iPhone 12: 12 Things To Look Forward To

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So, it’s that time of year again and by that we mean it’s iPhone season. Yes, it may be a little late because of the big C word which may make this years iPhone’s lifespan shorter, but that remains to be seen.What we do know is that, the iPhone 12 is almost here and we are very much looking forward to giving them a spin for ourselves. But why are we excited we hear you ask, well there’s plenty of reasons. 12 Big Juicy reasons to be excited in fact. So here are 12 reasons to look forward to the iPhone 12 –

Sit down, strap in and grab some popcorn because this is extensive:

5G

5G is the most notable feature in Apple’s new lineup of iPhones.

5G is standard in Apple’s new line up. It will be available in all of the models, that’s the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

5G is the next generation of Phone connectivity and the successor to current standard 4G.

5G brings incredible speeds to the iPhone and where possible will allow for up to 4GB’s per second of download speed. Improved video streaming, improved upload speeds, more responsive gaming and real time interactivity are also great benefits for 5G.

One smart feature of the new iPhone lineup is the ability to smartly switch between the slower speed of 4G and the faster speed of 5G on the fly. For example if you are using Twitter, the phone will reduce the speed to 4G to save data and battery life. While if you are streaming 4K on Netflix, the phone will upgrade your signal to 5G to give you a better experience.

Camera

Both the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini come with 2 cameras each.

However, the main camera has changed. It still has 12 megapixels but the lens now has a 7 element display and a larger f/1.6 aperture. Therefore allowing 27% more light to hit the sensor compared to the 11. This will mean less noise, brighter imagery in low light.

Also available on these models is a 2nd 12MP f/2.4 ultra wide camera with a 120 degree field of view. This camera has a 5 element lens to it. The focal length is equivalent to 13mm.

Apple’s Deep Fusion technology can now be used on either camera as opposed to the main. Night mode will be available on both the ultra wide and front TrueDepth camera. There is also a new night mode time-lapse feature. The ability to shoot in HDR video with Dolby Vision at 30fps. Apple’s Smart HDR3 feature is also available to use.

On the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max there is still 3 cameras, however like the regular iPhone 12’s these have been improved.

The iPhone 12 Pro still uses the same f/2.0 telephoto lens though you can now use Deep Fusion with it. The 12 Pro has LiDAR which we’ll get on to in just a moment. It also has the same main and ultra wide cameras that is found in the iPhone 12.

It has 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom which is thanks to the 52mm equivalent telephoto lens. You can also shoot HDR video with Dolby vision. Though unlike the iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro can shoot at 60fps instead of 30fps.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Camera

This is where the real difference comes in!

The 12 Pro Max’s 12MP f/1.6 aperture wide camera now has a 47% larger sensor. This will help to improve low light photography by 87%. The main camera also has sensor shift optical image stabilisation. This will allow for the sensor to move inside the camera to offset any movement. This should help to make more stable photos and videos.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a 2.5x optical zoom compared to 2x. This is thanks to an equivalent 65mm focal length lens, however, the aperture is slightly slower at f2.2

The LiDAR sensor and ultra wide camera is exactly the same as found on the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro. While you can digitally zoom up to 12x instead of 10x. You can also shoot in Dolby Vision HDR at 60FPS much like the 12 Pro.

LiDAR

Apple have introduced LiDAR into their smartphones, though only limited to the Pro line up. The iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. A LiDAR scanner will help to improve the AR capabilities of these devices. LiDar is a ‘Time of flight sensor’ which measures how long it takes for light to bounce off of objects in a room and return to the sensor.

This information is then used by the phone to judge the depth of each point that is measured. As a result, more accurate augmented reality experiences will be both faster and more accurate than ever before. As the LiDAR sensor will essentially scan a room and create an accurate 3D map for these Augmented reality experiences.

Apple says that the LiDAR sensor in the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max will allow for instant AR. You can also utilise LiDAR to autofocus in low light up to 6x as faster and even take night mode portrait selfies!

Apple ProRAW

There’s even more tech coming to the iPhone’s cameras this year. Though this particular feature is limited to the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max. RAW. Specifically Apple ProRAW.

Coming later this year, Apple ProRAW is a brand new photo format from Apple. It is said to offer photographers the combination of computational photography smart technology and the ease of use and flexibility of raw editing.

As we all know RAW photos have this incredible flexibility to them and you can edit a lot with a RAW photo. So, when you shoot in RAW you will lose the benefits of Apple’s smart features such as Deep Fusion and Smart HDR 3. With Apple ProRAW you’ll be able to get both the RAW editing ability and the smart features.

This brand new image processing will combine multiple steps of processing and create a new file and all this is done by the CPU, GPY, ISP and Neural Engine and without any shutter delay! You will now get full control over colour, detail, dynamic range and get the flexibility of RAW, editing it all right from within the camera app, though there will be an API which allows developers to build ProRAW capture into their own apps.

The A14 Bionic Chip

A new phone means a new smart chip.The iPhone 12 will now ship with the A14 Bionic, a successor to the A13 Bionic chip which is found in the current iPhone line up. While the A13 is still comfortably one of the fastest chips ever in a smartphone, the A14 goes one step further and becomes even quicker.

The A14 brings improvements to the camera, the neural engine, which is the portion of the A14 which handles all the smart tech such as Artificial intelligence and this has been expanded up to 8 cores to 12.

So basically your phone will now be even quicker to complete tasks whilst getting more intelligent too. Better yet it does all this whilst using less power, so that means better battery life.

New Design

There is a brand new design for the latest models of iPhone, all across the models. That’s iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Gone are the rounded edges and the squared off, sharp edges are back from the iPhone 4 days.

iPhone 4 still remains one of the best designs of a smartphone, people have been clamouring for this design to come back and their prayers have been answered.

The antennas placement have been improved since the controversy of the original design lead to Apple having to release a special case for them. So you can rest easy on that part.

However, there is a slight change between the models. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini are made out of aluminium. Whilst the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max are made out of stainless steel.

MagSafe

Magsafe is coming to iPhone, in a rather genius way too!

On the new iPhones there is a special array of magnets that help align the new iPhones to Apple’s new MagSafe Brand of Chargers or a 3rd Party MagSafe compatible charger. Think Apple Watch style magnets but for iPhone. It will also charge much faster at 15W instead of 7.5W, but again, you’ll have to use the MagSafe Brand of chargers or the 3rd Party MagSafe compatible charger.

Not only does it help to align your iPhone 12 to a wireless charger (Seriously why hasn’t anyone thought of this before) it can also help connect an array of brand new accessories to the iPhone. Apple showed off one example whereby the iPhone 12 slotted into a case via magnets and then connected a credit card wallet to that via magnets. Easily and securely. Worry not too as the magnets are shielded and protect your credit cards!

Colours

Who doesn’t love a bit of colour in their life eh?

There are a range of brand new bright and exciting colours coming to the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini.

It will be available in blue, green, black, white and PRODUCT Red.

Whilst the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max will remain distinctly professional and sleek and come in Silver, Graphite, Gold and a brand new colour, Pacific Blue.

We have to say that the Gold one looks very very good!

Super Retina XDR OLED panels

For the first time ever, the brand new line up of iPhone models will come with OLED screens!

The line up will come with Super Retina XDR OLED Panels and feature an edge to edge design. Though the notch is still there. There is no difference in display between the regular 12 models and the 12 Pro models either.

The 5.4” display has a resolution of 2430 x 1080 with 476 pixels per inch and the 6.1 inch iPhone 12 has a resolution of 2532 x 1170 with 460 pixels per inch. While the 12 Pro models have a 2532 x 1170 resolution with 460 pixels per inch and the 12 Pro Max has a resolution of 2778 x 1284 pixel resolution with 458 pixels per inch.

They also come with HDR support with 1200 nits peak brightness.

What this basically means is that the screens will provide wide colour range for vivid true to life colours, true tone to match the colour temperature of the display to the lighting that’s around you for a natural viewing experience.

Ceramic Shield

Say hello to a brand new screen for this years iPhone. I know we already spoke about Apple’s introduction of OLED to the new line up.

