2016 ~ Best videos

mercredi 14 septembre 2016

The appeal of the LG OLED55B6 is brutally but brilliantly simple: it's LG's cheapest Ultra HD OLED TV of 2016. Which for most households will mean that it's their best shot at getting their hands on LG's latest - and easily greatest - take on the OLED picture technology so revered by AV enthusiasts.

Naturally the OLED55B6's status as LG's most affordable OLED option does come with a couple of strings attached. We'll go into more detail about these later, but briefly it's relatively weedy on the audio front, and doesn't look quite as ridiculously stunning as its posher OLED brethren.

Crucially, though, when it comes to picture quality the OLED55B6 uses essentially the same OLED 'engine' at its heart, and as a result produces pictures which are, as we'll see, only marginally less outstanding than those of even LG's flagship OLED model this year.

Design

The OLED55B6 combines a 55-inch screen with a rear that's less than 5mm deep at its edges. This skinniness immediately marks it out as an OLED TV, and works in tandem with a very narrow frame around the image in making the set look both futuristic and drop-dead gorgeous ... albeit not quite as drop-dead gorgeous as LG's other 2016 OLED series.

Its OLED 'film', for instance, is not mounted directly onto a sheet of glass like it is with the extraordinary-looking OLED E6 and G6 models. Also, while its rear is incredibly narrow at the screen's edges, it does stick out a little further than the E6 and especially G6 models, the latter of which shift all of their electronics into their bases so that their rears stay less than 3mm thick across the entire screen area.

The OLED55B6 lacks the curved screen of the similarly priced OLED55C6 model in LG's current range - though while this stops it looking quite so glamorous, for many AV fans the OLED55B6's flat approach will actually be preferable, as it won't suffer the distorted reflections and viewing angle limitations curved screens cause.

One last point to make about the OLED55B6 is that its 1229 x 715 x 48.6mm form doesn't leave much room for built-in speakers. There's no sign of the sound bar solutions attached to its E6 or G6 OLED siblings either. So presumably sound quality will be compromised.

Design TL;DR: Although the OLED55B6 isn't as unprecedentedly beautiful as LG's premium E6 and G6 OLED series, it still outshines pretty much all LCD-based models in the show room.

Smart TV: WebOS 3.0

The OLED55B6 is pretty much state of the art where its smart features are concerned. This is thanks in no small measure to its use of the third generation of LG's webOS operating system.

The benefits of webOS are five fold. First, it provides access to all of your content sources via an overlaid scrolling onscreen 'folder' system that takes up remarkably little screen real estate, meaning you can easily keep watching TV while you browse.

Second, the organisation and layout of the webOS interface is exceptionally logical and straightforward, with minimal reliance on tedious submenus and third, organising the simple 'strip' of icons so that it puts your preferred apps first is child's play.

Fourth, the system works incredibly slickly, zipping through options quickly but also accurately, giving even technophobes a sense of control that's rare indeed in the smart TV world. Finally, webOS shows a superb understanding of the sort of visual cues that help people always know exactly where they are in an onscreen menu environment.

While webOS has always been a hit in ease of use terms, it has historically lagged behind a couple of rivals when it comes to the number of online content options on offer. LG has put this right in 2016, though, by introducing Freeview Play.

This provides catch up apps for all the main four UK terrestrial broadcast TV services, as well as letting you access their on-demand stuff via an easy to use backward-scrolling electronic programme guide.

It's worth pointing out here that weirdly Freeview Play is not found on LG's flagship G6 OLED TVs – so the entry level OLED55B6 actually has an important feature its vastly more expensive brother does not.

Smart TV TL;DR: WebOS hasn't evolved much from its previous generation - but it didn't need to. It's still the easiest to use and most effectively designed smart system around.

HD/SDR Performance

The OLED55B6 is simply deliriously good with standard dynamic range content. The HDR-motivated OLED improvements LG has introduced to overall brightness, light uniformity and the handling of light at just above black this year mean the OLED55B6 can produce SDR pictures more or less effortlessly. So effortlessly, in fact, that they join the efforts of LG's E6 and C6 OLED models in being arguably the finest SDR pictures the TV world has ever seen.

The relatively limited brightness range of SDR content, for instance, fits comfortably within the OLED55B6's spectacular combination of class-leadingly deep black colours and punchier whites/colours than we've seen before from any previous OLED TV generation.

