Tecno’s Future Lens 2023: Impressions on Unveiled Mobile Camera Tech

Tecno just introduced three super cool camera technologies during its Future Lens 2023 event in Shanghai. These innovations are set to change smartphone photography and take it to the next level. The W-shaped Adjustable Physical Aperture, which features a patented artificial cuttlefish lens, is a breakthrough in light management for photography. It effectively eliminates harsh glare, thus resulting in more balanced shots. On the other hand, the Liquid Telephoto Macro Lens is a compact yet powerful innovation that uses voltage-controlled curvature adjustment to enable the camera to adapt lens curvature in real time while maintaining a sleek form factor. Lastly, the Universal Tone multi-skin tone imaging solution uses extensive skin tone spectral data and advanced research methods to offer vibrant and true-to-life portraits and videos. These technologies exemplify TECNO’s commitment to pioneering solutions that improve photographic capabilities and enhance user experience, reflecting a significant step forward in mobile imaging.

Over dinner, sitting next to Laury Longfei Bai, Tecno’s global CMO, provided a deeper insight into Tecno as a company, its vision for the future, and target buyers. Tecno Mobile, a subsidiary of Transsion Holdings, is renowned for its affordable, feature-rich smartphones, primarily targeting emerging markets in Africa and South Asia. The company emphasizes local market needs, offering devices with region-specific features and designs. Known for competitive pricing, Tecno caters to budget-conscious consumers seeking high-quality mobile experiences. The brand has also made notable advancements in smartphone photography, frequently introducing innovative camera technologies in its products.

W-shaped Adjustable Physical Aperture

The W-shaped Adjustable Physical Aperture represents a significant advancement in smartphone photography. This ingenious technology addresses common issues associated with backlight photography, such as overexposure and loss of detail.

At its core, the W-shaped Adjustable Physical Aperture functions differently from the fixed apertures typically found in smartphone cameras. A standard fixed aperture limits the light entering the lens, which can be problematic in varying lighting conditions. In contrast, Tecno’s W-shaped aperture is dynamically adjustable, allowing for more precise control over the light that reaches the camera sensor.

This adjustability is crucial for enhancing photo quality in different lighting scenarios. In bright, backlit environments, narrowing the aperture reduces the amount of light entering the lens, preventing overexposure and preserving detail. Conversely, widening the aperture in low-light conditions allows more light to reach the sensor, improving image brightness and clarity.

The W-shaped design is particularly effective because it offers a broader range of aperture sizes compared to traditional circular apertures. This flexibility ensures that users can capture high-quality images regardless of lighting conditions, making it a versatile tool for amateur and professional photographers.

Moreover, the physical nature of this aperture system marks a departure from software-based solutions commonly used in smartphone photography. While software enhancements can improve image quality, they often cannot fully compensate for the limitations of a fixed aperture. Tecno’s approach, combining hardware innovation with software algorithms, provides a more comprehensive solution.

In practical terms, this technology translates to significantly improved performance in challenging photographic situations. Users can expect sharper, more detailed images when shooting against bright backgrounds, such as sunsets or brightly lit windows. Similarly, in dimly lit environments, the technology helps capture clearer, brighter images without the excessive noise often associated with high ISO settings.

The W-shaped Adjustable Physical Aperture is a testament to Tecno’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of smartphone imaging technology. By offering a hardware-based solution to a common photographic challenge, Tecno positions itself as a leader in the field, particularly in emerging markets where smartphone photography is rapidly evolving. This technology enhances the user experience and broadens the creative possibilities available to smartphone photographers.

Liquid Telephoto Macro Lens

Tecno’s Liquid Telephoto Macro Lens represents a groundbreaking advancement in smartphone camera technology. This lens system is designed to enhance macro photography capabilities, allowing users to capture highly detailed close-up images with greater clarity and precision than traditional smartphone cameras.

The innovation lies in the unique use of a liquid lens, a technology that differs significantly from the conventional solid lenses found in most smartphone cameras. The liquid lens can change its shape dynamically, allowing for rapid and precise focusing at varying distances. This adaptability is crucial in capturing high-quality macro images, where focusing accuracy is critical for detailed and sharp results.

One of the primary benefits of the Liquid Telephoto Macro Lens is its compactness. Traditional telephoto lenses, known for their bulkiness, are often challenging to incorporate into the slim form factor of a smartphone. However, the liquid lens technology enables a much more compact design without compromising on the telephoto capabilities. This allows users to enjoy advanced macro photography features in a portable, user-friendly device.

The functionality of the Liquid Telephoto Macro Lens is based on the principle of electrowetting, where an electrical charge is applied to alter the shape of the liquid within the lens. By adjusting the voltage, the curvature of the liquid lens changes, thus modifying the focal length. This process allows for quick and precise adjustments in focus, essential for capturing the tiniest details in macro photography.

Another advantage of this technology is its versatility. The lens can seamlessly switch between telephoto and macro modes, offering users a range of photographic options. This dual functionality enhances the user experience and expands the creative possibilities available to smartphone photographers.

