2018 iPhone Pre-orders to Take Place on September 14 According to German Carriers

Pre-orders for Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup will take place on Friday, September 14, according to information Macerkopf sourced from German carriers.

German mobile service providers are said to be planning for pre-orders that will take place on September 14, which would suggest an announcement earlier in the week, perhaps on September 11 or 12.

Apple often announces new iPhones during the second week of September, so we have been counting on an event right around September 12. A September 14 pre-order date is in line with past pre-order and event dates, which are listed below:

• 2010 – Monday, June 7
• 2011 – Tuesday, October 4
• 2012 – Wednesday, September 12
• 2013 – Tuesday, September 10
• 2014 – Tuesday, September 9
• 2015 – Wednesday, September 9
• 2016 – Wednesday, September 7
• 2017 – Tuesday, September 12

Apple typically unveils new iPhones on Tuesdays rather than Wednesdays, but because Tuesday falls on September 11, there has been some speculation that Apple will avoid holding an event on that day.

Back in 2012, when September 11 also fell on a Tuesday, Apple opted to hold its event on Wednesday, September 12 instead, and it’s believed Apple will do the same thing this year.

Following the September 14 pre-order date, iPhones will begin delivering to customers the following Friday, September 21, which will probably be the official launch date for the device.

Apple is expected to send out media invites for its event at the end of August, which is when the date will be confirmed. This year’s event is likely to be held at the Steve Jobs Theater on the new Apple Park campus.

This year, Apple is rumored to be unveiling three new iPhones, all of which will sport edge-to-edge displays, no Home button, and support for Face ID. There will be a second-generation 5.8-inch OLED iPhone, a larger 6.5-inch OLED iPhone, and a more affordable 6.1-inch LCD iPhone.

Related Roundup: 2018 iPhones
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Apple Investigating Battery Incident at Amsterdam Store, No Customers or Employees Required Medical Attention

Yesterday afternoon, first responders were called to an Apple Store in Amsterdam, reportedly due to a leaking iPad battery on the premise. Apple has since confirmed that it is investigating the incident, but ensures that the store has been declared safe, and that there were no injuries of any kind reported.

Image Credit: AS Media
MacRumors received the following statement from an Apple spokesperson:

We’re currently investigating the incident that took place at Apple Amsterdam on Sunday. Our staff were able to evacuate customers quickly and safely and the store re-opened shortly afterwards.

Apple says no customers were impacted, nor did any employees end up requiring any medical attention. The local fire department and medical professionals were alerted as a precautionary measure only. Apple says the fire department declared the store and damaged device, safe, shortly afterwards.

At 2:20 p.m. local time on Sunday, the Amsterdam fire department had tweeted that crews were on the scene. The tweet confirmed there was “no smoke” at the store, but three people with possible respiratory issues.

A spokesperson for the fire department cited a “leaking battery pack” as the probable cause of the incident, which reportedly caused panic among customers more than anything. It was an unfortunate situation, for sure, but headlines claiming an iPad battery exploded or burst into smoke and flames are inaccurate.

Our understanding, based on an anonymous but corroborated tip, is that a damaged iPad was sitting on a shelf in a back room, in a queue of devices to be repaired by Genius Bar technicians. At some point, employees noticed that the iPad’s battery was leaking, and took the same precautionary measures as any thermal event.

The fire department reportedly aired out the store by around 3:00 p.m. local time, after which time it re-opened for business as usual.

Related Roundup: Apple Stores
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Apple Seeds Eighth Beta of New watchOS 5 Operating System to Developers

Apple today seeded the eighth beta of an upcoming watchOS 5 update to developers, one week after releasing the seventh beta and over two months after introducing the software at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

To get the beta, you’ll need the proper configuration profile, which can be obtained through the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the watchOS 5 beta can be downloaded using the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software Update.

To install the update, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on an Apple Watch charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone. It’s best to install the beta on a secondary device instead of a primary device as betas have bugs to be worked out.

watchOS 5 is a major update to the watchOS operating system, introducing Activity Competitions so you can compete on workouts with friends, Walkie-Talkie with push-to-talk functionality for quickly communicating with the people you talk to most, and auto workout detection to make it easier to start and stop workouts if you forget.

