Google and AOL team up to stop tech talent leaving NYC

New York City may be the Big Apple, but it plays second fiddle to Silicon Valley when it comes to technology. That’s why a number of companies located there including (Engadget’s parent company) AOL, Bloomberg and, yes, California-based Google and Facebook have formed an advocate association called Tech:NYC. In a blog post, AOL’s Tim Armstrong and New York venture capitalist Fred Wilson say “we feel that the NYC tech community deserves a more formal organization to represent itself before local and state governments and the business community and civic sector.”

The organization says its main goals are to get tech leaders more involved in the community, support the growth of the sector, and “advocate for policies that will attract tech talent, jobs and opportunity to NYC.” As examples of where it may get involved, Armstrong and Wilson cite debates around the FBI versus Apple encryption base, NYC drone regulation, Uber labor laws and a recent New York crackdown on Airbnb. “We need to ensure that the voice of the NYC technology community is part of each of these vital communications,” they say.

Tech:NYC Executive Director Julie Samuels (Craig Barritt via Getty Images for AOL)

Of course, not all city residents are thrilled with tech companies meddling in local politics. San Francisco residents increasingly complain of ridiculous housing prices, gentrification, tech companies trying to buy elections and endless lobbying by companies like Airbnb to defeat regulations. On the other hand, the tech industry brings dollars and jobs to cities, and a large, concentrated metropolis like New York should easily support a larger tech industry.

The group says it was inspired in part by sf.citi, a similar tech advocacy organization in San Francisco. Tech:NYC is co-chaired by Armstrong and Wilson and headed by Julie Samuels, a former Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) senior attorney (and “The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents”). Founding members include AOL, Bloomberg, Google, Facebook, Snapchat, Airbnb, Uber and Kickstarter.

Source: Tech:NYC

Uber makes it easier for Chinese tourists to hail a ride

To stay ahead in the ride-hailing race, Uber has teamed up with the Chinese payments service Alipay. A new partnership means passengers can now hail an Uber outside of China using the Alipay app, rather than Uber’s own software. From the home screen, travelers will see an Uber option and have access to the company’s regular perks, including driver information and the vehicle’s estimated time of arrival. Trip fees will be charged directly to the user’s Alipay account in Chinese yuan. Uber’s hope is that Chinese tourists will now use its service all around the world, shunning its rivals in the US and abroad, due to their familiarity with the Alipay app.

The partnership also affects the Uber app. Passengers can now link their Alipay account inside Uber’s own software, negating the need to connect a dual-currency credit card (and have trips charged in US dollars).

The deal is similar to the one Lyft forged last year with Didi Chuxing, known then as Didi Kuaidi. Now, Americans visiting China can use the Lyft app to hail a Didi Chuxing ride; the same integration works in reverse, allowing Didi Chuxing users to hail Lyfts in the US. In both instances, the idea is to tie users to a particular ride-hailing provider, and discourage trips with any competing service. For companies like Uber and Lyft, success depends on scale and mass adoption. Partnerships like these are, therefore, designed to quickly claim new users, mindshare and, ultimately, business.

Source: Uber

HP’s new Pavilion PCs include a 15-inch hybrid laptop

Spring is well underway, and that can only mean one thing for HP: time to unveil a wave of new home PCs. The company has trotted out a host of new Pavilion PCs that pack both obligatory upgrades — thinner, faster and new colors — as well as a few welcome improvements. The highlight by far is the Pavilion x360 line of convertible laptops, which gets a larger 15.6-inch model (above) on top of the existing 11.6- and 13.3-inch versions. Yes, HP’s most affordable hybrid is now big enough to replace larger portables. You’ll also find slimmer designs for the two smaller versions, optional keyboard backlights on the two larger systems and your pick of current Intel chips ranging from a Celeron to a Core i7. When the Pavilion x360 updates arrive from May 15th through May 29th, prices will start at a frugal $380 for the 11.6-inch PC, $480 for a 13.3-inch version and a not-too-shabby $580 for the 15.6-inch model.

There’s more to the refresh than that, of course. The more conventional Pavilion line is slimming down at the 14- and 15.6-inch sizes, and the larger systems (including the 17.3-incher) can carry the latest Intel Core i7 or AMD A12 processors, up to 16GB of RAM and storage that can include both a 128GB SSD and a 2TB hard drive. Systems start showing up as soon as May 18th, with prices starting at $540 for a 14-incher, $580 for the 15.6-inch Pavilion and $900 for the 17.3-inch behemoth.

On the desktop side of things? Some Pavilion All-in-Ones now carry a “micro edge” display that cuts the border thickness by 75 percent, and there’s an optional RealSense camera for both gesture commands and signing in with face detection. A new Pavilion Desktop, meanwhile, is 30 percent smaller than its ancestor while sporting up to a Core i7 or AMD A12, 16GB of RAM, 3TB of storage and budget GeForce GTX 750i or Radeon R7 graphics. The all-in-ones first show up between July 3rd and July 10th with prices starting at $700 for a 23.8-inch display and $1,000 for 27 inches. The Pavillion Desktop hits on June 26th for $450, and it’ll be joined at the same time by a 32-inch quad HD Pavilion Display that sells for $400.

Source: HP

Brazil Blocks WhatsApp for 72 Hours, 100 Million Users Affected

A Brazilian judge has ordered cellphone carriers to block access to WhatsApp for 72 hours throughout the Latin American country, after the Facebook-owned company refused to hand over information requested in a drug trafficking investigation (via Reuters).

