Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 vs Apple iPad Pro 9.7: What’s the difference?

Samsung and Apple don’t just go head-to-head in the smartphone ring, they do it in the tablet ring too.

The new Samsung Tab S3 is gunning for Apple’s iPad Pro more so than ever, offering a premium build, S Pen and a hefty price tag.

Here is how the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 compares to the 9.7-inch Apple iPad Pro. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 vs Apple iPad Pro 9.7: Design

• Tab S3 is lighter and smaller
• Both have fingerprint sensor, 3.5mm jack and stereo speakers
• Tab S3 comes with S Pen, while Apple sells Pencil separately  

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 and Apple iPad Pro are all about solid, super slim, lovely designs. The Tab S3 measures 237.3 x 169 x 6mm, while the iPad Pro is ever so slightly larger at 240 x 169.5 x 6.1mm.

The Tab S3 is also a little lighter at 429g for the Wi-Fi only model and 434g for the 4G model, compared to the iPad Pro’s 437g and 444g but ultimately, there isn’t much in it at all in terms of size or weight.

Both tablets offer rounded corners and a front-mounted fingerprint sensor within their home buttons but the iPad Pro is all metal, while the Tab S3 has a glass back. They both feature quad stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Tab S3 opts for USB Type-C, has an S Pen in the box and it has a keyboard dock port on one side for attaching Pogo keyboards. The iPad Pro on the other hand, has Apple’s Lightning port and Smart Connector, the latter of which will also allow for attaching a keyboard. It is also compatible with Apple Pencil, but this is sold separately.

• Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 preview

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 vs Apple iPad Pro 9.7: Display

• Both 9.7-inch with 2048 x 1536 resolutions
• Tab S3 has HDR support
• Both offer support for 4K video playback 

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 and Apple iPad Pro both have a 9.7-inch display, though Apple does also offer a larger 12.9-inch model of the Pro.

The two tablets also offer the same resolution, at 2048 x 1536 pixels, putting there pixel densities at 263ppi and both have 4K video playback support.

The Tab S3 has a Super AMOLED display with HDR, while the iPad Pro has an LED-back-lit display with Apple’s True Tone technology and a wide colour gamut but no HDR support.

• Mobile HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10 and everything you need to know about future mobile entertainment

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 vs Apple iPad Pro 9.7: Hardware

• Tab S3 has longer battery life and more RAM
• Tab S3 has microSD expansion 
• Both offer good front and rear camera capabilities

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It offers microSD support for storage expansion and Samsung claims the battery will deliver 12 hours of video playback.

The Apple iPad Pro has the A9X chip under its hood, supported by 2GB of RAM and storage options of 32GB, 128GB and 256GB, none of which have microSD. Apple says the battery offers up to 10-hours video playback.

In terms of cameras, the Tab S3 comes with a 13-megapixel rear camera with autofocus and a flash, as well as a 5-megapixel front camera. The iPad Pro has a 12-megapixel rear camera, also with autofocus and Apple’s True Tone flash, while the front camera is also 5-megapixels but it has a Retina Flash on board.

• What is Apple’s True Tone display?

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 vs Apple iPad Pro 9.7: S Pen or Apple Pencil

• S Pen doesn’t need recharging, Apple Pencil does
• Apple Pencil allows drawing down to single pixel
• More app compatibility with Apple Pencil

The Samsung Tab S3 comes with the S Pen in the box, as we mentioned previously. The new S Pen doesn’t need charging and it is said to feel and write like your favourite ballpen, offering a 0.7mm tip, 4096 pressure sensitivity and a 9.4mm diameter. It is also senstive to tilt.

There are a few apps that work with the S Pen, including Samsung Notes, which allows you to jot down notes without unlocking the screen, as well as annotate and translate text. There’s also an app called Soundcamp that allows for drawing and it will work with Photoshop too.

The Apple Pencil on the other hand, does require charging but it is sensitive to pressure and tilt and it will allow you to draw down to a single pixel. It measures 8.9mm in diameter and it comes with an extra tip.

Like the S Pen, there are numerous apps that work with Apple Pencil, including Apple Notes, Mail, Paper by FiftyThree, Adobe Comp CC and Pixelmator. Charging is done via the built-in hidden Lighting connector at the top of the device and you’ll get 30 minutes of use for 15 seconds of charging.

