News
HTC Desire 10 Pro, Desire 10 Lifestyle announced: style over substance
HTC has struggled with flagging sales and profits lately. Even with the release of the likable HTC 10 flagship, the Taiwanese phone maker hasn’t posted a positive quarter in five straight tries.
On Tuesday, the company took another step to reverse its fortunes with the unveiling of the Desire 10 Pro and Desire 10 Lifestyle. With them, HTC hopes it can stake out a profitable position in the midrange segment.
Before we get too technical, it’s worth noting that the two phones look upscale and refined with their metal and matte-plastic designs and gold highlights gracing the back and sides of each device. But while the two are nearly identical on the outside — they even share the same 5.5-inch screen size and Android Marshmallow software — they are a whole lot different on the inside.
HTC has yet to reveal pricing details, but the Desire 10 Lifestyle is currently being rolled out to stores in Europe as we speak. The Desire 10 Pro is due for release next month. The devices will be available in a variety of shades: black, white, navy blue, and a light blue color scheme HTC is calling “Valentine Lux” for seemingly no apparent reason.
HTC Desire 10 Pro
Of the two, the Desire 10 Pro is obviously the handset you’d want if you can afford it, as it comes with faster specs, better cameras, and fingerprint hardware for unlocking the phone and controlling the camera app.
The screen is of 1080p resolution and at the helm is an above-average MediaTek Helio P10 processor paired with a roomy 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage that is expandable via a microSD card slot. The 20-megapixel rear camera is almost flush with the body and has fast autofocus and two-tone flash, while the front camera gets a 13-megapixel sensor, plus a special mode for taking group selfies. HTC claims the 3,000mAh battery offers up to 11 hours of video playback or 8 hours of internet use over WiFi.
HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle
The Desire 10 Lifestyle retains the Pro’s lovely aesthetic but sheds everything else that makes the latter a contender in the wide-open Android market. It settles for an aging Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset, which is now listed as a wearable CPU, and drops down to a 13-megapixel camera on the rear and a 5-megapixel front-facer. There’s no fingerprint sensor, no generous RAM and storage provisions.
It will come in two variants: one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage; the other with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Thankfully, you can expand the storage using a microSD card, up to an additional 2TB. The battery is rated at 2,700mAh and should be good for up to 8 hours of video-watching or 7 hours of WiFi use.
[irp posts=”11392″ name=”HTC’s ‘unexpected surprise’ is surprisingly disappointing”]
Gaming
Resident Evil Requiem will get a story expansion
There’s no word yet on when the story expansion will drop.
Resident Evil Requiem, Pokémon Pokopia, and Slay the Spire 2. Between these three, gamers today are eating well and good. Or rather, they’re not, because of how addicting of a time sink these titles are. The latter two especially are built to be played over and over for weeks and months. Now, Resident Evil Requiem is working on something, so you also won’t forget about it in a few months’ time.
Via an official post on Resident Evil’s social media platforms, Capcom has confirmed that a story expansion is coming to the horror game. Currently, the base game doesn’t take long to beat, especially when compared to other RPGs today. The expansion should add more content to explore the story’s world.
Right now, Capcom can’t share a timeline for the update’s launch. However, in the meantime, the developers are cooking up a few minor updates to keep the game alive. For one, the game will receive performance updates to improve the smoothness of gameplay and fix bugs. It will also get a photo mode for all you Leon-holics out there.
Finally, in May, the base game will get a “minigame” added to the main game. There’s no word as to what this minigame is, so we’ll have to wait for when it drops.
Resident Evil Requiem is out now on all major platforms. The game features the survival horror style of the modern Resident Evil games, while serving up the classic action gameplay with the return of Leon S. Kennedy as a co-protagonist with Grace Ashcroft.
SEE ALSO: Resident Evil Requiem is out now
Entertainment
Samurai Champloo is getting a live-action adaptation
The adaptation is coming from One Piece’s Tomorrow Studios.
The live-action One Piece, which recently premiered its second season on Netflix, is one of the rare wins for the anime adaptation segment, especially after a string of misfires. Now, after the success of that series, things are getting bolder. Tomorrow Studios, which produced Netflix’s One Piece, will adapt Samurai Champloo into a live-action format.
Still from the brilliant mind of Shinichirō Watanabe, Samurai Champloo is often touted as the samurai version of Watanabe’s more popular Cowboy Bebop but with a more cohesive story and a hipper soundtrack. Since its first airing over two decades ago, the series has enjoyed a cult following, especially for those who enjoyed Cowboy Bebop.
First reported by Variety, Tomorrow Studios will adapt the show into a live-action series. Critically, Watanabe will be involved in the show’s production.
Because the show is still in early development, there’s no news beyond that. In fact, though it’s likely that Netflix will pick the series up, Tomorrow Studios hasn’t shopped the series to platforms yet.
Samurai Champloo is going to be a huge gamble for the studio. Previously, Tomorrow Studios crashed and burned with its Cowboy Bebop adaptation, which ended up getting canned soon after its premiere. Watanabe even criticized the series for changing the plot too much.
This time, however, Watanabe has given his blessing and will likely steer the adaptation to success. The studio has also promised an adaptation more faithful to the original’s story and soundtrack. Both of which were crucial to the original show’s success.
SEE ALSO: One Piece: Into the Grand Line unveils final trailer ahead of premiere
BYD is lighting up the electric vehicle segment. For a while now, the Chinese automotive brand has been offering affordable alternatives to the so-called giants of the market, in turn becoming a giant itself. The company has since entered other segments, including the luxury market, through its sub-brands Denza and Yangwang. Now, it’s reportedly considering an all-new venture: the world of Formula One.
The new Formula One season saw the debuts of Audi and Cadillac to the racing grid, proving that the sport isn’t averse to expanding beyond the usual ten teams. Naturally, entering the sport is not an easy process, but for the right brand, it could be a very lucrative opportunity.
According to a source from Bloomberg, BYD is currently evaluating an entry into Formula 1. Right now, the Chinese company has not made a decision, but it is an idea floating around.
Besides the rigorous entry process, owning an independent racing team can cost BYD hundreds of millions of dollars per year. It’s not a cheap sport.
That said, there are other ways for the brand to enter the grid. One of the more cost-effective options is to become a title sponsor of an existing team by providing funding and technical expertise without the stress of managing a team directly.
Alternatively, the brand can also skip the red tape by buying an existing team. Audi, for example, entered the current grid by buying the team from Sauber. Of the current grid, Alpine is reportedly considering putting the team up for sale, making it a potential target for newcomers.
Outside of F1, BYD might also have an easier time entering other competitions including the FIA World Endurance Championship.
SEE ALSO: This BYD car is now the world’s fastest car in the market
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