Apple Eyes Drones as 6.5-Inch iPhone Comes Into Focus

iPhonesIn the News Recently: All Things Apple!

We aren’t talking about the fruit either. The tech giant has something or things up their sleeve which makes us question what they are really up to. One thing that made rumor mills churning on overtime this time around was news that Apple may make it’s own drones in the future. Yes they have moved from iPhones to drones. But while we are talking about iPhones, we also have to state that Apple is also planning on making a massive 6.5 inch iPhone tagged the iPhone X Plus.

Besides this massive screen iPhone, Apple is also planning on coming out with two other iPhones this year. If the drone thing and the 6.5 Inch screen iPhone isn’t enough to peak your interest then we have also learnt that Apple may be making it’s own credit cards with Goldman Sachs. Now let’s delve more into what Apple has planned for us in the coming months.

The iPhone with the 6.5 inch screen:

The new iPhone may be called iPhone X Plus. This huge 6.5 inch screen will have all the features of the iPhone X with added screen space. The screen will cover most of the overall phone’s face.

Apple in a Drone Program by the US Government:

Apart from many big names and transportation companies, Apple will also be participating in the US drone program. This Drone program will open up the doors to companies to test drone flights over people which is currently not allowed. This program will allow companies to test fly drones over a higher altitude than what is currently allowed. Amazon, Boeing and Intel are some of the other big wigs that will be participating in the program. While all these companies have drone programs in place, Apple hasn’t made formal any of their drone programs.

New iPhone X if yours isn’t working properly?

iPhone Xs with a face detection problem, previously used to have Apple change the screens of these devices but now the tech giant has reportedly changed it’s policy so that any devices having the problem will be swapped out with a new iPhone X.

New credit card by Apple?

Apple is planning on bringing out a new credit card called Apple Pay. The company is doing this in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The apparent motive behind this is to increase presence in consumer banking for Goldman Sachs.

Apple to reduce it’s environmental impact:

Apple is partnering up with aluminum manufacturers Alcoa and Rio Tinto to smelt aluminum in a way that would reduce green- house gas emissions and therefore help the environment. This new method would not only reduce Apple’s impact on the environment but also usher in a new way of producing the metal to be used in products of all kinds.

Apple to start new video service subscriptions:

Apple will be starting a new video service subscription through its Apple TV. This service will apparently allow subscribers to select a network or on the demand- channels through Apple TV.

Patent Office Grants Apple 6 iPhone X Design Patents that Protect the Controversial Display Notch

Apple gets six iPhone X Designs Patented and it all has to do with the Notch

Recently Honk Kong’s Patent Office granted Apple with patents for six iPhone X designs. Seemingly, Apple has gone and gotten its famed “notch”, seen on the iPhone X, patented. The patent consists of six images that protect the entire iPhone X design. This patent covers the backside dual lens camera and the front TrueDepth camera space or what we know as the “notch”.

The rest of the patent covers each and every aspect of the iPhone X design to ensure that every aspect of the iPhone X design is protected. Apart from other patent applications, patents dealing with designs do not cover a whole range of details concerning the patent. You apparently just get the bare figures as they stand and not much more.

Apple discontinuing its famous notch on the iPhone X? 

In the U.S. Apple has got a single patent for its iPhone X design, granted to the company in Jan of this year.

Those companies out there waiting to jump in on the Apple notch trend in their iPhone X design may want to take care. A poll shows that Apple users were split between liking the notch trend and not. While most users found the notch a tad unnecessary, others felt that the notch on the iPhone X design was a clear design flaw.

Apple competitors may want to give the notch a skip when it comes to their next phones. As some of them love to copy what Apple has to offer, it may not come as surprise if you see new phones with the notch scheme on the front. Reports shows the notch trend is on the downward spiral, meaning that competitors may want to steer clear of the unholy notch or “design flaw” on the front of their phones.
Apple too seems tired of their notch trend and is planning to drop the same in their iPhone design in 2019. Apple plans on releasing an OLED iPhone which will not have the notch on its design in 2019. This may be a strategy in which Apple is trying to differentiate itself from a Chinese manufacturer who took the notch trend a little too seriously and went in for its next phone’s manufacture with the notch.