As reported last month, the instant messenger service recently enabled full end-to-end encryption, making all forms of communication sent within the app inaccessible to outside parties as well as the service operator.

Yesterday’s decision by the judge applies to the five main wireless operators in Brazil and affects more than 100 million WhatsApp users in the country, where cellphone charges are relatively high.

This is not the first time the service has been the target of a blocking order. In December of last month, mobile providers in Brazil were ordered to block WhatsApp for 48 hours due to the service’s failure to cooperate with criminal court orders in July and August 2015. However, the following morning, an appeal’s court judge ordered that the ban be lifted for being an unreasonable response, recommending that the company be fined instead.

In March of this year, Facebook vice-president for Latin America Diego Dzodan was arrested in Brazil for not cooperating with an investigation in which WhatsApp conversations were requested, but was released the next day after the Court of Appeal held that the arrest was disproportionate. The judge who ordered WhatsApp’s shutdown on Monday is the same one who ordered Dzodan’s arrest.

Elsewhere last month, members of UK prime minister David Cameron’s inner circle campaigning to remain in the European Union were accused of using WhatsApp to discuss tactics and avoid parliamentary referendum decisions from being subject to Freedom of Information requests. Only last year, Cameron proposed to ban online messaging software that offers end-to-end encryption which could allegedly allow suspected terrorists a safe means of communication.

WhatsApp is not the only messaging service that provides end-to-end encryption; Threema, Wickr, Signal, Silent Phone, and Cryptocat also provide encryption by default. Apple’s iMessage also provides encryption, but does not display key fingerprints for verification. Apple’s own legal issues over encryption came when the FBI attempted to compel the company to unlock San Bernardino terror suspect Farook Syed’s iPhone, before the Justice Department announced it had found an alternate method to gain access to the iPhone in question and dropped the lawsuit.

While WhatsApp has been available as a smartphone app since January 2010, users have only been able to access their accounts on a computer since last year when a web browser client for the service was introduced. Last week, screenshots posted by WABetaInfo on Twitter appeared to show translation requests made by the WhatsApp team indicating that a dedicated OS X client is in the works. WhatsApp is also reportedly set to receive a video calling feature in the near future.

Acquired by Facebook in February 2014, WhatsApp is one of the most popular mobile apps worldwide. According to Statista statistics portal, in February the service recorded more than 1 billion active users worldwide, up from over 700 million in January 2015.

WhatsApp Messenger is a free download for iPhone on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

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Possible iPhone 7 Headphone Jack Depicted in New Image

Amid rumors suggesting Apple is set to ditch the headphone jack in the iPhone 7, an image depicting a spare part that could be used in the device has surfaced – headphone jack included.

This morning, French site Nowhereelse.fr shared an image of a Lightning cable assembly, apparently destined for the iPhone 7, which differs in design from the same part found in the current iPhone 6s.

The assembly part is host to a number of components, including cellular antenna cables and the obligatory Lightning port, but the new design clearly shows a separate white headphone jack on the far left-hand side.

Left: purported iPhone 7 part (Image: Weibo); Right: iPhone 6s part (Image: iFixit)
The image was submitted anonymously via a Weibo account, therefore its validity cannot be confirmed. As Nowhereelse.fr notes, it could just as easily depict a part destined for a Chinese counterfeit manufacturer, rather than coming from Apple’s official supply chain. Nevertheless, the part should provide some relief for those hoping that Apple’s next generation of iPhone does not adopt a one-size-fits-all Lightning solution, which would also make it the sole means of connecting headphones and other audio accessories.

Recent rumors have suggested Apple’s upcoming iPhone 7 will feature a thinner body with no headphone jack, with Apple instead planning to rely on the Lightning port and Bluetooth as ways to connect headphones to the device. Apple is also rumored to be working on Lightning-equipped EarPods to sell alongside the iPhone 7, while a more contentious rumor claims Apple may be planning to replace the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 with a second speaker for stereo audio.

Indeed, it remains to be seen if a Lightning-based audio solution would be restricted to Apple’s larger iPhone 7 Plus handset, which could mean the leaked image is genuine without necessarily vouchsafing the inclusion of a headphone jack across Apple’s upcoming line-up of iPhone devices.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Apple Watch review – CNET

The Good Beautifully constructed. Handles messages well. A solid fitness tracker. Hundreds of apps. Can send and receive voice calls via an iPhone. Lots of design choices. Apple Pay-enabled. Stores music for local playback over Bluetooth.

The Bad Battery only lasts a little more than a day. Most models and configurations cost more than they should. Requires an iPhone to work. Interface can be confusing. Many apps load slowly. Lacks built-in GPS.

The Bottom Line A year old and even more affordable, the Apple Watch remains the best designed and most capable smartwatch you can buy — but we’re hoping that the inevitable sequel makes it more of a must-have product.

I’m up early to try to kickstart a habit at the gym, trying to teach myself to like the routine. My phone and wallet and car keys get in the way; I like to come here as minimalist as possible. My watch is the only thing that feels natural and it’s comforting to start recording an elliptical workout from my wrist. I still find it hard to keep glancing at my wrist as I exercise.

But this is the dream: a little world on my wrist.

I look at it for the weather; I look at it to peek at how the Mets are doing. I have it thump me to remind me where the exit is as I’m driving. I think to myself, “At least I’m connected.” But isn’t that why I have my phone? Yes. The Apple Watch is another security blanket. The Apple Watch and the iPhone act as a pair. I can ping and find out where my iPhone is through the watch, and I feel more hooked-in to what I need.

