More dummy models of the upcoming iPhone 13 have been shared online, this time by leaker DuanRui, indicating the new diagonal dual-camera layout on the standard-size iPhone 13 and the slightly smaller notch on the front of the iPhone 13 series.
The models mirror previous dummies and schematics covered here on MacRumors that have indicated the new camera arrangement coming to the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini, as well as a thicker overall design and a larger camera bump on the iPhone 13 Pro, which brings it in lockstep with the bump size expected on the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
This year, Apple is expected to make several notable camera improvements in the iPhone 13. The new "Pro" models are likely to feature an upgraded Ultra Wide camera lens with a wider f/1.8 aperture, a six-element lens, and autofocus, with some rumors suggesting that the Ultra Wide upgrade could come to all four iPhone 13 models.
Sensor-shift stabilization is expected to be expanded across the entire iPhone lineup, introducing improvements in low light performance and stabilization by reducing camera shake, with the feature rumored to be available for the Wide lens and the Ultra Wide lens of the Pro models. One rumor claims the new iPhone models will also be able to take Portrait Mode videos.
In addition, there are also claims that the iPhone 13 models will have astrophotography camera capabilities for capturing the sky. This could involve a special mode that activates when the iPhone is pointed at the sky, allowing the device to detect the moon, stars, and other artifacts and adjust exposure.
If the rumors are accurate, all of these improvements are likely to require a slightly larger camera bump, although individual lenses may protrude less from the device's body, according to one source.
Apple's iPhone 13 lineup will be unveiled in the fall of 2021, with the company aiming to return to its traditional September launch timeframe following last year's later-than-usual iPhone 12 launch.
June 29, 2021 at 05:33PM
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Latest iPhone 13 Dummies Again Show New Diagonal Dual-Lens Camera Arrangement Coming to Standard Model - MacRumors
Ever since I experienced the anguish of back-to-back iPhone screen-shattering accidents, I have been firmly pro case.
"It's just safer and more pragmatic," I told myself after my iPhone 7, and later my iPhone 8, had their screens irreparably cracked following accidental drops. "Why risk spending another thousand bucks on an iPhone?"
But all it took was a single, seemingly mundane moment to alter my perspective: when I slipped off the case to extract the SIM card from my iPhone 12 Pro Max after months of leaving it swaddled in rubber.
I was instantly reminded of why these phones are premium: The flat display looked all the more stunning without the case protruding from the sides. The phone felt lighter and more comfortable in my hands and the soothing Pacific blue shone through, unadulterated. It was as if the very integrity of the iPhone's hardware had been revealed.
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"Maybe you should go caseless, it'll be awesome... " a voice in my head whispered.
"Nah, you're crazy!" interrupted another, louder voice. "Pop the case back on ASAP and forget about it! Not worth the risk."
Ignoring the rational voice in my head, I decided to find out if I was the only person bonkers enough to secretly want to carry a $1,200 iPhone without a case. I wasn't.
After a quick Google I discovered droves of caseless iPhone crusaders: Fans claiming that using a naked iPhone is the only way to experience the best-known consumer tech product on the planet.
"This phone [iPhone 12] is too gorgeous to hide away,'' said one Reddit user in response to a question about going case or caseless.
"I'm rocking it naked. Bought AppleCare for peace of mind," wrote another person on Reddit. "Ceramic coming in clutch," the post said, referring to Apple's Ceramic Shield, which the company said offers four times better drop protection than the iPhone 12's predecessor had.
Former CNET contributor Chris Matyszczyk put it this way: "You don't buy a BMW and cover it in black rubber, do you? ... You don't buy a Prada purse and then wrap it in pink cling film just to make sure none of the corners get scratched."
Encased iPhones
Tucking your iPhone "safely" into a case is a norm woven into the fabric of global smartphone culture. Take a look at the protective phone case industry, which is already worth billions and is projected to expand alongside phone ownership. Add nonstop marketing into the mix, and it starts to feel like cocooning your iPhone in a case is an absolute necessity. The choices are endless: There are shock-resistant cases, eco-friendly cases, cases with sparkly purple dinosaurs, cases fancied by Miley Cyrus, 3D-printed cases you can make complete with a photo of your own dog -- if you're so inclined -- and so on.
But this way of life didn't come out of nowhere. Encasing your iPhone has melded into our mainstream culture for legitimate reasons, of course: Nobody wants to risk their iPhone's destruction (most are just too expensive), and everyone wants to preemptively save time, money and resources. Despite all that, I still believe iPhones are best experienced without a case. (And yes, I absolutely recognize this lifestyle choice will not appeal to the pragmatic -- an uncased iPhone probably sounds outrageous -- but it might make sense to the purists of this world.)
