TECH WORLD

Monday, September 12, 2016

Apple AirPods explained: Will the headphones make you go wireless?

Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus was the most controversial change in the new iPhone.

The new model, which was launched last Wednesday, will have no room for a traditional headphone. Why? "Courage", explained Phil Schiller, Apple's marketing chief.

But also, possibly, to move users towards the company's latest standalone product called AirPods, a set of completely wireless headphones that cost £159.

So far the reaction to the ear pieces, which sit separately in each ear, has been mixed and there have been endless jokes about the AirPods getting lost or being a choking hazard for children.

To better understand why Apple has released the controversial product, here's everything you need to know about the AirPods:

What are AirPods?

AirPods are Apple's first set of truly wireless headphones. They are made up of two ear buds that look quite similar to the wired EarPods, but that sit separately in each ear.

How do AirPods connect to your phone?

The AirPods connect to your phone or other devices via Bluetooth, which means they can also be used on other, non-Apple, devices.

When you flip open the specially designed little case that the AirPods come in it sends a signal to your iPhone. If the two products are nearby a pop up will appear on your phone asking if you want to connect. This saves fiddling with Bluetooth in Settings.

Are they different to other wireless headphones?

The AirPods are powered by Apple's first wireless chip called the W1, which is the company's attempt to "fix the challenges" of wireless audio.

The chip sits inside each of AirPod and can connect to other devices via Bluetooth. It has been designed to manage power to give the headphones a longer battery life. The latest range of Beats headphones also use the W1 chip.

Each AirPod also contains a number of accelerometres that can detect when the bud is in your ear. They can then switch sound on and off accordingly. No other earbuds can separate the two connections.

They also contain a microphone for hands free calls and work with Siri - just tap on them twice and she'll pop up.

Apple unveil wireless AirPods and drop headphone jackPlay!02:04

Do they have a better audio quality?

The quality is very similar to the wired EarPods that come free with the iPhone 7 - a negligible change.

Are they waterproof?

No, even the iPhone 7 is not waterproof, but they can withstand the rain and are resistant to sweat.

AirPods and case — The AirPods' case is magnetic and can be used to charge the headphones for an extra 19 hours battery life CREDIT: APPLE

How often do I have to charge them?

The AirPods are meant to deliver five hours of listening time with a single charge.

The headphones also come with a magnetic case that has been installed with a lightning port. This serves as a power bank, allowing you to top up the AirPods on the go for a combined use time of 24 hours.

Can I use my AirPods with my other Apple devices?

Yes, they can connect to your iPads, Macs and Apple Watches too. These will all need to be running the newest software to work.

They can also be used on any iPhone model running iOS 10, which launches on Tuesday. And they are compatible with non-Apple devices that have Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.

How do you control them?

The AirPods have a double tap function which lets you pause or play music and launch Siri without taking your iPhone out of your pocket. You can't at the moment activate double tap to control both Siri and music, but have to select the most useful function when you set them up.

Can I make phone calls with the AirPods?

Yes, there is a built-in microphone for calls. You can double tap and ask Siri to phone someone for you, and tap once to answer a call.

Can I change the volume or skip a music track with the AirPods?

Not really. One of the biggest drawbacks of the AirPods is that you have to use Siri for everything or use your iPhone screen. So to skip a song or adjust the volume you will either have to ask Siri it to adjust the sound or take your phone out of your pocket.

What happens if I lose or break an AirPod?

Apple has said that it will sell single AirPods at the Apple Store for those who have lost just one of the little buds. The price hasn't been announced yet. Better hold on tight.

How much are they and when can I buy them?

They cost £159 and, according to Apple's website, will go on sale in late October.

Phil Schiller unveils the AirPods CREDIT: REUTERS

So they don’t come free with the iPhone 7?

No. If you purchase a new handset you will be given a pair of wired headphones called EarPods that plug into the Lightning charging port at the bottom of the phone.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus also come with an adaptor that can be used to connect existing headphones. As wired headphones now connect to the phone through the same port as the charging cable you won’t be able to charge your phone at the same time as listening to music.

Should I buy them?

