The initial 5G rollout in the US has been underwhelming, in part because those vaunted gigabit-class speeds have been nowhere to be found. AT&T, at least, is inching closer to that goal. The provider has declared that it's the first US telecom to top 1Gbps on a mobile 5G network, achieving the feat in "multiple cities" using Netgear's 5G hotspot. In an interview with PCMag, the company's Igal Elbaz described it as a virtue of improving software.
On launch, AT&T's 5G service could only make use of a lone 100MHz carrier for your connection, limiting speeds that were frequently not much better (or potentially worse) than LTE. The new approach aggregated four of those carriers, giving it that much more headroom even in real-world conditions. It should get faster still later in the year, when AT&T combines LTE and 5G in a single connection.
The problem, as with virtually any 5G carrier (including Engadget parent company Verizon), is being in a position to take advantage of that speed. AT&T's 5G is only available in certain areas in a handful of cities, and you need an invitation to buy the Netgear hotspot. Even then, the router's WiFi isn't fast enough to guarantee peak speeds. You'll have to wait for 5G smartphones and WiFi 6-equipped hotspots before the technology can live up to is potential. This clearly illustrates 5G's performance -- it's just going to be a long while before can expect to achieve that performance outside of ideal conditions.
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Enlarge/ The Analogue Mega Sg comes with none of these attached things. But if you can bring your own games and controllers to its blast processing party, you're in for a very, very good time.
Sam Machkovech
To start any conversation about the Analogue Mega Sg—a new, $190 take on the original Sega Genesis (née Mega Drive in Europe and Japan) that's available for "pre-order" but has already begun shipping—let's identify a few classic gamer niches. This impressive device simply isn't for everyone.
Are you a classic Sega devotee—as in, starting with the SG-1000, continuing through the Master System, Genesis, and Game Gear, ending with the Sega CD, and going no further? That's the territory this classic-gaming box covers.
Are you the kind of Sega Genesis freak who abides by the gospel of pure, original gameplay, as opposed to emulation? The Analogue Mega Sg has you covered. It delivers the most authentic Genesis visuals, colors, control, and sound I've ever seen via an HDMI connection.
Are you already the proud owner of a pile of classic Sega games in their original cartridge form? Do you just want a way to get their pristine, lag-free action on a modern screen? The Analogue Mega Sg is also for you, because unlike a "classic" Nintendo console—or the disappointing, mini-sized AT Games Genesis—this new hardware doesn't come with a dozens-strong library of classic hits pre-installed.
And finally, do you have any old controllers sitting a closet somewhere? With the Mega Sg, you get bonus points if you have old Genesis controllers, because the starting price of $190 here includes zero gamepads.
The Analogue Mega Sg.
Sam Machkovech
Another angle of the top. Not seen here: how annoying it can be to perfectly line up cartridges to insert.
All regions supported, as per a tiny, etched font.
HDMI goes here.
SD card goes here (but only to update the system's firmware, as of press time).
A hard-to-see etching of the company's name on the front.
That sweet, sweet 3.5mm headphone jack.
A Nintendo Switch, for a more modern size comparison. Meaning: if someone were to install a screen add-on to the Mega Sg and make it an all-in-one portable, it'd be pretty beefy.
Rubber pad on the bottom, which is crucial for making it easier to shove cartridges in.
I start with that list not to bum anyone out but to make clear that Analogue is a singular kind of retro-gaming company. The Mega Sg is the company's third "FPGA" (field-programmable gate array) product designed to deliver near-perfect replication of an old gaming console experience. This one happens to be tailored to the HDMI video standard (scaling up to 1080p resolution, 60 frames per second).
Once again, Analogue has shipped an FPGA motherboard, tuned to replicate a piece of hardware that is no longer manufactured. We've spoken at length about this matter in the past, but let's briefly recap: an FPGA board simulates the exact speeds and processes of original hardware as opposed to emulating old software on newer chipsets. And Analogue does this as an independent console producer in spite of, not because of, official support from any '80s and '90s console maker.
Thus, Analogue is not signing any deals to license your favorite games (or being weirdly selective in that "Why is my fave game missing?" way). The company is not contracting with Sega to build exact replicas of old controllers. And it's not adding USB ports to support modern controllers or add-ons. If you're buying an Analogue Mega Sg, you're starting with a base expectation of a "pure" Sega Genesis experience.
But if you come to the Mega Sg with expectations accordingly, almost everything it adds to the classic Sega experience feels like a bright, red, Knuckles the Echidna-shaped cherry on top.
A Mega good time, by default
If you simply want to set-and-forget the Analogue Mega Sg to play old Genesis games, that's easy enough. Plug in a power source via Micro-USB. Plug in a screen via HDMI. Plug in a cartridge and controller. Hit the power button. The hardware's simple, clean design makes all of this clear. The more handsome elements include smooth, curved edges and a circle-on-top motif. But the Genesis always stood out with its bulgy, "aggro" design in the early '90s, and I would've liked more shine, bulges, or hints of attitude here.
