Apple had its WWDC keynote on Monday, where it showed off the big new features coming to its platforms, but it didn’t have time to show off everything coming to the new versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. So we’ve combed through the preview pages, Twitter, and a good chunk of the internet to see what interesting features got left out of the presentation.
The big features in iOS and iPadOS were the updates to notifications, FaceTime, and multitasking, but it appears Apple may have been really focusing on the platforms themselves, too. There are a ton of quality-of-life improvements including:
More Memoji options with new outfits and accessibility options
FaceTime will let you know when you’re muted but trying to talk.
FaceTime will also let you zoom with the back camera so you can finally show people things across the room without standing up.
The Announce Messages feature found in AirPods is coming to CarPlay, so your phone can automatically read texts out loud while you’re driving.
Wary iPhone users will be able to put off upgrading to iOS 15 but still get security updates.
Find My will be able to track your iPhone when it’s off (or even after it’s been factory reset). It’s currently unclear what phones will support this feature.
There’s an improved print dialog with more options.
You’ll get free temporary iCloud storage when you transfer to a new device, but it will only last for three weeks.
Leaving and arrival times are coming to Apple Maps, letting you better plan trips in the future.
iPhone apps for iPad will be able to run in landscape. No more flipping your iPad around when you need to check the one app that is still iPhone only.
There will be push notifications to tell you when it’s going to rain.
You’ll have the ability to schedule HomeKit devices with Siri (for example, asking it to turn on your bedroom lights at 7PM).
Safari is getting the pull-to-refresh mechanism found in Mail and many social network apps.
Accessibility settings like text size and contrast will be able to be set on a per-app basis.
EXIF data will be available in Photos, including camera and lens info.
You’ll also be able to adjust a photo’s date and time.
There’s a redesigned software Apple TV remote, which looks more like the new hardware version.
Panoramas taken on iPhone 12s should have less distortion, and moving subjects should look better.
You’ll be able to suggest to Photos that specific subjects shouldn’t show up in places like the Photos widget or Memories.
Spotlight will be accessible from the lock screen and Notification Center.
Filtering for spam texts… if you live in Brazil, that is. It’s likely rolling out there because of rampant spamming of SMS in the country — India got the feature last year.
You’ll be able to drag and drop files across apps on iPhone.
Spanish speakers will be able to choose whether their devices refer to them using masculine, feminine, or neutral words.
Mail is getting a widget, and there’s also a widget to show you how poorly you slept.
iPads are getting the ability to tab through text fields and buttons in apps, as can be done with Macs and in Safari.
iPads will support eye-tracking hardware to improve accessibility by letting people control a cursor using just their eyes.
The Monterey portion of the keynote was dominated by an incredibly impressive demo that showed off Apple’s new Universal Control feature, but Apple also took the time to discuss Shortcuts, which are coming to macOS. Macs are complex machines, though, and there are a few more fun and useful things that will be coming in the fall:
The ability to use your Memoji as your user profile picture (it’ll even shake its head if you try to log in with the wrong password).
A software microphone indicator light in the menu to show when an application is listening to you
A better file copy interface, with the ability to pause and resume transfers
The easy ability to erase user data, settings, and apps without re-installing the OS (great for if you’re selling your Mac)
The ability to manage your saved passwords in System Preferences. You can also import them from other password managers or export them.
You can customize the mouse cursor’s outline and fill color.
Windows will resize when you move them to another monitor.
Shortcuts will let you integrate shell commands.
An improved Go To Folder dialog in Finder
Of course, Apple is running an ecosystem here, so many of the features that got announced will be coming to all of its computers. Here are a few more that will also be coming to iPhones, iPads, and Macs:
A built-in one-time password generator, similar to Google Authenticator or Authy
Safari will detect if websites can support HTTPS and will automatically use it if they do (similar to the HTTPS Everywhere extension).
A low power mode for macOS and iPad (I can’t wait to see how far I can stretch an M1 MacBook Pro)
Reminders are also getting a tags feature, similar to the one found in Notes.
The Photos info pane will tell you about what Visual Look Up sees in the picture.
The ability to turn on DownTime whenever, if you really need to focus on something
An extension for Edge on Windows that lets you use your iCloud Passwords
Well, Apple showed off pretty much everything for WatchOS onstage — it looks like it’s not a big year for the wearable (but I’ll be very happy to get better always-on display support and multiple timers). There are some new time complications, though!
Just noticed there is a new set of Time complications in watchOS 8. While a slight bit of ‘Sherlocking’ for Watchsmith, I’m honestly super glad it’s here. A good number of my gray hairs came from supporting time based complications…glad I can focus elsewhere now. pic.twitter.com/q44aVDMoZh
— David Smith (@_DavidSmith) June 9, 2021
If you want to know if you’ll be getting these features, we’ve laid out which devices the new OSs will be coming to here:
All in all, Asus’s Chromebook Detachable CM3 is a nice package. It’s a 10.5-inch tablet with magnetically-attached fabric cover and kickstand. It’s $389.99 as tested, which means it’s priced far below all kinds of convertible Chromebooks. I’m not the first to make this comparison, but it’s a slightly more expensive, and slightly fancier version of the $269 Lenovo Chromebook Duet (currently listed at $269) that impressed me so much last year.
I think the CM3 is a slightly worse purchase than the Duet for most people who are looking for a secondary device, or a small Chromebook for a student. The CM3 does offer a few noticeable benefits over the Duet, but I’m not sure they’re worth $100. While features like a dual-folding kickstand, a garaged stylus, and a headphone jack are nice to have, none of them are as central to a device’s user experience as its processor. And while $269 is an acceptable price to pay for a tablet with a MediaTek chip, $389.99 is pushing it.
With all that said, I don’t have many problems with this Chromebook. It’s just in a bit of an odd spot.
My test unit includes 128GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, a 10.5-inch 1920 x 1200 display, and a MediaTek 8183 processor. There’s a 64GB version listed at $369.99 as well. 64GB isn’t a lot of storage (and there’s no microSD card slot for expansion on the CM3), so my config is the one I’d recommend most people go for.
The most important thing to understand about the CM3 before you buy it is the size. It’s small, with just a 10.5-inch screen. This brings benefits and drawbacks. On the one hand, it’s quite slim and portable, at just 0.31 inches thick and 1.1 pounds (2.02 pounds with the keyboard and stand attached). It’s the kind of thing I could easily carry in my purse.
On the other hand, a 10.5-inch screen is cramped for a desktop OS like Chrome OS (though it is bright enough to use outdoors, and I appreciate that it has a 16:10 aspect ratio — 16:9 would be unbearable for me at this size). But it was too small for me to comfortably use as a work driver. I had to zoom out far to be able to see everything I needed to in my Chrome windows.
It also means there’s only so much space for the keyboard deck, which is also cramped. The touchpad, in particular, is small. The keyboard itself is roomier than the Duet’s, though — it has a surprising amount of travel and a satisfying click. While the small keys are a bit of an adjustment, none are small enough as to be unusable.
Small doesn’t mean cheap, and the CM3’s build is fairly sturdy overall. The palm rests and detachable keyboard deck feel quite plasticky, but the tablet itself is aluminum (with “diamond-cut edges”, per Asus). The magnetic cover is made of a woven fabric, and looks quite similar to the cover of the Chromebook Duet. The cover is included with the price of the CM3, which isn’t the case with some detachables (such as Microsoft’s Surface Go line).
A USI stylus lives in the top right corner of the chassis — it’s firmly in there, so you’ll need a nail to tug it out. It’s small, and not my favorite stylus I’ve ever used, but it is there and does work. The Duet supports USI styluses, but it doesn’t come with one, so that’s one advantage the CM3 brings.
The main way the CM3 is unique to other detachables is that its kickstand folds multiple ways. That is, you can fold it the long way when you’re using the tablet like a laptop, or you can flip the tablet vertically and fold the kickstand horizontally. This is a cool feature I haven’t seen before, and it does work — I was never worried about the CM3 falling over in either direction.
