Author Archives: Mat Smith

The Morning After: Our verdict on the Apple Watch Series 10

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The reviews don’t stop. This morning, we’re checking out how Apple’s latest wearable compares to its predecessors and competition. Deputy Editor Cherlynn Low says that, while the Series 10 is noticeably lighter, you wouldn’t notice many differences compared to the Series 9 unless they were side by side. The latest Apple Watch is ever so slightly bigger (46mm), but if you need something even bigger, you should consider the Watch Ultra 2, which has a 49mm screen. Apple is also using a new wide-angle OLED to make its latest watch easier to read, even if your wrist is resting to the side. Again, the change is noticeable but not in a huge way. Upgraded charging should bring the Series 10 back to 80 percent in 30 minutes, but we’re still not hugely impressed with its battery life.

You might notice we haven’t scored the Apple Watch Series 10. While she’s sharing what’s important for folks considering buying one, Cherlynn needs more time to test its sleep features. However, thanks to its similarity to its predecessors (and watchOS 11 bringing many similar features to the Series 9, Watch Ultra 2 and more), it’s hard to recommend to anyone wearing a Series 9 or Ultra. If you’re coming from the Series 8 or older, the update might be worth it. Check out the full review. 

— Mat Smith

TMA
Snap

Snap’s latest augmented reality glasses have a completely new — and completely bonkers — design, larger field of view and support for full hand tracking. But the company is only making the fifth-generation Spectacles available to approved developers willing to commit to a year-long $99/month subscription to start. These aren’t for consumers, but given how they look, I could have told you that. Karissa Bell tested them and was impressed. But competition is already on the horizon: Meta will show off the first version of its long-promised augmented reality glasses next week at its developer event.

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Kremlin-affiliated Russian troll farms are running disinformation campaigns discrediting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz before this year’s US presidential elections, according to Microsoft. The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center noted several approaches: One video depicted a supposed attack by Harris supporters on Trump rally attendees. Another video used an actor to accuse Harris of being involved in a 2011 hit-and-run incident, which paralyzed a 13-year-old girl. A second troll farm shared a fake video showing a New York City billboard claiming Harris wants to change children’s gender. Microsoft warned we should expect more Russian-made disinformation materials online, including more staged and AI-edited videos, as we get closer to the election.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111537179.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Our verdict on Apple’s new AirPods 4

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Apple expanded its AirPod family with two new models last week. We’ve now tested out the AirPods 4 — and a second version with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) — and we have some thoughts. Improved sound quality and some advanced features are the key additions, but you’re more likely to notice the redesigned shape for keeping the buds more firmly (and comfortably) lodged in ears.

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Engadget

With the ANC version, Apple offers useful noise cancellation while keeping your ears open — no silicone tips. There are also a lot of Pro features, but the issue is the more technically capable AirPods Pro are often on sale, undercutting those $179 buds.

I wouldn’t have guessed it, but the basic $129 AirPods 4 may be the better deal.

— Mat Smith

Flappy Bird’s creator wants you to know he’s got nothing to do with the new version

Apple’s iOS 18 is available now

iOS 18 preview: Waiting on Apple Intelligence

Meta has banned RT and other Russian state media outlets on its platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram. “After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets,” the company told Engadget. “Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity.” This comes days after the Biden–Harris administration publicly accused RT of spreading propaganda and disinformation online.

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Meta

The New York Times has brought its all-conquering daily word game to a new platform in the shape of Meta Quest headsets. Wordle VR works in much the same way as the game on your phone or computer, with six attempts to guess a five-letter word. Except you’re wearing a VR headset.

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Amazon’s big sale event / buyer’s remorse generator will return this year on October 8 and 9, giving us all the more reason to call it October Prime Day as we have done in years past. Prime Day in July remains Amazon’s biggest sale event for Prime members, but ever since its debut in 2022, October Prime Day provides subscribers with thousands of exclusive deals during the two-day window. In case you missed out on that Echo. Again.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-our-verdict-on-apples-new-airpods-4-111506361.html?src=rss

The Morning After: The AirPods Pro’s new hearing aid features are a big deal

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Folded between all the new hardware announcements, Apple surprised us last week with news of FDA-approved hearing aid features for the AirPods Pro. No new hardware needed — it’s all in software updates. In the last decade, we’ve seen several companies tackle hearing-aid technology, aided by the boom in wireless tech. Now, arguably the most influential company in consumer tech is trying it. John Falcone outlines why this is a big deal. Or, at least, a very good deal.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

The iPhone 16 event is over, and now we’ve got plenty of thoughts to share after playing with all of Apple’s new hardware. In this episode, Devindra and Cherlynn chat about the entire iPhone 16 and Pro lineup, and Billy Steele joins to chat about his experience with the AirPods 4 and Apple Watch Series 10. It turns out the Apple Watch stole the show.

