Tag Archives: Technology & Electronics

I don’t get why Apple’s multitrack Voice Memos require an iPhone 16 Pro

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Apple’s recent iPhone event brought some nifty ideas, from the camera button to a reinvention of Google Lens and beyond. The company also announced that it's bringing simple multitrack recording to Voice Memos. This was particularly exciting for me since, well, I use Voice Memos a lot. I have nearly 500 of these little recordings that were made during the lifetime of my iPhone 14 Pro and thousands more in the cloud. You never know when you’ll need a random tune you hummed while waiting for the subway in 2013. 

So this feature felt tailor-made for me. I write songs. I play guitar. I do everything that lady in the commercial does, including opening the fridge late at night for no real reason.

A lady in front of a fridge.
Apple

Then reality hit. This isn’t a software update that will hit all iPhone models. It’s tied to the ultra-premium iPhone 16 Pro, which starts at a cool $1,000. I don’t really want to upgrade right now, so the dream of singing over an acoustic guitar track right on the Voice Memos app is dead on arrival.

Why is this particular feature walled behind the iPhone 16 Pro? It’s a simple multitrack recording function. From the ad, it looks like the app can’t even layer more than two tracks at a time. This can’t exactly be taxing that A18 Pro chip, especially when the phone can also handle 4K/120 FPS video recording in Dolby Vision. 

Pro Tools, a popular digital audio workstation, was first introduced in 1991. This was two years before Intel released the Pentium chip. Computers of that era had no trouble layering tracks. For a bit of reference, last year’s A17 Pro chip had around 19 billion transistors. An original Pentium chip had around three million. In other words, a modern smartphone chip is around 6,300 times more powerful than a 1993 Pentium-based PC.

So let us layer tracks on Voice Memos, Apple! It can't be that complicated. I’ve been using dedicated multitrack apps ever since the iPhone 3. Apple throws GarageBand in with every iPhone. Both GarageBand and third-party recording apps have a place, sure, but nothing beats the quickness and ease-of-use of Voice Memos. It’d sure be great to be able to make a quick-and-dirty acoustic demo of a song and send it out to someone without having to navigate a fairly complicated interface.

App in front of a refrigerator.
Apple

Yeah. I see the elephant in the room. There’s a part of the ad that I’ve been avoiding. The woman records the vocal layer over the guitar track without wearing headphones. She just sang into the phone while standing in front of that refrigerator. Now, that’s something old-school Pentiums could not do. There’s some microphone placement wizardry going on there, along with machine learning algorithms that reduce unwanted ambient noise. The iPhone 16 Pro has a brand-new microphone array, so I get that older models might not be able handle this particular part of the equation.

But who cares? That’s a really neat feature. It’s also completely unnecessary. If you’re reading this, you are likely already wearing earbuds/headphones or have some within reach. Record the first track without the headphones. Record the secondary layer while wearing headphones. That’s it. Problem solved. You can even do it in front of the refrigerator.

Also, both the base-level iPhone 16 and the Pro support Audio Mix, which lets people adjust various sound levels from various sources after capturing video. This is done without the new Studio Mics on the iPhone 16 Pro and seems to reduce ambient noise in a similar way. So it could be possible that there's a software solution here to handle even that elephant in the room. After all, the company credits "powerful machine learning algorithms" for this tech — if it can erase environmental wind noise, surely it can handle music playing in the background? 

So I am once again asking for Apple to let the rest of us play around with multitrack recording on Voice Memos. There’s no reason every older iPhone model couldn’t compute its way to a simple guitar/vocal two-track wav file. Pop the feature into a software update. I hear there’s one for iOS 18 coming really soon, and another for Apple Intelligence after that.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/i-dont-get-why-apples-multitrack-voice-memos-require-an-iphone-16-pro-175134621.html?src=rss

The FDA greenlights Apple’s Hearing Aid feature for AirPods Pro

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The Food and Drug Administration has approved Apple’s over-the-counter Hearing Aid feature. Designed for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, it transforms the second-gen AirPods Pro into OTC hearing aids. This follows the FDA’s 2022 decision to allow adults with less-than-severe impairment to use corrective consumer hearing devices without a professional test, prescription or fitting.

