MacRumors

Virgin Mobile USA today announced that it will begin taking iPhone X pre-orders on its website on Friday, November 3. The carrier originally said it would launch pre-orders today, in line with Apple and major carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, but evidently the date has been pushed back by one week.

Boost Mobile likewise announced that the iPhone X will be available to order on its website on Friday, November 10 in the United States.

Virgin Mobile USA's so-called "Inner Circle" plan offers unlimited talk, text, and data with a few caveats: video quality is limited to up to 480p resolution, music streams at up to 500 kbps, and games stream at up to 2 Mbps. The carrier promises 4G LTE speeds for "practically everything else."

Customers who use more than 23GB of data in a billing cycle will be de-prioritized during times and places where the network is constrained.

Mobile Hotspot is available for an additional $10 per month, providing up to eight tethered devices with a dedicated allotment of 10GB of high-speed data to share each month. Unlimited calls to Mexico and Canada, and unlimited worldwide text messaging, can also be added for $5 per month.

Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile are both subsidiaries of Sprint and share the parent company's network in the United States.

Apple Watch Series 3 models with Wi-Fi and GPS became available to purchase on Apple's website in Mexico and the Philippines today after launching in Bahrain and Malaysia last week. Apple says the non-cellular models will also be available to buy in South Korea on November 3 and in Brazil on November 17.

Apple Watch Series 3 first launched September 22 in the United States Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the UK.

Availability of the GPS-only models expanded to the United Arab Emirates the next day, and to Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Guam, Hungary, Iceland, India, Jersey, Macau, Monaco, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Thailand, and Turkey on September 29. Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia followed September 30.

Apple Watch Series 3 models with LTE launched September 22 in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, and the UK, with other countries to follow next year.

Nintendo's newly-announced iOS game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, has soft launched in the Australian iOS App Store, a launch rollout that Nintendo has begun to favor as a way to test its iOS apps prior to a worldwide debut. According to new data gathered by Sensor Tower, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp climbed to the top of the Australian App Store much faster than either Super Mario Run or Fire Emblem Heroes.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp debuted quite high among all iPhone apps on the Australian App Store, hitting around number 2 within the first hour of its soft launch on October 25. Afterwards, the new game reached the number 1 spot on the Australian App Store within 12 hours of its debut. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is Nintendo's fourth smartphone game made in partnership with developer DeNA, following Miitomo, Super Mario Run, and Fire Emblem Heroes.

Hourly App Store category rankings from Sensor Tower App Intelligence show Nintendo’s third mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, off to a strong start in its Australian soft launch on iOS. According to the data, the game reached No. 1 among all iPhone apps faster than Nintendo’s previous mobile releases, Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes, hitting the impressive milestone within 12 hours of its launch on October 25.

Comparatively, Super Mario Run debuted just below the number 40 ranking. It then hit number 2 after 12 hours on the App Store in Australia, and finally obtained the number 1 spot 14 hours after its soft launch in the country last December.

Fire Emblem Heroes was ranked at number 35 at the 12 hour mark of its respective Australian soft launch earlier this year, and only made it as high as number 13 among all iPhone apps. Fire Emblem isn't quite as well-known a franchise as Mario or Animal Crossing, leading to low download rates on launch day in the United States.

Sensor Tower also reported that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is currently ranked at number 117 among the top grossing iPhone apps in Australia. The game uses "Leaf Tickets" as its form of in-app purchase, allowing players to circumvent certain lengthy wait times for item and furniture building, supplement tickets for crafting materials, add in exclusive animals to their town like Tom Nook and K.K. Slider, and more.

Next, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is set to launch worldwide in late November, although Nintendo hasn't yet confirmed a release date. You can pre-register to be notified as soon as the game hits the App Store in your supported country on Nintendo's website right here.

Belkin's new InvisiGlass Ultra and Anti-Glare screen protectors for iPhone X are now available to purchase.

InvisiGlass Ultra is made with 0.21mm ion-strengthened glass supplied by Corning, the same manufacturer of iPhone display glass. Belkin says the screen protector improves the iPhone X's scratch resistance by up to three to five times, with up to a 25 percent increase in protection against cracking and breakage from drops.

The anti-glare screen protector is said to reduce harsh reflections from both sunlight and artificial lighting, allowing you to view the screen comfortably in bright conditions. The ultra-thin screen protector has an anti-scratch coating.

Both screen protectors include a cleaning cloth and so-called EasyAlign sticker in the box for easier installation at home. The anti-glare version can also be professionally installed at an Apple Store with Apple's ScreenCare+ application system.

