Every PlayStation VR game with HOTAS support

If you’re going to fly in VR, you might as well go all in and pick up a HOTAS.

In the same way racing wheels with pedals make driving games in VR feel a lot more realistic, flight games in VR are improved dramatically when you add a Hands On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS) controller. These controllers allow you to really punch the throttle forward or quickly flip your ship around when fighting in space. You could do these things with a normal controller but, if a game supports HOTAS, the difference in how that it feels in VR is drastically different.

You can get a HOTAS controller for the PlayStation 4 for fairly cheap, but not every game supports this hardware. Here’s a quick list of the PlayStation VR games offering HOTAS support now, planning to offer support later, or launching later this year with support planned out of the box.

Not sure which HOTAS you want for PlayStation VR? We’ve got you covered!

• Ultrawings
• End Space
• Eve: Valkyrie
• StarBlood Arena
• Space Rift
• Ace Combat 7

Games you can play right now

There are a couple of PlayStation VR games you can buy right now, plug in your HOTAS controller, and everything will just work.

Ultrawings

Ultrawings is an adorable obstacle in a cartoon world. Take on quests from flying challenges to shooting challenges and see if you can win all of the gold metals! You can find this game on the PlayStation for $24.99 and it’s worth every penny.

See on PlayStation Store.

End Space

The United Trade Consortium has entrusted you with some of their best equiptment to fight an ongoing war. Are you prepared to test your skills? You can find this title on the PlayStation Store for $19.99. While HOTAS support is available there has been reports that it’s not quite perfect yet.

See at PlayStation Store.

Eve: Valkyrie

The first epic space combat game for PlayStation VR has a lot of experience with HOTAS controllers, and adding one to this game makes space combat feel incredible. The best news? You can get it on Amazon for less than $20.

See at Amazon.

StarBlood Arena

More combat focused than space flight focused, this game is all about arena combat and lightning reflexes. A HOTAS controller could be the difference between victory and defeat in online multiplayer. Find this title on Amazon for $14.99!

See at Amazon.

Space Rift

This game already exists for PlayStation VR and HOTAS support was promised shortly after it’s release. Finally, you can play Space Rift with your favorite HOTAS controller! Find it on the PlayStation Store for $19.99

See at PlayStation Store.

Ace Combat 7

This franchise has a long history of quality flight experiences in both classic and modern combat planes. Ace Combat 7 is on Amazon for $59.99. The price might seem steep, but the game is truly worth it!

See at Amazon.

Games promising HOTAS support later

Stay tuned for when we hear about more games promising HOTAS support later!

Thoughts?

Which HOTAS experience do you most like in your PlayStation VR? Sound off in the comments or send me a Tweet @OriginalSluggo

Update August 2018: We’ve added Ultrawings, End Space, Eve: Valkyrie, and Starblood arena as the new games with HOTAS support. Space Rift and Ace Combat have now upgraded to support HOTAS as well!

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• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

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How to stop your Android phone from sharing your location with Google

All the settings you need to know when Google doesn’t need to know.

If you carry a cell phone — even a simple flip phone without any sort of real display — someone somewhere is tracking your location. Even if there is no SIM card inside, the phone is in constant contact with cellular towers as long as it’s turned on and one or more are in range. When you add some smarts to the mix and use something like an Android phone, things get a little more complicated.

We can’t help you hide your movements from carriers or cell towers because that’s a little past the grey line between privacy and the law. But we can help you keep Google from knowing where you’ve been and when you were there — all you need to know is that the name of some settings might not mean what you think they mean.

Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.

Location History

My timeline over seven years.

The wording here has a lot of people confused. Don’t feel bad if you’re one of them because it’s natural to think this means a place where the location of your phone is being kept and updated, and that turning it off should make it all stop. But that’s not what this is, it’s actually the name of a feature tied to your Google account.

Google has a nifty feature it calls a location timeline. You can check it out on your Android phone under the device location settings. What it does is show you a list of where your phone has been and when, and this can be turned into a really cool map that shows your movements over time. A lot of people want this sort of thing; it’s convenient for keeping track of mileage and distance, and this data is part of what Google uses to make Maps more personalized for you.

You can turn this on and off at will (note that turning it off doesn’t erase the data that’s already there) and your location won’t be saved into this history. But this is not a general location setting for any other app or purpose — it’s simply there to manage your location timeline. Turning it off doesn’t affect things like other apps knowing where you are, or localized search results, or anything else that may be requesting location data. You can see what apps want to use your location under the application permissions setting if you’re curious.

Web and App Activity

This is where you can see what apps see when they want your location. Whenever any app on any device you are using while logged into your Google account is used, the data it collects and stores to your Google account is logged here. According to Google, this data is used to provide a better experience in Google’s services.

Saves your activity on Google sites and apps to give you faster searches, better recommendations, and more personalized experiences in Maps, Search, and other Google services.

Some of that data may be your location. It’s important to know that you grant or revoke permission to access your location for each and every app individually, and this has nothing to do with the Location History setting on your account.

Taking control of all this

Knowing what’s going on here is only half the battle and knowing how to stop it all is equally important. Here’s what you need to know.

You can turn some or all of these settings off through the settings on your phone, but since they are account based you need to do it through the web. You can still use your phone to do it, just fire up your web browser and head to the Activity Controls page for your Google account.

The settings you need to know about are right at the top, labeled Web & App Activity and Location History and all you need to do to shut them down is toggle the blue switch. It’s interesting to see what’s been collected by opening the MANAGE ACTIVITY link for each. That’s where you can clear the saved history of each category, but you don’t need to do that to turn one or both off — just flick the switch.

But you do need to know what happens when you turn them off. Turning off Location History doesn’t seem to affect much outside of Google Maps and apps or products like the Local Guides program that are tied to it. Of course, we have no idea what or how Google uses the data stored there so it could halt your favorite thing. You’ll need to experiment here.

Turning off Web & App Activity does have a much larger impact. The first thing you’ll notice (it even warns you) is that Google Assistant instantly becomes mostly useless. That’s because it relies on knowing all about you to help you.

Other apps that depend on having some history about you stored will also work differently. You’ll no longer get narrow and specific search results tailored to you. You’ll notice shopping apps no longer notify you when you’re at a local store. Basically, any app or service that was keeping tabs on how and when you do the things you do will become less functional, or possibly even stop working altogether.

Account based is not device based

One last thing to know that’s also really important is that these settings are across all devices tied to your Google account. That means changing things on your phone’s web browser also changes things on your tablet or Chromebook or PC. But only for your account.

If you have multiple accounts on any device, the other account isn’t affected. You’ll need to make the same changes on all accounts to stop all activity from being logged. The same applies if you share a device, like a Chromebook, with someone else. What happens on their account is still logged and tied to that device.

We’re not suggesting that you hide everything you do from Google and try to stay incognito for all things. We just want you to know how you can keep location turned on so things like navigation apps work but keep the all-seeing Google eye from knowing about it.