• Apple iPad Pro 9.7 review

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 vs Apple iPad Pro 9.7: Software

• Tab S3 is Android
• iPad Pro is iOS
• Both have similar functions

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 runs on Android with Samsung’s TouchWiz over the top, while the Apple iPad Pro runs on iOS 10. You’ll get many of the same features and functionality across both devices, even though they are packaged differently.

The Tab S3 offers features including Samsung Flow, that allows you to move between phone and tablet, as well as send content from your phone to your tablet, while Apple has Continuity, which essentially offers similar for iOS devices.

There are also cloud services available on both devices, with the Tab S3 offering Samsung Cloud and the iPad Pro offering iCloud.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 vs Apple iPad Pro 9.7: Price

• iPad Pro is cheaper, without Apple Pencil
• iPad Pro comes in more colours

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 comes in black or silver colour options and starts at £599 for the 32GB Wi-Fi model.

The Apple iPad Pro comes in silver, gold, space grey or rose gold and it starts at £549 for the 32GB Wi-Fi model. The Apple Pencil is sold separately and costs £99.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 vs Apple iPad Pro 9.7: Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 and Apple iPad Pro 9.7 are remarkably similar in terms of specs. They both have premium designs, the same size and resolution displays, compatibility with a stylus, powerful hardware and decent cameras.

The Tab S3 offers more RAM, a larger battery capacity, HDR support and microSD support for storage expansion. It also comes with the S Pen in the box.

The iPad Pro 9.7 on the other hand has more app support for the Apple Pencil, is available in more colours and it has a flash on its front camera for those all about the tablet selfie. Ultimately, the decision between these two will be largely based on the operating system you prefer.

Philips latest Hue bulbs will match your chandelier

Thanks to wide compatibility with products like Amazon Echo and Google Home, Philips Hue is the “Kleenex” of smart LED bulbs. Up until now, the company has only done a standard-sized bulb, but it has finally released a pair of smaller socket “candelabra”-sized smart bulbs (E14 size in the UK and Europe): the White Ambience Candle and White and Color Ambience Candle.

The former gives you smart control of dimming just one color (white, obviously) and the latter lets you “sync your lights with your music, TV or games, or control via your smartphone, switch, wearables or other smart accessories,” Philips explains in its press release.

By plugging it into smaller lights often used in bedrooms, you can set the Hue Candle to emit melatonin-enhancing warm light in the evening, and more energetic blue colors in the morning, for instance. The bulbs can pump out the equivalent of 40 watts and a color range from 2200k to 6500k, ranging from warm white to cool daylight. You can also set it up to take voice commands from your Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Home device or fit it into almost any smart home system.

If you have an eclectic mix of light fixtures, the new bulbs should help you get more fully automated. However, be prepared to pay, as the bulbs won’t come in starter kits at first, so you’ll be paying $50 for each White and Color Ambience Candle. That’s a pretty expensive way to create a romantic mood instead of using, say, an actual candle.

Source: Philips

McDonald’s brings mobile ordering to the UK

Mobile ordering is big in the UK, so it’s surprising to see a big name like McDonald’s is only now getting its own systems in order. As BuzzFeed News reports, it today pushed live a new feature in its iOS and Android apps that lets customers in selected locations order and pay for their meal before they go in store. The confirmation comes just days after the company enabled a similar feature in the US.

The process is pretty simple. Once the app is installed and one of the 22 supporting restaurants has been selected, customers can press the new “Ordering” tab to immediately begin building their order. Items can be favourited, saving time in the future, and payment details can also be stored in the app. Once the order is complete, customers must then head to the restaurant and confirm their order by scanning a QR code at a designated “Mobile Order Check In Point.”

Unlike Starbucks’ Mobile Order & Pay, which prepares orders ahead of a customer’s arrival, McDonald’s will only start making the food once the QR code has been scanned, presumably to ensure things stay fresh. Some stores will offer table service, but most people will need to collect the order from the counter.

While only a small number of stores are on board right now, McDonald’s says it will roll mobile ordering out to all of its restaurants within the next 18 months. It hopes the large majority of them will go live before the end of the year.

Via: BuzzFeed News

Source: McDonald’s

UK government pulls YouTube ads over hate speech concerns

The UK government has pulled adverts from YouTube after a report from The Times found they were running alongside extremist content. Ads for campaigns such as promoting blood donation and Army recruitment have been restricted after the apparent failings of Google’s ad platform, which is supposed to work within guidelines set by the advertising party. Other UK brands, including Channel 4 and The Guardian, have also pressed the pause button on advertising with Google after learning their names were appearing alongside content from the likes of hate preachers and rape apologists.

