iPhone 8, iPhone 7s Plus Schematics Leaks Tip Design Details, Mass Production Reportedly Begins

 

 

Highlights

• iPhone 8 tipped to sport a vertical dual camera setup
• Tipster claims mass production of all three phones has begun
• iPhone 7s Plus to look a lot like predecessor

iPhone 8 rumours refuse to stop even though the launch is still months away. Its design details, especially, are leaked regularly, sometime giving us contradictory information, and sometimes corroborating a strong rumour. Today’s leak does the latter. The 'final schematics' leak of the iPhone 8 shows the device from all angles giving us a fair idea of what the anniversary smartphone will possibly look like. Furthermore, the lesser leaked iPhone 7s Plus has also been tipped in a similar schematics leak giving away design information.
The fresh leaks come from none other than tipster Benjamin Geskin, who has earned a reputation for leaking most of the iPhone 8 related information this year. Apart from the schematics, Geskin also notes that mass production for the iPhone models launching this year has started, and that there will be three models this year. He has leaked schematics of two iPhone models – and the third iPhone, presumably be called the iPhone 7s , has not been leaked. However, he notes that the schematics will be similar to its predecessor iPhone 7.
Starting with the iPhone 8 schematic and render, the back of the device matches previous leaks to show a vertical dual camera setup, an Apple logo, and no fingerprint scanner. The front sports a bezel-less display and there is no Home Button in the front indicating that the fingerprint sensor will be embedded underneath the display. The bottom edge has a Lightning connector, dual speaker grille, an elongated power key sit on the right edge, and the volume and mute switch sit on the left edge. The dimensions mentioned are at 143.4x70.77x7.51mm, which are slightly different from the previously reported 143.59x70.94x7.57mm.

The iPhone 7s Plus retains most of the design elements from the predecessor, with a horizontal dual camera setup, and the dimensions are at 158.38x78.1mm. The front drawing is rather interesting, with no Home Button seen in the front, nor any bezel, but this is just a schematic drawing and the final product will presumably include both the elements.

Geskin, in a separate tweet, also notes that the Calculator app in iOS 11 will see a revamp in design, very much inspired by the one seen on OS 1 and 2 back in the day. Despite several past reports of a delay, Geskin seems confident that the iPhone 8 will launch in September itself

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Siri Far Behind Alexa and Google Assistant, Says Ex-Apple Employee: Report

 

 

Highlights

• Siri reportedly hasn’t mastered many skills that its competitors have
• Apple employees feel HomePod is no competition to Amazon Echo
• HomePod has been publicised more as a good quality audio speaker

While Siri is one of the oldest voice-based virtual assistants to exist, post WWDC reactions to the voice assistant has been less than enthusiastic, with a report further highlighting reactions by a former Apple employee as well as a developer WWDC attendee. While Amazon and Google have made waves in the home smart speaker space, the newly announced HomePod focuses more on audio quality than intelligence. A former employee blames it on Apple’s culture of prioritising on user privacy, and points out how the HomePod has a long way to go to match Amazon’s Echo and its capabilities.
A WSJ report cites a few Apple ex-employees and a developer who claimed that engineers at the company were dismayed at the launch of Amazon Echo, which showed Amazon had mastered a lot of things that Siri hadn’t yet. “Amazon had figured out how to isolate voices from background noise and have a digital assistant respond to requests from a distance—abilities Siri hadn’t yet mastered. People at Apple’s anxiety level went up a notch,” said a former member of Apple’s Siri team.
Siri’s delayed access to third party apps, and its limited accessibility is also a hindrance for Siri. Furthermore, Apple stresses too much on privacy, and is not so big on using user’s data too much. Amazon and Google, on the other hand, have been very open to third-party integration bringing many new features to its smart speakers in due course of time.
Another ex-employee told WSJ, “In the years since, former Siri team members say, progress has been slowed by a failure to set ambitious goals, shifting strategies and a culture that prioritizes user privacy—making it difficult to personalize and improve the product. The project also has suffered from the departures of key team members, some of whom went to competitors. About a year after Mr. Jobs’s death, Apple hired Bill Stasior, an Amazon search executive, to oversee Siri. Mr. Stasior studied artificial intelligence at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but his expertise was in search rather than speech or language. This led some members of the Siri team to believe he didn’t fully appreciate the product’s original vision: to expand beyond the iPhone to third-party apps.”
Speaking of the limited and delayed access of Siri, a developer Brian Roemmele, who attended WWDC said, “People went from being happy and excited to sitting in workshops and realising, I can’t use it. Some went back to that attitude: Siri’s always going to be dumb.”
This all point to an urgent need for Apple to set ambitious goals for Siri, in order to match market competitors. Knowing Apple, it would not enter a space it wasn’t confident about, and we expect it make significant improvements to Siri. One thing Siri is better than the others is that it supports as many as 21 languages, while Alexa speaks only English and German, and Google Home works in seven languages.

