Apple’s $999 iPhone X packs an edge-to-edge display and dual cameras

The iPhone X (pronounced “iPhone Ten”) is real, and it’s finally here. CEO Tim Cook just unveiled the biggest redesign of the iPhone we’ve seen yet, at today’s event in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple’s brand-new campus. As expected, the phone is dominated by a massive screen that takes up the entire front of the display. Just as on Samsung’s Galaxy S8, the bezels are barely there, though the iPhone X has a slightly odd “cutout” at the top of the phone to allow for the front-facing camera and sensors. The lack of bezels means the phone isn’t that much bigger than the iPhone 7.

The “Super Retina” display is 5.8 inches, with a 2436 x 1125 resolution — that works out to 458 pixels per inch, by far the highest ever seen on an iPhone. Phil Schiller also notes that it’s an OLED screen, the first that’s “good enough” for an iPhone. The screen supports HDR, and naturally includes 3D Touch technology and the “True Tone” display found on the iPhone 8 and iPad Pro.

To accommodate this giant display, Apple has ditched the home button and Touch ID. You can raise the phone to wake it up, but you can also tap the screen to do the same. Given that every iPhone has had a home button, this change might even be a bigger deal than the bigger screen. To get home, Apple has added gestures like the ones we’ve seen on the iPad for years — a swipe up from the bottom gets you back to the home screen, while swiping up and pausing will bring you to the multitasking menu. To access Siri, you can say “Hey Siri” or hold the side button, which Apple has enlarged. The phone is wrapped with stainless steel and has glass on the front and back; surprisingly, it comes in only two finishes: silver and black.

To replace Touch ID, the iPhone X is locked until you look at it and it recognizes you. Apple is calling this “Face ID.” It uses the front-facing camera as well as other sensors, including an infrared sensor, flood illuminator and dot projector, to unlock the phone. (Apple refers to it as a True Depth sensor.) It’ll update your face scan frequently to account for changes like haircuts, hats and beards. Schiller says it’s a one-in-a-million chance that someone else’s face would unlock your phone, as compared with one in 50,000 for Touch ID.

Face ID will also let you authenticate Apple Pay purchases — by clicking the side button twice and looking at the screen, your phone will make the desired payment. And Apple’s also using the True Depth sensors to let you create and share animated emojis. The company is starting with a dozen different emojis (most of them animals) that you can animate using your face.

As for the camera, it’s a dual camera, much like that on the iPhone 8 — it has dual 12-megapixel sensors with a f/1.8 aperture on the wide end and f/2.4 on the telephoto lens. The big thing to note here is that both lenses have optical image stabilization, while the iPhone 8 Plus has only OIS on the wide-angle lens. It also features factory calibration on the cameras, for augmented reality, as well as the new software-enhanced “Portrait Lighting” mode found in the iPhone 8 Plus.

The processor is the same as the A11 Bionic chip found in the new iPhone 8, and it sounds like a big step up over last year’s processor. It’s a six-core CPU, with two high-performance cores. Those high-performance cores are 25 percent faster than the A10’s, while the four high-efficiency cores are 70 percent faster than the A10’s. Apple also designed the GPU for the first time and says that it’s optimized for the company’s Metal 2 graphics framework.

Despite all the new features and power of the A11 chip, Schiller says that the phone should last two hours longer than the iPhone 7. Like the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, the iPhone X will also include wireless charging for the first time. To facilitate this, the entire iPhone lineup now has glass backs, just like the iPhone 4 and 4S had many years ago. Somewhat surprisingly, Apple is using Qi, one of the biggest open wireless charging standards. That means that plenty of wireless charging pads out there should work with the iPhone X right out of the box.

Naturally, Apple has made its own charging mat that can accommodate the iPhone X or iPhone 8, as well as the series 3 Apple Watch and the AirPods, provided you buy a new wireless charging case for them. It’s called AirPower, but it doesn’t come out until next year, unfortunately.

There are a few changes when it comes to navigating iOS, to accommodate for the lack of a home button. Since swiping up from the bottom gets you home or to multitasking, you now access Control Center by swiping down from the top of the screen. You need to hit the targets on the left or right, where your status and battery indicator live, to do that, though. Apple hasn’t shown the notification center yet, but we’re guessing you can get it by swiping down from the middle of the screen.

One of the biggest questions about the iPhone X has been its cost. It’ll start at $999 for 64GB, and the 256GB model will likely run an extra $100. Pre-orders start on October 27th, and the phone will begin shipping on November 3rd. Start saving your couch change, folks.

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Source: Apple

Apple TV 4K starts at £179 in the UK

The makers of most popular streaming pucks made the jump to Ultra HD some time ago, and today Apple has finally caught up. As expected, Apple announced the new Apple TV 4K, which plays nice with both high-resolution content and the high dynamic range standards HDR10 and Dolby Vision. It’ll be available to buy in the UK for £179 for the 32GB model and £199 for the 64GB version on September 15th, with shipping starting a week later on September 22nd. The fourth-gen Apple TV (32GB) will continue to be sold for £149.

