Yes, Apple is slowing down your old iPhone. But if you’re angry, you’re crazy

It’s true, there is a “feature” on your iPhone that slows it down over time. This isn’t a conspiracy theory anymore, Apple has said so after a researcher for Geekbench, and others before it, illustrated how much slower an aging iPhone 6S was compared to a sparking new iPhone 6S. Apple, most likely through gritted teeth, revealed the presence of algorithms that manage processing power on iPhone devices with batteries that are in poor condition.

Apple throttles the eager chip to avoid unexpected device shutdowns due to the processor asking too much of a doddering old battery. The iPhone remains active, just not performing at its best. If you own an iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, or an iPhone SE then it’s already embedded inside the software, ready to spring into action when the day comes. It’s also coming to the iPhone 7 as part of iOS 11.2, and presumably to other iPhones in the future.

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Planned obsolescence is real, Apple is actively pushing it, and we’ve been tricked into buying a phone that will absolutely need replacing in the future because Apple’s making it that way. Why weren’t we told? We needed that information to make an informed buying decision! Batteries last forever, right? After all, I planned to keep my current iPhone for at least two decades, and I expected it to be as spritely on day 12,875 as it was on day 1.

Chemistry 101

Settle down and stop being so 2017 about it. Apple was stuck between the internet and a hard place on this. Those crying about transparency would have been the same ones crying over said transparency if Apple had talked about this before it was forced to. Apple, like every business out there, was hardly going to make a big deal — and it would have been a big deal however the news was revealed — over what would have inevitably been construed as admission of fault in its hardware.

Planned obsolescence is real, Apple is actively pushing it.

Except it’s not a fault. It’s chemistry. Batteries don’t supply infinite power at a steady rate, they get less efficient over time because we’re right on the limit of what a Lithium-Ion battery can do. Add in our regular abuses of the battery, whether it’s running it out until the phone switches off, then using every charger to hand — fast chargers, battery packs, third-party chargers, in-car chargers — to top up the battery a little every day, and it’s perhaps surprising they last as long as they do.

Anyone complaining about the slowdown would also be complaining if the phone kept shutting down unexpectedly each day. Understandably so, especially if they were right in the middle of an angry tweet or Reddit post. Apple’s solution — yes, solution — avoids that, and the world will just have to wait a while longer to read said angry tirade because switching between apps took a few seconds more than it did six months ago.

If anything, Apple’s algorithm and throttling of old iPhones proves again how desperate the technology industry is for new, improved batteries. We’ve been waiting for years, and since a viable alternative hasn’t arrived yet, we’re left with clandestine software “features” making our old phones feel even older.

The solution no-one wants

Except we’re not. There’s a cure. It’s not expensive, it can be done in your Apple Store, and it’ll return your iPhone to tiptop condition. It’s called a new battery, and it costs from $80, depending on your phone. Tests have shown this stops the throttling, and as a wonderful surprise, your phone will last longer between charges too.

But that’s not good enough. CNBC’s Todd Haselton says Apple should offer one free “goodwill” battery swap to all those affected. Why, exactly? Companies (and people, if they cared to admit it) know the battery is the weak link in a phone, and many don’t even cover the cell for the entirety of its device warranty. Apple is one of the good guys, and covers it for a year. Honor, for example, covers the battery and charger for six months, while the phone is covered for 24 months. Demanding a freebie is like asking for free car tires because you spent hours doing donuts in the car park, and now they’re a bit bald.

How about the iOS equivalent of a check engine light?

Apple says its batteries are designed to retain 80 percent capacity for at least 500 charging cycles, which should take a couple of years to reach under normal use. At that time, if Apple’s throttling has kicked in, you can go and get a new battery fitted and everything will be fine. If it’s within a year, then you’ll probably get it under warranty.

But you don’t want to do that, and you never have either, right? We don’t want to know slowdown is due to natural degradation of the battery. We don’t want an easy and cheap fix, or a free battery replacement. We want to whinge and moan as we wander off to our nearest Apple Store, begrudgingly ordering a new iPhone because “the old one has got so slow.” You’ll swear it’s a conspiracy, and bask in the joy of the dopamine hit as the Genius hands over your shiny new model. “See you in 24 months,” you’ll imagine he slyly whispers as you leave the store.

