Apple AirPods Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
I was one of the world’s first normal people to be photographed wearing Apple’s AirPods. Shortly thereafter, I became a meme. Or rather, Apple’s weird-looking earbuds did — I was just the ear model.
These little buds have become poster children for the awkwardness of wearable tech design. Noooope, the internet said. Instagram, Reddit and Twitter comments ranged from comparing them to cigarette butts to tampons. Consensus: People think they’re ugly.
James Martin/CNET
But let’s back up a bit. As everyone already knows, the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus don’t have a standard headphone jack. You need to use the Lightning headphones, or the Lightning-to-minijack dongle, both of which Apple mercifully throws in the box. (But still, hey, no headphone jack.)
Of course, what Apple is really trying to do is condition you for an all-wireless world. Wireless Bluetooth headphones have been around for years, and they’ve gotten quite good. Beats, Apple’s own fully-owned subsidiary and the largest headphone brand on the planet, already sells plenty of wireless headphones, including three all-new models that debuted alongside the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
Apple AirPods are nowhere near as ridiculous…
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Apple’s AirPods, the company’s own, first-ever Bluetooth headphones, come with an Apple logo to set them apart. AirPods look exactly like the ubiquitous white EarPods that have come shipped with iPhones for years, albeit with the wires clipped, and they’re “true wireless” headphones, meaning they don’t even have a cable connecting the left and right earbud. They come with a charging case that doubles as a pocketable storage unit and a battery booster that can top off the 5-hour battery life for another 3 hours in just 15 minutes.
The new headphones cost $159, £159 or AU$229, but they won’t be available until October.
I’ve been wearing a pair for the better part of a week. And you know what? They look dorky as hell, but I still like these AirPods. I know you think I’m crazy, but read on to find out why.
Editors’ note: We’re continuing to test the AirPods, and will update this to a full rated review — with comparisons to competing models — in the near future.
How dumb did I feel?
AirPods feel like regular EarPods, but wireless. So, since I can’t see them while I’m wearing them unless I look in the mirror, I generally feel fine (until the internet uses a photo of me to demonstrate how silly they look. Details, details).
Then I look in the mirror. One AirPod looks like a futuristic Bluetooth headset. With two in place, they look like hipster earrings. Or tiny vape pipes. Or sci-fi jewelry. Or worse.
OK, AirPods look ridiculous. I don’t know why Apple put that weird tail on them, except maybe for an antenna, or to make the microphones better. (More on that later.)
CNET
How do they sound?
But here’s the thing: mostly, they’re good. I liked listening to music with AirPods. I started finding myself preferring them to plug-in headphones, thanks to the freedom of movement they provided.
Until, of course, they produced some of the same little pops and interruptions I always get from Bluetooth earphones when I’m walking. I didn’t seem to get quite as many with the AirPods, but they sometimes happened…and skipping interruptions made me wish for something wired.
The 5-hour battery life for the earphones isn’t great, but it’s good for earbuds this tiny. And the little dental-floss-box-looking charger not only packs enough total charge for 24 hours, but quick-charges them fast enough that I never worried about running out of juice in a day. Or even two. Or three. You just need to accustom yourself to swapping the buds back into the case when you’re not using them. And don’t expect to listen straight through on, say, an intercontinental flight without an extra boost from the case.
Will AirPods work with other Bluetooth devices?
Yeah, they’re Bluetooth headphones. They’ll work with any Bluetooth-enabled smartphone, tablet, computer or other wireless device. I paired them with the Galaxy S7 Edge, and they worked fine for music and calls. But when you use them with Apple devices, you get some extra special features such as auto-pairing (see below). In Bluetooth mode with non-Apple devices, the AirPods won’t turn on or off when removing them from your ears, either.
How does auto-pairing work?
The AirPods include a secret sauce that most other wireless Bluetooth headphones (except those three aforementioned new Beats models) don’t: simplified automatic pairing across all Apple devices running iOS 10 or MacOS Sierra.
CNET
That pairing process had hits and misses in my everyday use. To connect them the first time, just flip up the AirPod case’s lid and the iPhone asks if you want to connect. On the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus I tested with (running a build of iOS 10 software with AirPod compatibility added), AirPod pairing was mostly automatic.
Many Android phones have a similar “tap to pair” function that uses near-field communication (NFC) on compatible handsets and headphones. We’ve rarely seen that work as well as the Apple auto-pairing on these AirPods, but it’s something similar in concept.
Once paired, the headphones now work with all the compatible Apple devices you own via iCloud. But to use those devices, you need to find a sometimes-hidden button in iOS to pick your audio source, and tap “AirPods.” So, while not completely automatic, it saves you a trip to re-pair the earphones via Bluetooth…and more importantly, you won’t need to pair them again when you go back to your other device.
Having one setup process for multiple devices seems helpful, but where it really pays off is if you have an Apple Watch.
Apple Watch and AirPods: Why are these the best buds?
These are the Bluetooth earbuds Apple should have always had for the Apple Watch in the first place. AirPods, because they auto-pair to both iPhone and Apple Watch, act as conduits to both. The watch acts as extension of the phone. The AirPods to the watch. There’s a seamless feel as I wander around now. Especially with just Apple Watch and AirPods on; suddenly I feel like I’ve put on my wearable astronaut suit and left my phone-world behind.
