Is Face ID actually faster than Touch ID? This scientific test finds out

If you weren’t already aware, the newly-launched iPhone X did away with the home button found on previous iPhone models. Because of this, the device relies heavily on Apple’s new facial recognition system, which allows you to unlock your phone, download apps from the App Store, and accomplish a variety of other tasks. However, despite incorporating the latest tech, the new system doesn’t actually appear to be faster than Touch ID.

Using an iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X, we pitted Face ID against Touch ID in a number of real-life scenarios, allowing us to determine which system is quicker at unlocking your phone. The results aren’t game-changing by any means — Touch ID seems to be only slightly faster than Face ID — but they are noteworthy, and something to consider if you are thinking of upgrading to Apple’s latest headset.

Here’s how the speed test broke down

Standing
Touch ID was only slightly faster than Face ID.
Apple Pay
Face ID lagged behind Touch ID quite a bit.
Downloading an app
The same result as Apple Play.
Walking
The same result as standing.
Running
The same result as standing and walking.
Riding a bike
Touch ID was not only faster, it was safer because you didn’t have to look down at your phone while biking. Because of the safety aspect, this may be the only clear-cut example of where Touch ID is better than Face ID.

Note: Touch ID was used on the iPhone 8 Plus while Face ID was used with the iPhone X.

Although Touch ID appears to be slightly faster, it should be noted that it’s hard to ascertain exactly when Face ID starts to work. Overall, however, Touch ID is still faster compared when compared with Face ID, namely because it utilizes quicker technology.

Still, Face ID does work as intended, and that is more important than anything else. Plus, will saving a few seconds actually make a noticeable difference in your life? If you’re being honest, probably not. Personal preference obviously plays a big part into what unlocking method you actually prefer, however, and that will factor into your decision to get the iPhone X.

David Cogen — a regular contributor here at Digital Trends — runs TheUnlockr, a popular tech blog that focuses on tech news, tips and tricks, and the latest tech. You can also find him on Twitter discussing the latest tech trends.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Apple rumored to ditch Touch ID on 2018 iPhone lineup, will replace with Face ID
• Company claims their mask can beat Apple iPhone X Face ID
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• iPhone X users can now use Face ID to make purchases on eBay
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Samsung’s W2018 combines the best features of smartphones and flip phones

Do you miss the flip phones of the ’90s and early 2000s? There are plenty of people who are nostalgic for the design, even if they don’t want to give up the convenience and power of modern phones. Well, Samsung’s W2018 will give users the best of both worlds, though it’s currently only been announced in China.

The W2018 is an interesting piece of hardware that combines a flip phone with a modern smartphone to make a truly unique device. The phone features a 4.2-inch outer display and a 4.2-inch inner display. The dual screens are nice, but the really neat feature is that this phone features a physical dial-pad and directional buttons. Additionally, it offers modern features such as Bixby support and a fingerprint reader on the back of the device.

In terms of internal hardware, the phone offers specs similar to current Galaxy S8, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and 6GB of RAM. One difference between this and the standard S8, aside from the obvious design changes, is the camera. The W2018 offers rear-facing 12-megapixel 1.5 aperture camera with Optical Image Stabilization. This means that, when taking photos in well-lit areas, the camera will switch to 2.4 aperture, and in low-light, it will have an aperture of 1.5. This should allow users to get better pictures when the lights are dim.

The phone does have one major downside, and that’s the price. If you thought the iPhone X was a bit too much, the W2018’s will likely be even worse. The W2017 cost $3,000 and we expect this one to cost about as much, if not more. Aside from a unique flip smartphone, Samsung is offering some unique perks with this phone such as concierge service at subways and airports, free software support, and services at a reduced cost.

As of now, the phone is set to launch in China and there’s no official word on whether or not we’ll see a release in other markets. If so, the price will likely be high enough to ensure that it remains a niche product, even it does see a wider release.

This isn’t the first smart flip phone that Samsung has released. The models remain popular in Asia and Samsung announced the Leader 8 earlier this year.

