We’ll get into why Facebook saw its entire business fall off a cliff on Monday, but first: e-readers.
It’s a device category we don’t see much development in — probably because it’s very much a device for reading text and not much else. Amazon’s Kindle, thanks to its powerful online e-book store, generally has the category sewn up, with several e-reader options from luxe to sometimes-$60 slates.
But I love an underdog — and most things with an e-ink display. Like this and this.
So I have time for Kobo's new $260 Sage e-reader, which lets you add handwritten notes with a stylus. It has an 8-inch 1,440 x 1,920 e-ink screen that adjusts brightness and color depending on the time of day. You can also convert to plain text your handwritten e-notes made on e-books and PDFs and send them to other devices — a feature Kobo already offered on its larger and more expensive $399 Elipsa.
If you’re looking for an e-reader that doesn’t have Amazon hooks — or you need to take notes on your e-books — you can pre-order the Sage now. It starts shipping on October 19th.
Following the massive service outage that took out all of its services, Facebook has published a blog post detailing what happened. According to Santosh Janardhan, the company's vice president of infrastructure, the outage started with what should have been routine maintenance.
A command was issued that was supposed to assess the availability of the backbone network that connects all of Facebook’s disparate computing facilities. Instead, the order unintentionally took all those connections down. Matters were made worse because the outage made it impossible for Facebook engineers to connect to the servers they needed to fix.
The Surface Pro 8 addresses many of the issues we had with the Pro 7, including a gorgeous premium design. Editor-in-Chief Dana Wollman put the hybrid device through its paces, and she particularly loved the 120Hz display.
But the starting price ($1,100) is higher than its predecessor — still not including a keyboard. That makes it tougher to justify picking the Surface Pro 8 over a comparably priced laptop. Especially at a time when there are so many excellent options to choose from.
Oh, we’re not done. Microsoft’s Laptop Studio was also in for review. Devindra Hardawar tested it out, and he believes the Surface Laptop Studio is a solid successor to the Surface Book. While it’s faster than the Book 3, and it has a gorgeous, flexible screen, it’s oddly lacking in sheer CPU power compared to the competition. He explains all in his full review.
The three main Kingdom Hearts games are coming to Nintendo Switch. You'll be able to play Kingdom Hearts - HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue and Kingdom Hearts III. They're all cloud streaming games on Switch, so you'll need a good internet connection to play them. The news came off the back of the announcement that Kingdom Hearts protagonist, Sora, will be final character to join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Sora means ‘sky’ in Japanese, so there’s some irony in the game series being streamed from the cloud.
Find out all about the company's latest flagship phones.
The company plans to reveal everything there is to know about the Pixel 6 lineup on October 19th at 1 PM ET. Months ago, the company spilled some info on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, including what the phones look like. In August, Google said Tensor, the first system-on-chip it designed, will feature in the new additions to the Pixel series.
Expect some substantial camera upgrades, with the Pixel 6 Pro packing 4x optical zoom and an additional telephoto option. In comparison, Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro tops out at 3x optical zoom.
I locked myself out of my apartment yesterday. It’s a rare occurrence, but when it does happen, I usually text my building’s WhatsApp group, begging someone to buzz me in. So it was not a great time for Facebook’s entire network, including WhatsApp, Instagram (oh and Oculus), to collapse for six hours.
While it’s unclear exactly what happened, during the downtime, the company’s outgoing Chief Technology Officer, Michael Schroepfer, said it was due to “networking issues.”
Even within Facebook, the issues reportedly led to employees being unable to access emails, Workplace and other tools. The New York Times reported that employees were also physically locked out of offices as workers’ badges stopped working. Poor Facebook.
By 6 PM ET yesterday, most of the services were back, though Facebook for Business Status page still showed "major disruptions" to core services. On Facebook — when it was back online — CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the services going down.
That didn’t help me with my low-priority problem. Fortunately, I gleaned some of my neighbor’s phone numbers from WhatsApp, and sent a few SMS SOSes, ‘00s style. Twenty minutes later, I was finally back in my home.
Windows 11 is almost here, and it is (generally) a solid step forward aesthetically from Windows 10. According to Devindra Hardawar, some of the changes may annoy long-time users. It’s a more secure OS as well, but that also means it’s more restrictive, hardware-wise, and potentially harder to upgrade. For those considering their options, we have a guide to exactly that.
Internal documents published by The Wall Street Journal recently revealed that Facebook allowed VIPs to break its rules, and it was aware Instagram affected the mental health of teens. Now, the whistleblower who brought that information to light has revealed herself as Frances Haugen in an interview with 60 Minutes.
"I’ve seen a bunch of social networks, and it was substantially worse at Facebook than what I had seen before," Haugen told the show. "Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety."
Haugen joined Facebook in 2019, working on democracy and misinformation issues, while also handling counter-espionage, according to a personal website and Twitter account she and her team set up. She worked as a Facebook product manager and left the company in May.