Listen here

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Annapurna

The entire Annapurna Interactive team has left the company after its executives walked out, according to a Bloomberg report. Apparently, the video game publisher had been negotiating with Annapurna Pictures to spin off Annapurna Interactive into its own entity. Those talks broke down, so “all 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,” the team said in a joint statement.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-airpods-pros-new-hearing-aid-features-are-a-big-deal-111529376.html?src=rss

The Morning After: OpenAI made its latest model slower, on purpose

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OpenAI has unveiled yet another artificial intelligence model. This one is called o1, and the company claims it can perform complex reasoning tasks more effectively than its predecessors. Apparently, o1 was trained to “spend more time thinking through problems before they respond.” According to the company: “[the models] learn to refine their thinking process, try different strategies and recognize their mistakes.”

That more considered response means it’s significantly slower at processing prompts than GPT-4o. And while it might be thinking more, o1 hasn’t solved the problem of hallucinations — a term for AI models making up information. OpenAI’s chief research officer Bob McGrew told The Verge, “We can’t say we solved hallucinations.”

— Mat Smith

The FixHub is a USB-C powered soldering iron designed to help fix whatever’s on your workbench (and be easily fixable itself). The iron includes a 55Wh battery pack, which acts as a stand and temperature control. Founder Kyle Wiens told Engadget FixHub was born of frustration with soldering irons and their limits. So his company tried to fix those.

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Elgato

Elgato has introduced the Stream Deck Studio, a new version of its creative control tech targeting professionals. This 19-inch rackmount console has 32 LCD keys and two rotary dials. Oh, and a $900 price tag.

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A decade — and countless clones — later, the original Flappy Bird is coming back. If you don’t recall the 2014 hit mobile game, you’d tap the screen to flap the bird’s wings and squeeze it through gaps between pipes. The game debuted in May 2013, but it didn't blow up until the following January. Developer Dong Nguyen soon revealed the game was raking in $50,000 per day from advertising. He decided to remove the game, but clones of his creation persisted. Under the banner of the Flappy Bird Foundation, some dedicated fans acquired the rights to the game, officially, so now it’s flapping back.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-700-ps5-pro-111649960.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Everything we know so far about Nintendo’s next console

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The Nintendo Switch is now over seven years old and due for a refresh, even if the storied console maker isn’t chasing technical specs, like its rival. Nintendo Switch 2 rumors (again, I’d wager real money it won’t be called that) have been bouncing around for years, even. Sometimes they teased DLSS, NVIDIA’s “deep learning supersampling” upscaling tech to add polish and higher resolution to existing Switch games. Other times, rumors just ended up being the OLED Switch — largely the same console as the original.

Will this be something like the Wii? Another left turn, console wise? Or something evolutionary, like the Wii U or GameBoy Color. It’s unlikely the company will ditch the hybrid form-factor as it effectively married home and portable consoles together — and is probably a huge reason for the Switch’s success.

We’re expecting it to be backwards compatible with the Switch’s game library, while Nintendo’s account system management should make it smoother to swap between console generations than in the past. Crucially, when will it launch? While it’s mostly speculation, Nintendo’s next console could arrive March 2025, but couch that with the necessary levels of skepticism.

We’ve pulled together all the reports, leaks and rumors right here.

— Mat Smith

Ultimate Ears Everboom review

Google searches now link to the Internet Archive

The Apple Watch Series 10 deserves more than 18-hour battery life

You’ll be able to create AI clips from text, still images and existing video.

Adobe’s Firefly AI video generation tools will arrive in beta later this year. Like many things related to AI, the examples are equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying as the company slowly integrates tools built to automate much of the creative work done by folks who buy its software. The company, of course, reiterates that these tools are supplementary. Of course!