Editors’ Recommendations

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• Check out our favorite iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus case deals

From the Editor’s Desk: Galaxy S9 at CES, and other surprising things

It makes sense for Samsung to tease its next major phone announcement in January, but don’t expect any big reveals until a few months into 2018.

Every year, like clockwork, there are rumors that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S flagship might be making an early appearance, at the CES show in Las Vegas in January. Up to now, that has never happened, for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, January just isn’t a great time to announce a smartphone. (With the exception of the original iPhone back in 2007, I guess.) And it also comes at an awkward time in terms of the technology — for the past several years, Qualcomm’s new silicon has landed in early spring. (We’ve seen nothing so far to suggest the upcoming Snapdragon 845 will be any different.) So there’s little to be gained by going early with your announcement, only to have a multi-month run up to real, actual availability.

Normally I’d just laugh at reports that yet again, we might hear about the Samsung Galaxy S9 in Vegas in January, but this year’s rumors have more credibility. VentureBeat’s Evan Blass reports that the Galaxy S9 and S9+ will make a “first public appearance” at the show, while noting that a separate launch event is planned for sometime in March.

Blass has a solid, reliable track record that elevates his report above the usual supply chain soothsaying, and the nuance of what he’s claiming may happen actually does make a lot of sense.

The final release timing of the Galaxy S9 might not be all that different to previous release cycles — early spring for most of us — but there are benefits to Samsung kicking off the hype cycle a little earlier in the year. The immediate post-holiday period surely isn’t a huge sales month for Galaxy phones, with the initial glut of Note 8 sales having already taken place, and informed buyers already anticipating next-gen Galaxy S models. What’s more, the momentum is with Apple right now, on the back of a successful iPhone X launch.

By giving a surprising, early (though likely very fleeting) glimpse of the Galaxy S9 in January, Samsung will be hoping to reclaim some of that momentum from its main rival. That kind of mini-reveal at that point in the year gets people talking about Samsung again, with minimal impact on sales of existing models.

Samsung has a long track record of teasing upcoming launch events at other, smaller events. (The Galaxy S8 and Gear S2 are a couple of recent announcements.) Other phone makers like Huawei have also gotten in on the pre-announcement trend of late, taking to the stage at IFA 2017 in September to pre-announce the Mate 10 series, a month and a half ahead of the phones’ proper launch event.

At a minimum, Samsung will set the ball rolling and make sure we all know the S9 is coming in a couple of months. At most, it might take the unprecedented step of showing an outline or silhouette of the S9 series, perhaps giving away one or two features.

But don’t expect much substance. Samsung will be saving the good stuff for the real launch event a couple months later. (After all, Samsung can’t start actually shipping phones until major components, like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 platform, are ready to go.)

A brief, tantalizing glimpse of the S9 could be accompanied by a more thorough reveal of the foldable Galaxy X.

This kind of pre-announcement announcement works best as part of a one-two punch, which leads me to the other thing I expect to see out of Samsung at CES — the long-awaited, heavily rumoured Galaxy X “foldable” phone. The most recent info we have on this unicorn of a phone points to something along the lines of the Axon M. (Only hopefully less terrible.) So this won’t be a true foldable OLED panel, but instead a combination of two bezelless screens in a clamshell device.

Even if, as reports suggest, the Galaxy X is a one-off concept device a la Galaxy Round, it’d work as part of a strategy that focuses the conversation on smartphone innovation on Samsung in the two months preceding its biggest product launch of the year. That’s particularly important given that we’re expecting this to be a “tock” year for the Galaxy S line, with largely iterative improvements on the S8.

An earlier-than-expected teaser for the next big phone you’ll actually be able to buy, combined with an on-stage reveal for a long-awaited concept device, absolutely makes sense for Samsung at CES. Given that the show has been hit and miss for big phone news in recent years, Samsung also won’t have to work too hard for media and public attention.