Apple has also had discussions with its various companies about the new iPhone design, that involves not having a notch on its front screen. The Cupertino company feels that having a full screen, unobstructed by any notch or other “design flaw” will give the iPhone a more complete design.

Samsung too has skipped the notch trend on the iPhone X design when it came to their Galaxy S9 offering. They took the Apple route when it came to 3D face recognition and Emoji AR but skipped out on the infamous notch design. This maybe because the company would face a backlash from having copied a not- so – necessary- feature in their design.

Apple may plan to drop their notch completely from their iPhone X designs but for now, if these patents are anything to go by, the notch maybe here to stay.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Vs Apple iPhone X

It’s the battle of the phones coming in from one side is the S.Korean Company Samsung, from the other side is the Cupertino company Apple. For both companies the S9 and iPhone X are their flagship phones and also the most expensive than whatever they’ve previously offered. While Apple moved from 8 to X directly, Samsung did not skip the 9 bump up from S8.

While marketing any product for any company is a huge deal as it defines their place in the market, it is no different for Samsung or Apple in this regard. Both are keen on showing off their flagship phones and maintaining or maybe even increasing their market share.

Photos on both phones: 

What is similar between these two phones is that they both have 2 cameras, both these flagship phones have a telephoto camera while the Samsung S9 has a wide angle camera as well. Another common feature on both phones is that both these cameras are at a resolution of 12 megapixels.

Now here comes the difference: with the Samsung S9, the phone actually takes 12 pics simultaneously and then selects one with the level of detail you require, less noise and as little grain as possible. The iPhone X on the other hand takes 3 pics and does the same instead of 12 pics.

Display and Design: 

While the S9 has a screen size of 5.8 inches and the S Plus has a screen size of 6.2 inches, the iPhone X has a 5.8 inch screen much like the S9.

iPhone X has got a notch on the top part of the display but Samsung took a different route by making an uninterrupted rectangular screen. For a person who buys a phone based on screen size they will have to decide carefully between a screen with a notch but smaller bezels or a screen without a notch and larger bezels.

Processor on both phones: 

The Samsung S9 will come out in two models one with a Snapdragon 845 chip that will be available in the US and the other model will have Samsung’s own Exynos processor that will be available in Europe.

The snapdragon 845 looks good on paper with a 2.8 GHz of processing power and 8 processing cores.

The iPhone X uses an A11 Bionic chip that has a 2.4 GHz processing power and 6 core processing units. While this may look not-as-good-as the Samsung S9, Apple has a way of making the processors work well with their software and their iOS. Apple might not be behind Samsung when it comes to the processing department with the iPhone X.

Storage: 

While Samsung Provides an option of additional storage with the S9 having a built-in storage of 64 GB and an additional capacity of up to 400GB.

Apple’s iPhone X has no option of additional capacity and the maximum they offer you is 256 GB.
The S9 uses both finger scanning and iris reading as methods of security while iPhone X has gone the facial recognition route.

Qualcomm's iPhone X Still Outpaces Intel's

Qualcomm’s Modem beats Intel’s Modem in IPhone X

Cellular Insights recently tested modem strengths in both modems, that is of Intel and Qualcomm in the IPhone X models. The tests proved that Qualcomm was able to give consistently higher speeds that Intel’s modem in the IPhone X.

Since IPhone’s 4s to 6s, Apple has always made use of Qualcomm’s models. But as of the IPhone 7, Apple has begun to split its modems between Intel and Qualcomm. This has resulted in IPhone 7 models with very different signal speeds.
 

Two models of IPhone X tested:

 

Cellular Insights used two IPhone X’s two test LTE signal speeds. The A1865 model, which is a Qualcomm modem phone and the A1901 which is an Intel powered modem phone was picked for testing. The A1865 model is sold by Sprint, Verizon in the U.S. and it is also sold in India, China and Australia. The A1901 Intel modem Phone is sold by U.S. carriers AT&T and T-Mobile.