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Associated Press

With even Fox News and senior Republican figures admitting Vice President Kamala Harris won Tuesday night’s presidential debate, some supporters of former president Trump are chasing the same old conspiracy theories: an earpiece used during debates. A tale as old as 2012, the same accusations were cast at President Joe Biden in 2020, at Hillary Clinton in 2016 and at Barack Obama in 2012. However, internet sleuths’ finds boiled down to a Kickstarter startup called Nova and earring-styled earpieces that never quite made it beyond vaporware. We detangle the nonsense.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-700-ps5-pro-111538227.html?src=rss

The Morning After: The $700 PS5 Pro

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Oh, this week isn’t just new Apple product announcements. No. Sony has elbowed its way in to officially introduce the long-awaited PS5 Pro, with more power and seemingly less compromise.

Sony wants to narrow the gap between the fidelity and performance modes players are accustomed to choosing between — either high frame rates or high resolution, and you could switch between the two in most AAA games on the PS5.

To do that, the PS5 Pro’s GPU has 67 percent more compute units and 28 percent faster RAM than the standard PS5. According to the console’s lead architect Mark Cerny, the new console will deliver up to 45 percent faster graphic rendering. Ray-tracing performance could be up to three times as faster — often an optional feature toggle on games as it can also hamper frame rates.

Meanwhile, Sony’s AI-upscaling tech (i.e., its take on the likes of NVIDIA’s DLSS) is called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, or PSSR, which should sharpen up in-game assets without the need to remake them. The new console includes a game boost tool to improve the performance of more than 8,500 backward-compatible PS4 games.

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Sony

The PS5 Pro is the same size as the not-small original launch model, but there’s no disc drive model. That’s another paid extra, on top of that $700 price. The good news is it does have a decent 2TB of storage built in.

Interested? Pre-orders start on September 26, and it will arrive on November 7.

— Mat Smith

We're having some issues with new subscriptions to the newsletter version of TMA, but our form should be back online soon! Thanks for reading!

Apple needs to remember what the iPhone 16 is for

iPhone 16 hands-on: More Pro than I expected

Why AirPods 4 block sound better — and just sound better

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to introduce legislation that would prevent children under a certain age from using social media. Reuters reported that Albanese issued his statement in a TV interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corp. The Australian government would start by testing age verification technology sometime this year. He also didn’t state a specific age limit but estimated he’d like the ban to be for children younger than 14 to 16 because “we know that social media is causing social harm.”

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Engadget

Huawei’s flagship foldable, the Mate XT, is the first triple-fold phone to hit the market and will debut in China, starting at 19,999 yuan (approximately $2,800). That’s enough to buy an 11-inch iPad Pro, M3 MacBook Air and an iPhone 16. The device folds up accordion-style, with one hinge bending outward and the other inward, leaving one panel available to use as a 6.4-inch exterior display. Unfolded, it creates a 10.2-inch screen, more like the tablets we use. It’s technically impressive but financially prohibitive.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-700-ps5-pro-111514318.html?src=rss

The Morning After: The $700 PS5 Pro

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Oh, this week isn’t just new Apple product announcements. No. Sony has elbowed its way in to officially introduce the long-awaited PS5 Pro, with more power and seemingly less compromise.

Sony wants to narrow the gap between the fidelity and performance modes players are accustomed to choosing between — either high frame rates or high resolution, and you could switch between the two in most AAA games on the PS5.

To do that, the PS5 Pro’s GPU has 67 percent more compute units and 28 percent faster RAM than the standard PS5. According to the console’s lead architect Mark Cerny, the new console will deliver up to 45 percent faster graphic rendering. Ray-tracing performance could be up to three times as faster — often an optional feature toggle on games as it can also hamper frame rates.

Meanwhile, Sony’s AI-upscaling tech (i.e., its take on the likes of NVIDIA’s DLSS) is called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, or PSSR, which should sharpen up in-game assets without the need to remake them. The new console includes a game boost tool to improve the performance of more than 8,500 backward-compatible PS4 games.

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Sony

The PS5 Pro is the same size as the not-small original launch model, but there’s no disc drive model. That’s another paid extra, on top of that $700 price. The good news is it does have a decent 2TB of storage built in.

