Apple iPad Pro 2: What’s the story so far?
Apple rumours never stop. No sooner has one device hit the shelves than the next is being speculated upon. The latest rocking the mill is a new iPad – or iPads – with a couple of new tablets rumoured.
The one that seems to be getting the most attention is the slab that could bridge the gap between the iPad Pro 9.7 and the iPad Pro 12.9. Here is everything we know about what we’re calling the iPad Pro 2.
Apple iPad Pro 2: Release date
Apple is rumoured to be announcing its new iPad, or iPads, in early-2017. The company held an event on 21 March 2016 for the launch of the iPad Pro 9.7 so we’d place our bets on March 2017 being the month the new range of iPads will also debut.
As usual, Apple has confirmed absolutely nothing but we will let you know as soon as we hear any details regarding a specific date.
Apple iPad Pro 2: Design
Rumour has it the new iPad will ditch the Home button. According to a report by Japanese site Macotakara, the new iPad will be almost bezel-free, fitting into the same footprint as the 9.7-inch iPad Pro despite its purported larger display.
The site claimed the new model will still feature a bezel at the top, where the FaceTime camera will be, but the rest of the device will be bezel-less, meaning the Home button will need to be removed.
It has also been claimed the new iPad will be a little thicker than the current 9.7-inch Pro and iPad Air 2 models at 7.5mm compared to 6.1mm. Other rumours suggest the headphone jack will remain on the new iPad, rather than follow in the same footsteps as the iPhone 7, while there have also been reports of quad mics and quad speakers rather than dual like the current iPad Pro 9.7.
- Apple iPad Pro 9.7 vs iPad Air 2: What’s the difference?
Apple iPad Pro 2: Display
There have been numerous reports surrounding the next line-up of iPads, with a new 7.9-inch model, a new cheaper 9.7-inch model and a refreshed 12.9-inch model all floating about. The device we are concentrating on in this feature is the 10.9-inch model however.
The display size is currently a little up in the air, with both 10.9-inches and 10.5-inches having been reported. Either would represent a new size for iPad and either would bridge the gap between the huge 12.9-inch model and the regular 9.7-inch.
Rumours suggest the new iPad will offer the same True Tone display as the current iPad Pro 9.7, as well as the P3 wide colour gamut, but it is not clear whether the resolution will stay the same or see a bump.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro has a 2732 x 2048 pixel resolution, while the 9.7-inch has a 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution, both of which result in a pixel density of 264ppi. Chances are Apple will offer the same pixel density at the very least, meaning if the 10.9-inch size is accurate, a slight resolution increase will be necessary.
- Apple iPad Pro 9.7 review
Apple iPad Pro 2: Camera
Reports claim the new iPad will have the same 12-megapixel iSight camera as the current iPad Pro 9.7, which will mean it will be capable of recording 4K video.
It has also been suggested the True Tone flash will be on board so we suspect the other features, such as the ability to capture Live Photos, will also be present.
In terms of the front facing camera, we’d expect to see the same as the iPad Pro 9.7. Apple may increase the resolution for the new model, but if not, expect a 5-megapixel front-facing snapper with the Retina Flash.
Apple iPad Pro 2: Hardware
According to the rumours, the new iPad will feature a new processor. No surprises there. It has been claimed it will be called the A10X, which follows the naming convention of the previous iPad models.
Both the iPad Pro 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch feature the A9X chip, while the iPad Air 2 has the A8X so the A10X in the new model makes sense. Whether the new model will also sport an increase in RAM and battery size is currently not known.
We suspect storage options will be the same as the iPad Pro 9.7 though, meaning the new iPad should come in 32GB, 128GB and 256GB storage options, none of which will offer microSD.
- Apple iPad Pro 12.9 review
Apple iPad Pro 2: Software
As the rumours suggest the new iPad will launch in Spring 2017, it will arrive on the iOS 10 operating system. This means it will offer the same experience to the current iPads and if it slots into the Pro range, Apple Pencil support.
Apple’s new software build, which will no doubt be called iOS 11, won’t be previewed until WWDC in June, likely followed by a September release so the new iPad will arrive too early to feature it if reports are to be believed.
Apple iPad Pro 2: Conclusion
As with all rumoured devices, everything needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, but a 10 to 11-inch iPad would make a lot of sense.
The rumours and speculation will no doubt increase over the next couple of months and we will keep this feature updated as they do.
For now, we’re placing our bets on a couple of new iPads at a March event but as nothing is confirmed, it’s anyone’s guess.
