Explainers – Trusted Reviews

Find My on iPhones: How does it work?

Jessica Gorringe — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 12:42:14 +0000

Find My is a useful tool that helps you locate misplaced Apple devices, including your iPhone.

But how does the feature work on the best iPhones and Apple’s wider ecosystem of products?We’ve put together a guide to Apple’s Find My feature and explained what it is and how it works, so you can discover more about the feature.

What is Find My?

Find My helps you keep track of your Apple devices by locating them through the Find My network. With the Find My app you can see where your items are on a map, get directions to find them and even have certain items play a sound if you’re close by.

The Find My app also lets you mark an item as lost or stolen, which is especially useful if it’s an iPhone or another Apple device with lots of sensitive information stored.

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You can also use Find My to stay connected with friends and family who share their location with you.

How does Find My work?

Find My runs on Apple’s Find My network which according to Apple is an “encrypted, anonymous network of millions of Apple devices” that’s based on industry-leading security for data protection.

The Find My network means nearby Apple devices are able to note and send the location of your device to iCloud securely, so you can then locate it in your own Find My app. This should work even when the device is offline.

Is Find My safe?

Apple explains that location information is only sent to Apple when users actively locate their devices, mark them as lost or enable Send Last Location. Data is encrypted on Apple’s servers, kept for up to 24-hours and stays private to Apple.

What devices can I track with Find My?

It’s not just iPhones you can track with Find My. You can also track MacBooks, iPads, AirPods, AirTags and Apple Watch. There are also lots of third-party accessories that are compatible with the Find My network, such as the Chipolo One Spot.

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What is Nvidia’s Project G-Assist? The AI-powered tech demo explained

Lewis Painter — Sun, 02 Jun 2024 12:30:00 +0000

Computex 2024 has kicked off with a bang with a slew of announcements from GPU maker Nvidia, including the reveal of a fascinating new tech demo dubbed Project G-Assist.

Project G-Assist is Nvidia’s way of showcasing just how helpful generative AI could be to PC gamers, offering a virtual assistant that can help you play games, both by answering game-specific queries and tuning your PC to get the best performance possible from your components.

It’s an interesting concept, but there’s much more to it than that. If you’re interested in the GenAI-powered assistant, here’s everything you need to know about Project G-Assist including whether it’ll ever be released to consumers.

What is Project G-Assist?

In its simplest form, Project G-Assist is a GenAI-powered virtual assistant tailored to one purpose; getting the most out of your PC games.

It’s powered by Nvidia’s AI-enabled GPU collection, and according to the manufacturer, it’s smart enough to process player inputs, game context and telemetry, essentially understanding what the player is seeing and doing in the game.

It can use this information, along with the information found in huge online fan-run Wikis and possibly even the developers themselves, to assist you with any queries you might have, from how to craft weapons in survival games to recommendations on which skills to level up.

It’s not just about helping you play games though; it’s also smart enough to understand the inner workings of your PC, and can optimise it based on frame rate, graphical quality or any other metric you’d like.

It’s just a tech demo right now, which means you shouldn’t expect it to appear on your Nvidia-powered PC any time soon, but it’s still an exciting showcase of tech that could seriously make the lives of PC gamers much easier.

What can Project G-Assist do?

To help showcase just how helpful Project G-Asisst can be to gamers, Nvidia partnered with Studio Wildcard, publishers of Ark: Survival Ascended, on a fun tech demo showcased at Computex 2024.

The first part of the demo focused on the AI helping players get a handle on the prehistoric open world of Ark: Survival Ascended, with the AI seen answering questions on the dinosaurs that the player comes across, including how to tame them and the level requirements you’ll need, along with recommendations on the best early-game weapon and even the materials required to craft said weapon.

The prompts from the user were pretty contextual at times, asking questions like “What is this dinosaur I’m looking at?”, yet the AI correctly answered each time.

The second half of the demo focused on using Project G-Assist to tune your gaming PC to your requirements. This involved not only tweaking in-game settings in titles like Cyberpunk 2077 to prioritise elements like framerate or per-watt performance but overlocking the entire gaming PC, just by asking.

It’s not going to be a huge change for pro gamers who know their PCs and graphics settings inside out, but it could make high-performance gameplay way more accessible to casual gamers.

Will we ever see Project G-Assist released to consumers?

This is the big question, and one that we frankly don’t have the answer to just yet. Nvidia was keen to reiterate multiple times during a press briefing that the Project G-Assist tech demos were just that, demos.

There are currently no plans to roll this functionality out to consumers, rather it’s a way for Nvidia to showcase the kinds of artificial intelligence that can run on its GPUs and how it could apply specifically to PC gaming.

That’s not to say that it won’t ever come out in some form, however. The groundwork has been laid and Nvidia has shown that it’s functional when working with developers, but whether the product be created by Nvidia or a third-party company is yet to be seen.

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How to Identify and Fix Common TV Display Problems

Kob Monney — Fri, 31 May 2024 14:00:20 +0000

TVs are fairly robust these days but that doesn’t mean they won’t encounter problems from time to time. We’re going to list several problems and the way you can resolve them if they ever pop up.

If you notice something wrong or unusual, we’d say trust your gut and carry out some investigation. It’s possible that your default settings are not what you’d like, or various devices in your home cinema set-up aren’t speaking to each as well as they ought to be.

If you’re experiencing any of the below issues, this explainer should help in figuring out the root of the problem.

Audio is not in sync with video

Like the boy band nSync, all the devices connected to your TV need to be in harmony if you’re going to get the best picture and sound. Issues can arise when a delay happens between audio and video.

If you’re streaming content, we’d suggest stopping the stream and re-starting again as that could be an issue with your Internet connection.

If it persists, head into the menu of either your TV or the device connected to the TV that you’re having issue with and adjust the audio delay. Not every TV has the same menu system so you might need to root around to find it. If you can’t find it, we’d point you in the direction of the connected device and tweak the settings on there.

Sparkles appearing on the screen

You’ve connected a device to the TV and you’ve noticed that there are weird sparkle effects occuring around the screen.

Don’t fret as this is likely an issue with the HDMI cable. Make sure that the cable is securely plugged in to both the connected device and the TV. If it continues then try another cable to see if that resolves the problem.

The picture looks too bright

If you’ve settled down to watch TV and you’re realise that everything looks a little too bright (colours are perhaps on the garish side too), it could be a case that someone has changed the picture mode settings and put the TV into its Vivid or Dynamic mode. Simply head to the settings and switch it to Standard or Cinema, depending on your preference.

If the TV isn’t in Vivid mode and the image looks too bright, it could be something to do with the local dimming. This would only apply to LCD LED TVs that have local dimming backlight, but some TVs in their default mode can have the local dimming set too high.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

We’ve seen in the past that what’s intended to be a rather overcast day can turn out to look like a very bright one because the local dimming is on full bore. Head into the picture settings, look for the local dimming settings and put it to the next level below and that should fix the issue.

The picture looks too dark

In this case you might that changing the local dimming would be the first pitstop. However, we’d check if your TV’s Ambient Light Sensor is on first.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

If it is on, flicking it off can result in a slightly brighter picture. Otherwise, another option is to raise the brightness, though don’t raise it too much as that can result in an odd looking image.

The motion is on the wobbly side

Is there smearing, strange looking artifacts, and stuttering with movement? It may just be that someone has either switched picture modes or turned on the TV’s motion interpolation.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Our advice is to head into those settings and either nudge it down or turn it off completely. Each TV manufacturer has its own term for motion interpolation settings

Samsung – Auto Motion Plus or Picture Clarity
Sony – Motionflow
LG – TruMotion
Panasonic – Intelligent Frame Creation
Hisense – Ultra Smooth Motion
Philips – Motion Styles

Head into any of these settings and knock the strength of the motion down a level (some with go from High to Low, Max to Min or just a series of options, ‘off’ usually being the first one on the screen).

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What is Chromebook Plus?

Thomas Deehan — Thu, 30 May 2024 11:23:07 +0000

Image Credit (Google)

If you’re looking to buy a Chromebook but you’re a bit confused over the ‘Chromebook Plus’ branding then we’re here to help.

The first Chromebooks hit the market way back in 2011 and in that time they’ve become impressive, budget-friendly alternatives to pricier Windows and MacOS laptops. In late 2023 however, Google sought to shake things up by introducing the Chromebook Plus range, signalling a massive shift in the Chromebook market going forward.

If you just want to know which ChromeOS powered laptops are worth buying then make sure to check out our round-up of the best Chromebooks we’ve tested, but for all things Chromebook Plus, keep reading on.

What is Chromebook Plus?

Chromebook Plus is an initiative from Google to label ChromeOS devices that offer a minimum standard of specifications as well as dedicated software features, with a focus on AI capabilities.

These devices have a starting price of around £399/€449, and the minimum hardware specs are as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i3 12th Gen or above, or AMD Ryzen 3 7000 series or above
RAM: 8GB+
Storage: 128GB+
Webcam: 1080p+ with Temporal Noise Reduction
Display: Full HD IPS or better display

Image Credit (Google)

Apple Music

Apple Music gives you access to over 100 million songs and 30,000 playlists, ad-free. Listen online or off, across all your devices, and hear sound all around in Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking. You can now try 1 month for free!

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Google makes no promises on the performance that stems from these results, except that it is “double” when compared with the top-selling Chromebooks for July to December 2022. There is also no minimum standard for battery life, the speed of RAM or the speed of storage either. There are currently no Plus models to tout using an Arm chip, such as a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. However, Google suggested during our press briefing that they are excited to work with Arm chips on Chromebook Plus devices in the future.

The first wave of Chromebook Plus devices differed depending on region, but these were the devices included:

Brand	Model	Chip	Starting Price
Acer	Chromebook Plus 515	Up to 13th Gen Intel Core i7	£499/$399/€479
Acer	Chromebook Plus 514	Up to AMD Ryzen 5 7000 C-series	£399/$399/€449
Asus	Chromebook Plus CX34	Up to 13th Gen Intel Core i7	£399/€449
Asus	Chromebook Plus CM34 Flip	AMD Ryzen 3 7000 C-series	£499
Lenovo	IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus	Up to 13th Gen Intel Core i5	$500/€679
Lenovo	IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook Plus	Intel Core i3-N305	£349/$550/€449
Lenovo	IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook Plus	Up to 12th Gen Intel Core i5	€599
HP	Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch	Up to 12th Gen Intel Core i5	£429/$499/€449
HP	Chromebook Plus x360 14-inch	Up to 12th Gen Intel Core i5	$699

At launch, Chromebook Plus devices were able to offer up Google’s Magic Eraser feature in-browser. Previously an exclusive feature found on Pixel phones, Magic Eraser gives you the ability to remove unwanted objects and subjects from a picture – always handy if you’re trying to take a selfie in a crowded area.

In May 2024, Google expanded the feature-set of the Chromebook Plus line by introducing several AI-powered abilities, including on-device Google Gemini. Having the Gemini app pre-installed means that you can lean on Google’s AI program for help with any tasks you need to get done, or any questions you’re struggling with.

Chromebook Plus users can also enjoy generative AI wallpapers. It’s not quite as boundless as what you’ll find with some image generators but with a handful of prompts to choose from, you do get a fair amount of variety on a feature that just isn’t available on standard Chromebooks.

File Sync

Magic Eraser

As part of the launch of Google Gemini on Chromebook Plus machines, Google is also throwing in an added incentive until the end of 2024 wherein Chromebook Plus users can get a whole 12-months of access to the company’s AI Premium plan for no additional cost.

This high-tier plan includes access to Gemini Advanced which is capable or running more in-depth requests when it comes to coding, as well as integrating itself into a handful of Google apps including Docs and Gmail.

Adobe on Chromebook Plus

Lumafusion on Chromebook Plus

More apps are available on Plus too, with Adobe Photoshop on the Web and Adobe Express Premium. Chromebook Plus devices will get three months free. Video-editing suite LumaFusion is coming as well, with Chromebook Plus users able to get 25% off to get it down to $29.99/£29.99.

Help me write

Generative wallpapers

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Alternative app stores on iOS explained

Hannah Davies — Wed, 29 May 2024 11:01:59 +0000

The European Commission recently passed an update to its Digital Markets Act (DMA) that requires Apple to allow third-party app stores to distribute apps on iOS devices.

This means that users in the EU are no longer limited to apps offered through Apple’s official App Store.

Where Apple has traditionally restricted users to download apps from the App Store, users in the EU can now install apps from a competing app store – or alternative app marketplace – or directly from a developer’s website.

These alternative app marketplaces can also be downloaded directly from their developers’ websites, with key names so far being AltStore, Setapp, and Epic Games.

Are alternative app stores safe?

Apple’s main excuse for restricting app downloads to its App Store is safety and security.

“If not managed properly, alternative app distribution poses increased privacy, safety and security risks for users and developers”, explains Apple on its support page.

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“This includes risks from installing software from unknown developers that are not subject to the Apple Developer Programme requirements, installing software that compromises system integrity with malware or other malicious code, the distribution of pirated software, exposure to illicit, objectionable and harmful content due to lower content and moderation standards, and increased risks of scams, fraud and abuse”.

This doesn’t mean that apps installed via alternative app stores don’t go unchecked.

Apps installed via alternative app stores undergo a notarisation process to ensure that each app meets Apple’s baseline platform integrity standards. This involves checking that apps function as promised and are free of known malware, viruses, and other security threats. However, it remains up to each of these alternative app marketplaces to review apps per their own policies.

Apple also warns that apps downloaded from alternative app stores might not work alongside other iOS features. Restrictions on in-app purchases in Screen Time, purchase sharing with your Family Sharing group and Ask to Buy are not supported outside of the official App Store, for example.

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Computex 2024: What to expect and when is it?

Chris Smith — Tue, 28 May 2024 17:42:59 +0000

The eyes of the computing world are on Taipei as Computex 2024 gets underway during the first week of June. Here’s what to know and how to follow the Computex 2024.

The Taiwanese capital of Taipei is a big deal in the world of computing. Acer and Asus, two PC stalwarts, call it home and so do the chip makers TSMC and MediaTek. So it’s no surprise to see the computing world descend upon the island nation for one of the biggest tech trade shows of the year.

As well as the homegrown companies like Acer and Asus, big hitting brands from the computing world, like AMD, Intel and Nvidia are all expected to announce their most exciting next-generation products over the course of the event.

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We’re likely to hear about a host of new laptops, desktops, tablets and new computing accessories, as well as the groundbreaking new silicon chips that’ll power the hardware to new heights.

This year’s focus is on the burgeoning AI PC sector with manufacturers and chipmakers keen to showcase how generative artificial intelligence can transform the way we interact with personal computing products. Microsoft’s recently announced new Windows Copilot Plus PCs are setting out a stall on that front, and the trend is likely to grow during Computex.

One highlight is likely to be a new Nvidia and MediaTek partnership that might rival the Snapdragon X Elite platform, as well as the forthcoming Intel Lunar Lake processors. Speaking of Intel Lunar Lake, we’re expecting to see Intel showcase the flagship processor range and offer detailed information about specs and performance.

Qualcomm will also take to the stage to tell us all about how said Snapdraon X Elite with AI is going to completely revolutionise the PC. Here’s a preview of the address.

AMD is also planning to deliver an address too, while manufacturers like Acer and MSI will all be putting their best foot forward with products to see out the rest of the year.

When is Computex 2024?

The 2024 edition of the show will kick off on June 3 and run until June 7. It’s held in the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, in Taipei, Taiwan.

How to watch Computex 2024?

Like CES, the show features a host of keynote addresses from the big wigs at the major players in the computing industry. This year’s main events are from Intel, Qualcomm and AMD.

Unfortunately, watching live is going to be tricky for tech fans in the UK, who’re 7 hours behind Taipei time. Here are some times and dates to remember, along with how to tune in:

AMD: Monday June 3 at 2:30am UK time with CEO Dr. Lisa Su. You can add the event to your calendar here.

Qualcomm: Monday June 3 at 6:30am UK time with CEO Christian Amon. Watch it live on YouTube.

Intel: Tuesday June 4 at 4:00am UK time with CEO Pat Gelinger. The event is live streamed. This link will add it to your calendar

Beyond that, there are also keynotes from MediaTek, Supermicro and Delta and we’re expecting various hardware announcements to be delivered to the press. We’ll have the latest from Computex when the news drops.

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What is Adobe Firefly? The generative AI tech explained

Hannah Davies — Tue, 28 May 2024 16:30:00 +0000

It seems as though every company has its own generative AI model these days, and Adobe is no exception.

In fact, Adobe Firefly might be one of the most powerful AI art models in the game. Stay on this page to learn everything you need to know about Adobe Firefly, including what it is, which features Firefly is behind, and which Creative Cloud apps support it.

What is Adobe Firefly?

Adobe Firefly is a set of generative AI models developed by Adobe and first announced in 2023. The models focus on image and text effect generation to improve creative workflows across Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite, including Photoshop and Adobe Express.

“The vision for Firefly is to help people expand upon their natural creativity. As an embedded model inside Adobe products, Firefly will offer generative AI tools made specifically for creative needs, use cases, and workflows”, explained Adobe on its website when Firefly was first announced.

Key features include content-aware image generation in Photoshop, the ability to generate custom vectors, brushes and textures for illustrations and the option to change the mood, atmosphere and weather in videos.

Adobe began rolling out its most recent update to Firefly in April 2024.

Based on the Firefly Image 3 model, the latest version of Adobe Firefly generates more detailed images, a wider variety of facial expressions, and more complex structures. Firefly now supports the option to upload images as references for structure and style and generate backgrounds and results similar to those previously generated.

How does Adobe Firefly compare to other generative AI models?

One of the biggest differentiators for Adobe Firefly compared to other AI image generators, like DALL-E 2, is that Adobe has included a universal “Do Not Train” Content Credentials tag. The idea behind this tag is to make it possible for creators to opt out of having their art used as part of a dataset to train generative AI models anywhere on the web.

When it comes to Adobe’s own generative AI model, the current Firefly model has been trained on a dataset of Adobe Stock images, openly licensed work and public domain content where the copyright has expired.

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This means the model has not been trained using any Creative Cloud users’ personal content, though whether it is appropriate to train AI art models on any artwork without explicit permission from that artist remains a conversation that is very much up for debate.

Is Adobe Firefly free to use?

You can try Adobe Firefly online for free at firefly.adobe.com, or access it in other Creative Cloud apps, including Adobe Express, Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, and InDesign. However, most of these will require a Creative Cloud subscription (or at least a free trial).

Adobe also announced in April 2024 that it would soon be rolling out new generative AI audio and video tools in Premiere Pro and After Effects.

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Tips to keep your Apple ID secure

Jessica Gorringe — Mon, 27 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

If you’re worried about keeping your Apple ID secure then we’ve compiled a list of quick, easy and useful tips that you can do to keep your account safe.

Keep reading to see our tips on how to keep your Apple ID secure.

Enable two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication is designed to ensure that you’re the only person who can access your Apple ID, even if someone else does have your password. When you try to log into your Apple ID on a new device, it will ask you for the six-digit verification code that is displayed on your trusted device.

Turning on two-factor authentication is easy and only requires a phone number. To set this up, simply visit Sign-In & Security in your Apple device’s Settings. Select Two-Factor Authentication and add your trusted phone number.

Use a recovery key

Another way to protect your account is to set up a recovery key. A recovery key is an optional security feature which lets you reset your password and regain access to a lost Apple ID.

Your recovery key, which is a randomly generated 28-character code, can be generated easily with your iPhone, iPad or Mac. After you generate your personal recovery code, you should keep a note of this so you don’t lose it.

To set up a recovery key, visit the Sign-in and Security page on your device’s Settings and choose Account Recovery. From here, click Turn on Recovery Key and follow the on-screen instructions to set this up. Remember to make a note of your recovery key once it has been assigned.

Note that when you set up a recovery key you will automatically turn off Apple’s standard account recovery process. This means if you ever lose access to your Apple ID then either your recovery key or trusted device must be used to get you back in. If you lose either your recovery key or a trusted device then you’ll be locked out of your account permanently.

Manage any sites and apps signed in with Apple

Many websites or apps that require you to create an account have the option to simply log in with Apple or other social media networks. This is a nifty feature which is time-saving especially when you’re in a rush but it can be easy to lose track of all the various third party sites that now have access to your Apple ID data.

You can easily check the apps that you’ve used your Apple ID to log into. To do this, open up your Settings app and tap Sign-in and Security when clicking on your Apple ID. Then simply click on Sign in with Apple and here you’ll see all the apps listed. To remove any apps, just click on them and choose Stop using Apple ID.

Set up a Recovery Contact

While we would never recommend sharing your password with anyone, Apple does have an option to add a recovery contact. A recovery contact is someone who can verify your identity and can generate a code from their Apple device to help you recover your data.

To do this, your recovery contact will need to have an Apple device either running on iOS/iPadOS 15 or later or on macOS Monterey or later. Enter the Sign-In & Security page on your Apple ID and select Account Recovery. Then Add Recovery Contact.

We would also recommend you never share an account with anyone else, especially as Apple has other ways to share content, such as Family Sharing and iCloud Photo Sharing.

Change your password

It’s not exactly groundbreaking but changing your password is the quickest and easiest way to help keep your Apple ID secure. In fact we’d say it’s good practice to update all your passwords on a regular basis and never use the same password for different websites.

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What is Setapp Mobile? The iOS App Store alternative explained

Jessica Gorringe — Wed, 22 May 2024 11:54:56 +0000

Whether you’ve already heard of Setapp or even used it on your Mac or are totally new to the alternative App Marketplace, we’ve put together all we know about the subscription service below.

Keep reading to learn more about the iOS App Store alternative and how you can access it yourself.

What is Setapp?

Before we start with Setapp Mobile, it’s worth explaining what Setapp is. Setapp was officially released back in 2017 as an alternative to the App Store for macOS. Unlike the App Store, where there’s a huge variety of free and paid apps, Setapp is a subscription service where users pay around $9.99/€9.49 a month for complete access to its 240+ apps, without ads.

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Also unlike the App Store, you can’t download popular apps such as Netflix. Instead, the apps on offer are “all about saving time and making work … as easy as can be”. The app categories cover productivity, photo and video editing, web development and even personal finance.

At the time of writing, Setapp says there are over 240 apps available, claiming that “a massive quantity of apps is not a priority” to the system.

What is Setapp Mobile?

Setapp Mobile is a new service from MacPaw, offering an alternative iOS marketplace for iPhone and iPad users in the EU. This is only possible because EU legislation has recently changed, forcing Apple to allow third-party app stores in the EU.

According to Setapp Mobile, there are currently “dozens” of apps available under the subscription but the number of apps will increase as the marketplace grows.

Setapp Mobile is different from Setapp as it now has its own iOS app that serves as an alternative marketplace, an improvement on the old system where apps had to be installed from the App Store and activated via Setapp.

How can I download Setapp on my iPhone?

At the time of writing, Setapp Mobile is only available in a beta version and will require you to join a waitlist to gain access. To do this, you’ll simply need to enter your email address through the Setapp Mobile website.

It’s again worth reiterating that this functionality is only available in the European Union, meaning those in the UK, US and most of the world are sadly out of luck.

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Every Copilot Plus PC announced so far, from Samsung to Dell

Max Parker — Tue, 21 May 2024 19:03:53 +0000

Surface Laptop 7 Copilot Plus PC front

Copilot Plus PCs are here, and we’ve spent some time with the initial batch of machines from the likes of HP, Samsung and Dell.

Revealed at Microsoft’s Surace 2024 event before the Build developer conference, Copilot Plus PCs are AI-focussed machines currently all powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X range of chips. All the devices use the power of the NPU in these Snapdragon chips for on-device AI, but there have also been plenty of claims about performance and battery life.

Below you’ll find details of the models announced so far, although there will likely be more announced in the coming months.

Microsoft

Microsoft has a duo of Copilot Plus PC options at launch, with the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro 11 both offering some tempting features.

Like all the models on the list, both Surfaces are powered by the Snapdragon X Plus or the X Elite Arm chip offering powerful AI performance.

Microsoft Surface Pro

The Surface Laptop comes in two sizes (13.8-inch and 15-inch) with brighter screens, new colours and the promise of 22 hours of offline video playback. The latest edition of the Surface Pro can be selected with an OLED display panel for the first time and can be purchased with the new Flex keyboard that can be used independently of the tablet.

Asus

The first Copilot Plus PC from Asus is the Vivobook 15 S and it uses the Snapdragon X Elite at its heart paired with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. Inside there’s a 70wh battery for a battery life that, according to Asus, can last 18 hours alongside fast charging for when it’s time to top up.

The display here is a real standout. It’s a 15.6-inch OLED panel with very thin bezels, 120Hz refresh rate and a 3K resolution.

Asus Vivobook S

You can pre-order the Vivobook 15 S in the UK from Currys and Asus directly, with prices starting at £1299.99.

Acer

Acer has entered this new category with a single new unit to begin with, the Swift 14 AI.

Retailing for $1099/£1199 when it goes on sale in July, the Swift 14 AI comes in Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite flavours and has a sleek aluminium build alongside a large 14.5-inch 120Hz display.

Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge

Samsung’s first Copilot Plus PC is the Galaxy Book 4 Edge and it’ll be familiar to anyone who has seen any of the other Galaxy Book 4 range. The classic Samsung look stays, as does an excellent AMOLED display and thin and portable body.

Two screen sizes are available – 14 and 16-inch – and there are options with both versions of the Snapdragon X chip. Standard Copilot Plus features like Wi-Fi 7 and 16GB RAM as standard are here too. Prices start at $1349.

Dell

Dell has a bunch of Copilot Plus PCs in various ranges, from XPS to Inspiron. A standout for us is a new version of the latest XPS 13, which is a gorgeous and sleek laptop now benefiting from the speed and extended battery life of the Snapdragon X chips.

The business-focussed Inspiron 14 Plus has the X Plus chip inside and up to 22 hours of battery life.

Dell XPS

Lenovo

Lenovo is another partner to announce a duo of Copilot Plus PCS: the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6.

The Slim 7x ($1199) is, as the name suggests, slim and light at 1.28kg, has a 3K 90Hz display with a reported 1000 nits of brightness and comes with the Elite version of the Snapdragon X chip. The ThinkPad ($1699) is the more business-focused entry, coming with up to 64GB of memory, a 14-inch display and a physical cover for the webcam.

Both models will be available starting in June.

HP

HP is using the launch of Copilot Plus PCs to give its entire computing range something of a rebrand in an effort to make choosing the right machine as simple as possible. Many of the old range names, like Spectre and Dragonfly, will be retired with new ones taking their place.

As part of this rebrand, HP has introduced the Omnibook X AI PC ($1199.99) and the Elitebook Ultra AI PC ($1699.99). Both models push the AI features of the Copilot Plus PC range along with some extra AI skills from HP and there are huge battery life claims too, including a quoted 22 hours of Netflix streaming.

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What is Copilot Recall? Windows' AI photographic memory explained

Chris Smith — Mon, 20 May 2024 20:13:27 +0000

What is Copilot Recall? The newest and best PCs will have an AI-powered photographic memory that’ll surface hard to find files in a brand new way.

As well as debuting the new Surface Laptop, Surface Pro and unveiling an entirely new category for the “fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built”, Microsoft is showing off its latest Copilot AI features.

One of those newcomers is Recall, which the company is pitching as a brand new way to locate items saved on your PC, pages you’ve browsed on the web, or content within applications. It’s only possible thanks to AI and the neural processing units (NPUs) on its new Copilot+ PCs.

Here’s everything you need to know about Copilot Recall.

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What is Recall?

Microsoft says Recall solves an age old problem for PC users, which is locating something we know is there on the hard drive or in our inbox, but don’t quite have the right search term or intimate knowledge of the file system to find. To put it another way, it can get around how crap the current file search tool is for Windows PCs.

To solve this issue, Microsoft says it has trained Recall to think more like the human brain that first interacted with the content in the first place.

So, for example, you might be able to load Copilot or bring up the Recall timeline from the taskbar and ask the AI to “find the site with the white sneakers”

From here, Recall utilises a so-called “photographic memory” for your PC using a tool called screenray that has taken snapshots of your PC over time. So, after conducting the search you’ll be able to scroll through a timeline of all the possible results within applications, websites, and documents.

Microsoft says it enables users to retrace their steps more effectively.

How does Recall work?

In an FAQ for Copilot+ features Microsoft says the advanced processing power of the new-gen AI PCs will take an image of your screen every few seconds and save it to the hard-drive. They’ll stay on the PC. It will analyse the text and imagery, while also noting the application on the screen at the time.

So, when you search via Copilot, a scrollable timeline bar will appear in the UI featuring results that are associated with your search. Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, the screenshot will be further analysed to allow you to interact with the content.

For example, you’ll be able to open the snapshot in the application where it was captured. Microsoft says as this feature improves the screenshot itself will automatically perform this function and open the actual file in the correct app.

“Recall will also enable you to open the snapshot in the original application in which it was created, and, as Recall is refined over time, it will open the actual source document, website, or email in a screenshot. This functionality will be improved during Recall’s preview phase,” Microsoft says.

Recall minimum specs

For a start you’ll need one of the new Copilot+ PC models Microsoft announced at Build and it’ll need to have at least 50GB available within a 256GB hard drive.

As you can imagine a screenshot grabbed every couple of seconds containing all manner of intelligible data is going to take up a fair bit of space over time. Microsoft says three months of screenshots will take up 25GB of storage. The allotted space can be increased or decreased.

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What is a Windows Copilot Plus PC? New AI-infused laptops explained

Chris Smith — Mon, 20 May 2024 19:13:37 +0000

Microsoft has unveiled a new calling card for the most AI-capable Windows PCs that’ll be adorned with a Copilot+ PC label. Here’s what you need to know.

During the Build 2024 keynote Microsoft unveiled the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models, which are the first to rock the distinction of being the “fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built”

However, third party manufacturers are in on the new trend too, with ASUS’ Vivobook S 15 taking up the mantle and more models from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung also on deck to arrive next month.

Here’s what you need to know.

Snapdragon now, Intel later

The first generation of Copilot+ PCs have plenty on common but the most striking element is the presence of Qualcomm processors. All will be powered by the Snapdragon X series of chips, which are designed to rival the Apple M-Series processors. Intel and ARM-based versions of the standard will arrive later.

Microsoft says the Arm64-based chipset will offer the fastest available versions of apps like Teams, PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, Excel, OneDrive and OneNote. Chrome, Spotify, Zoom, WhatsApp, Blender, Affinity Suite, and DaVinci Resolve.

As well as powerful CPU and GPUs, those chipsets also include the a new breed of high performance NPU that’s connected to large language models via Microsoft’s Azure Cloud. That’s gonna do all the AI heavy lifting and, when necessary, keep your data on the device without consulting the cloud.

“They are up to 20x more powerful and up to 100x as efficient for running AI workloads and deliver industry-leading AI acceleration. They outperform Apple’s MacBook Air 15-inch by up to 58% in sustained multithreaded performance, all while delivering all-day battery life,” Microsoft says in a blog post.

“With incredible efficiency, Copilot+ PCs can deliver up to 22 hours of local video playback or 15 hours of web browsing on a single charge. That is up to 20% more battery in local video playback than the MacBook Air 15-inch.”

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Coplilot+ PC specs

Microsoft says these fastest and most intelligent PCs will have access to at least 40+ TOPS (trillion operations per second). They’ll need 16GB of RAM at a minimum and each laptop will have 256GB of storage. However, that can go up to 64GB and 1TB respectively.

They will all be capable of at least 15 hours of web browsing and 22 hours of local video playback from a single charge too. All models will have the Copilot key on the Windows keyboard too.

The laptop category will be priced starting at $999.

Recall for CoPilot+ PC

Microsoft is particularly excited about a feature called Recall, which uses AI as a photographic memory to enable you to bring hard-to-surface documents, folders, images and emails to the fore.

It’s designed more like the human brain that enables you to bring something back from the depths of the hard drive based on the information you do remember about it, rather than having to know the date or file name.

“Copilot+ PCs organize information like we do – based on relationships and associations unique to each of our individual experiences. This helps you remember things you may have forgotten so you can find what you’re looking for quickly and intuitively by simply using the cues you remember,” Microsoft says in the blog post.

“You can scroll across time to find the content you need in your timeline across any application, website, document, or more. Interact intuitively using snapshots with screenray to help you take the next step using suggested actions based on object recognition. And get back to where you were, whether to a specific email in Outlook or the right chat in Teams.”

Latest version of GPT-4o

These PCs will get access to the very latest version of OpenAI’s newest ChatGPT release, called GPT-4o. It was announced during last week and features this rather remarkable-sounding live translation tool.

Abode apps and more

Microsoft is pretty chuffed about Adobe’s creative suite of apps – Photoshop, Lightroom, Express, Illustrator and Premiere Pro are either available on Copilot+ PCs now or will arrive this summer. They’ll be optimised for use with the PC’s neural processing unit (NPU).

Meanwhile, djay Pro will get a new version of the NeuralMix tool that will enable users to remix any track thanks to the NPU. LiquidText has NPU-centric annotations that keeps your data on the device, and Capcut will include an NPU-based Auto Cutout tool for removing the background of any video clip in an instant.

CoPilot+ PCs coming soon

The new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models will be available from June 18 this year, with pre-orders starting today. They’re joined by the following from third-party OEMs:

Acer Swift 14 AI
ASUS Vivobook 15
Dell XPS 13, Inspiron 14 Plus, Inspiron 14, Latitude 7455, and Latitude 5455
HP Omnibook X AI, HP Elitebook Ultra G1 AI
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, ThinkPad T14s Gen 6
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge

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What is Project Astra? Google's AI assistant of the future explained

Jessica Gorringe — Mon, 20 May 2024 16:21:34 +0000

Announced during Google I/O 2024, Project Astra is the latest AI-focused project from the tech giant.

Read on to find out more about Project Astra, what it will be able to do and when the AI assistant should be available to try.

What is Project Astra?

Coined by Google as a “universal AI agent that is helpful in everyday life,” Project Astra is essentially an AI assistant, built on Google’s Gemini models, created to process multimodal information and respond naturally both conversationally and in real-time.

Google explains that getting an AI’s response time down to something conversational is “a difficult engineering challenge”, so it’s been working to improve how its models “perceive, reason and converse to make the pace and quality of interaction feel more natural.”

Google has seemingly achieved this by leveraging its leading speech models and enhancing how AI agents sound by giving them a wider range of intonations.

What can Project Astra do?

Google has provided a few impressive demos of the capabilities of Project Astra. One demo shows Project Astra running through a phone’s camera and responding naturally and quickly to the user’s prompts. Here, Astra was able to correctly identify a speaker in view when prompted to “tell me when you see something that makes sound.”

In the same video, which was shot in one-take, the user shows Astra code on a computer screen and asks “what does that part of the code do” to which Astra explains correctly. When Astra is shown the view from a window facing outside and asked “what neighbourhood do you think I’m in,” Asta is able to both recognise the area and provide information about it.