Replacing the battery is boring. Conspiracy theories about slowdown and planned obsolescence, or just ignorance of the entire problem, are simply used as an excuse to upgrade. Which, if we’re honest with ourselves, we all want to do anyway.

Check your iPhone’s engine

Apple still needs to manage this situation now, so how does it get out of this and placate the angry mob? Now it has told us all about the throttling, because it was forced to, we’d suggest owning it. Not with great big notifications on the phone saying it’s throttling, or that the battery is coming to the end of its life, because those would be hateful. Instead, how about the iOS equivalent of a check engine light? A little indicator alongside the battery level meter that appears once 500 cycles have elapsed, or throttling kicks in early due to a duff battery.

When a car goes into limp home mode, or the check engine light comes on, we usually take it back to the dealer for a service. Why shouldn’t we do the same with a phone? Transparency achieved, and a hidden, misunderstood “feature” is turned into something helpful. All without much of a fuss. Ultimately, we want to understand why these things happen, and not feel as if we’re going mad because our phones do feel slower over time.

Imagine the happiness (and justification) of seeing the “time to upgrade” icon flash up on your old iPhone. The day has come, and you can point it out to everyone you meet. “Oh no, I need a new phone,” you’ll tut. It won’t actually mean that, but that’s what you’ll read into it. Will that make you feel better?

Alternatively, buy an Android phone and enjoy the eventual slowdown without anything being done about it at all.

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Chinese ridesharing service Didi Chuxing to use new funding to go international

While Uber’s troubles continue to grow and multiply, one of its largest rivals appears to be flourishing. On Thursday, December 21, Chinese company Didi Chuxing, which merged with Uber last year to become the primary ridesharing service in the country, announced its intentions to expand internationally with a new $4 billion funding round. The new cash influx will not only help the company expand its footprint outside of China, but will also help “scale up investments in A.I. talents and technologies,” which the firm will use to bolster its intelligent (read self-driving) capabilities, Didi noted in a press release.

Seeking to “bring more innovative and diversified transportation services to broader communities around the world,” the burgeoning transportation giant noted that it would also “embark on initiatives in building new energy vehicle service networks, as part of the company’s efforts to lead the transformation of automobile and transportation industries and work toward global energy interconnection.”

Investors include Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi state fund, and Japan’s SoftBank, which also recently invested in Uber. The decision by international forces to back Didi seems to suggest the companies growing influence beyond its home market, which could spell trouble for U.S.-based ridesharing services.

While Uber still boasts a higher valuation at $70 billion, Didi’s latest funding round brings its own valuation to $56 billion, per a New York Times source. And given Uber’s current troubles and Didi’s upward trajectory (it was valued at $50 billion just a few months ago), the Chinese company could overtake its American rival.

That said, we shouldn’t be expecting to see Didi cars on American highways anytime soon. While the new funding is said to help the company expand beyond Chinese borders, it seems as though the company may first focus on other Asian markets. For example, Didi recently noted that it was planning on bringing its services to Taiwan via a local partner. All the same, just because Didi may not be operating in other countries doesn’t mean it doesn’t already have an international presence in other respects — the company has invested in a number of other ridesharing firms, including Lyft, Taxify, Careem, Ola, and Grab; these companies operate in the U.S., Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia.

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HDR monitors are here, but don’t get your wallet out yet

HDR. These three letters, which stand for “high dynamic range,” are the key technology you need to look for when buying a new television. HDR is, as we’ve explained in the past, a huge leap forward, perhaps even surpassing 4K in importance.

You can understand then why we were stoked to see HDR monitors appear this year. Monitors still lag HDTVs in image quality by no small margin, so it was great to see a key feature of cutting-edge TVs appear in monitors. But, as it turns out, the feature’s not all it should be.

The monitors themselves are partly to blame. Monitors have always been a step behind the image quality of televisions — and that hasn’t changed. Even the best monitors, like the Samsung CF791 and LG 32UD99-W, struggle to exceed a contrast ratio of 2000:1 or a maximum luminance above 500 nits. That does allow for some improvement, as standard dynamic range (SDR) content loses detail above about 200 nits, but the best HDTVs can exceed well over 1,000 nits.

