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Apple TV 4K (2021) review: The future of streaming or just more of the same?

(Pocket-lint) – The last Apple TV 4K launched in 2017. At the time it coincided with the start of the movement to embrace the growing trend of 4K content from the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime.

In 2021 watching TV hasn’t changed that much, but we are doing a lot more of it. Subscription services have boomed, we’ve now got more choice – including Apple’s own TV+ service – and therefore even more content to watch.

But does the 2021 Apple TV 4K set-top box embrace current viewing habits enough to be worth the upgrade – or even a purchase in the first place – especially given the crowded marketplace dominated by a host of other, cheaper options from Amazon, Roku, Google and the likes?

Everything feels the same

Puck-style box design, measures 98 x 98 x 35mm
Supports: 4K HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos
32GB / 64GB storage variants available
Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, AirPlay

The design of the Apple TV box itself hasn’t changed at all for the 2021 model. It’s a squarish box that’s certainly larger than the competition. It features just three inputs on the back: Ethernet, HDMI, and power.

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You’ll still need a shelf or a wall-mount to put it on, and if you were hoping for a miniaturised stick to put straight into a spare HDMI socket on your telly then, well, you’re out of luck.

As has always been the case there are no buttons on the box itself, so everything is controlled via the included remote. Or you can use your iPhone, iPad, or voice control via Siri.

The Apple TV 4K’s interface hasn’t changed either, so the focus is about giving you access to all the relevant streaming services – as long as they have a supporting app.

The continued push into a central place to discover more content from supporting streaming services, rather than silo-ing everything in their respective apps, does help you discover content that’s available. However, it’s hard at times to differentiate whether that content is going to cost you above and beyond your current subscriptions. And it’s still missing Netflix within those content recommendations – which is a glaring omission.

As with the 2017 model, you get 4K resolution, high dynamic range (HDR), including Dolby Atmos object-based audio and Dolby Vision HDR support – which is great stuff if your TV and/or AV setup supports it (Apple’s AirPods Pro or AirPods Max still don’t with the Apple TV but do for the iPhone and iPad, for example).

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The ability to connect game controllers (sold separately) via Bluetooth 5.0 means you can grab one of those spare Xbox or PlayStation controllers to jump in too.

Best Xbox controllers: Get the edge with these third-party and official pads
Best PlayStation controller: Pick up an extra PS4 or PS5 game pad

Apple hasn’t increased the storage options for the 2021 model either. It still comes in 32GB and 64GB capacities, but that’s not really an issue as everything is streamed these days anyway.

New, new, new

High Frame Rate (HFR) support up to 60fps
Apple A12 Bionic processor
Updated Siri remote
HDMI 2.1 port

There are some changes of course. Internally the 4K TV box now comes with a much faster processor – the one previously found in the iPhone XS – and that helps on the gaming side of things via Apple Arcade.

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Why only the iPhone XS processor and not the iPhone 12 processor or the iPad Pro’s M1? It’s likely to come down to cost and need. After all, this isn’t a Mac mini nor a fully-fledged games console. Most Apple Arcade games are designed to work nicely on the provided processor – we didn’t have any trouble running NBA2K21 or other games, but the loading times could be improved.

The new box also gets better connectivity. There’s Wi-Fi 6 (ax), allowing it to better connect to your Wi-Fi in dual-band (2.4GHz/5GHz) for those high bandwidth streams you’ll be planning. There’s also HDMI 2.1 support to enable a new High Frame Rate mode that allows you to play content up to 60 frames per second (supported by the iPhone 12 Pro, for example) and any future benefits that will come from that port over time.

Apple has also added support for Thread. This fairly new smart home connectivity technology is backed by Apple, Amazon, and Google. Again, you might not find a use for it out of the box on day one, but it’s likely to become much more important in our smart home futures, so having some level of future-proofing is welcomed.

There’s a new colour-balancing mode that’s not exclusive to this model, which uses your iPhone to help ensure the Apple TV is optimised for the best colour balance in your room. It’s clever, but for us made very little difference.

A new, much needed remote

Remote measures: 136 x 35 x 9.25mm

Although you can buy the new remote on its own – which is a way to easily ‘upgrade’ the older box – the new one included in the this box is the biggest and most visible change for the 2021 Apple TV 4K. It’s one feature that removes a lot of the pain barriers (first-world problems, we know) to using the Apple set-top box on a daily basis.

The new remote is considerably bigger than its predecessor, doesn’t sport a design you’ll get the wrong way up, nor a Siri button that you’ll accidentally press by mistake all of the time.

The Menu button has been ditched, there’s a new mute button, and Apple has thankfully shifted the Siri button to the side to emulate other remotes and match the same experience found on the iPhone, iPad, and even Apple Watch.

Swiping is still available, but it’s now via a circular physical touch button d-pad with a dedicated scroll option for scrubbing through shows – reminiscent of using an iPod from days gone by. That said, you can ignore that and still swipe left to right too – which can cause some muddled responses.

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There’s even a new ‘power’ button that can not only turn off your Apple TV 4K, but also your TV and AV kit. Handy.

