Technology - Google News

iPhone 13 Pro easily outperforms Samsung’s latest Galaxy S22 in new benchmarks - 9to5Mac
OnePlus’ new affordable Nord phone launches February 17th with a headphone jack - The Verge
Apple will combat AirTag stalking by making unknown AirTags easier to find - Ars Technica

iPhone 13 Pro easily outperforms Samsung’s latest Galaxy S22 in new benchmarks - 9to5Mac

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 11:44 AM PST

Apple continues to show its chip prowess not only in the latest Apple Silicon-powered Macs, but also in the iPhone. New benchmarks conducted by PCMag indicate that Samsung's latest Galaxy S22 still can't keep up with the A15 Bionic chip in the iPhone 13 Pro.

While PCMag notes that the Galaxy S22 is the "most powerful Android phone" it's tested so far, its benchmark results still fall behind the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. In Geekbench 5 tests, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, scored 3433 in multi-core testing, 1232 in single-core testing, and 448 in machine learning testing.

On the flip side, the iPhone 13 Pro Max scored 4647 in multi-core tests, 1735 in single-core testing, and 948 in machine learning tests.

PCMag notes that this is a noticeable improvement for Qualcomm over last year's Snapdragon 888, but it's still not enough to catch up to Apple.

There is definitely improvement from last year's Snapdragon 888 to this year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. We saw a 13% rise in Geekbench single-core scores and a 9% rise in Geekbench multi-core scores. On the GFXBench graphics benchmark, we saw an improvement of 20% or more depending on circumstances.

Meanwhile, in web benchmarking using Basemark Web, PCMag tests found that the Galaxy S22 series performed 8% better than last year, but the iPhone 13 Pro Max still doubled the Samsung score:

On Basemark Web, a comprehensive web benchmark, the Galaxy S22 series scored about 8% better than the Galaxy S21 Ultra. But the iPhone 13 Pro Max got double any Samsung model's score, as we've seen in the past, because of the differences between Apple's Safari browser and the Google Chrome browser on Android phones.

The testing also notes that there could be some heating and performance throttling issues plaguing Samsung's Galaxy S22 series. During the benchmark testing, the Galaxy S22 Ultra reportedly "quickly became warm, and as soon as it became warm it returned much lower results."

As always it's important to keep in mind that benchmark results don't tell the full story, but they can serve as a good indicator of year-over-year improvements and other performance trends. In Apple's case, it's clear that the A15 Bionic chip is still a leader in both performance and efficiency.

For more on the latest Galaxy S22 lineup, check out our colleagues over at 9to5Google.

iPhone 13 Pro easily outperforms Samsung's latest Galaxy S22 in new benchmarks

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OnePlus’ new affordable Nord phone launches February 17th with a headphone jack - The Verge

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 03:16 AM PST

OnePlus has another entry in its Nord lineup coming next week: the Nord CE 2. The handset is the successor to last year's Nord CE, and aims to be a more affordable, stripped-down counterpart to its mid-range Nord 2. The CE stands for "Core Edition," similar to Samsung's FE or "Fan Edition" Galaxy devices. The Nord 2 CE will launch on February 17th.

The Oppo sub-brand is advertising that the Nord 2 "takes the best parts of Nord 2 and puts it into an even more affordable package." Features include 65W fast-charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and support for up to 1TB of microSD expandable storage. A teaser video shows the phone will have a hole-punch notch on the top left of its display.

An image released by the company shows four cutouts in the rear of the phone. Don't expect these to correspond to four camera sensors though, as one of them is almost certainly a cutout for the phone's flash. Leaked specs compiled by GSMArena suggest the Nord CE 2 will have three rear cameras, and that it'll be powered by a MediaTek MT6877 Dimensity 900 5G processor.

Although the phone is a new release from OnePlus, GSMArena notes that it appears to be a rebranded Oppo Reno7 SE 5G from last year with upgraded cameras. But that shouldn't be too surprising given OnePlus's full transformation into an Oppo sub-brand.

OnePlus hasn't given any official indication of price for the new Nord 2 CE, but for reference the original Nord CE cost £299 in the UK and €329 in Europe at launch. It didn't receive a US release.

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Apple will combat AirTag stalking by making unknown AirTags easier to find - Ars Technica

Posted: 11 Feb 2022 10:54 AM PST

An Apple AirTag box sitting on a table. — Enlarge / AirTag box at an Apple Store on April 30, 2021, in Sydney, Australia.
Getty Images | James D. Morgan

Apple yesterday announced upcoming AirTag updates designed to combat stalking and other unwanted tracking.

"AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person's property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products," Apple said. Thieves have used AirTags to track high-end cars, and stalkers have used the devices to track women. Apple's update yesterday acknowledged that the company has "seen reports of bad actors attempting to misuse AirTag for malicious or criminal purposes."

AirTags already have some safety features, such as making beeping sounds when they've been away from their linked devices for a day. iPhones also receive warnings about unknown AirTags nearby. But the beep can be difficult to hear, and the timing of the warnings apparently varies. One person who was tracked "said she was notified four hours after her phone first noticed the rogue gadget," while "others said it took days before they were made aware of an unknown AirTag," a New York Times article in December said.

Software updates "later this year"

Apple said it will roll out "precision finding" that "allows recipients of an unwanted tracking alert to locate an unknown AirTag with precision. iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and iPhone 13 users will be able to use Precision Finding to see the distance and direction to an unknown AirTag when it is in range. As an iPhone user moves, Precision Finding fuses input from the camera, ARKit, accelerometer, and gyroscope to guide them to the AirTag through a combination of sound, haptics, and visual feedback."

Apple said the update will be released "later this year" but didn't get more specific on timing. Other changes planned for later this year are as follows:

More alerts sent to iOS devices: "When AirTag automatically emits a sound to alert anyone nearby of its presence and is detected moving with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, we will also display an alert on your device that you can then take action on, like playing a sound or using Precision Finding, if available," Apple said. "This will help in cases where the AirTag may be in a location where it is hard to hear or if the AirTag speaker has been tampered with."
Earlier alerts: "Our unwanted tracking alert system uses sophisticated logic to determine how we alert users. We plan to update our unwanted tracking alert system to notify users earlier that an unknown AirTag or Find My network accessory may be traveling with them," Apple said.
Louder tones: "Currently, iOS users receiving an unwanted tracking alert can play a sound to help them find the unknown AirTag. We will be adjusting the tone sequence to use more of the loudest tones to make an unknown AirTag more easily findable," Apple said.

New warning about illegal behavior

Apple announced that another upcoming software update will ensure that "every user setting up their AirTag for the first time will see a message that clearly states that AirTag is meant to track their own belongings, that using AirTag to track people without consent is a crime in many regions around the world, that AirTag is designed to be detected by victims, and that law enforcement can request identifying information about the owner of the AirTag."

Apple said it will fix a problem that resulted in "Unknown Accessory Detected" alerts being sent when AirPods are nearby. "[W]e will be updating the alert users receive to indicate that AirPods have been traveling with them instead of an 'Unknown Accessory,'" Apple wrote.

Apple also said it updated a support article with "additional explanations of which Find My accessories may trigger an unwanted tracking alert, more visuals to provide specific examples of such alerts, and updated information on what to do after receiving an alert, including instructions for disabling an AirTag."

Apple's announcement described the company's cooperation with law enforcement. "Every AirTag has a unique serial number, and paired AirTags are associated with an Apple ID. Apple can provide the paired account details in response to a subpoena or valid request from law enforcement," the company said. "We have successfully partnered with them on cases where information we provided has been used to trace an AirTag back to the perpetrator, who was then apprehended and charged."

Android users still at greater risk

"All progress is good progress, but I still want AirTag detection built into Android," Eva Galperin, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's director of cybersecurity, wrote in response to Apple's planned updates.

We pointed out in our May 2021 review of AirTag that the safety features only helped iPhone users and not those who use Android. In December, Apple released a "Tracker Detect" app for Android to address that problem, but users have to be aware of the app and download it from Google Play.

Another problem is that "unlike the functionality Apple has incorporated into the iPhone, which operates constantly in the background, Tracker Detect requires the user to run a scan," EFF Analyst Karen Gullo and Galperin wrote on December 15. The EFF said it is "calling on Google to take this one step further and incorporate background AirTag tracking and detection of other physical trackers into the Android OS."

Apple could collaborate with Google to make AirTag detection a standard part of Android, but Android wasn't mentioned in yesterday's Apple announcement. "We hope that both Apple and Google take the threat of ubiquitous, cheap, and powerful physical trackers seriously enough to work together to help their users know when they're being stalked," Gullo and Galperin wrote in their December post.

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