The FDA says Apple’s software-based Hearing Test feature for AirPods Pro showed similar benefits to those who received a professional fitting of the wireless earbuds. “Results also showed comparable performance for tests measuring levels of amplification in the ear canal, as well as a measure of speech understanding in noise,” the FDA wrote in its announcement. The agency adds that it didn’t observe any “adverse events” from using the device as an OTC hearing aid.

Apple’s Hearing Aid feature, coming in iOS 18, starts with a hearing test on your paired iPhone or iPad. As the image above shows, the test begins by ensuring your earbuds have a good seal. After that, it activates active noise cancellation (ANC) and asks you to tap the screen when you hear tones in the left and right ears.

Once you finish, your results will live in the iOS Health app, where you can see how your results change (or not) over time. You can download your results and give them to an audiologist anytime. (If the test determines you have severe hearing loss, it will recommend you seek a professional assessment since the AirPods feature is only approved for those with mild to moderate impairment.)

Engadget’s Billy Steele got an early preview of the feature after Apple’s big iPhone 16 event earlier this week. “It seems to be as quick and easy as Apple describes,” our audio expert wrote. Although the demo was a simulation, it covered each step of the process, adding up to only about five minutes.

Apple developed the feature using 150,000 real-world audiograms and millions of simulations. The company’s FDA application was reviewed under the agency’s De Novo premarket pathway, which provides a runway for novel devices that don’t carry serious risk.

Apple’s Hearing Aid and Hearing Test features will arrive no earlier than when iOS 18 launches to the public on September 16. The AirPods Pro (second-gen) is required to use the feature.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/the-fda-greenlights-apples-hearing-aid-feature-for-airpods-pro-164912484.html?src=rss

Roland just released an (almost) pocket-sized sampler with a built-in mic

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Roland just released the Aira Compact P-6, a battery-powered sampler with a built-in microphone for capturing ideas quickly. There’s also a USB-C port and analog inputs for plugging in a higher-grade mic, a smartphone or an actual computer for even more sampling opportunities. Roland calls it a “roving recorder,” likely because it's nearly small enough to fit inside of a pocket.

The P-6 can hold up to 48 samples at once, split across eight banks of six pads. There are four available sampling rates to suit different tastes, though the internal memory is on the smallish side. The keyboard lets you chop up and trigger these samples on the fly, in addition to playing samples polyphonically.

Like many modern musical gadgets, the Aira Compact P-6 is something of a jack of all trades. Sampling is the main feature, of course, but this thing includes a granular synthesis engine and a 64 step sequencer. This sequencer is fairly feature-rich, with neat options like off-grid sequencing, sub-steps, micro-timing and a lot more. You can even manipulate samples in real time during the sequence, for improvisation purposes.

There are also plenty of effects to make each sample your own. These include a vinyl simulator, a looper, a phaser, a resonator and a lo-fi emulator, among others. The granular synthesis engine allows for even more “microscopic sound design" opportunities, with the ability to detune samples and adjust the grain shape.

A sampler and a computer.
Roland

If the idea of manipulating samples on a tiny device gives you the sweats, Roland offers a dedicated software suite called SampleTool. This brings even more features to the table, like downsampling, click removal and precise editing.

The battery should get around three hours of use per charge, so make sure to bring along a charger while out and about. The Aira Compact P-6 costs $220 and is available now. As the name suggests, this sampler is a sibling product to the rest of the Aira Compact line, which are all fairly diminutive gadgets. There’s a drum machine, some synths, a vocoder and more.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/roland-just-released-an-almost-pocket-sized-sampler-with-a-built-in-mic-152737594.html?src=rss

Google’s AI notebook can generate a podcast about your notes

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Google's latest update for its AI-powered research tool NotebookLM can turn the materials you want to pore over into a podcast-like audio discussion. The new feature called Audio Overview takes information from documents you've uploaded and then generates a "deep dive" discussion between two AI hosts. In addition to summarizing your sources, Google says the hosts will be able to find links between different topics and even banter back and forth. Based on the example the company posted with its announcement, the AI hosts sounded human enough to listen to, though you could still determine that the voices were AI-generated from their inflections and odd pronunciations of certain words. 

