Your iPhone might have a new capability as soon as next year: detecting a car accident and automatically dialing 911. Apple plans to unveil a feature called "crash detection" for both iPhones and Watches, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The feature would supposedly use sensors like the accelerometer built into Apple devices.
Apple has reportedly been working on the feature for several years and testing it using real world data. According to documents seen by the WSJ, Apple has been collecting data shared anonymously from iPhone and Watch users. It has detected more than 10 million suspected vehicle impacts, with more than 50,000 of those accompanied by a call to 911. Apple has been using that data to improve the accuracy of its crash-detection algorithm, since a 911 emergency call is pretty solid confirmation of a serious crash.
It's certainly not first to the gate with this. Google introduced a similar feature for the Pixel 3 and Pixel 4 via its Personal Safety app that can detect when you've been in a car crash and alert emergency services. GM has been offering it for years in its cars with OnStar, and recently introduced crash detection to smartphones via the OnStar Guardian app. OnStar's in-vehicle service reportedly responds to over 6,000 crash notifications a month, as the WSJ noted.
Apple introduced fall-detection to the Apple Watch 4 series, and it can automatically call emergency services and contact your loved ones if you don't respond to a prompt in a certain amount of time. The crash-detection feature is supposed to come out for iPhone and Apple Watches in 2022, provided everything goes to plan.
If you’re thinking of getting a laptop or tablet as a gift, you’ve got a wealth of options. Thanks to the latest round of hardware from Intel, Apple, AMD and NVIDIA, all of our portable devices have gotten steadily faster and more efficient. Even the cheapest iPad can be a decent productivity machine, while gaming laptops now have almost all of the power of their desktop siblings. And with the arrival of Windows 11, it's a perfect time to give someone a nifty PC upgrade, especially since very old computers won’t be able to step up.
Dell XPS 13
Dell
Not to sound like a broken record, but the XPS 13 is still the best Windows ultraportable you can buy. The design hasn't changed much, but that's not a huge problem: It's still incredibly light and features extraordinarily thin screen bezels. And now you can also take advantage of Intel's latest 11th-generation processors. The XPS 13 can also be configured with an OLED screen, an ideal gift for someone who could use a bright and color accurate display. And if you’ve got someone in mind who could use even more power, the new XPS 15 has the same sleek design, but it has more room for a bigger display and better hardware.
Apple's MacBook Air hasn't been upgraded since last year's miraculous model — which gave it the winning combination of Apple's M1 processor, a fan-less design, and incredible battery life — but it's still one of the best laptops on the market. It's powerful enough to handle most productivity tasks and a few games, and whoever’s lucky enough to get it won’t have to worry about any fans spinning up, since it’s completely passively cooled. You can also find the M1-equipped MacBook Air on sale occasionally, making it one of the smarter gift purchases this season.
Kudos to Apple for continually improving its entry-level iPad. Once again, it's one of the best tablet gift options on the market. It's faster than ever, thanks to Apple's A13 Bionic processor, and it includes more storage. The $329 model now comes with 64GB, or you could bump up to 256GB for $479. That's more than enough space to save every episode of Bluey and several seasons of Sesame Street to survive long car trips. Sure, the design hasn't changed much since last year, but that doesn't matter much — it’s still a more than capable tablet.
Amazon's Fire tablets are basically just video-first Android slates, but they also prove you don’t have to pay a ton to buy a useful tablet for someone. This year, the Fire HD 10 is a bit faster, has 50 percent more memory and features a slightly brighter screen. And, as a bonus, there's a Bluetooth keyboard accessory that can turn it into a cheap productivity tablet. But its core selling point is the same as always: it can tackle most tablet tasks easily, and it won’t cost too much. (There are also kid-centric Fire tablets worth considering, which come with a more durable case and two years worth of free replacements.)
You can take all of the praise we've given Razer's Blade 15 over the years and apply it to the latest model. Razer's flagship gaming notebook still has a sleek unibody aluminum case, and it packs in the latest CPUs and GPUs, including NVIDIA's top-end RTX 3080. And thanks to improved screen choices, you can also gift models with fast 1,440p displays, which are sharper than 1080p screens, and easier to run natively than 4K displays. If portability is a greater concern, take a look at the new Razer Blade 14, a sub-four-pound notebook sporting AMD's latest processors.