You can see the difference with ease. HDR-mastered content shows more detail on an HDR monitor, but bright scenes can still appear as sheets of white. A good HDTV will tease out details these monitors can’t handle.

But it’s not just the monitors that are blame. What you can view on them is an issue, too. Most streaming services do support HDR, but that doesn’t mean everything they show does. Selection is limited. It’s a similar situation with games.

Worse, Windows 10 is extremely finicky about how it handles HDR. There are situations where HDR will only be available only with HDR turned on in Windows 10’s settings – but turning that on can mess with how other apps look, as they’re not developed with HDR in mind. Outside of games, you’ll typically have to flip the system-wide HDR switch on or off manually, which quickly becomes annoying.

I’m not saying HDR is worse. It looks good in a few, rare cases – gamers being the most likely to enjoy it. It’s not the reason to buy one monitor or another though, and most of the monitors that offer it seem to charge a premium for it. You’re better off spending your money on a feature that you can appreciate all the time, like 4K resolution or a wider color gamut.

We hope to see more capable monitors at CES 2018, and hope Microsoft can improve Windows 10’s lackluster HDR support.

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Cracked screens may be a thing of the past with this self-healing glass

If shelling out hundreds of dollars to replace the cracked screen of the smartphone you already paid hundreds of dollars for doesn’t exactly sound like your idea of fun, we may have some good news for you. A team of Japanese researchers claims to have created a new self-healing kind of glass that just might be the antidote to your butterfingers. The glass is constructed with a light polymer known as “polyether-thioureas,” and is said to be capable of fixing cracks and breaks without needing any sort of high heat. In fact, you need only to press the glass together to mend it, which means that your cracked screen may not be an expensive problem in the future.

In research results published in the magazine Science, lead researcher Takuzo Aida from the University of Tokyo noted that the glass could aid in sustainability across a number of devices. And not only would a self-healing glass be a boon to consumers, but it could also help reduce environmentally unfriendly waste at large.

“High mechanical robustness and healing ability tend to be mutually exclusive,” the researchers noted. And while some self-healing materials do exist, they continued, “in most cases, heating to high temperatures, on the order of 120-degrees Celsius or more, to reorganize their cross-linked networks, is necessary for the fractured portions to repair.”

This, however, is not the case with the new glass. The new polymer is said to be able to heal itself at room temperature, unlike similarly regenerative rubbers and plastics that are currently on the market.

As reported by the Guardian, polyether-thioureas glass’ impressive capabilities were actually discovered by accident by graduate student Yu Yanagisawa, who was planning to use the polymer as a glue. But when he cut the surface of the polymer, he found that edges would actually stick to one another, and after 30 seconds of being pressed together, would come together to form a “strong sheet.” And after experimenting a bit more, Yanagisawa found that the material managed to return to its original strength after a couple hours passed.

“I hope the repairable glass becomes a new environment-friendly material that avoids the need to be thrown away if broken,” he told Japan’s NHK. Needless to say, so do we.

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Cracked screens may be a thing of the past with this self-healing glass

If shelling out hundreds of dollars to replace the cracked screen of the smartphone you already paid hundreds of dollars for doesn’t exactly sound like your idea of fun, we may have some good news for you. A team of Japanese researchers claims to have created a new self-healing kind of glass that just might be the antidote to your butterfingers. The glass is constructed with a light polymer known as “polyether-thioureas,” and is said to be capable of fixing cracks and breaks without needing any sort of high heat. In fact, you need only to press the glass together to mend it, which means that your cracked screen may not be an expensive problem in the future.

In research results published in the magazine Science, lead researcher Takuzo Aida from the University of Tokyo noted that the glass could aid in sustainability across a number of devices. And not only would a self-healing glass be a boon to consumers, but it could also help reduce environmentally unfriendly waste at large.

“High mechanical robustness and healing ability tend to be mutually exclusive,” the researchers noted. And while some self-healing materials do exist, they continued, “in most cases, heating to high temperatures, on the order of 120-degrees Celsius or more, to reorganize their cross-linked networks, is necessary for the fractured portions to repair.”