What is a surprising omission, however, especially given the recent launch of AirTags, is that the remote doesn’t have a finding option to help you find it down the back of the sofa when lost. No Find My Support, no ‘play a sound’ option. It’s another glaring own goal.

The ecosystem shines through, but you have to pay for it

Third-party app support, including Disney+, Amazon Prime, Netflix, more
Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade
Support for catch-up services (including BBC iPlayer)

Against the competition the Apple TV 4K does deliver, but it can also be seen as very expensive for what you get – it’s almost four times as much as the Roku Streaming Stick+, for example. That’s a big premium to pay for just watching movies and getting access to the Apple TV store – something which you might already have if you’ve got the right TV.

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Where Apple is hoping to convince you though is that the benefits to be found in being part of the Apple ecosystem. Getting started is incredibly easy thanks to a simple setup process using your iPhone. Apple Fitness+ users benefit with connectivity to the Apple Watch, and Apple Arcade subscribers get a wealth of games to play too – but that’s a lot of extra cash for features that not everyone might want or have the need to use.

Verdict

There is no denying that the 2021 Apple TV 4K delivers what it sets out to do: packaging streaming services and Apple services all in the one place. It’s the extras like Apple Arcade and Apple Fitness+ that make this a nicely rounded package that will cater for the TV viewer as well as the casual gamer and fitness fan.

Despite this, we can’t help feeling that there are better and cheaper ways to get streaming content like Disney+, Netflix, or even Apple TV+ on your television from the likes of Roku and others.

The Apple TV has always come at a premium, but the 2021 model doesn’t move things on enough to justify either an upgrade or a recommendation over the competition – unless you really believe you’ll be able to maximise on all the additional Apple services and features it offers. And if you’re a current Apple TV 4K owner then you can simply buy the updated Siri remote on its own.

If you’re looking for an inclusive package that has potential to grow over the coming years and possibly adapt to how you use your TV or enjoy content in the home, then that’s one angle. The trouble for many with the 2021 box is that you’ll have to take the hit and pay for all that potential up front – whether it’s ever fully realised or not.

Also consider

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Roku Streaming Stick+

Roku is s big name in streaming, offering access to all the major services in a slim device that supports the latest 4K HDR formats. A simple remote makes it easy to control, while its asking price undercuts the majority of the competition.

Read our review

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Amazon Fire Stick 4K

Amazon’s media streamers keep getting smaller and more affordable, with features like Alexa voice control via the remote making it a no-brainer for many. Although it leans towards Amazon’s content, it does also cover all services – including Netflix – and supports 4K HDR formats and Dolby Atmos object-based audio too.

Read our review

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Writing by Stuart Miles.

Sony WF-1000XM4 render leak gives best look yet at new wireless earbuds

(Image credit: Evan Blass)

If you were in any doubt that Sony’s next premium true wireless earbuds are nearly here, this latest leak should settle it. Reliable leaker Evan Blass has posted a series of very official-looking renders of the highly rumoured Sony WF-1000XM4 true wireless earbuds. Following leaks earlier this month and in February, it suggests the WF-1000XM3 successors are very close to becoming official.

Sony WF-1000XM4 pic.twitter.com/Z4j7YTVbDiMay 20, 2021

Sony WF-1000XM4 leaks and news round-up

These renders corroborate what we’ve already seen, lending them significant credence. It seems the pill shape of the WF-1000XM3 is gone, replaced by a rounded shape that should make the earbuds smaller. The Sony logo is no longer on the front but on the side, and they will come in black/copper and silver colour schemes.

(Image credit: Evan Blass)

There are no specs to go with the pics, but they do give us a very good look at the buds and charging case from all sorts of angles. You can see the curved case, left and right labels on the relevant earbud, the ear tips and more.

Previous leaks have provided more in the way of expected features to go on. We’ve previously seen images of the earbuds’ box which included a “Hi-Res Audio” logo, suggesting the XM4 will be compatible with Sony’s LDAC technology.

That same leak also seemed to confirm the buds’ six-hour battery life, plus another 18 from the case, giving them an AirPods-equalling 24 hours of total run time before needing to be plugged in.

Wireless charging is a given, too, and the case should power up quicker than their predecessors. They might also have the same Speak to Chat feature as the Sony WH-1000XM4 over-ear headphones, plus some form of water resistance, which was sadly lacking from their predecessors.

We’re expecting an announcement in the coming weeks – sometime before 9th June, according to one leak. Not long now then!

MORE:

Browse the best wireless earbuds 2021: budget and premium

Check out how things work: active noise-cancelling headphones

What other wireless earbuds are on the way? Apple AirPods 3, AirPods Pro 2 and Google Pixel Buds A-Series

Chrome OS’s Linux app support is leaving beta

Three years after Chrome OS first started offering support for Linux apps, the feature is leaving beta, the search giant announced during a Google I/O 2021 developer session. It’s happening in Chrome OS’s “next release,” which Android Central notes is version 91, due to enter the stable channel in the next couple of weeks.

Chrome OS as an operating system has always been based on Linux, but since 2018 its Linux development environment has offered access to a Linux terminal, which developers can use to run command line tools. The feature also allows full-fledged Linux apps to be installed and launched alongside your other apps. In addition to Linux apps, Chrome OS also supports Android apps.