Astra is also able to be more creative and provide answers to prompts such as “give me a band name” and “give me a creative alliteration based on these [crayons].”

When will Project Astra be available?

Project Astra is still under development but Google has said that some of its capabilities “are coming to Google products, like the Gemini app and web experience, later this year.”

Google has also said that “it’s easy to envision a future where people could have an expert AI assistant by their side, through a phone or glasses” suggesting there could well be a pair of Gemini-enabled smart glasses available some time in the future.

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What is ChatGPT-4o? The chatbot update explained

Jessica Gorringe — Mon, 20 May 2024 14:46:49 +0000

Image Credit (ChatGPT)

OpenAI has recently launched the latest model of its AI chatbot, ChatGPT-4o. With a number of updates and new features for both free and paid-for users, OpenAI promises the model is a “step towards much more natural human-computer interaction.”

Read on to learn more about the features and capabilities of GPT-4o, what’s coming in the future and how you can try the chatbot for yourself.

What is ChatGPT-4o?

ChatGPT-4o is the latest flagship model of OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT and is the successor of ChatGPT-4. According to OpenAI, GPT-4o provides GPT-4-level intelligence but is “much faster and improves its capabilities across text, voice, and vision.”

Firstly, GPT-4o is now better at understanding and discussing images users share with the model. OpenAI provides the example that “you can now take a picture of a menu in a different language and talk to GPT-4o to translate it, learn about the food’s history and significance and get recommendations.”

GPT-4o promises better audio capabilities with a new Voice Mode feature, allowing you to engage in a back-and-forth conversation with the model and even video capabilities in the future. Essentially this will mean that conversations should feel more natural and happen in real-time, with OpenAI claiming that GPT-4o can respond to audio inputs in as little as 232 milliseconds with an average of 320 milliseconds “which is similar to human response time.”

As OpenAI says its mission includes making advanced AI tools available to “as many people as possible,” Free users will now have access to multiple features, including GPT-4-level intelligence, Data Analysis and chart creation and the ability to upload files, which offers users assistance in summarising, writing and analysing.

How can I try ChatGPT-4o?

On its announcement of GPT-4o, OpenAI said it would begin to roll out the new model to ChatGPT Plus and Team users, with availability for Enterprise users “coming soon.”

ChatGPT Free users can now access GPT-4o but for a limited number of messages within a three-hour window. Once expired, GPT will return to GPT-3.5.

You might be tempted to plump for one of the premium ChatGPT subscriptions but, Plus, Team and even Enterprise users will also have message limits – though these are higher than what Free users get. While OpenAI hasn’t shared specifics, we know that the message limit for Plus users will be up to five times greater than its free counterpart.

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What is the MediaTek Dimensity 6300? The budget 2024 chipset explained

Lewis Painter — Mon, 20 May 2024 13:26:33 +0000

The MediaTek Dimensity 6300 is the latest in a long line of budget-focused chipsets from the manufacturer, designed for more affordable smartphones in 2024. But what makes it so special, and what’s the difference between it and its predecessor, the Dimensity 6100+?

Here’s everything you need to know about the MediaTek Dimensity 6300, including specs and the new features it enables.

What is the MediaTek Dimensity 6300?

The MediaTek Dimenisty 6300 is the company’s latest mid-range chipset, first revealed in April 2024. While the naming might suggest that it’s a successor to the Dimensity 6200, that chipset never actually existed. Instead, it’s a follow-up to 2023’s Dimensity 6100+ chipset and a competitor to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 1.

The 6nm chipset boasts various upgrades over its predecessor, particularly in the CPU department, while enabling new features that allow more budget-focused smartphones to better compete with their flagship brethren.

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What’s new with the MediaTek Dimensity 6300?

As noted, the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 boasts all the regular performance upgrades you’d expect from a yearly chipset update, along with a few new features for smartphone makers to make use of, from high-res cameras to upgraded connectivity and more.

First up, let’s talk performance; the 6nm chipset features an overclocked main Cortex-A76 CPU at a boosted 2.4GHz, up from 2.2GHz. Those two A76 cores are joined by six Cortex-A55 efficiency cores clocked at 2GHz, and there’s a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU powering the graphics.

MediaTek claims that the new overclocked cores allow for a 10% boost to performance compared to the Dimensity 6100+, but with MediaTek’s UltraSave 3.0+ power-saving tech, that doesn’t translate to a downturn in battery life.

It also brings 5G connectivity to a cheaper price point as manufacturers continue to move users over from ageing 4G LTE smartphones. It’s not just basic 5G connectivity either, with MediaTek claiming that its sub-six 5G modem can achieve “40% faster downlink speeds within urban environments, and up to 30% in suburbs” compared to the unnamed (likely Qualcomm) competition.

That’s all well and good, but it’s the upgraded support for smartphone components that makes the release a particularly interesting one. The headline feature is that budget-focused phones using the chipset can now make use of those high-res 108MP camera sensors, complete with multi-frame noise reduction and improved low-light performance.

The chipset also brings support for 10-bit display tech, meaning that AMOLED screens can now display real 10-bit images and videos for a more vivid, true-to-life visual experience when taking photos and watching content on the go. Screens can also reach a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, though that was also available with the Dimensity 6100+.

Which phones use the MediaTek Dimensity 6300?

While it’s early days for the MediaTek chipset, having only launched two months ago at the time of writing, it’s already making an appearance in the smartphone world. Here are all the phones that feature the chipset right now, and we’ll be sure to add more as they appear in the coming months:

Realme C65 5G

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When will my Xiaomi phone get the Android 15 update?

Jessica Gorringe — Thu, 16 May 2024 10:56:41 +0000

Android 15 is the next huge update that’s coming to Android smartphones later this year.

If you have a Xiaomi smartphone, you may be wondering when you’ll be eligible to upgrade to Android 15 and experience all the promised benefits for yourself.

While we don’t know for sure when Xiaomi will roll out Android 15, we’ve put together this guide on when Xiaomi is likely to have Android 15 ready and which Xiaomi phones should expect the upgrade, based on past OS updates.

If you really can’t wait any longer, we’ve also looked at how you can access the Android 15 beta.

When will supported Xiaomi phones receive the Android 15 update?

As Android 15’s official release is still “several months away”, with the exact date still unconfirmed by Google, we can’t be certain when Xiaomi phones will receive the update.

Having said that, we can still look at the dates of previous Android releases and see how long it took Xiaomi to introduce the new platform onto its smartphones.

Xiaomi was actually one of the first adopters of Android 14 and quickly rolled the platform out soon after its launch in October 2023, but only onto its then-flagship Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro and Xiaomi 12T handsets.

However, Xiaomi noted that although this was the stable version, it would continue to “work on the development and testing processes to ensure that this new version is experienced smoothly by users.”

With this in mind, it’s fair to assume that newer handsets will get the upgrade sooner than older versions. Otherwise, judging by past Xiaomi upgrades, the rollout will be staggered for older models, with the Xiaomi 12 Pro for example not receiving Android 14 until February 2024.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Which Xiaomi phones will get the update?

Despite Android 15’s official release date still unconfirmed by Google, Xiaomi has made it clear which of its devices should expect to receive the update. Listed on its Security Centre page, Xiaomi says the following smartphones will get Android 15:

Xiaomi 14
Xiaomi 14 Ultra
Redmi Note 13 Pro
Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G
Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G
Redmi Note 13 5G
Redmi Note 13
Redmi Note 12 5G
Xiaomi 13T Pro
Xiaomi 13T
Redmi 12
Redmi Note 12
Xiaomi 13 Lite
Poco M6 Pro 5G
Redmi 13C
Xiaomi 12T
Xiaomi 12 Pro
Xiaomi 12
Xiaomi 12T Pro

Can I install the Android 15 beta on my Xiaomi?

If you don’t want to wait until the official release of Android 15 then it is possible to download the beta version now, however this is only available on the Xiaomi 14, Xiaomi 13T Pro and Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro 12.4.

To download the beta version, you’ll first need to unlock the bootloader which poses security risks and may have unpredictable effects on your device. With this in mind, we’d advise against downloading the beta version onto your Xiaomi handset if this is your primary device.

If you’re happy to go ahead then visit Xiaomi’s Android 15 Developer Preview Program site to learn more.

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What is HDMI? Everything you need to know about the connector

Jessica Gorringe — Wed, 15 May 2024 16:35:00 +0000

Confused by the term HDMI? Not sure what HDMI cable you need for your new TV? We’ve got you covered.

Keep reading to learn more about what HDMI actually is, how it works and which household devices you’ll need a cable for.

What is HDMI?

HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface and transmits video and/or audio data from an HDMI source device to a compatible device.

The most common use of HDMI is to display video onto an external device, so in this instance the HDMI source device could be a DVD player or laptop and the compatible device could be a TV or monitor.

HDMI was developed back in 2002 as a way to improve connectivity standards by allowing more data to be transmitted between sources and devices and to cope with the demands of high-definition content. HDMI has since been widely adopted by the vast majority of TV, computer and audio devices, although it has evolved since.

What are the different HDMI connectors?

There are four primary HDMI connector types that correspond to different HDMI cable types. The connectors are: Standard, Mini, Micro and Automotive.

The Standard connector allows you to connect devices such as gaming consoles or Blu-ray players to monitors or TVs.

The Mini connector is quite a specific connector as it works on smaller devices such as tablets and DSLR cameras. The other end of the cable will usually feature a standard connector so it can be used to plug the device with a monitor or video projector.

The Micro connector is used on even smaller portable devices, including smartphones and digital cameras and works in the same way as the Mini connector.

Finally, there’s the Automotive connector which is used for industrial and automotive applications.

What do HDMI ports look like?

There are myriad devices that have HDMI connectors, but it’s not always easy to spot where these are. On most TVs, the HDMI port will be around the back of the device, with the shape of the HDMI port looking like a trapezium with opposing slot sides of unequal length.

TVs label ports, so you can look out for the small stickers that will indicate which port is for HDMI.

And while smaller devices, such as tablets or phones, likely won’t have a label for the HDMI ports, you should be able to distinguish them from the peculiar shape, as the Standard, Mini and Micro all stick to the same trapezium shape with opposing sides.

What is the latest version of HDMI?

Launched back in 2017, although has been updated more recently in 2023, the latest version of HDMI is HDMI 2.1. HDMI 2.1 adds support for higher resolutions and refresh rates, including up to 8K and 60Hz.

This is especially worth noting if you’re an avid gamer as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are both compatible with HDMI 2.1 and the new Ultra High Speed HDMI cable. This means you can experience higher resolution and smoother gameplay.

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When will my Samsung phone get the Android 15 update?

Jessica Gorringe — Wed, 15 May 2024 13:59:47 +0000

Android 15 is a hugely anticipated upgrade, promising a focus on Gemini AI assistant, a wider rollout of Circle to Search and better scam detection.

As the first Android 15 beta has now been released, you may be wondering when the final version of Android 15 will be ready and, more specifically, if and when it’ll be available on your Samsung device.

Although we don’t have all the information yet, we’ve put together a guide of when we’d expect Android 15 to be available on your Samsung device and which devices we’d expect will be eligible for the upgrade. If you really can’t wait any longer, we’ve also noted how you can access the Android 15 beta.

When will my Samsung phone get the official Android 15 update?

According to Android Developer’s timeline, Google expects Android 15 to reach platform stability by June 2024 and from here, beta users will have “several months before the official release to do your final testing.”

Based on last year’s Android 14 release, the platform launched with the new Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. With this in mind, we’d expect Android 15 to be available alongside the expected Google Pixel 9 lineup, which we’d assume will launch in October 2024.

Samsung also needs to integrate its OneUI skin with Android 15, so we’d expect it to be available soon after. Last year, Samsung launched its Android 14 update to its flagship devices just 26 days after Google Pixel devices were updated, so hopefully Samsung users won’t be waiting too long this time round.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Which Samsung phones will get the Android 15 update?

Samsung is fairly generous with its updates, offering four years of major OS upgrades for its newer flagship and mid-range smartphones since 2022. For more budget smartphones, Samsung has offered two years of upgrades, which include the following which launched on Android 13:

Samsung Galaxy A15 (both the 4G and 5G handsets)
Samsung Galaxy A24 (4G)
Samsung Galaxy A25
Samsung Galaxy A35
Samsung Galaxy A55
Samsung Galaxy F14
Samsung Galaxy F15
Samsung Galaxy F34
Samsung Galaxy F54
Samsung Galaxy M15
Samsung Galaxy M34 (5G)
Samsung Galaxy M44 (5G)
Samsung Galaxy M54

The following devices launched running Android 11 or above are also eligible for the Android 15 upgrade, based on Samsung’s four-year update policy:

Samsung Galaxy S23 series
Samsung Galaxy S22 series
Samsung Galaxy S21 series

Finally, Samsung has promised the new Galaxy S24 series will receive a massive seven years of OS updates, so naturally this series plus any new releases in 2024 will be eligible for Android 15.

Can I access the Android 15 beta on my Samsung phone?

Unlike manufacturers like Google and OnePlus, Samsung isn’t offering a public beta for Android 15 on its devices – not just yet, anyway. If that changes in future, we’ll be sure to update this section with more information about accessing the beta on Samsung devices.

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When will my OnePlus phone get the Android 15 update?

Lewis Painter — Wed, 15 May 2024 12:19:18 +0000

Android 15 is the next big update coming to Android smartphones, but when exactly should OnePlus users expect the update to appear?

While you might assume that it’ll roll out as soon as the final release of Android 15 is ready later this year, that’s sadly not the case. While there’s no confirmation of exactly when OnePlus will roll out the Android 15, we can take a look at previous OS update rollouts to gauge OnePlus’ plans.

With that in mind, here’s all you need to know about the Android 15 update on OnePlus smartphones, from rollout speculation to supported devices and how you can get in on the fun early with the Android 15 beta.

When will OnePlus roll out the Android 15 update to supported phones?

While you might hope that, like Google Pixel devices, all supported OnePlus devices would get updated to Android 15 as soon as it’s available – but looking at the Android 14 release schedule, it seems highly unlikely.

Take the OnePlus Open for example; the Android 14 update began rolling out in India in early 2024, but it wasn’t rolled out to the US and Europe until mid-2024. That’s almost six months after the stable release of Android 14 first appeared on Pixel devices.

Thankfully, that’s a bit of an outlier in the current OnePlus collection. The Android 14 update began rolling out to OnePlus 11 users who participated in the beta program in late 2023, with a wider release in January 2024, while the OnePlus 10 Pro and Nord CE 3 Lite received the update in early 2024.

With that in mind, it’s likely that most OnePlus devices running Android 14 won’t get the Android 15 update until the end of 2024, or more likely, early on in 2025.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Which OnePlus devices will get the Android 15 update?

It’s worth noting that not every single OnePlus device will get the upgrade to Android 15 – only those with ongoing long-term software support. That means if you’ve bought a OnePlus phone in the past couple of years, you’ll likely get the update later this year. However, if you’re rocking a OnePlus 10 or earlier, you might be out of luck.

Based on OnePlus’ long-term software promise, the following devices should get the Android 15 update once it rolls out:

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Can I install the Android 15 beta on my OnePlus phone?

The good news is that you don’t need to wait until later this year – or possibly even 2025 – to try out Android 15 on your OnePlus smartphone. There is a catch, however; despite Android 15 coming to 10+ OnePlus devices, you can only install the Android 15 beta on either the OnePlus 12 or foldable OnePlus Open.

It’s also worth noting that OnePlus has explicitly warned against everyday OnePlus users installing the Android 15 beta as it’s currently unstable and breaks a few key features on both phones – the full list of known issues is available on the OnePlus community forum. As such, it’s only really recommended for software developers, and certainly not on primary devices.

If you are interested in this early look at Android 15, follow the (quite advanced) steps on the OnePlus community forum – but be warned, the process risks bricking your phone entirely.

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When will my Google Pixel get the Android 15 update?

Lewis Painter — Wed, 15 May 2024 10:41:08 +0000

Mint Pixel 8 pro back in hand

Google has released the first Android 15 beta ahead of a wider rollout later this year – but when exactly will the final version of Android 15 be released? And more specifically, when will eligible Google Pixel devices get the update?

While we’re still some time away from Android 15 landing on your Pixel smartphone, here, we cover everything there is to know about the upgrade right now, from Pixel rollout date speculation to supported devices and how to get in on the action early with the Android 15 beta program.

When will my Google Pixel smartphone get the Android 15 update?

As with most Android manufacturers, it’s pretty hard to say with any degree of certainty exactly when the Android 15 update will appear on your Pixel smartphone.

The saving grace is that Google is usually among the first to roll out the software update to previous-gen devices, with the Pixel 7 and Pixel 6 getting the upgrade from Android 13 to Android 14 on 4 October 2023, the same day that the Android 14-enabled Pixel 8 range was announced.

With that in mind, we’d expect something similar from Google with the Android 15 update, essentially rolling out the polished OS on the same day that the Android 15-equipped Pixel 9 range is revealed.

We’re still too far away from the launch to get specific, but Google does tend to launch its flagship hardware in early October, so expect the update sometime in the first half of October if all goes to plan.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Which Pixel devices will get the Android 15 update?

It’s worth noting that not every single generation of Pixel will get the update to Android 15 – only those with ongoing long-term software support.

That’s fine if you’ve purchased a Pixel device in the past couple of years as they’re essentially guaranteed to get the update, but if you’ve got a Pixel 5 or older, it’ll be stuck on its current iteration of Android.

Google has confirmed that the following devices will get the Android 15 update later this year, alongside the expected Pixel 9 range:

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Can I access the Android 15 beta on my Pixel?

The good news is that keen Pixel users don’t have to wait for the official rollout of Android 15 later this year – as long as you can deal with the occasional bug or broken feature, that is. Like the iOS Public Beta that lets keen iPhone fans get a sneak peek of the upcoming version of iOS, Pixel users have the Android Beta for Pixel program.

The beta program is available to all Pixel devices due to get the Android 15 update, meaning Pixel 6 users and later can get involved – and it’s pretty easy to do too.

If you’re interested, simply head over to the Android Beta for Pixel website and enrol your device. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, at which point the Android 15 beta should be available to download onto your Pixel.

We wouldn’t recommend installing the update – especially earlier betas – onto your primary device as it could break some important features and functionality. However, if you’ve got a spare Pixel phone handy and want to delve in ahead of everybody else, go for it!

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Android 15 is all about Google Gemini, placing AI help in every app

Chris Smith — Tue, 14 May 2024 19:18:42 +0000

Google has announced its Gemini AI assistant will be an intrinsic part of the Android operating system from Android 15, bringing a ton of perceived benefits to users.

Breaking Google I/O tradition the company decided against revealing Android 15 in full, but did tell us what’ll underpin the new version of the operating system.

During the keynote, the company explained how a new overlay will enable contextual interaction with key apps on your Android device. Circle to Search is getting better, while it’ll also be better at weeding out potentially dangerous spam calls.

Google says there’s plenty more to come from Gemini within Android, which for all intents and purposes will replace the existing Assistant in time, but here are the key new features we’ll get later this year.

Gemini Overlay

During the Google I/O keynote address on May 14, Google said Android 15 will feature a new Gemini overlay capable of helping you interact with whichever Android app you’re currently using.

So, for example, Google says you’ll be able to “Ask This Video” in YouTube in order to find the specific information you’re looking for without watching the whole thing.

For Gemini Advanced users “Ask This PDF” will be more powerful than the existing text search function, enabling users to pull out exactly what they need from the document.

Google says this is part of the mission to give users dynamic suggestions based on what’s on your display.

Google also says it’ll be possible to drag and drop images generated by Gemini into your correspondence in Gmail and Google Messages. The presenter during Google I/O told Gemini to help it create a pickle playing tennis in answer to a request from a friend to play pickleball.

New Circle to Search tools

Google is giving the excellent new Circle to Search feature on Android to harness the information contained in just about anything on your screen – including helping with homework. Effectively, it’ll be fantastic for cheating on maths tests.

“When students circle a prompt they’re stuck on, they’ll get step-by-step instructions to solve a range of physics and math word problems without leaving their digital info sheet or syllabus,” Google says. “Later this year, Circle to Search will be able to help solve even more complex problems involving symbolic formulas, diagrams, graphs and more.”

Better scam detection

Google says this Gemini Nano-powered feature could cut down on fraud by deleting “patterns commonly associated with scams” in real time during phone calls.

So if someone from “the bank” asks you to transfer some money or requests personal information, you’re more likely to be alerted to a “likely scam” and be prompted to end the call.

There’ll also be a helpful message informing you “banks will never ask you to move your money to keep it safe.”

Big TalkBack Boost

Google TalkBack, which helps visually impaired users identify images on their phone, is getting a helping hand thanks to Gemini AI. Later this year, the multimodal capabilities will enable clearer descriptions of what’s happening within the image. This will help, Google says, with shopping online or when receiving a pic sent by family.

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Google Search AI future explained – here are the best new Gemini features

Chris Smith — Tue, 14 May 2024 18:39:19 +0000

Google has announced a host of generative AI improvements coming to Google Search courtesy of its new Gemini 1.5 Pro model.

The improvements include new AI overviews, a new ‘plan ahead’ tool for things like meal planning, and the ability to show Gemini a video you’ve recorded as a shortcut to resolve an issue. The latter sounds like it could be a game changer.

Announced during the Google I/O keynote, the new generative AI capabilities come courtesy of Gemini’s new multi-step reasoning capabilities, planning and multimodality. Google will enable users to customise the results from the original yield to a simplified result or a more detailed “break it down” page.

Here’s the best new Search features the company announced today:

AI Overviews

Limited to Google Labs users until now, the impressive AI Overviews will be available to everyone in the United States from today (more counties coming soon) while the ability to answer more complex questions coming soon.

For example, with a single search, a Google user could ask a question like “find the best yoga or pilates studios in Boston and show me details on their intro offers, and walking time from Beacon Hill.”

Gemini would easily handle this complex query thanks to the multistep reasoning, enabling users to surface the studios, complete with reviews, details of the intro offer in a knowledge box, while offering a map detailing how to get there on foot.

Video troubleshooting

Google will soon enable users to show Gemini a video you’ve shot on your smartphone in order to ask a question and solve a problem, making use of that multimodal capability in Google Gemini 1.5 Pro.

So, to use Google’s example, if the tone arm on your turntable won’t stay in place, you could shoot a video, upload it to Google Lens, ask a question with your voice and receive text information with context specific to that model on how to fix it.

Instead of having to search for the manufacturer, the model, the issue, and more Google will be able to offer detailed troubleshooting steps for the issue. Google says it will “save you the time and trouble of finding the right words to describe this issue, and you’ll get an AI Overview with steps and resources to troubleshoot.”

Plan Ahead

Fancy creating a customised meal plan for the week without the hassle of researching tons of recipes? Google Gemini will have you covered and in your context. So, if you’re looking for a meal plan that saves you money, is suitable for preparing in a college dorm and is microwavable, you can surface a detailed plan in seconds.

“With planning capabilities directly in Search, you can get help creating plans for whatever you need, starting with meals and vacations,” Google says in a blog post. “Search for something like “create a 3 day meal plan for a group that’s easy to prepare,” and you’ll get a starting point with a wide range of recipes from across the web.”

If you see something you don’t like the look of, Google says users will be able to make adjustments like specifying a vegetarian dish or something healthier, in place of a cheeseburger by clicking a “replace” button.

When finalised, the meal plan can be exported to Google Docs or Gmail for shopping or sharing.

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What is Google Gemini Ask Photos? Powerful AI adds context to your library

Chris Smith — Tue, 14 May 2024 17:58:54 +0000

What is Google Gemini Ask Photos? At Google I/O the company revealed a new way to leverage your photo library. Here’s how it’ll work.

One of the first key announcements in Google’s AI-dominated I/O keynote event was ‘Ask Photos’. The tool, which is rolling out to the Photos app in the coming months, will enable users to ask the AI assistant to search their photo library to surface complex results – far beyond the usual keyword searching.

Google said during the keynote that over 6 billion photos are uploaded to Google Photos every day and Gemini can leverage those to cut down on scrolling and deliver results across your entire library, with extremely deep context.

For example, via a new tab within the Google Photos app, the user could ask: “Show me the best photo from each national park I’ve visited” and Gemini would yield precisely that, without the need to scroll through the entire library, or search for specific locations.

The response is incredibly detailed. For example, it might tell users: “Here’s a great photo from each of the 22 national parks you’ve visited around the world, including: Experiencing the Amazon at Yasuni, Peaks and lakes of the UK, Each of Utah’s ‘Mighty 5’ national parks.”

During the keynote address, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai asked Gemini to bring up photos of a young girl called Lucia through the lens of her swimming journey. From her first dip and swimming lessons, to her first swimming certificate. It would be surfaced in an album, cutting plenty of time searching via keywords.

Pichai also spoke of the ability to ask Gemini “what’s my license plate number again?” Gemini will search the library for pictures of cars, identify what it deems to be your current vehicle and show you an image of the license plate.

Google says it’ll help users plan original birthday parties for their keys by asking Gemini of the themes they’ve already used. It may respond: “Here are the themes from Lena’s last 4 birthdays: 3rd: A princess celebration, 4th: Under-the-sea with mermaids, 5th & 6th: Two magical unicorn parties.“

Google says the key is the ability to understand the question and complex natural language terms in order to conduct a more sophisticated search of the library. Keywords, places, people and dates are picked up, but also concepts like “themed birthday parties”

The second element is the crafting of the response, which comes through studying the results of the search, assigning relevance (sometimes by reading text within the images) and choosing which photos are surfaced in the results.

Google says the final element is to ensure responses are safe and appropriate. It’ll also respond to your corrections and additional context and remember for next time.

You’ll be able to try Google Gemini Ask Photos this summer.

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What is a GPU? Everything you need to know

Ryan Jones — Tue, 14 May 2024 11:00:00 +0000

The GPU is one of the most important components of any PC, as it’s not just required for high-end graphics performance, but also for being able to generate an image, whether it’s your Windows desktop or a 3D world in a video game.

In fact, a GPU isn’t just important for your computer, as even your smartphone, tablet and smartwatch will have some form of GPU.

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your PC, or simply want to learn a little more about your device, this is our comprehensive guide on the GPU, covering why it’s so important and what factors you need to consider before a purchase.

What is a GPU?

A GPU, or a Graphics Processing Unit, is a computer component that can create images. Any device that creates images on a display (such as a laptop, tablet or smartphone) will have a GPU.

Without a GPU, a device would be unable to create any on-screen images, rendering it as useless as a doorstop.

What does a GPU do?

GPUs are responsible for creating images, scenes, and animations on a device, but having a more powerful GPU will accelerate the rendering of 3D graphics, making them useful for many different workloads.

While every smartphone, tablet and laptop will feature a GPU of some form, they’re mostly associated with gaming. That’s because you generally need a powerful GPU to run games at a smooth performance, as the PC component is tasked with creating lots and lots of animations in a matter of milliseconds.

GPUs are required to render multiple complex animations at the same time, which comes in handy not only for gaming but for creatives that are looking to render 3D models or edit video. For example, the MacBook Pro has a more powerful GPU than most laptops since it’s created specially for digital artists and designers.

GPUs are also used in data centres, which enables the likes of cloud gaming, video encoding and video streaming, as well as bitcoin mining.

Essentially, a GPU has a massive influence on everything you see on your screen, and the quality of a GPU is one of the biggest differentiators between the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

What is an iGPU?

There are two main types of GPUs, with an iGPU (or Integrated Graphics Processing Unit) being built inside the main processor rather than being a separate chip to the CPU.

These types of GPUs are generally less powerful than discrete GPUs, and are usually developed for basic rendering tasks and generic productivity work, rather than gaming and 3D animation.

Integrated GPU – Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

That being said, companies such as AMD and Intel are working on improving the performance power of their iGPUs. Apple has also surprised many people with its Apple Silicon chips, particularly the Max and Ultra chips of its M range, which flaunt iGPUs so powerful that they can compete with high-end graphics cards.

It’s also worth noting that anyone looking to buy a new PC without a dedicated graphics card should check that it features an integrated GPU, as sometimes this isn’t the case. You’ll generally need either an iGPU or dGPU for your PC to run, as otherwise it will be incapable of generating any images.

What is a dGPU?

The second variation is the dGPU, also known as a Discrete Graphics Processing Unit. A dGPU is usually found inside a graphics card for a desktop system, though it can be a dedicated chipset in high-end laptops too.

A discrete GPU is usually a lot more powerful than an iGPU, as it specialises in rendering advanced graphics for the likes of content creation or gaming.

If you’re looking to build a gaming PC, a powerful dGPU is essential for rendering high-quality images and scenes. Right now, the biggest names in the dGPU industry are AMD and Nvidia, although Intel has also launched its own GPUs in the form of Intel Arc.7

Discrete GPU – Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Discrete GPUs do come with a catch however, as they require a dedicated cooling system to prevent overheating and to maximise their performance, which is usually why gaming laptops are so much heavier than traditional laptops.

dGPUs also have a higher power consumption, which means that gaming laptops will usually need charging more often than devices that come with an iGPU.

Plus, discrete GPUs can boost the price of a laptop significantly, which is why they’re only usually recommended if you’re going to be gaming or creating content. It’s arguably the most expensive component of a PC.

Is the GPU the same as a graphics card?

While the terms GPU and graphics card are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing.

A GPU is the chip that is doing all of the heavy lifting, and can be found inside a graphics card.

The graphics card is an ‘expansion card’ that enables the GPU to connect to the motherboard. Graphics cards will also have built-in fans to help cool down the GPU when under stress, as well as their own dedicated RAM.

In essence, the graphics card is the house that a GPU lives in, helping it to connect to the rest of the computer, in a similar relationship to a CPU and a motherboard – the former providing all of the processing power, while the latter sorts out the logistics.

Due to the size of a graphics card, they’re typically only found in desktop PCs. A laptop will instead feature a GPU chip that plugs directly into the motherboard, with each laptop manufacturer developing their own cooling system instead.

Is a GPU better than a CPU?

We wouldn’t say that the GPU is better than the CPU or vice versa, as they both perform different jobs. While a GPU is tasked with generating images for a device, the CPU is instead responsible for processing and sending out instructions to all of the other components in an electronic device.

Without a CPU, a GPU wouldn’t be able to perform its job, making both components incredibly important. Both will often be baked into the same chip, especially for small, portable devices such as a smartphone. But even when a CPU and GPU occupy separate chips, they’re still able to communicate with each other effectively.

Depending on your desired workload, you may want to target different performance levels for each chip. A CPU’s performance will affect almost every workload, although you only really need a high-end performance for complex workloads and when juggling multiple tasks simultaneously. Meanwhile, a powerful GPU will generally have a greater impact on gaming performance than the CPU, while it can also have a major influence on the likes of content creation.

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iOS 17.5 Features: New iPhone update available to download now

Chris Smith — Mon, 13 May 2024 17:46:01 +0000

Apple has dropped the iOS 17.5 update, which brings another game to the News+ service and greater protection against stalking via item trackers.

The relatively minor update for UK users is a bigger deal in the EU where Apple is now allowing apps to be side-loaded from the developer’s website, in order to adhere to the Digital Markets Act across the bloc.

Here’s what’s new for everyone else…

Apple News+ gets game

Apple is looking towards the New York Times model for increasing engagement with its news content. The News+ service now includes a game called Quartiles which is a “new and original daily word game”.

Essentially, it sounds like Apple’s attempt to have a Wordle-like pull to the News app every day, where users can build streaks.

In a post on the Apple Newsroom blog, Apple explains the game “challenges players to form words by selecting tiles containing two to four letters, and users collect points based on word length. New puzzles are available each day, and players can also choose to share a Quartiles puzzle with other News+ subscribers.”

iOS 17.5 also includes a new Puzzles Scoreboard where users can keep tabs on their records in Quartiles, as well as the daily crossword and mini crossword Apple added to the News+ proposition in iOS 17.

Elsewhere, News+ gets an Offline Mode in iOS 17.5 where subscribers can access “recent and personalised News content” when they’re not connected to the web.

Cross-platform anti-stalking

Apple has finally added the key piece of the puzzle to allow its Find My network to play nice with trackers designed for Google’s equivalent Find My Device platform – and vice versa. This means iPhone users will be alerted when a non-AirTag tracker is following them, for example.

iOS 17.5 release notes

The full iOS 17.5 release notes are as follows:

Apple News

Offline mode in Apple News+ gives you access to the Today feed and News+ tab, even when you don’t have an internet connection.
Quartiles is a new and original daily word game that is now available in Apple News+.
Scoreboard in News+ Puzzles gives you access to new player data for Crossword, Mini Crossword and Quartiles, including stats and streaks.

Tracking Notifications

Cross-Platform Tracking Detection delivers notifications to users if a compatible Bluetooth tracker they do not own is moving with them, regardless of what operating system the device is paired with.

This could be the last major update before Apple reveals iOS 18 at WWDC next month.

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What is 4K TV and Ultra HD?

Jessica Gorringe — Mon, 13 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Although it’s been around since the early noughties, 4K technology has only become more of a household term in the last 10 years or so.

Whether you’re investing in a new TV and want to know which one to go for or you’re just not sure what 4K actually means, we’ve put together a guide so you can take the confusion out of the jargon.

What is 4K?

For a TV or screen to be 4K it needs to have a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, which equates to a total of about 8.3 million. This is four times as many as a Full HD TV, with the higher amount of pixels resulting in a clearer and better-defined picture which results in more detail and texture.

To make things slightly confusing, 4K is also known as Ultra High Definition (UHD) resolution, and sometimes brands will refer to a 4K screen as UHD, Ultra HD, 4K UHD or even 2160P. However, regardless of the name favoured by a brand, these are all essentially the same thing and will have the same high 3840 x 2160 pixel count.

What is the difference between 4K and Ultra HD?

True 4K refers to a resolution of 4096 x 2160, which is used by digital cinema projectors. UHD in the consumer world refers to a resolution of 3840 x 2160, which is the resolution you get on TVs.

So technically, 4K is the wrong term, but the two are pretty much interchangeable.

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How close do I need to sit to the TV?

The extra resolution and increased pixel density means you can sit further forward to get the most from your TV. And filling up more of your field of view makes for a more immersive experience.

While sitting close provides the most impact, we reject the notion that there’s no benefit from distant viewing positions. Lines remain cleanly drawn, depth is still perceptible, colours maintain their subtlety, and objects within the picture keep their three-dimensional appearance.

Where can I watch 4K content?

You can stream in 4K across the majority of popular streaming services, with Netflix currently offering the most 4K streaming options, although you may need to check your plan to see if you are able to. You can also stream 4K content from the likes of Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus and Amazon Video.

Pretty much all of Netflix’s original content comes wrapped in 4K Dolby Vision (but not everything, we should add), and much of the new content from Amazon and Disney, especially their big original series and films, are shown in 4K. Almost all of Apple’s streaming library is in 4K with a few exceptions.

Then there’s the Sky Q/Glass service, where you can watch the broadcaster’s growing catalogue of films, TV shows and sports in 4K with their Ultra HD package.

