This year's WorldWide Developers Conference has begun with an emphasis on the next version of Apple's operating system for iPhones. iOS 15 now includes a slew of new capabilities in its apps and services.

According to Apple VP Craig Federighi, iOS 15 includes improvements to FaceTime, Focus, Messages, Photos, and other features. Here's how these changes claim to improve iPhone user experience.

FaceTime

Apple's goal is to make FaceTime calls appear more natural to its users. In order to accomplish this, the business announced the Spatial Audio functionality for FaceTime. The technology ensures that the sound from FaceTime calls is stretched out to simulate where the speaker is in relation to the mic, providing the listener with a surround sound experience.

In addition, Voice Isolation is now available in FaceTime. The functionality will aid in the transmission of clear voice from a person on a video call. It will do so by decreasing background noise and isolating the speaker's voice, similar to how voice calls work.

If users want to include all voices and noise, they can select Wide Spectrum, and every sound picked up by the microphone will be relayed to the listener exactly as it is.

There is also a new Grid View for the app that displays every guest in a huge tile style to keep track of who is saying what. Apple has also added Portrait Mode to FaceTime, which allows attendees to stand out from the background during a video conversation.

FaceTime users will soon be able to share links, similar to Zoom meeting links. According to Apple, these links will function on any platform. FaceTime has received a significant update with the addition of SharePlay, which allows for shared experiences during a FaceTime session.

Users may now listen to music, watch movies and videos, and share their screen with friends via FaceTime. The apps will be opened within FaceTime, and the FaceTime controls will show on top in a tab-like fashion. Apple claims it is collaborating with Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, the NBA, and other content partners to expand support for this functionality.

Messages

Multiple photographs submitted in a chat will now be shown in a new collage look in messages. Furthermore, Apple has added Shared Stacks, which will transfer over items shared with the user from Messages to their News app and Photos app for display.

This means that Shared Stacks will appear in the News section, Safari, Apple News, and other platforms where shared items are available.

Focus

Apple has improved the functions of Focus to provide the user with a more personalized experience based on their schedule. A new Notification Summary, for example, will leverage on-device intelligence based on user patterns to summarize notifications that may be given collectively at a defined time.

This is combined with new Focus statuses, which allow you to pick when you want to see notifications from specific apps, making your phone functions more specific to routines such as exercises, the office, or your personal time. These changes will be applied to the home screen, notification preferences, and all devices.

Furthermore, Do Not Disturb will now notify others of your status via the Messages app. It will even allow them to bypass the DND and ping you in the event of a critical interaction.

Photos

iOS 15 adds Live Text to Photos, allowing users to select text visible in photographs, which may then be copied and used as text in other apps. Photos will now appear in Spotlight search, and users will be able to search for text within these photos.

Photos Memories has also been updated to allow for the creation of on-demand videos with music from Apple Music. Users can press and hold these memories while viewing to pause photographs while the music continues to play. Music can also be chosen by the users themselves.

Also Read:

CLUBHOUSE IS LETTING IT USERS LINK THEIR INSTAGRAM AND TWITTER ACCOUNTS

KHALTI COLLABORATES WITH SOCIAL SECURITY FUND (SSF)

BEST ELECTRIC SCOOTERS IN NEPAL RANGING FROM RS 1,50,000 TO RS 4,00,000

FREE HEALTH SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED TO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS VIA “MERO DOCTOR”

ONLINE LEAK REVEALS SNAPDRAGON 888'S SUCCESSOR

Apple and Google dropped the popular game Fortnite from their app stores after the game’s developer introduced a direct payment plan that bypasses their platforms.

Apple and Google both take a 30% cut from in-app revenue purchases in games, which has long been a sore spot with developers.

Fortnite is free, but users can pay for in game accoutrements like weapons and skins. Its developer, Epic Games, said in a blog post Thursday that it was introducing Epic Direct payments, a direct payment plan for Apple’s iOS and Google Play. Epic said the system is the same payment system it already uses to process payments on PC and Mac computers and Android phones.

Apple and Google said the service violates their guidelines.

“Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services,” Apple said in statement.

Google said Fortnite will remain available on Android, just not through its app store. Android users can download the app from other app stores, although that’s generally not an option for iPhone users.

Epic Games did not immediately return a request for comment. Epic’s Fortnite Twitter account said the company would debut a new short film called “Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite,” a seeming parody of Apple’s iconic “1984” commercial that introduced the Macintosh computer. It has also filed a complaint against Apple in the U.S. District Court in Northern California for dropping Fortnite.

Source:AP

 

Also Read:

HUAWEI TO INTRODUCE A NOTEBOOK WITH FLOATING DISPLAY

HUAWEI NOVA 5T PRICE IN NEPAL | FULL SPECIFICATION

APPLE AND GOOGLE ADDING NEW FEATURES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH DEVELOPERS TO BUILD CONTACT-TRACING APPS

MICROSOFT SURFACE DUO: PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER

 

GALAXY S20 APPEARED ON GEEKBENCH WITH AN EXYNOS 990 CHIPSET

Alphabet Inc’s Google and Apple Inc on Tuesday announced a new system that will enable public health authorities to use smartphones to assist in contact tracing without having to build an app.