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India Price of New iPad and Mac Models Apple Announced at WWDC 2017

  

HIGHLIGHTS

• 10.5-inch iPad Pro price in India starts at Rs. 52,900
• New iMac models start at Rs. 90,900; Retina models at Rs. 1,07,900
• MacBook Air price in India is unchanged

Gadgets 360 has learnt the India pricing of the new products unveiled at WWDC on Monday. Apple is in the process of updating its India website and some of the prices are already on the respective product pages as well. Let’s take a detailed look at the India price of the new iPad Pro models, and the MacBook Air, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and iMac updates that were announced in San Jose.

iPad Pro price in India

The new 10.5-inch iPad Pro starts at Rs. 52,900 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model, Rs. 60,900 for 256GB, and Rs. 76,900 for the 512GB model. The premium for Wi+Fi cellular variants is Rs. 11,000 for each storage capacity, so the models cost Rs. 63,900 (64GB), Rs. 71,900 (256GB), and Rs. 87,900 (512GB).

Pricing for the two entry-level Wi-Fi 12.9-inch iPad Pro models remains unchanged, though you get double the storage. The top-end variants have seen some price bumps, though you are getting a lot more storage in return. The Wi-Fi-only iPad Pro 12.9-inch is priced at Rs. 65,900 (64GB), Rs. 73,900 (256GB), and Rs. 89,900 (512GB), while there’s a premium of Rs. 11,000 for the corresponding Wi+Cellular models.

MacBook Air price in India

Price for the MacBook Air - which receive a minor speed bump, from 1.6GHz Core i5 Broadwell chip (Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz) to 1.8GHz Core i5 Broadwell chip (Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz) - remains unchanged at Rs. 80,900 and Rs. 96,900 for the 128GB and 256GB SSD storage variants respectively.

MacBook Pro price in India

The 13-inch MacBook Pro without TouchBar now starts at Rs. 1,09,900 instead of Rs. 1,29,900, though you get only 128GB SSD storage compared to 256GB earlier. The 256GB variant will set you back by Rs. 1,26,900. The 13-inch MacBook Pro TouchBar models are cheaper by Rs. 1,000 each at Rs. 1,54,900 and Rs. 1,71,900 respectively for the 256GB and 512GB SSD storage variants.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar still starts at Rs. 2,05,900, while at Rs. 2,39,900, the top-end model is now cheaper by Rs. 2,000. All MacBook Pro models have been updated with Intel Kaby Lake chips.

MacBook price in India

The 12” MacBook - the one with a single USB Type-C port - has received minor price cuts as well and is now priced at Rs. 1,09,900 for the 256GB SSD variant (Rs. 1,12,900 earlier) and Rs. 1,34,900 for the 512GB SSD model (Rs. 1,39,900 earlier). The MacBook too has received Kaby Lake processors, 50 percent faster SSDs, and the same keyboard that shipped in the MacBook Pros last year.

iMac price in India

The iMac range now starts at Rs. 90,900 for the 21.5-inch non-Retina model, a price drop of Rs. 1,000, though you do get newer internals. The 21.5-inch Retina iMac with the newer display and updated innards now starts at Rs. 1,07,900, compared to Rs. 1,23,900 for the earlier starting price of the Retina iMac range.

The new entry-level Retina iMac comes with 1TB of 5400rpm hard disk, but by spending an extra Rs. 17,000 i.e. Rs. 1,24,900 you can get a 1TB Fusion Drive - Apple’s flash storage + HDD hybrid - and a faster processor, as well as a better graphics card.

The 27.5-inch Retina iMac starting price is unchanged at Rs. 1,48,900, while the two higher-end configurations are expensive by Rs. 1,000 each at Rs. 1,65,900, and Rs. 1,89,900 respectively. Of course all of these models have the newer display, better processors, Fusion Drive, and new graphics cards as well.

