Get 'Sonic Superstars' for just $20 on Switch and become the blue blur

SAVE $40: As of Jan. 31, get Sonic Superstars for $19.99. That's a 68% discount and $40 off its usual price of $59.99.

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Credit: Best Buy

'Sonic Superstars' (Nintendo Switch)

$19.99 at Best Buy (save $40)

Sonic fans have had a great time over the past couple of years. Sonic Frontiers offered exciting open-world exploration, while the most recent Sonic adventure, Sonic Superstars, serves up great classic gameplay that feels like a fun throwback to the platforming franchise's glory days on the Sega Genesis. If you haven't yet had a chance to try it out, now's a great time, as it's up for grabs on the Nintendo Switch for one of the lowest prices we've seen.

As of Jan. 31, Sonic Superstars is just $19.99 at Best Buy, down from its normal price of $59.99. That's $40 off and a discount of 68%. It's one of the lowest prices we've seen on the game since its October debut, making this an even sweeter deal given that it's only a few months old.

SEE ALSO: Get an Xbox Elite controller for under $100, plus more gaming deals this week

This side-scrolling platformer has you playing as Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, and Amy Rose as you work together to take down the nefarious Dr. Eggman, par for the course for a Sonic game. Eggman has allies Fang the Hunter and Trip the Sungazer under his control, and Sonic and the crew have to find seven Chaos Emeralds to thwart the evil gang.

It's high-octane, fast-paced action across 12 unique zones with 26 levels and a number of special stages that take advantage of each character's unique abilities. It's one of the Sonic games that's gotten closer to what made the original games so great, and even if it isn't perfect, it's still some pretty great fun for $20 for Sonic fans. So if that sounds like a (Sonic) blast, you might want to go ahead and grab a copy while it's this cheap.

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Persona 3 Reload is a surprising dose of 2000s nostalgia

If you have a popular gaming franchise, now is the time to decide if you can repackage it, upgrade some textures, or completely reimagine the title for the 2020s. Atlus’ Persona games are one of those enduring series, and the company has already relaunched the last three entries across current-gen consoles, almost entirely unchanged from the original releases.

But with Persona 3 Reload, the company chose the most confusing (and influential) entry to remake. There are some big changes you may not even notice if you haven’t played the 2006 original recently, with new English language voice actors (all the Japanese VAs return from the original) and, interestingly, the most voiced scenes from any game in the Persona series.

Mostly, the only way you can tell this is a remade game are the anachronistic gadgets featured within. Flip-phones sure, wired headphones everywhere, standalone MP3 players, DVD players, internet cafes, desktop PCs as standard. Is 2006 retro now? If it is, I’ll throw up.

Atlus

Truly, it’s just a gorgeous version of itself. Reload isn’t a total remake like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, so environments are limited to the ones found in the original, including a world map to fast-travel between them all. There’s some Unreal Engine gloss, and while nothing is utterly stunning outside of battles, some parts, like the sun-dappled classroom, look better than anything in Persona 5’s real-world environments.

Reload has the graphical fidelity to do justice to Shigenori Soejima’s original character designs – no more almost chibi-styled character models. The difference between 2D art and 3D models is often imperceptible.

The graphical upgrade is the biggest change; the remaster takes advantage of technological advancements across the three generations of consoles that have launched since the original game debuted on the PlayStation 2. The original Persona 3 was criticized for repetitive environments and battles and while Reload doesn’t try to address the former, battles are improved.

Atlus

Visually, even compared to Persona 5 Royal, the characters are more detailed and more fluid, especially during their anime-styled attacks. The personas – the magical spirits you use to wield magic, defy fate and all things Atlus – look and move better, too.

The game has also gone through a Persona 5 filter of sorts, too. The menus and battle results screens are now dynamic and snappy, with an aqua-blue color scheme suiting the third game’s theme. So yes, Atlus did it again: It made menus cool. There are also new animated scenes, while some old scenes have been recomposed with the latest game engine.

Fights look better, too, and they also play better. It’s still a turn-based RPG, where enemies and allies take turns attacking each other. In Persona games, the battle dynamic hinges on striking an enemy’s weak spot, allowing for extra attacks and interrupting their turn. P3R has integrated some of the series’ quality-of-life improvements, including the ability to ‘pass’ your turn to another player (if you hit an enemy’s weak point), who can perhaps hit harder or topple one of the other enemies.

Also, more often than before, when your character achieves a critical hit or topples an enemy, you’ll get an anime-style close-up cut of the character’s face and a more dynamic Persona summoning flourish. I love it. Critical attacks have also been made more cinematic and these improvements help make what can be repetitive fights seem a little more entertaining. Finishing attacks (all-out attacks that feature the whole party) result in a slick victory screen like Persona 5.