Monday, September 5, 2016

Honor 7 review: Big specs, small price

Brands have traditionally had as much influence over our technology choices as our fashion choices. We buy an iPhone or a Samung phone for the same reasons we buy an Armani suit or a pair of Louboutin shoes – because they look good and they are associated with quality.

But as smartphones have become more and more commoditised, the reasons to fork out hundreds of pounds for a designer handset have become fewer. These days you can get your hands on a device that looks just as good and has most of the same features as the high-end handsets, for a third of the price.

While it's tempting to view these as "cheap knock-offs", many are growing into respected brands in their own right. Honor, for example, the smartphone brand launched by Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, is making a name for itself selling affordable but feature-packed products to younger consumers, mainly through e-commerce channels.

The company's latest smartphone, the Honor 7, is a prime example. With a subtly elegant design, a spec list to rival those of its "Tier 1" competitors, and a price tag of £250, it's becoming hard to think of reasons to keep paying exorbitant prices for premium brands.

Design

The Honor 7 has a metal frame and an aluminium back cover that has been blasted with ceramic particles to give it a smooth matt finish. As well as power and volume buttons, it has a "Smart Key" that gives users access to the Honor 7's voice commands.

The camera module, which protrudes slightly from the rear of the device, is covered with Sapphire glass, which is second only to diamond in its hardness and extremely durable. Immediately below it is the fingerprint reader, which appears as a square indentation and blends with the back cover.

Honor has made efforts to ensure the device has a premium feel, with all the ports and buttons nicely rounded off. At 157g, it also has a satisfyingly weighty feel.

My only criticism would be the narrow plastic strips along the top and bottom edges, which break up the otherwise sleek design, but the colour and texture of the plastic is well matched to the aluminium, so the impact on the overall appearance is minimal.

Display and user interface

The Honor 7 has a 5.2-inch Full HD 1920x1080 display, which is clear and crisp with bright vibrant colours. The bezel is about a millimeter all the way around, and Honor claims the device has a 72.4 per cent screen-to-body-ratio, which seems to make good use of the availale space.

The phone runs Android 5.0 (Lollipop), but without Google's material design, so the user interface is flat with almost no traces of Google's latest aesthetics. The operating system is overlaid with Huawei's EMUI 3.1 skin. This takes a bit of getting used to – for example, there is no app drawer, so all the apps appear on your homescreen by default.

It is possible to hide them away in a "hidden apps" folder, which you can bring up by pinching the screen, but it's not the most intuitive, and seems like an unnecessary complication.

Huawei's default keyboard is also a bit awkward to use, due to the spacing of letters. However, you can get around this by downloading the excellent Swiftkey app, which makes typing, predictive text and autocorrect much more intuitive.

Overall, the Honor 7 offers a fairly clean Android user experience, albeit with a bit of unusual styling. EMUI 3.1 is a little more restrictive than vanilla Android when it comes to peronalisation, but most of these have a work around.

Cameras

The Honor 7 has an excellent pair of cameras – 20MP on the back with a dual-LED flash and 8MP on the front for taking selfies.

Huawei's autofocus technology means that the Honor 7's rear camera can focus in just 0.1 seconds, and EMUI 3.1 comes with a wide variety of filter effects, including de-mist, soft light, and "good food" mode for creating "food porn" pictures.

The selfie camera also comes with a beauty setting, allowing you to adjust the level of enhancement and airbrushing on your selfies. Once you've chosen your settings, the phone will remember your preferences and even create custom filters.

I was really impressed with the quality of pictures I was able to take – particularly given that camera quality is often one of the things that is sacrificed to keep the cost of handsets down. Both the photos themselves and the editing tools are on a par with those offered on most top-end devices.

Processor, storage and battery

The Honor 7 features a HiSilicon Kirin 935 chipset with a 64-bit Octa-core processor clocked at 2.2 GHz. Some testers claims this is faster than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 805 series, and during my test the phone was very quick and responsive.

