Apple rolls out new Beats headphones with AirPod tech built-in
Apple just confirmed it’s ditching the old headphone jack, and also rolling out upgraded wireless headphones called AirPods. Naturally, its Beats brand is getting in the game, announcing headphones with the same W1 chip inside and slick wireless capabilities when used with an iPhone 7. All three models announced today include Class 1 Bluetooth to work across all kinds of media sources and some form of Fast Fuel charging. On the new BeatsX earphones, that means a promised 2 hours playback based on just five minutes of charging via Lightning cable, or eight hours on a full charge. They’ll be available this fall in black or white for $150.
Click here to catch all the latest news from Apple’s “See You” event.
Otherwise, there are newly enhanced Solo3 Wireless cups and Powerbeats3 wireless earphones. The Powerbeats3 Wireless promise an improved fit, plus an hour of playback after 5 minutes of charging via microUSB, or 12 hours from a full charge, at a price of $200 when they arrive this fall.
The Beats Solo3 Wireless can apparently run for up to 40 hours on a full charge thanks to the W1 chip, and play for three hours after five minutes of charging via microUSB. Preorders for those start today, at a price of $300. For more info check out the website here, or video previews of the new audio devices below.
Source: Beats
iOS 10 will be available to download on September 13
In some countries, Tuesday 13th is the unlucky date (not Friday). Coincidentally, that’s the date you’ll be able to upgrade your iPhone or iPad to iOS 10. Version 10 of iOS has been rattling around since Apple’s developer conference in June, and we’ve had a pretty good look at most of the new features, but now they’re finally ready for prime time.
As a brief refresher, iOS 10 brings a slew of new tricks that should add more than a dash of “smart” spice to your regular old (TBF, still pretty smart) iPhone experience. First up (and possible personal bias here) is the ability to remove (or technically, hide) all those stock iOS apps you never, ever wanted. Siri gets a bit overhaul too, and will finally put its brand of voice control inside third party apps — which will make calling an Uber or Lyft as simple as asking for one (among other things).
There are also improvements to the way the iPhone sorts images, a revamped Music app, and the real update we’re all excited about: improved emoji in Messages. Whichever of the above tickles your fancy, you’ll want to get up early on the day it hits the servers. Normally downloads go without a hitch, but you want to make sure you’ve figured out all the new goodies — like the invisible ink feature — early enough to avoid sounding like a n00b once everyone else is using them.
Click here to catch all the latest news from Apple’s “See You” event.
Apple kills off 16GB storage for the iPhone 7
If you’re looking for just a little bit of on-device storage in your next phone, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus aren’t for you. At its fall announcement event in San Francisco on Wednesday, Apple revealed that its newest handset iterations will no longer offer 16GB hard drives. Instead, the new phones will offer a minimum of double that and be available all the way up to 256GB. But don’t think you’re getting these devices for cheap. The iPhone 7 starts at $649 for the 32GB model and the iPhone 7 Plus starts at a jaw-dropping $769. Luckily, with Apple’s installment plan, those figures work out to $27 and $32 a month, respectively.
Click here to catch all the latest news from the Apple’s “See You” event.
The PS4 Slim hits shelves on September 15th for $300
Sony isn’t done with the PlayStation 4. The company today revealed the PS4 Slim, a thinner version of its latest console that’s been lurking around the rumor mill for months now. The Slim lands on September 15th for $300/£259.
The PS4 Slim features all the guts of a standard PS4 plus a few cosmetic and convenience upgrades, including a lightbar at the top, more space between the front-facing USB ports and the removal of the optical port. The console is about 30 percent smaller than the standard PS4, which came out in 2013, and it plays all existing PS4 games.
We recently re-reviewed the PS4 and found it to be “the best console experience money can buy,” which bodes well for the PS4 Slim — and the PS4 Pro (formerly the Neo), a new and more powerful version of Sony’s latest console.
Find all the news from Sony’s big PlayStation event right here.
Sony’s 4K game console is called PlayStation 4 Pro
Sony’s 4K PlayStation 4 upgrade has been something of an open secret since before E3, but today the company officially unveiled its high end game console. It’s called PlayStation 4 Pro — and it’ll be available on November 10th for $399/£349. It boasts an upgraded, x86-64 “Jaguar” AMD CPU with 8 cores, a 4.2 teraflop AMD Radeon GPU, three USB ports and a 1TB HDD. Sony say’s it’s twice as fast as the regular PS4, and, of course, it’s designed specifically for UHD TVs and PlayStation VR.