Theurgy is the new battle dynamic introduced in Reload. It’s best to consider them like ultimate attacks (or limit breaks, perhaps): high-powered attacks that take time to build up before you can unleash them. Why call them Theurgy? The word means the “effect of a supernatural or divine agency in human affairs,” which is the Persona series’ jam.

While these attacks will charge through typical battle behaviors, each character has a particular characteristic that, if leaned on, will charge the gauge substantially faster. For one it might be landing a status effect on an enemy. For another, it might be buffing party characters. Regardless, it’s often worth doing these specific actions instead of what you planned to do, if only to tap into a powerful attack quicker. I was pleasantly surprised at how frequently I could unleash these special attacks. The protagonist is unique, so he gets a selection of different Thuergy attacks based on multiple Personas he unlocks through the game.

Atlus

Social links form the game's backbone and how your character spends time between supernatural fights. Unlike recent Persona games, improving your relationships with NPCs in Persona 3’s world doesn’t offer you many boons during your fights. However, enhancing your connection can also happen through new "Link Episodes" available to some party members and NPCs. Participating in these can lead to new Persona creations and even stat boosts. Oh, and a deeper story.

Most fights occur in Tartarus, a vertiginous tower split into different sections but typically offering more of the same, whatever level you’re on. This component of the Persona experience is equally familiar (you’ve likely played Hades or any roguelike in the last five years) and frustrating. It can get boring fast, especially if you’ve played the original game, which I’m sure many have. It’s also where the least effort’s been made to improve this game. It is repeated corridor mazes, with treasure, enemies and other distractions scattered around. Sometimes there are treasure monsters – high stakes, high reward enemies that will often run away unless you beat them quickly – and the Reaper, a high-powered enemy that will steamroll you until you’re wielding end-game weapons and a high enough level.

It’s a shame. With Persona 5, exploration and battle areas were themed around that chapter’s antagonist. There were puzzles to solve, parts of the level would change, and even resting spots were factored into the level design. Then there was Mementos, built around the randomly generated levels you’d expect from a Persona title. In this remade Persona 3, you’re running around the same very repetitive environments (with light cosmetic changes) spread across over 250 sets of stairs.

Atlus

That won’t put off Persona fans; they know what a Persona game is like. There are enough quality-of-life improvements to make this worth replaying if you’ve played the original over the last… two decades. I’m delighted that those improvements include a “network connection,” also plucked from Persona 5, which shows you what other players are up to each calendar day, helping inform how you spend your time/help with the tricky school tests.

I hoped for some new, more complex level design combined with turn-based RPG battles and friendship sim frivolity, but that would have resulted in an entirely new game. I’ll have to wait for Persona 6 – or possibly look elsewhere.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/F4gmRXL
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Keep your packages safe with the eufy Security SmartDrop box for under $160

SAVE $240: The eufy Security SmartDrop delivery box is just $159.99 at Amazon, down from the normal price of $399.99. That's a 60% discount and the lowest price we've ever seen at Amazon.

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Credit: eufy Security

eufy Security SmartDrop

$159.99 at Amazon (save $240)

The convenience of having practically all of life's essentials delivered to your doorstep is one of the best modern advancements. Ran out of toilet paper? Get it delivered in a few hours. Hate cooking? Get a week's worth of meals set out on your porch tomorrow morning. Perhaps the only downside to the convenience of getting everything delivered is leaving packages on the porch, vulnerable to both weather and porch pirates. Solve both of these issues with today's eufy Security deal at Amazon.

As of Jan. 30, the eufy Security SmartDrop delivery box is just $159.99, down from the normal price of $399.99. That's a savings of $240.

The eufy Security SmartDrop is package delivery protection. Made of cold-rolled carbon steel, the locking box is a durable and weatherproof method to ensure your packages stay secure on your porch until you're able to get them inside. The SmartDrop allows couriers to easily deposit any packages into the box with easy guidance. Through the app, you'll be able to see deliveries in real-time thanks to the motion-detecting camera. Should you wish to talk with a courier, open the two-way audio from the app to let them know about any delivery instructions.

Once you arrive home, you have several ways to open the box — use a pin code, access the box via the app, use a traditional key, or use voice control with Alexa or Google Assistant. The variety of access methods also means you can share the pin code or open the box via the app should the kids get home first and desperately want that new toy Amazon delivered earlier.

The eufy Security SmartDrop is also designed to withstand weather, so no wind or rain storm will damage your deliveries from here on out.

If you tend to worry about package deliveries sitting on the porch or no longer want to text the neighbors about going to rescue an important delivery from your doorstep, today's deal on the eufy SmartDrop delivery box is your sign that it's time to take that worry off your plate.

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Grab the Roborock Q5+ robot vacuum for its lowest price ever for a limited time

SAVE $300.01: As of today, Jan. 30, the Roborock Q5+ robot vacuum is on sale for $399.98. That's a discount of 43% off the full price of $699.99.