In practical terms, users can expect to capture stunning close-up images with remarkable detail and clarity. The lens’s ability to rapidly adjust focus ensures that even the smallest subjects, such as insects or intricate patterns, are rendered with exceptional sharpness. Additionally, the telephoto capabilities allow for high-quality zoomed-in shots, making it a versatile tool for various photography scenarios.

So, Mr. Bai told me this new technology is coming out soon. He said it won’t be ready for a couple of years, but he did mention that we’ll be able to try it out at the Mobile World Congress in 2025. How cool is that?!

Tecno has committed to innovation in smartphone imaging with the Liquid Telephoto Macro Lens. This advanced lens technology addresses a common limitation in smartphone cameras, mainly macro photography. By integrating this development, Tecno is enhancing the capabilities of its smartphones and establishing itself as a pioneer in the industry, particularly in markets where mobile photography is increasingly popular.

Universal Tone Technology – UT

Tecno’s Universal Tone technology is a revolutionary multi-skin tone imaging technology, a key highlight of their Future Lens 2023 event. It uses the most extensive skin tone spectral data and rigorous research methods, ensuring vibrant, true-to-life portraits and videos. This technology is particularly beneficial for its ability to produce images that accurately and beautifully represent a wide range of skin tones. It addresses a long-standing challenge in photography of rendering diverse skin colors naturally and attractively.

The technology works by combining three computational engines powered by AI. The Multi-Skin Tone Restoration Engine uses a spectral matrix of skin colors, which has been derived from extensive research on chromatic skin colors. This engine adjusts and calibrates skin tones in portraits to make them appear more natural and harmonious. It is essential to avoid the common issue of inaccurately representing skin tones in photography.

Complementing this, the Local-Tuning Engine plays a vital role in ensuring the portrait harmoniously integrates with its surroundings. It reconstructs image tone mapping and uses an adaptive 3D-LUT (Look-Up Table) algorithm. This approach enables the technology to ensure perfect interaction between the human subject and the environment in the photo, and it can be customized per region or country. This localization aspect is significant, as it considers the diverse aesthetic preferences and cultural contexts of different user bases.

The third component, the AI-Powered Computational Portrait Engine, is designed to craft vibrant, personalized portraits. This engine considers Tecno’s localized aesthetic preferences and cultural nuances, ensuring that the portraits it produces are not just technically proficient but also culturally resonant and aesthetically pleasing.

Tecno’s Universal Tone technology thus represents a significant advancement in smartphone photography, particularly in its capacity to handle diverse skin tones with accuracy and sensitivity. By integrating these three sophisticated AI engines, Tecno has created a system that not only enhances the technical quality of images but also respects and celebrates the diversity of its users. This technology demonstrates their commitment to inclusive and user-centric technology development, setting a new standard in smartphone photography.

Final Thoughts

At Tecno’s Future Lens 2023 event in Shanghai, three groundbreaking camera technologies were introduced, impressing media attendees with their potential to revolutionize smartphone photography. The W-shaped Adjustable Physical Aperture, Liquid Telephoto Macro Lens, and Universal Tone technology showcase innovative approaches to light management, lens adaptability, and skin tone representation, signifying a substantial leap in mobile imaging. These advancements, eagerly anticipated for future experiences, highlight their dedication to pioneering photographic capabilities and enhancing user experiences.

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The 2024 iPhone SE could get a Big Redesign with a Camera Notch, FaceID, and USB-C

It’s been nearly 2 years since Apple refreshed their budget iPhone SE and analysts are predicting that the company will launch a completely refreshed 4th Gen iPhone SE in the year 2024. The budget iPhone SE hasn’t just been a hot favorite for people looking for affordable iPhones for themselves or their children (it makes a great first phone), it’s been incredibly beneficial for Apple too, as the company has used this opportunity to flex its recycling chops, using chassis elements, components, and hardware from previous iPhones to build new low-end models. Up until now, the iPhone SE has still rocked some of Apple’s older design elements, like the curved edges, thick bezels, and even the archaic TouchID fingerprint reader that disappeared entirely in 2018. Designer 4RMD believes, however, that the upcoming iPhone SE will finally see a design upgrade in the form of a flat-edge form factor, a camera notch with FaceID, an action button (instead of the mute slider), and who knows… maybe even MagSafe! Rumored for a 2024 reveal, the 4th Gen iPhone SE could also be Apple’s first ‘Carbon Neutral‘ smartphone.

Designer: 4RMD

According to 4RMD’s renders (and that gorgeous Apple-inspired trailer video above), the 2024 iPhone SE will finally merge seamlessly into Apple’s product offering by looking like a part of their cutting-edge phone lineup. This means a bigger, more responsive 6.1-inch OLED display (with a FaceID camera notch on the front) covered by Apple’s Ceramic Shield glass. The phone’s showcased in 3 classic colors – black, white, and Product RED.

The phone is also powered by Apple’s A16 Bionic Chip, which was debuted just months ago inside the iPhone 15 series. It seems like processor overkill given the budget-status of the phone, but then again, the A16 is great at hardware rendering, which would make the 2024 iPhone SE a stellar gaming phone and a perfect pick for parents looking to gift their kids a low-cost iPhone. The presence of the A16 chip would pretty much gut Apple’s iPhone 13 and 14 sales, though.