After decades of pretending to explore the universe in TV shows and movies, William Shatner is actually going to space. Blue Origin's second tourist spaceflight is scheduled for October 12th. Shatner, 90, is to become the oldest person to fly to space. He'll take the record from 82-year-old aviation pioneer, Wally Funk, who was a passenger on New Shepard's first crewed flight in July.
Apple has announced when you'll be able to snag an Apple Watch Series 7. Pre-orders start this Friday, October 8th, at 8 AM ET. The device, which starts at $399, will be available one week later on October 15th.
The biggest change this year is a larger, always-on display. Apple has bumped up the case size options to 41mm and 45mm while reducing the bezel to 1.7mm, meaning it should feel pretty similar to last-generation Watches, but with more screen. The user interface takes advantage of the larger screen, with a full, swipe-based QWERTY keyboard and two additional watch faces.
Welcome to Monday. How was your weekend? For me, a rainy October — England doing what it does — kept me indoors, but fortunately, there was a crop of shows I was planning to watch anyhow.
While I caught up on the cultural phenomenon that is Squid Games, a lot of you dipped your toes into the entire run of Seinfeld, which is now available to stream on Netflix.
You might have noticed the march of progress inadvertently squashing some of the visual gags out of shot. Case in point: The pothole featured in season 8 is literally out of shot to fit the show into the modern 16:9 widescreen format.
Cropped shows have always been an issue: Seinfeld has been on cable TV and Hulu with similar cropping. The popularity of Netflix has simply meant the showis getting more attention at this moment in time. There are solutions. When the entire run of The Simpsons hit Disney+, it was similarly squashed into widescreen. Disney eventually released the seasons that aired in 4:3 in their original aspect ratio.
Apple has now updated the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch for the holiday season — we’re still waiting for a launch date for the wearable — but what about the Macs? There have been plenty of rumors about a totally redesigned MacBook Pro coming out this fall, and the reliable Mark Gurman at Bloomberg says an M1X-powered MacBook Pro will arrive "in the next month."
It wouldn’t be a huge shock: Apple has typically held Mac-focused events in October or early November; the first M1-based Macs were announced in early November, last year.
Toyota’s latest three-wheeler isn’t a bike or a car. Like the headline suggests, it’s more like a Segway, built for pedestrianized areas and more aimed at mobility than sheer A-to-B transport. To that point, it has a maximum speed of just over six miles per hour, though it’s possible to throttle it down to one mile per hour, and includes an obstacle avoidance system. It beeps when it detects something on your path and slows down if a collision is imminent.
Toyota believes the scooter could help elderly workers travel across large facilities, like warehouses, factories and airport terminals.
Many tech companies have lobbyists who are fighting the $3.5 trillion budget bill.
Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Disney are among the major companies backing corporate lobby groups and organizations battling a US climate bill, according to a report. That's despite those companies all making pledges to reduce their impact on the environment. The Guardian reports that watchdog Accountable.US analyzed the groups to learn which companies have connections to them.
The United States Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the Rate Coalition are three of the lobbyist and business groups that oppose the Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget bill, which includes measures to fight climate change.
The YouTube / NBC drama is officially over. After reaching a temporary deal to keep NBCUniversal channels on YouTube TV, the companies officially resolved their despite Saturday afternoon. "We’re thrilled to share that we’ve reached a deal to continue carrying the full NBCUniversal portfolio of channels," YouTube wrote on its blog. "That means you won’t lose access to any of their channels, and YouTube TV will continue to offer 85+ networks for $64.99. We appreciate NBCUniversal’s willingness to work toward an agreement, and we also appreciate your patience as we negotiated with them on your behalf."
It was such a potential problem for YouTube TV that the service said it would cut its price by $10 per month if it wasn't able to reach a deal with NBCUniversal. Fortunately for YouTube TV customers, nothing is changing, at least for now.
If you’ve been holding out on a possible iPad purchase (or upgrade), this might be the time to strike. Apple’s newest base model iPad is now on sale, and we’ve got a detailed review on what is an incremental upgrade on what is, at heart, the same design we’ve had for many years now.
If you’re looking for an iPad with a design twist — or at least a smaller footprint — there’s the iPad mini, pulling some of the redesigned iPad Pro DNA into a smaller package. That includes something close to an “all-screen” design, with an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display and power button with TouchID on the edge that supplants the need for a home button.
Meanwhile, the OG iPad design, so very lightly refreshed for 2021, doesn’t put a foot wrong — and it’s the cheapest new iPad you can get. For that $330, as Nate Ingraham’s review lays out, the hardware is powerful and the battery life is outstanding.
It has Apple’s A13 Bionic chip, which first appeared inside the iPhone 11, circa 2019, but still an upgrade from the last vanilla iPad iteration. But yes, it’s not as powerful as the newer chips in the iPad Air and just-updated iPad mini.
