Category: Technology

iOS 18 has landed in public beta and Apple is offering up more control, yet again, of the layout of your iPhone. However, Apple Intelligence, the most exciting upgrade, is conspicuously (but unsurprisingly) absent.

The update also improves several native apps, such as Photos, Messages (RCS! Gasp!) and Notes, although Apple Intelligence will add even more features and tricks. While we all wait for the ability to generate our own emojis, there is still plenty to explore. It’s just a little drier than what Apple teased at WWDC.

You can access the iOS preview by enrolling on Apple’s website, which will nudge the beta to your iPhone’s Software Update section. As always, remember to back up your iPhone first and ensure it’s compatible. (iOS 18 works on will work on 2018’s iPhone XS and XR and newer phones.)

iOS 18 means even more customization

Beyond app folders and widgets, iOS 18 adds further functional and aesthetic customization. Alongside a new Dark look, you can tint all of them in a color of your choosing. Unlike previous dark modes on iOS, this time it also ‘dims’ individual app icons to keep it consistent with the darker theme. You can also have iOS choose the color for you, basing its recommendation on your iPhone’s wallpaper. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is very similar to Material You, which Google introduced to Android in 2021.

You can also increase the size of the app icons ever so slightly, without reducing the number you can pack into a single pane. Doing so does strip away the text labels, so you better be sure you know, without words, which app icon is which. And, in a thrilling move for tens of pedants everywhere, you can move your icons outside a left-aligned, top-to-bottom snap grid. Do you want the Safari icon floating in the bottom right corner, all alone? You can do that now.

iOS 18 also brings two new ways to secure your apps. You can assign an app as locked or hidden. Locking an app will require FaceID access, useful perhaps for Photos or a plethora of other apps if you often share your phone with children. Doing sp will also mean information from there won’t appear or bubble around other parts of iOS, like searches and notifications. You can also choose to hide the app, which nudges it into a dedicated folder, locked away behind FaceID.

Apple has also refreshed its control panel and dropdown menu for settings. Similar to when iOS introduced widgets a few years ago, there is now a dedicated control gallery to add smart home shortcuts, launch timers and more.

This had the potential to clutter up the control panel, but Apple has divided this into four different tabs. While you can tap on the little icons to the side to leap to a specific section, you can also access all of them in a single continuous scroll. Your most used features can live at the top, and other sections pull together your smart home controls, entertainment playback and connectivity. Have you lost your hotspot shortcut? It’s here. All the controls are also resizeable to prioritize the most crucial ones.

Finally, you can now customize the iOS lock screen controls, too. If you never use the flashlight, you can swap it out for something more practical, like a timer, or even act as a shortcut to Shazam in a pinch.

Messages

RCS (Rich Communication Services) has landed on the iPhone, or at least on those running iOS 18. It pulls together advanced text features, like support for richer images, larger file attachments, voice notes, group chat, read receipts and more. But you got all those through iMessage on iOS, making RCS sound a little uneventful.

However, if your friends are divided across Android and iOS, you can start using Messages like other third-party messaging apps. Does it have all the features of WhatsApp? No. Does it do everything you can in iMessage? No.

But it will help. For example, with RCS, you can send messages over Wi-Fi without a phone signal. I’ve had issues before when running late for appointments, trapped on the metro with no signal, unable to text to let the other person know. RCS means those messages will send if you latch on to a passing Wi-Fi network.

There are more advances beyond RCS. You can also schedule text messages, like you might already do on work chat apps and email. If you’re into Apple’s recently introduced message tapbacks (emoji reactions), you can now do so with any emoji, including your own Live Stickers based on your photos and images. For even more expression, iOS 18 also adds italics, bold, underline and strikethrough formatting, and a family of cute word animations that feel like WordArt come to life. It’s silly, it’s frothy, it’s pointless. I love it.

Photos

Apple has hidden away some major changes to how it structures its photos app, reflecting the fact that many of us have had iPhones (and photo libraries) for over a decade and a half. And we’re not going to look at all of those pictures. We’re likely not even going to look at most of them. In iOS 18, Apple has ditched the tabs for “Library,” “For You,” “Albums” and “Search.” Instead of your latest photos, screenshots and videos taking up the majority of the screen, you’ll see some space carved out for your latest content, curated albums, memories and more.

It’s a divisive approach, but I think your reaction will depend on how you interact with your photos. I know where my favorite photos are or how to find them, but other people in my life are often pleasantly surprised when services and devices can auto-curate an album of photos from a day out or a vacation. This redesign seems aimed at them.