On the other hand, the only real use case I can think of for the horizontal position is video calls where you don’t need to have the keyboard attached and are okay with the camera being on the side of the screen. You can take your own view, but I’d rather use an iPad or dedicated tablet for these purposes and have the camera in the right place.
My unit did have a bit of fraying on the edges of the keyboard deck, which was disappointing to see on a brand-new device, even at this price. The kickstand cover also slipped off the tablet a few times while I was adjusting the height, which isn’t something that ever happened with the Duet.
Speaking of convertibility, the CM3 has a two-megapixel front-facing camera as well as an eight-megapixel rear-facing camera. Both cameras deliver a surprisingly reasonable picture. I wasn’t too washed out when I did a video call outside, nor was I too grainy in dim light. That said, the dual-camera setup is another cool-sounding feature that probably isn’t the most pragmatic: The rear camera isn’t good enough for actual photography of any kind, and the best use case is probably for snapping pictures of a whiteboard in class. It also takes a few seconds for the CM3 to swap between cameras (it’s not nearly as quick of a swap as it is on an iPhone, for example) so it wouldn’t have saved me a ton of time over just whipping out a phone.
The CM3’s MediaTek MTK 8183 is a hybrid chip that’s mainly used in Android tablets. (It’s a different MediaTek chip from the one that was in the Duet last year, but very similar to the one in uh, Amazon’s new Echo Show 8 smart display.) It’s far from the most powerful processor you can find in a Chromebook, but that’s by design — battery life is going to be a higher priority for many folks who are considering a device as portable as the CM3.
The battery life is, in fact, excellent. I averaged 12 hours and 49 minutes of continuous use running the CM3 through my regular workload of Chrome tabs and Android apps including Slack, Messenger, Twitter, Gmail, Spotify, and an occasional Zoom call with the screen at medium brightness — over an hour longer than I saw from the Duet with the same workload. This is already a heavier load than many people may want to put the CM3 through, so you may get even more time between charges. The 45W USB-C adapter juiced the CM3 up to 40 percent in an hour, making it much faster than the Duet’s wimpy 10W charger.
That battery life doesn’t come free, though, and the CM3’s performance was a mixed bag. It works fine in Chrome, for example, albeit with a teensy bit of sluggishness when swapping tabs and resizing windows, as well as other Google services like Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, and Meet (and it comes with a free 12-month 100GB membership to Google One for the rest of this year). Gaming is also fine — Flipping Legends and Monsters were both smooth and stutter-free, regardless of whether the CM3 was plugged in or running on battery.
I also think Chrome OS’s tablet mode, which the CM3 supports, has gotten pretty good. It uses Android-esque gesture controls that can help flatten the learning curve for new Chromebook users. Swiping up brings you to the home screen, for example, and swiping right swaps between web pages. You can access a version of Chrome specifically for tablets, which allows you to easily open, close, and reorder tabs with drags, swipes, and large buttons. It’s not quite like using an iPad, but I do think it’s a smoother experience than Windows’s tablet mode (especially in Chrome).
All you have to do to switch in and out of tablet mode is snap the keyboard on and off — it takes a second, and my windows didn’t always quite go back to the way I’d arranged them when I put the keyboard back on, but it’s a reasonably smooth affair overall.
But the CM3 didn’t perform well on every task I needed. Sometimes when I was trying to use Slack or Messenger over a pile of Chrome tabs, something would freeze. Zoom calls were possible — which is more than can be said for some budget Chromebooks — but I did run into lag between audio and video inputs. Slack froze and crashed quite often, and Spotify crashed a few times as well.
Access all kinds of Android apps through the Google Play store.
Photo editing was where I really ran into trouble. Lightroom was basically unusable on the CM3 with just a few things running in the background — I tried to edit a batch of around 100 photos, and could consistently only get through a few before the program crashed. I tried to move over to Google Photos, which also eventually crashed, and ended up having to do everything in Gallery. Of course, not everyone will be editing photos on their Chromebook, or pushing it as hard as I was pushing this one, so it’s a matter of knowing your own needs.
Speaking of Zoom meetings, the dual speakers are okay for Zoom calls but not too much more. The songs I played had stronger percussion than I sometimes hear from laptop speakers, but it was thin and tinny overall. The microphone did seem to work well, and didn’t have trouble picking up my voice on calls.
This was a difficult product to score. I do think the CM3 is a great device. And it does offer a few benefits over the Chromebook Duet that justify it costing a bit more. I’d probably purchase it over the Duet myself for the keyboard alone if I were looking for this type of device — the versatile kickstand, built-in stylus, and decent build quality are nice perks as well.
But “if I were looking for this type of device” is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence. I’m not looking for a MediaTek device, and there’s a reason I’m not. The battery life is impressive, sure, but it’s just not enough horsepower for the workload I need. And if you are someone whose needs are suited to this low-powered processor (and there are plenty of these people in the world), I really think $389 is at the very high end of what you should be spending.
Sure, the CM3 has a (just okay) stylus, a kickstand with a funky fold, slightly better battery life, and one extra port. But it’s also on par with or slower than the Duet in most tasks I tried, the audio is worse, and it’s thicker and heavier. Given all that, I’m not convinced the CM3’s advantages are worth $100 to most people who are shopping in this category.
Google is updating its search algorithms to prevent sites from filling search results with unproven slanderous claims about individuals, The New York Times reports. The changes follow a recent series of reports from the Times, which found a vast web of sites hosting unverified and potentially life-ruining claims about individuals, alongside an industry of other services promising to remove the offending content from search results for substantial fees.
The search giant is making a series of changes to its rankings to combat the sites, which Google’s vice president for global policy and standards and trust and safety David Graff said should eventually have a “significant and positive impact” for those affected. Now, when users report they’ve been a victim of these sites by using its pre-existing process, Google will register that person as a “known victim,” and will automatically “suppress” similar results for that person’s name, the Times says.
It’s an important shift considering how these sites operate, where posts are routinely taken from one site and republished across over a dozen more. The Times even conducted an experiment where it created one such post about its own reporter, only to see an initial crop of five posts spawn 21 more across a network of 15 sites. Google’s changes could help to stop these numerous posts from clogging up search results. The NYT reported that completely taking down the posts would have cost it around $20,000. Individual sites and services reportedly charged upwards of $700 to get each post removed.
Some of the changes have reportedly already come into effect, with more coming in the months ahead, but the Times reports that its own tests have highlighted initial problems with the approach. Although it says posts had “mostly” disappeared for some users, it notes that Google’s changes didn’t appear to have caught a new slander site, which may not have received the volume of complaints to put it on Google’s radar yet. However, for others, the new process appeared to work better, with posts disappearing from the first page of text and image results.
The move represents the latest shift away from Google’s original self-proclaimed role as an impartial provider of results. Back in 2004 the company said its results were “generated completely objectively and are independent of the beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google.” But over the years this position has softened, particularly in light of legislation like the EU’s “right to be forgotten.” It means the company is fulfilling an increasingly important role on the web, even beyond the 90 percent of global searches it currently handles.
Facebook is taking a novel approach to its first smartwatch, which the company hasn’t confirmed publicly but currently plans to debut next summer. The device will feature a display with two cameras that can be detached from the wrist for taking pictures and videos that can be shared across Facebook’s suite of apps, including Instagram, The Verge has learned.
A camera on the front of the watch display exists primarily for video calling, while a 1080p, auto-focus camera on the back can be used for capturing footage when detached from the stainless steel frame on the wrist. Facebook is tapping other companies to create accessories for attaching the camera hub to things like backpacks, according to two people familiar with the project, both of whom requested anonymity to speak without Facebook’s permission.
The idea is to encourage owners of the watch to use it in ways that smartphones are used now. It’s part of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to build more consumer devices that circumvent Apple and Google, the two dominant mobile phone platform creators that largely control Facebook’s ability to reach people.