It’s particularly nice because it fixes a problem I always had with Bluetooth headphones and making phone calls while wearing Apple Watch: call handoffs.
CNET
It’s annoying to use Bluetooth headphones and smartwatches. You have to pick where you pair, which was especially awkward when answering incoming calls if you “accepted” them on the Apple Watch. If you have Bluetooth headphones paired to your phone, Apple Watch calls get answered on the Apple Watch speakerphone…not on the headphones.
With AirPods and iOS 10, if a call comes through, you can answer on either device and just start talking. You can use them for running and listen to music. Whatever you need. They’re seamless, or, almost seamless.
Sometimes there would be a bit of a click sound, and I realized the AirPods were now paired to my other device. A few times, the handoff happened too slowly, and I missed the call. Early days for the AirPod, perhaps. But the ability to answer calls in-ear makes the Apple Watch feel more like a true communication tool.
Occasionally, I sometimes had to swipe up and pick AirPods like you would select Apple TV in AirPlay. So, not always magical and seamless. I was running a pre-release version of iOS 10.0.1 that worked with AirPods, versus 10.0, provided by Apple to test the devices.
How do you control them?
There aren’t many remote controls. You can double-tap on an AirPod to activate Siri, or turn that control into play/pause in AirPod’s settings. But you can’t adjust volume, or do the variety of things you can do with the basic in-line Apple EarPod remote. I kept reaching for my phantom remote all day long, but it wasn’t there to help me.
CNET
Can you share AirPods?
Yes, you can. I put one in my ear and one in someone else’s and we listened to music. The earbuds turn on via proximity sensors. They turn off when you take them out.
But you can’t share a pair for phone calls. I tried, and it always defaulted to just one AirPod: whichever was put in someone’s ear first.
Can you just use one by yourself?
Yes, to take phone calls. Either bud will work the same, and it’ll switch seamlessly if you change earbuds. It’s pretty clever. But you can’t play music this way: both buds need to be in.
What if you lose one?
See above. With one bud — either one — you still have a perfectly functional monaural wireless headset for making calls. But that’s about it.
CNET
Are they sweat-proof or water-resistant?
Apple doesn’t make any water resistance claims on these AirPods. They should be fine for workouts, but if it starts to rain I’d pop them out in a hurry.
Did they stay connected?
Mostly, but I still heard audio pops from time to time. Not as many as I usually get with Bluetooth headphones, but they were still there.
Did they stay in my ears?
Mostly, yes. I jumped around, hopped, tried jogging in place, and they stayed on.
But they fit just like Apple’s free-in-box $30 white earphones. It’s one size fits all, and tough luck if they don’t. So if those standard Apple earphones fit, these will fit. And if they don’t, these won’t. Unlike most other in-ear headphones, there are no extra tips included for different sized ears.
CNET
Can they be used as wireless microphones for video shoots?
No. Not yet, at least. The microphones in the AirPods don’t connect to all apps. I was able to record a voice memo, but I couldn’t wear one and shoot a video of myself. And recording quality sounded digitized, like a phone call — not nearly as smooth as a normal audio recording. Right now, AirPods have limited microphone uses beyond phone calls and chats. That might change when AirPods arrive in late October.
What’s it like using Siri?
It was fine. Double-tapping either bud brings up Siri. She heard me just fine, and I heard her.
Why not get Beats?
Besides the AirPods, Apple is making three other headphones equipped with the W1 chip — the hardware that enables that cool auto-pairing, and also helps with low-power battery use. Those three Beats models Apple announced are larger and the earbuds aren’t independently wireless. But the BeatsX (which haven’t arrived yet) are almost the same price, with double the battery life: 10 hours versus 5. Those could be the better choice for workouts.
Are there other true wireless headphones?
Yes. This has been an emerging market over the past year, with at least a dozen announced or available options from large manufacturers such as Onkyo and Samsung to smaller startups such as Doppler Labs and Bragi.
So, why get Apple’s wireless headphones?
There are plenty of other options on the market. Bluetooth headphones are everywhere, obviously.
Apple’s sound nice. I can’t yet say they’re the best because we’re still comparing them with rivals. But they’re priced competitively, almost identical to the better “wired wireless” headphones like the aforementioned BeatsX and Bose SoundSport Wireless. And the EarPod-style plastic earpiece, while it fits me fine, won’t appeal to a lot of people. It feels looser in-ear than any normal sport-type earphones.
Best wireless Bluetooth headphones for iPhone…
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But, they’re convenient for making phone calls thanks to embedded noise-canceling microphones in both ears. They work, and people could hear me, but sometimes I was told I sounded a little digitized or fuzzy.
At least they’re tiny, and interchangeable. Each bud is separately wireless. And if you like that idea, and having Bluetooth headphones that can become a hands-free headset in a pinch, you might like these. If you can get over how they look.
But seriously: Will I look dumb if I wear them?
I don’t know. They’re headphones. They’re not Google Glass.