Since the feature is still in its experimental stages, Google admits that it has its limitations. The hosts can only speak English at this time, and they sometimes say inaccurate information, which means you will have to double check your material and ensure you didn't just learn something that's not factual. You also can't interrupt the hosts while they're speaking yet, and it still takes several minutes for NotebookLM to generate an Audio Overview for notebooks with larger files. Biao Wang, Google Labs product manager, wrote in the feature's announcement post that his team is "excited to bring audio into NotebookLM" despite those limitations, since they "know some people learn and remember better by listening to conversations."

The company launched NotebookLM back in 2023 as some sort of a digital assistant that you can ask questions about the documents you upload. In June this year, Google announced that NotebookLM has officially started running on Gemini 1.5 Pro, giving it new features and tools, and has expanded to over 200 countries and territories.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-ai-notebook-can-generate-a-podcast-about-your-notes-140004869.html?src=rss

iFixit wants to fix the soldering iron

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iFixit embodies the spirit of “screw it, I’ll just do it myself” that has always been a trait of some tech enthusiasts. As one of the Right to Repair movement's proponents, the company is now flexing its muscles with an electronics product of its very own. FixHub is a USB-C powered soldering iron designed to help fix whatever's on your workbench (and be easily fixable itself). The iron is joined by a 55Wh battery pack which acts as a stand and temperature control, ensuring you can fix things wherever you go.

Founder Kyle Wiens explained FixHub was born of frustration with soldering irons, and their limits. He was annoyed that he had to drag an extension cord out on the street to fix his car stereo. So the iFixit team set about looking for a way to improve what has traditionally been an unsophisticated tool. That includes making it smarter, more flexible and easily repairable.

The 100 watt iron can reach your desired soldering temperature in just five seconds. Nestled inside the iron’s body is an accelerometer which can detect if the iron is idle and in its holder. If it does, it will automatically set it to cool down — hopefully wringing extra life out of the tip of the iron. And if the iron falls out of your hand it’ll cut power to hopefully prevent any nasty accidents. There’s also an LED ring on the body that’ll tell you when the iron is cool enough to touch, warming up, or ready to go.

Image of iFixit's Fix Hub soldering iron and battery pack.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

You can use the iron with any USB-C power source that can output 20W, but it’ll stay set at the factory default temperature of 660f/350c. For more control (and portability), you’ll need to grab the FixHub Power Station, the company’s new 55Wh battery pack. It’ll output up to 100W at once, with enough juice to run two irons simultaneously, or one iron while recharging another USB-C device. Up front, you’ll get a display and a turn dial to let you control the iron’s temperature should you need to tweak it.

This being iFixit, both products are modular and repairable, with the usual commitment to ensuring easy serviceability. The packaging even contains an iFixit screwdriver that will let you disassemble both products as and when required. The hope is that you’ll still be fixing your electronics with one of these in hand for decades to come.

iFixit will begin shipping its FixHub products on October 15 in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe. The Smart Soldering Iron will set you back $80, while the Soldering Station, which includes the soldering iron and the battery pack, costs $250. You can also pick up the Soldering Toolkit for $300, which will include the above, plus lots of accessories and materials.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ifixit-wants-to-fix-the-soldering-iron-130040690.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!

Continue reading.

TMA
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.

Continue reading.

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

Friend requests are returning to Xbox

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Xbox is changing its process for forming connections on the gaming platform. Its new method works like, well, just about every other social platform, where you'll send a friend request that is either accepted or denied.

That sounds like the obvious way for this feature to function, but Xbox adopted a more passive approach to friends for the recent console generation. The way it works in the current system is that anybody can add another Xbox account to their follow list. When two accounts followed each other, they were upgraded to friends.

Xbox Friends Update
Microsoft

The change shouldn't yield much of a difference in players' social tab. If you're already friends, you'll stay friends. If you aren't mutuals, you'll continue following the account. That means you can still keep an eye on updates from individuals, clubs and games within the Xbox ecosystem.