And what about Apple Intelligence? Eventually, it will add some additional tricks, like Cleanup, which can help erase any unwanted objects in your photos. It’s a feature that Pixel (and Galaxy) phone users have enjoyed for a while, and still, we await the arrival of Apple Intelligence to be able to test this. For more on what’s coming to your gallery in iOS 18, check out my colleague Cherlynn’s detailed article on what Apple’s done to the Photos app.

More iOS 18 highlights

If you’re a daily Notes app user (yes, I’m guilty), there are some nice advances in iOS 18, too. You can now transcribe conversations and meetings directly into the app. At the time of my testing, you’ll have to ensure your iPhone is set to US English and US as a region for the transcription icon, shown in the image above, to appear.

We also get Math Notes, which can be accessed through the Notes app and from the calculator. Here, you can write out sums and calculations and your iPhone will solve them. It’ll even remember figures for future calculations. It feels niche, but there’s some definite utility here, perhaps if you’re looking to add up a vacation budget or DIY project.

Notes’ new collapsable subheadings proved more useful for me. I have several lengthy Note files, and now I can organize them better and not have to search for specific words to find what I need.

Apple brings a similar approach to its Reader on Safari, which can add a table of contents and even attempt to summarize an article before you even get your teeth into it. Meandering recipe intros: you may have been put on notice. But I say “may“ because as of this writing, I haven’t been able to test this on any sites I’ve visited.

There’s also a new Passwords app, which, in a lot of ways, is just an easier way to access your iCloud passwords instead of diving into your iPhone’s settings. The app divides your passwords into different categories like accounts, codes, Wi-Fi networks and Passkeys, and, wisely, will support the iCloud for Windows app and a Chrome extension. You can also share password collections with visitors, friends or family.

Apple continues to tentatively develop its smart home features within iOS 18, too. It’s adding express mode to automatically unlock connected doors as you approach — as long as you have your iPhone (or Apple Watch) on you. Meanwhile, Apple has created a guest access tab so you can grant access to parts of your smart home and even schedule the times a garage door, say, stays unlocked, perhaps for a package delivery.

Wrap-up

My early impressions of iOS 18 are more limited than I wanted them to be. Apple Intelligence and most of its exciting features teased at WWDC, are not part of this public beta. Without those, iOS 18 feels more like iOS 17.5. There are more features, but most of them are incremental.

RCS is finally here, adding more functionality to cross-OS text messaging (and possibly worrying the likes of WhatsApp) while elsewhere, Apple focuses on upgrading and enhancing its native apps. The company made some… interesting choices. In iOS 18, even Calculator is getting beefed up, with Math Notes, calculation history, and a new scientific calculator view.

The public beta is relatively stable, so it’s easy to recommend to those looking for early access to the latest iPhone features. However, without Apple Intelligence, drawing more meaningful conclusions on iOS 18 will have to wait.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ios-18-preview-waiting-on-apple-intelligence-for-the-true-upgrade-143059859.html?src=rss 

Meta has reportedly decided not to offer its upcoming multimodal AI model and future versions to customers in the European Union, citing a lack of clarity on the European regulators’ data protection rules. These newer AI models process not only text but also images and audio, and power AI capabilities across Meta’s platforms. Meta’s move follows a similar decision by Apple, which recently announced it would not release its Apple Intelligence features in Europe due to regulatory concerns.

Meta told Axios it still plans to release Llama 3, the company’s text-only model, in the EU. The company’s primary concern stems from the challenges of training AI models using data from European customers while complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU’s data protection law. That said, Meta still plans to launch these new AI models in the UK, which has similar data protection laws to the EU.

— Mat Smith

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Dyson ditches the air purifier in its new headphones

55 hours of battery life for $500.

In early 2022, Dyson combined its air filtration expertise with noise-canceling headphones. Aimed at providing less-polluted air, the Zone headphones had an extremely short battery life and a heady $949 price. Now, the company is focusing on audio, with its new OnTrac headphones: noise-canceling headphones with a decidedly Dyson design and a premium $500 price tag. Unsurprisingly, there’s a bigger focus on the audio tech — check out our deep-dive.

Continue reading.

The tinyPod transforms your old Apple Watch into an iPod-like minimalist phone

The $80 case can control the Digital Crown.