Given its budget status, it still comes with a single-shooter primary camera that’s been upgraded to 48MP. The ultrawide lens also shoots Macro, supports Night Mode, and is even capable of capturing Cinematic videos.

However, 4RMD’s concept iPhone SE does tend to shoot for optimism with a few specs and details that strike one as ambitious. For starters, he touts an Action Button, which I doubt Apple would carry over to the budget iPhone this quickly. There’s even a mention of transitioning to USB-C, which I don’t see Apple doing this year for their budget phones (Apple could just restrict sales in the EU regarding lightning port concerns, given that the SE range isn’t their money-maker).

What the video doesn’t highlight is any of Apple’s safety features like car crash detection, or even the presence of wireless charging and MagSafe. If the past is any indication, this phone won’t come with a charger in the box, so having wireless charging capabilities will still be a heaven-sent for most buyers. The 4th Gen iPhone SE is due to drop in 2024, although whether it launches with Apple’s refreshed iPads in March, or with the iPhone 16 in October is anybody’s guess.

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What’s Inside A Fake AirPods Pro? CT Scans Show How Counterfeit Earbuds Are Built

Just go type the word AirPods into Temu or AliExpress and you’re likely to be flooded with results of earphones that look exactly like the AirPods, but most likely are just counterfeits. The AirPods, more than being wireless earphones, are a fashion and social statement. Everyone craves being seen wearing them, and that sort of crowd response doesn’t go noticed by folks sitting in factories in Shenzhen. Counterfeit AirPods can be found across an entire spectrum. Sometimes they’re just shitty $10 earpieces stuffed into an AirPod plastic shell, other times they’re so convincingly good that they even end up fooling Apple devices into pairing with them. The trick to avoiding falling for a fake is to simply ensure you’re either buying your goods directly from Apple, or a certified Apple retailer/reseller… conversely, you could do what Lumafield did by renting incredibly expensive tomography equipment to scan your products.

While I don’t endorse renting an Xray or an industrial scanner to look into your Apple gear, Lumafield’s endeavor has resulted in some wonderful findings. The company looked under the hood of a variety of Apple products, examining the difference between how real and fake ones were made. The findings reveal a lot of interesting trickery. Most of Apple’s products are engineered to perfection, but you won’t be able to say the same for a counterfeit. To cut costs, most counterfeits use unsafe parts, shoddy construction, unreliable circuitry, and even use metal pieces to mimic heaviness. Heck, sometimes they entirely miss components like some AirPods Pro cases not even having wireless charging to begin with. The point of the exercise, more than being an interesting comparison, was to highlight exactly how unsafe using some of these bogus knock-off products can be. A faulty product is the least of your worries when you think of larger implications like health hazards, exploding batteries, and gadgets being ruined by fake chargers.

Image Credits: Lumafield

CT Scans of Fake AirPods Pro: Unsafe Components, Metal Weights for Faux Heaviness

At the heart of AirPods’ convenience lies its battery technology. The authentic AirPods boast meticulously engineered button cell batteries designed for optimal power efficiency within their compact form. Counterfeit AirPods, however, use less sophisticated lithium-ion pouch cell batteries, crammed into spaces they are not designed for, potentially posing safety risks.

The disparity continues with the internal circuitry. Genuine AirPods are a marvel of miniaturization and precision engineering, featuring a combination of rigid and flexible printed circuit boards. The fakes? They’re assembled with much simpler electronics and off-the-shelf components, leading to reduced functionality and compromised sound quality.

The overall build quality also tells a tale of two products: genuine and fake. In some fakes, wireless charging is entirely absent, and others lack the necessary magnets for proper charging. Counterfeit AirPods even use internal weights to mimic the heft of the original, a deceptive tactic compensating for poorer materials and less functionality.

Comparing Real vs. Fake MagSafe 2 Power Adapters for MacBook

The differences aren’t limited to AirPods alone. Lumafield’s CT scans of the MagSafe 2 Power Adapter revealed a sophisticated power management system in the genuine Apple charger, absent in the counterfeit. The fake chargers lack the safety and longevity features of Apple’s design, raising performance and safety concerns.

Moreover, the heat sinks in the chargers differ significantly. Apple’s genuine charger uses a thin, complex heat sink, whereas the counterfeit opts for a heavier but simpler design. This difference could lead to dangerous hot spots in the counterfeit charger.

In the end, it’s a classic case of “you get what you pay for.” Those tempting savings might come at the cost of quality and safety. Opting for a counterfeit product isn’t just about saving costs; it’s about compromising on reliability and peace of mind. So next time you’re tempted by a too-good-to-be-true deal on AirPods, remember: the devil is in the details, and sometimes, those details are hidden deep inside.

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Adobe’s Magical Color-Changing Dress Helps You Get a Wardrobe Makeover in Seconds!

Forget the Blue/Black White/Gold dress… Adobe’s new dress can be anything you want it to be!

While Adobe’s been known primarily for its cutting-edge creatively aligned software suites, the company surprised attendees at the 2023 Adobe MAX conference with a taste of something it was working on in secret. A presenter walked on stage in a seemingly normal dress, only to shock viewers as the dress suddenly went from matte white to reflective. Individual elements in the dress then changed colors, creating unique patterns that allowed its wearer to effectively alter their attire in real-time. Dubbed Project Primrose, this interactive dress uses ‘Reflective Light-Diffuser Modules’ to create Non-Emissive Flexible Display Systems.

