Your iPhone screen is hiding a secret QR code.

A new report from The Information this week highlighted that Apple has hidden two small QR codes in the iPhone screen’s glass.

If you haven’t noticed them before don’t worry, when we said they were small we meant really small. One of the QR codes is reportedly the size of a grain of sad and can only be seen on the phone using special equipment. The other is a bit larger, roughly the size of the tip of a crayon, and is printed on the reverse side of the glass along the device’s blank border,

Both of the QR codes are placed on the glass by Apple during the manufacturing process as a way to track the glass as it moves through the manufacturing process and to reduce defects.

Your iPhone’s display isn’t the only thing on the phone with a QR code. Apple adds QR codes to a number of the internal components within the phone as a way to keep track of their origin.

The glass display on the iPhone has reportedly been getting QR codes since 2020 as a way to keep track of how many displays are being made as well as how many defective units might be thrown away during the manufacturing process.

The QR codes have been present on phones since the iPhone 12, where the code is located directly above the front speaker, and they’re having a positive effect on the manufacturing process.

Before the implementation of the QR codes, The Information notes that Apple was discarding 3 out of every 10 displays that were made, resulting in a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars each year. While there’s still some loss, the program has helped drop that number to 1 in 10 displays, helping to cut down considerably on the loss.

Source

Time for me to admit something, folks. Even though I'm a lifelong gamer, starting out with the humble Nintendo Game Boy and working my way through every major console before building myself an expensive gaming PC, these days I spend most of my time gaming… on my phone.

Mobile gaming has something of a shameful reputation among so-called 'real gamers', but it really shouldn't; the best phones have come a long way, and are now capable of playing the sort of games my teenage self would've been blown away to experience on a handheld console.

Heck, we've even got a list of the best gaming phones right here on TechRadar. If that isn't proof that the little rectangles in our pockets have become bonafide gaming devices, I don't know what is. And if – like me – you play a lot of games on your phone, then I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

Okay, it's not really a secret, but Google doesn't really do much to promote its Google Opinion Rewards program. It's a simple app (available on both Android and iOS phones via the Play Store and App Store respectively) that gives you periodic surveys to fill in – and rewards you with either PayPal or Google Play Store credit.

You don't get a lot; most surveys in my experience range between 10p and 30p (roughly between 12 and 37 cents) and you don't tend to get more than one or two per day. It adds up faster than you'd expect, though. I've already used my Play Store credit to buy a handful of premium games for my trusty Google Pixel 5, including both Monument Valley games, Crying Suns, and the Android port of the still-fantastic Slay The Spire.

Past Lives is superb, FYI. (Image credit: Google)

Points mean prizes

The surveys offered by the Opinion Rewards app aren't odious in the slightest; most can be completed in less than 10 seconds, and most just ask you simple questions based on your phone's user history. For instance, you might be asked for feedback about a YouTube video you recently watched, or about your recent travel history.

There's also a recently added 'receipt tasks' section, where the app prompts you to upload a photo of the receipt from a recent transaction. To be clear, this does mean you're handing over some of your personal data to Google, but consider this: our phones already actively track our movements, log our financial data, and listen in to our conversations for a mention of 'Hey Siri' or 'Okay Google'.

I'm not recommending being flippant with your personal data security, but let's be real here. In today's digital world, there are far bigger threats to my online safety than me admitting to Google's algorithm that I spent too much money on snacks when I did my weekly run for groceries.

So, if you're a mobile gamer – or you're just looking for a way to earn a few easy bucks – then give Google Opinion Rewards a look. 

Source

Widespread complaints about overheating of the new iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can be traced to several factors, including a software bug in iOS 17, Apple told CNET on Saturday. 

The company said the new phones' titanium frame and aluminum substructure aren't contributing to the issue, and that they dissipate heat better than the stainless steel used in prior Pro models.

Days after the iPhone 15 series went on sale, people started to share stories about how their new phones overheated or felt excessively hot. Some users couldn't comfortably hold their phone. Others shared pictures of infrared thermometers showing the temperature of their iPhone hitting more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

While spending time with the phones for my iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max review, I didn't have trouble with either one overheating. The 15 Pro Max did become noticeably hot after I used my MacBook Pro's 140W power adapter to charge it. It also got quite warm after I played Resident Evil Village for 30 minutes.

"We have identified a few conditions which can cause iPhone to run warmer than expected," Apple said in a statement to CNET. "The device may feel warmer during the first few days after setting up or restoring the device because of increased background activity. We have also found a bug in iOS 17 that is impacting some users and will be addressed in a software update. Another issue involves some recent updates to third-party apps that are causing them to overload the system. We're working with these app developers on fixes that are in the process of rolling out."

Tech reviewer Faruk Korkmaz published a video earlier this week documenting his iPhone 15 Pro Max's temperature climbing to 98 degrees within minutes after he opened the Instagram app. The same thing occurred on his iPhone 14 Pro Max running iOS 17.

Apple explained that recent updates to some third-party apps on iOS 17, like Instagram, Asphalt 9 and Uber, overload the A17 Pro chip's CPU, causing the iPhone to get warmer than normal. The company is working with third-party developers to implement fixes. As a result, Instagram released an updated version of its app on Sept. 27.

Neither Instagram, Uber nor Asphalt 9 developer Gameloft immediately responded to requests for comment.

There's no word when the software update that addresses the iOS 17 bug will come out, but Apple did explain that the fix won't reduce the iPhone's performance.

In terms of charging, Apple said the 15 Pro and Pro Max support any USB-C adapter that's compliant with the USB-C standard, including USB Power Delivery. The company said the iPhone regulates itself to cap charging to a max 27W and that if you're using a 20W or higher charger, the phone can temporarily get warmer as a result.

Some people have noticed the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max getting uncomfortably hot while it charges.
James Martin/CNET

Apple's support page notes that the iPhone may feel warm when you first set it up, restore it from a backup, or wirelessly charge it. That's been my experience with a number of previous iPhone models and Android phones.

If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max and are experiencing overheating, there are a few things you can try until Apple releases the iOS 17 update.

Turn on Low Power Mode from the Control Center or in the Battery section of the Settings app. This will kill any background tasks, temporarily limit the display's refresh rate to 60Hz and reduce the brightness. Don't keep your phone in direct sunlight or in an extremely hot environment for prolonged periods. And if, like Korkmaz, you suspect an app might be the issue, disable background refresh for that app under the General section in the Settings app.

Source

If there’s one job I’d like AI to take from me, it’s my daily email deleting ritual. 

 

Every morning at 8:30AM, Google Calendar pings me with a reminder containing just one word: EMAILS. Thus, my formal workday begins as I speed-delete nearly every email that landed in my inbox overnight. They are largely useless and clog up the space between legitimate emails that I need to read and respond to. 

 

Imagine for a minute, though, if you could just tell an AI assistant to show you your most important emails and delete all the rest. I asked Google Assistant on a Pixel 7 Pro to do this, and it just wordlessly escorted me to my inbox so I could deal with it myself. Thanks a bunch.

 

Google, like almost every other tech company in the world, is all about AI right now. The company showcased a lot of new ideas for generative AI at I/O earlier this year — tools to help you compose a new message in Gmail, write a job description in Google Docs, and build a template for your dog walking business in Google Sheets. 

 

They’re hit or miss. Sometimes they’re useful: I asked it to expand a bullet point list of notes into some care instructions for my houseplants, and it added some helpful context about how often to water them. But often, the answers it gives you are obvious, like the weekly meal plan I asked Google Sheets to build for me. When prompted to come up with healthy meal and snack ideas, it had some good suggestions but left me to fend for myself in the snack column with “fruits, vegetables, nuts, or yogurt” in every cell. 

