Apple ditches 3rd gen Apple TV, new 4K model inbound?

While all eyes were on Google yesterday at its Made by Google event, Apple silently killed off the 3rd generation Apple TV, leaving just the 4th gen on sale. Apple has had two boxes on sale for some time, so this could be an indication a new version is on the way, with 4K streaming support with any luck.

Apple has said it will still honour current backorders of the Apple TV (3rd gen) and should still sell refurbished models through the online Apple Store, but now wants to focus on the 4th gen version.

• All-new Apple TV: It’s finally available to buy, and this is what it can do

Just last month, a new product that looks to be similar to the Apple TV appeared in an FCC filing, showing Bluetooth and NFC support. While it didn’t confirm it was a new Apple TV, one image that was able to be shown showed the bottom of a device that look alarmingly similar to Apple’s streaming box.

Unfortunately, FCC filings only take into account wireless technologies and not video signals, so it couldn’t say if 4K was supported or not. Considering Amazon offers the Fire TV 4K, Roku has the Roku 4 in the US and Google has just announced the Chromecast Ultra with 4K support, it would be a strange move if Apple didn’t offer the same if it released a new model.

Reports earlier this year also suggest Apple is looking to add a digital programme guide to the TV, that would work in a similar way to the digital TV tuner for Xbox One. It’s claimed it will show all the apps and services you have installed in an EPG-style layout, rather than actual live programmes. If true, it’s still not a revolutionary update, especially in an area where Apple wants to excel.

Macworld notes that in a Q3 2016 earnings call, when asked about the TV’s position in the market, Tim Cook said: “The introduction of Apple TV and tvOS last October and the subsequent OS releases and what’s coming out this fall…think of that as building the foundation for what we believe can be a broader business over time”.

“I don’t want to be more precise than that but you shouldn’t look at what’s there today and think we’ve done what we want to do. We’ve built a foundation that we can do something bigger off of”.

• New Apple TV surfaces in FCC filing, has Bluetooth and, er, NFC?
• Huge Apple Mac range refresh tipped for October

So while not an exact giveaway, Cook has said there’ll be something “coming out this fall”, which ties in with other rumours that have previously suggested Apple would announce updates this month at the same time it refreshes its MacBook lineup. If that’s the case, we don’t have too long to wait.

Beyerdynamic DT 770 review: Ohm, ohm on the road

Not all headphones are made equal. There are a lot of choices on the market to suit different tastes – whether you want banging bass, noise-cancellation for travelling, or something more neutral like the Beyerdynamic DT 770.

These comfortable over-ear cans are designed as closed studio reference headphones, so they don’t come with fancy features like many on the market, but they are affordable and good all-round quality.

Well, they are if you pick the right ones and don’t expect to have a lot of external noise around you, hence them being for studio work. If you want them for out-and-about use then the 32ohm-rated cans will be your choice (the 80ohm and 250ohm will need separate amplification).

Beyerdynamic DT 770 review: Design

We’ve been wearing the DT 770 while out and about. Yes, they’re big, but they’re just about manageable to use on the go. Don’t expect any fanciful folding to save on space in a bag, but you do get a carry pouch included in the box.

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Being a bit negligent ourselves we’ve rarely used this pouch, which has led us to find the only issue in build quality: that the white paint of the “DT 770” embossing on the exterior of the earcups can rub off a little, revealing the black plastic beneath; the black metal can also scratch, exposing the silver sheen beneath.

Otherwise, while not distinctively marketed as being rugged headphones, the DT 770 have soldiered on through weeks of use non-stop without issue. Sure, they’re otherwise plastic by build, but that keeps the lightweight (270g) and there’s none of the naff plastic sheen some manufacturers prefer to use, so no horrid fingerprinting.

That large size owes to making them comfortable too: cushy padding on the earcups is substantial, and while our ears do touch the interior cloth we’ve not found it to be unpleasant at all. Some cans with deeper cavities might give a better sense of spatial separation.

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Beyerdynamic says that every part of the headphones is replaceable, which could be useful after a long period of use. But given their sub-£120 price point, you could happily run these into the ground and buy a fresh pair later down the line instead.

One point to note is that the 3.5mm cable isn’t removable at the headphone end, so you can’t swap its position from left to right ears like some higher-end studio headphones offer. Not that you’ll need to worry about the wire getting pulled out unnecessarily, and obviously there’s no wireless use here.

