New iPhone SE

The new iPhone SE is a budget phone that will retail for $429 US. It is the successor to the 2020 model but with 5G and the latest iPhone processor, A15

The device looks like the previous iPhone SE. It has a 4,7-inch rectangular display and a TouchID fingerprint sensor. It also has a 12-megapixel rear camera. It all has the classic iPhone home button for those who prefer the simpler non-complicated functionality of one. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the device was ideal for people who like smaller phones.

There has been a bit of a surprise with the pricing of the new iPhone SE at $429 US compared to the $399 US model Apple launched in 2020.

New colour additions to the iPhone 13

Lovers of the colour green can finally pre-order the iPhone 13 in “green” and the iPhone 13 Pro in “alpine green” starting Friday.

New iPad Air with M1 chip

Apple also announced the new iPad Air.  The iPad Air is a mid-range iPad. It uses Apple’s M1 processor which is the same chip used in their pricier iPad Pro and MacBook Air models. It also has optional 5G support.

The device’s front-facing camera has been upgraded to a 12-megapixel camera with a wide-angle lens and this enables a feature called Centre Stage that can follow subjects as they move around in the frame while video conferencing.

The iPad Air will cost $599 US with optional storage space and cellular upgrades. This is the same price it retailed for before and it will hit the store shelves on the 18^th of March.

The Mac Studio with M1 Ultra chip

Apple introduced the first new Mac model in a very long time with the Mac Studio. The new model is a display-less desktop computer. It’s a cube-shaped aluminium box with USB-C ports and an SD card slot in the front.

The Mac Studio is taller than the existing Mac Mini and the additional height is used for big fans to keep the computer’s temperature down.

Apple also announced a separate 27-inch display called Studio Display with 5K resolution, equipped with an Apple chip, speakers, and built-in camera.

The computer uses the high-performance M1 Ultra processor, which the company says has more power than its existing M1 chips.

The Mac Studio with an older M1 Max chip starts at $1999. The model with an M1 Ultra chip starts at $3999. The Studio Display starts at $1599.

Apple said that the M1 Ultra doubles the size of Apple’s previous M1 chips using a connection technology it calls UltraFusion. Apple said it has more transistors than any other PC chip and includes a 64-core graphics processor.

Apple said that the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra is 80% faster than the top-of-the-line Mac Pro, which retailed for over $50,000.

“We’ve transitioned nearly every product in the Mac lineup to Apple Silicon,” Cook said.

Deal with MLB to air games on Friday nights

Apple has entered into live spots as it said it will air two exclusive Major League Baseball games on Friday nights.

Apple will air live pregame and postgame shows, and it will be free from local broadcast restrictions, and won’t require an Apple TV+ subscription for now.

The games will be aired in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, Apple said.

But, it comes a week after MLB cancelled opening day due to the ongoing lockout.

Apple has made some impressive changes to its gadgets. The event ran under the theme “Peek Performance” and 150 000 people had already joined the live stream on YouTube 5 minutes before it started. This is a sign that Apple can still generate a huge demand for their products.

The post Apple Announces New iPhone, iPad Air, Mac Studio computer And More appeared first on Provoker Magazine.

The Galaxy S22 range includes the following models: Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Plus and Galaxy S22 Ultra. There is a choice of four colors for the S22 and S22 Plus: Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green and White. The S22 Ultra is available in Phantom Black, Phantom White or Green and also Burgundy.

The Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus are large and small variants of the same basic design. They are very similar to last year’s Galaxy S21 but the size has been shrunk a little and parts of the display, rear cameras and internals have been upgraded. Samsung has significantly changed up the design of the Galaxy S22. It has an S Pen built into the bottom of the phone and the back is unique as the cameras sit separately.

All three models have ultrasonic fingerprint sensors under the display. They also all come with IP68 water/dust resistance keeping inner components safe. The screens are super tough thanks to Gorilla Victus Plus, the toughest Corning-made glass you can currently find on a phone.

The Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus have two sizes of the same screen. Both have FHD resolution, a 120Hz maximum refresh rate and 10Hz minimum, and up to 240Hz touch sampling rate. The S22 is 6.1 inches while the S22 Plus is 6.6 inches.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra uses the largest display on offer at 6.8 inches. It features curved left and right edges. It also has a 120Hz refresh rate but can go as low as 1Hz for battery efficiency. The resolution is boosted to QHD+ for extra detail when watching video or playing games.

The screens on all three phones use Samsung’s new “Vision Booster”, a feature to adjust the display’s colors and make it look better in different lighting. The S22 is rated for 1,300 nits, and the S22 Plus and S22 Ultra for 1,750 nits of brightness.

The S22 and S22 Plus have the same selection of cameras. The back consists of a 50MP main camera, 12MP ultra wide camera and 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. The front has a single 10MP camera.

All except one camera of the S22 Ultra take these specs up a notch. The main camera features a 108MP sensor, and it has two 10MP telephoto cameras; one with 3x optical zoom and another with 10x optical zoom. The selfie camera has a higher resolution at 40MP.

Samsung didn’t hold back on the software either. “Nightography” features will help the S22 cameras capture more light and color detail from shots taken in low light. A new Auto Framing mode allows the phone to keep track of up to ten people in shot at once.