“Google is responsible for ensuring the high standards applied to government advertising are adhered to and that adverts do not appear alongside inappropriate content. We have placed a temporary restriction on our YouTube advertising pending reassurances from Google that government messages can be delivered in a safe and appropriate way,” reads a government statement.

“Google has been summoned for discussions at the Cabinet Office to explain how it will deliver the high quality of service government demands on behalf of the taxpayer.”

While it’s unlikely Google will escape further discussions with the government, the company has accepted some responsibility: “We have strict guidelines that define where Google ads should appear, and in the vast majority of cases, our policies work as intended, protecting users and advertisers from harmful or inappropriate content. We accept that we don’t always get it right, and that sometimes, ads appear where they should not. We’re committed to doing better, and will make changes to our policies and brand controls for advertisers.”

The timing is far from ideal for Google, as many of the internet’s biggest companies are coming under fire for failing to appropriately deal with hate speech and fake news. Just a few days ago, UK politicians grilled execs from Google, Twitter and Facebook over accountability, accusing the companies of reacting sluggishly to offensive material on their platforms. YouTube is particularly problematic, as there is the potential for creators to earn advertising revenue from objectionable content.

Earlier this week, Germany also hit out at Facebook and Twitter for weak platform policing, and late last year the European Union threatened to introduce legislation if tech companies didn’t improve removal practices. The companies themselves argue that accusations are often on the strong side, claiming they are doing what they can but the sheer volume of content on their platforms makes monitoring and takedowns an extremely complex problem.

Via: BBC

Source: The Times (paywalled)

The Engadget Podcast Ep 32: North and South of the River

Senior editors Devindra Hardawar and Nathan Ingraham were among the Engadget team in Austin for SXSW 2017 this week. They sit down to talk about what they’ve seen, from movies to VR experiences to former Vice President Joe Biden. They also discuss how covering SXSW differs from the other big events Engadget typically covers and decide whether or not the show is losing its cool. Also, BBQ. Lots and lots of BBQ.

Relevant links:

• What it’s like playing ‘Rez Infinite’ strapped into a synesthesia suit
• Sony’s Motion Sonic wristband makes sound with a wave of your arm
• Joe Biden implores SXSW crowd to use its talents to fight cancer
• A closer look at the Meta 2 AR headset
• Frank Oz on Muppets, puppets and CG Yoda
• All of Engadget’s SXSW 2017 coverage can be found here

You can check out every episode on The Engadget Podcast page in audio, video and text form for the hearing impaired.

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The Shins made a collage app for band flyers

It’s been thirteen years since Garden State propelled The Shins to mainstream success. In that time, the band’s lineup has changed entirely, save for James Mercer, its founder and ever-present frontman. Now, Mercer is hoping to use his band’s profile to propel another venture into the mainstream. At SXSW 2017, Mercer was in town to promote both his band’s new album, Heartworms, and “Pasted,” a collage application for iPhone and Android.

At a random house in East Austin, Mercer played a short set of Shins songs new and old, and also gave demos of his new app. In an interview with Engadget, he explained why he believes Pasted is a necessary addition to your phone. He’d been searching for an app that could create collages; something that could recreate the “hand-made” look of the flyers he’d created when The Shins first formed in the ’90s. “There are a lot of really amazing AI-based apps,” he said. “Prisma is fantastic, but the problem is that, if you’re somebody that has an artistic bent, you want to be able to hack it and find your thing.”

And so, he, together with ex Love is Laughter drummer (and current coder) Zeke Howard, resolved to create Pasted. It’s a simple app to use — you select photos, and then it combines them together. You can then redefine the masking for each image, enlarge, rotate and position the individual elements, and apply various treatments. You can also add stickers and other pre-made elements to your images.

Using the app, Mercer was able to put together a simple image with his and the Engadget video team’s faces in a matter of minutes. The more time you spend on a collage, obviously, the better results you’ll get. The cover art for The Shins’ latest two singles (like “Mildenhall,” above) was created using the app, and it looks far more professional than the quick image of Engadget faces.