In recent years, Apple has invested tens of billions on research and design, of which a portion has gone toward carefully crafting the luxurious look and feel of each year's iPhone. It's also easy to forget that Apple employs teams to test its iPhones to make sure they're designed to perfection, even if they don't quite get there. The reality is iPhones are sturdier than ever, too. Apple's ceramic-glass shielding, which debuted with the iPhone 12, went above and beyond expectations, protecting the hardware from drops as high as 9 feet. (Take a look at the results of CNET's iPhone 12 drop test if you need more evidence.)
Also, cases don't necessarily guarantee full protection. In fact, according to some insiders, many broken-phone claims reportedly are made about iPhones that were in cases. Just take a look at Amazon reviews for certain highly protective cases and you'll see a smattering of reviews from people who broke their phone in the first week of using a case.
After doing research, I made the informed decision to go caseless. Here's what I'm enjoying: the lightness, thinness, portability and in-hand feel. I'm also appreciating that I can now take advantage of Back Tap more easily. (To be sure, it worked when I used an iPhone case, but I noticed I had to tap slightly harder with my case.) I've programmed it to perform tasks like launching TikTok and taking screenshots. And guess what? Because of this lifestyle choice, I've evolved into a more careful human being. Will that transcend into other elements of my life? Maybe.
Still, the caseless iPhone lifestyle -- although far superior to the encased experience -- hasn't been perfect. As it turned out, I had sacrificed peace of mind. I hadn't fully accepted the risk associated with carrying a caseless iPhone around Hong Kong. Anxiety over my iPhone 12 Pro Max slipping then crashing down onto rock-hard floors hit me in waves some days (even if I do have AppleCare). My Pro Max, which features a matte finish, is still pretty slippery.
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Then, as I made my way to a charming Hong Kong beach, I worried about grains of sand infiltrating my iPhone's stainless-steel chassis -- regardless of its IP 68 rating, indicating it's both dust- and waterproof.
"Don't underestimate the kind of damage even a single grain of sand can do to your iPhone," my rational inner voice cautioned, yet again.
Maybe the caseless life wasn't for me, after all. So I decided to mix it up and swing for the best of both worlds.
Now I save the case for higher-risk activities like hitting the beach and hiking trails, and for when I eventually hop aboard an airplane. For lower-risk shenanigans like hanging out at home, heading to my neighborhood haunts or catching up with my girlfriends over dinner, I can enjoy the iPhone the way Apple intended. Complete with double taps on the back.
Perhaps the "right" way for me isn't about living a pro- or anti-case life, or about being divided between case-haves and have-nots -- but instead it's taking a hybrid approach, where case and caseless days can peacefully coexist.
June 29, 2021 at 04:35PM
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You should free your iPhone from its case already. Here's why I already did - CNET
T-Mobile is offering a new, low-stakes way to try out its network for free for 30 days with no additional equipment required. Identified by Light Reading, T-Mobile’s existing Test Drive program now works over eSIM with compatible iPhones. All you need to do is download an app, follow the instructions to start the trial with eSIM, and you’re up and running — no billing information required. There’s no change to your current carrier plan or phone number, but you’ll be using T-Mobile data on your device.
The Test Drive program has been around in one form or another since 2014. With the most recent iteration — which is still available to those who can’t use the eSIM feature — T-Mobile will send you a free Wi-Fi hotspot you can connect to with your current phone to try out the network. This new eSIM version offers the same kind of trial (30 days or 30GB, whichever you reach first) with less hassle.
T-Mobile says the eSIM option is a pilot program that it introduced last week. Currently, it only works with unlocked iPhones starting with XS and newer devices that are running iOS 14.5 or higher. If you have an iPhone 12-gen device, you’ll also have access to T-Mobile’s 5G network during your trial.
We gave it a shot and it actually is as easy as it looks — just follow the set-up prompts and you’re good to go. It definitely beats visiting a store or carrying a Wi-Fi hotspot. It is, of course, particularly beneficial for T-Mobile, too; the carrier is looking to flex its relatively strong 5G spectrum holdings before Verizon and AT&T start catching up later this year with newly acquired C-band frequencies. Getting more customers to try the network and convert now would help it make the most of its 5G “lead.” But in any case, this is one of the easiest ways we’ve seen to try out a new network without ditching your current provider, and if you’re curious what T-Mobile service is like in your area, it’s not a bad way to find out.