But Ceramic Shield is the glass. Ceramic Shield is a brand new stand out feature that apple says is “tougher than any smartphone glass”. With it being four times as greater resistance to damage from drops”

We’re eagerly awaiting YouTubers testing that one! Apple worked with glass ceramic manufacturer Corning as glass ceramic is tough and lightweight.

Whether or not the ceramic glass can withstand the general public’s wear and tear or people’s disregard for their stuff remains to be seen, but I for one am really excited for this new tech! Will we see an era of phones that doesn’t mean we have to apply screen protectors?

The iPhone Mini

…and finally we’d like to give a special shout out to the iPhone 12 Mini. As we spoke earlier on in this video we loved the size and shape of the iPhone 4. Well, Apple brought this back with the iPhone SE and they’re taking things to the next level with the iPhone 12 Mini.

The iPhone 12 Mini still has all the same technology that’s built into it’s bigger brother of the iPhone 12. It is vastly different to the iPhone 12 Pro models but that’s in a different league entirely.

The only difference between the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini is screen size. The iPhone 12 is 6.1” and the 12 Mini is 5.4”

Other than that it’s still a great phone. Smaller doesn’t necessarily mean worse.

If you loved the iPhone 4 and want to step into the latest technology, why not pick up the iPhone 12 Mini, it’s a great size and perfect for those that enjoy small phones that you can easily type with on one hand!

Conclusion

So there you have it, 12 big juicy reasons to be excited for this years iPhone.

To re-cap, it comes in 4 flavours,

  • iPhone 12
  • iPhone 12 Mini
  • iPhone 12 Pro
  • iPhone 12 Pro Max

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro will be available to pre-order on Friday October 16th and available to pick up the following week on Friday October 23rd. Priced at £799 and £999 respectively.

While, iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available to pre-order on Friday November 6th and pick up will be available on the following week on Friday November 13th. Priced at £699 and £1099 respectively.

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Everything announced at Apple’s iPhone 12 October Event

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It’s a brand new year and what does that mean? Brand new iPhones! Apple today (October 13th 2020) announced a whole host of new tech. Including the iPhone 12! Check below for more info on these amazing announcements from Apple this year!

iPhone 12 & iPhone 12 mini

The iPhone 12

Apple have announced a bunch of brand new phones, the iPhone 12 is replacing last years iPhone 11 and there’s lots to talk about! However, the iPhone 12 keeps the same 6.1″ screen size as found on the current XR and 11. But there is OLED in it’s more affordable iPhones. It comes with squared off edges much like the latest iPad Air and iPad Pro.

While the screen size is the same the iPhone 12 is thinner and has smaller bezels and weighs less than the 11. This is due to the OLED display! The screen resolution has improved over the iPhone 11 to 2532 x 1170. This works out to 460 pixels per inch. Which is a huge upgrade over the 11. There is also a brand new glass used on the iPhone 12 and Apple are calling it the “Ceramic Shield” . This is via a partnership with Corning. This improvement helps to make the screen 4x as much drop resistant the the 11.

5G

iPhone 12 has 5G connectivity and will use the “sub-6” spectrum which is more widely deployed.  The iPhone 12 uses the A14 Bionic chip which was announced at last months iPad Air event. It combines 6 CPU cores (two high performance and four lower performing for better energy efficiency) and four GPU cores. The A14 is built on the 5nm fabrication process. This means it is more densely packed with transistors. So the A14 has 11.8 billion transistors up from 8.5 billion on the A13. What does this all mean for you and I? Well, it means that the A14 will be about 15% faster than the A13 using less power. So faster computing power and better battery life.

Cameras

The iPhone 12 has a new standard wide camera with a f/1.6 aperture and a 7 element lens, alongside the same ultra wide camera that was in the 11. The standard camera now has a 27% improvement in low light over the iPhone 11. While on the video the larger aperture will allow for more detail in low light. Furthermore there is a brand new night mode time lapse.

Detailed more below, the iPhone 12 has wireless charging and brand new magnetic sensors to connect to accessories. Think MagSafe but for iPhone. You can connect a credit card case that snaps to the back of the ohone for example! There is also a dual charger that will charge both the iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time!

The iPhone 12 will cost $799 at launch with 64GB of storage; 128GB and 256GB models are also available. It is available in black, white, red, green and blue. It goes on pre-order this Friday (16th October), and will be available to pick up on the following Friday (23rd October).

(Engadget)

The iPhone Mini

For those who love small phones, you are going to love the iPhone 12 Mini! It has a 5.4″ OLED display, while being a much larger screen than the 4.7 inch display on the 2020 iPhone SE. Apple are claiming that this is the smallest 5G phone in the world!

The iPhone 12 Mini has the new A14 Bionic Chipset, which is faster than the A13 Bionic by 15% and it consumes 30% less power! It also comes with the same rear camera system. Which is the 12MP primary camera with a f/1.6 aperture lens, which performs at 27% better in low light conditions than the previous generation!

It also has Apple’s new “Ceramic Shield” tech, which is 4x as drop resistant than the iPhone 11. The Mini also has IP68 water and dust resistant and also comes with 5G connectivity!

Starting at $699 and will be available in blue, green, black, white and Product Red. Pre-orders begin on Friday (16th Oct) and will be available on Nov 13th.

The iPhone 12 mini will start at $699, and will be available in five colors: blue, green, black, white and (Product) Red. Pre-orders open on Friday, November 6th, with general availability beginning on November 13th.

(Endgadget)

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iPhone 12 Pro & iPhone 12 Pro Max

The iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max feature a brand new flat edge design, bigger screens, stainless steel case designs and LiDAR sensors. Plus there’s 5G connectivity!

Much like the regular iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max feature 3 cameras, 12MP wide angle lens, 12MP ultrawide angle lens and a telephoto lens. The Pro Max has a slightly different step up in the camera department with a 47-percent larger sensor” with 1.7μm pixels for improved low-light performance. However, both models still include the notch.

Apple’s Deep Fusion will tap into the A14 Bionic processor’s capabilities for photo processing, helping to make the colours pop! You can now shoot in RAW, with the introduction of Apple ProRAW. This is a brand new file format which helps give you more flexibility editing. Much like RAW formats. You can now shoot video in HDR Dolby Vision content right from the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max!

The larger screens are also apparent but the form factor remains the same. iPhone 12 Pro is up from 5.8″ to 6.1″ and the iPhone 12 Pro Max is up from 6.5″ to 6.7″. Both displays have “Super Retina XDR” technology and support HDR and Dolby Vision. Furthermore they also support the same screen tech as the other models with Apple’s Ceramic Shield technology. While these models also include the MagSafe accessory tech!

Also announced was a LiDAR sensor to the Pro models. This adds depth mapping technology 3D augmented reality mapping. It will help with delivering better autofocusing in low light for example.

iPhone 12 Pro starts at $999 with 128GB of storage, while the iPhone 12 Pro Max starts at $1,099.

The iPhone 12 Pro is available for preorder this Friday, October 16th, and will ship on October 23rd.

iPhone 12 Pro Max is available for preorder on Friday, November 6th, and will ship from Friday November 13th.

Both models are available in Silver, Graphite, Gold and Pacific Blue.

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iPhone MagSafe

For those who knew of the trusty MagSafe on Macbooks you’ll be pleased to hear that MagSafe is now on iPhone! Apple have unveiled a new charger that will power noth your iPhone and Apple Watch!

This new device will connect to the back of your iPhone, connecting magnetically on the right spot of the back of the iPhone. Much like it currently does on the Apple Watch.

MagSafe supports wireless charging and will be releasing a bunch of new charging and everyday phone accessories to go with it. For example a magnetic leather wallet that will snap on to the back of your iPhone. Complete with credit card holders. Or a phone pocket that will recognise when it has been slipped into it and adjust the screen to peep through a little window. The DuoCharger will also connect your phone and watch at the same time!

(Gizmodo)

HomePod mini

Apple have unveiled the HomePod Mini it’s a smaller version of the larger HomePod that’s apart of the HomePod family. It can use Siri to get things done, control a smart home and is very small! At just 9.5cm tall it is packed with tons of tech and is available in space grey or white for £99! HomePod mini can play all of your music from Apple Music, Radio Stations from iHeartRadio, radio.com or TuneIn. Plus it will soon be able to play music from Pandora or Amazon Music! Connect multiple HomePod Mini speakers together to stream anything in perfect sync. Furthermore place two HomePod Mini speakers in a single room and they can connect as a stereo pair! Creating a soundstage of filling, rich and enveloping sound!

