Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/11/wednesday-morning-news151117/
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has some predications about next year’s iPhone lineup. Kuo claims we’ll see three new iPhones next year, with a 5.8-inch OLED like the current iPhone X, a 6.5-inch OLED as a kind of iPhone X Plus. Sitting between them will be a 6.1-inch LCD version, with all models expected to feature Face ID and its TrueDepth camera system.
With the introduction of the front-facing TrueDepth camera system in the iPhone X, rumour has it Apple is now investigating the possibility of a rear-facing depth camera system for next year’s iPhone. Bloomberg says the laser camera system would allow iPhones to create a three-dimensional rendering of the environment, potentially enabling more immersive AR experiences, as well as cool depth effects for devices without dual cameras.
The first HomePod hasn’t even been released to the public, but already we’re hearing rumours about future models including Face ID. I’m not entirely sure how this will work, given that you’ll rarely want to be walking up to your wireless speaker to do things, but maybe Apple will make it work.
MacRumors reports iOS 11.2 will introduce faster wireless charging. Apple has been saying ever since it launched the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X with wireless charging that it would release a software update to enable 7.5W wireless charging via the Qi standard, and it looks like iOS 11.2 is that update. Although 7.5W is only 50% faster than the current 5W wireless charging speed, although it’s nowhere near the 15W supported by Qi 1.2 standard.
A startup from the University of California says Apple Watch can be used to detect sleep apnoea and hypertension. Cardiogram collected data from 600 participants over a period of time, with their analysis capable of detecting sleep apnoea with 90% accuracy, and hypertension with 82% accuracy. While the final diagnosis would be done with more professional equipment, that’s not bad for a fashion accessory.
AppleInsider have put the OLED display on the iPhone X to the test with their dark mode battery test. Due to the way OLED screens work, black means pixels are turned off completely, requiring no power at all — and if you pair that with the built-in smart invert colours, you’ll get much more battery life.
Some iPhone X owners are experiencing cracking or buzzing sounds from the earpiece. There doesn’t seem to be any link between the sounds, but it seems to happen whenever audio of any kind is played, especially at higher volumes.
The Mac Observer has a two-part series that first covers iCloud Content Caching, introduced as a feature in macOS High Sierra. It’s essentially the old software update cache that was included in previous releases of OS X Server, and you can fine-tune the content caching to determine what content gets cached on your Mac for faster download to your iOS device.
In case you missed it, Apple now allows Apple IDs created with third-party email addresses to be moved to an Apple email address — one of either @icloud.com, @me.com, or even @mac.com. MacRumors says this feature doesn’t appear to be available to all users just yet, so it’s possible this is a staggered rollout.
The best thing about Face ID, as pointed out by TidBits, is that it’s continuous authentication. By merely looking at your iPhone X, you’re authenticated. There’s no “resting your finger on a fingerprint sensor”, or passcode-entering, or whatever else. Just a look.