There is a third model of IPhone X too, but it is only sold in Japan and was not a subject of this testing.

The testing was conducted on a common band which is used by all major carriers in the US.
 

How was the testing between Qualcomm and Intel modems tested?

 
Cellular Insights tested signal strengths and the speed of downloads, in a range of- very good signal strength to very bad signal strength. That is from -85dBm to whenever the IPhones would quit getting a signal.

On a 20MHz band, both IPhone models started out with a speed of 195Mbs but after that the difference became more apparent. The Intel modem download speeds dropped to 169Mbs at a signal strength of -87dbm while its competitor took another fall of -6dBm in signal strength to reach download speeds of 169 Mbs.

Where every drop in signal strength can be felt by customers, Cellular insights took to testing the Intel and Qualcomm modems to the last when both phones got no signal. At signal strengths of -120dBm which is a very poor signal strength, the Qualcomm modem still outperformed the Intel modem by a whopping 67%.

The point when both modems finally lost signal was -129dBm for the Intel modem and -130dBm for the Qualcomm model, which is not a whole lot of difference.

Cellular Insights used the very best in testing both modems including CMWFlexx solutions and they also used the same technique as they had previously used for testing signal strengths in phones.

Since the last testing, Cellular Insights has found out that Qualcomm has always outperformed Intel modems but today the difference between both modems is becoming narrower. This maybe a deliberate action rather than a drop in performance by Qualcomm modems.
 

Is it the end of the road for Qualcomm?

 
Apple and Qualcomm have found themselves in a web of lawsuits that has mostly to do with Apple refusing to pay Qualcomm license fees. So the IPhone X may be Qualcomm’s last stint at Apple.

Apple has previously stuck to Qualcomm modems because of its good performance and also because only the Qualcomm modems could run on Verizon and Sprint CDMA networks. Now Intel is going to change all that with its XMM7560 modem which will hit markets next year.

MacOs: High Sierra 10.13.2 Beta Release

After a month, after releasing MacOs, High Sierra 10.13.1 and five updates, Apple brings to you the sixth version of MacOs High Sierra 10.13.2. Besides the usual bug fixes and security plugs that all versions of Os across all companies seem to do, MacOs High Sierra also seems to solve a security issue relating to the Macs.

Where can the Beta Version of MacOs High Sierra 10.13.2 be downloaded from? 

Any user with a valid profile can download the macOs High Sierra 10.13.2 beta version from the Apple developer center or the Software Update Mechanism from the Mac store.

MacOs High Sierra 10.13.2 fixes macOs vulnerability: 

Previously, Macs could be unlocked by simply putting “root” in the place of username with no password. This glitch seemed to unlock the macs making the Apple Pcs very vulnerable.

Apple said they would resolve the issue with MacOs High Sierra 10.13.1 but has been unable to do the same since the version’s release. Even with the release of the Beta version of MacOs High Sierra 10.13.2, there has still been no change.

With the release of MacOs High Sierra 10.13.2, sixth beta version, many users have confirmed that the bug seems to be fixed.

Apple Pay Cash release with MacOs High Sierra 10.13.2: 

With the final user version of MacOs High Sierra 10.13.2, Apple plans on bringing peer to peer mode of payment to its users through “Apple Pay Cash”. This feature seems to come with a renewable subscription.

Other Rumors surrounding Apple MacOs High Sierra 10.13.2: 

Besides some performance improvements and bug fixes, one of the most notable absences is the “AirPlay 2”. Apple plans on bringing AirPlay 2 to IPhones and IPads but at present only interface changes have come up so far with the beta launch of Apple MacOsHigh Sierra 10.13.2

With IOS 11.3 beta, a new display prompt was released which basically informs users when their Bluetooth or Wi Fi was deactivated in the control center. However with such a change, the Bluetooth and Wi Fi still remain active when it comes to AirDrop, Continuity and Watch connectivity. This does not seem to be the case when it comes to non- Apple devices and third party apps.

IOS 11.2 also introduced 7.5 watt wireless charging for Apple’s latest releases, the IPhone 8, IPhone 8 Plus and IPhone X.