If we sidestep the Pro models, tablet shopping will boil down to the iPad mini, Air or this new standard model. You could say this is some degree of choice — I just wish there was more tablet competition that didn’t run an Apple OS. Android tablets are still, typically, cheaper options that always leave me wanting.
The former employees were outspoken critics of many Amazon policies.
Amazon was supposed to defend its decision in court to let Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa go last year. The former Amazon employees were outspoken critics of the company, and both were, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), illegally fired. The e-commerce giant didn't have to defend itself, however, because it has settled with the affected parties shortly before the hearing could take place.
The settlement still needs to be approved by the NLRB regional director in Seattle, but Cunningham and Costa are already considering the settlement a victory. In a joint statement, they said the development is a "win for protecting workers’ rights."
Subaru has shown the first video of its first EV, the 4x4 Solterra crossover, essentially confirming it's a slightly reworked version of Toyota's upcoming bZ4X EV. We’re still waiting on key details, like price and battery capacity. It's set to arrive in the US and other markets next summer. For now, take a closer look at the teaser.
Sonos has added Dolby Atmos support to the original Beam, which turned out to be a popular soundbar for those looking to upgrade their TV sound system in a simple way — and introduce them to the Sonos cinematic universe of speaker add-ons and upgrades.
The new Beam, while more expensive than a lot of the competition, is another compact soundbar that sounds far more immersive than you’d expect. According to Devindra Hardawar, it also does a decent job with music and still works well with other Sonos speakers. Read on for his full review.
Chinese company Nreal has launched a new model of augmented reality glasses called Air, designed with streaming shows and playing mobile games in mind. The glasses still need to be tethered to a phone, like their predecessor, the Light, but they're a lot lighter (77 grams to Light's 106 grams) and look more like an ordinary pair of sunglasses.
Nreal also improved the display, which has the capability to project a massive virtual screen up to 201 inches in size, and refreshes at up 90Hz. The new model has no motion tracking at all, and a company spokesperson told us that, based on Light's usage, Nreal expects most owners to use the Air simply to watch shows on YouTube.
The Kiyo X webcam costs $80, while the Ripsaw X capture card is $140.
Razer’s latest streaming gear aims directly at newbies, starting with its new Kiyo X USB webcam. As with a lot of current games, you can choose between optimizing your webcam feed for fidelity or framerate with 1080p 30 fps and 720p 60 fps options.
There’s also the Ripsaw X capture card, for footage up to 30 frames per second in 4K. Razer says the device delivers "near-zero latency" through its HDMI 2.0 and USB 3.0 connectivity. You can hook it up to a camera with HDMI output to use it as a high-end webcam or capture gameplay from a console. The Kiyo X cam costs $80, while the Ripsaw X will run you $140. Both are available now.
Amazon’s annual barrage of new Echo hardware didn’t disappoint, ranging from role-playing games to nutrition tracking, drones and videocall devices for kids. I think the new 15-inch Echo Show, a smart screen to mount on your wall, was the most intriguing reveal.
Amazon has redesigned its home screen to make the most of all that extra display space, and you can customize it so part of the screen scrolls through ambient content, like headlines and weather updates. Aimed at families, the Echo Show 15 also has a new visual ID feature that can recognize your face and show you personalized information, like calendar appointments, reminders and notes.
Amazon and Google dominate the smart displays space, and I might be the rare exception of having not a single Alexa-powered device in my home. So far, Amazon’s devices haven’t offered anything particularly compelling for me. I have a Google smart display, which smoothly integrates with Google Calendar, Google Maps and the rest. It’s hard for me to generate much enthusiasm for the Echo range.
Now, having said that, let me contradict myself entirely.
If you like your Alexa devices on wheels and with precarious extendable, periscope cameras, then perhaps Amazon’s Astro robot might get you excited. (Or worried.) Amazon plans to sell its first robot in limited quantities later this year. It will eventually cost $1,450, but as part of its Day 1 Editions program, the company will sell the robot at an introductory price of $1,000.
IKEA and Sonos’ new, more customizable version of their Symfonisk speaker lamp arrives on October 12th. The furniture giant will sell the new model's lamp base and shade separately, so you can mix and match parts to ensure the final product fits the vibe of your home.
IKEA’s Stjepan Begic said they decided to make the base smaller after finding out a lot of people use the Symfonisk lamp on their nightstand. You’ll be able to choose between two types of shades: textile or glass, while the lamps themselves come in black or white. The new model also supports a wider range of bulbs, thanks to a different E26/E27 socket.
The invitation-only program will help refine the technology.
Ring says its Always Home Cam, its first home security drone, will soon arrive in select households. Users will be able to sign up to join an invite-only testing program to help refine the hardware before it hits shelves. In the US, at least, Ring owners can sign up to help develop what its makers are calling a “very ambitious device.”