Can you watch non-4K content on a 4K TV?

Yes you can watch lower-quality content on a 4K TV. Better still, some TVs even have upscaling technology which optimises lower resolution content to fit the display panel of a 4K screen. This results in clearer and more detailed content which hasn’t been stretched or distorted, but note that not all TVs support this so be sure to check.

What internet speed do you need to stream 4K TV?

Netflix and Amazon require speeds of at least 15Mbps to stream 4K content. Speeds need to remain consistently at or above that figure because as soon as it drops – perhaps due to peak usage times – the picture will slip back into HD.

Don’t worry if you start off with a blurry image: it’s common for streaming services to start at a lower resolution and then bump it up to UHD after the initial buffer.

Netflix says on its website that you need 25Mbps minimum. But we’ve confirmed with Netflix that a consistent 15Mbps is enough. Compression techniques have improved over the years as have broadband speeds, so 4K streaming is more reliable than it used to be.

Although we’d say it doesn’t offer the best 4K picture (that’s 4K Blu-rays). Speaking of…

What connections do I need to watch 4K?

There have been multiple versions/standards of HDMI since the digital connection first appeared, with HDMI 2.1 the most recent.

At the time of its release, HDMI 2.0 carried an increase in data bandwidth, enabling playback of 4K feeds with full (so-called 4:4:4) colour sampling at frame rates of up to 60fps. HDMI 1.4 only supported 4K feeds up to 30fps.

It’s been subsequently replaced by a newer standard in HDMI 2.1, which boosts the bandwidth to 48gbps (from HDMI 2.0’s 18gbps). v2.1 support for 4K and 120fps as well as passthrough of dynamic HDR formats such as Dolby Vision and HDR10+ among many, many more things.

Given TVs support HDMI 2.0, and a fair few show some love for HDMI 2.1, it shouldn’t be a problem to feed 4K content into your TV.

Should you buy a 4K TV?

If you want to upgrade your TV to a better picture quality then you absolutely should consider a 4K TV. Although not the most pixelated offering on the market, with more and more 8K TVs popping up, a 4K TV is one of the best options for the average household as there’s more compatible content available and it’s affordable.

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Explaining the differences between HyperOS and MIUI on Xiaomi phones

Lewis Painter — Fri, 10 May 2024 11:51:40 +0000

Xiaomi’s MIUI has a bit of a reputation in the smartphone industry, and honestly, it’s not a good one.

It’s an Android skin that, traditionally, is difficult to get used to with an awkward UI packed with bloatware and seemingly random features, and it’s particularly aggressive when it comes to killing background apps to save battery life too.

This combination means that, no matter how good Xiaomi’s smartphone hardware has been over the past few years, the software is always a little bit of a disappointment for consumers in the Western market who prefer more simplistic approaches to the Android interface, keeping it as close to stock Android as possible.

Well, it looks like Xiaomi has been listening, and its answer is HyperOS; a new Android skin found on recent Xiaomi devices including the Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Ultra. The question is, what’s actually new with HyperOS and is it really that different from MIUI? The two certainly still look similar, after all.

HyperOS has a renewed focus on design

Swiping around the interface HyperOS interface on the Xiaomi 14, you might assume this is simply a rebranded version of MIUI, but there are subtle differences to Xiaomi’s UI approach.

HyperOS has a focus on clean lines and a decluttered interface, with a new MiSans Global font, a slightly more organised approach to the (previously chaotic) Settings menu, redesigned app icons and new animations to help the interface feel fresh and new.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

There’s even a new lock screen layout dubbed Artistic Lock Screen that turns your photos into a magazine poster when your phone is locked, complete with customisable text and more. It looks a lot like Apple’s new lock screen system, albeit without widgets – for now, anyway.

The HyperOS interface also supports more screen sizes, which should translate to a better experience when using HyperOS on a foldable or tablet whenever those eventually materialise in the Western market.

But it’s not just about good looks

Still, most of the hard work Xiaomi has done lies beneath the surface of HyperOS. For one, the Android skin takes up much less space on your smartphone than MIUI did, with HyperOS on the Xiaomi 14 Pro occupying just 8.76GB of storage.

Considering users reported MIUI taking up anywhere between 15GB to 25GB of storage on last year’s Xiaomi 13 Pro, that’s a huge improvement that provides more space for your apps and data, and it should allow the OS to perform faster in everyday use too.

It also focuses a lot on cross-device compatibility, working well not only with other Xiaomi-branded devices but even smart home tech and car tech. Most of this is unavailable at the time of writing, with most Xiaomi-compatible tech only in China, but you can get a good idea of Xiaomi’s future cross-compatibility plans on its HyperOS explainer page.

Cross-device features on HyperOS

Xiaomi also wants to follow Samsung, Honor and Google’s lead on GenAI capabilities with HyperOS-enabled smartphones with a renewed focus on GenAI capabilities and NPU efficiency – though no GenAI capabilities are currently available in the Western variant of the OS.

That’s the biggest issue with HyperOS right now; it’s still very new, only making its debut on smartphones in the past few months, and it feels like a system that’s very much still in its infancy. There has been a lot of groundwork laid in the background of the OS, and now Xiaomi needs to take advantage of it.

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What is the Final Cut Camera app?

Jon Mundy — Wed, 08 May 2024 10:53:40 +0000

Apple has announced a new initiative to enable multicam productions on your iPhone and iPad, with a new Final Cut Camera app playing a crucial role.

As part of its latest launch event, Apple announced the powerful new iPad Pro (2024) and iPad Air 6. It also announced some exciting new things you can do with its expanded slate of devices, including high-end video production.

So what exactly is the Final Cut Camera app? Read on to find out.

What is Final Cut Camera?

To put it briefly, Final Cut Camera is a forthcoming free app for iPhone and iPad that lets you capture and stream video footage back to an iPad as part of a wider multicam production.

Apple’s new version of Final Cut Pro will serve as a hub studio for multicam productions through its new Live Multicam feature, with Final Cut Camera serving as the means for actually capturing and broadcasting that video footage.

You can shoot on up to four iOS devices using the app, and have them all stream wirelessly to a single iPad or Mac simultaneously.

The app also works as a standalone professional video capture app for iPhone and iPad, providing precise manual controls for advanced productions. Using the app, you can adjust settings like white balance, manual focus, ISO and shutter speed, as well as enabling focus peaking and monitoring recordings with zebras and audio meters.

When will Final Cut Camera be available?

Final Cut Camera will be available to download later this spring as a standalone app. It will be completely free to download, though a Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 subscription will also be necessary to run your multicam productions.

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What is Apple Silicon? The system-on-chip explained

Jessica Gorringe — Wed, 08 May 2024 09:45:00 +0000

The announcement of the MacBook M1 series by Apple in 2020 marked the company’s transition away from using Intel chips and to Apple Silicon instead. But what actually is Apple Silicon and what does it mean?

To make sense of the Apple jargon, we’ve put together this guide so you can understand what Apple Silicon actually is, how it works and what devices you can find the technology in.

What is Apple Silicon?

Apple Silicon is the all-encompassing term for chipsets that have been developed by Apple. Not just referring to an individual chip series, for example the M-chips found in MacBooks or any of the A-chips found in iPhones, but rather Apple’s own chipsets as a whole.

As mentioned above, Apple Silicon includes the M-Series processors for its computer and higher-end iPads and the A-Series for iPhones and lower-end iPads but also the S-Series chips for Apple Watch and the U-Series for AirTag.

Apple had previously used Intel chips in their Macs, however it switched to Apple Silicon in 2020 with the M1 chip. Since then, there’s been even more M chip expansion with the M1 Pro and M1 Max which launched as more powerful alternatives to the M1 in October 2021.

There was also the M2 lineup which launched in 2022 and later expanded to the M2 Pro, Max and Ultra. And then Apple launched the M3 back in March 2024. The most up to date chipset series is actually the recent introduction of the Apple M4 which is found in the upcoming iPad Pro.

Credit: Apple

How does Apple Silicon work?

Apple Silicon uses Arm architecture, which is a technology renowned for its high-performance ceiling, power and thermal efficiency, especially when compared to Intel processors.

The Arm architecture also allows for fantastic power efficiency, and is the key reason why M-powered MacBooks generally offer superior battery life than laptops with an AMD or Intel processor.

It’s not just computers that have the benefit of Arm architecture as it is also used in the A-Series chips for iPhone and low-end iPads, to make cross-platform support for apps much easier.

Which Macs use Apple Silicon?

All new Apple Macs use Apple Silicon, specifically the M-Series chips, so this means no new Apple Macs use the previous Intel chipsets.

Don’t worry if you’re still using an Intel-powered Mac though, as Apple confirmed that it will continue to support these devices for the foreseeable future.

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What is Ultra Retina XDR?

Hannah Davies — Tue, 07 May 2024 16:54:22 +0000

Apple recently announced its latest range of iPads, including the iPad Pro (2024) and the iPad Air 6.

A highlight on the new iPad Pro is its bright Ultra Retina XDR screen. Here’s what you need to know about Apple’s latest display technology.

What is Ultra Retina XDR?

Ultra Retina XDR is the latest version of Apple’s Retina display technology, announced alongside the iPad Pro (2024) at the company’s May launch event. The screen is designed to push beyond the capabilities of the Liquid Retina XDR display found in 2022’s iPad Pro M2.

So what is the Apple Ultra Retina XDR?

To break it down simply, a Retina display is any Apple IPS LCD or OLED screen with a pixel density high enough that your eyes shouldn’t be able to distinguish individual pixels at a certain viewing distance.

A Retina XDR display is a Retina display with support for XDR – or Extreme Dynamic Range.

Ultra Retina XDR is the next step in Apple’s display technology and “the world’s most advanced display”, according to the company.

The display tech launched alongside the M4-powered iPad Pro, taking advantage of the tablet’s new Tandem OLED screen. The display combines the light from two OLED panels to offer improved full-screen brightness, resulting in up to 1000 nits of full-screen brightness for SDR and HDR content, or a huge 1600 nits of peak HDR brightness, on the iPad Pro.

“No other device of its kind delivers this level of extreme dynamic range”, brags Apple in the press release.

The Tandem OLED screen also enables sub-millisecond control over the colour and luminance of each pixel on the screen, taking the tablet’s XDR precision further than was possible on previous displays.

This means you’ll be able to see brighter highlights, greater detail from shadows, and improved responsiveness to content in motion, making the display tech better for digital artists and movie lovers alike.

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What is the Apple M4 chip?

Ryan Jones — Tue, 07 May 2024 15:20:00 +0000

The Apple M4 chip has finally been unveiled, marking the fourth generation of Apple Silicon.

The new chip will debut inside the iPad Pro 2024, making the hind-end tablet even more powerful than the MacBook Air. But what exactly is the Apple M4 processor, and what kind of performance can you expect from it?

We’ve created this guide to answer all of your questions and more, so keep on reading for everything you need to know about the new chip.

What is Apple M4?

The Apple M4 processor is the successor to the recent M3 chip, marking the fourth generation of Apple Silicon. The M4 is a baseline chip, with Pro, Max and Ultra variants expected to arrive in the future.

Right now, the M4 chip is only available inside the latest iPad Pro, but it’s expected to arrive in various Apple computers in the future, including the MacBook Air, iMac and Mac Mini.

What is new with the M4 chip?

There are a number of new additions for the Apple M4. Firstly, it’s based on a new second-gen 3nm architecture, which not only boosts performance but also enhances power efficiency. This has allowed Apple to increase the number of transistors to a whopping 28 billion.

Apple has upped the maximum core count to 10, made up of 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores. Combined with advancements made to the architecture, Apple claims this has resulted in a 1.5x CPU performance boost compared to the M2 processor.

A new 10-core GPU will also see a boost to graphics performance, with hardware-accelerated ray tracing allowing for advanced lighting effects in supported games.

Credit: Apple

The headline feature of the M4 chip is arguably its new AI capabilities, with Apple calling it the most powerful neural engine ever. With the M4’s 16-core NPU capable of 38 trillion operations per second, it’s significantly faster in AI performance than any previous Apple processor.

Apple has teased that a new uplift in AI performance will allow M4-powered devices to perform tasks such as isolating a subject from its background in a 4K video by just a tap when using Final Cut Pro. We expect more AI apps and features to be released throughout the year to take advantage of the new AI powers.

Which devices will have the M4 chip?

The iPad Pro is, at the time of writing, the only device to be powered by the M4 processor.

We expect the Apple M4 to eventually arrive in a wider range of products, including the MacBook Air, iMac and Mac Mini. However, these new Macs aren’t expected to arrive until the latter end of 2024.

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What is Tandem OLED? The OLED panel in Apple's iPad Pro

Kob Monney — Tue, 07 May 2024 15:20:09 +0000

We can’t say we’ve ever heard of Tandem OLED but we (and you) will be hearing more about it with the news that Apple’s latest iPad Pro features the panel technology.

There were rumours back in 2023 that Apple was going to launch a device with a Tandem OLED, replacing the Mini LED display that featured in the previous iPad model.

What is Tandem OLED? Read on to find out.

What is Tandem OLED?

In short, a Tandem OLED panel is one that stacks multiple OLED screens on top of one another.

Apple has done this with its new iPad Pro and branded it as its Ultra XDR Retina Display. As Apple describes it, the Ultra XDR Retina Display uses two OLED panels and combines the light from both to boost the full-screen brightness.

The levels of luminance (or brightness) we referring to appear to be massively bright for a portable device. The new iPad Pro is claimed to be able offer 1000 nits of full-screen brightness for both SDR and HDR content, able to hit a peak brightness of 1600 nits for HDR content.

And with OLED’s perfect blacks and infinity contrast, that should make for quite the striking appearance on an OLED screen. Plus, Apple says that the Tandem OLED technology “enables sub-millisecond control over the colour and luminance of each pixel”, which as we understand it, should allow for the screen to react in a more responsive and fluid handling of motion.

credit: Apple

Specular highlights are described as brighter than they were on previous iPad Pros, while Apple also says you’ll be able to see more detail in the shadows and low light areas than was possible.

There’s no mention of burn-in or image retention solutions in Apple’s press release, but from what we can scramble together online, a two stack OLED panel is designed to last for longer.

With the Tandem OLED panel structure, the iPad Pro should be able to deliver the black levels without blooming that OLED is known for, with a level of brightness that’s in the same area as Mini LED, along with a fluid motion that we’d imagine make this a good screen for gaming on too.

We aren’t too sure on who is supplying the glass (i.e. the panel) for the new iPad Pro, but it has been reported that both LG Display and Samsung Display have developed their own Tandem OLED screens to compete for supply for Apple’s future iPads.

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What is the Rabbit r1? The AI-powered gadget explained

Hannah Davies — Tue, 07 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

If you’re intrigued by what device might replace smartphones in the future, you’ve probably come across the Rabbit r1.

It’s safe to say the Rabbit r1 has had a tumultuous start.

Start-up Rabbit made headlines at CES 2024 when it caught the attention of many attendees with the pocket-sized AI marvel that is the r1. However, as users began to get their hands on the device the feedback was less than favourable, with many reviewers slating the device for seeming unfinished and accomplishing little that can’t be done with a smartphone. According to a report by Android Authority, the r1 UI might actually be an Android app.

If you’re interested in what kind of device could have caused this much commotion, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about the Rabbit r1.

What is the Rabbit r1?

The Rabbit r1 is a $199 handheld device that runs on its own operating system, Rabbit OS.

Many of the r1’s capabilities are based on a bespoke large language model called a Large Action Model (LAM). This language model doesn’t have the same function as the one behind ChatGPT or Google Bard. Rather, the purpose of Rabbit’s LAM is to interact with apps on your behalf, allowing you to break away from your phone.

The LAM learns how you use apps and services to complete everyday tasks such as booking flights, editing photos and streaming music. This ability works with food apps, rideshare services, maps, shopping apps, travel services, music apps and generative AI services, to name a few.

“Rabbit OS […] can handle most of one’s digital errands – from simple tasks like searching for up-to-date information to complex tasks such as thoroughly researching and booking options for upcoming travel, or filling a virtual grocery store cart and completing transactions at check-out”, reads Rabbit’s press release.

Rabbit simply requires you to sign in to each app through its Rabbithole web portal before using voice commands to instruct the r1 to complete tasks.

“LAM fundamentally removes the need for users to download and use multiple apps on their devices, and instead proactively carries out the tasks on such apps for them”.

One thing the Rabbit r1 cannot do is make or take calls. The r1 has a SIM slot, meaning you can connect to a 4G network using the device (Wi-Fi and hotspot support are present for those who don’t wish to insert a SIM). However, calling and texting do not appear to be supported at this stage, so you probably don’t want to ditch your smartphone just yet.

Design and specs

The Rabbit r1 was designed in collaboration with Teenage Engineering and is made to be sleek and easily pocketable. According to Rabbit, the company took cues from the Tamagotchi when crafting the design, while the Luminous Orange colourway is designed to catch the eye.

The r1 features a 2.88-inch touchscreen, a push-to-talk button for voice commands and a scroll wheel for flicking through Rabbit OS’ activity cards. There’s also the “rabbit eye”, an AI-enhanced rotating camera for making video calls.

The device is powered by the MediaTek Helio P35 processor with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There’s the aforementioned SIM slot for cellular connectivity, along with an all-day battery and a USB-C port for charging.

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High-end vs mid-range CPUs: Is the difference worth the cost?

Ryan Jones — Mon, 06 May 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Buying a new CPU for your PC can be an intimidating process, not only because of all of the technical specs that you need to consider, but also the high expense.

One of the most common questions that people ask is whether they should purchase a mid-range or high-end processor. The likes of AMD and Intel will always launch multiple chips for each generation, all with different price points. So which one should you go for?

We’ll be explaining everything you need to know about purchasing a CPU, so you can be more confident that you’re purchasing the right processor for your desired workloads.

What is a high-end CPU?

Let’s start with defining what a high-end processor actually is. In terms of Intel chips, the i7 and i9 ranges are generally thought of as the high-end options. Over at AMD, it’s the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 chips. But what exactly is it that makes these chips high-end?

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Generally, high-end chips have more cores and higher peak clock speeds, making them the most powerful options. For example, the high-end Intel Core i9-14900K features 24 cores and is capable of up to a 6GHz frequency. Meanwhile, the mid-range Intel Core i5-14600K has 14 cores and a max clock speed of 5.3GHz.

Thanks to those extra cores, high-end processors are generally more equipped to deal with juggling multiple tasks at once, or engaging in complex workloads such as video editing and 3D animation. The higher frequency speed will also provide a boost to overall performance.

What is a mid-range CPU?

A mid-range processor is generally just a slightly less powerful version of its high-end counterpart, as long as they’re part of the same generation.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

For example, any processor in the latest 14th generation of Intel Core chips will share the same architecture. But when comparing two chips from differing generations (14th Gen vs 11th Gen for example) there will most likely be fundamental differences to how the chip was built, which can greatly impact performance.

So if you’re choosing between two processors from the same generation (such as the i9-14900K and i5-14600K) then the only differences will be the peak frequency speed and number of cores.

Is the difference worth the cost?

It’s obvious that a high-end processor is capable of a more powerful performance than its mid-range counterpart (as long as they’re part of the same generation) but is the performance difference actually worth the cost? This all depends on the workload.

The greatest advantage a high-end processor will have over a mid-range one is a greater number of cores and threads. However, many applications aren’t designed, or strenuous enough, to take advantage of numerous cores simultaneously.

For example, web browsing, video streaming and word processing are such simple tasks that you most likely wouldn’t notice much of a difference between the performance of an i5 and an i9 processor.

Strangely enough, most video games don’t require the power of numerous CPU cores either. This means that an i5 CPU will often be nearly just as competent as an i9 chip when it comes to elevating gaming performance. As a result, we often recommend gamers opt for a mid-range processor instead of a high-end one in order to get the best value for money.

The benchmark table above demonstrates the performance difference between the Intel Core i9-14900K and Intel Core i5-14600K. As you can see, the former offers a superior performance, but not by a significant margin for modern games – there’s only 4fps advantage for Horizon Zero Dawn, 1fps boost for Returnal and 3fps gain for F1 22.

A high-end processor can offer a greater performance advantage for games that aren’t too restricted by GPU performance. For example, the i9 saw a 31fps performance boost compared to the i5 for Dirt Rally, although the performance was extremely high for both chips.

It’s also worth mentioning that all of the tests above are for a 1080p resolution. Crank up the resolution to 4K, and you’ll see an even smaller difference in gaming performance between the chips. Instead, it’s the GPU performance that becomes more important.

So does that mean there’s no point in buying a high-end processor? Not quite. A high-end chip will generally excel at workloads that make use of multi-threaded performance. This includes tasks such as video editing, 3D animation, machine learning and more. We typically recommend a high-end processor for creative professionals who deal with complex productions on a frequent basis. For such workloads, you should notice a big performance difference compared to using a mid-range chip.

So whether the high cost of a high-end chip is worth it really just comes down to your workloads. Most people, including gamers, will likely be perfectly fine with a mid-range chip. But if you’re someone who deals with CPU-intensive workloads on a consistent basis, then the added firepower of a high-end chip will be worth it in the long run.

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What is Apple's account deletion policy? The iOS Developer rule explained

Jessica Gorringe — Mon, 06 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Although Apple’s account deletion policy has been around for a while now, there still may be confusion over what it entails.

Read on to learn more about Apple’s account deletion policy, what it has meant for iOS app developers and how it affects app users.

What is Apple’s Account Deletion policy?

Introduced back in 2021 and implemented in June 2022, Apple’s account deletion policy is a rule for iOS app developers. Essentially, if an app is listed in the App Store and includes a feature where users can create an account, then there must also be a feature to allow users to subsequently delete their account within the app.

Before this policy was implemented, some apps would require users to visit the app’s web platform or website if they wanted to delete their account. It should now be much easier for users to delete account without needing to leave the app.

It is also not enough for apps to only provide a disable or deactivate option; all users must be able to permanently delete their account and data.

Why did Apple implement this policy?

Simply, having an in-app deletion necessity helps Apple comply with data privacy laws around the world.

Who does the account deletion policy affect?

The account deletion policy affects all iOS app developers as they need to ensure they have the option for users to delete their accounts within the app.

If any app doesn’t comply with the policy, developers risk having their apps removed from the App Store or rejected by Apple. Developers can risk being banned from hosting apps on the App Store too, if they breach other Terms of Service too.

This policy also naturally affects users too. Users can feel secure and get peace of mind that they can easily delete their accounts and, as Apple elaborates deletion means removing the account and any associated data, which isn’t legally required, from the developer’s records, users know extra data won’t be stored.

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Can you hear the difference between Apple Music, Tidal and Spotify?

Kob Monney — Fri, 03 May 2024 14:57:40 +0000

It’s an age-old debate about music whenever new technologies come to the fore or whenever someone introduces a different way of listening to audio. Can you hear the difference?

When it comes to music streaming services that’s a question that’s frequently asked. You might expect all streaming services to sound the same, but we’d say that they are all different from one another.

We’d also assert that it’ll differ depending on your device, and what equipment you’re using too. Each chain in the link will have an effect.

Drivers have a bigger effect than the overall bit-rate

You’ll likely have heard a lot in the past few years about music providers trying to drive up the quality of audio, especially streamed audio.

Spotify still lags behind the rest with its 320kbps OGG Vorbis streams, which aren’t much higher in bit-rate than what iTunes was pumping out with its M4A streams at the turn of the century. Spotify Supremium should hopefully be coming soon to resolve this issue, but at the moment, Apple Music, Deezer, Qobuz, and Tidal all offer higher quality streams.

The marketing hook that’s been used to sell headphones is the uptake of higher quality Bluetooth codecs such as LDAC, aptX Apadative, and aptX Lossless (also known as Snapdragon Sound). This is all well and good, as Bluetooth does have a bandwidth problem and if you want to hear at the highest quality possible (say lossless audio), then that bandwidth pipe needs to be stretched open to allow more data through over a Bluetooth connection.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

However, this doesn’t matter as much as you think it does without high quality headphone or speaker drivers. Poor quality will ensure that detail, clarity, and overall resolution won’t make their way to your ears. Tracks may sound muddy or indistinct, even if they support tech like Snapdragon Sound because the drivers can’t pass through what’s in the signal.

The tuning of drivers will also have an effect on what you hear. Is it more of a neutral sound, a crisp, analytical performance or something that sounds warm and rich. These tuning decisions will have an effect too.

Really, it’s a combination of the driver, tuning, and technology used that will ensure a higher quality performance.

Each streaming service takes a different approach

Some may refute this point, but in our experience, each streaming service is tuned slightly differently in terms of how it sounds.

Qobuz is the clearest, most detailed sounding streaming service we’ve come across. Tidal sounds warmer than others, while Apple Music has a more neutral, if slightly dour tone that lacks the richness Tidal can offer. Spotify is similar, but its low bit-rate and compression also starves it of detail, definition, and dynamism.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

With Amazon Music, we’ve noticed that even when using the same equipment and listening to the same track, the bass can sound bigger. And there’s more to it than that, sometimes the soundstage is smaller (or bigger); other times a streaming service offers better top-end clarity. And listening on different platforms can also yield an effect. Qobuz and Tidal on an iPad sounded much more even, although Qobuz still bested its rivals in the detail and clarity stakes.

All of this is to say the quality of the streaming files, the signature of the streaming service, and how it’s delivered to your device of choice will have an impact.

It depends on the equipment you use

Do you use a portable DAC or a headphone amplifier? You’ll yield much better results with a device that can clean up and remove the noise from the signal before it passes through to your headphones.

Do you stream over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, as that too can have an effect. The former often leads to higher levels of resolution, even with Spotify Connect, than you’d often find when streaming through Bluetooth.

And obviously if you’re using a music streamer, a higher quality one with premium parts will be able to do a better job than a cheaper one, but at some point you’ll hit a limit and it’ll become “much of muchness” in terms of how much you spend and how much performance you get back.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

To hear the differences, every part of the chain needs to be strong without a weak link. Your source needs to be high quality, the connection between the source and the end device needs to keep the quality up and then whatever you’re listening through needs to make sure that what’s in the source at one end makes it all the way to your ears.

There are differences to be heard, some more nuanced than others. At the end of the day, it all depends on what you’re looking for. Is it an audiophile performance? Then that will guide you in one direction. Are you more a casual listener who’s not as interested in quality? Then that’s a different route too. In either case, if you like what you hear, that’s the most important thing.

Although it would be better if everyone listened in audiophile quality.

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How to optimise your gaming phone's settings for peak performance

Lewis Painter — Fri, 03 May 2024 12:03:40 +0000

Smartphones are pretty powerful in 2024, and that’s particularly true of gaming phones like the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition and RedMagic 9 Pro, delivering the very best possible performance from any smartphone right now to provide the best gaming experience around.

However, even with top-end gaming-focused hardware, there are ways that you can optimise your phone’s settings to squeeze out even better performance – ideal for particularly taxing games like Call of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact.

With that said, here are four ways you can optimise your gaming phone for peak game performance. If you’re yet to pick up a gaming phone, take a look at our selection of the best gaming phones to make sure you’re getting one of the best.

Enable performance mode

Most gaming phones come with a top-end smartphone chipset and plenty of RAM to boot, all in the name of delivering the best gaming performance possible from a phone. That’s usually enough to provide a great gaming experience with top-end graphics enabled and smooth frame rates, but you can eke out even better performance in particularly demanding titles by enabling Performance Mode.

Though the exact location of the mode switch depends on the smartphone you’re using, you can usually locate it by going into the Settings app, tapping the search icon and searching for performance.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Once enabled, the phone will deliver the best performance possible, though that does come at a cost to both battery life and internal temperatures, as your phone will get noticeably warmer when gaming.

That shouldn’t matter too much if your gaming phone has a solid cooling system, but if you’re using a regular smartphone, the heat could actually cause the phone to overheat and bottleneck performance as a result – the exact opposite of the desired effect.

This overheating can be negated with the use of mobile gaming accessories, with some mobile controllers sporting built-in cooling, but it’s worth bearing in mind – especially if you’re not using a gaming-specific smartphone.

Adjust resolution and refresh rate settings

This tip is more for top-end flagship phones instead of gaming phones, but it could be relevant for both depending on the spec of your gaming phone.

You see, while you’d assume that a higher screen resolution would equate to a better gaming experience, that’s not always the case. Flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra are indeed capable gaming phones, but performance takes a hit when there are simply too many pixels to power.

It’s why most gaming phone screens sit at the FHD+ mark, offering a sweet spot both in terms of overall screen quality and game performance.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

If you find that your smartphone, gaming or otherwise, has a particularly high resolution, head into the display section of the Settings app and adjust the screen resolution. Most high-res smartphones offer an FHD+ mode, primarily for better battery performance, but it also serves our purposes here.

On a similar note, be sure that your screen’s refresh rate is set as high as possible. While detrimental to battery life in everyday use, selecting the highest refresh rate in your display settings will allow your phone to display the maximum frame rate possible in supported high-framerate games, further improving performance – particularly in online shooters.

Use Game Mode

Practically every gaming phone on the market has its spin on Game Mode, a mode that can further optimise your mobile gaming experience.

The exact specifics of said Game Mode depend on the manufacturer of your smartphone, but most offer the same broad set of features; the ability to mute incoming calls and notifications to avoid distraction, close all background apps to improve performance and some even include on-screen overlays to give you a breakdown of current performance as well as access to macros.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Most dedicated gaming phones will have a dedicated Game Mode app where all your games are easily accessible in a console-esque UI. To make sure that you’ve got Game Mode active on your favourite game, add it to your Game Mode list. Most games are added automatically but the automatic selection isn’t always perfect.

Then, with your game active, simply activate the Game Mode overlay (again, the exact method depends on your phone) and enable the features you’d like to use.

Tweak in-game graphics settings

Finally, it’s time to adjust your in-game graphics settings to get the best performance possible. Most games are designed with the limitations of smartphone performance in mind, and that means that if you’re rocking a top-end gaming phone, you’ll be able to enable the best graphics possible (in games that support graphical settings anyway!).

However, there are some games that, even with top-end gaming hardware, can be taxing on the phone’s SoC – Genshin Impact is one of the most popular of its kind. Even on top-end phones, the game struggles to maintain a solid 60fps with all graphics settings cranked up to the max.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

With that in mind, it’s a good idea to tweak the graphics settings of any particularly demanding title, bringing down elements like textures and disabling high-end features like ray tracing to increase frame rate. It might not look quite as good, but if top-end performance is what you’re after, it’s a worthy trade-off.

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What is a USB to SATA adapter and when do you need one?

Hannah Davies — Thu, 02 May 2024 10:39:30 +0000

If you’re looking for an easy way to access data from an internal drive without installing it inside your PC, then a USB to SATA adapter could be your answer.

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about USB to SATA adapters, including what they are, why you might need one and what you need to know about transfer speeds.

What is a USB to SATA adapter?

A USB to SATA adapter is an adapter cable that connects an internal SATA hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) to a PC via an external connection.

Many SATA hard drives are designed to be installed inside your PC via a SATA cable. This makes it difficult to access the data on these drives without opening up your PC, especially if you don’t fancy replacing your system’s existing drive.

A USB to SATA adapter allows your PC to connect to the SATA hard drive via a USB connection instead. This means you can simply plug the USB cable into your desktop PC or laptop, and then gain access to all of the files stored on the drive.

When do you need a USB to SATA adapter?

There are several scenarios in which you might find yourself in need of a USB to SATA adapter.

By connecting an HDD/SSD to your computer using a USB to SATA adapter, you can quickly access the data on those drives. This means you can migrate data from one drive to another when replacing an old drive.

USB to SATA adapters can also be used to perform backups and recover data, making it a handy adapter to keep on hand.

For example, if a corrupted Windows file on your HDD/SSD prevents your PC from booting up, you may worry about losing all of the stored data such as documents, photos and videos. However, installing a fresh copy of Windows on a separate drive will allow you to boot up your PC, while using the USB to SATA adapter should enable you to also access all of your data on the old HDD/SSD and transfer the files over to the new one.

USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0

One thing to bear in mind when picking up a USB to SATA adapter is the transfer speed.

For example, a USB 3.0 adapter will deliver faster speeds and greater bandwidth compared to a USB 2.0 adapter. This means they can transfer your data over significantly faster.

It’s worth checking if your PC and HDD or SSD support the USB 3.0 standard (or higher) to determine whether you can take advantage of these speeds.

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What is Intel Evo? Everything you need to know

Hannah Davies — Wed, 01 May 2024 11:10:00 +0000

If you’re shopping around for a new laptop, you may have come across Intel’s Evo badge – but do you know what it means?

We’ve compiled this guide to explain everything you need to know about Intel Evo, including its benefits, and where you can find an Intel Evo laptop.

What is Intel Evo?

Intel Evo is a certification process created by Intel. The Evo badge lets buyers know that a laptop has passed tests to prove it meets certain standards and criteria. These include a great battery life, lightweight design and consistent performance.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Evo laptops are the best of the best in terms of performance. Rather, Evo highlights laptops that offer top usability and battery life over a powerful GPU.

This makes Evo-certified laptops ideal for students, office workers and everyday users, as opposed to content creators and hardcore gamers who require high-end performance specs.

What are the benefits of Intel Evo?

The Evo platform first launched in September 2020 as a replacement for 2019’s Project Athena. However, the specifications have grown over the years.

Intel also offers several Evo badges, with the requirements varying depending on the badge. This means that not all of the following criteria will apply to every Evo laptop.

As of the latest update to Intel’s Evo platform overview which was last reviewed in January 2024, Intel Evo laptops should wake from sleep in less than one second, and offer biometric login options, such as a fingerprint sensor, face recognition or Bluetooth phone proximity.

Laptops should feature some form of AI noise suppression. Devices might also support Wake On Approach, Gaze-Based Dimming, or Walk-Away Lock if they’re fitted with the right sensors.

Evo-certified laptops should offer at least 9.5 hours of battery life with a full HD display. They should also deliver fast charging capabilities via USB-C.

Wireless connectivity should be fast and consistent with Wi-Fi 6E and 6 GHz support, along with Wi-Fi connection management from the Intel Connectivity Performance Suite 2.0. The laptop should also offer universal cable connectivity over USB-C with Thunderbolt 4.

The hardware should also be up to date with a Full HD display, backlit keyboard, and precision touchpad. The laptop should have a thin and light chassis and the webcam should feature a resolution of at least 1080p at 30fps. The device should offer immersive audio and microphone tuning.

Finally, the laptop should be powered by one of the following processors:

Selected 11th through 13th Generation of Intel® Core i9, i7, and i5 mobile processors (laptop processors) with Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
Selected Intel® Core Ultra processor
Selected Intel® Core processors (series 1)
Optional Intel® Arc or third-party discreet graphics

You can find a full list of the laptops that carry the Intel Evo branding in our guide to which laptops are Intel Evo. This includes models from leading brands, including HP, Samsung, LG, Razer, and many more.

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Why is Intel Evo important?

It’s interesting that Intel has put so much effort into creating Intel Evo, which is why we asked Melissa Gregg, Head of User Experience Research at Intel.