Who knows whether any of that will actually happen — but I think there’s at least a plausible chance. We’ll find out for sure in just over a month.

Other odds and ends as we move into the home stretch of the year:

• I’ve been using the HTC U11 Plus in Taiwan for the past couple of weeks. (The phone remains elusive in Europe, but should be going on sale there sometime in December.) Our full review should be going live any day now, but you can get a feel for what I think in our review. The short version is that this is the phone HTC should’ve released six months ago.
• I’ve said before that I expect 2018 to be a make-or-break year for HTC — a year in which we’ll learn whether the company still wants to try and carve out a niche for its own-branded smartphones, or whether the future of the firm is as a glorified ODM. The quality of the U11+ gives me hope, but HTC still faces challenges in terms of scale, visibility and marketing.
• We’ll be in London for the global launch of the Honor 7X — and, if the rumors are to be believed, possibly the Honor V10 as well. The 7X looks like a solid phone, and the trade-offs in this year’s model — no NFC, microSD — aren’t major deal-breakers at this price.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back in a few weeks for a pre-holiday Editor’s Desk.

-Alex

The best Chromecast speaker

By Brent Butterworth

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.

After a blind listening test and more than 40 hours of casual use with a variety of speakers, we think the JBL Playlist is the best Chromecast speaker for most people. It sounds good and looks great, and is priced low enough that you can buy several for the price of one high-end Chromecast or competing Wi-Fi speaker.

Why you might want a Chromecast speaker

A Chromecast Audio speaker connects to your home Wi-Fi network, and receives Internet-based audio content from a Chromecast-compatible app on your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Chromecast’s main advantage over the more common Bluetooth standard is that it lets you play the same audio on multiple speakers throughout your home. You can also play music from a phone or tablet on a speaker in another part of your home, and can control it using voice-commands through Google Home. You can also add Chromecast to practically any speaker with a 3.5 mm analog input, using Google’s inexpensive Chromecast Audio dongle.

How we picked and tested

Panelist Phil Metzler contemplates the merits of the design of the various Chromecast speakers after the black cloth was removed to reveal their identities. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

When looking for the best Chromecast speaker, the only feature we insisted on was Google Chromecast (or in the case of our runner-up, the ability to incorporate a Chromecast Audio dongle).

There were a few other features that aren’t really necessary, but we appreciated seeing them anyways:

• Supports for Bluetooth or AirPlay, in addition to Chromecast
• Physical controls for functions like volume or play/pause, for times when you can’t find your phone or the phone’s in a different room
• Ability to be used portably via a rechargeable battery

We ended up with 10 speakers that fit our criteria, at prices ranging from a little over $100 to almost $500. We started by using them in a casual manner, setting each up on our network, and downloading the manufacturer-provided app if there was one. We listened to various models for a few days, then sat down for a few hours to compare their sound.

Next, we called in a listening panel—headphone editor Lauren Dragan and musician Phil Metzler—for a blind test. We concealed all of the speakers with thin black fabric, and then played whatever music Lauren and Phil requested using a Samsung Galaxy S8. We started with each speaker at maximum volume, so they could see what it was capable of, then we adjusted the volume to their liking. After they shared their ratings, we removed the black fabric and considered the products’ design and prices, and Lauren and Phil gave their final picks. The three of us agreed unanimously—in my experience, a rare result for a blind test.

Our pick: JBL Playlist

Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

For our listening panel, the JBL Playlist’s clearer and fuller sound made it the clear standout in its price range. Our testers thought it had a nice presence, with an even balance of bass, midrange, and treble. Besides Chromecast, the Playlist can connect with your devices via Bluetooth or a 3.5 mm audio input. And its simple and elegant design, with easy-to-access control buttons, will fit into any room.

The Playlist was the loudest of the budget-priced models, delivering 2.4 decibels more sound than the Grace Digital CastDock X2 and 3.4 dB more than the cheapest Sonos speaker, the Play:1. Basically, the Playlist gives you about as much extra volume as you’d get by turning up your smartphone’s volume a notch or two.