After a year, I don’t look at my phone any less. In fact, I might look at it more.

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Same watch, new bands.

James Martin/CNET

Apple Watch, one year later

All the time people ask me if they need the Apple Watch.

Short answer: I say no — wait for the inevitable sequel.

Longer answer: I say that, in a lot of different ways, the Apple Watch can do things for me that I like. That it represents a taste of a future we’re all rapidly heading toward.

I’ve used the Apple Watch off and on for the last year, mostly on. And it’s become one of my favorite smartwatches. But since its April 2015 release, three things have happened. Apple has released a few round of software updates; a lot of competing smartwatches and watch-like fitness trackers have been released; and — most importantly — Apple dropped the price of the entry-level Sport model. As of this March, the 38mm model now starts at $299, (£259, AU$429), and the 42mm one starts at $349 (£299, AU$499).

With those changes in mind, should you get one? Or should you wait?

I’d lean towards waiting. If you can find a deal on one and are curious (and, have an iPhone), maybe get one. But my year-old thoughts on the Apple Watch largely stand: I think it’s more of a toy than a tool.

That could change…I just don’t know when.

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New nylon bands come standard with Apple Watch Sport — they’re better than those older elastomer ones.

James Martin/CNET

Why you should consider the Apple Watch

Here’s what I like best about the Apple Watch:

Great for quick-glance info. Need weather at a glance, or don’t want to miss a call? Are you working in a place where it isn’t easy to use your phone or even check it? This is for you.

Easy wrist payments. I’m not saying Apple Pay on my wrist always makes sense, but as more terminals get Apple Pay I feel more and more like I’m in a wallet-less world.

Turn-by-turn directions while driving. But you have to use Apple Maps to get the best experience, which doesn’t always pick the most efficient routes.

It’s a pretty good fitness tracker. The Watch tracks steps, heart rate, and little daily achievements. And it works with a lot of third-party apps, even though they’re not all great.

Nice design, for a smartwatch. Lots of finishes and really good-looking bands.

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Black Milanese band…very nice.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Apple’s smartwatch is compact, really nicely built, and packed with features. Too many, probably. It can vibrate when you get messages. It gets phone calls on your wrist, which you can answer in public if you dare. It’s a fitness tracker. It has Apple Pay. It can store a little bit of music from your phone and connect with Bluetooth headphones like a mini-iPod (which I rarely ever do, but runners might). It has hands-free Siri (but you have to raise your wrist and say “hey, Siri.” And it tells the time.

It’s the easiest smartwatch to accessorize; a variety of bands, from Apple-made models to designer labels, cover a broad gamut. And the Apple Watch models themselves come in different metal finishes and colors.

Apple Watch has a lot of apps that cross-load onto the watch from your phone. Many are lackluster, and some load so slowly I’d rather just take out my phone, but they’re mini tools. Far better are the little at-a-glance bits of info you can put on your watch faces called complications, many of which launch apps with a finger-touch.

I check weather; I use the watch faces to add bits of info; I sometimes pay for things in cabs. I keep up on messages that I might have missed, like texts, calendar appointments, Facebook Messenger or tweets. I can see when my home alarm has been deactivated (I monitor it via an Alarm.com app). Like most smartwatches, it’s a pager on your wrist.

And the Apple Watch’s handling of messages and bits of info is better than nearly any other smartwatch. Its microphone for on-wrist calls is great, too (that speaker, not so much).

I also use it while driving, to get directions on my wrist. Basically, it’s my catch-all way to get info without looking at my phone.

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Oscar Gutiérrez/CNET

Why you should hold off on Apple Watch (for now)

There’s a lot that the Apple Watch could be better at. A year into its life, the top annoyances are basically the same as they were on day one:

Short battery life. Keep that charger handy, because you’ll need it. You’ll get a day and a half max.

It still needs an iPhone. You need one to pair it and sync it, and you need one nearby for the Watch to be truly useful for most apps.

Most of its apps run really slowly. And they’re annoying to find, hidden in a grid of tiny icons. That needs improvement.

Its interface still feels too complicated. Pull-down messages, pull-up glances, and lots of pressing and swiping to get to many features.

If you’re looking for something simple and easy on your wrist that you don’t have to deal with much, don’t get an Apple Watch. I find it helpful, but a regular watch would be a lot easier to maintain. It also wouldn’t give me messages.

Other smartwatches like Pebble and Fitbit’s Blaze are less expensive, lower-maintenance, and easier to check messages on thanks to an always-on screen — and the Pebble is waterproof for swimming. Google’s Android Wear watches work best on Android phones, but you could use one for basic functions with an iPhone.

Apple Watch isn’t great at being connected without an iPhone paired to it. It can do some things over Wi-Fi, but it’s hard to guess what will load or work and what won’t. The Apple Watch is water-resistant, but I’d like full waterproofing. Along with that, better battery life. A day and a half isn’t great.

A smaller watch would be great: lighter, sleeker. I’d prefer battery life over a smaller size, though. And really, I’d like the Apple Watch to just be more aware of the world around me. Tell me what to look for when I arrive someplace; give me reminders contextually; show me remote controls for connected gadgets I use as I approach them.