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Credit: Roborock

Roborock Q5+ robot vacuum

$399.98 at Amazon (save $300.01)

Top-notch robot vacuums can get pretty expensive, especially when you add on features like self-emptying and LiDAR navigation. We're always on the lookout for rock-bottom prices, and there's a great deal on a sophisticated Roborock robot vacuum today.

As of Jan. 30, the Roborock Q5+ robot vacuum is just $399.98 at Amazon, down from its normal price of $699.99. That's $300.01, or 43%, off. The last time we saw the Roborock Q5+ hit this record-low price was over Black Friday. The Roborock Q5+ hasn't dropped this low often, so we recommend acting on this deal while you can.

SEE ALSO: We tested Roborock's most advanced (and expensive) robot vacuum

When you upgrade to the Roborock Q5+, you're getting seven weeks of hands-free cleaning around your home. After each clean, the robot vacuum empties itself into the self-emptying dock. Not only does this take the chore out of your hands, but you can also be confident that the job is getting done right thanks to LiDAR navigation technology that thoroughly and accurately maps out your home. The vacuum's brush is resistant to tangles, making it a great fit for homes with furry friends.

Take your home to next-level clean when you score the Roborock Q5+ robot vacuum at its lowest price at Amazon.

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Get the Apple Watch Series 9 sans blood oxygen sensor for its lowest price yet

SAVE $90: The latest Apple Watch Series 9 (41mm, GPS) is just $309 at Best Buy, down from its regular price of $399. That's a 27% discount and the lowest price we've seen.

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Credit: Best Buy

Apple Watch Series 9 (41mm, GPS)

$309 at Best Buy (save $90)

The Apple Watch Series 9's controversial blood oxygen functionality has officially been nixed on newer models of the smartwatch. If that isn't a dealbreaker for you when it comes to selecting which constant companion you'll keep on your wrist, then you can save big on a new Series 9 watch without the feature right now. There's a great deal going on at Best Buy right now that you can take advantage of — and it's the lowest price we've seen on this particular model.

As of Jan. 30, the Apple Watch Series 9 (41mm, GPS) is just $309 at Best Buy, which is $90 off its normal price of $399. That's a 27% discount and the lowest price we've seen. This price only applies to the Pink Aluminum Case with Light Pink Sport Loop option right now, but if that isn't your favorite color combo, it's easily remedied with a custom watch band and Apple Watch case, all of which come in every color of the rainbow.

SEE ALSO: All the best smartwatches for every wrist and interest

The Series 9 debuted in September, making it the newest non-Ultra Apple Watch you can get. Though it's now bereft of its blood oxygen monitoring ability, it still has plenty of great features you'll want to take advantage of, like the new Double Tap function. This lets you use a pinching motion with your index feature to your thumb to quickly answer or silence calls, reply to messages, control your music, and more.

This iteration also includes a brighter screen, zippier processing, and all the health and productivity features you've come to expect from the lineup by now. It's still a very capable option if you haven't bought into the Apple Watch ecosystem yet, or if you have and just want an upgrade. It's especially good at this price, so you may want to act quickly to take advantage of this deal.

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Yelp introduces AI-generated summaries of restaurants, bars, and more

Yelp reviews are getting the AI treatment.

Today, the OG online review platform announced AI-powered business summaries in addition to a slew of other features for businesses and users alike.

Yelp's large language models (LLMs) parse through recent reviews, condensing them into short summaries that offer accurate depictions of what each business is known for — and what to expect, such as atmosphere, service, amenities, popular dish to try, etc.

SEE ALSO: Yelp using AI to enhance search features and recommendations

Businesses have been seeking to capitalize on the hype of ChatGPT, which is the fastest-growing app in internet history. This includes leveraging generative AI's abilities like writing and summarizing into time-saving tools for work and life.

As more companies put out consumer-facing AI features, it also means more AI-generated content circulating, which is an entirely new territory for life on the web.

Get a quick summary of the best insights from Yelpers at the top of the page. Credit: Yelp

Yelp's AI-powered business summary is reminiscent of a recent Amazon feature that provides summaries of product reviews. Both use LLMs to ingest possibly thousands of reviews, condensing them into 3-4 sentences to save users time and effort.

Mashable hasn't had the chance to test out Yelp's AI summaries, but found some errors and inaccuracies with the Amazon feature that all LLMs are prone to.

To address such issues, Yelp only uses recent reviews to train the LLM and has safety framework in place to "mitigate incorrect and inappropriate content," said a spokesperson. Business owners can always contact Yelp Support if they believe a summary is inaccurate. The business summaries also have a disclosure letting users know it's AI-generated and will be monitoring user feedback and engagement.

Yelp AI-generated business summaries are available on iOS and will roll out to Android and desktop later this year.