This time last year, ByteDance was trying to save its TikTok app in the US and elsewhere after Donald Trump's administration threatened to ban it. One potential savior was Microsoft.
It was a mess. It all started when Trump threatened to force Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US owner, citing privacy and security concerns. Microsoft stepped in as a potential buyer, though the company, in the end, struck a deal with Oracle and Walmart, which President Joe Biden's administration scrapped in February 2021.
Microsoft was in the middle of negotiations with ByteDance when Trump told reporters he'd rather ban the app than allow it to be sold to a US company. That "threw into disarray the careful negotiations we had pursued with ByteDance” to buy TikTok’s business in the US and the three other countries, CEO Satya Nadella wrote. Trump only relented and allowed a deal to happen after Nadella called him personally.
After Oracle's winning bid, ByteDance said Trump had "ghosted" the site, effectively going silent after ordering the company to divest its US TikTok assets.
It’s very, very important for Amazon Game Studios.
After four delays spanning nearly a year and a half of missed release dates, New World is finally here, available to Steam and Amazon’s own marketplace, starting at $40. The MMORPG will be crucial to Amazon Game Studios’ future. After the very public failure of Crucible, which it terminated not too long after its launch, the company needs to prove it can deliver compelling games — and keep them going. Hopefully, all those delays have ensured New World arrives with its best foot forward.
ZTE’s family of devices is a little confusing at the moment. The Axon 30 is a direct sequel to the Axon 20, which was the first phone to feature an in-screen camera. However, the company has subsequently released the Axon 30 Pro and Ultra in some territories. So, weirdly, the vanilla Axon 30 is the last of the Axon 30 family to appear.
At $500, it’s also the cheapest — another attempt by ZTE to slide underneath the priciest smartphones around and offer a mixture of compelling features, albeit tempered by some compromises. The Axon 30’s headline feature is a much-improved under-display camera (UDC), which is almost invisible. It’s also a ZTE smartphone that’s launching in the US, which doesn’t always happen.
But with increasingly strong midrange phone competition from the likes of Samsung, OnePlus and Google, does ZTE’s Axon 30 offer more than just a hidden selfie camera?
So what’s all the fuss about that camera anyway? Well, the under-screen 16-megapixel selfie shooter on the $500 Axon 30 puts the one on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 to shame. ZTE’s implementation is imperceptible unless you really, really look for it. No punch hole, no notch, no pop-up camera.
In comparison, the Fold 3’s selfie cam has a pixelated effect that signposts where the camera is and ruins the whole effect. (Yes, in Samsung’s defense, there’s another front-facing camera on the Fold 3 when it’s closed and you’re using the smaller screen.)
The difference seems to be pixel density, or according to ZTE, the composition of them, with a “special pixel matrix” that ensures the screen appears at 400 PPI — double that found on the Axon 20. If the light catches the unit just right, then yes, you can see it. You’ll probably never notice it again.
There’s also a dedicated UDC chip that apparently works to keep the camera area looking consistent with the rest of the screen. To get a closer look, I used Oppo’s Find X3 Pro, which has a microscope phone camera — perfect for visually explaining what could otherwise get very technical.
Engadget, Mat Smith
As you can see, some pixels seem slightly smaller, or dimmer, than those surrounding them. In this close up you can see the outline of the UDC area, but at this magnification, it’s impressive that it doesn’t look more out of place. I’ll touch on the camera’s performance later, but spoiler: While it might look the part, it’s not quite capable enough.
The hidden sensor also complements the expansive 6.92-inch AMOLED screen, uninterrupted by the presence of any camera notches or holes. With a 2,460 x 1,080 resolution panel and 120Hz refresh rate, the Axon 30 is offering a flagship screen for mid-range prices. You can switch between 120 and 60Hz modes, with an automatic option letting the Axon 30 decide when to increase the frequency. On more expensive phones, like the OnePlus 9 Pro and the recently-announced iPhone Pro 13, there are more refresh rate options that dip even lower, but at this price, this seems like a fair compromise.
Leaving it on auto is probably the best fit for most folks, but the manual options are nice — especially as there seems to be a tangible battery life benefit to the lower setting.
The phone itself is pretty big but feels solid despite its plastic back. ZTE added a translucent reflective effect across the rear of the Axon 30, which I like. I’m less enamored with the giant camera unit, however, which protrudes a few millimeters from the phone, and is likely to be more easily dinged and scratched. Sadly, this design is now everywhere.
The screen might be comparable to a high-end phone, but there are some features that didn’t make the cut at this price, like wireless charging and certified resistance against dust and water.
Performance and software
Engadget, Mat Smith
There are further compromises. The Axon 30 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 processor — which is a little underpowered compared to the Snapdragon 880 and 880 Plus we’re seeing in flagship Android smartphones now.
But at $500, phones like the Pixel 5a (and its Snapdragon 765G chip) are a better comparison to make. The Axon 30 has a more powerful chip than Google’s latest device, though it’s hard to notice a difference in performance between the two.
