The Samsung Galaxy Fold Delay Saga - Geared Up!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, PC / Laptop, Software,

What happened to the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Fold? I bring you a look at the device from teaser all the way through to the delay - find out about the launch and the missteps of the first smartphone with a foldable display that was set to ship last week and got pulled at the last minute.

We also talk about what to expect with the new iPhone 11, including major upgrades to the cameras.

Lastly, iOS apps are coming to the Mac with macOS 10.15. What does this mean for the future of Apple's desktop operating system? All that on this episode of Geared Up!

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

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Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Samsung and Apple.

Apple Card: Apple announces its own credit card with a focus on privacy

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News,

During today's It's Show Time Apple Event, the company announced Apple Card, a brand new credit card that promises to change the way consumers work with credit cards. Apple says it is focusing on simple, instant applications, no fees ever, lower interest rates, and better rewards. In order to sign up, users use the Apple Wallet app in the iPhone, and instantly upon approval they get a digital card that is ready to use in their wallet. You'll be able to track purchases, check balances, make payments, and more right from the app.

As for bonuses, Apple is introducing Daily Cash. You get 3% cash back when buying from Apple (including Apple Store, App Store, etc.,) 2% cash back when you use your Apple Card through Apple Pay, and 1% cash back when you use your physical card (and by the way, the physical Apple Card is forged from titanium!) Daily Cash is instantly accessible to be used for whatever you'd like - pay your balance, buy apps, send the cash to friends, spend it, etc.

Focusing on privacy, “Apple doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you paid for it,” says Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay. All the spending tracking and other information is stored directly on the device, not Apple’s servers. Apple also says “Goldman Sachs will never sell your data to third parties for marketing and advertising,” either.

Geared Up: FaceTime eavesdropping bug, minimalist phones, and rumored Apple gaming subscription service

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Displays, Home Entertainment,

In this episode of Geared Up, Andru Edwards and Starla Sampaco discuss the FaceTime bug that allowed iPhone users to eavesdrop on the person they called, reports of a new gaming subscription service from Apple, the minimalist phone trend, signs of new iPads and a seventh-generation iPod touch, and a foldable phone from Samsung. Plus, if you're doing some last-minute TV shopping ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, Andru has some recommendations for you.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

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WWDC 2018: Apple announces iOS 12

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds, Software,

During today's WWDC 2018 keynote, Apple announced the next generation of its mobile software in iOS 12. Here are the biggest points of news for iOS 12:

PERFORMANCE

• Apple is doubling down on performance with the aim of making devices faster and more devices
• iOS 12 will be available on all the same devices that support iOS 11 - this includes devices that shipped back in 2013.
• Apps launch twice as fast on devices running iOS 12 on even the oldest devices

AUGMENTED REALITY

• A major update in iOS 12 is more AR support. Adobe took the stage to introduced simplified tools that will allow developers to create better AR experiences.
• There's a new file format for AR, called USDZ, created in collaboration with Pixar.
• A new app, Measure, will allow you to take measurements in real-time using an iOS device with AR. A demo was shown measuring a suitcase using just an iPhone X.
• Support for shared experiences is announced - multiple users can see the same AR environment in real-time. This allows developers to create worlds that people can all see simultaneously.
• LEGO took the stage to demo a shared AR LEGO app

PHOTOS

• The Photos app gets new updates and features, starting with search. Search Suggestions will highlight things like key moments, places you've taken photos, business names, and events like concerts and sporting events. You can search for multiple terms, like surfing and vacation, to drill down into your library.
• Effect suggestions give you reccomendations to edits you can make to your photos to make them even better.
• Sharing suggestions will find people in your photos and allow you to share them with the folks who are in them. Shared photos are full resolution.
• When you share, the receiver will also be given a suggestion to share photos from the same event with you.

SIRI

• Siri Shortcuts allows you to pull in specific tasks from your apps. An example given was "I lost my keys" to have Siri activate your Tile hardware.
• You can create your own Siri Shortcuts as well, so you can put together your own shortcut phrases.
• A demo was shown using Siri Shortcuts - the user said "travel plans" and got their hotel reservation with an image, address, and check-in time from Siri
• A "Heading Home" shortcut is able to set the home thermostat, play a podcast, send an ETA to a contact, and turn on a HomeKit fan. Very impressive stuff.

APPS

• The News app gets an updated sidebar to make navigation easier
• The Stocks app gets more granular vision to see stock performance. Apple News stories are now integrated into the Stocks app as well, giving you business news on the stocks that you follow.
• The Stocks app now comes to iPad with iOS 12.
• Voice Memos app also comes to iPad with iOS 12, with iCloud support built-in for syncing across devices.
• iBooks becomes Apple Books with a redesigned app.
• In iOS 12, CarPlay will support third-party navigation apps.

DIGITAL HEALTH

• Do Not Disturb is updated to hide notifications at night, and in the morning hides notifications until you specify that you want to see them.
• Do Not Disturb allows you to choose much more granular timeframes rather than just optimized for overnight.
• Notifications can be turned on or off on a per-app basis right from the lock screen
• Notifications can now be grouped by app, topic, or thread. With a swipe, you can dismiss an entire group of notifications.
• A new feature called Screentime offers reports, giving a weekly summary that shows how you used your iOS device. This shows how much time you spend in each app, how often per hour you pick up your phone, and which apps are sending you the most notifications.
• App Limits allows you to set a limited amount of time that you'd like to use specific apps per day. 
• Kids get activity reports too, and parents get reports on their own devices of their kids usage. Parents can also create downtime periods and app limits. This is setup through the Family Sharing interfaces.

