WhatsApp is always changing and improving, and only recently did we learn thanks to WABetaInfo that an “expiring media” feature is currently rolling out on the beta channel. Now there’s an even more useful feature in the pipeline — WhatsApp may finally allow you to choose what video quality will be uploaded when you send someone a video.
The new video upload quality feature was first spotted by WABetaInfo, and while it’s not active yet, their report confirms that it’s in the works. Choosing the video quality before sending is useful as it means that you can pick the right option to either save bandwidth or share the video without heavy compression. You can choose the “data saver” mode to send videos so that they’re compressed and don’t use too much data. WhatsApp has already had a data saver option for calls for years, so it’s a bit weird it has taken this long to get an actual option that the user can choose just for videos.
An explanation of each of these three options was also given by WABetaInfo.
Auto (recommended): WhatsApp will detect what is the best compression algorithm for specific videos.
Best quality: WhatsApp will always send the video using the best quality available!
Data saver: when Data saver is enabled in your Android settings, WhatsApp will compress videos before sending them.
This is currently not an active feature and thus can’t be used even in the beta channel at this point in time. It’s a feature that should arrive in the future though, particularly as it’s a much sought-after feature. Some people don’t even have data caps, they just have slow internet, and automatic compression of videos means that both the sender can send it quicker, and the receiver can receive it quicker. The files will also take up less space when backed up to Google Drive, saving you storage space in your Google account. On the other hand, for those with speedy connections, being able to send higher quality videos will ensure that what you see is what your recipient sees.
Xbox has announced which new games are available on Xbox Game Pass for the first half of July. There are nine new titles that have been added to the service, and there are eight games that have been removed at the end of June.
Keep in mind that, of the nine games, four were technically released at the end of June. But given the timing of their release, we’re counting them as July games. Here’s the complete list of all of the games:
Worms Rumble (Cloud, Console, and PC), June 23 Iron Harvest (PC), June 24
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered (Console and PC), June 24
Prodeus (Game Preview) (PC), June 24
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (Cloud), July 1
Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (Cloud, Console, and PC), July 1
Gang Beasts (Cloud, Console, and PC), July 1
Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars (Cloud, Console, and PC), July 1
In addition to the games, Xbox has also added touch controls to several of its Cloud Gaming titles. The games that now have touch controls as of the beginning of July include: Dirt 5, Double Kick Heroes, Eastshade, Empire of Sin, Haven, Octopath Traveler, Torchlight III, Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Unfortunately, every month some games leave Xbox Game Pass, and the games that were removed from the service at the end of June are:
Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
Mistover
Monster Hunter World
Out of the Park Baseball 21
Outer Wilds
Soulcalibur VI
The Messenger.
Xbox also recently revealed July’s Games with Gold, free games available to Xbox Gold subscribers.
Windows on ARM is slowly catching up with the pace this year. We saw HP launching the Elite Folio, a 2-in-1 laptop powered by the Snapdragon 8cx Gen2. But it’s unlike any ARM-based Windows laptop that we’ve seen in a while, thanks to its vegan leather exterior. In our review, we rated it as the best Windows on ARM PC, but how does it stand up against Microsoft’s Surface Pro X? Both run on almost identical chipsets and you also get a convertible form factor, but which one is better?
HP Elite Folio vs. Microsoft Surface Pro X: Specifications
2 SuperSpeed USB Type-C 5Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort 1.4)
1 headphone/microphone combo
1 Nano-SIM
2 x USB-C
1 x Surface Connect port
Surface Keyboard port
1 x nano SIM
Storage
Up to 512GB PCIe NVMe TLC SSD
Up to 512GB
RAM
Up to 16GB LPDDR4 4266MHz RAM
Up to 16GB LPDDR4x RAM
Battery
HP Long Life 4-cell, 46 Wh Li-ion battery
65W USB Type-C adapter
Up to 15 hours of typical device usage
Audio
Bang & Olufsen quad stereo speakers
Dual array microphones
Dual far-field Studio Mics
2W stereo speakers with Dolby Audio sound
Keyboard
HP Premium Collaboration Keyboard – spill-resistant, backlit keyboard
Clickpad with multi-touch gesture support
Surface Pro X keyboard (sold separately)
Surface Pro X Signature keyboard with Slim Pen bundle
Camera
720p HD privacy camera
5MP front-facing camera with 1080p full HD video
10MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD and 4k video
Connectivity
Qualcomm Atheros 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2×2) Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 5
Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE Cat 16
Wi-Fi 5: 802.11ac compatible
Bluetooth 5.0
Qualcomm Snapdragon X24 LTE model
Color
Black
Matte Black
Platinum
Design
Both the HP Elite Folio and Microsoft Surface Pro X offer flexible form factors but are quite different when you set them next to each other. The Surface Pro X is a tablet-first device that attaches to the external keyboard using magnets and pogo pins similar to other Surface devices. You can prop it up using the kickstand at the back, or just fold or remove the keyboard if you want to use it in tablet mode or tent mode.