The planned device is Facebook’s first stab at releasing hardware specifically for the wrist, opening up another area of competition with Apple at a time when the two tech giants are already at odds on other fronts. Apple has aggressively positioned itself as a protector of privacy by limiting the kinds of data that apps like Facebook can collect, while Facebook has for years been besieged by scandals regarding its handling of user data. That dynamic could create an uphill battle for Facebook to convince people to buy its forthcoming Apple Watch competitor, especially since it plans to also position the watch as a fitness device with a heart rate monitor.
Facebook is working with the top wireless carriers in the US to support LTE connectivity in the watch, meaning it won’t need to be paired with a phone to work, and sell it in their stores, the people familiar with the matter said. The watch will come in white, black, and gold, and Facebook hopes to initially sell volume in the low six figures. That’s a tiny sliver of the overall smartwatch market — Apple sold 34 million watches last year by comparison, according to Counterpoint Research.
In future versions of the watch, Facebook is planning for it to serve as a key input device for its planned augmented reality glasses, which Zuckerberg thinks will one day be as ubiquitous as mobile phones. The company plans to use technology it acquired from CTRL-labs, a startup that has demonstrated armbands capable of controlling a computer through wrist movements.
Facebook aims to release the first version of the watch in the summer of 2022 and is already working on second and third generations for subsequent years. Employees have recently discussed pricing the device at roughly $400, but the price point could change. While it’s unlikely, Facebook could also scrap the watch altogether, as the device has yet to enter mass production or even be given an official name.
Facebook’s track record for making hardware is spotty. Its 2013 phone with HTC was a spectacular flop, and it has yet to disclose sales for its Oculus VR headsets or Portal video chat device for the home. In recent interviews, executives have said that sales for the Oculus Quest 2 headset have surpassed all previous Oculus headsets combined.
Facebook’s interest in building a smartwatch dates back at least a few years. It looked at acquiring Fitbit in 2019 before Google bought the fitness wearable maker. Since then, the social network has spent roughly $1 billion to develop the first version of its watch and has hundreds of people working on the effort, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter.
A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment for this story. The Information earlier reported that Facebook was building a smartwatch with health and messaging features, but details about its cameras and other specifics in this story are new.
Using a custom version of Google’s Android operating system, Facebook plans to lean on its suite of apps and external partnerships to create compelling experiences for the watch, which will include a companion app for phones. Even still, Facebook’s wrist wearable resonating with people is far from guaranteed. Smartwatches with cameras on them have so far failed to catch on, and Apple has cornered the high end of the market already.
Google has announced that it is rolling out the second beta for Android 12 to Pixel phones today. It adds a few more of the Android 12 features that were announced at Google I/O last month but weren’t included in the first beta. But it also has a couple of newer features, including a new way to manage your internet connection.
In Quick Settings, Android 12 now has a new button called “Internet” that replaces the old Wi-Fi button. Tap it and you’ll get a screen that will let you switch between Wi-Fi networks and also shows your current cellular connection (which you can also toggle).
The new Internet settings in Android 12.Image: Google
Google says the idea is to help users “switch between their Internet providers and troubleshoot network connectivity issues more easily.” Google’s post asks readers to “Let us know what you think,” a sign that maybe this UX might not be a sure thing. Google often introduces and then backtracks on new user interface ideas during Android betas.
Android 12 is also picking up a “Clipboard read notification,” which will appear any time an app reads the current clipboard. It shows up when one app reads the clipboard from something you’ve copied in another app. In other words, it won’t annoyingly pop up if you copy and paste within the same app. Unlike other notifications, this one will apparently appear from the bottom of the screen. It’s similar to a feature that arrived first on the iPhone, as more people realized that apps were asking for clipboard content when they really shouldn’t be.
Those are the two new features, but there are a few more that Google announced but didn’t include in the first beta. The first is the Privacy Dashboard, which lets a user see how often apps request to use a phone’s microphone, camera, and location. Apple, by the way, just announced a similar dashboard for iOS 15 — though it includes a few more data points than Android’s.
The Privacy Dashboard on Android 12.Image: Google
Google is also turning on previously announced privacy features related to the microphone and camera. When either is on, an indicator will be displayed in the upper right of the status bar. Android 12 will also now have toggles in Quick Settings to turn those sensors off.
It’s a neat system. If you disable either the mic or the camera in quick settings, the next time an app tries to access one, the system will ask if you want to turn them back on. If you decline, then the app will think it has camera or mic access, but all it actually sees is darkness and all it hears is silence. It is, as I noted in my original Android 12 preview, a mood.
With this release, Google is keeping pace with its roadmap to release Android 12 this fall. Expect a couple more betas to land before the final release. This beta is available on Pixel phones now, and when the final update is released, it’ll hit Pixel phones first. When other phones will get updated remains an open — and vexing — question. Since this version of Android has the biggest redesign in years, don’t be surprised if other smartphone makers need a little more time to figure out how to apply their own styles to the new “Material You” design system.
Two-factor authentication is a good way to add an extra layer of security to online accounts. It requires the use of your smartphone, however, which is not only inconvenient, but can be a problem if your phone is lost or breached. Hardware security keys can offer an additional layer of security to password-protected online accounts and, in turn, your identity. They’re also not hard to install. Here’s how to set them up for your Google account, Facebook, and Twitter.
Security keys can connect to your system using USB-A, USB-C, Lightning, or NFC, and they’re small enough to be carried on a keychain (with the exception of Yubico’s 5C Nano key, which is so small that it’s safest when kept in your computer’s USB port). They use a variety of authentication standards: FIDO2, U2F, smart card, OTP, and OpenPGP 3.
When you insert a security key into your computer or connect one wirelessly, your browser issues a challenge to the key, which includes the domain name of the specific site you are trying to access. The key then cryptographically signs and allows the challenge, logging you in to the service.
Many sites support U2F security keys, including Twitter, Facebook, Google, Instagram, GitHub, Dropbox, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft account services, Nintendo, Okta, and Reddit. The best thing to do is to check the website of your security key of choice and see which services are supported — for example, here’s a link to the apps supported by YubiKeys.
A setup process is necessary before you can use a security key. After that, securely accessing your online profile on a site is a simple matter of entering your password, inserting the key, and tapping the button.
Keep in mind that you can’t copy, migrate, or save security-key data between keys (even if the keys are the same model). That is by design, so keys can’t be easily duplicated and used elsewhere. If you lose your security key, you can use two-factor authentication on your cellphone or an authenticator app. Then, if you want to use a new key, you will have to go through the process of reauthorizing your accounts all over again.
Which security key should I use?
Several brand choices are available. Yubico, one of the developers of the FIDO U2F authentication standard, sells several different versions. Google sells its own U2F key, called the Titan, which comes in three versions: USB-C, USB-A / NFC, or Bluetooth / NFC / USB. Other U2F keys include Kensington’s USB-A fingerprint-supporting key, and the Thetis USB-A key.
For this how-to, we used the YubiKey 5C NFC security key, which fits into a USB-C port but also works with phones via NFC. The process is pretty similar for all hardware security keys, though.
Pairing a key with your Google account
In order to use a security key with your Google account (or any account), you need to have already set up two-factor authentication.
Log in to your Google account, and select your profile icon in the upper-right corner. Then choose “Manage your Google Account.”
In the left-hand menu, click on “Security.” Scroll down until you see “Signing in to Google.” Click on the “2-step Verification” link. At this point, you may need to sign in to your account again.
“Signing in to Google” > “2-step Verification.”” data-upload-width=”1422″ src=”https://rondea.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/echo/Google_setup_for_security_key.png60c0c868c6c9e.jpg” >
Go to “Security” > “Signing in to Google” > “2-step Verification.”
Scroll down until you see the “Add more second steps to verify it’s you” heading. Look for the “Security Key” option and click on “Add Security Key.”