Audio

So, to do this there is an Apple S5 chip inside the HomePod Mini. It uses advanced software to analyse the characteristics of the music that is playing. While doing so it will apply complex tuning models to optimise the loudness, adjust the dynamic range and control the movement of the drive and passive radiators. The full range driver is very powerful and enables deep bass and crisp high frequencies alongside the force cancelling passive radiators!

The same acoustic principles that are used in the HomePod are also present in the HomePod Mini. It will feature an Apple designed acoustic waveguide to direct the flow of the sound down and out towards the bottom of the speaker for an immersive 360 degree audio experience. Therefore the speaker can be placed anywhere in a room and you will always hear a consistent sound. A 3 microphone array will always listen for “Hey Siri” and a 4th microphone will help to isolate the sound coming from the speaker to help improve voice detection when music is playing.

Siri

Siri can identify who is speaking and tailor the music and podcasts to their preferences, it will also respond to personal requests! Such as accessing messages, reminders notes and calendar appointments. Even taking and making phone calls! Siri can also provide a quick snapshot of the day, all they have to do is ask “What’s my update?”

Apple Devices

HomePod Mini will work effortlessly with other Apple devices, such as pick up a call, listen to music on a Mac or take the sound from an Apple TV to the next level! Handoff is getting a little upgrade and customers can simply move their iPhone to a HomePod Mini to seamlessly hand off their music without pausing it! Furthermore there will be, available later on in the year, visual, audible and haptic effects when sound is transferred from one device to the other. Personalised suggestions will also appear on iPhone when next to HomePod Mini and instant controls are available without having to unlock!

SmartHome

HomePod Mini will also control smart home accessories with simple voice commands. Such as turning off lights, changing temperature or locking a door. Intercom is brand new and will offer a quick and easy way for family members to connect at home. One person can send an intercom message from one HomePod to another, all throughout the home! The voice will automatically play on the designated HomePod speaker. Intercom will work on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, and CarPlay, so everyone will get your message!

Additional Features

  • Siri Shortcuts created on iPhone and iPad are accessible on HomePod mini, so users can ask Siri on HomePod mini to start a pot of coffee, control a robot vacuum, add milk to the grocery list, and more.
  • Ambient sounds, including rain, a fireplace, a stream, and more, offer the perfect background noise to focus, relax, or fall asleep. Siri can set a sleep timer so the sounds automatically stop playing.
  • Find My helps locate a misplaced iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Apple Watch by playing a sound to pinpoint its location.
  • Web search results from HomePod mini can be sent directly to the user’s iPhone for easy viewing.
  • Music alarms let users wake up to a favourite song, playlist, or radio station from Apple Music.
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The Honor Ecosystem 2020

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Thanks to the guys over at Honor we got to give their latest range a spin! We loved giving them a go and think that they’re ideal for anyone looking to get into all the ways that smart tech has to offer to enrich their lives. Without having to spend lots of money to get there! More suited to a student looking to save some cash & kickstart their studies at the same time. Or the older generation wishing to get into tech after seeing their younger family members show them the ropes!

Check out the MagicBook 15 (Laptop) the Honor 20 (Phone) and the Honor GS Pro (Smartwatch) below!

MagicBook 15

  • Ultra-lightweight Design, Weighs at 1.53kg
  • AMD Ryzen™4000 Series Processor
  • 25.9% Increase in Multi-core Performance
  • Innovative Fan Design, Better and Faster Heat Dissipation
  • Up to 512GB PCIe SSD, DDR4 Dual-Channel RAM
  • 15.6″ HONOR, FullView Display, TÜV Rheinland Certified
  • All-day Battery, 65W Fast Charging

Power

The HONOR MagicBook 15 is an incredible little laptop and with the AMD Ryzen™ 5 4500U mobile processor (or AMD Ryzen™ 5 3500U mobile processor) it can deliver up to 25.9% faster multi-core performance. Therefore you can expect fast and super smooth performace for any task that you put it under!

Furthermore with all this power means heat! So the HONOR MagicBook 15 features a really cool fan blade design that increases efficiency, number of fan blades and makes for an effective airflow. Keeping your laptop super cool!
It also has an ultra-fast PCIe NVMe SSD storage drive (Up to 512gb) and DDR4, helping to increase the speed of your laptop than a standard SATA SSD Drive! Helping to fire up the laptop and start work instantly!

Design

The display has ultra narrow bezels and features a fully laminated display. Which helps to reduce the reflection of light off of the LCD panel. Furthermore it helps to create an immersive and true to life imagery even in sunlight! The TÜV Rheinland certified display reduces excessive blue light for safer, more comfortable reading.
What is a notebook without making it easy to carry around! The HONOR MagicBook 15 is really lightweight at just 1.53kg and only 16.9mm thick at it’s thickest point it helps to give great portability!

Battery Power

You can also charge your laptop really quickly thanks to the 65W USB C Fast charger. Helping to get your laptop up to 53% in just half an hour! Furthermore if privacy is super important in your life, you can now use the in built fingerprint scanner on the powerbutton to help unlock your laptop with just a tap! There’s also a hidden webcam built into the laptop that will only pop up when you need it to!

Pair your HONOR MagicBook 15 with a HONOR Smartphone and you can share files with it, your smartphone screen really easily. Meaning youcan edit your files with the same keyboard and mouse without having to jump between devices!

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The HONOR 20 Phone

  • AI Triple-Lens Rear Camera
  • Ultra Wide-angle Photography
  • AI Scene Camera
  • 4+64GB Storage
  • Super Night Shot
  • High Definition Borderless Display
  • Kirin 710F Processor
  • TÜV Rheinland Certified Eye-care

Camera

Firstly we have to mention the impressive camera on the HONOR 20! It has a main 24MP AI Triple lens camera, with a f/1,8 wide aperture lens and a Quadra CFA Sensor! The AI Multi-scene recognition is also really impressive as it can detect 22 object categories in over 500+ scenarios. Therefore helping to create a professional grade film on your photos! The 17mm ultra wide angle lens will allow you to capture more! Allowing you to easily capture full body portraits and landscape shots!

We absolutely love the design! As it has a sophisticated 3D photolithography technology built in. This allows for a dynamic prism-shaped colour gradient, with a gleaming effect, allowing the phone to ‘shine’ whenever it moves.

Storage

Furthermore you can expand the storage of your phone! Keep everything on your phone without having to delete anything as you can add up to 512gb via microSD! Better yet, the HONOR 20 has a dewdrop notch and over 90% screen to body raio, helping to create an immersive viewing and gaming experience! To help with eye comfort, the phone has been certified by TÜV Rheinland. Helping to reduce blue light radiation which is emitted by the screen. This will help to protect your eyes and prevent eye strain, especially in dim light!

Gaming

Love gaming? You’re going to love this! It comes with a GPU Turbo, which dramatically improves graphics, progressing efficiency, delivering a smooth, full-frame gaming experience! Even more goodies inside the Honor 20 with a Dual 4G SIM, stable internet connection and improved call quality! AI Elevator mode intelligently recognises when you have entered/exited an elevator and will recover your 4G signal in seconds!

Privacy

There is also Smart Face Unlock which will even recognise your face when your eyes are closed! It won’t unlock the phone however unless you open them. Face ID data is specifically stored in the Secure Enclave. Which will add an extra layer of security for your personal data.

The HONOR 20 has an Android 9 system with the EMUI 9.1 operating system features a concise user interface, enhances data management system and optimizes mobile user experience.

Like going to the gym or eating healthily? Built into this smartphone is a scan-to-measure food calories feature. So you no longer need to worry about counting calories for diet!

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Honor Watch GS Pro

  • 25-Day Battery Life
  • MIL-STD-810G Rated (14 Categories)
  • GPS Route Back

Design

If you are an outdoorsy type of person you will love the HONOR GS Pro! It has been designed specifically for the urban adventurers! It has a rugged exterior to help survive the toughest environments!

