Technology - Google News

Amazon updates the Fire HD 10 with a faster processor and USB-C - Circuit Breaker
Apple References Unreleased Sleep App for Apple Watch - MacRumors
Use these iPhone 11 camera features to take better photos - CNET

Amazon updates the Fire HD 10 with a faster processor and USB-C - Circuit Breaker

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 06:00 AM PDT

The biggest member of Amazon's line of Fire tablets is getting an update: a refreshed Fire HD 10 tablet. It will keep the same 10.1-inch screen and overall design but overhauls the internals with a new processor, better battery life, and, in a first for an Amazon hardware product, USB-C for fast charging.

Amazon says that the new Fire HD 10 is now 30 percent faster, thanks to a new processor, and it offers 20 percent better battery life, which are big improvements over the old model, if those numbers hold up in the real world. There's also "enhanced" Wi-Fi, and microSD storage has been expanded to a maximum of 512GB (up from 200GB on the older model). Lastly, Amazon has finally added USB-C to one of its tablets for the first time, which, in addition to being far more convenient to charge, also enables fast charging on the Fire HD 10. There are also some new colors — twilight blue, plum, and white — in addition to the standard black.

On the software side of things, Amazon isn't changing much. It'll still run the same customized version of Android as Amazon's other tablets, although the company is using the launch to roll out a new picture-in-picture mode that will allow you to keep watching video content while in other apps. Right now, only a few apps are supported (like Amazon's own Prime Video app and Netflix), but more should add support over time. The new feature will launch with the Fire HD 10, but it'll make its way to the entire lineup in a future software update.

The Fire HD 10 Kids Edition, Amazon's child-friendly bundle, now offers a new case (similar to the Fire HD 7 Kids Edition), which features a built-in adjustable stand for easily propping up the tablet. The rest of the Kids Edition perks are still the same: a two-year extended replacement program and a free year of Amazon's hand-curated FreeTime service, which offers thousands of premium apps, books, and TV shows and movies for kids as well as advanced parental controls for monitoring and limiting time spent in front of a screen.

One thing Amazon isn't changing is the price: the new Fire HD 10 will start at the same $149 as the old model, or $199 for the Kids Edition. Both products will ship on October 30th, with preorders starting today.

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Apple References Unreleased Sleep App for Apple Watch - MacRumors

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 05:19 AM PDT

MacRumors reader Daniel Marcinkowski has uncovered a reference to an unreleased Sleep app for the Apple Watch.

In the App Store listing for Apple's preinstalled Alarms app on the Apple Watch, there is a screenshot of an unreleased version of the Alarms app with a "Sleep" label and fine print that reads "set your Bedtime and wake up in the Sleep app."

Similar functionality is available on the iPhone through the Bedtime tab of the Clocks app.

There is no Sleep app or references to a Sleep app in the Alarms app on watchOS 6.0.1 or watchOS 6.1 beta, but MacRumors uncovered evidence of Apple working on a Sleep app for the Apple Watch in an internal build of iOS 13 last month, so Apple likely shared this screenshot too early by accident.

The new Sleep app on the Apple Watch will provide users with an overview of their sleeping patterns, as well as send users bedtime and battery charging reminders. Apple Watch users will be recommended to have at least 30 percent of battery life to wear it to sleep, according to an iOS 13 string seen by MacRumors.

Apple's sleep tracking functionality is referred to as "Time in Bed tracking" based on internal iOS 13 code, with one string noting that "you can also track your sleep and get woken up silently by wearing your watch to bed."

When released, the Sleep app may have a dedicated watch face available, according to the internal iOS 13 build.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman was first to report that Apple was testing sleep tracking on the Apple Watch. Back in February, he said Apple plans to roll out the feature by 2020 if the testing is deemed successful. This follows Apple's acquisition of the iPhone-connected sleep tracking accessory Beddit in 2017.

Did I just find a mention of the unannounced Sleep app for the Apple Watch? 🤔 https://t.co/J41JlCIyPI pic.twitter.com/4gor3I8AuL
— Daniel Marcinkowski (@dmarcinkowski_) October 7, 2019

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Use these iPhone 11 camera features to take better photos - CNET

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 03:30 AM PDT

iphone-11-pro-max-11 — The iPhone 11 and 11 Pro have a lot of new camera features.
Óscar Gutiérrez/CNET

No matter which of Apple's 2019 iPhone lineup you got -- the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro or 11 Pro Max -- their biggest upgrades are to the cameras.

All three models gained an extra camera sensor on the back, bringing the iPhone 11's total camera count to two, and the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max's collection to three. But the improvements don't stop at hardware alone. All new iPhones have expanded software capabilities that make for photos sharp enough to rival even those from the best low-light champ (in fact, the iPhone 11's night mode blows us away).