Runner-up: Grace Digital CastDock X2

Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

If the JBL Playlist isn’t available, or if you want a design that’s a little more compact, we recommend the Grace Digital CastDock X2. It’s a no-frills design with no playback or volume controls, so you have to do everything with your phone. In fact, it doesn’t even come with Chromecast—you have to add your own Chromecast Audio dongle, which as of this writing raises the combined price to only about $20 less than the Playlist. Fortunately, the CastDock X2 is specifically designed to accommodate said dongle. Just pop off the magnetically attached lid, connect the audio and power cables, drop in the dongle and replace the top.

The CastDock X2 sounds amazingly good for such a small, inexpensive product, though the bass was not as nuanced as the JBL Playlist’s. It has a rear 3.5 mm analog input for connecting an MP3 player or other source, and a switch that lets it work as the left or right speaker when two CastDock X2s are paired for stereo.

Upgrade pick: Riva Festival

Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

The Riva Festival sounds better than any Chromecast speaker we tested, but it’s in an entirely different class of product than our other two picks. As of this writing, it was priced more than three times as high as the JBL Playlist, our top pick. But it’s not fair to compare the two, any more than it’s fair to compare a luxury sedan with an econobox. That said, if you want the best sound from a Chromecast speaker under $500, this is the one to get.

The Riva Festival was by far the loudest speaker we tested. In fact, the bass was so powerful and clear that it sounded as if the Festival had a subwoofer built in. The downside is that the bass can get a little too aggressive with some music, and our listening panel noted that it seemed tuned for dance music.

This guide may have been updated by Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

Note from Wirecutter: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.

The first text message was sent 25 years ago

Be prepared to feel ancient — the first text message is 25 years old. Engineer Neil Papworth sent the first SMS on December 3rd, 1992, when he wrote “merry Christmas” on a computer and sent it to the cellphone of Vodafone director Richard Jarvis. It was a modest start, but it ultimately changed technology and even social norms.

It took a long time for SMS to find widespread adoption, both because of the cellular networks themselves (coverage was far from ubiquitous in 1992) and phones whose buttons revolved around dialing rather than typing. But then the smartphone arrived. In the US alone, the volume of messages surged from 12.5 billion per month in 2006 to 45 billion a year later. By June 2017, there were 781 billion messages passing around in the country. Messaging was suddenly easy, and SMS was ready and waiting to take advantage of that newfound freedom.

There’s little doubt that texting has influenced communication in the years since. Where texting was once seen as a rarity or even rude, it’s frequently the first choice for communication — how often are you annoyed when someone calls you instead of sending a brief message? Accordingly, it’s entirely common to see services that are available through SMS, whether it’s ordering pizza or getting music recommendations. Twitter’s original 140-character limit (which was just lifted in November) was built around SMS’ 160-character ceiling to enable tweets in an era before the mobile internet was widely available. The effects of SMS haven’t always been positive (they’ve facilitated spam, for instance), but it’s clear there’s no going back.

The question now is whether or not SMS has a healthy long-term future. The combination of smartphones and near-ubiquitous mobile internet access has led to an explosion of messaging services and social networks that do much more. WhatsApp by itself was delivering 55 billion messages per day as of July, and that’s not including other heavyweights like Facebook Messenger, Apple’s iMessage or Google’s Hangouts. SMS will likely stick around for a long time, as it’s the most practical option for anyone who either can’t get a smartphone or doesn’t live in an area with reliable, affordable mobile data. However, it’s entirely possible that SMS will go the way of GSM, fading away (it’s certainly declining in the UK) as people move to far more sophisticated technology.

Via: CBC

Source: Neil Papworth

Best new songs to stream: Moses Sumney, Ty Segall, Sufjan Stevens, and more

Every week, there are thousands of new songs hitting the airwaves — and it’s just too much for your two ears to handle. With all those options, you can’t be wasting your time on tracks that deserve a thumbs-down click — you want the best new songs to stream right now.

