Any other year, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus would feel, well, magical. Apple's two new smartphones address some long-standing complaints from iPhone owners, like including wireless charging support; they look sleek, have improved cameras, and borrow clever screen technology from the iPad Pro. Of course, this year there's a shadow looming over both new handsets.
Like many, I was unsurprised and generally unmoved by the iPhone X. We can blame leaks for that. The event wasn’t exciting, and judging by the opening which brought us words from Steve Jobs’ that had never been made public, it’s clear Apple wanted it to be. Instead, we got exactly what we expected, save for one small detail. Apple is framing the iPhone X as the blueprint for mobile tech moving forward. On a hardware level, that’s great. Elsewhere, that’s a problem.
I'm an HTC fan, but I can't say I'm impressed by the company's billion dollar deal with Google. The phone-maker has been instrumental in many of the most pivotal moments in modern smartphone history, producing some of my favorite devices in the process. I've also found myself at times being one of the company's more vocal critics, though, and for all HTC's attempts to spin this deal with Google as a win-win for all, I'm not convinced.
On the 4th of October, the 2nd Google Pixel phone will be revealed. It will certainly be a phone, and certainly it'll run Android. The vast majority of those people the Pixel 2 will be available to won't know or care for much beyond that. But for everyone reading this article, there's another layer of depth to the Pixel that many people won't appreciate.
Niantic just initiated a feature in Pokemon GO which has made me feel like it's time to quit the game. I've played since before day one - I was an early tester, and I've played almost non-stop since that time. Now I think it's time to throw in the towel. Not because of Raid Battles, and not because of the ever-changing gym. Not even because I've completely run out of cash and am now homeless because of the game (though that bit's a big blown out of proportion.)
The "ten" in iPhone X isn't a reference to the last decade of Apple smartphones. It's a reboot: the start of ten years more. For Apple fans, that's unsurprisingly prompted no small amount of excitement. For those less swayed by the Cupertino vision, things like the $999 price tag that comes along with the iPhone X have triggered skepticism. Turns out, they're probably both right.
I don't think I've ever been in the midst of a conversation and thought "what this discussion needs is my opinion stated by a perfectly-animated poop emoji," though I concede I'm a sample of one. There's also been doubt among some I've spoken to post-Apple iPhone X event that you couldn't do Animojis with a regular front-facing camera and facial tracking. After all, Snapchat has cemented its relevance, in part, by doing just that across pretty much any smartphone.
This morning we were all greeted with some happy news: Nintendo is bringing back the NES Classic! After an initial production run that was abysmal in every sense of the word, Nintendo has decided to give eager gamers another chance to own an NES Classic Edition. This is good news for anyone who missed out on it the first time around, but it begs the question: why doesn't Nintendo just make the NES Classic Edition a regular product in its hardware lineup?
Jaguar just made the most beautiful electric car in the world, and it only had to cheat a little to do so. The Jaguar E-Type Zero may look like it's right out of the sixties, but that's for good reason: it's an EV wearing the body of a classic. I've been spending some time up-close with it in London, England, at Jaguar Land Rover's inaugural Tech Fest event, and it's not hard to fall in love.
As the dust of IFA 2017 settles down and exhibitors and companies pack up and head for home, we take stock of everything that greeted us in Berlin the past few days. If you haven’t yet, go ahead and take our top picks in SlashGear’s Best of IFA 2017. But in the midst of all the phones, gears, and whatchamacallits scattered throughout the convention, there seem to be something that kept on popping up nearly everywhere. Almost like a ghost, it couldn’t be seen nor touched, but it was definitely heard, loud and clear. Amazon Alexa has come of age and Apple, Google, and Microsoft better take note.
If you want connected home security, Apple’s HomeKit framework is pretty sparse. It’s one of the weak-points of the platform. The only officially listed ‘security’ device for HomeKit is Honeywell’s Lyric Controller, but it’s not available yet. There are plenty of other options available for DIY home security, but they don’t work with HomeKit. It’s a conundrum, but there’s (sort of) a fix. Instead of a proper security system, you can patch one together using cameras and sensors. It works, too – maybe even better than bespoke systems.
Google's ARCore literally loads to an Android device with the name "Tango Core". In other words, Tango is dead. Tango Core is available separately, and requires a Tango-compatible device to work. This is only one part of a grand scheme that is Google's future in augmented reality. Whether Google planned this before Apple's ARKit was revealed is irrelevant - because begun, this AR war has.