Xbox is also launching new privacy and notification options to help manage the return of friendship, so players can set who is able to follow them or send them friend requests. The blog post didn't give a release date for when the new friends system will get a public rollout, but it is available starting this week as a preview for people in the Xbox Insiders program.

Today's announcement is the latest in a wave of Xbox news in the past month. The company also introduced the Game Pass Standard plan and opened pre-orders for the all-digital Xbox Series X.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/friend-requests-are-returning-to-xbox-220614785.html?src=rss

Bluesky now lets you upload videos, but there are some caveats

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It’s easy to forget that there’s another social network besides Threads for people tired of Elon Musk’s totally normal X platform. Bluesky is a fine alternative, as it definitely “feels” like Twitter. However, it has been lacking some of the features that made Twitter such an internet hotspot back in the day. Well, we just got a big one. The company just announced that users can now upload video content.

There are some caveats. First of all, the videos have to be under a minute. That’s a fairly huge hurdle for just about every piece of content other than TikTok-style shorts. As a comparison, Meta’s Threads allows for five minute videos. Also, the videos autoplay by default, though that can be handled in the settings. Finally, there’s a hard limit of 25 videos per user each day, though the company says it could tweak that in the future.

The platform supports most of the major video file types, including .mp4, .mpeg, .webm, and .mov files. Users can also attach subtitles to each video, which is a nice little bonus. There are some guardrails in place to protect against “spam and abuse.” Only users who have verified their email address can upload videos and illegal content will be “purged” from the infrastructure. There’s also a way to submit reports to the moderation team. Additionally, each video will be scanned for CSAM by Hive and Thorn.

Update to version 1.91 of the mobile app to get started, though it also works via the desktop client. Not every user will be able to access this feature right away, as version 1.91 will be a gradual rollout to “ensure a smooth experience.”

Bluesky recently added direct messages into the mix, which is something Threads doesn’t have. The platform may be a distant third, when compared to X and Threads, but it’s certainly growing. A massive influx of Brazilian users recently joined the social media site after X was banned in the country.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-now-lets-you-upload-videos-but-there-are-some-caveats-185702403.html?src=rss

Ultimate Ears Everboom review: A floatable outdoor speaker that packs a punch

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Ultimate Ears has a history of building loud and rugged portable Bluetooth speakers with features to simplify the listening experience. Whether it's a party mode that supports over 100 speakers at once, or the ability to remotely power off the unit with your phone, the company’s devices have consistently been among the best. Enter the Everboom ($250), a new option from UE that sits in the middle of its lineup in terms of size and power. Those handy Ultimate Ears features return, but so does the company’s lack of clarity and fidelity.

The Everboom is slightly smaller than the midpoint of Ultimate Ears’ Bluetooth speaker lineup. The compact Wonderboom and cylindrical Boom 4 and Megaboom 4 are the smaller options, while the Epicboom and Hyperboom are larger. The Megaboom 4 is actually taller than the Everboom, but the latter is wider, making it bigger overall.

Aesthetically, the Everboom is most like the Epicboom: an oval-shaped, cylindrical device with a rubber base. Where the two differ, other than size, is that the Epicboom has an attached strap around back while the Everboom has a loop. You use the included carabiner or opt for a clip or hook. And, like all recent UE speakers, large “+” and “-” buttons are part of the look, putting the volume controls right on the face of the speaker. Up top, there are buttons for power, Bluetooth, Outdoor Boost and play/pause. That last control also skips tracks with a double (forward) or triple press (back).

Like most recent UE speakers, the Everboom is plenty rugged. The IP67-rated unit can survive being fully submerged, but you probably won’t have to worry about that because it also floats. While UE highlighted this aspect in the announcement, I should point out that the Wonderboom also floats. The company says it drop-tested the Everboom at heights up to one meter (about three feet), so the occasional stumble shouldn’t be an issue beyond scuffs or scratches.

