Even at full price, Amazon’s Fire HD tablets are known for being great low-cost options for budget-minded shoppers, but today it’s practically an impulse buy. Amazon is selling the newest 8-inch version of the Fire HD tablet for just $50Remove non-product link, down from a list price of $80 and matching the lowest price we’ve ever seen.

This tablet comes packed with features and apps for both work and play, including always-on Alexa. On previous tablets, you had to either plug in the tablet or unlock it to summon Alexa, but the Fire HD 8 lets you simply say, “Alexa,” to wake Amazon’s digital assistant. Additionally you can put the tablet into Show Mode (with or without a charging dock) to experience Alexa’s full visual capabilities as well. You can even make video calls using its 2MP front camera.

The Fire 8 also boasts up to 10 hours of mixed-use battery life to keep it going all day, as well as Dolby Audio and stereo speakers for solid sound quality. And with 16GB of internal storage, you’ll have more than enough space for movies, books, and music, as well as any pictures you snap with its rear camera. While we haven’t tried this tablet yet ourselves, we’re very comfortable recommending it based on our experiences with previous Amazon devices. Plus it’s a hit on Amazon, with 4.1 stars out of 5 across more than 6,600 user reviews.

[Today’s deal: Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet for $50Remove non-product link]

In case you haven’t been on Twitter in a while, we pretty much know everything there is to know about the Galaxy S10. It has slightly slimmer bezels, a hole-punch in the corner of the screen for the camera, and a generally refined aesthetic.

Now Samsung has pretty much confirmed the biggest change to the S10: the camera. According to a press release announcing the new 1/3.4-inch Isocell Slim 3T2 sensor, which will be entering mass production in the first quarter of this year, the part “fits into a tiny module making more space for … the latest display features, such as the ‘hole-in display’ or ‘notch design.” Additionally, Samsung says, “the small size of the image sensor also reduces the height of the tele-camera module by around seven percent when compared to Samsung’s 1/3-inch 20Mp image sensor, allowing more elegant smartphone designs.”

Translation: Those S10 pics showing a hole-punch selfie cam and slim top and bottom bezels, tweeted by leakster extraordinaire Evan Blass and leaked by case makers, are likely accurate. And while they’re definitely intriguing and attractive, when you break it down, the S10 is really just another safe Galaxy S release. Not since the Galaxy S6 Edge has Samsung taken a real risk with its flagship phone. Even with a new “Lite” model, the S10 is shaping up to be more of the same. It even still has a headphone jack.

Based on what we can glean from the pics and the spec leaks, there’s no 3D face-scanning tech like on the iPhone XS, no funky camera-hiding tricks like on the Oppo Find X. Even the camera specs outlined here (20MP sensor, higher-resolution 10X digital zoom, and pixel-merging Tetracell tech) are fairly pedestrian for a 2019 phone.

Olixar

Consider last year’s Isocell announcement, which similarly came a few weeks before the S9’s unveiling. That sensor brought super-slow motion and an added DRAM layer for clearer low-light shots and real-time HDR images. As a result, Samsung “reimagined” the camera on the S9 with dual aperture, adjustable portrait mode, and 4K video recording—typical “tock” phone enhancements that improved upon the S8’s hardware without reinventing the wheel. Like Apple, Samsung tried to sell us on modest enhancements as it smacked up against the smartphone innovation wall. 

That’s not changing with the S10. Even with the new camera sensor, all Samsung is really promising is a thinner bezel and a slightly tweaked design. Sure, the S10+ will reportedly pick up a second selfie cam, and both models will likely have a triple-camera array, but we’ve already seen those from the likes of LG and Huawei.

Will the S10 be one of the best Android phones you can buy? Sure. Will it be something you need to have? Probably not.

All in on the next generation

But while the S10 might not be runaway hit—especially if the latest rumors of sky-high pricing are accurate—Samsung isn’t putting all of its eggs in that basket. Alongside its flagship phones, Samsung is expected to announce its first folding phone. It’s the radical change we’ve been waiting years to see. If done right, it will overshadow the S10 in every way—and influence every phone that comes after it, from the Note to the iPhone.

