NerdlyNews

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Oppo’s Find X and Vivo’s Nex are the two most recent and exciting Android devices of the year. Why exciting? Well, they bring us closer to the dream of a truly bezel-less phone, and they do it in dramatic style. Instead of putting a notched area at the top of the screen, both of these phones hailing from China give us pop-up selfie camera modules. Vivo’s is like a miniature periscope, while Oppo’s elevates the entire top of the phone.

Just take a second to appreciate the fluid synchronicity between the on-screen animation when unlocking the Oppo Find X and the physical elevation of its slider. It’s a thing of beauty, hardware engineering meeting software design in a harmonious “whoa” moment:

There’s not a soul among The V…

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Serene snowboarding game Alto’s Odyssey is finally making its way to Android next month. It was released on iOS back in February.

Once again, Team Alto will be partnering with Noodlecake Studios to handle porting the sequel. And like the Android version of Alto’s Adventure before it, it looks like Odyssey will be free on Android and supported by ads and in-app purchases, instead of the one-time purchase offered on iOS. It’s yet another indication of the piracy problem that tends to plague premium Android games and apps on the platform.

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Scuf Gaming, one of the leading makers of custom game controllers for competitive play, has a new device coming out next month that promises to even further enhance the ability of gamepad users. The device is called the Scuf Vantage, and it’s a custom PS4 controller with back paddles, two additional side buttons, and an instant remapping feature that lets you customize every one of those additional input mechanisms on the fly.

It sounds like an obvious upgrade for serious competitive players and aspiring streamers, but the question remains: do you really need a controller that costs as much as $200 to improve your game? Last week at E3 in Los Angeles, I got my hands on a finalized version of the Vantage. I demoed it on the one game most…

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Back in April, Nintendo launched a bold new initiative called Labo. A collection of DIY cardboard accessories for the Switch, Labo was designed primarily to reach brand-new audiences outside of the traditional game-playing demographic. While the company says that the first two iterations of Labo have sold well — the “variety kit” reached the top 10 on the NPD sales chart during launch month — there’s still a lot of work to do.

While more typical games like Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey tend to have a surge of sales at launch, Nintendo believes Labo will have a longer lifespan. “Labo represents something else entirely,” says Shinya Takahashi, general manager of the company’s software division, Nintendo EPD.

While Labo is…

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Google today is introducing its first standalone podcast app for Android. The app, called simply Google Podcasts, will use Google’s recommendation algorithms in an effort to connect people with shows they might enjoy, based on their listening habits. While podcasts have previously been available on Android through Google Play Music and third-party apps, Google says the company expects Podcasts to bring the form to hundreds of millions of new listeners around the world. It’ll be available starting at 12PM ET.

“There’s still tons of room for growth when it comes to podcast listening,” said Zack Reneau-Wedeen, product manager on the app. Creating a native first-party Android app for podcasts ”could as much as double worldwide listenership…

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I like the idea of having extra chargers around my apartment, but I live in a rental unit, so I’m not exactly keen to start replacing the outlets with ones that have USB ports or wireless chargers just yet. However, the Rabbit Charger looks like a pretty good alternative that’s as easy to install as changing a faceplate on a regular outlet.

The Rabbit Charger is a outlet-sized block that plugs into your existing outlet. It covers both plugs, but it replaces one with a passthrough plug, so you’re not losing the whole outlet. In exchange for the other plug, you get a Y-shaped charging hub on top of the device with two charging tips. The clever part is that the entire charging cable is retractable, so you aren’t stuck with an ugly cord in…

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