Users are still awaiting the Watch Os 4.2 beta and Apple’s TvOs seems to be on its fifth beta run.

iPhone X Review By Macmyth.com

The news and doubts raised by the new iPhone X, the leap forward of Apple for cell phones

Even if you change your hairstyle or wear glasses, the creators of the new iPhone X ensure that with your facial recognition system you can start your mobile.

The flagship product of Apple, presented on Tuesday in California, comes with an end-to-end screen and no start button. iPhone X is built with steel and glass and will be available in two colors: black and silver.

Face ID in iPhone X is a new form of access to the mobile phone based on the facial recognition of the users and which represents an evolution with respect to the tactile Touch ID method.

In the iPhone X - as the number of years since the first model of this cell phone came out - the frame is barely visible, except for a small part that houses the headset and the front camera.

The most expensive

The screen of the iPhone X - which is expected to cost US $ 999 in its most basic 64 GB model - will also have OLED technology on its screen (organic light emitting diode).

In contrast, Note 8, Samsung's new phone, is on the market at US $ 930 with a similar capacity of 64 GB.

The iPhone 8 has a size of 5.8 "inches (14.7 centimeters) and is provided with a higher resolution.

With a finger upward movement on the screen goes to the mobile home considered as the most advanced and expensive Apple smartphone- that will go on sale in the US. on November 3.

Why so expensive? 

"The new design of iPhone X is likely to be the standard for the new generation of iPhone models, but Apple will have to face the challenge of getting enough pieces," said Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight Consultancy.

Another expert described as "legendary" the ability of the company to make users spend more on their cell phones than those of rival companies.

"There may be an element of price increases to control demand and generate a balance in relation to the number of mobile phones they can produce," said Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics.

"I suspect that Apple always wanted to sell an iPhone for US $ 1,000. We have seen how prices have risen year after year and there is a lot of pressure from shareholders, "he added.

Fears of the users

Apple acknowledges that users may have concerns about using facial recognition as a method of verification of purchases via Apple Pay or to access the device.

To address that resistance the company said that facial recognition present in iPhone X was safer than fingerprinting. So much so that, theoretically, the possibility of another person stealing the user's identity is one in a million.

It will be necessary to see if indeed this function delivers the expected results.

On the other hand, some analysts have criticized that the iPhone X has not maintained the fingerprint as a second alternative.

"This is the biggest obstacle they have for now in iPhone X," said Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies.

"Many consumers will be a bit reluctant to use facial recognition in iPhone X until it is proven to be safe," he added.

Although the iPhone X stole the attention, the company also presented on Tuesday Apple Watch Series 3, Apple TV 4K, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

iPhone X vs iPhone 8 vs iPhone 7: Should We Upgrade?

Upgraded iPhones – iPhone X/iPhone 8/iPhone 8 Plus

 
The three updated iPhones this year are the slick all-screen iPhone X, the latest iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, made available with wireless charging.

 

How does the latest iPhone tend to differ?

 
The iPhone X has a different appearance in comparison to the other iPhones. It’s more like the Essential Phone and the Samsung Galaxy S8 though with an increase in screen-to-body ratio. On slimming down the bezels and eliminating the home button, Apple seems to have packed a 5.8-inch OLED display in a reduced body than the iPhone 7 Plus together with the iPhone 8 Plus. Towards the top of the display is included an IR camera, for the front facing camera together with an array of sensors - `Dot Projector’ and 1Flood Illumination’.

Moreover, Apple has also switched the aluminium frame utilised from the time of iPhone 6 with a glass back though has maintained the comfortable curved edges that are now of `medical grade’ stainless steel on the iPhone X. Regardless of the claim of Apple that the glass tends to be most durable in a smartphone, glass tends to be a fragile material which would mean that the user would not only have to cope with the likelihood of cracking the display when the phone tends to fall but the rear as well.

At first glance, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus tends to look similar to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus which seems to appear like the iPhone 6, with chunky bezels together with home button/fingerprint reader. Apple has also included a glass back to the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus which tends to make it more delicate than its precursors.
 

What is the size of the iPhone X in comparison to other phones?