Best ways to customize and decorate your Oculus Go

Art can make anything beautiful, including your VR headsets!

Most of us love the sleek look of a plain gray headset, but some of us like a little more spark or a little more silliness. From custom art to safe stickers, I’m gonna show you how to make your Oculus Go one of a kind.

By the time you’re done checking out all your options, your creative energy will be bursting at the seams to put it to good use and get rid of all of that gray! So without further ado, here’s how to give your Oculus Go that one-of-a-kind look you’ve been dying for.

Not interested in giving it a paint job? There are other options!

Give your Oculus Go a custom paint job

Of all the options that were available for customizing my headset, I personally decided to just go ahead and paint a design of my choosing on it. By no means am I a super artistic person, but I like to think I can get the job done if I need to.

If you’re worried about not having a steady hand or you’ve never drawn more than a couple of stick figures, don’t worry. You can always print out a stencil to make the whole process go that much smoother.

Usually, when people give custom art to their tech (like with controllers or Game Boy) they’ll use spray paint. That is not an option in this case. It’s only safe to use in those circumstances because you can actually it apart and put it back together. You can’t take the frame of the Oculus Go off, so using spray paint only risks getting paint into all the tiny holes and crevices.

Alchohol based ink paint

When I say, “Give your Oculus Go a custom paint job,” what I really mean is, “Give your Oculus Go a custom ink job.” You want to use the same ink paint that is used to paint model cars or miniatures for DND.

If you’re still apprehensive I can personally attest that I use my Oculus Go almost 2-3 hours at a time, even after the paint, and have experienced no issues. You can find it on Amazon for $14.20.

See on Amazon.

What you’ll need

You’ll probably find most of what you need in your house already. This includes things like a pencil, a paper plate, a plastic cup, rubbing alcohol, some paper towels and a good source of light.

The rest of what you’ll need are some fine point paint brushes, solvent-based enamel paint, and blue painters tape. If you don’t have painters tape (and don’t want to order any) I used masking tape and got away with it just fine.

Fine point brushes

You’re going to be painting on a much smaller surface than what you normally have on a canvas. For better detailing on the small pieces, you’ll want to make sure you have a few fine-point brushes laying around. You can get a set of 15 off Amazon for $10.97.

See on Amazon.

Cover all of the important bits

First things first, get out your tape and cut it into small sections. You’ll want the pieces of tape to be large enough to go over all the buttons, holes and then some. If what you want to paint will require you getting close to the buttons make sure you’re very careful.

I purposely picked a design that wouldn’t go anywhere near the buttons on my headset to avoid the risk of the paint causing things to stick together or get clunky. If you trust your steady hand a lot more than I trust mine then go for it! Just be very cautious of the crevices you’ll find along the rim of the face and on the bottom of your headset.

Rough drafts and the first base

The best part about the surface of your Oculus Go is the ability to draw on it with a pencil. If you don’t like how something turned out, or change your mind all-together, you can erase the entire thing with nothing more than a slightly damp paper towel.

With my project, I chose to do only a mild outline. Freehanding the Cookie Cats in the background was the best-worst decision I’ve ever made. Don’t be like me, draw out your outline. It’ll save you so much time.

Don’t worry about the clunkyness. As you can see from the second image I’ve provided in this section, the base of my art was very lumpy, uneven and even some of my colors mixed while I was painting. Don’t let it get to you. You’ll need to do a second coat of your paint anyway. If you do make a serious mistake all you have to do is wrap the pointy end of your paintbrush with a paper towel, dip it into some paint thinner (if the paint has dried) and wipe it off. There are no mistakes here, only happy accidents.

Finishing the job

Once you’re done with your base you should be able to go right into your second base. This paint dies wicked fast, making the whole process go pretty quick. Adding your second base will smooth out the paint and allow the colors to become more vibrant. Then all you have to go is go through and finish detailing!

When all is said and done, and you’re happy with your work, get your enamel finish out. I got the spray can version of this, but I did not use the spray directly on my headset. Instead, I sprayed it into a cup and painted it on with my brush. Topcoat for nail polish might seem like a good idea, but don’t do that. You need something that’s safe for temperatures, and outdoor enamel paint is usually perfect for this job. All you have to do is cover the paint, not the entire headset.

Want to change the image up every few months? Skip out on sealing it with enamel. This way you can wipe off your art with paint thinner and do something else with it at a later date. Yes, this means the art will go through the usual wear and tear. But, if you like a constant change you can just use it as motivation to paint again!

Other options

If you’re not the artistic type there are more ways to customize your Oculus Go. Instead, you can try a few of these other options to spice up your VR headset life. One of my personal favorites are the hilariously silly googly eyes. With minimal effort, you can enhance your VR experience forever with constant laughter.

Googly eyes

Nothing, I repeat, nothing will make me laugh more than seeing a pair of Googly eyes on a VR headset. For $6 you can find these stickers on Amazon and have a grand ole’ time with them. Get one of your friends to try out your Oculus Go with a pair of these babies on and strap them into the most physical game you can think of. The results will be endless laughter and great memories, I promise.

See on Amazon.

Other than that there is a decent variety of decal kits you can find online. These are a little bit of a pain to work with, but that might just be my OCD talking. I can almost never seem to get them to line up properly that I end up peeling off and sticking back on so many times it just stops working. I bet you’re better at this than I am, so you should get one for yourself and test it out!

Decal kits

If googly eyes are a little too silly for you there are a few more options. Amazon is carrying decal kits for your Oculus Go and there are quite a few choices to choose from! For $15 you can grab your favorite design and turn your headset into an absolute masterpiece. (Now with half the work!)

See on Amazon.

So how did you decorate your Oculus Go?

Whether you gave it your very own paint job or found some amazing sticker decals, I wanna hear all about it! Tell me in the comment section below, or shoot me a Tweet @OriginallSluggo. What are your plans for spicing up your headset?

DVR hub for Xbox puts your console captures on your Android phone

The Xbox app for Android doesn’t let you do this. Enter a third-party developer.

One key feature the Windows 10 Mobile Xbox app has over both the iOS and Android versions is that you can not only view but also download your console captures from the cloud. Once uploaded to Xbox Live, just as you can on the PC app, the Windows 10 Mobile app allows you to get hold of them for sharing and editing as you see fit to places like Instagram and YouTube.

Even to this day, if I want to share a clip on my Instagram account, I’ve mostly been using a Windows phone to download it and then re-upload it to Instagram. That’s not a long term solution, though, and Microsoft really needs to add it to the other platforms apps.

Until that happens, a third-party app called DVR Hub for Xbox is here to save the day.

How to download your Xbox One captures on Android

The app itself is extremely simple and for anyone worried about putting your account login details in, it’s not required. All you have to do is provide your Gamertag, the app then hooks in and pulls your captures from Xbox Live.

As such you’ll always need to make sure you’ve uploaded your console captures to Xbox Live if you want to grab them on your Android phone or tablet.

