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Review: Star Wars Jedi Survivor

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The new Star Wars game continues Cal Kestis’ galactic adventure
Prices vary; PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S

A narrative-driven Star Wars game is what many wanted and the 2019 Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order gave that to its loyal fans. Now building on the strong base laid down by the Fallen Order, the Star Wars: Jedi Survivor is the latest instalment in the Star Wars saga that continues Cal Kestis’ journey and his fight against the Empire. Playing the previous game is recommended but newcomers to the series will also fit right in as the game offers a quick recap at the start. 

It’s been five years since the events of the Fallen Order with Cal now arrested by the Empire. The arrest, however, turns out to be a ruse for the Jedi to extract more intel but the mission goes sideways and expectedly, the game wastes no time to put Cal’s combative skills and abilities to test early on. The good thing about the sequel is that it retains skills from the previous game without having Cal relearn or unlock them. 

However, some abilities and features get unlocked over the course of the game. One of these are stances and there are five stances to choose from that help you define the combat playstyle. Our favourite is the one where you can wield a lightsaber and a blaster that lets you fight enemies from a distance and the crossguard lightsaber that delivers the most damage but at the expense of speed. These different playstyles coupled with the detailed skill tree add depth to the combat, which only gets better from the previous game. A successful attack, defence or parry is satisfying but the game also punishes for dying. Death during a fight means you lose the accumulated experience points, respawn at a meditation point (save point) and the only way to get it back is to strike (and hopefully kill) the enemy who killed you in the recent fight.

The game allows customising Cal, weapons and his robot friend BD-1. Right from Cal’s appearance to BD-1’s body material and paint to the lightsaber’s colours and materials, it brings lots of customisations to make the central character look different for different players. 

Jedi Survivor takes Cal to six different planets throughout the game and each region is well-designed, elaborate and distinct that will want you to explore and discover secrets of the place, find loot boxes for customisations, new shortcuts and pathways. Traversing the regions can be done on foot or take help from some tamed animals that will allow them to fly or ride them. The game also involves a decent amount of platforming with wall runs, air dashes and double jumps.  

Our playthrough on the PS5 was relatively issues-free. We did experience one random crash and performance issues like screen tearing and graphical glitches but that did not hamper our overall playing experience. 

In conclusion, the Jedi Survivor took good things from the previous game and made it fitting for a sequel with great combat mechanics and a decent storyline. 

RATING


WE’RE IMPRESSED Combat, story

WE’D IMPROVE Performance

THE LAST WORD Jedi Survivor brings great action and story, making it a must-play for every Star Wars fan

Review: BenQ DesignVue PD3205UA

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Price: ₹59,990

BenQ’s DesignVue series monitors, as the name indicates, are created for graphic designers who need a reliable display for colour-critical applications. The 32-inch PD3205UA and its smaller-sized sibling, the 27-inch PD2705UA, are not your ordinary desktop monitors with flat bases. These are made for professional designer studios with fixed muti-display setups. The stand has to be attached to the desk with the sturdy metal clamp at the base and the monitor is then attached to the ‘ergo arm’. The device has a three-side bezel-less design with a thick frame, curved at the rear. The stand has concealed channels for cable organisation. Apart from the base, all other parts are made of sturdy polycarbonate materials.

The PD3205UA is a 31.5-inch 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) monitor. The IPS display supports HDR10 and is stated to reproduce 99 percent sRGB and Rec.709 colour spaces, capable of delivering up to 1.07 billion colours. The monitor offers 5ms response time and provides 250 nits of brightness along with 1000:1 contrast ratio. The monitor offers near-accurate colours with a deviation of Delta E <=3. The monitor boasts corner-to-corner uniformity in brightness and colour reproduction with BenQ’s AQColor technology. The display comes Calman Verified and Pantone Validated along with Pantone SkinTone Validated certification for accurate reproduction of skin tones.

The monitor houses a KVM Switch that auto-pairs with input signals via the HDMI or DP connected parallel with the designated USB port. This helps you to connect a PC and a Mac seamlessly with the PD3205UAThe device offers two USB Type-B ports, two USB Type-A ports, one USB Type-C port, an HDMI port and a Display Port at the base along with a Mini USB for the hotkey puck (OSD controller). There is one Type-A and one Type-C port at the side along with a 3.5mm audio output jack. You can use the hotkey puck G2 to switch between inputs. Designers can make use of BenQ’s Display Pilot software, which gives access to various customisation option for colour mode, display and more, and to set up advanced features like ICC Sync, which automatically sets ICC profiles to match the colour mode selected.