The Axon 30 handled everything I threw at it, whether that was video streaming, Stadia or playing games on the phone itself. (The Stadia app did flag that the phone wasn’t officially supported, although it worked fine for me.) There was some visible slowdown when recording video at full 4K resolution, and hopping into the gallery, but otherwise, I didn’t have many complaints.
I also have to mention that the Axon 30 isn’t exactly great for 5G support in the US. It only works on T-Mobile’s midband 5G. If you’re on Verizon or AT&T, you’ll be relegated to 4G.
ZTE does know what it’s doing with smartphone power, though. The phone has a 4,200mAh battery that, when I turned the 120Hz refresh rate off, lasted a good two days of typical use before I needed to recharge. And when I did need to, it took hardly any time.
The Axon 30 supports incredibly fast charging speeds of up to 65W with the appropriate charger, which (thankfully) the phone comes with. ZTE estimates it can charge the phone to 100 percent in under an hour, but getting to 50 percent takes proportionately less time — around 20 minutes.
Software is pretty innocuous, which is generally a good thing. ZTE keeps pretty close to the stock Google experience. Its new MyOS 11 skin, based on Android 11, is pretty close to what you’d find on a Pixel. There are a few gesture quirks (shake the Axon 30 for the flashlight!) and a floating shortcut widget that can be minimized to the edges of the screen. It’s similar to Samsung’s Edge panel on its bigger phones. ZTE’s version is called Z-Pop and you can tweak the four shortcuts for system commands and app switching. That said, it’s not something that makes you think “Mmm what a memorable experience this is.”
Cameras
Engadget, Mat Smith
While the front-facing 16-megapixel camera is technically impressive, it doesn’t take great selfies. Don’t get me wrong, it shoots far better pics than the UDC on both Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Axon 20. The work done to pixel-bin for low light performance, as well as algorithms to help the camera ‘see’ through the AMOLED panel make this the best UDC so far. But it still offers up middling to poor photos. It’s a bit of a time warp, to be honest, giving me the kind of pictures I used to get on smartphones years ago. Details are fuzzy, and any strong backlighting leads to lens flares and washout.
There’s also an AI assist mode that doesn’t seem to help much — if anything, modes like brightness seem to wash out skin tones even further, and they’re a little gray to begin with. Even if you turn this off, images seem pretty unnatural.
I couldn't mask how disappointed I was in these selfies.
Engadget, Mat Smith
It does still capture enough detail to offer face unlock functionality if you prefer that method to fingerprint unlock. And yes, there’s also a fingerprint reader built into the screen. Face unlock worked fine for me nine times out of ten, and was plenty fast enough, but I used a combination of the two. Fingerprint unlock seemed more reliable in darker environments.
But what about the rest of the cameras? On the back, the Axon 30 has a four-camera array, led by a 64-megapixel Sony sensor. While you’ll mostly be taking pictures that fuse a lot of these pixels together for less noise and better performance in low-light, ZTE has kept the ability to take full-resolution stills if you want to. There’s also an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, a 5-megapixel macro camera and finally, a 2-megapixel depth sensor to aid your bokeh photography efforts and help with focus. You get up to 2x optical zoom, which is what you’d generally expect at this price point.
While shooting pictures with the Axon 30 during a family event, images of friends and family seemed particularly good. There is a softness to some shots, likely due to the photos being shrunk down from the 64-megapixel original, but the phone was able to handle most things I threw at it.
There’s a night mode — of course — but the Axon 30 takes pretty functional shots in low light without having to resort to using it. It did help further reduce noise and improve detail a little, but I’d also advise testing shots with AI mode on and off, as sometimes I found it meddled a little too heavily, especially with people as subjects.
And the macro camera isn’t worth your time. I suggest using the primary camera with zoom for generally better results in most situations. The problem with the macro camera seems to be that the phone has to be so close to the subject that it blocks a lot of light. That’s not great for detail-oriented photography.
Video camera modes are generally the same across most mid-range phones in recent years, and the Axon 30 isn’t hugely different. It can handle up to 4K at 60fps and a multi-camera mode lets you record from both the wide-angle and the primary camera at the same time, which is a nice trick we’ve occasionally seen on flagship phones. Due to sluggish autofocus, however, the recording quality isn’t great. If you’ve got a stable subject and good light, videos will generally come out nicely. At other times, you’ll struggle to record anything functional. Just because a phone can record 4K, it doesn’t mean you should.
Summary
Engadget, Mat Smith
With the Axon 30, ZTE has proved it can successfully camouflage its under-display camera. But that doesn’t mean it’s up to the task. Image quality from the secretive selfie lens really isn’t good enough, even if the implementation is impressive. Aside from that, the Axon 30 has a gorgeous, fluid screen and a decent rear camera setup. The lack of wider 5G support in the US is frustrating in a 2021 phone, but there is still a lot here for $500. The bigger challenge is that competition is tough in the middleweight phone arena. Google’s latest Pixel, the 5a, rings in at $450, and offers better-performing cameras, front and back. If you’re struggling to pick between the two, the decision loosely boils down to a bigger screen or better selfies.
