iphone6s
Latest
Google Photos now shows Live Photos from your iPhone 6s
If you frequently snap Live Photos with your iPhone 6s, you now have an easy way to preserve those photo/video hybrids for the ages. A fresh Google Photos update for iOS lets you both back up and view Live Photos, so you shouldn't have to choose another cloud storage service or (gasp) resort to taking still shots. And it's still a useful update even if you aren't in a rush to get a 6s -- there's better navigation (fewer times accessing that omnipresent hamburger menu) and lower cache use when you're tight on device space. Grab it now if you're determined to keep your Live Photos for posterity.
Apple reportedly shrinks iPhone orders
Don't look now, but Apple may be facing a rough patch. Wall Street Journal sources claim that Apple has cut its iPhone order forecasts to suppliers in the "past several months." Moreover, some Chinese factories making the handset have had idle capacity and let people go on holiday early -- this isn't the usual post-holiday dip. The city of Zhengzhou also gave Foxconn (Apple's main iPhone manufacturer) $12 million to help 'stabilize' the workforce, although it's unclear whether or not this is directly related to the apparent reduction.
You can share your iPhone 6s' Live Photos on Facebook
Live Photos on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are supposed to add a dash of life to your memories, but what good are they if you can't share them with your Facebook friends? You might not have that problem after today. Facebook's iOS app now lets you share those animated snapshots on the social network. While viewers will need a device running iOS 9 to see the effect, this could give your friends one more reason to check out your baby pictures. Be prepared to wait a little while to try this, however. Only a "small percentage' of users can try Live Photos right now, and the wider roll out will continue into the new year.
Move over Mophie, Apple has a $99 Smart Battery Case
When I reviewed the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus earlier this year, I lamented the fact that companies like Apple seemed more eager to build thinner phones than improve the battery life. That industry-wide trend made battery cases a near-necessity, and now Apple wants a slice of that market too. Enter the Smart Battery Case, a $99 (£79) add-on for the iPhone 6 and 6s that packs an extra 1,877mAh battery into a... curious-looking silicone frame. You can nab one for yourself starting today, but before you do that, let's take a closer look at the company's handiwork.
Rumor: Apple has an updated 4-inch iPhone due early next year
Want a handset with Apple's fancy new A9 processor, a colorful metal case and a slightly smaller display? GHI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo says you're going to get one. According to the analyst's latest research, Apple is on track to launch a 4-inch Apple 5 successor in early 2016 -- painting the picture of a device with the same A9 processor as the iPhone 6s, NFC support for Apple Pay, a metal case with multiple color options and a $400-500 off-contract price tag aimed at the budget market.
The OnePlus iPhone case comes with a OnePlus X invite
OnePlus has launched the "Sandstone" case for Apple's iPhone 6 and 6s, and guess what's inside? An invitation to purchase the OnePlus X. You have to admire the sheer chutzpah of that, though it's hard to imagine many folks turfing their $649-plus iPhone 6s for a $249 OnePlus X. Random buyers of the case will get an invite for the rare ceramic version of the OnePlus X, while a select few will actually get the new model for free. The One X has often been compared to older iPhones, so the case does make a strange kind of sense -- and it also makes the iPhone much less slippery. Making Apple owners aware of the product might pose more of a challenge, but the company is nothing if not savvy at marketing.
New in our buyer's guide: The iPhone 6s, Surface Book and much more
Sorry we haven't updated the buyers's guide in a couple months -- we've been too busy pumping out reviews of all the new devices. Now that things have finally started to slow down (fingers crossed), let's take a step back and look at all the awesome stuff we've had a chance to test this fall. For starters, there's a bunch of excellent smartphones that we absolutely need to add to our guide. Namely: the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, the Nexus 6P and 5X, and the Moto X Pure. On the tablet side, we're inducting both the iPad mini 4 and the Surface Pro 4. Microsoft makes another appearance in the laptop section, where we've added the Surface Book, along with Dell's Chromebook 13. Rounding out the list, we threw in a few miscellaneous items, including the new Xbox One Elite Wireless controller, the redesigned Sonos Play:5 wireless speaker and Google's $35 Chromecast Audio.