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'The Greatest Night in Pop' review: Netflix music doc favors fun facts over depth

Looking back on the moment in time that The Greatest Night in Pop captures is a dizzying thing. Even in 1985, the recording of the single "We Are The World" was inexplicable. Out of nowhere, some of the biggest recording artists in contemporary American music were joined in a chorus for charity. Thinking back on the music video, the collection of famous faces seems like a fever dream more than a memory: Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, for some reason Dan Aykroyd, and many, many more. 

They'd come together to create a fundraising single to fight famine in Africa, and they achieved awe-inspiring success in collaboration and philanthropy. But looking back, it feels even more impossible to imagine something so sincere and star-stuffed coming together at all. 

The documentary The Greatest Night In Pop is fueled by this sense of awe. Director Bao Nguyen offers interviews from a long list of the single's contributors alongside behind-the-scenes footage that takes us into the recording session that was as stressful as it was surreal. The result is a documentary that is undeniably enchanting — even if willfully naive. 

SEE ALSO: The 21 best music documentaries on Netflix

Lionel Richie is The Greatest Night in Pop's MVP. 

Credit: Netflix

Lionel Richie, who serves as a talking head as well as a producer here, returns to the recording studio where they all convened on January 25, 1985. With the help of colleagues like Kenny Loggins, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Smokey Robinson, Sheila E., and Dionne Warwick, he constructs the incredible story of how the song came together. 

Each of the interview subjects brings interesting perspectives and engaging anecdotes, many of them painting a picture of music producer Quincy Jones — who does not participate in the doc — as brilliant, patient, and inspiringly ambitious. But as Richie was involved with the single early on, co-writing it with Michael Jackson, he shoulders much of the story. 

Far from having a Behind the Music vibe, The Greatest Night in Pop is not interested in the scandals and shocks that would come later in some of these musicians' careers. There will be no dramatic music stings as someone says something shady. No syrupy narrator will thread in foreboding or stoke drama from a vague comment. Nguyen keeps the story relatively focused and easy to watch by keeping to the topic at hand, with little to no interest in the future. This gives Richie the space to play storyteller comfortably; he regales us with details about what an eccentric Jackson was, busting out stories about how the King of Pop's animal menagerie became an unwelcome distraction during the writing phase. Aside from being a dynamic storyteller, Richie also proves a solid mimic. His impression of Jackson is as good as that of the large python who intruded on a brainstorming session. 

The Greatest Night in Pop gives affable access. 

Huey Lewis, Quincy Jones, and Michael Jackson in "The Greatest Night in Pop." Credit: Netflix

Richie is our charismatic tour guide through titular historical event, offering winsome stories and an attitude that we're being allowed beyond the velvet rope. In this space far from fans and paparazzi, the stars are not just glamorous — they're geeking out to meet their idols. Charming anecdotes and matching archival photographs are shared of artists exchanging their sheet music to be autographed like a high school yearbook. Several interviewees recall how in awe they were to be in the same room as the living legends on this track. 

Here, Huey Lewis proves a standout, acknowledging that he was a relatively new kid on the block, drop-jawed to be in the same session as Billy Joel, Smokey Robinson, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings. His arc within the story is among the most satisfying, both sweet and grateful. Elsewhere, Springsteen has a great line trying to sum up Bob Dylan, whose folk stylings struggled in this group setting. Where technicians from that night give structure to how everything came together, talent like Dionne Warwick provides colorful commentary that is gleeful fun, as if told in a conspiratorial cackle over cocktails. 

In general, these interviews paint The Greatest Night in Pop to be a magical moment where a bunch of big stars overcame their egos for the betterment of the world — in a time when that didn't earn derision. The film's joyful tone invites us to join in on the lovefest, though there is a frisson of drama that threatens to overshadow everything else.

Prince stands out by staying out of The Greatest Night in Pop. 

The closest the film gets to drama is Prince. Though the iconic artist chose not to participate in the event, the will-he-won't-he of it all becomes an intriguing theme. Specifically, the drama tangles around Sheila E., Prince's then-girlfriend and musical colleague as well as the Queen of Percussion. She was really excited to be involved with "We Are the World." However, in her interview, she recalls how the producers on the night of the recording repeatedly pushed her to call Prince and invite him to come. "The Glamorous Life" singer began to feel that she wasn't invited on her own merit, but only because of her famous lover. All these years later, that feeling of rejection clearly still stings as she hangs her head in her interview.

To Nguyen's credit, the documentarian does not dismiss Sheila E.'s experience, but he doesn't press the other producers and musicians on this point either. And so, Sheila E. is left to dangle on a sullen note. Though this arc does give the film a low moment, it doesn't so much detract from the overall enjoyment of the film. However, her story does push us to wonder about the other angles that are not explored — troublesome behavior that was laughed off or whispers that won’t be spoken of.