Interested? Pre-orders start on September 26, and it will arrive on November 7.

— Mat Smith

We're having some issues with new subscriptions to the newsletter version of TMA, but our form should be back online soon! Thanks for reading!

Apple needs to remember what the iPhone 16 is for

iPhone 16 hands-on: More Pro than I expected

Why AirPods 4 block sound better — and just sound better

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to introduce legislation that would prevent children under a certain age from using social media. Reuters reported that Albanese issued his statement in a TV interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corp. The Australian government would start by testing age verification technology sometime this year. He also didn’t state a specific age limit but estimated he’d like the ban to be for children younger than 14 to 16 because “we know that social media is causing social harm.”

Continue reading.

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Engadget

Huawei’s flagship foldable, the Mate XT, is the first triple-fold phone to hit the market and will debut in China, starting at 19,999 yuan (approximately $2,800). That’s enough to buy an 11-inch iPad Pro, M3 MacBook Air and an iPhone 16. The device folds up accordion-style, with one hinge bending outward and the other inward, leaving one panel available to use as a 6.4-inch exterior display. Unfolded, it creates a 10.2-inch screen, more like the tablets we use. It’s technically impressive but financially prohibitive.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-700-ps5-pro-111514318.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Should you upgrade to an iPhone 16?

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If you missed it, Apple unveiled all the new iPhones we expected, a new Apple Watch that might steal a lot of the headlines (bigger, thinner, better!) and a surprising new push for its wireless headphones, with three new models and a software update for AirPods Pro that brings the company into a new product category, through software alone.

We’ll chew over those below, but first up: the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro. There’s a surprising parity of new features in the two devices this year. The iPhone 16 gets an action button (left edge, above the volume buttons) and a new camera button, too.

Well, it’s more than just a button. With all sorts of sensors and tech crammed inside, you can adjust controls and settings in the camera — think zoom, exposure and aperture — with gentle slides and presses. Apple is already planning an update for a half-press to focus the camera and a full press to capture. 

iPhone 16
Apple

Why did Apple redesign the iPhone 16 camera module? The cynic in me thought this change, with lenses stacked vertically, was just a desperate indicator to show that folks had the newest iPhone, but there’s a reason. Apparently, this arrangement means the cameras can work in tandem to capture spatial video and photos.

The iPhone 16 Pro (and Pro Max) both get an array of upgraded shooting features. There is (thankfully!) parity between the 6.9-inch Pro Max and 6.2-inch Pro, with the smaller Pro getting 5x optical zoom this year. The ultra-wide-angle camera has been upgraded from 12 megapixels to 48 megapixels in both Pro models. The iPhone 16 Pro can shoot video in 4K at 120 fps, so you can switch to and from slow-mo footage after the fact — no slow-motion recording mode necessary.

The iPhone 16 Pros have a larger battery, delivering us that perennial line: the “best iPhone battery life ever.” However, on Apple’s own specification cheat sheet, it gets a little more specific, saying it was the “Best iPhone battery life on Pro Max.” That’s something to scrutinize in reviews. But after last year’s shift to USB-C, the lightness of a titanium build and an action button is not quite as convincing an upgrade.

Having said that, what am I doing? I currently juggle an Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and a Pixel 9 Pro XL, which are too big for me. Last year, I leaned on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, instead of the iPhone 15 Pro, for 5x camera zoom… and nothing else.

This time around, like the iPhone 14 series, there are pretty much identical specs across the iPhone 16 Pro duo — which is how it should be — so I’m lining up a pre-order for a black iPhone 16 Pro, with 1TB of storage. I might change my mind.

If you’re a Pro Max kind of iPhone owner, I think you could probably wait a year, but it’s also a great time to upgrade to the base iPhone 16. It gets those new buttons, it’ll work with Apple Intelligence in a few months and it has a pretty gorgeous lineup of colors.

We’ve got hands-on impressions on everything below.

— Mat Smith

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Apple Watch Series 10 hands-on: Bigger, lighter and thinner than ever

iPhone 16 Pro hands-on: How does a faux camera control button feel so real?