What they could really portend is more wireless devices
The W1 chip Apple unveiled in the AirPods could easily be used in something else. Devices that easily auto-pair and sync across other devices you own could mean HomeKit-enabled smart home accessories, or VR headsets, or other wearables. Maybe even an Amazon Echo-like product. It suggests a landscape of connected things, and Apple striving to push chips into specialized devices in its ecosystem. Are you ready for that? It could be yet another platform in a sea of connected-device platforms.
As proof of how more connected devices could glom onto your iCloud device world, AirPods show interesting promise. And they could be the type of always-in wearables that extend beyond the Apple Watch. But for now, they’re mostly just small, nice wireless earphones.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus review – CNET
The Good Dual rear cameras delivers true 2x optical zoom, with a cool bokeh mode to come via a forthcoming upgrade. The phone is water resistant, and the battery lasts longer than last year’s model. Bigger storage options include 256GB model for serious photographers.
The Bad There’s no standard headphone jack: you’ll have to use Lightning, or the included adapter, or go wireless. Design is showing its age, as competing phones squeeze a 5.5-inch screen into smaller, sexier bodies.
The Bottom Line Apple’s best camera phone pushes the envelope to offer great results, but its full potential hasn’t yet been tested.
If you’re a hardcore photographer, go for the iPhone 7 Plus.
In the mobile phone Olympics between Apple and Samsung, the two have been playing ping-pong lately. Apple had the best camera; Samsung had the best camera. The game evens up, then one pulls ahead for a few months.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus makes a good thing even…
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When Apple first made the larger Plus phones back in 2014, the appeal was always about screen size, battery life, and to a small extent camera. Really, all the larger 5.5-inch model had that the standard 4.7-incher didn’t was optical image stabilization (OIS). This year, the iPhone 7 finally gets OIS — great for smoothing out shaky-handed pics and videos.
But the 7 Plus, reviewed here, leaps ahead with a a new first for an Apple phone: dual rear cameras. (Apple is following in the footsteps of LG and Huawei, both of which already offer dual camera models.) One is identical to the wide-angle model on the 7, but the second one adds telephoto, including true 2x optical zoom. And the phone’s software deftly fuses the two, so you can effortlessly jump between them, or have them stitch together a single image.
All things iOS 10
- iOS 10: All the new features, tips and guides
- 23 hidden features in iOS 10
- 15 ways iOS 10 will make the iPhone better
The 7 and 7 Plus have much in common otherwise. Really, they’re two variants on the same phone. Both are water resistant, and have the same fast A10 Fusion processor. Yeah, they both lack headphone jacks. Even battery life has evened out a bit: The smaller 7 makes greater gains over last year’s 6S than the 7 Plus does over the 6S Plus.
Two iPhones, straight outta Brooklyn.
CNET
Put another way: Everything we like — and dislike — about the smaller iPhone 7 applies to the 7 Plus model, too. (Read the iPhone 7 review here.) Just know that you’re paying a premium of $120, £120 or AU$190 when you step up to the 7 Plus at each storage capacity. (Yes, the price has creeped up a bit from last year.)
I’ve bounced back and forth between the 4.7-inch iPhone and the 5.5-inch version over the past few years. I used to hate the idea of the Plus. Then I preferred it. Then I shifted back to the smaller iPhone and used a battery case. The smaller one feels better to hold. The larger one has the superior display, but feels awkward in my hand.
The iPhone 7 Plus is Apple’s most advanced phone to date.
CNET
Samsung and other manufacturers are doing a far better job folding identical 5.5-inch or larger displays into bodies like the S7 Edge that feel smaller and better in your hand. But now with cameras that can truly differentiate it from its smaller sibling, the 7 Plus finally has an easy justification for that jumbo size. It’s finally the step-up experience the larger phone needed.
I’m not a pro photographer, but I’m trying to get better. James Martin, a Senior Photographer at CNET, is. He shot with the 7 Plus in the Bay Area, while I took it around and used it for everyday life in New York and New Jersey.
Compare and contrast James’ photos from the 7 Plus to 6S Plus to the Samsung Galaxy S7 here.
Editors’ note: We’re still testing the battery and the camera performance of the iPhone 7 Plus. Consider the ratings to be tentative until finalized.
Did we mention it’s water resistant?
CNET
How the dual cameras up the ante
The dual cameras don’t actually zoom, like a point-and-shoot camera with a protruding lens. Instead, the phone switches between the wide-angle camera and the telephoto, from 1 to 2x. From there, the camera app can digitally zoom up to 10x versus 5x on the iPhone 7. For video, it’s 6x.
Digital zoom works better than it used to, but zooming in too far still results in blurry, digitized pics. It can’t work miracles. But adding the 2x optical helps frame photos: I found many landscape shots transformed.
The camera made these nosebleed seats look good.
Scott Stein/CNET
I walked around Brooklyn, went to the New York Jets’ season opener and sat in the cheap seats. And being able to zoom in closer to the game action with less loss of detail was a great change — all without a big heavy camera around my neck.
Note, too, that the camera equals the low-light performance of its smaller sibling, which is an improvement over the 6S/6S Plus models.