The Elite Folio on the other hand feels more like a laptop. It has a nice vegan leather cover around it and the keyboard just stays with it all the time. Also, you can use the Elite Folio in tent mode by pulling the display from the bottom or just lay it flat to use in tablet mode.
The Surface Pro X is slimmer, lighter, and easier to carry around, and while you might think it offers more flexibility, there are some things to consider. First, the keyboard on the HP Elite Folio not only stays with the rest of the laptop but also offers better key travel and a more tactile feel. You also get a slightly larger trackpad on the Elite Folio compared to the Surface Pro X and bonus points for the more natural and convenient placement of the USB-C ports.
While we’re leaning more towards the Elite Folio, the design is subjective to user preference. Some might prefer the slim tablet form factor while others might appreciate the thought behind the traditional clamshell-first design.
Display: The Elite Folio offers a larger, more color-accurate panel
Once again, we have some pros and cons. The HP Elite Folio offers a larger 13.5 inches full HD (1920 x 1280 pixels) touchscreen display. The Surface Pro X offers a smaller 13-inch display but with a higher resolution of 2880 x 1920, which means it’s sharper. But if you compare the performance, the Elite Folio offers better color reproduction and accuracy, but the display on the Surface Pro X is brighter. Like the design aspect, it’s up to you whether you want a brighter and sharper display, or if you want something bigger with better color accuracy.
Performance: Both are equally matched
The HP Elite Folio is powered by the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 and can be configured with up to 16GB RAM. The Surface Pro X is available with either SQ1 or SQ2 chips, which are basically variants of the Snapdragon 8cx Gen and Gen 2. On paper, both are very similar and benchmark tests suggest the same. The Elite Folio and the Surface Pro X rendered similar scores on Geekbench 5, with the former only marginally better.
You do need to consider the fact HP offers the Elite Folio with optional 5G connectivity for faster mobile connectivity, while the Surface Pro X is limited to 4G.
Conclusion: Which one should you buy?
We’d recommend you go for the HP Elite Folio as it offers a more wholesome experience. It feels more natural to use and doesn’t compromise on the form factor. At the same time, the Surface Pro X is also a brilliant device as it’s lighter, has a brighter and sharper display, and even costs less. But at the end of the day, it’s a tablet and that restricts some of your productivity especially on Windows.
The Surface Pro X is Microsoft's attempt at making an ARM-based Windows detachable machine that's powered by a custom version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx.
Smartphone color refreshes serve the purpose of getting the phone back into the news cycle again and potentially picking up some stragglers who may want a new phone with a specific color that they feel is tailored to them. On that note, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra now comes in a new Navy Blue color, though with a catch: you can only pick it up at Best Buy.
There aren’t exactly a lot of color options available for the Galaxy S21 Ultra, despite it being the flagship smartphone of the S21 series. At the time of writing, you can only buy the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from the official website in Phantom Silver, Phantom Black, and Phantom Titanium. “Phantom Navy” used to be an exclusive color only available on Samsung’s official website. If you buy it in Navy Blue from Best Buy and activate it through a carrier on the day of purchase, you can knock $200 off of the asking price, bring it down from $1,199 to $999. It comes with 128 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM, and there’s nothing to suggest that you’ll be able to get it with more storage or RAM.
So if you installed Windows 11 on a PC that doesn’t meet those requirements, you may be having a less-than-great experience. Plus, it’s an unfinished build, so it may not be stable enough for you yet. If Windows 11 isn’t working for you, we’ll show you how to downgrade to Windows 10 after you’ve upgraded.