A pop-up box will list your options, which include devices that have built-in security keys and the option to use an external security key. Select “USB or Bluetooth / External security key.”
You’ll see a box telling you to make sure the key is nearby but not plugged in. You’ll also see an option to use only the security key as part of Google’s Advanced Protection Program (which is for users with “high visibility and sensitive information”). Assuming you don’t fall into that category, click “Next.”
The next box lets you register your security key. Insert your key into your computer port. Press the button on the key, then click “Allow” once you see the Chrome pop-up asking to read the make and model of your key.
Give your key a name.
Now you’re set! You can come back to your Google account’s 2FA page to rename or remove your key.
Pairing a key with your Twitter account
Log in to your Twitter account and click on “More” in the left-hand column. Select “Settings and privacy” from the menu.
Under the “Settings” heading, select “Security and account access” > “Security” > “Two-factor authentication.”
You’ll see three choices: “Text message,” “Authentication app,” and “Security key.” Click on “Security key.” You’ll probably be asked for your password at this point.
Select “Start.”
Once your security key is registered, you receive a just-in-case backup code (deleted here).
Insert your security key into your computer’s port, then press the key’s button.
The window should refresh to say, “Security key found.” Type in a name for your key and click “Next.”
The window will now read “You’re all set.” It will also give you a single-use backup code to use if you don’t have access to any of your other log-in methods. Copy that code and put it somewhere safe.
If you’ve changed your mind and want to remove the security key, go back to the “Two-factor authentication” page and select “Manage security keys.”
Click on the name of the key, and then choose “Delete key.” You’ll need to enter your password and verify that you want to delete the key.
Pairing a key with your Facebook account
Log in to your Facebook account. Click on the triangle icon on the upper-right corner and select “Settings & Privacy” > “Settings.”
Now you’re at “General Account Settings.” Select the “Security and Login” link from the left sidebar.
Scroll down until you see the section labeled “Two-Factor Authentication.” Click “Edit” on the “Use two-factor authentication” option. You may be asked for your password.
If you don’t have 2FA set up, you’ll be given three choices: “Authentication App,” “Text Message (SMS),” and “Security Key.” It’s recommended that you use an authenticator app as your primary security, but if you prefer, you can just click on “Security Key.”
You can use a security key as your main authentication method.
If you do have 2FA set up, then you’ll find the “Security Key” option under “Add a Backup Method.”
Either way, you’ll get a pop-up box; click on “Register Security Key.” You’ll be instructed to insert your security key and press its button.
And that’s it. If you don’t use 2FA, you’ll now be asked for the security key if you log in from an unrecognized device or browser. If you do, you can use your key if you don’t have access to your authentication app.
If you no longer want to use the key, go back to “Two-Factor Authentication,” find “Security Key” under “Your Security Method,” and click on “Manage my keys.”
Google is changing how its Android search engine choice screen works in Europe, following complaints from rivals about its pay-to-play model, the company has announced in a blog post. The selection screen appears for users when they first set up an Android device, and is designed to offer a choice of search engines after Google was hit by a record $5 billion antitrust fine in 2018. From September, the search giant is making it free for search engines to be included, and is increasing the number of services that’ll be shown on the selection screen.
Currently, the selection screen includes a choice of just four search providers. One is Google, and the other three are chosen through a sealed-bid auction process. Search providers each “state the price that they are willing to pay each time a user selects them from the choice screen” and Google then selects the three highest bidders over a minimum bid threshold, and displays them in a random order on the screen.
After the changes, which will apply to all devices sold in the European Economic Area and the UK, Google will display up to 12 providers on its search selection screen, and none will have to pay to be included. The first five will be the most popular search engines in a given country, as determined by the web analytics service StatCounter, displayed in a random order. Below these, Google will show up to seven more providers in a random order. If there are ever more than seven other providers to choose from, then Google says it’ll randomly display a selection of seven whenever the choice screen in shown.
Although providers won’t have to pay to be included, Google has detailed a number of eligibility requirements here. Providers must offer a “general search service,” which means results can’t be limited to a single topic, they need to offer a free app on Google Play, and they need to be correctly localized in a country to be visible on its selection screen.
Google is now doing what it should have done 3yr ago: a free search preference menu on Android in the EU: https://t.co/M9XmB1VuGr
However, it should be on all platforms (e.g., also desktop Chrome), accessible at all times (i.e., not just on factory reset), and in all countries. https://t.co/HcIrE8KJx3
— Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg) June 8, 2021
Responding to the news, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg cautiously welcomed the changes, but criticized Google for not having made them three years ago. He said they should also apply to more devices and in all countries, and that the selection screen should not be limited to the first time a user sets up or factory resets an Android device. In its FAQ Google confirmed that users will only see the choice screen once per device, during setup. Last year, Weinberg criticized the auction process, and called it “fundamentally flawed.”
But in comments given to Bloomberg, EU officials welcomed the “positive” move that addressed complaints from rivals. “Users will have even more opportunities to choose an alternative,” the European Commission said.
Google may have shied away from a Pixel Watch, but a Pixel Fold still very much seems to be on the way — following a leak last August that revealed the company was planning to release its first folding Pixel phone in late 2021, Korean industry site TheElec is now reporting that Samsung will begin production of folding OLED panels this October for Google, Vivo and Xiaomi’s upcoming folding phones, all of which will reportedly be revealed late this year.
Google hasn’t exactly kept its folding phone ambitions a secret; in 2019, it published patent applications for its own folding screens and admitted it had been prototyping them for quite some time, telling CNET that it didn’t have “a clear use case yet.” But now, it appears Google has a foldable, codename “Passport,” that could be nearly ready to announce. 9to5Google even spotted a new reference to it last month in Android 12’s code, alongside other codenames believed to be the upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 5a 5G. TheElec says it’ll have a single 7.6-inch panel that folds inward, while Vivo’s upcoming phone will have a 8-inch main screen and a 6.5-inch outer display. It didn’t mention the size of the new Xiaomi phone’s screen.
It’s not clear whether a Pixel Fold would actually come with a display designed by Google itself, though it’s possible; Samsung acts as a contract manufacturer for many other companies, producing some of Apple’s homegrown processors. Either way, one portion of the screen’s sandwich may still largely belong to Samsung itself: ETNews reports that Samsung will supply its proprietary ultra-thin cover glass (which is technically made by German manufacturer Schott) to other smartphone manufacturers, and Google is expected to use it.
Xiaomi already announced a folding phone earlier this year, the Mi Mix Fold, but it sounds like it’ll have a second one. TheElec also reports Oppo will be delaying a new foldable phone to 2022, with a 7.1-inch main screen and a smaller one between 1.5 and 2 inches diagonally.
Today, let’s talk about one of Apple’s many announcements this week at its Worldwide Developer Conference, which some see as a possible threat to the rise of journalism distributed by email. If that sounds self-indulgent, given that it’s coming from a journalist who distributes his work via email, I apologize. But it touches on so many of the subjects of interest to us here — a tech giant’s ability to reshape markets to its liking; how journalism will navigate the platform era; what we mean when we talk about privacy — that I hope I can pique your interest at least a little.
I.
Start with the announcement. On Monday at WWDC, Apple announced Mail Privacy Protection, which will limit the amount of data that people who send you emails can collect about you. Here’s how the company describes it:
In the Mail app, Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user. The new feature helps users prevent senders from knowing when they open an email, and masks their IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location.
When you eventually update your iPhone to iOS 15 this fall, you’ll see a screen at launch that invites you to opt in.
Let’s assume most Apple Mail users opt in. How necessary is this data to building email-based businesses? Over the past day I’ve read and heard lots of disagreement.
Some quick background for the non-email obsessives. Long ago, email marketers began including invisible pixels in the emails they send you; when you open their messages, those pixels load, telling the sender that you read their message, and might also infer your location from your IP address.
Collectively, the percentage of people that actually open emails is known as the open rate, and it’s one of the most important metrics that senders measure to gauge the effectiveness of what they’re doing. It gives you a sense of how engaged your audience is, and how that engagement is changing over time.
