It needs more time to refine its first smart speaker. We hope you weren't counting on giving (or getting) a HomePod for the holidays -- Apple has delayed the release of the Siri-powered speaker from December to early 2018. In a statement, the company said it needed a "little more time" before the device was ready for its initial release in Australia, the UK and the US. It's not yet clear how this will affect releases in other countries (we've asked the company if it can elaborate), but we wouldn't be surprised if it pushed back their releases slightly as well. They were already being asked to wait until early 2018. You can read the full statement below. While the exact reasons for the delay aren't clear, it's not completely surprising. This is Apple's first entry into the smart speaker realm, and it has to nail the experience if it's going to compete. At the same time, Apple is effectively ceding holiday sales to a wave of new higher-end speakers like Amazon's Echo Plus, Google's Home Max and the Sonos One. The HomePod isn't necessarily in trouble (Amazon and Sonos can only sell fully-featured devices in countries where Alexa works), but it may face a tougher battle than it did beforehand. "We can't wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple's breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it's ready for our customers. We'll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018."
You can still watch in 360 video if you don't have a headset.
Since adding 360 videos to News Feeds in June 2016, Facebook has spent this year significantly invested in the format. It enabling 360 livestreaming and then added that functionality within its apps, and even boosted the back end with automatic image correction. But the social network isn't stopping its immersive push at flat imagery. Facebook announced it has started testing VR experiences in users' News Feeds, and its first experiment is a 'scavenger hunt' game for the upcoming Jumanji film.
Built on the WebVR-based React VR developer kit that Facebook released in April, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle works with both 360 video and virtual reality headsets. Viewers can roam around the mysterious jungle collecting tchotchkes and learning about the movie's world. If you saw this morning's Rampage trailer and can't get enough Dwayne Johnson, click here in a VR browser.
The Jumanji scavenger hunt is one in a roster of content created with React VR that Facebook-owned Oculus announced today, from a tour of the British Museum to a Dubai Tourism-sponsored experience and a USA Today walkthrough of a Kentucky distillery. Crucially, most of these seem to be shot in 360 video and then edited into virtual reality experiences using React VR and Oculus' tools, which fits with the social network's efforts to bring VR to the News Feed. "We're also excited to share that we've started testing native React VR integration and experience playback within Facebook News Feed. Although we're still in the experimentation phase, we're inspired by the potential to let even more people experience quality VR content -- wherever they may be." Facebook doesn't just want companies building VR projects for the News Feed -- it wants users to join in, too. Last month, the company announced it will add creative tools to its virtual reality lounge, Spaces, including the ability to create and share '3D posts' to News Feeds. In its latest attempt to woo video creators away from YouTube, Facebook has released an app just for them. It’s called Facebook Creator, and it includes a bunch of tools for streaming video, updating Stories, and message people across several of Facebook’s platforms.
Facebook has long had an app for people who manage Facebook Pages, and it’s also had an app for celebrities that did this kind of community building, too. In fact, Facebook Creator is really just an updated and rebranded version of that app — originally called Facebook Mentions (and still called that, since it seems to be stuck that way on the App Store for now) — but now it’s open to everyone. There are two main draws to the Creator app. First, it includes some special features for Facebook Live. Anyone using it will be able to create custom intros and outros — intros are especially handy, as it takes a moment before other people see the link and start watching — as well as the ability to add interactive stickers and a custom video frame. The app is also able to take and edit photos and post them to Facebook Stories and other platforms (it’s not clear if that includes Instagram, but it really should). The second big draw is communication. The app creates a unified inbox for comments on Facebook and Instagram and messages from Messenger, so that you don’t have to bounce between different apps in order to respond to people. The app doesn’t seem to cover every possible messaging vector inside of Facebook’s services, but it sounds like a handy start. Finally, there are analytics too, so that creators can obsessively refresh the page wondering whether they’ve successfully gamed Facebook’s latest algorithm change. The app is available on iOS immediately and is supposed to come to Android in “the coming months.” The app sounds handy for people who are already doing these things. But the bigger story might just be that Facebook is trying to show it cares about the community of independent vloggers. The same people who this app is designed to appeal to are currently struggling with odd changes and errors over at YouTube. Facebook has wanted to poach them for years now. One app isn’t going to suddenly change things, but a continued