The HONOR Watch GS Pro is complied with 14 different MIL-STD-810G tests, including temperature-humidity-altitude resistance, salt spray, sand resistance and humidity resistance, enabling it to withstand extreme conditions. You can even get creative and choose from a wide range of stylish designs in the HUAWEI Health App!

Battery

Battery life on this watch is insane! It can last up to 25hours! Even with the outdoor GPS Mode on it can last 100 hours! So you won’t need to worry about running out of battery when exploring the outdoors! There is a high precision built in dual satellite navigation system to help Route Back your way back even when taking the scenic route! Furthermore plan your day ahead and stay up to date with what is around you. With helpful outdoor information including sunrise and sunset times, moonrise and moonset times, tidal phases, and bad weather alerts.

Sports

For those interested in skiing, you can track a range of data, including the number of runs, distance, trail time, maximum speed, maximum steepness, vertical ascent and descent, altitude, heart rate, and calories burned.

For those not into skiing don’t worry the HONOR Watch GS Pro will cater to any sports with over 18 professional workout modes and 85 customised workout modes to help you in your sport or workout. It has a 24/7 heart rate monitor, all night sleep tracking to even SpO2 monitor for blood oxygen level measurements!

You are able to speak on the phone without getting your phone too, with the built in speaker you can answer a call anywhere! Want to keep entertained? The HONOR Watch GS Pro will store up to 500 songs!

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(Honor)

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The E Scooter, is your city ready for them?

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The Department for Transport (DfT) has published the nation’s first official framework for e-scooter rentals, which enabled trials to start from 4th July. As you may be aware e-scooters were fully banned on UK’s roads.

However, pilot trials have been fast tracked into place. The aim is to discourage workers from using their cars as they return to work following the easing of lockdown in the UK.

E Scooter trials were originally meant to take place in just four transport zones. However, they’ll now be in place across the nation. With 50 councils so far expressing an interest in hosting an E Scooter rental scheme. So which of the UK’s biggest cities are ready?

The E Scooter ability Index

The team at USwitch have taken 40 of the UK’s most populous cities and analysed the ‘e-scooterbaility’ of each city. This is based on air quality, potholes, bike thefts and planned cycle lanes, giving them a rating out of 70.

So, scoring 50 out of 70, Newcastle is the city that is most prepared for E Scooters. With over 13km of planned cycle lanes and just 9 pothole complaints in the last year.

Mapping the UK cities ready for e scooters!

It seems as though the North is the home of the most suitable cities for E Scooters. Seven out of the top 10 are located in the north of England; Newcastle, Carlisle, Hull, Salford, Preston, Manchester and Sunderland all score high on the e-scootability index.

Scoring 42/70 overall, Manchester has the highest number of pop-up cycle lanes and over 24km of planned cycle lanes where e-scooter users can get from A to B safely.

Smooth scooting

While when it comes to road quality, USwitch scored each city based on the number of pothole complaints that are made via FixMyStreet. Leeds had the smoothest roads for scootering, followed by Exeter and Cambridge.

Though with over 400 complaints combined both the roads in London and Manchester will need some work done before they’re ready for E Scooters.

A breath of fresh air

An air pollution index was taken from Numbeo**, where USwitch scored each city on the potential pollution levels that riders would face. Preston (16.79) and Carlisle (19.89) topped the list as the cities with the best air quality, making them a great candidate for e-scooter trials. Arguably, cities with very poor air quality such as Wolverhampton (63.22) and Wakefield (62.07) could also benefit from an emission-free option such as e-scooters.

Planned cycle lanes

This index is scored on each city based on the length of planned cycle lands from the  Cycling Infrastructure Prioritisation Toolkit (CyIPT).

These lanes can be used by E Scooters, whilst keeping riders safe and away from traffic. London Westminster topped the list with the most (97km) of cycleways planned in and around the combined city area. Closely followed by Salford and Manchester with 25km of routes planned.

Predicting the popularity of E Scooters

The popularity score was based on the number of people who are already using two wheel sto get to work. Cambridge topped the list with 15.34% of the population already cycling, followed by Westminster (12.42%), Oxford (8.75%) and York (5.29%). This suggests that these cities would be open to this new, green form of transportation.

Will Owen, energy expert from Uswitch, comments on the results of the e-scootability index:

“Cities all over the UK have been working hard to stop the spread of COVID-19 and with lockdown finally easing, we’re seeing a welcome push towards climate-friendly transport options such as e-scooters. 

“Later this year, the UK will join several European countries including Spain, France and Italy following the release of the DfT’s e-scooter rental framework. 50 city councils have already applied to be part of the trial.

“But the research behind the e-scootability index revealed that some cities were more ‘geared’ up for their arrival than others, with cities in the North making up 70% of the top 10 list.  

“Rental e-scooters will be banned from footpaths to protect pedestrians so road safety is another factor that needs to be considered. Alongside the obvious environmental benefits of e-scooter rental schemes, there are many other factors for regulators to consider.”

Will e-scooters make a difference to the UK’s daily commute?

E Scooters may revolutionise the way the UK public travels to work, so Will Owen the energy expert at USwitch gave his thoughts. He believed that we should follow the US and Europe’s lead when it comes to implementing our own scooter schemes.

As the UK slowly unlocks, e-scooter rental companies look set to revolutionise the way we travel to and from the office.

It’ll reduce the amount we spend on our daily commute

We spend an estimated £146 per month to commute, that’s around £7.30 per day based on 20 working days in a month. Whilst in Germany E Scooter rental brand Grover launched GroverGo. A subscription based model which allows customers to rent the Xiaomi e-scooter Mijia M365 for €49.90 (£44.83) per month or €2.50 (£2.24) per day. So, if a similar model was implemented here in the UK, it would reduce costs by 69%!

We’ll reduce the amount of CO2 in our cities, reducing air pollution overall

It is concerning that there may be sudden spike in air pollution as people are advised on avoiding public transport.

Global e-scooter rental brand Lime announced that they have just passed 150 million rides globally. They have calculated just how environmentally friendly e-scooters are. Lime says that these rides have saved:

  • 32 million miles of car travel

  • 1,300,000 gallons of petrol (about 100,000 full tanks for your average car).

While Lime also states in 2018, E Scooter users had saved 540,000 lbs (244,939 kg) of CO2 in just three months, which is equivalent to roughly 28,000 gallons (127,290 litres) of fuel that wasn’t burned in car engines, or the absorption capacity of an additional 46,000 trees.

Usage needs to be safe and regulated

However, there has been debate in the press about safety. With many European countries reporting problems. Such as illegal parking and accidents. France for example have set speed limits and prohibits parking anywhere but in designated spaces.

Though, figures from a recent study confirm that E Scooter riders do not face a a higher risk of road traffic accidents than cyclists do.

To ensure the safety of rental e scooter users, pedestrians, cyclists and others, The Department of Transport has already provided safety regulations and guidance.

  • Speed limit of 15.5mph(25km/h)

  • Driving licence required for use

  • Private scooters remain illegal

  • Not permitted on sidewalks and cycle lanes

When it comes to enforcing the regulations, the UK could follow the example from France. Any e-scooter riders found to be breaking the laws could be fined up to €135 (£121).

References: 

*https://beta.salford.ac.uk/news/are-you-e-scooter-ready

**Pothole complaints, taken from Fixmystreet.com

***Air Quality Score, taken from Numbeo

The E-Scootability Index data can be explored in full here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LM_kSHG4VFC2wtSj-_lxZObva3RI9YX5DXarwBCFflM/edit?usp=sharing  

Methodology:

Uswitch analysed data from 40 UK cities with a population over 100,000 and analysed seven different data sets that related to the infrastructure of each city and their suitability for e-scooter uptake. 

These metrics were: 

Each city could score a maximum of 10 points for each element, and we used a weighted ranking system to achieve the final score out of 70. 

Find out more about the impact of electric vehicles on your energy bills.

(USwitch)

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Ford Puma ST

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We’ve taken a short break from reviewing electrical cars to driving back to petrol/diesel cars, old school! The Ford Puma ST (Available to order from October 2020 and arrives January 2021) will soon be here and it’s Ford’s first ever performance SUV in Europe. Which has been created with the signature fun to drive feel of the ST Range.

