What do you get when you take the bended screen Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and include a stylus? The Galaxy Note 7, which Samsung uncovered today in New York.
Indeed, even with its disparities, the Note 7's wraparound screens, 12-megapixel camera, expandable capacity and water-safe covering convey it nearer to the S7 arrangement than to a year ago's Note 5 (truth is stranger than fiction, there's no Note 6). What's more, that is something worth being thankful for. The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are two of the year's best telephones, with incredible cameras and battery life - not an awful approach to start your pedigreed life as a telephone.
From what I've seen in this way, the Note 7 ought to fall in line as a marvelous, powerful gadget whose stylus traps take the Note to the following level. On paper, it rectifies the greatest setbacks of the Note 5, however our imminent testing will affirm this. Be that as it may, on the off chance that you as of now purchased a S7 or S7 Edge, don't stress - you haven't been deserted.
This is what the Note 7 has that the Note 5 doesn't:
Bended screens (more honed, less inclining than the S7 Edge)
USB-C charger port (Samsung's first telephone to receive the new standard)
Iris scanner to open the telephone with your eyes
Gorilla Glass 5 screen (the main telephone with Corning's new screen tech)
More delicate, exact S Pen stylus
Water-safe telephone body and S Pen
MicroSD card opening (like the S7 telephones)
Bigger battery (3,500 mAh versus Note 5's 3,000 mAh)
Better low-light camera
New S Pen traps, similar to amplification and GIF-production
Stylus won't get stuck on the off chance that you stick it in reverse
Coral Blue shading decision (it's awesome)
So if the S7 Edge and Note 7 are just about equipment twins, who is the Note 7 for? Power clients. Samsung targets individuals who need the telephone with the most products, and the Note's coasting stylus and additional written work, drawing and route apparatuses give it every one of the things.
The JunoCam camera on board NASA's Juno mission is operational and sending down information after the shuttle's July 4 landing in Jupiter. Juno's obvious light camera was turned on six days after Juno let go its primary motor and set itself into space around the biggest planetary tenant of our nearby planetary group. The principal high-determination pictures of the gas monster Jupiter are still a couple of weeks away.
"This scene from JunoCam shows it survived its first go through Jupiter's great radiation environment with no corruption and is prepared to go up against Jupiter," said Scott Bolton, chief examiner from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "We can hardly wait to see the primary perspective of Jupiter's shafts."
The new view was gotten on July 10, 2016, at 10:30 a.m. PDT (1:30 p.m. EDT, 5:30 UTC), when the shuttle was 2.7 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) from Jupiter on the outbound leg of its underlying 53.5-day catch circle. The shading picture demonstrates climatic components on Jupiter, including the well known Great Red Spot, and three of the huge planet's four biggest moons - Io, Europa and Ganymede, from left to right in the picture.
"JunoCam will keep on taking pictures as we go around in this first circle," said Candy Hansen, Juno co-examiner from the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona. "The primary high-determination pictures of the planet will be gone up against August 27 when Juno makes its next close go to Jupiter."
JunoCam is a shading, noticeable light camera intended to catch striking photos of Jupiter's shafts and cloud tops. As Juno's eyes, it will give a wide view, giving setting to the shuttle's different instruments. JunoCam was incorporated on the shuttle particularly for reasons for open engagement; in spite of the fact that its pictures will be useful to the science group, it is not viewed as one of the mission's science instruments.
The Juno group is as of now attempting to place all pictures taken by JunoCam on the mission's site, where the general population can get to them.
Amid its central goal of investigation, Juno will circle the Jovian world 37 times, taking off low over the planet's cloud tops - as close as around 2,600 miles (4,100 kilometers). Amid these flybys, Juno will test underneath the darkening overcast front of Jupiter and study its auroras to take in more about the planet's roots, structure, climate and magnetosphere.
JPL deals with the Juno mission for the key agent, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is a piece of NASA's New Frontiers Program, which is overseen at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Michael Ravine of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, is the JunoCam instrument lead. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, manufactured the rocket. Caltech in Pasadena oversees JPL for NASA.
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View
Five years in the wake of withdrawing Earth, and a month in the wake of slipping into space around Jupiter, NASA's Juno rocket is nearing a defining moment. On July 31 at 12:41 p.m. PDT (3:41 p.m. EDT), Juno will achieve the most remote point in its circle of Jupiter surprisingly, known as "apojove," 5 million miles (8.1 million kilometers) from the mammoth planet. After that point, Jupiter's gravitational grasp on Juno will bring about the rocket to start falling back toward the planet for another pass, this time with its investigative eyes totally open.
