You haven't had much choice for compact keyboards these days — many of them are mechanical keyboards aimed at gamers and hobbyists, and Apple's Magic Keyboard doesn't make much sense for non-Apple users. Logitech might have a more viable alternative for some people, however. It just introduced an MX Keys Mini wireless keyboard that shrinks the original MX Keys design into a tiny, minimalist footprint.

The MX Keys Mini doesn't include a number pad or other perks from a full-size keyboard, but it does preserve the "Perfect Stroke" system that combines non-mechanical switches with dished keys that can improve your typing accuracy. There are even a few new functions you won't get in the larger keyboard, including a dictation key for Macs and Windows PCs, a microphone mute toggle and an emoji key.

The Mini supports Android, ChromeOS, Linux, iOS and iPadOS using either Bluetooth or a USB receiver, with pairing for up to three devices. USB-C fast charging will help if you need a few more hours of typing in a pinch.

The MX Keys Mini is available now for $100 in dark gray, pink and silver colors. That's not a huge drop from the $130 price of the full MX Keys, but it's on par with the no-frills Magic Keyboard. It's arguably a better buy if you prefer the ergonomics of Logitech's keyboard, don't like the feel of mechanicals or just want a keyboard you can easily shuffle between platforms.

YouTube Music is rolling out to some Wear OS 2 smartwatches starting today. Gen 6 smartwatches from Fossil and Michael Kors will be able to stream music from the service, as will Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, Pro 3 Cellular/LTE and E3 models. The app was previously released for Wear OS 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.

It's the first YouTube Music smartwatch app that supports offline listening. If you're a YouTube Music Premium subscriber, you can download songs you can listen to offline and without ads. You'll be able to leave your phone at home and still listen to music while you work out or go for a walk.

The app includes the Smart Downloads feature, which updates the songs on your device when it connects to WiFi. Google says Premium subscribers can listen to more than 80 million songs and thousands of playlists from their wearable. The app, which is available through the Google Play Store, will hit more Wear OS 2 devices later this year.

Spotify rolled out an updated version of its Wear OS app last month. It also lets users download music to their smartwatch and stream tracks without the need to have a phone nearby.

Are you unable to unlock your brand new iPhone 13 with your Apple Watch? Don't despair just yet. According to MacRumors, Apple has promised to fix a bug that prevents the unlock through an "upcoming software update." You can turn off the feature in Settings and rely on passcodes until that solution is in place, Apple said, although it didn't offer a timeframe for the patch.

The flaw typically tells users the iPhone is "unable to communicate" with the Apple Watch. Others can't setup the unlock feature in the first place. As you might imagine, that's a significant hassle if you're wearing a face mask and can't use Face ID to sign in.

You might not have to wait too long. While Apple only recently started testing an iOS 15.1 beta, the company has a long history of delivering small-but-quick updates that fix glaring bugs and security holes. While this certainly isn't how Apple wanted the iPhone 13 launch to go, the issue isn't likely to last.

You might not have to worry about apps that can't use the 120Hz refresh rate of the iPhone 13 Pro family. As iMorenotes, Apple has posted a developer article revealing that iPhone apps will need to 'unlock' 120Hz support by adding a key to a .plist file. There's also a bug limiting the speed for some Core Animation-based apps, although Apple said a fix was coming in a future iOS 15 update.

The iPad Pro doesn't require code updates to make full use of its 120Hz display, although that may be due to the tablet's much larger battery. Smartphones are much more likely to take a serious battery life hit from high-refresh screens.

The details suggest a repeat of what happened when Apple introduced the iPhone 6, iPhone X and other phones with significant leaps in display tech — it took a while for Apple and developers to make full use of the new screens. Your iPhone 13 Pro's 120Hz panel should reach its full potential, but there may be a few weeks or months where it goes underused.

With this year’s iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, Apple finally brought its ProMotion display technology from the iPad Pro over to some of its phones. The feature allows the new high-end iPhones to refresh screen content up to 120 times per second, thereby creating a much smoother interface experience. The effect is most noticeable when scrolling, but almost every aspect of a UI can benefit from a higher refresh rate.

Unfortunately, it looks like the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max limit their ProMotion displays in one notable context. According to reports spotted by 9to5Mac, the phones cap some animations in third-party apps to 60Hz. Scrolling and full-screen transitions render as expected but other animations do not. The effect is apparently jarring. What makes it worse is that it’s not something you’ll see when using any software from Apple; the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max do not enforce that same limitation on the company’s apps.

What makes the situation particularly confusing is that the iPad Pro does not have a similar limit. It has treated first- and third-party apps equally since it was released in 2017. A source told 9to5Mac the iPhone’s implementation may have something to do with battery life considerations. At the very least, code in iOS 15 suggests the limitation isn’t a bug. Either way, we’ve reached out to Apple for more information, and we’ll update this article when we hear back from the company.

