Hearthstone’s Blackrock Mountain expansion announced, game’s user interface for phones also previewed

The folks at Blizzard held their panel at Pax East this morning, and they had a few cool announcements to make. One of the announcements pertained to none other than Hearthstone, the addictive collectible card game based on the World of Warcraft universe that launched on Android tablets late last year.

The latest content for the game is another adventure not unlike Curse of Naxxramas. It’s dubbed Blackrock Mountain, and it follows the theme of a never-ending battle in the depths of a molten core between two fiery entities — Ragnaros the Firelord, and the dragon Nefarious — to determine who will maintain control of the mountain once and for all.

The expansion adds 31 new cards to be earned through a total of 5 wings (released weekly) and 17 bosses. It’ll cost 700 gold or .99 per wing, or you can opt to pre-order the entire bundle of wings for .99 (which you’ll be able to do starting March 19th). Unfortunately the first wing doesn’t seem to be free so you’ll have to spend something in order to go along for the ride.

Blizzard has already previewed five of the new cards ahead of the update’s April landing date:

Beyond that, they’ve given us an early look at the three card backs they’ll be offering to commemorate the launch. On the far left you’ll see the standard card back for reaching rank 20 in the March season of play, the middle cardback is earned by defeating the Heroic (overpowered) versions of each Blackrock boss, and the far right cardback is earned by pre-ordering the game.

There was one other bit of news Blizzard had to share before they peaced out: the phone version is still in the works, and it’s coming along quite well. While it’s been possible to get Hearthstone loaded up onto an Android phone through the use of tricks, it doesn’t do anything to make a user interface that’s suitable for phones.

Thankfully Blizzard has come up with a way to squeeze everything you need into these small-sized devices so you can get the same Hearthstone experience without needing to tote a hefty tablet everywhere. They’ve also confirmed that phone users will be able to play PC and tablet users in cross-platform and cross-device fashion (which also means your decks, cards, gold and dust are all the same no matter which device you decide to play on).

That’s all we know about the phone version right now. Blizzard said it’s still in alpha stages, but they’re working incredibly hard to get it ready for release. As for Blackrock Mountain, look forward to that at some point in April.

[via Hearthstone Blog]

The LG G4 has been officially announced

After many weeks of leaks, rumors, and even official announcements from LG themselves, the LG G4 is finally official. After the Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9 were released the G4 is the last major flagship phone for 2015. Many people have been waiting to see what LG has to offer, and now we can finally put the official stamp on it.

Check out the full specs

Display

The G4 has a 5.5-inch Quad HD display (2560×1440) with a very slight curve. LG says the IPS Quantum Display is very energy efficient and easily visible in sunlight. The Quantum Display combines colors to make more accurate colors. The display lets more light through, which increases brightness 25-percent from the LG G3, which is how they get the great outdoor visibility.

Camera

One of the best features of the LG G3 was the camera. LG has set out to improve upon that already great sensor for the G4. It has a 16MP camera with f/1.8 aperture, laser auto focus, and optical image stabilization 2.0. What does that mean? You’ll get higher resolution shots which capture 80-percent more light.

The LG G4 is the first smartphone with a color spectrum sensor, which recognizes ambient light and object recognition. You can launch the camera and take a photo in 0.6 seconds. In manual mode you can even save images in RAW format, which is great for people who edit photos with desktop applications. They’ve also improved the front-facing camera to 8MP and improved the gesture shot for better selfies.

Battery & Storage

LG and Samsung are bitter rivals. So when Samsung decided to go with a non-removable battery and eliminate expandable storage you could guess what LG would do. The G4 has a removable 3,000 mAh battery and a microSD card slot (internal storage is 32GB). Disgruntled Samsung fans may be interested in the G4. It also has wireless charging, but not for both standards like the Galaxy S6.

Processor

The G4 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 with 3GB of RAM. Some may wonder why LG hasn’t gone with the newer Snapdragon 810, but the decision is likely due to battery life. The 808 is still a very capable processor.

Design

Last, but not least, is the new design of the G4. LG has introduced six leather options along with three traditional plastic back covers. The leather covers are “high grade” that take 12 weeks to manufacture. The plastic covers come in three colors: black, white, and gold. The leather and the slight curved display make for an elegant and beautiful device.

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What do you think about the LG G4? Will you be getting one?

Newly announced HTC J Butterfly 3 could be the redesigned One M9 we were looking for

When the HTC One M9 was finally unveiled at Mobile World Congress, there were more than a few fans who were disappointed to find the design didn’t deviate much away from last year’s One M8. It didn’t help matters that only a few weeks prior to the official unveiling, famed tipster @evleaks revealed press renders of an alleged One M9 with a vastly different front face. In the end, that device apparently never made it out of the concept phase with HTC instead opting for something a little more familiar to consumers (perhaps even a little too familiar). But is it possible HTC incorporated that leaked design in its latest handset for Japan?

Announced in Japan, the HTC J Butterfly 3 is the company’s latest high-end device for Japanese carrier KDDI. It packs a design aesthetic eerily reminiscent of that leaked One M9 we saw awhile back, only with a few key differences. One, this phone is all plastic and the perforated speaker holes sit in between the glass display and the plastic bezel. It’s very similar to what we saw with the HTC Desire EYE. Running with that, the Butterfly 3 even packs a similar 13MP front facing shooter like the Eye, mounted directly in the middle of the top plastic bezel. You may remember this was rumored early on to come equipped on the One M9 (and shown in @evleaks’ leaked render).

On the back, HTC’s Duo Camera makes a return (another feature we heard would make it to the One M9 but didn’t), coupled with a 20.2MP rear facing camera. As far as other hardware specs, the Butterfly 3 features a pin sharp 5.2-inch 2560×1440 resolution LCD 3 display, Snapdragon 810 processor, 3GB RAM, 2,700mAh battery, IPX5/IPX7 water resistance rating, and comes in 3 color options: red, white, and blue.