commitment could help win people over. Everything you need to know about the affordable Tesla Update: The Model 3 has hit a production bottleneck, meaning that it has fallen far behind the estimates that Tesla CEO Elon Musk originally predicted for delivery. In a series of tweets Musk originally claimed that by December of 2017 the Tesla plant would be producing 20,000 cars a month, but presently only 260 of the cars have actually made it out of the doors. In a phone call to members of the press, Musk pushed back his estimation of 15,000 cars a month to early 2018. Original story continues below... Tesla was founded 13 years ago and shipped its first car in 2008 – the Roadster. At a base price of $109,000 (£86,950, AU$191,888), it was a long shot away from Elon Musk's vision of an affordable electric vehicle (EV). It took four years before the first Model S reached buyers, which now starts at $70,000 (£50,000, AU$97,245) before incentives and is still not very cheap. Now that the Model S and X are out the door, Tesla unveiled its first affordable car – the Model 3. Admittedly, the number doesn't make a lot of sense, as it's not the third car from the electric car manufacturer, but it's actually a play on the letter E. The Model 3 doesn't slot in between the S and X in terms of, well, anything really. But you can see where Tesla was going with this. According to Fortune, Tesla dropped an application for the Model E after a dispute with Ford who have an on-off relationship with the letter, in use on its E-series of vans. Cut to the chase
Tesla Model 3: What is it?The Model 3 is the first affordable Tesla, starting at $35,000 (£30,000, about AU$45,700) before any government tax incentives. It should qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit for US buyers, which brings the price below $30,000 before state incentives, if you're among the early reservations. The tax credit is only available for the first 200,000 EVs sold by each manufacturer. According to Electrek, Tesla's cashflow tells the story of over 400,000 pre-orders so meeting the cutoff is pretty unlikely. If you're in the US, depending on the state you live in, more incentives are available to bring the price down even further. In the UK there are also numerous electric vehicle incentives, so it's worth checking these out if you're thinking of purchasing the Model 3. Australia still seems to be falling behind in terms of its electric vehicle incentives, although if this changes, we'll let you know. The entry-level Tesla Model 3 is claimed to give you 215 miles from a single charge, and there are plans to offer other configurations like with the Model S and X. Compared to the 2015 Nissan Leaf rated for 84-miles of range, 215 miles would save the trouble of having to charge in public for 95% of usual driving. It will feature seating for five adults, losing the two rear-facing seats that the Model S has, and has less than half the trunk volume at 400 liters. There will also be fewer options for configuration with the Model 3 - less than 100 in fact - compared to the Model S that has over 1,500 possible configurations. Another thing worth noting is that owners of the Model 3 will not benefit from free charging at Tesla Supercharger charging stations like owners of the previous models. Prices for using Tesla Superchargers vary by location and can be found on the Tesla website. Tesla Model 3: Will it have Autopilot? Every Tesla Model 3 will have the hardware for Autopilot technology for semi-autonomous driving, including the base model. We commend Tesla for this announcement as the Nissan Leaf has zero advanced driver assists and the Chevy Bolt will only have basic collision prevention driver assists. However, Autopilot convenience features, like adaptive cruise control, self-parking and autonomous lane-changing assists are optional. Tesla currently charges $3,000 to add the convenience features to the Model S and X. Tesla Model 3: How's the performance?The Model 3 will do 0-60 in 5.3 seconds, making it just slightly faster than the 2015 BMW 228i Convertible, although just slightly slower than the Coupe version. It will make use of 2170 lithium-ion battery cells engineered in conjunction with Panasonic. Larger battery capacity and performance variants will be available, but that information has not been disclosed. The Model 3 is rear wheel drive (RWD) with dual motor all-wheel drive (AWD) available as an option. AWD in the Model S costs $5,000 more than its RWD counterpart. Ludicrous mode will be available as an option, too. In the Model S, Ludicrous mode cut the 0-60 time down to a blistering 2.389 seconds. What this mode will mean for the Model 3 is yet to be revealed, but rest assured you'll never be left behind at a red light again. Tesla Model 3: What's the competition?The Tesla Model 3 competes with luxury gasoline and mainstream electric vehicles. On the luxury side, it's base price puts it in the crosshairs of the BMW 3-series, Mercedes C-class, Audi A4 and Lexus IS – all gasoline sedans. There's also the all-electric BMW i3 and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) Audi A3 Sportback e-tron, which have higher base prices but shorter pure-electric range. The mainstream competition consists of current available EVs, like the Ford Focus Electric, Kia Soul EV, Volkswagen e-Golf and Nissan Leaf. Competition gets tougher if you expand to include PHEV's from Chevrolet, Ford, Hyundai and Kia. But that's not all, because the competition from EV makers heats up, too. Chevrolet announced the Bolt EV, with 200 miles of all-electric range at CES 2016 and availability by the end of the year.