This, however, is not the case with the new glass. The new polymer is said to be able to heal itself at room temperature, unlike similarly regenerative rubbers and plastics that are currently on the market.

As reported by the Guardian, polyether-thioureas glass’ impressive capabilities were actually discovered by accident by graduate student Yu Yanagisawa, who was planning to use the polymer as a glue. But when he cut the surface of the polymer, he found that edges would actually stick to one another, and after 30 seconds of being pressed together, would come together to form a “strong sheet.” And after experimenting a bit more, Yanagisawa found that the material managed to return to its original strength after a couple hours passed.

“I hope the repairable glass becomes a new environment-friendly material that avoids the need to be thrown away if broken,” he told Japan’s NHK. Needless to say, so do we.

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Graphene’s next trick? Creating foil-thin body armor that’s harder than diamonds

Graphene, an incredibly strong material made up of a single layer of carbon atoms joined in a honeycomb pattern, is pretty darn versatile. Whether it is filtering seawater to make it drinkable, making rubber bands super strong, creating some kickass running shoes, or even diagnosing cancer, graphene can seemingly do it all. Its latest astonishing trick? Quite possibly one day being used to manufacture ultrathin body armor, as light as foil, but strong as diamonds, that is capable of stopping a bullet dead in its tracks.

The possibility of a graphene shield was hypothesized by professor Angelo Bongiorno at Georgia Tech, who developed computer models showing that it would work in theory. It was then successfully demonstrated for real by researchers at the City University of New York. In an experiment, the team showed that even a diamond tip is unable to perforate a two layer epitaxial graphene film.

“This work shows that it is possible to have a film which is only two atoms thick, meaning thousands times thinner than a hair, and still be as hard and stiff as a block of diamond,” Elisa Riedo, professor of physics at the City University of New York, told Digital Trends. “Not only that, our experiments and the theory of Bongiorno’s group demonstrate that you can start with two atomic layers of graphite, called graphene layers, which are flexible as a piece of paper, but locally they can become ‘diamene’ upon impact or indentation with a hard tip at room temperature.”

As well as ultralight, bulletproof films, Riedo suggests that potential real-world applications for the material could potentially include wear-resistant flexible protective coatings and, in the future, possible electronics applications. Intriguingly, the graphene shield’s ultra-hardening effect only results when two sheets of graphene are used, with extra layers appearing to have a detrimental impact.

An academic paper describing the work, titled “Ultrahard carbon film from epitaxial two-layer graphene,” was recently published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Hey, between this and shields made out of spiderwebs, 2017 has turned out to be a pretty great year for protective materials science innovations!

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Honor 9 Lite offers four cameras and 18:9 display for under $200

A sleeker, less powerful alternative to the regular Honor 9.

Back in November, Honor took the wraps off of the Honor V10. The V10 (also known as the View 10 in certain markets) is the successor the Honor V9 that came out back in February, and it’s also newer than the regular Honor 9 that was released in the summer. Following the V10, Honor’s latest handset, the Honor 9 Lite, looks to be a less powerful version of the Honor 9, but with a design that’s more reminiscent of the V10.

Unlike the Honor 9 that has large bezels and a traditional 16:9 display, the Honor 9 Lite features very slim bezels and an 18:9 display with a fingerprint sensor that’s been moved to the back. That display measures in at 5.65-inches, and it uses an IPS panel with a resolution of 2160 x 1080.

You’ll find a 13MP and 2MP camera combo on the back, and what’s even cooler is that this same setup has also made its way to the front of the phone to allow for Honor’s own portrait selfie mode like we’ve seen on devices such as the Pixel 2.

Powering the Honor 9 Lite is the Kirin 659 processor, either 3 or 4GB RAM, 32-64GB of expandable storage (up to 256GB), and a 3,000 mAh battery. Add this together with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, a metal/glass design, and microUSB for charging, and you end up with a pretty decent phone.

There are currently three main configurations for the Honor 9 Lite, including:

• 3GB RAM/32GB storage – $182 USD
• 4GB RAM/32GB storage – $227 USD
• 4GB RAM/64GB storage – $273 USD

China will get the Honor 9 Lite first on December 26, and it’ll then expand to India, Russia, the United Kingdom, and others.