 

A Bard-style upgrade for Google Assistant could be awfully handy.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

 

Then there’s Bard — the AI chatbot that Google seemingly rushed out the door to compete with Bing earlier this year. It wasn’t very impressive in its early state, though it’s gotten more useful throughout the year. With a recent update, you can give Bard access to your Gmail and Google Docs and ask it questions about them. It’s actually pretty useful. I asked it to find any important emails in my personal Gmail, and it returned one about fresh hop week at a local taproom. You know me too well, Google.

 

We’re now in the thick of Techtember, and Google’s fall hardware event is fast approaching. We’ll see the Pixel 8 (that’s no surprise — Google already told us in like 20 different ways), and what I’m most interested to see is how it starts bringing together the company’s various ideas about AI and its usefulness in our daily lives. 

 

Right now, Apple is allergic to saying AI, and Microsoft has some computers to sell you but nothing shaped like a phone. If AI is truly going to take the pain out of our daily chores like every tech company wants us to believe, then the Pixel ought to be the device that shows us how that works. I’m not all that interested in having generative AI write emails for me regularly when I’m sitting at my computer, but I can think of a bunch of things I’d like an AI assistant to be able to do for me on my phone. 

 

Giving me a rundown of those important emails and interpreting them into reminders or to-do list items would be a good one, for a start. I’d listen to Google Bard Assistant do that while I make my morning coffee. Maybe if I asked it to find a good time to go for a run, it could cross-reference my calendar and the hourly precipitation forecast, make a suggestion, and remind me 10 minutes before it’s time to head out the door. For all its strengths, Google’s current Assistant is still mostly a tiny repeating machine. It can tell me when my next meeting is or the likelihood of rain today, but it can’t put these two concepts together and make a suggestion.

 

Realistically, these kinds of features are still a ways off. One of the major barriers to letting AI run wild on your phone is processing power. AI needs a lot of it, and Google — like other companies — offloads the heavy lifting to the cloud when you ask Bard to summarize a document or write up a meal plan. Consequently, it takes a while — much longer than most of us would tolerate from an on-device assistant.

 

Google’s custom Tensor chips are supposedly designed with the goal of doing more of this processing locally, but is its third-generation chipset up to the task? Given how common overheating complaints are about Pixel 7 phones, it seems unlikely that Tensor G3 will suddenly be ready to run a lot more complicated processes on-device. Still, even with Tensor’s current limitations, the Pixel 8 should offer us a glimpse of what AI can actually do for us.

 

Realistically, a full Bard-on-your-phone assistant is probably still cooking. Google has also taken a cautious approach to implementing generative AI, for better or worse, and the features announced at I/O are largely in beta. There was a report earlier this year that Google was shaking up the Assistant team and aiming to make the product more Bard-like, and my guess is that we’ll see plenty of flavors of this future in next week’s announcement.

 

Source

Mozilla even considered ending support for extensions altogether, which would have moved it closer to Chrome and Chromium-based browsers, which for the most part do not support extensions on mobile.

Mozilla limited extensions support significantly in Firefox for Android however. Stable versions of Firefox support only 22 different extensions up to this date. Still 22 more than most other browsers support, but not much compared to the thousands of extensions that desktop Firefox users may install.

Mozilla announced in August that it made the decision to enable full extensions support in Firefox for Android.  Tests started soon thereafter and they have now include Firefox Beta, which was updated to version 119 recently.

Firefox Beta 119 users may open Menu > Add-ons in the mobile browser to display the small list of supported extensions that all Firefox for Android versions support. Users who scroll to the bottom of the page find a new button, "find more add-ons", which, when activated, opens a dedicated extensions page for Firefox for Android on Mozilla's website.

Users find more than 250 extensions there that they may install in the mobile browser right away. The list of supported extensions is growing. While it will never match the more than 30000 desktop extensions, it unlocks support for extensions in general.

Developers will create dedicated extensions for Firefox for Android in the future or make their desktop extensions compatible with the mobile browser as well.

Firefox Stable 119 won't receive the unlocked extensions support, as tests will go on for some time. Sören Hentzschel found out that Mozilla plans to unlock extensions support in Firefox Stable for Android in December 2023. The change will likely roll out with the  final Firefox for Android release of 2023, which is Firefox 121. The release date for the browser is December 19, 2023.

Closing Words

What took you so long, Mozilla? This is likely on the minds of many veteran Firefox users. Unrestricted support for browser extensions in Firefox for Android is a major change and one of the few distinguishing factors between Firefox and Chromium-based browsers such as Google Chrome.

Additional extensions will become available in the coming months, so that Firefox for Android users will find a good list of extensions in the store in December.

Now You: which extensions would you like to see supported in Firefox for Android?

Source

In its blog post, Google stated:

While Workspace encrypts data at rest and in transit by using secure-by-design cryptographic libraries, client-side encryption ensures that you have sole control over encryption keys and access to your data. Client-side encryption ensures sensitive data in the email body and attachments are indecipherable to Google servers — you retain control over encryption keys and the identity service to access those keys.

The feature is available to the users of Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard. Client-side encryption is not supported on other Workspace editions such as Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard Plus, etc. Also, it is not available to users with personal Google accounts.

Google said that the feature allows "users to work with your most sensitive data from anywhere on their mobile devices while adhering to compliance and regulatory requirements." It does so by using the S/MIME protocol to encrypt and digitally sign emails before sending them to Google servers.

While composing their email on Gmail for Android or iOS, eligible users can turn on client-side encryption by tapping on the blue lock icon present in the subject field. However, the feature is disabled by default and admins will have to enable access through the CSE admin interface.

In recent news, the search giant turned 25 this week and allowed teens aged 13 (and above) to get their hands on its generative search experience. It also announced a new tool called Google-Extended that lets website admins control whether Google can access their content to train its Bard AI.

Google is also pulling the plug on the basic HTML version of Gmail that was meant to support legacy browsers or help users with slow connections. Starting early next year, the basic Gmail will be out of the picture and the Standard view will load by default.

Source

SUMMARY

• The smartphone market in North America is facing a sharp 12% decline in phone purchases from 2022 to 2023, with overall sales at the lowest in over a decade.

• Phone companies, including Samsung, Google, and Apple, are focusing on premium phone options ($1,000 and above) to compensate for the decline in overall sales.

• Google is the only brand to have experienced an increase in total units sold in Q2 2023, and it is hoping to capitalize on this positive momentum with upcoming releases and ad campaigns.

It’s a weird time to run a smartphone brand in North America. We’re in an extremely volatile period in which we don’t exactly know what will and won’t sell with certainty. That has led to fewer people buying phones from every company except for Google when comparing Q2 2022 shipments to those from Q2 2023. While that’s definitely a good sign for Google, the entire market has been heading towards investments in premium smartphones, as people just aren’t replacing their devices as often as they used to.

The latest report from Canalys looks into the number of phones being purchased in Q2 2023 as well as in both recent years and estimates of future years. It does not look into how much profit companies are making through these sales, but it does discuss how much each sale directly costs the consumers. In general, the smartphone market’s outlook is bleak in quantity. The change in the number of phones that have been and will be purchased by people in the North American market is estimated to be a sharp 12% decline from what it was in 2022, Canalys forecasts.

Source: Canalys

That’s a big decline, and the number of phones being purchased in Q2 2023 was the lowest in over a decade. Canalys expects that number to rise marginally over the next few years, however, getting back to over 150 million units being sold per year in 2027. Phone companies (Samsung, Google, Apple, etc.) are beginning to develop strategies involving premium phone ($1,000 and above) options now to capitalize on the dwindling number of overall sales and keep revenue levels where they need to be. While overall individual unit sales are down, premium phone sales are beginning to take up more and more of that space, as budget phone ($200 and below) sales are beginning to disappear.

