Technology - Google News

Apple is reopening more stores but you'll need a face mask to enter - Engadget
People are really upset by the idea of this future iPhone change, and rightly so - ZDNet
Google Pixel 5 and Google Pixel 4a price possibly leak - Android Authority

Apple is reopening more stores but you'll need a face mask to enter - Engadget

Posted: 18 May 2020 02:30 AM PDT

CHARLESTON, SC - MAY 13: An employee at the Apple Store helps a customer on May 13, 2020 in Charleston, South Carolina. Customers had their temperatures taken and were required to wear masks at the South Carolina store, as locations in Idaho, Alabama, and Alaska reopened as well following forced closures due to the coronavirus. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) — Sean Rayford via Getty Images

Apple is set to open 25 more stores in the US and 12 in Canada, but be prepared to follow strict COVID-19 guidelines if you want to enter. For one thing, face masks will be required and will be provided if you don't have one. Temperature checks will also be conducted at the door, and "posted health questions will screen for those with symptoms — like cough or fever — or who have had recent exposure to someone infected with COVID‑19," Apple wrote in its store opening letter.

Last month, Apple closed all its stores due to the coronavirus pandemic and only started reopening them last week in Idaho, South Carolina, Alabama and Alaska. The company said it evaluated data like local COVID-19 cases, along with "near and long-term trends and guidance from national and local health officials." It added that stores could close just as quickly as they reopened if dictated by local conditions.

Stores will offer Apple pickup to allow customers to buy online and pickup the product at a designated time, along with Genius Bar appointments by reservation. Some will also offer only curbside or storefront service, so you'll need to check the local website for each location. Apple is also enforcing steps like social distancing and will use a full-time janitorial staff to clean the stores every hour. Products submitted to the Genius bar will be cleaned thoroughly at intake and pickup.

The 25 stores will open in seven states, according to 9to5Mac, including in California, Washington, Florida, Colorado, Hawaii and Oklahoma. It's also set to open 12 stores across Canada and 10 in Italy.

In this article: Apple, stores, reopening, face mask, temperature check, Apple Store, COVID-19, coronavirus, news, gear

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People are really upset by the idea of this future iPhone change, and rightly so - ZDNet

Posted: 18 May 2020 01:40 AM PDT

Last week I wrote about how it's very likely that in 2021 Apple will release an iPhone that doesn't have a Lightning port.

I thought the majority of people wouldn't care. I was wrong.

I've had more emails and social media comments about this that anything else I've written about this year. And every comment said the same thing -- don't take away my Lightning port.

Not one person who responded was happy about the change. I found that itself very interesting.

Note: I've had so many emails and comments about this that while I've read every one, I've not had the time to be able to respond. Thank you for getting in touch, and sorry I've not been able to respond to each of you personally.

Now, people are, on the whole, open to change, but some changes seem to cause excessive friction. Thinking just about the iPhone, changes like moving from the 30-pin connector to the Lightning port, making the handset bigger, removing the headphone jack, and replacing Touch ID with Face ID all generated resistance.

But that was nothing like the resistance that exists around taking away the Lightning port.

Must read: Five minutes to a faster iPhone or Android smartphone

Having gone through all the comments, I've distilled them down into three main points of resistance:

In-car usage
Accessories
Backing up

Let's look at each of these in turn.

In-car usage

Two things were a place of concern here -- charging while driving and CarPlay. Wireless in-car chargers exist, and there's the range that goes from budget to quality, so that's not a massive issue.

But CarPlay is an issue, and right now, I'm not sure how Apple will overcome this. And given how expensive cars are, I can understand why people are worried about this. A car is a pretty big and pretty expensive iPhone accessory.

A wireless dongle of sorts to solve the problem seems possible, but I can see how this is a concern to people.

I'm certain that Apple would have a solution to this, but as yet, I don't know what this would look like.

Accessories

Yeah, I remember the same thing when we switched from the 30-pin port to Lightning. Apple made an adapter for that, so it wouldn't surprise me if we saw something similar here, but a wireless solution.

If you prefer wired headphones, then yeah, I feel your pain.

Backing up

A lot of readers still back up to a Mac or PC using a cable connection because it is faster and more reliable, especially if they have a lot of photos or videos to move.

The bottom line

I feel your pain. Change is change, and a change like this is inevitably going to generate some friction.

It's worth remembering that Apple is likely to only drop the Lightning port on the higher-priced iPhone model, and not drop it completely. Much as with Touch ID, I expect the Lightning port to be around for a few years, and not vanish overnight. This will allow the ecosystem to adapt and adjust gradually to the change.

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Google Pixel 5 and Google Pixel 4a price possibly leak - Android Authority

Posted: 18 May 2020 08:04 AM PDT

60 minutes ago

We are only a few weeks away now from the supposed launch date of the first Pixel phone for 2020. However, we might already have a solid idea of what the Google Pixel 4a price could be. In addition, we might even have an idea of the starting price of the Google Pixel 5.

A user on Reddit received a Google survey asking about phone pricing. You can see the image below, which tasks the user with choosing between two Pixel phones and giving them basic descriptions of each:

Google Pixel 5 and Google Pixel 4a price leak

The first phone (on the left) is almost certainly referring to the Google Pixel 4a price and basic description. The phone is expected to have a plastic construction, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a sub-$400 price. However, $349 is an even lower price than we initially expected for the phone, since the Google Pixel 3a starts at $399.

If the phone on the left suggests the Google Pixel 4a price and other features, the phone on the right almost certainly refers to the upcoming Google Pixel 5. Interestingly, the survey refers to that device starting at $699, which is $100 cheaper than the entry-tier price of the Google Pixel 4 and the Google Pixel 3.

We have heard pretty solid rumors that the Pixel 5 lineup could ditch Snapdragon 800 series processors to enter a sort of "premium mid-range" tier. If this is true, a $699 price tag lines up well.

Ignoring the potential for leaked information, we have questions about why this survey even exists. Is Google trying to gauge user interest in these phones in general? Is it trying to determine which device is more popular among those surveyed? This seems like a weird way to go about doing either of those things.

Regardless, the Google Pixel 4a price being $349 would be some great news as it would undercut the best budget smartphone launched this year so far: the $399 iPhone SE.