All this will take a more connected world that isn’t here yet — and a more advanced Apple Watch. (Rumors of a next-gen Watch with cellular connectivity are bubbling up, but that seems like it would involve a bad battery tradeoff.) I want a real-world companion, not just something that siphons off the notifications on my phone.

While the Apple Watch has Siri, its voice recognition and speed is nothing like the Amazon Echo. I’d love the watch to be quicker, more attentive and more intuitive at handling voice commands. Usually Siri on the Apple Watch is just too slow to be useful.

And even though the Apple Watch is better at fitness than most smartwatches, it’s lacking quite a bit. No social networks to challenge friends like Fitbit. No predictive life-coaching that can study trends like Jawbone. No sleep-tracking, like most long-battery fitness trackers. The Watch’s nutrition-tracking and weight management flows into third-party solutions, instead of using the built-in Activity app. And a way to back-up my Watch to iCloud so when I switch phones down the road I won’t lose any data.

Most importantly, there isn’t a watch face store yet. Apple Watch is stuck with the dozen or so customizable watch faces it comes with out of the box. I want my New York Jets watch face, or a weird animated magic trick watch face that makes a coin turn into a rabbit. Or a They Might Be Giants watch face. Whatever you want, Android Wear and Pebble have tons of funky options that Apple Watch just doesn’t.

Note, too, that the big 2015 software update (Apple Watch OS 2), wasn’t the big fix we were hoping for. All of the watch’s major issues — slow-loading apps, a limited collection of watch faces, and a functional but not-great battery life — are largely still present. For big changes, we’re stuck waiting for Watch OS 3, and new hardware.

Waiting for Apple Watch 2

So if Apple does release a new Apple Watch, what will it have and when will it arrive? Most likely, it’ll come alongside the iPhone 7 in September. It might be smaller. It might have better battery life. It might have better water resistance. It might have improved speed, and maybe even work without a phone using cellular. Or it could get something crazy, like a front FaceTime camera to talk to friends. We don’t know. But odds are it’ll at least perform better than the first-generation Apple Watch. On the other hand, it might just be a slight upgrade, or even a step-up model.

At this point, if you’re looking to spend $300 on your wrist, you might just want to wait and see what happens. The current version works well enough for what it does. Not good enough to be a must-have; I’m not even sure anymore that the idea of a smartwatch is something that everyone should get onboard with. I like having one, but I don’t like charging it. And I wish it were better.

Smartwatches may one day be the future of phones, or a seamless extension of both them and your home, or any number of connected devices. Right now, they function as phone accessories. And that’s where the Apple Watch lands. It’s helped me stay more connected, but I still use my phone more than I should.

Below is the review of the Apple Watch as I updated it in July 2015, months after my original take at its April 2015 debut. If we were to recommend one now, it would still be the entry-level Sport. Don’t spend a lot. And be forewarned, there could be a new one as soon as September. I prefer having one to not having one. You might feel differently. And unless you’re desperate to try one, I’d say you might as well wait.

This review has been updated several times, most recently on May 3, 2016. The content below is largely how the review originally appeared in April 2015, with some subsequent updates rolled in to reflect software and price changes.

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The original Apple Watch review: What it does, what it is

Much like most other smartwatches, the Apple Watch isn’t a standalone device — it’s a phone accessory. Android Wear, Samsung Gear, Pebble and others work the same way. But here, you must own an iPhone 5 or later to use the Watch. A few Apple Watch functions work away from the phone, but the watch primarily works alongside the phone as an extension, a second screen and basically another part of your iOS experience. It’s a symbiote.

Communication, fitness, information, time: these are the core Apple Watch functions, but the Watch is incredibly ambitious, packed with many, many features and apps. In scope, it reminds me of Samsung’s ambitious Gear smartwatches, but more fully realized.

Apple Watch receives messages from friends, send texts and lets you dictate messages, make speakerphone calls, ping people with animated emoji, give love taps long-distance or send your heartbeat as a sort of long-distance hug. It tracks your steps, logs runs and monitors your heart rate. And yes, you can use Apple Watch to listen to music via wireless Bluetooth headphones. You can play songs like an iPod, get notifications and run apps like a mini iPhone and make payments with Apple Pay. And it has a totally new force-sensitive display that’s never been seen before.

And yes, it tells the time.

But, once again, this watch needs your iPhone to do most of these things. And it either needs to be in Bluetooth range (30 or so feet), or it can connect over Wi-Fi in a home or office to extend that range further.

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Design

Apple wants you to think of the Apple Watch as fine jewelry. Maybe that’s a stretch, but in terms of craftsmanship, there isn’t a more elegantly made piece of wearable tech.

Look at the Apple Watch from a distance, and it might appear unremarkable in its rectangular simplicity compared with bolder, circular Android Wear watches. It’s clearly a revamped sort of iPod Nano. But get closer, and you can see the seamless, excellent construction.

I reviewed the stainless-steel Apple Watch, with a steel link band — a $1,000 configuration. I also wore it with two different Sport Bands, one white and one blue.

The Apple Watch feels a bit chunky compared to Apple’s stable of super-slim gadgets, but it doesn’t look big on the wrist. The larger 42mm version has length, width and thickness similar to the Pebble Steel , one of the smaller smartwatches available. The 38mm version is even smaller. The 42mm version I reviewed felt great on my wrist and didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.