Source: Canalys

Of course, the second quarter of any year, which consists of the months of April, May and June, is one of the slowest times of the year anyway for tech brands. Phones and other smart devices generally get released heading into late Q3 (July, August, and September) or early Q4 (October, November, and December) to capitalize on the holiday market. So while there were fewer sales expected during Q2 than in previous quarters, the overall trend lends itself to the slightly dim numbers.

Lastly, to touch on Google’s achievement of being the only smartphone brand with a rise in total units sold from Q2 2022 to Q2 2023, it’s a great sign for the company. It sold approximately 800,000 phones in Q2 2022, and it sold 1.2 million in Q2 2023. It still ranks fifth on the list, however, in overall market share percentage at 4%, as Apple (54%) Samsung (24%) Motorola (8%) and TCL (5%) all beat Google out. With the upcoming Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro coming out soon, new devices like the Google Pixel Watch 2 impressing in early teasers, and some fun ad campaigns, Google is hoping to capitalize on this positive momentum over the coming years.

The market is always changing, and the market's needs must be analyzed and met to beat other brands. Consumer patterns have indicated that premium smartphone options are the way forward. Only time will tell if that’s the right strategy to pump some life back into the North American smartphone industry’s heart.

Source

iPhone 15 Pro Max tops out at 25.49W, even with Apple’s 140W charger connected to it

Apple has, once again, limited the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s maximum charging speeds to 25.5W, according to the data gathered by ChargerLAB. This maximum supported wattage is identical to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which is perplexing to see, as the inclusion of a USB-C port typically means that manufacturers would have greater flexibility in increasing the maximum charge throughput. It is possible the company is limiting the iPhone 15 Pro Max to 25.5W because it wants the battery to degrade at a slower rate.

With the latest iPhone 15 models, the company has also added three new battery features; Optimized Battery Charging, 80% limit, and None, which should help reduce battery wear for an even longer time, though that all depends on which setting you choose. The tests revealed that a multitude of official Apple chargers were used, starting from the 20W power brick right down to the 140W one used to top up a MacBook Pro’s battery. Even though the iPhone 15 Pro Max was compatible with all of them, its charge limit peaked at 25.5W.

The tests also showed that the 6.7-inch handset is compatible with almost all third-party USB-PD chargers, with the Lenovo thinkplus 65W power brick recording the highest wattage delivered to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which is 26.2W. Three more chargers managed to take that charge level above the 26W threshold, but irrespective of which accessory is used, there is little wiggle room to go beyond this level. You can check out ChargerLAB’s in-depth tests in the video below and let us know if you think Apple should have increased the maximum wattage level.

News Source: ChargerLAB

Source

Voice assistants like Alexa and Siri were all the rage when they arrived on the scene about a decade ago. However, the rise of generative AI models has created a demand for smarter voice assistants. With this quick iPhone hack, you can make the upgrade from Siri to ChatGPT. 

Last week, Amazon and OpenAI announced two significant releases that upped the ante for voice assistants. First, Amazon supercharged Alexa with a new LLM, intended to make her function like a hands-free ChatGPT.  

Then, OpenAI released an update to ChatGPT that could make it "see, hear, and speak" by accepting voice and image inputs and responding with voice answers.  

Having voice chats with ChatGPT elevates the chatbot to the status of a voice assistant like Siri, and it can replace Siri on your iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone Pro Max by leveraging the new Action button. 

The new Action button, which replaces the side slider, allows users to use the button to perform a series of personalized actions depending on the users' needs, such as accessing the camera, flashlight, Voice Memos, and even ChatGPT.

If you would like to quickly access ChatGPT with a tap of a button on your new iPhone, we have quick instructions to do so efficiently below. 

How to access ChatGPT quickly on iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max

1. Download the ChatGPT app from the app store

The Action button can be customized to open apps, so to have it open ChatGPT, you first need to download the app for free from the App Store. 

Make sure to download the app by OpenAI that looks like the one in the photo above because there are plenty of ChatGPT copycats on the App Store. 

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

2. Set the ChatGPT app to the Action Button

Then, it's time to assign ChatGPT as an Action Button. To do so, all you have to do is click on  Settings > Action Button > Shortcut. When the visual of the side button comes up, swipe to the Shortcut option, click on "Choose a feature," and select the ChatGPT app. 

3. Upgrade to ChatGPT Plus if you want the voice feature

If you want this shortcut to replace Siri's voice assistant features, upgrading to ChatGPT Plus is a must since ChatGPT's listening and talking features are limited to ChatGPT Plus users at $20 per month. 

The upgrade comes with other cool features, like the ability for ChatGPT to browse the internet and provide citations, which are major game-changers for the chatbot. 

f you don't want to shell out the cost for the membership, you can still use the shortcut to rapidly access the chatbot's interface, making it easier to ask questions and get responses on the go. 

Lastly, you can always use the shortcut for the Bing Chat app instead. It is free, supported by GPT-4, connected to the internet, and supports voice prompts and answers.

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

4. Tap the side button whenever you want quick ChatGPT access

Now, you are all set up! Whenever you want to access ChatGPT, all you have to do is click the Action button. 

June Wan/ZDNET

Source

Based on the renders shared by SmartPrix, Samsung is opting for a flat frame on the Galaxy S24. However, the edges seemingly remain rounded. The rear panel of the smartphone looks the same as the current Galaxy S23, featuring three protruded rings for the camera sensors.

What's worth noting is the cutout on the phone's right side. The report claims it houses the Ultra Wideband (UWB) antenna. For those unaware, UWB support is already available on the Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra, but it is missing on the vanilla S23. If the SmartPrix report holds any water, it would be the first time Samsung includes support for UWB connectivity on the standard S series flagship.

As for other specifications, Samsung reportedly plans to use the Exynos 2400 processor in Asia, Africa, and Europe. While Canada, China, and the US are rumored to get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 variant of the Galaxy S24. The handset might feature up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The display on the device is also said to get some major improvements. Although there are no specific details available for standard Galaxy S24, a report revealed the Galaxy S24 Ultra is expected to come with a huge 6.8-inch screen with 3120x1440 resolution and a particularly extreme peak brightness of 2500nit.

In the camera department, you could see the Galaxy S24 series feature up to a 200MP primary unit, paired with a telephoto and an ultra-wide lens. Since these are all early rumors, it's best you take them with a pinch of salt.

Source

AirDrop Transfer over Wi-Fi and Cellular

One of the features that was highlighted during the iOS 17 announcement was an improved AirDrop Transfer system, which allowed file sharing to complete over the internet via Wi-Fi networks, when you move out of range of the device that you are sharing the content with. This feature however didn't make the cut in iOS 17, and Apple had said it would arrive later this year.

The new AirDrop system is available in iOS 17.1 beta. Interestingly, Apple's announcement had said that the feature would work over Wi-Fi, but it turns out that AirDrop transfers can be completed over a cellular connection too. iOS 17.1 has a toggle for Out of Range under the AirDrop settings, which, when enabled, will allow your iPhone to use mobile data to send and receive content when a Wi-Fi network is not available.

(image via MacRumors)

Apple removes new Ringtones and Text Tones from iOS 17

Users can now set custom tones for the Mail and Messages app again. As you may know, the stable version of iOS 17 has over 20 new ringtones and text tones that you can use. MacRumors reports that Apple has removed these sounds from iOS 17.1. It is unclear why the new sounds were removed, but hopefully they will be re-added in a future update.