The shuttle is as of now executing the first of two long circles before starting its science mission. Every catch circle is about two months in length - an incredible sit tight for the mission's enthusiastic group of researchers - however it's nothing contrasted with the long hold up the group continued on the trek to Jupiter.
Juno dispatched on Aug. 5, 2011. The rocket took a long, circling way around the internal nearby planetary group to set up an Earth flyby, in which our planet's gravity flung the turning test ahead toward Jupiter.
"For a long time we've been centered around getting to Jupiter. Presently we're there, and we're focusing on starting many flybys of Jupiter to get the science we're after," said Scott Bolton, Juno central specialist at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.Juno touched base at Jupiter on July 4, terminating its principle rocket motor as made arrangements for 35 minutes. The faultless move permitted Jupiter's gravity to catch the sun based controlled rocket into the first of two 53.4-day-long circles, alluded to as catch circles. Taking after the catch circles, Juno will fire its motor yet again to abbreviate its orbital period to 14 days and start its science mission.
In any case, before that happens, on Aug. 27, Juno must complete its first lap around Jupiter, with a completion line that speaks to the mission's nearest ignore the gas mammoth. Amid the experience, Juno will skim past Jupiter at a minor 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) over the cloud tops.
Juno's science instruments were killed amid circle insertion, to streamline rocket operations amid that basic move. Interestingly, every one of the instruments will gather information amid the Aug. 27 pass, which serves as a trial keep running before the mission gets the opportunity to work gathering the valuable information it wanted.
"We're in a brilliant condition of wellbeing, with the rocket and every one of the instruments completely looked at and prepared for our first very close take a gander at Jupiter," said Rick Nybakken, Juno venture administrator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
With its intense suite of science instruments, Juno will test Jupiter's profound structure, air dissemination and the high-vitality material science of its attractive surroundings. What Juno finds there will uncover critical intimations to Jupiter's arrangement and advancement, alongside bits of knowledge about how our planetary framework and others are fabricated.
JPL deals with the Juno mission for the central examiner, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is a piece of NASA's New Frontiers Program, which is overseen at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Caltech in Pasadena oversees JPL for NASA.
The Android N developer preview gives us a sneak peek into what Android Nougat will look like when it officially arrives later this year. Of course, developer previews quite often contain features that won’t make it to the final release but there’s still plenty to get excited about, so let’s dive right in. Here are all the Android 7.0 Nougat features from the latest Android N preview updates as well as others we expect to see in future. Please note that some features have been officially confirmed by Google, while others, “confirmed” by the developer preview, could still disappear before Android 7.0 arrives in September.
Update: The fifth and final preview of Android N is now available. Android N developer preview 5 provides “near-final” system images, an emulator for devs testing apps targeted at API 24 and more. See below for the user-facing breakdown.
Google revealed the official name for Android N is going to be Android Nougat, not Android Nutella, as many had hoped (just check the comments under Google’s tweet for confirmation). Based on other clues from Google I/O and in developer previews, we already knew the next major Android version would be Android 7.0 but now we can confirm it is Android 7.0 Nougat.
All the screenshots and mockups featured at I/O showed the time 7:00 – Google’s traditional method of hinting at the next Android version number. The same time appeared in demo mode in Dev Preview 4.
Android Nougat discharge date
As opposed to hold up until Google I/O 2016, Google chose to astound all of us by discharging the main Android N designer sneak peak on March 9, two entire months sooner than anticipated. The Android N sneak peak went live for the Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 (Wi-Fi and LTE), Nexus Player and Pixel C on the Android Developers site. The primary beta discharge competitor showed up amid Google I/O on May 18, 2016.
Samsung's Gear 360 gets all the basics right for a consumer 360 camera.
It's small, easy to use (for capturing and editing), the video quality is good (for a first-generation model) and it's affordably priced at $349.99.
The Gear 360 is not the first consumer 360-degree video camera — Kodak, Ricoh, LG and several other companies also make them — but it could be the most user-friendly.
That's saying a lot since this whole 360-degree video thing (also called 360 video or VR video) is still very new for us normals.
Though 360-video capture and 360 videos aren't new, there is a growing interest for them thanks to the rise of virtual reality and VR headsets.