Gregg explained that Intel Evo will “allow computing to be accessible, understandable and relevant” for people who may not be as fluent in the technical specs of laptops. This means people can check for the Intel Evo badge instead of needing to dig into the specific specs.

Gregg also mentioned that Intel has done significant research to narrow down the requirements for Intel Evo. After testing user behaviour and looking into the software that people most often use, as well as what locations people use their laptops, the criteria were set.

In short, Intel Evo is a badge that is awarded to laptops that pass Intel’s own strict requirements, and these specifications have been specifically made for ultrabooks that prioritise on-the-go productivity.

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When is the perfect time to upgrade your iPhone?

Max Parker — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 16:27:49 +0000

iPhone 15 Pro Max back angled

Exactly when is the very best time to buy an iPhone? That’s the question we’re aiming to answer as definitively as possible.

Whether you’re after the latest tech as soon as possible or care more about saving money, we’ve got a lot of experience in covering iPhone launches and the price changes that happen after.

Below we’ll run through when Apple usually announces its phones and share the best times of the year to splurge on an upgrade – plus a few times when we’d avoid it.

When are new iPhones announced?

Apple almost always announces the new iPhone models in September, usually on a Tuesday. The phones will then go up for pre-order on the Friday, and hit shelves a week later.

For example, the iPhone 15 was first announced on September 12, with pre-orders starting September 15 and an on-sale date of September 22.

There have been some years where this has changed, notably when travel was limited during COVID lockdowns, but Apple’s release timing for the iPhone has been fairly consistent.

A confirmed date for the launch typically comes two weeks before the event, when invites to the press are sent out.

When should you buy an iPhone?

There are a couple of times in the year when it’s best to buy an iPhone. Right after the new one is announced, or around shopping days like Black Friday in November and Amazon Prime Day in the summer. It really depends on which model you’re looking at.

When Apple releases its new iPhones, it usually reduces the price of its older models and moves them down the line. While brands like Samsung launch multiple mid-range series of phones, Apple uses its older flagship as its mid-tier choices when they’re replaced.

Apple still sells the iPhone 14 and iPhone 13, alongside the iPhone 15 and the prices are lower than when they first came out.

So, in 2022 Apple launched the iPhone 14 for £849 – however when the iPhone 15 came out Apple lowered this price to £699. If you’d have purchased the iPhone 14 even a day before the iPhone 15 arrived you’d have paid more.

This doesn’t happen so much with the Pro phones, with Apple usually discontinuing these as soon as the newer models arrive. Sites like Amazon and mobile networks would still likely have stock though, and might reduce the prices further to make space for the shiny new models they plan to push.

We’ve also seen some fantastic iPhone deals around Black Friday. Black Friday takes place just a few months after the usual iPhone launch, so if you can stick it out you’ll save some cash especially if you’re after a contract price. Another bonus of grabbing a phone deal around Black Friday is that with contracts mostly running for 24-months, it’ll be Black Friday when it is time to renew so you’ll once again benefit from lower prices.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Our deals expert Thomas Deehan also states that he’s noticed a lot of low prices for iPhones in the early months of the year, around February and March.

There are numerous reasons for this, including the initial hype running dry or people aiming to save a little more money at the start of the year. If we look at the price history of the iPhone 15 on Amazon UK using the Keepa price tracking service, we can see that the phone dropped from its £799 RRP to £749 in January 2024, then to £719 and then to £699.

We also found a huge price drop for the iPhone 15 Plus in February 2024 – around 5 months after launch – which took it down to the same price as the smaller iPhone 15. It can really benefit consumers to wait.

When shouldn’t you buy an iPhone?

The worst time to buy an iPhone is just before the new models arrive

If you’re buying around this time, especially from Apple directly, then you’ll be paying top price for a phone that’s about to be replaced. Just wait a few weeks and you’ll have more choices and much better prices.

Again, we’d recommend avoiding buying an iPhone just before big shopping days like Black Friday. Retailers will usually save their big deals for the day itself, and it’s not uncommon to see slight price rises before these days to show a bigger discount later on.

There’s also something to be said for not upgrading to the new model immediately. Of course, some simply have the latest tech – but waiting can ensure any early bugs in the new iOS software are ironed out. If you want to see what offers are currently available, make sure to check out our rundown of the best iPhone deals.

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How to find the right laptop charger

Ryan Jones — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 13:26:06 +0000

Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 - Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

You’d think that purchasing a new laptop charger should be a relatively simple process, but that’s sadly not the case, as a fair amount of research is required.

Purchase the wrong charger, and it may not deliver enough power to charge up the laptop at a sufficient speed. It’s also possible that your charger won’t even fit into your chosen laptop, making it a pointless purchase.

To help ensure you avoid these potential problems, we’ve created this guide to help you find the right laptop charger. We may even help you save some money, as sometimes a universal charger can be cheaper than the default option bundled with your PC.

So if you’re looking to buy a new laptop charger, make sure to keep on reading so you maximise value for money.

Check the connection

The very first thing you need to consider when buying a laptop charger is whether it uses the right connection – otherwise, your charger won’t even be able to plug into the laptop.

USB-C is gradually becoming the default charging connector for laptops, and looks like an oval. It’s the same connector used on modern smartphones, which makes it handy for using one universal charger for multiple devices.

USB-C

Not every laptop uses USB-C though, as many still use the pin design, which can vary in design and size depending on the manufacturer. This connection will likely look like a symmetrical circle, and is often used by power-hungry portables such as gaming laptops.

If your laptop uses a pin, then it’s probably best to be on the safe side and purchase the charger directly from the manufacturer. In order to find out the specific laptop model you own, you can find your laptop’s serial number on the underside of the chassis.

If you’re keen to get a third-party charger, as it most likely will be cheaper, then make sure to visit your laptop manufacturer’s website to check the exact specification of the pin.

Magsafe – Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

And then there are also a number of proprietary chargers from select manufacturers. For example, Apple now uses MagSafe chargers for its latest MacBook laptops, while Microsoft continues to use Surface Connect.

Determine the wattage of your laptop

The second step is to make sure that your charger is powerful enough to meet the wattage requirements of your laptop. If the charger wattage is too low, it may still power the laptop, but at a slower rate – maybe to such an extent that you won’t be able to use the laptop as it charges.

This means that smartphone chargers are usually not powerful enough for your laptop, which is a shame when they’re both using the same USB-C connection.

The wattage of a laptop should be printed in small text on the charger that was bundled in the box. For example, when inspecting the text on our Samsung laptop, we can see that it says 140W.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

If you’ve lost or misplaced your laptop charger and are seeking a replacement, then you’ll need to visit the manufacturer’s website instead. In our case, Samsung listed the wattage on the official specs of the laptop, but this won’t always be the case. You may need to find a manal or visit customer services instead.

If you can’t find the exact wattage, then it’s better to go higher than lower. A higher wattage won’t cause any damage to your laptop, although the charging speed won’t get an extra boost than what the default charger provides. That said, a higher wattage will likely be reflected in the price, so don’t expect it to be cheap.

Conclusion

When purchasing a laptop charger, you have two main options: pick the official charger from the same manufacturer as your laptop, or opt for a third-party option.

The official charger will likely cost a lot of money, but you’ll be safe knowing that it will work without issue. Purchasing a third-party charger can often be cheaper, but you’ll need to do your own research on the connection and wattage to make sure it works correctly with your laptop. There’s less risk going for a USB-C laptop charger than one with a pin design.

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TikTok’s US ban explained

Hannah Davies — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 11:23:17 +0000

You’ve probably heard word of the United States’ pending TikTok ban, but why is it happening and how did we get here?

According to data published by Business of Apps, TikTok was the second most downloaded app of 2023 with 654 million downloads globally. This marks the first year that TikTok has dropped below Instagram in the rankings in three years.

This might not be the case for much longer as US President Biden signed off on a bill that effectively bans TikTok in the States unless parent company ByteDance makes arrangements to sell the app.

Here’s everything you need to know about the TikTok ban in the US and what it means for the rest of the world.

What is going on with TikTok?

President Biden recently signed a bill requiring Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok in the next year or face a ban in the US, but how did we get here?

US politicians first started to raise concerns about TikTok’s ownership and influence in late 2019, prompting the government to launch a review into ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of Musical.ly in November 2019.

The investigation was prompted by concerns surrounding data collection, as well as the app’s reported censorship of the Hong Kong protests. The Guardian also revealed internal documents that instructed TikTok moderators to censor videos that mentioned Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, and the religious group Falun Gong.

As concerns mounted, president-at-the-time Donald Trump stated that he was considering banning TikTok as “one of many” ways to retaliate against the Chinese government in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump went on to order ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations in 2020, but the ban fell to the side as Trump lost the presidency and Biden entered office.

New concerns around data handling were raised in 2022 when a Buzzfeed report revealed that the data of US TikTok users had repeatedly been accessed by ByteDance employees in China.

Despite this discovery, ByteDance has continuously denied that the app shares user data with the Chinese government, stating that ByteDance “is not an agent of China or any other country”.

This brings us to 2024. The US House of Representatives passed a bill demanding that TikTok sell the app’s US operations or risk being banned in the US, which was then signed by Biden.

The signing of the bill prompted TikTok CEO and Singaporean businessman Shou Zi Chew to share a video titled ‘Response to TikTok Ban Bill’:

“Make no mistake, this is a ban. A ban on TikTok, and a band on you and YOUR voice. Politicians may say otherwise, but don’t get confused, many who sponsored the bill admit a TikTok ban is their ultimate goal,” said the CEO in the video.

“Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere. We are confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts and the Constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again”.

What happens if TikTok gets banned?

If ByteDance fails to sell TikTok or convince the Biden administration to ditch the ban, the app will be removed from the Android and iOS app stores and blocked on all web hosting services in the US.

Americans may be able to bypass the ban and continue to access TikTok and its video content using VPNs. However, creators and viewers could also choose to migrate to other social platforms for convenience.

Will TikTok get banned in the UK?

If TikTok is banned in the US, other countries could push to follow suit.

The app is already banned from government-issued phones in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand, as well as on work-issued devices at the European Commission, due to data concerns.

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What is XR Backlight Master Drive? The Sony tech pushing for brighter TV picture

Kob Monney — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 13:25:33 +0000

In April 2024, Sony took the covers of its latest range of TVs, and one of the bigger talking points of the announcement was its XR Backlight Master Drive.

The XR Backlight Master Drive is not a new technology, but in combination with Sony pushing its Mini LED TV range and OLED not quite getting the same level of attention as some had anticipated, it has people believing that Sony is taking a different tact with its TVs going forward.

And it hopes that its XR Backlight Master Drive will help it achieve its goal of a brighter, more colourful TV future. Here’s what you need to know about the panel technology.

What is the XR Backlight Master Drive?

In our opinion, the best way to describe what the XR Backlight Master Drive is, is that it’s a combination of various technologies and processing working together to drive picture quality.

So think of the XR Backlight Master Drive as incorporating the panel itself, the clusters of LED drivers within that panel, and the processor that tells those LEDs what to do. They all work in concert to produce a bright and colourful image that reduces the impact of blooming and halos in an image to produce deep blacks, bright highlights and contrast that bounds off the screen.

credit: Sony

The original concept of this technology arrived back in 2016, so this is a technology that Sony has been working on for years and refining it with each generation of its TVs. The BRAVIA 9 marks the most recent implementation of its XR Backlight Master Drive technology.

How does the XR Backlight Master Drive work?

Most (though not all) LCD LED TVs have some sort of local dimming. Local dimming adjusts the backlight and LCD to convey the bright and dark areas of the picture you see on the screen.

Some would say that having lots of LEDs in the backlight exercises more control over the bright and dark areas in an image, but we’d say more dimming zones does not make for a better TV, it’s knowing how to control those dimming zones that makes a difference. And it would seem that Sony agrees with this viewpoint.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

What the XR Backight Master Drive aims to do is to improve picture quality, but also reduce how much energy the screen consumes. The XR Backlight Master Drive makes use of a “unique” local dimming algoirthm that controls the LEDs and Mini LEDs in a backlight “with absolute precision and independence”, with the ability to control each LED indepedently. It’s arguably not too different from an OLED TV.

This according to Sony will help improve contrast, and reduce the spillage of light that results in blooming and halos. And by being more precise in terms of how it marshalls brightness in the picture, not only will a TV such as the BRAVIA 9 be able to hit higher levels of peak brightness, it can also be more energy efficient.

Which Sony TVs support the XR Backlight Master Drive?

The XR Backlight Master Drive only features on Sony’s LCD LED TVs, OLED has no need for this sort of technology because it is a) self-emissive and b) already has the capability of pixel level dimming response.

The TVs we know that support the XR Backlight Master Drive are the following:

BRAVIA 9
BRAVIA 7
Z9K 8K TV
X95K Mini-LED
X95L Mini-LED

Though these TVs feature the XR Backlight Master Drive, that’s not to say that the performance will be the same for each one. Different sized screens, different numbers of local dimming zones, and differing peak brightness will affect the performance. But in general the aim is the same, to produce a brighter, more colourful image while reducing the effects of blooming.

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5 things to expect for Samsung Galaxy Unpacked – tipped for July 10

Chris Smith — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 20:22:16 +0000

Samsung could unveil the next generation Galaxy Z Fold and Flip smartphones as well as the Galaxy Ring as soon as July 10, according to a new report.

The company is planning to host an Unpacked event in Paris, which is around the time Samsung traditionally hosts its summer showcase of new products. The Unpacked showcase would be a little earlier than usual, with the firm often setting the table for an end of July launch.

However, with the Olympic Games getting underway in the French capital this summer, it’s possible Samsung both wants to embrace the Olympic spirit and be out of there before the Games themselves get underway.

Of course, the date is still to be confirmed, but the often reliable Sam Mobile reckons its been pencilled in July 10. Last year Unpacked took place on July 26, so it would certainly be earlier.

So what could we expect from Samsung’s latest event?

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Galaxy Z Fold 6 range

Samsung’s flagship foldable and most expensive phone is set for sixth generation release this year. All the hype is about a even more premium Ultra version of the handset… or a potentially cheaper version that brings the price down to affordability for mainstream smartphone users. The smart money appears to be on the Ultra version.

Recent rumours have suggested that at least on the standard edition Samsung will significantly reduce the thickness of the Galaxy Z Fold 6, while boosting display resolution for both the internal and external displays. It could also be significantly lighter too.

Galaxy Z Flip 6

The fashion-focused flagship foldable is set for another refresh this year, but the usual scuttlebutt about changes is largely absent right now. That may be because the Z Flip 5 range got a big upgrade last year. It might be just a case of refreshing the internals and perhaps the cameras this time around. We’ll see.

Z Flip 5

Galaxy Ring

Samsung has been teasing the Galaxy Ring during Unpacked in January, and we learned a little bit more about it during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona a month later.

Samsung is still keeping its cards close to its chest on the Galaxy Ring, but our own Max Parker got a closer look during MWC. He opined: “It’s far too early to make any sweeping judgements about the Galaxy Ring with details so scarce, however there’s every chance this product could offer most of the benefits of a Galaxy Watch in a much sleeker design. We can’t wait to hear more.”

After Unpacked we’ll proable have the full picture with on specs, features, price, and release date for the big Oura rival. Can Samsung’s take on the health focused smart ring take it straight to the top of the market, amid rumours Apple might be planning its own incursion?

Galaxy Watch 7

There have been reports Samsung may make a drastic change and ditch the popular circular display and go back to an Apple Watch-like rounded rectangular screen. We’d be absolutely shocked if that was the case. It would certainly shake up the range, but not necessarily for the better. Whatever changes Samsung does make, we’re expecting a standard edition and either a Classic or a Pro variant.

Snapdragon X Elite-powered Galaxy Book

The new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite series of chips promise to do for PC laptops what the Apple Silicon M-Series processors have for Apple MacBook models. Qualcomm also announced a 4nm Snapdragon X Plus chipset this week. This chipset sits below the Elite chipset so it might be a candidate for some of Samsung’s more consumer friendly laptop models.

We expect Samsung to jump on this bandwagon with a new Galaxy Book laptop. It could be a variant of the existing Galaxy Book 4 series, which currently runs on Intel CPU chipsets.

Galaxy Unpacked Summer 2023 recap

Last year Samsung offered the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, Galaxy Watch 6 and also the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 series. You can rewatch the event below…

What are you hoping to see from the Samsung event of the summer? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter (or X if you must).

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What happens when you report your Apple device as stolen?

Hannah Davies — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 11:24:42 +0000

iPhone 15 Pro Max back angled

If your Apple device is stolen, you’re probably wondering what you can do to get it back.

Device thefts have become an increasingly common problem in recent years, with Apple products considered particularly lucrative targets for criminals looking to make some quick cash reselling your tech.

The Met recently revealed that 57,174 mobile phones were reported stolen between October 2022 and October 2023 in London alone, with the figures indicating a 28% increase in mobile phone robbery in the city compared to the year prior.

Whether your iPhone was nabbed in a restaurant, your iPad taken from your home, or your MacBook swiped from your backpack, the best course of action is to act fast. The sooner you lock down your device and report it stolen, the higher your chances are of getting it back (or at the very least, greatly inconveniencing the person who snatched it).

What happens when you report your Apple device as stolen?

You should mark your Apple device as lost as soon as you discover it is missing. Doing this forces the device into Lost Mode, adding a passcode to your home screen, suspending your Apple Pay cards, and pulling up a phone number and message for whoever finds your device.

Of course, if you watched your device get snatched you’re probably not expecting a call. However, if you’re unsure if your iPhone was taken from your purse or left in the Uber on the way home, it might be worth leaving your contact information in case someone picks it up.

To enter your device into Lost Mode, head over to iCloud.com/find, sign in to your Apple account, and select the stolen device. Then click Mark As Lost and follow the steps to complete the process.

iCloud also allows you to monitor your device’s location on a map, provided that the device remains switched on and connected to the internet. If the device does go offline, you’ll be able to view its last known location for up to 24 hours.

Of course, Apple doesn’t recommend you visit any unfamiliar addresses and confront the thief. The safest course of action is to contact your local law enforcement and file a report to allow them to investigate.

You should also contact your network provider and report your device as missing so they can disable your account and file any insurance claims.

It’s generally a good idea to update your Apple ID password at this stage, along with any passwords you think might have been compromised.

Finally, if you can’t see any possibility of your Apple device being recovered, you can choose to remotely erase your device via iCloud. This is a process that cannot be undone and will result in you losing any photos, videos, files, and messages you have not previously backed up, making it a serious last resort.

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What is the Snapdragon X Plus? Qualcomm's 10-core PC chip explained

Adam Speight — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Qualcomm has just revealed another PC chip as part of its upcoming Arm-focused push. The new Snapdragon X Plus sits underneath the already-announced Snapdragon X Elite. Here are the full details.

An exciting new frontier in Windows computing is set to land over the next few months, with Qualcomm bringing Arm chips to the platform in a big way. Apple has seen huge success from its transition to the technology, so could this be Windows’ version of the Apple M1 moment?

We know Snapdragon’s new chips are likely coming to the Microsoft Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 with other manufacturers to follow at some point. But, now, we know it isn’t all about the X Elite. But, just what is the newly announced Snapdragon X Plus?

What is Snapdragon X Plus?

The Snapdragon X Plus is a new 4nm Arm-based platform from Qualcomm for laptops. The chip sits below the Snapdragon X Elite but still aims to provide “exceptional performance, long battery life, and industry-leading on-device AI capabilities”.

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Qualcomm is touting that the X Plus’ multi-threaded CPU performance is 10% faster than the Apple M3, with the flagship X Elite being 28% faster. Compared with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Qualcomm states it can offer 37% faster multi-thread performance while using 57% of the power. For the GPU, the X Plus is showcased as topping the Intel by 36% at 50% of the power. On the AI front, Qualcomm reports a 100x increase in its NPU over the “PC laptop competition”.

The X Plus features a 64-bit architecture, 10 cores (up to 3.4GHz), 42MB of total cache, a GPU with up to 3.8 TFLOPs and an NPU of up to 45 TOPS. For RAM, the technology used is LPDDR5x and up to 64GB is supported while SD, NVMe SSD over PCIe Gen 4 and UFS 4.0 storage is supported.

Snapdragon X Plus reference design – Image Credit (Qualcomm)

The newly announced chip also supports dual cameras of up to 36-megapixels, a single camera of up to 64-megapixels and up to 4K HDR video capture. In terms of visuals, it can drive up to UHD at 120Hz with HDR 10 on-device as well as external display support for three monitors at up to UHD and 60Hz or two displays at 5K and 60Hz.

You’ll find a Snapdragon X65 5G modem onboard, with peak download speeds of 10Gbps and peak upload speeds of 3.5Gbps. The rest of the wireless connectivity rounds out at support for up to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. For ports, there’s support for up to USB4.

The 10-core CPU is built upon Qualcomm’s new Oryon platform, developed with the team the company acquired from the purchase of Nuvia, so it has been a long time coming. It aims to offer strong performance and efficiency, in similar fashion to Apple’s M-series.

Expectedly, AI is a strong focus, with Qualcomm stating this chip powers “the next generation of AI PCs”. The X Plus features the same 45 TOPS NPU as the flagship X Elite, which Qualcomm says is the “world’s fastest NPU for laptops”.

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Why does one CPU core work harder than others?

Ryan Jones — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 14:52:19 +0000

Modern CPUs are now capable of featuring a remarkable number of cores, pushing up the performance ceiling to all-new heights.

For example, the Intel Core i9-14900K desktop processor is packed with 24 cores, making it far more powerful than the more basic dual-core quad-core chips.

However, anyone with a PC may have noticed that most computer-based workloads will only utilise a single core. That may prove frustrating for those who have invested so much money into a processor with so many cores, so why does this happen?

We’ve created this guide to explain why one CPU core will generally work harder than the test, and why this shouldn’t be cause for concern for your PC.

One core to rule them all

If you check your CPU performance via Windows task manager, you’ll likely see that the vast majority of your processor’s workload has been given to Core 0, rather than splitting them evenly across all of the available cores.

This is because most workloads don’t require the use of multiple cores. Basic tasks such as browsing the web or using a single application are not very intensive on the processor, and so will usually only require the performance of a single core.

It would be entirely possible for the likes of Windows to distribute the performance more evenly, but upping the frequency of multiple cores will cause the chip to consume more power, which is wasteful if a single core could comfortably cope with the same workload.

It’s actually fairly rare for an application to make use of all of your cores, especially if you have a 24-core desktop chip. Even intensive workloads such as gaming probably won’t make full use of all of your cores.

Wasted potential

The vast majority of games only require a small number of CPU cores in order to run on your PC.

For example, Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most technically intensive games available, and yet recommends a quad-core Intel chip for the minimum requirements. The recommended specs list a more powerful 12-core processor instead, but it’s still a far cry from the 24-core chips that are now available.

Cranking up the CPU count is unlikely to cause a significant performance boost either. Sticking with Cyberpunk 2077 at a 1080p resolution, we recorded a 224fps average performance with the 14-core Intel Core i5-14600K chip, while upgrading to the 24-core Intel Core i9-14900K saw an average performance of 221fps. While this looks like a drop in performance, this is likely just a minor fluctuation, instead indicating that the two chips are capable of an almost identical performance for this specific game.

Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t designed to make use of more than eight cores at a time, so additional cores are effectively wasted here. This means that, as long as you have at least eight cores, the single-core performance will generally be the biggest determining factor to determine how influential a CPU will be on your PC’s gaming performance.

Like with most games, Cyberpunk is more reliant on the GPU when it comes to performance. Upgrading your GPU will likely have a far bigger effect on performance than upgrading to a processor with more cores. There are certain games that are more CPU intensive than usual, such as the Total War and Civilization series, but GPU performance remains the most important factor.

Multi-core fun

After establishing that most computer workloads don’t actually require a large number of cores, you may be wondering what the point is in investing in a 24-core desktop chip. Well, there are specific workloads that do make use of such processing power.

Multiple cores are more useful for applications that are likely to run multiple complex processes simultaneously. This includes workloads such as video editing, 3D animation and batch processing.

Adobe claims that Premiere Pro runs at 93-98% efficiency with eight cores, while a whopping 32-core setup is suggested for demanding workloads in After Effects when taking full advantage of Multi-Frame Rendering.

If you find yourself running these sorts of applications, you’ll likely find your CPU utilising more cores than usual in order to deliver the required performance. Performance is likely to scale up when using more cores with such apps, whereas that isn’t the case with more simple processes.

And while we’ve established that video games don’t necessarily require a lot of cores, it’s a different story if you want to record footage or broadcast live gameplay, as more cores are required to perform all of these different tasks simultaneously.

With all of this in mind, you should really consider how many cores you’ll likely need from a CPU before buying one. If you’re going to be sticking to basic tasks, then it’s likely you’ll be wasting the potential of the majority of cores in a high-end processor. But the extra cores may well come in handy when dealing with more complex workloads or running multiple processes at one time.

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Emulators on iOS: Explained

Hannah Davies — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:55:29 +0000

If you’re looking to relive the good old days of the Nintendo DS, Game Boy, N64, SNES, or even NES, you’ll no doubt be excited to hear about Apple’s most recent change of heart.

The iPhone maker recently announced that developers would be allowed to list game emulators in the App Store, making it possible for users to download retro games on their smartphones.

Keep reading to learn more.

Can I play emulators on iPhone?

Game emulators have long been banned on the iOS App Store. Before 2024, if you wanted to reminisce over your favourite childhood games of your iPhone, you’d need to jailbreak the device, voiding your warranty in the process.

However, Apple changed its tune on emulators at the beginning of April when the company updated its App Store guidelines to address the nostalgia-driven apps. More specifically, section 4.7 states that “retro game console emulator apps can offer to download games”.

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What is the best free iPhone emulator?

As of publishing this guide, one emulator in particular has taken the iPhone’s App Store by storm. That is Delta, a Nintendo emulator created by Riley Testut, the developer behind the hugely popular open-source GB4iOS Game Boy emulator.

“Delta is an all-in-one emulator for iOS. Delta builds upon the strengths of its predecessor, GBA4iOS, while expanding to include support for more game systems such as NES, SNES, N64, and DS”, reads the app’s description.

The emulator supports a range of controllers from the Switch’s Joy-Cons to the PS5’s DualSense controller and the Xbox wireless controller.

It also saves your progress automatically so you can easily pick up where you left off, and accepts all of the cheat codes you remember from your childhood.

Delta is free to download, though it doesn’t actually come with any games ready to play. To use the emulator, you’ll first need to import a ROM of a game from your files or a cloud service.

Are iPhone emulators legal?

Games are where the legality around hosting emulators on the App Store becomes a bit cloudy.

To import a game into Delta (or another game emulator) you must legally own that game as each title is protected by copyright laws.

This isn’t exactly easy when many retro games are rare and difficult to find. Because of this, some users resort to pirating their games instead of going about it the proper way, which is where gamers step into illegal territory when using emulators.

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What is Delta? The first iOS emulator explained

Ryan Jones — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:32:10 +0000

iPhone users may have recently noticed the surge in popularity of a new iOS app called Delta. Soon after launch it became the number one free app in Apple’s App Store.

But what exactly is Delta, and is it worth all of the hype? We’ve created this guide to explain everything you need to know about the iPhone app.

What is Delta?

Delta is one of the very first Apple-approved emulation apps to be made available to download via the iPhone’s App Store.

As an emulation app, it gives iPhone users the means to play video games from retro consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Game Boy, and Nintendo N64.

Delta even provides an overlay on the iPhone, showing classic controls for each system which you can interact with via the iPhone’s touch screen. Prodding a smartphone screen won’t quite feel the same as a proper game controller, but it’s still an intuitive way to replicate the controls of those classic consoles and you do at least get Haptic Touch support.

Delta also supports a range of game controllers, including those from the PS4, PS5, Xbox One S, Xbox Series X and more.

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Like with any emulator, Delta doesn’t come with any games installed. The user must instead acquire the games separately, either by loading their own ROMs, via iTunes file syncing or through a cloud library hosted by the likes of Google Drive or Dropbox.

Credit: Delta

Many retro games are protected by copyright, which makes it difficult to acquire and download them legally. It’s this reason why Apple has previously been so reluctant to allow emulators on its App Store.

Apple has now seemingly changed its policy following pressure from the United States and European Union regarding its App Store rules.

Delta was created by independent iOS developer Riley Testut who previously launched the GBA4iOS emulator. However, this emulator was not made available through the App Store, and so had to be downloaded and installed through the Safari web browser in order to avoid Apple’s strict restrictions. The newer Delta emulator meets all of Apple’s latest regulations, and so is available to download through the App Store instead, making emulation legitimate on the iPhone for the very first time.

Delta almost certainly won’t be the last emulator to arrive on iPhone, and if Apple decides to stick to its new App Store rules, we’ll likely see an influx of alternative options arrive in the near future.

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Six benchmarks we use to test phones – and how you can use them too

Lewis Painter — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 14:58:21 +0000

We at Trusted Reviews know the importance of benchmark testing, especially when it comes to reviewing smartphones.

A crucial part of our testing process is benchmarking the CPU’s processing power, the GPU’s graphical power, and a range of battery/charge tests to help you understand exactly what a smartphone offers, whether it’s a budget option like the Motorola Edge 40 Neo or the top-end Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

However, these tests can also be useful for you at home, helping give you an idea of your own smartphone’s capabilities. With that in mind, here’s a complete breakdown of the six main benchmarks we use to test smartphones here at Trusted Reviews, and how you can utilise them with no additional hardware from the comfort of your own home.

Geekbench 6

Let’s start with one of the better-known mobile benchmarking apps, Geekbench 6. This is the sixth version of the benchmarking app, which we use to get a good idea of a phone’s CPU performance, testing both single-core and multi-core performance and providing a score, usually in the thousands.

Once you’ve run through the test, the app will also provide comparisons to other phones, but we’ve found that these are often quite old, irrelevant phones, so don’t pay much attention to them.

Geekbench 6’s single-core performance reflects how well the phone performs when only using a single CPU core, emulating the experience of scrolling through Facebook, replying to texts and other low-demand smartphone interactions.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

The multi-core score, on the other hand, gives you a good idea of the performance levels in more CPU-heavy tasks like exporting videos from editing apps like CapCut. This is your smartphone’s peak performance and is often a good indicator of general performance and responsiveness.

To run the test, simply download Geekbench 6 from Google Play or the App Store, open the app and tap Run CPU Benchmark.

The test generally only takes a few minutes to run, at which point you’ll be taken to a breakdown of your results. This is quite an in-depth analysis for real data nerds, but you only really need to reference the single-core and multi-core scores for our purposes here.

GFXBench

GFXBench is another handy tool we use to benchmark phones here at Trusted Reviews. As the name suggests, the benchmark focuses on GPU performance, helping us quantify how well (or poorly) a phone can handle mobile gaming.

The app is quite extensive, with a wide range of on-screen and off-screen tests, render tests and even battery tests, but we tend to focus mainly on the on-screen tests, and the Aztec Ruins (high) and Car Chase tests in particular.

We focus on these tests, which represent high-end 1080p gaming and mid-level gaming (think a 3D game with medium graphics enabled), respectively, to provide genuinely helpful context for our readers.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

If we see results of less than 30fps in either test, it’s usually a good indicator of poor mobile gaming performance, helping those keen gamers avoid phones that won’t fully service their needs. At the other end of the scale, results of more than 60fps indicate a relatively smooth gaming experience.

If you want to see how your phone stacks up, you can download GFXBench from Google Play, with a separate version available for iOS devices. Boot up the app, tap Test Selection, deselect everything aside from Aztec Ruins (high) and Car Chase, and tap Start.

The benchmark should take a few minutes to run, and results will be displayed once complete. These come in various forms, as with Geekbench 6, but we tend to focus on the FPS result as this is the best real-world indicator of performance and much easier to comprehend.

3DMark

3DMark is another GPU-focused benchmark we use at Trusted, but this is very much pushing smartphone tech to its limits. The Wildlife Extreme benchmark simulates a high-end game rendered at a full 4K resolution, while the Wildlife Extreme Stress Test tests how well phones hold up with sustained high performance over 20 minutes.

The former allows high-end phones, particularly gaming phones, to flex their graphical muscles, while the latter is a great gauge of a phone’s cooling system’s effectiveness, as higher internal temperatures will cause the GPU to throttle and reduce overall performance.

We’re also beginning to dabble in the latest addition to 3DMark’s repertoire, Solar Bay, which simulates a ray-traced 4K game – the next frontier in mobile gaming. Considering ray-tracing is touted as a feature of high-end Snapdragon and Dimensity chipsets, it’s a good way to test just how effective the chipsets are when ray-tracing is enabled.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

If you want to see if your phone has what it takes to render truly high-end mobile gameplay, you can download the 3DMark app on Google Play and the App Store. From there, download the necessary resources, swipe through the tabs until you find Wildlife Extreme, Wildlife Extreme Stress Test and Solar Bay.

Due to the particularly demanding nature of each 3DMark benchmark, you can’t queue them up in the same way as in Geekbench 6 and GFXBench, so you’ll have to run them one at a time.

As with GFXBench, the results are pretty granular, though this time, we use the overall score instead of the FPS count, as the latter is usually low and quite meaningless. Don’t be disheartened if your result is low, though; even high-end phones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra can manage 4103 in Wildlife Extreme.

Full battery charge test

The full battery charge test is used to determine just how long it takes to hit 50- and 100% charge. It’s a very helpful reference point for users as it essentially gives you an idea of how long it’ll take to fully charge your phone – that way you know whether you can get a full charge while you’re in the shower, or whether it’ll take a few hours to hit the 100% mark.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

It sounds like a simple test – and it is in theory, you just need to drain your phone and charge it – but getting the timings right can be difficult as there’s no way to automate the process. That means that, like us at Trusted Reviews, you’ll simply have to set a timer and keep an eye on the charge, noting the timings at 50% charge and 100% charge.

If you miss the 50% or 100% mark, there’s no other option but to drain the phone’s battery and start all over again. We did warn you that it was difficult!

Fast charge battery test

We also like to perform 15- and 30-minute fast charge tests as well as charge time tests. These are designed mainly for phones with super fast charging and help demonstrate just how quickly you can top up the battery. With phones on the market with 100W+ charge speeds delivering full charges in around 20-30 minutes, it’s an interesting one to perform.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

The best part is that the fast charge battery test is much easier to perform than the full battery charge test, simply because it’s time-based rather than battery percentage-based.

That said, if you want to test your phone’s fast-charge functionality, simply drain it to 0% charge, plug it in, and set two timers, one for 15 minutes and the other for 30 minutes. Mark down the current charge at each point, and you’ll have your results.

Battery drain test

Last, but by no means least, we at Trusted Reviews test how much certain tasks drain a phone’s battery. This is incredibly useful information for prospective buyers as it gives a real-world figure for an hour of HDR movie streaming and half an hour of mobile gaming, two things most of us do on our smartphones on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Running the two tests is relatively simple. First, we open a streaming app that supports HDR playback. This is usually Netflix, but it’s worth noting that Netflix HDR support isn’t universal among smartphones. If that is the case, we use alternative HDR content from Disney+ or YouTube. The important element here is that the content is streamed in HDR and that brightness is set to a consistent 50%.