June 30, 2021 at 01:21AM
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T-Mobile’s Test Drive program now works with newer iPhones over eSIM - The Verge
After several months of limited beta testing, Microsoft today is officially launching the public and open beta of its new Xbox Cloud Gaming Platform. This includes support in Safari on iPhone and iPad for playing a subset of Xbox Game Pass games by streaming them from the cloud.
As first announced in an Xbox blog post, Microsoft has officially debuted its new Xbox web interface for accessing the public beta of Xbox Cloud Gaming. The website touts that you can play “over 100 high-quality console games” directly in your browser with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and a compatible controller.
Starting today, Xbox Cloud Gaming is available to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members with Windows 10 PCs and Apple phones and tablets, via browser, across 22 countries. If you’re a member or want to become a member, simply go to xbox.com/play on Microsoft Edge, Chrome, or Safari on your PC or mobile device to start playing hundreds of games from the Xbox Game Pass library.
Microsoft says that cloud gaming on Xbox.com is supported on iPhone and iPad devices running iOS 14.4 or higher. Other requirements include a 10Mbps minimum internet connection and a Bluetooth or USB controller. The company also touts improvements to the Xbox Cloud Gaming experience:
We’re also making significant improvements to the overall experience: Xbox Cloud Gaming is now powered by custom Xbox Series X hardware. We’ve been upgrading Microsoft datacenters around the globe with the fastest, most powerful Xbox hardware to give you faster load times, improved frame rates, and an experience of a new generation of gaming. To ensure the lowest latency, highest quality experience across the broadest set of devices, we will be streaming at 1080p and up to 60fps.
An Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription will run you $14.99 per month, but you can get your first three months for $1 as part of a limited-time promotion. As our colleagues over at 9to5Google note, support for browsers and iOS devices means the service now matches Google Stadia.
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A recent Geekbench listing revealed that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy M52 5G will be the first handset from the company running the Snapdragon 778G SoC and now a new leak gives some details about the camera setup.
According to GalaxyClub's insider info, the Galaxy M52 5G will feature a quad-camera setup headlined by a 64MP main sensor. A 12MP ultrawide unit and 5MP dedicated macro shooter are also on the menu, meaning the fourth camera will likely be a mere depth sensor.
And if this sounds familiar, it's because it is. The Galaxy A52 features the same exact camera setup on the back.
The front is said to feature a 32MP selfie snapper.
What future is there for the Samsung Galaxy Note range? Originally a wild take on the smartphone, modern phones seem to have adopted pretty much every once-unique feature the phones had.
Even the S Pen isn’t exclusive to the Galaxy Note anymore. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is compatible with Samsung’s stylus, and the company just confirmed at MWC that future flagships will get S Pen support as well. With all that going on, what good is the Galaxy Note really?
What the Galaxy Note was
The Samsung Galaxy Note launched back in 2011,in a time when the majority of smartphones were pretty small devices. For comparison, the original Note had a 5.3-inch screen, while the Galaxy S2, which was released earlier that same year, was 4.7 inches. The iPhone 4S’s screen was just 3.5 inches in size.
It was the Galaxy Note range that helped popularize the idea of the phablet, and led to phone screens getting larger as the years progressed. Now the vast majority of flagship phones have screens over 6 inches in size. The Note series also saw the launch of curved Edge; displays, something Samsung still uses to this day. Albeit, not quite as often as it did just a few years ago.
The Note was also one of the few smartphones to continue using a stylus, long after Apple popularized the idea of a touchscreen-only interface. As such, a lot of the Galaxy Note’s features and software were built around the S Pen. Features Included the ability to handwrite digital notes, and draw in a more natural way than using your finger.
As the Galaxy Note line matured, the S Pen also came with newer features like air gestures, Bluetooth shutter control and more.
However, as years passed the rest of the Galaxy S range caught up to the Galaxy Note in terms of size and performance. The S Pen was always the one thing the Galaxy Note had going for it. Now, that’s not going to be the case going forward.
The Galaxy Note as it is should die
Without the S Pen, there’s no need for a Galaxy Note range as it stands. If anything, Samsung has made its own Note devices obsolete by allowing the Galaxy S range to catch up to the Note, with Galaxy S Ultra models essentially taking the Note’s place in the company’s portfolio.