Samsung

At least that’s the hope. While the folding Galaxy phone will likely be out of reach for the average premium smartphone buyer, the message is clear: This is the future. With the Galaxy F or Fold or whatever it’s called in the mix, Samsung can begin the transition away from premium rectangular slabs. Folding screen will influence everything about the future of phones, from how they look, how we use them, and what they can do.

So you need only look at the S10 rumors to see how much the folding Galaxy has riding on its shoulders. Not only will it be the culmination of more than five years of development (Samsung first showed a concept video of a folding phone in 2014), but it will be the flagship of Samsung’s smartphone fleet for years to come. It will get people interested in Samsung again. In an age of sagging smartphone sales, that could be its most important role of all.

Cybercrime is evolving at a rapid pace, and we’re all at risk of having our data stolen. That’s why governments and corporations pay top dollar to people who can mitigate the risk. These ethical hackers train for years to take cyber crime head on. But now virtually anyone can learn the tricks of their trade—and in a relatively short amount of time—with The 2019 Ethical Hacker Master Class Bundle, discounted to just $39.

If you’re curious as to how network security professionals do their jobs, then this package will be an eye-opener. It includes 10 courses that illustrate the finer points of breaking into a network and identifying holes in security. Once these weaknesses are found, they can be patched up to prevent catastrophic breaches.

The courses in this bundle will teach you the most cutting-edge ethical hacking techniques. They are delivered by experts in the field, you can access them at any time day or night for life, and you can even use this training to earn industry-recognized certifications. 

Valued at more than $4,800, the 2019 Ethical Hacker Master Class Bundle is on sale for only $39—more than 90% off.

 

The 2019 Ethical Hacker Master Class Bundle – $39

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It’s tough aging out of old favorites, watching “canonical” games like Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Silent Hill 2, Legacy of Kain, Morrowind, Ocarina of Time, and more succumb to the ravages of time, returning to them 15 or 20 years later and struggling to recapture what made them special to you in the first place. And it’s even harder coming to games late—hearing for instance that Half-Life 2 is one of the all-time great shooters long past the point where it’s obvious why people say that.

What if you could temporarily turn back time though? What if you could recapture what made a game special, not just for old fans but newcomers as well? That’s exactly what Capcom’s done with Resident Evil 2 ($60 on Humble), rebuilding the game from scratch a full two decades after its original release—and turning me into a fan, in the process.

Second life, second chances

Resident Evil epitomizes the “I was too late” feeling, for me. I undoubtedly played some of the original as a kid, but not enough to make a lasting impact on me. When I played and finally finished the 2015 remaster, Resident Evil HD, I was torn—I could see why people loved it, but it was too clunky for me to appreciate except in an academic sense. As I wrote in our review:

“It’s obviously a game from a specific time—from the fixed camera angles to the limited inventory to the three-second door-open transitions (originally used to mask load times) to the amount of hand-holding the game does (none), this game could only have been made when it was originally made.”

In other words, Resident Evil HD was playable. It was even, at times, pretty enjoyable. You’d never mistake it for a modern game though, nor could a newcomer understand what it was like playing Resident Evil circa 1996—when it looked not just good-for-its-age but incredible, and when a polygonal dog jumping through a plate glass window was enough to scar a generation.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Which brings us to Resident Evil 2. Not nearly as iconic as the original Resident Evil and its mansion, Resident Evil 2 is nevertheless beloved by longtime fans—and it’s been left to rot. While both its predecessor and Resident Evil 4 received multiple remasters and re-releases, poor Resident Evil 2 hasn’t even received a new coat of paint since its 1998 release, left to languish in PlayStation 1 purgatory.

All Capcom needed to do was give Resident Evil 2 the HD treatment, then: Reworked controls, better textures, but the same fixed camera angles and awkward shooting. That would’ve been enough to placate the old-timers, I think. Not enough to recapture the original magic, mind you, but still a welcome gesture to the series’ history.

