Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
Nintendo’s new home-and-away console has been unveiled in Japan. While we haven’t got to touch those unusual controllers just yet (that’ll be later today), we’ve got prices, launch titles, and a bunch of features that sound like a Nintendo fan’s wish list fulfilled. We also have HTC’s newest phone, the possibility of smartphones with folding screens, and a digital camera that leaves photo curation to AI.
Nintendo reveals everything you want to know about the Switch
When our supercut of the press launch weighs in at 12 minutes, you know Nintendo had a lot to tell us about its new console. Where to start? We’ve already told you the price and the date, but how about no more region-locking (a Nintendo ‘tradition’), a proper touchscreen and more. While you will have to pay for online play, Nintendo is offering up some of its hits from yesteryear with online functionality — many of which didn’t have such a thing when they launched. The two controllers will also have even higher motion sensitivity, proximity sensors and each doubles up as simplified controllers when you’re playing with someone else.
All the games announced for the Switch
A console is nothing without games, and Nintendo had plenty to show last night. Our gallery rounded up every trailer, but highlights included Super Mario Odyssey which is due during the holiday season, the freaky Arms boxing game coming in spring, Splatoon 2, which will arrive in the summer and of course, a launch title in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Tesla explains how much Supercharging will cost new buyers
As of January 15th, Tesla’s lifetime offer of free Supercharging at its conveniently-located power stations comes off the table. Now, the company has revealed how much it will cost for future buyers of the Model S, X and 3 to top up their batteries. The plan will allow for 400kWh of charging per year for free, which Musk & Co. figure should cover 1,000 miles or most of the road trip-style access needed when drivers are away from home. After that, it’s billed per kWh or per-minute (which can vary if more cars are connected, slowing down the charger), depending on the area, with prices fixed within each state. All in all, an NY to LA trip could cost about $120.
HTC’s new high-end phone is the U Ultra
This year’s premium HTC phone is stealing a trick from LG’s V20, as the U Ultra features a secondary display to highlight important information. What’s different here, however, is the use of AI to try and learn which notifications are important enough to pop up there. It also follows the iPhone 7 by losing its headphone jack, while keeping an expandable microSD storage slot.
An AI camera failed to capture the magic of CES
Instead of selling you the best camera ever, the pitch for Relonch’s 291 is a free connected camera (in exchange for your mirrorless or DSLR camera) that uploads your pics for editing and processing in the cloud. It returns the pictures to you every morning, and you pay $1 each for the ones you’d like to keep. Aaron Soupporis’ CES experience suggested it’s more interesting than useful so far, but the service is still just in beta testing.
Amazon’s Alexa ecosystem is exploding, for better and worse
In a little over two years, Amazon’s Alexa has gone from being a baffling product (a connected speaker, really?!) to an essential feature for any connected device. With more than 7,000 ‘skills’ — what Amazon calls third-party integrations — it’s the most robust voice platform around. Which probably also explains why we saw it everywhere at CES this year. That said, one thing we know for sure about voice computing in 2017: The competition will only heat up.
Samsung and LG could launch foldable phones later this year
While Samsung has teased them for a while, flexible-screen phones could actually arrive later this year — and LG is in on it too. Samsung reportedly began working on a phone that folds out and turns into a 7-inch tablet in August, and it’s expected to roll out over 100,000 units in the third quarter. Sources say LG is working on an identically-numbered rollout because of course it is.
But wait, there’s more…
- Google applies machine learning on your phone to massively improve image compression
- Exxon must turn over decades of climate change research
- FCC: Verizon and AT&T ‘zero-rating’ perks harm consumers
The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t subscribe.
