The Weekly Authority: Edition #168

Microsoft:

Samsung:

• Fresh leaks suggest we could see the Galaxy S21 FE and S22 early next year. And fresh specs and official renders leaked for the S21 FE 5G — it looks like the S21 FE will be available in both Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 variants, depending on markets.
  
• Meanwhile, Samsung Galaxy A53 renders leaked, and there’s no headphone jack.
• Samsung announced its Exynos event for November 19, and though we’d hoped to see its first AMD-powered Exynos processor, Samsung took to social media to refute any Exynos launch, letting us know to expect “changes to social accounts,” whatever that means.
• And Samsung revealed the next evolution of smartphone RAM, LPDDR5X DRAM, promising 1.3x faster speeds and 20% less power consumption — it could debut in the Galaxy S22.
• The company’s reportedly stepping up its foldable phone production next year, with plans to produce 9.8 million fourth-generation foldables.
• Also this week, Samsung took aim at Apple with its free polishing cloth offer, seemingly only in Germany for now, following the announcement of Apple’s $19 polishing cloth last month.
• Finally, bad news for Dex users: Samsung will stop supporting its Samsung Dex system on Windows 7 and macOS machines from January 2022.

Motorola:

Google:

• Google says unreliable Pixel 6 fingerprint unlock is a feature, not a bug: apparently, “enhanced” security algorithms are the culprit.
• And apparently, if a Pixel 6 runs out of battery, it breaks the fingerprint sensor. Um, what? Only a factory reset will fix that right now, so best keep your Pixel 6 charged.
• The Google Pixel 6 might get face unlock smarts after all: there’s apparently evidence it’s in the works…
• A bunch of brands will support Android 12’s wallpaper theming option, but Samsung, Honor, and Asus won’t yet.
• Elsewhere, a Google manager confirmed we won’t see a Pixelbook 2 until at least 2023.

Apple:

OnePlus:

Space:

Elsewhere:

Movies/TV:

• You can get your first month of Disney Plus for just $1.99, only until the end of this weekend (November 14.) Speaking of Disney Plus, it’s upgrading Marvel movies to IMAX, which means smaller black bars.
• Meanwhile, Disney Plus Day on November 12 celebrated the streaming service’s two-year anniversary, with new movies like Shang-Chi and Jungle Cruise available to all subscribers.
• Stranger Things Season 4 trailer landed, but you’ll need to wait until Summer 2022 for the season 4 Netflix launch.
• Our guide to what to stream this month: Tom Hanks’ latest, Star Trek: Discovery season 4, The Wheel of Time, and more.
• Here’s everything you need to know before you catch Ghostbusters: Afterlife in theaters from November 19 — the long-awaited direct sequel to the first two movies leans heavily on knowledge of the first 1984 movie, so we’ll be rewatching (we might skip the second one, though.)
• Surprise: Moviepass’ all-you-can-eat movie service could be making a comeback.

Gaming:

• Netflix Gaming is rolling out on iPhone and iPad a week after launching on Android, with the same five-game lineup.
• Thursday’s GTA: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition launch didn’t go smoothly, with the Rockstar Games Launcher down for over 18 hours and the PC version pulled from Rockstar’s online store.
• And Forza Horizon 5 launched on Xbox — the reviews are glorious, with The Verge calling it “the best Forza Horizon yet.” With over 4.5m players, it’s the biggest ever launch for a first-party Xbox game.
• Meanwhile, work has started on Fallout 5, but the release is likely to be a long, long way off…
• In delays, Final Fantasy XIV”‘s “Endwalker” expansion is now delayed two weeks to December 7.
• Valve’s Steam Deck shipping is delayed to February 2022, while Panic’s Playdate console is also now delayed to “early 2022.”
• This week marks a year since the release of the PlayStation 5 (November 12, 2020) and the Xbox Series X/S (November 10, 2020). 
• And it’s soon going to get even harder to buy a PS5 after Sony cuts back its manufacturing target by one million consoles.
• Konami has temporarily delisted two of its most popular games from digital marketplaces. A rights issue involving in-game archival footage means Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 are being pulled.
• Lost PS4 exclusive The Tomorrow Children is set to return after the developer re-acquired the rights from Sony: The game servers shut down in 2017, now Q-Games will re-release it in “an evolved form.”

GTA: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition launched on Thursday, so we thought we’d dive into some news surrounding launch day, then take a look at a few memorable moments from GTA history…

The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition is a remastered compilation of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, out now for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch.

Most memorable GTA moments

If you’re feeling nostalgic for all things GTA, here are some of the most memorable moments from the franchise.

If you’ve never played any of the trilogy, be aware there are some spoilers ahead — and these videos are most definitely NSFW.

GTA III’s opening cutscene

The opening cutscene back in 2001 was a monumental moment for the gaming industry. Shifting from top-down 2D to 3D ensured this was a jaw-dropping experience for anyone playing the game back then.

GTA Vice City: Lance Vance’s betrayal (Spoiler alert!)

The game’s final mission, Keep Your Friends Close, sees Lance Vance betray Tommy Vercetti (voiced by Ray Liotta) and was one of the most cinematic GTA moments ever…

GTA San Andreas: “All we had to do was follow the damn train, CJ!”

GTA San Andreas had some pretty unforgettable scenes, like this one from The Wrong Side of the Tracks mission.

GTA IV: “They burnt it, Niko!”

The Roman’s Sorrow mission in GTA IV is one of the game’s most memorable moments, as Roman discovers his apartment burning.

GTA V: Mr. Philips

The general consensus may be that GTA V doesn’t have a great storyline, but it does have Trevor, and one of its greatest missions is the Mr. Philips mission.

GTA V: Trevor’s fence trip

When Trevor’s foot gets caught on the fence after shouting at Fraklin’s Aunt Denise and he has an explosive outburst it’s definitely one of the funniest unhinged Trevor moments in GTA V.

November 18-19: MediaTek Executive Summit
November 19: Samsung Exynos event
November 19: Ghostbusters: Afterlife release
November 24-30: Steam Autumn Sale
November 26-29: Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend
November 30-December 2: Snapdragon Tech Summit (Snapdragon 888 successor?)
December 6-8: RSC-V Summit
December 8: Halo Infinite release date (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC)

Tech Tweet of the Week

For those of you who’ve played Unpacking — or anyone old enough to remember a Game Cube…

Paula Beaton, Copy Editor