PlayStation’s Andrew House says the refresh has been a long time coming. “Display technology offers so much potential if there is content to leverage what’s now possible,” he said. “With PlayStation 4, we’re pretty much maxing out what 1080p TVs can do with most games.” Hence, the creation of the PS4 Pro. This is a console designed for the kind of 4K resolutions and HDR that so-called “conventional TVs” simply can’t display. So, what does a 4K PlayStation 4 game look like? Sony brought examples.
PlayStation lead system architect Mark Cerny used footage from Rise of the Tomb Raider, Insomniac’s upcoming Spider-Man game and Watch Dogs 2 to show how the upgraded console can give exiting games a huge visual shot in the arm. One demo showed mountain top view of a city blown out on a typical TV, but lush with color on an HDR display powered by the PlayStation Pro. A quick look at Day’s Gone with and without HDR features revealed a scene with a much wider color range and more realistic shadows.
“But you don’t need a 4K TV or HDR TV to experience the benefit of PS4 pro,” Cerny explained. Even on a standard HD TV, games will look better on the PlayStation 4 Pro. Super-sampling and advanced anti-aliasing will take the jagged edge off of games that are pushing the standard hardware to its limits. Even at 1080p, games will feature better reflections and brighter colors. Older titles like Paragon, Infamous First Light and Shadow of Mordor are all scheduled to receive high-fidelity graphics patches too, in what Cerny calls “forward compatibility.”
Naturally, the PlayStation Pro will be a boon for consumers who buy into PSVR this October: Sony says virtual reality games played on the new hardware could potentially look crisper, have more detailed special effects and, best of all, run at higher framerates. Specifically, Cerny said FarPoint, Sony’s upcoming VR shooter, will feature about twice as much detail on the PS4 Pro vs the standard hardware.
Finally, Sony announced that 4K and HDR video content will be available on the upgraded console as well, specifically calling out a partnership with Netflix to develop a 4K streaming app for the PlayStation 4 Pro.
As the event wrapped up, House returned to reveal the new PlayStation line up: a slimmer PS4 for a cool $299, or a thicker, more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro for $399. That slimmer PS4 will hit stores next week — but folks with 4K televisions at home will have to wait until November 10th for the Pro. Still, that’s a lot sooner than Microsoft’s Project Scorpio is set to debut. And no, Microsoft, the Xbox One S isn’t the same thing.
Apple’s iPhone upgrade programme is coming to the UK
Apple is bringing its iPhone upgrade programme to the UK, giving diehard fans a new way to fund their annual upgrade. Plans start at £33.45 per month, netting you the regular iPhone 7 with 32GB of storage. Upping the instalments to £38.45 per month will grant you the 128GB model, or you can spend an extra pound (£39.45 per month) to get the 32GB iPhone 7 Plus. All six plans are listed on Apple’s website — in the fine print you’ll see that each one requires a £49, upfront payment on the day of the purchase.
After 20 monthly payments, you’ve paid off the phone. After 11 monthly payments, however, you can choose to upgrade to the next iPhone instead. Each handset is unlocked and covered by AppleCare+, meaning you don’t have to worry if you accidentally drop it on the floor. For Apple, it’s an obvious way to keep people locked in to the iOS ecosystem, while extracting sizeable payments at a regular clip. For customers, it’s an intriguing payment option — though one you should consider carefully, given you’ll be paying off each phone for almost two years.
Click here to catch all the latest news from Apple’s “See You” event.
Source: iPhone Upgrade Program
Sierra hits Macs on September 20th with Siri in tow
Sierra, the latest version of macOS (formerly OS X), will be available to download on September 20th. The update adds Siri to the Mac, the ability to copy and paste among Apple devices, and it enables picture-in-picture, which allows users to pop out a video from iTunes or Safari and keep it playing in a separate floating window. Plus, Apple Music has a new, streamlined UI and the Photos app gets an upgrade with a “Memories” view that collects shots taken in specific places or of certain people.
The new operating system updates the messaging app as well, adding enlarged emojis, inline previews of videos and links, and the ability to respond to a message with a heart, thumbs up or other icon.
We gave Sierra a spin in June and found most of its features to be intuitive and handy. However, that was an early build and we weren’t able to try out auto-unlock (which opens your Mac from an Apple Watch), Apple Pay on the web and some of the features that work alongside iOS 10.
Click here to catch all the latest news from the Apple’s “See You” event.
Source: Apple
Apple warns the new Jet Black iPhones are prone to scratches
If you’ve always preferred shiny gadgets, the Jet Black iPhone 7 is totally up your alley. A word of warning, though: Apple admits that you might have to take extra good care of it to keep it scratch-free. In the new iPhone 7 page on the company’s website, part of the fine print at the very bottom reads:
“The high-gloss finish of the jet black iPhone 7 is achieved through a precision nine-step anodization and polishing process. Its surface is equally as hard as other anodized Apple products; however, its high shine may show fine micro-abrasions with use. If you are concerned about this, we suggest you use one of the many cases available to protect your iPhone.”
