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- iOS 12 is Apple's most boring update in years, and I'm totally OK with that
- Apple's New Features Take Aim at Facebook
- Intel just showed how it can substantially increase laptop battery life
| iOS 12 is Apple's most boring update in years, and I'm totally OK with that Posted: 05 Jun 2018 06:58 AM PDT Apple holds a few different events each year, but there’s no question whatsoever when it comes to which two events are the company’s most important. The big one is obviously Apple’s iPhone event that takes place toward the end of the summer each year, during which new iPhone models and other new products are unveiled for the first time. And of course Apple’s WWDC keynote is the second big one, since the world gets its first taste of Apple’s next-generation software platforms that will power all of its hardware products come September. I covered WWDC 2018 plenty on Monday, and I also covered iOS 12 since it was obviously the most important new release detailed during Apple’s keynote. I didn’t share any opinions of iOS 12 though, because I wanted to take some time to fully digest it first. Apple fans and Apple critics alike seemed decidedly unimpressed with iOS 12, and there was plenty of talk after the WWDC keynote suggesting people think it’s a boring update. Is iOS 12 really as boring as people have been saying? Or is that just a knee-jerk reaction from people who didn’t take the time to fully digest everything Apple announced on Monday morning? I have now spent plenty of time combing through everything Apple announced on Monday, as well as all the new iOS 12 features Apple didn’t talk about on stage. I also installed iOS 12 on my own iPhone and spent some time playing with it. After all that, I can conclusively state the following: iOS 12 is by far Apple’s most boring software update in years. It might be Apple’s most boring iOS update ever. Now let’s talk about why that’s a good thing. It’s no secret that iOS 11 has been a complete mess for Apple. It’s not the travesty that whiny anti-Apple bloggers would have you believe, of course, but there’s no question that Apple made some big mistakes in iOS 11. It has had more security holes, annoying bugs, and performance issues than any version of iOS from recent history, and many of those problems still exist in iOS 11.3 and iOS 11.4 now, more than 8 months after the software’s initial release. We learned many months ago that performance and overall user experience were going to be Apple’s main points of focus in iOS 12. In fact, insider reports stated that Apple decided to delay the addition of several big new features in iOS 12 and push them back to subsequent releases, or maybe even until next year’s iOS 13 update. This way, Apple’s various iOS engineering teams could focus on improving performance in iOS and on refining the user experience, rather than on integrating complex new features. Of course, there are still some great new features that Apple has added to its iPhone and iPad lineups in iOS 12. Like many other iOS device users, many of my favorite changes in iOS 12 relate to notifications. iPhone users have been complaining about Apple’s terrible notification system for years, but the company has been stubborn until now. iOS 12 doesn’t solve all of people’s problems with iOS notifications, but there’s no question that it addresses most of the biggest issues. Here are some bullet points from Apple’s website:
Grouped notifications is the big one, and it’ll go a long way to helping people like me who used to wake up to find a seemingly endless list of chronological notifications on their lock screens. Instant Tuning is another new feature that will have a big impact on the user experience moving forward. The new augmented reality features Apple showed off on stage during its WWDC 2018 keynote were also fantastic. A universal file format for 3D objects has far-reaching implications, and ARKit 2 introduces new features that will have a huge impact on the AR experience for end users. For example, the new scene reflection feature will result in far more realistic AR, allowing virtual devices on the screen to actually reflect real-world objects around them. And the biggest thing for me is definitely the introduction of multiuser AR experiences. With this new feature of ARKit 2, developers can create AR experiences that allow multiple people to see the same virtual objects from different vantage points. It’s going to be incredible, and I can’t wait to see what developers cook up with the new AR tools available in iOS 12. With all that having been said, new features still aren’t the star of the show in iOS 12. Bug fixes, stability updates, and performance improvements were clearly the main areas Apple chose to address in iOS 12. And you know what? I couldn’t be happier. iOS 11 has been holding Apple’s devices back, preventing them from realizing their full potential. Think about how crazy it is that Apple’s latest iPhones absolutely wipe the floor with every Android device on the planet in terms of power, and yet recent Android phones like the Galaxy S9 and OnePlus 6 outperform Apple’s iPhone X in real-world speed tests. This is due to RAM management problems and other issues in iOS 11, but they