As well as announcing the end of the beta, Google developer advocate Emilie Roberts touted a number of improvements Google has made to the Linux functionality in Chrome OS over the past year. These include a new terminal app, a faster update process that updates the Linux container at the same time as Chrome OS itself, as well as better support for USB devices.

Google’s announcement came exactly a year after Microsoft announced support for Linux GUI apps in Windows 10. Microsoft recently started testing Linux GUI apps on Windows, and the feature is expected to launch to all users later this year. It’s part of an initiative to better support developers that Microsoft kicked off in 2016.

As well as announcing that its Linux development environment is coming out of beta, Google shared a couple of additional updates about Chrome OS. It’s rolling out Android 11 to more machines, which will bring new features like better Android app optimization and a new dark theme. Fifty new Chromebooks are due to launch later this year, Google added.

Senators roll out bipartisan data privacy bill

Sen. Amy Klobuchar is back with a bill to protect consumer data privacy when collected by large tech platforms like Facebook and Google.

Klobuchar (D-MN) has teamed up with a bipartisan group of senators, including Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Richard Burr (R-NC), to reintroduce the Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act. The privacy legislation would force websites to grant users greater control over their data and allow them to opt out of data tracking and collection.

“For too long companies have profited off of Americans’ online data while consumers have been left in the dark,” Klobuchar said in a statement to The Verge. “This legislation will protect and empower consumers by allowing them to make choices about how companies use their data and inform them of how they can protect personal information.”

The bill would also require platforms to write their terms of service agreements in plain language so users understand what they’re accepting by using the platforms. If a website were to suffer a data breach, it would have to notify users within 72 hours of it occurring.

“In today’s world, ownership and agency over one’s internet data is essential in protecting users’ privacy online,” Burr said. “This bipartisan legislation is a commonsense step in granting individuals a greater ownership over the type of information companies may collect on them.”

Klobuchar first introduced the bill in 2019 after Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. At the time, the bill stalled without support from the Republican majority — but now that Democrats control Congress, it has a new chance to move forward.

In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission announced a $5 billion settlement with Facebook after a yearslong investigation into the scandal. As part of the settlement, the company is required to conduct quarterly privacy reviews and obtain purpose and use certifications from third-party developers that want to use Facebook data.

Another force working in the bill’s favor are the dozens of state-level privacy bills that have taken effect since the bill was first introduced, including the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA. Companies like Microsoft have vowed to honor the CCPA in states outside of California, but the sheer volume of overlapping statutes has created a growing desire for a federal privacy framework that would make corporate compliance simpler.

The tech companies are pushing for federal rules as well. Last July, Facebook published a white paper calling current US privacy laws “insufficient” and called on the federal government to develop a national framework. The company revamped that call this March after Virginia passed its own protections through the Consumer Data Protection Act.

“We welcome the CDPA and hope that it, as well as legislative proposals in other states, will serve as an impetus for Congress to pass a comprehensive federal privacy law this year,” Facebook wrote in a March blog.

Google rediscovers RSS: tests new feature to ‘follow’ sites in Chrome on Android

Google is testing a new feature for its Chrome browser on Android that lets users “follow” sites to create an updating list of new content they publish. The feature is based on RSS, an open web standard that’s been the backbone of many popular web aggregation tools in the past. That includes Google’s own, much beloved (and now defunct) Google Reader.

The test is small-scale: following sites will only be an option for some US users of Chrome Canary (the bleeding-edge version of Chrome that lets enthusiasts access beta features). Users will be able to follow sites from the browser menu, and updates will be aggregated in a card-based feed that’s shown when users open a new tab. It’s not clear whether this feed is wholly dependent on sites providing RSS support, or if Google will fill in the gaps itself.

Although this is just an early test, it’s nonetheless exciting for a certain sort of web user who misses the glory-days of RSS (and, by extension, a mode of internet discovery and distribution that faded years ago). At its core, RSS allows users to maintain a personalized feed of new content from favorite sites, blogs, and podcasts. And although tools that utilized these feeds were briefly very popular, they were eclipsed for numerous reasons.

Exactly why RSS fell from prominence is complicated. (Here’s a story from Vice and one from TechCrunch that help explain.) But whatever the ultimate cause, many see its demise as a turning point for the web: the moment when decentralized, chronological feeds were replaced by the engagement-driven algorithms of social media giants.

The halcyon days of 2013: the year of Google Reader’s death.

Image: The Verge

Because the rise of Facebook, Twitter, and the like have had so many obviously bad effects (misinformation! Hoaxes! Nazis!), many look back wistfully on RSS as a sort of Golden Age for the web that failed from a surfeit of nobility and deficit of cunning. “If only RSS had thrived!” they say. “All this nastiness could have been avoided.” Perhaps. What’s clear is that Google is responding to a demand for new (read: old) ways of engaging with the web.

“We’ve heard it loud and clear: Discovery & distribution is lacking on the open web, and RSS hasn’t been ‘mainstream consumer’ friendly,” tweeted Google’s head of web creator relations, Paul Bakaus. “Today, we’re announcing an experimental new way, powered by RSS, to follow creators with one click.”

