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370 Stories
In the build-up to the launch of Snapdragon X Elite, we take a look at the x86 architecture, and how different is the ARM architecture. Can the Snapdragon X Elite fix poor battery life and thermal performance, mostly seen on Windows laptops? We tackle all these questions and try to understand the future of ARM-based PCs.
Upanishad Sharma
Helldivers 2 is quite possibly one of the most fun and friendly games I have ever played. Despite taking place in such a hostile environment coupled with so many chances for friendly fire, the game houses one of the least toxic communities I have ever come across. There are a lot of reasons for that. However, the strongest include Arrowhead Game Studios tapping into the very idea of a common cause and using it perfectly inside a game.
We have pitted the newly launched Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 with 2022's flagship, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The key takeaway from the benchmark comparison is that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 matches the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in all key benchmarks while maintaining better efficiency. Expect a lot of sub-Rs. 50,000 phones to feature the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 in 2024.
Booting up the Steam Deck during my vacation, I realized that over the last year, I've played more games on it compared to my gaming PC. There are a lot of reasons for it. These include the Steam Deck's unique form-factor that let me stay on the screen for extended periods and finish my games till their actual end. Furthermore, the Deck's PC architecture opened the door to emulation that helped me enjoy my childhood favorites in 2024. Clearing off dozens of games from my Steam library that would have taken months on my actual PC, I can see why the Steam Deck helped me play more games.
Play Edition devices were Google's attempt at bringing Stock Android to some of the most popular devices that ship with custom UI on top of Android. Google should bring it back to offer Pixel-like Android experience with other devices in partnership with manufacturers in theirupper mid-range an flagship devices.
Mercedes EQE: Cue the Royal Fanfare
Akshay Gangwar
Dragonsplague in Dragon’s Dogma 2 Made Me Care More About My Pawns
Sampad Banerjee
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While Dragonsplague in Dragon's Dogma 2 can be a ruthless system that many might find unfair. However, before I knew it I had started to run scared about my own favorite getting the illness. Capcom has managed to brilliantly add a system that while so devastating instills a sense of companionship in what are supposed to be just NPCs.
Warzone Mobile Is an Unoptimized Mess at Release, But Is It Doomed?
Anshuman Jain
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Warzone Mobile's global release has been met with immense negative response as the game suffers a plethora of graphical issues, optimization problems, bugs, high ping and crashes. In this article, I share my first thoughts on COD Warzone Mobile and address all the issues that I faced with it.
Exclusivity has been in the video games industry for a long time now. However, ending this term in video games can solve a lot of problems for developers and gamers alike. Non-exclusivity can create more opportunities and increase the player base. It will also help diversify and generate more revenue from the games. Increasing cross-platform gaming can help more in creating better communities. If the studios work hand in hand, the games can be better and gamers will have a better product to consume.
As adaptations are slowly getting better and picking up steam, I sit down to converse about what matters to me most. We take a look at the brief history of the not-so-stellar adaptations, the possible reason for its inconsistent track-record, and whether we have a glimmer of hope in the future.
More RPGs Should Pre-Release a Character Creator like Dragon’s Dogma 2
Sampad Banerjee
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Capcom released Dragon's Dogma 2 character creator earlier than the actual game's launch. In my opinion, this was one of the best things that could happen. The character creator not only helped me create my Arisen well before time but also built a lot of excitement. This same effect catapulted to gamers worldwide with even the company easily hyping their product up.
Rise of the Ronin is here and I have spent a few hours enjoying it. The game begins beautifully with a tale that is slowly unravelling to be something amazing. While I am not the biggest fan of the souls like combat mechanics, I am beginning to understand and appreciate it. Rise of the Ronin does spice things up by having an amazing skill tree, a bountiful character creator and various combat styles. How far all these can carry the game is something I plan on finding out.
The new midrange king, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset, is remarkably better than the four-month-old Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 and a year-old Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2. It has received all new CPU cores, comes with a significantly upgraded GPU, and the NPU can handle on-device AI models as well. Its ISP is also quite powerful and supports many premium features. You also get Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4 support.