Yes, Apple is calling its newest iPhones the iPhone 13 series. Unlucky numbers, be damned. We’re getting four new devices, from the 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini through to the 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max. Apple also revealed a long-time-coming iPad mini, which looks very cute, if a little pricey, while the Apple Watch reaches Series 7, with a more expansive screen and faster charging.
It’s not a year of major device redesigns or left turns, which might make it a trickier upgrade for current iPhone 12 owners, unless they were thinking of upgrading to a bigger, more powerful pro model (or shrinking to a mini).
As was the case last year, Apple’s bleeding edge tech is in the Pro models — we’ll break down the features below — but the company is promising major battery gains across the family. It’s claiming hours more runtime, depending on the model, which will be a notable improvement, and it’s one of the (admittedly dry) improvements I am always begging to see in new iPhones.
The decision remains: Do I want the mini (now Apple has upgraded the battery) or all the camera marvels of the Pro Max? Pre-orders start Friday September 17th.
— Mat Smith
Everything you might have missed at Apple’s iPhone 13 event
The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max have faster screens, smaller notches and new colors compared to the 12 Pro series of last year. It seems the models have evened out, too, with not much to differentiate between them, barring size, screen and battery.
They include a new Super Retina XDR display with 1,000 nits of brightness for better outdoor reading. The company said this is the brightest screen on an iPhone ever. It also features 120Hz refresh rates and will adapt when you need it that smooth. If you’re all about that battery life, the iPhone 13 Pro Max will last 2.5 hours more than last year's model, making it the longest-lasting iPhone ever. Read on for more details on that camera array.
Say hello to the iPhone 13, which is nearly identical to last year's iPhone 12. There is a 20-percent smaller notch on the front for Face ID, as well as a redesigned back camera module — but by and large, it's visually nearly identical to last year’s model.
The iPhone 13 also has a bigger battery, something that should be welcome for both phones, particularly the iPhone 13 mini. All of the new iPhones feature Apple's latest A-series chip, and this year, it's the A15 Bionic processor. It's a 5nm chip with nearly 15 billion transistors that Apple says is 50 percent faster than its competition. Apple kept prices the same this year: The iPhone 13 mini starts at $699, while the iPhone 13 starts at $799.
LG has revealed it isn’t going to leave Samsung a clear run at the “TVs so massive they occupy a whole wall” market. It has announced the new Direct View LED TV, which can span up to sizes of 325 inches in various configurations. When assembled, the screens can offer up 2K, 4K or even 8K picture quality, driven by a separate WebOS box off to one side. And yes, before you ask, LG isn’t revealing how much it costs, putting this at the pinnacle of products that you just know you can’t afford. Thankfully, LG has also revealed its rollable OLED R TV will set you back $100,000 if you just want the fanciest 65-inch TV money can buy. I’d like to remind you all, as well, that projectors exist.
As part of Apple’s glossy iPhone 13 event, the company announced a refresh to the iPad Mini, which sees the dinky slate become a much more premium device. The 8.3-inch tablet has gained narrower bezels and a new “all screen” design, a TouchID sensor on the power button and USB-C. It will now also work with the second-generation Apple Pencil, which magnetically attaches to the side of the device. These changes put the new iPad Mini on the same level as the medium-tier iPad Air, especially since the mini now packs the high-end A15 Bionic SOC. Long story short, this probably isn’t the device you’re buying for your small kids as a “safe” device — unless you’re planning to steal it back the day after they unwrap it.
Sony will finally unlock the PS5's SSD slot for everyone tomorrow
The Remote Play app will work over mobile networks, too.
After beta testing the second major PlayStation 5 firmware update over the past few weeks, Sony is ready to roll it out to everyone. Ten months after Sony released the console, the company is finally unlocking the internal storage expansion slot for everyone. There is some fine-print about where you can install your next-gen games, however.
The new second-generation Beam goes on sale today for $449 and will be available on October 5th. That’s $50 more than before, in line with the other price increases Sonos announced last week. Alongside support for Dolby Atmos, it has a new perforated polycarbonate grille instead of the cloth front and more audio processing power.
In fact, this sound bar now supports the same home theater audio formats as the Arc (including Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus, Multichannel PCM and more), which costs twice as much as the new Beam model.
To my horror, the GameCube has just turned 20, making me feel real old. It is, however, a great excuse to showcase our favorite games from Nintendo's slightly troubled home console. And we didn’t just go for Mario and Zelda. In fact, we got weird.
Apologies in advance to Android phone owners, as it’s new iPhone day. Yes, Apple’s biggest showcase of the year kicks off at 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT / 6 PM BST. Once again, the company is streaming the event, and the Engadget team will be breaking down all the new device announcements.