Mention the name of Sunrise to a select demographic of nerds and you’re likely to elicit a visceral reaction. Before Microsoft purchased the calendar software in 2015 and shut it down about a year later, it was one of those apps people loved to praise. Thoughtful design and features helped it differentiate itself and earn a passionate fanbase in a crowded market that was dominated by heavyweights like GCal.

But then Microsoft shut down the app and fans were left to look elsewhere, with almost no alternative coming in to fill the void. But the good news is something similar could be on the way. Yahoo (Engadget’s parent company) is working on a standalone calendar app called Day. We know, not the most exciting sell, but stay with us.

According to TechCrunch, the company has recruited Jeremy Le Van, one of the co-founders of Sunrise, to help design the software. What’s more, the company has reportedly granted Le Van’s team the freedom to develop the software independent of other Yahoo properties. In its current iteration, the app apparently doesn’t feature any Yahoo branding or integrations. Moreover, the plan is to make it into something that can integrate with whatever email client and other tools people use.

Obviously, we’ll have to see what the final product looks like, but even if Day is only half as good as Sunrise it will make the calendar conversation more interesting.

A phone can be endowed with the fastest processor in the world, but if it’s saddled with a slow screen, it could still feel sluggish — especially when compared to a similarly equipped device with a faster panel. That’s why the iPhone 13 Pro’s most important new feature is its ProMotion display.

But ProMotion is only included on the Pro and Pro Max models this year, making it one of the features that differentiate them from the iPhone 13 and 13 mini, not to mention last year’s 12 Pro. For an extra $200 to $300, the Pro series also offers an additional telephoto camera, a new macro photography mode, as well as more power and endurance. But are the iPhone 13 Pro’s new cameras and screens worth the extra money?

Design

Before we get into those features, though, there’s one thing you should consider: weight. At 204 grams (7.19 ounces), the 6.1-inch 13 Pro is heavier than both the 12 Pro and the iPhone 13. The 13 Pro Max, which has a 6.7-inch screen, outweighs last year’s Pro Max and Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra. While I didn’t mind the regular Pro, it was uncomfortable to use Apple’s biggest flagship one-handed for more than a few minutes at a time.

David Imel for Engadget

In addition to being heavier than last year's models, the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max are a bit thicker, too. They also have larger rear camera modules and slightly smaller display notches. Otherwise, Apple hasn’t strayed far from the 12 Pro’s design. These phones have similar stainless steel enclosures with glass coverings, and are rated IP68 for water and dust resistance.

Even the colors available are familiar: The typical trio of graphite, gold and silver are now accompanied by Sierra Blue. Personally, I prefer this paler shade to the Pacific Blue offered on the last generation.

Display and audio

I realized something when I started testing the iPhone 13 series last week: Basically everything I do on a phone requires scrolling. That includes browsing social feeds, looking for the right component on a spec sheet, reading through old conversations, creeping on my Instagram viewers and reading articles, to give you a non-exhaustive list.

This is why Apple’s new ProMotion screen on the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max is a big deal, and also why it’s kind of annoying that it took the company so long to adopt this technology in the first place. Google was already a little behind when it added 90Hz panels to the Pixel 4, after companies like ASUS and OnePlus had already introduced higher refresh rates. Nowadays, this tech isn't just for premium, top-tier Android devices either.

David Imel for Engadget

This is hardly the first time Apple is late to adopt a new technology. But it is worth emphasizing that the faster screens on the iPhones make a real difference. Like many Android phones, the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max adjust their refresh rates depending on what you’re doing. They can go as low as 10Hz when you’re looking at a static image, or up to 120Hz for scrolling and compatible games.

The benefits might not be obvious at first, but when you go back to a slower screen, you’ll quickly notice the jagged artifacts they produce.

Aside from ProMotion, the iPhone 13 Pro’s OLED displays are also 25 percent brighter than their predecessors, which is nice for outdoor reading. But without a side-by-side comparison, the difference is subtle at best.

Regardless, I enjoyed watching the visual perfection that is Doja Cat’s Kiss Me More music video on the iPhone 13 Pro’s True Tone display. The rosy, cotton-candy hues looked vibrant and her individual lashes were clear. The stereo speakers also did a respectable job of delivering crisp audio with adequate bass. Other things like voices and instrumental background music in videos and games all came through clearly as well.

Cameras

Apple says the iPhone 13 Pro’s rear cameras have received the “biggest upgrade ever,” touting “next-level hardware that captures so much more detail.” The triple 12-megapixel setup includes a primary sensor with a large f/1.5 aperture, a 77mm telephoto lens and an ultra-wide option with a 120-degree field of view. Night mode is now supported on all three of the cameras, so you don’t have to compromise on wide-angle or close up shots in low light. There’s also a new macro photography feature thanks to the updated ultra-wide lens, along with software like Photographic Styles and Cinematic Mode.