Favorites and Smarter Playlists in Apple Music

The Apple Music app in iOS 17.1 lets you mark albums, artists, tracks and playlists as favorites, to add them to your library. This is essentially similar to the "heart" button that is available in the stable version of the Music app. The new favorites feature uses a star symbol for albums, and a dot symbol for most played tracks. The favorites system reportedly improves music recommendations.  Playlists in the Apple Music app will display songs that are similar to the current playing track.

Other notable changes

iOS 17.1 beta adds a new functionality to the Dynamic Island on iPhone 15 series and iPhone 14 Pro series models. The Dynamic Island now displays a notification when your flashlight is on, you can tap on it to turn off the light. Apple Books' Reading Now section is now called "Read Now". The Wallet app now supports UK Bank accounts, and lets users check their account balance, payments, purchases, deposits, etc. The build number of iOS 17.1 beta and iPadOS 17.1 beta is 21B5045h.

No Journal app yet

iPhone users are eagerly waiting for the Journal app which was announced at WWDC 2023, it was not part of the iOS 17 release, and there are still no signs of it in the latest beta version.

watchOS 10.1 beta ships with NameDrop and Double Tap

watchOS 10.1 beta has been released. NameDrop, which is the new contact information sharing feature which debuted in iOS 17, is now supported on Apple Watch. The double tap feature which the Cupertino company showed off during the launch of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2, is now available in watchOS 10.1 beta.

If you have an older Apple Watch, you can use a similar accessibility feature that you can enable under the Accessibility > Assistive Touch.

On a side note, Apple has also released macOS 14.1 beta to testers, it patches an issue with remote widgets rendering blank on mismatched iOS and macOS releases.

Source

Apple pledged to update the software to defuse a row over radiation levels from iPhone 12 handsets, after France suspended sales of the phones earlier this month following tests it said found breaches of radiation exposure limits.

French authorities have received a software update from Apple for its iPhone 12 and are reviewing it as a fix for a radiation issue, a source at the French digital ministry told Reuters on Tuesday.

Apple pledged to update the software to defuse a row over radiation levels from iPhone 12 handsets, after France suspended sales of the phones earlier this month following tests it said found breaches of radiation exposure limits.

France had threatened to seek a product recall if Apple had refused to do a software update.

Apple had earlier contested the French findings, saying the iPhone 12 was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global standards, but said on Sept.15 it would issue a software update to accommodate the testing methods used in France.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

The move by Paris to suspend sales of the iPhone 12 handsets had prompted concerns in other European countries, including Belgium, which has also asked for the software upgrade.

But the software update was limited to France, Belgian industry regulator told Reuters in an emailed statement.

The Belgian regulator also said it expected more steps at a European level after the French authorities inform their peers about the fix and the fact that is not available widely in the European Union.

French regulator Agence Nationale des Frequences did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Dutch digital watchdog also did not respond to a request for comment.

Italian authorities will wait for French deliberations over the Apple update before taking any decision, an Italian government source said.

Researchers have conducted multiple studies over the last two decades to assess the health risks of mobile phones. According to the World Health Organisation, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by them.

The radiation warning in France was based on results of tests that differ from those carried out in other countries.

Industry experts said there were no safety risks as regulatory limits, based on the risk of burns or heatstroke from the phone's radiation, were set well below levels where scientists have found evidence of harm.

Apple launched the iPhone 15 earlier this month and the iPhone 12 is not available to buy from Apple directly. It can, however, be bought from third parties that have inventory, or trade old phones.

Apple routinely provides software updates for its phones and computers, mostly to fix a security issue. They can be focused on a particular model or a region, and sometimes Apple issues several updates in a month.

The iPhone 12 update is set to be similar to any of these regular software fixes. Apple pings iPhones for eligible software updates and users install them.

Source

In case you missed it, I reviewed the TestFlight version of the app when the first beta was released.

Vivaldi for iOS

Initial set up

When you run it for the first time, Vivaldi will ask you to choose whether you would like the app to block trackers and ads. The browser blocks trackers by default, but it does not block ads. You need to set it to block both during the initial set up, or later from the Settings. Next, you will need to choose the Tab style, there are two options that you may choose from: a simplified tab switcher, and a Tab Bar. We'll take a look at these options in a minute.

Start Page

The Start Page aka the New Tab page in Vivaldi has a speed dial with sponsored shortcuts for various websites and services. You can remove these, and replace them with shortcuts for your favorite websites.

To customize the experience further, head to the Settings and tap on Start Page Layout. It has 4 styles that you may choose from: Large, Medium, Small and List. The default option is small, and displays small favicons. The Medium and Large options display a larger tile, while the List setting displays the favicon and URL for each site.

Main interface

Vivaldi has a toolbar at the bottom of the screen. It has 4 buttons: Panels, Back/Forward, Search and a Tab Switcher.

Panels

The Panels button allows quick access to the Bookmarks, Reading List, History, and Notes. The browser's bookmarks manager is easy to use, and helps you organize shortcuts to your favorite sites, web pages, etc. The Reading List is a very useful feature that allows you to save pages to read at a later time. It is also a good way to declutter your tabs, while saving the links. The History section can be useful to dig through pages that you have visited. The Notes tool is handy to jot down ideas, save links, text content from web articles and more.

Tap on the Tab Switcher to view all your tabs, and to jump between different tabs.

Desktop Tabs

Vivaldi for iOS has an optional Tab bar that you can enable from the Settings. It gives you a desktop-like experience, with a tab bar at the top of the screen, with horizontal scrolling to switch between tabs. Here is a comparison of the Desktop Tabs vs Tab Switcher UI, along with the tabs view in the latter.

The Tab bar looks nice, but it is not exactly easy to reach the top of the phone's screen occasionally, just to change tabs. The Tabs button on the bottom is easier to access with one hand. However, if you have an iPad and use it to browse in landscape mode, the Tab bar is definitely the way to go.

Address Bar

The address bar is located at the top, regardless of whether you are using it on an iPhone or an iPad. As I mentioned above, UI elements such as the tab switcher and address bar on the bottom are much more convenient to use. It's all about reachability. The Android version of the browser has it, so why doesn't the iOS app have the same. This isn't an issue that is specific to Vivaldi. Chrome, DuckDuckGo, and Microsoft Edge follow the same design, and it's just not good at all. This is one area where Safari, Firefox and Brave outshine the rest of the competition.

Search

The default search engine in Vivaldi for iOS, is Microsoft Bing. You can change it from the app's settings, it supports the following services: Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Startpage, Google and Wikipedia. There are no options to add custom search engines to the app.

Long-press menu

Vivaldi's long-press menu for text has iOS' standard options including Copy, Lookup, Translate, Search Web and Share, but there are some unique options such as "Copy to Note" and "Search with Vivaldi". The context-menu for links lets you open the URL in a new tab, or in Private browsing mode, or to copy the URL. You can also save a link directly to the reading list.

Pull To Refresh

Vivaldi supports the pull to refresh gesture, but you can trigger 2 more actions from this gesture. Tap on the X button that appears to close the tab, or hit the + button to open a new tab.

Ad Blocking and Tracker Blocking

Vivaldi's ad blocker is decent, but has occasional hiccups. It blocks ad banners on web pages, and video ads on sites like YouTube.  You can look at the shield icon near the address bar to tell if ads and trackers are being blocked.

Tap on the icon to disable or enable the blocking behavior. Occasionally, a website may detect the ad blocker and ask you to disable it. The good news is that you can customize Vivaldi's Ad and Tracker Blockers, by subscribing to filter lists from around the web. The app lists several popular options that you can choose, and you can also add a filter manually by pasting its URL in the importer tool.

For example, if you were to subscribe to the EasyList or one of AdGuard's Annoyance filters, you can bypass the anti ad blocking scripts that prevent you from accessing a website.