It takes better low-lighting photos than the iPhone 6S.
James Martin/CNET
TP-Link LB120 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb with Tunable White Light Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
The TP-Link LB120 smart bulb.
Ry Crist/CNET
By this point, there are plenty of smart lighting options that work with Alexa, Amazon’s voice-powered virtual assistant, but a new trio of smart bulbs from TP-Link are some of the most affordable yet. Dubbed the LB100, the LB110, and the LB120, the new Wi-Fi bulbs start at $20 each, don’t require a hub, and promise to work with Amazon’s Alexa right out of the box.
The LB100 (the $20 option) offers 600 lumens of plain, white, dimmable light from a power draw of less than 10 watts. Upgrade to the LB110, which costs $25, and you’ll bump the lumen count up to 800, putting it right on par with what you’d expect from a standard 60W incandescent.
The LB120 adds in “color tunability,” which lets you dial the bulb’s color temperature between a low, yellowy glow and a hotter, more bluish-white daylight tone. It’s the priciest of the three at $35, so the other two are the better buy if you aren’t picky about color temperature. If you are, then I’d recommend checking out the Lifx White 800 — it offers the same tone-shifting smarts and Alexa-compatibility as this TP-Link bulb, and it also supports third-party services that TP-Link doesn’t, like IFTTT and the Nest Learning Thermostat. Plus, you can currently get it from retailers like Target for about $30 — a few bucks less than TP-Link is charging.
All three of TP-Link’s bulbs connect directly with your router over Wi-Fi, so you don’t need an additional hub to use them. There’s some nice appeal there, given that low-cost competitors like the GE Link LED, the Cree Connected LED, and the Philips Hue White LED all require you to plug a hub into your router to translate their Zigbee signal into something your home network can understand. No such hassle here with TP-Link — just screw the bulb in, download the free ‘Kasa’ app to your Android or iOS device, and let the smart lighting begin.
Best known for making router hardware, TP-Link is no stranger to offering Alexa-compatible gadgets at a discount. It already offers a pair of Alexa-ready smart switches that work like the Belkin WeMo Switch does, but cost less. These bulbs are taking the same undercutter approach, and if they work as advertised, they stand to be a good option for folks looking to save some money on their smart home build-out.
At any rate, we’ll be sure to screw a few in at the CNET Smart Home and let you know how we like them. In the meantime, you can find the bulbs for sale on TP-Link’s website, on Amazon, or at Home Depot.
Toshiba OCZ VX500 SSD review – CNET
The Good The Toshiba OCZ VX500 SSD has great performance and a high endurance rating. The drive includes a five-year warranty with advance free-shipping replacement.
The Bad The new drive is rather expensive.
The Bottom Line The Toshiba OCZ VX500 SSD is an excellent performance SSD for those with a deep pocket.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
The OCZ VX500 is Toshiba’s latest mainstream 2.5-inch standard solid-state drive (SSD,) slated to be faster than the company’s budget drives, like the OCZ Trion 100. And in testing, the new drive was indeed a beast, with sustained copy speed of 447MB/s for writing and 437MB/s for reading, among the fastest I’ve seen.
CNET Labs SSD copy tests
Toshiba OCZ VX500
235.47
447.34
435.61
Samsung SSD 850 Evo
182.78
214.45
205.63
Samsung SSD 750 Evo
180
246.45
203.67
Crucial MX300
178.34
245.67
199.32
Toshiba Q300
165.67
355.6
202.7
Legend:
As OS drive (read and write)
As secondary drive (write only)
As secondary drive (read only)
Note:
Measured in megabytes per second. Longer bars mean better performance.
But with that performance comes with a stiff price. The new VX500 is available in four capacities of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB that have the suggested retail price of $63.99, $92.79, $152.52 and $337.06. respectively, or somewhere between 30 to 50 cents per gigabyte, making it one of the most expensive among recent SSDs on the market. You can easily find many SSDs for less than 30 cents per gigabyte nowadays. Toshiba does say, though, that the street price will “very likely” be lower. Availability and pricing are currently not available for UK and Australia, but its current US price converts to around £48 and AU$85 for 128GB; £70 and AU$123 for 256GB, £115 and AU$202 for 512GB and £253 and AU$447 for 1TB.
PC Mark Storage test
Toshiba OCZ VX500
4990
267.84
Samsung SSD 750 Evo
4986
284.78
Samsung SSD 850 Evo
4983
276.16
Crucial MX300
4914
198.33
Toshiba Q300
4894
186.68
Legend:
Storage score
Storage bandwith (MB/s)
Note:
Longer bars mean better performance.
The OCZ VX500 doesn’t use the new and trendy 3D Flash memory, found in Samsung 850 Evo, or Crucial MX300. Instead, it uses the traditional planar MLC flash memory, making it the direct competitor of the Samsung 750 Evo that was released a few months ago. And while the OCZ was clearly faster in copy speed, in random access tests — which simulates a computer’s general activities such as application launch time, game performance and so on — it wasn’t faster. In fact, it was at times a tad slower than the Samsung, which currently costs slightly less.