This is not the kind of documentary that digs particularly deep, looking for the dark corners of the shiny pop story. As its title suggests, The Greatest Night in Pop is a celebration, full of nostalgia for a supposedly simpler time when star power might sweetly combat the evils of the world. The final act notes cheerily how this single inspired benefit concerts like Farm Aid and Live Aid. So, this is propaganda for the power of pop music — popaganda, if you will. And sure, what the artists accomplished that night should be lauded, as they donated their time and talent to the greater good. On reflection, there's something uneasy in only calling upon participants to proclaim the night's greatness. But it’s something that won’t be explored in this documentary.

In the end, The Greatest Night In Pop is a good documentary for Netflix viewing. Fun and fluffy with famous faces, brisk pacing, and plenty of playful tales, it's something you could put on casually while folding laundry. And it is very satisfying on that front.

The Greatest Night in Pop was reviewed out of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival; the documentary debuts is now streaming on Netflix.

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Galaxy S24 Ultra review: I’m a Samsung stan, but iPhone 15 Pro Max is one hell of a rival

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, I thought, would surely win my heart. 

After all, I’ve been a Samsung stan since I owned the Galaxy S21 Ultra and S22 Ultra. I loved hearing my ugh-you-have-green-bubbles iPhone friends say, “Wow, your phone takes amazing photos” as they frowned at their own overprocessed, iDevice-taken selfies.

People watched in awe as I whipped out my S Pen to jot down my drink order for the bartender when the music was too loud.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

In an iPhone-loving world, I felt like my S22 Ultra was an underdog that was better than its Apple rival – people just needed to wake up to its incredible capabilities.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

However, the numbers don’t lie. While the Galaxy S24 Ultra shines with (some) Galaxy AI features, my testing shows that the Samsung phone has some serious competition with the iPhone 15 Pro Max on the market.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra price

The Galaxy S24 Ultra base model has an MSRP of $1,199 — $100 more than the starting price of the Galaxy S23 Ultra when it launched in 2022.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

However, as we speak, Samsung is running a pre-order promo that lets you snag a 512GB phone for just $549. If you want 1TB of storage, you’ll have to shell out $669.99.

It’s worth noting that there’s also a 256GB model, but with this promo, it’s the same price as the 512GB model at $549, so you’d be selling yourself short if you didn’t grab the 512GB variant.

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Credit: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

$549.99

What I love about the Galaxy S24 Ultra

I can’t speak for everyone, but in my circle of tech friends, there's been a growing sense of AI fatigue. 

With countless companies hawking AI-powered gizmos, plus the ongoing discourse of job displacement anxiety, privacy and ethical concerns, and more, my intuition tells me that consumers were damn-near "over it" when Samsung announced Galaxy AI.

However, contrary to the AI fatigued, I found myself being quite intrigued. Here’s my experience with it so far. 

Galaxy AI’s ‘Chat Translation’ is phenomenal

I have family in Puerto Rico who don’t speak a lick of English. And as for me, despite years of taking Spanish classes, my rough grasp of the language would make the Duolingo bird consider early retirement.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

I once relied on third-party apps like Google Translate to communicate with my Spanish-speaking kin, but that was – quite frankly – was a pain in the ass.

Now, thanks to Galaxy AI, I can text my Puerto Rico-based cousin – sans Google Translate – directly in WhatsApp via the keyboard. It works in Google Messages, too. (I used it to text my French-speaking mom.) I haven’t had issues with it so far; it translates all texts with expert precision and rapidity. 

However, as you’ll see in this review, not all Galaxy AI features are as polished.

Galaxy AI’s “24 hr time lapse” is badass

Take a look at the GIF below. Galaxy AI did that. Initially, this was just a photo (you can see the original photo below the GIF).

via GIPHY

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

But Galaxy AI worked its magic and transformed a photo into a 12-second time-lapse video – and you’d never know it was nothing but a static picture in its original form.

S Pen continues to shine

The Galaxy S24 Ultra continues to be a top selling point for the Galaxy S series phones. Sure, you can use it to scribble and draw on the display, but it’s also a pen-shaped remote.

Credit: Samsung

For example, I can press and hold the button on the S Pen, which, by default, fires up the Camera app. By pressing the button once, the shutter button is triggered, allowing me to take photos without touching the screen.

Air actions, including flinging the pen to the left and zig-zagging the S Pen, can launch video mode and the Notes app, respectively. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what the S Pen can do.

Again, none of these features are new, but it’s one of the best aspects of the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

My only wish is that it’d be nice if the S Pen could have some sort of locator sensor inside – this stylus is easy to misplace. (On the plus side, the Galaxy S24 Ultra alerts you when the S Pen is not in its silo.)