Once you’ve attached your Gamertag, all your currently uploaded clips and screenshots will be presented on your dashboard. There are two things you can do with each.

• To download to your device, tap on the downward arrow icon. You’ll be able to view the images or videos from the gallery app on your phone.
• To share straight to another service such as Instagram or Facebook, tap the share icon. The image will download and you’ll be thrown straight into a share sheet.

How to take, share, and delete Xbox One screenshots

That’s all there is to it. It’s a really simple app, but it does what you need it to do. There are a couple of things to be aware of, though. First is the ads, they’re huge, but you can pay $0.99 to remove them. The second is that some phones may have troubles opening the screenshots with their stock gallery app for some reason.

On a Pixel 2 and Razer Phone, no troubles. But on an Honor phone, it kept presenting an error. A different gallery app might be in order, so it’s not deal breaking just annoying.

The app itself is free to download and use, and you can grab it from the Play Store right now. It looks like there are more than one of these apps out there, so if you have a favorite be sure to drop it in the comments below.

See at Google Play

Sprint and LG are making the first 5G-capable phone in the U.S.

5G is coming sooner than you think.

Motorola may have already shown off a 5G Moto Mod for its new Moto Z3, but that accessory isn’t due to be released until early 2019 — and even then, it’s just an add-on that attaches to the back of your phone. Another device to purchase, another device to keep charged, and another device to carry with you at all times.

For 5G to really start taking off, we’re going to need to start seeing phones with integrated 5G radios built directly in, and LG is teaming up with Sprint to make that happen.

Unfortunately, neither company has given much info on the phone; we don’t know whether to expect the LG G8 to be 5G-capable or if this is a different phone entirely, but either way the companies are looking to ship this 5G phone in the first half of 2019.

Sprint says its 5G-capable Massive MIMO cell sites can deliver up to 10 times the capacity of its existing LTE systems — at first, it’ll roll out in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, and Washington D.C., but of course, the 5G network will expand to other markets over time.

Read more: Sprint’s nationwide 5G network will launch in the first half of 2019

LG G7 ThinQ

• LG G7 ThinQ review: Wide angle, narrow appeal
• LG G7: Review, Specs, Availability, Problems and more!
• LG G7 Specifications: Everything you need to know
• Join the LG G7 forums

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Moto Z3 review: Verizon’s middle child

To love the Moto Z3 is to embrace every phone that Motorola’s made over the past five years, to accept the company’s decisions around modular telephony and gesture-friendly software. It’s to understand that Motorola doesn’t have the influence in the U.S. it once did, and to rationalize the deals it makes with carriers to get its phones on shelves and into people’s pockets.

To love the Moto Z3 is to love the best parts of the Moto Z2 Force and the Moto Z3 Play, and to pretend that this phone isn’t just a messy mashup of those two devices.

To buy the Moto Z3, however, is a different story.

Moto Z3

Price: $480

Bottom line: The Moto Z3 is a capable phone that, even without its impending 5G bona fides, fits into a strong mid-range lineup at Verizon.

See at Amazon

Pros:

• Awesome battery life
• Excellent, fluid software
• Moto Display makes any phone better
• 5G Mod is very exciting
• Price is right

Cons:

• Mediocre camera quality
• 2017 hardware in 2018 body
• Power button placement is objectively bad

Moto Z3 The Review

Operating system	Android 8.1Moto Display, Voice, Actions
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor
Screen	6.01-inch Full HD (2160×1080) AMOLED
RAM	4GB
Storage	64GB (expandable)
Rear camera	12MP phase-detect, laser autofocus 1.25um pixels f/2.0 lens
Rear camera 2	12MP black & white portrait mode
Front camera	8MP 1.12-micron pixels f/2.0 wide-angle lens
Speaker	Single front-facing
Moto Mods support	Yes
Water resistance	Water-repellent coating
Security	Side fingerprint sensor, face unlock
Battery	3000mAhTurboPower charger (8 hrs battery in 15 min)
Colors	Deep Indigo
Dimensions	76.5 x 156.5 x 6.75 mm
Weight	156g

There’s something to be said for Motorola’s institutional fortitude at being able to Frankenstein together the internals of its 2017 flagship, the Moto Z2 Force, with the body of the more recent Moto Z3 Play and call it a new phone. Because that’s exactly what this is: other than the battery size, which is slightly larger, this is by all accounts the same phone as the Z2 Force, down to the camera hardware.

I’d be very wary of giving such a rebadging a pass if it weren’t for the phone’s $480 price, and the fact that, at Verizon, it fits into an increasingly critical price point for the provider.

If you take a look at Verizon’s smartphone offerings, you’ll see a widening divide between entry-level devices — the ASUS ZenFone V, Samsung Galaxy J7 V, and LG Stylo 2 V — and the flagships like the Galaxy Note 9 and S9 series, Google’s Pixel 2 lineup, and the various iPhones. For newer devices, only Motorola’s existing Z2 Play fits into the sub-$500 “budget flagship” category.

So to dismiss the Moto Z3 outright is to miss its purpose in Verizon’s lineup, which at $20 a month makes it palatable for price-sensitive customers who want a compromise-free phone. And despite its 2017 spec sheet, this phone is largely free of compromises. The Snapdragon 835 and 4GB of RAM combination makes for speedy operation, especially on Motorola’s excellent and lightweight software, and the standard 64GB storage is enough for most people. Plus, there’s microSD expansion. The 3,000mAh battery is good enough for a full day’s use, and the addition of Moto Mod support allows for quick top-ups if necessary.

The camera is pretty good and gets the job done, but don’t expect low light performance.

And while the cameras didn’t impress me much last year, they’re quite a bit better than those of the similarly-priced Moto Z3 Play, and comparable to, say, the $499 Honor View10. They’re fine — the app loads quickly from Motorola’s patented (and after five years, still awesome) snap gesture, and outdoor photos are vibrant and sharp. It would have been nice for Motorola to upgrade the lenses — unlike the f/1.7 aperture of the Z3 Play, the Z3 is stuck with Motorola’s narrower f/2.0 combination, which lets in considerably less light. To offset this, there’s a secondary 12MP monochrome sensor but it doesn’t save this phone’s low-light shots. It also doesn’t save the problematic portrait mode, which is better left idle.

The main issue with the camera is that, because there’s no optical stabilization, and the camera’s aperture is relatively narrow, it defaults to slow shutter speeds in anything but great light, causing photo-destroying motion blur in the process. This isn’t the phone to buy if you want to take lots of photos of kids or dogs.

At the same time, I took plenty of “normal” photos that I’m really happy with. From flowers to sunsets to stationary dogs (well, one stationary dog), I think most people will be very happy with the Z3’s cameras. And for those who want things a bit more artsy, the secondary monochrome sensor can pull off some impressive visuals.