Belkin's InvisiGlass Ultra and Anti-Glare screen protectors are $39.95 and $19.95 respectively on Apple's online store in the United States. Both are currently estimated to ship in one business day.

Following Instagram's debut of Halloween filters yesterday, Facebook today announced the launch of Halloween-themed camera effects, posts, and even a new interactive game within the camera on the app. The update will be rolling out starting today and leading up to Halloween next Tuesday, October 31.

Included in the update are more than twelve different masks and frames themed around the holiday, and Facebook Live broadcasts will gain Halloween effects that you can place directly into your videos. In the camera there will also be a virtual game that turns you into a trick-or-treater who has to jump their way out of a haunted house by hopping up the walls to escape.

The game uses face tracking as its controls, so turning your head side to side changes the direction in which you jump, allowing you to climb higher and avoid traps, similar to the iOS game Doodle Jump. When you finish you can share your high score with a photo and send a challenge to friends to beat your record.

The colored background options on text posts will gain new themed backgrounds, including bats, pumpkins, a graveyard, and more. Additionally, Facebook plans to ensure that you're aware of Halloween events near you by sending prompts about local events to your feed.

Besides the main Facebook iOS app, Messenger will also gain various Halloween masks and frames for you to take pictures with, as well as send videos to friends. Facebook is known to launch holiday updates like this, doing the same one year ago with Halloween-themed reactions and using its acquisition of MSQRD to debut Halloween live filters in its camera.

India has ousted the U.S. to become the world's second largest smartphone market after China, according to a new market research report on Thursday.

Figures aggregated by industry analyst Canalys show smartphone shipments in India in the third quarter of this year rose above 40 million units for the first time, representing 23 percent annual growth.

"This growth comes as a relief to the smartphone industry. Doubts about India’s market potential are clearly dispelled by this result," said Canalys Research Analyst Ishan Dutt. "There are close to 100 mobile device brands sold in India, with more vendors arriving every quarter. In addition, India has one of the most complex channel landscapes, but with low barriers to entry. Growth will continue. Low smartphone penetration and the explosion of LTE are the main drivers."

Samsung and Xiaomi, which shipped 9.4 million and 9.2 million units respectively, accounted for almost half of the total market, with Xiaomi expected to overtake Samsung if things continue. Meanwhile, Chinese trio Vivo, Oppo, and Lenovo also posted strong sales in Q3 2017.

Apple's sales, which were too low to make the chart, still indicated impressive growth, with iPhone shipments more than doubling to 900,000 units compared to Q3 2016. However, the relatively high price of iPhones has so far meant smaller adoption rates despite the introduction of lower-priced devices and discounted older models.

It's also worth considering that Apple only began local production in India earlier this year, while the Indian government has been mulling tax and policy exemptions sought by Apple for setting up more facilities to assemble iPhones.

Apple currently assembles iPhones at plants run by supplier Wistron, thereby satisfying India's requirement that 30 percent of products sold by foreign companies be manufactured or produced within the country. Apple also wants to open its first physical retail store in India as early as 2018, and the company is reportedly looking to open four to five flagship-class stores in the country over the next five to ten years.

Meanwhile, China remains the biggest smartphone market by some margin, with more than 110 million shipments per quarter.

Stranger Things: The Game received a feature update on Friday, coinciding with the hit TV series' season two debut on Netflix. Version 1.0.252 of the free retro-style sci-fi adventure game brings a new playable character to the Arcade and a brand new Hawkins High School dungeon.

Elsewhere, there are new quests to be gained from the Florist and the Hawk Theater Attendant, while players have another opportunity to get a 100 percent score thanks to a slew of new collectibles. In the words of the game's official blurb:

Things are stranger than ever in the town of Hawkins. Mike and the gang have new neighbors. Visit the Arcade to meet the new kid. Explore the Upside Down Gates that have opened around town. Solve the all-new throwback adventure in Hawkins High School.

Continuing the Stranger Things 2 theme, Snapchat today launched a new World Lens portal that takes users into an Upside Down version of Joyce Bryers' living room through an augmented reality doorway.

The room features several nods to the first season of Stranger Things, including fairy lights, alphabet graffiti, and a gaping hole in the living room wall. Interactive easter eggs and surprises scattered around the AR environment can also be discovered by tapping on objects.

To open the Upside Down lens in Snapchat, activate rear camera mode, tap the screen, and select the first sponsored effect in the list at the bottom of the interface. The lens can also be unlocked using Shazam in the Snapchat app when the Stranger Things them tune plays.