Honor 7X review: The new budget champion

6 Awesome Tech Gifts Amazon Can Still Deliver Before Christmas

Time is running out! Good thing Amazon delivers quickly.

We’ve all been there. You waited a little too long and now you don’t have a gift for someone, right? Don’t panic, don’t stress, there is still a way out of this. Amazon carries some of the best gifts out there and offers some pretty quick shipping methods. If you’re still shopping for people on your list, and need some fresh ideas, here are six great tech gifts you can still have delivered in time for Christmas.

Amazon Prime offers free two-day shipping on all eligible orders, and cheap upgrades on some to get it the next day. If you aren’t already an Amazon Prime member, you should really sign up for a 30-day trial to get the benefits and help save the holiday!

Aukey 30000mAh Quick Charge 3.0 power bank

You can never have too much battery power to make it through the day. Phone batteries have become much better over the years, but there are likely still times that people could use some more power, and this is a perfect solution to that. Avoid having your friends and family stuck sitting next to a wall, and let them charge from anywhere.

This portable power pack from Aukey has a 30,000mAh capacity and offers a Quick Charge 3.0 output, so you can charge quickly while on the go. Thanks to its huge capacity you should be able to charge your phones and tablets up to 10 times per charge of the pack. It has two USB outputs and charges through Micro-USB or Lightning.

Available for $56 from Amazon with two-day shipping, so order now!

See at Amazon

Moto G5 Plus

If you’ve got a friend or family member that’s constantly complaining about their old smartphone and you want to get them an upgrade, there is still time. Better still, you can buy them a slick new phone that’s unlocked and set to impress. Want to be the one gift that stands out above the rest? The Moto G5 Plus is the best phone you can buy for under $200.

For that money, you get a really good phone that delivers all-day battery life and a mostly stock Android experience and a decent camera. The build quality is great for the price and despite the Plus in the name, the Moto G5 Plus is much easier to use one-handed with a 5.2-inch IPS LCD screen. Since it’s a Motorola, it features convenient features like a double-twist-to-open-camera gesture, so you can capture any moment with a quick flick of the wrist.

Amazon is selling a Prime Exclusive Moto G Plus that includes lock screen offers and ads for just $199 for the 64GB variant with 4GB of RAM.

The Moto G5 Plus is available for one-day shipping as part of this Prime Exclusive deal.

See at Amazon

Amazon Echo (2nd Generation)

Amazon was the first company to come out with an AI-powered smart speaker, and in many ways, they still own the space with its line of Echo speakers.

The second generation of the base speaker introduced some distinct design improvements — the new Echo speaker is shorter and designed to be displayed, without compromising on features or sound quality. It’s the perfect introduction to Alexa, or will seamlessly connect to any other Amazon Echo speakers your friend or family member might already own. Priced at $99, this is an excellent gift option for any tech lover on your list. Check out our full review of the Amazon Echo and Echo Plus.

The Amazon Echo is available with one-day shipping for U.S. customers with an Amazon Prime subscription.

See at Amazon

Fitbit Charge 2

After Christmas comes New Year’s, which typically leads to resolutions to get more active. One popular way to work towards your health goals is with a Fitbit on your wrist, and there’s no better option than the Fitbit Charge 2.

The Charge 2 is a sleek and functional fitness tracker that not only tracks every step you take during your day, but also offers PurePulse continuous heart rate monitoring which helps to better estimate calorie burned. The Fitbit Charge 2 is the best tracker because it’s not too bulky and doesn’t try to do too much — you actually appreciate wearing it throughout the day because with call, text, and calendar notifications displayed on the OLED screen.

Available for $129 on Amazon, this is a great gift option for someone who already owns a Fitbit that’s been beaten to hell because they wear it all the time. Otherwise, you’ll want to make sure a Fitbit is on someone’s list because gifted fitness trackers are all too often destined for junk drawers after a few months of use.

The Fitbit Charge 2 is available with one-day shipping for U.S. customers with an Amazon Prime subscription.

See at Amazon

Anker Soundcore 2

The Anker Soundcore 2 is a fantastic portable Bluetooth speaker that’s easy to use, sounds great, and offers an incredible battery life that you’d expect from a company that built its brand on battery packs.