What happens next is anyone’s guess. Will Google follow through and push RSS-powered features to all Chrome users? Or will it get bored of a product that’s not integral to its bottom line? (As it did with Google Reader.) Bakaus, at least, suggests there’s more to come. “This is only the beginning of a bigger exploration, and to get this right, we need your feedback,” he tweeted. “Hit us up via @WebCreators to let us know what we need to build for you. I’m very excited about it!”

Bang and Olufsen’s first Bluetooth 5.2 speaker has 27 hours of battery life

Bang and Olufsen’s latest Bluetooth speaker is the Beosound Explore, a $199 (£169) speaker that’s rated to run for 27 hours “at typical listening volumes” before needing a charge.

That’s an impressive amount of battery life for a small (roughly 5 x 3 x 3 inch) Bluetooth speaker like this. For comparison, JBL’s slightly larger Charge 5 speaker goes for 20 hours, while even the much larger UE Hyperboom tops out at 24 hours.

Bang and Olufsen tells me that the Beosound Explore’s battery life is thanks to a couple of things. It’s one of the first speakers to support the new Bluetooth 5.2 standard, which offers a more power efficient way to receive audio from your devices. This combines with the Explore’s innards, which are tuned with power efficiency in mind. It means the speaker should get a lot of playback out of its modest 2,400 mAh battery.

It comes with a small carabiner for attaching it to a backpack.

Image: Bang and Olufsen

Beyond its battery life, the Beosound Explore offers a more typical range of features for a Bluetooth speaker. It’s IP67 water resistant, so it should survive being briefly submerged, it supports being paired in stereo if you have two Explores, and in supports Apple, Google, and Microsoft’s fast pairing standards. Charging is handled over USB-C and takes around two hours, the company says.

The Beosound Explore is available from today in black and green, with a gray model following this summer.

Google details how interconnected Matter smart home standard will work on Android and Nest

Google is one of the major companies behind the upcoming interconnected cross-platform smart home standard Matter, and today, the company has explained how it’ll work to support Matter with its Android devices and Nest smart home products.

To start, the company is promising that all of its Nest displays and speakers will be updated to enable them to control Matter devices. That means once the update arrives (Google isn’t giving a timeframe yet), you’ll be able to use Google Assistant to control any Matter device, whether it was previously part of Google’s smart home platform or not.

Additionally, newer Google smart home products with Thread built in, like the Nest Wi-Fi, Nest Hub Max, and second-gen Nest Hub, will also serve as Matter connection hubs. That will make it easier to set up and use Matter-branded smart home products throughout your home.

And in what might be the biggest piece of news: Google is promising that it’ll update the latest Nest Thermostat to support Matter, meaning users will be able to — in theory — control their A/C and heat setups with other Matter-certified platforms (like Siri or Alexa, pending Apple and Amazon’s own updates). Disappointingly, Google is only making that promise for the entry-level Nest Thermostat, not the more powerful Nest Learning Thermostat (at least for now).

Google’s support for Matter is also coming to Android phones. The company promises that it’ll add built-in support for Matter, making it easy to set up and control Matter-enabled smart home gadgets through Android apps, Google Assistant, the Google Home app, and more with “just a few taps.”

As part of that support, Thread-enabled Matter devices — like Nanoleaf’s Essentials Bulb — will be supported on Android, which could open up a wave of new smart home devices based on the local connectivity standard to Google (and other smart home platforms). Right now, there are still products like Eve’s HomeKit-exclusive lineup that rely on Thread but can’t be used with Android devices at all. Matter could potentially change that.

If everything works as well as promised (again, there’s plenty of software updates and agreements that will still have to be followed through), Matter could be the magical solution for smart home owners: a set of devices that is easy to set up and use with any (or all) smart home software setups.

In addition to Matter details, Google is also announcing a new Google smart home directory, which will include a list of Assistant-compatible products, Q&As, educational videos, and reviews. Lastly, the company also announced that it will add Nest cameras to its automated routines, allowing owners to automatically toggle on (or off) their cameras when they’re coming and going.

11 things we know about the new smartwatch OS from Google and Samsung — and some we don’t

Yesterday brought the momentous news that Google and Samsung will merge together their Wear OS and Tizen-based smartwatch platforms into a single operating system. The new software is currently being referred to as Wear, but that name could change as we get closer to the first devices that will ship with it.

The unified platform is intended to give Android smartwatches a huge boost and much simpler strategy. It will also allow developers to create apps and widgets for a single OS instead of splitting their efforts between Wear OS and Tizen. A lot of this is spelled out in more detail in the below video, but let’s also focus on the big highlights.

It’s going to be faster than Wear OS

Speed and responsiveness were one of the major talking points when Google and Samsung made this announcement during the I/O 2021 keynote. The companies are claiming that apps open up to 30 percent faster than they currently do on Wear OS. Google also promises “smooth user interface animations and motion,” which hasn’t always been a strength of Wear OS.