Reverting the Windows 11 upgrade
If you joined the Windows Insider Program and installed Windows 11, you can still go back. For this to work, you’ll need to revert the upgrade in the first ten days, and you have to make sure you don’t remove your old Windows files after upgrading. These are listed as temporary files in Windows’ storage settings, so don’t touch them unless you’re sure you want to stay on Windows 11.
Open the Settings app and go to the System section (it should open by default)
Scroll down to find the Recovery option and open it.
Where it says Go back to a previous version of Windows, click Go back.
Click through all of Microsoft’s warnings, and the reversal process will begin.
Once the process is done, you’ll be back running whatever build of Windows 10 you were running before.
This might not be the best option if you want to be on a stable release, though. If you were in the Insider program already, you’ll get the next Windows 11 build once it comes out, and if you opt out, you’ll be stuck on unfinished software. Insider builds also expire relatively soon, so you won’t be able to use it forever.
So what do you do if you want a completely clean install, or if it’s been more than ten days? You’ll need to use the Media Creation Tool to perform a clean install.
Create Windows 10 installation media
To downgrade from Windows 11 through a clean install, you’ll first need to back up all your data, or whatever you want to keep. The process will delete everything on your drive, so a backup is important. You’ll also need a USB flash drive to be your installation media. The data on the flash drive will also be erased, so you’ll need to back that up, too. Once you’re ready, here’s what to do:
Go to this page to download the Media Creation Tool. You’ll need to click Download tool now.
Run the tool and plug in the USB flash drive you’re going to use as the installation media.
Accept the license terms and then choose Create installation media on the next page.
Choose the settings you want for your installation. By default, it’ll use whatever settings apply to your current PC.
On the next screen, choose to create a USB flash drive, click Next, then choose the drive you want to use as the installation media.
Click Next again and the tool will start downloading Windows 10 and flash it to the USB drive.
Downgrade to Windows 10 through a clean install
Now that you have the Windows 10 installation media, you’re ready to downgrade from Windows 11. You’re going to need to boot from it to start the clean install. Here’s how to do that.
Go to Settings -> System -> Recovery.
Where it reads Advanced startup, click Restart now.
Your computer will go into the boot options. You’ll need to click Use a device, then choose the USB drive you’re using as installation media. It may be hard to identify, so if you can, unplug all other USB devices.
You’ll now be in the Windows 10 installation environment. Start by choosing your preferred language and region settings, then click Install now.
Accept the Windows 10 license terms. In the next screen, you’ll have to choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
Next, you’ll see a list of partitions and drives on your PC. You can either format the main partition or delete all the partitions on your primary drive, creating a new one in the unallocated space.
We chose to delete all the partitions and create a new one. Since Windows creates additional partitions to function, you’ll have either three or four partitions after that.
Click Next and the installation process will begin.
Once the installation finishes, you’ll be taken to the Windows 10 first-time setup, as if it was a brand-new computer. Your copy of Windows 10 will be lacking any additional software aside from what Microsoft includes with the OS.
That’s about it for what you need to do to downgrade from Windows 11 back to Windows 10. If you bought a laptop or PC at a store, it may also have a recovery partition you can use to go back to how it was out of the box. This process varies for different laptops and brands though, so you’ll want to check with your manufacturer for instructions. You may also need to install a lot of updates afterward.
If you want to stay in Windows 10, that shouldn’t be a big problem for now. Even after Windows 11 releases, Microsoft won’t force you to upgrade anytime soon. Windows 10 is supported until October 14, 2025, so you’ll have time to prepare.
The Apple Watch is one of the best wearables available right now, with the caveat that it can only be paired to an iPhone. Series 6 is the newest hardware generation, with an always-on display and blood oxygen monitoring support, and the red color (‘Product RED’) dropped to $70 off back in May. Now you can get all three colors of the non-LTE Series 6 for the same price of $329.
The models on sale are the smaller 40 mm versions, with no dedicated cellular modem — you’ll need to maintain a close Bluetooth connection to receive notifications from your iPhone. However, it still has a dedicated GPS sensor, so you can go on outdoor runs without a phone and still have location/path data. Unless you have a strong desire to leave your phone at home most of the time (or lots of expendable income), there’s not much of a need for the pricier LTE-enabled Apple Watches.
