (appropriately enough) July 7th. As you might guess, it's largely the same phone hardware-wise -- the big difference is the use of safer, smaller-capacity batteries, which have, thankfully, passed stricter testing standards.
The new 'Zelda' DLC is all about exploration and survival
Fans were worried Nintendo would stumble when it came to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's DLC packs. Rest easy, Hylian hero, Breath of the Wild's first DLC drop is light, but actually pretty good. Mostly because it focuses on what made the game great in the first place: survival, exploration and problem solving.
The XZ Premium is a perfectly capable phone if you can find enough use for its standout feature
At long last, Sony has made a seriously compelling flagship. Not only is the Xperia XZ Premium the best-looking handset the company has made in years but it also boasts a high-end camera capable of extreme slow-mo video recording. Plus it's one of the first phones to use the Snapdragon 835 chipset, which supports Gigabit LTE speeds where available. And, it has a sumptuous 5.5-inch 4K display that is HDR-ready. That's a whole lot of reasons to check out the phone, but is it worth splurging $800 on?
bHaptics' TactSuit is VR haptic feedback done right.
Every now and then, we come across a new attempt to bring haptic feedback to VR, but we've yet to see a fully convincing one; most tend to be both pricey and far from ready for prime time. At HTC's Vive X demo day in Shanghai, we got some hands-on time with bHaptics' TactSuit, a wireless kit with a haptic mask (which is a rarity), two haptic sleeves and a haptic vest. The fascinating part, though, is its total of 87 feedback points, which is a lot more generous than what the other suits offer.
