Category: Technology

Sorry, beefcakes, but this review isn’t for you. All the fighters and rangers out there will still get a sense of how phenomenal Avowed is, the lushness of its environments, the clarity of its combat systems and the depth of its conversation trees — but at its core, this is the review for Avowed players who want to spend their time in the Living Lands learning how to become a master of mushroom-powered magic. This is the Avowed review for wizards. And, sure, all of their friends.

To be clear, I would happily play Avowed as any mixture of classes, and I’m likely going to boot up a new campaign and do exactly this very soon. But in my first runthrough, I wanted to see if the game would let me live out my fantastical spell-slinging dreams, and it absolutely did.

Avowed is a first-person, open-world RPG from Obsidian and it’s a spin-off of the studio’s Pillars of Eternity series, but it introduces an entirely fresh storyline and map, and doesn’t require any existing knowledge of that universe. You are the envoy to the powerful Aedyran empire and you’ve just landed on the shores of the Living Lands, a lawless region occupied by outcasts, criminals and refugees from the wider world. Aedyr and its good squad, the Steele Garrote, are making inroads in this land and attempting to wrest control of its settlements in the name of law and order. You know, classic colonizer shit. However, that’s not why you’re here — you’re on a mission to uncover the source of the Dreamscourge, a rapidly spreading illness that consumes the minds of people and animals, covering their bodies in bright fungal growths and turning them into rabid killing machines. It’s kind of like cordyceps in The Last of Us, but with rainbow face mushrooms and rambling spiritual breakdowns preceding the full zombie phase.

The Dreamscourge’s growths look eerily similar to markings on your own face, but you’ve carried yours since birth and they signify you as a godlike, someone who’s been touched by one of the many deities of this world. This is a rare and special status, and part of your journey involves uncovering the identity of your god, a mystery that’s haunted your entire life. What’s more, as you interact with aquamarine pillars of spiritual power called adra, a booming voice interrupts your thoughts and dreams, begging you to trust it and claiming it can help cleanse the world.

This complex foundation forms a tapestry of twisting, interlocking narrative threads that span politics, military strategy, religion, occultism, science, trust, relationships, duty and identity over 45 hours of playtime. That’s for a fairly focused run, too — I skipped plenty of sidequests in the interest of finishing the game before my deadline, and a full, leisurely playthrough could easily have tacked on 20 more hours and oodles of narrative intrigue. The lore runs deep in Avowed and each of its storylines is handled with supreme care, as are all of the notes, letters, poems and plaques scattered across the Living Lands. There are thousands of completely optional pieces of writing to find here, and each one is delivered in its own voice, serving its own purpose. Avowed is full of life and its history was written with a deft hand.

After creating my character with purple and pink hair, yellow freckles and big coral mushroom paddles across my eyes, I chose to be a Court Augur — the most mystical option — and started building out my interpersonal and mana-generating stats. Mana in this game is called essence, and you also have health and stamina gauges. Leveling up certain characteristics unlocks their associated dialogue options in conversations, and throughout my playthrough, I focused on Perception, Intellect and Resolve because I hate being made to look a fool. Also, as the game progressed, I realized I needed as much stamina and essence as I could get.

The Living Lands comprise four main regions: Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Shatterscarp and Galawain’s Tusks. Their landscapes range from lush, water-logged forests dotted with iridescent fog and glowing mushrooms, to blackened, craggy spires and bone-like structures in a hellish volcanic wasteland. Each area is gorgeous in its own way and packed with people to help, bounties to secure, secrets to unravel and so very many shiny items to pick up. As someone who absolutely can’t resist a glowing outline or the tinkling of a nearby lockbox, Avowed is a buffet of delight. The game encourages you to pick up absolutely everything in sight, and though there is an encumbrance limit, it’s generous and never caused me any real problems. There also seems to be no such thing as “stealing” with your character, no matter how destitute or hostile the surrounding NPCs may be.

The dialogue system offers ample opportunity to forge a distinct personality and apply it to every scenario, whether you want to be a hardline government simp, religious zealot, socialist vigilante or some combination of all three. The choices you make in conversations with townsfolk, your companions and the voice in your head ripple across the campaign, altering the outcomes of major narrative points in tangible ways. Treat each decision as if it really matters, because in this game, it probably does.