Moto Z3 (left) | Pixel 2 XL (right)

Here, compared to the Pixel 2 XL, you can see there isn’t as much detail, and colors aren’t as vivid, but I’m definitely not going to throw away the Z3’s photo — especially since it’s of my dog, Zadie. I keep all of her photos 💓.

From the outside, this is the Moto Z3 Play

If you were expecting a brand new look and feel for Motorola’s 2018 flagship, you’re missing the point; Motorola’s parent, Lenovo, is a ruthless cost cutter, and the company is still not making money from its phone business. Here’s how it framed things during its latest quarterly earnings report:

In North America, shipments continued to show strong, year-on-year growth as Lenovo strengthened presence with mainstream models and carrier expansion. North America shipments grew 54% year-on-year for Q4 and gained 1.1pts of market share to 3.8% in Q4 FY2017/18.

Translation: Our strategy is working, so we’ve got no plans to mess things up.

Expense reduction for the new fiscal year as part of a strategy to reduce loss and focus on strengthening MBG’s leading position and profitability in Latin America, North America and Western Europe by simplifying the portfolio, optimizing the cost structure and leveraging shared platforms.

Translation: Cut costs any means necessary.

The Moto Z3 is the result of such a strategy. It looks the same as the Moto Z3 Play because the two were design in tandem.

You can read all about the design in my Z3 Play review, but the tl;dr is this: Motorola did a good job maintaining Moto Mods support while modernizing the phone’s design. The taller 18:9 AMOLED display is great, as is the placement of the fingerprint sensor. The only issue is the power button, which is inexplicably on the left side of the phone.

You’re also only getting a single speaker, though it is front-facing, along with a USB-C port and no headphone jack. On the back, the camera module protrudes slightly until you put a Mod on it, but the whole thing feels at once solid, dense, and a little too thin. Like all Moto Z devices, the Z3 was designed to be used with one of Motorola’s many Mods.

That 5G Mod — and Mods in general

At its launch event in Chicago, Motorola spent less time talking about the Z3 than its upcoming 5G Moto Mod companion, which is set to debut … sometime in 2019. In its current state, the thing is very much a prototype, and the demoes we saw were controlled and attached to large computers that made sure nothing funky would happen.

But even when the 5G Mod itself is ready, its success depends on Verizon’s successful rollout of its 5G network, which will only debut in four cities by the end of 2018, and relies on super-fast signals that won’t penetrate walls. In other words, even those few early adopters will only get to experience 5G in very limited capacity.

5G Moto Mod: Everything you need to know

I wouldn’t suggest buying the Moto Z3 just so you can wait an undisclosed number of months for its bulky, likely-pricey 5G companion.

But what about the Mods ecosystem in general? At this point, it’s pretty stacked, with plenty of batteries to choose from, along with capable speakers, printers, projectors, and many other useful tools. Did I mention there are many batteries?

Motorola only committed to three generations of Moto Mod support, which is up with the release of the Z3. It also said it wouldn’t release any more Mods in 2018. While it’s unclear whether the 5G Mod will be the company’s last, the writing is sort of on the wall. So should you buy the Moto Z3 in anticipation of a Moto Mods fire sale sometime in 2019? Or should you buy it because you already have a bunch of Mods from your first-gen Moto Z? Maybe, but those aren’t great reasons to buy a phone.

A matter of taste

The Moto Z3 does most things well and nothing spectacularly. The software is great because Motorola basically copies the best parts of Android and adds a bunch of interesting stuff, including a great ambient display called Moto Display and a bunch of truly useful gestures, like the aforementioned camera twist, that you’re going to use a lot.

There are also a lot of preloaded pieces of software, including a bunch of crappy games, that you’ll immediately want to get rid of. Verizon’s own pre-installed apps are no less intrusive, and I highly recommend disabling as many of those as you can without negatively affecting your experience. Such is the price of a subsidized phone.

Despite the number on the box, the Z3’s battery lasts much longer than many phones with bigger cells.

On the battery front, the 3,000mAh cell isn’t huge but it lasted me a full day throughout the week that I used the phone. I also relied on my trusty Turbopower Mod to give me a boost whenever I needed it, but that only happened a couple evenings after heavy-use days.

Finally, given that the phone runs last year’s Snapdragon 835, it technically supports gigabit speeds, though my experience on Verizon’s network in Chicago, while good, didn’t quite reach those heights. And as with all Motorola phones, call quality is superb, though sound coming from the single speaker isn’t.

Moto Z3 Should you buy it?

This is a more important phone for Verizon than it is for Motorola. While it feels expressly built as a vehicle to promote an upcoming Moto Mod that very few people will actually buy, it also slots in perfectly to the company’s stretched phone lineup that, at the moment, has very little between the low-end and the very high-end.

Unlike the Moto Z3 Play, which is quickly becoming an Amazon Prime Exclusive darling, you probably won’t be buying the Z3 outright. At $20 a month for two years, the Z3’s $480 street price is quite attractive for what you get, even if its most notable feature, the 5G Moto Mod, is months away from release and will likely carry a price tag to rival the phone itself.

3.5
out of 5

The Moto Z3 is a great phone. Really, it is. If you’re not keen on a Galaxy, or don’t want to spend the extra $10 to $15 per month on a LG G7, or are upgrading from a Moto Z, the Z3 is going to treat you well.

See at Verizon

5 things we’d like to see in Fallout 76

Fallout 76 has the potential to bring the franchise to new heights with these five opportunities.

Fallout 76’s massively-multiplayer online focus (MMO), as well as the fact that it’s set before the rest of the Fallout games, leaves plenty of room for Bethesda to go wild with what it offers to the player. Here are five things that would make Fallout 76 awesome.

Read: New Fallout 76 trailer details perk cards

See at Amazon

Settlement blueprint sharing

Fallout 76 is going to overhaul Fallout 4’s settlement system, allowing you to create blueprints for entire towns so you can pack up your settlement at a moment’s notice and move it to a different location. This is similar to how Halo 5 lets people group objects together in the Forge mode and save them as prefabrications.

However, there is one key difference: with Halo 5, you can download prefabs and use them in your own maps. Currently, that doesn’t appear to be the case with the settlement blueprints you can create in Fallout 76, but the option should be there for players who want to share their settlement-building results with the Fallout community.

A guild system

Guilds are a classic MMO feature, and Fallout 76 should definitely have them. While it is true you can team up with friends, you can only do so with three of them. Having a guild would allow larger groups of players to play together, and would also open the door for Bethesda to add in special competition, such as guilds competing to kill more NPCs over the course of a week than anyone else.

Remnants of the Chinese military

Unlike the previous Fallout titles, which take place place 150 to 200 years after the nuclear Great War, Fallout 76 is set just a few decades after the bombs fell. This, coupled with the fact that China had military stealth operatives in the US prior to the war (confirmed by Fallout 3) means that if they found a way to stay safe from the nukes, there’s a very real chance they would be alive during Fallout 76.

Chinese military remnants would be an interesting type of enemy NPC faction, and would be a welcome change from the usual raiders.