What's more, because every pixel in an OLED screen produces its own light rather than sharing an external light with its neighbours, the OLED55B6 delivers even the tiniest shade shift or shadow detail with absolute authority and clarity.

OLED's pixel-level lighting means, too, that even the very brightest image elements don't produce clouding, haloing or striping problems in the 'backlight' of the sort you see to some extent with all LCD TVs. Colours look rich but also exceptionally natural and subtle too, as LG harnesses OLED's innately strong colour reproduction to the brand's most robust and accurate video processing system to date.

The only issues I have with the OLED55B6's SDR performance are that with 24p sources, at least, the set's motion handling and processing can generate some distracting side effects, and that LG's upscaling of full HD content doesn't deliver quite such sharp, detailed results as some rival systems.

HD/SDR performance TL;DR: The OLED55B6 joins its 2016 OLED siblings in delivering for my money the finest SDR pictures the TV world has ever seen.

4K/HDR performance

Much as I love the impact high dynamic range (HDR) technology can have on TV picture quality, there's also no doubt that it's causing the current generation of TVs some real problems. OLED's HDR problems are different to the backlight clouding problems associated with LCD, but they're problems nonetheless.

Chief among them, as evidenced by the OLED55B6, is the way detailing and subtle colour toning is 'clipped' from the brightest parts of HDR images. This is due to the screen only being able to achieve a peak brightness of around 650 nits when HDR content is generally mastered to anywhere between 1000 and 4000 nits.

The same brightness shortfall also means that dark parts of HDR images can sometimes look a little dominant in the picture, and lack a little shadow detail. Nor do you get the full impact that the brightest end of the HDR spectrum is capable of delivering on a brighter screen.

It's important to stress here that I'm talking predominantly about the OLED55B6's handling of the HDR 10 standard. With Dolby Vision HDR, which all of LG's 2016 4K OLED TVs support, the HDR performance is considerably more refined, with much less clipping in bright areas, and a more comfortable balance between dark and bright picture elements.

The Dolby Vision HDR approach does take a less overall bright approach than the 'standard' HDR 10 approach, which underlines just how much brighter the best LCD TV rivals can go with HDR. But overall the prowess of Dolby Vision over HDR 10 on the OLED55B6 makes me wish there were more Dolby Vision sources out there to play on it.

Even with HDR 10, though, it's important to stress that the OLED55B6's OLED technology also delivers a couple of considerable HDR upsides.

First, no LCD TV I've seen so far can deliver the dark end of the expanded HDR light spectrum with as much authority and depth as LG's latest OLEDs. Even better, when an HDR image features very bright objects against a dark backdrop - like streetlamps against a night sky - OLED's pixel-level lighting means the bright object can appear without so much as a hint of the light blocks, stripes or halos around it that you inevitably get with LCD screens.

For many AV fans this twin hit of class-leading black reproduction and zero light 'leakage' makes OLED irresistible. And the OLED55B6 delivers these strengths to almost the same standard as LG's much more expensive E6 and G6 2016 OLED TV series while costing significantly less.

The OLED55B6's motion issues persist with 4K HDR content, and actually look slightly more pronounced than they do on LG's E6 and G6 models. There's also a touch less brightness than you get with the E6 OLEDs, and a touch less all-round refinement - especially in the colour department - than you get with the flagship G6 models. But the differences are strikingly minimal considering the gulf in price.

Normally I'd include some thoughts on the OLED55B6's 3D performance in this section, but the B6 series is the only one in LG's 2016 range that doesn't support 3D playback.

4K/HDR Performance TL;DR: Limited brightness prevents the OLED55B6 from hitting quite the same class-leading picture heights with HDR that it does with SDR, but its impeccable light management during dark scenes still hands it an advantage many AV fans will find hard to resist.

Sound

I predicted in the design section that the OLED55B6 probably wouldn't sound as impressive as LG's E6 and G6 OLEDs, and my suspicions prove founded.

The OLED55B6 lacks the power to really project its audio, leaving action scenes sounding slightly cramped and swallowed. There's not much bass to speak of either, and the sound stage the TV produces doesn't have much scale to it, leaving it feeling slightly out of kilter with the large size of the screen.

There is some good news to report, though. Namely that the speakers are accomplished enough not to succumb to drop outs, crackles or buzzing interference even when you push them to the limits of their capabilities.