I still think the device looks cool—particularly with a cartridge stuck into the top. But I can't help but feel like its relatively simple shape and plain, matte finish make the system look a little too much like the Analogue Super Nt.
After a brief splash screen plays with the Analogue logo, you can choose to boot your cartridge, go into a settings menu, or play one pre-installed game (we'll get to that). By default, Mega Sg renders old Genesis and Mega Drive games at a "4.5x" upscale (not quite reaching the top and bottom edges of a 1080p screen) at a 4:3 ratio.
(If you're curious: this is a region-free system, so any cartridge from any nation will work. What's more, games will be automatically recognized, no option-changes necessary.)
All captures in this gallery are at the Mega Sg's default settings, including a "4.5x" resize to 1080p resolution.
Sonic 2 is a great showcase for color accuracy. These images, grabbed using an ElGato HD60 capture device, are tasty.
Sonic 2 also ships with a weird two-player mode, which runs at an interlaced 320×448 resolution, and it's a great test of system accuracy. The result: it runs with identical performance, and slowdown, as an original Genesis, and it renders cleanly (other than having native sprite flicker, which, again, you'd find on the standard Genesis).
All I want to do is play Gunstar Heroes, and Mega Sg lets me do so with incredible color accuracy and speed timing. It controls quickly and smoothly while still replicating the original game's slight hitches.
Pro tip: managing screen captures while playing Gunstar Heroes is always a bad idea.
Time to roll the dice.
In addition to testing a litany of cartridges, we also used an Everdrive cartridge to load demoscene ROMs like the hardware-pushing "BadApple!!", and its mix of full-motion video and high-fidelity audio is something to behold.
Mega Sg doesn't flinch on the demands of "BadApple!!", which was released by modders in 2012.
While working on this review, we received a ROM for a brand-new song made by a Genesis-obsessed musician who goes by the name Remute. The ROM doesn't just play music. It also includes a lengthy, 30fps FMV sequence...
...followed by a fully 3D car-race sequence that looks as good as the PS1's WipEout games. The Mega Sg runs this without breaking a sweat.
The high-speed chase moves into outdoor environs.
It ends with a robot surprise.
And at default settings, the Mega Sg nails many of the basics you'd hope for in a $190 Sega Genesis. Colors are bright, bold, and authentic—nothing is overblown, nothing is washed out. Sprites render crisply as opposed to being bathed in filters. And music and sound effects are utterly faithful—every analog noise and quirk of the original Yamaha sound chip being translated so sharply that Genesis diehards may recoil at the shimmer. These aren't distorted sound effects. They're quite the opposite.
But Analogue assumes you're not paying $190 to settle on default settings. And there are a lot of settings to pick through.
In this case, though, developer WhiteMoon Dreams wants to do something about it. While the title was published by the Japanese giant, meaning that the firm is in charge of maintaining its servers, the studio would like to update the release and independently keep it online. “We're still waiting to hear back from [the manufacturer] if they'll allow us to patch it,” CEO Jay Koottarappallil wrote on Reddit last month.
“Sony called earlier to let me know that they were shutting down servers,” he explained. “The call was something along the lines of ‘This is always a very hard time, but it’s time to shut down the servers.’ There wasn’t a whole lot of detail past that. At the very least, we would have liked to have the option to pay for servers ourselves.”
Koottarappallil did admit that the number of people still playing the game is small, despite it being given away to PlayStation Plus members in January 2018. But we’re not happy about the platform holder’s approach to all this – as if it isn’t bad enough that the games are going offline so quickly, surely it should be allowing willing developers to support their titles independently?
Apple’s (AAPL) new Apple TV Plus streaming service won’t launch until later this fall, but the company is courting some serious competition from the likes of Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN) Prime Video, and Hulu. Apple’s brand is perhaps the most powerful in the tech industry, but the company has its work cut out for it when it comes to dethroning the current streaming kings.
There are still plenty of unknowns when it comes to Apple TV Plus, but that doesn’t mean we can’t compare what we do know about Apple’s upcoming service to its contemporaries.
Pricing
Apple TV Plus
Apple hasn’t announced pricing for its service yet, but if past precedent holds, the company will be sure to charge a competitive fee for Apple TV Plus. Look no further than the tech giant’s Apple Music, which launched with the same pricing structure for individual and family accounts as chief competitor Spotify. If Apple is going to come out on top with its streaming service, pricing will be key.
Credit: David Foster/Yahoo Finance
Netflix
The cream of the crop of streaming services, Netflix’s streaming service is a surprisingly low-priced offering. The company’s Basic plan, which gets you watching on one screen at a time, costs $8.99 per month. Meanwhile, the Standard plan, which lets you stream to two screens at once and watch HD content, costs $12.99 per month.