There really is a lot here to love and honestly, it makes us wonder if the Butterfly 3 doesn’t trump the One M9 in some respects. The Butterfly 3 will launch in Japan this June on KDDI.

[HTC | via Engadget Japan]

AT&T Trek HD tablet announced, and GoPhone plans get Rollover Data

AT&T today announced their very first own-branded Android tablet. It’s called the AT&T Trek HD, a 4G LTE tablet with an 8-inch HD display. It’s positioned as an affordable option for those who require a tablet but don’t have the funds for something on the high-end. Here’s a quick highlight of some of the other specs you’ll care about:

• Camera: 5 megapixel auto focus rear facing camera and 2 megapixel front facing camera


• Operating System: Android 5.0 Lollipop


• Processor: 1.6 GHz Quad-core Qualcomm^® Snapdragon^™ 400


• Battery: 4060 mAh Lithium Ion battery for up to 8 hours³ of power


• Storage: 16 GB (microSD up to 32 GB sold separately)


• Weight: 12 ounces

The tablet is just on-contract, or per month for 20 months if you grab it through AT&T’s tablet installment program. That figures to be about 0 if you were to buy this thing with no commitments.

Not a bad deal, though for 0 we’d just as soon use something like the NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet with your AT&T phone’s hotspot feature. The tablet will be available tomorrow online, and will head to store shelves starting May 15th.

To add to that news, AT&T has announced that folks on their and GoPhone plans will now get Rollover Data at no extra cost. Rollover Data works as Rollover Minutes did years ago — the data you don’t use is available for you to use next month. It’s not quite as good as T-Mobile’s Data Stash as the rollover data expires after 1 month, but at no added cost it’s better than nothing.

[via AT&T 1, 2]

OnePlus One receives a permanent price cut to $249, Dropbox Pro bundle announced

OnePlus One’s week-long flash sale was so popular that they’ve hit us with a permanent price reduction. The OnePlus One will now cost 0 no matter when, where or how you buy it. That’s a pretty insane price tag for a smartphone that stood toe-to-toe with 2014’s best Android phones.

OnePlus has also announced a new partnership with DropBox. There’s bonus for anyone willing to spend 0: you’ll get a 64GB OnePlus One as well as one year of Dropbox Pro. That tier gives you a very comfortable 1TB of cloud storage to work with, so if you run out of space on the device you can always start pushing stuff up there.

The 64GB OnePlus One’s new price of 0 + 12 months of Dropbox Pro at .99 per month would come out to be about 0, so this combo nets you in savings. The offer starts June 10th, and will only be available for a limited time (which OnePlus has yet to detail) so be sure to get your order in early if it sounds enticing.

[via OnePlus]

Oculus Rift official release window and details announced

Oculus Rift has just announced details for the consumer launch of their virtual reality headset. This is poised to become a benchmark product by which others are measured, and with Facebook’s backing we’re sure to see very interesting and significant developments down the line.

So when’s it coming? For how much? Will it help me survive the apocalypse? Fret not, because the answers are in. Here’s what we know so far:

• There will be a simple, sleek desktop sensor that doesn’t require anything but a USB connection to a PC.


• The release date for the Oculus Rift is scheduled to happen in Q1 2016.


• The integrated headphones are user removable.


• Oculus Rift will have a dial for adjusting lens focal distance.


• The headset’s design has been updated to better accommodate glasses.


• Oculus Rift will come pre-packaged with a wireless Xbox One controller.


• You will be able to stream Xbox One games to your Windows PC to play in Oculus Rift.


• Oculus is pledging million to help independent developers create games for Oculus Rift.


• Oculus Home will be a fully 3D VR-enabled user interface to buy and play all your games.


• Oculus Touch is a new input option that’ll allow you to control your games with your hands instead of a traditional controller. It supports gestures, hand presence and object manipulation in the game world.

We also get a first look at some of the launch games that will natively support Oculus Rift. One was an insane space combat action title called EVE Valkyrie (which, for what it’s worth, is also headed for the PlayStation 4 and Sony’s Project Morpheus headset). You can check out a quick trailer of it in action right here:

Other games announced for Oculus Rift include an exclusive third-party Insomniac title named Edge of Nowhere, as well as an interesting action RPG titled Chronos.

Damaged Core, VR Sports Challenge, Esper, AirMech VR and Lucky’s Tale are all slated to be on Oculus Rift in 2016, and available to try out for anyone attending E3 as soon as next week..

Unfortunately the details stop there, which means we still don’t have an exact release date, nor do we know how much it’ll hit our wallets for once it arrives. E3 is next week so we’ll be on the lookout for more details then. Otherwise, it looks like we’ll have to wait until we’re closer to that Q1 2016 launch window to be let in on more.

OnePlus 2 reveal date announced, launch event will be streamed in VR

We were expecting OnePlus to unveil another hardware component of the upcoming OnePlus 2 today but instead, the company revealed something else. Broadcasted onto (where else) but their forum and usual social media channels, OnePlus announced the reveal date for the OnePlus 2. The phone will officially be unveiled on Monday, July 27th at 7PM PT.

Unlike your normal product launch — which typically only live streams an event in regular ‘ol 2D — OnePlus will actually broadcast the show in 360-degree virtual reality. Because OnePlus knows not everyone owns a VR headset (I recently received my unit from Adult Swim’s free giveaway), they decided to build their own Google Cardboard unit only with a few improvements. It’s not available quite yet, but OnePlus tells us to check back where you’ll soon be able to order one (apparently free of charge?). You can find it here.

We’re sure to hear a lot more from OnePlus as the days progress, so stay tuned.

[OnePlus]