Two additional Stranger Things lenses are set to debut later in the day. To get the full augmented reality effect of the World Lenses, Snapchat users need to be using an iPhone 6s or later with iOS 11 installed.

Elgato's Eve lineup of smart home devices is one of the largest contributors to the HomeKit ecosystem, with a variety of sensors and switches for inside and out, including five more products announced a couple of months ago.

We reviewed a set of the early Eve products two years ago, when we found a solid set of sensors that were hampered by bugs in the early days of HomeKit. HomeKit has come a long way since that time, making it much more stable and useful, so many of our early qualms have been resolved and we were impressed by the new Eve Degree temperature monitor released earlier this year.

Two of the other products in the Eve lineup are the Eve Light Switch, a rather typical smart light switch, and Eve Motion, a battery-operated motion sensor. I've been using both of these for a few months, and I've found them to be quite useful in automating my home.

Eve Light Switch

There are a number of HomeKit-compatible smart switches on the market, including one from iDevices that I looked at earlier this year. The Eve Light Switch was, however, the first entrant into this category late last year, and it remains a worthy competitor.

Installation and Setup

If you've ever swapped out a light switch, it's a pretty straightforward process, and installing the Eve Light Switch isn't much different. As always, make sure you turn off power at the circuit breaker for safety before getting inside the junction box.

The Eve Light Switch is a lot bulkier than a traditional switch in order to accommodate all of the electronics, so you'll need to make sure you have enough room in your junction box, and you'll also need to have a neutral wire present at the switch location in order to provide continuous power to the switch. If you don't have one, you'll have to run some new wiring to the switch (which may not be a do-it-yourself job) or else select another location.

Unlike the iDevices Wall Switch, the Eve Light Switch can only be used in single-pole configurations. So if you've got a three-way circuit where a single light is controlled from two different switches, for example, you won't be able to use the Eve Light Switch.

Once you've determined the switch you want to replace is an appropriate location for the Eve Light Switch, it's just a matter or removing the old switch, transferring the wires over to the Eve Light Switch using the included wire nuts, shoving everything back into the wall, and screwing it all together.

From there, you have a decision to make. Elgato includes a two-piece face plate for a clean look, which requires that you screw on a snap plate over the switch and then snap on the face plate. Alternatively, you can skip those two pieces and put your own face plate on. Metal face plates may decrease the Bluetooth range of the switch, but I haven't experienced any issues with mine.

With everything put back together, it's time to turn the circuit breaker back on and make sure tapping the switch properly turns your light on and off. From there, head to the Eve app to get finish setting up the switch and getting it registered with your HomeKit network.

When you're done with setup on your device, you'll be all set to control the Eve Light Switch using the Eve app, the built-in Home app on iOS, or Siri. And as always, you can set up scenes to control the switch in conjunction with other HomeKit accessories, such as a "Good night" scene that turns off the lights, locks the doors, and adjusts the thermostat when heading to bed.

Usage

One thing my whole family loves about the Eve Light Switch is that the switch is actually just one big capacitive touch sensor. Tapping anywhere on the switch will turn the light on or off, and a green light in the center of the switch when it's off helps make it easy to find and hit in the dark.

The sensor makes for a big target, and it's easy to activate it when carrying things, even if you have to use an elbow. That's in contrast to the iDevices Wall Switch, which is a more traditional paddle design that requires you to physically press the top or bottom half of the switch to turn it on or off.

The Eve Motion communicates via Bluetooth, which conserves energy but somewhat limits its range. It can connect directly to your phone via Bluetooth, but if you have an Apple TV or iPad set up as a hub for your HomeKit setup, it'll ensure that all notifications and scenes function properly even when your phone isn't in range. Bluetooth range is much shorter than Wi-Fi, however, so you could run into some difficulty if your hub is located far from the switch.

Eve App

Once you've set up your light switch in the Eve app, you'll find that it's also a very full-featured HomeKit control app, showing all of your HomeKit devices around the house with options to set scenes, timers, rules (triggers), rooms, and zones (groups of rooms).

I won't go into too much detail on the app, as we've covered it fairly extensively in previous reviews such as the Eve Degree, but it's definitely a high-quality app for managing not just Eve products but a variety of HomeKit-compatible accessories.

The Eve app keeps a log of events such as when the light switch is turned on and off, which you can view in graph or table form. The various rules and scenes also make it easy to set up products to work together in scenarios such as activating multiple products at once or using an event on one accessory to automatically trigger a change in the state of another one.