Pasted will launch in April on iOS and Android. Over time, Mercer hopes to collaborate with artists to offer “Paste Packs” that may be charged for, but for now the app and all of its content will be free. “My big picture goal is to be driving around and see a flyer that some band has used our app to make,” said Mercer. “I think we’re just trying to fill a niche, just another little tool where you can express yourself artistically, efficiently, and share it.”

Click here to catch up on the latest news from SXSW 2017.

Google ‘Motion Stills’ Update Lets Users Customize Default Frame of Live Photos

Last year Google launched an app called Motion Stills that fixed a lot of issues that users had — and still have — with Apple’s new Live Photos feature introduced in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. With the new update, Motion Stills now lets users customize the displayed frame that appears automatically in the camera roll of the iOS Photos app.

The intent is to display more clearly what the Live Photo image is composed of, particularly when the frame displaying the content is taken from a blurry or unclear segment of the Live Photo. Now, users can cycle through any frame from a Live Photo in Motion Stills, choose a new image, and export it back out to the iOS Photos app with the new frame. This exporting process keeps the Live Photo in Apple’s custom 3D touch looping format and not the GIF format of Motion Stills.

As The Verge pointed out, there is a catch in the basic function of Live Photos that could result in a customized frame appearing lower-resolution in the Photos app.

There is a catch. For space reasons, Live Photos only save the primary frame in full 12-megapixel clarity, with the other frames handled as lower-resolution video; choosing one of these frames will therefore result in a photo with less detail than the original. But since the vast majority of Live Photo viewing probably happens on phones, this may not be a major issue for you.

Other than the new frame feature, Motion Stills as a whole lets users turn Live Photos into easily shareable GIFs. The app also uses Google’s video stabilization technology to smooth out jittery images and freeze backgrounds, giving an overall improvement on Apple’s basic Live Photos. Motion Stills can be downloaded for free from the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]

Tags: Google, Live Photos
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Maker of a $14,000 super-secure phone gets cold feet after low sales force cuts

Why it matters to you

Even with plenty of investment and an untapped market niche, it’s hard to make an impact in today’s crowded smartphone world

Proving that making an impact in the smartphone world is really difficult today, even with plenty of investment and an apparently underserved niche audience, Sirin Labs — makers of the massively expensive Solarin phone — has decided to investigate other projects, and made 30 of its staff redundant.

The Solarin phone was launched almost a year ago, at an event attended by celebrities including (briefly, and almost incognito), Tom Hardy and Leonardo DiCaprio, and was marketed as a super secure, unhackable smartphone for the super rich. It costs upwards of $14,000. Naturally, it wasn’t a phone for everyone, and fewer than 750 devices have been sold since, a figure based on numbers quoted to Techcrunch.

More: Vertu sold to exiled businessman for $60 million

While the Solarin was technically impressive, there were many question marks over just how secure the device really was, its ultimate usefulness when used to communicate with other devices, and how much the extra services would end up costing. The phone was sold through Sirin Labs own boutique store in London, in the Harrods department store, and online.

Having failed to make the impact needed to sustain the smartphone business, a local report from Israeli newspaper Calcalist said Sirin Labs was making 30 members of its staff — a third of its total workforce — redundant, and considering shifting away from phones, and towards computing devices. The Solarin is apparently still being made, can still be purchased, and will continue to be supported by Sirin Labs. However, the company is, “pursuing new directions to a new product line,” and is restructuring staff according to a spokesman in a statement.

Sirin Labs had $72 million in seed funding investment, and its CEO and founder is Moshe Hogeg, known not only for Sirin Labs but also for photo app Mobli and the impossibly-simple, bizarrely-popular-at-the-time Yo app. He is also working on the InfinityAR project, which has gained $18 million in funding for its headset. The exact future for Sirin Labs, and the Solarin phone, is unknown.

Microsoft’s latest build of Windows 10 for Insiders fixes some remaining issues

Why it matters to you

This new build of Windows 10 indicates that Microsoft is wrapping up development of Creators Update.

The latest build of Windows 10 is out for Fast Ring participants in the Windows Insider club, bringing the platform up to Build 15060 on the PC, Windows Insider lead Dona Sarkar said Thursday evening — a bit of polish on an OS update that’s almost ready to roll out the door.

On the features front, there’s nothing new with Build 15060, but that’s to be expected given Microsoft is wrapping up development of Creators Update (Redstone 2). That said, the team is polishing the platform for a general release to all Windows 10 users in April. That includes stomping out troubling issues and making slight improvements prior to Creators Update going gold later this month.