- Which iPad is best for you? iPad mini 2 vs iPad mini 4 vs iPad Air 2 vs iPad Pro 9.7 vs iPad Pro 12.9
- Apple iPad Pro 9.7 vs iPad Pro 12.9: What’s the difference?
This weekend’s MLS championship will be broadcast in VR
As virtual reality matures as a medium there are going to be fewer firsts for it. But for now, at least, we have news that for the first time, Major League Soccer will be broadcasting a championship game in VR. That match is none other than Saturday’s battle between Toronto FC and the Seattle Sounders. How’s a “virtual suite” rife with player rosters and live stats sound? Somehow, the developers managed to fit a model of an Audi car in it because, well, this is an Audi-sponsored broadcast. There’s a “magic window” experience too, whatever that is.
Folks on iOS (it’s also available on Android and Gear VR) have exclusive access to replays in VR where they can rewind 30 seconds at a time, as far back as 30 minutes. Even if you don’t have a mobile VR headset though, you can still watch the game from five different camera angles. If this sounds like your type of party, grab the Fox Sports VR app from the links below.
Source: Fox Sports, iTunes, Google Play
Nintendo’s Switch might play Gamecube games
Following years of pining after GameCube games on the Virtual Console, it looks like Nintendo fans will soon be getting their wish. According to a recent report by Eurogamer, the Nintendo Switch is rumored to be the first Nintendo console to offer GameCube games on its Virtual Console. Citing several sources within the company, the article states that Nintendo already has classic titles like Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi’s Mansion and Super Smash Bros. Melee running on the Switch.
The article goes on to suggest that Nintendo is also prepping popular GameCube lifestyle sim Animal Crossing for the Virtual Console. It seems as though the company is also looking into making the console compatible with the Wii U’s GameCube controller adapter.
Given Super Smash Bros Melee’s evergreen popularity at fighting game tournaments and the Switch reveal trailers focus on eSports, its inclusion is an easy win for Nintendo.
The GameCube emulator is rumored to be developed by Nintendo’s European Research Department – the people responsible for this year’s Christmas sell-out, the NES Mini. While the NES Mini has a few issues, its game emulation runs flawlessly, meaning that if true, GameCube emulation on the Switch looks rather promising indeed.
Frustratingly, it looks like old Virtual Console purchases won’t transfer over to the Switch, requiring users to pay a small ‘upgrade’ fee to unlock the rom on Switch. In an age where account purchases on mobile transfer seamlessly to your next handset, if true, it’s hard not to see this as a cheap cash grab.
While none of this has been officially confirmed, Eurogamer’s previous rumors about the system proved to be true. With Nintendo holding a press event revealing more about the Switch next month, we won’t have long to discover how much truth is in this reports.
Source: Eurogamer
North Korea might have hacked the South’s cyber command
South Korea’s cyber command, which was established back in January 2010 to fight off cyberattacks deployed against the country’s military, wasn’t able to protect itself from digital infiltrators. A Ministry of National Defense official told Yonhap News that hackers got into the command’s computers and stole some military documents, including confidential information. The culprit? As you might have guessed, the country suspects its neighbor to the north.
News about the breach first came out back in September when South Korean lawmaker Kim Jin-pyo revealed that a malicious code exploited a vulnerability in the military’s routing server. He said the chances of the infiltrators stealing confidential info are “very low,” since the command’s computers use an intranet that’s not connected to that server. Based on this new info, that wasn’t the case — South Korean authorities still aren’t sure which among its confidential documents the hackers got a hold of, though.
North Korea is known to have thousands of personnel ready to wage cyberwarfare. The NSA believes it was responsible attacking Sony Entertainment’s computers in 2014, which led to a huge info and unreleased movie dump online. In June, reports came out that the country stole US fighter jet blueprints. SK also blamed a recent cyberattack that compromised the phones of security officials on the North.
Via: BBC
Source: Yonhap News
VSCO adds full RAW photo support to its iPhone app
VSCO, smartphone photographers’ image tweaking app of choice, is letting iOS users tap into all the original image data captured on iPhone 6’s and up. Alongside a host of new community features, it’s offering full RAW image support on capture, importing and editing. This means photo editors will be able to access a wider range of colors and tones that are sometimes lost due to compression on typical JPEG photos. RAW support will even work on your must-share DSLR images too.
The update is also the culmination of the VSCO team’s efforts to better showcase its community and editorial team content. This includes a machine-learning engine that surfaces related images of what it spots in images. There’s also a new search and a discovery section specifically for notable community posts.