Sound Quality TL;DR: The OLED55B6 sound much less impressive than LG's more expensive OLED options, and in truth only sounds average versus the wider TV market too.

Other panels to ponder

Although the OLED55B6's picture quality gets remarkably close to that of LG's more expensive E6 and G6 OLED series, those other models do deliver a marked step up in the sound and design departments. The C6 models also offer a curved screen if you fancy one of those, and all three of LG's other 2016 OLED ranges support 3D while the OLED55B6 does not.

When it comes to LCD-based alternatives, the Samsung UE55KS9000 delivers a much brighter HDR picture that doesn't suffer clipping in the brightest areas. This brightness also helps its HDR colours look bolder with HDR. However, its edge LED lighting system can cause light banding around very bright objects.

Also worth considering is the Panasonic TX-58DX902B. This is three inches bigger than the OLED55B6, and uses direct LED lighting rather than the Samsung 55KS9000's edge LED lighting system, resulting in smaller areas of light pollution with dark HDR scenes. For much of the time its HDR pictures really are outstanding, with exceptional brightness peaks and detailing that the LG OLED can't reach. The only catch is that while the backlight halos around bright objects in dark scenes are limited in terms of the screen area they cover, they're quite pronounced in their intensity.

One final alternative is the Sony 55XD9305 - or actually the 65-inch 65XD9305 is available for roughly the same money if you can handle a bigger screen. This achieves some gorgeous HDR colours and incredible 4K detailing, but dark scenes can reveal some distracting blocking in the backlight.

Verdict

If you saw our review of the LG OLED65E6 and wished you could afford it, or you read our review of the curved LG OLED55C6 and wished it was flat, then the OLED55B6 could be the answer to your prayers.

After all, its OLED panel is built of the same core stuff as LG's more expensive OLED models, and as a result produces pretty much the same mostly outstanding picture quality - especially with standard dynamic range sources. Black levels and lighting uniformity in particular are mesmerisingly good, and colours are beautifully rich too.

Its lack of brightness versus the latest LCD TVs slightly compromises the punch and bright detail of its standard HDR 10 experience, but the more subtle Dolby Vision HDR system proves a welcome addition to LG's spec sheet, making us wish more Dolby Vision sources were around.

Despite its relative affordability the OLED55B6 also still looks spectacularly slim by general TV standards, and it still carries LG's latest - also, excellent - webOS 3.0 smart TV system.

The only really substantial performance compromises versus its more expensive brethren are its lack of 3D support and rather average sound quality. Neither of which, I suspect, will prove deal breakers by the time OLED fans have taken the OLED55B6's price into account.

Apple AirPods

By Unknown08:14 Aucun commentaire:

Apple's AirPods are fully wireless earbuds that solve its newest problem of no longer having that old 3.5mm headphone jack in the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

But they're more than that, really. The design of these cord-free earbuds match that of Apple's wired EarPods, and they have a few novel functions you won't find anywhere else.

They're designed to work with iOS 10, macOS and watchOS 3 better than normal Bluetooth earphones, and, yes, they still have Bluetooth inside to work with non-Apple products, too.

We tested them out at Apple's latest event, along with the iPhone 7 and Apple Watch 2. Here's our first impressions on how the AirPods worked.

Release date and price

You can't get the AirPods right away with your iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and Apple Watch Series 2. They're not launching on September 16 like everything else.

Instead, Apple pegged the AirPods release date as "late October." That's a good thing if you're already upgrading your phone and watch (and downgrading your bank account) this month.

Apple's AirPods will cost $159 at launch. That seems like a lot of money when the wireless (but connected together) Beats Powerbeats2 Wireless Earbud headphones cost $120.

Good news: AirPods are still cheaper than Samsung's fully wireless earbuds, the Samsung Gear IconX. Apple's version may lack its fitness functionality, but the Apple Watch already has all that stuff anyway.

Between now and late October, you can use the Apple EarPods that will have a Lightning cable on the end and come free with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Or, you can continue to use your current headphones thanks to an included Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter. That is, until you lose it, then the AirPods might not seem like a bad choice...until you probably lose one of those, too. Great.

Magical connectivity

What's sold us on the AirPods is the seamless connectivity and pause-and-play functionality that has Apple trotting out its favorite adjective, calling them "magical" wireless earbuds.