Eve Motion

The Eve Motion is a simple product designed to do only one thing: sense motion in a room. Its 120º field of view and 30-foot detection range help it recognize whenever someone enters a room, and the fact that it's powered by a pair of AA batteries means you can put it almost anywhere. The Eve Motion is also IPX3 water resistant, meaning it can withstand splashes and sprays, and with an operating temperature range of 0º to 130º F, it can be used outdoors as well as inside.

Setup is straightforward, and once you insert the batteries and set the Eve Motion in an appropriate location, the Eve app walks you through step-by-step to allow you to pair with the Eve Motion, set sensitivity for the motion sensing, and set a Siri name for the sensor. If you'd like to integrate with other Eve or HomeKit products, you can set up scenes by specifying triggers and conditions.

As with the Eve Light Switch, the Eve Motion connects to your iOS device over Bluetooth, and if you have an Apple TV or iPad set up as a HomeKit hub, it'll be able to integrate with all of your other smart home devices at all times.

On its own, the Eve Motion is rather limited, basically restricted to pushing notifications whenever motion is sensed. This can come in handy if you want to mount it on your front porch, inside your front door, or in a seldom-used room if you want to be alerted whenever anyone's presence is detected. Within the HomeKit ecosystem, you can restrict notifications to only certain times of the day or, using geofencing, to only times when you either are or are not home.

The real power of the Eve Motion, however, is its wireless connectivity that integrates with the rest of the Eve platform and HomeKit, which lets you use the Eve Motion to trigger actions by other smart home components. For example, you could automatically turn on a light when motion is detected. Rules can also use multiple criteria, so you could set up an "I'm home" scene that turns on lights if it detects motion at your front door but only if it's after sunset. Or you could arrange to have a fan turn on when you enter a room, but only if the temperature is above 72º F.

One of the setups I tried with the Eve Motion was inside a pantry in my kitchen, pairing it with an iDevices Switch to try to automatically turn on a light in the pantry when the door was opened. The setup worked, but it's not instantaneous, sometimes taking as much as five seconds for the Eve Motion to recognize the motion of the door opening and me moving around in front of it, passing the event to HomeKit for processing the trigger, and sending a signal to the iDevices Switch to turn the light on it.

It wasn't ideal, considering I am frequently spending less time popping my head into the pantry than it takes for the light to come on, but it was an interesting test to push the limits of how HomeKit products can work together.

(November 2017 Update: Elgato has released updated firmware for the Eve Motion and Eve Light Switch that greatly improves response time in automations like this by leveraging updated Bluetooth architecture for HomeKit that was introduced in iOS 11.)

Other less time-sensitive setups worked better, such as triggering lights to come on when motion was detected on my front porch. The slight lag in response for the scene to activate once motion is detected isn't really significant in these contexts.

Wrap-up

The Eve Light Switch carries a list price of $49.95, and a few third-party sellers at Amazon are even knocking a few dollars off of that, which makes for a pretty decent deal in the world of connected light switches where many are closer to $100. It's a lot more than the buck or two you can spend on a traditional toggle switch at the low end, but there's obviously a lot more technology packed in and it comes with much more functionality. Your cash outlay will add up quickly if you want to use any of these smart switches throughout your home, so at least for now most users will want to be fairly selective about where they choose to install them.

The Eve Motion is priced at $49.95, and it's available through a number of retailers including Amazon or directly from Elgato. As a simple motion sensor without any other Eve or HomeKit products, it's not really worth investing in, but as part of a larger smart home setup, it can be a handy addition to help your other accessories do more.

Note: Elgato provided the Eve Light Switch and Eve Motion to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.

Most MacRumors readers are likely planning to order their iPhone X models directly from Apple because Apple typically offers the smoothest, most streamlined pre-order process, but multiple carriers and retailers will also be offering October 27 pre-orders.

With iPhone X supplies expected to be heavily constrained, it may be worth having a backup plan in case Apple sells out right away. Some customers may also prefer to try their luck with a third-party store with the hope of less order congestion, or may need to use a gift card. We've confirmed the retailers and carriers below will be offering pre-orders in the United States.

Carriers

T-Mobile has confirmed it will be accepting iPhone X pre-orders at 12:01 Pacific Time on October 27, and customers can elect to sign up for a reminder email on the T-Mobile site. Customers can also download the T-Mobile app to receive a push notification the second that T-Mobile's iPhone X pre-orders go live.