Designer: Adobe

Although currently just unveiled as a product showcase, it isn’t entirely clear if Primrose plans on being available to developers or even consumers anytime soon. The project is more of a proof of concept, displaying a new way to preview and prototype designs and patterns in real time. “Project Primrose, displayed at MAX as an interactive dress, makes this possible with wearable and flexible, non-emissive textiles which allow an entire surface to display content created with Adobe Firefly, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Stock, and Adobe Illustrator,” says the Adobe Communications Team. By incorporating this technology into various surfaces like clothing, furniture, and more, designers can explore endless possibilities in terms of style. For instance, individuals can easily download and ‘wear’ the latest designs from their favorite designers.

The system developed by Adobe utilizes reflective-backed polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC), an electroactive substance that is often employed in smart window technology. This energy-efficient and non-emissive material can be easily customized into various shapes and has the ability to dynamically scatter light, going beyond what e-ink and other technologies have to offer.

Speaking of electronic ink, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen dynamic color-changing designs before. At CES 2022, BMW displayed the iX Flow Concept that could change colors in real time. The technology dates back as early as 2017, when Sony displayed the e-ink-powered FES watch that could similarly change its design. What Adobe’s done is different in two notable ways – for starters, it ditches electronic ink or conventional displays for something reflective and more eye-catching. Secondly, it ties this technology in with its own creative software, showcasing how the industry will empower designers in the future to create on new surfaces… quite literally!

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Logitech Wave Keys Wireless Keyboard Hands-On: Comfortable and Compact, both in Size and Price

The average human makes roughly 1 million keystrokes each year… marking a major area for an ergonomic intervention. Unveiled today, the Logitech Wave Keys wireless keyboard joins the company’s Ergo line-up as a budget-friendly ergonomic keyboard to create a comfortable, reliable, and tactile typing experience. Designed to pair perfectly with the Lift Vertical mouse, the $59.99 Wave Keys offers a budget-friendly alternative Logitech’s $119.99 Ergo K860 split ergonomic keyboard launched back in 2020. Adopting a similar form factor, the Wave Keys gets its name from the unique wave-shaped form factor that’s a cross between traditional flat keyboards and those ergonomic spherical keyboards from the 1970s. This unique curved shape, along with the padded palm rest allows your hands to rest more naturally on the keyboard, enabling a comfortable experience for your fingers, wrists, and your palms… and I say this with a certain degree of confidence as I type this article out on the Wave Keys myself!

Designer: Logitech

The first impression you get with the Wave Keys is how comfortably petite it is. The keyboard measures less than 13 inches across (375.97mm), occupying the same horizontal space as a conventional 15.6″ laptop, but has a 96% layout, putting it in compact full-sized territory. That means the keyboard sports a num-pad along with a function row, giving you every key you could need. The function row is also feature-optimized to do useful things like take screenshots, toggle the emoji menu, mute/unmute your microphone during audio/video calls, and even play-pause actively playing content.

The keyboard’s biggest highlight is its wave-shaped design, a feature it borrows (and refines) from its predecessor, the Ergo K860. Unlike the K860’s split-key format, the Wave Keys has a continuous key layout and features larger mechanical keycaps that offer a comfortably tactile experience. It’s not as quiet as the K860’s chiclet-style keycap, but it isn’t as noisy as some other mechanical keyboards either.

The wave-shaped hump at the center of the keyboard is something the Logitech design team arrived at after years of designing, prototyping, and refining. The keyboard was carefully crafted with multiple rounds of user testing including at Logitech’s Ergo Lab and has a stamp of approval from US Ergonomics.

Other ergonomic considerations are the padded palm-rest along with height-adjustable tilt-legs that give the keyboard up to 4° of elevation for easier typing over longer periods of time. The palm rest (yet another feature extended from the K860 line) does make the keyboard wider than most, measuring 8.6 inches (218.9 mm) from top to bottom, but it vastly enhances the keyboard’s comfort levels, allowing it to live up to its ergonomic character.

The Wave Keys runs on Bluetooth as well as Logitech’s Bolt receiver, which additionally supports the Lift Vertical mouse.

The Wave Keys supports connections to up to 3 devices at the same time, allowing you to switch between them using the first three buttons on the function row. The keyboard connects to different devices using BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), supporting operating systems like Windows, MacOS, iPadOS, Chrome OS, Linux, Android, and iOS. Alternatively, it ships with the Logi Bolt USB receiver that plugs into a USB-A port, letting you connect using Logitech’s more secure wireless protocol. Additionally, the free Logi Options+ app lets you customize your keyboard experience by changing what the function buttons do, adding software/program-specific shortcuts, or even enabling Smart Actions that allow you to automate multiple tasks with a single keystroke so you can streamline your workflow. The Wave Keys runs on two AAA batteries, and Logitech touts an impressive 3-year lifespan before the batteries need to be replaced.

