Apple StudioPods Over-Ear Headphones

Apple set to launch its own Headphones titled “StudioPods”?

Rumor has it that Apple is all set, well almost anyway, to release its own headphones which could possibly be named studiopods or something with pod in it. This new headphones will be Apple’s first and will complete their audio product range. The studiopods will likely be aimed at the higher end of the market and is supposed to be better that the current airpods.

So taking a look at the release date, the studiopod’s likely price and its name and features we will delve into studiopod’s features without further ado.

What’s in a name? 

At present there is no sure news that Apple plans on releasing anything that has to do with headphones, let alone decide on its name. But looking at the past and Apple’s reputation for naming everything that has to do with audio, “pods” or “air”, this pair of headphones too will come with a prefix or suffix “air” or “pods”.

Right now the only name I will be using is Studiopods since it has a good ring to it.

Likely release date of “studiopods”: 

At present, if rumors are anything to go by, Apple’s studiopods were scheduled to be released in the 4th quarter of this year. But according to Bloomberg, Apple has apparently pushed the release date to the first half of 2019.

We had our hopes that Apple would release these new studiopod headphones along with the iPhones this year. But Alas! Apple is facing some development challenges which might just push the release date to early 2019.

But then again, Apple might just do away with the studiopods project altogether. Rumor has it that Apple has been trying out various designs and has been on and off the project for quite some time.

Studiopod’s Likely Features: 

As Apple has not yet announced plans for a pair of headphones, the likely features of studiopods is anyone’s guess at this point.

But if we were to take a guess we would say, probably wireless pairing like the airpods, noise cancellation functionality and wireless charging which basically is the standard now a days with all headphones.

According to some sources Apple is working with SZS and Primax on the studiopods project.
Primax, a Taipei based company, is known for making camera parts for smart phones including the iPhone but is also known for making wireless speaker parts too.

Apple could also take cue from their Beats company’s Studio 3 which features Apple’s W1 chip and noise cancellation tech. Besides the features, I wonder if the Apple Studiopods price will also take cue from the Beats Studio 3’s.

Price of the highly anticipated studiopods: 

Sources say that Apple’s studiopods price will be much more than the airpods, surprise suprise.
On a serious note, Apple’s studiopods will be priced keeping in mind the higher end of the market.
These new studiopod headphones will likely stand in competition with companies such as Bose and Apple’s very own Beats by dr. Dre brand.

5 iPhone Lenses To Capture The Best Shots in 2018

The Best iPhone Lenses in 2018 To Give You the Best Photos and Videos

Among the smartphone cameras available in the market, Apple promises the best. Cameras that have come along with the smartphones have created a total transformation in the way photos are taken and shared. However, there is a disadvantage since the focal length is fixed with a wide field of view and it will not be suitable for every subject that needs to be captured.

With the latest iPhone lenses you can enhance your photographic skills and take and share images. There are a few iPhone lenses that can be fitted over the smartphone’s lens to give you high quality photos that you shoot and videos you capture.

The iPhone lenses allow the user to get minute details (macro), 180degree field (fisheye) and even landscapes (wide angle). There is also the choice of telephoto lenses. If you are looking for a good deal then there is the option of multiple iPhone lenses with the added advantage of good picture quality.

We take a look at some of the best iPhone lenses that will give the sharpest photos yet

The first choice in iPhone lenses is the Moment’s lenses

The Moment’s lenses can be used as an add-on lens with a wide range of smartphones that includes the iPhone6, 7, 8 as well as the iPhone X. It can also be used for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S9 and the Google Pixel 2 Series. The Moment’s lenses range from macro to telephoto. These lenses are made of glass optical elements and are within a metal frame. You get a good image quality and the lenses are very durable.

Moment has come out with its latest Filmaker Collection by stressing on mobile cinematography. With the Moment’s lenses you get the sharpest photos and if price is not the criteria and you are looking for good picture quality, then it is the best investment you can make. It costs $90 for a single lens and $190 for a kit that includes wide angle lens, telephoto lens and mounting plate.

The OlloclipiPhone Lenses which are simple and still efficient

This is a professional iPhone lens that snaps onto your iPhone 7, 7 Plus, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.Olloclip is known for its high-quality iPhone lenses. Olloclip’s lenses comes in three sets-Core, Active and Macro Pro. The Core set includes the fisheye, 15x macro and a super-wide lens. The Active set has the telephoto and ultra-wide lens. In the Macro Pro set there is the 7x, 14x and 21x macro lenses as well as an InstaFocus hood whereby you get sharp images. It is simple yet efficient and the Olloclip set starts at $80. For $200 you can get all three lens sets and the Olloclip hand grip.