Other new features include an improved Siri watch face with support for third-party apps through Siri Shortcuts, a dedicated Apple Podcasts app, new Workout types that include Yoga and Hiking, new features for runners, WebKit support for viewing some web content on Apple Watch, and enhanced notifications, which will make notifications on the Apple Watch interactive.

watchOS 5 is only available to developers and will not be provided to public beta testers (because there’s no way to downgrade Apple Watch software), so non-developers will need to wait until the software is officially released in the fall to try it out.

The watchOS 5 update runs on all Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 Apple Watch models, but it is not available for the first-generation “Series 0” Apple Watch models.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4, watchOS 5Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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Apple Seeds Eighth Beta of macOS Mojave to Developers

Apple today seeded the eighth beta of an upcoming macOS Mojave update to developers for testing purposes, one week after releasing the seventh beta and more than two months after introducing the software at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

macOS Mojave introduces a new method of installing software updates, so after you’ve installed the initial beta using the appropriate profile from the Developer Center, additional betas can be downloaded through opening up System Preferences and choosing the “Software Update” icon.

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Apple’s macOS Mojave update introduces a systemwide Dark Mode, with Mojave users able to choose between a light theme or the new dark theme, which changes the color of the dock, menu bar, apps, and other elements. Dark Mode is accompanied by Dynamic Desktops, aka wallpapers that subtly change throughout the day. Additional wallpapers were introduced in the fourth and fifth betas.

Stacks, a new desktop organization system, keeps all of your desktop files neat and organized, while Finder has been enhanced with a Gallery View, a Sidebar, a revamped Quick Look option and Quick Actions, so you can do more in the Finder window than ever before.

Screenshots can now be edited using Markup tools and a new management options that also allow for easy screen recording, while Continuity camera, a new feature, allows you to import photos and document scans directly from an iPhone or iPad to the Mac.

The Apple News, Stocks, Home, and Voice Memos apps have been ported from iOS to macOS as part of a multiyear project Apple is working on to make it easier to bring iOS apps to Macs, and Apple has introduced several new privacy protections to keep your data safer than ever.

Apple is also making it harder for websites to track you with a range of new Safari tools, and it’s also easier to make and store secure, hard-to-guess passwords for each and every website.

Apple has added an entirely revamped Mac App Store to macOS Mojave that makes it easier to discover apps with a featured section and specific categories for games, creative apps, productivity apps, apps for developers, and more.

macOS Mojave was initially supposed to include a Group FaceTime feature that includes support for chatting with up to 32 people at one time, but it was removed in macOS Mojave beta 7 and the feature won’t be available until later in the year.

macOS Mojave is available to developers and public beta testers to work out bugs and other issues ahead of an upcoming fall public release.

Related Roundup: macOS Mojave
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Eighth Beta of tvOS 12 Now Available for Registered Developers

Apple today seeded the eighth beta of a new tvOS 12 operating system to developers for testing purposes, one week after releasing the seventh beta and more than two months after introducing the new software at the 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV, the tvOS 12 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV using a profile that’s installed through the Xcode software. Subsequent betas can be downloaded via the software update mechanism on the Apple TV.

tvOS 12 introduces support for Dolby Atmos sound, which was activated in the second beta. Apple says that when tvOS 12 launches this fall, iTunes will be home to the largest collection of Dolby Atmos-supported movies. Customers that have previously purchased movies that gain Dolby Atmos support will see free upgrades to their titles, much like the rollout of 4K support.

Building on single sign-on, a new zero sign-on feature will further simplify the cable authentication process. With zero sign-on, the Apple TV can detect a user’s broadband network and automatically sign them into supported apps they receive through their accompanying cable subscription.

Zero sign-on will be available for Charter Communications customers this fall and will expand to additional cable providers in the future.

Aerial screensavers now include location information and there are new screensavers captured in collaboration with the International Space Station.

Other improvements tvOS-related improvements include AutoFill passwords from iPhone, an Apple TV Remote automatically added to Control Center on the iPhone or iPad, and Apple TV support on Home control systems like Control4, Crestron, and Savant.

tvOS 12 is available for developers and public beta testers to work out bugs and other issues ahead of a fall public launch.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Neutral)
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Apple Seeds Ninth Beta of iOS 12 to Developers

Apple today seeded the ninth beta of an upcoming iOS 12 update to developers for testing purposes, five days after seeding the eighth beta and more than two months after introducing the new software at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12 beta from Apple’s Developer Center or over-the-air after installing the proper certificate.