Sustainability also forms a core part of Logitech’s design and innovation approach. The company has touted using PCR (post-consumer recycled) plastics in their products and the Wave Keys is no different, with up to 61% of recycled plastic in its Graphite version, and 46% in its off-white version. The Wave Keys are also certified carbon-neutral and ship with zero-plastic packaging.

The Logitech Wave Keys launches today in two colorways – Graphite and Off White, with a third option named Rose launching in the spring of 2024. The Wave Keys starts at a retail price of $59.99 in North America and €79.99 in Europe, making it a perfect budget pick for individuals as well as for businesses. Visit the Logitech website to learn more.

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Google Unveils Pixel 8 Lineup and More at Its Latest Hardware Showdown

On Wednesday, Google unveiled its latest products and software updates during the ‘Made by Google’ event. The new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones stole the show, featuring the advanced Tensor G3 chip, which Google claims is their most powerful chip yet. With this new chipset, both devices offer numerous AI features, making the Pixel 8’s machine learning model ten times more complex than the previous model, the Pixel 7.

This year, Google has kept the iconic design of the Pixel while making some subtle changes. The Pixel 8 and 8 Pro feature rounded corners, giving them a softer look. Both models are available in unique colors such as Hazel, Rose, Obsidian, Porcelain, and a new blue color called Bay. The matte finish on the back of the Pixel 8 Pro adds a touch of elegance.

Google has introduced several new features to enhance its user experience. In addition to its existing innovations, the Call Screen feature can now effectively filter out spam calls, while the Clear Calling and Audio Magic Eraser features ensure clear audio and video communication. Furthermore, Google Assistant has improved its capabilities, allowing it to summarize text from websites and create summaries of audio captured in the Recorder app. This ensures that voice-generated messages are quicker and smoother for users.

The displays have been ramped up in brightness, reaching up to 2,400 nits on the Pixel 8 Pro, ensuring crystal-clear visibility indoors and outdoors. The smaller Pixel 8 now operates at a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, matching the fluidity traditionally reserved for more premium models.

In the camera department, the Pixel 8 sports a robust 50-megapixel main camera, while the Pro variant pushes the envelope with a 48-megapixel Quad PD ultrawide and telephoto lens, coupled with Google’s image-processing prowess to capture stunning visuals.

Inside, the phones house the new Tensor G3 chip, marking the third generation of Google’s in-house silicon. While the performance boost wasn’t overly emphasized, the real deal lies in the enhanced AI processing capabilities, promising a smarter smartphone experience.

Google promises an unprecedented seven years of security and feature updates, reinforced by camera and mic toggles, Google One VPN, and a Titan M2 security coprocessor.

Moving on to wearables, the Pixel Watch 2 made a grand entrance with a sleek design and enhanced health and fitness tracking features. The watch now boasts a new multi-path heart rate sensor and a body-response sensor, helping users stay on top of their wellness game.

The Pixel Buds Pro also made a cameo with new color variants and features like a low-latency mode and Conversation Detection to enrich the audio experience.

On the software frontier, Android 14 was rolled out with a focus on customization and enhanced accessibility settings. Additionally, the Assistant is set to become more intuitive and handy with integrating Bard AI, aiming to provide a more seamless user experience across various apps and services.

Google’s latest additions to their product line showcase their signature blend of modern design and advanced software capabilities. The Pixel devices and Pixel Watch 2 cater to photography enthusiasts, tech geeks, and anyone seeking a reliable and intuitive companion, providing an elevated user experience.

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7 Surprising Google Pixel 8 Pro Features You Won’t Find on the Apple iPhone 15 Pro

The idea of being an Apple or Android superfan made a lot of sense 10 years ago when there were substantial differences between the two brands. Today, the two operating systems share an entire host of similarities. Both have overlapping features that make them compelling alternatives to each other, and the only truly defining difference at this point is their individual ecosystems or walled gardens… that was until today when Google revealed their Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.

While outwardly, the Pixel 8 series and the iPhone 15 series share a ton of pretty great features, it’s remarkable what Google’s managed to achieve with its AI-first approach. Both phones run on custom silicon (the iPhone on the A17 Bionic chip and the Pixel on the Tensor 3 chip), but Google’s strong AI background has resulted in a few surprising new features that set it in a class apart. These features are so game-changing that not only are they not available on any other Android phone, but you won’t find them even on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Temperature Sensor

The first on this list isn’t an AI-powered feature but rather a hardware one… and a pretty funky one to begin with. The Pixel 8 Pro is the first Pixel phone to come with its own temperature sensor that measures the temperature of anything you point it at. Almost working like an IR thermometer, this sensor lets you see if your drink’s chilled or if your barbecue grill or cast iron is ripping hot. You can measure the outer temperature of food items to know if they’re cooked properly or if your coffee is too hot for consumption. Google has even filed an application with the FDA to allow the sensor to monitor human temperature data, allowing you to check if you have a fever, and sync that data with your fitness device. The temperature sensor on the Pixel 8 Pro is mirrored by a LiDAR sensor on the iPhone 15 Pro, which performs 3D scanning rather than temperature gauging. Sure, they don’t compare given how wildly different they are, but one could argue that the ability to instantly measure the temperature of anything has much more of a real-world impact than the ability to 3D scan.

