Apple said it makes the most personal mobile OS, which is just absurd

The operating system that won’t let you set Waze as your default map is trying to call itself the most personal operating system. Riiiiiiight…

The yearly Apple Event where we see the new iPhone X-mas announced and Jony Ive reinventing the polygon is here, and it kicked off with the most ridiculous claim we’re likely to see out of Cupertino to date: “iOS isn’t just the most advanced mobile operating system, it’s the most personal.”

Once you’re done spitting out your drink — somebody owes me a Coke and a clean top — let’s recap all the personalization Apple isn’t doing that Android and Google Assistant are.

Setting default apps

Let’s start with the Android feature Apple users have been wanting since 2010. If you hate Gmail, you can set Microsoft Outlook as your default email app on an Android. If you hate Safari, you cannot set Google Chrome as your primary web browser on an iPhone. If you don’t want Google or Apple, there are literally dozens of other great options.

This culture may be changing, slowly, maybe, if you squint. The biggest takeaway from Apple’s WWDC developer event back in May for many people was that Apple CarPlay was going to finally allow users to use Google Maps or Waze. This is a huge step forward, as the inability to use Google Maps has kept many of my iPhone-carrying friends from using CarPlay.

But still, Apple is so ridiculously behind here.

Launcher and system personalization

I’ve often joked that if you want to personalize an iPhone, all you can do is buy a new case and set a wallpaper. This is an oversimplification, to be sure, but when it comes to the home screen experience on iOS, it’s not that far off. You can rearrange the apps on the pages of your app drawer — yeah, iOS lives in the app drawer, it doesn’t have proper home screens — but you can’t get a better launcher. You can’t set any icon packs. You can’t add any widgets to your home screen itself; widgets on iOS can only clutter your Today feed.

Personalizing an Android phone can go so far beyond the home screen, too. Samsung Themes have allowed users to make the Android system itself look bold, unique, and perfectly suited to their style. They’re far from perfect but on Android we can say this and mean it: if you don’t like something about your phone, you can change it.

Google Assistant

But let’s not forget the most personal service Google has today on Android and beyond. Google Assistant has grown so far beyond answering simple search questions and telling you the weather. Google Assistant adapts to your tastes; you can tell it you don’t like a song and it will remember that for the next dance party. Google Assistant can play games with your children while helping you make dinner; it can help you plan a vacation or set up a science fair experiment.

You can customize not only the way Google Assistant addresses you, you can pick its voice from all the colors of the wind. You can now address Google Assistant in multiple languages, and if you take the train to work but take a car when you’re just going out for a fun night, Google Assistant can remember that when you ask how long it’ll take to get somewhere. You can even program customized Routines for Google Assistant that will trigger at specific times, letting Google Assistant control your whole home while waking you up or speak up with a reminder every day so that you take regular breaks to stretch and eat.

And because Google Assistant has expanded from Google Home and your phone to Chromebooks and TVs and third-party speakers and iPhones, Google Assistant’s personalization can follow you from device to device so that no matter where you talk to Assistant, it feels and responds like your assistant. Siri has been slowly improving, but again is so, so far behind that Google Assistant is comfortably lapping her now.

Personalization requires willingness to change

Lets not forget when personalizing a phone went right down to the frame with Motomaker.

If you don’t like Google Assistant, you can set Alexa or Cortana as your default assistance app. If you don’t like Siri, then you can try to use Google Assistant instead, but it’s going to be a bit clunkier, just as using Inbox instead of Apple’s Mail app is. That’s because no matter how hard Apple tries to market itself as a personal OS, it’s still not giving you nearly the choice that Android is, and Siri will not adapt to your habits, speech patterns, and your tastes nearly as well as Google Assistant will.

So, yeah. The most personal personal mobile OS? That’s adorable Apple, but nah.

Google’s shutting down Inbox next March

The age of AI-powered Google is causing its email clients to merge.