Avowed let me live out my anti-colonization, pro-contraceptive, magical underground rebellion fantasy, but I found it just as enjoyable to talk to kith — the humanoid creatures of the Living Lands — just for the sake of talking. My favorite dialogue moments happened while standing around the fire of my party camp, learning more about the lives of my companions, shaping my own personality and swapping scary stories. Also, the way the firelight glints off of the slick turquoise scales of my companion Kai’s chest is endlessly mesmerizing.

Ahem, speaking of — there is no romance in Avowed and I have to say, I didn’t miss it. Horny characters abound in the Living Lands, so there’s no shortage of flirty dialogue options if you care to partake, but there’s enough happening at all times that a roll in the hay never feels like top priority. Your party maxes out with four companions: the aforementioned Rauataian nomad Kai, the mountain dwarf and tracker Marius, the defiant animancer human Giatta, and the talented wizard-in-training Yatzli, a hearth orlan with pink hair and big, fluffy ears. I know who I would start a romance with — Giatta and I had some lovely fireside chats — but more than anything, I’m happy to have these characters as my friends and reinforcements throughout the game.

Some of Avowed’s best storylines are sidequests about your companions’ lives, fleshing out their personal demons, helping them find closure, and providing context for their behaviors and beliefs. Kai’s sidequest involving his old friend, Tama, stands out as a particularly moving vignette. Play it when you see it.

You can take two companions at a time on your adventures, and the campaign touches on their backstories in turn, making certain party members more useful in specific missions. Kai is a tank with a fire-starting gun; Marius has a bow and shadow-step assassin ability; Giatta heals, shields and buffs; and Yatzli uses magic to control crowds and deal devastating damage.

Once I realized that playing as a wizard meant I didn’t have to use a grimoire to cast spells, I was completely committed to maxing out that class tree, ignoring the fighter and ranger skills entirely. There’s also a godlike ability tree that fills up as you discover memories of your past lives in hidden locations around the Living Lands. Godlike moves include things like passive boosts, area-of-effect spells and attacks. Finding one of these is a treat, because it triggers a moment of introspection between your character and the voice in their head: A beautiful, hand-drawn image of an ancient event fills the screen and the voice asks how you acted in past moments of extreme tragedy and triumph. These conversations nurture your relationship with the voice and help establish your personal history, and they’re quietly, deeply satisfying.

In combat, I ended up with two main loadouts: A wand and one-handed staff as my main, and a flaming sword and pirate-y gun in the other. Every now and then I swapped my secondary loadout for a bow, which takes two hands to fire but never runs out of arrows, and I had a lot of fun landing headshots from afar. I upgraded my chosen weapons and armor at the party camp throughout my adventure, and added enhancements to the objects that could handle them. Upgrading and enhancing is its own little game, and this feature made me feel less insane as I ran in the opposite direction of my waypoint marker, compulsively picking up every single shiny thing on screen. This is for upgrades, I whispered to myself while gathering my 166th twig. Yes, yes, upgrades.

The action wheel was also a critical tool. Opening it during combat pauses the action, allowing you to browse consumables, godlike abilities and, most importantly for a young wizard, spells. I mapped health and three spells to the D-pad, but the rest of my magic abilities were added to the wheel as I unlocked them. It became second nature in the heat of battle to pull up the wheel, down some wild mushroom stew and then pick a spell to fling at incoming enemies, whether ice, fire, lightning or pure magic damage, laser-focused or area-of-effect. And then, I’d watch my foes fry. Truly, I loved being a wizard. Managing my stamina bar, essence meter and health gauge was the trickiest part of combat, but I quickly fell into a groove of stabbing, dodging and spell-slinging that worked against a range of enemy types. My overall combat tip is simple: Kill the healers first.

By the end of the campaign, I really did feel godlike.

Enemies in Avowed don’t level up relative to your own experience. This means those level one lizard bros in Dawnshore will always be level one, and the level five beetles in Galawain’s Tusks will always be level five. I appreciate this approach because it’s immediately clear when you need to spend some time grinding, and it’s easy to plan future raids and sidequest runs. That said, I’m a fan of grinding (hey-o), so this choice plays into my open-world RPG preferences nicely.