Here's the magic: Take them out of the special AirPods case and they instantly turn on and connect just by being near your iPhone. You don't need to dive into a hidden setup menu at all.

Even better, Apple's new wireless earbuds can sync up with a newer iPad, iPodtouch, Mac or Apple Watch just as quickly with a one-tap setup in Control Center. Super easy.

Maybe the coolest thing is the fact that someone from Apple began speaking to us when we were demoing the AirPods, saying,"It'll pause if you take out one of the AirPods."

We took out the right AirPod from our ear to say "What was that?" and the music stopped right on point. Very clever. We popped it back in and it started the music again.

Do AirPods really work?

You may have heard that they work perfectly, or maybe you read that they're fraught with problems. For us, we saw them demoed twice; perfectly the first time and with some pairing issues the second time.

The effectiveness of the AirPods connectivity really depended on the Apple rep (or maybe the AirPods they picked up). So all of the other first impressions you read may have been based on one encounter and one demo.

Then there's the fact that these are not final production models, with the AirPods release date still a while off in late October. There's still time to work out any software syncing glitches.

If they work as well as they did for us the first time, it'll live up to Apple's "magical" description.

Familiar comfort and style

An Apple designer's toddler yanked the cable from their EarPods and said "Eureka!" Thus, the idea behind AirPods was born. Or, that's at least how we like to think they came about.

They really do look like EarPods minus that always-tangling cord. AirPods still have the plastic stem on the ends, which at first looks odd hanging from your ears. But it's there for good reason.

The stems point toward your cheek and contain microphones to pick up on what you're saying. You can chat away on phone calls, or issue Siri commands by double tapping either AirPod.

Do they stay in your ear? So far, we gave them a solid "early 90s grunge headbanging" test and they didn't fall out once. That'll vary for people with different ear shapes, of course.

Our biggest issue with normal EarPods falling out has been tugging at or brushing up against the cable. That's obviously not an issue here since these are truly wireless earbuds.

Sound quality

Trying out the AirPods in a noisy, crowded room isn't the ideal way to test sound quality. But it's a good way to gauge how well they filter out external noise.

These aren't giant, noise-canceling headphone cans that fit around your ears. However, they were still able to pipe music to my ears without much ambient noise leaking through.

The headphones are able to pull this off thanks to dual beam-forming microphones that filter out background noise, according to Apple. That leaves us with wirelessly transmitted high-quality AAC audio.

I could still hear voices at the level of a murmur. That's what I've come to expect from current EarPods, and the AirPods don't stray too far from this sound quality.

Battery life and charging case

Apple's AirPods battery life is five hours, which means it lasts longer than Samsung's Gear IconX and many of the Kickstarter-funded fully wireless earbuds out there.

Five hours is just enough to last you on a cross-country flight from San Francisco to New York, but what do you do when you run out? There's a great answer for that.

Apple designed a case for its AirPods that holds more than 24 hours worth of additional charge on top of those five hours of the earbuds. Pop them back in and they'll juice up again.

You can stow this small white case in your carry-on travel bag and recharge them almost six times before seeking a Lightning port.

Best of all, if you're short on time, 15 minutes of charging equals three hours of battery life, according to Apple's test at 50% volume.

Early verdict

Apple's lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack is one of its biggest risks in years, and, assuming that you've got money to spend, AirPods act as great way to quickly get over such a shocking change.

They look and feel just like those familiar EarPods – minus the cable – and their play-and-pause connectivity is so intelligently designed, it's enough to bring back the "magical" descriptor.

With five-hour battery life and a charging case for 24 hours of additional battery life, AirPods could stealthily set the bar fully wireless earbuds in October, all while everyone is focused on the past and the missing headphone jack.

PS4

By Unknown07:59Sony Aucun commentaire:

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PS4 might be one of the greatest consoles of all-time and the future of gaming as a whole. With over 40 million consoles sold and no signs of slowing down, the PS4 is steamrolling its way into its third year of life. It's both critically and financially a major success for Sony.

But Sony's third year of life might be its most interesting one yet. New rumors suggest that Sony is planning two new PS4 systems in 2016 – the PS4 Slim andPlayStation Neo. While we're not entirely sure what Sony plans on showing off, it's invited members of the press to an exclusive event on September 7 to show off what it's calling "the future of PlayStation."