MESSAGES

• Animoji now support tongue detection for sticking tongues out
• New ghost, koala, tiger, and T-Rex Animoji characters
• Apple announces Memoji, allowing you to create your own customized 3D emoji character that looks like you
• Memoji has a slick creator app to design your character
• The Messages camera now includes effects, filters, stickers, and even Animoji and Memoji right in the camera

FACETIME

• Apple announces Group FaceTime, which allows you to chat with up to 32 simultaneous participants
• You can use both audio or video
• FaceTime is integrated into Messages, allowing you to quickly do a Group FaceTime right from a group chat
• A demo is shown, and as people speak, they become bigger on screen, or you can choose who to bring front and center
• The same effects mentioned above in Messages also applies to the FaceTime camera

Improved performance, new AR experiences, digital health, improved Messages, Group FaceTime, and more. That's iOS 12.

Enter our Huawei Mate 10 Pro giveaway!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Smartphones, Features,

I've teamed up with Huawei to give away a Mate 10 Pro smartphone for Father's Day! The Huawei Mate 10 Pro features impeccable build quality, the 6-inch Huawei FullView display, the Mate 10 Pro camera system developed by Leica, and more! If you're looking for an Android smartphone that lives up to the term "flagship" to give to the dad in your life, you can't go wrong with a Mate 10 Pro.

To enter, just use the widget below to manage your entries. Good luck to all who enter!

Huawei Mate 10 Pro Father's Day Giveaway!

Mysterious new Hydrogen One smartphone from Red and getting hyped for Tesla Model 3 - Geared Up!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Features, Handhelds, PC / Laptop, Transportation, Videos,

The Geared Up Giveaway is back! We're giving Geared Up subscribers the chance to win an Oculus Go headset. See the bottom of this post for details on how to enter the giveaway.

High-end camera maker Red unveiled a mysterious new smartphone this week, and Geared Up co-host Andru Edwards was there for the hands-on experience. He said the new phone has some cool and exciting features, but also some strange ones.

Plus, Microsoft is once again trying to take on Apple's dominance in the tablet market. But can a new line of Surface devices make a real change?

We also dive into the hype around the Tesla Model 3, which is now rolling out to customers. Andru ordered his Model 3 more than two years ago and is picking it up in just a few days.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast app.

Subscribe to the Geared Up podcast:

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Win an Oculus Go VR Headset from Geared Up!

Shuffle readies PrivateLine app to aid in user privacy & battle robocalls

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News,

A few weeks ago, I produced a video giving you a look at Shuffle and both its Shuffle app and upcoming Shuffle PrivateLine app (embedded below) while outlining the massive privacy implications of using various 2nd phone number apps, which feeds into the current robocall epidemic we’re experiencing here in the US. Now, Shuffle is back with the results of even more custom research on this topic, and it’s eye-opening. If you feel like you’ve been getting nonstop robocalls lately, you’re not alone.

In fact, there were over 30.5 billion robocalls placed in the United States in 2017, an increase over the 29.3 billion in 2016. This isn’t something that’s slowing down, either, as December 2017 saw a massive 2.8 billion unsolicited (at best) or illegal (at worst) calls - that’s an average of 89.6 million every day, or 8.6 calls for every person.

Click to continue reading Shuffle readies PrivateLine app to aid in user privacy & battle robocalls

Mega Smartphone Giveaway: Win an iPhone X, Pixel 2, or Galaxy Note 8!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Apple, Smartphones, Features, Handhelds, Videos,

The Mega Smartphone Giveaway!

Welcome to our MEGA Smartphone Giveaway! We are giving away three of the best smartphones of 2017 to celebrate the end of the year, and this is your opportunity to walk away with an iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, and Google Pixel 2! Here is how it will work:

• The first place winner gets to choose their pick from the 3 smartphones - iPhone X, Note 8, and Pixel 2
• The second place winner gets to choose between the 2 that are left
• The third place winner gets the remaining smartphone (The winner that chooses the iPhone may substitute an iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus instead of the iPhone X if they prefer)

Big shout out to Erica Griffin and David Cogen (The Unlockr) for teaming up with me on this giveaway! Good luck to all! Which phone would you pick if you won? Do the Pixel 2 cameras call your name? Are you all about Face ID with the iPhone X? The stylus of the Galaxy Note 8? Let me know!

ZTE Tempo X Smartphone Giveaway!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Smartphones, Handhelds,

ZTE Tempo X Giveaway!

ZTE just launched the new Tempo X smartphone on Boost Mobile, and we've got one to give away to a lucky winner! If you're unaware, the ZTE Tempo X sports some great features without breaking the bank - in fact, it sells for just $59.99 currently! The Tempo X boasts a 1.1GHz quad-core processor alongside Android Nougat, a 5-inch FXVGA display, and even a microSD card slot that supports expansion up to 32GB. The phone will even work if you head to Mexico, with built-in roaming capabilities. You also get a 5 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front camera, and the Tempo X can even act as a mobile hotspot. Not bad at all for a budget device!

Use the widget above to enter the giveaway and manage your entries - good luck!

Google Pixel vs. Nexus 6P: Which is the Better Android Smartphone?

Posted by Kevin Nether Categories: Smartphones, Editorial, Handhelds, Product Reviews,

The Pixel and the Nexus are like brothers from another mother. On the one hand, you've got Google's best from last year and on the other, Google's best from this year. But how does the Nexus 6P stack up against the Pixel, one year later? Let's find out.

If you look at design, they're pretty far apart. The 6P's metal build with a visor up top is definitely premium but so is the Pixel's metal and glass combination. Their size comes down to personal preference but you can pick up the Pixel over the Pixel XL if size matters to you.

Click to continue reading Google Pixel vs. Nexus 6P: Which is the Better Android Smartphone?