At the same time, there is a fairly long tradition of people finding this creepy. The email startup Superhuman had to apologize in 2019 after a viral blog post explained how the company tracked when, where, and how often people opened emails sent through its service. The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that often focuses on issues of data privacy, turned down eight potential email providers before finding one that would agree to turn off tracking capabilities.
Last year, when Basecamp launched the email service Hey, it made the blocking of tracking pixels a marquee feature. In a blog post today, Basecamp cofounder David Heinemeier Hansson — no fan of Apple in general! — declared victory against tracking pixels. He wrote:
Given Apple’s monopoly advantage with their preinstalled Mail app, we don’t need much of an uptake from what they’re calling Mail Privacy Protection to break the dam on spy pixels. You can’t really say anything authoritatively about open rates if 5-10-30-50% of your recipients are protected against snooping, as you won’t know whether that’s why your spy pixel isn’t tripping, or it’s because they’re just not opening your email.
There’s also simply no way users are going to willingly accept the premise of spy pixels if Apple presents the privacy dangers as clearly and as honestly as we’ve done in HEY. Apple already showed that with their drive to block unique ad identifiers for cross-app tracking in iOS 14.5: 96% of users in the US have declined to let apps track them like that! And email spy pixels are far worse and much creepier.
II.
Let’s stipulate a few things up front. One, most people still don’t know that these spy pixels exist. Two, if they did, most people probably wouldn’t allow them if given the choice. Three, the majority of these spy pixels are used for marketing purposes — efforts to target you better for e-commerce. I do not think it is at all irrational to look at the state of affairs the way Apple did, and say to hell with it.
At the same time, email-based publishing has been of the few bright spots for journalism in recent years. (Certainly it has been a bright spot for me!) Media companies from Facebook to Twitter to the New York Times are now investing heavily in newsletter strategies; new email-based publishers are popping up seemingly every week. Much of this has come in the wake of the success of Substack, which I use to publish Platformer (see disclosure).
And so it’s no surprise that some observers look at Mail Privacy Protection and see a threat. “This is another sign that Apple’s war against targeted advertising isn’t just about screwing Facebook,” Joshua Benton wrote in Nieman Lab. “They’re also coming for your Substack.”
Benton brings some powerful numbers to buttress his worries: “The most recent market-share numbers from Litmus, for May 2021, 93.5% of all email opens on phones come in Apple Mail on iPhones or iPads,” he writes. “On desktop, Apple Mail on Mac is responsible for 58.4% of all email opens.”
It seems clear that Apple’s move to cut off granular customer data from email senders will affect the email economy. But after conversations with newsletter writers and media executives today, I’m not sure that people doing email-based journalism have all that much to worry about from the shift.
“The advertising industry has addicted itself to tracking, prioritizing bottom of the funnel metrics at the expense of great content and creative. It’s tragic,” said Alex Kantrowitz, author of the free, ad-supported newsletter Big Technology. (He previously covered the industry for Ad Age.) “And it’s why people hate advertising and ad companies.”
Kantrowitz told me that his ad inventory was sold out for the first half of the year, thanks to a premium audience he identified not by pixel-based tracking but by a good old-fashioned reader survey. (The Markup, too, has used reader surveys to build a picture of its user base.)
“Pixel blocking makes placements like this more valuable and gives quality email newsletters a leg up on the junk clogging most people’s inboxes,” Kantrowitz said.
For ad-based newsletters, then, Mail Privacy Protection is likely to spur publishers to find other ways to understand their audiences. But what about paid newsletters, like the one this column is syndicated from?
Apple’s move may affect reader-supported newsletters even less, publishing industry executives told me today. Writers can triangulate reader engagement by plenty of metrics that are still available to them, including the views their stories get on the web, the overall growth of their mailing list, and — most meaningful of all — the growth of their revenue.
The media business changes so quickly that I don’t find it at all irrational to read about a move like the one Apple made this week and assume it will be bad for journalism. But in this case, it mostly strikes me as a false alarm. There are any number of changes that major email providers including Apple, Google, and Microsoft could make that would make life more difficult for newsletter-based businesses. In the end, though, I don’t think blocking spy pixels is one of them.
III.
All that said, I can’t end without pointing out the ways in which Apple itself benefits from cracking down on email data collection. The first one is obvious: it further burnishes the company’s privacy credentials, part of an ongoing and incredibly successful public-relations campaign to build user trust during a time of collapsing faith in institutions.
Taken together, the numerous iOS 15 features focused on user privacy combine to place more pressure on the digital ad ecosystem. Perhaps most notably, “Private Relay” — available to paying subscribers of Apple’s iCloud+ service — will encrypt all traffic leaving a user’s device, making them harder for advertisers to track.
One of my more cynical friends views all this as a way to funnel more businesses to building apps, offering in-app purchases, and promoting them with Apple’s advertising products. Marketing emails not working as well as they used to? Sounds like it’s time to buy some keywords in the App Store!
And what of creators who want to move away from the ad model? Apple will be there, ready and waiting to take a 30 percent cut of Twitter Super Follows, paid podcasts, and ticketed Facebook events.
It’s sometimes said that Amazon’s ultimate goal is to take a cut of all economic activity. Looking at Apple’s privacy moves this week, I’m mostly willing to take them at face value — as a necessary counter-balance to the inexorable rise of tracking technologies around the web. But it also seems clear that the value to Apple goes far beyond customer satisfaction — and as its revenues from ads and in-app purchases grow, we’d do well to keep an eye on how its policies are gradually reshaping the economy.
This column was co-published with Platformer, a daily newsletter about Big Tech and democracy.
Google TV, which offers one of the cleanest streaming experiences to cord-cutters, just vastly improved its live TV options — which is to say, users actually have options now. While the “Live” tab was previously limited to Google’s own pricey live TV streaming service, YouTube TV, the company has introduced a cheaper alternative with a Sling TV integration.
The companies confirmed to The Verge that the added support for Sling TV marks the first non-Google live TV integration for the platform, and that’s significant. While quite good, YouTube TV costs $65 per month before any additional add-ons or entertainment subscriptions like Starz or HBO Max offered through the service. Sling TV, meanwhile, starts at $35 per month for either of its two base plans: Orange for sports and family content or Blue for news and entertainment.
The Sling TV integration on Google TV.Image: Sling TV
Now, that’s not to say that Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV, or Fubo TV users couldn’t access their live TV services on the platform — you absolutely can by simply navigating to your designated live and linear app. But Google has a special Live tab up on the top that makes navigation a breeze, and this tab was previously only available to subscribers of its YouTube TV service.
Now, however, anyone who wants their live TV baked directly into their Google TV experience has another, more affordable option. While Sling TV’s plans offer around half the channels that YouTube TV does — around 30 to 45 versus YouTube TV’s more than 85 channels — the service also offers dirt cheap package add-ons starting around $6 for decent customization.
Google TV is currently available on Sony’s 2021 Bravia XR TVs and Google’s latest Chromecast device, with the platform soon to launch on TCL TVs. To enable the feature within the Google TV experience, link your Sling TV plan to your Google account in the Google Home app. After Sling TV’s been linked through Google Home, a Live tab should appear up top in the Google TV navigation bar.
Google’s Locked Folder feature, which allows you to password-protect specific images or videos to keep them from showing up in your main photo library, is available in the latest Pixel update, according to 9to5Google. Google’s page explaining Locked Folder says the feature is only currently available on Pixel devices, starting with the 3. When it announced the feature at its I/O conference, Google said that it would be coming to other Android phones “throughout the year.”
If you’ve got an updated Pixel, you can set up the Locked Folder by going to Photos, then to Library > Utilities > Locked Folder. Once it is set up, this is where you’ll be able to see your secret stuff.