The phone comes with 3GB RAM, which is more than adequate for multi-tasking, surfing the web and even some intensive gaming. It also has 16GB internal storage, expandable up to 128GB with a micro-SD card.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

1More Triple Driver In-Ear Headphones

The curiously named 1More is a San Diego-based audio manufacturer, and from the use of Swarovski crystals in some of its designs to sound signatures "expertly tuned" by Grammy-winning sound engineers, let's just say the company seems to have a flair for dramatic marketing. But another aspect of the 1More mission is more intriguing—the company rails against rampant industry "price hiking" and "design shortcuts," with a goal to provide excellent quality at affordable prices.

The 1More Triple-Driver In-Ear Headphones—which are actually in-canal earphones—are a reasonably priced $99.99 and ship with a bevy of accessories. There are nine pairs of eartips alone, in varying styles, materials, and sizes. With such a focus on accessories and materials, it wouldn't be a surprise if the earphones were lacking in the audio department. Instead, the sound quality is good enough to earn our Editors' Choice.

Design
As mentioned, 1More puts a real focus on materials. The Triple Driver'searpieces are made from aluminum alloy and the cable is Kevlar, while the look of the earphones is black with brushed gold details. Inside each earpiece, two balanced armatures and a single dynamic driver deliver the audio. It's safe to say that most earphones in this price range do not offer three drivers per channel, so this alone is impressive.

The right earpiece houses an in-line mic and a three-button remote compartment that controls playback, call management, track navigation, and volume. The volume works in conjunction with your mobile device's master volume level.

The array of eartips is truly impressive. As mentioned, you get a whopping nine total pairs. Six of the pairs are silicone tips ranging from 10mm to 14.5mm in size, and the other three are foam tips (which typically offer a more secure fit, more passive ambient noise reduction, and often can create a greater sense of bass response because of the superior seal) ranging in size from 11mm to 14.5mm.

The Triple Driver In-Ear also ships with a magnetic clasping carrying case with a black leather grain finish, as well as a gold-colored shirt clip and a gold-colored airline jack adapter. From a design and accessory standpoint, 1More definitely nails it.

Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Triple Driver In-Ear delivers a powerful low frequency response. At top, unwise listening levels, the bass does not distort, and at moderate levels, it still sounds deep and robust. However, the Triple Driver In-Ear doesn't invent lows where they don't exist, nor does it even really boost them all that much—if the track has deep lows, you'll get a solid helping, and if it doesn't, you won't hear anything extra.

The focus seems to be more on high-end clarity—the high-mids and highs are crystal clear. Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with less deep bass in the mix, gives us a more accurate idea of the sound signature. The drums on this track can sound ridiculously unnatural on heavily bass-boosted pairs, but here they sound wonderful. There's a perfect low-end presence, giving the drums the body they possess naturally and nothing more. Just as ideal are the high-mids and highs that lend some treble edge and crispness to Callahan's rich baritone vocals and the attack of the guitar strumming. This is a balanced, clear sound that will appeal to purists seeking high frequency clarity without giving up the bass response.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives an ideal level of high-mid presence, highlighting the loop's attack while the lows give the drum's sustain plenty of thump. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat have plenty of body and depth here, but they aren't exaggerated to the point that they overtake the mix. The vinyl crackle that's usually relegated to the background is more apparent than usual—a sign that, if any range is more boosted than another, it's the highest frequencies.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound phenomenal. You get the richness of the lower register instrumentation and the bright treble edge of the higher register strings, brass, and vocals perfectly complementing each other. The balance here is nearly perfect, with the bass response playing a supporting role without shrinking into the distance—you get a wonderful sense of the space the recording was made in, and ideal clarity throughout the entire frequency range.

Conclusions
I may not be sold on 1More's gimmicky marketing, but there's no denying the Triple Driver In-Ear Headphones sound fantastic, come with a nice haul of accessories, and true to the company's mission statement, they ring in for significantly less than I would have guessed if I tested them not knowing their price. At $100 they're a steal, and easily earn our Editors' Choice. They compare favorably with past favorites, some of which cost significantly more, and all of which are also worth reading up on if you're in the market or reference. But go into those reviews knowing that the 1More Triple Driver is a winner—and one of the more affordable winners we've tested in quite a while.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The Best SD Cards

After spending 42 hours on research and testing over the past two years, we found that the 64GB Samsung Pro Plus is the best SD card for most people because it is fast enough to shoot 4K video, has some of the fastest transfer and in-camera speeds we tested, and is reasonably priced. It’s the best card you can buy without spending at least 20 percent more, and it comes with a 10-year limited warranty.