More power armor customization

Fallout 4 introduced paint schemes and decals to power armor, but unfortunately, there weren’t very many of them to choose from. With Fallout 76, this should change. Character customization is often a large portion of what drives longevity for MMO games, and giving the franchise’s most iconic apparel more customization options will help Fallout 76 in the long run.

Global server events

Another crucial thing MMOs need to do is encourage players to come together and interact with one another. Often times, the best way to do this is to create special timed events at a specific location that everyone on the server is notified about. For Fallout 76, this could be things like massive raider attacks, a gargantuan mutated monster that requires several squads of people to kill, or a temporary appearance of a rare item.

Read: Fallout 76 uses bounty system to discourage killing innocent players

Your thoughts

What are some things you want to see from Fallout 76? Let me know.

Fallout 76 is available for preorder now for $59.99 on PlayStation 4 Xbox One, and Bethesda.net (PC).

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HQ Trivia Expands to Apple TV

Popular iPhone trivia game HQ Trivia has expanded to the Apple TV as of today, the company announced on Twitter.

The new Apple TV version of the app allows Apple TV owners to play the twice-daily trivia game on the big screen, which is ideal for playing in a group. Games take place at 3:00 p.m. ET and 9:00 p.m. ET.

With HQ Trivia, each game has a prize pot that is distributed to all participating winners. Games take place twice daily and include an assortment of trivia questions. Participants have just seconds to answer when a question is asked, cutting down on the potential for cheating.

On the Apple TV, players can use the Apple TV remote to choose and submit their answers.

As TechCrunch points out, the new HQ Trivia Apple TV app comes as interest in the game is waning. Based on App Annie rankings, HQ Trivia on iOS has dropped from the #1 trivia game in the U.S. to the #10 game, and it’s fallen from the #44 overall game to #196 over the course of the past few months.

Introducing an Apple TV app has the potential to increase the app’s popularity once again, giving it a way to stand out from other trivia app clones that have popped up.

HQ Trivia can be downloaded from the App Store on the Apple TV starting today. It’s also available from the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: HQ Trivia
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Inside the iPhone Repair Ecosystem: Where Do Replacement Parts Come From and Can You Trust Them?

There’s a thriving market for unofficial, aftermarket iPhone parts, and in China, there are entire massive factories that are dedicated to producing these components for repair shops unable to get ahold of parts that have been produced by Apple.

The entire Apple device repair ecosystem is fascinating, complex, and oftentimes confusing to consumers given the disconnect between Apple, Apple Authorized Service Providers, third-party factories, and independent repair shops, so we thought we’d delve into the complicated world of Apple repairs.

The Aftermarket Factories

Our exploration of the repair ecosystem was inspired by a video sent to us by a trusted source that MacRumors has worked with in the past, who captured footage inside one of the many facilities in China that are dedicated to creating aftermarket iPhone parts.

This is a small scale operation where workers appear to be creating an aftermarket touch screen digitizer for the iPhone, a thin plastic component that attaches to the LCD through a flex cable and allows physical touch on the screen to be transformed into digital input, allowing the iPhone’s processor to translate your touch into system commands.

In addition to producing touch screen digitizers for the iPhone, given the clean room setup, the facility pictured in the video likely also attaches them to LCDs sourced from other factories to produce a full iPhone display assembly that can then be sold to iPhone repair shops around the world.

While this is a small facility, our source tells us that the factory, which employs approximately 10 people, is able to produce up to 10,000 display components per month, with setup and equipment for a factory this size costing approximately $90,000, a minor investment for a major return.

iPhone X display assembly with touch screen digitizer visible, via iFixit
Larger factories, such as those that produce aftermarket LCDs for iPhones and other smartphones, are huge operations that can output millions of components per month. Companies like Tianma, Longteng LCD, Shenchao, and JingDongFang are well-known in the repair world for producing the aftermarket LCDs used by many repair shops. If you search for display components on auction sites like Alibaba, these are the names that pop up over and over again.

These are not small, no name factories producing LCDs – these are major operations creating components by the millions, which should give you an idea of the kind of demand there is for aftermarket components across the globe. It costs hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase the kind of equipment needed to produce aftermarket LCDs.

“It’s a crazy industry that involves millions of dollars, probably into billions a year. It’s just absolutely nuts,” said our source.

The Demand for Aftermarket Parts

Companies that produce aftermarket LCD components are doing so because there’s significant demand for these parts in repair shops around the world. Shops that are not Apple Authorized Service Providers are not able to source parts from Apple because Apple limits OEM parts to the repair shops that it partners with.

With no way to purchase components from Apple, sourcing parts from third-party suppliers is the only option for independent repair shops that want to be able to offer iPhone repairs to their customers.

There are more than 15,000 independent repair shops in the United States, all of which are sourcing components from suppliers that receive them mainly from these factories in China. In the South Bay Area alone, where Apple’s Cupertino headquarters is located, there are hundreds of non-AASP locations that can fix a broken iPhone. And that’s just the United States. There are thousands more independent repair shops around the world.

An independent iPhone repair shop near Cupertino, California

Aftermarket Parts Quality

When thinking of third-party components, you might assume that the parts produced in facilities like the one in the video are far inferior in quality to actual Apple components, which is also the viewpoint of the source that sent us the video.

[The Chinese factories] are basically dishing junk out into the world. Apple’s own screen may fail only if you’ve dropped it. Won’t even fail up to 5, 10 years. But the fake screens usually fail between two to three years. Usually.

That’s not always entirely true, though, according to many of the repair shops that we spoke with.

Kyle Wiens, who runs repair site and store iFixit, says there’s a wide range in quality when it comes to third-party components. Some are “total crap” and are inferior to what Apple produces, but other components are a fairly close match. “Not quite as good as Apple,” Wiens says, “but close.” Some components are “indistinguishable” from Apple parts “unless you have Apple testing equipment.”

An iPhone with an original display (right) and a replacement display (left) via Disc Depot
That’s a sentiment that was echoed by several other repair shops. Mansoor Safi, who runs the iFixers repair shop in the Bay Area, said there are generally four display grades: Premium, Grade A, Grade B, and Grade C. iFixers, says Safi, uses “Premium” grade screens, which are considered top tier aftermarket display replacements because the lower grades are indeed rubbish.

“If you drop from premium, you will see day and night in terms of responsiveness, color, quality, and how quickly it will break again,” said Safi. “If I use anything Grade A, I’ll get the same customer coming back again, and it’s an inconvenience for the customer to come back.”

Even with what’s considered one of the better aftermarket displays, you’re going to see differences between the repaired device and a non-repaired device. We asked Safi what difference we’d see between a standard iPhone 7 and an iPhone 7 that had been repaired with a high-quality aftermarket display.

The repaired device, he said, might be 5 percent blueish or 5 percent yellowish, depending on the display used, but it’s not a disparity noticeable without a reference point. “Unless you put the two phones together, you won’t see the difference,” he said.