View full gallery Apple Watch next to the Moto 360, the Pebble Steel and the 2011 iPod Nano with wristband.
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Apple Watch’s curved-rectangle form will polarize: some will find it looks great, others will see it like some sort of space-age iPod. Others will be annoyed it’s not circular, or isn’t thinner. Some won’t like the curved glass (or sapphire crystal) that covers the edges and makes it seem like scratch magnet. The steel version I’ve worn for months has gotten a lot of scuffing and scratching all over its polished body, but the display has stayed pretty scuff-free.

The Digital Crown, Apple’s specialized way of interfacing with the watch, sits off to the side, looking just like the part of the watch that used to wind older watches. But in this case, the crown is a mini scroll wheel. You can click it or turn it, and it moves smoothly and beautifully. A second button below brings up favorite contacts, or triggers Apple Pay with a double-click.

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Most navigating happens by swiping and tapping the display, but that crown can be used for some navigation in some apps, or as a pinch-to-zoom replacement. I kept forgetting to use it at first, except to press it to get back to app menu (that grid of apps which I’ll get to in a bit). Over time, I got used to it, but I still tended to use my finger for swipes instead.

Under the hood

All Apple Watches have a new S1 processor made by Apple, that “Taptic” haptic engine and a force-sensitive and very bright OLED display, which is differently sized on the 38mm and 42mm models. The watch has its own accelerometer, gyrometer and heart-rate monitor, but no onboard GPS. It uses Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz Wi-Fi to connect to your phone or your home network. There’s a built-in speaker and microphone, but no headphone jack.

The many-nested worlds of the Apple Watch interface

The old iPod Nano had a grid of apps to swipe through, like an iPhone. Samsung’s Gear watches use a similar approach. Google’s Android Wear uses a blank slate at first, pushing notification cards while hiding its apps behind a scrolling menu.

The Apple Watch has its main watch faces, but also two levels of apps: Glances, which are a lot like the quick-glance app summaries in iOS 8’s pull-down “Today” menu (or the occasional cards that appear in Android Wear), and full-fledged apps. You swipe up for Glances, down for on-watch notifications like texts or Twitter/Facebook alerts and click the Digital Crown button in to get to that “home screen” grid of glowing circular apps you’ve seen in all the ads.

Let’s start from the top.

Watch faces: Things of beauty

Apple has spent a lot of time making its collection of watch faces great, and the effort shows: these are a beautiful bunch. The old iPod Nano had fun watch faces, but many of Apple’s are actually clever and useful: a chronometer becomes a customizable stopwatch; a solar cycle face shows actual sunset and sunrise times, presenting changing arcs depending on the season; a jaw-dropping planetary face shows the Earth and Moon, but properly lit to reflect day, night, and lunar cycles. You can see all the planets in their current alignment, or spin the crown and see their positions change by date. There’s also Mickey Mouse.

Apple Watch faces: A close-up look (pictures)
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The watch faces are customizable, to a point: numbers can be added, colors changed and many “complications” (a watch industry term for extra information on a watch) altered. You can see battery life, calendar appointments, daily fitness and more at a glance. Tap, and those zones open the full app.

Apple’s clock collection won’t currently allow third-party extensions or watch faces to join in the fun, but that will change in the fall with WatchOS 2. Apple will also add more watch faces then, including a few that can add customized photos or photo albums. But, still, the watch face assortment feels limited compared to Android Wear. It’s also odd how many of the 10 watch faces opt for round analog designs even though the watch is rectangular. I would have preferred more digital-style options like those on the Pebble Steel.

View full gallery Notifications pop up as they do on the iPhone, and can be managed individually.
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Glances and notifications, taps and pings: How you get information

There are a lot of ways to look at little bits of info surfaced by the Apple Watch. Notifications pop onto the screen as on most smartwatches. You can swipe down and look at them all, if you want, or delete them. There are also Glances, permanent little slides of mini-info that basically work like Widgets on iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite. Swipe up, and you can swipe back and forth through little interactive tiles. Most apps work with Glances, but not all. Battery life, weather, music control, basic airplane mode and find-your-watch pings, quick news headlines — you get the picture.

View full gallery What a Glance looks like on the Apple Watch.
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As I wore the watch on the first day, I felt a rippling buzz and a metallic ping: one of my credit card payments showed up as a message. Apple’s “Taptic Engine” and a built-in speaker convey both a range of advanced taps and vibrations, plus sounds. Unlike the buzz in a phone or most wearables, these haptics feel sharper: a single tap, or a ripple of them, or thumps.

Sometimes the feelings are too subtle: I don’t know if I felt them or imagined them. My wrists might be numbed from too many smart devices. I set my alerts to “prominent” and got sharper nudges on my wrist.

Nikon D5 review: Olympic effort from pro DSLR

It’s no mistake that both Nikon D5 and Canon EOS 1D X Mark II have arrived in 2016. It’s an Olympic year after all, with pro sports photographers seeking next-level kit to take next-level images in Rio. Not that’s the only place such cameras are capable of scoring gold, of course, with adept versatility for studio and field work alike.

And we’ve had the fortune to use both big daddy DSLRs ahead of their respective releases. While our set of shooting experiences with the Canon was more tailored – a stunt school in Denmark was the backdrop to some great testing situations, as detailed in our review – our out-in-the-world experience with the D5 during a break in New York has proven just how capable it is too.

To recap: the D5 touts the most focus points on pretty much any camera with its new 153-point setup (ignoring Sony’s 425-point system in the A6300), super-fast 12fps continuous shooting, and absurdly high ISO 102,400 maximum (extendable to Hi5, ISO 3,276,800 equivalent). By compare the 1D X II goes one faster to 14fps, ISO 51,200 standard maximum, but shies away on the number of focus points with a re-worked 61-point setup.