Alone in the Dark is the latest iteration in a long running franchise that has kept gamers awake for years now. The 2024 game is a reimagined remake of the first one and focuses on Emily Hartwood and Detective Edward Carnby. Trapped in a world they don't belong in, the pair is tasked in solving the mystery and finding their way out. The game's lore is incredibly rich with an amazing atmosphere added in. While the combat sometimes feels clunky along with graphical blurring, Alone in the Dark is an amazing adventure gamers should embark on.
In the modern day and age, multiplayer games feel the same, boring, and not worked on. However, with the launch of Lethal Company, Palworld, and Helldivers 2, that seems to have changed. Lethal Company makes you enjoy a game just through its clean UI, freedom of exploration and simplicity. Palworld on the other hand is the perfect example of how developers should connect with their community. Helldivers 2 has finally made shooter experiences fun and enjoyable with its goofiness and satire.
We Are Using This App to ‘Step Up’ Our Fitness Game; You Should Too
Sagnik Das Gupta
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For the past few months, everyone in Team Beebom has taken the decision to stop being a lazy couched potato to being active and walking to keep ourselves fit. For that, we kicked off the step up challenge earlier in December 2023, and we have been having a fun time challenging each other to walk the most steps.
WWE 2K24 takes the already good 2K23 and tosses it up the ladder. The visuals and experience feel better than ever while the game performs great even on a old gaming PC. This year, it is all about finishing your story. As such, the gameplay gets a lot of improvements that help create a masterpiece. Plenty of new modes have been added including a new WrestleMania showcase with a Special Guest Referee, Casket, Gauntlet and Ambulance and matches. The MyRISE career mode comes with another great story in this edition with revamped MyGM and MyFACTION mode. Overall, WWE 2K24 is a solid follow up to a series and deserves the praise.
I Impulsively Bought the Tomb Raider Remasters and Loved Every Second of It
Sampad Banerjee
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The Tomb Raider remasters gracefully recreate and elevate the old trilogy of games to new heights. I appreciate the attention to detail that has been paid with even tiny textures carried over. Not only do the new graphics look like a breath of fresh air, but I actually found the divisive modern controls not half bad.
Dimensity 7200 Pro vs Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 vs Snapdragon 782G: Benchmark Comparison
Arjun Sha
Sagnik Das Gupta
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Nothing has choose the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro over Qualcomm chipsets such as the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 and Snapdragon 782G for its latest mid-ranger, Nothing Phone (2a). We did extensive benchmark testing for all three chipsets and found that Dimensity 7200 Pro is a capable SoC and delivers good performance with unmatched efficiency. It packs newer ARM cores and the GPU performance is better than the competing chipsets.
Rockstar Games always have not been on point with their GTA games. There are some features that we have seen in previous Rockstar games that are missing in the recent ones. That is why we have made our list of 7 things that we would love to see featured in GTA 6. Here's hoping they listen!
Microsoft has finally brought the ability to use your phone as a high-quality webcam on Windows 11. The feature is currently available to Windows Insiders only, but it's coming to all users in the next few months. I tried the connected camera feature and was impressed with the streaming quality. Although the streaming is being done remotely, there were no lags or stutters in the video preview. You can use your phone as a webcam in any video conferencing app or within a browser too.
Qualcomm is ready to take on the battle against Apple in the mobile space. The Chief Marketing Officer of Qualcomm has confirmed at MWC 2024 that the upcoming flagship chip, Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, will launch with Nuvia-designed Oryon CPU cores. This will significantly raise the CPU performance on SD 8 Gen 4 and finally, Android flagships may be able to compete against Apple's A-series chips in the CPU department. Qualcomm says the SoC is scheduled to launch in October, this fall.