It has a turbocharged 1.5L Ford EcoBoost engine and has an impressive 200 PS with 320 Nm of torque. While it can go from 0-62mph in just 6.7 seconds! So, not only does it have practicality of an Urban SUV it also has the sheer power of a Ford Performance vehicle!

Drive Modes

The Ford Puma ST has 4 selectable drive modes (Normal, Eco, Sport and Track), a sports-tuned suspension, an aggressively sculpted aerodynamic design, impressive 19” alloy wheels, and signature ST styling. You can seamlessly change the Puma from a robust SUV around town to an exhilarating all round performer. Easily! The 4 drive modes will fine tune the car performance by modifying the engine mapping, throttle, steering response, as well as traction and stability settings. The chassis has been combined with an optional Mechanical Limited-Slip Differential, this will continuously optimise the traction and stability to ensure a comfortable driving experience. In any driving condition.  You’ll be able to do this via the 12.3″ digital instrument cluster.

Storage

Key information is shown on the 12.3″ digital instrument cluster. While a host of smart assistance technologies work together to enhance your driving experience. Furthermore you get a total of 80L storage space with a Puma MegaBox! With Puma Load you no longer have to rummage around for your keys either! Simply use some foot movement under the rear bumper and the boot will open up! It can also be opened and closed whilst sitting in the car!

There is also an option to choose a full length panoramic roof which will replace the steel roof. Letting in lots of light to create an airy feel to the car. the front half is power operated and can tilt or slide ride back. While the full length retractable sunshade lets’ you open the glass to get some fresh air whilst being protected from the sun.

Intelligent Tweaks

The Ford Puma ST has some intelligent tweaks to the car. They’ve been implemented so that none of the fun to drive aspects of the ST are compromised by the ride height of an SUV. There’s and added torsion bar and stiffer rear twist beam counterbalance the SUV models higher centre of gravity to ensure stability. While uniquely tuned suspension springs increase lateral stiffness for sharper cornering.

The New Puma ST also has a fantastic braking system which has been optimised for performance. As it has larger front and rear disc components than on other Puma models, for impressive breaking performance.

Comfy Seats

Inside the Ford Puma ST there is racing inspired RECARO front sport seats. It has contrasting Metal Grey stitching and an embossed Ford ST Logo. While the seats are ergonomically designed to fit you perfectly. Moulding you to every movement of the road.

Driving

The Ford Puma ST has been designed in such a way to uphold the pure joy of driving, whilst maintaining efficiency. Even if it can go 0-62mph in 6.7 seconds. Whilst it has a 6 speed manual transmission to help you get the most out of the car. Shifts are short, fast and deliver a smooth performance on each gear change.

The Tech Lovers Car

Ford Puma has a FordPass Connect modem built in. It provides a whole range of invaluable benefits. Including 4G LTE Wifi for up to 10 devices and real time traffic updates delivered to the in car satnav.

Local hazard information is displayed as warning symbols in the instrument cluster and will advise you of any obstacles you may be approaching. Furthermore in the event of an accident. FordPass Connect will even place an eCall to the emergency services and provide your vehicles location.

While if you download the FordPass app you’ll gain even more features. Such as locating your vehicle via your phone, lock it and unlock it remotely. Monitor fuel level, mileage and tyre pressure. While you can also get vehicle health alerts direct to your phone!

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Ford Sync 3

Ford SYNC 3 is a state-of-the-art system that enables you to stay connected and control your phone, music and navigation system with natural voice commands.

Call up a list of local restaurants by simply saying “I’m Hungry” Ford Sync 3 will also read out text messages! The colour touchscreen can be use pinch/swipe gestures and connects to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. With AppLink you can also access some of your favourite apps!

Music

There is an incredible music system in the Ford Puma ST. It comes with a powerful B&O system. A premium 575W audio system finely tuned and designed by B&O sound engineers. The system is a 10 speaker set up and includes a subwoofer which has been cleverly incorporated into the rear bulkhead.

Driving Assistant

Ford Co-Pilot360 combines a range of tech that will make your drive better. Adaptive Cruise control automatically adjust your cruise control speed based on the vehicle ahead. It will also recognise speed signs and too adjust your cruise control accordingly.

The Blind Spot Information System will use radars to see any vehicles that will be hidden from your sight. They’re located on either side of the Ford Puma ST and will alert you with an orange light. Which is clearly indicated in the side mirrors.

Traffic Sign Recognition can help the driver recognise speed limits and no taking over signs for example, of which will be displayed on the instrument cluster and will help the driver if they missed a sign.

Parking is made easier by the rear view camera, the view of which will be shown on the centre console. Virtual lines will help you park in even the smallest of places.

Pre-Collision detection and pedestrian detection helps keep you safe on the road. If a collision risk is detected with either a pedestrian or another vehicle, you will be warned. If you don’t respond in time the system can provide full breaking force, to help reduce the severity or in some cases eliminate frontal collisions.

Launch Control

Developed for use on the track (& available on the optional Ford Performance Pack), Launch Control will allow you to maximise acceleration off the line for fast standing starts. Simply set the maximum RPM for the engine and the system will ensure you won’t over rev when pressing the throttle.

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Alienware M17 Gaming Laptop

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Alienware have released a powerful laptop that is perfect for gaming and streaming. It has maximum performance graphics capabilities and up to 12-phase graphics voltage regulation and re-engineered Cyro-Tech cooling.

Alienware M17

The laptop itself is very lightweight and slim, weighing in at 5.5lbs and under 22mm, it highlights that the Alienware M17 is both incredibly portable and powerful. The M17’s magnesium alloy materials is responsible for the lightweight aspects of this powerful laptop. It is also great for reducing thickness. The Alienware M17 also has a coating on it that is designed to reduce fingerprint smearing and colour stains. The M17 is available in Lunar Light and Dark Side of the Moon colours.

The M17 has up to 10th gen Intel Core i9K processors enabling up to 8-cores and 16-threads of multi-threaded performance.

Advanced Tech

The Alienware M17 uses advanced technology to allow the system’s gaming performance to never be compromised. It uses electrical and mechanical methods whilst maintaining the system stability. Even when the laptop is being pushed to its limits.
One of the methods that this is achieved is through the thermal module designs, fan and fan motor design. Additionally the exhaust, intake louts and overall airflow impedance helps this. The Alienware M17 improves the airflow by channeling the cooler air onto the most sensitive areas of the laptop. It does this via 66mm diameter fan blades with 53% more CPU fan blades and 25% more GPU fan blades.
You can expect increased power efficiency and higher speeds for longer periods. Never stop your game performing at the highest speeds!

Cooling Tech

Vapor Chamber Technology
Alienwares’ new Vapor Chamber Technology uses advanced methods to dissipate heat. The Vapor chamber is between the CPU and copper heat pipers. This will help to manage thermal flow and maximize performance. The chambers will utilise the phase changing nature of liquid to transfer the heat more effectively. Than usual method of a solid piece of metal or copper heat pipes. Vapor Chambers are also much more versatile than copper heat pipes as they are spread evenly across an entire chip. While these CPU Vapor chambers are only available in configurations that feature NVIDIA GeForce RTX and GTX graphics (GPUs).

Breakdown

Airflow

Dual-intake, dual-exhaust airflow design:
The thin and light chassis prioritizes performance with a dual fan design. It pulls cool air from the top and bottom vents and then exhales it out of the rear and side vents. Helping the cooling of the core components.

High voltage driving fan:
The fire resistant, Kevlar-like liquid-crystal polymer fan blades include sleeve bearings, and 3-phase fan control to create less friction and circulate air more efficiently. Overall there is 132 unique fan blades to cool the CPU and GPU

Load-balancing heat pipes:
The dynamics of thermal activity across critical components like the GPU and the CPU are intelligently discharged across four 3.5mm diameter copper-composite heat pipes.

Electricity Cooling

Dense copper fin stacks:
The current Alienware M17 has the most amount of copper by weight than the previous M17 by 35% and provides more heat dissipation to core components than the previous m17! The new m17 has also increased the size of its heat pipes by 40% to increase overall surface area and heat dissipation.

Voltage Regulation
Hyper-Efficient Voltage Regulation is the result of engineering that enables both the graphics and/or processors to run at their highest levels for long periods of time. Alienware have raised the number of voltage regulation phases they can deliver a clean and efficient power signal. Which therefore helps thermal efficiency. This higher efficiency results in capacity for increased workloads over long periods time with reduced energy loss to heat.