Apple components are superior, according to Safi, but for reasons that include cost and time investment (some people need immediate repairs), sometimes “close” is good enough.

Cupertino iPhone Repair’s Laxmi Agrawal said that a lot of cheap, low-quality LCDs coming out of China can have a multitude of problems: poor polarization, broken 3D Touch, yellow screens, and bleeding of the LCD when the frame isn’t tight enough. “We don’t use the Chinese LCDs,” he said, and customers need to watch out for “bad tactics at a lot of repair companies.”

uBreakiFix co-founder Justin Wetherill says that the repairs done at his shops around the country are “comparable to those of an AASP.”

Because we’re diligent about where and how we’re sourcing parts and testing our components thoroughly, we are confident that our repairs are comparable to those of an AASP. Our technicians are professionally trained, and we have systems and processes in place to ensure we’re always doing right by the customer. We pride ourselves in customer service and receive less than 1 customer escalation per day on average across more than 425 stores and have a warranty rate of less than 2%.

Based on the number of repair shops we spoke to and the different answers that we received, there is, unfortunately, no universal grading system to work with. As Wiens says, it’s a “completely free market where there are no standards.” And it’s true — there are no agreed upon guidelines, there’s no oversight from Apple, and there’s no one who regulates aftermarket part quality.

Jim from San Jose’s Cellular Repair Center, for example, said that the best quality screens are those that can be described as “original” grade, and he didn’t mention the Premium grading system we’d heard earlier.

Strictly speaking, all screens are “aftermarket” and we inform our customers as such. The only truly original screens either go to Apple, AASP, or removed from an actual iPhone. What most vendors include in their offering is something best described as “original grade”. This is a screen that is very VERY comparable to the screen that came on the iPhone. Many repair shops offer an “original” option but we think they are misleading their customers.

In a nutshell, as with the aftermarket automotive part industry, there are good quality components and there are bad quality components, which is something that customers who might seek third-party repairs need to be aware of.

Recycled and Reused Components

There’s also a big market for reused iPhone components. Some repair shops will take the LCDs from broken iPhones that are repaired and sell them in bulk to a company that refurbishes them and attaches new digitizer components so they can be reused again.

The refurbishing company then sells the displays back to the repair shops for use in future iPhone repairs, but there’s limited supply. Most of the repair shops that I spoke to told me that they do buy these upcycled genuine iPhone components when possible, but supply is limited.

According to iFixit’s Kyle Wiens, much of the repair market has shifted from OEM parts sourced through reuse to aftermarket parts over the course of the last two years.

“We stuck to OEM parts as long as we possibly could, and we sell OEM parts when we can get them, but aftermarket quality got so good and the price was so much cheaper, it made more sense,” he said.

Apple Authorized Service Providers

The only way for a repair shop to get access to genuine Apple components for repairs is through the Apple Authorized Service Program. While there are many thousands of independent repair shops in the United States, there are far fewer AASPs — approximately 4,800 worldwide.

Shops that want to become Apple Authorized Service Providers need to meet Apple’s requirements, and Apple doesn’t approve all shops that apply. Training courses and exams are involved, which can cost thousands of dollars, and shops are required to “meet Apple’s standards at all times” with Apple conducting audits and reviews to ensure compliance.

AASPs in the Bay Area
There are benefits to being an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Customer trust, for example. At an AASP, Apple customers know that the repairs they’re getting are the same repairs that Apple would offer, which can draw in more foot traffic. Apple also directs customers to its AASPs through its Customer Support website.

AASPs have access to parts that can be ordered directly from Apple for repairs using genuine components, along with comprehensive product, repair, service, and troubleshooting guides. Apple also offers reimbursement for labor, parts, and travel for repairs to developers covered by Apple’s warranties, so there’s guaranteed business involved in being an AASP.

AASP training courses
There are negatives, though. AASPs must follow Apple’s repair guidelines, which can involve long checklists of steps, and Apple limits the repairs its service providers can do in-house. For a lot of repairs, devices must be sent to Apple, for a repair turnaround time that can span days.

Longtime Apple Authorized Service Provider Mac-O-Rama told MacRumors that Apple’s AASP program is worthwhile because it offers access to Apple parts, training resources, and Apple’s processes for repair. While most Mac repairs can be done in-house, Mac-O-Rama says the same is not true of iPhone repairs, which can be challenging.

We don’t have the equipment or authorization to perform iPhone display replacement in-house, so our only option is to mail in that particular repair to the Apple service depot, which takes longer than most people want to be apart from their phones.

Despite these delays, Mac-O-Rama prefers working with Apple because it results in fewer repair issues. The company says it has seen many repairs fail because of low-quality third-party parts or improper installation.

For example, clients come in with a 3rd party display replacement and the bezel is heavily damaged. If you try to take the display off and replace the battery and then try to reassemble the phone, the display will crack due to the uneven bezel. Other times we will start a battery replacement and find a previously installed battery that has been installed incorrectly, so we can’t even get it out of the phone without creating a fire hazard. It’s scary when you have so many untrained “technicians” out there handling this equipment.

For the most part, Apple Authorized Service Providers need to send iPhones back to Apple for repair when the display is involved. Mac-O-Rama is able to replace some iPhone components like the camera and the battery, but other issues require a long turnaround time.

The reason for this is a replacement and calibration process that’s done with something called the “Horizon Machine,” which up until last year was only available to Apple retail stores and repair warehouses.

Apple’s Horizon Machine, via Reuters
Starting last summer, Apple began providing some AASPs with Horizon Machines, allowing them to do more repairs in-house for faster turnaround times. Apple gave 200 AASPs access to the Horizon Machine in San Francisco, London, Shanghai, and Singapore.

Apple is continuing to roll out Horizon Machines to its service partners, but in some countries like Australia, we’ve been told that there are very few repair shops that have been provided with one of the Horizon Machines. None of the Apple Authorized Service Providers we spoke to had one of these machines, so the availability still appears to be quite limited.

Sans Horizon Machine, a lot of broken iPhones must be sent to Apple for display issues and other problems. In many cases, Apple also does device replacements rather than repairs, which further limits the components that AASPs can fix in house.

Independent Repair Shops

Most repair shops are not affiliated with Apple, and there are myriad reasons why repair outlets choose not to become Apple certified.

Laxmi Agrawal from Cupertino iPhone Repair said that he spoke with Apple about becoming an AASP, but it wasn’t feasible for his business.

We decided not to continue with the AASP. Apple doesn’t pay very much. They have restrictions that you can’t do screen repair at your shop. You have to collect the device, go to a center, and wait for it to be repaired. Turn around time is too long.

Agrawal said that Cupertino iPhone Repair gets a lot of foot traffic and works with major companies like Facebook and Zynga, so business is good without Apple. “We just can’t work with Apple at that price,” he added.