But the OCZ VX500 more than makes up for that in its generous warranty. The drive includes a five-year warranty (as opposed to the three-year one offered on the 750 Evo) and also offers advance replacement. In case of defect, Toshiba will ship you a new — not refurbished — replacement drive right away and then pay for you to ship the old drive back. What’s more, the VX500 also has high endurance rating, meaning you can use it for quite a long time before it becomes unreliable. Generally this is measured in TBW — the number of terabytes of data that can be written to drive. Toshiba says the 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities of the VX500 have endurance ratings of 74TBW, 148TBW, 296TBW, and 592TBW, respectively. To put this in perspective, if you write 50GB — which is two Blu-ray discs worth of data — per day and every day to the drive, it will take you 4 years to use up the endurance the 128GB version, or 32 years if you get the 1TB version.
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The Toshiba OCZ VX500 solid-state drive has a sturdy aluminum casing.
Dong Ngo
Should I get it?
Overall, Toshiba’s new OCZ VX500 is a terrific standard SSD. I do feel, however, that it’s a little too expensive. That said, you should wait for the street price to come down before buying one. But if you can’t wait, you won’t be disappointed either. It’s an excellent standard SSD for those needing performance. On the other hand, if you just want an SSD to upgrade an old computer that still runs on a regular hard drive, a budget SSD like the Plextor M7V, or the Crucial MX300 will get the job done for considerably less.
People Power Presence 360 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
People Power’s Presence 360 phone stand.
People Power
People Power, the folks behind the Android and iPhone Presence app and the Presence Security Pack, are introducing a new piece of hardware today via Indiegogo: Presence 360.
Available to pre-order worldwide now starting at $99/£75/AU$130, Presence 360 is a plug-in phone stand designed to rotate 360 degrees. Like the Zmodo Pivot camera, Presence 360 is supposed to be able to capture activity happening throughout a space — not just within a fixed field of view.
Cameras, cameras, and more cameras:
- Salient Eye is the simplest of home security solutions
- This free app wants to be your DIY security destination
- Turn your old iPod into a security camera for free
Here’s a quick rundown of Presence 360’s features and capabilities:
- 360-degree pan-and-tilt functionality
- Set as many as 3 “vantage points,” like entryway, kitchen and living room
- Presence 360 can automatically scan those areas for activity
- Available in Snowflake White and Charcoal Black finishes
Combine that with the Presence app’s motion alerts and video clip storage and this seems like a fairly solid alternative to a traditional camera. I have just one question — if you’re spending $99 on this thing, why not go ahead and invest in a traditional security camera?
Close
How to turn your old iPod into a security camera for free
Drag
The whole appeal behind camera apps like Presence, Manything (featured in the video above) and Salient Eye is that you can turn a spare phone into a makeshift security device for free. $99 is less than most of the security cameras I’ve tested, but People Power plans to bump up the price of Presence 360 to $140 after the Indiegogo campaign ends.
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Given that the Zmodo Pivot costs just 10 bucks more at $150 (and is currently on sale on Amazon for $100), I’m not convinced that Presence 360 offers a good value. We’ll just have to test it out to be sure. Presence 360’s are expected to ship to backers in December 2016 whether or not its $20,000 funding goal is met on Indiegogo.
Android Pay in the UK: Everything you need to know
Want to pay for stuff in the UK using Android Pay? Great! Here’s what you need to know.
Android Pay is Google’s mobile payments service, and it’s now live in the UK. Much like Apple Pay, this means that if you have a supported handset and your bank allows it, you can securely pay for things in the real world without fumbling around for cards or cash.
Where can I use Android Pay in the UK?
Because the underlying technology is so similar, Android Pay should work anywhere contactless credit and debit cards are supported. That includes many of the big supermarkets and coffee shop chains, and the London Underground.
Is Android Pay the same as Samsung Pay?
No. Samsung Pay is Samsung’s own payment service which uses slightly different technology, allowing it to work regardless of whether a contactless terminal is present. When Samsung Pay launches in the UK, Samsung phone owners with supported handsets will be able to use this, or Android Pay, to make payments on their phones.
Which phones are supported?
You’ll need a phone running at least Android 4.4 KitKat with NFC support (near-field communication — that’s the hardware that lets your phone securely transmit data to payment terminals). Most high-end Android phones sold in the past couple of years support NFC, as do many mid-range handsets. If you’re not sure, try looking for NFC in Settings > Wireless and networks, or searching for it in the Settings app.
You don’t need a fingerprint scanner to authenticate — you can use a pattern or PIN lock instead — but using Android Pay will be quicker and easier if your phone has one.
Which UK banks support Android Pay?
At the time of writing the following UK banks support Android Pay:
- Bank of Scotland
- First Direct
- Halifax
- HSBC
- Lloyds Bank
- M&S Bank
- MBNA
- Nationwide Building Society
- Santander
- Natwest
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Ulster Bank
More banks are likely to be added in the coming months, just as more banks have been joining Apple Pay since that service launched.
Notably absent from the list are Barclays and TSB. Barclays is currently pushing its own mobile payments app for Android, and the bank says it has “no plans” to join Android Pay at this time. So Barclays customers might be left out in the cold if they don’t want to use their bank’s first-party app. TSB has told customers to expect a Q4 2016 launch.