Updated September 12, 2018: Welp. They did it. Google’s killed Inbox. Inbox will be laid to rest in March 2019, and in its place, the company’s hoping people switch over to Gmail instead. This isn’t really surprising considering the overlap in features we’ve seen between the two apps over the last few months, but even so, it’s still sad to see that the light is finally coming at the end of the tunnel for Inbox. RIP 💔

It has been almost exactly three years since Google made its new email client available to the whole world.

Inbox by Gmail was sold as a “completely different type of inbox, designed to focus on what really matters,” and while I think this mission was a huge success, the client never really caught on the way Gmail itself did. Fast forward to today, Inbox has become stagnant and Gmail is being regularly updated to compete with modern email clients. In fact, with the recent revelation of an upcoming new Gmail design, including several features straight from Inbox, it’s not difficult to imagine this once futuristic-feeling email client being sunset before too long.

The big thing that sets Inbox apart from other email clients is automation. Inbox automatically sorts your email into themed piles, so you can sift through them as you see fit or archive whole stacks with a swipe. You can snooze emails, too, so they disappear from your main feed and arrive, magically, when and where you want them. That feature, which largely sets Inbox apart from Gmail, is now coming to Google’s primary email client. And that’s good because it’s incredibly useful worth having everywhere. But seeing it come to Gmail caused me to look at what else sets Inbox apart, and that list is quite slim these days.

Google has been working on things like smart replies and several other features for Inbox and Gmail at the same time, but if you look at the Gmail blog, the last time Inbox got a solo update was way back in August, 2016. There’s been little momentum since then, something iPhone users have found especially frustrating as the iOS Inbox app is one of the few remaining Google apps without iPhone X support. Any way you look at it, the Inbox experience has been largely unchanged for quite some time now.

The biggest reason this frustrates me as an Inbox user is how it aligns with Google’s overall trend of focusing on automation products. The AI-powered revolution, the “Personal Google” experience powered by machine learning, is the kind of thing I expected would make Inbox even more capable over time. In reality, Inbox doesn’t feel any smarter to me now than it did two years ago. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since I already enjoy it for what it is, but it seemed likely that Google would sink some resources into making its predictive, intelligent email system a big part of its machine learning future. Instead, it feels more like successful parts of Inbox are being woven into Gmail.

Its possible Google will never fully “sunset” Inbox, as it is mostly just a different front-end for the existing Gmail platform. Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the future of Inbox.

Soon enough, no doubt at Google I/O in less than a month, we’ll likely all have access to this new Gmail and everyone will be able to enjoy most of the things that make Inbox cool. But for now, I’m not quite ready to give up on an email system that pre-sorts my messages so I never have to look at a giant list of emails ever again.

Boost your Gmail productivity with these tips and tricks

TP-Link smart bulbs, Bluetooth headphones, and more are discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on several kinds of TP-Link A19 smart bulbs, Bushnell binoculars, and Anker’s noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones!

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

The just-announced Dyson 360 Heurist robot vacuum can see in the dark

Hands-free sounds good to me.

Today in Beijing, Dyson announced its newest endeavor: the 360 Heurist. Three years ago was Dyson’s first foray into the world of robot vacuuming with the 360 Eye. The newest version brings with it several improvements, which is a good thing considering the reviews the earlier version received.

There’s a new processor that’s 20 times faster. There are new voice assistant capabilities so you can talk to your robot pal with your other robot pals like Alexa or Google. There are more bristles, more suction power, more runtime, and those aren’t even the coolest features.

“Heurist” likely comes from the word “heuristic”, which means “enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves.” That makes perfect sense, because the new 360 Heurist features an LED ring around its top camera. If the lights are off, it won’t panic and shut down. It simply “sees” for itself using up to eight of its LED lights. The 360 Eye didn’t perform well in the dark, so it’s nice to see that Dyson took customer feedback into account when creating the newest version.