VSCO has introduced a new (invite-only, subscription-based) membership at an early-access price of $20 per year. This will give users monthly updates and early access to filter presets, particularly VSCO’s new Film X interactive presets. These tap into SENS, its new imaging engine, and attempt to offer, according to VSCO CEO and founder Joel Flory: “a physical model of film and not just a static preset.” New presets currently include the Fuji Pro 400H, and Kodak Portra 160 and 400. According to the team, they’ve tried to create a physical mode of film — and that also includes real-time shaders that you can tweak during live capture.
If you’re willing to subscribe, you’ll net the entire preset library (over 100 of those), which total around $200 if purchased through the app. RAW support, at least, comes for free in the new update available now. Oh and for that invite-only membership? Add your name to the waitlist here, and get ready to feel exclusive.
T-Mobile Digits brings calls and texts to all your devices
T-Mobile is doing its Uncarrier thing again. As the carrier works on bringing its LTE network to US forces and older cars, it’s also bringing the latest technology to its existing customers. The company’s new Digits program lets you add multiple numbers to your phone, and then use them across all your devices. Starting today, postpaid customers can sign up to try out a beta version of the service, which the company says will launch commercially next year. Those who join the trial will need to have at least Android 5.0 or iOS 9 installed on their phones, and/or Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome on their Macs or PCs.
After you register for the beta, T-Mobile’s support team will help you get started. When you sign in with your phone number, you’ll find your call history, messages and voicemail waiting for you on whichever device you logged on with. The company says the service will work on “virtually any Internet-connected device,” including feature phones, tablets, computers and wearables.
Since you’ll be using the same number across your various gadgets, you won’t have to tell all your friends to add your new number to their address books. T-Mobile also says you can put multiple numbers on one device and easily switch back and forth between them. What’s interesting here is that you can also use this service on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint devices. You’ll just have to download the Digits app, and your calls will be made through your own carrier’s network.
When you get a call on Digits on a non-cellular device, the connection will be made over the Internet, and your conversation will be prioritized over other data transmissions. This ensures that calls “are more reliable with crystal clear HD voice quality and full mobility,” said the company. It’s not yet clear if there’s a way to prevent all your devices from ringing together at once when you get an incoming call, which would be annoying.
Digits appears to be a pretty sweet way to enable more convenient communication with your phone number. Although other services, such as Apple’s iMessage and Google’s Hangouts, already let you use your phone number to send text messages from desktops, T-Mobile’s solution seems to encompass even more platforms. It could let me send SMS messages to my friends from the comfort of my laptop, regardless of their operating systems. The ability to add multiple numbers to my account also makes sense for those who have a separate line for work, removing the need to carry several phones around.
The beta trial will be free, but official pricing for the service is still unknown, although T-Mobile COO Mike Sievert said that you can “expect us to be really disruptive here.” He clarified that it won’t be treated the same as adding a line to your account, and that the company is “going to take a completely different approach that will really delight people.”
Chris Velazco contributed reporting to this article.
Source: T-Mobile
New in our buyer’s guide: the Pixel and Pixel XL, and more!
Nope, we’re not done adding phones to our buyer’s guide. Hot on the heels of inducting the new iPhones (and before that, the Galaxy S7 and HTC 10), we’re tossing in both of the new Google phones, the Pixel and Pixel XL. While we’re at it, we decided the PlayStation VR deserved a spot in our gaming section right alongside other premium virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. At the opposite end of the price spectrum, the $50 Amazon Echo Dot is a great value at that price. Lastly, GoPro — a staple company in this list — earns a spot for its newest flagship action camera, the Hero5 Black. Find all that in more in our buyer’s guide, and stay tuned for our next round of additions, likely sometime after CES.
Source: Engadget Buyer’s Guide
SpaceX delays its return to flight until early January
So much for SpaceX resuming rocket launches before 2016 is over. Elon Musk’s spaceflight company now expects to launch a Falcon 9 rocket in early January, when it will carry Iridium-1 into orbit. Iridium had previously hinted that the rocket might be ready as soon as December 16th, but SpaceX says it’s using the extra time for both vehicle prep and “extended testing” to make sure this return to flight goes according to plan.
The firm also adds that it’s “finalizing the investigation” into the September launchpad explosion that prompted the pause on rocket launches. What that entails isn’t clear, but investigators narrowed down the cause to liquid oxygen fuel freezing and triggering a chain of explosions. It’s a novel problem, according to Elon Musk, but it’s something that can be solved through different conditions for loading helium into the vehicle. Suffice it to say that SpaceX will be crossing its fingers with the January launch — another incident would undermine claims that it has learned its lesson.