If the gamer in your life wants something more flashy and a bit lighter than the Razer Blade, consider the Zephyrus G15. With the combined power of AMD's latest processors and NVIDIA's latest graphics cards, it'll handle practically any game thrown at it. And if you're on a budget, you can find lower-end models cheaper than the equivalent Razer's. Mostly, though, we love this laptop because it has pretty much everything we'd want in a mobile gaming rig — that includes an excellent keyboard, a speedy 165Hz 1440p screen and excellent battery life. The only downside is that there's no webcam, but any aspiring streamer would rather have a separate external camera anyway.
The best Chromebooks are cheap, sturdy and powerful enough to handle basic school and office work. Acer's Chromebook 512 is one of the best current options, especially if you're looking for something for a child. It has a spill resistant keyboard, a sturdy impact-resistant case, and anchored keys that are harder for kids to pull off. Its Intel Celeron N4000 chip isn't the fastest, but it's enough to work on Google Docs, Sheets and Presentations without breaking too much of a sweat.
Sometimes it seems like there are just too many PC ultraportables to choose from, but Microsoft's Surface Laptop line are always a solid option. They feature some of the best keyboards on the market, excellent displays and support for all of Microsoft's notebook accessories, like the Surface Stylus. But mostly, we appreciate them for their design simplicity. They're sturdy, attractive and built for productivity. The latest 15-inch model also packs in speedy AMD processors that are powerful enough to play a few rounds of Overwatch.
Google's Pixel launches have been often been marred by hardware and other problems, with some more serious than others. The Pixel 6 has avoided that trend so far, but it still has a few minor issues around the display, 9to5Google has reported. Users noticed that when the Pixel 6 Pro is off, pressing the power button with slight pressure (not enough to turn it on) seems to activate a strange display "flicker." This doesn't affect the device when it's on.
In a support document, Google acknowledged the issue and said it will be fixed in the December software update. In the meantime, it gave the following instructions: "To avoid seeing this, when the power is off, do not cycle the power button. When you want to use the phone, hold the power button down long enough to turn it on." Google added that it's not "an issue with the phone hardware," meaning a software update will handle the problem.
The November patch has just been released today, with the main fix being a tweak to the Internet Quick Settings panel. As such, it'll take another month or so to fix the flickering issues. With the Pixel 6 being Google's first smartphone with its own Tensor processor, hopefully we won't see any major hardware issues.
Apple only rolled out the MagSafe charging case option for the AirPods Pro wireless earbuds just two weeks ago, but they've already going on sale for a second time. Today, they're available for at Best Buy for just $190, down $60 (24 percent) from the regular $250 price. We expect Amazon will match this price soon, but for now, the online retailer has the earbuds for $200, just $10 more.
The AirPods Pro earned a solid Engadget score of 87, thanks to the improved sound quality, good active noise cancellation, IPX4 water resistance, improved fit for more ear sizes and always-on Siri access. They also offer touch controls that let you easily switch modes between, say, noise cancellation and "Transparency" mode that lets you hear conversations, street noise and more.
However, Apple device compatibility is the most attractive feature compared to, say, Sony's WF-1000XM4 wireless earphones. That allows you to rapidly switch between an iPhone, iPad and MacBook computer. Battery life is as high as 5 hours without ANC or Transparency modes, or 4.5 hours of listening time (3.5 hours of talk time) with ANC turned on.
As part of its new AirPods and MacBook Pro launch, Apple gave the AirPods Pro a MagSafe charging case. As before, the case has a built-in battery that allows you to go up to 24 hours without needing access to a wall plug. MagSafe makes charging a bit more convenient, though, as the case will magnetically stick to compatible chargers like Apple's own MagSafe puck.
The $190 Best Buy price makes the AirPods Pro with MagSafe nearly as cheap as we've ever seen the older AirPods Pro without MagSafe. They'll probably keep going on sale fairly often as they've been out now since late 2019 and a new model could be coming down the pipe fairly soon.
You'll have to go large if you want an Intel-powered Mac desktop. 9to5Macreports Apple has quietly discontinued the 21.5-inch iMac about half a year after introducing the M1 model. The company had been selling a lone dual-core model for $1,099 through a relatively hard-to-find page, but YouTube Tech God noticed that it disappeared sometime on October 29th.