Before we dive too far down the rabbit hole, however, let's rewind back to the PlayStation 4's launch. PS4's release date was November 15 2013 in North America and 29 November 2013 in Europe, and it's been outselling its main competitor, the Xbox One, ever since.

As of July 2016, Sony's sold over 40 million consoles while Microsoft's moved only about 20 million units from the factory to store shelves. With more graphical power than the Xbox One, 32 times more system memory than the PS3 and a firm focus on pure gaming experiences rather than media might, the PS4 has established itself as the console to beat of this generation.

PS4 Specs

CPU: 1.66Ghz AMD Octocore

Memory: 8GB DDR5 (5500MHz)

Storage: 500GB

Best features:Remote Play, Share Play, PlayStation Now, PlayStation Vue, Spotify

Price: $349

It's a games console built by gamers for gamers and won the hearts and minds of many from the word go, with lots of prospective next-genners left feeling alienated by some of Microsoft's bizarre policies and choices for the Xbox One – many of which were reversed as a result of a backlash.

The one area that Sony was failing on, system-exclusive games, has recently taken a turn for the better thanks to the launch of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. What's more encouraging are the sure system-sellers like No Man's Sky, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Kingdom Hearts III and The Last Guardian are quickly approaching, with E3 2016 to hopefully provide a solid release date for each.

At least we've seen an attractive price point from day one. Sony started the PS4 at $399 and has held firm for two years while Microsoft has shifted every which way before settling at $349 without Kinect. Of course, Sony had to drop the price eventually and has finally decided to charge $349 going forward. Whatever Microsoft seems to do, it doesn't seem to be enough to slow Sony's roll.

Are you ready to join PlayStation Nation? Read on to get our full thoughts and opinions on Sony's dream machine, one year in the making.

Design

One year out and Sony hasn't made any tweaks, fixes, or modifications to the PS4's initial design. That said, Nyko and Power A have come along to offer additional products like intercoolers, clip-on charging stations and even external hard drives, but Sony's rock-solid design has stood the earliest test of time. Here's what we said about the design one year ago:

One look at the PS4 and you know you're seeing Sony hardware. It's slim, sleek and jet black, roughly the size of a second generation PS3. The full measurements are 275 x 53 x 305 mm. It's a bit more compact than an Xbox One, which is longer and taller at 274 x 79 x 333 mm.

What's crucial here, though, is that Sony kept the PS4's weight to a manageable 6.1 lbs and tucked the power supply inside the system, leaving no external power brick to trip over. Microsoft's system has held onto its external power adapter - a feature inherited from the Xbox 360 - and weighs in at a slightly heftier 7 lbs.

The shape of the box is familiar, yet completely unique. Its slim, rectangular features brings to mind a PlayStation 2 in form and function, but its sloped, asymmetrical design helps us understand that nothing like this has ever existed before now. It's meant to lay flat but, if your media center can only accommodate a vertical machine, Sony has a plastic stand it sells separately for $14/£16.99 that helps the system stand up straight.

On the front-facing side you'll find a slot-loading Blu-ray disc drive and to its right two powered USB 3.0 ports, which can charge your DualShock 4controllers even when the system is turned off and are used to sync controllers when taking gamepads from one place to another. Spin the system around and you'll be met with an HDMI, Ethernet and a digital optical audio out port, as well as a proprietary auxiliary connection for the PlayStation Camera.

Sold separately from the system, the $29 PS4 Universal Remote syncs up to the system via Bluetooth and allows you to have a traditional way to control TV shows and movies from PlayStation Vue, HBO Go and Netflix. The remote can sync up to four devices, effectively reducing the amount of plastic pads you need to keep track of.

PS4 specifications

Inside, the PS4 is all business. It has a custom single-chip processor that combines an eight core x86-64 AMD "Jaguar" CPU with a 1.84 teraflop GPU based on AMD's Radeon tech. That's backed by 8GB of mega-fast GDDR5 RAM, and a 500GB mechanical hard drive.

You can also remove that 500GB drive and replace it with a larger drive, or an SSD for better performance. Sony says these do it yourself upgrades will not void the system's warranty.

For a reference point, the PlayStation 3 packed 256MB of XDR Main RAM and 256MB of GDDR3 VRAM, and managed to support visual feasts like The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension during its final days. How does that stack up against the PS4? Overall, Sony claims that the PS4's overall performance is ten times that of the PS3.