Source: SpaceX
Apple Believes MacBook Pro Graphics Issues May Be Fixed in Latest macOS 10.12.2 Beta
Last week, we reported an increasing number of early adopters experiencing concerning graphics issues on the new MacBook Pro.
All late 2016 MacBook Pro models appear to be affected, including standard 13-inch and 15-inch configurations with AMD Radeon Pro 450 or AMD Radeon Pro 455 graphics, but the issues appear to be most prevalent on the high-end 15-inch model with built-to-order AMD Radeon Pro 460 graphics.
15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar exhibiting graphics issues (jscooper22)
User complaints have continued to surface over the past five days, with new videos emerging showing the usual symptoms, ranging from brightly colored flickering and full-screen checkerboard patterns to screen tearing and visual artifacts. Affected systems sometimes become unresponsive or crash due to a kernel panic, requiring some new MacBook Pro users to perform a hard restart.
Separately, a number of users continue to report brief glitches during the boot up process on new MacBook Pro models, particularly along the bottom of the screen. It appears this issue is related to FileVault 2 startup disk encryption, as the glitches go away for many of these users once the feature is disabled.
Apple has yet to publicly acknowledge or comment on the graphics issues, but in a supposed email response to a MacRumors forum member, Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi allegedly said he believes the problems have been resolved in the latest macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta released on Monday. As a point of emphasis, this email response has not been verified.
Hi,
Thanks for your note! We believe we have addressed all of these graphics issues in the latest beta of Sierra 10.12.2 (available at beta.apple.com).
I hope that you enjoy your new MacBook Pro — it’s a fantastic machine!
– craig
While we have yet to verify the authenticity of the email beyond a reasonable doubt, there is some unscientific evidence to suggest it could be real:
• Although it could easily be faked, the response appears to resemble previous email responses sent by Federighi
• The user who shared the email response is a longtime MacRumors forum member who registered his account in June 2007
• Apple executives appear to be increasingly using email as a vehicle to subtly address customer questions and concerns
• MacRumors viewed a lengthy follow-up email the user received from Apple’s Executive Relations team, which appears to be legitimate
Reports from affected users running the latest macOS Sierra beta are slim at this point, but at least one forum member claims to still be experiencing graphics issues on the fifth and latest macOS Sierra beta.
macOS Sierra 10.12.2 should be publicly released later this month, so additional user reports should soon prove if the graphics issues have truly been fixed.
Related Roundups: MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra
Buyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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Apple Seeds Seventh Beta of iOS 10.2 to Developers and Public Beta Testers
Apple today seeded the seventh beta of an upcoming iOS 10.2 update to developers and public beta testers, two days after seeding the sixth beta of iOS 10.2 and more than a month after releasing iOS 10.1, the first major update to iOS 10.
Registered developers can download the seventh beta of iOS 10.2 from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air with the proper configuration profile installed.
iOS 10.2 introduces new emoji, such as clown face, drooling face, selfie, face palm, fox face, owl, shark, butterfly, avocado, pancakes, croissant, and more.
There are dozens of new Unicode 9 emoji, plus several profession emoji available in both male and female genders, such as firefighter, mechanic, lawyer, doctor, scientist, and more. Apple has also redesigned many existing emoji, adding more detail to make them look more realistic.
Along with new emoji, iOS 10.2 includes new wallpaper, new Music sorting options and buttons for Repeat and Shuffle, new “Celebrate” and “Send with Love” Screen Effects, an option for preserving camera settings, Single-Sign On support for watching live TV via apps, and the official “TV” app that was first introduced at Apple’s October 27 event.
The TV app serves as an Apple-designed TV guide that aims to simplify the television watching experience and allow users to discover new TV shows and movies to watch.
The TV app is available on both iOS devices and the Apple TV (in the tvOS 10.1 beta), and in iOS 10.2, the “Videos” app has been replaced entirely with the new “TV” app, which will now serve as the iOS TV and movie hub.
Apple has called iOS 10 its “biggest release ever” for iOS users, with a revamped lock screen, a Siri SDK for developers, an overhauled Messages app, a dedicated “Home” app for HomeKit users, new facial and object recognition capabilities in Photos, and redesigned Maps and Apple Music apps.
Related Roundup: iOS 10
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