How do I get started?
Simply install the Android Pay app from Google Play and follow the instructions. If you already have a credit or debit card associated with your Google account, and your bank supports it, you’ll be up and running in a few minutes.
Is there a limit to Android Pay in the UK?
For payments of £30 or less, you can pay with your phone by unlocking it and holding it over the payment terminal, just as you would a contactless credit card. For payments over £30 — assuming they’re supported by your bank and the merchant — you’ll need to authenticate using your fingerprint, PIN or pattern.
Is Android Pay secure to use?
Android Pay — and other phone-based payment methods — is arguably more secure than using a card alone, since your card details are never sent to the merchant. Instead a secure token, generated by Google in the cloud, is sent over NFC and used to authenticate your transaction.
Whether any electronic payment can ever be 100 percent secure is debatable, but there’s nothing inherently more risky about using your phone to pay, assuming you take sensible security precautions to protect it from theft and misuse.
Are you using Android Pay in the UK? How are you finding the service so far? Shout out in the comments and let us know!
Samsung to limit recalled Note 7s to 60% battery in Korea as report blames ‘production error’
OTA will mitigate the risk of explosions by limiting battery charge. Meanwhile a preliminary report to Korean regulators blames production error which “placed pressure on plates” in battery cells.
While Samsung won’t be remotely disabling recalled Galaxy Note 7s anytime soon, it seems the company has a plan to mitigate the risk of further battery explosions — at least in its home market of Korea.
The Associated Press reports that Samsung will issue a software update to recalled Korean Note 7s still in use to stop them charging past 60% capacity. According to the report, Samsung took out a front-page ad in the Seoul Shinmun newspaper to inform customers.
We don’t yet know if or when Note 7s outside of Korea will get the battery-limiting update.
The over-the-air update will begin at 2 a.m. KST on September 20 for any recalled Note 7 handsets still in the wild; there’s no suggestion that the OTA will affect safe replacement units. We’ve reached out to Samsung for details on whether recalled Notes in other regions will get a similar OTA.
While limiting battery charge levels may reduce the likelihood of further fires or explosions in unsafe Note 7s, it’s unclear what the side effects of actually applying the OTA will be. Android 6.0 phones like the Note 7 must recompile (or “optimize”) installed apps after most software updates — a CPU-intensive process which produces a fair amount of heat. Introducing extra heat to a possibly defective battery could cause its own problems.
Meanwhile Bloomberg has news of a previously unpublished preliminary report to Korean regulators on the cause of the Note 7’s battery issues. The report to the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) body draws some early conclusions, but says more time is needed to pinpoint exactly what’s going on.
Initial conclusions indicate an error in production that placed pressure on plates contained within battery cells. That in turn brought negative and positive poles into contact, triggering excessive heat. Samsung however stressed that it needed to carry out a more thorough analysis to determine “the exact cause” of battery damage.
Samsung has publicly stated that a “battery cell issue” was responsible for incidents of fires and explosions — of which 70 have now been reported in the U.S. alone — however this is the first we’re hearing on the specific fault. Bloomberg echoes earlier reports that Samsung SDI, the group’s energy and battery company, was responsible for making most of the affected cells.
Update: Reuters now reports that Chinese firm ATL will become the main battery supplier for the Note 7 from now on.
Samsung will soon launch an online tool to let Note 7 owners check if their handset is affected, based on their phone’s unique IMEI number. The firm’s advice remains that if your Note 7 is affected, you should switch it off and return it under the recall program.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7
- Galaxy Note 7 recall: Everything you need to know
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
- The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
- Here are all four Note 7 colors
- Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
- Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!
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What makes a phone battery explode?
We’re all a little curious about why a battery might explode, so let’s talk about it.
Exploding battery talk is something you can’t escape right now, thanks to a problem with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. It’s good discussion to have: the more people talk about it, the less likely it is for a child to get hurt from a battery failure. As much as we hate to see a product we like experience safety issues, we hate seeing people get hurt far more.
But the Note 7 isn’t the first phone to ever go through battery problems, and it won’t be the last. There will always be isolated incidents of batteries failing as long as we use phones with lithium-ion cells, and the Note 7 isn’t the first phone whose battery needed a widespread recall because something is wrong under the hood — as long-time Nokia fans know too well. It happens. It’s never a good thing, but it’s a thing. Let’s talk about why it can happen.
How your phone battery works
The first thing we need to understand is how exactly the lithium-ion battery in your phone works. The name gives us a hint — electricity is carried from one electrode to another using charged lithium ions.
Electricity meets chemistry meets metallurgy — that’s what makes a battery possible.
Lithium-ion batteries store, transfer and release energy because of natural chemical reactions. The battery has two electrodes — an anode and a cathode. The cathode is connected to the positive (+) connection on the battery and holds positively charged ions, and the anode is connected to the negative (-) connection and holds (you guessed it) negatively charged ions.