It’s not just a numbers game, though, it’s all about true, real-world performance. And on that front, Nikon has created a gold winner in the D5. Can it do no wrong? Here’s what we make of it.

Nikon D5 review: Design

We used a Nikon D4 for around a year after its release in 2012, so became very familiar with that camera and what it could do. The D5, by comparison, is a similar experience – but it’s amped things up in a variety of departments. Not just in terms of sensor, speed and autofocus, but design too.

Pocket-lint

The D5’s new body doesn’t look especially “new” at first glance, it’s more about subtle tweaks for the better. Dual joysticks – which are arranged for both portrait and landscape orientation – adopt a more textured finish than before, which is great for wet or gloved fingers when making focus point adjustments while looking through the finder.

Additionally the ISO button has been moved from the rear of the camera to the top, just behind the shutter, which is more Canon-like in style but helps to make room for the burst mode adjustment button to the rear. This latter new button can be used to adjust the speed of continuous high (CH) and continuous low (CL) options (when selected on the physical drive mode dial, otherwise the button does nothing) should you want to shift from their respective 5fps and 12fps defaults. Perhaps a CL at 7fps and a CH at 14fps (with mirror up only (M-up)) suits you better instead?

There are additional customisable function buttons this time around too: an Fn3 appears to the rear left side (the info button which used to be here moves over the camera body); and an Fn2 button around the front joining the Fn1 and Pv buttons for those reaching fingers. Fn3 quick-dives into the menu for either network settings, rating or voice memo – but that’s all – which is similar to Fn1’s network or playback settings. We’d actually like to see a little more customisation here, to let users decide what to setup where. It’s Fn2 that is most customisable, with AF area controls and more.

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A more hidden point, but a key one, is that the D5 comes in two forms: one sports two CompactFlash card slots, the other two XQD card slots. There’s no in-between 50-50 option, so you’ll have to make the right decision for you at purchase. We’re reviewing the XQD setup, which ought to benefit from being marginally faster than CF maximum (note, Canon’s use of the entirely different CFast format in the 1D X II is quicker again), but, for us, was a total pain due to lack of two cards. Still, D4 users who invested in XQD may see this as the route forward.

Nikon D5 review: Performance

There’s no doubting the D5 is a big and weighty beast. “Oh that’s a big camera”, was a common remark – but then it’s not that you’ll ever see many out on the streets. It is a big camera, but handled with two hands almost everything fits into place for quick settings adjustments in either portrait or landscape orientation. However, the press-and-hold for the ISO adjustment is a little trickier to function given its position up top. Sure, the AF-S/C adjustment press-and-hold has always been like this, but that feels more natural because it’s easier to use left and right hands simultaneously to do so.

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Anyway, it’s these autofocus options that really excite in the D5. There’s always going to be a war on with Canon to see which maker can produce the best setup. And while numbers don’t necessary mean “better” focus capability in all situations, the 3D tracking option with its 153-points in the D5 is really astounding. Its available in normal or wide arrays within deeper settings, to suit different shooting situations. More focus points means more nuance and more data to feed the system, so it can predict and follow movement more adeptly. And once it locks onto a subject it really does feel like there’s no letting go: bikers going down the street would be snapped up almost instantly without pre-focus and remain in focus whether moving through the frame, towards or away from the camera.

Although we suspect not many will use the fullest array for most conditions – plenty of pros are happy with a 5-point group cluster in all honesty – but the option for 25-point, 72-point or the full array (plus 3D tracking) will cater for different scenarios. Of those, however, only 55- or 15-points are available to select, otherwise you’d be thumbing around forever trying to move the point to the desired position. The in-between points are just that, in-betweeners to feed that extra data. And we particularly like how the 153-point lights-up the outer edge of the focus area, showing how widely the array covers the viewfinder; 72-point and 25-point arrangements are centralised square setups.

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Nikon D5 review – sample image at ISO 200

Switch to AF-S and 5-point, group and auto are the options. Sensitivity in portrait orientation is top-notch thanks to 99 cross-type sensors, 15 of which support sensitivity to f/8 for heightened response when using a teleconverter – ideal if you’re shooting with a tele-converter and can’t have super-fast apertures available. Although we’ve not actually been able to test such responsiveness given lens selection for this review (it’s been 24-70mm f/2.8 all the way).

Whether using single or continuous AF we’ve been mighty impressed with the accuracy and speed. The D5 does a mighty good job in low-light conditions too, without unnecessary focus hunting. We’ve snapped a variety of candid shots in New York in dim bars or on the streets and, frankly, it’s like the camera can see things that we can’t. It’s that good. It’s 100 per cent more sensitive than the D4 thanks to -4EV capability, which is like focusing in moonlight.

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Nikon D5 review – sample image at ISO 900

Nikon D5 review: An injection of speed

Capable focusing isn’t just restricted to slow speeds, though, with the D5’s continuous burst capable of 12fps (14fps with mirror lock-up / live view). Which isn’t the 14fps (16fps mirror lock-up) of the Canon EOS 1D X II – and that, given burst shooting is one of the major purposes of these cameras, does see the Nikon lag behind a touch. Blink and you’ll miss it, of course, but the same could be said about getting the best shot from a burst.