 
Some users have the penchant to the tiny, easy to use one hand dimensions. The amazing news is the `no bezel’ design which shows that the iPhone X is somewhat the same to the iPhone 8 than the Plus irrespective of its big screen. With regards to statistics, the iPhone X is said to be about 5.2mm taller than an iPhone 8 though the iPhone 8 Plus tends to be a substantial 14.8mm taller than the iPhone X. Moreover the iPhone X also tends ot be the same size as the Samsung Galaxy S8.
 

How does the iPhone X tends to work without a home button?

 
In order to get to the Control Centre, user could swipe down from the top of the screen towards the left, swiping down from the right side opens the notifications. These are small changes and not too complex. TouchID that are in-built in the home button have been replaced by FaceID on iPhone X tough TouchID tends to remain on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.
 

What is Face ID?

 
Since the home button has been eliminated from the iPhone X together with the fingerprint sensor by Apple, it has come up with a standby in the form of Face ID which is a facial-recognition security process enabling the user to unlock their phone with their face. Face ID, unlike Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, utilises the new depth sensing camera of iPhone X for verifying the features which means that it is unable to be fooled with an image, the way the system of Samsung tends to do. It functions by utilising a `Flood Illuminator’, which provides adequate light for infrared camera as well as `Dot Projector’ for firing `30,000 invisible IR dots’ at one’s face. Thereafter the IR image together with the dot pattern is moved through neural networks for the creation of mathematical model of the face and is then matched to a stored 3D model. The information related to facial is protected by same `secure enclave’ utilised by TouchID while at the same time the data processing is carried on-device rather than of the cloud. Apple has stated that its tech is good enough for FaceID to function in the dark and also if one intends to improve on their looks like grow a beard, wear glasses etc. It’s left to be seen if FaceID would be living up to the promises made by Apple.
 

Should we care if iPhone X has OLED screen?

 
The iPhone X is said to be the first phone of Apple to have OLED display though Samsung had been utilising the same in its devices for several years. Apple’s IPS LED displays utilised tend to be good though OLED technology enables richer colours together with deeper blacks which is owing to the ability of turning each single pixel on or off whenever required. Considering stability, OLED seems to be a good upgrade due to its fantastic contrast of OLED screens which seems excellent for videos as well as photos and this is the reason people prefer an OLED TV. Hence it is good news that Apple has made the switch even though it has come up with this idea a bit late.
 

Are the latest iPhones faster?

 
The iPhone X and iPhone 8 features a new six-core A11 system-on-a-chip –SoC, comprising of four low-power core together with two performances cores which tend to build on 10nm FinFET manufacturing system rather than the 16nm process of A10 Fusion in the iPhone 7. Apple, on decreasing the process, has filled more transistors in a smaller space enhancing the performance as well as the battery life. Apple has claimed that the iPhone X has the potential of lasting for two hours longer on a charge than the iPhone 7 as well as it is 25% faster on performance cores and 75% faster on the energy efficient cores. In the meanwhile Apple has created its own Graphics Processing Unit – GPU for the A11 SoC breaking off with Imagination Technologies. Both the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus tends to have the same A11 SoC like the iPhone X. But the A11 seems to be a tough sell if one is a user of iPhone 7 and are also new to the features.

iPhone X Puts Exclamation Point on Apple's Pricing Strategy

Last Wednesday, Tim Cook, again disguised as Steve Jobs and with the Beatles as a soundtrack, featured the 3 new iPhones of the Cupertino company. Among them, the expected iPhone X that Cook himself defined as the "smartphone of the next decade." A terminal that in hardware does not present anything new (infinite screen, facial recognition or dual camera are present in most terminals of the high range) and although the software was always the strong, the question that the market is asking is whether it will be sufficiently deferential to justify the huge price difference with its competitors and even with other terminals of the company: the iPhone X costs 250 euros more than iPhone8 and 140 more than the iPhone8 plus, also presented on Wednesday. The answer seems quite simple: it does not matter. Apple has created a product that will not be bought for its hardware or software

As much as Cook disguises himself, his Apple has nothing to do with Jobs. The one that once was a company of disruptive innovation is today a company of marketing and commercial strategy. The most daring, disruptive and innovative of iPhone X is its price; not only because it is the most expensive terminal ever launched by the company (by far), but by an international pricing policy with differences that can exceed 33%. True, this policy is not new to Apple that seems to have prices for ready and for fools in which Spain is in the second group. Buying an iPhone X in Barcelona, Madrid or Bilbao will cost 30% more than doing it in Chicago, New York or Tokyo.