Search your scribbled notes in the Notes app

One thing that irks me about my Galaxy S22 Ultra is that I have a large library of scribbled documents in the Notes app. But unfortunately, I'm unable to search through my massive portfolio of notes for particular messages or words.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

The Galaxy S24 Ultra changes all of that. It can, indeed, “read” my chicken scratch, allowing me to search through documents inside the Notes app – even if it was written by way of the S Pen.

Design beats the iPhone 15 Pro Max

As I mentioned in my hands-on experience of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, this phone is ergonomic heaven. Unlike the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s stiff edges, which uncomfortably dig into my soft palms, the Galaxy S24 Ultra continues to boast soft, rounded edges that conform to my hand.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

The 6.8-inch, 3,120 x 1440-pixel resolution display still has that hole-punch camera that houses a 12MP selfie camera, which is delivers visually pleasing, gloriously spacious screen real estate – more than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which features the Dynamic Island (i.e., a glorified notch).

Unfortunately, Samsung gave Mashable the Titanium Violet color, which is, in my opinion, quite mid, but that Titanium Yellow is elite. It looks like it’s wrapped in glitzy gold.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Other colors include Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Blue, Titanium Green, and Titanium Orange. As the names indicates, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a titanium frame, similar to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, that supposedly makes the phone more durable than its predecessor.

Durability is damn good

At one point, I got up from my couch, and suddenly, I heard a loud smack. I looked down, and to my horror, the Galaxy S24 Ultra was on my hardwood floor.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

I gasped and I quickly grabbed the Samsung phone. In a panic, I looked at the display and searched for scratches and cracks. Fortunately, I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized it looked good as new.

Samsung wasn’t kidding about its durability. How did it pass this unexpected drop test? Thank the display's Corning Gorilla Glass Armor, which boasts cutting-edge scratch-and-shock resistance.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra zoom is elite

When I first heard that the Galaxy S24 Ultra is ditching its 10MP, 10x telephoto camera for a 50MP, 5x variant, I was skeptical. Yes, the resolution has increased, but the optical zoom suffered a reduction. Could this hurt the Galaxy S24 Ultra?

As it turns out, the Galaxy S24 Ultra's zoom is one of its best features. In fact, when I blind-tested iPhone owners, most of them picked the Galaxy S24 Ultra's 10x shot — not the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 10x capture.

Left: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Right: iPhone 15 Pro Max Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

It's worth noting that the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a 12MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom.

SEE ALSO: Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max blind photo test: I asked 10 iPhone users which they prefer

What’s ‘eh’ about the Galaxy S24 Ultra

Unfortunately for the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it’s up against some stiff competition. Numbers aren’t everything, but after running some benchmarks on both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Samsung phone has a tough rival to beat.

Battery life is long – but not as enduring as iPhone 15 Pro Max

As you’ll see in the battery life section, the Galaxy S24 Ultra can last more than 10 hours, which is impressive.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

However, the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a better runtime by nearly two hours.

Object eraser is hit or miss

I’ve gushed about the Galaxy AI camera features, particularly the time-lapse utility. However, perks like Object Eraser can be hit or miss.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

For example, the Galaxy S24 Ultra seamlessly removed that pesky passerby in the red coat in front of the U.S.S Maine National Monument. Get outta there!

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

However, when I tried to remove the red bucket in this photo (above), Galaxy AI struggled to reproduce the horseshoe, which is admittedly a more complex task.

Performance doesn’t beat iPhone 15 Pro Max, but this isn’t a big deal

I ran the Geekbench 6 benchmark on both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Max. Unfortunately, as you’ll find out in the performance section, the former couldn’t catch up to the latter.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

However, this isn’t a big deal. Both scores far exceed the performance threshold needed to run everyday tasks on a smartphone. I’d argue that the iPhone 15 Pro Max has too much power for its own good – so much so that it beats the likes of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 in performance.

As such, even though the Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn’t beat the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it’s still packed with plenty of power to handle any of your tasks – and then some.

What I don’t like about Galaxy S24 Ultra

While I love that Samsung kept the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s signature round edges and hole-punch display, there are other tweaks that I don’t love.

The flat display isn’t for me

I may be in the minority, but I adore how my Galaxy S22 Ultra's screen bleeds into the edges. It’s often affectionately called a waterfall display; I always found it to be beautifully futuristic.

However, I understand that it’s not practical. For example, putting a screen protector on a waterfall display is a little more difficult (e.g., getting the air bubbles out is a pain).

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Still, I’m going to miss the waterfall display. It was an Android-esque design, and now, alongside the new titanium feature, the Galaxy S24 Ultra getting a little too iPhone-y for my tastes.

Selfie camera has stiff competition in iPhone 15 Pro Max

For a long time, I’ve always praised the Galaxy S series for its stunning selfie photos.

However, it looks like my preference is changing. I took selfies with the Galaxy S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max (both have 12MP front-facing cameras) at a Starbucks in Manhattan, and to my surprise, I ended up preferring the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

iPhone 15 Pro Max (left), Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (right) Credit: Kimberly Gedeon

But when it comes to the wide camera, I still dig the Galaxy S24 Ultra's 200MP lens over the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 48MP shooter.

