Taking a look back at the Nexus 5 on its fourth birthday

Happy birthday, old friend 🎉

Every now and then, a gadget comes along that makes a huge impact in the mobile technology market. Apple’s iPhone revolutionized what a smartphone should be in 2007, Samsung’s original Galaxy Note in 2011 brought back the stylus and made big phones commonplace, and LG’s Nexus 5 in 2013 offered the best Android experience the market had seen at that point in time.

The Nexus 5 launched with a starting price of $350, and for that money, you were getting a totally stock build of the all-new Android 4.4 KitKat, wonderfully practical soft-touch plastic body, 4G LTE connectivity, and all of the latest silicon that was currently available. The Nexus 5 offered a lot of what we’d come to expect from a flagship phone in 2013, but it did so at about half the price.

The Nexus 5’s user experience was second-to-none.

However, talking about the Nexus 5 based solely on its spec sheet is the wrong way to handle this conversation. The phone certainly offered an impressive list of tech, but what made the Nexus 5 so special was just how much of a pleasure it was to actually use the device.

Going back to that plastic body, this was easily one of the Nexus 5’s strong suits. There was some initial backlash considering that the Nexus 4 offered an arguably more premium design with its reflective glass back, but any worries or concerns immediately disappeared once people got their hands on the phone.

The Nexus 5 was available in two colors at launch (black and white), and while the white (aka panda) version was clean and attractive with a harder plastic, the black variant was soft and grippy with a crazy amount of texture. This is something you just don’t see in phone design these days, but it made the Nexus 5 comfortable, durable, and even allowed for wireless charging –
something the Pixel 2 doesn’t even offer.

KitKat was a turning point for Android.

Google used the Nexus 5 as its showcase for Android 4.4 KitKat, and this was a huge step for the OS. Android KitKat introduced the world to the Google Now Launcher with Google Now cards on the left side of our home screen, got rid of the Tron aesthetic in favor of a cleaner and flatter design, and smoothed out a lot of the rough edges that’d been present in Android since its inception. KitKat was fast, fluid, and paved the way for the Android that we still know and love with 8.1 Oreo.

However, if Google’s flavor of stock 4.4 KitKat wasn’t your jam, you had no shortage of ROMs to choose from with the Nexus 5. The Nexus 5 had (and still does) one of the most active development communities around, and like many others, was my first foray into the world of rooting and ROMing.

It’s no secret the Nexus 5 was a great phone, and while we’d love to keep gushing over it, we also want to hear about your experiences with the phone. What did you love? What did you hate? How in the world has Google not made a sucessor to that stunning red version?

See you in the comments!

Google Nexus 5

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Newer model: Nexus 5X

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Android ‘Fast Pair’ will quickly connect Bluetooth devices

Android devices now have a new option to quickly sync with smartphones. Today, Google developers announced Fast Pair, a process that quickly discovers using Bluetooth Low Energy and connects over traditional Bluetooth. It’s an obvious competitor to the quick-pairing that Apple introduced last year for its AirPod headphones, but better late than never.

So long as your smartphone or tablet runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow or above and Google Play services 11.7+, it can use Fast Pair. The process bypasses the need to connect by fiddling with settings: Simply put a Fast Pair-equipped device in pairing mode and any Android phone or tablet will get a prompt to connect.

Thus far, only the Google Pixel Buds and Libratone’s Q Adapt On-Ear have Fast Pair equipped, and soon on Plantronics Voyager 8200. Fast Pair functionality is currently rolling out to Android 6.0+ devices.

Source: Android Developer’s Blog

Signal’s secure messaging is now available in a desktop app

You can already use Signal for secure chats on the desktop, but you’ve had to use a Chrome web app to participate in those encrypted conversations. What if you don’t like Chrome, or would just prefer something more elegant than a browser? Signal is ready to help. It just released a stand-alone PC app, Signal Desktop, that offers privacy-minded messaging without heading to the web. The experience isn’t a radical break from what you’ve known before, but it will make sure that you don’t type in the wrong browser tab and reveal your innermost secrets.