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iOS 11 Said to Bring Easy Wi-Fi Sharing, Better Gmail Notifications, and More

 

Photo Credit: 9To5Mac

HIGHLIGHTS

• The iOS 11 was introduced at WWDC earlier this week
• The support for Core NFC has been added with iOS 11
• iOS 11 will be made available widely this fall

While Apple introduced iOS 11 on Monday to the world, some things about the platform were not discussed on stage and have since been uncovered by the developers who have got their hands on the preview already. Now, the list of these new things seems to be growing further as developers have found out that the new iteration of iOS brings along an easy Wi-Fi sharing feature, native support for GIFs, and more. Separately, iOS 11 has been tipped to bring Gmail push notifications back to their former speed as well as expand the NFC features beyond Apple Pay. Notably, not all features in the developer preview may make it to the final public release.

Apple's iOS 11, which will be made available widely this fall, brings along a new feature that allows users to share their Wi-Fi with friends or with their other devices by just a single tap, reports 9To5Mac. As per the report, the feature makes a similar pop-up notification like AirPods do for the establishment of a connection. When you bring a new device in proximity to a device that is already connected to the Wi-Fi network, the connected device will see a notification that informs about the new device trying to connect to the network. Users can then share the Wi-Fi access by a single tap, the report points out.

Moving to the GIF support, although GIF images were already supported by certain platforms within the iOS, some Reddit users have found that now the support for animated images has been added to the native Photos app with iOS 11, as per a report by The Next Web. As Live Photos were already supported within the Photos app, it doesn't come as a surprise that animated GIF support has also been added but it surely is a much needed addition.

Notably, the Cupertino-based company has also added a built-in screen recording functionality that can also be pinned to the all-new customisable notification centre by users, as per the TNW report. As users had to resort to third-party applications to achieve this functionality, this definitely comes as a welcome addition too.

Coming to the Gmail push notifications, users who have got their hands on iOS 11 preview have witnessed a change in the behaviour of the notifications for the better, as per a report by 9To5Mac. Gmail users who have been using iOS would know that the Gmail notifications, from the account synced with device, have been coming with a delay for quite some time. However, if 9To5Mac report is to be believed, Apple has finally resolved this issue with the upcoming version of the platform.

Finally coming to the expanded NFC features, with iOS 11, Apple has added the support for Core NFC to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, reports Engadget. Core NFC has been defined as "a new framework for reading Near Field Communications (NFC) tags and data in NFC Data Exchange Format" in the released documents, as per the report. While NFC chip in iPhone is currently used only for

Apple Pay, the support for Core NFC indicates that the Cupertino-based company has more plans lined up for the technology going ahead.

This means that the company could even enable the functionality where you can tap to pair with Bluetooth speakers with your iPhone, a functionality that is already enjoyed by Android users, Engadget points out. However, this increased functionality can potentially pose privacy issues with the platform, as per the report.

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iOS 11 to Prevent Apps From Accessing Location Data at All Times, New Offload Unused Apps Feature Spotted

 

Apple made several announcements while introducing iOS 11 at WWDC 2017 earlier this week, but as you might expect, due to the large scope of changes made to the mobile platform, some didn't make the cut to the keynote. As the developer preview of iOS 11 is now available some user-friendly changes have now come to light. With iOS 11, users will now be able to choose "while using the app" location sharing option for all apps while the OS also get the option to remove less-used apps on temporary basis to solve their storage needs.

The new iteration of iOS, which will be made widely available this fall, appears to make the much-needed third local access option of "While using the app" a mandatory feature for all apps. Several apps, including controversially Uber, earlier provided two options only "Never" and "Always". Thiis new addition will stop these aforementioned apps from forcing users to choose between these two options for any app. This would also prevent the possibility of collecting background data in the process as well.

Moving to the storage-focused feature, if you know an iPhone or iPad user who has 16GB of storage on their device, by now you would be used to of hearing the complaints regarding storage space constraints. While Apple doesn't seem likely to introduce expandable storage to its devices soon, the company has introduced a new feature called Offload Unused Apps with iOS 11 to help users with their storage problems.

The newly introduced Offload Unused Apps feature, which can be turned on from the Settings menu, essentially removes apps from the device on a temporary basis but keeps the data intact so that it can revive the app again without losing the data later, as pointed out in a report by The Verge. Users can choose to activate the feature by heading to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.

While the deleted apps will still show up on the Home Screen as greyed-out icons, they can be re-installed with just a tap. The Offload Unused Apps feature works in background and automatically removes the apps but users also have the option to choose individual apps that need to be offloaded.

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