You’re able to move existing photos to the Locked Folder, which will remove them both from your regular library and from any existing Memories that the picture may appear in. It’s worth noting that, according to Google, you can’t back up any photos or videos in the Locked Folder, so there is some amount of trade-off between privacy and convenience. Anything in the Locked Folder can, however, be moved out of it if you no longer need to keep it private.
Google’s support page also explains that you can even set the camera to save captured images directly to the Locked Folder, keeping them from ever going into your normal library. This could be useful if, for example, you were at a protest and wanted to make sure any pictures you took weren’t available to anyone else who might get hold of your phone. Or, for a more obvious example, if you were taking some spicy selfies you wanted to keep private.
Locked Folder is included as part of the June Pixel update, which is rolling out to phones now. According to 9to5Google, the update also includes the ability to ask Google Assistant to answer or reject a call, take astrophotography videos (on the Pixel 4 and newer), and an improvement to Gboard that places key details (like a phone number) in your keyboard’s suggestion strip after you’ve copied the text to your clipboard.
You won’t find many true wireless earbuds that come close to matching the all-round brilliance of the Sony WF-1000XM4
For
Clear, detailed bass performance
Wonderful sense of musicality
Comfortable
Class-leading battery life
Against
Missing Sony’s Multipoint feature
Lacking ear tip choices
No aptX HD
How do you improve on arguably the best all-round true wireless earbuds on the market? Sony has gone back to the drawing board and designed a brand new pair that look nothing like their predecessors – and the result is the WF-1000XM4. Is it a brave move? Definitely. Crazy? Quite possibly.
Sony’s WF-1000X range of wireless earbuds has been a dominant force in this category over the last few years, and the last pair to emerge from its stable, the WF-1000XM3, are two-time What Hi-Fi? Award-winners.
But instead of making the odd refinement here and there, Sony’s engineers have gone to town on the WF-1000XM4 with an all-new design, a new charging case and a new audio processor. They have even found time to develop a new eartip material, which here is appearing on a pair of Sony earbuds for the first time. What could possibly go wrong?
Luckily for Sony, very little does. In fact, the WF-1000XM4 are one of the most feature-packed, user-friendly and sonically gifted pair of wireless earbuds we’ve tested.
Pricing
Unsurprisingly, the Sonys sit at the premium end of the market, coming in at £250 ($280, AU$500). That places them right in the firing line of other five-star rivals such as the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 (£279, $299, AU$499), Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (£249, $280, AU$399) and, of course, the Apple AirPods Pro, which at the time of writing range in price between £199 ($199, AU$300) and £249 ($249, AU$329).
Build
(Image credit: Sony)
Your initial contact with the WF-1000XM4 is a surprising one. Sony has ditched the usual glossy box for recycled packaging made from a special blend of paper. This makes for a more compact box (34 per cent smaller than the WF-1000XM3’s), and one that’s plastic-free. That’s great news for the environment, though it doesn’t really give off the vibe that you’ve just bought a pair of premium noise-cancelling headphones.
Sony WF-1000XM4 tech specs
(Image credit: Sony)
Bluetooth version 5.2
Noise-cancelling Yes
Battery life 8 hours (BT + ANC), 24 hours (total)
Voice control Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa
Finishes x2
Weight 7.3g (x2)
Once you’ve liberated the WF-1000XM4 from their packaging, you’re greeted by a small, black charging case. It’s smaller than the case that comes with the Bose Quiet Comfort Earbuds, and positively tiny (40 per cent smaller) compared with the charging case that comes with their predecessors.
The case charges via USB-C and also introduces wireless charging to the WF-1000X range for the first time – all you need is a compatible Qi charging pad. You can even battery share with compatible smartphones and piggyback off their power supply, too.
You shouldn’t have to worry too much about the battery life. Sony’s new buds might come with a smaller case, but the XM4’s battery life is actually up compared with the XM3. You now get eight hours of play from the earbuds with noise-cancelling and Bluetooth turned on, and Sony claims the case can supply a further 16 hours of charge. That places their battery life from a single charge above all major rivals. The AirPods Pro can only manage five hours, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless seven hours and the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds six hours. Turn off noise-cancelling and the Sony’s life is extended to 12 hours from a single charge and 24 hours with the case. A five-minute quick charge is good for one hour of playtime, too.
You can see the life remaining in both the buds and the case through Sony’s Headphones Connect app, which will also give you a reminder when the case drops below 30 per cent charge.
As with all wireless earbuds, battery life can vary due to a number of different factors, such as the quality of files you’re listening to, how hard the internal processor is working, and the volume you’re listening at. During our testing, we found the battery life consistently good enough to get us through a day of mixed use.
Comfort
(Image credit: Sony)
Flip open the magnetic case and you’ll see the all-new earbud design of the WF-1000XM4. Based on a combination of customer feedback about the XM3 and research about the human ear, Sony has settled on a rounder body that sits more inside the ear opening.
The matte finish on each earbud gives the headphones a premium feel, while the small accents around the microphone and sensor holes add a tiny splash of colour. Speaking of colour, the XM4 come in a choice of black or silver.
If you want your XM4 to double as sports or running headphones you’ll be pleased to know they boast an IPX4 rating, making them resistant to “splashing from any angle” – a big improvement on the old model.
Besides the new-look earpieces, the XM4 also have brand new eartips. Made from polyurethane, which feels like a cross between silicone and foam, Sony claims they help secure a tighter, more stable fit. The thousands of tiny bubbles in the tips are also supposed to help reduce and dissipate noise.
The only downside here is that you only get a single set of small, medium and large-sized tips to choose from. Sony says you will get years of use out of one pair, and naturally extra tips should be available to purchase if you need them.
We don’t have any major problems sliding the earbuds in and twisting them into place. If you are struggling for a seal, you can pinch the tips and slide them into your ear canal, until they expand. We find they sit snugly in your ear opening, but they are comfortable over longer listening sessions.
To make sure you have the perfect fit, Sony has introduced a new air-tightness test, accessible through its Headphones Connect app. The app fires out a test tone and reports back on whether or not you need to make any adjustments. It’s worth trying out, especially if you feel the sound is lacking bass or there is outside noise leaking in.
In fact, we’d recommend installing the Headphones Connect app when you first connect the XM4. It gives you direct access to all the key features and functions of the earbuds so you can choose which ones to enable and disable. It also helps you get set up for listening to music in Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format from compatible streaming services such as Tidal and Deezer.
Features
(Image credit: Sony)
The circular outer surface of each earpiece is a touchpad and, by using the Headphones Connect app, you can customise the functionality of each one. They can control volume and playback or switch between noise-cancelling and ambient sound modes through the usual combination of taps, presses and long holds – and the headphones are quick to respond to these actions. Switching between sound modes, changing volume and activating and deactivating features such as Quick Attention (which drops the volume of what you’re listening to, so you can have a quick conversation without having to remove the earbuds from your ears) happen with minimal fuss.
The Sony WF-1000XM4 borrow the Speak-to-Chat function that debuted in the WH-1000XM4 wireless headphones. This feature allows you to talk to someone while the earbuds are still in place and is triggered when you start talking. It works well, although as is the case with the over-ears, it’s only triggered a second or so after you start talking.
This slight delay can be frustrating, as can the tendency for the feature to be triggered by a cough or an impromptu karaoke session while sat at your desk. You can reduce the sensitivity of the feature, or you can turn it off completely and either use Quick Attention or remove an earbud completely (which pauses playback automatically).
On the inside of the XM4 is plenty of new technology. The earbuds feature an improved DAC and analogue amplifier and are powered by a new Integrated Processor V1. Sony claims it provides a clearer sound and even better noise-cancelling than their predecessor. The new model also gets Sony’s DSEE Extreme audio processor with Edge-AI, which we have already experienced in the WH-1000XM4 over-ear headphones, and is designed to upscale low-bitrate music files to near hi-res quality.
The 6mm driver used inside the XM4 is similar in size to the one used in the previous model, but it’s made from a new material and features a bigger magnet, which Sony claims helps improve sound quality and noise-cancelling, especially with certain low frequencies.