There are plenty of options to consider when looking for a robot vacuum. Models like the Eufy RoboVac for around $200 or the $280 iRobot Roomba are great choices, and they’re available right now. Plus, judging from the $1,000 pricing of the now-dated Dyson Eye 360, they’re probably much more affordable.

The 360 Heurist will be available in China in a couple of months for around $800. Details are sparse on when it’ll arrive in the United States and other regions, but you can follow Thrifter on Twitter to know if it ever gets discounted here.

Apple Seeds watchOS 5 Golden Master to Developers

Apple today seeded the golden master (GM version) of watchOS 5 to developers following a beta testing period that saw the company release a total of 10 watchOS 5 betas. The golden master represents the final version of watchOS 5 that will be released to the public on Monday, September 17.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the watchOS 5 golden master 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.

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.

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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 betas are only available to developers and are 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 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.

Apple plans to release watchOS 5 to the public on Monday, September 17, a few days ahead of when new Apple Watch Series 4 models will be available.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4, watchOS 5Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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Apple Seeds tvOS 12 Golden Master to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the golden master (GM) version of tvOS 12 to developers following a months-long beta testing period that saw the company release 10 tvOS 12 betas. The golden master represents the final version of tvOS 12 that will be released to the public on Monday, September 17.

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 Xcode. Subsequent betas can be downloaded via the software update mechanism on the Apple TV.

The tvOS 12 public beta can be obtained by going to the Settings app on the Apple TV and navigating to the Software Updates section under “System.” “Get Public Beta Updates” will need to be toggled on, and once it is, the Apple TV will download the beta software.

tvOS 12 brings long-awaited support for Dolby Atmos sound, which was activated in the second beta. Apple has been adding Dolby Atmos support to its iTunes content, and with the tvOS 12 launch, iTunes will be home to the largest collection of movies that support Dolby Atmos.

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 further simplifies 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.

In tvOS 12, Aerial screensavers include location information for the first time, and there are new screensavers captured in collaboration with the International Space Station.

Other 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.

Apple plans to release tvOS 12 to the public on Monday, September 17, right alongside iOS 12 and watchOS 5 updates. For more information on the new features coming in tvOS 12, make sure to check out our tvOS 12 roundup.

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

Apple today seeded the eleventh beta of an upcoming macOS Mojave update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after releasing the tenth 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 the initial beta has been installed using the appropriate profile from the Developer Center, additional betas can be downloaded through opening up System Preferences and choosing the “Software Update” option.

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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.

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 public release on September 24.

Related Roundup: macOS Mojave
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Apple Seeds iOS 12 Golden Master to Developers and Public Beta Testers Ahead of September 17 Launch Date

Apple today seeded the golden master (GM) version of iOS 12 to developers. The golden master represents the final version of iOS 12 that will be released to the public, and it comes after a beta testing period that saw Apple release 12 betas over the course of the beta testing period.

Registered developers can download the iOS 11 golden master from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed, while public beta testers can download the update over-the-air.

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iOS 12 is a significant update for the operating system designed for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It introduces multiple new features, with 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 (Ghost, Koala, Tiger, and T-Rex) along with “Memoji,” which are customizable, personalized, humanoid Animoji that can be used both in Messages and in FaceTime, plus there are fun 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 iOS 12 update.

Siri is smarter than ever in iOS 12 with a new Shortcuts feature designed to let 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, which will be released alongside iOS 12, and Siri will offer up Shortcuts suggestions.

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 by hiding notifications at night.

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 to cut down on the number of notifications you receive.

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 functionality.

iOS 12 includes a revamped and rebuilt Maps app that uses a new Apple-designed Maps engine that displays 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 lets Apple push out changes and fixes more quickly.

The updated Maps app is available in the Northern California area during beta testing and at launch. Following iOS 12’s public release, Apple plans to continue rolling out the new Maps app to additional U.S. locations.

iOS 12 will be released to the public on Monday, September 17, four days ahead of the official launch date of the new 2018 iPhones. For more details on all of the new features included in iOS 12, make sure to check out our iOS 12 roundup.