Left: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Right: iPhone 15 Pro Max Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

The ultra-wide shots (both feature 12MP shooters) look better with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, too.

Left: Galaxy S24 Ultra Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Right: iPhone 15 Pro Max Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Galaxy AI ‘Call Assist’ needs improvement

What’s Call Assist? It’s an AI interpreter that steps in to translate your calls.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

For example, if you’re speaking English, Call Assist can translate your statement into Spanish for the receiver. And when the person on the other end replies, their response is translated back to English.

I tested Call Assist with my French-speaking father and I spotted some issues:

• You have to quickly tap on two options – “Call Assist” and “Live Translate” – before the other person picks up or the feature will not launch.

• Call Assist translates conversations well, but sometimes, it doesn’t allow slow-talking users to finish their sentences.

• On rare occasions, Call Assist stops translating altogether.

Call Assist was the Galaxy AI feature I was most excited about, but now I’m feeling a bit disillusioned. However, this doesn’t mean that it can’t be improved. For the next-gen Galaxy AI, Samsung should produce a more “patient” AI interpreter.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra battery life

As we reported, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a battery runtime of 13 hours and one minute, nearly two hours short of the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s runtime of 14 hours and 53 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Geekbench score

On Geekbench 6, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, produced a Geekbench 6 score of 7,078.

For comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, equipped with an A17 Pro chip, delivered a score of 7,359.

Final thoughts

The Galaxy S24 Ultra still has a chokehold over me with its slithery-smooth S Pen, cutting-edge on-device translation for texting, brilliant time-lapse feature, impressive durability, and iPhone-beating photos.

However, as much as it pains me to say it, the Galaxy S24 Ultra appears to be losing ground in energy efficiency. Battery life, one of the most significant aspects of a smartphone, is still pretty good on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max is slightly better.

I'm also not the biggest fan of the selfies the Galaxy S24 Ultra produces.

Still, because I have a multicultural family, the Galaxy S24 Ultra appeals to me. Galaxy AI features like Chat Translation and Call Assist are a must for me. The Galaxy S24 Ultra still takes the throne as the best Android phone. However, for the first time ever, I’m questioning my pro-Samsung stance. Great selfies and long battery life are too alluring to pass up.

via IFmashable.com

TikTokkers say Ariana Grande has a homewrecker kink. What is it?

If you've been doing your usual mindless scrolling through your TikTok 'For You' page lately (I know I have), you may have seen some interesting accusations thrown Ariana Grande's way. 

The drama all started last summer, when Ariana Grande was reported to be dating her Wicked co-star, actor and singer Ethan Slater. The problem online fans had: Ethan was just married to someone else, whom he'd recently had a kid with. With the release of her new song "yes, and?," the ire has only escalated. TikTok is up in arms, accusing Grande of having a thing (like, a kink) for pinching people's partners.

SEE ALSO: Why are so many people watching therapy porn?

This is known as a "homewrecker kink," which is exactly how it sounds. It's when people are turned on by the thought or act of tempting people who are already in a committed relationship, and/or having sex with them. 

We don't know that Grande has a homewrecker kink, and none of the rumours about her extramarital affairs have proven to be true, but they've spread so far and wide that Grande addresses them directly in "yes, and?" She gives a metaphorical middle finger to the conversations about her love and sex life online with the lyric, "Your business is yours and mine is mine, why do you care so much whose dick I ride?" 

The song has not been received well by a lot of social media users, but Grande's message (that it's none of our business) is loud and clear. 

Regardless of whether or not the singer-songwriter does have a thing for people in relationships, the discourse surrounding her relationship certainly says a lot about how we view these kinds of situations. So, speaking to sex and relationship therapists, we explored why these situations provoke such visceral reactions, why you're not actually a bad person if you fancy someone else's partner, and how a homewrecker kink (if you do have one) can be explored ethically. 

Who is into the homewrecking kink and why?

Dr. Tara Suwinyattichaiporn, who has a PhD in relational and sexual communication, tells Mashable that people may get off on sleeping with other people's partners, or the idea of it, because it's a taboo act, which can be "very exciting and sexually stimulating." 

Gigi Engle, sex therapist, educator at LGBTQ+ dating app Taimi, and Mashable contributor, says that, for some people, a homewrecker kink also links to the appeal of "being so incredibly desired that someone would cheat on their partner for you, like they'd risk everything for you."

Suwinyattichaiporn says that homewrecking is a pretty niche kink. "There are some surveys that show a large number of people enjoy the act of infidelity, though. So that could potentially mean a lot more people are enjoying homewrecking, but they're not saying it," she tells Mashable. 