Battery life will be a step up, too

Samsung’s smartwatches were already routinely outlasting Wear OS products, so this doesn’t come as a surprise. The company is lending Google some hardware expertise to ensure better stamina. “Samsung implemented our best technology to provide optimized performances, and advanced sensor batching and low power display technology to ensure an efficient and long-lasting battery,” Samsung’s Janghyun Yoon wrote after Tuesday’s news. Google’s Bjorn Kilburn said customers can expect “handy optimizations like the ability to run the heart rate sensor continuously during the day, track your sleep overnight and still have battery for the next day.”

The next Samsung Galaxy Watch will run Wear

Samsung has confirmed that its next smartwatch — and all others in the pipeline — will run the unified Wear platform. But the company made sure to note that it will bring over some of its popular hardware elements, like the rotating bezel mechanism.

A standalone Google Maps app will do turn-by-turn directions

In a report from Wired, we learned that there are plans for a Google Maps app on Wear that features “a new user interface that will also work even if your phone is not with you.” That hints at cellular data support on the new unified platform.

Spotify and YouTube Music apps will support offline downloads

Spotify already allows owners of Samsung smartwatches to download songs for offline listening, and now that same convenience will be extended to Wear. That’s one thing Spotify for the Apple Watch still doesn’t do.

Google also confirmed that YouTube Music will be available on Wear. Like Spotify, it’ll include full support for offline listening.

Fitbit activity tracking will be built into the platform

Having completed its acquisition of Fitbit at the start of this year, Google will now integrate some of the brand’s health and activity tracking features into Wear. Future premium Fitbit wearables will also run the unified platform.

Device makers will be able to customize the look and feel

Google tried to emphasize on Tuesday that this platform isn’t just intended for itself and Samsung. “All device makers will be able to add a customized user experience on top of the platform,” Kilburn said. That’s going to prove important if Google wants to keep companies like Garmin on board with the new platform. And we can’t forget about the many traditional watchmakers — Fossil, Citizen, TAG Heuer, and others — that have gotten behind Wear OS in recent years in the absence of a flagship smartwatch from Google.

Apps should be faster and easier to develop with new APIs

Wear’s apps will use the latest Android development techniques like Jetpack and Kotlin to help reach the best possible performance. Google is also promising to make life easier for app makers with new APIs that cover Tiles, health services, watchfaces, complications, and more. And an activity indicator will show when certain functions are running in the background.

Some Wear OS smartwatches might get upgraded to Wear

There aren’t any firm promises yet, but Google at least didn’t outright say existing products won’t be updated to the new OS. The company told 9to5Google, “we will have more updates to share on timelines once the new version launches later this year.”

Samsung will not update Galaxy Watch models to Wear

Samsung will not be updating its Galaxy Watch line to Wear, but says it has no intention of leaving its current customers in the dust once it starts releasing Wear hardware. “For customers who already own the Tizen OS based Galaxy smartwatches, we are continuing to provide at least three years of software support after the product launch,” the company said Tuesday. However, it seems plausible there will be more than a few features and new Wear tricks that will never make their way to older Galaxy smartwatches.

Samsung will bring over its watchface designer tool

Some people out there really care about having a good watchface selection on a pricey smartwatch. Google and Samsung are promising a wide mix of styles, and Samsung told Wired its design tool — and many of the company’s own signature watchfaces — will be available on Wear.

The unknowns

Google and Samsung shared a decent chunk of information on day one, but we’re still left without answers to a few important questions. We should learn more details over the summer as we head into fall hardware season.

When will the first Wear smartwatch be available?
Is the underlying operating system closer to Wear OS or closer to Tizen? (Considering that developers will be using Android tools to build apps, it seems like the former.)
Will there be required helper apps like some of Samsung’s watches have needed?
Is Wear going to continue offering some semblance of iOS support?
What’s going to happen to Samsung Pay and Bixby? Are they both goners on the wrist?

People are uncomfortable with digital health tools used to control COVID-19

Most people in the United States don’t want their digital data used to control the spread of COVID-19, a new study found. More than half of the people in the study remained wary of sharing their data in different scenarios, including a smart thermometer company sharing information with public health officials, or using the Google and Apple exposure notification app to track infections.

“I was surprised a bit about the degree of skepticism when the potential benefits are so high,” says study author David Grande, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Grande and his team collected survey responses from 3,547 US adults during July 2020 about their attitudes toward the use of digital information to respond to the pandemic.

The survey asked whether or not they approved of using aggregated data pulled from social media to set health policies or contact people for COVID-19 testing. It asked whether they were okay with data from smart thermometers being used for either health policies or contact tracing. It asked about three versions of the Google and Apple exposure notification app: one where using the app and any data sharing with health officials is optional; a second where using the app is optional but it automatically shares data with health officials; and a third where the app is mandatory. Finally, it asked whether people approved of the use of cellphone data to enforce quarantine and identify people at high risk for COVID-19.

The lowest support was for monitoring social media to set health policies — only 28 percent of people approved or strongly approved of that scenario. The highest level of support was for a version of the Google and Apple exposure notification app where use was optional but information was shared with health officials, of which 43 percent of people approved or strongly approved.

Grande thinks people may be more interested in the exposure notification app than official use of social media data because they get a more direct benefit, even though it’s a more invasive tool. “Some of the other uses, people may think, ‘I’m contributing my data for the common good but how is it going to protect me as an individual?’” he says. A tool that was developed to tell people if they’ve been exposed to a virus may seem worth the trade-offs around privacy.