Once that’s set up, it’s a case of noting down the charge at the beginning, setting a timer for an hour, and hitting play. Once the hour is up, note the current charge level and subtract it from the original reading. The result will be how much battery power has been used.

It’s a similar story when it comes to gaming. Again, you note the initial charge, set a timer for 30 minutes, and simply play games on your phone for half an hour. As before, once it’s up, take note of the current charge, subtract that from the initial charge, and the result is the battery usage for 30 minutes of gaming.

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How to choose the perfect smartphone for zoom and video capabilities

Lewis Painter — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 11:14:41 +0000

iPhone 15 Pro Max back camera

Most smartphones in 2024 can capture a decent photo at the 1x mark, but the same can’t be said once you zoom in. It’s a similar story in the video department; most phones can record in 4K, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best-quality video around.

The question is, then, how do you find the perfect phone if zoom and video performance are important to you? Whether you’re a budding influencer wanting to produce the best-quality content possible or someone who simply wants a more versatile camera setup, there are important elements to consider when shopping for a new smartphone.

Finding a phone with great zoom performance

In a sea of different smartphone camera combinations, it can be hard to understand the key elements to consider if zoom performance is a priority. Some brands go all-in on megapixel count, while others maximise the digital zoom capabilities as much as possible – sometimes to the detriment of overall quality.

The first important element is whether you’re dealing with a fixed telephoto lens or a more capable periscope system. Telephoto lenses are more common in smartphones as they’re the simpler of the two; they offer a fixed zoom, usually around the 2x or 3x mark, and cannot go further without relying solely on digital zoom.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

This is fine if you don’t go that far, but anything beyond the 4x or 5x mark will, generally speaking, begin to look a little soft.

Periscope lenses, on the other hand, use a prism and folded optics design that allows for better optical zoom without the thickness of a traditional zoom lens. This essentially means that periscope lenses can deliver much higher-quality images at higher zoom levels.

Any tech reviewer worth their salt will tell you there’s way more to a great camera than the megapixel count. That’s still true of zoom lenses, but the megapixel count can play a much greater role here than in other smartphone cameras.

That’s really down to one thing; pixel binning. Pixel binning tech isn’t new, having been used in most smartphones with high-resolution cameras for the past few years, but it’s only in the past year that we’ve seen the tech appear on zoom lenses – and it can make all the difference when zooming beyond optical range.

Pixel binning essentially combines multiple pixels into one pixel in the processing stage, boosting not only the overall quality of your image but also light levels. The more megapixels available, the more that can be combined, and thus, the better the end result.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

We’ve seen this in recent months with the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s 180MP 5x periscope lens, which has the highest resolution sensor of the phone’s trio of lenses and allows for great zoom performance beyond the 10x mark.

Of course, the magnum opus of smartphone zoom performance is the inclusion of not one but multiple zoom lenses, offering optical-level imagery at multiple steps between the 1x and 10x mark.

This is a rarity in the smartphone market, with most manufacturers hoping one periscope lens will do a good enough job at most levels of zoom. However, there are a few, namely the past few generations of Samsung Galaxy S Ultra models.

The latest Galaxy S24 Ultra is the best example of this, with both a 3x telephoto and a 5x periscope alongside its main and ultrawide lenses for unparalleled zoom versatility.

There’s more to great-quality video capture than 4K and 8K

You might assume that to capture a great-quality video on your smartphone, you only need to select 4K (or 8K on some devices) but that’s certainly not the case. While the resolution is undoubtedly an important element to consider, as higher resolutions not only deliver more detail but also allow you to crop in without losing quality, other elements are at play.

First up, it depends a lot on the optics of the lens you’re shooting through. If you’ve got a flagship-level phone with a large sensor and wide aperture, you’ll likely get much better results than a more limited mid-ranger, so investing in a good camera phone will usually result in good video quality.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Beyond that, though, you’ve got to consider stabilisation. It’s arguably the most important element when capturing great quality smartphone video, as it eliminates the shakiness you find when capturing handheld video.

This comes in the form of EIS and OIS, Electronic Image Stabilisation and Optical Image Stabilisation. The former is essentially software-powered stabilisation that crops in on the original video to help steady things out. It can help take the edge off, but it comes at the cost of quality, and you’ll often get odd jitters that the software can’t quite correct.

The more capable of the two is OIS, as the camera lens physically moves to compensate for shake, negating the need to digitally crop and process the captured video.

Some manufacturers, like Motorola and Apple, go a step further by including dedicated Action Cam video modes to aggressively stabilise even the shakiest of videos. Those are designed primarily for fast-moving sports like off-road biking but work equally well when walking along recording a video.

It’s also important to consider alternative video recording modes, not only the Action Cam mode mentioned above but also low-light video, portrait-style video with DSLR-like digital blur, and more. Depending on how and what you want to record, these can make or break the recording experience.

Which 2024 smartphones fit the bill?

When it comes to zoom prowess, Android is the clear winner here. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the best example of a great phone for zoom photography, with a combination of lenses allowing for optical-level quality images between the 1-10x mark and beyond. The Honor Magic 6 Pro is a close second, with a single 180MP periscope lens with a larger sensor and wider aperture than Samsung’s option.

When it comes to video performance, however, Apple’s iPhone range – and the top-end iPhone 15 Pro Max in particular – is the clear winner.

Apple has always had superior stabilisation tech compared to the Android competition, with handheld videos having almost Hollywood-level smoothness. That’s further improved by the inclusion of cinematic mode, which lets you shift the focus of videos recorded in the Photos app, and the option of recording video in Dolby Vision HDR for massively improved dynamic range.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is also a great camera phone in general, with a high-end 5x telephoto lens that’s more capable than the 3x of the iPhone 15 Pro – it just doesn’t offer the same lofty zoom heights as the Android competition.

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5 signs that indicate it's time to upgrade your graphics card

Ryan Jones — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 09:23:37 +0000

PC gaming is the way to go if you want the highest performance ceiling possible for the latest games. However, it’s important to keep all of your various components up to date if you want to make sure you’re still getting an optimal gaming experience.

The graphics card is arguably the most important component of a PC when it comes to gaming, as it has the greatest influence on gaming performance. Build a high-end PC, but settle for a budget GPU, and you may struggle to play numerous modern games.

However, it may be difficult to know when the time is right to upgrade your graphics card. If you’re not too knowledgeable about PC specs, you may be wondering whether it’s your graphics card that’s causing the performance bottleneck, or maybe something else instead.

We’ve created this guide to help you determine whether your PC is in need of a graphics card upgrade, or whether your money is better spent elsewhere. Keep scrolling for the five biggest signs that indicate that it’s time to upgrade your graphics card.

Credit: Nvidia

Low frame rate

The easiest way to determine the gaming performance of your graphics card is to check the average frame rate when playing your favourite PC games. If you’re not familiar with frame rates, this refers to how many images your PC can generate per second while running a game.

A higher frame rate will result in a smoother performance, allowing you to see every tiny detail of a character’s movement within a game. This is especially useful for shooters, as it makes it easier to target a moving object.

An average 30fps performance is widely agreed to be the minimum required to play a game without major issues. Drop lower than this figure, and then you’ll likely see a lot of janky animations and an overall poor experience.

It’s very easy to see the frame rate of any game on your PC. If you’re using Steam, simply go to Settings > In-Game > In-Game FPS Counter, as this will display a counter in your chosen corner of your monitor. If you’re not using Steam, then Nvidia and AMD also offer their own solutions through their own software.

With a frame rate counter activated, you’ll be able to boot up a game and determine your PC’s performance. If you’re noticing the counter drop below 30fps frequently for your chosen resolution and graphics settings, then it may be worth purchasing a new graphics card.

Bear in mind that some games are more taxing than others. Visually stunning 3D games will be more difficult to run than 2D platformers for example. Multiplayer shooters such as Overwatch 2, Fortnite and Counter-Strike 2 will be far less taxing on the graphics card, as fluid gameplay is prioritised over photo-realistic visuals. Many gamers will want a performance well over 100fps for competitive games like these though, so adjust your expectations if these are the type of games you enjoy.

Poor ray tracing performance

One of the big buzzwords in gaming right now, even in the console space, is ray tracing. This refers to an advanced light-rendering technology, which creates more realistic lighting, shadows and reflections.

The biggest issue with ray tracing is that it’s very taxing on the graphics card, and isn’t supported by older cards. Nvidia first introduced ray tracing with its RTX 2000 graphics cards, and has made the technology more efficient with every generation, all the way up to the most recent RTX 4000 range. Meanwhile, AMD first supported ray tracing with its Radeon 6000 graphics cards back in 2020. If you’d like to make use of ray tracing, but own an older GPU, then you need to upgrade your graphics card.

It’s also possible that you own a graphics card which supports ray tracing but simply isn’t powerful enough to activate the technology while also maintaining a reasonable frame rate. For example, Cyberpunk 2077 requires at least an Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU if you want to have ray tracing activated with RT Ultra settings.

To check whether your PC can handle your chosen game with ray tracing activated, simply activate the technology in the settings, and then see what figure your frame rate counter drops to. Take note, that not every game supports ray tracing, although support is increasing by the year.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

High GPU usage

Checking the frame rate is a good indicator of your PC’s performance overall, but it doesn’t narrow down whether it’s your GPU or CPU causing the issues. Either one could be the performance bottleneck, so it’s important to determine the guilty party.

The best way to do this is to monitor your GPU and CPU usage while running a game. You can do this via Windows’ own Task manager (open by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc) or by downloading third-party software such as MSI Afterburner.

Here you should see the usage of both your CPU and GPU rated out of 100%. Seeing your GPU usage hit over 90%, or even as high as 100%, isn’t necessarily an issue in isolation. This merely means that your GPU’s performance is being maximised, which is a good thing.

However, if you’re seeing poor gaming performance, and your GPU usage remains high (close to the 100% mark as shown above), and your CPU usage is low, then this indicates a GPU performance bottleneck. This means that the best way to solve the issue is likely by purchasing a new graphics card.

However, if it’s instead your CPU usage that is high, and your GPU usage is low, then this indicates a CPU bottleneck, which means your processor isn’t powerful enough to deal with the current workloads, and so your GPU’s performance is being underutilised. In this scenario, you’re better off upgrading your CPU instead of your graphics card.

Credit: Nvidia

Fail to meet game’s system requirements

One of the easiest ways to check whether your graphics card is up to snuff is to check out your favourite game’s system requirements. Steam details the minimum requirements for every single game it hosts, and sometimes also lists the recommended specs for an optimal performance.

If your graphics card is more powerful than the GPU listed, then it’s safe to assume it’s powerful enough to run that game. That said, these system requirements generally only list the requirements for a 1080p performance. Running a game at a 4K resolution will require an even more powerful PC, and it’s more difficult to find the requirements for such use cases.

If you find that your PC is frequently failing to meet the minimum requirements for the latest games, then it’s probably time to upgrade your graphics card.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Overheating

If your graphics card is being overwhelmed with a high workload, then it will generate a lot of heat. It’s normal to expect a graphics card to run hot, but you should be concerned if a graphics card is exceeding the maximum GPU temperature advised by the manufacturer.

For example, the Nvidia RTX 4090 is designed to operate in heats up to 90°C, so anything below this figure is absolutely fine. But if the temperature creeps over this mark, then it either means your graphics card is being overworked, or that there isn’t enough airflow in your PC case.

You can check your GPU’s temperature by opening Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), opening up the Performance tab and then clicking on the GPU tile. Every graphics card has its own temperature threshold too, which you can find by visiting the manufacturer’s website and digging into the specs.

If you do find that your graphics card is exceeding its maximum temperature, that doesn’t necessarily mean your GPU isn’t powerful enough for the current workload. Make sure that your PC has enough airflow by checking if any of the vents are blocked by dust and that all of the fans are spinning as expected. Testing the temperature again with your PC case’s side panel removed is a good experiment. If your graphics card is still seeing an abnormally high temperature, it likely means that it’s not powerful enough to handle the current workload.

Which graphics card should you buy?

If you’ve come to the conclusion that your PC does indeed need a graphics card upgrade, then make sure to visit our Best Graphics Card guide to find the best option for you.

Our individual reviews also provide plenty of useful information, such as benchmark comparisons with other graphics cards, performance results for a selection of games, and our measured power consumption so you know which PSU you need to buy.

Unfortunately, laptop users won’t be able to upgrade to a new GPU in most cases, so you’ll need to purchase a new model if your graphics chip is becoming out of date. Check out our Best Gaming Laptop guide for our top picks.

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What sets gaming phones apart from regular smartphones?

Lewis Painter — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 14:25:33 +0000

Gaming phones were a bit of a niche a few years ago, but with ever-improving tech in the mobile space, gaming phones in 2024 are more popular than ever. The question is, what sets gaming phones apart from the flagship smartphone competition? They’re usually just as powerful, after all.

However, there’s more to a gaming phone than simply being the most powerful on the market; gaming phones have unique display tech, advanced cooling systems and more to deliver that high-end mobile gaming experience that gamers want. They also tend to have that classic gamer aesthetic, usually with some kind of RGB lighting to emulate the PC gaming experience, though this doesn’t really change the core experience.

With that in mind, here’s how gaming phones differ from regular flagship smartphones in 2024.

Big, fast screens

Manufacturers want to try to emulate the classic PC gaming experience with gaming phones, and that means a particular focus on display tech. Now, don’t get us wrong – regular phones have great screens with high resolution and fast refresh rates, but things are generally taken to the next level with gaming phones.

While the exact suite of tech depends very much on the gaming phone in question, you can expect elements like faster screen refresh rates – usually 144Hz, if not higher – to render more frames of a mobile game per second.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

These screens are usually lower resolution than some flagships, usually clocking in at FHD+ rather than QHD, but that’s because a lower screen resolution allows you to power more frames per second. Combined with the fact that the difference between FHD+ and QHD is hard to spot on such a small screen, it’s an easy pill to swallow.

Gaming phones also usually focus on touch response times, as this has a huge effect on input latency when playing touch-based games. Gaming phones like the RedMagic 9 Pro offer an astonishingly rapid 2000Hz touch sample rate, essentially checking the screen 2000 times every second for touch input.

Gaming phone screens also tend to be pretty large – after all, you want as big a canvas for gaming as possible, right? That means you’ll struggle to find a gaming phone that measures less than 6.7 inches, with many clocking in closer to the 6.8-inch mark in 2024. These screens can also have thicker bezels than flagship alternatives, though that’s usually down to including elements like front-facing stereo speakers for improved audio quality.

Keeping cool under load

Gaming phones need the most power possible, which is why most tend to feature the latest top-end Snapdragon or MediaTek chipset along with a healthy (though some may say overkill) offering of RAM – sometimes up to 24GB, depending on the phone – to help deliver the very best mobile gaming experience, whether you’re playing something simple like Candy Crush or something like Genshin Impact that’s wholly more taxing on your phone’s SoC.

But that’s not that different from regular flagship phones, which also tend to sport top-end chipsets and healthy amounts of RAM to complement them. So where do gaming phones tend to differ? It’s largely down to cooling.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Gaming phones like the ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition and RedMagic 9 Pro offer dedicated cooling systems within the phone. These systems use a combination of tech, from air vents to huge graphene sheets, to move heat from one segment of the phone to another, helping keep the SoC cool, even under strain – such as when gaming.

A regular smartphone will usually begin to overheat after around 20 minutes of high-end mobile gameplay, and that leads to frame rate drops and generally poor gaming performance. However, these advanced cooling systems – especially when combined with external cooling tech – can allow gaming phones to perform at their best for an hour or more.

Specialist gaming accessories

To take advantage of the top-end gaming experience that gaming phones strive to offer, most gaming phones – those worth the cash, anyway – offer a vast ecosystem of gaming accessories that further improve the mobile gaming experience.

Sure, you can get a Backbone One or any other mobile controller to turn your regular phone into a gaming machine, but companies like Asus and Black Shark take things a step further with accessories like coolers that reduce the phone’s temperature, thus sustaining performance for longer periods. You can also get branded headphones that focus on minimal latency to negate audio delays seen by regular Bluetooth earbuds.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

These official accessories generally have the benefit of playing particularly nice with the phone’s software, enabling features like quick pairing, button remapping capabilities and more depending on the accessory in question.

The range of accessories can vary depending on the phone manufacturer, but regardless of the option you choose, you’ll likely have a broad choice of gaming-focused accessories – likely way more than you’ll find from most top-end alternatives.

Say hello to beefed-up batteries

Another area where gaming phones tend to excel is in the battery department – after all, a beefy processor needs a beefy battery to perform, and gamers likely want to game on the go quite often.

That’s why you’ll regularly see gaming phones like the ROG Phone offer substantially larger batteries than regular phones, with the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate topping out at 6000mAh, which is 1000mAh more than you’ll find on even top-end phones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

On the flip side, gaming phones won’t always offer the same fast charging tech as regular alternatives, focusing more on reducing battery degradation over time. Some even go a step further with bypass charging that essentially powers the phone without using the battery, ideal for long gaming sessions at home without worrying about your battery getting hot and degrading over time.

Bypass charging is almost unheard of in regular smartphone territory, making it a key feature of any gaming phone worth its salt.

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5 power-saving tips for Windows laptops

Adam Speight — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 12:05:44 +0000

In our modern world, battery life is the bane of many of our daily lives. Thankfully, there are some little things you can do to maximise how long your Windows laptop can last.

Whether you have a basic budget Windows laptop, a high-end gaming laptop or a thin-and-light premium productivity option, you’ll likely have battery life on your mind quite often. No matter whether you’re getting between 3-5 hours or upwards of 8 to 10 hours, we think you’d like some more juice regardless. Here are 5 power-saving tips to help you out.

Use Power settings in Windows

One of the simplest way to get some extra battery life on your laptop is to take advantage of the straightforward Power settings that Windows provides. Just head on over to Power & battery in Settings and you’ll find the option to change your Power mode to Best power efficiency.

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Next, on that same page, you’ll see Energy recommendations. Here, Windows provides some tips for lowering your carbon footprint but most will have the added effect of enhancing how long your laptop will last across a day. One of these, which you can tweak independently too, is choosing when your device goes to sleep, meaning it doesn’t sit on for too long while you’re away doing something else. Head to Screen and sleep settings to modify this.

Lower the brightness

With this tip, you may think we’re just referring to the display but there’s a little more too it. Of course, lowering your screen brightness will help with battery so is certainly worth doing if you can manage with a dimmer display. But, lowering the brightness, or turning off altogether, your keyboard backlight can give you an extra boost too.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Both of these settings can typically be done using shortcuts on your keyboard function row, but simply search for them in Windows to find where to tweak them on your device. A quick way to change the screen brightness is to select the icons on the bottom right of your desktop, usually the Wi-Fi, sound and battery icons, which will then show you a slider for brightness.

Turn off connectivity you aren’t using

A general rule of thumb for boosting your battery life is to simply reduce the impact of things you aren’t using or don’t need to be using so intensively. This firmly applies to certain connectivity options. If you aren’t using Bluetooth or you aren’t using Wi-Fi, then head to Settings to switch them off and it’ll give you a battery life boost. These can also be tweaked by clicking the icons towards the bottom right of your desktop.

Reduce the impact of apps running in the background

Our first three tips in the list are rather simple and we’d suspect many may have heard about the worth of modifying such settings already but this tip and the final entry on this list are a bit more niche. They remain helpful for extending battery life though.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Pesky applications often run in the background even when you don’t know you are using them. Some also have a higher impact than others meaning they can impact your battery life quite a bit. Head on over to Power & battery settings once again and this time go to Battery usage. Here you will see the most demanding apps and how much of their demands are from running in the background. Some apps will let you then click the settings option alongside them to Manage background activity. You can then tweak if, and how often, it can run in the background.

Adjust graphics settings

This last tip is particularly aimed at those using laptops with dedicated graphics chips, such as gaming laptops, but would like their battery life to last longer when they are simply using them for productivity use.

You can do this by tweaking Graphics settings so the more power-hungry graphics chip is only being used when it’s needed. Head to the graphics settings in the Display settings and you’ll see a list of apps which show whether they are set to “Let Windows decide” if they use the dedicated chip or the integrated graphics chip. You can select the options to force which solution is used for each app, with the Power saving option available to those wanting to save battery.

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Monitor Refresh Rates: Why higher isn't always better

Ryan Jones — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 09:15:00 +0000

The refresh rate is one of the most important factors to consider when purchasing a gaming monitor, or even a gaming TV. But what’s the ideal refresh rate you should go for? Is a higher refresh rate always better?

We’ve created this guide to answer all of the above questions and more, so you’re well prepared for the next time you’re looking to buy one of the best gaming monitors on the market.

What is refresh rate?

Before we delve too deep, it’s important to first establish what a refresh rate actually is.

The refresh rate of a monitor is the speed (rate) at which the monitor’s image changes (refreshes). The faster the refresh rate, the more times the image can update every second and the smoother the image will look. This number of changes per second is measured in hertz (Hz).

The generally accepted level of refresh rate that leads to a satisfying image depends on the application. Cinemas run at just 24Hz, while the old TV standards of PAL and NTSC ran at 50Hz and 60Hz respectively. A typical PC monitor will have a refresh rate of 60Hz, but the latest gaming displays can reach all the way to 500Hz.

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The pursuit of faster refresh rates is crucial for gaming, since it allows the screen to keep up with the rapid movements of a player. For instance, a modern mouse can report its position (known as the polling rate) up to 8000 times a second, while modern PCs can run competitive games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or Overwatch at hundreds of frames per second. Having a monitor that can keep up with all that can potentially give a gamer that crucial split-second advantage.

However, there are diminishing returns. For a long time 144Hz was the de facto standard gaming monitor refresh rate (because it’s 6 x 24Hz) but now we’re seeing 500Hz panels. While even the most casual gamers will likely notice the leap from 60Hz to anything over 100Hz, it’s likely that only the most competitive of gamers will notice the difference jumping from 240Hz to 500Hz.

Moreover, once you’ve reached such a level of refresh rate, other factors become more noticeable when it comes to trying to get the most clear image. Factors such as response time and motion blur.

Response time

Response time is the time it takes for a pixel to change from one colour to another. Generally measured in milliseconds (ms), it’s directly related to refresh rate in that a monitor can only really refresh its image quickly if the pixels can respond quick enough. A 16ms response time translates to a theoretical maximum of a 60Hz refresh rate 1s/60 = 16.6ms.

Response time is the big advantage that OLED displays have over LCD panels, along with offering a superior picture quality. LCDs work by physically moving tiny crystals embedded in the surface of the screen, and so are relatively slow to respond. OLED displays, on the other hand, are purely electronic, making them several orders of magnitude faster – a typical OLED panel has a response time of just 0.01ms.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Something to keep in mind when looking at monitor response times is there isn’t an accepted standard of measurement. It’s generally measured by a figure called grey-to-grey time, which refers to the time it takes for a pixel to transition from grey to white and back again, rather than all the way from black to white to black, which takes longer. But there isn’t a hard and fast standard that defines this.

As such, you can sometimes end up with situations where the monitor may say it has a 4ms response time, for instance, but it can look far slower than that. Unfortunately, there’s no way to really test for this other than to read reviews by people that have actually used the displays.

Motion Blur

One of the effects of having a slow refresh rate or response time is that an image can look blurred. This can happen for a couple of different reasons.

The first is due to response time. With a slow response time, pixels can take a while to fully transition from their previous state to their new one. This can result in there being a trailing, or ghost, image behind the new one. The slower the pixels take to respond, the longer the trail and the less clear your image.

The other type of motion blur is eye-tracking motion blur. This is where your brain can perceive an image to be blurry because your eyes naturally track the movement of an image on-screen, but because the image is actually static – even just for a fraction of a second – your eyes end up blurring the image as they pan across it.

^{You can test motion blur for yourself at Blur Busters}

This can be reduced by having a faster refresh rate. However, of even more benefit is a technique known as black-frame insertion. This is where a completely blank image is inserted in between each frame, reducing the time it’s displayed for and masking the effect of your eyes tracking the movement. It effectively doubles the refresh rate, but without the need for any extra image information, which is why it works when watching fixed-refresh rate video on TVs too.

How this is achieved depends on the type of screen technology. OLED screens can just turn on and off, but with LCDs it is the backlight that’s turned on and off instead.

The interesting thing about this effect is that it can be just as effective on displays with fast response times. That’s because it’s to do with how long the image is displayed for, not how quickly it can change, which is why it’s still effective even on OLED displays that have super-fast response times.

That said, black-frame insertion does have a double advantage when it comes to LCDs, since it masks the ghosting effect of their slow response time.

Graphics performance

When considering the refresh rate of your monitor, it’s also important to consider the graphics power of your PC, your preferred screen resolution and the types of games that you’re more likely to play.

For example, the Nvidia RTX 4090 is one of the most powerful graphics cards that you can currently buy, and yet we could only play Cyberpunk in 4K, with ray tracing activated, at an average 44fps performance. In this instance, a high refresh rate is wasted, as the game wouldn’t look any different with a 500Hz panel than it would with a 60Hz monitor.

Nvidia RTX 4090 – Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

High refresh rates are more advantageous for multiplayer games where the developer has purposefully made the workload of the GPU less taxing in order to push the frame rate as high as possible. For example, we were able to get Overwatch 2 running at 486fps in 4K with the RTX 4090 installed inside our PC, which is a high enough performance to make use of a 500Hz monitor.

That said, the vast majority of people won’t be able to justify the cost of an RTX 4090. According to a Steam hardware survey, the Nvidia RTX 3060 remains the most popular graphics card on the market. When running Doom Eternal 4K with the RTX 3060 Ti installed, we could only achieve an average performance of 167fps, although knocking the resolution down to 1080p saw the performance climb to 385fps.

Doom Eternal

Those who want to benefit from a high refresh rate will often be forced to make compromises to the visual quality of a game, whether that involves lowering the resolution, graphics settings or turning off the likes of ray tracing.

And since high refresh rate monitors are generally very expensive, it’s important to consider whether you’ll actually make use of those higher speeds, or would be better off putting the money towards a monitor with better image quality instead.

So do you need a fast refresh rate?

So are fast refresh rate gaming monitors worth it? Absolutely. If you play fast-paced, competitive games, the responsive feel of a 100Hz+ monitor with a sub 4ms response time is undeniable and can bring a real competitive advantage.

Be honest with yourself, though. If you don’t actually play competitive multiplayer games – particularly FPS – then you’re better off prioritising image quality over refresh rate and response time.

Most people will be best off with a monitor that has an equal balance of both, with a 144Hz or 165Hz refresh rate offering a smooth enough experience for the average gamer. You only really need to venture up to the 500Hz mark if you’re a competitive gamer that wants every single advantage possible – and you’ll need a ridiculously powerful PC in order to reap those benefits.

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What is TOPS? The AI metric explained

Adam Speight — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 15:14:41 +0000

As we venture further into a world of technology that’s dominated by artificial intelligence, you’re going to see manufacturers making some big claims. One AI measurement is “TOPS”, and here’s our basic explanation of just what it is.

If you pay attention to technology product launches, you’ll know that companies love to say how much better the performance of their device is than key competitors. Well, AI is everywhere in the tech world right now, so you’re likely to see more and more talk of just how powerful their AI implementation is too. We’re diving into a term that measures such performance. Read on for the skinny.

What is TOPS?

The term TOPS stands for trillions or tera operations per second. TOPS is a simplifying metric used as a representation of how many computing operations an AI chip (NPU) is capable of.

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The metric simply represents how many simple operations it can process per second and, as such, it doesn’t provide an accurate metric for the complexity of the operations an AI chip can solve. This makes it more of a rough performance guide than a specific and extremely accurate representation of capabilities. This is similar to how the metric TFLOPS has been used to represent the power of gaming consoles in recent years but is not fully representative of its eventual output.

The number itself is calculated by combining the amount of operations an AI chip can do per second and multiplying it by the maximum frequency it can achieve.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (Intel Core Ultra) – Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

When it comes to seeing TOPS used in the wild, different technology companies have adopted different approaches. It’s a metric Apple has largely avoided, instead, as it does with other metrics, simply comparing performance directly with predecessors or rivals. But, brands like Qualcomm, Samsung, MediaTek, Huawei, Intel, AMD and Microsoft have all been using the TOPS metric concerning AI performance in recent times.

For example, Microsoft has requested that Windows AI PCs offer 40 TOPS, which they say enables on-device AI Copilot capabilities (via Tom’s Hardware). Further, Intel and Qualcomm are both touting around 45 TOPS for their latest Core Ultra and Snapdragon X Elite chips respectively. While AMD is offering up around 40 TOPS with the Ryzen 8040 series.

With on-device AI capabilities still limited across PCs, a full assessment of how TOPS truly reflects the performance and features users experience will have to wait until AI becomes a larger part of day-to-day computer use.

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What is E Ink's Kaleido colour tech and how does it work?

Hannah Davies — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 14:52:39 +0000

If you’re shopping for a new e-reader or e-note device, you may have come across the term ‘Kaleido’ when browsing various specs.

Kaleido is a display technology created by e-paper pioneer E Ink for use in its colour displays. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about the e-reader technology.

What is E Ink’s Kaleido colour tech?

Kaleido is a colour display technology created by E Ink, the company behind the e-paper (electronic paper) displays commonly found in e-readers and digital signs.

The display technology is based on E Ink’s existing greyscale displays combined with a plastic colour filter layer. This differentiates Kaleido from E Ink’s glass-filtered Triton displays.

Kaleido was first announced as “Print Color” in December 2019. As of 2023, the technology is currently in its third generation of Kaleido.

What is E Ink Kaleido 3?

Kaleido 3 is the latest version of E Ink’s Kaleido colour display technology. The update was announced in April 2023.

Kaleido 3 delivers richer colours than previous versions of the technology. There are 4096 colours in total along with 16 levels of greyscale, making Kaleido 3 an improved way to present colourful images on e-readers. E Ink also optimised the design of its ePaper module structure with this generation to increase the colour saturation by 30% compared to Kaleido Plus.

E-readers powered by Kaleido 3 have a black and white resolution of 300ppi and a colour resolution of 150ppi up from 100ppi on the Kaleido Plus.

Kaleido 3 also supports E Ink’s ComfortGaze front light. This reduces the amount of blue light reflected off the surface of the display to make reading more comfortable on the eyes. To add to this, the ink now supports videos and animations, giving users more options when choosing what to consume on their e-paper devices.

Kaliedo 3 is available in 7.8-inch, 10.3-inch and 13.3-inch panel sizes and can be found in a range of e-readers and e-note devices, as well as in signs and on select smartphones.

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What is ChatGPT-4? OpenAI's latest chatbot detailed

Jessica Gorringe — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 14:30:00 +0000

Image Credit (ChatGPT)

Released back in March 2023, ChatGPT-4 is the latest version of OpenAI’s popular (and controversial) chatbot and boasts a host of updates and new features from its predecessor, GPT-3.5.

Read on to learn more about the new features and capabilities of GPT-4 and how you can try the chatbot yourself.

What is ChatGPT?

Before we get into the specifics of ChatGPT-4, it’s worth mentioning what ChatGPT actually is. Created by AI research and deployment company OpenAI, ChatGPT is a chatbot that is designed to generate conversational text in response to a user prompt.

ChatGPT can be used to answer specific questions, write up essays based on specialist subjects, create travel itineraries and even create code.

You can read more about the ins and outs of ChatGPT in our dedicated explainer via the prior link.

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What is ChatGPT-4?

One of the biggest updates with ChatGPT-4 is that it is now able to accept images as prompts, as well as text. Once it receives an image prompt, GPT-4 can generate captions, classifications and analysis.

OpenAI has also partnered with Be My Eyes, which is an app that supports those who are visually impaired and offers GPT-4 to assist in visual accessibility.

According to OpenAI, GPT-4 is now more reliable than GPT-3.5, and can handle more nuanced instructions and surpasses ChatGPT’s advanced reasoning capabilities.

GPT-4 promises to be stricter with sensitive and disallowed content. OpenAI says it has decreased the model’s tendency to respond to requests for disallowed or offensive content. In fact, OpenAI claims the model is now 82% less likely to be tricked into sharing off-limit or dangerous material.

How can I try ChatGPT-4?

Unlike ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4 is currently only available for paid ChatGPT Plus subscribers. Subscribing to ChatGPT Plus not only gives you access to GPT-4 but also OpenAI’s Dall-E 2 which generates digital images from text prompts.

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What is semi-automated offside technology? Premier League VAR change explained

Chris Smith — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 17:30:05 +0000

Offside decisions in the Premier League referred to VAR will be resolved much faster from early next season after clubs voted to incorporate semi-automated offside technology (SAOT).

The minutes’ long delays while officials in the VAR room compare lines and camera angles could be a thing of the past thanks to the adoption of these semi-automated offside checks, which rely on a multitude of cameras to track players’ positioning as well as sensors within the ball itself.

Premier League clubs were unanimously in favour of incorporating the tech, which will be used from around September/October in the 2024/2025 Premier League season.

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How semi-automated offside works

SAOT, which is used in the Champions League and in FIFA competitions like the World Cup, relies on 12 cameras being placed around the stadium to track the precise positioning of players around the field.

The system identifies 29 data points on each player, including all of the parts of the body that are legally allowed to play the football.

Sensors in the football itself can detect the precise moment the final pass is played in relation to the positions of the attackers and defenders – the key determining factor in any offside call.

Combined, the data from the cameras and sensors are able to be fed into a system that can quickly produce 3D computerised graphics (main pic) showing representations of the players, can show whether the attacker in question is onside or offside in relation to the position of the last defender when the ball is played.

How will SAOT improve VAR?

This has been a success for officials in the VAR room who are able to adjudicate more rapidly, rather than doing what fans consider to be subjective guesswork in relation to when the ball was played and where the requisite part of the attacker’s body is.

Current VAR tech relies on lower resolution cameras that make definitive offside calls, in very tight situations, very difficult. SAOT will improve this thanks to the improved accuracy and fast generation of the decision, although the decision will still be checked by the refs in the VAR room.

The true winners will be the television audience and fans in the stadium, who might have verdicts on tight calls within 30 seconds, rather than the minutes it currently takes when drawing lines on a display for offside.

That’ll also be a huge benefit for fans in the stadium who are currently completely in the dark during the process. Premier League grounds with the screen technology will be able to show the graphics too, offering a little clarity about the decision and perhaps some sense of peace that the correct decision has been reached without the suspicion of subjectivity in line placement.

When will SAOT tech launch in the Premier League?

The Premier League is targeting a September or October launch for the technology, which is weeks after next season begins in mid-August 2024. So that means the season will be contested under two different sets of decision-making technology.

Of course, it’d be far too good an idea to have this from the start of the season so we can all have clarity and have every game is played under the same system.