Note: Vivaldi allows some ads from some sources, you can disable these from the Settings > Ad and Tracker Blocker > Manage Ad Blocking Service > and disable the option that says "Allow ads from our partners".

The tracker blocker relies on DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar as the primary source, though you can add more filters.

Privacy and Security

Go to Vivaldi's Settings > Privacy and Security > to enable the "Always use HTTPS" option. It also has a setting to "Lock Private Tabs When You Close Vivaldi", which is sort of similar to what Apple Safari does in iOS 17. Vivaldi supports Handoff, which can be useful if you want to switch to another device and continue from where you left.

App Icons

Vivaldi ships with several colourful icons, which you can switch to from the Settings page. This is a much simpler way to change the icon on iOS, without having to use the Shortcuts app.

Vivaldi Sync

Vivaldi for iOS supports sync using the company's servers (located in Iceland). You may sign up for a free account to sync your bookmarks, speed dials, passwords, autofill data, notes and history between your devices, i.e. Vivaldi on Desktop, Android, and even in cars.

I think Vivaldi for iOS is pretty impressive, even though like all other third-party browsers, it is crippled by Apple WebKit's limitations for browsers and web apps. Things could change next year, as the European Union's Digital Markets Act comes into effect, when Apple will have to open the doors for side loading, third-party app stores, and custom browser engines.

That said, there are 2 issues with Vivaldi for iOS. Sometimes the app seemed to make my iPhone 13 very warm while browsing, and drained the battery very quickly. When this happened, I noticed that the ad-blocker did not work properly, some ads slip through the filters. Perhaps these issues are related to one another, i.e. the ads could be the reason why the device became warmer. Hopefully the developers can sort out these issues.

Download Vivaldi for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. It is compatible with devices running on iOS 15, iPadOS 15 or later.

Source

Apple's iPhone 15 series launched less than a week ago, but one feature that stuck out is a trend regarding the inclusion of its last couple of processors. The base iPhone 14 featured an A15 Bionic processor, while the Pro models were equipped with an A16. With the launch of the iPhone 15, the base model featured an A16, while the Pros were built with A17 Pro.

It's not hard to follow this trend and come to a conclusion about what the iPhone 16 will look like. We would have expected the base iPhone 16 to come with an A17, while the Pro models would have an A18 Pro. But a leak from Apple analyst Jeff Pu (via MacRumors) suggests that this isn't the case, indicating that the base iPhone 16 models will also feature an A18 processor.

iPhone 16 exclusively running on A18 processors?

While this is a bit of a surprise, it may come down to a simple change in marketing. Apple launched a new series of processors with the iPhone 15 Pro series, introducing the world to its first "Pro" Bionic chip, the A17 Pro. 

Beforehand, it would simply repurpose the previous iPhone Pro's chip and use it for the next base model iPhone. Instead of continuing this pattern, this rumor is believable in that it calls for a simple separation between a base processor for base iPhones versus a Pro processor for the Pro iPhones.

(Image credit: Apple)

It makes sense, is easier to understand, and creates a clear distinction between where each processor belongs. The iPhone 16 will feature an A18, and the iPhone 16 Pros will have an A18 Pro. Whereas now, the iPhone 15 models have an A16, while the iPhone 15 Pros come with an A17 Pro. This new method would be significantly easier to digest.

There's also potential for A18 to be faster than we expect. Considering that no base A17 exists currently, it could just be an attempt at making the naming conventions more understandable, but if A18 does surpass our expectations, it'll be an exciting addition for base iPhone users.

This seems plausible as the rumor suggests that both A18 processors will feature the 3nm architecture of the A17 Pro, meaning every model of iPhone will benefit from the significantly longer battery life. This could be huge for the next standard iPhone and is one of the many reasons why I'm waiting for the iPhone 16 instead.

Source

For the unaware, there have been widespread reports of heating problems on the iPhone 15 Pro models. Some users claimed their phones get too hot to even hold without a case. Various reports concluded, including this investigation from Android Authority, that the heating is likely caused due to the new A17 Pro chip.

The Apple A17 Pro chip is manufactured on TSMC’s (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) 3nm process node. This also led to speculation that the new 3nm tech is to blame for overheating problems. However, popular analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests otherwise.

Kuo writes in his blog on Medium:

My survey indicates that the iPhone 15 Pro series overheating issues are unrelated to TSMC’s advanced 3nm node. The primary cause is more likely the compromises made in the thermal system design to achieve a lighter weight, such as the reduced heat dissipation area and the use of a titanium frame, which negatively impacts thermal efficiency.

Kuo says Apple will address the overheating problems of the iPhone 15 Pro through software updates. However, he warns the Cupertino company may struggle to make too many improvements without also compromising chip performance:

It’s expected that Apple will address this through software updates, but improvements may be limited unless Apple lowers processor performance. If Apple does not properly address this issue, it could negatively impact shipments over the product life cycle of the iPhone 15 Pro series.

It is yet to be known how Apple will deal with the heating issue on its phones. Is your new iPhone 15 also too hot to handle?

Source

What's new in iOS 17.0.2

In case you missed it, Apple had released the iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1 updates last week, along with the macOS 13.6 update. The updates shipped with some patches to address 3 critical security issues in the operating systems. In our previous coverage, we had mentioned that iOS 17.0.2 had been released for the iPhone 15 series, and that it was not available for older phones at the time.

That changes today, as iOS 17.0.2 is now being seeded to the older models. According to the Apple Security Updates portal, iOS 17.0.2 does not contain any published CVE entries. What that means is that it does not ship with any new security fixes since the previous patch. The update does come with one important fix, it patches a bug that affects transferring data from one iPhone to another during the setup process.

Reports from iPhone 15 users had indicated that their devices were unable to restore the backup from their old iPhone, and hence they could not bring over the data. The update that the company had released for the iPhone 15 was said to fix this issue. The iOS 17.0.2 update patches the same problem on older devices. If you are facing a similar issue, i.e. if your iPhone is stuck on the Apple logo during the data transfer process, you should install the iOS 17.0.2 update, and then try to restore the backup on your new device.

The iOS 17.0.2 update is available for the iPhone XS and later. Since the iPhone 15 series received the update last week, there is no new patch for these devices. Speaking of which, the update for the iPhone 15 models had the build number 21A350, the build number of the new update is 21A351. Some users who had a bug with the Storage (under Settings) reporting incorrect numbers for the Phone app, System Data, etc., say that the update has resolved the bug.

Apple has released the iPadOS 17.0.2 update simultaneously, as the tablets had a similar bug that was affecting data transfers. The new version is compatible with the following device models: iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd generation and later, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 6th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later. Apple has also released the watchOS 10.0.2 update. This new update is only available for the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 model. The build number of the update is 21R371.

If you have not updated to iOS 17 yet, or if you have just installed the latest version and want to learn more about it, take a look at the top 10 features in it. iPad users may want to check our iPadOS 17 coverage to see the best features that the update brings to your tablet.

On a sidenote, macOS 14 Sonoma is now available for all users. Don't forget to read our article to check the new features that are available in the latest version of the operating system.

Source

Some iPhone 15 early adopters are turning to social media to report overheating issues that can drive the temperature of the handset to over 100°F, making it uncomfortable to handle.

So, what's happening?

9to5Mac's Ian Zelbo posted on X that his iPhone 15 Pro Max became "almost too hot to touch" while fast charging.

Tech reviewer Mohit Verma posted a video on X showing his iPhone hitting 42°C (107°F) after "just a 2-minute FaceTime call or when scrolling through reels for 8-10 minutes."

Alex Gear & Tech also posted a similar video.