Thankfully, taking pictures with the new iPhones is just as easy as it's always been on previous iPhones, but you can get more out of them if you just know where to look.

Video: We compare the cameras on the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone XS

Quick settings are still there

The next time you want to take a group photo with your iPhone and use the built-in timer, you may have a hard time finding the toggle. Apple moved the settings toggles for things like the timer and filters because, well, they aren't used all that often. I personally like the clean look, but at some point, you'll surely need to make an adjustment before you take a picture.

To view all of the toggles, tap on the arrow that's at the top of the screen if you're holding your iPhone vertically. The arrow will change directions and reveal the various toggles -- flash, live photos, aspect ratio, timer and filters -- and you tap the button again to hide them once you're done. Alternatively, you can also swipe across the viewfinder to reveal the toggles.

iphone-11-settings-toggles — Your quick settings are still there.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Push Night Mode to its limits

Using the iPhone 11's new Night Mode is something you really don't have to think about. Whenever your iPhone determines there's not enough light available, the Night Mode icon (it looks like a moon with a few lines through it) will show up next to the arrow button. If it's yellow, that means Night Mode is active.

The button will also display a length of time, such as "1s," (one second) indicating how long it will take to capture the photo, which means that's how long you'll have to hold still after pressing the shutter button.

iphone-11-night-mode — Adjust Night Mode, including turn it off, by moving the slider up or down.
Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET

When taking a Night Mode photo, you're not left at the mercy of your iPhone. You can adjust or turn off Night Mode by tapping on the Night Mode icon, and then moving the slider next to the shutter button. Set it to 0 to disable Night Mode for the next photo, or adjust the amount of time to increase or decrease the amount of light Night Mode captures.

For example, if you move the timer from 2s to 9s, then your iPhone is going to capture an overall brighter picture, at the risk of overexposure. On the flip side, if you go from 5s to 1s, the end result will likely be a darker photo.

Play around with Night Mode by making those adjustments and have some fun with it.

Fine-tune the zoom

The next time you're at a concert and want to get a closer picture of Taylor Swift, or want to make sure you capture your kid's adorable costume during a school play, take advantage off all three cameras and their respective levels of zoom.

The iPhone 11 has an ultrawide-angle camera and a wide camera. The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max have the same two cameras, along with a telephoto camera. All three cameras are 12 megapixels each.

Regardless of which iPhone you have, the main camera is the wide camera, or the option that's labeled "1x" in the camera app. If you want to switch between cameras, you can tap on the zoom option -- either .5x or 2x. Your iPhone's viewfinder will immediately zoom in or out.

iphone-11-zoom — Scroll up or down to zoom in and out using the iPhone 11's new camera setup.
Jason Cipriani/CNET

But you can fine-tune just how far you want to zoom, in either direction, by long-pressing on the zoom level and then dragging the zoom tool. You can zoom anywhere from 0.5x to 10x by using the new zoom wheel.

Just keep in mind that if you select something other than the three fixed cameras -- 0.5x, 1x, 2x -- your photo quality may suffer due to the camera digitally zooming, instead of using the fixed focal lengths of built-in cameras.

Zoom out on photos, after the fact

All three iPhone 11 models have an ultrawide-angle camera that can be used to take some pretty dramatic photos. But there's a hidden feature that the ultrawide camera enables: It can be used to zoom out on a photo you capture with the wide or telephoto lenses -- after you've taken it.

In other words, if you were taking a group photo, but snapped the picture without everyone in the frame and didn't realize it until later, you can go into the Photos app and use the crop tool to zoom out, bringing the person back into the shot.

outside-of-frame-iphone-11 — On the left is the photo I captured. On the right, is the photo the iPhone 11 captured with the added outside-of-the-frame information.
Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET

To use this feature, you'll need to open the Settings app and select Camera. Scroll down and turn on Photo Capture Outside the Frame. Any information that's captured outside the frame that you end up not using will be deleted after 30 days.

I'll admit, right now this feature is really confusing. Some photos I capture show the square-star icon, indicating that more information is available outside of the frame, but when I try to zoom out on the photo, there's nothing there. Other photos, like the one shown above, have a lot more to them.

I haven't figured out what's going on, and it feels like a bug in iOS 13, but maybe not! I've contacted Apple, and will add more information once I have it.

If you're just getting started with your iPhone 11, there's a really easy way to set it up. Once it's set up, these are the first five things you should do. And then, you should probably get caught up on everything iOS 13 adds to the equation to make the iPhone 11 a truly powerful phone.

Originally published earlier this week.

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