The Soundcore 2 is a surprisingly powerful speaker given its compact size. Anker claims a 24-hour battery life for this speaker, which I confirmed in my reveiw. It’s waterproof and loud, making it a great speaker for camping trips or in the bathroom for shower singers.

Speakers make for great gifts, and there are a ton bunch of great options out there including the UE Boom 2 ($132) and Sonos Play:1 ($149), but you just can’t beat the value of the Soundcore 2. At just $40, you can one for your best friend, one for your parents, and get one for yourself. Totally recommended as an impulse buy.

The Anker SoundCore 2 is available with one-day shipping for U.S. customers with an Amazon Prime subscription.

See at Amazon

Aukey Quick Charge 3.0 Car Charger

Looking for a last-minute stocking stuffer that anyone with a car will appreciate? This Aukey dual-port car charger is a great deal and a perfect gift idea.

With one port supporting Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 and the other port offering a dedicated 2.4A output, your friend or family member will be able to keep all their tech charged on the go safely. It’s universally compatible with all USB-powered devices, so it doesn’t matter if you’re buying someone with an iPhone (they will need to supply their own cable). Get this for practically anyone on your list for just $15.

The Aukey Quick Charge 3.0 Car Charger is available with one-day shipping for U.S. customers with an Amazon Prime subscription.

See at Amazon

Your favorites?

Do you have a favorite tech gift that isn’t listed here but can still arrive before Christmas? If so, be sure to drop a brief description along with the link so that others can check it out!

Update December 2017: These are the best last-minute gift ideas available on Amazon. Get’em while the getting is good!

Pair the Essential Phone with its 4K 360-degree camera for just $499 today

Some say that saving money is Essential.

We’ve seen Android phones push the limits over and over in 2017, and one of the bolder moves was the near edge-to-edge display that Essential introduced. While the phone received some mixed reviews, people have fallen in love with the look and feel of it, and now owning one just got a bit more affordable.

Right now you can pick up an unlocked Essential Phone from Amazon with the 4K 360-degree camera for $499, which is over $100 less than it normally sells for. This discount is available for both the black and white versions of the phone. We did see this bundle hit $399 on Black Friday, but unless you have a time machine there is no way to go back and get that deal today.

If you don’t want the whole bundle, you can pick up just the phone for $449 instead. The phone features a 5.7-inch LCD display, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Some locations may have it available for same-day pickup, but if not you can opt for next-day shipping so you won’t have to wait long to play around with it.

See at Amazon

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 might make its way to Chromebooks

The Snapdragon 845 could be a revelation for Chrome OS.

Qualcomm officially took the wraps off its Snapdragon 845 processor on December 6, and in case you haven’t heard yet, there’s a lot to be excited about.. The 845 has big improvements in performance, camera quality, and data speeds on phones, and overall, it’s a big step up from the already great 835.

Samsung Chromebook Pro

Alongside the 845, Qualcomm also announced “Always Connected PCs.” Always Connected PCs are Windows laptops that are powered by the Snapdragon 835, but according to new commits found in the Chromium Gerrit, we could see the newer 845 make its way to Chrome OS.

The 845 and Chrome OS could result in unrivaled performance and battery.

According to the folks at XDA Developers, there are a few different commits that hint at this. One of them is a board that’s referred to as “cheza”, and another commit that follows this reveals that “cheza” is the board overlay used on a Snapdragon 845 reference device.

This would be the first time a Qualcomm processor makes its way into a Chromebook, and that’s exciting for a few reasons. The two Always Connected PCs (the HP Envy x2 and Asus NovaGo) have already shown that the 835 is plenty powerful for driving Windows 10, and the use of the 835 allows for gigabit LTE data connections and battery life that’s said to last four times longer than modern smartphones. Now, imagine what kind of performance and battery life we could see with a more powerful processor (the 845) running on a lighter desktop operating system (Chrome OS).

It’s unclear when exactly we could start seeing Chromebooks powered by the Snapdragon 845, but even so, it’s exciting enough to know that something like this might be in the works.

Top 5 reasons to be excited for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845