Between the two electrodes is what’s called an electrolyte. The electrolyte in a lithium battery is (usually) an organic solvent paste that has a very large number of metallic salts (in most cases, that metal is lithium) as part of its makeup. This makes it electrically conductive — electricity can pass through it. The anode and the cathode are in the electrolyte and separated by a physical barrier so they can’t touch.
When you discharge the battery (when you’re using your phone and not charging it) the cathode pushes its positively charged ions away and the negatively charged anode attracts them. Electricity flows out from the anode, through your device, then back to the cathode. Yes, electricity travels through a loop and isn’t “used up” by the thing being powered. When you charge your phone, the reverse happens and ions travel from the cathode through the electrolyte to the anode.
Lithium is the perfect element for rechargeable batteries: It’s lightweight, easy to recharge and holds a charge for a long time.
When these ions come in contact with the charged atoms in an electrode, an electrochemical reaction called oxidation-reduction (redox) frees the charged electrons to travel out through the battery contacts, which are connected to the electrodes. This continues to charge the lithium ions in the electrolyte until there aren’t enough left that can hold a positive charge that’s strong enough to move through the electrolyte paste, and your battery will no longer charge.
Lithium is the lightest metal — number three on the periodic table. It’s also very excitable, making it easy to create a powerful chemical reaction. This makes it a near-perfect metal to use in a portable rechargeable battery. It’s lightweight, easy to recharge and continues to hold a charge for a long time.
What can make a battery explode?
For starters, let’s define what explode means in this case. The electrolyte paste inside a lithium-ion battery is extremely volatile. It can (and will) react violently to other metals, and has a very low (180-degrees Celsius) melting point. Inside a sealed battery casing, the pressure generated can build up until the casing is ruptured, then rapidly escape. The pressure carries out extremely hot electrolyte fluids which can cause other things to catch fire. Some lithium batteries are vented with an escape hole so they won’t rupture under pressure. When the battery casing ruptures and superheated liquid filled with melted metals is expelled under pressure, it causes an explosion.
There are two easy ways to make a lithium battery explode — heat, and physical damage. Let’s look at both.
Overheating and overcharging
This is the most common reason a battery fails. Something goes wrong in the charging circuit and the input power continues to drive the chemical reaction. One place in the battery will eventually get too hot and, since it is still being charged, it can’t cool down, causing what’s known as thermal runaway.
In this case, the hot portion starts to generate its own heat, which makes other areas in the electrolyte overheat, and they cause more spots in the battery to overheat. The heat expands the electrolyte and creates steam, building pressure until the battery casing splits and forces out all the pressure and some very hot, very sticky (and very flammable once exposed to the air) gooey liquid.
A thermal runaway can happen fast enough that you don’t even feel the heat before the battery fails.
When such a rupture happens, it can cause physical damage to the things that are close to it — when holding a phone, circuit boards and glass or plastic. These materials can also catch fire from the heat, which in turn makes the escaped electrolyte ignite and act like napalm — fire that sticks to things until it burns through them or burns itself out.
The thermal runaway process can happen very quickly, and things can go from “normal” to catastrophic failure inside the battery before the heat is even transferred through your phone to your hands. Thankfully, the hundreds of millions of lithium batteries produced every year have an extremely low (almost statistically insignificant) failure rate due to thermal runaway, partially because of safety measures (subscription required) like non-flammable additives to the electrolyte and coatings.
When your phone tells you that it’s too hot and won’t charge or run at full speed, it needs to cool down so thermal runaway doesn’t happen. Listen to the little pop-up and let it cool.
Mechanical damage
Lithium batteries are designed to be lightweight, deliver high output, and be easy to charge. This means that the outside shell and the barrier(s) separating the electrodes are very thin and light, with most of the weight coming from the parts that can actually power your phone.
Because the partitions and case are thin, they’re fairly easy to puncture or tear. If the structure of the battery itself is damaged in a way that makes the electrodes touch, a short circuit will happen. The instant electrical discharge is explosive, which can (and will) heat the electrolyte and create pressure to push it out through any ruptures in the battery case. It’s hot, it’s flammable and it’s in contact with a spark. That’s a recipe for disaster.
It’s hot, it’s flammable and it’s in contact with a spark. That’s a recipe for disaster.
A thin casing is also a safety precaution, though it sounds crazy. Thinner metal is easier to rupture, so less pressure can generate inside a sealed case — essentially creating a vent hole. Pushing out flammable hot liquid under pressure isn’t a good thing. Letting more pressure build until it ruptures a thicker case is worse.
Other metals coming in contact with the electrolyte paste can also create a spark that leads to failure. I’ll let you search YouTube yourself to see incredibly silly people puncturing phone batteries to make them explode. The reaction to foreign metal does the same thing as a short, but on a smaller scale.
What about the Note 7?
Image credit reddit user crushader
For starters, nobody but Samsung knows why batteries in some Note 7s have exploded. They sent out a short statement through their U.K, division that doesn’t really make sense. The wording “the anode-to-cathode came into contact” sounds like they are describing a short, but as written it means nothing. I won’t try to interpret something that isn’t clear in a case like this. But I can say what I think as an armchair quarterback who has never seen a Note 7 explode or inspected one that has exploded on his own, a situation where the anode shorts to the cathode does make the most sense.