Netflix’s Premium plan costs $15.99 per month and lets you stream on four screens at up to 4K resolutions.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon’s Prime Video comes with a subscription to the e-commerce giant’s Prime delivery service. You can choose to pay monthly for Prime, which works out to $12.99 per month, or pay $112 for the entire year. If you want to opt for Prime Video on its own, you’ll pay just $8.99 per month.
Hulu
Hulu is the least expensive of the major streaming services, with its ad-supported plan priced at just $5.99 per month. The ad-free version of the service costs $11.99 per month and gets you TV show episodes shortly after they hit the airwaves versus other services, which may make episodes available for streaming months later.
Ian Owens, from left, Luka Jones, Aidy Bryant, John Cameron Mitchell and Lolly Adefope attends the premiere of Hulu's "Shrill" at the Walter Reade Theater on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Major shows and movies
Apple TV Plus
Apple still hasn’t revealed all of the shows and movies it’s prepping for the launch of its service, but the company gave us a small glimpse of what it’s cooking up. Oprah Winfrey announced that she is working on two documentaries for the service, while Steven Spielberg said he is working on an “Amazing Stories” series. Kumail Nanjiani will roll out a series called “Little America,” and Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard announced “See.”
So far, Apple hasn’t provided an indication as to whether it will offer third-party content like its competitors.
Netflix
Netflix has a collection of impressive TV shows and movies to its name including the Oscar-winning “Roma,” “Stranger Things,” “BoJack Horseman,” “Big Mouth,” “Dear White People,” and a slew of others. Add to that a seemingly endless number of third-party shows and movies, and you could probably turn to dust before you finished watching it all in one session.
Amazon Prime Video
Prime Video also has a number of quality shows including “Goliath,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Man in the High Castle,” “Bosch,” “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” and more. The network also has third-party movies and shows for viewing, as well as others that you’ll have to pony up some extra cash to watch.
25th Screen Actors Guild Awards – Photo Room – Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 27, 2019 - Marin Hinkle poses backstage with her Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series award for "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel". REUTERS/Monica Almeida
Hulu
Hulu’s originals include “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Shrill,” “The Path,” “Marvel’s Runaways,” “Pen15,” and others. Its originals haven’t been as strong as Netflix’s or Amazon’s, but it makes up for it by offering new episodes of TV shows before other services. So if you’re trying to keep up with “The Bachelor,” Hulu is the place to be.
Audience size
Apple TV Plus
Apple’s service doesn’t launch until later this year, but since it will be a part of the company’s Apple TV app, it will be available on more than 1 billion iOS devices, as well as Apple TVs and Macs. If just 10% of those devices sign up for individual accounts, you’re looking at 100 million subscribers. Of course, it will take a while for Apple to build up to that number. For some context, Apple launched its Apple Music service in 2015, and just crossed the 50 million subscriber mark in its latest fiscal quarter.
Netflix
The biggest of the bunch, Netflix boasts an international subscriber base of 139 million users. That’s a heck of a lot of people binging shows and ignoring real-world responsibilities. And I for one would like to salute those brave souls.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon is notoriously tightlipped about its Prime subscriber numbers, and even more so about its Prime Video users. The latest numbers available about Prime indicate there are more than 100 million subscribers to the service. Chances are the number for Prime Video subscribers is a fraction of that.
Hulu
Hulu’s subscriber base is far smaller than Netflix’s with just 25 million people signed up for the service. With the announcement that the company was lowering its base ad-supported offering to $5.99 per month, though, those numbers could increase.
Whether or not Apple Music is coming to Google Home, there are signs you might get to use it with some Google-powered devices. The 9to5Google team has found multiple lines of code in Apple Music's Android app that reference Chromecast support, including some added through recent updates. While there's no guarantee this would be implemented any time soon, it suggests you could soon pipe Apple's latest Drake exclusive to a compatible Chromecast dongle, speaker, smart display or TV.
There are no guarantees Apple will integrate Chromecast support soon, if at all. However, the mounting volume of code suggests it could be more a matter of when than if. Also, Apple's software has become more Google-friendly as of late -- it added support for the app on Chromebooks just days ago. Apple has made clear that it (usually) wants its services to be as widely available as possible, and that means bringing them to platforms that were previously off-limits.
Until now, you've had to use Chrome to sign into your Google account with a security key. You won't have to be quite so choosy going forward, though. Google has transitioned to using the new Web Authentication standard for hardware-based sign-ins, making your key useful in Firefox, Edge and other browsers that rely on the format. That could be particularly helpful if you want to check your Gmail on an unfamiliar PC and would rather not install Chrome or punch in a password.
There's just one gotcha: as the key registration process still relies on the older Universal Second Factor standard, you'll have to use Chrome to add a key to your account. It'll "take some time" before you can rely solely on a third-party browser, Google's Christiaan Brand said. Still, that support is at least on the way. It might not be too much longer before you can simply assume that your key will work anywhere there's a spare port or Bluetooth connection.
