Best Smartwatch 2016: EE Pocket-lint Gadget Awards nominees
The 13th annual Pocket-lint Gadget Awards will be taking place at the end of November, celebrating the best products and devices across 14 categories spanning smartphones and tablets to cars and smartwatches.
As usual, we have been running a series of features over the last couple of weeks, each of which dives a little deeper into the respective categories to not only list the nominations within them, but explain why they have been shortlisted. There are between five and seven nominees for each category, and here we are concentrating on the second of the wearable categories: Best Smartwatch 2016.
You can find all the features in our Awards hub, including details on the nominees for the second wearable category: Best Fitness Tracker 2016. Aside from splitting the wearable category into two, we have also introduced two new categories for 2016 in the form of Best VR Device and Best Car so there is plenty to be excited about this year.
Smartwatches have hugely upped their game in the last 12 months. There were no Android Wear smartwatches nominated in our 2015 awards, but this year the platform runs on three of the five nominees and although the software might not have seen huge improvements, the hardware around that software has. Apple has also upped its game with the Watch Series 2 and fashion brand Guess entered the smartwatch arena too. It’s a tough competition to say the least, but only one can take the crown so which one should it be?
Click here to see the Awards nominees for 2016’s Best Smartwatch in a little more detail to help you make your mind up about which one should get your vote.
Voting in the 13th annual EE Pocket-lint Awards is now open so you can let us know which one of these great devices you think should win the Best Smartwatch award for this year and give us your verdict on all the other tech across the 13 select categories.
Winners will be announced at the exclusive event in London on 23 November in association with EE. Keep an eye on the EE Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2016 hub for all the latest on how the voting works, who the elite judges are and the EE Pocket-lint Gadget Awards shortlist.
Black cabs to support contactless payments next week, no more stopping at cash machines
The London black cab will have a more competitive edge in the fight against Uber and other app-based taxi apps as of next week. From Monday 31 October, all black cabs will be required to have a contactless card payment reader, either fixed or handheld. Although from January 2017, cabs will need to have a card reader installed on the passenger side of the glass.
TfL has announced the news, after saying having a card reader was only optional. The move will mean you’ll no longer have to ask a cabbie to pull over at a cash machine so you can pay your fare. However, it’s worth noting that the minimum fare for a black cab will rise by 20p from £2.40 to £2.60 if you use a card as payment, to cover the costs “associated with card payments”.
But TfL has also said if you use a card to pay you’ll no longer have to pay surcharge, so whatever price is displayed on the meter is the price you’ll pay.
TfL’s Taxi and Private Hire General Manager, Helen Chapman, said: “Many taxi drivers have been accepting card payments for years but customers were never sure when hailing a taxi whether they could pay by card. We’ve listened to customers, and we believe this will make journeys in black taxis even more convenient”.
“We’re hoping too that this will benefit London’s historic cab trade, and enable them to stay an attractive choice in an increasingly cashless world.”
Apple MacBook Pro (2016) vs Apple MacBook Air: What’s the difference?
Apple hasn’t officially killed the MacBook Air yet, but it didn’t update it during its October event either.
Instead, the company announced a third MacBook Pro: the 13-inch base model that doesn’t offer the new Touch Bar and is thinner than last year’s ultraportable MacBook Air. What does that mean for the Air line? Who knows.
Before you spend money on the aging Air though, you might want to check out how it stacks up against the latest (though Touch Bar-less) 13-inch MacBook Pro.
- MacBook Air review
Apple MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch vs Apple MacBook Air: Design
- MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model is thinner than MacBook Air
- MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model is slightly heavier than MacBook Air
Both versions of the 13-inch laptop lack the new Touch Bar but feature an aluminium casing and an LED-backlit display. While the MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model comes in silver or space grey colours, the MacBook Air is only available in silver.
The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model weighs 1.37kg and measures 304.1 x 212.4 x 149mm, while the MacBook Air weighs 1.35kg and measures 325 x 227mm with a tapered height from 33mm to 170mm.
In other words, if you’re looking for a portable laptop, the MacBook Pro (2016) is now the thinnest and smallest model from Apple, while the MacBook Air just about holds on to the title of lightest.
- Apple MacBook Pro (2016): Release date, specs and everything you need to know
Apple MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch vs Apple MacBook Air: Display
- MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model has a Retina display
- MacBook Air (2015) doesn’t have a Retina display
The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model has a 13.3-inch LED-backlit Retina display with IPS technology and a 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution at 227ppi. It offers 500nits of brightness and a P3 wide colour gamut.
The MacBook Air has a 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with a 1440 x 900 native pixel resolution for a pixel density of 128ppi. It’s therefore not Retina, nor as bright as the MacBook Pro (2016) and it doesn’t support as many colours, even if millions are still offered and for most, it will be enough.