Still, that program only had explicit support from less than half of the people surveyed, even though the survey went out just as the country was coming out of the first wave of COVID-19 and lockdowns. “Everyone was facing massive disruption in their lives,” Grande says. “I thought that people would be more accepting.”

Having personal experience with COVID-19, like a family member getting the disease, didn’t impact people’s approval of these tools, the study found. Neither did living in an area with high rates of COVID-19. People who were politically conservative, though, were less likely to support the use of digital data to manage COVID-19 than people who were liberal.

In general, people tend to be worried when they start hearing about the collection and use of health data, Grande says. Their personal digital data might already be collected by companies and used for things like advertising, but it might not be as apparent — and they’re not asked direct questions about it. People also don’t realize that virtually all of the data collected by companies can be analyzed to infer things about health, like their mood or behavior.

“I suspect that if we ask people direct questions about many commercial uses of their data that are currently taking place, we would see much greater resistance to those,” Grande says. “It’s just that many of those other uses aren’t so visible to consumers.”

The results of the study show that if they want people to use digital tools, public health officials will have to underscore the privacy protections that they have in place, and point out the direct benefits for users. A large chunk of people who responded to the survey said that they neither agreed nor disagreed with the use of data in the various scenarios — a sign that they could be persuaded. If most of that group backed something like the exposure notification app, officials would have close to two-thirds of people in support, Grande says.

“Through effective policies and communication, I think we can convince people that — assuming that protections are in place — these are a good idea,” he says.

Lofelt’s new haptics framework is ready to bring good vibrations to Android

Haptic feedback on Android phones is usually terrible, at least compared to devices that have Apple’s Taptic Engine. You know it, I know it, and a haptics company called Lofelt apparently knows it, too. Today, though, Lofelt, in partnership with Qualcomm, announced that it’s making its VTX haptic framework available to OEMs, with the hope that these manufacturers will start putting better haptics into more Android devices.

The framework will allow OEMs to utilize high-definition haptic vibration on phones running the latest Snapdragon 8-series and 7-series without any hardware tweaks. The system is “tightly integrated with Snapdragon and fully validated by Qualcomm,” according to Lofelt. While the framework is technically compatible with older phones that have a Snapdragon 7-series and 8-series chipset, it’s at the discretion of each OEM whether to add support. It seems more likely that companies will make the big effort to implement improved haptics in upcoming phones than adding it to older models. As for which newer models will feature the framework, none have been announced yet.

Ahead of this announcement, I got to actually feel the difference myself that Lofelt’s improved haptics can make on a phone through software tweaks only. The company sent over a custom Google Pixel 4 packed with demos that show off how its vibrations feel compared to the stock Android implementation (the same setup can’t be duplicated on other devices). Compared to phones designed to take full advantage of Lofelt VTX’s integration with the chipset, this Pixel 4 was running the haptics tricks through the application layer as a proof of concept.

Lofelt’s app let me feel the difference between stock Android vibrations and the company’s own — and the difference was noticeable.

Each of the demos featured a toggle that lets you switch between the stock Android vibration and Lofelt’s refined haptics, as shown in the bottom right of the picture above. One instance ran through a few scenarios in Call of Duty: Mobile. The vibrations varied in strength and duration depending on the kind of gun being shot, and I was able to feel distinct pulsations of a helicopter soaring through the sky. A demo for Asphalt 9: Legends let me feel the roar of an engine through haptics, as well as the fast, crunchy pulsing of the vibration motor when the car ran over a dirt median. Even though the Pixel 4 and earlier models don’t natively support VTX, these demos were far more expressive than standard Android phone vibrations. If you’re someone who takes mobile gaming seriously, to the point of owning something like a Razer Kishi controller, haptics could make your favorite games feel more immersive.

The big challenge for Lofelt isn’t in proving that these sorts of immersive haptic experiences are worth building (give the Lofelt Studio app for iOS a try if you need convincing yourself). The real work is ensuring that as many phones as possible can eventually get them, and that it won’t take too much effort for developers. That’s where Lofelt’s AX (adaptive experience) signal processing tech built into VTX comes into play.

According to Lofelt, AX converts a universal haptic signal into vibrations that play to the strengths of each individual phone, taking into consideration its haptics driver, actuator hardware, and control algorithms from the manufacturer. The goal is for Android devices to catch up to Apple’s excellent Taptic Engine that’s in modern iPhones.

Older phones with the Snapdragon 7-series and 8-series can be updated as OEMs see fit, but you’ll likely find better haptics in new phones.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

App and game developers can design advanced haptics using Lofelt Studio, which integrates with Unity, Unreal, and Xcode, and create a universal .haptic file that works across multiple devices. According to Lofelt, these files contain “universal parameters, such as whether the haptics should include smooth, continuous signals or more punchy, dynamic events.” In other words, you’ll only need to build it once, then the framework can deliver a consistent experience across different phones.

Existing games and apps running on supported Snapdragon hardware won’t be left in the dust. Lofelt claims that framework will also be able to convert the audio stream coming from an app into vibrations in real time without any hardware or coding modifications. So, you won’t necessarily need to wait for every developer to create bespoke haptics in order to start feeling some tactile enhancements with apps you already know and love.