The software is available if you’re running at least the 64-bit version of Windows 7, macOS 10.9 Mavericks or a Linux distribution that supports APT (Advanced Package Tool). If you’re using a semi-recent computer, you can probably give it a try. And don’t fret if you’ve already been using the Chrome app: you can import your data into the dedicated program to carry on with business as usual.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Signal

Hilton data breaches lead to $700,000 penalty

The attorneys general of New York and Vermont both announced today that their joint investigation into two Hilton data breaches has resulted in a $700,000 penalty and a promise to strengthen security. In February of 2015, Hilton was made aware of a cybersecurity breach that occurred between November and December of 2014. A second breach that exposed sensitive customer data between April and July of 2015 was uncovered that July, but the company waited until November of that year to inform those affected by the breaches. In all, over 363,000 credit card numbers were exposed.

New York’s and Vermont’s probe into the matter concluded that Hilton took too long to notify its customers of the breach and failed to properly protect their information. The settlement announced today stipulates that New York will receive $400,000 from Hilton while Vermont will receive $300,000. Hilton has also agreed to change its information security program, which includes designating an employee to supervise it, identifying risks to information security as well as implementing risk safeguards and performing regular testing of their effectiveness.

“Businesses have a duty to notify consumers in the event of a breach and protect their personal information as securely as possible,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. “Lax security practices like those we uncovered at Hilton put New Yorkers’ credit card information and other personal data at serious risk. My office will continue to hold businesses accountable for protecting their customers’ personal information.” TJ Donovan, Vermont’s attorney general, said, “We continue to make enforcement of our data breach laws a top priority.”

Via: Reuters

Source: New York Attorney General, Vermont Attorney General

Apple Now Letting Apple IDs With Third-Party Email Addresses Be Updated to Apple Email Addresses

Apple today made a small change to the way Apple IDs work, and for the first time, Apple customers who have an Apple ID that uses a third-party email address can update that Apple ID to use an Apple @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com email address.

Prior to today, an Apple ID that used a third-party email address could be changed to another third-party email address, but there wasn’t an option to use one of the Apple email accounts that are created when an Apple ID is made.

The change was outlined by MacRumors reader Dillon, who sent an email to several executives earlier this month asking for the problem to be changed. Dillon was contacted by Apple Executive Relations last week and was told Apple’s engineering team would look into the problem. He received a second phone call today, letting him know the issue had been fixed. From Dillon:

For a long time if you had an Apple ID that used a 3rd party email address as your Apple ID you were unable to change it to an Apple email address… even if the Apple address was on the same account.

I couple of weeks ago I sent an email addressed to Tim Cook, Craig Federighi, Phil Schiller, and Eddy Cue. I explained the situation and asked if they could fix it. Last week I received an email and phone call from someone at Apple Executive Relations. The women I spoke to told me that the problem would be sent to an engineering team and would be addressed. Today I got another call and email informing me that the issue had been resolved.

I tried it out and sure enough… I can finally set my Apple email as my Apple ID!

Apple’s “Change Your Apple ID” support document was today updated to reflect the updates made to the Apple ID, and it now includes a section confirming a third-party email address can be changed to an @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com email address.

When swapping from a third-party Apple ID email address to an email address ending in @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com, Apple warns that there is no way to change it back to a third-party email account.

If you enter a new Apple ID that ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com, you see a message to confirm. When you change your Apple ID to an @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com account, you can’t change it back to a third-party email account. Your former Apple ID that ends with a third-party email, becomes an additional email address for your Apple ID account.

This should be a welcome change for all Apple customers who have wanted to change their Apple ID addresses to an official Apple email address. Those who want to go ahead and swap should read Apple’s support document and follow all of the steps, which include signing out of all iOS devices before making the change.

Tag: Apple ID
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The world’s most precise scale can measure the exact weight of individual cells

Why it matters to you

Measuring the exact weight of cells could be useful for developing new diagnostic tools in the future.

Digital scales can be pretty darn accurate if you want to check whether you’ve gained a pound or two now that summer’s over and we’re spending less time outside. Something they’re not so good for? Measuring the weight of individual cells, the building blocks that human life is made of, which usually weigh in the vicinity of two or three nanograms. Fortunately, researchers from ETH Zurich, the University of Basel, and University College London have invented a solution: a custom, ultra sensitive scientific scale specifically designed for this task.

“[We have developed] a device that allows, for the first time, researchers to watch the mass of single or multiple cells in real time,” Martínez Martín-David, the scale’s inventor, told Digital Trends. “To do that, a cell is picked up by a microscopic finger known as a cantilever. This microscopic finger oscillates in the atomic scale, stimulated by an intensity modulated blue laser, and the frequency of that movement contains the information about the cell’s mass. The movement of the microscopic finger is detected by using an infrared laser.”