Nissan is expected to replace the aging Leaf with a newer, longer-range model in the near future, and Hyundai's upcoming all-electric Ioniq is expected to have 110-miles of range. Tesla Model 3: How do I buy one?You can reserve your Model 3 at your local Tesla store or online. It's worth knowing if you haven't yet pre-ordered a Model 3 and want to, you're going to be waiting a long time before you take delivery. The per-orders are in the tens of thousands and at time of writing a production bottleneck meant that only 260 Model 3s had actually been handed over to customers. It will cost $1,000 (£1000 and AU$1,500) to reserve a Model 3. The deposit is fully refundable if you change your mind, and you can can apply it towards a Model S or X at any time. Anything Apple can do... The iPhone X has seen Apple moving from fingerprint sensors to advanced 3D face recognition sensors, and if a new report out of Asia is to be believed, Android manufacturers are going to follow the same path as 2018 unfolds.
A report in DigiTimes says the likes of Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi are working on some 3D sensing technology of their own, the advanced face scanning cameras that make Face ID so accurate (and that make those Snapchat lenses so realistic). Citing "industry sources", the article says the suppliers who build the necessary technology are getting a steady stream of incoming orders, which means you can expect to see the same forward-facing scanning happening on many an Android flagship next year. Your face is your password while iris scanning and face unlocking has been available on phones for several years, the TrueDepth front camera fitted to the iPhone X marks a step up in terms of accuracy and precision - according to Apple, there's a one in a million chance of a random face beating Face ID (compared with one in 50,000 for Touch ID and fingerprints). Now it seems like Android manufacturers are eager to get the same technology installed on their own phones. We've already heard rumors that Samsung is planning to fit a 3D sensor into the front camera on the Galaxy S9 due out next year. With Qualcomm working on more advanced sensors of its own, it looks like 2018 is going to be another good year to buy yourself a new flagship smartphone - and chances are it's going to have some kind of advanced face unlock technology, no matter which manufacturer you decide to go with. Goodbye, bezels. Hello, gorgeous new 6-inch Samsung AMOLED display
The OnePlus 5T, as the name suggests, isn’t a completely new handset – rather, it’s an incremental upgrade of the very successful OnePlus 5. If you're wondering that OnePlus is launching a new handset then you must know that OnePlus itself is calling it an enhanced iteration of the existing OnePlus 5 flagship phone. Judging it as a new phone will be unfair so we'll be looking at the OnePlus 5T as an update to the OnePlus 5. In markets like UK and US, the phone isn't just an upgrade though – it’s also a replacement, as OnePlus has ceased production and sales of the phone it launched just six months prior to the arrival of the OnePlus 5T. But in India, the company has no plans to discontinue the OnePlus 5 as of now, so there are high chances that OnePlus will go for a price cut on the previous iteration model. We're not surprised by the move as OnePlus did exactly the same thing in 2016 when it introduced the OnePlus 3T half a year after launching the OnePlus 3. So what do you get with OnePlus’ second generation ‘T’? The main talking points are a bigger screen, tweaked design, improved rear camera and face recognition, plus a few software additions to boot. In short, there’s enough new stuff to justify its existence without it offering a radically new smartphone experience. OnePlus 5T price and availability
The good news is that the OnePlus 5T price is exactly the same as the OnePlus 5’s, which means you’re looking at Rs 32,999 for the 6GB/64GB model, and Rs 37,999 for the 8GB/128GB variant. It means the OnePlus 5T is cheaper than pretty much all of its flagship rivals – but significantly the difference in spec between them is the smallest it’s ever been. As far as a OnePlus 5T release date goes, the handset will be available from November 21 in the India, along with US, UK and Europe, China, and Hong Kong. It will be exclusively available on Amazon India. Display
The single biggest change on the OnePus 5T is the display, with the handset boasting a 6.01-inch Full HD AMOLED panel with a 18:9 aspect ratio that follows this year’s trend of elongated screens on the iPhone X, Google Pixel 2 XL, Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG V30. It's the first time OnePlus has increased the size of the display on its core handset (the smaller OnePlus X aside), making this the biggest screen we've ever seen on a handset from the Chinese firm. While its size and aspect ratio may see the OnePlus 5T pull inline with the flagship handsets it’s looking to topple, there is still one spec which denies it full membership of the high-end display club: resolution. OnePlus has once again opted to stick with a Full HD resolution, at 1080 x 2160 with a 401ppi pixel density, while rivals all boast QHD (2K) displays. It doesn’t mean the screen on the OnePlus 5T is poor, and thanks to the AMOLED panel colors are bright and punchy, but when you slide it alongside the competition you can see it’s not as sharp. In isolation though, it’s difficult to pick any real fault with it. Design