Lofelt says that its VTX framework comes with no performance trade-offs, and that it aims to deliver better haptics “while minimizing the impact on battery and actuator.” That sounds great, and the demo I tried feels ready for deployment. But now, the wait begins for some phone manufacturers to kickstart what could be a big, positive change for Android.

Zoom Events will try to re-create the in-person conference experience

Zoom is announcing an expanded live events product today that’s launching this summer. Zoom Events builds on Zoom’s previous paid event marketplace, OnZoom, by layering in features that can support larger multiday events and non-video activities like chat.

Zoom says it’s still building out Zoom Events in the lead up to its launch, but as it stands, it’s both a rebranding of the more small-business focused OnZoom, with new features that serve Zoom’s original pre-pandemic customers — enterprise companies. Like OnZoom, with a paid Zoom Meetings or Zoom Webinar license you’ll be able to host live events, organize them in a hub, sell tickets, and track stats like ticket sales or attendance.

An early example of a multi-session event in Zoom Events.

Image: Zoom

The main way Zoom is focused on improving the experience for larger organizations is by making Zoom Events more friendly to conferences or large group meetings that could be split over multiple sessions. For instance if you were hosting a developers conference like Google I/O, you could have a main event page for your entire conference with a schedule of separate sessions happening over the coming day and week. Event pages will also be able to feature video event previews, a Zoom spokesperson tells The Verge.

Zoom is also adding access to text chat in places outside of a typical video call. If you show up to an event before the live video actually starts or stick around afterwards, you’ll be able to see who’s in the event lobby, participate in a group chat channel, and exchange contact information. It’s not a replacement for getting cocktails at a big convention, and it’s probably not as immersive as something like Skittish — which places meeting attendees in a 3D space with proximity-based audio — but it’s at least a small evolution of what Zoom is known for.

Zoom was not able to share details on if it will take a commission on paid events or what payment methods users will be able to accept, but OnZoom does accept ticket purchases with PayPal and credit cards, so it seems possible Zoom Events will at least do the same.

You can sign up on Zoom’s website to be notified when Zoom Events launches this summer.

How to download your Google Photos

As of June 1st, 2021, all of the new images and videos that you save to Google Photos will count toward your free 15GB of storage. If you don’t take a lot of photos, that may not be much of a problem. And if you own a Pixel phone, your photos still won’t count against your total storage. (However, be aware that those photos will be Google’s “high-quality” compressed images, not the originals.) But if you like to take a good number of photos, be prepared to have to pay for Google One storage.

You could decide to just shrug and go for a subscription: Google One is not all that expensive, and it compares reasonably well to other photo services. But if you decide that you’d like to move your photos to a different service — or that you simply want to save them to your computer drive or other local storage — then you’re going to have to export them from Google Photos first. Here’s how.

Google Takeout

The first thing to be aware of is that you can’t simply go into Google Photos and download your stuff. You have to use Google’s export tool.

Go to Google Takeout. (You can get to the same page while you’re in Google Photos by selecting Settings, scrolling down to “Export your data,” and clicking on “Backup.”)
You will find a long list of your Google apps; all of them will be pre-checked. If you want to take this opportunity to simply download all of your Google data, just leave them checked; otherwise, look for the “Deselect all” link at the head of the checkboxes and click it.

Once you’re in Google Takeout, scroll down to Google Photos and select it.

Scroll down to “Google Photos”
If you want to know what formats your data will be exported in, click on the button that reads “Multiple formats.” Basically, your still photos will be exported in the format (PNG, JPG, WEBP) they were imported in, videos will be exported in MP4 format, and your metadata will be exported in the JSON text format.
You can also choose not to export all of your albums. The second button under “Google Photos” will probably read “All photo albums included.” If you want to only export some of your albums, click on that and then uncheck any albums you don’t want to export
Scroll down and click on “Next step”

You can choose how often and in how large a file you can export your photos.

Now you get to choose from a variety of different options: Whether you want your data to be emailed to you as an attachment or sent to Drive, OneNote, Dropbox, or Box; how often you want your data to be exported (either this once or every two months for a year); the type of file that will be downloaded (a ZIP or TGZ compressed file); and how large you want the exported files to be. For example, if your exported file will be larger than 2GB, you can have it split up into more than one file. I have about 39GB of photos, so that resulted in 19 zipped files. You can request files up to 50GB, but Google states that compressed files over 2GB will be delivered in Zip64 format.
Click on “Create export”

Google will warn you that it may take a while to get a link to your exported file(s).

And that’s it. Google will warn you that it could take hours or even days for your data to be available; I have several thousand photos, and it took only a little more than half an hour for the link to my export to appear in my email. Of course, depending on your internet connection, it can take much longer than that to actually download them all.

Deezer beats Spotify to Apple Watch offline listening

Music streaming service Deezer has revamped its Apple Watch app to let you listen to music without an internet connection, the company has announced. Previously Deezer’s Apple Watch app has only been able to control music playback on a paired iPhone, but now paid subscribers can download songs for offline listening when they’re away from their phones.