So far, the scale has been used to observe natural phenomena, such as the way that mammalian cells fluctuate mass by around 1 to 4 percent in mere seconds as a way of regulating their total weight. The technology also allows for the manipulation of single cells, which the researchers have been using to infect individual cells with viruses, with the goal of developing new antiviral strategies.

“A longstanding question in biology and medicine has to do with how cells regulate their mass,” Martín-David continued. “Understanding such mechanisms is very important since many diseases are linked to dysregulation of cell mass. However, our knowledge of these mechanisms is still very limited, partially due to the lack of suitable technologies. Hopefully our invention can help in this matter. Moreover, cell mass measurements have a big potential for developing new diagnostics in the future.”

And, heck, for those of us who like to kid ourselves about how well our diets are going, a scale that could tell us we lost a whole 1 percent of a couple of nanograms for taking a short walk is totally something we could sign up for!

A paper describing the research was recently published in the journal Nature.

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The 2011 Mac Mini and iMacs from late 2009 are deemed obsolete by Apple

Why it matters to you

If you own one of the computers affected by this change, you have to resort to a third-party service the next time it needs to be fixed.

As new hardware gets introduced, older models are inevitable rendered obsolete. On Tuesday, October 31, Apple announced that three of its Macs have now passed the point of no return and will no longer receive official repair services or replacement parts.

The systems in question are the Mac Mini from mid-2011 the 21.5-inch iMac from late 2009, and the 27-inch iMac from late 2009, according to 9to5Mac.

It’s worth noting that the situation with the Mac Mini is actually slightly different to that pertaining to the iMac models. It’s being classified as “vintage” rather than “obsolete,” a distinction that is made due to legal restrictions in California and Turkey.

Apple provides service and parts for products for five years after manufacturing ends, as explained on the company’s website. They are then classified as “vintage” for two years, at which point service and parts are only available to customers in California and Turkey. After seven years, products are “obsolete” and all hardware service is discontinued without exception.

The company also announced that the extended warranty that was being offered to owners of the MacBook Pro with a Retina display from 2012 has now come to an end. This particular model was affected by the hardware issues that became collectively known as “staingate.”

The reflective coating applied to the display of the MacBook and MacBook Pro was seen to peel away or otherwise degrade on systems manufactured during a particular timeframe. After widespread complaints, Apple responded, offering replacements on laptops bought as far back as June 2012. The earliest systems are no longer subject to this coverage, but later models will still be replaced.

It’s not surprising to see Apple discontinue its hardware support for older systems. Between ensuring that staff are trained to work with all models and keeping a supply of components that are no longer in use, there are major logistical obstacles that prevent extended service.

Of course, there are still options for people who want to continue using their obsolete hardware. Third-party repairs can do the trick, it might just be a little more difficult than it once was to procure the necessary parts.

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• 26 major iPhone 6 problems and what to do about them
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Sick of walking everywhere? Here are the best electric skateboards money can buy

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: humanity is living in the golden age of rideable technology right now. Over the past few years, electric motors have become smaller and more powerful, while batteries have become more power dense and accessible — two trends that have coalesced and kicked off a renaissance in personal transportation devices. There are almost too many rideables to keep track of anymore, and they seem to get crazier and more advanced with each passing month. So, to help you navigate the increasingly crowded marketplace, we’ve put together this list of the best electric skateboards you can buy right now. Enjoy!

Our pick

Inboard M1

Why you should buy this electric skateboard: The Inboard M1 is the best electric skateboard currently available.

Who it’s for? Avid skaters looking to incorporate a welcome electric assist to their daily grind.

How much will it cost? $1,400

Why we chose the Inboard M1:

Inboard claims that every detail of the M1 is based on the idea of uninhibited flow. This essentially translates to a fluid and responsive ride, one that utilizes two hub motors in the rear wheels instead of your stereotypical gear system or belt-drive. Because of this, you can utilize the M1 like a traditional skateboard without ever having to turn on the motor.

Other hallmarks include the board’s sleek, 14-pound figure and swappable battery system, a feature that means you can jump from one 90-minute session to the next within seconds. The board’s innate Bluetooth connectivity, 10-mile range, and regenerative braking feature — a convenient facet that feeds energy back to the battery for extended life — just help to further justify the lofty price tag. Read more here.