A new processor means the Apple TV 4K is twice as fast as the last model, and Apple has worked with Netflix, Amazon and others to bring their 4K content to the box. Naturally, 4K movies and shows will be available on iTunes, too, and they’ll be no price difference between HD and Ultra HD versions. Better yet, you’ll receive a 4K copy of anything you’ve previously bought for free.

Apple’s TV app, which pulls content from loads of different services so you can search and browse in one, unified UI, still isn’t ready for the UK unfortunately. Apple promised today, however, that it’ll hit set-top boxes over here before the end of the year.

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Apple’s new iPhones use AI ‘Portrait Lighting’ to improve shots

Apple’s iPhone 8 and 8 Plus cameras are similar to those on the previous models, and the new iPhone X has a similar dual camera arrangement to the 8 Plus. While the hardware hasn’t changed dramatically, there are some interesting new software features, though, most notably one called “Portrait Lighting.” Taking advantage of the camera’s multi-focus feature, it can separate you from the background and blur it out, as before, but now uses AI to examine the contours of your face and “light” you in a variety of flattering or dramatic ways.

For the same shot, for instance, you can create different effects like “Natural Light,” “Contour Light” and “Stage Light” (shown left to right, below). “You compose a photo, the dual cameras and the ISP sense the scene, they create a depth map, and they actually change the lighting contours over the face,” said Apple iPhone chief Phil Schiller. “These aren’t filters, this is real time analysis.”

Apple had promised to shrink down its AI systems onto a chip for use with its augmented reality ARKit and other things, and using it with the camera seems a smart choice. Assuming it doesn’t make shots look artificial in real world use (it looked great in the demo), it should be a handy feature.

The new camera shoots a lot quicker too, thanks to a new image signal processor that’s part of the A11 Bionic chip. It improves pixel processing, captures more colors, speeds autofocus and adds a new feature called “hardware-enabled multi-band noise reduction” that can eliminate a lot of the grain you’d see in low light. “Phone 8 takes fantastic portrait modes, and now you’re going to get more detail and even a more natural bokeh,” says Schiller.

Video also gets a boost, with 60 fps 4K and 240 fps slow-mo available at a full 1080p. There’s also a new, third video category called “augmented reality.” Since video is a key part of of its ARKit platform, it should help developers create even more of the wild experiments going on right now.

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Apple’s Face ID replaces Touch ID on the iPhone X

Apple has just revealed Face ID, a new facial recognition feature that will make its debut on the iPhone X. The technology is powered by what the company calls a TrueDepth camera system, which is made up of a bunch of sensors that detect your face, even in the dark, and let you unlock your iPhone by simply looking at it. Altogether, Face ID uses ambient light, infrared and proximity sensors, as well as a flood illuminator, speaker, microphone and, of course, the front camera to make the “magic” happen. Meanwhile, a newly minted, dual-core A11 Bionic neural engine will process that information.

Naturally, since there’s no longer a home button with Touch ID, you’ll use Face ID for your Apple Pay transactions. Apple says not to worry about randoms trying to get into your phone, as iPhone X can’t be spoofed by photos and all the data processing is done on the device itself. That means everything is encrypted and none of your info is sent to the cloud. According to Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, the chances of someone stealing access to your iPhone X is one in a million, compared to one in fifty thousand with Touch ID.

But what if your look changes over time? Like, say, you grow a beard or suddenly start wearing a cowboy hat… well, Schiller says Face ID is smart enough to recognize that. We’ll see just how accurate the new feature is when our own Chris Velazco, senior mobile editor, checks out the iPhone X at Apple’s spaceship-looking campus later today. Stay tuned.

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‘Journey’ studio brings a dreamy fantasy game to iOS and Apple TV

At Apple’s iPhone 8 announcement event today, founder of Thatgamecompany Jenova Chen went onstage to introduce a new title coming exclusively to Apple TV: Sky. Calling it a “romantic social adventure game,” players will use the set top box’s remote to control a character careening peacefully through the air.

The game’s simplistic, elemental play looks a lot like Chen’s studio’s previous hits Flow, Flower and Journey, the last of which was released in 2012 to great acclaim. It’s been five years since, which makes it even more curious for the studio to choose Apple TV as a platform for its next big release, which isn’t really known for gaming. But as Chen wrote in the studio’s blog, Sky is “a game specially created to be played, and shared, among loved ones and family. If you can imagine the delight of visiting a theme park where lasting memories are made, we envision Sky will sometimes feel like that.”

By that logic, a family entertainment center like the Apple TV is pretty suitable for Thatgamecompany’s particular flavor of simple, heartfelt narratives — not to mention the iPhone and iPad. But here’s Chen explaining the game’s development:

Sky doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will be “coming soon” for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.

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Source: Thatgamecompany

Apple can turn your facial expressions into animated emojis

It seems that the rumors were true: iPhone X owners can use their phone to map emojis from their facial expressions. They need only select their chosen emoji from a fairly extensive list and the Animoji app will map our eye, mouth and cheek expressions to your animated counterpart. Yes, even the poo emoji.