My time in the Living Lands wasn’t without bugs, of course, and I’m not talking about the giant spiders. I played on Xbox Series X and experienced four hard crashes in 45 hours, and three of these were in the same area, which happened to be a big boss fight, so that definitely wasn’t ideal. I restarted the game each time and didn’t lose any real progress. There were also consistent animation issues with close-up dialogue scenes, where it seemed like the game had trouble rendering characters based on how much hair they had — Yatzli was particularly stuttery from a visual standpoint. The flame animation on my Fan of Flames also cut out sometimes, but the damage kept spewing out, so this wasn’t a huge deal. None of these issues ruined the game and none of them are above further optimization from Obsidian — hopefully in a day-one patch. But honestly, by the time the end credits rolled, I’d forgotten that any of these things had happened. I simply felt warm and fulfilled, like I’d just completed a fantastic game.

The third line in my review notes says, “I would like to be a mushroom witch pls,” and Avowed let me be exactly that. I played the game as a kind and self-righteous chaos demon, but if I’d wanted, I could’ve been a staid enforcer of colonial expansion, a hubristic wannabe king or something in between. The Living Lands easily support all of these realities, thanks to a universe filled with fabulous writing, exciting secrets, breathtaking views, intriguing characters and smooth mechanics. Though Avowed is set in the world of an existing franchise and it’s yet another entry in the stacked genre of open-world fantasy RPGs, it feels like the start of something new.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/avowed-review-elder-scrolls-i-dont-know-her-140057830.html?src=rss 

On March 3, Mobile World Congress will kick off in Barcelona, Spain. While it’s not the premier show it once was, many of the smartphone industry’s leading players still attend the conference and frequently announce new devices there. Below, you’ll find a list of the more notable phones we expect to be announced at MWC 2025.

Nothing Phone 3a series

At MWC 2022, Nothing’s Carl Pei showed off a prototype of what would become the company’s first handset, the Nothing Phone 1, behind closed doors, and at last year’s event, Nothing announced the Phone 2(a). This year, we’re definitely getting at least one new device from the company at MWC, with Nothing teasing something for March 4, the second day of the show. 

I say at least one device because Nothing’s invite says “Phone 3a Series.” To add to that, recent reports suggest the company is preparing to announce a Phone (3a) Pro alongside a regular offering. Why would Nothing release a “Pro” version of a midrange device, you ask? I’m not sure, but this is Nothing we’re talking about and the company has frequently done things a bit differently from the rest of the pack.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra

In 2024, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra made its global debut ahead of MWC, and it’s looking like history will repeat. Before the start of this month, there was some evidence to suggest Xiaomi would launch its new flagship at MWC 2025, but more recent rumors suggest the company plans to announce the 15 Ultra on February 26. In any case, Xiaomi is listed as an exhibitor at MWC 2025, so if the phone does debut before the end of this month, there’s a good chance it will be on the show floor for people to try out. Like the 14 Ultra before it, it looks like the 15 Ultra will be a photography powerhouse, with the phone rumored to feature a 1-inch main sensor and 200-megapixel periscope telephoto lens.

HMD Global

Since 2017, HMD Global has been a mainstay at MWC. First, with its Nokia-branded phones, including retro throwbacks like the 8110 Reloaded, and now more recently with devices carrying its own name. Given that history, it seems a safe bet the company will have something to announce at the show. What that could be is more of a mystery, though it’s possible the sub-$100 HMD Key could get a global release.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge

After Samsung teased the Galaxy S25 Edge at Unpacked last month, you might think it would be fitting for the company to launch the phone in Barcelona next month. After all, MWC was the venue where, up until the Galaxy S10 in 2019, Samsung announced every S series phone beginning with the S2 back in 2011, and the company’s presence at MWC was the highlight of the event. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem Samsung is feeling nostalgic for and the sunny boulevards of Barcelona, with little in the way of rumors suggesting we could see the S25 Edge at MWC 2025. Still, never discount the chance Samsung may have a surprise up its sleeve.

Everything else

As Engadget’s resident AI reporter, I’m obligated to mention a lot of companies will probably have AI-related announcements to share at MWC 2025. Don’t expect anything from the big players like OpenAI — the company isn’t registered as an exhibitor — but with artificial intelligence being the trendy thing in the industry right now, everyone will be trying to cash in on the hype; in fact, “AI+” is one of the main themes of MWC 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/what-to-expect-at-mobile-world-congress-2025-140057792.html?src=rss 

We called 2023’s Galaxy Watch 6 a “modest upgrade” from the Galaxy Watch 5, which itself also got described as “very similar” to its predecessor, the Watch 4. So it’s perhaps not surprising that Samsung’s latest smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 7, represents yet another minor improvement over the last generation. That’s just the nature of a yearly update cycle for a device that is already doing most things right.