The new system - called Exposure Notifications Express - will allow public health officials to submit a small configuration file to Apple and Google. The two tech companies will then use the file to set up systems that phone owners can opt in to in order to determine whether they have been near someone who has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

In the case of iPhones, a new version of the iOS operating system being released on Tuesday will alert users whether an exposure notification system is available from local health authorities and allow users to set it up without downloading any new apps. On Android devices, users will also get a prompt from the phone’s operating system, but will still have to download an automatically generated app.

The two companies said Maryland, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., will be the first U.S. places to use the new system. The new system also works alongside tools that the two companies released in May that enable public health officials to build apps that allow iPhones and Android devices to use Bluetooth signals to detect proximity to a person who has tested positive.

Six U.S. states and about two dozen countries have launched exposure notification apps based on the Apple-Google technology in recent weeks without major hitches.

The apps are increasingly compatible with each other, allowing for cross-border tracking. A few jurisdictions, such as Hawaii, are moving forward with separate tracking technology.

However, the effectiveness of exposure notification apps in helping slow coronavirus spread remains a major question. Most governments are not tracking detailed data on app usage in the interest of user privacy.

In Alabama, for example, more than 1,000 students caught the virus in an outbreak in August. But a university representative said it was too early to tell whether a two-week-old state app had made any difference.

source:reuters

Also Read:

JAPAN’S ‘FLYING CAR’ GETS OFF GROUND, WITH A PERSON ABOARD

WORLD’S FIRST VIRTUAL ART MUSEUM VOMA SET TO OPEN IN SEPTEMBER

APPLE AND GOOGLE ADDING NEW FEATURES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH DEVELOPERS TO BUILD CONTACT-TRACING APPS

APPLE TO LAUNCH ITS OWN WEB-BASED SEARCH ENGINE

WALMART AD REVENUE COULD QUICKLY JUMP IF TIKTOK BID SUCCEEDS  

 ELON MUSK'S NEURALINK PUTS COMPUTER CHIPS IN ANIMAL BRAINS  

FACEBOOK TO SOON LINK YOUR ACCOUNT WITH NEWS SUBSCRIPTION 

The company behind the Nokia mobile brand refreshed its smartphone lineup on Thursday with a slew of new budget models, as it struggles to compete with established players like Samsung and Apple.

Finnish start-up HMD Global has held the license to design and sell Nokia handsets since it bought the telecom group’s mobile phone division from Microsoft in 2016. The firm has since released several smartphones and “dumb phones” — including revamped versions of nostalgic devices like the 8110 “banana phone” and 2720 flip phone.

On Thursday, the company announced six new smartphones. They’re divided into three different series: X, which is at the top of the range in terms of pricing and specs; G, which is slightly more affordable than X; and C, which is the cheapest of the bunch. Prices start at 75 euros ($89) for the Nokia C10, while the Nokia X20 is the standout device of all six, retailing at 349 euros, or about $415.

With the X20 you get a 6.67-inch screen, four cameras on the back with a 64-megapixel main lens, and the ability to connect to superfast 5G internet. The X20 and less expensive X10, priced at 309 euros, are both powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 480 5G chipset, run on Google’s Android operating system, and come with three years of security updates, as well as a three-year warranty — one year more than that offered by the G and C series.

The X20 also has a “dual sight” feature that lets you use two of the phone’s cameras at the same time to capture different angles from a shot.

It won’t include a charger in the box for sustainability reasons, arriving with a fully compostable case instead. The phone will ship in Europe next month, while U.S. availability is yet to be revealed.

Fierce competition

Nokia has struggled to gain significant traction in the smartphone market, due to fierce competition from Apple, Samsung and Chinese players like Huawei and Xiaomi. This is an issue that’s dogged manufacturers like Sony and LG. The latter, once a top Android brand, said earlier this week it would quit the smartphone market.

“I think it will continue to be very hard for (Nokia) to be able to compete in the highest portfolios on the market — that’s why they are now targeting lower price bands,” Francisco Jeronimo, associate vice president for European devices at market research firm IDC, told CNBC.

“On the other hand, they have been working quite hard to penetrate the B2B (business-to-business) market, which is a very good opportunity for them because there are not many players that offer an appealing portfolio.”

Nokia-branded smartphones accounted for just 0.6% of the market last year, according to IDC data, shipping fewer handsets than LG and China’s Honor. HMD has, however, performed well in feature phones — also known as “dumb phones” — commanding a 16% share of that market in 2020.

HMD is hoping to branch out into enterprise sales and new services to find other sources of income. The company, which is financially backed by Nokia, Google, and other big investors, launched a SIM card with global data roaming called HMD Connect last year. It managed to break even after prioritizing online sales in the coronavirus pandemic.

HMD is also launching a new mobile network in the U.K. called HMD Mobile. It will operate as a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, meaning it has to rely on another telecom firm’s network infrastructure. Bundles will start from £6.50 ($9) per month. It won’t launch with 5G right off the bat but the firm said it’s working on making the service “5G ready.”

Also Read :

POLESTAR IS BUILDING A ZERO-EMISSIONS CAR WITHOUT ‘COP-OUT’ CARBON OFFSETS

2024 GMC HUMMER EV SUV IS A LARGE ELECTRIC OFF-ROADER

2021 HAVAL COMING SOON TO NEPAL

2021 CITROEN C5 AIRCROSS INDIA LAUNCH HIGHLIGHTS 

CHINESE TELECOM GIANT HUAWEI TO SCRAPE ITS AI AND CLOUD BUSINESS GROUP