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    1. Apple Keynote Discussion Thread [September 10, 2019 @ 10:00 am PDT]

      The Apple Keynote is on September 10th, at 10am Pacific Daylight Time (daylight savings is in effect). I'm making this thread as a place to discuss the announcements here on ~tech. TIme: 10:00am...

      The Apple Keynote is on September 10th, at 10am Pacific Daylight Time (daylight savings is in effect). I'm making this thread as a place to discuss the announcements here on ~tech.

      TIme:

      • 10:00am PDT (California / Apple time)
      • 5:00pm GMT (Greenwich time)

      Livestream Links


      Tl;Dr of actual announcements (updating right now)

      • Apple Arcade announced
        • $4.99 / month and one month free.
        • 100 indie exclusives on launch
      • Apple TV+ announced
        • $4.99 / month, launching November 1
        • New originals every month! 100 countries at launch
        • Including 1 year free with device (iPhone, iPad, or mac) purchases starting today.
      • New base model iPad
        • 10.2 inch display, Runs A10 Fusion chip, (optional) smart keyboard
        • New iPad is made from 100% recycled aluminum (like the new MacBook air)
        • Starts at $399 (competing with chrome books). $299 for education customers.
        • includes Apple Pencil support
      • Apple Watch Series 5!!!!
        • Health and Fitness video
        • 3 New health studies!!!
          - Apple Hearing Study
          - Apple Women's Health Study (How cycles affect various health conditions)
          - Apple Heart Study
          - Enrollment is voluntary. OPT-IN by downloading the app and getting enrolled.
        • Apple Watch Series 5
          - ALWAYS ON LTPO OLED display, with Dynamic Refresh Rate (1Hz - 60Hz VRR)
          - Same 18 hour battery life
          - International Emergency Calling on all cellular models
          - 100% recycled aluminum.
          - Stainless Steel, Titanium, Ceramic
          - Series 3 watch starts at $199, Series 5 starts at $499
      • iPhone 11!
        • Aluminum and Glass, comes in a bunch of colors
        • Spatial audio + Dolby Atmos for next level smartphone sound
        • New Camera -- 120º FOV Wide angle camera, 12MP with 100% Focus Pixels
          - 0.5x Optical Zoom out :)
          - New Image processing pipelines, with semantic rendering and adaptive tone mapping
          - Portrait mode improvements (wider portraits, and more) (yay, now for pets!)
          - Night Mode has adaptive image slicing and fusion for reducing blur in long exposure.
          - 4K HDR video at 60fps (was previously 30fps!)
          - Front Camera is now 12MP wide angle
          - 4K 30fps HDR video, Slowmotion Video for front facing camera! :)
        • A13 Bionic processor
          - fastest GPU and CPU ever in a smartphone
          - Game demo showing off Metal 2 Shaders, Bloom, and AA in realtime at 60fps
          - Battery is now 1 hr longer than the previous XR
          - U1 Chip? (on slide, not mentioned)
        • Wifi 6 support!
        • 2m water resistance for 30 minutes
        • 6.1 inch Liquid Retina display
        • Priced sanely at $699
      • iPhone 11 Pro
        • 3 camera array
        • Matte Textured Glass
        • Super Retina XDR Display.
          - 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio
          - 1200 nits of brightness
          - 426 ppi
          - Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
        • A13 Bionic Chip Design
          - Machine Learning Matrix Multiplier Accelerators make matrix operations 6x faster on iPhone
          - Best ML platform of any Smartphone
          - Lower power design using 7nm+ lithography
          - 8.5 Billion Transistors
          - 4 High Efficiency CPU cores
          - Hundreds of Voltage domains and clock domains
          - Each region of the chip is at least 20% faster, and uses at least 20% less power
        • 3 camera system
          - 4x zoom range (0.5 to 2x)
          - 53-13mm focal lengths, and f1.8 to f2.4
          - Deep Fusion camera system - stitches together burst photos + long exposure to maximize detail and reduce noise.
          - Filmic Pro demo -- allowing multiple camera use at the same time.
        • iPhone 11 Pro at $999, Pro Max at $1099
        • iPhone 11 at $699 and XR at $599 and iPhone 8 at $499 to complete the lineup.
      • Apple Store Updates
        • Apple Watch Studio - pair any watch with any band of your choice. Configure as you want
        • iPhone trade ins can now be used for a lower monthly rate if you buy an iPhone, rather than simply taking off the purchase price.
        • 5th Ave Store is being redesigned and re-opening Sept 20th!