Graphics and Processor Cooling

Graphics
A world’s first the M17 features 12-phase graphics voltage regulation on configurations of the laptop featuring the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti or higher to enable the highest performance possible for the longest time ever possible. The high end graphics options will offer up to a 50% increase in voltage regulation phases helping to create an efficient laptop. You are also able to get the AMD Radeon™ RX 5500M graphics option to the Alienware m17. This features a 10-phase graphics voltage regulation architecture – an Alienware exclusive.

Processors
6 Phase voltage regulation is available on configurations with a NVIDIA GeForce graphics card for higher performance. Also there is 25% larger CPU indicators, top end performance is increased even more! The NVIDIA® GeForce RTX 2080 Super also includes a 4mm CPU inductor to take things to the next level. Configurations based on any other graphics options will be based on 4-phase graphics voltage regulation and 4-phase processor voltage

Alienware M17 Display

The Alienware M17 has an incredible 144Hz 9ms FHD display. The M17 comes standard with an exceptional 144Hz 9ms FHD display, 72% color gamut and 300-nits brightness. The m17 boasts a commanding 17.3″ screen and rapid refresh rate options.

The panel is the fastest that Alienware have done, offering smooth high speed graphics with a sRGB 100% color gamut rating. It has a richer colour range than most of the other laptops available! You can also get a 300Hz 300nits 3ms FHD panel for all the hardcore gamers out there!

Furthermore there is a reduced blue light emission with the M17. It has a unique technology built in that will reduce the exposure to high energy visible light, this is available on the 144Hz panel.

MORE DISPLAY

For those wanting even more you can experience WVA UHD 4K 25Ms 500 nits UHD panel option. It comes with a 100% Adobe RGB colour option. Offering the highest contrast ratio with 1500:1 and provides the best colour gamut of Adobe RBG 100%. It has a slow 25ms response time and 60Hz, making it perfect for gamers that prioritize high resolution and vibrant colors over speed.

Gaming Powerhouse

The Alienware has optional RAID 0 (Dual SSD Stripe) configurations. This means two drives are recognised as 1 single large drive, making it super quick for transfer rates and enables maximum storage and performance.

The Alienware M17 has Killer Doubleshot™ Pro technology. Which will intelligently manage internet traffic. This uses wired and wireless connections in tandem to prioritise packets. It wil identify latency sensitive gaming automatically and voice traffic and send it over the fastest interface. While, this new technology is made possible by combing Killer 2.5Gbps E3000 Wired Networking Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (2×2) and Bluetooth 5.0

Immersive Gaming

The Alienware M17 has an incredible built in media card reader, using a push-push Mircro SD slot which supports UHS-II HD312 media. They keyboard has vastly been improved and features a 1.7mm travel with optional 4-zone RGB N-Key rollover and anti-ghosting technology. For an even more customizable option, upgrade to the premium keyboard with per-key Alien FX lighting. Furthermore the M17 has a precision point glass premium touchpad!

Eyetracking, is a completely new form of immersion to your game and it’s available on the M17. The M17 has small sensors with wake capabilities which enables features and sensitivity to track head pose, presence, fine gaze and eye position.

For example UI elements will fade when not making eye contact so you can get deeper into the game. Furthermore characters will know when you’re not looking at them and react accordingly. The eye tracking tools are designed to measure your mini map awareness and help you learn when to pay attention to the clock. Also, you can even show your viewers where you are using looking as Tobii Ghost software supports all major streaming platforms and software. Toggle between visualizations like heatmaps, shadow, and spotlight using our extension. So, you no longer need to move your mouse to show viewers what you’re talking about, just glance at it.

Creative Control

Now you can create profiles that are designated for power, thermal management, sound, lighting and macro. While you can even link a profile to a game and the settings will adjust accordingly whenever the game is launched. The Alienware command center will allow intuitive and easy overclocking control modules. Also, this will allow the user to quickly and safely squeeze more power out of your system. While, AlienFX hardware and software supports full RGB values with up to 16.8M colours. Manage FX lighting zones, edit peripheral settings and save new themes you can then assign for each game.
The Alienware Command Center is continuously updated. Also, their latest version now includes features specifically desired by the gaming community with auto-tuned game profiles, a new responsive UI, intuitive overclocking options and all-new AlienFX settings.

Specifications

  • MicroSD 5.1, UHD-II HD312 Card Reader
  • USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A (2)
  • HDMI 2.0b with HDCP 2.2 Output
  • Mini-Display Port 1.4 Output
  • Thunderbolt™ 3 Port
  • Alienware Graphics Amplifier Port
  • Power/DC-In Port
  • Noble Lock port (cable and lock sold separately)
  • Killer™ Networks E3000 Gigabit Ethernet NIC
  • USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A with Powershare Technology
  • Audio Out 0.125″ Port (Compatible with inline mic headset)

Weight and Thickness

  • Height (Front): 16.9mm (0.665″), (Peak): 22.0mm (0.866″), (Rear): 20.7mm (0.815″)
  • Width: 399.8mm (15.74″)
  • Depth: 294.3mm (11.59″)
  • Maximum Weight: 2.97Kgs (6.55lbs)
  • Lowest Weight: 2.50Kgs (5.51lbs)

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Apple September Event 2020 – Rundown

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Apple have just tied up their Apple September Event 2020 and boy oh boy did they announce some interesting things!

Apple September Event 2020 –  The Apple Watch Series 6

The Apple Watch Series 6 delivers breakthrough Wellness and fitness capabilities with a revolutionary Bloody Oxygen feature that offers wearers more insight into their wellness.

Also included is a S6 System in Package and next generation always-on altimeter. Furthermore there’s even more colour with new cases and finishes and bands. WatchOS7 brings Family Set Up, sleep tracking, automatic hand washing detection, new workout types and the ability to curate and share watch faces.

Blood Oxygen Sensor and App

Apple Watch Series 6 expands what Apple Watch can do with a new feature that will measure the oxygen saturation of a wearers blood. Oxygen saturation or SpO2 represents the percentage of oxygen that is being carried in red blood cells from the lungs to the rest of the body. While it indicates how well this oxygenated blood is being delivered around the body.
Apple Watch Series 6 will compensate for natural variations in the skin and improved accuracy the sensor employs four clusters of green red and infrared LEDs, alongside the four photodiodes on the back crystal of the Apple Watch. Measuring the light that is reflected back from blood. The Apple Watch then uses an advanced custom algorithm built into the Blood Oxygen app. To measure blood oxygen between 70% and 100%.  On demand measurements can be taken whilst a user is still and periodic background measurements occure when they are inactive. Even during sleep. All data is visible in the Health app. Allowing users to track trends over time and see how their blood oxygen levels change.

Design

Apple watch Series 6 uses a new dual core processor that is based on the A13 Bionic that is found in the iPone 11. The upgraded S6 SiP runs at 20% faster, allowing apps to launch 20% faster, whilst maintaining an 18 hour battery life. Apple Watch Series 6 also featuers the U1 chip and Ultra Wideband antennas. As this will enable short range wireless location support for new experiences such as digital car keys. Apple Watch Series 6 can also achieve a full charge in under 1.5 hours! The always on display is also 2.5 times brighter than Apple Watch Series 5 outdoors when the user’s wrist is down. Furthermore you can also now access Notification Center and Control Center, tap on complications, and swipe to change faces without having to wake their watch screen.

Always-On Altimeter

A brand new always-on altimeter provides real-time elevation all day long. By using the new more power efficient barometric meter. Also in conjunction with GPS and nearby WiFi networks. Allowing the Apple Watch Series 6 to detect small elevation changes above ground level, up and down to the measurement of a foot! It can be shown as either a new watch face, complication or workout metric.