Microsoft introduced Windows Copilot with much pomp and hype, but is it really an intelligent AI assistant to help you with everyday Windows tasks? Turns out, it's just another AI chatbot like Edge Copilot with few system integrations. Microsoft decided to replace Cortana with Windows Copilot, but there is close to zero feature parity and feels like a downgrade. Windows Copilot should embrace vision models to perform system actions locally like composing emails, interacting with various files, setting alarms, tweaking system settings, and more.
Shashank Shakya
If we talk about cinematic disaster, Madame web can easily top that list. The movie has everything you can expect from a poorly made movie. The dialogues are corny, the VFX and CGI are as bad as it gets, the acting is super dull and what not. Madame Web also has many plotholes that makes no sense in the Sony Spiderverse. Overall, it's a really bad movie.
Rather unsurprisingly, Microsoft decided to disable the classic "Show desktop" button on Windows 11 to give space for Copilot. This has irked many Windows users who want to instantly declutter everything on screen through the button. If the "Show desktop" button is missing from the Windows 11 Taskbar on your PC, do not worry. You can enable it right away from Taskbar Settings -> Taskbar behaviors -> turn on "Select the far corner of the taskbar to show the desktop" option.
MrSuicideSheep’s Sheepy Is a Musically Magical Game in a Pixelated Nightmare
Ishan Adhikary
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Made by a music creator on YouTube, MrSuicideSheep, Sheepy: A Short Adventure is a 2D platformer game. The game takes you down in a story of a resurrected plushie and their journey. You will witness a perfect sync of music and pixelated art in this game. Sheepy also offers you a lot of hidden discoverable and achievements that will make you play it again. You can enjoy Sheepy for free on Steam.
Helldivers 2 is a third-person four-player co-op shooter that puts you in the shoes of the Super Earth's line of defense against alien bugs and socialist robots. With danger looming at every sector of space, your mission is to eradicate the enemies of Humanity, and bring prosperity to the great Super Earth.
Zuckerberg Tries the Apple Vision Pro, Calls Quest 3 ‘the Better Product’
Sagnik Das Gupta
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to Instagram to post a video shot by the Meta Quest 3, talking about how he gave the Apple Vision Pro a try. He goes on to say how the Meta Quest 3 is not just 7 times cheaper than the Vision Pro, but also how much more of a practical choice it is for most people. He delves into the different pros of the Quest 3 over the Vision Pro, stating how he likes the hand tracking of the former better, thanks to two physical controllers. Moreover, he also teases the possible return of eye tracking to Meta headsets, which first featured on the Quest Pro.
Welcome to Beebom Gadgets
Akshay Gangwar
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Review – Simply a Genre Gaffe
Sampad Banerjee
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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League manages to adapt the popular cast of rogue's gallery over to the gaming audience, dropping a compelling story-line with hard-hitting guns, and fun traversal. However, the game barely has any compelling content to enjoy playing and spending time for it. You will be killing the Justice League, but once you do, you'll be scratching your head once you're done.
Touted to be the most capable model by the Google DeepMind team, the Gemini Ultra 1.0 model has been finally released. Gemini Advanced is powered by the Ultra model so we compared it with OpenAI's GPT-4 model. In our tests, we found that Gemini Advanced still lacks rigorous commonsense reasoning capability, hence, it's nowhere close to GPT-4. However, in creating writing, it does a better job than GPT-4. In coding tasks, it's indeed an improvement, but with tools like Code Interpreter in GPT-4, you are likely to get better results in ChatGPT.
How to Replace Google Assistant with Gemini AI on Your Android Phone
Sagnik Das Gupta
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Google has officially started to roll out its Gemini Android app. However, it is currently limited to US users, and if you are not from the US, you will need to make a US Google account. Once you make it, you will be able to find the app listed on Play Store. Now, to set the Gemini AI as your primary voice assistant, open the Gemini app -> tap on Get started -> select I agree. That should automatically set it as your voice assistant. However, if you want to switch between Gemini and Google Assistant, open the Gemini app -> tap on profile icon -> Settings -> Digital assistants from Google -> select the desired assistant.