Buy one now from:

Inboard

Best commuter

ZBoard 2 Blue

Why you should buy this electric skateboard: This board has one of the greatest ranges per charge on the market.

Who it’s for? Anyone looking to use their board as a reliable and comfortable means of daily transportation.

How much will it cost? $1,300

Why we chose the ZBoard 2 Blue:

ZBoard is one of the few companies that could care less for a handheld remote — after all, most board sports don’t rely on a throttle for movement. As such, the weight-sensing ZBoard 2 Blue ditches the wireless remote for the company’s patented controls, one in which you lean on corresponding footpads located on the front and the back of the board in order to accelerate and decelerate.

It’s a fairly self-explanatory system that makes use of 1,000W motor and 16-mile range, along with integrated front and rear lighting designed to keep you visible and shed light where you need it most. It’s a bit heavier at 17 pounds, but fortunately, the built-in handles make it easy to lug around when you’re not cruising to and from the boardwalk at a healthy 20 mph. The wide build gives the ZBoard 2 Blue a casual cruiser feel and a pair of handles make towing the board a breeze between trips.

Buy one now from:

ZBoard

Best speed

Marbel 2.0

Why you should buy this electric skateboard: You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more powerful electric skateboard.

Who it’s for? Speed junkies and thrill-seekers.

How much will it cost? $1,600

Why we chose the Marbel 2.0:

At just 10 pounds, the latest Marbel 2.0 model is one of the lightest electric skateboards available, but it’s also no joke when it comes to speed. The slender board capitalizes on a carbon fiber build and a twin drive system (the Marbel 2.0 is also available with a single drive variant) along with a handheld controller that let’s you accelerate or activate the regenerative breaking when need be.

Said power and lightness mean the board can undertake hills (up to a 25 percent incline) and quickly hit the top speed 26 mph — or less, depending on how you set it up via the accompanying mobile app for Android and iOS devices. This latest Marbel iteration comes with a series of vivid LEDs along the front and rear for a little added safety and visibility during night rides. Those who fear the speed wobbles may want to stick with another model on this list, but the seasoned adrenaline junkies among us will certainly appreciate the Marbel 2.0.

Buy one now from:

Marbel

Best design

OneWheel+

Why you should buy this electric skateboard: The OneWheel+ is one of the most enjoyable electric rigs we’ve ever tested.

Who it’s for? Anyone looking for something different in a market brimming with traditional electric skateboards.

How much will it cost? $1,500

Why we chose the OneWheel+:

We checked out the original Onewheel a few years back, and recently got a chance to rip the new-and-improved version around PDX — and although it isn’t what you’d typically consider a traditional skateboard, it’s still one of our favorite rideable gizmos of all time. In fact, the futuristic device functions more like a snowboard or surfboard than it does its four-wheel counterpart. The 2-horsepower deck is essentially made up of up split platform and a lone all-terrain wheel, each of which utilize a slew of onboard motion sensors and dynamic stabilization to give better your balance and control.

Simply shifting your weight allows you to propel forward or back, and because of the ruggedness of the central tire, you can forge your own path just as easily on grass-lined hills as on sidewalks. The board’s 7-mile range and top speed of 15 mph merely comes second to the software, given the latter lets you to adjust how the sensors, gyros, and motor work in tangent with one another. Want to go faster? There’s an app for that.

Buy one now from:

OneWheel

Best budget board

Blink Lite

Why you should buy this electric skateboard: The Blink Lite is the best budget electric skateboards out there.

Who it’s for? Those looking to test the electric skateboard waters without going all in on a high-end model.

How much will it cost? $300

Why we chose the Blink Lite:

While frequent skaters may prefer to invest in a premium electric skateboard, individuals who use their board less often or primarily on the weekends may want to start with a budget option. That said, the Blink Lite, is a lot less expensive than many of the others on this list — which is perfect for someone looking for a more casual way to get around town. Weighing just 7.7 pounds, ACTON Global’s is one of the lightest electric skateboards out right now. It’s maximum power output is just over half of the regular Blink Board, but its range is just 1.5 miles short, standing at 5 miles.