Apple Watch Collection

There is now more choice than ever, blue is now available alongside silver, space grey and gold aluminium case options. As well as a (PRODUCT) RED Apple Watch.
Stainless steel models are now available in graphite — a rich grey-black hue with a striking high-shine finish — and an updated classic yellow gold colour. Apple Watch Edition is available in natural and space black titanium.
There’s also new band style options. Such as the Solo Loop. A brand new continuous strechable band design, that comes in either soft silicone or braided yarn. They come in a range of different sizes (9) to fit your wrist. Also available is a first-of-its-kind Leather Link wraps elegantly around the wrist, effortlessly attaching on the other side with flexible moulded magnets.
Apple Watch Nike also comes with new colours for the Nike Sport Band and Nike Sport Loop. A new Nike Compact watch face is also available which allows for multiple Nike Run Club complications.

watchOS 7
Some more information was announced about watchOS7. New watch face options such as Stripes, Chronograph Pro, GMT and Artist! New health and fitness features was also announced such as low-range VO2 Max, sleep tracking, automatic hand washing detection, and new workout types, can help users better understand overall well-being. 

Family Setup and Optimised Features for the Entire Family
Family Set up in watchOS 7 allows more people to enjoy Apple Watch. Some members may not have an iPhone. So Family Set Up will help with that. Those without an iPhone. Such as the younger or older members of the family. Can benefit from the important health and safety features of Apple Watch, like Emergency SOS, while Maps, Siri, Alarms, and the App Store and all their data is securely encrypted. They even get their own personal phone number, through a seperate cellular plan using their own Apple ID. You can follow their schedule using calendar. Set reminders for them. View photo albums synced from a guardian’s iPhone and more!

Apple Pay

Plus with the new Apple Cash Family, parents can send their kids money to spend on their watch using Apple Pay! Parents can choose to receive notifications when their kids pay and view their child’s purchases in the Wallet on their own iPhone.

Kids are also able to take advantage of the communication and personalisation capabilities, access Emergency SOS, Activity Rings and a new mode for the younger members of the family, Schooltime. Which will help them stay focused and attentive while learning at home or at school.

For the older members of the family, simplified onboarding and configuration processes. A refreshed X-Large face that shows the time and a rich complication at a glance. Health Checklist in the health app on the iPhone. This allows the ability to track whether health features have been enabled in one centralised view.
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Fitness+

Apple also announced a Peloton style Fitness app, called Fitness+. It’s built into the Apple Fitness app, arrives later this year and intelligently incoroporates the metrics from Apple Watch for users to visualise on the iPhone, iPad or Apple Tv. Whilst offering a first of it’s kind workout experience. You can access studio style workouts, taken by world class trainers, alongside your music from Apple Music, whilst viewing your stats from your Apple Watch in the top corner.
The workouts are tuned to you too. You’ll get personalised recommended workouts based on previously completed workouts. So, it will match the workout you select the most and something fresh to help balance your routine. While you may also filter what workouts are most important to you, whether that’s a workout type, the duration of the workout or the type of music you select. Apple Music subscribers can also save the playlists and listen to it at a later date or time!
Fitness Plus is $9.99 P/M or $79.99 Per year.
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Pricing and Availability

  • Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS) starts at £379 and Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS + Cellular) starts at £479
  • Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS) is available to order today from apple.com and in the Apple Store app, with availability beginning Friday, September 18, in the US, Puerto Rico, and 27 other countries and regions.
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Apple September Event 2020
Apple September Event 2020
Apple September Event 2020
Apple September Event 2020

Apple September Event 2020 – Apple Watch SE

Apple Watch SE was also announced. A cheaper more affordable Apple Watch.

It packs all the features you love such as Fall Detection, Noise App, Emergency SOS all into a modern design. All at an affordable price. It features the same accelerometer, gyroscope and always on altimeter as the Apple Watch Series 6.

Apple Watch SE features a retina display with thin borders, curved corners which is 30% larger than Series 3. This allows for large and easy to read app icons and fonts. While fonts and complications are precise and informative. New Watch faces are optimised for the display so users can easily view notifications and text messages.
It has the S5 System in Package and dual core processor. Apple Watch SE delivers fast performance that is up to 2 times as faster than the Apple Watch Series 3. The digital crown has haptic feedback and has the latest speaker and microphone.

Pricing and Availability

  • The Apple Watch SE (GPS) starts at £269 and Apple Watch SE (GPS + Cellular) starts at £319.
  • Apple Watch SE (GPS) is available to order today from apple.com and in the Apple Store app, with availability beginning Friday, September 18, in the US, Puerto Rico, and 27 other countries and regions.
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The Apple September Event 2020 – Apple One

Apple offered a solution that is cheaper and simpler to follow if you like a lot of their subscription services. Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud, and more services in one simple plan

Starting in the fall, customers can pick the right Apple One plan for them so they can save money. All from any Apple device and get more for less:
  • Individual includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage for £14.95 per month.
  • Family includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 200GB of iCloud storage for £19.95 per month, and can be shared among up to six family members.
  • Premier, where available, includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, and 2TB of iCloud storage for £29.95 per month, and can be shared among up to six family members.
You even get a 30 day free trial for any service that customers don’t already have. Users will also only recieve one invoice per month and can change plan at any time. Family and Premier plans allows up to 6 mombers to access all the included services with their own personal accounts and preferences:

Services

With Apple One you can access the following:
  • Apple Music, with over 70 million songs, thousands of playlists, daily selections from the world’s best music experts, the groundbreaking Apple Music radio, and innovative features like time-synced lyrics.
  • TV+, home to Apple Originals from today’s most imaginative and respected creators. Apple TV+ has already earned over 100 awards recognitions, including 18 Emmy nominations, for its originals — more than any other streaming service in its first 10 months.
  • The Apple Arcade, which gives players unlimited access to more than 100 incredibly fun games across iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and Apple TV, all with no ads or in-app purchases.
  • Also Apple News+, which provides premium access to leading newspapers and hundreds of magazines.
  • Apple Fitness+,the first fitness experience built for Apple Watch, arriving later this year. Apple Fitness+ intelligently incorporates metrics from Apple Watch for users to visualise right on their iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, offering a first-of-its-kind personalised workout experience. Everyone from beginners to committed exercisers can access studio-style workouts delivered by inspiring world-class trainers and underscored by motivating music from renowned artists.
  • iCloud, which keeps customers’ photos, videos, files, and more safely stored and available across their devices.

Pricing and Availability

  • Starting this fall, the Apple One Individual and Family plans will be available in over 100 countries and regions. The Premier plan will be available in Australia, Canada, the UK, andthe US, where Apple News+ is available, and Apple Fitness+ will join later this year.
  • Once subscribed, customers can enjoy the services included with Apple One on any platform where the services are available.
  • The Apple One Individual plan offers a savings of almost £6 per month, while the Family plan offers a savings of over £7 per month, and the Premier plan offers a savings of £22 per month. Savings based on standard monthly pricing.

Apple September Event 2020 – iPad 8

Apple announced iPad 8 with the A12 Bionic with Neural Engine, amazing speed for an entry level iPad! It’s £329 and has a 10.2″ Retina display, improved cameras and great all day battery life! Pre-Order right away and it becomes available on Friday 18th September.
The A12 Bionic Chip delivers a 40% faster CPU performance and 2 times the graphics capability. Making the iPad 8, up to 2 times powerful than the top selling Windwos laptop, up to three times faster than the top-selling Android tablet and up to six times faster than the top-selling Chromebook. Also for the first time on iPad, the A12 Bionic introduces the Neural Engine to help with next level machine learning capabilities. Including people occlusion and motion tracking in augmented reality (AR) apps, enhanced photo editing, Siri performance, and more.
Pricing and Availability
  • The new iPad (8th generation) is available to order starting today on apple.com and in the Apple Store app in more than 25 countries and regions, including the US. iPad will be available beginning Friday, September 18, with a starting price of £329 for the Wi-Fi model and £459 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model, and comes in silver, space grey, and gold finishes in 32GB and 128GB configurations.
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Apple September Event 2020 – iPad Air

A brand new iPad Air with A14 Bionic was announced today too. Ir features the same iPad Pro sleek looks, with an all new all screen design. A larger 10.9 inch display, a new 12MP rear camera and next generation Touch ID sensor in the power button!

The new iPad Air also comes in new five finishes. Silver, Space Grey, Rose Gold, Green and Sky Blue. The new screen is a large 10.9″ Retina Display with 3.8M pixels and advanced technologies including full lamination, P3 wide colour support, True Tone and an anti-reflective coating. iPad Air is compatible with the Magic Keyboard, Smart Keyboard Folio and new Smart Folio covers. As well as the Apple Pencil, which can connect magnetically to the side for easy pairing, charging and storing.