As mentioned earlier, this is not a portable monitor. Once clamped to the desk, it is difficult to move it around. But the flexible ‘Ergo Arm’ provides a greater degree of movement than normal monitors and hence the freedom to position the monitor precisely where you want it. With concealed cable management channel on the stand, the setup looks professional and less messy. The part of the base that sits atop your desk is small and flat, hence it occupies less space.

We found the panel delivering uniform illumination across the display area as BenQ claims. We measured the native colour reproduction, and could verify the claims of 99 percent sRGB reproduction (97.3 percent coverage, 118.7 percent gamut volume). The monitor can reproduce up to 77.9 percent Adobe RGB gamut with 81.8 percent volumetric coverage, while the figures for DCI P3 was found to be 83.8 percent and 84.1 percent respectively. The monitor has two 2.5W speakers, but we found it practically useless as in the case of most built-in speakers.

Rating

WE’RE IMPRESSED Good colour accuracy, uniform illumination, flexible Ergo Arm

WE’D IMPROVE No shading hood, not portable

THE LAST WORD A colour-accurate studio monitor for creative professionals

Review: Beyerdynamic Phonum

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Price: ₹24,999

Handsfree calling devices are often a great blessing especially when you need to discuss something and access another device at the same time in addition to facilitating group calls. Beyerdynamic is a German audio brand with almost a 100-year history behind it, and the Phonum is a Bluetooth speakerphone for conference calls.

The Phonum is beautifully designed, with a cylindrical cross-section, flat base and a mesh speaker dome on top. The flat base is metal with soft anti-slip padding, while the main unit has a polycarbonate exterior. The speaker dome is surrounded by a ring-shaped touch-responsive control panel that gives access to Bluetooth connection, Volume control, Microphone mute/unmute and Microphone mode control, which are permanently marked, in addition to Accept Call and Reject Call buttons that light up when you receive a call on your connected device. There are also eight LEDs indicating the microphone pick-up direction. The power button and USB-C port are at the side. Contrary to the most likely perception, the upward-facing speaker dome houses a 360-degree downward-firing speaker, which allows all participants to hear clearly. The speaker is designed for clear vocals and offers distortion-free output with optimal volume. The speakers feature echo cancellation for speech legibility. The Phonum can be connected with a smartphone or laptop via Bluetooth or with a non-Bluetooth device via USB.

Apart from the regular features of a speakerphone, what makes the Beyerdynamic Phonum special is the Gecko 360-degree technology and the intelligent microphone system. This system lets you customise the microphone pick-up pattern to suit the conferencing setup. The Microphone Mode Control button cycles between three modes of voice tracking. The Gecko Fix mode switches the microphone to single direction pick-up, which is ideal when there is only one speaker participating in the call. This filters out disturbances from other directions. In Gecko Follow mode, the microphone follows the speaker even if the person moves around, making it perfect for situations where one person has the floor. In Gecko 360-degree mode, the microphone assumes omnidirectional pick-up so that all people gathered around a table can freely participate in the conversation and is clearly audible. In each of these modes, the LEDs around the touch panel illuminate, indicating the microphone’s active pick-up direction. The strongest pick-up direction is indicated by the brightest LED, while the peripheral LEDs are dimmed, and those in the direction of least pick-up remain off. In omnidirectional mode, all LEDs remain switched off.

We found the Beyerdynamic Phonum to be extremely portable and quite responsive to touch input. Connection proved quick and seamless, facilitating quick set-up. In Follow mode, the microphone quickly changes direction according to the speaker’s position, making it a versatile conference device. If you plan to use this as a music player, you will be disappointed simply because the device is not designed for that purpose, and the volume is quite low for music playback. The device offers 12 hours of operating time on a single charge and features quick charging via the USB-C port. The Phonum is sold in India via headphonezone.in .

RATING

WE’RE IMPRESSED Light, portable and sturdy design, responsive touch panel, Gecko 360-degree system, good battery life, sturdy case

WE’D IMPROVE Speaker volume

THE LAST WORD Beyerdynamic Phonum is an extremely versatile speakerphone for any type of conferencing situation with a highly functional intelligent microphone system

Review: Ambrane FitShot Zest

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Price: ₹2,999

Smart wearables are flooding the market, especially entry-level models at the lower end of the price band. Ambrane’s FitShot Zest smartwatch joins the melee with a few advanced features.