Best Take

Last year, Google unveiled some pretty impressive AI-powered editing features within its Photos app, like the ability to unblur photos, to erase objects you didn’t need, and to move certain elements within the photo for a better composition… but what do you do when you click a group photo at the wrong moment when someone’s eyes are closed, or a family photo with the kid making faces while everyone says cheese? Best Take is Google’s answer to that unique problem – if you’re unhappy with someone’s expression in a photo, Best Take simply changes their expression for you. The camera records facial expressions long before you hit the shutter button, giving you multiple options to choose from. The AI simply replaces the ‘bad’ face with a better one, resulting in a computationally altered photo that looks much more appealing. In Google’s words, it replaces the photo you just clicked with the photo you wish you clicked.

This feature, although highly impressive, has a lot of people up in arms because it destroys the very concept of a photograph. Most purists will argue that such a high level of editing pretty much takes away the true beauty of a photograph because it completely alters reality. There’s a significant difference between altering a photo’s white balance and flat-out changing someone’s face… but that vitriolic debate aside, the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro both tout this rather incredible feature that isn’t just missing on the iPhone, it’s probably against the very belief system of the people at Apple.

Audio Magic Eraser

If last year’s magic eraser for photos wasn’t good enough, Google debuted a new Audio Magic Eraser feature for video too! Sort of like noise canceling for videos, the new Audio Magic Eraser feature lets you edit the audio in the video files captured on your phone. Tensor’s powerful AI analyzes the audio and separates the waveforms into multiple categories that you can then either mute or reduce. Recording a vlog on a noisy road? The AI can eliminate the car and crowd noises and keep just your voice (without any fancy microphone or equipment). Trying to sing a song and your dog’s barking away in the background? You can mute your dog entirely in post by simply ‘erasing’ that sound from the overall video! The Audio Magic Eraser is a brilliant example of how far Google’s come with its AI endeavors, and is a major sign for Apple and other companies to jump aboard the AI train.

Video Boost and Night Sight Video

Google’s made some massive improvements to the Pixel’s video-shooting abilities too. The iPhone has somewhat been a bit of an undisputed champion in the video department, but the Pixel 8 Pro’s latest features fire direct shots at Apple. Video Boost is Google’s latest feature for enhancing videos AFTER you’ve shot them. Sort of like how photos get computationally enhanced after you click the shutter button, Google now extends this feature to videos too, processing every single frame individually to tweak the colors, highlight the skin tone, enhance HDRI, and make the output much more vibrant and beautiful than the original footage. Video Boost works retroactively, but only if you’ve got the feature enabled before you shoot your video. Once shot, the video is sent to Google’s cloud servers to process, and then the boosted video is sent back to your phone, available directly in the Photos library.

Enable Video Boost in a low-light environment and you instantly get access to Google’s new Night Sight Video feature. Night sight, whether on Android or iOS, has been limited to photos, but what Google proposes is literally mind-boggling. Just like Video Boost, Night Sight Video enhances every single frame of your low-light video file, enriching it and bringing out details that were previously hidden in the darkness. I imagine somewhere an Apple exec is furious at the fact that the Pixel 8 can now record low-light videos, because after its astrophotography mode, this is yet another significant win for Google over Apple!

Zoom Enhance

If you don’t have upwards of $1,099 to spend on the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s tetraprism camera that shoots 5x optical zoom, this new feature for Pixel phones should impress you. Announced alongside the new Pixel 8 phones, Zoom Enhance is a feature within Google Photos that uses AI to upscale your photos for you. The feature, on its own, might not sound as revolutionary as the Audio Magic Eraser, but it’s the first time a smartphone’s had a generative AI upscaler built right into it. Just pinch to zoom into an existing photo and you’ve now got the option to enhance it using generative AI upscaling technology that felt like science fiction just a few years ago. What’s truly impressive is that the Zoom Enhance feature runs on-device and doesn’t need to use a massive cloud-based AI model. This on-device foundation model is specific to the Tensor 3 chip, and although the Zoom Enhance feature isn’t available immediately, Google promised to roll it out later this year.

Recorder Transcribe + Summarize

Another feature powered by the Pixel’s on-device foundational model is its ability to transcribe and summarize your recordings. Google did announce a Live Transcribe app over 5 years ago, but with the birth of LLMs, the new Recorder is a pretty potent tool that takes the effort out of transcribing all your recordings. It works off the bat, without needing a separate subscription to an AI service. Just hit the record button and the phone creates an audio recording while simultaneously transcribing every recording into an in-depth text file. A summarize button helps condense the entire transcription into actionable pointers. The service runs locally, is free, and makes a strong case for why anyone should choose a Pixel 8 over an iPhone 15.

Call Screen

The Pixel’s impressive AI model also helps sort robocalls from real ones with stunning accuracy. Hit the Call Screen button when your phone rings and the phone’s AI ‘chats’ with the caller to identify the purpose of their call. If it’s spam, the Pixel 8 automatically declines the call for you without you needing to answer, but if it’s important, you can either answer the call or get the AI to respond for you. Perfect for calls that just need small actions from you, the Call Screen feature lets you quickly go about your business instead of being on a call that takes minutes when it should have taken seconds. The Call Screen feature is touted to even work on the Pixel Watch when connected to a Pixel phone.