T-Mobile is offering a deal for $300 off the iPhone X with an eligible trade-in, but one of T-Mobile's installment purchase plans is required to get the deal. T-Mobile is allowing customers to buy the iPhone X outright or make a purchase using the JUMP! On Demand program or the Equipment Installment Plan.

For the Equipment Installment Plan, T-Mobile requires $279.99 down for the 64GB iPhone X, followed by 24 monthly payments of $30. For the 256GB model, T-Mobile requires $429.99 down, followed by 24 monthly payments of $30.

Under the JUMP! On Demand program, the 64GB iPhone X costs $41.56 per month while the 256GB iPhone X costs $24 per month and requires a $429.99 down payment. With JUMP! On Demand, customers can upgrade yearly.

T-Mobile customers will need to order from either Apple or T-Mobile as other retailers are not offering T-Mobile devices as a pre-order option.

AT&T is accepting iPhone X pre-orders on October 27 starting at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time.

Like other carriers, AT&T is offering up to $300 in credits with the trade in of an iPhone 7 Plus, or up to $200 with the trade in of other devices.

Pricing on AT&T's 24-month Installment Program starts at $41.63 for the 64GB iPhone X and $47.88 per month for the 256GB model, but AT&T offers several plans, including AT&T Next and AT&T Next Every Year, so pricing may vary depending on what you choose.

Verizon's website isn't listing a specific time for the iPhone X, but Verizon support says pre-orders will be accepted starting at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time on October 27.

Verizon is offering up to $300 off the iPhone X with an eligible smartphone trade-in, with the credit applied over a 24 month period. A device payment plan is required to get the deal.

Verizon's 24-month Device Payment Program requires customers to pay $41.62 per month for the 64GB iPhone X and $47.87 per month for the 256GB iPhone X. Verizon is also allowing customers to pay full price for the iPhone X.

Sprint's website says iPhone X pre-orders begin on October 27th at 2:00 a.m. CST, aka 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time, the same as every other carrier.

With Sprint's 18 month Flex Lease, customers will need to pay $41.67 per month for the 64GB iPhone X. The 256GB iPhone X is also priced at $41.67 per month, but it requires a $150 downpayment. Sprint is also offering outright purchases.

With a Sprint Flex Lease and a trade-in of an eligible device, Sprint is discounting the iPhone X by $350, with the discount applied over the course of 18 months.

Virgin Mobile is not accepting pre-orders for the iPhone X on its website, but customers can go to an Apple Store on Friday, October 27 to pre-order and take advantage of an in-store offer that will let customers get six months of Virgin Mobile service for $1.

Customers will need to ask for the Inner Circle promotional deal at the Apple Store.

The iPhone X will be available for pre-order through Comcast's Xfinity Mobile starting on October 27. Xfinity Mobile, available only to Comcast customers, allows users to pay $12 per 1GB of data usage or $45 per line for unlimited data that's throttled after 20GB.

Customers who buy an iPhone X through Xfinity Mobile and also sign up for Xfinity Internet, TV, and mobile service can get a $500 gift card.

Retailers

Best Buy has confirmed that it will begin accepting iPhone X pre-orders on October 27 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time.

Best Buy will have Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint models available for purchase.

Target will be offering iPhone X pre-orders starting on October 27, and while the website does not list a specific time, it's likely pre-orders will kick off at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time.

Target will have Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint models available for purchase.

Wrap Up

There's no word on how many iPhone X devices these retailers have available for launch day delivery, but oftentimes carriers and major retailers have at least some limited amount of stock available to fulfill online pre-orders on launch day.

Did we miss a retailer that's offering iPhone X pre-orders? Let us know and we'll add it to the list.

Update: US Cellular is also offering October 27 pre-orders for the iPhone X.

Instagram for iOS was today updated to add a new "Superzoom" camera feature that's designed to let users record videos that have a dramatic zooming effect.

After opening the camera, Superzoom can be accessed next to the Boomerang option under the record button. Tapping Superzoom will cause the camera to automatically zoom in with suspenseful music.

You can make a Superzoom of anything -- your selfie, your friend's goofy face or even your half-eaten sandwich. As always, you can send your video to your friends on Instagram Direct or add it to your story.

In addition to Superzoom, Instagram is also gaining five new Halloween-related face filters and Halloween stickers, both of which will be available through November 1.

Filters can transform you into a vampire, zombie, ghost, and more, while there are a range of stickers that include pumpkins, candy corn, and other spooky things.

Instagram can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]