One can only assume SAOT will run alongside the current technology in the background as the system is refined, but will not be used in decision making. It’ll also take some time to install the technology in grounds around the Premier League.

What’s the Premier League saying?

The clubs voted unanimously to incorporate the technology and, in a statement, the League said: “At a Premier League shareholders’ meeting today, clubs unanimously agreed to the introduction of semi-automated offside technology.

“The new system will be used for the first time in the Premier League next season, and it is anticipated the technology will be ready to be introduced after one of the autumn international breaks.

“The technology will provide quicker and consistent placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking, and will produce high-quality broadcast graphics to ensure an enhanced in-stadium and broadcast experience for supporters.”

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What is Apple ProMotion? Apple’s screen technology explained

Jessica Gorringe — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Apple ProMotion technology was first featured in the iPad Pro back in 2017 and has continued to roll out on select Apple devices.

But what actually is Apple’s ProMotion technology and how does it work? Read on to learn more about the technology, why it’s useful and which devices it’s currently featured in.

What is ProMotion?

Most screens are equipped with a 60Hz refresh rate, but devices with Apple ProMotion technology offer double this with 120Hz. This means that the screen will refresh up to 120 times per second, resulting in smoother animations and scrolling, plus improved responsiveness.

ProMotion is also adaptive, meaning the screen will adjust its refresh rate according to how you’re using your device. For example if you’re both streaming a video and switching between apps, the refresh rate will hit its maximum 120Hz to keep things running smoothly on screen.

If, however, the screen is fairly static – say if you’re reading a news article – then the refresh rate can drop as low as 1Hz to conserve battery life.

What are the benefits of ProMotion?

As Apple ProMotion technology is twice as smooth as a standard 60Hz display you’ll notice a significant difference when using your device, whether it’s for general scrolling, or playing video games.

Gamers will especially appreciate a higher refresh rate as it allows for faster reactions and quicker responses too.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

As the Apple ProMotion technology is adaptive, you should also notice your battery life lasts longer than before, as it saves on needless refreshes.

We would also expect that using the Apple Pencil would be more fluid since the technology has a lower latency. This should make drawing and writing with the Pencil feel more natural and fluid than on a screen without ProMotion technology.

What devices feature ProMotion?

At the time of writing, the Apple ProMotion technology is currently only available in Apple’s Pro smartphone and MacBook models. This includes the MacBook Pro but also the iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Other modern Apple devices, including the flagship iPhone 15 and MacBook Air, still have the standard 60Hz refresh rate. This shows that Apple still views ProMotion as a luxury feature.

A 120Hz refresh rate isn’t just reserved for Apple devices though. In fact many modern Android smartphones, such as Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, come equipped with a 120Hz refresh rate. They just don’t use the term ‘ProMotion’ as Apple does.

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What is ATM water resistance? 3 ATM, 5 ATM and more explained

Hannah Davies — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 10:55:00 +0000

If you’ve been shopping for a new watch – smart or traditional – you may have come across the term ‘ATM’.

In the world of smartwatches and fitness trackers, ATM doesn’t mean ‘at the moment’ and it has nothing to do with your bank. Rather, ATM is an abbreviation for ‘atmosphere’. But, what does this have to do with watches?

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about ATM water resistance, including what the numbers mean and how the system differs from IP ratings.

What is ATM water resistance?

ATM is a standard commonly used to measure the water resistance of watches, including smartwatches, fitness trackers and traditional watches.

An abbreviated version of the word ‘atmosphere’, ATM describes the amount of pressure a device can withstand when placed underwater.

Like the IP ratings assigned to measure the protection afforded to devices like smartphones and speakers, ATM ratings use numbers to convey water resistance. Common ratings include 1 ATM, 3 ATM and 5 ATM, with higher numbers used to represent devices that are capable of withstanding greater amounts of pressure.

One atmosphere of pressure (1 ATM) is equal to 10m (33ft) in depth, while 3 ATM equals 30m (98 ft) in depth. 5 ATM, meanwhile, represents an ability to withstand 50m (164ft) of pressure.

If you’re looking for a watch that can be taken swimming or snorkelling, you’ll want to look out for a rating of 10 ATM or 20 ATM, with 10 ATM equalling 100m (328ft) of depth and 20 ATM signalling 200m (656ft) of depth.

The official criteria and test conditions for each ATM standard are determined by the International Organisation for Standardisation in ISO 22810. You can also check out Samsung’s summary of each classification below:

Image: Samsung

What is the difference between ATM and an IP rating?

If you’ve ever looked into the water resistance of a smartphone or pair of earbuds, you may be familiar with the term ‘IP’. Plenty of flagship phones carry an IP rating of IP68 these days, for example.

So, what is the difference between IP and ATM?

Like ATM, an IP rating is a way of classifying exactly how water resistant a device is. IP stands for Ingress Protection.

An IP rating is divided into two numbers – the first refers to how protected that device is against solid objects (like dust and dirt), while the second number looks at how well the device can withstand liquids (like water and sweat).

This might lead you to believe that IP ratings are the same as ATM classifications with the addition of solids. However, this isn’t true at all.

IP ratings don’t really account for water pressure, which is why an ATM rating is a better way to determine whether a device is safe to take swimming, snorkelling or diving.

This is also why you’re more likely to see the term ATM on the spec sheet of a smartwatch or fitness tracker than you are something not designed to withstand large amounts of water pressure, like a smartphone.

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What is ScreenAI: The Google technology explained

Jessica Gorringe — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 16:08:53 +0000

Recently introduced through Google Research, ScreenAI is an exciting new Google technology.

Although still in its research phase, read on to learn more about ScreenAI, how it works and when you might get a chance to try the technology yourself.

What is ScreenAI?

ScreenAI is described as being a new “vision-language model for user interfaces and infographics that achieves state-of-the-art results on UI and infographics-based tasks.”

In other words, ScreenAI is a vision language model, which means it can simultaneously comprehend image and text data. It was built to take the complexity out of reading and understanding data from user interfaces (UIs) and infographics, such as charts, diagrams and tables.

Put simply, you can ask ScreenAI to summarise a screenshot or graphic and you should receive a clear and concise summary of it. You can also ask ScreenAI questions based on the screenshot and receive correct answers based on the data provided.

How does ScreenAI work?

Firstly, ScreenAI’s architecture is built on the multilingual language-image model PaLI, but ScreenAI actually improves upon this with pix2struct. Pix2struct is a pretrained image-to-text model for visual language understanding, which can be finetuned on tasks containing visually-situated language.

ScreenAI uses two stages to work: a self-supervised learning pre-training stage, achieved by using publicly accessible web pages, and a fine-tuning stage that uses manually sorted data by real users.

Released alongside ScreenAI are three new datasets to help further conclusively evaluate the model. These datasets include Screen Annotation, which evaluates the layout understanding capability of ScreenAI, ScreenQA and Complex ScreenQA to assess its question-answering (QA) capability.

What are the benefits of ScreenAI?

ScreenAI is capable of tasks that were previously complex, such as QA and UI-specific QA, annotations, summaries and navigation.

According to Google Research, ScreenAI is able to achieve state of the art results on UI and infographic-based tasks and a “best-in-class” performance compared to similarly sized models.

Where can I try ScreenAI?

We’ll have to be patient to try this ground-breaking technology, as ScreenAI is still a research project and is not currently available for public use. There is also no indication yet as to when this may change.

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What is Spotify AI Playlist? New text prompt tool explained

Chris Smith — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 19:31:42 +0000

What is Spoitify AI Playlist? After success with its AI DJ, Spotify will now build you a playlist based on your mood or activity. Just type in the situation and the vibe sought.

There are times when you simply can’t find the perfect tunes for the moment or situation you’re in. Perhaps you need some orchestral music to enjoy while winding down with a glass of wine, or some heavy metal to get you in the mood to beat your PB. The trouble is, unless you build it yourself, a playlist that specific is unlikely to exist in the library.

As such Spotify is enhancing its AI-assisted playlist generation, which build you a track list that fits the occasion by promoting the assistant via text.

The AI Playlist tool launches in beta in the UK and Australia today for Premium subscribers on iOS and Android. Spotify says it plans to iterate on the feature before rolling out to all.

Here’s how it works…

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Generating an AI playlist

From the Your Library tab you’ll see a “+” button with the option to select AI Playlist. This will launch the text box, where you can be as specific as you wish.

Some of the examples Spotify has provided are very Gen-Z kitsch, but the company says it’ll work with whatever you feed it, so you don’t have to be quite as cringe as these selections.

“Looking for “an indie folk playlist to give my brain a big warm hug,” “relaxing music to tide me over during allergy season,” or “a playlist that makes me feel like the main character”? AI Playlist has you covered, the company says in a blog post.

For the first of those examples, you’ll get a playlist entitled “Cosy Cuddles” featuring artists called Noah Cyrus and Tilman. You can delete tracks you know you don’t like and if you’d like to refine there’ll be the option to add an additional prompt such as “add a touch of chilled R&B too.”

Spotify will call it Warm Hugs and Chilled Vibes now, again in-keeping with that Gen-Z kitsch-a-thon it has been on lately.

With that silly “Main Character” playlist, you can further prompt with “Cute! Now make it happier” and you’ll get a “Happily Ever After” playlist. See where we’re going with this?

If you tap Create at the end, the new playlist will be automatically saved in your library.

Have you taken Spotify’s AI Playlist for a spin yet? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.

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Google Find My Device launches – here are the top 5 uses

Chris Smith — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 18:36:34 +0000

Google has finally launched its Find My Device network in the US and Canada, with Brits on the wait list.

The frenemy of Apple’s Find My network gives users the opportunity to locate lost and stolen devices – both and offline, near and far – leveraging the vast number of Android devices out in the wild.

It’s a boost for Android users who’re prone to leaving their content behind and opens up more powerful item trackers too. Google has published a blog post with a primer for Android to get them au fait with the benefits of the tech.

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“Find My Device is secure by default and private by design. Multi-layered protections built into the Find My Device network help keep you safe and your personal information private, while keeping you in control of the devices connected to the Find My Device network,” Google explains in the blog post.

“This includes end-to-end encryption of location data as well as aggregated device location reporting, a first-of-its-kind safety feature that provides additional protection against unwanted tracking back to a home or private location. Read more about how our multi-layered protections for the Find My Device network work.”

Below are the best new features coming to Android users.

Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro users get extra benefits

Google says you’ll be able to locate your phone or tablet by ringing it or locating it on a map when they’re offline. However, if you have a latest-gen Pixel phone you’ll be able to track down the phone even if the phone is off or the battery has been run down.

Tags work with iOS unknown tracker alerts

Google says starting from May, you’ll be able to make use of Bluetooth tags from companies like Chipolo or Pebblebee, which are built specially for Find My Device. These trackers, like Apple AirTags, will have anti-stalker protections across iOS and Android.

The Unwanted Tracker Alerts will not be platform exclusive, so iPhone users will get be notified if they they have an Android-based tracker placed on their person or in their vehicle for instance.

Waiting for Apple to build and launch this common standard is one of the reasons Google’s rollout has been 10 months in the offing.

Find Nearby

Those tags, which launch in May, will still have the ability to Find Nearby. For devices like Tile trackers this is managed through its own app, but for the specially-designed Find My Device tags you’ll be able to summon a sound for precision discovery in the immediate proximity.

Nest devices play a role in in-home search

If an item attached to a tracker, like your house keys, are left near a Nest device in the home, you can use it as a reference point to aid with discovery.

Collaborative searching

Google is enabling users to share Find My Device-compatible trackers, to make searching for the lost item easier. So if you’re struggling to find your house keys, one person can scan the home, the other can go and look in the car.

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What is Bluetooth 5.2?

Hannah Davies — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 10:58:35 +0000

If you’re shopping around for a new smartphone, pair of headphones, laptop or wireless speaker, you may have come across the term Bluetooth 5.2.

We’ve provided this guide to explain everything you need to know about Bluetooth 5.2, including what it is and how it compares to Bluetooth 5.1 and Bluetooth 5.3.

What is Bluetooth 5.2?

Bluetooth 5.2 is a version is Bluetooth that was first unveiled in Las Vegas at CES 2020.

Bluetooth 5.2 followed shortly after the launch of Bluetooth 5.1 and was later succeeded by Bluetooth 5.3 in 2022. All three versions of Bluetooth come under the umbrella of Bluetooth 5, the most recent iteration of the 25-year-old Bluetooth technology.

Bluetooth is a wireless technology developed to exchange data between two devices over short distances. This makes it incredibly useful for transferring images, videos, documents, and other files from one device to another.

Another popular use case for Bluetooth is connecting headphones, speakers, gaming headsets, and peripherals to a smartphone, tablet, or PC. This makes Bluetooth a quick and convenient way to stream audio to a pair of earbuds or hook a wireless keyboard and mouse up to a tablet.

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Bluetooth 5.1 vs Bluetooth 5.2 vs Bluetooth 5.3

So, how does Bluetooth 5.2 compare to older and newer Bluetooth standards?

When Bluetooth 5.1 launched, one of the key updates was its ability to locate other Bluetooth devices down to the centimetre. Bluetooth 5.1 also made it possible to track the direction of a Bluetooth signal, making it easier to find lost devices or your keys via a gadget tracker.

Bluetooth 5.2 came along a year later and marked the dawn of LE Audio, an audio feature that brought along faster pairing capabilities and a longer battery life.

The most recent update is Bluetooth 5.3. This version of Bluetooth arrived in 2023 and signaled improved efficiency for the wireless technology, as well as the ability to switch rapidly between low and heavy-duty cycles for a smoother user experience. For example, accepting a phone call while using hearing aids will take less time. The final major update was Channel Classification Enhancement, which allowed for adaptive frequency hopping from peripheral devices. This should improve the reliability of the Bluetooth connection in many scenarios.

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What is Telegram Premium? Should you upgrade?

Jessica Gorringe — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 14:53:26 +0000

With over 900 million active users, Telegram is one of the biggest cross-platform, cloud-based, instant messaging services. Free-to-use, Telegram allows you to communicate with other Telegram users via messaging, calling or file sharing.

Telegram launched a subscription service called Telegram Premium back in 2022. Whether you’re already a Telegram user and have noticed Premium badges on the platform, or you’re just curious, we’ve put together a guide to Telegram Premium.

Keep reading to learn more about Telegram Premium, its benefits and how you can access it yourself.

What is Telegram Premium?

Telegram Premium is an optional paid subscription that unlocks extra features on the Telegram app. These features include, but aren’t limited to: a larger file upload limit of 4GB (usually it’s 2GB), Premium badges, no adverts, exclusive stickers and additional privacy for voice messages.

Telegram said that Premium is part of its ‘sustainable monetisation’ which is driven by its users, rather than advertisers or shareholders. This, Telegram says, means the service can remain independent and prioritise its users first.

Telegram confirmed that it would not restrict any existing free features to Premium. Instead, all of Telegram Premium’s benefits are additional to Telegram.

How much does Telegram Premium cost?

Much like many other subscription services, you can either pay monthly or get a discount and pay annually for Telegram Premium. Telegram currently offers up to 40% off if you opt for an annual subscription.

Telegram Premium is currently £4.99 / $4.99 per month or £34.99 / $39.99 per year, depending on your location.

Is it worth upgrading to Telegram Premium?

This is really down to personal preference. It’s fair to say that most of the features included with Telegram Premium won’t significantly affect your Telegram use and users should still enjoy Telegram without a paid subscription.

Even so, if you’d prefer an ad-free experience or often find yourself wanting to share large files, then perhaps it’s worth considering an upgrade.

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What are Vision Pro Spatial Avatars? New collaboration feature explained

Chris Smith — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 18:35:08 +0000

When Apple announced the Vision Pro headset last year, it was described as the world’s first spatial computer.

Part of this is the ability to interact with traditional computing applications the virtual and augmented environment. You can look to your left and be browsing the web through Safari, or look to the right to watch videos via Apple TV.

However, there’s a deeper level to this, which Apple is hoping to explore through something called Spatial Personas, which launches as a feature for Vision Pro owners today.

Here’s what you need to know.

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What are Spatial Avatars?

Spatial Personas are effectively virtual avatars that enable users to joined by friends or colleagues via a FaceTime call in the virtual environment.

So, instead of just seeing the FaceTime tile, the Spatial Persona feature will lift the caller out of the interface and whatever’s in their background, and into the eyeline, appearing as something approaching a physical representation.

Here's a video of two Persona (plus the one looking at them) provided by Apple. This wasn't recorded from my demo yesterday. It's just a demo to show what spatial Persona on Apple Vision Pro looks likehttps://t.co/P5hGyJ82YD pic.twitter.com/0xNYTbtAmD
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) April 2, 2024

It can work for up to five people, so it can appear as if all of the participants are sitting around the same table in the same room provided they’re all rocking Vision Pro headsets.

Apple says it’ll help the interactions feel a little more real due to the ability to make eye contact or move around. It could add a little authenticity to the interactions compared to Meta’s more cartoony avatars within its Metaverse for example. Plus audio is directional too, so you’ll hear a person’s voice based upon where they exist in that virtual space.

Users will be able to watch videos, play games and work together using the various apps. For example, by collaborating in the Apple Freeform app as shown in the image below.

Image credit: Apple (via Inverse)

Apple explained how it works during a WWDC session for developers last year. Here’s what the company said last June (via 9to5Mac):

In a SharePlay session, Spatial Personas let you feel present with others in a way technology has never enabled before. You can look your friends in the eye, express yourself naturally with movement and body language, and best of all, enjoy a shared activity together using your app.
These shared activities are a key part of what makes this an exciting new computing platform and people will expect your app to fully support the features I’m going to talk about today. Shared activities in FaceTime build on the existing foundation of SharePlay, which is already a great way for groups of people to enjoy content together while apart.
Apple

There’s a really great write up by Inverse’s Raymond Wong who got to try out the feature courtesy of Apple. The company says it is coming to Vision Pro headsets running visionOS 1.1 from today. The video below is worth a watch too.

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What is Discord?

Gemma Ryles — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 16:22:00 +0000

Launched in 2015, Discord currently has 150 million monthly active users and has easily become one of the most popular ways for gamers to communicate online.

But what actually is the online communication platform and how does it work? Read on to find out more about Discord, how to use it and where you can find it.

What is Discord?

Discord is a social platform designed for gamers, which lets users communicate by voice and video calls, instant messaging and file sharing.

This communication takes place in a virtual community, known in Discord as a ‘server.’ Servers are a collection of chat rooms and voice channels, which can be accessed through invite links or public servers that can be accessed through search. Any user can create or join and interact with a server for free.

While servers generally can hold up to a massive 250,000 members, you can create a private server for just you and a few others to make online gaming, chatting with friends or even keeping up to date with your local community much easier. You can also view live streams, download apps and games and join servers based on your interests.

As long as you’re over thirteen years old, you should be able to create and use Discord.

Why should I use Discord?

While you don’t necessarily need to use Discord at all, even if you are a PC gamer, it’s handy since you can create so many different types of chats and meet so many people who share your interests.

When you set up a server you can also dish out roles for members, like moderators and administrators, which can make them easier to manage and safer for users, as there are members checking that everyone in the server is acting as they should.

It’s also completely free, which is another huge incentive and can be downloaded via a laptop or mobile, as previously mentioned, which makes it quite accessible.

Where can I find Discord?

The Discord app can be downloaded on most platforms you’d expect, including Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and iPadOS. Discord can also be accessed by logging in through web browsers too.

Is Discord free?

It is currently free to create an account, use Discord and download the app on any of the above platforms. There is an option, however, for users in select markets to upgrade to Discord’s premium subscription, Nitro.

Nitro is split into two plans, Nitro Basic and Nitro Premium, and like other subscription plans can be paid for either monthly or yearly. The benefits of a Nitro subscription include access to more servers, customisable avatars and larger file sharing.

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What is Record Store Day?

Kob Monney — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 12:51:39 +0000

Vinyl has been resurging for years and its popularity has seen it outpace the sales of CDs for two years in a row. And part of that resurgence is down to Record Store Day.

Record Store Day is one of the biggest annual events on the music calendar, with a number of independent record stores, music artists and audio brands teaming up to mark the occasion.

If you’re not aware of it, or want to learn more about what is is, who is participating and what’s happening during the event, keep reading to learn more about Record Store Day 2024.

What is Record Store Day?

Record Store Day (RSD) was first conceived of back in 2007, with the first Record Store Day event held the following year on April 19, 2008.

Record Store Day is an event held every year that sees over 270 independent record store shops across the UK banding together to celebrate vinyl records. And it’s not just in the UK the event takes place, as shops around the world also take participate in the one-day vinyl extravaganza.

Record Store Day tends to be celebrated by limited edition releases/special pressings of vinyl records. These types of records are only available in-store and not online, and can only be bought on that specific day. Not every shop will stock each release, which is why you’ll need to check before you head out. Once the stock is gone, it’s gone.

The code of conduct for Record Store Day prohibits stock from being solid online until 8pm on the following Monday after RSD. Basically, if you miss out on a record and what to see if it’s still available at one of the stores, any remaining stock will be sold online from 8pm on Monday 22nd April, 2024.

When is Record Store Day?

Record Store Day 2024 will take place on April 20th, 2024. Kate Bush will be one of the ambasadors for the UK event, along with Paramore (in the US).

There is another Record Store Day in November of each year called Record Store Day Black Friday, which sells records at a discounted price.

What vinyl records are released on Record Store Day?

If you want to know what’s coming to Record Store Day 2024, be sure to have a look at this downloadable PDF ahead of the event.

Highlights include Alison Goldfrapp’s The Love Reinvention, Blur’s Parklife, Buena Vista Social Club’s Buena Vista Social Club, Orbital’s Orbital, Public Service Broadcasting’s Gagarin, David Bowie’s Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth), Kate Bush’s Eat the Music and plenty more.

Taylor Swift fans looking for a record might be disappointed to know that she’s not participating in it this year, but her latest album is expected to drop on the 19th April, a day before Record Store Day…

Which record stores are participating in Record Store Day?

There will be stores in cities such as London (Sister Ray, Phonica Records), but also places such as Exeter and Dorset.

If you’re in the UK, head to this link to find the nearest store to you, head to this link.

If you’re not in the UK then head to Record Store international website and you’ll be able to find the closest store.

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What is True Tone? Apple's display tech explained

Lewis Painter — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 11:26:49 +0000

Apple has utilised True Tone display tech in its iPhone, iPad and Mac collections for years, but what is it, and is it actually worth enabling on your phone, tablet or laptop?

Apple’s True Tone technology has been around for a while now. In its simplest form, it essentially makes images appear more natural in different lighting conditions for a more consistent visual experience, regardless of whether you’re looking at the screen in a dark room or during a dazzling sunset.

True Tone tech first appeared on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro back in 2016, but it wasn’t an iPad exclusive for long, making its debut on the iPhone 8 not long after. The tech has become a staple of Apple tech in the years since, making an appearance on many models of iPad, practically every iPhone and a growing number of models of MacBook.

If you’re intrigued, here’s everything you need to know about Apple True Tone screen tech, including what it is, how it works and where you can find the display technology.

What is Apple True Tone?

True Tone is an Apple display technology designed to make images appear more natural in different lighting situations.

This involves adjusting the brightness and the temperature of the colours on the screen to fit the light around them. This means that regardless of whether your environment has a cool blue or warm orange light, the colours on the screen should remain consistent. It’s a particularly big deal for digital creatives that need consistent colour in their projects, hence why it made its initial appearance in the top-end iPad Pro range.

According to Apple, the True Tone technology “uses advanced multichannel sensors to adjust the colour and intensity of your display to match the ambient light so that images appear more natural”.

How does True Tone differ from Night Shift?

Night Shift is another Apple display technology that adjusts the colours on your screen. However, unlike True Tone, Night Shift pushes the colours toward the warmer end of the spectrum to make scrolling easier on the eyes late at night.

Night Shift uses your device’s clock and geolocation to determine when the sun will set in your location and automatically adjust the colours accordingly. Given that late-night blue light exposure is linked with sleep issues, it’s another handy display feature.

Once the morning arrives, your display will return to its usual, cooler colours.

Is True Tone good for your eyes?

Like Night Shift, True Tone could produce less strain on the eyes. However, this isn’t its main purpose. It’s more to deliver accurate colours, whether you’re doodling in Procreate or watching a movie on Netflix.

Does True Tone display tech drain the battery faster?

No, True Tone should not have a negative effect on your device’s battery life.

Some reports actually claim True Tone can extend your device’s battery life, but we can’t find any mention of this on Apple’s website so take this with a grain of salt.

Which devices support Apple True Tone?

The True Tone technology can be found across pretty much all current iPhone, iPad and Mac devices in 2024, but if you’re ever unsure, you can check the spec sheets on Apple’s website.

The feature is enabled automatically on most devices, but you can always toggle it on and off by diving into your iOS and iPadOS settings or MacOS system preferences.

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What is Roblox? The gaming social media platform explained

Jessica Gorringe — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 09:50:00 +0000

Roblox is now over a decade old but is still as popular as ever, with over 40 million active users every single day in 2022.

Although it was created back in 2006, Roblox saw a huge surge in popularity during the Covid lockdowns and still sees tens of millions of active daily users.

Keep reading to learn more about Roblox, where you can find it and, most importantly, whether it’s a safe platform for children to use.

What is Roblox?

Not just a single game, Roblox is an online platform which allows users to play games either created themselves or by other users. There’s currently over 40 million games in Roblox, which have all been created by its players.

These games are otherwise known as “experiences” and can fall into a variety of genres, including adventure, obstacle courses, roleplay and more. Users can also add friends to play and chat with them while gaming.

Users create their own Avatar and play experiences as this character.

What are Roblox Avatars?

Roblox Avatars are how you will appear on the platform. Players are automatically given an Avatar when they sign up and you can customise your Avatar by earning items during experiences, or by using the in-game currency, Robux.

Your Avatar is very customisable, with options to alter your skin tone, clothing, accessories, animations, body parts and more. This gives players more ability to show off their personality and create an Avatar that suits them best.

While Roblox does put a lot of emphasis on the various experiences you can play through, it can also be classed as a social media platform. You can connect with people you already know or people you meet through the platform, with the company claiming that around 2.5 billion chat messages are sent every day.

The platform rolled out Spatial Voice Chat in 2021 which allows users to talk to other players who are near them within games. To access this feature you will need to be a verified user over the age of 13.

To add to the sociability aspect, users have the option of voting on the experiences they play, with the choice of upvoting, downvoting, following or favouriting a game to help signal its quality.

Is Roblox free to play?

It is free to download Roblox, create an account and play. Most experiences on the platform are free but there are possibilities for in-game purchases. In-game purchases can be made to customise your Avatar or help in specific experiences.

To make an in-game purchase you need Robux, which is the platform’s virtual currency. Robux can be purchased with real money, earned during gameplay or traded with other users.

Is Roblox safe?

Parents and guardians may worry about their children accessing online gaming communities. As the majority of users are younger children, Roblox has a few measures in place to keep children safe on the platform.

Firstly it has a filtration system called Community Sift which aims to sensor and remove inappropriate messages and content, although this isn’t always reliable.

It also has privacy settings and parental controls as default on accounts for children under 13 years old, so ensure your child’s account has the correct age so you can access this. These controls include limiting who your children can contact and making sure all their experiences are age-appropriate.

Where can I find Roblox?

Roblox can be played on computers, mobile devices and tablets, and all apps are available for free. It is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and Amazon Fire OS.

To find the app simply visit your device’s app store and search for Roblox. Alternatively, visit the website on your web browser.

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What is Suno? The AI music app explained

Hannah Davies — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Suno is the latest big name in AI, but what is it?

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about Suno AI, including what it is, what it can do, and how much it costs.

What is Suno?

Suno is an AI music app that allows users to generate two-minute-long, “radio-quality” songs from a short prompt.

The company launched Suno v3 in March 2024, extending the track duration to two minutes despite the songs themselves taking just seconds to generate. v3 is also the first version of Suno capable of producing radio-quality music.

v3 featured several user feedback-driven improvements, including better quality audio, more styles and genres of music and improved prompt adherence with fewer hallucinations and more graceful endings.

If you’re wondering how Suno distinguishes its creations from your everyday manmade song, you’ll be relieved to hear that the company has implemented some measures. Firstly, Suno does not recognise references to other artists, meaning you can’t just ask it to write the next BTS song while you wait for them to return from military service.

Rather, Suno is designed to accept prompts like “make a song for a heroic desertcore battle”, “make a song for a Sunday study session” or “Make a song for my departed goldfish”.

Additionally, Suno has developed an inaudible watermarking technology that can detect whether a song was created using the AI music generator.

“At Suno, we are building a future where anyone can make music”, says Suno on its website.

“You can make a song for any moment in any major language with just a few short words. Award-winning artists use Suno, but our core user base consists of everyday people making music – often for the first time”.

How much does Suno AI cost?

Suno offers three different subscription tiers – Free, Pro and Premier.

While there are a handful of distinctions between the three plans, the main differences are the number of credits you get, the commercial terms, and where you sit in the generation queue.

The Free plan includes 50 credits/day with non-commercial terms and a shared generation queue, while the Pro plan comes with 2,500 credits/month with general commercial terms, and priority generation queue for $8/month. The Premier tier, meanwhile, comes with 10,000 credits, general commercial terms, and priority generation queue at a steeper cost of $24/month.

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What is PCIe 4.0? PCI Express 4 explained

Ryan Jones — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0000

If you’ve ever purchased components for your new PC, you’ve likely come across the term PCIe 4.0. What does this actually mean, and is it something you should factor into your buying decision?

We’ve created this guide to explain everything you need to know about PCIe 4.0, while also answering numerous frequently asked questions on the technology.

What is PCIe 4.0?

PCIe 4.0 is the fourth generation of the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express technology, which is used to help your CPU communicate with additional components (such as your SSD and graphics card) via your motherboard.

The generation of the PCIe technology reflects its peak bandwidth speeds, with newer iterations allowing data to be transmitted at a higher rate per second. PCIe 4.0 launched in 2017 and has a maximum data transfer rate of 16 GT/s, with a 1x bandwidth of 2GB/s.

The older PCIe 3.0 standard offered half that speed at 8 GT/s, whereas PCIe 5.0 is twice as fast at 32 GT/s. These speeds determine the performance ceiling of connected components.

Right now, it’s the SSD that arguably benefits the most from the generational leaps in PCIe performance. Existing PCIe 4.0 SSDs can reach up to a 7000 MB/s read speed, while the new PCIe 5.0 SSDs have a theoretical performance ceiling of 14,000MB/s which is twice as fast.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

To put those speeds into perspective, Sony was lauded for enabling 5500MB/s read speeds for the PS5’s SSD, allowing for near-instant loading times that all but eradicated the notorious loading screen when gaming. While that speed was considered fast when the PS5 first launched, the new performance ceiling makes Sony’s console seem slow by comparison.

Graphics cards also make use of the PCIe technology, although they’re lagging behind in terms of taking full advantage of the latest speeds. The current line-up of AMD and Nvidia graphics cards still use PCIe 4.0, and it’s not expected that future cards will make the leap to PCIe 5.0 anytime soon.

It’s important to note that you can only make use of PCIe 4.0 if both your desktop processor and motherboard support the technology. AMD processors started adopting the technology with the Ryzen 3000 family, while Intel embraced it with the 11th Gen Rocket Lake chips. If you own an older processor, then your PCIe 4.0 components won’t be able to reach their full performance potential – fortunately they are backwards compatible though, so they’ll still function, just at restricted speeds.

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What is Mini LED? The screen tech explained in detail

Kob Monney — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 10:23:47 +0000

Mini LED is a display technology that’s become increasingly popular in TVs and tablets.

It sees itself as a more affordable rival to OLED holding some advantages over OLED that make it a more practical choice in certain situations and environments.

We’ll explain all about what Mini LED is, how it works, what its benefits are, and how it compares to other types of displays. Then you’ll have all the knowledge to see whether it’s worth investing in a device that has a Mini LED display.

What is Mini LED?

There seems to be many ways of writing the world Mini LED. Sometimes you’ll see it as MiniLED, Mini-LED, or mini-LED but they’re all referring to the same backlight display technology.

Mini LED are smaller versions of ‘conventional’ LEDs used in displays to emit light. It’s an advancement of existing LCD LED technology rather than something altogether new.

By making the LED form factor smaller, it allows for more LEDs to be fitted into the same space. This number can range into the hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of LEDs fitted into a display, depending on the size of the screen.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

More LEDs create more dimming zones. More dimming zones presents greater control over aspects such as contrast (difference between dark and bright parts of an image), black levels and blooming, which concerns halos of light that appear around bright light sources in an image. However, don’t assume that because a TV has more dimming zones that it is irrefutably a better TV.

TV manufacturers take a different approach to designing the Mini LEDs that go into their backlights. Samsung has their own approach, Sony another, along with the likes of TCL. In short, the lens packaging for each LED allows for more light to be emitted which results in a brighter image, and that makes a Mini LED display a good choice for HDR content or viewing in bright environments.

Mini LED vs Micro LED vs OLED

How does Mini LED differ from other displays? MICRO LED uses micrometer-sized LED lights that eliminates the backlight and colour filters used in LCD LED displays for a thinner design.

Where MICRO LED differs from Mini LED is that it is a self-emissive technology – each pixel can be switched on or off (like OLED). That adds complexity to the production process as well as cost. Each pixel structure in a MICRO LED display produces its own light and colour, and that gives it the ability to produce lifelike colours and bright images.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Much like Mini LED, it’s happy to push brightness levels further. And despite being a self-emissive display like OLED, it’s made from inorganic materials, meaning a MICRO LED screen can last a long time, and won’t suffer from the image retention that can affect OLED screens. It’s not cheap either. Samsung’s 110-inch MICRO LED TV is a wallet-hungry £149,999.

OLED stands for Organic Light-Emitting Diode. Each pixel is self-emissive and produces its own light. Like MICRO LED, a pixel that’s ‘on’ can sit next to a pixel that’s ‘off’, helping to deliver deep black levels, a high contrast ratio and wide viewing angles.

OLED can’t go as bright as either Mini or MICRO LED for a few reasons, one of which is ABL (Auto-Brightness Limiter) technology. This is beginning to change with new panels such as LG Display’s MLA and META boosting algorithms helping to boost brightness, as well as Samsung Display’s QD-OLED technology.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

OLEDs can suffer from image retention or burn-in, where static images are retained in the screen. The former is temporary, while the latter is harder to get rid of.

While burn-in can happen, it shouldn’t with normal use. Brands that use OLED displays integrate features such as pixel refreshing technologies and dynamic screensavers to mitigate it. However, given OLED uses organic materials, picture quality will deteriorate over the panel’s lifespan which is not an issue you get with Mini LED or MICRO LED.

Who makes Mini LED TVs?

Chinese electronics manufacturer TCL has had success with its affordable Mini LED TVs in the US and Europe, while Samsung’s adopted the display tech for its Neo QLED TVs. Samsung makes use of its own design for the LED packaging to be brighter and more light efficient and when married to Quantum Dot filters, the results have been impressive, especially with its 8K models such as the QN900D.