This data could indicate that the iPhone X positions itself as a smartphone in certain markets (USA or Japan for example) that must compete in price with its rivals but that in other markets, what it wants to be is a product of luxury out of price elasticity laws. Apple seems determined to show that in countries like China, India, Spain or Italy the price increase does not suppose a decrease in demand; the iPhone as a paradigm of the inelastic good that economists say. In other words, Apple is convinced that a very significant part of its customers will continue to buy their products regardless of the price of these.

How to explain that the price of iPhone X in India is 30% higher than in Japan or the US when purchasing power is vastly lower? Simple. In Japan or the USA, the iPhone X is a phone for those who value their performance. In India the iPhone X is a luxury item for an audience more concerned about the alleged exclusivity of the product than for its hardware or software and for them, the price is irrelevant as long as it is high enough that only a few can afford it.

As much as Cook insists, the iPhone X will not be the phone for the next decade for most. Of course, unfortunately, a huge minority will buy it only for that, because most can not have it. Zygmunt Bauman said that, in the neoliberal economy, to consume was to invest in one's own belonging to society. For some that 1.159 euros that costs iPhone X will be an entry price to a certain group. Pure consumerist fetishism :)

How Face ID Works On iPhone X

After months of waiting, rumors and scandalous leaks in macmyth.com, the iPhone X is now here. With it comes Face ID, the new method of user authentication that replaces Touch ID. The fingerprint gives way to us as an element to unlock the terminal, confirm purchases in the App Store or verify payments with Apple Pay. How exactly does this system work? Macmyth.com is here to explain everything about Face ID in iPhone X.

Firstly, Face ID is a system that uses a front camera and an infrared camera, as well as a support light and an infrared projector. This means that the iPhone X not only sees a front camera, in two dimensions but also does a three-dimensional recognition that detects the depth of the faces, as well as the extensions between factions: distance between eyes, shape, and size of the face. nose, etc.

Face ID emits 30,000 invisible infrared dots that help rebuild the mathematical model of the face that has been built. If an unspecified quantity matches, proceed to verify the user. This is interesting because it is a high enough amount to be able to detail and leave out mismatched elements that are very easy to change in a face.

For example, if one day we put on glasses or we change the ones we already have, if we go to wearing sunglasses if we make up if we leave a beard or shave, if we wear a hat ... All these variations, according to Apple, are controlled and will not be a problem when checking with Face ID.

A processor designed for Face ID

This verification takes place in real time thanks to the new processor, Aion Bionic. It brings a neural motor that uses neural networks and machine learning to adapt to the facial variations. We discussed before and learn what changes in the face of the user to anticipate as well and to be able to carry out the verification. Face ID can reach 600,000 million operations per second while processing the images it obtains by "looking" at the face. It's specific hardware to help facial recognition system, the new cornerstone of iPhone X.

According to the tests that Apple has spoken, Face ID cannot be deceived by photos, 3D facial molds or other forms of impersonation. Although he has not specified how he will achieve the latter (depth-first), he may employ life-sensing mechanisms common in advanced facial recognition systems.

In any case, it will also require attention. That is to say, in order to unlock it, you will need to be looking at the terminal, it will not be enough to be looking at something nearby or distracted, a measure designed to prevent accidental unlocking.

Apple has also explained, according to its evidence, the probability of obtaining a false positive. That is the probability that someone other than us will be able to access the terminal. For Face ID, it is a possibility between a million. Something far superior to what the Touch ID offers (one in 50,000) and of course the four-digit PIN lock (one in 10,000, that is, each combination between 0000 and 9999).