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iOS 12 introduces several major new features, with Apple revamping the operating system from top to bottom to make iPhones and iPads, especially the older models, faster and more responsive.

On the iPhone X, there are new Animoji characters along with “Memoji,” which are customizable, personalized, humanoid Animoji that can be used both in Messages and in FaceTime, and there are new camera effects in both of those apps.

Apple originally planned to introduce Group FaceTime support in iOS 12, but the feature was removed in iOS 12 beta 7 and will not be reintroduced until later this fall in a future update to iOS 12.

Siri is smarter in iOS 12 with a new Shortcuts feature that lets you create multi-step customized automations using first and third-party apps that can be activated with Siri voice commands. Shortcuts can be created through the Shortcuts app, available as a beta from Apple’s Developer Center.

Apple built comprehensive time management and monitoring tools into iOS 12 with Screen Time, allowing you to keep track of how much time you’re spending in apps on your iPhone and iPad. App limits can help you cut back on iOS device usage, and robust parental controls are included for families.

Updated Do Not Disturb options make activating Do Not Disturb more intuitive and simple, and a new Do Not Disturb at Bedtime feature cuts down on nighttime distractions and sleep interruptions.

Grouped Notifications make incoming notifications easier to view and manage, while a new Instant Tuning feature lets you tweak your notification settings right on the Lock screen on a notification-by-notification basis.

Apple News has a new Browse feature, the Stocks app has been redesigned and brought to the iPad, iBooks has been overhauled with a new look and a new name — Apple Books — and Voice Memos has been revamped with iCloud support and an iPad app.

ARKit 2.0 introduces new capabilities like shared experiences that let two people see the same AR environment on separate devices, and persistence, which allows AR experiences to be saved across multiple sessions. There’s also a new Apple-built Measure app for measuring objects using AR capabilities.

iOS 12 includes a revamped and rebuilt Maps app that uses a new Apple-designed Maps engine that will display foliage, pools, buildings, pedestrian pathways, and other map elements more accurately. The new Maps also includes significant improvements to traffic, real-time road conditions, construction, and more, plus it will enable Apple to push out changes and fixes more quickly.

The updated Maps app is available in the Northern California area during beta testing. After iOS 12 launches, Apple will continue rolling out the new maps to additional U.S. locations across late 2018 and 2019.

Tons of other small tweaks and features have been added to iOS 12, so make sure to check out our dedicated roundup for additional detail on what’s new in iOS 12.

New betas of upcoming operating system updates always introduce tweaked features and new functionality, and we’ll be outlining what’s new in the seventh beta below. We also rounded up all of the changes that were introduced in the previous betas: beta 2 and beta 3, beta 4, beta 5, beta 6, and beta 7.

We’re on beta 9 rather than beta 8 because Apple last week was forced to release an extra iOS beta to address issues in the seventh beta that were causing slow app launch times.

iOS 12 is available for developers and public beta testers, with a public launch planned for September alongside new iPhones.

What’s new in iOS 12 beta 9: According to Apple’s release notes, traffic data might not be displayed properly in iOS 12 beta 9. Apple suggests affected customers Tap the ‘i’ button to reveal Maps Settings and toggle the Traffic switch on.

Start and stop times for Downtime might unexpectedly change if they were configured prior to installing the ninth beta, so Downtime start and stop times will need to be reset after updating.

Related Roundup: iOS 12
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Should you buy the Samsung Wireless Charger Duo?

The undisputed champion of wireless charging has something new for you to check out.

When it comes to wireless chargers, there’s Samsung and then there’s everything else. Samsung chargers are just plain better, from the way they look to the amount of power they dispense, these things are a great addition to any desk or bedside table.

But with the launch of the Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Watch, Samsung took its wireless charging ambitions to the next level. A wireless charger designed to power a watch and a phone at the same time, thanks to multiple sections on the platter to place your devices. It’s not a new idea, and unlike Apple’s version of a multi-device charger it is actually available to purchase immediately after announcement, but should you grab one for yourself?