For wireless connections, the PS4 uses 802.11 b/g/n for WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 for its wireless DualShock 4 controllers.

Features

If there's a team that works harder than Sony's internal development team, we'd like to meet them. As it is, they roll out monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) updates that drastically change the interface and feature set of the system.

The biggest changes of the past year? The Sony-exclusive rental streaming service called PlayStation Now, PlayStation Music powered by Spotify, Remote Play, Sharefactory and Share Play. Of course there have been myriad minor changes like the ability to turn off HDCP, play games while they're downloading, upload clips to YouTube and set themes and background images for the home screen in that time as well. Oh, and mature programming lovers can get their fix anytime with the new HBO Go app that has been absent up until March 2015.

All of these features can be found sporadically throughout the new PlayStation Dynamic Menu, the primary GUI of the PS4. It's capable of delivering games, movies and TV shows into your home at lightning speeds as well as connecting you to your friends and other online gamers through the PlayStation Network (when it's working). Remember to use the ability to post to Twitter and Facebook to share your best brag-worthy gaming moments and, if you're feeling outgoing, you can stream to Twitch here too.

Wait ... you mentioned PlayStation 4.5?

Right, well this is many gamers' worst nightmares: The day after you drop $349 on a new system that you expect to last the next five years, Sony comes along and announces something new that's faster and more powerful than the system you just bought.

Sony hasn't quite said that the PlayStation 4.5 (what some are calling the PlayStation 4K) exists yet, several developers have gone on record saying that the system is in the works for a 2016 unveiling. If that turns out to be the case it's doubtful that it would have its own set of games, but would rather take current PS4 Blu-ray discs and play them at 1080p proper or upscale them to an even higher resolution. New hardware might mean a major improvement to PlayStation VR performance, creating a smoother, crisper experience for those entering virtual reality for the first time.

Here's what we know (and think) so far about the PS4.5:

What comes with the PS4?

Unless you're buying one of the new holiday PS4 bundles, you can count on seeing the following items in addition to your stylish black box: a power cord (not a big power brick), an HDMI cable, an earbud microphone combo, one DualShock 4 controller and its charging cable (we charged our DualShock 4 pad using the Xbox One and the world did not end).

Extra controllers don't come with another charging cable, so don't lose that one. Also, note that we said earbud singular, not earbuds, as in just for one ear. It's cheap but serviceable, but you can actually plug any old headset or pair of buds you already own into the controller's headphone jack, so it's not much of an issue.

Setup

Set-up largely remains unchanged from Day 1 and should look relatively familiar to anyone who's owned a PS3. Once your system's all plugged in and booted up, your new PS4 will ask to connect to internet. It wants that 300MB day-one patch, but it doesn't need it for offline play. You are able to skip WiFi or ethernet altogether and just pop in a game. Unlike the Xbox One, you can get to the homescreen without initially connecting to the web and patching.

Once you do connect to the internet, you'll need to let the PS4 update before you can make purchases from the store or play online. Just make sure you're getting firmware 2.02, the latest software version from Sony.

PlayStation Store

The PlayStation Store is your portal to every shred of content Sony has available on its system. You'll use it to shop for the latest games, movies and featured content that the Big Blue thinks you ought to know about.

Of course featured games have come and gone over the course of the past year, but one new feature that's stuck around is the ability to buy a digital copy of a game and have it install days before its retail launch. You won't be able to start it until the midnight of its launch-day, but just having a game the second the clock strikes 12 is convenient.

If you're not buying a game the minute it comes out, you can even start playing part of the game before the download completes. When purchasing a game like Killzone: Shadow Fall, you'll be asked which portion of the game should be prioritized, single or multiplayer, essentially letting you choose which part of the game you want to hop into first.

In a little less than an hour, you'll be able to start playing a title. It may seem like something only the truly impatient would enjoy, but when you consider that many releases weigh in excess of 35GB, it's real luxury feature, and another impressive bit of engineering.

Then there's the PlayStation app for iOS and Android. With just the stroke of a touchscreen, you can remotely purchase games and get the download going on your PS4 so it's ready and waiting when you get home (the console will turn on, download and switch off on its own).