The Olloclip Connect X iPhone X lens enhances the iPhone X camera. You can shoot closer and wider angles with the Macro 15x and Fisheye Lens. These iPhone lenses can be attached easily and still retain the sleek design of the smartphone. This iPhone lens also provides for a 180degree spherical effect and is priced at $59.99.

Aukey Ora Lens: A best budget iPhone lens

The Aukey Ora lens is wide angle having a 140degree view and a 10x macro lens for close views. Both these iPhone lenses are of an aluminium alloy that comes with a coating to prevent lens flares and other problems. When we consider the 140degree wide angle view, it is fairly sharp and shows very little curvature. With the Aukey Ora 10x macro lens, fine details are sharply focussed and deliver quality pictures. It sells at $20 which is a good value for your money where you can keep things simple and also get good shots. The Aukey Ora lens works on IPhone 7, 6 and 6 Plus as well as Samsung and some Android smartphones.

ExoLens Pro by Zeiss: An iPhone lens which is great but heavy on the pocket

The Zeiss ExoLens Pro is an excellent quality lens with good image quality and low distortion. The casing is made of black anodised aluminium and the detachable lens is fairly heavy. Inside there are aspherical elements to overcome distortion and an antireflective coating to lessen the reflections and improve light transmission. The drawback is that it is large, a bit heavy and expensive. The quality of the images that the Exolens Pro captures justifies its size. It gives excellent images and widens the view of the iPhone camera without any distortion. Even the images at the edges of the frame are sharp, clean and detailed. There is the telephoto lens selling at $199.99 and the Macro Zoom at $149.99. The ExoLens Pro comes with rubber inner sleeves which is suitable for a wide range of iPhones.

SANDMARC iPhone lenses

SANDMARC has launched a range of lenses for iPhone users. It has introduced the wide angle, fisheye and macro optic which is suitable for the iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X. The macro lens is priced at 469.99, the fisheye at $79.99 which comes with a 5x wide capture. The wide angle lens which comes with a 2x capture is priced at $89.99. In case you wish to buy all the three SANDMARC lenses, then you can get them at $189.99. Each of the lens comes with a lens case mount or if the case is not available then you can use the lens with a clip mount.

Before you buy an iPhone lens, you need to consider the sharpness of the photos at the edges, see for any distortion, any distortion of light where the center of the photos are brighter than the edges and also the price. When going in for telephoto lenses, you need to be aware of the fact that they will produce jittery and blurry photos as compared to wide angle or fisheye due to slight hand shake or vibrations.

Top 10 Features of iOS 12 That Give iPhones an Edge over Android

Why iOS 12 May be better than Android P?

Apple recently announced the release of iOS 12 at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2018. With Google’s Andriod P set to be released somewhere in this year and with Apple’s iOS 12 coming out at the same time, it is going to be a tough competition for both companies. But at present Apple seems to be ruling the roost. At the recent conference Apple said that while Google’s latest update was enjoyed by only a few namely 6% of android devices, Apple’s latest iOS 11 is being used by 81% of their users.

With both android P and iOS 12 coming out with a slew of features, it will be interesting to see which company comes out on the top. Looking at the features Apple’s iOS 12 will bring, it seems that Google better pull up their socks soon or we may see more users shifting over to Apple.

Siri just got Smarter:

With iOS 12 users can now use Siri with third party apps without the need for actually opening up those apps to use the voice assistant. Apple users can even use Siri to trigger different actions or a single command can be used for multiple actions. As for Google assistant, users cannot use the assistant for giving commands to third party apps.

No Tracking with Apple’s Browser:

Apple’s Safari browser has smart tracking prevention that basically prevents people from tracking users based on their “likes”, “shares” and “comments” on social media. While on the other hand Google has no way of stopping cookies from tracking a user’s browsing habits.

iOS 12 has graduated to memojis:

With iOS 12 users get to play with memojis while Google is still stuck with animojis in Android P. Android is dependent on individual OEMs to power their emojis.

FaceTiming with a lot more people on iOS 12:

With iOS 12 users will get a major update to their FaceTime app. You will be able to chat with 32 people at a time using FaceTime and the app will also automatically detect the person who is talking and highlight their face in such a big group.

iOS to reach even older iPhones:

iOS 12 will supposedly reach even older iPhone models starting from iPhone 5S while Google’s Android P will be usable with only newer android phones.

Measure real life objects with iOS 12:

Apple’s iOS 12 will allow you to measure real life objects using the iPhone’s camera and AR technology. Google teases about a lot of AR in Android P but there are no real life cases in which the tech can be applied as of now.

iOS 12 brings you multiplayer AR games:

With iOS 12 more than one person and up to 4 persons can play AR games while Google’s Android P lacks any multiplayer AR games.