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Charge all the things

The cool thing about Samsung’s chargers is the way they follow a global spec, which means you don’t need to have a Samsung-specific device to use it. Like its predecessors, the Wireless Charger Duo will charge anything which also follows the standard Qi charging spec. This applies to the phone side as well as the watch side, in fact you can even charge a phone on the watch side if you really wanted to. Aside from the groove designed to keep a watch from sliding off the pad, the only difference between the left and right side of the pad is the left has a pair of charging coils so you can charge your phone vertically or horizontally. As the right side lays flat, that’s obviously unnecessary.

Unlike its predecessors, you have no control over the angle your phone sits at when charging.

That faster charging side is almost the same as the Fast Charge pad Samsung started selling earlier this year. It charges your phone a little faster than most other wireless chargers, but not quite as fast as a Fast Charge power adapter or a USB-C PD adapter. These are good bedside or desk chargers, but not what you would lean on if you needed a quick top up.

And if you’re a fan of using a wireless charger on your bedside table, the increased size of the Wireless Charger Duo may be a concern for you. Samsung’s usual chargers are about six inches wide and three inches long, but this Duo charger measures up to be a noticeably larger eight and a half inches wide. And unlike its predecessors, you have no control over the angle your phone sits at when charging.

One very cool thing you’re not going to find with most of the wireless chargers Samsung has made in the past is multiple color options. In the past, these chargers have been a matte black or a dark blue with grippy surfaces everywhere, but the Wireless Charger Duo is available in both a glossy black and a glassy white. This isn’t a huge deal, but the choice is nice if you’re looking for something that won’t stick out terribly in a well-designed room.

Should you buy the Wireless Charger Duo? Probably not

If you’ve got a phone and a watch with wireless charging capabilities, the Wireless Charger Duo is a great way to save a power outlet. And it looks nice, especially compared to some of the other chargers out there with multi-device support.

But like anything else, you’re going to pay quite a bit for the privilege. This charger is $120 currently, which is a lot to ask for something that charges your phone. It’s not a huge price leap from the $90 9W fast charger released earlier this year, but even that charger has come down substantially over the last couple of months. In most stores you can find it for $50, which is way less than the cost of a Wireless Charger Duo.

An expensive option

Samsung Wireless Charger Duo

$120 at Amazon

The Samsung Wireless Charger Duo is nicely-designed and easy to use, but its $120 is way more than twice the price of two excellent high-speed wireless chargers.

Don’t miss out on this one-day sale full of awesome Nerf guns and gear

Stock up now!

Amazon has a variety of Nerf guns and accessories on sale today as part of its Gold Box deals of the day. From popular guns like the Nerf Rival Phantom Corps to the Zombie Doublestrike Blaster, face masks, and even the Vortex Aero Howler football, there’s something in this sale for everyone.

Some of these are add-on items, meaning they only ship with qualifying orders of $25 or more, but with prices starting at just $4.89 you will want to check them all out.

Some of our favorite deals include:

• 20-pack Elite MEGA dart refill – $8 (Was $12)
• N-Stroke Elite Firestrike – $8.11 (Was $12)
• Phantom Corps Kronos – $10.05 (Was $15)
• Negotiator Blaster – $13.81 (Was $20)
• Rival Deadpool Apollo – $20.98 (Was $35)
• Double Dealer Blaster – $27.37 (Was $40)
• Rival Prometheus – $139.99 (Was $200)

This is just a small selection of what’s available, so be sure to check them all out now and grab some before the deals disappear.

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Drive back the forces of hell in DOOM Eternal for PlayStation 4

id Software doubles down on DOOM’s gory renaissance.

At E3 2018, id Software announced a new entry in the DOOM franchise. Dubbed DOOM Eternal, it’s a continuation of the 2016 reboot that set the franchise on a new path. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

What is DOOM Eternal?

For quite some time, DOOM was an IP that existed in a state closely resembling limbo. Sure, the games haven’t been totally terrible, but it was clear how far removed we were from the glory years. That changed with the reboot of the franchise in 2016.

Aptly and succinctly titled DOOM, it was a huge success. It was one of the best feeling shooters to launch on contemporary consoles, and the game didn’t shy away from the blood and gore that made the series what it is. (It also helped that the storyline wasn’t cheesier than a box of Velveeta.)

DOOM was a huge success, so it’s no surprise the developers want to take that formula and keep it going with DOOM Eternal. It’ll be the first game developed with id Tech 7, which features 10 times the graphical fidelity that the previous engine was capable of. We’re not even sure if that sort of leap will be possible for the PlayStation 4 version of DOOM Eternal to pull off, but it sounds like we’re in for big improvements regardless.