The bigger display has had a knock-on effect in terms of design as well, with the bezels above and below the screen getting slimmed down to provide a sleeker look and a 80.5% screen-to-body ratio. That reduction in bezel has led to another design change too, with the fingerprint scanner and physical navigation keys disappearing from the front of the phone. Biometric fans needn’t worry though, as the digit reader has been relocated to the rear of the device, and its centralized position means it’s easy to hit with your forefinger - and of course there’s face recognition too, but more of that in a moment. The OnePlus 5T continues with the premium metal unibody design of the phone it’s replacing, which makes it look good and feel great in the hand, with the gently-curving rear helping it nestle nicely into the palm. You’ll find that the power/lock key on the right, and the volume rocker on the left, fall easily under thumb and finger when you’re holding the phone in portrait, and OnePlus continues with its notification slider on the side of the handset, allowing you to easily switch between silent, do not disturb and loud modes. Another plus point on the OnePlus 5T is the fact that the headphone jack has also been retained, allowing you to plug in your headphones without the need for a clunky adapter. At launch the OnePlus 5T is available in just one color, midnight black, with no word on whether more hues will be on offer in the future. OnePlus 5T hands on gallery Face recognition
Another key feature, and a first for OnePlus, is the inclusion of face recognition tech as the fledgling brand attempts to ride the coattails of the iPhone X. Face recognition on the OnePlus 5T isn't as advanced as Apple’s offering, but it's still surprisingly good, using over 100 facial identifiers to check it's you. It's used only for unlocking the handset, and you'll need to double-tap the screen or press the power key to ultilize it. It's incredibly fast, with almost no delay between you tapping the screen or button and your home screen appearing before you. We also found that it works at some impressive angles, which means you don't have to hold the OnePlus 5T directly in front of you face for it to work. Something it can't do, but which the iPhone X can, is see you in the dark. That's because, unlike Apple, OnePlus hasn't used an infrared camera to spy you in the dark. It requires a light source – street lights at night are enough, but the screen brightness itself isn't – to check your face. We're yet to attempt to try to fool it with siblings, photos, glasses and hats, but we'll be putting it through its paces for our full review. In the future OnePlus plans to expand the use of face recognition to enable you to log in to apps and verify purchases, but for now it's using the OnePlus 5T as a test bed for the technology to make sure it's secure. Camera
Like the OnePlus 5 the OnePlus 5T comes with dual cameras on the rear, but it's not an identical setup. The OnePlus 5T has a 16MP Sony Sensor and 20MP Sony sensor, both of which boast an increased aperture of f/1.7 for better low-light shots and the same focal length. It also features a Pro mode for those who like to fine-tune settings, and there's a Portrait mode allowing you to capture those popular bokeh-effect shots. You can even long-press the fingerprint scanner on the rear to take a photo, which we found to be surprisingly intuitive. Meanwhile on the front you get the same 16MP selfie snapper as the OnePlus 5. OnePlus has also overhauled its camera app for a simpler look and easy-to-use gesture controls. Swiping up gives you mode select, while swiping down brings up quick settings. It makes things much easier to do one-handed. Taking a few quick snaps with the OnePlus 5T shutter speed was easy, and image quality was good, with plenty of detail and natural-looking colors. Battery
The OnePlus 5T comes with a 3,300mAh battery which the firm claims will last a full day on a single charge – a claim we'll be sure to put to the test during our in-depth review process. It also features OnePlus’ Dash Charge technology, which is claimed to give you 'a day's power in half an hour’, which in reality means just under 60% in 30 minutes. There's no wireless charging though. Performance and interface
When it comes to power the OnePlus 5T has the same flagship Snapdragon 835 chipset as the OnePlus 5, and you can again choose between 6GB of RAM with 64GB of storage and 8GB/128GB variants. It means there's plenty of power inside, and Android 7 Nougat runs smoothly. It's disappointing that the OnePlus 5T doesn't ship with the latest Android software, 8 Oreo, but OnePlus has confirmed that Oreo will come to the handset via a software update in the coming months. OnePlus has, as usual stuck its Oxygen OS interface over the top of Android, which keeps the general look and feel of Google's platform while adding in extra customization options. These include App Priority, which keeps your most frequently used apps running in the background for easier access and faster load times, while the parallel apps feature lets you effectively clone certain apps (such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) so that you can log in to two separate accounts without having to switch in-app. Verdict OnePlus considers its T series handsets to be an extension and evolution of its summer releases, taking what it’s already achieved and making it more relevant with a selection of significant updates. From our brief time with the handset it looks like the OnePlus 5T fulfills the brief, offering a pleasing array of upgrades that will keep fans of the brand happy, without reinventing the wheel. The increased screen size is welcome and the camera looks stronger, although we worry that keeping the battery the same size as in the OnePlus 5 could have a negative effect on battery life. |
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