Engle notes that her personal research shows it's mostly straight people engaging in homewrecker kinks, and there's "not much of it happening in queer communities."

"This isn't to say that [queer people] couldn't be involved, or within other communities, but heterosexual relationships seem to be where it's most prevalent," she adds. 

This is possibly due to heteronormative scripting, which is very present in the way we talk about homewrecker kinks, according to Engle. Scripting refers to the ways we articulate cultural norms. For example, the ideas that men are supposed to be strong and unemotional and women should be nurturing are written into our cultural "script." This relates to homewrecking, and by extension homewrecker kinks, because the way we talk about cheating is very gendered. "Homewrecker" is an insult usually directed at women, while men are usually forgiven, and not as often accused of homewrecking on purpose. 

Plus, gay, lesbian, and bisexual people are less likely, according to one study, to conform to gender roles in their lives, including archetypal ideas about marriage. They're also more likely to experiment with consensual non-monogamy, according to a study in The Journal of Bisexuality. So, it may just be that the danger of homewrecking is less of a big deal in these spaces. 

A controversial fetish 

For obvious reasons, people hold a lot of anger over the mere idea of homewrecker kinks existing, but Suwinyattichaiporn and Engle believe this anger is often misplaced. 

"[Homewrecker kinks] go against the mainstream belief that the only valuable type of relationship is a monogamous long-term relationship of marriage. So, I can see why people who subscribe to that belief get super angry with homewrecker kinks," Suwinyattichaiporn says. 

Gender roles also play a big part in this. Fearing other women and seeing them as competition is also built into women and girls' cultural scripting from a young age, and the idea that another woman could take your partner away from you is something we're told to not only fear, but manage by ourselves. Meanwhile, Engle notes that men are often forgiven for cheating, or expected to do it. Often, men cheating on women is seen as a failure on one of the women's part (his partner or the so-called homewrecker). 

This turns into misplaced anger towards those who sleep with married people, especially women who sleep with heterosexual men, and what doesn't help is the deep-seated myth that those women are automatically bad people. 

If you're someone with a homewrecker kink, Engle says it's important to understand that it does not make you a bad person. Cheating often, of course, involves lying and deceit so it's understandable that this desire to sleep with people in relationships would make people's stomachs uneasy.

SEE ALSO: Your TikTok feed may soon feature 30-minute videos

However, it's not your fault who you're attracted to, nor is it your responsibility if someone who promised their partner (who you don't know) monogamy crosses that boundary with you. It's worth noting that, when it comes to heterosexual relationships specifically, women are consistently told through societal messaging that this is their problem; men are rarely at fault for cheating, instead it's the female partner's and the affair-partners' burden to bear.  

The way we look at cheating, in general, is also often blown out of proportion and this leaks into the way we look at people — especially women — with homewrecker kinks. Engle says, "We put cheating on the same moral level as murder in society. If you cheat, you're considered to be the worst person in the whole world, and it's unfair."

She also believes this relates to wider conversations we've been having culturally about non-monogamy. Statistics from dating app Flirtini say half of men and one in three women are open to polyamory. Yet, a lot of people have received this rise in interest badly, with some social media users referring to polyamory as "allowing cheating to happen." 

Engle says, "It's an unrealistic expectation for humans to only ever be attracted to one person, yet we act like you're a bad person if you're not," which is steeped in capitalist and heteronormative ideas — systems that suppress us and can really put a downer on our sexual exploration. With all of this in mind, it's no wonder some people with homewrecker kinks might find themselves internalising shame.

How to explore a homewrecker kink without the actual affairs 

If you're concerned about exploring this kink because of the feelings that could get hurt, there are ways to play with it without actually getting involved in someone else's relationship. 

Suwinyattichaiporn says that exploring connections with people who are in open relationships or polyamorous relationships could help explore a homewrecker kink, without the so-called homewrecking part. "Communicate up front that this is what you're into so they know, and if they're into the idea, you can pretend that it's an affair while you and their partners know that you're having sex," she explains. This way, no one gets hurt. 

It does require some imagination though, so you'll need to pop your role play hat on. Engle recommends talking to your sexual partner about being interested in this kink and seeing if you can incorporate it through role play. "You could pretend the person you're sleeping with has a partner and that you don't want to get caught," she says. 

She explains that there's all kinds of methods you can try to really make this convincing for you, like asking them to post pictures of them with another person on a fake dating profile you can match with, or talking about their fictional partner during sex. Try lines like, "Oh God, I hope your husband/wife/partner doesn't find out about this," to create some excitement. 

"It's the same as any other role play. You both know that you're not actually doing the act, but it's fun to pretend and can be a huge turn on," Engle adds. 

There are plenty of ways to explore homewrecker kinks ethically, and you need not be branded with a scarlet letter if you do choose to play with it the old fashioned way. Maybe we ought to change the name of the kink to clear that up. 

via IFmashable.com