But don’t worry, we’re going to save you the hassle. We listen to some of the most-hyped and interesting songs each week, and tell you which are worthy of your precious listening time.

Here are our five best new songs to stream this week. And don’t forget to subscribe to our Spotify page for a playlist of our weekly picks, which can also be found at the bottom of this post. Not sure which streaming service is best for you? Check out our post about the best music streaming services, or go in depth and learn the differences between Apple Music and Spotify to better weigh your options.

Moses Sumney — Doomed (and more, live at NPR’s Tiny Desk)

Given that singer Moses Sumney‘s debut album Aromanticism ranks among our favorites of the year, we were very excited to listen to this recently released live performance at the NPR offices. The stripped-down and passionate 20-minute performance easily proves why Sumney’s star is quickly on the rise, thanks to gorgeous vocal melodies that drift over an elegant blend of harp, guitar, and keyboard sounds.

Ty Segall — The Main Pretender

The Main Pretender by Ty Segall

Garage rock hero Ty Segall may have already put out an excellent self-titled record this year, but that won’t stop the prolific musician from releasing new tunes. On his latest song, The Main Pretender, we get a healthy dose of Segall’s signature fuzz, with a punchy drumbeat, distorted guitars, and even a shrieking saxophone solo midway through. As with much of the songwriter’s catalog, this one is meant to be played loud.

Sufjan Stevens — The Greatest Gift

Gently plucked strings open up this short and sweet winter single from indie icon Sufjan Stevens, whose soft voice floats gently throughout the 2-minute gem. Hopeful and quiet, this is a warm musical morsel that will raise your spirits even during the coldest, darkest days of the year.

Day Wave — Drag (Live on KCRW)

A crisp drum groove and jangly guitars keep things moving during this brief but memorable cut from Oakland’s Day Wave. One of a few songs the band played during a recent appearance at Southern California’s KCRW radio station, the tune is very well-suited to movement, whether that’s head bobbing along at your desk or taking it with you on your next cold-weather run. We found ourselves particularly enjoying it on the brisk walk home from the office.

Mikko Joensuu — Warning Sign (and more, live on KEXP)

This performance by Finnish musician Mikko Joensuu is one of a few musical gems that was recently recorded by the team at Seattle’s KEXP radio during their time at the Iceland Airwaves festival. The simple folk melody of Joensuu’s opening track Warning Sign is surrounded by a beautiful large ensemble, with layered strings, background vocals, and supple guitar  joining together in powerful harmony.

That’s it for now, but tune in next week for more songs to stream, and check out the playlist loaded with our recent selections below:

Editors’ Recommendations

• Best new songs to stream: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sufjan Stevens, and more
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• Best new songs to stream: Chance The Rapper, Ty Segall, and more
• These are the 50 best albums of 2017
• Best new songs to stream: Radiohead, Weezer, Son Little, and more

Microsoft reveals plans for massive new expansion of its Redmond campus

As if having meetings in treehouses wasn’t enough, Microsoft has announced  an ambitious new renovation of its flagship Redmond campus (home to 47,000 employees) on its company blog. It’s the biggest redevelopment project in the company’s history, and it will take five to seven years to complete.

“We have a new generation of employees,” said Brad Smith of Microsoft at the annual shareholders meeting. “So it’s only fitting — in fact, it’s essential — that this new generation of employees have this new generation of work space where they too can do their best work.”

Google Earth

Originally a chicken ranch, the site was later purchased for a shopping mall project that never materialized, and then acquired by Microsoft in the 1980s. Named “88 Acres,” the headquarters, with four two-story iconic “X-wing” buildings surrounding “Lake Bill,” opened in 1986, a few weeks before the company went public and a year after releasing the first Windows OS.

Those four buildings will be coming down, along with eight others, to make space for 18 new office buildings with room for an additional 8,000 workers.

oogle Earth

In an interview with Geek Wire, Smith said, “It’s going to be a working environment that we believe is going to foster creativity and teamwork and informality and the ability of people to connect with and learn from each other and connect with our customers.”