One of the neater features is actually off the board — ACTON allows its Blink Board users to connect to the ACTON app, available in both the Apple app store and Google Play store, to log miles, record routes, and document adventures. You can even participate in challenges against other riders. The Leafboard is another worthy skateboard if you’re in the market for a solid economical model.

Buy one now from:

Acton

Smoothest Ride

Boosted 2 Dual+

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Why you should buy this electric skateboard: Boosted’s flagship board offers one of the smoothest, most polished riding experiences in the biz.

Who it’s for? Anybody. Beginners and pros alike will enjoy this board

How much will it cost? $1,500

Why we chose the Boosted 2 Dual+:

In addition to Boosted’s fantastic handheld throttle mechanism, the board’s motors are exquisitely well-tuned — so much so that we dare say they offer the smoothest acceleration and deceleration of any electric board we’ve ever ridden. On most boards, you’ll experience a bit of a jarring effect when you hit the throttle or brakes, no matter how hard or soft you try to accelerate. This is especially pronounced when starting from a dead stop. More often than not, the average board will speed up too quickly for your muscles to adjust, thereby throwing you off balance — but we experienced no such effect with the Boosted 2 Dual+. Bringing yourself to a gentle stop doesn’t require an ultra-delicate touch on the decelerator. You can actually mash the brakes fairly hard without flying off the front of your board, because the motors slow you down in a gradual (but still strong) way.

As an added bonus, the board’s software can be tuned to suit different users. If you’re a beginner, you can limit the board to a top speed of 11 mph, and make acceleration/deceleration even more gradual than it usually is. If you want a bit more speed, but don’t want to eat up all your battery power, just put the board in Eco mode; it’ll top out at 16 mph, but leave you enough oomph to power up moderately-sized hills. And if you’re a real ripper, you can kick the board into either Pro or Expert modes — both of which will get you up to (or over) 20 miles per hour. Toggling between these modes is as easy as pressing a button on the controller.

Buy one now from:

Boosted Boards

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Turn Hangouts into business meetings with Google’s new hardware suite

Why it matters to you

Google’s new Hangouts Meet hardware aims to make virtual meetings better than a web cam with intelligent features.

Google Hangouts Meet is designed to transform the typical Hangout into a chat system for businesses and now the platform has the hardware to match. On Tuesday, October 31, Google announced the Hangouts Meet hardware, a set of tools for video chats for businesses, with a touchscreen controller, speaker mic, 4K camera and the Asus Chromebox.

Together, the system works as a way for businesses to allow video meetings without the low quality of a webcam but also without the complex set up of more advanced systems. Along with integration into Google Hangouts video chat, the system is also integrated with Google Calendar, with options to view the meeting or join a scheduled meeting with a tap on the touchscreen.  G Suite Enterprise customers can also save the recording to Google Drive.

Video is recorded through the Huddly Go, a 4K camera with a 120-degree angle that allows more meeting participants to fit in the field of view without crowding around each other. But besides the resolution and field of view, the Huddly Go uses machine learning to adapt to the number of people actually in that virtual meeting. Huddly said that the camera recognizes how many people are in the frame, then automatically adjusts the lighting and volume. That same software can also detect who is talking and use digital zoom and tilt to frame the speaker.

Huddly says that the camera’s wide-angle view, small design, and software coupled with an API program allowed for easy integration led to the camera’s inclusion on the hardware suite.

The camera is controlled through the touchscreen, along with options for presenting through a laptop using the HDMI port. Google designed the speaker mic with a focus on eliminating echoes and background noise. Up to five of the mics can be used with the system for larger meetings. An Asus Chromebox brings it all together, including automatic hardware updates.

The announcement also comes with new features for G Suite Enterprise, including meetings up to 50 people, more countries on the dial-in option and recording meetings to Google Drive.

“We are very excited about the new Hangouts Meet hardware, particularly the easy-to-use touchscreen,” Bradley Rhodes, an IT analyst at Woolworths Limited, said in a statement. “The enhancements greatly improve the user experience and simplify our meeting rooms. We have also seen it create new ways for our team to collaborate, like via the touch-to-record functionality which allows absent participants to catch up more effectively.”

The new hardware set retails for $1,999 for the entire suite. The Huddly Go camera also sells for $499 separately.

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Opinion: iPhone X? Nah. Here’s why I’m recommending the iPhone 6S

iPhone X? Pshaw. You don’t need it. Heck, most people don’t need it. In fact, when a friend asked me recently what he should buy, I pointed him toward a different phone. Not the iPhone 8, nor even the iPhone 7, which are both damn good options.