There’s no aptX HD support onboard, but the XM4 support Sony’s LDAC file format, which, streamed over Bluetooth from a compatible source, allows hi-res audio files up to 24-bit/96kHz to be transmitted at data rates of up to 990kbps.
(Image credit: Sony)
Sony has also aimed to deliver clearer call quality with new features, including beam-forming and the use of a bone conduction sensor that stops the mics from picking up distracting ambient sounds while you’re talking. There’s even an automatic wind noise reduction mode which attempts to cut out swirls of noise passing through the headset and into your ears.
All of this works with Sony’s Precise Voice Pickup technology, originally introduced in the WH-1000XM4. The net effect is an impressive call quality for a pair of wireless earbuds. The technologies all combine to do a solid job of dampening down outside noise and interference, especially for the person on the other end of the line.
The general level of noise-cancelling is excellent, especially for a pair of wireless earbuds. Not everyone likes that ‘vacuum’ feeling you get when it’s turned on, but it’s extremely effective through the Sonys and you’ll struggle to find better noise cancellation at this level.
Android users will be pleased to hear the Sonys are compatible with Fast Pair so you can get up and running with minimal fuss. You receive a battery notification pop-up on your smartphone when they power up and you can even track their location down using the Google Find My Device app.
Unfortunately, iOS users don’t get any such pairing perks, but all you need to do to start pairing is open the case and take the headphones out. It’s a shame Sony hasn’t carried across the ‘Multipoint’ feature enabled on the WH-1000XM4 over-ears. This allows you to connect the headphones to two different Bluetooth devices simultaneously, which can come in handy if you’re working on a laptop but still want to be connected to your phone. Here’s hoping it can be added at a later date.
In terms of stability, we use an Apple iPhone 12 and Macbook for the bulk of our testing and find the connection to be rock solid with no dropouts, even in more built-up areas.
Sound
(Image credit: Sony)
Before we get to the WF-1000XM4’s immense musicality and expressive dynamics, we should note the way the headphones handle bass. The quality of bass and the clarity of low frequencies is stunning. There’s such a fantastic level of detail on display that it makes rival headphones, such as the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, sound congested in comparison.
We’re keen to hear how the earbuds handle one of our favourite bass-heavy test tracks, Massive Attack’s Angel – and we’re blown away by the confidence with which the song is dispatched. Every element of that pulsing bassline is precisely deployed and dripping in texture. It’s the clarity around the notes that really grabs you – it allows the WF-1000XM4 to communicate intricacies in the bass notes that other headphones struggle to uncover.
But it’s not a sound that purely favours low frequencies. There’s clarity across the board and a sense of rhythmic precision that allows the Sony’s to switch pace effortlessly. They sound as at home keeping up with, and succeeding in not being tripped up by, Radiohead’s 15 Step as they are dispatching the slow, deliberate swagger of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good.
Simone’s effortless vocal oozes class and sophistication, with every nuance in her delivery laid bare for the listener. Combine the emotion in her voice with the impact of the piano, percussion and wind section and the Sony’s create a captivating sound you can’t help but be swept away by.
If you were wondering whether the WF-1000XM4 would be a step up from the WF-1000XM3, we can confirm that they are. The newer model sounds more informative and uncovers more subtle detail. Bass notes are better defined and the overall sound is better balanced. Even the much-admired Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 struggle to match the Sonys for tonality and refinement.
You can hear that refinement and natural tone shine through as we listen to Ludovico Einaudi’s Experience. From the delicate, deliberate piano strokes at the start to the soaring strings at the song’s climax, the Sonys bring the individual personalities to life and mix them together like the ingredients of a fine cocktail.
Verdict
We’re quite taken by the Sony WF-1000XM4. Given all the design changes and new features in these wireless earbuds, it must have been a real challenge to get them right. But Sony has absolutely nailed it. The headphones deliver a satisfying user experience, class-leading battery life, some of the best noise-cancelling we’ve heard in this category, and absolutely stunning sound quality. Put simply, this is a new benchmark for premium true wireless earbuds.
(Pocket-lint) – There’s no beating around the bush, the Sony WF-1000XM4 true wireless in-ears are exceptional for their price. And, while there are one or two competitors that offer slightly better sound quality, they are usually more expensive and cannot match these for adaptive noise-cancelling (ANC) tech.
Sony has taken an already excellent pair of ANC headphones – the WF-1000XM3 ‘buds, in this case – and improved almost every aspect, resulting in a class-leading product. Sure, some will likely bemoan Sony’s lack of support for Qualcomm’s aptX, but the XF-1000XM4 are still among the best all-round in-ears we’ve had through the test labs. Here’s why.
Design and comfort
Bluetooth 5.2 to each ear
Four NC microphones
Bone conduction sensor
Custom Polyurethane eartips
The first thing that’ll strikes you when unboxing the headphones from Sony’s new totally biodegradable packaging is just how much smaller the charging case is from the previous generation. It is, according to Sony, 40 per cent smaller – and it notices.
To be fair, the last model has one of the biggest charging cases in the business – especially when compared to its near competitors – so the latest brings the XM4s into line. However, its lightness and pocket-sized girth are both very welcome.
Pocket-lint
As is the Qi charging and the matte plastic finish. The latter makes it nice to hold in the hand and will disguise minor scratches, we expect. The former wireless charging feature will make it much easier to just plonk the case onto a mat, ready to pick it up again when you are about to leave the house.
The ‘buds themselves are smaller than before – 10 per cent, it is claimed – with a familiar bulbous design, matte finish, some neat design touches such as small gold elements (rose gold on the black version we tested).
There are two noise-cancelling mics on each ‘bud, one behind the (almost) Mod symbol on the front, another behind a little slot facing rearwards. Both are accented by gold.
Three different sized eartips are included in the box, which are made from soft polyurethane rather than the usual silicone. This allows for a more comfortable, secure fit that also aids noise isolation greatly.
You do have to fiddle around with each ‘bud a bit more than with most brands in order to get it into the right position in your ear, but the audio quality merits it. The Sony Headphones Connect app even helps each ‘bud analyse the shape of your ears for even better audio personalisation.
Pocket-lint
We were pleased to note that after a decent period of use these ‘buds were just as comfortable as they were at the start. That’s not something we could comparatively say about their predecessors.
They also stay in better during exercise. We haven’t worn them on a full run yet, but have aggressively used an exercise bike and jogged on the spot a few times to make sure they don’t wobble much. They are also IPX4 certified, so are sweat- and water-resistant.
Setting up the WF-1000XM4 earphones is a doddle. They support both Android and Windows’ easy pairing modes, while our iPhone found them instantly in the Bluetooth list. The Sony Headphones Connect app also found them straight away.
It is here that you get to customise just about every nuance, including the ANC modes, touch controls, and sound equaliser (EQ). Sony provides many more options than a lot of rivals we’ve tried, so you can spend a while tweaking all the options to suit you best. However, the defaults are generally decent too, if you don’t want to get bogged down in minutiae.
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The ‘buds themselves have touch options on each ear: noise cancelling/ambient sound controls on the left; play/pause on the right. Touch both at the same time for seven seconds and you can set them back into pairing mode.
These touch options can be changed in the app though, such as adding voice assistant activation or volume. Both Alexa and Google Assistant can be enabled by voice instead – with wake-word support – so you are probably best sticking to the original setup.
You will need to turn on Speak-to-Chat though, if you want to use it. This stops any playback as soon as you talk – handy for speaking to cabin crew on an aircraft, for example. And, you might want to adjust the Bluetooth connection too – if the priority on sound quality is causing too many dropouts.
DSSE Extreme is also available in the app on a slider. This is said to enhance standard audio – MP3/AAC – to a higher bitrate through artificial intelligence.
Sony’s tried and trusted ANCtech is on board too, of course, which is one of the last customisable options. Again, default will be perfect for most as it will assess the best sound mode based on your current location and circumstance – whether you are sitting, travelling, and so forth.