Here is thermal imaging comparing the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. This suggests that the iPhone's lack of active cooling is concentrating the heat in a specific spot.

Then there's chip performance throttling. This test suggests that in two minutes of heavy loading, the iPhone lost 25% of its performance. This would point to a thermal management issue.

The common thread in many of these reports seems to be USB-C charging. Maybe there's a bug here that surfaces under certain conditions or with certain charging hardware. 

Another option is that the titanium chassis is more effective at dissipating the heat, and this in turn causes the handset to feel hot. But aluminum and stainless steel are also good conductors of heat, so I doubt that the material is the issue.

ZDNET has not come across this issue in our testing but there's no doubt that these measured temperatures are abnormally high.

Note that while 42°C/107°F is hot, it's within the safe "no injury" temperature range. In fact, ASTM C1055 (the Standard Guide for Heated System Surface Conditions that Produce Contact Burn Injuries) states that the average person can touch objects up to 60°C/140°F for up to five seconds without sustaining irreversible burn injuries.

Is this a bug?

This is quite possible. 

History shows that both new iPhones and new iOS releases are prone to bugs that are fixed by subsequent iOS updates.

While it's easy to point the finger at charging (but remember, all smartphones get warmer when charging -- that's just physics), the throttling of the chip points more to a thermal management issue. Apple is either dealing with a software bug or needs to improve the way the iPhone operates when running heavy workloads. 

This could also be something specific to certain handsets or a configurational issue resulting in an abnormally high level of background activity, such as machine learning or indexing.

How do I check my iPhone for overheating?

The first way is touch. Does it feel hot? 

If you want to get more specific, you could use an infrared thermometer or a thermal camera.

My iPhone is overheating! What should I do?

The fastest way to cool down an iPhone is to turn it off completely and let it come down to normal temperature naturally. Don't try to speed up the process by putting the iPhone into a refrigerator or ice box as this could also damage the battery.

As for your options as to how to prevent this, you could try different charging options -- different hardware or using wireless charging -- but if you remain concerned you should turn to Apple for support and advice.

Your next best option is to wait for Apple to acknowledge the issue and issue a patch. However, in the interim, I suggest you keep an eye on charging temperatures, and if you experience overheating, pull the plug on the charging.

Source

Source

A new leak posted on X (formerly Twitter) has shed light on the pricing of the upcoming smartphones. According to Kamila Wojciechowska, Google Pixel 8 series will start at $699 while the Pixel 8 Pro will cost $899. From the leak, it looks like Google is bumping the price of the Pixel 8 by $100 while the Pro will retain the same price as the Pixel 7 Pro.

The leak also gives us a bird's eye view of the differences between the Pixel 7 series and the Pixel 8 series. Unsurprisingly, the Pixel 8 series will feature Google's all-new Tensor G3 chipset which will be paired with up to 12GB of RAM. The Pixel 8 will also get a 120Hz variable refresh rate display, bumping it from the 90Hz display on the Pixel 7 which should improve its battery life.

Both the phones will also feature macro focus, something that was missing on Pixel 7 series, and the Pixel 8 Pro will come with a 48MP 5x telephoto camera along with a 48MP ultrawide camera. This, of course will be paired with 50MP main camera on both devices. In terms of software features, Google will be bundling Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Face Unblur, Night Sight, Real Tone, and more to improve the camera experience.

For security, Google is offering its VPN service to the Pixel 8 series owners, which is usually reserved for Google One subscribers. Do remember that, Google VPN is available in only selected countries so not everyone may be able to take advantage of it. Google will also offer a Fingerprint scanner and Face Unlock as biometric security options. It's not clear if Google plans to use Ultrasonic or Optical fingerprint scanner on the Pixel 8 series.

While most of the information regarding the Pixel 8 series seems to have been leaked online, it will still be interesting to see what Google has in store for us at the event.

Source

This new UI can be accessed by swiping up on a small white bar below the shutter button. In this new menu, parameters such as ISO sensitivity, shutter speed, and focus can be manually controlled. These features were previously available for many years through the GCam modded apps, and now they're coming to the official app. Once a parameter is selected, a translucent slider may show up for adjustments, and a reset button to set it back to default.

The Pixel 8 series will also integrate a new AI-enabled feature in the photography experience. Magic Editor is a new feature coming to select Pixel phones to upgrade the Magic Eraser experience. It will have the capability to combine the best bits of different frames into one image. It also gives users the ability to move subjects around the photo frame, and even change the time of the day by replacing a mid-day sky with a sunset.

Google is allegedly bringing massive upgrades to the camera department. For the first time on any Google device, the Pixel 8 Pro will receive an autofocus front camera, 48 Megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom, and 48 megapixel ultrawide camera with autofocus. Users can expect more consistency between the lenses when shooting photos or videos.

The leaked spec sheet above shows many new features coming to the Pixels. The Audio eraser is another AI feature that can isolate background noises from the subject of the video. You can learn more about the upcoming Pixel event here.

Source: 91mobiles

Source

While developers will be able to list their apps on the Indus AppStore without paying a fee, PhonePe will charge a “nominal” fee one year after the listing. In other words, developers will have to pay nothing to list their apps for one year. Luckily for developers, PhonePe will not charge a commission for in-app purchases until the rule changes. On the contrary, Goole levies a 15-30% commission on in-app purchases, which can significantly reduce developers’ revenue.

According to a report from TechCrunch, PhonePe partnered with several phone makers to distribute the app store. It’ll also be available in 12 Indian languages to attract people who don’t understand English. To address developers’ issues promptly, an India-based team will provide support.

This is not the first time an Indian company has launched an alternative to challenge Google’s monopoly in distributing apps through its Google Play Store. Paytm launched a mini app store alliance with similar objectives. However, Paytm’s Play Store alternative hasn’t seen much success since its launch. But with PhonePe promising better app discovery and consumer engagement and aiming to build a “credible” alternative to the Play Store, it’ll be interesting to see if the company manages to taste success.

Earlier this year, the Indian government forced Google to allow third-party app stores in the country, paving the way for the likes of PhonePe to launch Play Store alternatives. Only time will tell if the government’s decision truly helps Indian companies develop a successful app store that is more focused on addressing issues faced by local developers.

Source

Last week, Apple’s iPhone 12 was banned by a French regulatory body. The charge? The phone emits too much radiation.

If you browse the German or UK versions of Amazon, you’ll find plenty of iPhone 12s. But on the French branch you’ll see a black hole surrounded by iPhone 11s and iPhone 13s, among other generations.

This case raises a host of further questions. Why is the iPhone 12 being tested now, just as Apple is discontinuing it? Are these devices not tested thoroughly elsewhere? Is the iPhone 12 dangerous? And what kind of radiation are these phones emitting, anyway?

Why Has iPhone 12 Been Banned in France?

The iPhone 12 has been pulled off shelves in France following testing by the ANFR, the Agence Nationale des Fréquences.

The agency says its representatives can stop by phone retailers and commandeer samples for testing. If those units comply with ANFR standards after being tested, they will be returned to the store.

“[An ANFR card] authorizes us, when presented to store managers, to take samples of mobile phones from shops. It is done randomly because we have to represent the entire possible market,” an ANFR rep says in one of the agency’s instructional videos.

The iPhone 12 in question failed ANFR’s testing, which took place at a lab called CTC Advanced in Saarbruecken, Germany. Two days after notice of the results were published online, on September 12, the ANFR demanded the “temporary withdrawal of the iPhone 12” from the French market.

It was one of 141 tested phones, according to the agency. WIRED has repeatedly asked when the ANFR plans to test the iPhone 14 and new iPhone 15 families, but we have yet to receive a clear answer from the agency.