Because people have reported the Note 7 battery failing without it being plugged in and large portions of the phones we see in pictures are not burned, I’m going to assume that it’s not a thermal runaway situation, even though Health Canada expicitly says the lone failure in Canada was from overheating,
Anyone outside of Samsung can only make an educated guess about what’s happening.
A thermal runaway situation isn’t as “instant” as a direct short, and the excited electrolyte solution would take a longer time to exit a burst battery then continue after an explosion ruptured the case. More than just a portion of the phone would be burned, as well as other objects in the immediate area. A heat explosion also would cause the battery to swell before the flexible casing would rupture, and with no room for expansion, the swollen battery would crack the outer shell of the phone. There are videos on YouTube that show how this happens, and here is a great (albeit old) example of someone circumventing the safety measures to make it happen. Someone would have mentioned the phone swelling up before it blew, I would think.
I also don’t think any foreign objects or manufacturing leftovers are coming in contact with the electrolyte. I know this is a popular theory, but if a batch of batteries (we’re not even sure how big a “batch” is in this case) all have small particles in the electrolyte, we’d be seeing a lot more Note 7s exploding.
A short inside the battery or in the charging circuit combined with an electrolyte that’s been treated with non-flammable additives seems more likely to me. A quick explosion that releases a small amount of pressure and fluid at once could quickly burn itself out if nothing were in contact with the phone. When the phone is in contact with something that is flammable, say the seat of a Jeep, it could cause a fire.
Of course, there could be plenty of other factors that we don’t know about. The manufacturing process used to create a lithium-ion battery for a phone makes them very safe to use. But there is also a lot that could go wrong.
A preliminary report by Samsung to Korean regulators blamed a production error that brought plates within the battery into contact, triggering “excessive heat.” The report noted that more analysis was needed to pinpoint the exact cause.
Initial conclusions indicate an error in production that placed pressure on plates contained within battery cells. That in turn brought negative and positive poles into contact, triggering excessive heat. Samsung however stressed that it needed to carry out a more thorough analysis to determine “the exact cause” of battery damage.
What we do know about the Note 7 and its battery
We have no idea exactly what’s happening with the Note 7 nor does anyone outside of Samsung. But we can make an educated guess based on the little evidence we’re privy to. And in the end, it doesn’t matter. The Note 7 has been determined by Samsung to be faulty and we’re all supposed to stop using them and return them. A replacement without the issue is in production and already on its way to the sales channel. We don’t need to know why it explodes to know that we should get rid of it.
Samsung recommends you power down your Note 7 and stop using it.
Samsung and your carrier (or other retailers like Target or Best Buy) have policies and methods in place that allow you to return your Note 7 without losing any money. Some offer loaner devices you can return when corrected Note 7 phones make their way onto the shelves, while others simply offer an outright refund. Either option is better than risking your hand or your face if the battery does fail.
We’ve compiled everything you need to know in one place, and we’re also happy to answer any questions we can in the comments or on social media.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall: Everything you need to know
Samsung Galaxy Note 7
- Galaxy Note 7 recall: Everything you need to know
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
- The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
- Here are all four Note 7 colors
- Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
- Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!
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SteamVR through Google Cardboard is weird and kinda great!
You can play SteamVR games with Google Cardboard, but be careful.
Trying VR is the first and best way to get someone excited about VR, but that raises some interesting challenges. The HTC Vive isn’t exactly what you’d call portable, and carting around the $600 Oculus Rift alongside your very expensive PC still isn’t a great option. If you find yourself without a VR headset, yet still curious about the experience, there’s a DIY project in your future! With Google Cardboard and a couple of apps, you can peer into the world of Oculus and SteamVR to get a decent idea of what makes these things so much fun.
Read more on VR Heads!
Samsung’s Note 7 exploding battery ‘fix’ is a 60 percent limit
Samsung has a “quick fix” in the works for stubborn Galaxy Note 7 owners who don’t want to return their devices, despite the global recall over batteries that might potentially explode. The company will roll out a software update on September 20th in South Korea that will limit the Note 7’s battery to a 60 percent charge, which will hopefully prevent overheating, the AP reports.
We still don’t know if and when Samsung plans to deliver a similar update to international users, but it’s probably a safe bet, since it will reduce further liability from consumer injury. Similarly, it’s unclear if Samsung will make the update mandatory to Note 7 users in South Korea. Again, I would be surprised if it does. Samsung plans to start issuing new Note 7 models with updated batteries during the week of September 19th.
The Galaxy Note 7 launch has pretty much been a disaster for Samsung, with dozens of reports about phones exploding and injuring users. Ironically, the phone was also one of Samsung’s most well-reviewed devices. The company is now working with the US government on an official recall in America, following a note from the Consumer Product Safety Commission which urged users not to use the Galaxy Note 7. For now, Samsung suggests that Note 7 owners don’t charge or turn on their phones.
A battery limit isn’t the most high-tech fix, and it’s unclear if that’s enough to actually avoid explosion issues entirely. But Samsung can’t afford to be dogged by continued stories of its flagship phones hurting users.
Source: AP
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