The UE Boom app is where all of the settings of the Everboom are available.
Billy Steele for Engadget

In order to use the Everboom's advanced features, you’ll need to access them in the UE Boom app. Once the speaker is connected, the main interface displays battery status above controls for power, Outdoor Boost and a megaphone tool. There’s a volume slider too, as well as a media player and tabs for PartyUp and EQ. The megaphone allows you to make announcements via your phone’s mic and Partyup is Ultimate Ears’ nomenclature for pairing multiple speakers together. You can actually sync up to 150 units in the same setup, so long as they’re either Boom, Megaboom, Epicboom or Hyperboom models.

A dive into the detailed settings menu reveals even more handy tools. There’s the option to add playlists from either Amazon Music or Apple Music so you can start them directly from the Everboom’s play/pause button (long press). You can add as many playlists as you want and cycle through them without picking up your phone. When one collection is playing, you’ll also have access to playlists from the media player inside the app.

There are a few more items in the settings that I’ll point out. You can enable so-called Sticky PartyUp to keep speakers grouped if you change locations and you can also disable the ability for other people to add your device to their PartyUp arrangement. Bluetooth Standby is on by default, and it’s how the app can remotely turn the speaker on or off. But it impacts battery life, so the company gives you the option to extend play time by disabling it.

While the Everboom floats, other UE speakers can do the same.
Billy Steele for Engadget

One of the best things about the Everboom is that the driver arrangement beams sound 360 degrees. You can clearly hear music when you’re sitting on the side of the device, although the tuning there favors treble over bass. My main gripe with Ultimate Ears speakers is that it always seems like the company favors volume over fidelity. The speakers typically sound fine, and the Everboom is more of the same, but there’s a lack of overall depth and detail that other Bluetooth speakers muster.

Songs consistently sound compressed, noticeably lacking in the mid range, despite punchy highs and rumbling bass. There’s just a lack of overall clarity on bluegrass tunes from Nickel Creek and the open, atmospheric instrumentation on Phantogram’s “Come Alive.” Vocals always cut through clean, but the sound stage is confined to the two high and low extremes. Saosin’s Live From The Garden Amphitheater is one of the better-sounding live albums I can remember, but the Everboom subdues the energy of the show with a lack of dynamics in its tuning.

Of the EQ presets, Bass Boost is the only one that improves things, but not dramatically. Unlike most bass-heavy profiles, this one doesn’t further muddy the audio quality. However, for some genres, like the brooding alt-rock of Balance and Composure, the added low-end makes the constant, rhythmic bass lines overbearing.

In wide open spaces, Outdoor Boost can help improve the listening experience. According to the company, this increases the volume by one decibel (from 90dB to 91dB), and that’s it. However, if you happen to activate it indoors, you’ll be able to hear that the tuning also changes slightly. Outside though, all you’ll notice is slightly louder, better-projected sound. The feature makes an obvious difference when you’re no longer in a confined space, addressing a problem that typically plagues Bluetooth speakers when used outdoors.

No need to worry about the Everboom going for a swim.
Billy Steele for Engadget

The Everboom has enough juice to keep the tunes going for a good long while. Ultimate Ears promises up to 20 hours on a charge, more than enough for a full day’s worth of music. After my tests, I can confidently say that the speaker will outperform that, unless you’re running it at full volume for hours on end (you won’t, trust me). After 12 hours, the UE app was still showing 70 percent battery remaining. These trials were mostly conducted indoors where a volume around 40 percent is plenty loud. Also, I didn’t notice that the Bluetooth standby mode for turning the speaker on with the app had any impact on battery life like the company warns.

As I already mentioned, there are plenty of alternatives in the Ultimate Ears lineup if you’re looking for similar features in a slightly different package. However, my recommendation is the Marshall Middleton ($250), a selection from our best portable Bluetooth speakers list for a speaker at this price and size. Right now you can get it for the same cost as the Everboom and it has several handy features the UE speaker doesn’t offer.

First, there’s a joystick control knob up top, with a visual indicator for battery and volume levels. You can also make bass and treble adjustments on the device and there’s a 3.5mm jack for wired input. Of course, you get all of the stylings of the iconic Marshall guitar amps and a Stack Mode allows you to use multiple units as a more robust setup. The Middleton is rated IP67 for water-resistance and offers 20 hours of battery life. Both of those specs are the same as the Everboom.