Already there QR scanner with iOS 12:

iOS 12 comes with an already there QR scanner while with Android P users will have to download the scanner from third party apps.

iOS 12 Brings Cool New Features and Edge Over Others

Apple seems to have taken the challenge from Android P which has simply revamped the way Android works, feels and responds to a whole new level. iOS 12 is an apt answer for the millions of the Apple who were looking for something drastic on the similar lines. iOS 12 is filled with huge amount of new features which makes iOS exciting once again. iOS12 brings highly personalised animoji to the smarter Siri which is capable to do a large number of tasks on the go.

Memoji debuts in iOS12

Animoji is just too old for Apple and with iOS 12 Apple has brought the whole new memoji. Memoji are nothing more than the virtual avatar of the users and herein Apple allows users to tinker with the skin tone, age and facial features to make the memojis more personal. This can be found in the iMessage alongside the usual animoji. Users will also get a chanceto superimpose their Mmeoji right on the top of their real image in the FaceTime call.

Siri becomes smarter in iOS 12

iOS 12 will allows users to create their very own commands to get more done with Siri. With this new feature users will be able to get more tasks done simultaneously by Siri without specifically asking for it. For example while going for a bike ride simply askingSiri to go for a bike ride will give it a signal to showcase results related to weather, map direction and even set up a reminder for carrying along the helmet. Users can create custom phrase by going to the Siri&Search section present within the Settings to come up with new exciting sets of shortcuts.

Notifications are better in iOS 12

We can’t live without the constant flow of the notifications on our mobile devices. Apple has made the notification management on the iOS 12 much smarter and better integrated than ever before. In iOS 12 users will get the notification grouped together by their type rather than being single long stream like before. Apple has simple taken the page from the Android counterpart to come up with this newer notification management. Apple has also added a new option called "Manage" which will allow users to have better control over the notifications.

Users get a "quiet" option, which will simply ensure that no notification makes it way to the lock screen at all. Rather users will find the notification present in the notification center or in the form of the badge placed on the app icon.

Screen Time is new on iOS 12

If you wish to know how much time is being spent on any particular app then Screen Timeis for you. Going to the Setting in iOS 12 users will find the new “Screen Time" feature which gives a breakdown of the time spent on the phone based on the app usage. This is very much like the Digital Health which made its debut with the Android P.

What is Apple Star?

New Apple Gadget on the Cards? Could Apple Star be the new Gadget we were all waiting for? 

 

Apple is planning a top secret new gadget called Apple Star. What exactly this gadget is about is anyone’s guess. It could be a hybrid laptop or a new iPhone? We may not know what the gadget is as of now but what we do know is that rumor mills are a float with news of the new gadget, with everyone taking a guess at what the new gadget code named N84 could be.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer conference is only days away and we think the tech giant may give us more updates on Apple Star at that event. Right now anything concerning Apple Star would be an update. But as of now Apple is mum on the whole thing. At present a debate seems to be going on Apple Star being a hybrid laptop or new and cheaper iPhone.

Apple Star a Hybrid Laptop? 

Rumor has it that Apple Star could be a Hybrid Laptop and why not? seeing as they’re doing so well. Take a look at HP Envy X2 and Huawei MateBook Pro X if you don’t believe me. Based on rumors Apple could me making a new touch screen laptop.

According to some reports Apple’s new hybrid laptop could come with an iOS operating system. This new gadget goes by the name of it’s model number N84. The rumored Apple Star will run an iOS which is commonly found in iPhones and never seen on laptops. Having iOS on this rumored laptop could mean that users will have access to the iOS app store just like chromebook users have to the Google app store.

Another feature Apple Star could have is a detachable screen that lets you use the gadget like a tablet too. Apple Star could be the start of a whole new line of products for Apple.

Besides the detachable screen, Apple Star is also rumored to have 4G LTE connectivity, GPS, a SIM card slot and a compass. If this is not enough for you Apple Star is supposedly water resistant too. Another feature commonly found on mobile phones and tablets is that some of them come with ARM processors and this too will be seen in Apple Star.

A bunch of trial computers are already being tested by Apple employees and then again these new laptops could be Apple’s Cheaper MacBooks that are supposed to be released later this year.

Could Apple Star be the next version of iPhone? 

Another report claims that Apple Star could be a cheaper iPhone X that Apple may release later this year.

This new iPhone is all set to have a huge 6.1 inch screen display and an LCD display instead of the OLED displays commonly found on Apple’s flagship offerings and this cheaper iPhone is rumored to cost just $550 as opposed to the much higher costing iPhones that are out there.

This Apple Star gadget is rumored to come out in September alongside the iPhone X2 and iPhone X Plus.