Beyerdynamic DT 770 review: Sound quality

Sound quality is subjective, but if you don’t enjoy those bass-ramped kind of headphones then a more open and neutral listen like these Beyerdynamic cans ought to appeal.

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The DT 770 work their best without surrounding distractions. When out and about external noise affects the perceptible bass response, but that’s not to say the bass doesn’t exist: it’s taut, flat and unimpinged. There’s enough kick from drums, while basslines hum along nicely without breaking up the rest of the sound.

Mid-range is subtle, less present than in some competitors, but that stops snare drums from smashing your ear canals to death. Vocals can seem a little thin, however, and extraneous sounds can further distract.

What certainly doesn’t lack in any capacity is the high-end, which sparkles. Indeed, some might call it a little too sharp. We rather like the way this top-end sits away from the rest of the mix.

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We’re obviously reviewing the 32ohm impedance version of the DT 770, which are plenty loud when listening from smartphone, laptop and the like. If you’re worried about loudness levels then there’s nothing to fear here. But, as we say, limited isolation will affect the way these cans sound – and we’ve found them by and large best for home listening without distractions.

Verdict

Some better known brands will charge you a fortune for the pleasure of wearing a brand name across your head. While Beyerdyanmic is respected, it’s also respectful in the price stakes: as the DT 770’s sub-£120 price point attests. If you want better build quality then go up a grade to the DT 990.

There are no mod cons here, though. The DT 770 are all about a wired and neutral listen, without any noise-cancelling or wireless. They provide a decent response across their range – just try and avoid external noise which can affect the perceptible bass levels.

And that’s the rub of the DT 770: if you don’t want powered, noise-cancelling or wireless headphones then these provide an affordable access point for a relatively neutral listen.

Fiil Diva review: Nothing diva about these Bluetooth headphones

Fiil makes a lot of bold claims about its Diva headphones: they’re the first to have 3D audio, voice search and noise cancelling all in the one package.

The feature list and styling are certainly attractive, but do these headphones make for a product that’s nice to listen to on a daily basis? 

Fiil Diva review: Design

There’s a lot to like about the Fiil Diva’s industrial design. From whichever angle you, this pair of headphones look modern and minimalist.

The clean, uninterrupted glossy white covering on the headband is clean and stylish, and matched by the covering on the outside of the earcups. These earcups are the only place you’ll find the company’s brand name stamped.

While the logo may look like a perfectly ordinary, but stylish, brand stamped in silver on to the plastic, they’re hiding a fun feature: they light up. And not in a hideous, tacky bright colour either – but an understated white light (which pulses when trying to connect to a device).

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The underside of the Fiil headband is well padded and covered in a soft leather-like material which sits comfortably on the head. This soft padding is matched – even bettered – by the thick ring of padding around both of the earcups.

To stow them away, the Diva come with a hard case, and the cups have a folding hinge in their adjustable arms to completely collapse them in to the headband.

Vitally, the adjusting arms are made from a sturdy metal and slide smoothly in and out of the headband to ensure a perfect fit. In testing, when adjusted correctly, the earphones fit comfortably without being too snug. Although they sometimes feel like they would slip off, they never did during our testing.

Fiil Diva review: Features

First off on the features list: the Fiil headphones are Bluetooth wireless. So no having to worry about whether there is or isn’t a 3.5mm headphone jack in your phone. However, it does still ship with a regular 3.5mm jack cable, just in case you run out of battery power.

Once connected wirelessly, you’ll be prompted to download the Fiil app which you can use to manually adjust the EQ, check the battery life, as well as adjust the level of active noise-cancelling and ambience pass-through.

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There’s also a 3D sound effect feature which essentially boosts reverb to make the sound feel like it’s in a more open space than just in a pair of cans glued to your eardrums.

Perhaps one of the most useful features is the built-in motion sensor. This automatically pauses the music you’re listening to when you remove the headphones and place them around your neck. In our testing over a few days, only once did the music continue playing after the headphones were moved. Our testing included repeated removal, deliberately testing this function. To have it only fail to pause once was pretty impressive. 

Like a number of other headphones out there, the Fiil Diva has an embedded touch-sensitive panel which responds to single-digit gestures. Swipe up or down on the right outer earcup to turn the volume up or down, swipe forwards or backwards to skip to the next or previous track, or simply tap on the side to play and pause. For the most part it works well enough, although there was more than one occasion when we brushed too lightly on the surface and it didn’t pick up the gesture at all.