Those two modes are also offered on the iPhone 13 and 13 mini, and you can read my review of those phones for more details. In short, Photographic Styles lets you easily customize and set a sort of default for the contrast levels and color temperature of your images. Meanwhile, Cinematic Mode is good at identifying faces and people in a scene and blurring out everything surrounding a subject, but it struggled when I tried to change the focal point. The system is also a little wonky at outlining individuals, and stray body parts like thumbs and ears can get eaten up in the artificial blur. I found that adjusting the intensity via the f-stop setting helped keep this problem at bay, but the trade-off was less of a DSLR-like look in the final video.

David Imel for Engadget

One feature the Pros have over the regular 13 is macro photography. With this generation, you can get as close as two centimeters away from your subject and not lose focus. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t offer a way to manually enable a macro mode; the system automatically switches to the close-up camera when you get all up in something’s face.

The iPhone 13 Pro was generally accurate at detecting when I was trying to get a tight shot, but it kept changing back and forth between macro and regular views. Sometimes it would continually focus and refocus on the flowers behind the buds I was trying to shoot. The latter is a more understandable issue; every little hand tremor is magnified when a camera is zoomed that far in, making it hard to latch on to a subject. Not to mention something in motion, like a leaf in the wind. But that’s all the more reason to give users manual control.

Apple has said it will be releasing a software update soon that should prevent the camera from switching in and out of macro mode, which I of course can't vouch for yet.

When it worked as expected, macro mode delivered surprisingly great results. My shots of a closed flower bud and the vein system on a leaf’s surface were impressively detailed, showing individual hairs on the stem and petals. Close-ups of a fried fish clearly rendered the oil oozing out of the batter.

You need to make sure to let enough light shine on your subject, though, because my shots of a bee inside a flower were dark and splotchy. But that’s basically Photography 101; it’s not an issue specific to macro mode.

In general, the iPhone 13 Pro took sharp, colorful photos rivaling my sample shots from the Pixel 5 and Galaxy S21 Ultra. Apple’s default treatment renders pictures that are typically brighter and sometimes more saturated, but with Photographic Styles you can pick a look that you like and stick with it. I’m not a fan of the iPhone’s aggressive HDR effects compared to the Pixels’ more neutral landscapes, but frankly we’re at a point where Samsung, Google and Apple are generally on par in terms of sheer quality.

The iPhone 13 Pro’s upgraded sensors also really improved low light performance. I took photos of the moon peeking through some clouds in the middle of Manhattan skyscrapers with the S21 Ultra, Pixel 5 and iPhone 13 Pro, and they were all clean and sharp. They differed a bit in color temperature, but it’s not noticeable without a direct comparison. Google still retains an advantage with Night Sight, though; it produces photos that are significantly cleaner, brighter and richer in detail.

David Imel for Engadget

As for the 13 Pro’s front camera, it’s pretty much the same as the iPhone 13’s, and that’s not a bad thing. You’ll still get Cinematic Mode and Photographic Styles via the 12-megapixel True Depth sensor, and though selfies were a little soft in low light, they were otherwise sharp.

Because these are Pro-series phones, Apple also threw in support for ProRes videos in addition to its ProRAW format for stills... or at least it will eventually. ProRes won’t be available until a future iOS 15 update arrives at an unspecified date, but it promises to preserve colors at high quality. And, thanks to the A15’s hardware acceleration plus video encoders and decoders, you’ll be able to record in the format at up to 4K resolution (1080p for the base 128GB model) and 30 frames per second.

iOS 15

Speaking of, the iPhone 13 series runs iOS 15 out of the box, and I was able to test most of the new features when I tested the beta version. Focus modes, for example, let you set custom home pages and notification profiles based on your location or time of day. It’s one of my favorite new features on any smartphone platform in recent years because it allows people without a separate work device to switch off from work when they please.

David Imel for Engadget

Since most of iOS 15’s new features will be coming to older iPhones, though, they’re unlikely to sway your decision on whether to upgrade. We’ll have a more in-depth review of iOS 15, but suffice to say I appreciate the level of control it offers. I’m especially looking forward to testing out SharePlay, which hasn't rolled out yet, but will let you watch shows with or stream your phone screen to friends over FaceTime.

Performance and battery life

The main difference between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro’s processors is that the latter uses a beefier 5-core GPU. This means that graphics-intensive tasks like gaming or video editing should be executed more quickly. I made a trailer in iMovie and while I had to wait 51 seconds for it to finish exporting on the iPhone 13, it took a mere 15 seconds on the Pro.