At the 12fps rate we’ve been able to snap 78 raw & JPEG Fine shots consecutively before the rate slows; all that data is written to card (here XQD) in around 8-seconds. No waiting around here then, that’s a substantial stack of images. However, to put it into context, we could shoot an additional 92 frames with the Canon 1D X II at the yet-faster 14fps rate before it hit the buffer wall. Nikon claims 200 consecutive raw (only) files can be snapped, but that’s not the result we were pulling from a 400MB/s card. So, again, the Nikon is lags behind the Canon in this regard.

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Realistically we don’t think many pros will end up exhausting the D5’s buffer, even if the Canon can do more. How often do you hold down the shutter for a full 6-seconds and cross your, arm, toes?

You’ll be able to shoot many, many continuous sequences too, given the longevity of the D5’s battery. It’s one of those cameras we can take away for a weekend city break without the charger and not need to worry. And for studio/location work the dual battery charger will have you covered should you need a spare. There’s been a lot of chat about something crazy like 6,000+ images per charge. That’s nowhere near what we were achieving: think 1,250 shots per change, including a bunch of live view, playback, menu tweaking and so forth. If all you’re doing is shooting bursts without periods between use you might see more shots per charge, of course.

Nikon D5 review: Image quality

One area where the Nikon really does want to make it a numbers game is with its maximum high ISO potential. As standard you can shoot ISO 100 – 102,400. Which a few years ago you’d laugh off as obscene and unusable but, actually, we’ve shot dark subjects and even blacks hold out well without too much image noise.

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Nikon D5 review – sample image at ISO 102,400

There’s not heaps of room for manipulation at six-figure sensitivities of course, given how exposure tweaks in post will really rear the ugly head of image noise, but it’s a mighty impressive feat. We’ve looked for any banding and other nasties in heavily manipulated images, but Nikon has learnt its lesson after the not-so-hot D7100 era.

Which is one way of thinking about the Nikon D5: it’s arguably the more capable low-light camera, with an additional stop of ISO sensitivity over the 1D X II. If you want full-frame to shoot, say, live gigs then this could well be the DSLR to go for.

However, it does get out of control. Throwing in an ISO 3,276,800 might sounds like winning the lottery, but it’s an utterly pointless setting. Whatever we’ve shot comes out in a mess of purple haze, with barely distinguishable subjects, rendering it a pointless setting for the sake of the seven-figure number. Stick to what works please Nikon, because the high ISO sensitivity of the D5 is exceptional, it’s just allowed to be pushed too far in the “Hi” settings for headlines and gloating purposes.

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Nikon D5 review – sample image at ISO 2500

Anyway, that’s high ISO, which is one thing, but then there’s the matter of mid-low sensitivities which are perhaps the most important. If you need to up the shutter speed then bumping the ISO sensitivity is your friend. Unless, of course, it turns images into mush thanks to overzealous processing. Not so with the D5: shoot ISO 3200 and you’ll still be printing full pages, no problems. Shoot ISO 800 and you’ll be laughing at how good everything looks.

But go lower still and the level of detail on offer is really quite something, assuming the right lens is on the front anyway. An ISO 100 snap of a Brooklyn street, complete with pro-Sanders wall painting, oozes colour and detail. The D5 has pretty much got it all.

Except for one point: auto white balance in mixed lighting environments often goes the wrong way. We know we should pre-set white balance, but testing the new camera at an Acer launch event we didn’t. The results were fine, but mixed ambient and natural lighting led to some off-colour results; the same can be said for an NYPD officer riding a horse, which has been thrown off course due to the pink billboard lights in the background. Still, with subject recognition the camera should know the balance differently.

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Nikon D5 review – sample image at ISO 3600

Other than that small point we’re struggling to find a bad thing to say about the D5’s image quality. Full-frame means full depth of field. An upgrade to 21-megapixels (well, we’re counting 20.7 if rounding up from the 5568 x 3712 files) means more scale compared to the 16MP D4, which in 2016 is great for either in-camera or post crop – and there’s the detail available to make the most of it.

Nikon D5 review: Movie and other tech

A look at the D5’s viewfinder and you might notice two clips to its sides. That’s because it can be swapped out for different eyecups – which could be particularly useful for, say, a movie-focused setup. And with 4K prowess this time around, the D5 is fairly well setup for video.

And we say “fairly” because it’s not top of its class: select the 4K 30fps option and you’ll see a 3-minute maximum countdown for capture, not the 30-minute maximum that comes with Full HD capture. We’re presuming the reason for this is to avoid the sensor overheating, but there’s no official stance on the matter. Rumour has it a firmware update may extend this capture time in the near future, but whether that’s the case remains to be seen.

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You can, however, use the HDMI for a clean output via an external recorder, which is one-up on the Canon 1D X II. However, we don’t have such a recorder to see whether the record time limitation causes an issue with capping capture time, which we presume it does. There are microphone and headphones 3.5mm jacks to the side too.

In the live preview or video modes – selected using the toggle and activation button to the rear, we’re not totally sold on its position and would rather it higher up the body – comes another major new feature for the D5: touchscreen. Yep, a pro-spec DSLR with a touchscreen. Tap on the screen in live view to select a focus point, or for smooth and easy refocusing during video capture. It’s a great feature, albeit underused: we would like more menu settings to toggle on/off whether the screen worked for menu controls and other settings. The ability to swipe through images and pinch-to-zoom rather than faffing around with magnifying glass zoom buttons feels like a step into the 21st century though.