Once you’ve selected an animoji, the depth-cameras will map the image of, say, a cute panda or unicorn on your face. Then you can record clips of you speaking that’ll directly animate onto the character you’ve chosen.

After you’ve made your recording, you can then send the animojis as video messages or stickers in iMessage, which will be sent to your friends as a looping clip. It appears that, for now, the feature is limited to the iPhone X thanks to its more sophisticated front-facing camera and facial recognition technology.

Like so many of the other features that were on show at the Apple event, details of the animoji app were spilled by the iOS 11 leak last weekend. 9to5Mac first reported on the feature, although back then it wasn’t clear that it was exclusive to the iPhone X.

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Apple’s iPhone 8 and 8 Plus start from £699 in the UK

The iPhone X might have been Apple’s banner handset announcement, but that doesn’t mean the numerical launches are any less important. The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, showcased today, are sturdier, come with a new A11 Bionic processor (which is 25 percent faster than the A10 chip), sport upgraded Retina HD displays, utilise improved dual camera sensors that work better in low light and support a new shooting mode: Portrait Lighting.

It took a while, but the new iPhones also support wireless charging. Apple’s been careful to support the Qi standard, so if you’re switching from an Android device, you might already own the necessary hardware.

When the new handsets go up for pre-order on September 15th there will only be two variants: 64GB and 256GB. The iPhone 8 will set you back £699 and £849, while the iPhone 8 plus will be sold for £799 and £949 respectively. That’s a significant markup on the £599 you might have paid for the iPhone 7.

As is standard for Apple device launches, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will officially launch a week later, meaning you could have one in your hand as soon as September 22nd.

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Facebook’s ‘Donate Now’ button is finally heading to Europe

It’s been about two years since Facebook rolled out the Donate Now button in the US, allowing its users to give money to charities and nonprofits directly through the social media platform. Earlier this year, Facebook expanded its properties to cover personal fundraisers as well. And now, finally, the social media giant has announced that it will be rolling out these features across the UK and Europe.

Until now, if Facebook users in those areas wanted to donate funds, they’d be sent to a third-party site, rather than being able to give money directly. Starting at the end of September, though, charities in the UK, Ireland, Spain, France and Germany will test Facebook’s tools, which will allow them to accept donations directly without sending users away from Facebook, according to The Guardian. The program will roll out to an additional ten countries in October.

It appears as though Facebook is not yet opening the tool to everyone, though. Much like the initial rollout in the US, it looks like donations will be limited to charities and nonprofits only, rather than allowing anyone to raise money. On September 12th, Facebook will open an application process for charities requiring them to submit financial information in order to be approved for the Donate Now button.

It’s surprising that it’s taken this long for Facebook to roll out tools that have been available for over two years in the US. Still, it’s welcome news for charities; after all, Facebook has 2 billion members. That’s a lot of potential donors for these nonprofits.

Source: The Guardian

Apple’s AirPower tech wirelessly charges multiple devices at once

Apple isn’t just adding Qi wireless charging to its latest iPhones; it’s trotting out a charging standard of its own. AirPower is built in partnership with Qi, but can top up multiple devices at once. At the September 12th presentation, Apple illustrated AirPower topping up an iPhone X, an Apple Watch and AirPods (with a new charging case) all at once. That’s more than a little handy if you’re traveling and would rather not lug around multiple adapters and cables. However, you’ll have to wait to try it out.

The company’s own charger won’t arrive until sometime in 2018, you see. As such, you’ll have to use ‘old-fashioned’ Qi chargers from third parties in the meantime. Also, it remains to be seen whether or not AirPower will get wide adoption beyond Apple itself. The wait isn’t a huge deal for most people (the odds are the phone is the only wireless charging device you have), but it’s clear that AirPower is currently more of a nice idea than a practical reality.

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Source: Apple

Apple Watch Series 3 with 4G starts at £399 in the UK

According to Apple, the Apple Watch is already the most popular timepiece in the world. Despite that apparent dominance, the company is introducing two new versions this autumn; the Series 3 and Series 3 with cellular. Yep, Apple is finally launching a 4G-capable smartwatch, meaning you can track your runs, send iMessages and quiz Siri without your iPhone. Both editions have new internals too. Apple has equipped both with a faster dual-core processor and a new W2 chip, which improves WiFi connectivity and power efficiency. There’s also improved heart-rate tracking, which can detect sudden, potentially concerning spikes when you’re not exercising.

A regular Watch 3 will set you back £329 when it launches on September 22nd. If you want that cellular connectivity, you’ll have to fork over an extra £70 and pick up an eSIM plan through EE, which we’ve heard will cost around £25 per month with unlimited data. If that all sounds a little too much, you might want to consider the old Series 1, which now costs £249. While the internal specs are a little outdated, it can still perform most of the same tasks as the Series 3. The outward-facing design is near-identical too, should you want to hide its age with a fancy new band.

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