But instead Capcom’s rebuilt Resident Evil 2 as a modern game. The core remains, the characters and the story and the basic structure. Rookie police officer Leon Kennedy and trigger-happy college student Claire Redfield find themselves trapped in zombie-infested Raccoon City and its ostentatious Raccoon City Police Department headquarters. Tale as old as time, right?

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Now take that story, one of the strongest and certainly one of the most coherent in the series, and build a modern horror game around it. Keep some of the elements that make Resident Evil distinct, like inventory management, item-driven puzzles, healing herbs, typewriter save points, and so on.

Jettison anything that feels clunky though, or at least use two decades of further game design knowledge to refine old ideas. Ditch the original Resident Evil 2’s fixed camera angles and replace them with the now-familiar over-the-shoulder view from Resident Evil 4. Mark items on the map once you wander nearby, so the challenge is getting room-to-room with enough inventory space, not remembering which room you saw the crank in earlier (or even simply spotting the crank amid background clutter). Redo the interface to be as unobtrusive as possible. Make it so on normal difficulties you don’t need to collect typewriter ribbons to save, you can just do it.

And polish the technical side, of course—new models, new textures, new voice acting, new music. So many of gaming’s titans fall into disrepute simply because better-looking games supplant them. That applies doubly to PS1-era games, early 3D experiments that are an eyesore now. And it applies triply to horror games, which cease to scare as soon as the thin veneer of realism is stripped away. Like it or not, recapturing a game’s spirit means first bringing it up to date with photorealism-as-it-currently-stands.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Suffice it to say, the expected high-points remain intact. Mr. X still wanders the police station’s hallways, his deliberate and menacing stomps the only sign of your imminent demise. Even the more out-there encounters—particularly a large, sewer-dwelling monster—are handled with a care and a seriousness I didn’t anticipate. It’s still goofy, sure, but not nearly as much as you’d expect if you went back and watched the original Resident Evil 2’s depiction of those same moments.

There are a few stumbles. The campaign is still split in two: Leon’s story and Claire’s story. But unlike the original, which had you swap characters at the halfway point, now you simply play through one story and then the other. It’s a better solution for a modern audience, I think, except you end up with all sorts of anachronisms—unlocking a door as Claire that you would’ve already unlocked with Leon at this point in the story, for instance, or solving two different puzzles with the same limited pool of equipment. It uh…doesn’t make sense if you think about the timelines too hard.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

And it’s a bit too easy to back yourself into a corner, I think. Ammo is very limited, especially in Leon’s campaign, and a bad run-in with Mr. X or a roomful of zombies could wipe out any and all reserves. I was forced to reload a few times to try and get through encounters using fewer rounds, because the alternative was having zero weapons for an indeterminate amount of time.

That said, Resident Evil’s had the opposite problem for a while, leaning too much towards action with Resident Evil 5 and 6. It’s refreshing to see this new Resident Evil 2 return to its roots with the survival aspect of survival horror, as that’s where most of the tension stems from.

Bottom line

Resident Evil 2 ($60 on Humble) is more than just a remake. It’s proof there’s room for Resident Evil in the modern horror landscape—and without compromising the core of the series the way Resident Evil VII did.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Resident Evil VII, or at least the early stages of Resident Evil VII. But I loved it because it wasn’t a Resident Evil game. Capcom upended the entire series—first-person camera, focus on stealth, fewer puzzles. And if you’d asked me a month ago, I would’ve said that’s Resident Evil’s future. I thought it was admirable Capcom looked at the post-Amnesia world and thought “We could make one of those.”

Now I’m less sure though. Less sure, at least, that Capcom needs to go in the Resident Evil VII direction. Resident Evil 2 isn’t terrifying per se, but it oozes atmosphere and there’s a thrill to slowly discovering its setting even 20 years later. Ironic, that a very old game might breathe new life into a series, but it’s made a fan out of me at least.