Overall though, the new MacBook Pro features a far superior display over the MacBook Air.
- Apple Mac event: All the announcements that matter
Apple MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch vs Apple MacBook Air: Hardware and power
- The MacBook Air has a longer battery life
- The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model is more powerful on paper
The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model features the 2.0GHz Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Graphics 540, 256GB SSD, 8GB of RAM and a 10-hour battery life. It is configurable to the 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 chip, up to 1TB of flash storage and up to 16GB of RAM.
The MacBook Air base model features the 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 chip, Intel HD Graphics 6000, 128GB flash storage, 8GB of RAM and a 12-hour battery life. It is configurable to the 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 and up to 512GB SSD.
The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model is therefore more powerful, has more storage and RAM, and comes with better graphics, as you would probably expect. It does however offer two hours less of battery life, which is probably down to the Retina display.
Both models feature a 720p FaceTime HD camera.
Apple MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch vs Apple MacBook Air: Connections and ports
- The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model ditched all the old ports
- The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model doesn’t have an SDXC card slot
The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model only features two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports with support for charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, and USB 3.1.
Everything has been streamlined, allowing you to charge and transfer data using the same ports, but there are disadvantages too, such as not being able to plug in an SD card without a dongle.
The MacBook Air has two USB 3 ports, Thunderbolt 2 port, MagSafe 2 power port and a SDXC card slot, meaning it might be the better option for those that don’t want to have to use a dongle to perform tasks they do now without one, like transferring files from their SD card.
Both models offer a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Apple MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch vs Apple MacBook Air: Price
- The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model is expensive yet more powerful
- The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model is available to pre-order now
The MacBook Pro (2016) 13-inch base model starts at £1449, while the MacBook Air (2015) starts at £949, meaning a £500 difference in price.
The new MacBook Pro (2016) base model without the Touch Bar is more expensive, thinner, more powerful, and has a Retina display. It’s battery isn’t as long as the MacBook Air though and you lose some handy connections.
- Apple MacBook Pro (2016) with Touch Bar: Thinner, brighter, faster, and very touchy feely
The Morning After: Friday October 28th 2016
Apple’s big MacBook event introduced a new family of Pro machines, with nary a mention of the MacBook Air. The company also expelled standard USB 3.0 ports in its new range, replacing them all with (USB-C-shaped) Thunderbolt 3.0 ports — but hey, at least there’s a fancy OLED “Touch Bar.” Meanwhile, Turkey’s government shut down internet across 11 cities in the Kurdish area of the country, Oh, and Twitter killed Vine.
There’s still a headphone jack.Apple’s thinner MacBook Pro comes with an OLED touch strip, different ports again.
An even richer Retina display, more processing power, and a smaller model along with it: Apple’s newest MacBook Pro (like its newest iPhones) is a possibly divisive upgrade for the company’s faithful. The new OLED Touch Bar on the 15-inch model had some compelling use cases from Apple, but we’re still waiting to see how it all handles during a review.
Dongles for days.Your new iPhone and new MacBook will need a new cable to connect to each other.
Apple went all in on Thunderbolt 3.0 for its new MacBook Pro. But while it’s evolving its ports , it also just made every iPhone owner who wants one of these computers buy a new dongle. Sold separately.
Just ask first.The FCC has some new privacy rules to help protect your data from internet providers.
If internet service providers want to collect data about what you do and where you go on the internet, they’ll have to ask first, thanks to some new rules approved by the FCC today. That’s a change from before, when ISPs only had to offer a way to opt out of tracking behaviour like browsing habits, app usage and location or financial data. Expect to see an updated TOS from your internet provider any minute now.
Is this what a modern TV guide looks like?The Apple TV gets a guide, but it’s missing something.
Finding something to watch on streaming services isn’t quite easy enough, even with that new Siri Remote, so Apple’s TV solution is … TV. Really, that’s the name of its TV guide app, which detects the services you’re signed into and lets you browse through their content all in one place. TV works on the iPhone and iPad too, but at least so far, it doesn’t work with Netflix or Amazon. We’ll see if that changes before it launches on Apple TV in December.
Gone in six secondsTwitter killed Vine because it doesn’t fit
Twitter announced that it’s killing its six-second video app in the next few months. There are many reasons why, but perhaps the strongest is that it didn’t really fit with CEO Jack Dorsey’s vision of “the people’s news network.”