7 Years of Software Updates (Bonus)

Rick Osterloh also made a pretty surprising announcement at the end of the keynote, stating that the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro would get a whopping 7 years of software updates to keep them running for longer. Most phones get 3 years of updates, the iPhone gets 5, but 7 years is pretty unprecedented for any smartphone. It shows that Google is (at least on paper) serious about what the Pixel means to them and that they want consumers to benefit from it for as long as possible. It also means people will hold onto their Pixel phones for longer, hopefully reducing e-waste and Google’s carbon footprint significantly. Sure, Apple’s got its Carbon Neutral program… but let me know when they offer software support for their iPhones for more than half a decade!

The post 7 Surprising Google Pixel 8 Pro Features You Won’t Find on the Apple iPhone 15 Pro first appeared on Yanko Design.

Shigeru Ban Offers The Paper Log House To Morocco For Disaster Relief Following The Earthquake

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban designed the Paper Log House with his non-governmental organization, Voluntary Architects’ Network, which he founded in 1995. The Log House was created as a shelter for victims of natural disasters in response to the Great Hanshin earthquake in Kobe, Japan. The model was also installed in Antalya as a school building after the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake. It is intended to be easy and quick to construct, and also quite economical. The Pritzker Architecture-prize winning architect has now designed the latest prototype of the Paper Log House for Morocco since it was devastatingly hit by the earthquake on September 8th, 2023.

Designer: Shigeru Ban

The 6.8 magnitude earthquake caused innumerable damage to buildings and claimed over 3000 lives. The prototype is constructed using cardboard tubes, which gives the structure its name. The cardboard tubes function as the columns of the house, and are used to accommodate prefab wood panels. These wood panels form the walls, floor, and roof. The various components are elevated above the ground using a base created from plastic beer crates filled with sandbags. The temporary shelter has been constructed at the National School of Architecture of Marrakech as a symbol of hope, resilience, and support in an extremely difficult time.

Besides providing support through structures and architecture, Shigeru Ban also held a lecture on September 27 where he introduced the Paper Log House and his knowledge and experience in post-disaster support. He also stayed back in Marrakech to visit the affected areas and find potential locations for the Paper Log House.

Shigeru Ban’s humanitarian effort is truly commendable. He is providing valuable support and shelter to victims. In fact, his involvement in disaster relief is spread over three decades, taking into account his work across the globe over the years, from Kobe to L’Aquila, Turkey to Haiti!

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Grade 5 Titanium Explained: The ‘Indestructible’ Metal Used to Build the Apple iPhone 15 Pro

For a company that’s been so bullish on Aluminum (or aluminium as Jony Ive called it), Apple’s gradual shift to titanium feels like an end of an era. For two decades, Apple has pretty much revolutionized the use of aluminum in technology, but hey… it’s the future, we’re about to colonize Mars, and it’s high time we thought bigger, right? Well, the folks at Apple certainly think so, having unveiled their first iPhone made out of titanium. This isn’t the first time Apple’s made a gadget out of titanium (the Apple Watch Ultra from last year holds that distinction), and it certainly isn’t the first time any company has made a phone out of titanium. In 2015, the Turing Phone boasted a titanium body, and in 2017, the Essential Phone from Andy Rubin touted the same titanium construction. However, nobody does fanfare as well as Apple, and they’ve pretty much put a spotlight on the fact that the iPhone 15 Pro is their first-ever iPhone crafted from titanium; and not just ordinary titanium, but Grade 5 titanium. So… what is Grade 5 titanium, you ask?

What is Grade 5 Titanium?

Just by itself, Titanium is a standout metal known for its high strength, low density, biocompatibility, and corrosion resistance. Grade 5, commonly referred to as Ti-6Al-4V, is an alloy of titanium that includes 6% Aluminum and 4% Vanadium. This combination amplifies the metal’s strength, making it the go-to titanium grade for various high-performance applications in aerospace, racing, and human implants… and even a hot favorite for the EveryDay Carry (EDC) community.

Grade 5 vs. Regular Titanium?

Standard commercial pure titanium, often referred to as “Grade 1” or “Grade 2,” is robust and corrosion-resistant. However, when you mix it with aluminum and vanadium to produce Grade 5 Titanium, you get a metal that’s about twice as strong as its basic counterpart. Moreover, while pure titanium grades boast commendable corrosion resistance, especially against oxygen, Grade 5 takes it a step further by offering enhanced resistance against wear and fatigue. This unique combination of properties makes Grade 5 not just an upgrade but rather a different league, setting a gold standard in high-performance low-weight materials.