More: RIP Windows Vista: Microsoft is ending support on April 11

The new build fixes seven issues, one of which actually resolved another issue in the process. According to the release notes, the team resolved a problem with the Settings icon on the taskbar that also fixed another visual problem causing the Settings tile on the Start Menu to become grayed out.

Here are the other resolved issues:

Input Method Editors:
Third-party IMEs wouldn’t show up in Settings after installation.
Microsoft Edge:
The MS Pinyin IME would become stuck and a website unresponsive while quickly typing and deleting characters in the website’s search field.
Microsoft Edge:
The browser would fail to launch again after a crash due to previous, suspended instances in the background.
Microsoft Edge:
Problems occurred when exploring pages using the F12 Developer Tools with cross-origin iframes.
Surface Pro 3 / Surface 3:
If the latest drivers and firmware are installed, these devices couldn’t update to a new build with an inserted SD card.
Taskhost:
This executable would crash after pressing Tab while quickly typing in sign-in fields within Universal Windows Platform apps.

As for outstanding issues, there are still six the team needs to address. For instance, there’s a problem with restarting the PC due to a pending update, as the restart reminder dialog doesn’t appear. Until the bug is squashed, Insiders are encouraged to go into Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update to see if they need to restart their PC.

The release notes also point to a gaming-specific problem that’s still outstanding. While broadcasting gameplay, Insiders could see the broadcast live review window flash green on the Game bar. This is only a visual problem on the broadcaster’s end, and only appears on “certain” hardware configurations. It doesn’t affect the quality of the broadcast itself.

Finally, Sarkar warns that if this build fails to install after rebooting the PC, manually reboot the PC again (error 8024a112). If the PC appears to hang after the manual reboot, turn the PC completely off, wait a moment for the RAM to clear, and turn it back on. The install process should move forward after that.

Sarkar had initially noted that builds for Brazil (PT-BR) and Polish (PL-PL) were still forthcoming, pointing out that users would see a message stating that “we will keep trying or you can try again now.” Later Thursday evening those builds were released as well.

Happy testing, Insiders!

Blurry bokeh shots are only for selfie fans to enjoy on the Huawei P10 Lite

Why it matters to you

Slightly stripped back Huawei P10 Lite still provides camera fun for selfie fans, at a lower price than the full P10

We’re really taken by the new Huawei P10, but if it’s slightly more than you want to pay for a new smartphone, Huawei wants to tempt you with its P10 Lite. Rumored ahead of the P10’s launch, the Lite version has now been made official, and while it does include several of the great features that make the P10 so tempting, it’s far from the full package. Here’s what you need to know.

The P10 is defined by the dual rear camera co-developed by Leica, which is missing from the P10 Lite. Instead the rear camera has a single lens with 12-megapixels and a large 1.25 micron pixel size for better low-light performance. There will be no monochrome or blurred background photos with the P10 Lite, at least using the rear camera. The good news is the 8-megapixel selfie camera does have Huawei’s “portrait shot” technology, generating the blurred background effect when you take pictures using the front camera.

More: Our first impressions of the Huawei P10

Huawei has kept a very similar design to the P10 on the Lite. The fingerprint sensor is on the rear though, rather than the newly relocated front sensor on the P10, but the screen is still underneath a curved 2.5D piece of glass, and the body has a slim bezel around the 5.2-inch screen. The resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels, just like the P10. Also brought over from the P10 is Knuckle Sense, the unusual touchscreen technology that recognises knuckles and not just fingertips, to activate additional features such as app shortcuts or taking a screenshot.

It’s not the powerhouse Kirin 960 processor inside the P10 Lite, but the Kirin 658 along with 4GB of RAM, and a 3,000mAh battery with fast charging. We’ve sung the praises of Huawei’s new EMUI 5.0 user interface over Android 7.0 Nougat already — see the Mate 9 for evidence — and it’s EMUI 5.1 onboard the P10 Lite, which refines version 5.0 further.

At the moment, Huawei has announced the P10 Lite for release in the U.K. on March 31, where it’ll be sold through Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone, and EE for 300 British pounds, which is about $370. Pre-orders for the phone begin on March 17, in either black or gold colors, with others to follow in the future. A wider international launch hasn’t been confirmed yet.