Both LG and Philips launched Mini LED TVs in 2021. LG’s interpretation is branded under QNED (Quantum Nanocell Emitting Diodes) and come in larger sizes that covers 8K and 4K resolutions. Philips positions its Mini LED models under the Xtra brand name with the PML9008 and PML9308 being the most recent additions.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Panasonic launched its first Mini LED TV in 2023 in the MX950, a TV we felt was very impressive when we reviewed it.

For TV brands, Mini LED has a greater impact at bigger sizes. However, it’s been miniaturised to work in smaller displays such as Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which we thought was very good but still susceptible to issues such as blooming.

What are the disadvantages of Mini LED?

While Mini LED can offer an excellent experience, it doesn’t suffer from a few issues.

It can still be affected by blooming, a halo or haze of light around bright images that can distract when seen. That can affect the levels of contrast, as well as black uniformity (the consistency of black levels) something that’s not an issue with OLED TVs.

There remains the built-in issues with handling motion as Mini LED lacks the slicker and instant response of OLED. You can still get motion instability and tearing on Mini LED TVs.

Should you buy a Mini LED display?

The idea behind Mini LED is to approach the level of black depth that OLED panels can offer, as well as deliver high levels of contrast, colour accuracy and high brightness. Out of the products we’ve tested from TVs to tablets, it certainly lives up to its potential.

The technology is still relatively expensive, at least in the UK, and still afflicted by problems that affect LCD LED screens such as blooming and backlight control. It’s not available in many smaller sizes as it is best suited to big screen sizes (at least with TVs).

If you love films and gaming, OLED is the more capable choice. But if you’re someone who uses screens outside or in environments where there’s plenty of ambient light, the brightness and level of precision a Mini LED display offer makes more sense.

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What is 5G? The wireless network technology explained

Jessica Gorringe — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 10:10:00 +0000

Whether you already use it regularly on your devices or have just seen the term floating around when looking to upgrade, 5G is now part of our everyday lives.

But what actually is 5G and why should we use it? Read on to learn more about the technology, its benefits and how you can access it yourself.

What is 5G?

5G is the fifth generation technology standard for cellular/mobile networks and allows compatible devices to connect to the internet whenever there’s a signal, without the need for Wi-Fi.

5G has a higher bandwidth than its predecessor, 4G, and can subsequently deliver up to 100 times faster speeds. As it began rolling out back in 2019, most modern smartphones and mobile-compatible devices are now “5G ready.”

What are the benefits of 5G?

One of the biggest benefits of 5G is its ability to deliver much faster speeds than 4G. However it’s not just speed that makes 5G so beneficial. 5G wireless technology also offers ultra-low latency, which can significantly improve user experience.

Latency essentially means the time between an instruction to move data and that data transfer occurring. For example, when you stream a live event with a 4G connection, the playback is actually slightly behind what’s happening in real-time, which is a high latency.

5G, therefore, is designed to reduce high end-to-end latency so you can receive and respond to live data much faster than before.

Another benefit of 5G is it offers a larger network capacity and availability, so more devices are able to connect and access the internet, even in crowded areas such as festivals or shows.

How can I access 5G?

You’ll need a capable device in order to access 5G networks. Most modern smartphones should now be 5G ready but be sure to check when upgrading.

You’ll also need a SIM card (or eSIM) with a 5G data plan in order to access the 5G network. This means you won’t be able to use 5G on a laptop/tablet unless it supports a SIM card or is using a smartphone as a hotspot.

As 5G has been rolling out since 2019, most mobile networks in the UK should connect to the network, as long as your device is compatible.

Should I buy a 5G phone?

Most phones now support 5G, even the best cheap phones. This means that, in most cases, you don’t really need to consider whether it’s worth buying a 5G phone, as this feature is now included by default.

But if you have found a 4G phone on the cheap, will you be missing out? It really depends on your network usage. 5G is faster and more reliable than 4G, but it’s possible that you won’t actually notice the difference in performance unless you’re watching live video or playing games online. 4G is perfectly speedy for web browsing and streaming video.

Is 5G safe to use?

There is no reason to believe that 5G is harmful. The UK government states:

It is possible that there may be a small increase in overall exposure to radio waves when 5G is added to an existing network or in a new area. However, the overall exposure is expected to remain low relative to guidelines and, as such, there should be no consequences for public health.

What is sub-6GHz 5G?

Sub-6GHz refers to the frequencies of the radio waves transmitted. 5G can be transmitted on a spectrum of different frequencies, and sub-6GHz is the most common of these. By contrast, the upper band of 4G frequencies in the UK is 2.6GHz.

The higher the frequency of these radio waves, the more data can be transmitted; however, the catch is that higher-frequency waves have a shorter range.

Sub-6GHz refers to mid- and low-frequency bands as far as 5G is concerned, and when connected to these frequencies you can achieve speeds in the hundreds of Mbps (megabits per second). All 5G phones support sub-6GHz frequencies.

What is mmWave 5G?

mmWave (which stands for millimetre wave) is high frequency 5G that operates at 24GHz and above, up to around 100GHz, and so it can achieve much higher speeds than sub-6GHz 5G.

mmWave connections can provide blistering maximum speeds of up to 5Gbps (gigabits per second), but its range is extremely limited; it can only travel around 100m, and struggles to penetrate buildings.

Not all 5G phones support mmWave frequencies, but this high-frequency network is much less extensive than sub-6GHz 5G. There is currently no mmWave 5G network in the UK but, in March 2023, regulator Ofcom began consultation on launching the technology.

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WWDC 2024: What to expect from June 10 keynote

Chris Smith — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 18:34:49 +0000

WWDC 2024: What to expect? Apple’s annual showcase of software could see major AI announcements affecting its entire product line.

Apple has confirmed its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, aka WWDC, will take place on June 10 this year.

The traditionally software-focused keynote address is where Apple has usually outlines its key upgrades for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and other key apps and platforms.

While we expect all that to happen, with a big iOS 18 revamp rumoured to be among this year’s highlights, WWDC might also give us our first look at Apple’s big generative AI plans.

Here’s what we expect from this year’s WWDC event.

Apple AI

Apple has already promised to reveal major AI breakthroughs this year, as it seeks to catch up with the likes of OpenAI and Google. It wasn’t clear whether we’d see this breathrough showcased at WWDC, but Apple dropped a big hint today.

In announcing the WWDC keynote, Apple’s marketing chief Greg Joswiack revealed the event was going to be ‘Absolutely Incredible’. A…I… Hmm.

Mark your calendars for #WWDC24, June 10-14. It’s going to be Absolutely Incredible! pic.twitter.com/YIln5972ZD
— Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz) March 26, 2024

In terms of what Apple will announce, the well-connected Bloomberg report Mark Gurman reckons is going to be less about generative AI chatbots like Gemini and Chat GPT (although Google may provide those for Apple eventually), and more about improvements that will make daily life easier.

Those may manifest through a dramatically enhanced Siri voice assistant that’s far more powerful than the current solution with more natural conversation capabilities.

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iOS 18

The biggest improvements to iOS 18 might be via those advanced AI tools and features. Reports have suggested there’ll be AI-assisted writing in apps like Pages and Xcode, as well as auto-generated playlists in Apple Music which might be based upon mood.

Beyond AI features, this year’s iPhone update is also expected to be one of the biggest in years. Earlier this week, reports suggested the home screen may offer greater customisation options with app icons less rigidly confined to the grid. It’s also likely to see Apple integrate the long awaited RCS messaging support for conversations between users on Android and iOS. Don’t worry though iMessage is going nowhere.

iPadOS 18 will get the vast majority of the improvements Apple reveals too, as well as some quirks of its own.

Here’s what I wrote about iOS 18, visionOS 2.0 and watchOS 11 in Power On today https://t.co/yHepnBRSE7 pic.twitter.com/K7qY2iVw7I
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) March 24, 2024

VisionOS 2.0 and VisionPro UK release date

Now Apple Vision Pro is out in the wild – at least for buyers in the United States – Apple will probably show us some of the enhancements it’s working on for the software. Yes, visionOS is likely to join the slew of platforms that are updated once a year, with the first versions showcased at WWDC prior to their consumer launches later in the autumn.

Earlier this week it was rumoured Apple is working on a new Apple Pencil that would enable users to draw in XR on any flat surface. That’s a potentially killer application, which many argue Vision Pro lacks.

As this is the first WWDC since the Vision Pro has been in the hands of developers (it was announced at last year’s event as a ‘one last thing’), we may get a glimpse of what leading third-party software makers have been preparing for the mixed reality headset.

We’re also expecting to hear about selling arrangements outside the United States, including when Brits will be able to buy Vision Pro.

Other operating system / app updates

It’s highly likely iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 will be joined by the new update for Apple Watch in watchOS 11, and Mac computers with macOS 15. Apple TV should get a boost with tvOS 18, while HomePod Software 18 is likely to bring some improvements for users of Apple’s popular smart speakers.

Apple will also likely showcase how a number of its key apps and services are getting better, across the operating system divide. It’s likely we’ll get sustainability, security and privacy updates from the company too.

Surprise hardware?

As was the case last year with Vision Pro, Apple occasionally drops a hardware surprise at WWDC. However, with new MacBooks already with us and iPads expected to be refreshed before then, it’s unlikely we’ll see much in the way of new product announcements. Maybe there could be an IPhone SE announcement, but it’s been a bit too quiet on that front for a realistic expectation of a launch. It’s something Apple has announced via a press release in the past too.

We’ll have full, all-hands-on-deck coverage from WWDC 2024 on June 10, so stay tuned to Trusted Reviews for instant reporting, reaction, and analysis from one of the biggest dates in the annual tech calendar.

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What is Bluetooth 5.3?

Hannah Davies — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 12:25:00 +0000

If you’re buying a new smartphone, headphones, speaker or any other device that makes use of Bluetooth wireless connectivity, you may have come across the term ‘Bluetooth 5.3’.

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about Bluetooth 5.3, including what it is and how it compares to Bluetooth 5.2 and below.

What is Bluetooth?

Bluetooth is a wireless technology that makes it possible to transfer and receive files over short distances. This makes it ideal for connecting wireless devices, such as headphones, game controllers, keyboards and more.

The technology works by harnessing Ultra High Frequency radio waves in the 2.402 GHz to 2.48 GHz spectrum and generally has a range of about 10 metres.

What is Bluetooth 5.3?

Bluetooth 5.3 is the latest version of Bluetooth, falling under the Bluetooth 5 umbrella. The update was initially published in July 2021 before launching in May 2022 and has since been featured on a wide range of devices with wireless capabilities.

Bluetooth 5 provided twice the speed, four times the range and eight times the amount of transferable data compared to the Bluetooth 4 standard that came before it. On top of this, Bluetooth 5 made it possible to connect two sets of wireless devices simultaneously thanks to its wider 2 Mbps bandwidth.

Bluetooth 5.3 takes this a few steps further by introducing more changes to the Bluetooth standard.

The first update is Periodic Advertising Enhancement. Bluetooth often automatically transmits multiple packets containing the same data to increase the probability that this data is received. With Bluetooth 5.3, receiving devices can now recognise when they receive a packet containing data that has already been processed and discard it immediately rather than wasting energy passing that information along to the host.

Next up is Encryption Key Size Control Enhancements. Bluetooth devices typically use encryption to ensure no third parties can intercept data as its transferred. The strength of this protection is determined by the size of the key used to encrypt the data. Previously, the hosts needed to query their controllers to select a minimum key size, which was not the most efficient method. Bluetooth 5.3 allows the host to specify a minimum key size from the get go.

The latest version of Bluetooth also introduces Connection Subrating. This feature allows for rapid switching between low duty and heavy duty cycles when needed, for example when accepting a phone call using hearing aids. This should improve the user experience as changes to the duty cycle have traditionally taken some time.

Lastly, there’s Channel Classification Enhancement which allows peripheral devices to perform channel classification and influence the channel map used for adaptive frequency hopping. This should improve the reliability of the connection in many scenarios.

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What is PSSR? Rumoured PS5 Pro upscaling explained

Adam Speight — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 12:46:36 +0000

Rumours are swirling around the expected release of a PlayStation 5 Pro in the near future. A key one has been spurred on by some leaks and relate to new upscaling technlogy for the console. Here are the basics on PSSR.

Upscaling is all the rage in PC gaming, with Nvidia’s excellent DLSS technology and AMD’s FSR equivalent being key features in lots of gamers day-to-day experiences now.

But, what of consoles? Well, it looks like the more powerful iteration of the PS5 that’s expected to launch fairly soon could be getting upscaling technology. This is our explainer of just what we expect it to be.

What is PSSR?

PSSR stands for PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution and is rumoured to be Sony’s upscaling and anti-aliasing feature for the PlayStation 5 Pro. Similar solutions from other brands are able to provide higher quality visuals using techniques that don’t require raw graphical power, which the PS5 Pro will aim to provide with PSSR.

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Details relating to the new PS5 Pro and PSSR emerged through reporting on a leak by YouTube channel Moore’s Law is Dead, which has then been confirmed by outlet Insider Gaming. As such, it remains taking all of this with a pinch of salt until it has been officially confirmed or verified by additional trusted sources.

The information points towards the PSSR upscaling technology aiming to provide support for 4K 120fps and 8K 60fps on the new Pro console. Like Nvidia’s DLSS technology, PSSR looks set to use machine learning (ML) to provide better performance on the enhanced PS5 console. It aims to provide similar results to PC equivalents too.

PS5 (Slim) – Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

According to analysis of the leaked materials (via Digital Foundry), it’s expected that the ML solution is integrated into the GPU itself. The method is hoping to achieve 1080p to 4K upscaling at a speed of two miliseconds and lines up with speeds offered by AMD’s non-ML FSR2 upscaler. But, Digital Foundry adds, quality is expected to be of a higher standard than the latter solution.

Analysis has also revealed that developer comments suggest the 250MB footprint of the PSSR technology will enable them to add the upscaling to existing PlayStation games. As such, it seems likely many regular PS5 games will get a boost from this technology on the PS5 Pro, not just specific titles launched with a more powerful machine in mind.

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What is Zoom Workplace? The Teams and Slack rival explained

Adam Speight — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Zoom is having another crack at a collaboration platform, around 18 months after the launch of its first attempt, Zoom One. Expectedly, a dose of AI is a big part of the new Zoom Workplace platform. Here’s exactly what it is.

Zoom clearly felt like simply updated its current One collaboration platform wouldn’t have done this update justice, with the Zoom One collaboration platform evolving into a AI-powered collaboration platform called Zoom Workplace.

Zoom plays a big part in many workplaces, even ones that use Slack and Microsoft Teams on the regular, so it makes sense that they want to expand beyond the video call window. We’re now in the era of the AI PC and Zoom is onboard, these are the key details.

What is Zoom Workplace?

Zoom Workplace is the new AI-powered collaboration platform from the popular video-conferencing brand. According to Zoom, “it reflects Zoom’s broader shift into beocming an AI-powered workplace platform that is powering modern work”. Zoom already had a product for workplace collaboration named Zoom One but this new product succeeds it with an AI focus.

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Zoom touts Workplace as being an “open ecosystem for best-in-class collaboration with third-party integrations”, adding that it doesn’t require businesses to replace their whole current workplace setup to take advantage of Zoom’s “AI-powered collaboration products and features”.

The new Workplace experience is set to offer more streamlined communications, with a new Meetings tab added to the Zoom app along with improved engagement through shared spaces for collaboration. There’s a wider redesign of the Zoom app being implemented too, with new UI, background customisation and appearance shortcuts.

Zoom is taking a larger step into the physical office too with improved Zoom Rooms. Hybrid meetings will be boosted with Smart Name Tags and Smart Speaker Tags for when multiple employees are present in a window. There’s also Workspaces for booking rooms, helping find oyur way around the office and visitor management.

Collaboration is a key focus of Workplace, with features like document collaboration, AI companion on mobile and team chat all enhanced with the aim of improving colleague interactions.

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What is IP67? The IP rating explained

Hannah Davies — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:27:33 +0000

If you’re in the market for a new smartphone or Bluetooth speaker, you may have come across the term IP67 in the specs list.

Keep reading to learn all about IP ratings, what IP67 means and how it compares to IP68.

What is IP67?

IP67 is an Ingress Protection (IP) rating often found on phones, speakers and headphones. Listing the IP rating helps people to understand exactly how dust- and water-resistant a device is before they purchase it.

To understand what IP67 means, we first need to look at the IP rating scale and how it works.

IP ratings consist of two numbers. The first number pertains to how well that device can withstand solid foreign objects, such as dust, while the second digit describes to what extent the device is protected against liquids, i.e. water.

The scale for solids ranges from 0 (no protection) to 6 (dust-tight), whereas the scale for liquids starts at 0 (no protection) and extends all the way up to 9 (protected against high pressure and temperature water jets). There are also devices that are not tested against one or the other category – these IP ratings are represented by an ‘X’.

You can see the full IP rating scale in the image below (via the IEC):

Image: IEC

In the case of IP67, the device in question has a solids protection rating of 6, meaning that it is completely dust-tight. This is the highest score possible. The device also has a water protection rating of 7, meaning it is protected against the effects of temporary immersion in water. More specifically, the device can be immersed in water with a depth of up to 1m for up to 30 minutes.

What devices are rated IP67?

Many devices carry a rating of IP67. This includes mid-range phones like the Samsung Galaxy A55, Galaxy A35 and Google Pixel 7a, as well as many of our best Bluetooth speakers, including the B&O Beosound A1 2nd Gen, JBL Charge 5 and Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3.

It’s worth noting that most flagship smartphones these days – including the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Google Pixel 8 Pro – are protected up to IP68. This means that these phones will be better equipped to handle immersion in water than devices marked IP67.

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What is Sony 360 Reality Audio? The immersive audio format explained

Kob Monney — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 09:00:00 +0000

3D audio goes by many names, definitions, and forms in the current market, and one of those formats is Sony’s 360 Reality Audio.

While the jump in interest in immersive audio has certainly been given a push by Apple’s adoption of Dolby Atmos for its music streaming service, Sony got there a couple of years earlier in 2019 and has sought to bring it to a wider audience.

The idea is simple – it’s audio that you can hear all around you, creating an immersive soundscape to listen to your favourite tunes and films. So, how does it work and is it everything Sony makes it out to be?

What is Sony 360 Reality Audio?

Stereo sound, quadraphonic sound, 5.1-channel surround sound etc – they all have something to recommend them. What everyone likes less is competing audio formats that do the same thing.

At first glance, it would seem Sony’s ‘3D’ audio format – 360 Reality Audio – falls into the ‘same-thing-different-banner’ category. Object-based audio, where a soundtrack is mastered into numerous channels to create front, rear, sides and overhead of a soundfield, can be great when used right – but we already have the likes of Dolby Atmos and DTS-X.

Anything from a home 5.1.4 system to a state-of-the-art commercial cinema sounds thrillingly complete when it has a Dolby Atmos soundtrack to play with. Four overhead channels of information (in the home), or upwards of 64 overhead channels in a cinema, each receives discrete, carefully positioned information. The sense of scale, and of wide-ranging, believable movement in the right setting, is always impressive.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

360 Reality Audio does the same thing, essentially, although previously the emphasis was squarely on music but has now broadened its talents to include cinema and gaming.

Sony has built 360 Reality Audio around the MPEG-H 3D Audio codec, which is able to support 64 individual channels. The format is open source, so anyone from small companies to individual artists can get involved.

And Sony has persuaded the Big Three record companies – Sony, Universal and Warner Music – as well as high-profile streaming services that includes TIDAL, Amazon Music HD and Deezer – to distribute the content.

How does Sony 360 Reality Audio work?

The idea is to place the listener in the thick of the audio action. Any element of a recording – by which we mean specific individual sounds, like a high-hat cymbal, a person’s footsteps in a game, the engine of car, or Bez-style maraca – can be positioned anywhere in the 360-degree sound field.

It can be finessed to give the impression of a specific angle or distance, painting a detailed and expansive audio picture, with the listener in the front row or even on the stage itself.

Sony states its 360 Reality Audio will work with headphones from most manufacturers, so theoretically all that’s required is a subscription to the premium tier of a partnering streaming service (and some headphones).

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

However, if you want a more personalised experience and happen to have either a pair of compatible Sony headphones or headphones from another brand that support the tech (like Audio Technica), you’ll be prodded in the direction of the headphones’ respective app.

There you can capture images of your ear with the mobile device’s camera (you may want someone’s help for that), and set up an optimal hearing profile before it shoots you off to enjoy 360 Reality Audio tracks in streaming services such as Tidal and Deezer’s seperate 360 RA app.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

What are the benefits?

Most consumers (and perhaps even professionals) would say that immersive audio is no more than party trick and a gimmick, a feature that doesn’t present a better experience for the listener compared to stereo.

However, there are good reasons for mastering engineers and the public to venture into the immersive sound as we learned at a Sony press event held in Amsterdam via a presentation from mastering engineer Maria Triana.

She alluded that stereo is of course made up of two channels – left and right – but this can be an issue as to where to positions instruments and vocals within the soundfield, and how to manage all the sounds and frequencies vying for the same space in a two-channel mix.

With immersive audio that’s not an issue as it takes place on a bigger soundfield where instruments and vocals aren’t fighting for the same space, and frequencies from highs to mids and lows have more room to breathe. Vocals don’t have to be compressed to highlight them above other instruments, there is (or at least should) be more room to breathe and allow the listener to focus on different elements in a track.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Another benefit is that with immersive audio, you can experience music in a more natural way. With stereo content, mastering engineers create reverb and the ‘room’ the music takes place in, while in an immersive soundscape, the onus moves to the reflections of the sound around the whole room, so it is more like how music is created and listened in a ‘live’ setting.

A third, and perhaps most obvious benefit to listeners is movement of sounds. A mastering engineer can place sounds around the virtual room, but also have those sounds move about, the decay of a hi-hat cymbal can move from the front of the room to the rear.

A good immersive can give the impression of sounds all around you, but the immersive effect can be down to the number of elements in a mix and is not always obvious. It’s down to how the mastering engineer interprets and manipulates those elements. Some songs are suited to being in immersive audio, others less so.

Which products support 360 Reality Audio?

When the service was launched in 2019, Sony said they estimated they’d be around 1000 tracks in the format. At the end of 2023, Sony said there were over 1000 tracks available – that suggests there hasn’t been a huge uptake in developing for the format.

Artists with music in 360 Reality Audio format includes the Foo Fighters, London Grammar, Cypress Hill, Alicia Keys, Pharrell Williams, Paloma Faith, HAIM, Outkast, and RUN-DMC, so you have a decently diverse collection of musical genres to sample, as well as songs new and old that have been remastered to take advantage of what 360RA offers.

In terms of hardware, the unsurprising news is that Sony is doing the heavy lifting.

Sony headphones feature the tech from the WF-1000XM5, to the LinkBuds S, to the affordable CH720N over-ears. Whatever your purchase, they’ll be a little card in the packaging promoting 360 Reality Audio.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Sony sells its own wireless speakers with the Wi-Fi-enabled SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000. They use the company’s ‘Immersive Audio Enhancement algorithm’ to create that room-filling, live music feel. The RA500 features seven woofers – three firing upwards, three to the sides and one in the centre. The RA300 is less complex (and cheaper) with two tweeters, two passive radiators and a full-range driver.

The first speaker on sale that was able to handle Sony’s 3D audio standard was Amazon’s Echo Studio (you’ll need an Amazon Music HD subscription, though).

Sony’s added its soundbar line-up into the mix with the HT-A7000, HT-A5000, HT-A3000 all able to play content in 360 Reality Audio, as well as surround sound systems and speaker systems such as Sony HT-AX7 and HT-A9 models.

Sennheiser has also gotten into the game by updating its Ambeo soundbar, which can now service 360 Reality Audio content via a Chromecast connection. Currently only nugs.net music service provides Chromecast streaming for 360 RA content.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

More products are expected to arrive – Sony’s determination to democratise 360 Reality Audio means more Alexa-enabled, or Chromecast built-in devices will be able to support the format. Sony has worked with Google to embed the MPEG-H 3D audio into the Android code and widen its compatibility.

And Sony’s partnership with chipset companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek should, hopefully, make 360 Reality Audio compatibility across a lot more consumer hardware likely too.

Are there different versions of 360 Reality Audio?

Sony has expanded 360 Reality Audio into several directions that criss-cross with each other under the umbrella of 360SST (360 Spatial Sound Technologies).

We’ve talked about 360 Reality Audio, which is for music, but there’s also 360SSG (360 Spatial Sound for Gaming) supported by Sony’s Inzone gaming headsets. Those headphones can place you in the middle of a video game, with sounds coming from in front of the character and behind (a rather scary proposition in the Resident Evil 4 remake).

360SSP (360 Spatial Sound Personaliser) tailors audio to the shape and size of your ears so you’re getting the spatial effect as it’s meant to be heard. This is available through a dedicated app on Android and iOS platforms.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

360SSM (360 Spatial Sound Mapping) works in concert with other object-based audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X to create a room-filling, immersive performance.

When featured in compatible Sony soundbars and speaker systems, the built-in microphones will sense nearby surfaces (couches, walls, etc) to create a map of the room. It will use that map to calibrate the audio system’s delivery using psychoacoustics, tech similar waveform synthesis, and a “unique” Sony algorithm to create phantom speakers, giving the impression of sound coming from a certain area.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Finally, there’s 360VME (360 Virtual Mixing Environment), used by Sony Pictures, as well as The Hit Factory (New York), Gold Diggers Studio (Los Angeles), and MIL Studio (Tokyo)

This version of the technology is able to “accurately” reproduce the acoustic field of an immersive studio that consists of multiple speakers with headphones. Once the room has been mapped, if we understand this correctly, you can essentially take the measurement of the room and listen back on a pair headphones, creating a virtual studio as it were.

Those measurements can be only be done at the studios mentioned above. Though it does help that they’re come of the best in the world…

Is Sony 360 Reality Audio worth it?

This is an interesting question. There are so many facets to 360 Reality Audio, so many different but overlapping applications that it can be used for, that the way you experience it can differ but at its heart it’s all about immersion.

For headphones we’ve found it reasonably effective at creating a bigger soundstage with sounds that go around you, but like with Dolby Atmos, the quality of the experience can depend on how the track was mixed and effectiveness of the 360RA optimisation process.

We listened to Daft Punk/Pharrell Williams’ Get Lucky and didn’t noticed much of a difference pre and post-optimisation. And also, the song sounded better in stereo with bigger bass and vocals that weren’t as thin.

When 360RA works in tandem with Dolby Atmos in can be very effective in creating phantom speakers and a more immersive experience. We’ve played a Resident Evil game in 360RA spatial audio with the Inzone headphones and found that a suspenseful and gripping experience. If you have a soundbar, you’ll need rear speakers and subwoofer for the full experience, which will also add to the cost.

So in short it does work, and the experience is effective, though like most immersive audio it’s effective in the right setting, though 360RA tries to get around this with its mapping feature.

If you have a Sony product, it’s a nice benefit to have, but like with most immersive audio formats, it’s not essential – at least not yet.

FAQs

Does 360RA support head-tracking?

Yes it does. When enabled, head-tracking serves to automatically adjust sound as you move your head (in relation to the smartphone screen) – keeping the sound in its original position.

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What is a smart ring? The wearable tracker explained

Jessica Gorringe — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 14:27:50 +0000

Although smart rings have been around for several years, 2024 is set to be a particularly busy year for the wearable tracker.

Samsung revealed its Galaxy Ring at MWC in February 2024 and other big brands have followed suit, or are at least rumoured to be working on their own offering,

But what actually is a smart ring, what does it track and how does it work? Keep reading to learn more about the wearable device.

What is a smart ring?

A smart ring is a wearable health and fitness tracker that is designed to fit on a finger, just like a traditional ring.

Smart rings are fitted with sensors to monitor and track your health metrics and combine Bluetooth and Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology. It’s best to think of them like a smartwatch, but for your finger rather than your wrist.

What does a smart ring track?

The type of sensors will depend on the smart ring itself and its manufacturer, but they generally tend to include sensors which collect data on your heart rate, blood pressure, step counts and sleep patterns.

Other models can track menstrual cycles, ovulation prediction and even track moods, wellbeing and stress levels.

How does a smart ring work?

Unlike smartwatches and other wearable fitness trackers, a smart ring isn’t fitted with a screen for users to see their metrics on the device itself. Instead, smart rings come with a paired app which means tracked data is sent to your device for you to view.

To share your data, smart rings combine Bluetooth and Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology. Not only does this ensure data is securely sent to your smartphone, but the NFC technology allows for an extra layer of security by working as a two-factor authentication for online log-ins and even lets users make wireless payments.

When connected to your smartphone, smart rings can also alert you when receiving notifications for incoming calls or messages.

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What is Pixel Shift Multi-Shot? The Fujifilm camera feature explained

Hannah Davies — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 12:24:13 +0000

SONY DSC

If you’re looking to capture huge high-resolution images on your Fujifilm camera, Pixel Shift Multi-Shot might be your answer.

Many brands market their own pixel shift features, offering an easy way to snap images with resolutions far beyond the usual capability of a camera’s sensor. On Fujifilm cameras, this feature is called Pixel Shift Multi-Shot.

Keep reading to discover everything you need to know about Pixel Shift Multi-Shot, including what it is, how it works and which cameras support the feature.

What is Pixel Shift Multi-Shot?

Pixel Shift Multi-Shot is an image compositing mode that makes it possible to capture incredibly high-resolution stills with a Fujifilm camera.

This feature is ideal for when photographers need to create images much bigger and more detailed than the camera’s sensor can manage alone. For example, for commercial photography, archives, macro images and large prints.

Pixel Shift Multi-Shot works by capturing 16-20 images in quick succession using the camera’s electronic shutter. The number of shots captured depends on the specific camera model. As it snaps the photos, the camera uses in-body image stabilisation to shift the sensor half a pixel between each shot in order to capture every detail and piece of information.

The 16-20 shots can then be merged using Fujifilm’s Pixel Shift Combiner software or Capture One to create one huge high-resolution image.

Like the number of shots captured, the exact final resolution of the image will depend on the camera used. For example, GFX100 series cameras will result in a 400-megapixel final image, while X Series users can expect a 160-megapixel result.

Which cameras have Pixel Shift Multi-Shot?

Pixel Shift Multi-Shot first launched on Fujifilm’s medium format GFX line but has more recently expanded to include the X Series APS-C cameras.

You can find the feature on the following models:

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What is GDDR7? The next-gen graphics memory explained

Adam Speight — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 11:13:24 +0000

There’s plenty to consider when building a new gaming PC or, even, just buying a new graphics card or gaming laptop then you’ve likely thought about how much graphical memory you need. The next generation is closing in, and that’s GDDR7.

When it comes to the basics of a PC, you’ll may have heard of the terms CPU, GPU, RAM and SSD but there’s another term that relates to the second and third entries on that like. The GPU features its own kind of memory/RAM, and it’s the latest format of that which we’re here to discuss. Let’s dive into the basics.

What is GDDR7?

The GDDR7 standard is the next generation format for graphical memory and it’s set to succeed the current popular versions, GDDR6 and GDDR6X. The advancement is set to signficantly boost bandwidth and memory capacity.

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Samsung is one of the first chip manufacturers to tout the GDDR7 standard will be coming to its chips, it claims it will offer “a leap forward in computer graphics that can be leveraged in graphics cards, game consoles, automotive, HPC, and AI/ML”. It says the format is set to offer a 30 percent improvement in speed and 20 percent improvement in efficiency. Reliability is set to be boosted too, with a 70 percent decrease in thermal resistance.

GDDR7 is also the first graphical memory standard to feature something called PAM3 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation 3) signalling, which enables that large speed improvement.

But, what does it all mean for the you, the user? GDDR7 VRAM bringing improved speed, bandwidth and effiency is set to bring boosted performance to graphical workloads across the board. That’s whether it is more VRAM needed for more detailed and demanding gaming experiences or enhanced efficiency to make graphical tasks less demanding on battery life.

While GDDR7 will offer improved efficiency across the board, Samsung has also touted that a “low-operating-voltage option for hardware like laptops” will be available (via The Verge).

Samsung may be the company who looks set to be first out the gate with GDDR7 but other brands have shown their hands too, like Jedec, Cadence (via AnandTech) and Micron (via AnandTech). Of course, GPU maker Nvidia is set to feature some of this technology too, with rumours pointing towards its debut on the RTX 50-series (via PCGamer) where it could provide a 50% increase in memory bandwidth.

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Nvidia Blackwell B200: The AI GPU explained

Ryan Jones — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 10:56:09 +0000

Nvidia may be widely known for its gaming-centric graphics cards, but behind the scenes, the company is actually making most of its money from its advances in artificial intelligence. In fact, it’s one of the biggest AI companies in the world.

The Nvidia Blackwell B200 is the latest AI-centric GPU from the company, launching at GTC in March 2024. But how does this new chip differ from previous entries, and who is its target audience? We’ll answer all of those questions and more in this explainer.

What is the Nvidia Blackwell B200?

The Nvidia Blackwell B200 is a new GPU chip that specialises in AI performance.

Nvidia has been creating AI chips for a few years now, with the Nvidia H100 being the most recent before 2024. The H100 was based on the Hopper architecture which sat parallel to Ada Lovelace – the architecture used in the Nvidia 40 Series graphics cards for gamers.

Nvidia has now moved onto a new architecture called Blackwell, and the B200 is the very first graphics card to adopt it.

Nvidia has labelled the B200 as the world’s most powerful chip, as it packs a whopping 208 billion transistors. For reference, the current most powerful GeForce graphics card – the Nvidia RTX 4090 – only has 76 billion transistors, emphasising the absurd power on offer with the B200.

If that’s not enough power for you, Nvidia has also upgraded its NVLink technology to allow more GPUs to communicate with each other in a data centre setup. Nvidia claims that the new 5th Generation NVLink now allows high-speed communication for up to 576 GPUs.

Of course, this is overkill for the average person. The Nvidia Blackwell B200 is instead intended for companies rather than individuals, with the likes of Amazon Web Services, Dell Technologies, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, Tesla and xAI all confirmed to adopt the AI chip.

The Blackwell GPU architecture is also expected to be used in the upcoming generation of GeForce graphics cards, with the RTX 5000 Series (including the flagship RTX 5090) tipped to become the most powerful chips for gaming.

A data centre powered by the Nvidia GB200 superchip

What is the Nvidia Blackwell GB200 superchip?

The Nvidia Blackwell GB200 was also announced at GTC, which is essentially the combination of two G200 chips, using the 900GB/s NVLink technology to connect them together.

Nvidia claims the GB200 is capable of delivering 30x the performance for LLM inference workloads when compared to the preceding H100. What’s more, Nvidia claims the new superchip is far more efficient, reducing the cost and energy consumption by up to 25x.

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What is Grok? The new X/Twitter feature explained

Jessica Gorringe — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 12:28:27 +0000

You may have come across the term Grok on X, formerly known as Twitter. Launched in November 2023 in select countries and for Premium+ users, Grok is a product of xAI, a startup founded by X’s controversial owner, Elon Musk. Grok, however, can be found on the X platform.