Much like how Samsung positioned itself to offer the best mobile VR experience with the Gear VR, the company is now doing trying to do the same for capture 360 video, at least for consumers.
Sleek, sensible design
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
In recent years, Samsung has really honed its skills when it comes to designing delightful gadgets that aren't frustratingly difficult to use. Its flagship Galaxy phones, Gear S2 smartwatch and Gear VR headset are all easy-to-use products that shows Samsung really gets it.
The tennis ball-sized Gear 360 is small and compact. It reminds me of an old Logitech webcam from the '90s, only it has two 180-degree fisheye lenses on opposite sides.
Included with the camera is a drawstring pouch and microfiber cloth for storing and cleaning the two lenses (which you'll do often). The Gear 360 also comes with a mini three-legged tripod that collapses into a little handle.
The Gear 360 is the slickest 360 camera with two lenses I've ever used. The plastic body is dust and water-resistant, which means it can survive a day at the beach or a light shower.
Menu and power buttons
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
Record button/LCD
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
There are only three buttons on the camera: two on the side (power and menu/Bluetooth) and one on the top (record/OK). Right below the red record button is a tiny little LCD for showing you info like recording time, battery life, etc.
Operating the Gear 360 really couldn't be easier. It's really a testament to Samsung's design chops that the buttons aren't confusing at all — unlike a GoPro Hero 4, which also has three buttons but still confuses me every time I use one.
Only works with Samsung phones
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
It's all fantastic news until you realize the Gear 360 only works with Samsung smartphones. Specifically, Samsung's newest phones from within the last year: Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, Note 5, S7 and S7 Edge.
You're completely out of luck if you own another brand of Android phone or the iPhone. It's possible Samsung could extend compatibility with more devices in the future, but for now the Gear 360 only plays nice with the aforementioned Samsung phones.
Before using the Gear 360, you'll need to download the Gear 360 Manager app to your phone. I used a Galaxy S7 Edge.
The camera pairs with your Samsung phone through Bluetooth and a few moments later you're staring at a very Samsung-esque app that gives you a live view of your video, various camera settings (i.e. white balance, exposure, etc.) and access to the 360 content you've captured.
One small thing I really liked was how fast the Gear 360 connected to the S7 Edge. The camera connected instantly as soon as I launched the Gear 360 Manager app.
Recorded footage is saved to a microSD card and then transferred to your paired Samsung phone for viewing and editing. The camera supports up to 200GB microSD cards.
Capturing in 360
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
Capturing 360 content is just as simple. You select your mode, either from the camera itself or in the app, and then tap the record button on the camera or in the app.
There are four 360 degree-capturing modes on the Gear 360: video, photo, timelapse and looping video. All four are pretty self-explanatory. The latter lets you create videos (limited at up to five minutes) that will automatically replay from the beginning once you've reached the end.
The Gear 360 supports various timer intervals so the beginning of your 360 videos won't always be of you pressing the record button and then stepping away from it. I found myself setting longer timers to give myself time to get out of the way or else I'd have to trim them with the app afterwards.
Resolutions
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
Manual settings
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
Each lens contains a 15-megapixel CMOS sensor with an f/2.0 aperture inside. Times two, that gives you 30-megapixels for still 360 photos.
For 360 videos and 360 timelapses and 360 looping videos, you can set the resolution as high as 3,840 x 1,920 at 30 fps or 2,560 x 1,280 at 60 fps. There are several different resolutions in-between which also affects how much video you'll be able to store. Lower resolution videos equals smaller files, which equals longer recording times.
While the whole point of a 360 camera is to, well, capture 360-degree content, you can set the camera to only shoot through one lens at a maximum resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 (default is 1080p at 30 fps). It's kind of like also getting an action camera built right in.
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
The app is also used to stitch the recorded footage from both cameras together, save and edit them. Stitching times vary depending on your resolution settings and what type of content it is.
Swappable battery
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
Swappable memory card
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It's important to note that the only way to edit 360 content with your phone is to save them from the the microSD card to your phone's internal storage. I tried editing them directly from the microSD card, but it always reverted to saving them first.
Stitching 30-megapixel photos took about 3-4 seconds. Timelapses are two to three times longer. In my tests, there wasn't really any consistency on the conversions. A 42-second 360 video shot at the highest resolution and a 1-minute video both took the same 2 minutes and 41 seconds to process. I repeated the conversions several times and sometimes both clips took a full minute longer to process. Clearly, your mileage will vary... a lot.