Related Roundup: iOS 12
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Apple Reveals ‘iPhone XR’ With 6.1-Inch Liquid Retina LCD Display and Six Color Options Starting at $749

Apple today announced the iPhone XR featuring an edge-to-edge “Liquid Retina” LCD display with wide color and True Tone support, and the same all-screen design as the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, but with an aluminum frame instead of stainless steel.

Comparatively, the iPhone XR has a bigger display (6.1-inch) than the iPhone 8 Plus (5.5-inch), but a smaller overall body, and comes in six colors: White, Black, Blue, Coral, Yellow, and (PRODUCT)Red.

A seven-layer color process gives the glass back nuanced hues, and the aluminum band and camera trim are color matched. The new design also supports Qi wireless charging, is splash and water resistant with a rating of IP67, and protects against everyday spills including coffee, tea and soda.

The iPhone XR uses LTE Advanced for faster download speeds and introduces Dual SIM through the combined use of a nano-SIM and digital eSIM.

Otherwise, the iPhone XR has many of the same gestures and features as iPhone X, with swiping up to unlock and no home button. iPhone XR does lack 3D Touch, but instead includes a new feature called “Haptic Touch,” similar to the Force Touch found on MacBook Pro trackpads.

The iPhone XR is powered by Apple’s A12 Bionic chip with next-generation Neural Engine, and includes the TrueDepth camera system first introduced in the iPhone X, along with faster Face ID, and a more advanced camera system capable of portrait photos via a single camera lens.

iPhone XR features a 12-megapixel f/1.8 aperture wide-angle lens with an all-new sensor, delivering faster auto-focus, while larger and deeper pixels improve image fidelity and low-light performance on photos and videos.

New Depth Control allows users to adjust the depth of field both in real-time preview and post-capture, while improvements to the ISP, Neural Engine and improved software algorithms enable portrait photos with a signature bokeh effect. New smart HDR feature also brings better highlight and shadow detail across photos, according to Apple.

iPhone XR will be available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models in the aforementioned colors, starting at $749. iPhone XR will be available to pre-order in more than 50 countries beginning Friday, October 19, with availability in stores beginning Friday, October 26.

Related Roundup: iPhone XsTag: September 2018 event
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Apple Discontinues iPhone SE, iPhone 6s and iPhone X

With today’s announcement of the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, Apple has officially discontinued the iPhone SE and the iPhone 6s, the two iPhones that it was selling as its most affordable smartphones.

The iPhone SE was Apple’s last remaining 4-inch device, and now the smallest phone that Apple sells is the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 and iPhone 8.

Apple has also discontinued the iPhone X, something that we were expecting based on rumors. The iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max replace the iPhone X.

Apple’s new lineup is as follows:

• iPhone 7 with pricing starting at $449
• iPhone 7 Plus with pricing starting at $569
• iPhone 8 with pricing starting at $599
• iPhone 8 Plus with pricing starting at $699
• iPhone XR with pricing starting at $749
• iPhone XS with pricing starting at $999
• iPhone XS Max with pricing starting at $1,099

The iPhone 7 is now Apple’s cheapest device at $449, which is $100 more expensive than the now-discontinued 32GB $349 iPhone SE. With the discontinuation of the iPhone 6s and the iPhone SE, Apple no longer sells an iPhone that includes a headphone jack.

The iPhone 7 models come with 32 or 128GB of storage, while the iPhone 8 models are available with 64 or 256GB of storage. The iPhone XR is available with 64, 128, or 256GB of storage, while the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are available with 64, 256, or 512GB of storage.

Apple’s iPhone XS and XS Max smartphones will be available for pre-order this Friday, with a release date coming on September 21, while the iPhone XR will be available for pre-order on October 19 with a ship date of October 26.

Tag: September 2018 event
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