The iPhone 13 Pro’s A15 Bionic chip is similarly powerful in less-intensive tasks. I played rounds of Catan, watched various YouTube videos, chatted with friends, played music and snapped photos in rapid succession — all without any delay. And I know I’ve already said this a lot, but I have to stress again that the faster screens here just make most tasks feel more responsive.

In the week or so that I’ve had the iPhone 13 Pros, I’ve only needed to charge them twice. Granted, I spent most of the first few days focusing on the iPhone 13 and 13 mini, using the Pros predominantly when I was doing intensive camera testing. But when I switched over to the more-premium devices, the iPhone 13 Pro lasted almost a full two days before needing a charge. Battery levels dipped more quickly when I was playing games and exporting videos, but not so much that I had to worry about running out of juice.

Considering its higher refresh rate, that’s an impressive runtime. I’m still running battery tests across the iPhone 13 lineup, and will update this review with more empirical results as soon as that’s done. For now, though, it’s clear that despite the ProMotion displays, the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max can last longer than a day.

David Imel for Engadget

Wrap-up

With faster screens, superb performance and long-lasting batteries, the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max are excellent phones. If you’re on a device older than a 12 Pro, you should consider upgrading just for the new ProMotion displays. Though the cameras also got a noteworthy improvement, I’m not sure they’re going to be the biggest draw. It’s honestly hard to spot the difference in quality between photos taken by Apple’s recent flagships.

Features like Cinematic Mode, Photographic Styles and macro cameras are nice to have, but won’t define your iPhone 13 Pro experience. And though Apple was playing catch up to Android flagships by finally introducing 120Hz screens to its phones, there are now fewer things that Samsung and Google offer that the iPhones don’t. But for basically anyone who uses iOS, the iPhone 13 Pro (and Pro Max, if you don’t mind its weight) is a worthy upgrade.

Photos by David Imel (@DurvidImel)

With its September Xbox update, Microsoft has brought the new, Chromium-based Edge browser to Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles. It supports a keyboard and mouse and will introduce new capabilities like access to Google Stadia, Discord, web apps and more.

Microsoft started testing the Edge update on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S earlier this year, but today it's coming to everyone. Edge has been the default browser on Xbox One, but not the latest Chromium version that enables features like Google Stadia gameplay. 

It promises a "fast, secure and modern browsing experience right from your console," Microsoft wrote. It's nearly identical to the desktop version, with features like vertical tabs, collections and syncing of settings, favorites, history, tabs and more to other signed-in devices. As Reddit users have noted, though, it's missing extensions — so you won't be able to use an ad-blocker for now.

With mouse and keyboard support, gamers will find it far easier to use productivity apps. More importantly, you'll be able to play Google Stadia or Steam PC games with either a mouse and/or the Xbox controller. For now, there's no microphone support for live chats on Discord or other apps, according to The Verge.  

Microsoft also trumpeted the release of Play Later discovery, but it's not clear how that differs from the current Play Later features. It also re-announced the arrival of game streaming to PC via Xbox Game Pass cloud or using Xbox Remote Play. The new features are now available to all Xbox consoles. 

You may have to update your brand new Apple device before you can use it to play music. As spotted by MacRumors, the tech giant has issued an advisory warning users about an Apple Music bug and advising them to update their devices. Apparently, people may not be able to access their Apple Music catalog and settings or use Sync Library if they restore their new phone or tablet from a backup. The bug affects the company's latest mobile devices, namely the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, 6th-generation iPad mini and 9th-generation iPad.

Apple unveiled its new smartphones and tablets at an event in mid-September. The largest and most expensive phone in the bunch is the iPhone Pro Max, with its 6.33-inch screen and prices that reach $1,599. Compared to their predecessors, the standard iPhone 13 and iPhone mini models have smaller notches, batteries that last up to 2.5 hours longer and brighter displays. Meanwhile, the new entry-level iPad now ships with an A13 Bionic chip, promising faster performance than the previous generation. As for the new iPad mini, it now comes with a USB-C port instead of Apple's proprietary Lightning port.

The new devices started shipping on September 24th, and MacRumors says users have already started getting notifications for a software update. To install it, you simply have to go to Software Update under General in Settings.

Ever wish you could quickly share notes before a Google Calendar meeting, or follow up afterward? You can now. Google is trotting out updates to Workspace and G Suite users that let you easily create a group chat with everyone from your organization attending a given meeting. You just have to tap a button near the guest list to start the conversation directly from the event, whether you're on the web or your phone.

This won't work with people outside your organization. You may also have to be patient. Web users on a rapid release track are in the midst of a 15-day rollout that quietly began on September 20th, while mobile users and more cautious companies will have to wait until October 4th.

It's a welcome move, if also an expected one. Google is increasingly unifying its Workspace web apps, including Gmail's growing role as a hub for office conversation. The Calendar expansion is a logical extension — it could make Google's chat service an easy choice for meeting organizers who want to message colleagues.