Image via Cupertino iPhone Repair
iFixer’s Mansoor Safi said that Apple’s program isn’t convenient for small businesses. “Everything gets dictated by Apple,” he said. “Pricing, what needs to be done, parts. And Apple pays such a small fee.”

Safi also explained that Apple only really repairs two components in the iPhone — the battery and the screen. For everything else, Apple does total device replacements. His shop, and other repair shops, can take care of water damage, speaker issues, problems with the charging port, and other problems at a cheaper price than Apple charges customers for a total device replacement.

Multiple Apple Authorized Service Providers that we spoke to (all of whom wished to remain anonymous) confirmed Apple pays a limited amount of money for iPhone repairs. With mail-in repairs, for example, one shop told us that compensation does not cover administrative expenses, while another told us it charges a premium to cover the expenses that Apple does not.

“If iPhone repair were our only function, I’m not sure that we could survive on the compensation received from Apple, especially for mail in repair,” said one source.

Jim from San Jose’s Cellular Repair Center told us he’s reached out to Apple two or three times about the Apple Authorized Service Provider program and hasn’t heard back. He has an open mind about joining, but is a little lukewarm on the idea.

Our understanding is that there are restrictions on certain types of repairs that we would not be allowed to perform and we would balk at that. We are one of the few shops in the area that are good at micro-soldering and we would need a pretty big carrot to give that up.

Micro soldering is a skill that can fix sensitive iPhone problems that require a lot of precision, such as backlight failure, “Touch Disease” resulting in multi-touch issues, and problems from water damage. AASPs can’t address these issues and instead must send devices to Apple for replacement.

Image via Cupertino iPhone Repair
Apple is said to be selective about the shops it chooses for the Apple Authorized Service Program, especially in the Bay Area, and while we’re not able to confirm it, some repair shops said that Apple isn’t accepting new AASPs in certain areas.

Without Apple certification, independent repair shops have no access to components that are manufactured by Apple and thus have two options: aftermarket components produced by third-party companies, or refurbished parts that have been taken from broken iPhones, revamped, and purchased in bulk.

Apple’s Philosophy on Repairs

Apple encourages all of its customers to visit an Apple retail store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider for repairs because they use Apple training materials and Apple-produced components, so a device repaired from an AASP is indistinguishable from an original, undamaged iPhone.

Apple’s general point of view seems to be that repairs made by independent shops are unsafe, and with the number of repair shops out there, iPhone customers do indeed run into bad repairs and real safety issues.

An iPhone with a separating display after a repair from an independent repair shop
When Apple repairs a device, it goes through a mini factory testing process with the aforementioned Horizon Machine. All of the features need to be calibrated precisely to the meet the specification it was at when it first came out of the factory, and this is testing that only Apple (and select service providers) can perform.

Only by using an Apple Authorized Service Provider can customers be sure that a device is functioning 100 percent the way it was intended to when it left Apple’s factory.

According to Apple, there are a lot of issues that can arise when getting an iPhone repair from a non-Apple Authorized provider, such as nonfunctional Touch ID buttons, display dead spots, gaps around display edges, poor quality sound, excessive battery consumption, and more. Apple also warns against counterfeit parts on its support website.

Apple sees AASPs as an important part of Apple’s repair ecosystem, providing repair options in areas where there are no Apple Stores and in dense urban areas where demand is high and Apple retail stores might have long wait times.

The Cost Difference

Repairs from independent shops are often cheaper than the prices Apple charges, and that’s one of the reasons why some customers choose to eschew Apple repairs.

With higher-quality aftermarket or OEM repair components used in repairs on newer devices, prices aren’t always much different from what Apple charges, but on older devices, independent repair shops almost always beat Apple on price. The same is true of repairs where Apple might scrap the entire device and require customers to pay an out-of-warranty replacement cost. Repair shops can sometimes fix these issues without writing off the entire iPhone.

Jason Yin of QuickStart Cellular said he charges $60 to $90 for iPhone 6 to iPhone 8+ repairs. An out-of-warranty screen repair from Apple for iPhone 6 to iPhone 8 costs from $129 to $169, so it’s understandable why some customers choose more affordable options. “Other damage” that isn’t limited to the display can cost anywhere from $299 to $399 from Apple.

Apple’s repair prices for several iPhone models
Cupertino iPhone Repair charges $129 to fix an iPhone 7 screen, and $149 to fix an iPhone 8 screen, which is not far off from Apple’s pricing at all. On older devices, though, the savings are much more significant.

Well-known repair site iFixit sells an iPhone 7 LCD screen with digitizer and all of the tools necessary to make the fix for $90, a good $60 less than Apple’s asking price. You’ll need to follow iFixit’s tutorials for these kinds of repairs, so it’s not for everyone, but it’s a good savings for those technically inclined.

iFixit’s iPhone 7 repair kit
Repair shops charge a range of different prices, and a lot of time, price dictates quality. We were told by multiple repair shops that a higher price unsurprisingly generally translates to a better quality component.

Are Aftermarket Repairs Safe?

In a free market with no regulation and no accountability, you don’t know what you’re getting when you walk into a third-party repair shop, which isn’t something the average person seeking a repair likely thinks about. Still, with some vetting, aftermarket repairs can potentially be a good option for some people and in some situations.

iFixit’s Kyle Wiens doesn’t believe independent repair shops should be avoided in favor of AASPs. He likens the independent repair market to the aftermarket car repair market. There are good mechanics and bad mechanics out there, and the key is to find someone that you trust.

iFixit, for example, travels to Asia to find the best quality components to sell to customers looking to repair their own devices, and employs a testing facility to make sure the aftermarket options are of the best possible quality.

“We provide factories with extensive quality guidelines,” said Wiens, with iFixit dictating parameters like acceptable number of dead pixels, necessary display brightness, and more, to best match what Apple offers.

When seeking a repair, there’s no standardized nomenclature to let you know about the grade of a component a repair shop might be using, so Wiens recommends reading Yelp reviews, having conversations with shop owners, and when initially choosing, going for the more expensive repair shops. “Find a repair shop you can trust that will stand by their work,” said Wiens.

Almost every repair shop we spoke with said the thing. Check the Yelp reviews. Read what people are saying. Ask questions. Make sure there’s a warranty that the repair shop will stick by.

Be aware that many independent repair shops are using aftermarket components and while the quality can be nearly as good as an Apple repair, it’s not an Apple repair. Aftermarket repairs that result in damage to an iPhone can void the device’s warranty, which is also something to be aware of, and there are multiple problems that can result from lower quality parts or shoddy work, as mentioned above.

It’s a good idea to ask repair shops to tell you about where they get their components from. The repair shops that we spoke to were forthcoming about their suppliers and the components they’re using in repairs. All of the repair shops stressed the importance of a good supplier relationship, vetting the supplies, trial and error to get the best components, and in some cases, even having a quality control team overseas with suppliers.

If you want an Apple-quality repair that’s guaranteed to be of the best quality, go with Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Apple charges a premium, but sometimes it’s worth it for peace of mind. You can get almost top-tier quality from aftermarket parts, but there’s no match for Apple’s own components even at the best repair shops.