Also great

$35* from Amazon

*At the time of publishing, the price was $44.

Runner-up

64GB SanDisk Extreme PRO

The SanDisk Extreme Pro is a little faster than our pick, but worth buying only if it’s on sale or our pick is sold out or more expensive.

We recommend the 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro if our pick is sold out or more expensive, or you’re willing to pay more for a slightly faster card. The Extreme Pro is fast enough to shoot 4K video, like our pick, and it had the fastest write speeds in our benchmarks and practical camera tests.

Also great

$28* from Amazon

*At the time of publishing, the price was $30.

A budget option

64GB Transcend W60MB/s

The Transcend is slower than our other picks, but it costs about half as much and is still fast enough to shoot 4K video.

If you just want a decent, cheap SD card, we like the 64GB Transcend W60MB/s. It was slower than our other picks in every test, but it’s still fast enough to shoot 4K video and costs about half as much. The Transcend writes photos slower and may take a bit longer to offload files, but it has surprisingly good performance for being the second-cheapest card we tested.

Who should get this

Most cameras and camcorders require an SD card in order to store photos and video. SD cards can also be used for expanded storage in devices like laptops, some portable scanners and ebook readers (though not any of our picks for either device), the (old) Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL, and the Wii U. Check your device to make sure you need an SD card (not a microSD card) and that your device doesn’t already come with one that works well enough.

If you already have an SD card that does everything you need, you probably shouldn’t upgrade. Our pick isn’t leaps and bounds better than anything that’s been available for the past few years. But if you need another SD card, or you’re having issues with the speed of your card—say, you burst-shoot photos in RAW format or want to shoot 4K video and your card can’t keep up—you should get our pick.

How we picked and tested

All the SD cards we tested.

The most important features of an SD card are speed, reliability, price, and warranty. SD cards are most commonly used in cameras for storing image and video files as you shoot them. Because most cameras can take photos faster than they can write them to storage, images are first saved to a small but speedy buffer in the camera. Once the buffer is full, the images have to be written to the SD card before you can shoot any more photos. The faster the host device can write data to the card—the card’s write speed—the faster this buffer clears and the sooner you can start shooting again. So write speed is the most important spec for SD cards.

Read speed is important when copying data from the card to a computer via SD card slot or USB 3.0 reader, and when reviewing photos on the camera. Read speed is not as important for cameras as write speed, but because read speed is often faster, manufacturers like to brag about it on the label. Read speed is more useful for SD cards used for additional storage, since you’ll mostly be accessing media that you’ve already put on the card. Almost every SD card we tested in early 2016 had an average read speed of around 92 MB/s, with little variation between cards.

An SD card holds the only copy of a photo between the time you take it and when you copy it to a computer for editing.

An SD card holds the only copy of a photo between the time you take it and when you copy it to a computer for editing, so it’s important to get a reliable card from a reputable manufacturer to minimize the chances of something going wrong. Many SD cards come with a lifetime or 10-year warranty, and the SD Card Association says most SD cards have a life span of about 10 years with “normal usage.”

Keeping these criteria in mind, we researched SD cards from SanDisk, Lexar, Samsung,Toshiba, Transcend, PNY, and others. Unfortunately, the sources we’ve relied on in the past to help us choose which models we test—like professional sports photographerChuck Steenburgh and Tom’s Hardware—no longer review lots of SD cards. So we tested more cards this time: 10 in all.

We tested the 64GB versions of the SanDisk Extreme, SanDisk Extreme Plus, SanDisk Extreme Pro, Samsung Pro Plus, Lexar 633x, Lexar 1000x, Transcend W60MB/s,Transcend W85MB/s, PNY Elite Performance, and Toshiba Exceria UHS-I.