How 360 footage looks
Now for what you all care about: video and picture quality and audio quality.
Like regular 2D video recording, there is good- and poor-quality 360 recording. The Gear 360 falls somewhere in the middle in the realm of consumer 360 cameras.
It's nowhere near as high-res and sharp as the 360 camera rigs made up of a dozen GoPros that cost thousands of dollars, but it's still better than Ricoh's Theta S, LG's 360 Cam and smartphone apps like Google's Cardboard Camera.
I shot mainly with the settings at the highest resolution possible since the defaults, which were lower, weren't very sharp after looking them over.
There are some downsides to shooting at the highest resolution: less recording time because the files are larger, lower battery life (I got about an hour with the highest resolution), overheating (the camera had automatically powered down to cool off several times when it got too hot) and longer processing/stitching times for the app to crunch.
To be honest, I'm neither super impressed nor super disappointed with the final videos and photos. I know the technology is still new for consumer 360 cameras, and it'll get better over time.
Once footage from both cameras are stitched via the app, you can still clearly see the stitch lines. It's less noticeable than many of the other 360 cameras I've tried, but still breaks the immersion of consumer 360 content. To avoid splicing your face in half, it's best to aim the lenses directly at you.
Even with some of the camera settings adjusted and High Dynamic Range (HDR) and "Sharpness" turned on, I didn't see a noticeable leap in clarity. Sure, tweaking the exposure and white balanced brightened and changed the color temperature of the 360 footage, but doing so also introduced other problems like overexposed skies and lights.
Additionally, when the Gear 360 is mounted on a tripod or in your hand, you'll always see the distorted imagery of the the tripod and your hand in the video.
360 photo shared to Facebook:
Same 360 photo shared to Flickr:
Capturing 360 content in low light is fairly decent. Your footage will have a lot of image noise, but even at midnight, the footage is at least visible.
Audio quality is so-so. It's on-par with what you get from many action cameras. It gets the job done, but doesn't wow.
Once you've got all your 360 videos, you can view and share them in a number of ways. You can look at them right on your phone, share 360 photos to Flickr or Facebook and 360 videos to Facebook and YouTube, or view them in VR.
As with all videos, uploading them online compresses the quality. Which makes it all the more critical that you shoot your content at the highest possible resolutions possible, even if it does mean less battery life. (Buy a spare battery or pick up a battery pack to charge it up on the go.)
I'm not sure why, but uploading 360 photos to Facebook crops them into squares. Flickr has no such issues.
A whole new world
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
It's still too early to tell if 360 videos will be here to stay for the long term of if they'll end up a fad like 3D. My hunch is they won't suffer 3D's fate, but it won't be mainstream the way so many companies like Facebook are touting it to be.
While I definitely enjoyed watching the 360 content I created and the Gear 360 made it oh-so-easy to capture footage, it wasn't without learning curves.
It's still very weird to go around in public holding a 360 camera out at arm's length. People never stop staring and always ask questions. One lady on the subway (in the 360 video above) complained the camera is too expensive and battery life too short. Others thought I was hunting for aliens, a comment I also got last year while testing the360fly in London.
Capturing 360 content, be it photos or videos, also requires a completely new way of framing. Or rather, the lack of framing. I was never comfortable putting the Gear 360 on a tripod and then leaving it in the middle of, say, a street intersection (or anywhere public actually) for fear of someone stealing it. And standing in front of it wasn't really a great option since I would be completely blocking one side.
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
IMAGE: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE
A lot of what makes great 360 content feel real is the fact that you can't see the camera operator. For consumer 360 cameras, it's tough to not be in the shot. But maybe I'm just a perfectionist and people don't care if they're blocking one side or if their arm or tripod is visible (kind of like how they don't care about selfie sticks in all of their pics).
For a first try, Samsung got just about all the core hardware and software right. The resolution could be crisper, the battery life longer, processing times could be faster and more consistent and the included mini tripod could use some more texture for a firmer. But these things will all get better in future models.
Assuming you've already got a Samsung phone, the Gear 360 is a great companion if you're even remotely interested in shooting 360 content.
Samsung Gear 360
The Good
Compact design • Super easy to use • Multiple 360 modes • Good video quality (at highest setting) • Tripod socket on bottom • Swappable storage
The Bad
Only works with select Samsung Galaxy phones • Slipper three-legged tripod pack-in •Battery life is not great
The Bottom Line
Samsung's Gear 360 gets all the basics right for a first-gen 360 camera.
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