Offline listening has previously been available with Apple Music as well as Pandora, but similar functionality is yet to appear in Spotify’s Apple Watch app. Spotify recently added the ability to stream music from Apple Watch without needing a paired iPhone, but the feature still requires a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. Meanwhile, Google just teased that Spotify users will soon be able to download tracks to Wear OS smartwatches, which makes it even more strange that it doesn’t offer a similar feature on Apple’s wearables.

Subscribers can download both Deezer playlists as well as their own personalized playlists for offline listening. Naturally, you’ll need enough storage on your Apple Watch to hold the files for offline listening. The streaming service doesn’t explicitly say which models of Apple Watch support the new feature, noting only that it requires the “latest Apple watch software.” Presumably this is referring to watchOS 7, which is available on Apple Watch devices going back to 2017’s Series 3.

The new Apple Watch feature follows Deezer’s upgraded integration with Apple’s HomePod smart speakers released earlier this month. The new functionality lets users control playback with Siri voice controls, and even make Deezer their default music service. Spotify is yet to offer the same option. Then again, with a fraction of Spotify’s market share, Deezer has to work a lot harder to try and catch up.

Google wants to build a useful quantum computer by 2029

Google is aiming to build a “useful, error-corrected quantum computer” by the end of the decade, the company explained in a blog post. The search giant hopes the technology will help solve a range of big problems like feeding the world and climate change to developing better medicines. To develop the technology, Google has unveiled a new Quantum AI campus in Santa Barbara containing a quantum data center, hardware research labs, and quantum processor chip fabrication facilities. It will spend billions developing the technology over the next decade, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The target announced at Google I/O on Tuesday comes a year and a half after Google said it had achieved quantum supremacy, a milestone where a quantum computer has performed a calculation that would be impossible on a traditional classical computer. Google says its quantum computer was able to perform a calculation in 200 seconds that would have taken 10,000 years or more on a traditional supercomputer. But competitors racing to build quantum computers of their own cast doubt on Google’s claimed progress. Rather than taking 10,000 years, IBM argued at the time that a traditional supercomputer could actually perform the task in 2.5 days or less.

Google’s new Quantum AI campus.

Image: Google

This extra processing power could be useful to simulate molecules, and hence nature, accurately, Google says. This might help us design better batteries, creating more carbon-efficient fertilizer, or develop more targeted medicines, because a quantum computer could run simulations before a company invests in building real-world prototypes. Google also expects quantum computing to have big benefits for AI development.

Despite claiming to have hit the quantum supremacy milestone, Google says it has a long way to go before such computers are useful. While current quantum computers are made up of less than 100 qubits, Google is targeting machine built with 1,000,000. Getting there is a multistage process. Google says it first needs to cut down on the errors qubits make, before it can think about building 1,000 physical qubits together into a single logical qubit. This will lay the groundwork for the “quantum transistor,” a building block of future quantum computers.

Despite the challenges ahead, Google is optimistic about its chances. “We are at this inflection point,” the scientist in charge of Google’s Quantum AI program, Hartmut Neven, told the Wall Street Journal, “We now have the important components in hand that make us confident. We know how to execute the road map.” Google’s eventually plans to offer quantum computing services over the cloud.

Spotify and YouTube Music will bring much needed offline tunes to Google’s Wear watches

Spotify’s product lead for cars and wearables teased an exciting new feature coming to Wear devices during Google’s Developer Keynote on Tuesday: the ability for the streaming services’ 356 million users to download music directly to their watch, and listen to it at times when they don’t want to carry their phone (via XDA Developers). The feature isn’t included in the redesign that was just released, but Spotify says that it’s currently in the works.

The announcement came alongside Google’s reveal that it would be merging Wear OS with Samsung’s Tizen. During Tuesday’s I/O keynote, Google promised that the updated OS would bring faster performance and longer battery life, which are currently still issues for Wear OS watches.

The YouTube Music app is also getting an update, which will similarly add the ability to download music directly to Wear devices, allowing users to listen without a phone nearby.

YouTube Music will also support downloads.

Image: Google

Google’s smartwatch OS has lagged behind Apple’s in many ways, including offline music listening. The Apple Watch has been able to play songs downloaded through Apple Music when away from a phone for years, and it got to the point where Google decided to release its YouTube Music app for the Apple Watch before its own Wear OS. When Gizmodo put out an article last November on how listen to music phone-free on smartwatches, its Wear OS recommendation was more or less an app that acted as an MP3 player, requiring the transfer of local files that you already own.

Since the shutdown of Google Play Music, Wear OS users haven’t had many options for offline music. But now, Google’s Wear watches could potentially even leapfrog the Apple Watch when it comes to offline Spotify playback — to get your Spotify on an Apple Watch without carrying around your phone, you currently need an active internet connection to stream it to one of Apple’s pricier cellular Apple Watch models, a feature added late last year. Some other watches have had offline Spotify playback in the past, though, like Garmin’s flagship Forerunner sports watches and some Samsung Galaxy wearables.

You can check out the Spotify and YouTube Music app reveals for yourself in Google’s Wear-specific session from I/O. The YouTube Music announcement starts at 2:38, and the Spotify demo starts at 12:50 in the video below.