Most Powerful iPad Air with A14 Bionic

iPad Air is so powerful with the A14 Bionic. You can now edit 4K videos faster, create artwork, play games and more. IT uses breakthough 5-nanometer process technology with 1.8 billion transistors for increased performance and power. Bringing with it a 40% boost in CPU performance and a new 4-core Neural engine architecture for a 30% boost in graphics performance. The A14 Bionic also includes a new 16-core Neural engine that is twice as fast and can perform up to 11 trillion operations per second. Also A14 Bionic includes 2nd generation machine learning accelerators in the CPU for 10x faster machine learning calculations. So when combined with the CPU learning accelerators, high performance GPU enables for a powerful device for image recognition, natural language learning and  more!

Upgraded Camera and Immersive Audio

iPad Air now features a 12MP rear camera! That is also featured in the iPad Pro for high resolution photos and 4K video capture. It also features stereo speakers in landscape more, elevating the audio experience, allowing users to enjoy wide stereo sound while watching video.

iPad Air now features a USB-C port for up to 5Gbps data transfer, which is 10 times faster,2 for connecting to cameras, hard drives, and external monitors up to 4K.
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Go Electric: Electric Cars….Are you ready??

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It seems as though while electric vehicles may be popular and that they seem attractive to a lot of us. Electric vehicles are still confusing to the majority of UK consumers. As a result many potential customers are not seriously considering an electrified vehicle for a future purchase. This is according to new research* that is commissioned by Ford. Which is part of their UK Wide consumer education roadshow: Go Electric.

New Purchases Aren’t Electric

So, electric vehicles currently only account for about 5%** of total new car sales in the UK. The survey however highlights that there are still barriers before the mainstream adopts it. The apparent lack of appeal for electric vehicles is a reason why nearly half (46%) of Brits say that they don’t intened to buy an electric vehicle in the future. While 21% say that it is likely that they will not consider an electric vehicle in the next 5 years. While 20% say that they will likely only purchase in the next 3-5 years.

Reasons for this is mixed. Anxiety makes up 37% of those surveyed, apparent lack of affordability 53% and worries of charging locations make up 51% of those surveyed.

Furthermore the survey reveals that there is confusion around the tech itself. With 64% of those surveyed correctly identifying that an electric car is a vehicle that has one or more electric motors. Three quarters said that they are not confident in the difference between hybrid and battery electric cars. While 43% say that they don’t know enough about the technology to consider purchasing an electric or electrified vehicle. 29% don’t think the average person is ready to change to battery powered electric vehicles.

Go Electric. 

To help resolve this, Ford have created Go Electric. Go Electric is a consumer education roadshow. That aims to demystify the questions that many of us have about switching to electrified vehicles. Whilst also helping to address consumer concerns around hybrid and electric vehicles. It is an interactive experience designed to teach consumers about CO2 emissions. The future of local Clean Air Zones,  vehicle charging methods and finding the right vehicle for their lifestyle.

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Teaching about Electricity

Helping Ford continue the electric educational journey, technology presenter Georgie Barrat has filmed a preview of the experience. Which is due to return to the road later on this year. The informative video breaks down some of the most misunderstood phrases. Whilst answering some of the biggest questions on electric vehicles.

 “Technology has always been something that excites me but I totally understand that not everyone is at the same stage on their journey. For me, it’s all about making things easy for anyone to understand. There is no need for fancy language when something instead can be made simple to grasp. That’s why I was so excited to work with Ford on the Go Electric campaign and help make electrification accessible to everyone!” Commenting on Go Electric, Georgie Barrat

“While the move to electrification is gathering pace, there’s no mistaking that this is a huge task ahead of us that will require fundamental efforts to ensure consumers are taken on the journey, and the first step is understanding what their options are. Our roadshow will help demystify electrified vehicle options for all of our customers and give them all they need to make the right choice to fit their lives.”

Cont..

Beyond this, a range of stakeholders – including national and local government, energy providers and vehicle manufacturers – need to come together with a unified goal if we are to meet the electrification challenge. Given the size and scale of what we want to achieve in the UK, we need to kick-start this process. A fast start could include the creation of a specific senior role in government to help coordinate a comprehensive electrification strategy for the UK – a “Minister for Electrification” who can work cross-functionally across government and with the various stakeholders.

Ford has always sought to democratise vehicles and technologies and now we intend to do the same for electrification. “ Andy Barratt, Managing Director at Ford of Britain

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Notes:

*Source: Survey of 2,000 UK Adults conducted by 3GEM Research & Insights in August 2020

** Source: Latest SMMT figures for market share: https://www.smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/car-registrations/

So, to learn more about electrification and find out when Go Electric will be back on tour head here. Furthermore, go to any Ford dealer for full information on Ford’s electrified products.

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GioTeck TX-50 x GioTeck WX-4

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GioTeck TX-50

The GioTeck TX-50 is a brand new headset, that’s of premium build quality and of premium design. Do you usually buy a headset more than once because all of a sudden it breaks? Through no fault of your own? Well this is where the GioTeck TX-50 comes into play. It’s designed with you the gamer in mind. Everything was designed with you the gamer in mind. The premium gaming headset is robust, tactile and comfortable to use for extended play. It has super soft alacantra cushioning for extreme comfort. Perforated steel cups a rubberised finish all over and large 50mm drivers so you can hear everything!!!

We don’t think you’ll find a better quality headset in this price bracket! (£20-30)

GioTeck WX-4

This controller is designed specifically for the Nintendo Switch. Levelling you up from the controller that comes with the Switch itself. It’s a premium bluetooth (also wired) controller that allows you with even more gaming control than before. It has an ergonomic traditional pro-controller feel to it, allowing you to game for hours in comfort. The WX4 offers the ultimate in Nintendo Switch gaming control. With a traditional button layout and LED’s for power and player number you’ll never want to go back to your old controller!

So, purchase your own here:

GioTeck WX-4

GioTeck TX-50

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Selfie

Selfie Editing: The most popular apps for Brits!

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Us Brits like to edit our photos. With just 29% of us posting a photo online without editing it. While London is the capital for those who edit their photos, with 81% of Londoners opting to not post a photo without touching it up. While Scotland has a slightly less number with 81% of people editing photos before uploading them. 35% of people touch up their bums in photos before posting them and 33% edit their lips. Furthermore 78% of us prefer using the editing features on Instagram, with Facetune coming in 2nd at 71%. That’s a LOT of selfie editing!

Selfies

In 2014 Google Analytics found out that we take around 93 million selfies per day. While there isn’t a study to find out how many we take in 2020, it most likely is going to be more.

However, taking the selfie is just the beginning of social media activity. As there is now selfie editing. Case24.com conducted a study that only 29% of Brits would post a picture without editing it.

Case24’s study analysed the editing habits of us before uploading, they asked 3,064 peopel in the UK whether they post an unedited photo of themselves. The results found which areas in the UK where people are more likely to share unedited pictures of themselves online.

Which areas?

There are actually some areas in the UK where people don’t post completely natural photos. The area where this is most likely to happen, (81%) is London. With Scotland (77%) coming in at second, with the North West of the country where only 25% of people would post an unedited photo coming in third.

Yet the North East as a high percentage of people who would feel comfortable posting an unedited photo online (45%). People from the South West don’t edit as much either (41%) and would post an unedited photo.

Which part of the Selfie do we edit the most?

Furthermore, Case24.com found out which body parts Brits edit the most. 54% of those surveyed liked changing imperfections on their skin. Face Shape (47%) is also another area that we like to edit. Saying they edit details like a sharper jawline or higher cheeks.

46% say they don’t like their arms and eyes also (42%) are edited a lot. 35% of people edit their bums and 33% edit their lips. While 24% of people edit their legs.

Which Selfie Apps do we use?

78% of those surveyed like to use the editing features built into Instagram before sharing a pic online. With Facetune coming in, in 2nd place (71%) to edit their selfies. With data from the Guardian showing that the app was downloaded 20M times in 2018! While VSCO, Layout, Photo Editor and Paintshop Pro were also some of the apps used by over 50% of the respondents.

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