Samsung released the Galaxy Watch 7 in late July of 2024 and I started testing the watch in October. A series of events (Black Friday, the holidays, CES) pushed this review onto the back burner, which means I spent a lot of time with the watch in a less formal capacity, wearing it on and off for around three months before formally evaluating it for this review.

Design and hardware

Samsung stuck with a flat, round face and super thin aluminum bezels that give the Galaxy Watch 7 a more classic timepiece vibe than the square “I’m a computer” Apple Watch or the futuristic orb that is the Google Pixel Watch 3. The Watch 7 retains the curved case design introduced with the Watch 5, which is supposed to allow better contact between the sensors and your wrist. Unfortunately, the sensor node sticks out from the underside quite a bit. It took about a week of wearing the watch before it felt comfortable, and the first night I attempted to sleep with it, I was so bothered by it that I wrenched it off in the middle of the night.

That convex sensor node now houses 13 heart rate sensor LEDs, compared to just four on the Watch 6. We didn’t find anything lacking with the heart rate detection on the previous model and, when comparing the same workout on my personal Apple Watch Series 9 with the Galaxy Watch 7, I saw nearly the same beats-per-minute (bpm) readings. Performing a heart rate check manually on each watch gave the same result as well.

Just like last year, the watch is available in a 40mm or 44mm case, which have a 1.3-inch and 1.5-inch screen, respectively. I tested the smaller model and was impressed with how readable I found it. Personally, I use a 45mm Apple Watch because the 41mm version is too hard to read, but despite being seemingly smaller, the Galaxy’s screen was nearly as easy. Holding the two side by side, I saw why: across the middle (where the bulk of text is displayed) the 40mm Samsung watch is actually wider than the 45mm Apple wearable. That’s because rectangular screens are measured on the diagonal, but the diameter of a circle is the same length from any angle. The Galaxy Watch has a thicker bezel, but running your finger along it is one way of interacting with the screen, so it’s helpful to have extra space for that.

Two new colors, green and cream, add to the silver hue from last year. My silver review model is classy and the updated sport band has a scalloped texture (very reminiscent of the Apple Watch Ultra’s Ocean band, but much less bulky). Four pops of color thread just past the attachment points add a little personality. You can also customize the heck out of the watch faces, from background colors to clock fonts and complications. I was a fan of the new Ultra Info Board face and, overall, I felt like I had more appealing options in the faces gallery than with the Apple Watch — even before heading to the Play Store to look for more options.

The upgraded processor in the Galaxy Watch 7, Samsung’s own Exynos W1000, has one main CPU core and four smaller efficiency cores to run and switch between apps faster. We didn’t find the Watch 6 to be particularly slow, and I found the Watch 7 to be impressively fast when skimming through notifications, controlling Spotify, starting a workout and haphazardly opening and closing apps as I got to know the interface. RAM is the same at 2GB, but storage has doubled to 32GB (with 21GB available out of the box). I didn’t have long enough with the watch to put the capacity to the test, but the RAM seemed to keep the watch zipping along.

There are two new components on the Watch 7: a dual-band GPS receiver and a sensor that measures your advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) index. The AGEs index is assessed as you sleep and gauges your metabolic health by detecting accumulated sugar/lipid compounds in your skin. Higher levels are associated with faster aging and adverse health conditions. Instead of a number, the result is a dot on a spectrum. Mine was just to the high side of the middle, and suggestions for improving my levels included eating vegetables, limiting processed foods, getting more sleep and being more active. Yes, little watch, I know.

As for the GPS, it took a little effort to get it working the way I wanted. I was getting reliably accurate cadence and distance measurements (as checked against my Apple Watch and just looking at a map) but the mapping component was missing when I looked at the workout on my phone. After some research (thank you, Reddit) I learned that precise mapping is off by default. To turn it on, you need to first turn on Location Information in Samsung Health Settings on your phone. Then, in the Wear app, tap Watch Settings, Samsung Health settings, turn on Activities to detect, then tap Precise Location under the workout type you want to track. After that fix, I saw accurate routes in the workout details section. y.

Sleep tracking

I am happy to report I (probably) do not have sleep apnea. After setting up the sleep apnea detection feature, you only have to wear your watch to bed for two nights for it to log signs of the condition. Sleep apnea detection is a new feature that debuted with the Watch 7, but Samsung has said it will roll out to earlier compatible models in the future.