Touch-sensitivity isn’t your only choice for controls. Around the rim of the right cup is a selection of ports. There’s a multifunction button used to switch the earphones on, put them in pairing mode, check the battery level or activate Siri (or voice commands) on your device.

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Next to it is a small pill-shaped button which slides up and down to adjust the amount of background noise the earphones let through while listening.

Longevity from the built-in battery is respectable too. After multiple sessions listening to music, at least two to three hours in total, there was still 80 percent left of the charge, with the app indicating that the Fiil would last at least another 15-more hours of media playback before depleting.

The app also gives you the option to switch voice prompts on or off, but our pre-release unit only had voice prompts in Chinese. That’s something that needs fixing for final release.

As wireless connections go, it’s hard not to over-laud the wireless connection reliability in the Diva. We could walk two rooms away from our phone and still have the music playing consistently. That means if your phone is in your pocket or bag, you shouldn’t find the audio cutting out at all. 

Fiil Diva review: Upgrade to Pro?

As well as the Diva headphones on review here, there’s also the Diva Pro which has a few features not found in the standard model.

If you’re willing to stump up a little more cash (and extra $100 US Dollars to be exact, so £77), you get 4GB dedicated storage to save your favourite songs for offline and untethered listening. You also get better 3D audio and voice control.

Fiil Diva review: Sound

Considering at one point you could reserve the Diva from the Kickstarter project for as little as $129 (£99), the sound quality from these headphones is superb. Even at their suggested retail price of $199 (£155), they are good value for money.

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Sound is full, and the Hi-Res Audio quality ensures that the little details in your tracks are retained and easy to hear. However, even with the EQ at the “normal” preset, bass has a tendency to be very prominent – but not completely dominant.

Even with the bass-heaviness, the audio quality is great enough that you still get to hear those subtleties you might miss from most headphones. The bongos being tapped lightly alongside  thedrum kit that would normally overpower it, or just the full sound of the bass drum skin being hit by the pedal, rather than just hearing the beat. That, or being able to tell the difference between the guitar string being plucked by a heavy pick, or thin pick, or hearing the subtle tonguing of reed from the saxophone player.

We would like it if there was a more customisable EQ though. In the current version of the app, there are three presets – bass, original and treble – and that’s your lot. That does disappoint if you’re used to controlling a nine band EQ in minute detail.

The app also allows you change the levels of noise-cancellation and ambient awareness. In our experience, although there are better headphones out there for noise-cancellation, the Fiil do a really good job considering their price. 

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You can set the ambient passthrough to NC (noise-cancellation), Monitor or Open.

With Open activated you’re completely aware of your surroundings, although still able to immerse yourself in the music. External sound stills comes through, and is relatively clear, albeit muted. 

Switch to Monitor mod and it allows slightly less ambient sound through. NC mode, of course, almost completely kills off any exterior noise – although louder or high-pitched sounds are still audible.

Verdict

It’s not often you come across a pair of sub-£160 earphones that impress. There are normally too many compromises, either with design or sound quality. Not so with the Fiil Diva. These cans may not offer all the qualities of a £400 pair, but they certainly punch way above their weight.

NASA tests Mars 2020 rover’s landing camera

The Curiosity and NASA’s other Mars rovers had to look for wide-open and flat landing locations to be on the safe side. Mars 2020, however, will have a camera-based navigation system capable of assessing terrains and reacting to potential hazards on the fly, allowing the rover to touch down on complex surfaces its predecessors have yet to explore. That camera is officially called Lander Vision System (LVS), and NASA has recently begun testing its capabilities. The space agency placed it aboard the flight test of an experimental rocket built by Masten Space Systems, a California-based aerospace startup. To be precise, LVS flew as part of a landing technology dubbed the Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-flight Testbed.

LVS guides a spacecraft’s landing by taking pictures of what’s directly below it as it descends. It then compares what it sees to its onboard map, detecting its precise location and determining whether it’s in danger of, say, smashing against a boulder or landing too close to a cliff. If it detects anything that could jeopardize the rover’s safety, the system steers it towards somewhere that’s safer to land.