The tinyPod is a case for your Apple Watch, which probably doesn’t sound too exciting on its own. However, its click wheel, which controls the watch’s Digital Crown, makes Apple’s wearable look and feel (at least in its marketing) like an iPod, back from the dead.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-meta-may-hold-back-its-next-gen-ai-models-from-the-eu-111504920.html?src=rss 

Today, HMD unveiled its newest own-brand smartphone called Skyline. This phone runs on a mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen2 CPU, and it offers up to 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. It has 15W Qi2 wireless charging and its 4600mAh battery lasts “up to 48 hours.” The screen is a 6.55-inch full HD+ panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and up to 1,000 nits of brightness. Pick either pink (maybe they had leftovers from the Barbie collab) or black for your phone’s color. Skyline phones will be available starting in August and will cost $499.

The spotlight feature for Skyline is ease of repairability. This has been a focus for recent projects from HMD, which also makes phones under the Nokia brand. The back cover of this phone model can be removed, allowing for a user or a third-party shop to replace a broken screen, a worn-out battery, or a bent charging port. Replacement parts are available in select markets from iFixit, which said Skyline will have almost the repairability levels of the Fairphone. Right to repair movements gained a lot of traction last year, with even holdout device manufacturers starting to change their tune. It’s positive to see HMD not just offering an option to self-repair, but making it easy to do so.

Skyline is also equipped with some notable photo features. The 50 megapixel front camera offers autofocus and eye-tracking. It also has “selfie gesture” hardware that will snap a photo in response to one of four common hand gestures. The rear camera is 108MP, and it has both portrait and night modes to capture the right image for the moment.

As more people want the option to unplug from the always-on lifestyle, Skyline will offer a Detox mode. This feature lets users select specific apps and contacts to block during scheduled breaks. It can be useful for people who find themselves spending more time than they want on social media or games, or for those who need to draw strong lines for work-life balance.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-hmd-skyline-is-a-mid-range-smartphone-thats-all-about-repairability-070035654.html?src=rss 

When Dyson revealed its Zone headphones in early 2022, the company had combined its air filtration expertise with noise-cancelling headphones. COVID-19 was still a big part of our lives back then, but the Zone doesn’t protect you against the virus. Instead, it’s meant to provide less-polluted air as you move about your day, battling things like urban toxins and seasonal allergens. However, extremely short battery life and a $949 price plagued that first model, so it wasn’t really a device accessible to the masses.

Now the company is back with its first “audio-only” over-ear headphones, the Dyson OnTrac. There’s no Bane-like mask or air filtration system here, just a set of noise-cancelling headphones with a decidedly Dyson design and a $500 premium price tag. Battery life is no longer an issue, and the company is touting both active noise cancellation (ANC) performance and audio quality on the OnTrac. There are also over 2,000 customization combinations for the outer caps and ear cushions, so you can change up the look at you see fit.

The design of the OnTrac headphones certainly looks like something that would come from the same company that built the V12 stick vac, the Airstrait hair straightener and the Cool air purifiers. Dyson combined premium materials with ergonomics to create the appropriate seal for audio and ANC while also keeping things comfortable. The company used aluminum, copper, nickel and ceramics for the outer caps on the ear cups and “ultra-soft microfiber” foam cushions on the ear pads. There are also “multi-pivot gimbal arms” to help increase comfort and relieve pressure. Plus, Dyson relocated the battery to the headband for better weight distribution.

Inside, the OnTrac features 40mm, 16-ohm neodymium speaker drivers that Dyson says are capable of a frequency response of 6Hz to 21kHz. That covers more of the sonic spectrum than he standard 20Hz to 20kHz range most headphones offer. The company also angled the drivers 13 degrees toward your ears for better acoustic performance. All of that combines to provide “deep sub-bass that you can feel, and clear highs at the upper end of the frequency range.” Dyson promises the OnTrac will “reveal hidden detail” as well.

The ANC setup on the OnTrac is composed of eight microphones that Dyson says sample external sound 384,000 times a second. Those work with a custom noise-cancelling algorithm and “carefully designed internal geometry” for 40dB of noise blocking, according to the company. Battery life won’t be a problem either, so long as Dyson’s claims pan out. The company says the OnTrac is capable of up to 55 hours of use with ANC on, thanks to two high-capacity lithium-ion battery cells. A 10-minute charge will give you up to 2.5 hours of use while 30 minutes provides 9.5 hours (with ANC on in both cases). During that listening time, onboard playback and volume controls are handled by a “joystick” on the back edge of the right ear cup. You can double tap on the outside of either ear cup to turn ANC on or off.

The OnTrac headphones will be available in aluminum/orange, cooper/blue, black nickel and ceramic red from Dyson for $500. The replacement caps and cushions will be available for $50 for a set of two. Only a few colors will be available from other retailers, so you’ll have to buy most of the options directly from Dyson.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dysons-ontrac-headphones-ditch-the-zones-air-purifier-for-audio-only-use-040044551.html?src=rss