After the watch tracks seven nights of sleep, it’ll award you one of eight “sleep animals,” which come with a description of the type of sleeper you are. This has been a feature since the Watch 4 and something the Pixel Watch does as well. I enjoyed finding out that I’m a lion (that’s the best sleeper and I will take a win wherever I can find it). Those who rate “lower” on the sleep animal food chain, can find sleep coaching tips within the Health app on ways to improve their sleep. Not surprisingly, this involves reminding you to keep a consistent bedtime while limiting distractions, alcohol and caffeine before sleep.

For the sake of science, I slept for three nights in a row wearing both the Galaxy Watch 7 and my Apple Watch Series 9 so I could compare what they tracked. The two seemed to log the same patterns of awakeness and sleep, but Samsung was much more generous, telling me I got an average of about 45 more minutes of sleep and about three times as much deep sleep. I know much of our feelings about health are a matter of perspective, so I have to say I prefer the Galaxy Watch’s assessments. Though, I wish Samsung would call the light sleep stage “core” sleep like Apple does — that makes it feel more beneficial.

After testing the Watch 7, however, I don’t think I’d wear it (or any watch, really) to bed voluntarily again. The dimmest the screen gets is 5 nits, which is much brighter than the single nit the Apple Watch and Pixel Watch can hit. When you go into sleep mode, the watch face stays off until you tap it, but the LED sensors underneath are also much brighter than the competition and were enough to wake me. One night, I turned on sleep mode early because the screen was too bright as I was putting my kid to bed at around 8PM. I kept sleep mode on as I watched TV then went to bed a few hours later. At four in the morning, I got a congratulatory vibration that woke me up to tell me I’d met my sleep goal. Of course, I couldn’t get back to sleep after that and I was, to put it mildly, displeased. That didn’t happen again, despite leaving sleep mode on for longer than eight hours on a few occasions, so either it was a fluke or the January 2025 software update fixed the flaw.

Health and activity tracking

One of the new health features for the Galaxy Watch 7 is a daily Energy Score, which is calculated in the Samsung Health app, but readily available on the watch. The score considers sleep metrics and yesterday’s activity levels to tell you how to approach the day ahead. On mornings when I got a higher number, the watch suggested I push myself by increasing the intensity of my workouts or trying something new. On days with a lower score, I was able to see why. This feature is nothing new in the industry, of course. Garmin has its Training Readiness score and Fitbit has been giving people Daily Readiness scores for years (and it’s finally free).

The measurement, along with other insights and commentary within the Health app, is where Samsung has put most of the AI-powered tricks for the Galaxy Watch 7. I saw various tips such as a suggestion to lower my activity goals (so I could actually reach them) after a few days of being a bit of a slug.

All of the workout and health features from the previous models are here — our review of the Galaxy Watch 6 goes into those in depth. But in short, like any fitness tracker, the Galaxy Watch records your overall activity levels using different metrics. In this case, it’s three things: steps, active time (how many minutes in which you move with an elevated heart rate) and activity calories (those you burn in addition to the energy used from just existing). You can adjust your goals and decide whether you want the watch to nudge you to meet them. There are around 90 workouts the watch can track and it can auto-detect a few of those including walking, running, bike riding, high-intensity interval training and swimming.

Overall, I found the activity tracking to be accurate and I appreciated how much quicker the Galaxy Watch was at detecting I was out on a walk compared to my Apple Watch. Also, unlike the Apple Watch, which will ask me whether I wanted to track my exercise, the Galaxy Watch just goes ahead and automatically tracks it. The Galaxy Watch is on par with the Pixel Watch 3 in terms of how quickly it assumes I’m on a walk but, like the Apple Watch, the Pixel wants me to confirm I want the workout tracked. So if I’m on a walk with the dog and have gloves on, I have to do some finagling to tap the start button before seeing my stats. Galaxy’s screen on the other hand (literally) just goes ahead and displays duration, steps and heart rate details. Samsung’s wearable is also quicker to give me credit for getting up and walking around after it prompts me to get moving.

All activity and health tracking runs through the Samsung Health app, which is colorful and intuitive — I actually found it more enjoyable to browse than Apple’s Health app. I spotted a medication widget that not only reminded me to take a pill at the same time each day, it also told me about potential drug and allergy interactions. When it’s time to take the med, the watch buzzes and lets me mark it as taken without pulling out my phone. Samsung introduced the feature at the end of 2023 and, as it turns out, Apple came out with its version a full year earlier, but I credit the more navigable interface of Samsung Health for allowing me to actually find and use it — I’d just never noticed it in Apple’s app.