Apple’s AirPods Pro update turns them into a clinical grade hearing aid

Everything Apple revealed at the iPhone 16 launch event

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Apple

Apple’s wearable had the biggest spec jump at its event yesterday, with the biggest display and thinnest design ever on an Apple Watch. The wide-angle OLED display is even a bit larger than the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Apple claims the screen is 40 percent brighter when looked at from an angle, thanks to that new OLED tech, and it’ll show a second hand ticking away even when your wrist is down. The company claims an 18-hour battery life, which someone needs to remind Apple is not a full day.

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Apple launched its fourth-generation AirPods this week, as rumors suggested. They have a redesigned bud shape that’s supposed to fit more ear shapes. The new entry-level AirPods also have the H2 chip to power features like Spatial Audio. The charging case has a USB-C port, and it’s the smallest AirPods charging case to date. To throw a wrench into the works, Apple announced a second model supporting active noise cancellation and Transparency mode. Not to be confused with the AirPods Pro, which still exist.

Continue reading.

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Engadget

Spare a thought for Deputy Editor Cherlynn Low. As we bundled her into a plane for Cupertino to report on all that Apple stuff, she was wrapping up her review of Google’s Pixel Watch 3. While we had compared Google’s latest wearable to Apple’s Watch Series 9, we think Apple has some wearable competition here, thanks to solid battery life and a comprehensive and intuitive suite of health-tracking features.

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Sony has announced a PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation stream at 11AM ET today on the PlayStation YouTube channel. All indications point toward this being the official unveiling of the PS5 Pro. Mark Cerny, the lead architect of the PS5, will host the stream, which will focus on the PS5 and innovations in gaming technology. For less than 10 minutes.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-should-you-upgrade-to-an-iphone-16-111524098.html?src=rss

Apple quietly kills its terrible FineWoven iPhone cases

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Hey, there were good intentions! The FineWoven case was pitched, just about a year ago, as a leather substitute. Instead of the environmentally-unfriendly animal byproduct, Apple wanted us to buy cases made from 68 percent post-consumer recycled content. 

The material looked a little similar to leather in press shots, but the reality was a material that was smooth and scratchy at the same time, a surface that was easily marred by the exact sorts of objects it might share space with in a bag. In short: a fantastic opportunity for third-party iPhone case manufacturers. 

When leather gets old, it gets... nicer? There's a patina. When Finewoven cases got even a few days old, it got scratched and blotchy. It's not a huge surprise, then, that there are no new FineWoven colorways, or any iPhone 16-compatible FineWoven cases, period. They're gone. 

It isn't the end of FineWoven completely. The material will live on in a MagSafe wallet, available in four different colors, and more Apple Watch straps. If you are looking for a new (but official) iPhone look, how about, randomly, these Beats-themed iPhone 16 cases? They're not microtwill; they're hard plastic. 

Catch up on all the news from Apple’s iPhone 16 event!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-quietly-kills-its-terrible-finewoven-iphone-cases-191345213.html?src=rss

Apple’s AirPods Pro update turns them into a clinical grade hearing aid

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Apple was very busy when it came to AirPods announcements this week. Alongside new fourth-generation AirPods (and an ANC option) and updated AirPods Max, it's also giving attention to the AirPods Pro, with a focus on hearing health. This leans heavily on hearing loss prevention, with noise levels limited by default, and an app to measure exactly how noisy your surroundings are. Apple notes that one in three people are regularly exposed to environments that can damage hearing, even with in-ear buds like AirPods Pro and noise cancellation.

The company is now introducing a clinically-validated hearing test on your iPhone. The test taps into large-scale data studies that Apple used to develop its hearing loss features, and it only takes five minutes. It'll ask you to tap the screen when you hear a series of tones at different frequencies. Your hearing profile will also be automatically applied to audio content across music, movies and phone calls.

But Apple took it even further and has developed an over-the-counter, professional-grade hearing aid feature. It'll boost the specific kinds of sounds you need help with. It's a big move from Apple, as existing OTC hearing aids can cost between $1,000 and $1,500. The second-gen AirPods Pro are just $250 by comparison.

The company is still awaiting FTC approval, but expects to launch these hearing features later in the fall. It'll join new sleep apnea detection coming to Apple Watch.  

Catch up on all the news from Apple’s iPhone 16 event!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apples-airpods-pro-update-turns-them-into-a-clinical-grade-hearing-aid-174919818.html?src=rss