Think about it this way. The Galaxy S21 Ultra has a 6.8-inch display, which is fractionally larger than the 6.7-inch Galaxy Note 20 and fractionally smaller than the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. From a display size perspective there’s little difference between them, though the Notes have a much blockier rectangular design than the smoother curves of the Galaxy S.
The S21 Ultra even has S Pen support, and while it doesn’t have the same dedicated stylus slot as a Galaxy Note, it can nearly all the same pen-based functions. It can be used to write, draw, and annotate, as any good stylus should be, but that's about it.
More advanced features like air gestures and Bluetooth shutter control are still exclusive to the Galaxy Note range right now. Though Samsung has suggested this may change in the near future.
But despite those few differences, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is still very much a Galaxy Note in everything but name.
Obviously, these are not new points. The demise of the Galaxy Note range has been rumored for months. Long before Samsung confirmed that the S21 Ultra would indeed have S Pen support. And the fact that it looks like the foldable Galaxy Fold 3 will support the S Pen, and rumors of a larger 7.7-inch interior display, means the Note range might as well be dead in the water.
Rumor is that there will be one final Galaxy Note phone coming out later this year (or early next year) as a kind of “final hurrah” for the range. But there’s a different way, one that doesn’t involve Samsung releasing one final generic phone and saying “that’s all, bye”. In fact, it’s an opportunity for Samsung to totally reinvent the Galaxy Note, and ensure it still has a place going forward.
A new Galaxy Note for a new age
There’s no reason to keep the Galaxy Note around as it currently is. Instead Samsung should focus on reinventing the lineup into something that it doesn’t already have. Samsung has been slowly positioning the phone as the ‘enterprise device’ over the past few years, and now is the time to go all in.
The Samsung Galaxy Note should be the go-to phone for business users. Back in the day that role fell to BlackBerry, but these days it seems as though the iPhone has become the de-facto "work phone."
There’s no reason why Samsung can’t try to claim some of that territory for itself. After all, it's already tried to do that with previous Galaxy devices, even going so far to develop software (DeX) that lets people use their phones as desktop machines when they’re at their desk.
The Galaxy Note already has almost a decade of brand awareness to build on, and it’s naturally fallen out of place in the Samsung portfolio. That would make this the perfect opportunity to do something like this.
Samsung could take the Note and stop worrying about having to create something new every year — that’s what the Galaxy S and Fold ranges will be for after all. Instead it can focus on developing a phone that’s built primarily for business rather than pleasure.
You wouldn’t necessarily need the latest and best chipsets, just as long as the hardware it did have was good enough. Likewise, there could be a much bigger emphasis on security, much like there was during Blackberry’s heyday. Samsung could take data security to the next level in terms of protecting sensitive corporate data.
As for the S Pen? It can keep doing what it was always meant for: functions and features that require the fine input you can’t really mimic with a finger or a mouse. Note taking, annotations and so on.
The alternative is to just kill of the brand and let it fade into obscurity. Which is, frankly, a huge waste.
June 29, 2021 at 09:06PM
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Samsung confirms S Pen coming to more phones — so what good is the Galaxy Note? - Tom's Guide
We’re getting closer to the official announcement of the iPhone 13, which is expected to take place sometime between September and October. According to the rumors, this year’s iPhones will keep the same design as the iPhone 12, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t see some minor changes. Now we want to know which new colors you want to see in the iPhone 13 lineup.
Looking at previous models, Apple introduced new colors for “revised” versions of the iPhone. For instance, iPhone 5s was the first with the gold color, while iPhone 6s got the rose gold color. iPhone XS also brought the gold color to the iPhone X form-factor, not to mention that iPhone XR, iPhone 11, and iPhone 12 came in different colors.
So if we’re going to get new iPhones that don’t exactly have a new design, it’s plausible to assume that Apple is working on some new colors for this year’s models. I don’t recall any rumors or leaks about iPhone 13 colors, but there are two that I’d like to see in the iPhone 13 Pro lineup: dark purple and Product(RED).
Earlier this year, the company announced a new purple version of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini as a “spring color.” Since then, I’ve been wondering how beautiful a purple iPhone Pro would be, but in a darker shade. It’s also interesting to note that none of the iPhone Pro models have been released in red, so this would be a great opportunity for having an iPhone Pro in matte red.
I made some quick concepts imagining these two colors, which you can see below:
For the regular iPhone 13 lineup, it would also be nice to have some darker colors, since both iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 were introduced in lighter shades.
What about you? Which new colors do you want to see in this year’s iPhones? Let me know in the poll and also in the comments section below.
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 Pro
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