What this screen does lack – and just as we said of the Canon EOS 1D X – is a vars-angle bracket. Now you might think we’re mad to suggest such a thing, but the Pentax K1 full-frame DSLR has a sturdy offering that we would have loved in this Nikon. Using a bulky 1.4kgs camera (without a lens) means you sometimes have to contort your body to get angles that you want – a screen that could be manipulated would be a huge plus. Hats of to Pentax for that one, we think it’s a trick the other big Japanese makers have missed out on.

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Joining the video-based ports is that other high-end port: Ethernet. With 1000 Base-T maximum speeds it’s super fast for channeling data down the wire, if that’s how you need to get your images to clients rapidly. If you want GPS or Wi-Fi, however, then neither are included within the camera – you’ll need to buy additional accessories for such tasks, and can only connect one to the 10-pin terminal (which, primarily, is there to be used with remote controls). Not that we’re surprised: the sturdy body can’t be the best for Wi-Fi signals to push through.

Verdict

Make no bones about it: the Nikon D5 is an astounding pro-spec camera. It’s also inevitably going to be compared to the Canon EOS 1D X II. Of the pair we’d say the Canon is the speedier and, arguably, more adept at video work; the Nikon, on the other hand, has a more detailed and nuanced focus system in our view, plus has the upper hand in low-light and high ISO performance. There’s not a lot between them, but those are how we would separate them, whisker-width though that separation is.

Not that you’re likely to switch from Canon to Nikon or vice-versa if you’re an established user. But if you’re a D4 owner then, well, the D5 seems like a no-brainer to us – £5,200 in your back pocket pending, of course. An upgraded focus system that locks onto subjects like superglue; a bump in not only image quality, but resolution; plus additional quirks like the new layout, touchscreen options, 4K capture (despite its hindrances), and, not forgetting, a faster continuous shooting mode than before at 12fps.

Of our few qualms it’s the absence of a variable screen mount, occasional obscure auto white balance selection, and lesser burst and buffer than the Canon 1D X II that go against the Nikon D5. That and the inevitable size and weight that won’t work for all situations.

In an Olympic year the D5 puts in an Olympic performance. It’s going for gold and it’s deservedly worthy of such an accolade. Although it’s such a tight photo-finish with the Canon 1D X II that it’s too close to call.

LeEco’s Supertainment services unveiled in India: Everything you need to know

At an event in Mumbai, LeEco outlined its content strategy for the Indian market. The Chinese vendor has managed to get off to a great start in the country, and is now looking to capitalize on that growth by partnering with local content aggregators, offering video-on-demand services, live channels, a music service, and a cloud storage solution that offers 5TB of storage.

Content

As for the content ecosystem, LeEco is partnering with Eros Now, which offers more than 2,000 regional movies. The content will be delivered through the Le Vidi app, which is available on all LeEco phones. The vendor is also tying up with YuppTV to deliver over 250 channels, including live channels with multiple viewing angles called Le Live.

LeEco is also offering 3.5 million songs in what the vendor is calling the “most robust music solution” in the country, featuring high-definition music videos and 320kbps audio. Hungama will be powering the music service, with content from a total of 22 different languages available. You’ll also be able to view live concerts from around the world in real-time on LeEco phones with Le Live.

Le Vidi and Le Live will go live on May 24, with Le Music set to be available in the third quarter.

Services and Membership

Along with its content push, LeEco is rolling out services, which include the LeEco Drive, a cloud storage service that offers an astounding 5TB of storage. The service will be rolled out in Q3 2016 through an OTA update to all LeEco 1s and Max phones.

All of the content offerings and LeEco Drive will be delivered through LeEco’s Membership plans, which bundles everything in a single package. LeEco made $417 million from its membership program in China last year, and is looking to emulate a similar strategy in India.

The total value of the membership is ₹32,000, but it will be available to users in the country for ₹4,900 a year or ₹490 a month. LeEco mentions that its members will receive exclusive discounts and coupons toward phone and accessory purchases as well. Not a bad deal considering all the content services and the cloud storage solution on offer.

What do you guys think? Will you be joining LeEco’s membership program?

Lenovo rolls out Marshmallow update to the Vibe S1 in India

Lenovo has rolled out Marshmallow updates to the K3 Note, A7000, and the Vibe P1 last month, and the vendor is now turning its attention to the Vibe S1. The phone made its debut in the country in November, offering dual front-facing cameras — an 8MP shooter and a 2MP secondary camera that adds depth of field.

After K3 note, A7000, Vibe P1 in the last month, Android 6.0 marshmallow OTA now rolling out for @Lenovo_in #VibeS1 . Check now

— Anuj Sharma (@s_anuj) May 3, 2016

If you’re rocking the Vibe S1, be sure to head into your phone’s settings to check if the OTA update is available. At this rate, it shouldn’t be long before the Vibe K4 Note also picks up the Marshmallow update.

Marshmallow update now available for the Galaxy S5 on Telus

Telus has commenced rolling out the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update to its variant of the Galaxy S5. The update weighs in at 819MB, and includes the April security patch.

From Twitter:

If you’re using the Galaxy S5 on Telus, now would be a good time to head into your phone’s settings to download the update. The global variant picked up the update late last month, so it won’t be long before we see Marshmallow rolling out to more Galaxy S5 variants across the globe.

As for other phones on the Canadian carrier, an upgrade document from last month shows that the Galaxy Note 4 is slated to pick up the Marshmallow update on May 16.