The Apple Watch Series 6 offers all the usual features you’d expect from a smartwatch, like physical activity tracking, notification mirroring from your phone, and the ability to run basic applications. The newest hardware generation adds an always-on display (hello, Android Wear from 2014!), blood oxygen monitoring, faster performance, and heart rhythm testing. It seems like the Series 7 lineup isn’t too far off based on recent rumors, but the Series 6 watches are still worth buying.
Gaming this week has seen the announcement of some exciting new additions to some of the favorite games of 2019 and 2020, as well as some industry shake-ups. Sony has acquired two separate studios (and possibly one other), we get a peek behind the curtain of the PlayStation Store, and Xbox Cloud Gaming has finally come to iOS.
Xbox Game Pass’s cloud gaming option rolls out to iOS
Microsoft recently announced that Xbox Cloud Gaming, which allows users to stream Xbox Game Pass games to devices that wouldn’t otherwise be able to run them, is rolling out to Apple devices and PCs via browser. It’s also exiting its invite-only beta phase, and all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can access the cloud gaming options.
In order for an Ultimate subscriber to access Xbox Cloud Gaming on, for example, an iPhone, they would access the Xbox website via Google Chrome, Safari, or Edge browsers. The Xbox Cloud Gaming servers are newly powered by Xbox Series X hardware, meaning the games that are streamed via this option will load faster, have higher framerates, and will just generally play better. It marks the first time the option will be available to iOS users.
Remedy is making two new Control games, including a multiplayer spin-off
Control was Remedy’s 2019 success story, propelling the Alan Wake universe to new prominence and introducing several users to the very trippy visuals of the Federal Bureau of Control. Perhaps not surprisingly, Remedy is making two new games in the series with the help of 505 Games. One of them is a potential sequel that neither company is willing to say much about — it’s very early in development.
The other game that is probably a little closer to being made, if only because the two companies are willing to speak about it more, is a Control multiplayer spin-off. This game, codenamed “Condor,” is a 4-player co-op title in which players compete with the environment or AI-controlled enemies. Remedy says the game will be released for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Sony acquires Housemarque and Nixxes (and maybe Bluepoint)
Sony announced this week the acquisition of two studios with which it’s worked closely in the past. Housemarque, the developers of Returnal, joined the PlayStation Studios umbrella earlier in the week. Sony later revealed it’d also acquired Nixxes Software, a company that specializes in porting console games to PC. Naturally, the latter acquisition has some speculating that Sony plans to port more of its PS4 titles to PC in the near future.
The strange part is that Sony kind of revealed another acquisition that it hasn’t yet announced: Bluepoint Games, the developer of, among other things, the Demon’s Souls remake. PlayStation accidentally tweeted the banner image with Bluepoint’s studio logo, which included an image of the cover of Demon’s Souls. Bluepoint would make sense as the company’s next acquisition, but so far, the company is mum on the slip-up.
Indie devs say Sony is hard to work with
OK. I am mad enough to burn some bridges. Because honestly, what's the point of a bridge that I am not allowed to cross.
So here is a thread about Platform X. I will not be defining Platform X but it's the operator of a very successful console and does not have Games Pass! pic.twitter.com/OJ2ZJz9BNy
This story is a bit of gaming industry behind-the-scenes, and not the good kind either. A report from Kotaku this week exposed one indie developer’s concerns about visibility on the PlayStation Store, and what Sony wants them to do in order for them to receive that visibility. It started with Iain Garner of Neon Doctrine tweeting about “Platform X” — which a Kotaku report later named as PlayStation — and how difficult it was to get his game into a featured position on the store. He claimed that not only would it cost thousands of dollars, but developers wouldn’t actually get much attention for their money, at least compared with Xbox and Nintendo, which offer several free or less-expensive options for an indie developer to be featured in their stores.
Other indie developers have since come forward (you can read a collection of stories at Kotaku) to corroborate the notion that PlayStation is a particularly hard platform to market on. As they put it, not only do they have to pay a high price for visibility, but offering a sale on their game is also prohibitively difficult — Garner says discounts are “invite-only” and invites are limited — and Sony’s evaluation, which determines how much prominence they give each game, is shrouded in secrecy. Some gamers have responded that there’s a price to be paid for being available on such a high-selling console.
An explanation of each of these three options was also given by WABetaInfo.