should finally be addressed in iOS 12. Now, let’s be careful to not overstate things with iOS 12. I’ve jokingly been referring to it as “iOS 11.5” with other people at BGR, but in reality it’s a very big update. There are plenty of new features in addition to all the things going on behind the scenes that help improve performance. It’s also fantastic that iOS 12 is going to breathe new life into older iOS devices like the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6, and even old iPad models like the iPad Air and iPad mini 2. Incredibly, there isn’t a single iOS device that will be made obsolete by iOS 12 — every single device compatible with iOS 11 will also be compatible with iOS 12. iOS devices new and old will see big improvements where performance is concerned. But in terms of groundbreaking, innovative new features, iOS 12 is lacking. There’s no doubt about it. But seriously, there’s nothing wrong with that this year. Apple just released an iPhone that completely reimagines the smartphone experience, and the rest of Apple’s iPhone lineup will follow suit later this year. The iPad will also be reimagined in a few months when Apple introduces a new version with Face ID and no home button. Hardware is the focus now when it comes to big changes, so I’m perfectly happy with new software that focuses on evolution instead of revolution. Once the dust settles and everyone actually starts to use iOS 12 following its release this coming September, I think most people will agree with me. |
| Apple's New Features Take Aim at Facebook Posted: 05 Jun 2018 07:18 AM PDT At its annual developers conference, Apple revealed Screen Time, a new feature that allows users to monitor and limit their app usage on the iPhone and iPad. Photo: Getty Images Apple Inc. AAPL 0.74% this week took more jabs at Facebook Inc. FB 0.11% over its privacy practices. But this time the iPhone maker went one step further, signaling it plans to encroach on the social-media company’s turf. As it touted its newest operating software for the mobile devices on Monday, Apple unveiled forthcoming features that collectively bear the hallmarks of a social-media business. There are tools to make it easier to share photos with friends, a group video-chat service for up to 32 people and the capability to play augmented-reality games among friends. At the same time, Apple introduced new privacy tools in its Safari browser that will limit the personal data that apps like Facebook can collect. The target was clear: Several images in Apple’s presentation or marketing material used Facebook or its app Instagram as examples of what to limit. The combination of social media and privacy offerings amounted to “shots across the bow” at Facebook, said Daniel Ives, head of technology research for research firm GBH Insights. As iPhone growth slows, he said Apple is clearly looking to make the device more attractive with software features that wed people to the device. “Facebook should have one eye open.” A Facebook spokesman declined to comment. Facebook has been embroiled in a privacy controversy for months related to how outside developers obtained and potentially mishandled user data. In response, Facebook has more tightly restricted the data that outside apps can access and has suspended at least 200 apps it suspects of having misused user data shared on or through Facebook, and it is reviewing thousands more apps. Apple, meanwhile, has seized on the privacy scandal by contrasting its business, which derives two-thirds of sales from the iPhone, with Facebook’s ad-based model that sells marketers detailed profiles of users. In a 2.5-hour keynote, Apple showed some interesting—and not so interesting—features coming to the iPhone and iPad. WSJ's Joanna Stern and David Pierce recap the ones that matter. Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press Apple added to the public heat in March when Chief Executive Tim Cook told MSNBC that his company would never be in the same situation as Facebook. “We care about the user experience, and we’re not going to traffic in your personal life,” Mr. Cook said. “I think it’s an invasion of privacy.” Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg called those comments “extremely glib,” and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg at a conference last week said she “respectfully disagrees” with Mr. Cook’s critique. Behind Apple’s barbs is an expanding digital-ad business that aims to distribute advertising across various apps. Apple delivered nearly $1 billion in revenue last year by selling promotional ads for search terms in its App Store, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Apple’s efforts to protect consumers’ privacy mean its ad business collects far less data on users than peers, analysts say. Now it is seeking to limit the way Facebook and other apps track and collect that data across Apple devices. “We’ve all seen these ‘like’ buttons and ‘share’ buttons,” Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi told the audience at its annual developers’ conference in San Jose on Monday. “Well it turns out, these can be used to track you, whether you click on them or not. And so this year, we are shutting that down.” As Mr. Federighi demonstrated the software, an