We've asked Apple for comment on the move. The company has a long history of keeping legacy Macs around for a while before silently dropping them, but it seldom elaborates on those decisions. A notable exception came in March this year, when Apple confirmed it was winding down iMac Pro sales.
This won't thrill educational customers that may still want the 21.5-inch iMac for its relatively low price, small size and legacy ports. You'll have to buy at least a 27-inch iMac or a $1,099 legacy Mac mini if you're not ready to leap to Apple Silicon. This does signal Apple's confidence in its processors, though — it clearly believes its mainstream desktop customers are ready to make the switch.
Apple may have given us a glimpse of what the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros' insides look like, but it had a surprise waiting for the folks at iFixit nonetheless. The iFixit team said removing batteries from recent MacBook Pros required "infinite patience, a bottle of isopropyl alcohol, and an optional bottle of human-friendly alcohol." They expected the same from this generation of laptops but were pleasantly surprised by the presence of pull tabs instead when they tore down the new MacBook Pros.
The outer battery cells have noticeable pull tabs that you can, well, pull to detach them from their adhesive underneath. Even the central battery cells have pull tabs — they're just harder to find inside the laptop chassis beneath the trackpad. iFixit was able able to confirm that the laptops will recognize and work with battery replacements just fine.
In addition, most of the laptops' ports, except for the SD card reader and the HDMI port, are modular. That means they can be easily and cheaply replaced if they suddenly break or malfunction. Conversely, the laptops' keyboard will still be hard to replace, but hey, at least the days of Apple's butterfly keyboard are now over. You can watch iFixit's teardown process in the video below, and it also has more photos of the laptops insides on its website if you want to have a better look at their components. iFixit also took apart Apple's $19 polishing cloth, in case you're wondering what makes it more expensive that its typical counterparts.
This week, we tested out new flagship smartphones, high-powered laptops and much-improved earbuds. Devindra Hardawar reviewed the latest 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros and reports back that they provide almost everything one could want out of a powerful laptop. Billy Steele spent time listening to the third-generation AirPods and concluded they sound much better than the previous version. And Cherlynn Low used Google’s Pixel 6 and 6 Pro and found that the camera-heavy handsets have a lot more to offer, including a great starting price.
Devindra Hardawar says the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros are precisely what media professionals have been waiting for: speedy M1 Pro and Max processors, a comfortable keyboard, serious battery life and great speakers. They also feature most of the crucial ports MacBooks have been missing for years, including (finally!) an SD card reader, though the laptops are thicker and heavier as a result. And of course, all that comes with a high starting price of $1,999.
Devindra was particularly impressed by the Liquid Retina XDR displays, which come close to 4K resolutions, and have mini-LED backlighting to produce up to 1,600 nits of brightness. He was also pleased to find support for 120Hz refresh rates, and by the benchmark testing in which both MacBook Pros blew away competing Windows PCs. However, while the laptops were able to speedily convert a 4K video clip to 1080p, Devindra doesn't think they'd make the best gaming machines — trying to load Borderlands 3 produced an unplayable mess. Overall though, he says these computers have practically everything one, especially a creative professional, would want in a powerful notebook — as long as you can stomach the price tag.
Apple’s latest AirPods have been almost completely redesigned from the previous version; the buds themselves have a new look, courtesy of the contoured shape which reduces weight and features a tapered silhouette and an angle to increase comfort. Billy Steele says the company’s efforts to build better AirPods have paid off: the new buds are more comfortable and and have much better audio quality, with bigger and more immersive sound that remained open and airy. That’s thanks to a custom driver paired with a high-dynamic-range amplifier, as well as the new H1 chip and the inward facing mic. Billy says these changes made the AirPods something he actively wanted to listen to music with.
The new AirPods also have an IPX4 rating so they’ll survive sweaty workouts or small splashes. They can also detect skin which, combined with the built-in accelerometer, makes for more accurate pausing and extends battery life. The new chip means you can listen to tracks in Dolby Atmos on Apple Music, and the spatial audio is available with dynamic head tracking to change the position of the audio when you turn your head. However, the latest AirPods still lack active noise cancellation and Transparency mode as these features are still reserved for the pricier AirPods Pro. While Billy acknowledges that these earbuds aren’t for everyone, he says they continue to offer Apple users features that are well integrated with iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Cherlynn Low says the newest Google phones — the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro — are the most intriguing phones that the company has made in years. Featuring the first Google mobile processor, Tensor, the two handsets also have improved camera hardware, lovely OLED screens, speedy refresh rates (120Hz for the 6 Pro, 90Hz for the 6), and decent speakers. Cherlynn says the best feature is the surprisingly low starting price — only $599 — which makes some of the drawbacks more forgivable.