By the end of the test flight, LVS was successfully able to guide Masten’s rocket back to the ground. Andrew Johnson, who serves as the project’s principal investigator, said they were able to “show a closed loop pinpoint landing demo that eliminated any technical concerns with flying the Lander Vision System on Mars 2020” during the test. By starting its journey from locations its older siblings weren’t able to go to, Mars 2020 would be able to beam back new data and photos of the red planet more interesting than what we’re used to seeing today.

Source: NASA

How about a nice hot cup of virtual tea?

Electronics company ALPS tests out (and manufactures) all kinds of things, but its virtual cup, courtesy of haptic technology and heat transmission, is the electronics manufacturer at its weird best. The cup, which is the size of a typical tumbler, is able to transmits a material’s tensile strength and even the temperature of your beverage of choosing. That is, as long as it’s cold water in a plastic cup, or hot tea in a mug. As you tilt it, you feel the weight of the cup shift, and hear the water slosh around. As Engadget’s Deputy Tea Editor, I can confirm that the effect is… freaky.

The question is: why? Well, it’s linked to the electronics manufacturers efforts in virtual reality and telepresence: communicating touch digitally so that someone not actually present can get a similar (if not the same) experience. When the faux cup is filled with cold water, your fingers gently chill, with contacts on the sides of the cup delivering the temperature change. The reverse is true when the computer pours your digital tea. It was just hot enough to startle me. (On a personal note, the lack of virtual biscuits cookies was frustrating.)

The sensors also push back depending on the virtual material the cup is meant to be made of. With a plastic cup, it ‘squished’ like it was meant to. Again: it’s weird.

Sure, no businesses are looking to deliver the experience of a digitally replicated cup of tea: it’s a demonstration of the kind of analogue sensations the company can deliver through technology. ALPS also had a haptic pad that was able to replicate tile and (for some reason) denim. Other surfaces, naturally, can also be programmed too. The technology delivers a similar tactile sensation with motors as your finger runs across it. The cup delivers a more uncanny experience — it’ll be exciting to see where the company takes it next.

These are the Motorola phones that will be updated to Android 7.0 Nougat

While we were drooling over the Pixel and Pixel XL, Motorola published the list of phones that will be updated to Android 7.0 Nougat. Most phones announced this year are on the list — including the Moto G4 and G4 Plus, Moto Z, Z Play, and Z Force — as well as last year’s Moto X Pure Edition and X Play.

But as is becoming the case more and more often, there are a few notable omissions. The Moto G 2015 won’t receive Nougat, nor does the entry-level Moto E3 Power, which made its debut in July 2016. Other phones in the Moto E series are also not going to make the switch to the latest version of Android.

Here’s the list of Motorola phones that will pick up the Nougat update:

• Moto G (4th Gen)
• Moto G Plus (4th Gen)
• Moto G Play (4th Gen)
• Moto X Pure Edition (3rd Gen)
• Moto X Style
• Moto X Play
• Moto X Force
• Droid Turbo 2
• Droid Maxx 2
• Moto Z
• Moto Z Droid
• Moto Z Force Droid
• Moto Z Play
• Moto Z Play Droid
• Nexus 6

Motorola says that it will start rolling out the update sometime later this quarter, with the Moto Z and Moto G4 receiving it first. Motorola’s comeback tale centered around offering a smooth Android experience — even on budget handsets — layered with its own additions in the form of Moto Display and Moto Actions, and quick software updates to its entire portfolio of devices. That was one of the main reasons for the success of the Moto G and Moto E series in emerging markets.

Along the way, there have been a few missteps. Last year, Motorola announced that it would not update the Moto E — which was just a few months old at that point — or a few carrier variants of the Moto X 2014 to Marshmallow. A year on, we’re in the same situation.

UberPool riders in London might have to do some walking

Uber has performed a number of experiments in the UK, and its latest slightly rewrites how fares for UberPool work in London. Whereas before a driver might take a roundabout way to get to your on-demand bus stop, now there will be more direct routes.

Rides requested between 6am and 9pm will have passengers directed to a “smart pickup point” where, if the app’s estimates are correct, you’ll arrive the same time as your driver. The idea is to shorten time spent in the cars by avoiding detours and traffic jams. The downside is you might have to hoof it a bit to reach both your pickup point and final destination.

We reached out to the company and asked what made this so different from the pre-existing “smart routes” and were told that the routes were just a test last year, whereas these are explicitly “smart pickup points.”

Fancy giving it a try? The service is offering a discount on UberPool fares, and the discount code is at the source link below.

Source: Uber