Exactly What Radiation Does a Phone Emit?

All phones, including iPhones, emit a category of electromagnetic radiation called RF, radio frequency.

It’s the same kind of radiation used to transmit FM and DAB radio, and it refers to electromagnetic waves with a frequency between 20 kHz and 300 GHz. RF radiation is everywhere, and it only becomes a potential problem when someone is exposed to an unusually high amount of it.

How Much Radiation Does the iPhone 12 Emit?

The ANFR tested the iPhone 12 in two scenarios. “Limb” testing emulates the phone being held in the hand, while “trunk” testing emulates a phone stored in a jacket pocket.

One crucial difference between the two is how far the iPhone is from a person’s tissue. It’s directly on the body for limb testing, 5 mm away for trunk testing. The iPhone 12 failed the 0-mm distance limb testing, but not the test at 5 mm.

In each case, the test estimates how much a person’s hand, head, or leg is heated up from the radiation emitted by the phone, measured in watts per kilogram (W/kg).

The limit for the 0-mm test is 4 W/kg, per the ANFR standards. The limit for the 5-mm distance testing is 2 W/kg. The ANFR’s 0-mm testing on the Apple device registered 5.74 W/kg, 43 percent above the permitted maximum. By this measure, the iPhone 12 has a big problem.

How Is a Phone’s RF Radiation Tested?

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is the standard for RF compliance testing and refers to the amount of energy transferred to the tissue of, say, your head or hand. It’s measured by looking for changes in temperature.

A robot hand places the phone in positions that emulate “real-world use.” But in place of an actual person, SAR testing uses a fibreglass mannequin filled with goop that can heat up from exposure to the RF radiation at the same rate as human flesh.

ANFR’s documentation even tells you how to make your own. It’s a mix of water, mineral oil, emulsifiers, and salt.

Changes in this liquid are measured via a probe stuck into the liquid, while the phone being tested cycles through its available wireless communication frequencies at maximum transmission power.

This may not make sense if you’re picturing the virtual person as a department store mannequin. In reality, it looks more like a tiny swimming pool, with each end shaped like half of a person’s head. The probe is then stuck into this gooey swimming pool. You can see a video of the process here.

Did the ANFR Test Other Phones?

The ANFR regularly tests phones. You can look through the results over at the regulator’s website. Its database currently holds results for iPhone models up to the iPhone 13, although the results for the offending iPhone 12 are, somewhat oddly, not currently accessible.

There is a write-up of iPhone 12 testing from December 2021, and those results are within normal limits. However, that report omits the 0-mm distance testing that got the iPhone 12 into trouble in this latest round.

Have Other Phones Failed France’s Testing?

Yes. Some 50 phones are listed on the ANFR database as having failed the regulator’s testing to date. Some fail the test at a 5-mm distance, others at 0 mm.

Some of the biggest names include the Motorola Edge, which failed the 5-mm test, and the Xiaomi Poco X3, which managed to fail both. Samsung has failed twice—with the Galaxy Note 10 Plus and the Galaxy Z Flip 5G.

The ANFR published a press release in July 2022 announcing the test failures of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, Hisense Infinity H30, and Gigaset GX290. But this was as much a recognition of the manufacturers agreeing to make software updates to the phones as it was an acknowledgement of their respective RF level failures.

Apple’s initial response may not have been deferential enough, which is what could have led to the ANFR’s more dramatic reaction and order to pull the iPhone 12 from shops, but the agency did not respond to our queries on this.

WIRED also asked Apple France for further comment on the 12 failing French testing requirements and its update plans, but we got no reply. Apple did, however, release this statement: “We will issue a software update for users in France to accommodate the protocol used by French regulators. We look forward to iPhone 12 continuing to be available in France. This is related to a specific testing protocol used by French regulators and not a safety concern.”

What Generates RF Radiation in Phones?

The radiation generated by phones is RF, radio frequency. It is emitted by the wireless communication antennae found in every phone. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, the call signal, 5G mobile internet—they all rely on RF because it’s what carries the relevant information.

The Bluetooth-streamed music sent to your headphones, the YouTube video you stream over 5G, the thank-you call to your grandma over traditional mobile phone signal … all relayed over RF. When you break it down a level further, RF is a form of electromagnetic energy, just like light.

The amount of RF transmitted by a phone is not consistent, though. It will typically be at its worst in a poor signal area, where its radio antennae end up constantly searching for a stronger signal. If you’ve felt your phone get strangely hot or seen the battery drop faster than usual when driving in the middle of nowhere, that’s why.

Several key components in an iPhone 12 are part of this RF generation. These include the Qualcomm X55 5G modem, Apple’s custom Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip, the wireless charging tech, and Apple’s U1 ultra-wideband location-tracking chip.

RF radiation isn’t just normal, it’s a currency of modern electronics. And the iPhone 12 uses components found in other phones. The Qualcomm X55 5G modem was part of the highly popular Snapdragon 865 system on chip (SoC), as used in the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, the OnePlus 8 Pro, the Xiaomi Mi 10, and the LG V60 ThinQ, among others.

Why Do Some Phones Generate More Radiation Than Others?

Around the time of the iPhone 12 launch, 5G tech seemed even more consolidated than it is today. Qualcomm was only on its second-gen 5G modem and MediaTek had yet to announce its first-gen one, leaving Qualcomm and Samsung Exynos as the key 5G providers for phones.

However, according to ANFR’s own database of results, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra with shared components produces significantly less RF radiation. It recorded 1.162 W/kg and 2.493 W/kg in the same categories.

Other factors are involved too. For example, as part of the 5G wireless layout in today’s phones, you’ll see RF “frontend” chips, as well as the core 5G modem. These include power amplifiers that control how much “juice” is put through the transmitter.

Then there’s the software, which governs how the phone behaves when signal strength is limited. Crucially, too-high levels of RF can be altered with a software update.

You might imagine that other phones in the iPhone 12 family would have similar results. But ANFR tested the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro and found that they were within acceptable limits.

Is France’s Testing Different From Everyone Else’s?

Each country, region, or group of countries, like the EU, has their own set of RF standards, but a couple of key standards are found across the world.

In the US, Canada, and South Korea, the standard is 1.6 W/kg, measured across 1 g of virtual tissue. In Australia, Europe, and most of the rest of the world, the standard is 2 W/kg, measured across 10 g.

The standard in the US and Canada is significantly stricter. It’s not just about the lower acceptable ceiling of RF; the smaller sample size of 1 g means peak figures can’t be spread out as much.

But France uses one of the most demanding tests—putting the phone at a 0-mm distance from the virtual body. The United State’s FCC website doesn’t actually specify required distance, but 5 mm is the standard—and those few millimeters matter in the world of RF testing, thanks to the way RF dissipates.

In all cases, the reading you see on one of these SAR reports is the maximum recorded from all of the phones’ wireless frequency bands.

There’s another thing to consider. You might assume that all phones are tested by official bodies in their respective countries. That’s the FCC in the US, Ofcom in the UK, the Bundesnetzagentur in Germany, and so on.

In reality, Apple and other manufacturers organize testing at independent laboratories to ensure that they meet the required standards and have the documentation to prove it.

The ANFR’s testing is more like a secret shopper operation, performing additional testing to check manufacturers’ homework. Three years after the fact, Apple was found wanting.

Is Mobile Phone Radiation Dangerous?

RF is one of the least dangerous forms of radiation. These are low-energy waves with longer wavelengths than visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma rays.

They are in non-ionising electromagnetic territory, which means they don’t have sufficient energy to cause major damage by breaking chemical bonds or removing electrons from atoms. That interaction is what can make higher-energy types of electromagnetic waves, like gamma rays, cause cancer.