Also, don’t sleep on the new Beats Pill ($150). Sure, it's a smaller speaker, but it still delivers a big sound. The bass performance can vary depending on the album or genre, but overall there’s nice low-end tone from the compact unit. What’s more, angled drivers project sound better than previous versions and you have the option of lossless tunes via wired USB-C connection. And perhaps best of all: you’ll save $100.

Ultimate Ears are typically a solid bet for the price, even though the best value lies with the company’s smaller speakers. The mid-sized Everboom brings the UE’s best features to yet another new design, maintaining its robust dust, moisture and drop protections. All of the conveniences are offset by a sound profile that’s deafeningly loud, but lacks the polish for detailed, immersive listening. For all of the punchy highs and deep bass, the overall sonic effect is murky and subdued in the absence of mids. Still, the fact that the speaker floats and the dedicated outdoor sound boost makes this a decent option for adventures. And one that will certainly annoy the people in the next campsite.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/ultimate-ears-everboom-review-a-floatable-outdoor-speaker-that-packs-a-punch-161532961.html?src=rss

Everything Apple revealed at the iPhone 16 launch event: Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4, iOS 18 and more

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September is here and, like clockwork, so are new iPhones. Apple unveiled its latest iPhone models at an event in Cupertino today, and as expected, the iPhone 16 handsets are largely iterative of last year's models. While the smartphones, standard and Pro versions, took center stage, Apple also showed off the new Apple Watch Series 10, two new pairs of AirPods and detailed hearing aid features coming to the second-generation AirPods Pro. The company also went into detail on its latest mobile chipsets that power the new iPhones, and reminded folks what they can expect when iOS 18 launches later this month with Apple Intelligence. If you weren't able to catch the announcements live, Engadget has you covered; here's everything announced at Apple's iPhone 16 event.

iPhone 16
Apple

Apple unveiled the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus at the event, which feature a water- and dust-resistant design and new colors including ultramarine, teal and pink. The iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 16 Plus has a 6.7-inch display. Both of those can achieve up to 2,000 nits of brightness, and can go all the way down to 1 nit in the dark. The Action button has found its way to this series of iPhones as well, and it's just as customizable as the one we saw on last year's Pro-model iPhones.

There's also a new easy-access camera control "button" of sorts, which allows you to quickly control the camera with a slide of your finger. This tool can also tap into Visual Intelligence, an AI-powered feature coming in iOS 18 that can tell you more about anything you point your camera at. It appears similar to Google Lens, and can do things like add live event dates to your calendar after you point your camera at a flyer you see on the street. The camera array on the standard iPhone 16 models includes a 48-megapixel main Fusion camera, a 12MP telephoto lens and a new ultrawide camera with autofocus. This array will also be able to capture Spatial Photos that can be viewed on Apple's Vision Pro. 

We confirmed in our hands-on text of the iPhone 16 that it has the same style of camera control button as the more expensive iPhone 16 Pro. It's a physical button, but haptics add another layer of feedback for when you make a "light press" rather than fully pressing the button down. 

Both standard iPhone 16 models run on the new A18 chip, which has a 16-core neural engine optimized for generative models. The internals feature a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU, both of which will be crucial for powering all of the new Apple Intelligence features coming to iOS 18.

According to Apple, both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus have larger batteries than their predecessors, and when combined with the efficiencies added from the A18 chipset and iOS 18 improvements, should make for a much longer-lasting battery lives overall (although Apple did not provide an exact estimate). Both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are available for pre-order today starting at $799 and $899, respectively, and will be widely available on September 20.

Read more:

iPhone 16 Pro
Apple

The Pro series of iPhones includes the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max this year, which have 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch ProMotion, always-on displays, respectively. Both are made with Grade 5 Titanium, which Apple claims to be even lighter than stainless steel. These handsets will be available in four new colors: black, white, natural and desert, the latter of which resembles a dusty gold color.

According to the company, the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence, being able to take full advantage of all the new features coming in iOS 18. These handsets run on the new A18 Pro chipset, which takes advantage of 3nm transistors and is even faster and more efficient than the standard A18 chip found in the regular iPhone 16 lineup.

