Posts tagged with "iPhone X"

Logitech Announces New Wireless Qi Charger

Logitech has announced that later this month, it will debut a wireless Qi charger called the Logitech Powered that the company designed in collaboration with Apple.

The charger delivers 7.5W of power, is vertically-oriented, and will work with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X, which sit in the charger’s U-shaped cradle. Logitech says that the iPhone doesn’t need to be precisely placed in the dock to charge. An iPhone will also charge even if set in landscape mode across the top of the cradle. Although Logitech’s press release says the Powered will be sold for $69.99, its website currently offers the charger for pre-order for $79.99.

I’ve been using a vertical Qi charger for about a month and love how well it works with Face ID, which makes it easy to check something quickly on my iPhone when I’m at my desk. Although it’s on the pricey end of the spectrum, the ability of the Powered to charge in portrait or landscape and its vertical orientation makes it a tempting addition to a desk, countertop, or nightstand.

The Logitech Powered will be available at Apple Stores and directly from Logitech, where it can be pre-ordered now.

Snapchat Debuts Exclusive iPhone X Lens Filters→

At last September’s iPhone event at Apple Park, Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of software engineering, used Snapchat to show how the iPhone X’s True Depth camera and ARKit could create realistic camera filters. Today, those filters finally launched with an update to Snapchat’s iOS app, which is featured in the Today section of the App Store.

Craig Federighi demonstrating Snapchat Lens filters in September 2017

Craig Federighi demonstrating Snapchat Lens filters in September 2017

The update includes the two filters demoed by Federighi during the keynote, as well as a masquerade ball Lens. The advantage of using the True Depth camera and ARKit is that the filters can track your face better than other Snapchat Lenses and account for the lighting in the room, providing realistic highlights and shadows.

The new filters are available now without updating Snapchat’s app. If you long press the screen with the selfie camera enabled, the new lenses are currently the first three listed.

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Apple Promotes Face ID with a Video That Asks What if You Could Open Anything by Looking at It?

A new tongue-in-cheek ad from Apple highlighting the power of Face ID has been published on YouTube. The ad begins with a girl walking through the halls of a high school who looks startled when she unlocks her iPhone X by looking at it. Next, she looks at a locker in the hallway that unlocks too, spilling its contents onto the floor. From there, the girl runs through the school unlocking and opening everything in sight, wreaking havoc to the beat of Bang Bang by Pete Cannon, a single that was released on Apple Music today.

The video is fun way of promoting Face ID by imagining what it would be like if you could unlock anything with just a glance.

Motherboard Offers Inside Look at iFixit’s iPhone X Journey→

After several years of inquiries, Jason Koebler and the team at Motherboard were granted permission last November to follow iFixit on its journey of tearing down the latest iPhone. Video of that job, which included a plane ride from California to Australia for the iPhone X’s launch, is now available.

iFixit is best known for its commitment to tearing down new tech as soon as it becomes available, but as the video documents, the company’s primary mission is to equip people to repair their devices. Whether you’ve followed iFixit’s work in the past or not, the video is a fascinating look into the efforts that fuel each device teardown.

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New iOS Apps Must Be Built with iOS 11 SDK and Support iPhone X Display Starting in April→

Juli Clover, writing for MacRumors:

Apple today sent out a notice to developers letting them know that starting in April of 2018, all new apps submitted to the App Store must be built using the iOS 11 SDK, which is included in Xcode 9 or later.

Furthermore, Apple says that all new apps designed for the iPhone, including universal apps, must support the iPhone X’s Super Retina display.

“Must be built”, unfortunately, doesn’t mean apps have to support new features like drag and drop. Speaking of which, I don’t think supporting the native resolution of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is a requirement yet, and the device launched in November 2015.

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Apple Animoji Karaoke Videos Showcase iPhone X Feature in Advance of Grammys

Apple has embraced the phenomenon of Animoji karaoke. Specifically called out in the iOS 11.3 preview press release earlier this week, Apple followed up today with two fantastic videos on its YouTube channel.

One video features Stir Fry by Migos sung by the dog Animoji backed by the smiling poo Animoji.

The other video features Redbone by Childish Gambino with the alien Animoji on lead vocals backed by the rainbow unicorn.

Both videos are fun pairings of Grammy-nominated artists and Animoji, the animated emoji feature that is exclusive to the iPhone X. Migos’ album, Culture, is nominated for Best Rap Album of 2017, and Redbone by Childish Gambino is up for Record of the Year. According to Ad Week, the two videos will air during the Grammys on Sunday, January 28th.

Almost as amusing as the videos themselves is the fine print at the end of each video that says ‘Animoji feature records up to 10 seconds. Professionally animated.’ I’d love to see Animoji recording extended beyond 10 seconds and added to an app like Clips, to make it easier for users to create karaoke videos of their own and eliminate the need for Apple to add a disclaimer to its videos.

Apple Announces iOS 11.3 with ARKit 1.5, New Animoji, Health Records, Music Videos, and More

In a press release, Apple today announced iOS 11.3, the third major update to iOS 11 set to be released in beta for developers later today, and launching to the general public this Spring. iOS 11.3 will improve upon iOS 11 and features that debuted alongside the iPhone X with new Animoji, a major upgrade to ARKit, the ability to store health records in the Health app, plus other improvements for built-in system apps.

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No Cutting Corners on the iPhone X→

Brad Ellis on the very special corners of the iPhone X:

Here’s where the nerd part comes in, iPhone X rounded screen corners don’t use the classic rounding method where you move in a straight line and then arc using a single quadrant of a circle. Instead, the math is a bit more complicated. Commonly called a squircle, the slope starts sooner, but is more gentle.

And:

Now let’s talk about the notch itself. The left and right sides have two rounded corners. Because of the curve falloff, one curve doesn’t complete before the next one starts — they blend seamlessly into each other. As a result, no tangent line on this edge actually hits a perfect vertical.

I love this type of design details. Almost three months later, sometimes I still stop and stare at the screen on my iPhone X to realize what a marvelous feat of industrial design and engineering it is.

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Reverse-Engineering the iPhone X Home Indicator Color→

Nathan Gitter:

I noticed an unusual behavior of the iPhone X home indicator while working on my most recent app. The app’s background near the home indicator is purple. When the app launches, the home indicator is very light gray.

But something odd happened when I pressed the app’s “share” button, which opened a default iOS activity view (aka “share sheet”). When I hit the “cancel” button to close the activity view, the home indicator animated to a dark gray color.

Home indicator starts light, then a share sheet passing makes it dark.

Even though the background color was exactly the same, the light-colored activity view passing underneath caused the home indicator to change color. The only way to get the home indicator back to its original color was to leave the app and come back.

I had never seen this before, and it prompted my curiosity.

Fascinating study of the iPhone X’s Home indicator behavior. I had no idea that the indicator adapted to background color changes within the bar itself. Don’t miss the second (and more technical) half of the story with Gitter’s detailed color tests.

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