The situation is muddied by the damage light can cause, however. Most forms of ultraviolet light are non-ionising, and yet we all know that too much exposure to them can cause skin cancer. So what’s going on there?

Skin damage from higher-energy UV light waves can cause an increase in free radicals, which are unstable molecules created by the body in response to “environmental insults,” as Harvard puts it.

The simplistic view offered by certain lifestyle blogs is that free radicals are bad but can be countered with antioxidants. However, more recent research has actually found that some antioxidants can help speed up cancer growth. On this point, we’re out of our depth.

The specific research done into the effects of RF radiation from phones is also inconclusive. The World Health Organization stated in 2014 that, after a large number of studies, “no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use.”

A meta-analysis published in 2020 found that the results of studies appeared to vary based on the group enacting them, but it suggested that there is “significant evidence linking cellular phone use to increased tumor risk, especially among cell phone users with cumulative cell phone use of 1,000 or more hours in their lifetime.”

Still, a reaction to that meta-analysis by members of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency suggested that the authors of the original analysis had unfairly maligned studies that suggested the opposite. To further muddy the waters, many of the studies in the original research are ancient in tech terms. More than 60 percent were published in 2010 or earlier, none after 2015. The fundamentals of RF may not have changed since then, but the hardware we use and the ways we typically interact with it certainly have.

Is RF Radiation Radioactive?

Radio frequency radiation is not radioactive, and it cannot make other objects radioactive. Neither can much higher-energy, more dangerous waves, such as gamma rays.

Instead, radioactive elements can emit gamma rays, alongside alpha and beta particles. These particles have actual mass, unlike gamma rays, which are composed of weightless photons much like RF emissions. All of these, unlike RF, are pretty dangerous in most scenarios.

Source

Source

Almost 20 years ago, in October 2003, four men named Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears and Chris White founded a company called Android Inc. That company wanted to make an operating system for digital cameras and showed the same to investors several months later.

They later realized that the digital camera market was too small. This is when they decided to reorganize themselves and target Android as an alternative to mobile phone operating systems instead. A market that was dominated by Nokia’s own operating system and others at that time.

Two years later, after a lot of financial issues and negotiations with Samsung and others, Android Inc. was finally bought by Google for $50 million in what was later called as “the best deal ever”. The original developers too joined Google to continue working on the Linux-based Android mobile OS.

In 2007, after some promotion by Google, a consortium of companies was formed. The consortium, which was named the Open Handset Alliance, had Google, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sprint and T-Mobile, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments in. This formation announcement was in conjunction with the release of the first pre-release version of Android.

However, on September 23, 2008, the first stable version of Android 1.0 was finally released to the public. This release changed mobile operating systems forever.

Android Turns 15

Originally, Android for mobile phones was not made with touchscreens in consideration – it was targeted for phones with keyboard buttons. This was visible in the pre-release versions, which were designed in a way that suggested the same.

It was only later during the development that Android had to go back to the drawing board as multiple rivals had announced or released phones with touchscreens in them. This meant that Android too had to be redesigned with touchscreens in consideration.

The very first phone to use the Android OS was the T-Mobile G1, which was announced on the day the first stable version of Android was released in 2008. The phone itself was available for purchase a month later.

A few months later, the phone was released on the international market as the HTC Dream. Both the versions had same specs and came with both a touchscreen and a sliding physical keyboard.

As for the Android OS software itself, the original Android 1.0 SDK source code can still be downloaded from the Internet Archive.

Growth Of Android

However, the biggest push for Android came more than a year later, when Google announced and released its Google Nexus series of Android phones in early January 2010, starting with the Nexus One.

Google was joined by another smartphone maker, who ensured that Android was here to stay. In June 2010, Samsung released the very first Galaxy S phone based on Android 2.1.

Anyone who follows the Android-based smartphone market knows really well how important a role both Google Nexus and Samsung Galaxy phones have played in ensuring Android’s growth.

While Google has replaced the Nexus series with Pixel phones. Samsung has added more versions in its line-up, in addition to the Galaxy S series. Samsung has released many variants, including the famous Galaxy A, Galaxy M and Galaxy F series, spawning hundreds if not thousands of models.

Android Names

One of the most iconic things about Android were its version names. Every major version of Android used to be named alphabetically after confectioneries. However, unlike popular belief, that naming didn’t start with the letters A or B.

The story goes that as the build numbers were getting too complicated, by the third build of the same version number, one of the Android developer decided that something was needed to be done to codename the build. This is when C was decided to be used, denoting the third build.

It was during the release of Android 1.5 that the Android version started getting named after confectioneries – at least openly. Hence, C became Android 1.5 Cupcake. Android 1.6 was named Donut. Similarly, Android 2.0 was named Eclair. This naming tradition continued until recent years. It’s still being named so internally but not openly advertised in public.

Modern Day Giant

Throughout the years, Android has grown to become the most popular mobile operating system out there, beating all its rivals. This is because Android has been backed by the fact that it’s open source at its base and it’s backed by some of the top names in the industry.

Speaking of numbers, as per StatCounter, Android had almost negligible marketshare in 2009. Later it grew and enjoyed a market share of 30% about a decade ago, which increased to 70% within a few years in 2017. It has been hovering around that mark since then.

To understand the scale of Android, one has to understand a few things about it. One, as per some estimates, Android is used by 3.6 billion users worldwide. Two, as per the official numbers, Android is used by over 1000+ mobile brands, with over 24,000 different models and has over 1 million apps on the Google Play app store. Some sources put that number to 3.5 million apps.

Another important thing that is the force behind Android is the fact that it has ensured that smartphones become available for the masses. Android phones are available for as little as $50 and also sell for as much as $1,800. This has ensured that Android has an option for anyone and everyone.

It must be mentioned that Android is not about smartphones alone. It’s heavily used in smartphones, tablets, media players, televisions, smartwatches, automobiles and many other devices. This has ensured that Android is almost omnipresent when it comes to technology.

Conclusion

Over the years, many brands using it have come and have stopped producing phones too, mostly due to competition in the smartphone market. But one thing has remained and that is Android. Android that Google and other developers keep updating and adding new features while keeping its look modern.

Is Android perfect? We don’t think so. It’s always up for improvements. What Android is about is that it’s about us – all the Android users in this world. Those users who are using an open, free and cheap mobile operating system. An operating system that has ensured that technology gets available to the remotest areas of the world.

So let’s celebrate Android’s 15th anniversary and let’s hope it keeps improving itself to stay the force behind all the mobile users in the world.

Source

One big announcement was the reveal of a new AI-powered camera filter feature for Switfkey users. You can quickly create creative and fun photos, videos, and even GIFs on your smartphone or tablet with over 250 tools and filters options. Some of those effects and lenses come from Snapchat, which is another example of Microsoft's continued partnership with Snap.

Yet another new feature that's rolling out is AI-powered custom stickers in the Swiftkey app. You can use the keyboard to take a selfie, and then, using the power of Bing Image Creator, you can make new stickers based on your selfie that can be shared with others, including third-party apps like WhatsApp and Messenger.

If you use Swiftkey to text message others, the new Editor function could come in very handy. The AI-powered feature will let you highlight a message, and you can receive suggestions on how to improve your grammar or get spelling and punctuation corrections.

Finally, the Swiftkey app will let you access Bing Image Creator directly. Just select the Create feature, and then type in a text prompt to make a new AI-developed image or art piece. You can then quickly send it to your friends online. Bing Image Creator will soon add support for OpenAI's more advanced DALL-E 3 image generator.

Microsoft says these new AI-based Swiftkey features are rolling out now, although it may take a while for some of you to get full access to them.

Source