Officially, Samsung says the S22 series runs on a 4nm processor. The chip you get will depend on where you buy your phone. US buyers will get the S22 with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, whereas the UK (or anyone else outside the US) with have theirs equipped with the Exynos 2200. While Snapdragon chips may score slightly better on computing benchmarks than Samsung’s Exnynos ones, the 2200 is quite interesting as it has introduced AMD RDNA-powered GPU. This could make gaming a higher quality experience on the S22 sold on global markets.

Whichever chip you get, there will be 8GB RAM, and either 128GB or 256GB of storage with the S22 and S22 Plus. The S22 Ultra has a choice of either 8GB or 12GB RAM, and 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage capacity.

In line with smaller sizes, the battery capacities have shrunk as well for the S22 and S22 Ultra. The S22 offers a 3,700 mAh battery and the S22 Plus a 4,500 mAh battery. There is no change in the capacity of the S22 Ultra compared to the S21 Ultra. It uses a 5,000 mAh cell.

Charging speeds on the S22 have remained the same as compared to the S21. The S22 Plus and S22 Ultra have gained wired charging support. None of these phones come with chargers in the box.

Samsung is now promising 4 years of software support for the S22 series. This means you will get to keep using the phone with all the latest Android features for longer.

Only the S22 Ultra works with an S Pen. Instead of only being a separate accessory like last year with the S21, you now get an S Pen with the phone that will be kept in the phone when not in use. The S Pen you get is the most responsive Samsung’s ever made, the company says. It’s apparently 70% more responsive than the S21 Ultra’s S Pen, which should using it feel as similar to using actual pen and paper.

All the S22 phones offer 5G support, both sub-6GHz and mmWave. The S22 Plus and s22 Ultra get a few special benefits over the base S22. They get to use the Wi-Fi 6E standard for higher speed data transfers, which Samsung claims is twice as fast the standard Wi-Fi 6 capabilities of the S22.

Samsung has kept the starting prices for the S22 the same as those for the S21 series. Those are $799 for the Galaxy S22, $999 for the Galaxy S22 Plus and $1,199 for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. If you want to pre-order the phone, you can do so as from yesterday (February 9), with the retail release coming on February 25. Samsung is offering free upgrades to the next highest storage capacity version of your chosen phone if you buy a 128GB or 256GB version.

The Galaxy S22 Series is an impressive range of phones. And with the new features and software updates Samsung surely met and maybe even exceeded expectations.

The post Samsung Unpacks The New Galaxy S22 Series, Time To Trade In Your iPhone? appeared first on Provoker Magazine.

For those who do not use iPhones Face ID is a feature available on some Apple products that allows users to unlock their phones using their- you guessed it- face. This security feature can also be used to authorize purchases from the iTunes Store, App Store, and Book Store, payments with Apple Pay, and more.

That’s all changing with the release of iOS 15.4.The software was released on 27 January 2022. iOS 15.4 adds Face ID with a Mask, letting you unlock your iPhone with Face ID even when your face is covered, so Face ID is as convenient with a mask as it is without one.

With the lower half of your face covered by a mask, Face ID scans your eye area to authenticate your identity. According to Apple, Face ID with a mask recognizes the “unique features” around the eye area rather than looking at the entire face when you’re wearing a mask.

Face ID when wearing a mask also works interchangeably with standard Face ID, so your phone works in the same way when you’re wearing a mask and when you’re not.

What you can and cannot do with the update

There are also a few more limitations with unlocking angles because Face ID with a Mask needs to clearly see your eyes before it unlocks. If you wear glasses, you’ll need to go through a secondary setup process. Face ID with a Mask uses a scan of the eye area, so glasses that you wear need to be added on an individual basis. If you wear multiple pairs of glasses, you’ll need to do a scan for each one.

While standard Face ID works when you’re wearing most sunglasses, that’s not the case with Face ID with a Mask. Face ID with a Mask requires direct eye contact to work, and sunglasses obscure the eyes.

Face ID with a Mask is only available on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models. It’s compatible with the ‌iPhone 12‌, iPhone 12 mini, ‌iPhone 12‌ Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, ‌iPhone 13‌, ‌iPhone 13‌ mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌ Max.

This feature does not work with earlier iPhones and it does not work with iPads. Apple has not made it clear if there is a hardware limitation that prevents the Face ID mask unlock from working with earlier versions of the ‌iPhone‌.

These are some pretty interesting updates by Apple although they will not be available for some models. The Covid 19 pandemic has necessitated some new norms. And it seems masks will be around for a long time. This is definitely a welcome feature in the Apple community.

The post Apples’s Latest Software Update Brings Face ID While Wearing A Mask appeared first on Provoker Magazine.

A local manufacturing company Musungo recently attained Apple MFi certification for their chargers.

Whats the big deal?

MFi is a program by Apple that offers a broad range of wireless and wired technologies that can be used in accessories that a company plans to develop or manufacture.

The program gives you access to the technical specifications and resources needed to create accessories that communicate with Apple devices using MFi technologies and components.

Musungo

Musungo, founded by 28 year old Learnmore Sithole, is astart up company that specializes in charging technology.

What that means for you

In other words, this means that Apple has officially endorsed Musungo charge and sync cables. This eliminates the need for Apple users to source authentic chargers beyond our boarders. It is also an opportunity for you to support local businesses.

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