There have been plenty of rumors on what Apple has up its sleeve, and naturally, we’ve corralled the most reliable whispers here. Expect a new family of (possibly) four iPhones, an updated Apple Watch, more news on iOS 15 and possibly new AirPods and iPads.
After the big event, join Reviews Editor Cherlynn Low and myself as we break down all announcements, complain about the lack of USB-C and laugh at whatever cringe moment occurs during Apple’s highly produced event. Join us after Apple right here!
Nintendo has officially lowered the suggested retail price of the base Switch model in Europe, but there’s been no change elsewhere. It's now available for £260 in the UK or €300 (down to €270 in France) elsewhere in Europe, rather than the previous £280 (€330).
In a comment to Eurogamer, Nintendo said: “After carefully weighing up a variety of factors, including currency exchange rates in Europe and the upcoming launch of Nintendo Switch - OLED Model, we decided that now was the appropriate time to change the European trade price of Nintendo Switch.”
Unsurprisingly, there’s a fair amount of dying in Deathloop. Dying is a core mechanic of the game, and it’s the first thing players actually do in the campaign, called Break the Loop. According to Senior Editor Jessica Conditt, Deathloop feels a lot like Dishonored (of course — same studio), with a chaser of We Happy Few.
Environments are easy to scale, but the true challenge is breaking the “loop” by killing eight bosses in a single day, in a single sweep. Fail: you die and have to begin all over again.
Steve Wozniak has started a company called Privateer Space. The Apple co-founder announced the private space firm on late Sunday. Unfortunately, other than to promise his company would be “unlike the others,” Woz didn’t provide many details on the venture. The startup was co-founded by former Apple engineer Alex Fielding. Wozniak and Fielding have collaborated frequently over the years.
The 'cross check' system was created to avoid 'PR fires,' according to the report.
Facebook has used a little-known VIP program that’s enabled millions of high-profile users to skirt its rules for years, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal.
The program, called XCheck or cross-check, was created to avoid “PR fires,” the public backlash that occurs when Facebook made mistakes affecting a high-profile user’s account. If one of these accounts broke its rules, the violation went to a separate team for review by Facebook employees, rather than its non-employee moderators.
The weekend before Apple’s big iPhone event, the company’s legal battle with Epic and app developers cast a shadow. It’s hard to describe either side as an out-and-out loser or winner; Apple must allow App Store developers to direct users to other payment systems, which would let them bypass the 30 percent cut of in-app payments that Apple takes. Judge Gonzales Rogers also ruled, however, that the App Store doesn't violate antitrust law. She ruled against Epic in Apple's counterclaim for breach of contract. Epic has to pay Apple $3.65 million.
The latest development: Epic has already filed an appeal against that ruling. The initial notice didn't explain exactly how the Fortnite developer was challenging the decision.
I’m sure Apple would love to put the legal tussle behind it — while the ruling will cut into its revenue from some developers, it shouldn’t hugely affect its bottom line — and it’s got more new phones and devices to reveal. Want to know what we’re expecting from the big event? Read everything we know so far, right here!
Having said that, this little nugget was too late for our What to Expect story on Apple’s incoming phones. It seems the iPhone 13 — will the company call it that? — comes with some 1TB options, regardless of the expansion of iCloud and storage outside of the device itself. Well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max will have up to 1TB of storage alongside 128GB, 256GB and 512GB options carried over from the iPhone 12 Pro family. That could prove a little more expensive. Perhaps more importantly, he also believed the base iPhone 13 and 13 mini would start at 128GB versus the (frankly inadequate) 64GB of their predecessors.
He added that the current second-gen AirPods will stick around and sell alongside a new third-generation model, to be revealed at Apple's September 14th event, probably with a price drop.
Mat Smith (yes, me) loves the iPhone 12 mini. While the battery life was frustrating, that there’s a tiny smartphone, powerful enough for gaming and other processor-intensive tasks, is a very good thing. We hope — and rumors suggest that — Apple will continue the iPhone mini family.
The Perseverance rover's first rock samples from Mars are already providing insights. NASA researchers' early analysis of the samples indicates water was present in Jezero Crater for a "long time" — think tens of thousands or millions of years. That, in turn, suggests Mars' water was stable enough to make it relatively welcoming to microscopic life. The mission team also detected crucial salts that might have formed when water flowed through the sampled rock. The salt might have not only trapped pockets of Mars' old water, but could have preserved signs of life.
Regulators are worried stablecoins hurt stability more than they help.
Stablecoins are ostensibly safer than regular cryptocurrency thanks to their ties to less volatile assets, but US regulators apparently aren't convinced. Bloomberg sources hear the Treasury Department and other federal agencies are close to a possible crackdown on stablecoins through a review from the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Officials are reportedly concerned the digital money is largely unregulated and could ultimately destabilize the financial system, not protect it.