      Other miscellaneous / fun stuff


      Edits:

      • fixed part about browsers with HLS support, and added a table showing compatible browsers.
      • remved "what we're expecting" section, and started updating the event live feed.
      26 votes
    2. Feature phones and time management apps recs

      So I kind of want to try the Nokia 8110, it's a feature phone with an app store that contains it's own version of Google Maps and Assistant. I use my phone an awful lot, and I'm thinking that a...

      So I kind of want to try the Nokia 8110, it's a feature phone with an app store that contains it's own version of Google Maps and Assistant. I use my phone an awful lot, and I'm thinking that a less capable phone would be helpful in using my phone less for browsing the internet, news, and discourse and using it more for what I would want to do with it, calls, texts, navigation, music and podcasts.

      Unfortunately, the Nokia 8110 is only available on AT&T in the States, and they stink, so I was wondering if anyone had any picks for devices that would scratch that itch, specialized apps, or other tools that could be used. I like the idea of another device that I could use as a daily driver so I can put some physical distance between myself and my current phone, but if you have an app or a system that you swear by, I'm down for it.

      Also kind of interested in maybe combining the ZeroPhone Raspberry Pi with support for Alexa or Google Assistant, but that seems like a time waster and a half.

      7 votes
    3. OnePlus made me buy my Pixel 3. Anyone else have bad experiences with OnePlus?

      This is going to sound like a total rant, but I just don't know what to do anymore. I've been completely screwed by OnePlus and they really just don't care. I bought a OnePlus 6T back at the end...

      This is going to sound like a total rant, but I just don't know what to do anymore. I've been completely screwed by OnePlus and they really just don't care. I bought a OnePlus 6T back at the end of November and received it in early December. It has barely worked for about two weeks since then. The ticket I have open with them is ridiculously long. And then they just went dead silent on me. I assumed I was being ignored. I even got the perma-hold ignore on the phone too. But today OnePlus finally replied after 27 days!! During all this time I just went out and bought a Pixel 3XL and I am tickled pink with it.

      If anyone wants a good laugh at my expense you are welcome to read my story on my site read my story on my site.

      From the bottom of my heart - be careful spending your money with OnePlus.

      *edit - formatting

      5 votes
    4. My dad had a stroke; looking for free Android games to help him pass time and recover

      Last month my dad had a stroke. Miraculously he didn't lose much functionality at all, though he does have some minor cognitive issues that we're working on in rehab - mainly memory. Accordingly,...

      Last month my dad had a stroke. Miraculously he didn't lose much functionality at all, though he does have some minor cognitive issues that we're working on in rehab - mainly memory. Accordingly, we want to find some games he can play on his tablet to help keep his mind active and focus his attention. But the mobile game market is hard for me to navigate and sort through for what I'm looking for.

      I need games that're about a dollar or less and don't have in-app purchases. Basically games you could give to your kid and trust that they're not gonna be psychologically manipulated into wanting to empty your bank card or something like that.

      Brain teasers and simple puzzles are ideal for sharpening his mind but any game that's good clean straightforward fun will work. I don't think he's going to be able to handle anything with a whole lot of moving parts like an RTS right now, for instance.

      I can't afford to spend much on this and I don't know what kinds of games will interest him most so I want to give him a lot of choices. I've already looked through a couple of the other mobile game rec threads on here and I'm checking out the games listed there, but I was hoping you all could help me think of some stuff more geared to my situation. Any pointers even just on where to go looking or what to google would be appreciated. Cheers!

      Edit:

      Thank you all for being so supportive! I've added a bunch of the games you recommended, and I also found a couple nice lists that I thought I'd add here for anyone else interested.

      Short List of Totally Free Games

      10 Completely Free Mobile Games

      Stay awesome tildes!

      20 votes