Instead of a separate app, like Fitness from Apple (in which you’ll also find the company’s subscription-based workouts), there’s simply a tab (also called Fitness) within Samsung Health. There are dozens of videos to try for free on your phone, from providers like Zumba, Pocket Gym, FitOn and more. And when you play the videos from here, heart rate metrics from your watch will show up on your phone’s screen, just like Fitness+ workouts with the Apple Watch and Fitbit Premium classes with the Pixel Watch. Eventually, you’d need to pay to access all the videos a given provider offers, but it’s nice to have a little free content you can dip into as needed.

One thing I have to point out is that even if the watch is on silent, by default it will still audibly coach you when you hit or approach certain metrics after you start a workout. The first time I tracked a yoga workout, the watch started blurting out calories burned and goals achieved while the entire class was silently lying in shavasana. I was even more red-faced than usual. Save yourself the embarrassment and disable audio guides in the settings when you start a workout.

Performance and use

The Watch 7 was the first to run Google’s new Wear OS 5 — before the Pixel Watch 3, even. Samsung layers its own One UI over Google’s software so the experience is a little different from the Pixel Watch. For example, you can either swipe from the left or right edge of the screen to pull up notifications or tiles (respectively) or you can drag your finger around the screen’s bezel, a movement meant to complement the physical spinning bezel of the Galaxy Watch Classic variant. On a screen-only interface, I found my finger was often in the way of what I was trying to look at, so I ended up just swiping, as on a Pixel or Apple Watch.

Back in 2023, Samsung introduced gesture controls to the Galaxy Watch through an update to One UI 5, but the feature, which started as an accessibility aid, didn’t get much attention until Apple highlighted and expanded such functions with the release of the Series 9. The double tap feature on the Galaxy Watch 7 works similarly to how it does on the Apple Watch, performing simple functions like pausing timers, answering calls and so on. Both watches performed the same in terms of detecting when I was making the gesture but I actually used the gesture more often with the Galaxy Watch because a little pinch animation displayed over icons that the gesture could control.

The Galaxy Watch 7 also supports a “knock knock” feature, in which you dip your fist downward twice like you’re rapping on a table and it’ll open an app you designate in the Buttons and Gestures menu from the Wear app’s watch settings. I set it to open the timer app and, later, the Google Assistant, which I found pretty convenient.

Speaking of the Google Assistant, since the Galaxy Watch 4, users have been able to swap the default assistant to Google’s instead of Bixby. I recommend doing that. Asking Bixby a question (like, perhaps, “What’s the capital of Finland?”) directed me to look at my phone. When I posed the same query to Google Assistant, the word Helsinki appeared across the watch screen. None of these are brand new features — previous models allowed you to swap the assistant and gestures started with the Galaxy Watch 4. But the better processor and new sensors on the Galaxy Watch 7 have no doubt helped boost the accuracy and responsiveness.

Notifications could use some work, however. Often, I’d feel a vibration, but when I lifted my wrist to check what it was, I’d just see the regular watch face. I could swipe to see what had triggered the ping, but I would prefer to just see it immediately.

Battery and recharging

I was surprised to see how many people complained about the Galaxy Watch 7’s battery life when I read users’ impressions at other review sites and on Reddit. At first, I found I was getting through a whole day and night, plus partway into the next day before needing a recharge. That was on par with my Apple Watch Series 9 (both have around a 300mAh battery). But I didn’t have the always-on display (AOD) enabled on the Galaxy Watch.

Once I turned that on, the battery’s capacity steadily dove towards empty. One Sunday, I left the house around noon with the watch at 40 percent. I walked for 20 minutes, hung out at a coffee shop and played with a few features on the watch and the paired Galaxy phone. By the time I headed home at 3PM, the watch’s battery had dropped to four percent, prompting it to suggest I turn on watch-only mode. After that, I only used the watch with the AOD off.

That said, using the watch without AOD isn’t terribly inconvenient. When I lift my wrist, the display wakes quickly. I remember being frustrated at how ridiculously hard it was to check the time on my Apple Watch Series 4, feeling dumb as I lifted my arm three or four times before the face lit up (I know I could tap to wake it, but it was the principle of the thing).