Here's what our readers think of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus aren't going to wow you with a new design -- that's not the point of Apple's 's' phones. Instead, they offer a lot of under-the-hood updates, including a faster processor, better cameras and the addition of a pressure-sensitive 3D Touch, leading our reviewer Chris Velazco to call the two phones "more than just a modest refresh." Now that many of our readers have gotten their mitts on one, we've taken a look at the user reviews to find out if the 6s and 6s Plus truly constitute a "worthy upgrade."
Fallout 4's Pip-Boy is a glorified smartphone case
"The Pip-Boy is an important part of Fallout and we love it so much we made a real one." Those words, delivered by game director Todd Howard at developer Bethesda Softworks' first-ever E3 media briefing this year, triggered cheers around the world. And thus, the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Edition was born: a $120 special edition peripheral bundled with Fallout 4 that aims to mimic the game's wrist-bound menu and stat-tracking system. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the premium version of the game proved insanely popular, prompting Bethesda to apologize when it couldn't make any more units to meet demand. Not bad for a rather awkward looking piece of light brown plastic that sits on your arm and holds your cellphone. But is it actually worth the hype and high price?
Flickr takes advantage of iOS 9 and your iPhone 6s
The pressure-sensitive touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus was practically tailor-made for quickly glancing at photos, so wouldn't it make sense that major photography apps let you do just that? Flickr sure thinks so. It's launching an updated iOS app that takes full advantage of iOS 9, including 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s line. You can peek at photos, people and notifications with a firm push. It'll even flip through your camera roll if you swipe at the same time, giving you a quick way to share the right snapshot. As you might've guessed, that extra dimension also gives you home screen icon shortcuts that help you post photos that much sooner.
Watch this iPhone screen protector heal scratches within a second
The folks who came up with the self-healing iPhone case is now back with something a lot more impressive. Innerexile's earlier technology could repair light scratches within about half a minute (given the right temperature, that is), but the latest version can do the same within just a second! Seriously, you'd have to study very hard to witness that brief magical moment, which proved to be tricky in our brass brush test video after the break. So what's the secret sauce behind this new coating? Well, it's dotted with microcapsules that contain an adhesive-like liquid, and when damaged, the liquid will fill the void so quickly that you probably won't even realize you've just scratched your case or screen protector.
HTC exec defends One A9's design: Apple copies us
You don't need perfect vision to see that HTC's latest smartphone, the One A9, is nearly identical to Apple's iPhone 6 and 6s. But the Taiwan-based company swears Apple copied its design first, not the other way around, pointing to its One M7 and M8 flagships as proof -- both came out before the iPhone 6 series. According to Want ChinaTimes, during a recent press briefing in Taiwan, HTC's North Asia President Jack Tong responded to claims calling the A9 an iPhone clone. "We're not copying. We made a unibody metal-clad phone in 2013 [the year the M7 was released]," he said. "It's Apple that copies us in terms of the antenna design on the back."
Apple Stores show off iPhone 6s 3D Touch with fancy tables
Apple is doing a new trick at its flagship San Francisco and New York Stores to show off the benefits of 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. A video from Grate App (below) shows the phones rigged up to a table that's actually a very large display. When you press on the iPhone's swimming fish screen-saver, it creates ripples in the screen around the phone, which vary in size depending on how hard you press. (The table itself doesn't appear to be force-sensitive, but rather just takes 3D Touch input from the phones.) It's a clever way to tout a feature that's a bit hard to grok, but there's no word on whether you'll see it in any other stores.
Recommended Reading: iPhone 6s in the hands of a pro photographer
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. iPhone 6s Camera Review: Switzerland by Austin Mann Still on the fence about all of those camera features on the iPhone 6s? Professional photographer Austin Mann has taken previous Apple handsets for a test-drive and he's done the same with the latest. From Live Photos to handy accessories and low-light performance, Mann details the phone's photography abilities while touring Switzerland.