To help make things less confusing, we’ve put together a guide on what Grok actually is, how it works and how users can access it.

What is Grok?

Grok is an AI chatbot created by xAI. A startup launched by Elon Musk in 2023, xAI builds artificial intelligence to ‘accelerate human scientific discovery’.

Modelled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the AI chatbot Grok is intended to answer almost any question given and even suggest what questions users should ask. Available to use in both ‘regular’ and ‘fun’ mode, Grok promises to ‘answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems’.

When set in so-called fun mode, Grok is said to give ‘edgy and satirical’ responses, but this can be turned off with ‘regular mode’.

XAI explained that one of the reasons behind building the chatbot was to build AI tools that benefit all of humanity and the team wants Grok to serve as a “research assistant for anyone.”

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How does Grok work?

Grok is powered by the Grok-1 engine, X’s recently developed large language model (LLM). XAI says that Grok has real-time knowledge of the world via the X platform, although it is still an early beta product.

Elon Musk announced recently that xAI would open source Grok, which allows researchers and developers to build on the model, impacting how Grok updates in the future.

Who can access Grok?

Grok is currently still in its early access program and is available in 47 selected countries, which doesn’t include the UK. If you are located in one of the 47 countries, you’ll also need to be an X Premium+ subscriber to test the model.

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What is the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3?

Jessica Gorringe — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 06:30:00 +0000

Qualcomm’s newest offering, the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3, is a specially curated mobile platform based on the existing Snapdragon 8 series.

But what is the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 and what does it feature? Read on to learn more about the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 and what devices we can find it on.

What is the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3?

The latest addition to Qualcomm’s premium Snapdragon 8-series, the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3, is a mobile chipset that promises to deliver the most sought-after 8-series capabilities to more Android flagship smartphones. Qualcomm has previously employed this S-branded tactic with chipsets like the Snapdragon 7S Gen 2, but it’s the first time we’ve seen it on the top-end 8-series.

The Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 includes support for powerful on-device generative AI features and a broad array of AI and LLM models, including Gemini Nano.

There’s also updated AI camera capabilities with real-time Semantic Segmentation, which individually optimises up to 12 layers of your photos and videos resulting in clear and high-quality content.

Other features include a low-power always-sensing camera, allowing for convenient and secure ultra-fast facial unlocking and mobile payments and lossless high-definition sound, amplified by the Snapdragon Sound Technology Suite.

With Snapdragon Elite Gaming features, users can experience an improved mobile gaming experience with sharp resolutions and smooth ray-traced graphics.

The Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 also boasts faster connectivity with powerful battery efficiency. This allows your device to instantly connect to the strongest and fastest Wi-Fi signals available and achieve the fastest possible global mobile connectivity speeds.

In terms of performance, Qualcomm has said that it’ll sit somewhere between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 8 Gen 3, suggesting a very powerful, if not quite top-end, chipset.

Which devices will use Snapdragon 8S Gen 3?

Huge brands including Honor, iQOO, realme, Redmi and Xiaomi will adopt the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3. The first device to feature the chipset is expected to be announced in March by Xiaomi, with more devices expected to be announced in the coming months.

Xiaomi’s President promises that the use of the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 will allow Xiaomi to “provide our customers with a personalised premium experience, all thanks to Generative AI.”

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What is PlayStation Stars? Sony’s loyalty program explained

Jessica Gorringe — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 15:55:29 +0000

Launched by Sony in 2022, PlayStation Stars is a loyalty scheme for PlayStation users designed for more engaging gameplay.

But what is the loyalty program and how does it work? Read on to learn more about PlayStation Stars and how to join.

What is PlayStation Stars?

Free to join, PlayStation Stars allows gamers to earn points by completing regular challenges and missions of varying difficulty. These points can then be traded in for digital collectibles and rewards.

It’s worth noting that although free to join, enrollment isn’t automatic so you will need to register to start collecting points.

You can find PlayStation Stars through the PlayStation App on your iOS or Android device. This includes your campaigns, reward catalogue and status level.

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How can you earn points?

PlayStation Stars offer a few ways to earn points, including monthly challenges and game-specific objectives that vary in difficulty. For example, some “challenges” just include starting a game up whereas others require solving specific riddles.

You can also earn points by completing custom campaigns that are created just for you, based on the games you play.

PlayStation Plus members can also earn Stars points with eligible purchases made on the PlayStation Store.

How can you join PlayStation Stars?

Joining PlayStation Stars is completely free and easy to do. You can either sign up through the PlayStation app, which is available on both iOS and Android devices, or through the PlayStation website.

Whichever method you use, you’ll need to sign in and register with your PlayStation Network account information.

What can you earn with PlayStation Stars?

Earned points can be redeemed for digital collectibles, games or digital wallet funds in your PlayStation rewards catalogue.

You can also redeem limited-edition digital collectibles, inspired by PlayStation games and characters from the last 25 years to now. All collectibles can then be showcased in your digital display case via the PlayStation App.

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What is an AI PC? The latest computing trend explained

Adam Speight — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 15:15:32 +0000

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

If you’ve paid attention to computer chip or laptop launches over the last six months or so, you’ll have seen the phrase “AI PC” everywhere. Let us explain the basics behind the buzzword.

The computing world comes with a plethora of buzzwords and the flavour of the month is “AI PC”. Whether you’re an Intel, AMD, Microsoft and, even, Apple, it is AI this and AI that right now.

Now, we get it, it is clear AI is going to play a big part in the future of computing, but are current PC’s worth the “AI PC” label right now? Let’s analyse the basics of the new term.

What is an AI PC?

An “AI PC” is a computer that features a chip which, in turn, features an neural processing unit (NPU) as part of its design. The NPU is a microprocessor that runs articial intelligence-specific workloads. These workloads may include running predictive models, machine learning or generative AI.

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AI PCs have come into the spotlight in recent times in line with new chips launches from Intel, AMD and Qualcomm, with all touting their new NPU and its AI capabilities. In particular, we’ve seen more and more Windows laptops with Intel’s new Core Ultra or AMD’s Ryzen 8000 chips being dubbed “AI PC”, with the hardware manufacturers, like Lenovo, Honor and more, all using the term too. We’ve reviewed the new Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) and more devices that all fall into this bracket of AI PC.

The immediate benefits of PCs featuring a dedicated NPU have not been immediately obvious, with simple features like Windows Studio effects for video conferencing being the main thing touted by manufacturers. These are features that were largely available at software level in tools like Zoom already, but it provides a native solution.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2024 (AMD Ryzen 8000 – AI PC) – Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

However, the benefits are likely to become more substantial, but not necessarily more obvious, as software and hardware makers create tools to use the NPU in more everyday tasks. For example, Intel says that in its testing, “AI PCs with an Intel Core Ultra processor were able to edit videos nearly two-and-a-half times faster (2.3X, to be exact). We also saw complex image editing tasks run 52% faster. An AI PC is the PC that can save you gobs of time in all the creative things you do every single day at home and at work.” So, this isn’t some new feature, but shows AI is set to improve performance of typical tasks.

AI PCs are also set to be defined by how they align with Microsoft’s Windows operating system as well. One of the most consumer-facing AI products right now is Microsoft Copilot, which is slowly rolling out to Windows 11 devices and we’re set to see a dedicated Copilot key on some laptops in the future too.

But, for now, Copilot currently runs in the cloud, so does not benefit from a computer’s onboard NPU. However, that looks set to change in the future, with Microsoft recently saying, “Together, we’re putting new system architectures in place to power new Windows AI experiences bringing together the GPU, CPU, NPU and the cloud.” Rumours also suggest the next version of Copilot will provide improved on-device contextual AI assistance (via Windows Central).

Aside from Windows devices, it could be argued that Apple has been making “AI PCs” since it introduced the M1 MacBook Air back in 2020, with it featuring a dedicated NPU right off the bat.

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What is AMD Anti-Lag Plus? The low latency tech explained

Adam Speight — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 13:37:23 +0000

Lag is the bane of the lives of many a gamer, especially those playing competitive titles. To solve this, brands have introduced low latency technology, like Nvidia Reflex and AMD Anti-Lag. The latter has been boosted and is now AMD Anti-Lag Plus. Here’s exactly what it is.

The computing industry is awash with buzzwords but, when it comes to gaming, a lot relate to some quite impressive technology, from AMD’s FSR3 to Nvidia’s Advanced Optimus and many more features.

For competitive players, low latency is essential and, as such, gaming tech manufacturers are doing their best to battle it. AMD’s latest effort, Anti-Lag Plus, hasn’t had the easiest time of it, but it’s came back with a vengeance. This is our simple explanation.

What is AMD Anti-Lag Plus?

AMD Anti-Lag Plus is a feature of AMD’s Radeon graphics chips, aiming to provide low latency gaming. Anti-Lag Plus works by applying frame alignment within the code of the game. This then allows for improved synicing of frames which, ultimately, leads to lower latency.

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AMD Anti-Lag Plus differs from its original Anti-Lag technology. Anti-Lag controls the speed at which the CPU runs to keep it aligned with the GPU, preventing the CPU workload from building up as it waits for a GPU to respond adequately. This allow prevents lag.

AMD’s Anti-Lag Plus is a direct rival to Nvidia’s Reflex technology, which also involve game developers incorporating it directly into a video game’s code to function. Anti-Lag Plus initially launched back in back in September 2023 but was pulled after the technology appeared to fall foul of games’ anti-cheat programs (via PCGamer). The issue seemed to stem from the technology being implemented at driver-level, which would require no work from game developers. Now, as mentioned above, the feature is touted as being built into the game code, seemingly to dodge a reoccurence of the problem.

AMD Anti-Lag Plus Requirements and Supported Games

To use AMD Anti-Lag Plus, there are both some system requirements and a limited amount of games currently supported. The requirements include AMD RDNA 3 products, including the AMD Radeon RX 7000 Series or newer, DirectX 11/12 and Windows 10/11. These are the current supported games:

Apex Legends
Overwatch 2
Dying Light 2
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Resident Evil 4
Ghostwire: Tokyo
Fortnite
Last of Us: Part 1
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Resident Evil 3
Borderlands 3

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What is Freesat? The alternative to Sky explained

Kob Monney — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 10:36:19 +0000

When it comes to getting live programming and on-demand content into the home, there are a few ways of doing so: aerial, Internet, and satellite.

The method of using the Internet is becoming increasingly popular through OTT services, but satellite still remains a viable option for those who can’t access linear broadcast services through their aerial.

Freesat, along with Sky, offer broadcast content through satellite transmission. We’ll leave you to guess which one does it for free.

If you’ve never heard of Freesat or want to know more about what it does, and how it compares to Freeview Play, read on to find out more.

What is Freesat?

Freesat is a free-to-air satellite TV service that beams programming to peoples’ homes over a satellite connection rather than aerial or cable.

Transmission over satellite has its advantages, but what you can expect from Freesat is around 170 channels with 100% coverage. The service is technically free, much like Freeview Play, but there are costs involved, namely if you decide to purchase a TV box to access content. The platform itself is subscription free to access.

Freesat was originally a joint venture between the BBC and ITV to provide a digital satellite alternative to Freeview that would offer more coverage and a larger number of channels. It officially launched in August 2008 with channels from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, although only one channel was made available in HD (BBC HD). Day-to-day running of the service is carried out by Everyone TV, who also take care of Freeview and Freely.

It’s since gone on to add programming from Channel 5, children’s programming and radio stations, as well as on-demand content in the form of streaming video apps such as Netflix, Prime Video and the STV Player, some of which bring 4K content to the Freesat platform.

What is the difference between Freesat and Freeview Play?

The obvious difference is how the signals are transmitted. Freesat is via a satellite connection, while Freeview is through an aerial.

The advantage of satellite is that it is less affected by weather, ensuring that it can be reached by households in more remote areas that Freeview can’t get to.

Both Freesat and Freeview use an EPG (electronic programming guide), but the programming list on both differs. Freesat offers more channels than Freeview and a wider variety of radio stations. Channel 4 was missing from the Freesat line-up but returned at the beginning of 2024.

There’s also the cost involved. If you choose to add a Freeview set-top box to your setup, they’re usually less expensive than a Freesat boxes, which incur a higher upfront fee. Once bought, you won’t have to worry about subscriptions as both platforms are free-to-watch, though this excludes SVOD apps such as Netflix and BritBox that require a sub for access.

How do I get Freesat?

To watch Freesat you will need a satellite dish. If you don’t have one it will need to be installed (for rented properties you will need to check with the landlord if one can be installed). If there already is an existing installation in your property/accommodation, then it can be activated to get Freesat.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

You can connect the satellite cable straight to your TV if it has the necessary tuner, but if it doesn’t, another method of getting satellite coverage is through a set-top box. Freesat has produced a couple of its own boxes, including a recordable version, and there are a few other boxes, notably from Humax and Manhattan.

What do I get with Freesat?

Freesat, much like Freeview Play, comes with an electronic programme guide that can go back seven days to catch up on content you may have missed.

As we’ve mentioned previously, there’s access to 170+ channels with 100% coverage, so there’s no reason to retune after the initial tuning has been carried out.

If you have the ability to record, the number of channels that can be recorded depends on the type of dish installed. With a WLNB dish, four programmes can be recorded at the same time. If you have an LNB dish, then it goes down to two channels. Purchase the 2TB Freesat box and you can record up to 1000 hours in standard definition or 500 hours in high definition.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

There’s support for streaming video on-demand apps such as Netflix, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and ITVX. SVOD apps are also the only method of getting 4K HDR content on the platform by subscribing to likes Prime Video or viewing YouTube. Last we checked, the Rakuten TV app was only available on Humax-made Freesat boxes.

There’s a Recommendations section where Freesat’s telly experts alert users to shows and films available to watch, and Showcase highlights what’s coming to the service in the next five days or so. The Reminders function helps to remember shows to watch, while there’s app support (Android and iOS) to record remotely and act as a remote to control a Freesat set-top box.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Does Freesat support multi-room?

There is the possibility of creating a multi-room set-up within the Freesat ecosystem. To get Freesat in each room, you’ll need a TV or set-top box capable of accessing the service, which can all attach to a single satellite dish.

That does, however, depend on whether the dish can accommodate multiple connections. If not, you’d need to consult your local satellite installer for advice.

What can I watch on Freesat?

There is content from the on-demand apps mentioned earlier, so anything on Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube and the UK catch-up apps.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

And to clarify, apps such as YouTube Kids, Prime Video, ITVX, BBC Sounds and BritBox are only available to watch on the set-top boxes.

Otherwise there’s content from the 170+ channels on the service, with BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky News, CNBC and Al Jazeera English carried by the platform.

Can I switch from Sky to Freesat?

It is possible to switch from Sky Q to Freesat if you no longer want to subscribe to Sky channels. In fact, you won’t even need to change the dish you currently have, as it’s a simple case of connecting equipment to the existing satellite connection.

Is Freesat worth it?

If you’re in an area where reception for Freeview is poor, Freesat is another path available to you. It doesn’t come with as many on-demand apps, but the difference isn’t too stark in terms of what’s available. You do get a wider selection of channels than Freeview can muster.

The upfront cost of Freesat is more expensive than Freeview, and not all TVs have a satellite tuner/input, so if you want access to satellite you may need to purchase a set-top box instead.

Another alternative is Freely, which is coming to Hisense TVs in 2024. If neither Freesat or Freeview appeal, then Freely, which works via an Internet connection, is another method of getting programming into the home.

With Ultra HD support, recording functionality and, of course, subscription free viewing, Freesat is worth considering for those who want to save money and switch from Sky, or lack good access to Freeview.

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What is Google Adaptive Touch? Pixel 9 display rumour explained

Chris Smith — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 18:50:38 +0000

Mint Pixel 8 pro front

What is Google Adaptive Touch? Could Google be about to debut a new display technology that could change how we interact with our smartphones through touch?

The Pixel 9 is likely to arrive this autumn, and a string of code within Android may have revealed a headline new display feature called Adaptive Touch.

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Within the Android QPR beta 2, Android Authority found evidence of the feature, which would likely alter the sensitivity of the display in certain situations.

Adaptive Touch could be available within the settings, with the code explaining that when the feature is enabled: “touch sensitivity will automatically adjust to your environment, activities and screen protector.”

In existing versions of Android, Google offers a Touch Sensitivity setting (Under Settings > Display) This enables users to adjust the sensitivity of the touchscreen.

There’s also a screen protector mode, which automatically detects the presence of the protective shield and that will “increase touch sensitivity and touch when using a screen protector.”

How exactly would an “adaptive” version of this be different? Well we don’t have any official word from Google yet and likely won’t for a few months until it unveils the Pixel 9.

It will be environmental though, and Android Authority in its report speculated that it may rival a OnePlus 12 feature that enables the display to cope better when using the phone with wet fingers. OnePlus calls it Aqua Touch, which is automatically enabled when the phone is wet and makes the screen easier to operate.

It’s not clear whether this feature would be hardware based or whether it’s an addition that could debut on Pixel 9 and trickle down to older handsets in the range as part of a Feature Drop.

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What is Google One?

Hannah Davies — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Getting a notification that you’re running low on storage is annoying at the best of times. If you’re not keen to delete any holiday snaps, Gmail threads or pictures of your pets, a Google One subscription could be the answer.

Here’s everything you need to know about Google’s iCloud Plus alternative, including what it is, what plans are available and how much it costs to use the service.

What is Google One?

Google One is a premium cloud storage service from Google.

Customers can use Google One to upload and organise documents, files, photos and videos in full resolution and to increase the default 15GB of Drive, Docs, Sheets and Gmail storage that comes with a free Google account.

What is included in a Google One subscription?

There are three tiers available at varying prices. You can choose from Basic, Standard and Premium depending on how much storage you need and which features you would like to be included.

The basic Google One plan includes 100GB of cloud storage, which can be split amongst up to six people including yourself. The plan also includes access to a range of Google Photos editing tools, including the Magic Eraser, Portrait Blur, Portrait Light and HDR, to name a few. This tier also comes with a VPN to disguise your IP address, while Google will scour the dark web and notify you if your personal info has been leaked.

Next up is the Standard tier. This plan includes all of the above, along with an increased 200GB of storage and the option to get 3% back in store credit when you shop at the Google Store.

Finally, there’s the Premium tier. This tier includes all of the above, but with a hefty 2TB of storage and 10% back in store credit when shopping at the Google Store. Premium subscribers also get Nest Aware and Fitbit Premium thrown in for free. These two services would typically cost you £6 and £7.99 a month each, respectively.

Google One Basic is priced at £1.59/month, while Google One Standard will cost you £2.49/month. Google One Premium is the most expensive tier at £7.99/month, though all three tiers carry discounted prices for the first three months of your subscription.

What’s the difference between Google One and Google Drive?

Google One is a set of subscription-based cloud storage plans that expand upon the limited amount of storage that comes free with a Google account, while Google Drive is the place all your files are stored.

Google explains the difference as follows:

“Google Drive is a storage service. Google One is a subscription plan that gives you more storage to use across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. Plus, with Google One, you get extra benefits and can share your membership with your family.

“How you use Google Drive doesn’t change, so you don’t have to worry about losing or transferring anything”.

Is Google One worth it?

For Google Drive and Docs frequenters and Android smartphone users, Google One is an easy way to increase the storage available to you at an additional cost.

The best way to determine whether you’ll get the most out of Google One is to look at your current Google Drive usage. If you’ve almost run out of storage with your free 15GB, you’ll likely appreciate the additional space Google One offers for your photos, files and documents.

iOS and Mac users, meanwhile, will probably get more use out of Apple’s iCloud Plus expanded storage plans, which also comes with security-focussed perks like Private Relay and Hide My Email.

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Horizon Forbidden West system requirements: The PC specs you need

Ryan Jones — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 15:47:03 +0000

The latest PS5 game has made its way over to PC, but is your PC powerful enough to handle the Horizon Forbidden West system requirements?

We’ve created this guide to help answer that question, including both the minimum and recommended PC specifications in order to run this open-world RPG.

We’ve listed all of the specs below, while also providing price estimates for all of the required components. So if you want to make sure your PC can handle all of the robotic dinosaurs in all of their glory, keep on reading.

Minimum specs

Operating System	Windows 10
Processor (Intel/AMD)	Intel Core i3-8100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1300X
RAM	16GB RAM
Graphics (Nvidia/AMD)	Nvidia GTX 1650 / AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT
Storage	150GB

GIven that Horizon Forbidden West is one of the most cutting-edge PS4/PS5 games yet, with use of ray tracing and high-fidelity visuals, it may come as little surprise to see relatively lofty minimum PC requirements.

The GPU is the most eye-catching element, with the suggested AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT and Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics cards only launching back in December 2019. The good news is that both of the GPUs can be found online at a relatively low cost, with a quick Google search showing it to be available for around £150/$150.

Horizon Forbidden West also continues a modern trend of demanding 16GB of RAM as a minimum. Fortunately, Guerrilla Games isn’t so demanding when it comes to the CPU, with Intel Core i3 and Ryzen 3 chips available at a low price – you most likely meet those requirements if you already own a gaming PC.

Make sure you have plenty of spare space on your drive though, as Horizon Forbidden West takes up a remarkable 150GB. This may well mean you’ll need to delete some games from your PC, unless you have a high-capacity SSD.

Recommended specs

Operating System	Windows 10
Processor (Intel/AMD)	Intel Core i5-8600 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
RAM	16GB RAM
Graphics (Nvidia/AMD)	Nvidia RTX 3060 / AMD Radeon RX 5700
Storage	150GB SSD

Meeting the minimum specs will get Horizon Forbidden West running on your PC, but it’s not going to get the game looking its best – especially with the absence of ray tracing.

Fortunately, Guerrilla Games has also provided a list of the recommended specs for the most ideal performance without breaking the bank. The GPU is the big upgrade here, with the Nvidia RTX 3060 costing at least £260 in most retailers.

The CPU requirements have also gone from entry-level to mid-range options, although the memory requirements have fortunately stayed put at 16GB.

Take note that these requirements are likely for a 1080p resolution, so if you want to play Horizon Forbidden West in 4K at a high performance, you’ll likely need an even more powerful graphics card.

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What are X Articles? The new Twitter service explained

Hannah Davies — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 10:57:56 +0000

X, formally known as Twitter, recently invited users to publish posts significantly longer than 280 characters with a new feature called Articles.

But, there’s a catch. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about X Articles, including what they are, how they work, who can post them and who can read them.

What are X Articles?

Articles is a feature that allows users to publish long-form written content on X. The feature launched on March 7th 2024, when X shared the news in an article of its own via its @Write account.

Articles reportedly support up to 100,000 characters and users can spice up posts by including images, videos, GIFs, posts and links. There are also plenty of formatting options available to guide readers through each article, including headings, subheadings, bold, italics, strikethrough, indentation, numerical lists and bulleted lists.

Articles will appear on your timeline the same way a regular tweet would but are relegated to a new Articles tab on the author’s profile.

X has also launched a Premium feature called Top Articles that directs paying users to the most-shared articles in their network, both from people they follow and the people those users follow.

Who can post an article on X?

Anyone can find and read Articles on X, but only a select few are able to publish them at the moment.

This is because Articles is exclusive to verified organisations and users subscribed to X’s highest (and most expensive) Premium tier, Premium+. This means you’ll need to shell out $16/£16 a month or $168/£168 a year for the privilege of sharing long-form content on the social platform.

Upgrading to Premium+ also removes all ads in the For You and Following timelines and includes reply prioritization and access to Grok, X’s own AI chatbot. This is on top of other X Basic and Premium features.

If that isn’t enough to sell you on Premium+, don’t worry. You can still create threads and link to other long-form sites like Tumblr and Medium without putting money into Musk’s pocket.

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What is Wi-Fi Calling? The mobile feature explained

Hannah Davies — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 16:45:00 +0000

You may have made thousands of phone calls through your mobile network over the years, but did you know you have another option when you lose signal?

Finding a reliable connection to make a call or send a text isn’t always easy – especially if you’re in a more remote location. This is where Wi-Fi Calling comes in.

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about Wi-Fi Calling, including what it is, how it works and who can use it.

What is Wi-Fi Calling?

Wi-Fi Calling is a smartphone feature that utilises the Wi-Fi connection in your home, school, work or a public location, such as a coffee shop.

The feature allows you to make calls and send texts (with images) over Wi-Fi rather than relying on your mobile network, making it particularly useful when your network connection is patchy or unavailable.

Most mobile networks in the UK currently offer a version of Wi-Fi calling. This includes EE, O2, Vodafone and Three, among others.

How do I turn on Wi-Fi Calling?

Wi-Fi Calling works differently depending on which network you subscribe to, though most networks do require you to be a pay monthly user to access the feature at all.

Despite this caveat, Wi-Fi Calling shouldn’t cost any extra to use on top of your usual monthly contract. You do run the risk of being charged if you use it to make international calls outside of your plan, however. To avoid problems connecting overseas, you can always access Wi-Fi Calling through VoIP apps, like Skype, Signal or Viber.

So, how does it work for your network?

Vodafone users need to install the My Vodafone app to get started, while EE, O2 and Three users can find the feature ready to use on their devices. Wi-Fi calls use your regular phone number and can be virtually indistinguishable from regular calls for those subscribed to the latter three networks.

EE, O2 and Vodafone calls can even switch between Wi-Fi and 4G automatically depending on signal strength. This makes it possible to maintain a stable connection when you’re on the go or in public locations where the Wi-Fi is shared between many users.

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What is Microsoft Copilot? The AI feature explained

Jessica Gorringe — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 17:15:00 +0000

You may have noticed Microsoft Copilot when using Bing or Microsoft Edge, or perhaps you’ve just bought a new Windows 11 computer and seen it listed as a feature on your desktop.

Keep reading to find out what Microsoft Copilot is, how it works and where you can find it.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s dedicated AI-powered companion, built to enhance user experience across Microsoft and Windows.

Predominately a chatbot that works similarly to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Copilot can understand and process user prompts, and then subsequently provide users with relevant and accurate responses.

For example, users can ask Copilot to generate text or perform specific tasks such as finding a music playlist. You can also interact using natural language, which Copilot will be able to understand.

Where can you find Microsoft Copilot?

Copilot is neatly integrated into Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. When you enter Bing’s search bars you’ll see a suggestion to direct your search term to Copilot instead. Similarly, Copilot is also built into the web browser, Microsoft Edge.

Copilot is also part of the Windows 11 operating system, allowing you to open a chat window directly from the desktop. As it’s built in, Copilot has access to the device’s system controls and documents and has the ability to open and change App settings too.

From November 2023, Microsoft 365’s product family of software also features Copilot, however it’s worth noting this isn’t currently available for casual users and is just reserved for paid Enterprise customers.

Copilot’s inclusion across Microsoft 365 is noteworthy as it means professionals can utilise AI easily in their work life, in programs such as Outlook, Word and Excel. Copilot can help professionals create documents, summarise emails and even create spreadsheet formulas based on simple prompts.

You can also find the Copilot app on Android and iOS too.

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What is ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode)? The TV gaming tech explained

Kob Monney — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 10:24:14 +0000

If you’re a gamer, you’ll be aware of lots of acronyms floating about features that relate to TVs. One of them is ALLM and it stands for Auto Low Latency Mode.

ALLM arrived as part of the HDMI 2.1 specification, a technical standard that allows for higher video resolutions, higher refresh rates, dynamic HDR, better-quality audio and the ability to interact with other devices more efficiently.

When it comes to TVs, Auto Low Latency Mode is primarily used for gaming. So, what is ALLM and how does it work?

What is Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)?

Very simply, ALLM triggers the lowest latency mode on a TV when it detects a gaming signal from a HDMI-connected device.

With regards to TVs, this mode would be considered the ‘game mode’. A game mode turns off any image processing to ensure inputs from your controller are processed by the console and reflected on-screen with minimal delay.

With game mode activated, some TVs can produce latency as low as <10ms. The lower the latency, the more responsive the controls, and that could provide a competitive advantage. For an even faster performance, you would need a display that supports a form of VRR (Variable Refresh Rates).

Game consoles that support ALLM include the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and the PS5. We haven’t found a source online that indicates the Nintendo Switch supports the feature.

credit: Sony

How does ALLM work?

The key word with Auto Low Latency Mode is ‘Auto’. In the past, the game mode had to be enabled manually, requiring you to dive into the settings menu to turn it on.

With TVs that don’t support ALLM, the viewer could forget they’ve put the TV into game mode and start watching other non-gaming related content. This can result in visuals that look less colourful and duller than would otherwise be the case.

ALLM works when a specific signal or flag is sent to the display from the gaming device. The TV recognises that the device connected to it is a gaming device, and thereby automatically switches into its lowest latency mode without you having to do anything.

credit: Samsung

When you turn your gaming device off if you exit gameplay, the TV will recognise this and revert back to whichever picture mode it was in before.

That means you can hop between inputs and sources with the knowledge that image quality won’t be compromised, and that if you do return to the gaming input, the TV will do what it did before and engage the lowest latency performance automatically. It’s all meant to be seamless and responsive.

Which TVs support Auto Low Latency Mode?

Over the last few years ALLM has become more widespread whether you’re purchasing a premium or budget TV.

In fact, of all the HDMI 2.1 features such as VRR, QFT, and HFR, it is the feature we feel is most likely to be found on a TV. That said, there are budget HD TVs we’ve found don’t support the feature, as well as 4K models such as the Sharp 55FN2KA, and other TVs such as Sky Glass don’t even have a game mode.

credit: Sony

Sony TVs support ALLM, but they call it Auto Genre Mode. If you see this term on one of Sony’s more recent models, it essentially does the same thing as ALLM, though it appears to be designed to work in tandem with a PS5.

Otherwise, the vast majority of TVs support ALLM with the likes of Samsung, Hisense, Panasonic, TCL, Philips, LG, and Toshiba integrating the feature. Roku TVs can vary, as not all the models we’ve tested have ALLM included.

We would always say that you should double-check a TV supports ALLM, especially if it is an affordable TV. We’ll mention in our reviews whether they do or do not support the feature.

What other devices support ALLM?

ALLM isn’t just supported in TVs. AV amplifiers support the feature too, allowing game mode to be switched on when a gaming signal is passed through the amplifier/receiver. Models from Denon, Marantz, and Sony include ALLM.

Video streamers such as the Amazon Fire TV Cube can passthrough a gaming signal through its HDMI input, as can a selection of LG soundbars, a list that includes the S95QR, S80QR, and USC9S.

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Do you need ALLM?

If you’re primarily a gamer but also devour other multimedia content, having a TV with ALLM is beneficial. Being able to dive into a game and know that you’ll get the optimal performance can’t be underestimated.

In addition, knowing that once you stop playing games that you don’t need to remember to disengage game mode simply adds to the convenience of ALLM.

Of course, you’ll also need TV that can deliver fast latency speeds. Check out our best gaming TV list for the best models.

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What is PlayStation Link? Sony's wireless audio tech explained

Adam Speight — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:06:13 +0000

We’re several months beyond the launch of the PlayStation Portal and Sony’s new suite of Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore headsets. They introduced PlayStation Link, but just what is it? Here are the basics.

The new PlayStation Portal debuted as Sony’s new handheld for PS5 remote play, but there was a bit of a catch. The device doesn’t support Bluetooth and will instead require headsets which support a new standard, PlayStation Link. Two of those headsets are new peripherals from PlayStation, including the Pulse Explore which we’ve fully reviewed. Let us explain just what this new standard is.

What is PlayStation Link?

PlayStation Link is a new wireless audio standard from Sony. It is designed with low latency as a primary goal, along with lossless audio and switching seamlessly between Sony devices like the PlayStation Portal and PS5.

PlayStation Link is a new technology from Sony and, as such, isn’t built-in to previously released hardware. This means you need a separate PlayStation Link USB hub to use its new headsets with the PS5 (yes, even, the newer PS5 Slim models), PC and Mac. The USB dongle is included with the new Pulse Explore and Pulse Elite headsets but, if you ever need a new one, it’ll cost you £19.99.

The device that skirts around this is the recently released PlayStation Portal, which features the technology inside, so you can connect your Pulse Elite or Pulse Explore (or other yet-to-be-released PlayStation Link-compatible headsets) directly without the need for the dongle.

PlayStation Pulse Explore – Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Sony hasn’t offered specific details on that low latency and is yet to reveal the audio quality the PlayStation Link tech can achieve. But, here’s how Sony puts it: “This new tech allows the PS5 console, PlayStation Portal, Pulse Explore wireless earbuds, and Pulse Elite headset to achieve low-latency, lossless audio.” It adds, “The vision is to enable players to bounce between devices at home, freely swapping between their PS5 and PlayStation Portal to play games and bringing their audio devices along for the jump.”

Sony, somewhat cheekily, suggests buying additional USB adapters for “added convenience” as if you plug them right into multiple devices like a PS5, PC and Mac then you won’t even have to move the dongle around when you want to switch machine.

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What is the Apple M3 chip? Specs, performance and features detailed

Ryan Jones — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:32:00 +0000

Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Apple has entered a new generation of Silicon processors, once again lifting the performance ceiling of its Macs. The Apple M3 is the entry point of this new generation .

Right now, the Apple M3 chip is currently available in the MacBook Air, 14-inch MacBook Pro and iMac. It’s also expected to appear in the Mac Mini and iPad Pro later this year.

But what exactly is the Apple M3 chip, and how does it differ to its predecessors? We’ll be answering all of those questions and more below.

What is the Apple M3 chip?

The Apple M3 chip is the entry point to the 3rd generation of Apple Silicon processors, which is based on a more efficient 3nm process.

This means that it is the successor to the Apple M1 and Apple M2 processors, while also acting as a younger sibling to the more powerful Pro and Max chips.

Apple claims that the M3 chip is 60% faster than the M1 processor, while also seeing a big boost to AI performance. The M3 even supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing for more advanced lighting effects in gaming and content creation.

Getting more specific, Apple is touting the new M3 family as having up to 2.5x faster rendering performance than M1 and 1.8x faster than M2. GPU performance is a big focus too, with Apple touting almost double the graphics performance of M1 with only half the power. Compared with a 12-core PC laptop chip Apple reckons the M3 offers double the relative GPU performance for a fifth of the power.

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In terms of raw numbers, the new M3 offers 25 billion transistors with up to an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU and up to 24GB of unified memory. It’ll also support one external display.

One of the main new features of Apple M3 is Dynamic Caching. The technology is part of the big graphics boost for the M3 series and allows for the allocating of local memory in real-time. This, Apple says, increases average utilisation of the GPU and increases performance.

There’s also been a big push for AI performance for the M3. According to Apple, you’ll benefit from a 40% speed boost when using Photomator’s AI-powered Super Resolution when compared to the M1 chip. The number of AI apps and features are only going to increase in number, so it’s an important step forward for the company.

With the eventual succeeding M4 chip not expected for a long time, the M3 chips is going to be the go-to processor for entry-level Macs for the foreseeable future.

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