image blown up in back of him displayed the web-browser prompt, “Do you want to allow ‘facebook.com’ to use cookies and website data while browsing” a website? Apple targeted Facebook in other ways. Earlier in the presentation, Mr. Federighi showed how the software will let users limit their time on apps, using Instagram as the example to restrict usage. And Apple’s new iOS marketing page prominently displays the Facebook app as part of a new tool to reduce notifications. At its annual developers conference, Apple revealed Screen Time, a new feature that allows users to monitor and limit their app usage on the iPhone and iPad. Photo: Getty Images Apple’s new social features reflect how the iPhone maker is indirectly elbowing into an arena long dominated by a tech peer. The company previously launched a music-oriented, social-networking feature called Ping on iTunes that lasted two years before shutting down in 2012 because it failed to gain users. A new tool in Apple’s Photo app will automatically suggest which photos and who to share them with, say, after a dinner with friends. The friends will then be encouraged to share the photos back with iPhone users. Mr. Federighi said the process, which relies on machine learning, is “private” because it uses end-to-end encryption.  Mr. Federighi demonstrating group FaceTime at the 2018 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose on Monday. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The company also said it was adding filters to its camera inside its messaging service and expanding its FaceTime video chat service so that multiple people can talk at once. Facebook has long offered filters and group video chats. The social features coming this fall in Apple’s next software release, known as iOS 12, show how the company is looking to bring more exclusive social experiences to its devices as it tries to boost iPhone retention, said Gene Munster, managing partner with research-focused venture-capital firm Loup Ventures. “Apple has been nibbling at the social angle for a while and haven’t had a ton of obvious progress, but now they have a window because an avenue has been opened around privacy,” Mr. Munster said. Roger Kay, an analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates, said Facebook shouldn’t feel too threatened because Apple’s push to add social features faces a huge obstacle: The iPhone only has a 15% share of the global smartphone market. As a result, many people at a group dinner like the one Mr. Federighi described are likely to run into a situation where at least one person at the gathering has a phone powered by Google’s Android system. “If even one of those people couldn’t do it, it wouldn’t work,” Mr. Kay said. “You can get a Facebook client on any device.” Write to Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com |
| Intel just showed how it can substantially increase laptop battery life Posted: 05 Jun 2018 07:45 AM PDT  Intel offered an intriguing proposition at this year’s Computex show: How would you like to increase your laptop’s battery life by around 50 percent? That’s a question that few would answer in the negative and it could be the case for a number of new-generation notebooks in the near future, as Intel has already partnered with Sharp and Innolux to produce the new 1W LCD panels that make it a reality. The biggest drain on any notebook is almost always the display. That’s why we so often recommend 1080P panels over the 4K alternative. With Intel’s new design though, that may no longer be the case. While it does add the caveat that the most battery savings will be in systems equipped with Intel HD graphics, rather than AMD or Nvidia graphics chips, the promise of such battery life extensions is certainly compelling. It would be a bit of an ask to have journalists wait out the many hours it would take to drain a laptop battery on stage, but Intel did bring along a Dell XPS 13 fitted with the new Low Power Display Technology to Computex. It suggested that the already impressive battery life — 13 hours in our video loop test — could be extended by between four and eight hours depending on usage, as per The Verge. As Intel suggests, this new technology’s effectiveness will depend heavily on how the system is being used. It doesn’t matter how efficient your screen is if you have it in standby while the CPU is grinding away at encoding a video. The limitations on graphics hardware are also a little disappointing, but then we want our gaming displays to be bright and colorful, unlike some of the budget gaming laptops out there. If we can have a new generation of mainstream 2-in-1s and lightweight laptops that can suddenly have more than a day’s charge, color us intrigued. Perhaps we’ll even see a new generation of laptops that fit these displays with smaller batteries to maintain existing uptime but cut down on weight and size even further. While it seems unlikely that any improvement seen by this kind of battery-boosting technology will lead to manufacturers being any less dishonest about the capabilities of their laptop’s batteries, it is at least a new recommendation we can add to our guide on how to improve your laptop battery life. |
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