Google is continuously positioning itself as the AI industry leader, and now, the search giant has rebranded Bard to Gemini in a bid to bring Google's family of best AI models to users. It has also introduced Gemini Advanced, which hosts the powerful Ultra model. However, you will have to pay $20 per month to access it. Moreover, Android users can now install the Gemini app on their smartphones whereas iPhone users can access Gemini from the Google app.
Google has been steadily improving Android since the launch of Android 12 and is now heavily focusing on adding more ecosystem and AI features to its mobile OS. The five features we expect Google to add to Android 15 are Lock Screen Widgets, Cloned Apps, a desktop mode for Pixels, screen-off gestures, and an AI assistant in Gboard.
Steam Deck 2: Steam Deck 2: Speculated Release Date, Potential Specifications, and More
Sampad Banerjee
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Steam Deck 2 is the next-generation handheld that will be released by Valve later. As per the official statement, we can speculate it to come out in 2025 or 2026. The company is also waiting for a new architecture to be unveiled by chipmakers. Once that's out, and Valve decides it meets the Steam Deck 2 demands, work on the console should begin. We expect the price should be similar to current offerings, but is expected to get higher as per a rumor. Speculation & rumors on Steam Deck 2 specifications state that RDNA 4 graphics architecture by AMD is expected.
Early Google Pixel 9 Pro Render Leak Reveals Redesigned Camera Bar
Abubakar Mohammed
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Google Pixel 9 Pro renders have been leaked and they suggest sharper desgn, a revamped camera bump, and a flat display. The phone has the same dimensions as the Pixel 8 Pro with the only difference being it thinner by 0.3mm. The overall aesthetics are reminiscent of the latest iPhone and the Nothing Phone (2).
Tekken 8 brings back the extravagant experience the series is known for, and ramps that up to 100%. The advent of the new fighting system makes the gameplay an aggressive and enjoyable affair, while the single-player Dark Awakens leaves a little more to be desired. Furthermore, Tekken 8 has turned out to be the most approachable entry in the series, thanks to the well-done training system and practice mode.
Nothing released Nothing OS 2.5 for Nothing Phone (2) and the update brings new customizations and improved user experience. We tested out all the new features, and here's are all the features that I liked in the Android 14-based OS and some features I disliked along with the feedback on the same.
Microsoft has introduced a new Copilot Pro plan that allows paid users to gain priority access to GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo models even during peak times. The plan costs $20 per month, per user (Rs. 2,000 in India). It also brings AI-powered Copilot features to Office apps (Microsoft 365) including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. With the Copilot Pro subscription, you can also generate images faster using Dall -E 3 and soon, you will be able to create a custom Copilot GPT for specific purposes.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review – Satisfying Metroidvania
Sampad Banerjee
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Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown packs a solid metroidvania package into a brand-new entry in the long-running beloved series by Ubisoft. While the characters can feel forgettable down the line, the story and gameplay makes up for its only shortcoming, creating possibly one of the best Ubisoft launches in recent memory.
Radojka Travar
Minecraft Legends is a spin-off strategy game set in the Minecraft world. The game started off strong, but its player base slowly started dwindling. One of the reasons was because of the pretty plain, shallow, and repetitive gameplay. Moreover, there was pretty much nothing to do after you beat the game's final boss. The game was very expensive, even tough it provided just a short campaign mode and a pretty directionless multiplayer mode. Minecraft Legends' development studio Mojang also neglected the game, offering zero communication, which meant players got no updates or news on its future development. Minecraft Legends was officially discontinued on January 10, 2024.
I have played LEGO Fortnite for 40+ hours and there's one thing I love about this game - the villagers. I never found anything similar in other survival games. The villagers in LEGO Fortnite is one the best thing to happen in any survival game. They help you out with all kinds of jobs and make you feel less lonely when you are playing in single-player mode. You can dance and chat with them while waiting for more content updates around them coming in future.