I pointed him toward the iPhone 6S. I’m not crazy, and I’m not alone. Digital Trends’ Senior Editor Caleb Denison bought a new iPhone last month: An iPhone 6S, knowing full well not one but two new iPhones were imminent. Here’s why.

Apple as a company has been on a tear recently, with gargantuan profits fueled by continued demand and increased sales of its flagship product — the iPhone line of smartphones. Like any commodity, the company unveils tiny tweaks to its product every year to juice sales without really changing the overall experience. This year’s Levi’s are a lot like last year’s Levi’s, and a new line of healthier modern options from Campbell’s (like Black Bean with Red Quinoa – yum!) doesn’t affect availability of classics like chicken noodle soup. For the most part, today’s iPhones are a lot like last year’s iPhones.

You’re easily looking at a $1,500 bill – all to impress your friends with your top of the line, cutting edge phone.

I know, the iPhone X changes that paradigm. It’s got a stunning new screen with OLED technology, meaning the blacks are even blacker and the colors are as vibrant as that neon ski jacket you thought was cool back in 1987. It has a new feature that unlocks the phone by scanning your face, which should simplify life (although our review notes it’s not as consistent as we’d like it to be). The iPhone X sounds great. Smartphone savant Julian Chokkattu called it “the breath of fresh air Apple fans were waiting for.”

But do YOU need it?

For one thing, you’ll pay an incredible premium, largely for the fancy OLED screen in the iPhone X. The iPhone starts at $1,000, and the higher storage model sells for $1,150. Toss in the new case you’re going to need, the wireless charger you’re going to want, some taxes, and you’re easily looking at a $1,500 bill – all to impress your friends with your top of the line, cutting edge phone.

“I want this,” a friend asked me a week or two ago. “I do … don’t I?”

I told him he wanted new Levi’s (his old ones had a big hole in the crotch). But as an upgrade to his cracked iPhone 5, the iPhone 6S is a fantastic option. Consider for starters the fact that it’s less than half as much as the iPhone X. You can buy a 32GB model from Apple for $450. Given how long this form factor has existed, there’s a vast array of cases to choose from at far more affordable prices.

Cutting edge flagship phones from Apple, Samsung, LG, and Google are aimed at a certain crowd of technosnobs, elite power users that DO take 4K videos and  ONLY pay using NFC communication. For the bulk of Americans, those features and phones are neat to read about, but cheaper mainstream tech is just as useful. The iPhone 6S was itself a flagship phone just two years ago: It boosted battery life over earlier models and added the 3D Touch feature that Apple’s still working to get developers to support. You think these same developers are going to leap to support new features in the X that only a fraction of users will have access to in the next 12 months?

For the most part, today’s iPhones are a lot like last year’s iPhones.

Oh, and about all the new features you’ll be missing in the 7 and 8 and X? Meh, I say. Apple hasn’t really done much to transform its flagship product over the years. Yes, newer models are faster and more powerful, but the 6S was a damn good phone. The 7 looked identical, improved the camera in ways many users will never notice, and annoyed the hell out of most people by removing the headphone jack – an act of “courage” according  to Apple that many viewed as a slap in the face.

The iPhone 8 looks identical to the 6S, improved the camera in marginal ways many users will never notice, and again will annoy you by not having a headphone jack. Yes, it adds wireless charging, which is convenient. But at the end of the day, you’re probably fine plugging your phone into a cable on your nightstand, right?

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Besides, a great deal of the improved features and functionality come in software upgrades to iOS 10 and the new iOS 11, including futuristic stuff like the ARKit software everyone’s buzzing about. Certain features will not be supported on earlier models, of course, so you won’t be able to shoot in HEIF and HEVC format, but your photos will still be damn good. The iPhone is the world’s most popular camera for a reason, after all. You won’t be able to send Animojis to your friends, and I can only imagine how disappointed your friends will be about this.

Apple’s iOS 11 runs just great on that iPhone 6S you’re about to buy. It also runs on the 6, and the SE, and even on the iPhone 5S.

But I don’t you think you should buy a 5S. What are you, a luddite or something?

Editor’s Recommendations

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• Apple iPhone 8 review
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The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not reflect the beliefs of Digital Trends.