Some of that concern centers around Tether, which tries to stabilize its funds by holding large amounts of corporate debt. That could be vulnerable to "chaotic investor runs" if cryptocurrency values tank, according to Bloomberg.
Last year, Apple revealed more new iPhones than ever. There was the iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro and then the most expensive model, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, with Apple’s best camera sensor, a giant screen and an enormous battery to match.
Then there was the iPhone 12 mini, the small iPhone that some of us were clamoring for. Outside of the 5.4-inch screen, it matched the specifications of the bigger, vanilla iPhone 12. You got the same dual cameras, the same powerful A14 Bionic processor, storage and color options. It’s just, well, mini.
To me at least, the smallest phone was the most exciting device from Apple’s big event. A new (in 2020 at least) iPhone form factor for those of us that balked at the size of most phones. We’ve covered the ups and downs of tiny smartphones over the last few years, so it was a surprise — but a welcome one — when Apple decided to cater to this niche. Working in Apple’s favor, smartphone makers weren’t making small phones anymore (barring, perhaps, Sony).
So when we finally got the iPhone 12 mini in our hands, what did we think? Chris Velazco, who reviewed it, said it was, pretty much, an iPhone 12, but smaller. He added that while it was the most potent small phone he’d tested in years, it dodged the problems of typing on smaller screens, because the display stretched to the edges of the 12 mini’s body.
The iPhone SE, by comparison, had to make space for the home button at the bottom and the camera and earpiece at the top, which was a tight squeeze for thumbs on a 4.7-inch screen. (The iPhone 12 mini is physically a smaller phone than the iPhone SE.)
About half a year ago, I switched from my iPhone 12 Pro Max to the iPhone 12 mini. Despite how excited I was about the smallest new iPhone at launch, I still wanted the 12 Pro Max as my main phone. I told myself I needed the cameras.
I had a few reasons for “downgrading” to the iPhone 12 mini. The pandemic had tricked me into beginning a jogging habit. The hulking iPhone 12 Pro Max was not made for running shorts, and I couldn’t use my Apple Watch as it didn’t offer the narrative features of the Couch24K app.
So there was the iPhone mini, provided by Apple when the four phones were first introduced. Small, powerful enough, and I didn’t need high-res pics because I wasn’t going anywhere during London’s lockdown. Also, the iPhone mini’s cameras are fine — good even.
One issue with the iPhone mini is that its smallest (cheapest) configuration comes with only 64GB of storage. But, honestly, I don’t use much on-device storage, so it wasn’t hard to migrate everything.
It’s a nice feeling to be able to fit more than just your phone into your pocket; not to awkwardly stretch your thumb to reach the top of the screen. The iPhone mini is wonderful to use one-handed most of the time.
For roughly six months, the iPhone mini was the perfect petite device for me. My Apple Arcade favorites, including relatively processor-intensive games like Fantasian, ran without issue, and my other daily apps never suffered a hiccup. I could use Fitness+ and while you might think video streaming would be less compelling on a smaller screen, I was mostly in my home. I have a TV!
It wasn’t all perfect, though, and the major issue was exactly what our review pointed to; meager battery life. Perhaps because the iPhone 12 mini matched the bigger iPhone 12 in all specifications barring screen size, there is a physical limit to how big the battery can be.
I didn’t notice that during the first half-year, but that’s probably because I was, well, mostly trapped indoors. Any time the battery dipped below 50 percent, I was immediately near a power output and could easily top the iPhone mini back up to full power.
When the country started opening up again, I went out more. And I wasn’t taking battery packs or charging cables with me. A few times, I cut it real close getting back home (or to a power outlet) before the battery reached single-digit percentages. After too many close calls, the pin went in, the SIM came out, and I left the iPhone 12 mini for the much bigger model.
When stories of slashed iPhone mini 12 production started appearing, I feared that this was a short-lived Apple experiment that had run its course. However, the latest rumors suggest otherwise. Last week, a listing at the FCC suggested that Apple was testing four new devices with its latest MagSafe technology. That should be the Pro Max, the Pro, the base model and the mini.
Other reports suggest that the next series of iPhones, whether they’re called iPhone 13 or something else, will offer some subtle changes improvements to last year’s models. Crucially, one report from March suggests that batteries across the iPhone series will be bigger, while more energy-efficient components, from chipsets through to screens, should also improve battery longevity.
Many phone buyers might have been skeptical that a smaller iPhone — even if new — would be as capable as bigger models. In the evolution story of smartphones, bigger screens always game with better specifications. The iPhone 12 mini was an anomaly, and maybe we weren’t ready to it.
If Apple can make the iPhone mini go the distance, battery-wise, but keep the specifications on par with the bigger model, there wouldn’t be much left for me (or phone reviewers) to complain about. September 14th is pretty soon. Bring it on, Apple.