If you plan to use the watch as a sleep tracker and also want to use the AOD, you may need to set aside time at the end of the day to recharge your watch before heading off to dreamland (or toss-and-turn land, depending on your sleep animal). The good news is that the watch recharges relatively quickly. I clocked it going from 4 percent to 75 percent in under 40 minutes. Both the Apple Watch Series 10 and the Pixel Watch 3 have been shown to recharge faster in other tests, but I didn’t find the Galaxy Watch to take unreasonably long.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (middle) compared to the 45mm Apple Watch Series 9 (right) and 45mm Google Pixel Watch 3 (left)

Price

One positive carry-over from last year is price. Like the Watch 6 at launch, the Watch 7 starts at $300 for the 40mm model. That’s $49 cheaper than the base price for the Pixel Watch 3 and $99 cheaper than the Apple Watch Series 10. The Garmin Forerunner 165, our top pick for a running smartwatch, is $250. There’s no spinning-bezel Classic variant of the Galaxy Watch 7 (there wasn’t a Galaxy Watch 5 Classic, either). Instead, when announcing the seventh gen watch, Samsung also launched the $650 Watch Ultra and $400 Galaxy Ring — both of which make the flagship watch feel like a bargain. Of course, if you’re after a true budget smartwatch by Samsung, there’s the Galaxy Watch FE with a slightly smaller display, less powerful processor and fewer sensors.

Wrap-up

While the Galaxy Watch 7 may look nearly identical to its predecessor, a couple of internal improvements and software additions (and yes, some AI stuff) make it an appealing companion for a Samsung phone. It even does a few things better than the Apple Watch Series 10 (our current pick for the best overall smartwatch). As with most new releases, you probably don’t need to upgrade if you already have the prior model. But if you’re a fan of Samsung’s handsets and are looking for an attractive accessory with solid sleep insights, helpful fitness tools and surprisingly approachable health data, this could be it.

For a long time, the Galaxy Watch was our pick for the best Android watch you could buy. But with the release of the Pixel Watch 3, Samsung’s wearable was knocked off its podium. The Galaxy Watch 7 does many things right and its classic looks and customizable watch faces will be a favorite for some, me included. Samsung also seems to be steadily improving the Health app — I was especially excited about the beta Meditation and Mood-tracking features, and hope they make their way from the phone to the watch.

The effort the company has put into the Health app is only making the Galaxy Watch more useful and Samsung has developed an effective set of wearable sensors that can provide more advanced health metrics like AGEs index, EKGs and body composition. The heart rate and distance accuracy was on par with my Apple Watch Series 9 but the Galaxy Watch was actually quicker to detect I was out on a walk — it also automatically logged the workout for me.

But if an always-on display is important to you and you want to use the watch for sleep tracking, you may want to look elsewhere. Still, this is a capable watch that makes a fun companion for an Android phone, particularly Samsung handsets, and I was sad to take it off when the review was over.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/samsung-galaxy-watch-7-review-incrementally-better-than-its-predecessoragain-133038627.html?src=rss 

Other than a Days Gone remaster, Sony’s first State of Play stream of the year was fairly light on first-party games. At least that was the case until the very end of the showcase.

The company announced the long-awaited next game from Returnal developer Housemarque. The third-person action title is called Saros, and it stars the always-delightful Rahul Kohli. The actor plays Arjun Devraj, “a powerful Soltari Enforcer searching for answers on a lost off-world colony,” per the trailer’s YouTube description. 

The clip shows Arjun waking up on a beach with a gun by his side. “Every time the sun dies, madness reigns,” he says as an ominous eclipse occurs. Moments later, a giant being with eight arms and a broken, pointy headpiece emerges from the depths. The creature summons balls of fire in its hands as Arjun readies himself to battle it.

Housemarque says Saros is a new game, but it’s one that builds on the roguelite foundations of Returnal and its repeatable runs — just in case Arjun saying “After every death, I always come back stronger” in the trailer wasn’t clear enough. In this game, your resources and progression persist after each run. You’ll have an “evolving set of weapons and suit upgrades” to help upgrade your loadout, though as in Returnal, the world will change after every death. 

One other major difference between Saros and Housemarque’s last game is that Arjun isn’t alone on this planet. Details about other characters in the ensemble cast, the story and gameplay will be revealed later.

Sony liked Returnal enough to buy Housemarque and add the developer to its stable of PlayStation Studios, so it’ll likely have high hopes for this one. Saros is slated to arrive on PS5 in 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/saros-is-the-next-game-from-housemarque-coming-to-ps5-in-2026-232243078.html?src=rss