First PS5 hands-on reviews emerge from Japan, and more tech news today

Your tech news digest, by way of the DGiT Daily tech newsletter, for Monday, 5 October 2020.

1. Out of Japan: First PS5 hands-on reviews

Japanese reviewers are the first in the world to get their hands on Sony’s new PlayStation 5. A bunch of outlets showed off photos and video of the console in the flesh, and had the chance to play a few games, with some early vision of load times and gaming.

• It’s a beast. The PS5 is the biggest console ever and early photos (still with plastic film on!) from 4Gamer, uploaded in very high-resolutions. Do check out what you see, even if most people will need Google Translate!
• The images just lack the classic banana-for-scale type arrangement to really figure out sizing and dimensions, but hopefully no one should be surprised that it’s a big unit by the time first boxes are being delivered.

As noted by The Verge, there are a few hints at bits of metal hiding in the fins and vents, with this metal bit here supposedly a latch:

• The latch (or is it just a bolt/screw?) may be semi-accessible to open up the hardware box to add expandable storage with an SSD.
• Sony promised this would be possible, but it hasn’t yet been explained exactly how it’ll work, including which type of connection is needed to connect your SSD of choice.
• (4Gamer also explained that they hadn’t removed dust due to rushing through the photography and post-production process, but the non-matte finish may well collect dust anyway.)

Gaming:

• Putting the console through its paces in a gaming session, 4Gamer said the console warmed up but remained cool: “As mentioned above, the exhaust was gentle, and I could hardly hear what seemed to be the rotating noise of the fan,” via translation.
• A silent next-gen console? Hmm!
• There were comments about the nice touch and feel of the new DualSense controllers, especially the joysticks, and some great up-close photography of them, too:

Other insights:

• Dengeki Online had a video of gameplay, and a helpful view of the PS5 running near to a TV, showing a rough sizing. (The TV looks something like 50-inch? It’s hard to judge).
• Hanae Natsuki showed games ASTRO’s Playground and Godfall, the former we’ve seen before a few times.
• One interesting nugget is that we see here and we’ve seen reports (AV watch) that the standard confirm/accept/continue button default has switched to X instead of O in Japan.
• For Japanese gamers, that’s going to take some muscle memory adjusting to switch to the new control defaults. (You can experience the same shifting from PS4 to Switch!)

It’s only a month or so away: PS5 release date is November 12, 2020.

2. Google Pixel 5 vs older Google phones: Should you upgrade? (Android Authority). Also, why did Google choose the Snapdragon 765G for the Pixel 5? (Android Authority).

3. Galaxy Z Fold 2 durability test reveals major fixes and enduring flaws (Android Authority).

4. Mi Smart Speaker review: The best affordable smart speaker, but limited global availability for now even though it’s about $48 (Android Authority).

5. We asked, you told us: 72% prefer 60Hz OLED displays over a higher refresh rate LCD (Android Authority).

6. Apple’s new emoji wants you to know that you don’t have to be miserable when wearing a face mask (Gizmodo).

7. ZEISS’ full-frame Android camera is available to preorder for $6,000 (The Verge).

8. Tesla camera hack shows how your EV might monitor driving habits (Engadget).

9. Taiwan’s giant chip maker TSMC is feeling the heat in the US-China tech feud as it tries to stay a neutral friend to both (New York Times).

10. After two scrubs, Elon Musk says he will visit SpaceX launch sites in Florida: “Expect Musk to remind his launch team of his expectations” (Ars Technica).

11. Here’s a virtual tour of Machu Picchu (Google).

12. IKEA catalogues of the past. Huh, 1974 looks suspiciously 2019 aesthetic, but I am not the person to judge these things? (ikeamuseum.com)

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