One of the issues she had with the phones was the laggy under-screen fingerprint sensor, which requires the display to be on before it unlocked — a process that she says doesn’t need to have two steps. She was more impressed by the new voice keyboard, which did an excellent job of transcribing speech, and the additional camera features. The sensors are sharper and bigger with larger pixels, producing bright, clean photos — and special camera features, like Magic Eraser and Face Unblur, give users a lot of control over their photos. The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro excelled in our battery tests, too, lasting 20.5 hours and 17 hours, respectively. Overall, Cherlynn calls the handsets a superb return to form, showing off Google’s strengths in the software and photography departments.
If you've been holding out for a better price on a high storage capacity iPad Pro, Amazon may have you covered. The latest 11-inch iPad Pro with 1TB of storage is $200 off right now, bringing it down to $1,299. That's the best price we've seen and $100 cheaper than its previous low.
There are very few differences between this year's 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros. The larger model has Apple's new Liquid Retina XDR display, which will improve your video-watching experience. But just because the 11-inch model doesn't have the latest display tech doesn't mean it has a paltry screen. You're still getting a 2,388 x 1668 resolution Liquid Retina panel with ProMotion and True Tone technology, which is to say, it's still a lovely screen.
Otherwise, the 2021 iPad Pros are much the same. Both run on M1 processors, giving them powerful performance and making them the best laptop alternatives Apple has made yet. They also have 5G support, a USB-C port that double as a Thunderbolt connector with USB 4.0 compatibility and new Center Stage cameras. The latter works to keep you in the center of the frame when on video calls, and that will make a big difference whether you're on a Zoom meeting or just FaceTiming with your family.
Most people probably don't need 1TB of space, but it'll be useful if you're a creative professional using the iPad Pro for both work and play, or someone who wants to ditch their old laptop for a hybrid device. Paired with the right accessories, this iPad Pro would make a solid laptop replacement.
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While Teenage Engineering is best known for its synths, it frequently finds ways to surprise its fans. Its latest release is no different, but that doesn’t make it any less exciting. It has announced an ITX PC case it’s calling the Computer-1. The company says it has been working on the design since 2014. “It’s not a ground-breaking PC case, but we like it, and use it every day,” TE says on its website. “Now we’d like to share it with you.”
The case is made from 1mm-thick powder-coated aluminum. Like TE’s recent synths, it comes in a build-it-yourself flat-pack design that involves bending some of the panels. “Think twice, bend once,” the company warns humorously. With chrome handles included, the case stands 322mm or about a foot tall. Width-wise, it measures 170mm or just over six inches wide. Inside, you have enough room for an SFX power supply, a dual-slot GPU that measures under 180mm long and a CPU cooler that’s about 120mm tall. It will be interesting to see what thermal performance is like on the Computer-1 since the side panels don’t feature a mesh design.
At $195, the Computer-1 is pricey, but about what you would expect to pay for an ITX case from a small company. You’ll find more affordable options in products like the NR200 from Cooler Master, but you can easily spend as much as $200 or more on a Dan A4 or FormD T1. If you’re interested in the Computer-1, you may have to wait to get your hands on one. It’s currently sold out, but you can sign up to get a notification once it is available.
As part of its broad vision of becoming a metaverse-focused company, Facebook announced Polar, a free iOS app that makes it easy for just about anyone to create AR filters, effects and 3D objects. Think of it like an easy-to-use implementation of the company's Spark AR platform for developers. The goal is to give creators a simple tool to design custom AR effects — perhaps glowing demonic eyes, or 3D text of your personal hashtag or slogan — that they can deploy across the web, or share with their followers.
The company plans to launch a closed beta program later this year, so it'll likely be a while before it's open to everyone. But if Facebook wants the metaverse to thrive, it'll need to loop in creators to help make some meme-worthy content. Let's just hope there's also a way to pay people for this free labor.
