ESPN will stream X Games in virtual reality for the first time ever on the Gear VR

Samsung continues to bring more and more exciting virtual reality content for the Gear VR. It has inked a new partnership with ESPN which will see the sports broadcaster stream X Games events in virtual reality for the first time ever. Gear VR owners will be able to tune into these live events.

The Gear VR has played host to several sports live streams in the past as well. Several rounds of March Madness were streamed live by the NCAA and The PGA Tour has also streamed a single hole of The Players Championship on the Gear VR. Fox Sports streamed the Championship Final on Samsung’s virtual reality platform.

ESPN’s X Games will stream selected live events to fans in virtual reality at the inaugural X Games Minneapolis which takes place from July 13 through July 16.

Three X Games disciplines – Skateboard Vert, BMX Street and Skateboard Street Amateurs – are going to be streamed live exclusively to 48 countries on the Gear VR. The content will be available through the Samsung VR app.

All events will be captured using 360-degree camera systems to that viewers get a fully produced, multi-camera live stream experience with real-time graphics and feature segments integrated into Samsung VR.

ESPN and Samsung are working with VR production company Digital Domain to make this happen.

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Galaxy J7 (2017) will feature a dual rear camera setup in China

Samsung has already launched its new Galaxy J (2017) series in other markets across the globe. None of the handsets in the new series feature a dual rear camera setup, even though they seem to be in vogue these days.

The company has long been rumored to adopt a dual camera system for its flagship smartphones. There were countless reports “confirming” this feature for the Galaxy S8 but the flagship doesn’t have it.

It’s likely that Samsung decided against including the dual camera system in the final version of the handset, given that we’ve seen images of Galaxy S8 prototypes with a dual camera on the back.

There have also been rumors that there’s going to be a variant of the Galaxy J7 (2017) with dual cameras at the back. Some images have leaked online of the Chinese variant of this handset bearing model number SM-J7310. It clearly shows a vertical dual camera system.

That’s not all, the images also show that the handset is going to have a textured finish which isn’t exactly new to Samsung smartphones.

It remains to be seen, though, when Samsung releases this handset in the country. The source who leaked these images online mentions that development of this variant of the Galaxy J7 (2017) has stopped.

Samsung hasn’t said anything about it as yet so there’s some uncertainty surrounding this model at this point in time.

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Samsung blocks Bixby remapping once again with the latest T-Mobile Galaxy S8 update

T-Mobile has released a new firmware update for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+. The 282MB update for the new flagship primarily brings the June security patch but it also includes a minor feature which enables users to hide the navigation bar.

Once the update is installed, users will see a tiny dot on the left-hand side of the navigation bar which when pressed will hide the on-screen navigation buttons.

To retrieve the buttons, just swipe up and press the dot again. The feature can be disabled from the Display menu in the Settings app. This update is already out elsewhere and it takes away the black fill for the nav bar.

However, that’s not all this update does. It appears that Samsung has blocked remapping of the Bixby button yet again with this update. It didn’t take long for third-party developers to come up with apps that let Galaxy S8 owners use the Bixby button for something else.

Samsung pushed a software update a couple of months back to prevent users from remapping the button but third-party developers soon found a workaround to that restriction. Why wouldn’t they, seeing as how Bixby in its current form is essentially useless.

Jawomo, the developer of one of the remapping apps called bxActions, reached out to us by email to tell us that the recent June update that T-Mobile has released for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ breaks the remap functionality.

According to reports, other remapping apps like Custom Bixby Button are not working as well after this update is installed.

The developer says that only T-Mobile models are affected by this change as the app is working on other variants of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ even with the June update installed.

He’s going to find a workaround to this ban but until that happens, it wouldn’t be surprising if Samsung rolls out this Bixby remapping restriction elsewhere as well.

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