That said, other shiny phones are also prone to scratches, so it’s not exactly surprising. You’re probably better off considering the other, more matte options if you don’t want to deal with both scratches and fingerprints. Especially if you tend to keep your phone in your pocket with the keys, candy wrappers and last week’s trash.
In case you can’t say no to the siren song of the Jet Black iPhone, though, just think of it this way: you’re bound to buy a case to keep your new purchase safe anyway. You can always get a transparent one to protect your device if you want its beauty to shine through — we’ll bet plenty of casemakers are already on it.
Click here to catch all the latest news from Apple’s “See You” event.
Via: Daily Dot
UK pricing for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
As one of the biggest tech events of the year draws to a close, it’s time to catch our breath. By now, you may’ve heard all about Apple’s new iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and second-generation Watch, as well as the slew of software release dates also announced today. But let’s revisit the two new smartphones unveiled on stage and get down to the brass tacks of how much they’re gonna cost.
iPhone 7
The iPhone 7 isn’t significantly different from its predecessor in terms of design, though the antenna bands have been rearranged and cover less surface area than before. The main changes include IP67 waterproofing, a new haptic home button, A10 Fusion processor, improved display colour range and better cameras up front and round back. As expected, the 3.5mm headphone jack is gone, with Lightning EarPods and a 3.5mm adapter replacing it. Also, this time around, there is no 16GB storage option, with the base model now packing 32 gigs as standard. Bear in mind the new Jet Black colour is only available in 128GB and 256GB configurations, though.
| 32GB | £599 | September 9th | September 16th |
| 128GB | £699 | September 9th | September 16th |
| 256GB | £799 | September 9th | September 16th |
iPhone 7 Plus
Take all the new bits and bobs on the iPhone 7, stick them in a bigger chassis with a 5.5-inch display, and you’ve got the iPhone 7 Plus. That is, apart from the camera, which is where the model differs most meaningfully from its smaller sibling. A first for iPhones, Apple has equipped its latest large-screen handset with dual rear-facing cameras. Similar setups have been explored by several other manufacturers before, so the feature set is pretty familiar. They allow for a 2x optical zoom and take two distinct pictures, meaning you can play with focal point and depth of field after the fact. Or, at least, you will be able to when a software update drops later this year. As with the iPhone 7, the Jet Black variant is only available with 128GB or 256GB of internal storage.
| 32GB | £719 | September 9th | September 16th |
| 128GB | £819 | September 9th | September 16th |
| 256GB | £919 | September 9th | September 16th |
This is all direct-from-Apple pricing of course, but as you’d expect, a preliminary email blast from the four major carriers confirms both phones will indeed be sold on contracts by EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.
AirPods
Now Apple has officially bid farewell to the 3.5mm headphone jack, it’s time to sell you some wireless cans. The new iPhones come with Lightning EarPods and a 3.5mm adapter in the box, but Apple also announced its own set of truly wireless earbuds today. These “AirPods” will go on sale towards the end of next month for £159.
Apple-owned Beats By Dre is also releasing a new product line with AirPod (aka Bluetooth) technology built in. The in-ear BeatsX and Powerbeats3 will be launching this autumn for £129.95 and £169.95, respectively. The over-ear Wireless3 headphones, on the other hand, are available to buy today for £249.95.
Click here to catch all the latest news from Apple’s “See You” event.
Sony will upgrade all PS4s with HDR
At today’s announcement of two new PlayStation 4 consoles, Sony had news for existing owners too: a firmware update will make every PS4 (going back to the launch models) ready for HDR video. There weren’t a lot of specifics on what exactly what your console will support, but we’ll find out more info as it becomes available. Sony showed off some sweet gaming demos with the PS4 Pro showing what HDR can do, but we’ll have to see how well older hardware supports the feature, or if it’s only for video streams.
Just announced: every PS4 will be HDR compatible
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 7, 2016
HDR is coming to all 40 million existing #PS4 users via a firmware update next week. Woo! #PlayStationMeeting
— PlayStation Europe (@PlayStationEU) September 7, 2016
Of course, the big takeaway Sony is likely looking for is that gamers won’t need to buy a new console for demo material. You’ll still need a new HDR-ready TV, but if it means you don’t also buy an Xbox One S then it helps keep more gamers on the PlayStation side of the line.
Update: The press release confirms HDR support for all PlayStation 4s, but does not go into any further detail about what games or movies that may impact.
Find all the news from Sony’s big PlayStation event right here.
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