The rear camera array on both models includes a 48MP Fusion camera, 48MP ultrawide shooter and a 12MP telephoto lens. The main camera's improvements allow for 4K, 120fps video and slow-motion recording. Both phones also have the new camera control button that provides easier access to the camera and all of its tools, both for capture and editing. There are also four studio-quality microphones built in to both smartphones for improved audio capture, and they allow for Spatial Audio recording, too.

Both the iPhone 16 Pro series and the standard iPhone 16 handsets supports Qi2 wireless charging, and Apple will come out with new MagSafe charging cases that account for the new camera control button. The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will be available for pre-order on Friday, September 13, starting at $999 and $1,199, respectively. They'll be widely available on September 20.

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AirPods 4
Apple

AirPods 4 launched today during the iPhone 16 event, as rumors suggested. These have a redesigned bud shape that's suppose to fit more ear shapes and be more comfortable overall. They have the H2 chip inside, which will provide improved audio quality and enable features like Personalized Spatial Audio. The charging case has a USB-C port, and it's the smallest AirPods charging case to date.

In addition to the regular AirPods 4, there will be a second model that includes support for active noise cancellation and Transparency mode. Conversation Awareness will also automatically lower your media volume level when the buds detect you talking to someone. The standard AirPods 4 cost $129 and the AirPods 4 with ANC cost $179; both are available for pre-order today and will be widely available on September 20.

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Apple didn’t reinvent the wheel with the updated AirPods Max. Instead, they’ll be available in a few new colors (midnight, blue, purple, orange and starlight) and support USB-C charging. The new colors can be pre-ordered today for $549 and will be widely available on September 20.

Apple announced new features coming to the second-gen AirPods Pro that are designed to help prevent (and increase awareness around) hearing loss. A feature called "Hearing Protection" will be turned on by default, and users will be able to take a clinically-validated hearing test to see if they already have some hearing loss. On top of that, AirPods Pro will have a clinical-grade hearing aid feature built-in as well, which will work with a hearing profile created after a user takes the hearing test.

Apple Watch Series 10
Apple

Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 10 today, the natural successor to last year’s Series 9. It has the biggest display and thinnest design ever on an Apple Watch, and the wide-angle OLED display is even a bit larger than that on the Apple Watch Ultra. The case has more rounded corners and a wider aspect ratio, both of which, combined with the larger screen, should provide more space to interact with graphics and text on the Watch. Apple claims the screen is 40 percent brighter when looked at from an angle, and it'll show a second hand ticking away even when your wrist is down.

The Apple Watch Series 10 is powered by the new S10 SiP chip, which Apple claims is built for performance, power efficiency and intelligence (i.e. Apple Intelligence). One example of Apple Intelligence at work on the Series 10 is the new Photos watch face, which will curate the best photos from your library and serve them up to you automatically.

When it comes to fitness features, Apple announced that the latest version of watchOS will allow the Series 10 to detect signs of sleep apnea, provided you're wearing your Series 10 to sleep regularly. Apple claims it's awaiting FDA clearance, and it expects the sleep apnea detection feature to launch in more than 150 countries. Elsewhere in the activity sphere, the Series 10 will have scuba tracking features and it will support the new Tides app in watchOS 11.

Another new feature is the ability to play audio directly from the Watch's speaker, which could be helpful if you don't have AirPods or another pair of Bluetooth earbuds handy. The Apple Watch Series 10 be available in a new polished, jet-black aluminum finish and new polished titanium finishes. It's available for pre-order today and will be widely available on September 20.

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While there have been a bunch of swirling rumors about the next iteration of the Apple Watch Ultra, the company did not reveal the third generation sportswatch today. Instead, Apple revealed a new finish for the Apple Watch Ultra 2: satin black. There are also new Hermes finishes, and a new Milanese band to accompany the new satin black finish.

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/everything-apple-revealed-at-the-iphone-16-launch-event-apple-watch-series-10-airpods-4-ios-18-and-more-170346723.html?src=rss