The FitShot Zest is available in black, blue and pink colours and has a rectangular design similar to Apple watch. The watch has a predictable Chinese origin but is well made, unlike many products in this price band. A metal frame and a neat-looking sensor unit underside instil confidence. The device uses a 22 mm silicon strap, which also feels of good quality. The FitShot Zest carries an IP67 ingress protection rating and hence it is water and dust resistant. The watch uses a 1.7-inch display, which appeared sharp and bright with legible font and design elements. The watch can be paired with an Android phone using the FitShot Wear companion app. You get some neat watch faces to choose from. The control wheel has the single function of switching between the installed watch faces. On the flip side, the slightest brush of your hands can change your chosen watch face.

The watch includes advanced features Bluetooth calling, health monitoring and voice assistant compatible with Google Assistant and Siri. Apart from the regular health tracking features like SpO2, blood pressure, stress, sleep and heart rate, it also includes menstrual cycle tracking. It also tracks sports such as Running, Walking, Climbing, Treadmill, Cycling, Spinning, Yoga, Basketball, Football, and Basketball. Activity tracking records include steps, kilometres and calories burnt. Many of these may not be accurate but are close enough for all practical purposes. There are of course the regular features like stopwatch, alarm and others. You can also play and pause music or operate the camera on the smartphone with the watch. The watch provides up to seven days of battery life.

RATING

WE’RE IMPRESSED Good value for money, neat design, good features for the price

WE’D IMPROVE Accuracy of sensor

THE LAST WORD An entry-level smartwatch that exceeds expectations

Review: Asus Vivobook K15

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Price: From ₹46,990

Asus Vivobook laptops have been value-for-money offerings, and the K15 takes this a notch higher by bringing an OLED screen to affordable levels. As Asus says, the K15 is designed with Gen Z users in mind.

The Vivobook K15 features a polycarbonate and aluminium alloy chassis that appears tough for a budget-friendly laptop. The device is thin and light for a 15-inch laptop, about 18 mm thick and weighing 1.8 kg. The laptop is available in Indie Black, Transparent Silver, and Hearty Gold colours. The touchpad includes a fingerprint scanner for Windows Hello login, and it proved quite responsive. The keypad offers good feedback and is quite comfortable for long-form typing with 1.4 mm key travel. I found the compromise in arrow keys a little frustrating at the start, but then it became less of an annoyance after a few days of use. The keyboard offers three levels of backlight and the Enter key has a neon green backlight. The touchpad felt somewhat lagging. The device offers a full suite of I/O ports including three USB-A, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, two USB 2.0 Type-A, one HDMI and a MicroSD card reader along with a 3.5mm headphone jack. It provides up to Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) dual-band and Bluetooth 5.0.

Coming to the main USP of the laptop, the Vivobook K15 features a 5.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) OLED display that provides 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut, ideal for videos. The display proved to be vibrant with true blacks and rich saturation. The panel is certified by TUV Rheinland for low blue light and flicker-free operation to reduce eye fatigue. The display has been validated by Pantone and comes pre-calibrated by Asus. However, we felt the factory calibration had over-saturated the warm tones, making it even more strenuous to look at for a long time. So, we attempted a hardware calibration using the i1 Display Studio device to DCI-P3 and found the pre-calibrated setting to be off by a wide margin. If you are into photography or colour-critical use, we would not recommend this display in its native calibration setting. We hope Asus would take care of this in future since the buyers of this laptop are not likely to have a colorimeter lying around to calibrate their displays.

The K15 is available in various configurations. The options in processor include 11th Generation Intel Core i3, i5 and i7, while Asus also offers up to 16GB DDR4 RAM, up to 512GB of SSD and up to 1TB of HDD. We received the i5 variant with 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD and the review is based on this configuration. The laptop features Intel UHD or Intel Iris Xe graphics. We used the K15 for photo editing and multimedia other than the regular light tasks, and the device handled all these without any problems. The laptops are equipped with an upgraded 8 mm heat pipe and a new fan to dissipate heat more efficiently. We did not feel any uncomfortable heating while using the device, and the fan ensured near-silent operation.

The K15 uses a 42 Wh battery, which lasted for about 5 to 6 hours in our use. The charger tops up the battery in about an hour. The MyAsus app lets you customise power, performance, audio and other parameters according to your use.

The Harman Kardon certified audio system provides good sound output for video calls and presentations, though this is not the best we have experienced. The camera also provided image quality of the expected levels. The laptops come with Windows 10 pre-installed but are eligible for a free Windows 11 upgrade.

RATING

★★★★

WE’RE IMPRESSED Lightweight, full-sized keyboard, good response, excellent display

WE’D IMPROVE Display calibration, Touchpad response

THE LAST WORD The Asus Vivobook K15 is a competent value-for-money laptop that exceeds the usually expected specs by a wide margin.