The new design will be very pedestrian- and bike-friendly, with a walkway over the nearby freeway and parking relocated underground. New soccer and cricket fields will be added, and a central plaza will allow 8,000 to 12,000 people to gather outdoors for presentations, meetings, or even musical performances.

Also central to Microsoft’s plans is the availability of public transportation, with the planned extension of light rail from Seattle to Redmond, cutting the commute time to 30 minutes. Microsoft has a $33.3 million funding agreement with Sound Transit for the construction of the light rail station and the new pedestrian bridge.

This announcement comes on the heels of Apple’s new “spaceship” headquarters that recently opened in Cupertino and a new campus for Google. Expedia, another tech giant headquartered in Seattle, is planning an eye-catching new headquarters on the Seattle waterfront. The new development is embracing Microsoft’s rural roots, with additional green space and a focus on sustainability.

“I think one would be hard-pressed to find any company anywhere in the world that can look to an asset that can match this,” Smith said of the Redmond campus. “We think it’s one of the crown jewels for Microsoft; we think it’s one of the crown jewels for Puget Sound.”

“Clearly, this is no longer a chicken farm,” he added.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Microsoft built treehouse workspaces for its employees at the Washington campus
• Vertical forests are returning nature to cities, one skyscraper at a time
• Researcher: Supposedly secure Wi-Fi networks vulnerable to ‘KRACK’ attack
• Apple’s ‘Steve Jobs Theater’ looks stunning for next week’s iPhone event
• Microsoft job listing hints at Surface device with a Snapdragon 845 chip

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Razer Phone’s camera app gets a performing enhancing update

One of the biggest flaws with the Razer Phone is the camera.

It’s lacking in just about every area, especially the app Razer built to go with it. And now, at last, the first post-launch update to the Razer Camera app has pushed out.

Don’t get too excited about it though, as this is simply a performance-enhancing and bug fixing update. There are no new features added, so we’re still in barebones town when it comes to using the camera.

I’ve been using the Razer Phone for a month now and coupled with the OTA update the phone received around public launch better camera performance would certainly be expected. However, one thing that’s still pretty rough is the seamless zoom using the telephoto lens. It’s still really jerky and doesn’t feel improved in any way. Honestly, Razer, please just give us a button to switch between lenses. That would be best right now.

It’s too early to tell if there is any noticeable improvement in photos so we’ll need to play around with it for a couple of days to get a feel for it. But if you’re a Razer Phone owner (and you didn’t already load up a different camera app) hit the Play Store and grab it now.

After Math: Hello from the auto show

With Thanksgiving already in the rearview and New Years still on the horizon, you know what time it is: it’s auto show season! Engadget just wrapped up a week of reporting from the Los Angeles auto show and have plenty of posts to show for it. Volvo unveiled their subscription-based car service, VW showed off their all-electric crossover, and Desert Bus got itself a VR makeover. Numbers, because how else will you know how long it’ll be until we get there?

$600: That’s how much it’ll cost you a month to own a Volvo XC40 — including tax, insurance and the company’s 24/7 concierge service. All you’ll have to pay for is gas.

310 miles: That’s how far the upcoming Tesla Model 3 will be able to travel on a single charge, according to recently released EPA estimates. You just need to pony up $44,000 for it.

12 minutes: That’s how long Samsung’s new graphene-infused lithium ion batteries take to fully charge. Even better, these batteries will offer 45 percent more capacity than similarly-sized alternatives.

302 Horsepower: That’s how many ponies the upcoming VW I.D. Crozz electric vehicle will offer when it hits dealer show floors in 2020. Hopefully they’ll be able to do something about the name before then.

8 Hours: That’s how long you’ll spend in a digital tour bus trekking from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in Desert Bus, now in glorious virtual reality! Go ahead, honk that horn.

4 million: That’s how many simulated miles Waymo’s self-driving vehicles have racked up in the course of their development — a quarter of which they managed in just the last six months!