What’s going on in DOOM Eternal?

One of the things id Software wanted to do with the series is take it back even further. While DOOM was a nice ode to the classic no-frills shooting gallery, it didn’t attempt to drum up cheap sales with overindulging nods to the original. It was a nice balance of a classic concept with modern gameplay, graphics, weapons, and devastating finishing moves.

Now that it can stand on its own merit, DOOM Eternal isn’t afraid to be the fanservice game that’ll rope in any remaining holdout players who didn’t believe the reboot would do the series justice. There will be references to many of the classic elements of the original DOOM games, including throwback weapons and newer takes on veteran enemies such as the Zombieman, Arachnotron, Archville, and Pain Elemental. Those guys will be joined by newcomers known as the Marauder and Doom Hunter, among others.

The story picks up where DOOM (2016) left off, with you — playing as the menacing DOOM Slayer — to try and stop a demonic uprising. You find yourself on Mars, and your goal is to stop the man responsible for all of the chaos. His name is Samuel Hayden, a scientist who somehow bridged the gates of hell to Earth.

He was mostly genuine in his endeavor, as the only reason his research facility even attempted something like this was to help solve an energy crisis on Earth. Somehow, it never occurred to him that summoning a demon apocalypse was the wrong way to go about that.

Scrambling to come up with a solution, he released the DOOM Slayer to end the invasion, but he knew it was a dangerous creature that threatened all in the universe, and that he had to dispatch it once the deed was done. His failsafe was to banish the DOOM Slayer instead of killing it, but that plan doesn’t seem like it’ll end up working out in the long run.

What do you do in DOOM Eternal?

Take the first gun you can find and go absolutely nuts on a horde of demons. Seriously, DOOM Eternal is all about killing. Kill as much as you can, as often as you can.

There will be no shortage of ways to go about doing that. Some of the weapons you can wield include a combat shotgun, a rocket launcher, a plasma rifle, a super shotgun, a heavy cannon, and even a whole ballista. Melee weapons will probably be the most fun, though.

The Crucible Blade is an energy sword imbued with demonic power. Or you could just wield the trusty old chainsaw. Your choice. Once your foes are weakened enough, you can finish them off with insanely cool Glory Kill executions, which lets you get your hands dirty and kill the things without the use of a weapon.

OK, so killing isn’t all you do. There’s still the matter of story objectives to tend to. These objectives typically don’t amount to much more than “run here, press Square, run back, shoot demons along the way,” but that’s fine. DOOM Eternal should make that cycle a lot more interesting, however, with a twisted world to traverse in new ways. You can run up walls, zip around with a grappling hook, and dash around to get where you need to go, which means the level design should be even more interesting than it was in DOOM.

New to DOOM Eternal are “extra lives,” which grant you a brief period of invincibility in moments where you’d otherwise die. These can be found at random and picked up by the player. It eliminates a pain point from the original game where dying meant you had to be whisked back to the beginning of a level to do it all over again.

Some hardcore DOOM players may not accept that help with open arms, though it does sound like you can refuse to pick these extra lives up if you’re more of a purist. Really, it sounds like they were meant more for DOOM Eternal’s Invasion mode, which we’ll touch on right now.

Invasion Mode

DOOM Eternal will feature an exciting new mode known as Invasion. Invasion mode allows other players to join your game, but it’s not what you think. They won’t be helping you stop the demon army — they are the demon army. They’ll be among the crowd of uglies looking to take you down and will have access to their own combat abilities to help them in that goal.

You don’t have to play with this mode turned on if you just want to chill out and enjoy the campaign, but it should offer a nice change of pace for players who tire of dealing with the AI. And, of course, all the other usual multiplayer modes return, including Team Deathmatch, Warpath (King of the Hill), Domination, and Clan Arena.

Is SnapMap coming back?

DOOM featured an interesting level creation tool that allowed you to create custom hellacious funhouses to share with folks all around the globe. Unfortunately, id Software doesn’t deem it crucial to DOOM Eternal’s featureset, so they’ve axed the feature to focus their efforts elsewhere.

Part of those efforts includes more post-launch single player content. Story-driven DLC should be more plentiful as a result, and we’re sure more than just a fair share of that extra time went into the creation of the Invasion mode.