But wait, there’s more…
- Watch Apple’s MacBook event in less than nine minutes
- The original emoji character set is going to MoMA
- Turkish government cuts off internet access in 11 cities
- Alphabet’s experimental companies are getting better and losing less money
(Lead image credit: @Darth)
All London black cabs will support contactless from next week
London’s entire black cab fleet will be required to carry readers to process card and contactless payments as of Monday October 31st, Transport for London (TfL) has announced today. This is no great surprise, of course. The ball began rolling on the new rule late last year, and TfL set an October deadline this past March. For now, all that’s asked of black cabbies is they have the facility, but from January next year readers will have to be mounted on the passenger side of the glass. Some hackney carriages have supported card payments for years, but for the majority of cabbies cash has remained king. From next week, though, it’ll no longer be optional.
While the move will make black cabs considerably more convenient for passengers — especially when contactless support is so ubiquitous now that lugging around a bulging wallet or purse just isn’t necessary any more — it feels like too little too late. One of the main reasons Uber has pinched so much business from the black cab trade is convenience, both in hailing and paying. Gett and Hailo have levelled the playing field for black cabbies somewhat, and Hailo even lets you pay online for taxis you’ve hailed curbside (you don’t even need the app). Requiring black cabs to accept card and contactless payments is welcomed, but it’s hardly a game-changer.
The other main reason Uber is so popular is because it’s cheap. Black cabbies have avoided taking card payments in the past to dodge transaction fees, and so TfL went about negotiating favourable rates on their behalf before imposing this new rule. However, to cover any shortfall, the basic fare was increased by 20 pence (from £2.40 to £2.60) earlier this year. So, yes, card and contactless payments will be supported across the fleet from next week, but all rides have become even more expensive as a result. What a way to make black cabs competitive again…
Source: TfL
Europe urges Facebook to stop tapping WhatsApp data
Europe’s privacy bosses have urged WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with Facebook while it investigates its privacy practices. The Article 29 Working Party, made up of data protection heads from each of the EU’s 28 nations, told the company it had “serious concerns” about recent changes to the chat app’s terms of service. The group is examining the new policy to see if it conforms with European privacy laws and asked Facebook to reveal exactly what data it collects and where it comes from.
Article 29 is considered an EU advisory group and doesn’t have the power to order companies to do anything. However, in the French version of the letter, it used the strongest language it could by “urgently requesting” that WhatsApp halt the data collection.
When Facebook acquired the messaging service, it promised not to collect personal user data. However, in August, WhatsApp changed its policy and started sharing phone numbers, profile names, photos, online status and more with its new parent. That prompted US privacy group EPIC to file an FTC complaint against Facebook, and German regulators ordered WhatsApp to halt the practice.
Given the popularity of the messaging service these changes may affect many citizens in all EU member states and have created great uncertainty among users and non-users of the service.
The EU takes umbrage with the fact that while WhatsApp users can opt out of the data collection, they’re enrolled by default. That, it says, means users weren’t properly notified of the change and had no way to consent to it. German regulators are also concerned that Facebook will collect contact data from users who aren’t even on the social network. That has “created great uncertainty among users and non-users of the service,” the Article 29 group wrote.
The EU has been at odds over privacy with not only Facebook, but other US tech companies, including Google and Microsoft. It fined Microsoft $1.35 billion in 2008 for practices around its browser, and may fine Google a much greater amount over its search dominance. Companies will need to start paying more attention soon, as the EU could levy fines as high as four percent of annual sales when new “right to be forgotten” rules arrive in 2018.
Via: Bloomberg
Source: CNIL
Weak Pound and Hiked Prices Make Apple Macs More Expensive for Brits
As is traditional for Apple, the company took down its regional online stores globally yesterday in anticipation of the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros. But far from simply updating the sites to showcase the new computers, on its U.K. site at least, Apple took the opportunity to hike its Mac prices across the board.
As noted following yesterday’s event, rather than position the new MacBook Pro notebooks at the same price point as their earlier generation equivalents, Apple has made them more expensive. But for U.K. customers, that excess is vastly more prohibitive.
A 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar costs £1,449 (which converts to $1,765 on the USD/GBP exchange), while the Touch Bar version starts at £1,749 ($2,130 converted). Meanwhile a base model 15-inch MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar costs £2,349 ($2,860 converted). Those notebook prices compare to U.S. retail prices of $1,499, $1,799, and $2,399, respectively.
Looking past Apple’s self-imposed MacBook Pro price increases, the equivalent U.K. prices actually fall in line with exchange conversions plus 20 percent Value Added Tax. However, the numbers also reflect the weak pound, which has plummeted since the U.K. made the decision to leave the European Union.
Unfortunately as a result, Apple has also bumped its Sterling Pound prices for its entire Mac line-up. For example, last year a 13-inch MacBook Pro started at £999. Apple is still selling the older 13-inch MacBook Pro, except it now costs £1,249 – a £250 increase compared to two days ago.