Pocket-lint
We did find that we had to go into the app to force ANC on when we wanted to use it in the garden, for example, as it thought the ambience was tranquil enough – and we didn’t.
This generation of in-ears come with a new integrated V1 processor, which better handles ANC duties, you just have to make sure certain options are tuned to your own preferences first.
Sound performance and battery
Up to 24 hour battery life (8hr in buds, 16hrs in case)
Qi wireless charging
New integrated V1 processor
LDAN and Hi-Res Audio Wireless support
There are a number of reasons why the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds outperform their predecessors. A new 6mm driver with increased magnet volume, plus enhanced amplifier is one. A high compliance diaphragm is another. The latter is more flexible, so can reduce latency and therefore more accurately reproduce certain frequencies.
In short, these ‘buds sound great. We tested them mainly on an iPhone 12 Pro Max, which means we couldn’t feed them with lossless audio that way. However, we also ran a few lossless tracks over LDAC (which is Sony’s own high-res streaming codec – but nobody has any idea what the acronym means) on a supporting Android handset, so feel we got a good grip on their capabilities.
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The ‘buds are Hi-Res Audio Wireless capable and support LDAC themselves, although they do not come with support for Qualcomm aptX or any of its guises. As we’ve said above, that might irk some, but many handsets are LDAC-enabled these days and we’d imagine these will be used with lower bitrate tracks for the vast majority of the time anyway.
To that end, DSEE Extreme is provided. This is a newer version of Sony’s own AI-driven software. It essentially upscales lower quality audio to around CD quality – filling in the gaps as it imagines. It’s a bit like watching a Blu-ray on a decent 4K TV – it will look better, but don’t expect miracles.
Still, unless you are an audio purist, you will likely love the richness and grunt of these ‘buds. Even basic AAC versions of The Beatles’ She’s Leaving Home and Liam’s Gallagher’s Once exhibited great detail and staging, especially with DSEE Extreme activated. While the thumping bass hits in Elbow’s Dexter & Sinister grab you by the nethers.
That’s in either noise cancelling and ambient sound modes. Speaking of the former, the improvements made to the tech are quite impressive. ANC on in-ears has been somewhat hit-and-miss in the past, but the new implementation here is jaw-dropping at times.
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Considering how the world is right now, flying anywhere to test its prowess, even taking a train have been difficult, but we wore the ‘buds with ANC on while mowing the lawn as part of our tests. We didn’t hear the mower. At all. Some might think that dangerous, but it’s certainly staggering.
What’s more, the Bluetooth connection held up well. We’d like to find out how it would act when thousands of wireless technologies are all bouncing around and competing – on a packed London Tube concourse, say – but that’s not really feasible right now.
Battery life might be tested a little more then too. As it stands, Sony quotes eight hours for the ‘buds, a further 16 in the case, and that seems reasonable based on our experiences – if a little stingy compared to some competitors. We do love that addition of Qi wireless charging though – it makes life so much simpler.
Verdict
Sony has sure hit its stride now, first with the superb WH-1000XM4 over-ears, now followed-up by these exemplary WF-1000XM4 in-ears. There are so many new features in these true wireless earbuds that they’re even worth considering as an upgrade over the last generation – something that we rarely recommend.
Above all it’s the excellent audio performance and, in particular, active noise-cancelling (ANC) talents. Yes, we couldn’t really try them out in as many real-world settings we would usually wear ANC ‘buds in, but in homelife equivalent tests they hold up superbly.
So sony has done it again: it’s truly taken every tiny quibble anybody had with the XM3s, tweaking and improving along the way to make a class-leading pair of in-ears that will take some beating. The WF-1000XM4 are fairly pricey, of course, but we think worth every penny.
Also consider
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Bose QuietComfort Earbuds
A very strong competitor in the active noise-cancelling game, offering similar sound isolation, comfort, and longevity for a very similar price. Talk about battle of the best!
Apple’s WWDC event always feels like roulette when it comes to whether or not the company will announce any new devices or big software updates. For the past few weeks, rumors have been swirling that Apple might announce new MacBooks or the follow-up to its successful M1 chip today, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. We did get news on the latest incarnation of MacOS, called Monterey, but the rest of today’s stream was mostly spent on new iOS and iPadOS features (many of which are already present in Android).
(Image credit: Apple)
Monterey, the latest version of MacOS, was today’s biggest announcement outside of the mobile space, although it’s not shaping up to be as major of an update as last year’s Big Sur. It mostly focuses on bringing continuity across your MacBook and other Apple devices, including the ability to control an iMac, iPad and iPhone all with your MacBook’s keyboard and touchpad (or vice versa, presumably). It’ll also introduce new features that are coming to iOS and iPadOS to MacOS devices, but these are the most concrete details we know for now.
Apple did discuss that it’s going to be moving away from Automator and towards interspersing manual task shortcuts throughout the OS. Sort of like Windows Tiles, these shortcuts will let you open different apps from panels, but they’ll also take the form of buttons that show up in other programs and let you easily perform certain tasks. For instance, you might be able to make a gif straight from a photo editing program with a shortcut. It’s unclear exactly how intrusive or useful these shortcuts will be, especially since Apple said Automator would still be supported.
Safari is also getting tab groups, similar to the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox, and will also add Chrome Sync-like features to allow you to browse more easily across your MacBook and your iPhone (which will also get a tab redesign).
(Image credit: Apple)
Speaking of iPhones, iOS 15 is adding a bunch of new features to the device, mostly focused around sharing content. These include spatial audio that tries to cancel ambient noise around you on video calls, plus grid and portrait mode options for FaceTime. FaceTime is also getting links you can send to participants that they can click on to join future calls, much like Zoom or Google Meet.
What’s more interesting are the new content-sharing features. Facetime will now let users watch content from a streaming app together, each having control of the play and pause functions for perfect, automatic syncing. This also applies to music, plus FaceTime will be adding screensharing support as well. While we don’t normally cover phones, these functions are worth nothing as they will be coming to MacOS, too.
Aside from these features, there was a lot of talk about privacy promises, more niche updates like changes to iCloud (iCloud+) and the health app, and sections covering Apple Watch and smart home devices. Plus, iOS will be introducing translation features and other quality-of-life changes that are similar to what’s already on other platforms.
But if, like me, you were hoping for more substantial information on what’s next for Apple Hardware, you’re going to have to wait a little longer. Still, if you want to check out any of these OS changes, a limited developer beta starts today and a public beta starts next month.
The Google Stadia could gaming service is finally branching out to more devices. It will arrive on the excellent Google Chromecast with Google TV streaming dongle on 23rd June, as well as a number of TV sets running the Android TV operating system. And, all you’ll need to enjoy the service is a compatible Bluetooth controller (and a Google Stadia subscription, of course).
Here’s the full list of supported devices, as of 23rd June:
Chromecast with Google TV
Hisense Android Smart TVs (U7G, U8G, U9G)
Nvidia Shield TV
Nvidia Shield TV Pro
Onn FHD Streaming Stick and UHD Streaming Device
Philips 8215, 8505, and OLED 935 / 805 Series Android TVs
Xiaomi MIBOX3 and MIBOX4
If your Android TV isn’t supported, you might be able to sign up for Google’s experimental support – this lets it run on a wider range of devices, though the experience won’t have been optimised, so “not every Android TV OS device will work perfectly”, Google warns. To do so, install the Stadia app from the Google Play Store, and opt in when asked.
Many have seen the lack of Stadia support on Chromecast with Google TV a major oversight – though it didn’t stop the streaming dongle earning five stars in our review – so this wider rollout will be welcome news for many. And as well as adding some much-needed gaming skills to a handful of Android TVs, it makes an already excellent media streamer even better.
MORE:
Read our guide to the best video streamers
Check out the competition: Amazon Fire TV 4K review
Find out how to watch Apple TV on your Android TV device
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