When can you play it?

DOOM Eternal is currently in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. There’s no exact release date yet, but with Amazon showing a December 31st, 2019 placeholder date, it’s safe to say we won’t be seeing it until sometime that year.

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PlayStation 4

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4 things that’d make the Lenovo Smart Display even better

Lenovo’s Smart Display is great, but there’s still some work to be done.

I’ve been living with the Lenovo Smart Display for a few weeks now, and during that time, it’s quickly become one of my favorite gadgets of 2018. As a huge fan of the Google Home, it’s been a dream come true to have that same functionality brought over to a form factor with a large, crisp 10-1-inch screen.

I genuinely love using the Smart Display, but for all the things it gets right, there are a few pain points that I’d like to see get worked out sooner rather than later.

Without further ado, here are 4 things that’d make the Lenovo Smart Display better!

Portrait orientation for the entire UI

One of the most unique aspects of the Lenovo Smart Display is its wedge design on the back. Because of this, you have the option of standing it either horizontally or vertically on your kitchen counter, table, etc. Unfortunately, at the time of publishing this editorial, the vast majority of the interface can only be used in that horizontal orientation.

You can set the Smart Display vertically during Google Duo calls and have the interface rotate as it should, but outside of these calls, everything is set to the standard horizontal layout no matter how the Smart Display is sitting.

Lenovo’s already said that this will be fixed in a future software update, but for the time being, it makes the wedge aspect of the Smart Display feel underutilized.

Support for audio groups

If you’ve got a Google Home, Home Mini, or any other smart speakers that are powered by the Google Assistant, you can add them to audio groups and play music on all of them simultaneously — allowing you to hear your music or podcast no matter which room you’re in.

It’s an incredibly handy feature and one that I use daily, but for whatever reason, the Lenovo Smart Display can’t be added to these groups.

Although the form factor is different due to the display, there shouldn’t be anything holding it back from playing music with other Assistant speakers. The Lenovo Smart Display lives in the Google Home app along with your other speakers, uses the Assistant, and has access to all of the same voice commands/features.

Yet, for some unknown reason, Google still doesn’t allow it to to be added to audio groups.

That may not sound like a huge deal to some readers, but it makes the Smart Display feel entirely separate from its speaker cousins when it should feel like an extension of them.

Deeper app controls

As it currently stands, the Lenovo Smart Display doesn’t run traditional apps. There are UI elements that are designed specifically for Spotify, YouTube, Google Express, and more, but you get to all of these via voice commands rather than tapping on an app icon.

That implementation is fine, but for the interfaces we do get for these services, I’d like to see more controls added at some point down the road.

Being able to pull up recipes is great, but it’d be even better if there was a way to quickly add all of the required ingredients to my shopping list. YouTube videos stream without a hitch, but I’d like to be able to browse through my subscription feed and manually choose what video I want to watch. The Google Express interface that we do have is fine, but there’s no way to easily peruse through all of the available products like there is on the Android app.

The idea of Google’s Smart Display platform is to have UI elements that complement your voice controls rather than being entirely touch-focused, but some of the experiences that are available right now feel a little too barebones at times.

A more consistent ambient mode

When you aren’t actively using the Lenovo Smart Display, you can swipe to the right and set the display to an ambient mode where the screen turns completely back and just shows the time in the bottom-left corner. It’s a great mode for when you’re sleeping and know you won’t be using the Smart Display for a while, but in my experience, the performance of this has been all over the place.

Manually swiping over to this screen works fine, but I’ve noticed that it occasionally goes to this mode on its own, too.

For example, if I turn off all the lights as I’m heading out of my apartment, the Smart Display will gradually dim its brightness and eventually go to the ambient mode on its own. If I walk by the Smart Display while it’s like this, the screen will magically come to life without having to touch it or anything.

Unfortunately, these automatic transitions are incredibly inconsistent.

I’ve noticed that they properly work maybe 50% of the time, and for the times that it doesn’t work, it does this for no rhyme or reason. This certainly isn’t a deal-breaker or anything on its own, but the inconsistency can quickly become rather annoying.

What do you want to see?

If you’ve got a Lenovo Smart Display, what would you like to see added/fixed? Most (if not all) of my complaints can be resolved with software updates, so here’s to hoping those make their way to the device in a timely manner!

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