Similar price increases can be seen across the Mac mini, iMacs, and Mac Pro. The Mac mini now costs £479, up from £399, while the iMac 4K is now £250 more expensive at £1,449. The iMac 5K has also seen a £250 bump (£1,749), but Apple’s three-year-old Mac Pro has gone up a whole half grand – from £2,499 to £2,999.
On the other hand, the low value of the pound means EU citizens visiting the U.K. who are interested in buying Apple hardware could make some serious savings.
For example, as noted by discount and coupon site CupoNation, since the current price for an iPhone in Spain is 769 euros (£687), purchasing the phone in the UK (£599), is about 99 euros or 13 percent cheaper than in Spain. This means that in theory a Spanish citizen could utilize the 99 euros (£88) to take a flight to London and stay one night, and still be saving money.
Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tag: United Kingdom
Buyer’s Guide: Retina MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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Microsoft Explains How Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook Work With Touch Bar
Yesterday during its Hello Again event, Apple confirmed that the Microsoft Office suite of apps will be gaining support for Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro, and now Microsoft has detailed what that will look like for each app. The company said that with Touch Bar support on Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook, it’s “continually evolving Office to take advantage of the latest and greatest hardware innovations across the industry.”
In Word, users will be able to use “Word Focus Mode,” which eliminates the clutter of on-screen ribbons and commands “so you can simply focus on your work.” All of the relevant UI is then moved down onto Touch Bar, with classic buttons like copy/paste, bold, italics, underline, list, indent, and more found on Apple’s new multi-touch panel.
Microsoft said PowerPoint’s addition of Touch Bar support lets users “easily manipulate graphic elements.” Buttons like “Reorder Objects” make it easy to find the exact object users are looking for and move it to a new location, thanks to an easy-to-read graphical map of a slide’s layers. Object manipulation and slides can also be rotated and tracked by sliding a finger across the Touch Bar.
Excel’s Touch Bar integration makes it quicker to write functions into rows of the program. By typing an equals sign into a cell, Excel will immediately pull up the most recently used functions and display them on the Touch Bar. As the company explained, “for example, with a tap (for the formula) and another tap (for a named range) in the Touch Bar, you can quickly sum a range in your spreadsheet.” Easy spreadsheet organization is also available through the Touch Bar, with borders, cell colors and recommended charts propagating on the panel.
The last program detailed was Outlook, and Microsoft said that here the Touch Bar will provide “the most commonly used commands” whenever a user is working in its calendar and email programs. This means when composing an email, an add file prompt appears, along with a list of recent documents that users can one-tap to attach as a full attachment or a link. While in Outlook’s calendar, users will be able to see their events for the day, and even jump into a Skype for Business video meeting.
Before Apple’s event, Microsoft held its own presentation on Wednesday, where it announced a new Surface Book and all-in-one desktop Surface Studio, as well as a “Creators Update” coming to Windows 10. Microsoft’s new computers are up for pre-order now, the Surface Book starting at $2,399 and Surface Studio at $2,999, and are expected to ship in November and December, respectively.
Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Office
Buyer’s Guide: Retina MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums
Tesla doubles the energy density of its commercial batteries
While Tesla’s solar roof / Powerwall event isn’t until tomorrow, the product that preceded both, its commercial… cousin, Powerpack, has been upgraded and is already shipping to companies. The company says Powerpack 2 has double the energy density than the original model, paired with a new inverter (made at its Gigafactory), that’s apparently the lowest-priced, highest efficiency utility-scale inverter available. Arguably just as important, the new inverter also simplifies the installation process, with several once-separate components now baked into it.
Tesla’s blog calls the new system a “a cost-competitive alternative to other traditional utility infrastructure solutions”. It adds that nearly 300 MWh of Tesla batteries have been deployed so far –including complexes in California. Now, where’s the solar part?
Source: Tesla
Pocket Casts picks up major update with Nougat features, shareable lists, and much more
Pocket Casts is a great podcast app loaded with features. You can easily subscribe to your favorite podcasts, and a sync option allows you to pick up from where you left off across devices, and on the web.
The app has picked up a significant update to version 6.0 that adds several Nougat features, including support for multi-window mode, app shortcuts, audio effects while streaming, and the ability to create shareable lists of your favorite podcasts.
The Shared Lists feature allows you to create curated lists of your podcasts and share them with your friends on any social platform. Shared lists have a unique URL, and look something like this.
Other updates include subtle changes to the Now Playing screen, and the introduction of audio effects while streaming, such as volume boost and a trim feature that cuts out parts of a podcast that are silent (thereby removing a whole lot of awkwardness). Shifty Jelly (the developer of the app) also added accessibility improvements, and squashed playback and Chromecast bugs.
Haven’t installed Pocket Casts yet? Grab it now from the Play Store. The Android app costs $3.99, and the web player is an additional $9.99. While you’re at it, be sure to tune in to the Android Central podcast.
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