Engadget UK giveaway: win an iPhone 6s courtesy of Mobilefun.co.uk
To upgrade or not to upgrade: that is the question. If you're currently asking yourself this very brainteaser, then we'd guess Apple's shiny new iThings may well've taken your fancy. But why sign up to a more expensive contract or take the hit of an upfront payment when we've got a brand new iPhone 6s burning a whole in our pocket? This week, we're giving away a 16GB, Space Grey model supplied by our friends at Mobilefun.co.uk, the online retailer with all manner of accessories, including plenty of covers and cases, to kit your new iPhone out with. As always, you can enter the competition up to three times via the Rafflecopter widget below, but only after you've given the rules a quick scan. Deal?
Apple's iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are now available SIM-free
Apple is now selling unlocked versions of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, giving you options if you'd rather not be tied to a contract or want a handset that works in other countries. The downside, of course, is that you'll pay the full retail price without those carrier subsidies -- starting at $649 for the (controversial) 16GB iPhone 6s at Apple Stores or online. In addition, Apple has started rolling out its latest iPhones in 36 new countries, including Mexico, Russia, Taiwan and Spain. They're now available in 48 nations, and will hit about 80 more by the end of the year.
iPhone 6s battery life may vary slightly depending who made the processor
A few days ago, it was revealed that the A9 chip in Apple's new iPhone 6s is manufactured by two different companies, Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). More notably, reports started circulating that the battery life in the Samsung A9 devices was notably worse than that of the TSMC iPhones. Some tests have revealed that the TSMC chips last as much as two hours longer than the phones with Samsung silicon inside. Now, Apple has issued an official response that downplays the difference as only a matter of a few percentage points.
Apple made the iPhone 6s nearly waterproof and didn't tell anyone
Leave it up to Apple to downplay a surprisingly useful engineering feat: A water-resistant iPhone. It turns out the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus sport a combination of new technology that makes them far more resistant to liquid damage than past iPhones, iFixit reports. Apple packed in a new gasket around the sides of the phone, and it incased every cable connector on the phone's logic board with a waterproofing material. Given that the logic board that includes most of the iPhone's sensitive electronics and is the most prone to water damage, Apple's solution is particularly clever. Most other water-resistant phones focus on protecting external ports, rather than internal electronics. While it's far from being truly waterproof, there are plenty of videos online showing iPhone 6s models surviving water dunks. The truly strange thing is Apple has never mentioned the feature -- unlike Samsung and Sony, both of which championed water resistance as key features of some recent phones (though Samsung gave up on it for the Galaxy S6, and Sony is backtracking on its claims).
Tell us how you really feel about the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus
It's been a week since the release of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and while this is an "s" year -- meaning a lot of subtle changes instead of a big redesign -- there's still a lot to like about this year's models. We appreciated the speedier Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and the optical image stabilization in the 6s Plus proved handy with video recording. But our reviewer Chris Velazco came away most impressed with 3D Touch, a "tremendously useful tool" that he "wanted to use all the time." And now we'd like to know if our readers agree. Plenty of you have upgraded to one of Apple's new phones in the past week, and now we're giving you an opportunity to tell us what your experience has been so far. Write a review in our product database for the 6s or 6s Plus and we'll feature some of the best ones in a future post.
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus review: More than just a refresh
Some people look a little unkindly on the so-called "S" years -- those years when Apple updates the iPhone, but doesn't change how it looks, and then sells that while secretly working on something flashier that will debut 12 months later. I don't think that's exactly fair. Those "S" years are when Apple adds some of its most useful features. Siri? Touch ID? Both valuable additions to the iPhone platform that have since grown in importance. This year we get 3D Touch, a potentially awesome way to interact with iPhones. The thing is, a device's worth isn't just tied up in one feature: It's about how all those moving parts work together. That's why the new 6s and 6s Plus (starting at $649 and $749, respectively, for 16GB models) are such great phones. The combination of much-improved hardware and some polished software makes this year's release far more than just a modest refresh.