We tested each SD card’s real-life burst-shooting performance on two entry-level DSLRs (the Canon Rebel EOS T4i and the Nikon D3300), a mirrorless camera (the Olympus OM‑D E-M10), and a compact camera (the Sony RX100 MKIII). We tested with a variety of cameras because an SD card’s performance can vary from camera to camera based on memory controllers, image processors, and a slew of other factors—the fastest card in any one camera won’t necessarily be the fastest in every camera. For each card, we averaged these test results to get an overall measure of performance.

Using a USB 3.0 card reader in a 2015 gaming laptop’s USB 3.0 port, we ranCrystalDiskMark, a benchmarking program designed to test sequential and random read and write speeds on solid-state storage. (We tested SD cards via USB 3.0 to prevent bottlenecks, since USB 2.0 tops out around 33 MB/s and the cards we tested are faster than that.) Between each test, we cleared the cards and reformatted them using therecommended utility from the SD Association to stabilize performance.

Our pick

64GB Samsung Pro Plus

The Pro Plus is one of the fastest SD cards we tested for the price.

$60 from Samsung

The 64GB Samsung Pro Plus is fast enough to shoot 1080p and 4K video, has some of the fastest transfer and in-camera speeds we tested, and is reasonably priced. It’s made by a reliable manufacturer and comes with a 10-year limited warranty. The Pro Plus wasn’t the fastest card we tested—that would be our runner-up, the SanDisk Extreme Pro—but at its usual price of around $40, it’s the best card you can buy without spending at least 20 percent more.

Our pick, the 64GB Samsung Pro Plus.

In our real-life burst-shooting tests, in file transfers, and in benchmark tests, the Samsung Pro Plus was among the fastest of the 10 SD cards we tested. The Samsung Pro Plus is a Class 10, U3 card, which means that the card is fast enough to record both 1080p and 4K video. Samsung advertises the card at 95 MB/s read and 90 MB/s write, but we found the card’s speeds to be a little slower in our tests. CrystalDiskMark clocked the card at 91.5 MB/s read and 84.9 MB/s write.

Write speed is the most important factor for SD cards, and the Pro Plus had the second fastest, behind the pricier SanDisk Extreme Pro. As a result, the Samsung Pro Plus is one of the speediest when transferring photos and video from the SD card to a computer. That means less time waiting around for files to transfer, and more time to spend organizing and editing. All 10 of the cards we tested had read speeds between 90 MB/s and 93 MB/s—they were basically indistinguishable from each other in real-world use.

CrystalDiskMark Speed tests (MB/s)	Samsung Pro Plus	SanDisk Extreme Pro	Transcend SDXC Write 60	SanDisk Extreme Plus	Transcend SDXC Write 85	SanDisk Extreme	Lexar 633x	Lexar 1000x	PNY Elite Performance	Toshiba Exceria UHS-I
Sequential Read	91.45	92.91	91.87	92.91	91.86	92.9	90.61	89.98	90.82	92.08
Sequential Write	84.93	88.71	67.96	64.85	83.87	81.79	66.69	75.92	53.9	58.52

The Pro Plus had the second-fastest sequential write speeds in this test.

We also tested each card’s real-world burst-shooting speed using four cameras. For this test, we recorded the sound of the shutter closing as we shot a burst of RAW images. The resulting waveforms give us a visual representation of each card’s speed. The large group of spikes at the beginning of each waveform represents a burst of shots, which fill the camera’s buffer and must be written to the SD card before you can shoot more photos. Each spike after that is a single shot, and between those spikes the camera is writing files to the SD card. (Click here for a more detailed explanation of how SD cards affect burst speed.)

We tested the top SD cards in the Olympus OM‑D E-M10 by recording the sound of their shutters snapping in burst-shooting mode. Shorter intervals indicate faster shot speed, and therefore better performance.

We also tested the cards in an older Canon Rebel EOS T4i. Shorter intervals indicate better performance.

Once we averaged the results of this test across the four cameras, the Samsung Pro Plus had the second-fastest average practical write speeds, behind the SanDisk Extreme Pro. The SanDisk Extreme Plus ranked third, followed by our budget pick, the Transcend W60MB/s, and then the Transcend W85MB/s. The SanDisk Extreme was the slowest in every camera we tested.