What Independent Repair Shops Can’t (or Shouldn’t) Repair

If your iPhone or other Apple device is under warranty, either the one year manufacturer’s warranty or AppleCare+, it’s best to go with Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

It makes sense to shell out more money for a device that’s newer, and in some cases, when it comes to newer devices, repair shops don’t have the necessary aftermarket components to make reliable repairs.

For example, there are no companies that are able to manufacture aftermarket OLED displays for the iPhone X. The technology is too new and OLED manufacturing is limited to a few major companies like Samsung. Some repair shops have been replacing iPhone X OLEDs with LCDs, and the much poorer quality isn’t worth the cheaper repair price.

There are no independent repair shops that can repair a broken Touch ID button for security reasons, so that’s a repair that has to go through Apple. We’ve also been told that repair shops aren’t able to repair the back glass of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X for lack of replacement chassis.

It’s older devices that seem best suited for repair by independent repair shops. Even for older devices, Apple charges quite a lot for repairs and replacements, and many of these repairs are out of warranty. Independent shops charge less and are able to fix non-display issues that Apple would charge a replacement fee for.

It wouldn’t be advisable to take an iPhone X to an independent repair shop, but an iPhone 6s with a non-functional speaker? Absolutely. Many customers use their iPhones for multiple years without replacing them, and despite Apple’s preference for AASPs, there is a genuine need for more affordable repair options for older iPhones.

Right to Repair and the Future of the Independent Repair Market

Over the course of the last few years, Right to Repair advocates have been pushing for legislation that would require tech companies and other manufacturers to provide specifications on device components, easier access to repair parts, and detailed instructions on device repair, leveling the playing field for repair shops and making it easier for customers to seek quality repairs from Apple, AASPs, or non-affiliated repair outlets.

Apple and other tech companies have been lobbying against Right to Repair legislation, and the general argument is that by restricting repairs, tech companies are protecting their intellectual property, keeping customers safe, and maintaining device security.

Many independent repair shops, of course, back Right to Repair legislation.

“If we could get parts directly from Apple, I’d do it,” said Cupertino iPhone Repair’s Laxmi Agrawal. “I’m already paying a high price, I would like to buy from Apple. I would buy from Apple. They just won’t give it to us.”

There are fears that Apple is moving towards a stricter repair philosophy that would shut out independent repair shops entirely. Touch ID repairs are an example – as mentioned above, a Touch ID repair requires authentication via a specialized machine, and some repair shops worry that Apple might keep other repairs under lock and key in the future.

Disassembled iPhone 8, via iFixit
iFixer’s Mansoor Sufi, for example, referenced a recent issue that caused third-party displays to stop working after an iOS update. Apple fixed the issue, but it’s not the first time it’s happened.

Apple is teasing us with these small issues, like a few weeks ago, there was an update that would make your screen unresponsive if it had a third-party display. Apple will keep doing this, and eventually, everything will need to be Apple parts.

According to iFixit’s Kyle Wiens, the market would be improved for everyone with competition and access to OEM and aftermarket parts, with repair shops able to provide better quality components through access to Apple part specifications.

Wiens does not believe there is a scenario where Apple device repairs will all be done with Apple-produced components even if Apple was forced to provide parts, simply because of the cost.

“The prospect of OEM parts is a nice idea, but it’s not practical. 1. Apple won’t sell the parts to people. 2. The pricing would be so astronomical you wouldn’t want to pay it. You have to have an aftermarket option,” he said.

The source that sent us the factory video was not without an agenda. The person in question hopes that a peek inside the factories that are producing aftermarket iPhone components will spur Apple to provide more affordable parts with less markup so consumers won’t need to seek repairs with lower quality components, but that may be a lofty goal.

Apple does not break out how much it makes in repairs, which fall under the “Services” category in financial statements, but analysts estimate repairs for all products rake in $1 billion to $2 billion per year, a not-insignificant chunk of money.

Conclusion

Looking at the iPhone repair ecosystem holistically, there’s a disparity between what repair shops want and what Apple is offering. It’s a fascinatingly complex situation where all involved parties feel their way is the better way, and it’s easy to comprehend why.

Apple understandably does not want independent repair shops repairing iPhones with less than optimal parts and work that might not be up to Apple standards, but at the same time, Apple is running a repair authorization program that many repair shops find too restrictive, too expensive, and too wasteful.

Demand for cheaper, more accessible repairs has led to a thriving independent repair community and a huge market for third-party components that’s entirely unregulated, ultimately creating this strange, confusing web of repair options that can be difficult for consumers to navigate.

With no access to genuine parts or Apple component schematics, independent repair shops are going to keep doing repairs with what’s available, and despite Apple’s warnings, some customers are going to keep choosing what’s cheap.

Right to Repair legislation makes the entire mess more interesting, because the repair ecosystem seems to be heading for some major changes. Either these Right to Repair laws are going to pass, or the legislation will all fizzle out, giving Apple a clearer path towards proprietary repairs and the eventual phasing out of the independent repair shop.

Tags: AppleCare, iFixit, AASP, Right to Repair
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The world’s first practical quantum computer has cash and a timeline

Could quantum computing help feed the hungry? That’s one possible way that it will transform the world around us, University of Chicago computer science professor Fred Chong told Digital Trends. According to Chong, in the long-term quantum computers could employ special quantum chemistry algorithms to better understand and improve nitrogen fixation, thereby leading to more energy-efficient production of fertilizers and greater food production.

While that’s still a way off, Chong has reason to be optimistic: his department at the University of Chicago is among seven universities selected to receive a total of $15 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, with the goal of developing the world’s first practical quantum computer over the next five years. They are employing a different approach, based around trapped ions, to the quantum computers developed by companies such as Google. The funding could help make quantum computers that can attack real-world problems.

“Quantum computers have recently been growing in size, but they are still too small to solve practical problems,” Chong said. “This award will allow us to develop better quantum hardware, but also software that is tailored to that hardware. By developing software that adapts to the physics of a specific machine, we expect to solve problems using machines that are up to 1,000 times smaller than with conventional software. One-thousand times smaller means we will be able solve practical problems in five years instead of waiting 25 years for machines to get large enough.”

In terms of what is meant by “practical quantum computing,” Chong said that he hopes to create quantum technology capable of solving a real-world problem faster or nearly as fast as the fastest conventional supercomputer. “We want to demonstrate that even small quantum computers can be competitive with our best conventional technology, and to motivate further development of even larger quantum machines,” he continued.

In the short term, Chong said that he hopes it will be possible to use small quantum computers to model simpler molecules better than conventional supercomputers are able to. Along with the possibility of helping alleviate world hunger, other practical applications of this could include developing far more efficient solar cells.

As well as the University of Chicago, other universities benefitting from this project will include Duke University (project lead), University of Maryland, Tufts University, MIT, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of New Mexico.

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