PS Vita Remote Play

The one feature that hasn't changed all that much was PS Vita Remote Play. Initially, we thought this was going to be the missing link between Sony's shrugged-off handheld and all-new console. While it didn't sell many Vitas (considering customers have already spent a lot on a PS4), it certainly got current owners to dust off the system.The biggest change to the feature's functionality came earlier this year in PS Vita software 3.35 that allowed up to four PS Vitas to be logged into a single PS4 system.

Connect a PS4 to a PS Vita on the same WiFi network and use the Vita as a second, third or fourth controller in multiplayer games or transfer your game to your handheld and take it into another room with you while someone else is using the TV. Outside of the same WiFi network as your PS4, Remote Play is not an option. At the office we couldn't get it to connect to our PS4 at home, and it simply isn't an available over a 3G data connection. Not only you can use it as a controller, but as well as a second screen, Smartglass style. It's a great way to avoid using the on screen keyboard, if nothing else.

Like platform-exclusive games, we're still looking to Sony for that crucial reason to go out and buy a Vita and complete our Sony ecosystem. But, if you already own one, it's an impressive novelty at the very least.

PlayStation Now

Of all the functionality the PS4 gained in the past year, PlayStation Now is our favorite. PS Now is essentially a digital rental service that allows you to rent games for anywhere from two hours to 90 days. Instead of downloading a copy of the game that will take up space on your hard drive and time to download, you'll actually stream the game from Sony's servers. It takes about 25-30 seconds to get a game going, but once you do it's relatively smooth sailing.

Sony recently unveiled an all-you-can-play subscription plan that gives you access to every game on the network for $20 per month. Unfortunately, not every game on PlayStation Now is included in the subscription model, meaning you may have to pay an outlandish fee to stream your favorite game while others may not.

PlayStation Vue

Online TV will soon have a new home on PlayStation. A new service called PlayStation Vue hasn't received much attention from the media, but it could be the final piece in the puzzle for PlayStation 4. Like Sling TV, Vue is a cable TV-alternative that gives you many of the same channels as the mainstream providers but with no contract or excess equipment.

The service has launched in seven US cities - New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas and Miami - but should roll out quickly to other major metropolitan areas. The key differences between it and the competition are its ability to recommend content and store any number of shows in the cloud for a 30-day period.

Project Morpheus

Project Morpheus is a virtual reality headset made in-house by Sony's hardware team exclusively for the PS4 and coming sometime in 2016. It will have its own set of games, both downloadable titles and full retail releases, and is expected to cost somewhere in the range of $200-400 (about £130-250 or AU$270-550).

From everything we've seen so far, it's sleek, fast and powerful. It has a 5.7-inch OLED screen with 1920 x RGB x 1080 resolution, and can hold about 120 fps refresh rate.

Sharing gameplay videos

If the PlayStation 4 will be remembered for one thing, it will be its integration into this decade's "share everything" culture. Sharing in-game photos and videos have been a feature since console launch and the size and scope of its abilities have only grown in time.

One year ago, sharing videos and screens was limited to social networks and the PSN. Now, if you want to upload your video to YouTube or edit it in the PS4's basic video editor, Share Play, that's no problem. In a perfect world we'd be able to plug in a thumb drive and grab the raw video but, in the meantime at least, that's not allowed. But perhaps that will change in year two.

Streaming to Twitch and UStream is just as simple as saving locally. Just tap the share button and select "Broadcast gameplay" and away you go on the path to internet stardom. It's quite painless to set up, especially compared to the third-party mechanics needed to employ this on a last-gen system.

Share Play

Share Play is Sony's novel concept to bring back local multiplayer to its games. When you load up a particularly tough section in a game, you can invite a more experienced buddy from your friends list to take control of your console remotely and do the dirty work for you. If the game supports local multiplayer, they take over the second controller and play your game with you without ever owning a copy of it themselves.

The downside, however, is that both players will need to be PlayStation Plus subscribers and sessions are limited to an hour each. That doesn't mean that you're limited to one session a day, but it does mean that you'll need to send an invitation to your friend every hour. Your friend - assuming you're the one hosting - will only see the game in 720p and if you're the host, you're the only one who'll get trophies.

Share Play's still a bit too new to really judge how well it works. Initial tests suggest that it could add a new level of social interactivity, but until everyone "gets it," it probably won't see the same amount of prestige that some of the other new features have gotten.

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