Comparing Titanium with Steel and Aluminum

  1. Strength and Weight: When pitted against steel, titanium stands out for its impressive strength-to-weight ratio. Titanium alloys, like Grade 5, offer strengths comparable to many steels, but at nearly half the weight. Aluminum, previously used in iPhone models, is lighter than titanium but doesn’t come close in terms of strength.
  2. Corrosion Resistance: Both titanium and aluminum resist corrosion well. However, titanium has the edge, especially in saline or chlorine-rich environments. Titanium’s corrosion resistance is significantly superior compared to steel, especially if it’s not ‘stainless’ or treated in other ways.
  3. Thermal Expansion: Titanium’s thermal expansion rate is closer to that of glass. When used in something like a smartphone, this becomes crucial. An iPhone screen is essentially glass, and by using a metal with a similar expansion rate, the risk of structural integrity loss due to temperature fluctuations is minimized.
  4. Flexibility: One of the understated properties of titanium is its flexibility. While steel can be rigid and aluminum might be too pliable, titanium strikes a balance, giving devices like the iPhone 15 Pro resilience against bending or deformation.

Is a Titanium iPhone really THAT special?

Truth be told, it seems like the titanium build is, in some ways, an over-correction for bend-gate. It wasn’t particularly a great time in Apple’s history, with people folding and snapping their aluminum iPhones in half, and since then, Apple’s worked hard to make sure people don’t turn their smartphones into tacos for the internet to enjoy. The company transitioned to Stainless Steel for their Pro iPhone models, and one could say that was pretty much as strong as anyone needed their iPhone chassis to be. Titanium is overkill at this point, especially given that with any iPhone, the true weakness lies in the glass front and back… and not the metal frame itself. Sure, the company’s developed Ceramic Shield, but drop it on the floor and it’ll still probably shatter while the outer metal frame doesn’t as much as get a lasting scratch. Now Apple hasn’t specifically highlighted the phone’s rugged durability and toughness, they’ve only mentioned how tough titanium is ‘as a material’, listing its accomplishments on the earth and in outer space. The phone isn’t made entirely of titanium either – it still has an internal aluminum framework, with an aerospace-grade titanium band on the outside. How does that benefit the consumer? Well, it doesn’t in the ways you think, but you’re bound to notice how luxuriously thin the iPhone 15 Pro is when compared to previous steel models. Apple also highlights that using Grade 5 Titanium also allowed them to make the chassis thinner and push the bezels even further to the edge, resulting in a more expansive-looking screen that’s just great to look at… if you’ve got upwards of $999 to pay for it!

Read More – iPhone 15 Pro Hands On: Lighter, Snazzier, and a real Pinky-Saver

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Is the Apple Watch Series 9 secretly going to become the new Controller for the Vision Pro headset?

As Apple revealed the latest fleet of the Apple Watch collection, one feature stood out as the most remarkable as well as the most intriguing. The Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 both boasted of a new gesture input – being able to tap your fingers twice to register a button press. This would work remarkably well if your hands were occupied or dirty, letting you answer/end calls, snooze alarms, play/pause music, and even trigger your iPhone shutter simply by tapping your index finger and thumb together… without touching your Apple Watch at all. Sounds impressive, but also sounds extremely familiar, doesn’t it? Because tapping your fingers is exactly how the Apple Vision Pro registers click inputs too.

Designer: Apple

When Apple debuted the Vision Pro at WWDC in June, their biggest claim was that the Vision Pro was an entirely controller-free AR/VR headset, letting you manipulate virtual objects using just your hands. However, news emerged that Apple was, indeed, figuring out a traditional controller substitute that would be much more reliable than just human hands. It seems like the Apple Watch could be that perfect alternative.

The Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra Series 2 were unveiled this year, with a few standout upgrades. Both watches now come with 2000 Nits peak brightness, doubling last year’s capabilities. They both also rely on the new S9 SiP (the watch’s dedicated chipset) which now runs Siri locally on the device, without relying on the internet. The watches are also accompanied by new bands, including the FineWoven fabric that now replaces all leather accessories in Apple’s catalog… but more importantly, both the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra Series 2 accept the new finger-tapping gesture that does what the home button on both watches would do. The feature’s due to roll out next month as Apple calibrates how it works… but the implications of the feature go beyond just the watch. In fact, the Watch could be the secret controller the Vision Pro truly needs to enhance its Spatial Computing Experience.

Sure, the Vision Pro has multiple cameras that track your environment, also keeping an eye on your hands to see where you’re pointing, tapping, and pinching. The big caveat, however, is any situation where the Vision Pro CAN’T see your hands. If you’ve got your hands under a table, in your pocket, or behind your back, the Vision Pro potentially wouldn’t be able to recognize your fingers clicking away… and that’s a pretty massive drawback for the $3500 device. Potentially though, the Apple Watch helps solve that problem by being able to detect finger taps… although only on one hand.

The way the ‘Double Tap’ feature works on the watch is by relying on the S9 SiP. The chipset uses machine learning to interpret data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and optical heart sensor to detect when you tap your fingers twice. The feature only works with the hand that’s wearing the Watch (you can’t tap your right-hand fingers while the Watch is on your left hand), but even that’s enough to solve the Vision Pro’s big problem. Moreover, the new Ultra Wide Band chip on the watch can help with spatial tracking, letting your Vision Pro when your hands are in sight and when they aren’t. While Apple hasn’t formally announced compatibility between the Watch and the Vision Pro, we can expect more details when Apple’s spatial-computing headset formally launches next year. The Vision Pro could get its own dedicated keynote event, or even be clubbed along with the new iPad/MacBook announcements that often happen at the beginning of the calendar year.

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