Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 10 update to public beta testers for testing purposes, just under two weeks after releasing iOS 10 to the public and one day after providing the iOS 10.1 beta to developers.
Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 10 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on their iOS device.
Those who want to be a part of Apple's beta testing program can sign up to participate through the beta testing website, which gives users access to both iOS and macOS Sierra betas. Betas are not stable and include many bugs, so they should be installed on a secondary device.
iOS 10.1 introduces a "Portrait" mode for the iPhone 7 Plus, which was first shown off when the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus debuted on September 7. Portrait mode is designed to mimic the kind of shallow depth of field images that can be taken with a high-end DSLR, with a front subject that stands out over a blurred background.
The two cameras in the iPhone 7 Plus capture images, which are scanned by the built-in image signal processor. Machine learning techniques are use to recognize people and/or foreground images, keeping people and main objects in while applying an artful blue or "bokeh" to the background.
Portrait mode is an iPhone 7 Plus-only feature because it requires two images to create a depth map. iOS 10.1 also likely includes bug fixes and behind-the-scenes updates to address issues that have popped up since release.
iOS 10 offers features like a redesigned Lock screen, a Siri SDK to allow third-party apps to integrate with Siri, and a completely overhauled Messages app with stickers, a full App Store, Digital Touch, Bubble Effects, and more. Other new additions include a dedicated "Home" app for HomeKit users, new facial and object recognition capabilities in Photos, and redesigned Maps and Apple Music apps.
Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app.
Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website.
Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50.
We have outlined some examples below:
Device
New Value
Old Value
iPhone 15 Pro Max
Up to $630
U ...
Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action.
Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features.
Notification Summary Changes
Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines.
For...
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr.
The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models:
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhon...
Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by Juli Clover
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
Sunday January 19, 2025 6:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to expand the iPhone's redesigned Mail app to the Mac starting with macOS 15.4, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
The first macOS 15.4 beta should be made available in the coming weeks, and Apple has previously suggested that the iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4 series of software updates will be released to the public in April.
The revamped Mail app debuted on all...
Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon.
Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...
This bokeh effect its nothing new to smartphones. Galaxy S7 already surpassed the DSLR by having a faster autofocus
HA HA HA HA!
Nice one.
If you think that ANY smartphone has come close to ANY half decent DSLR, then you know nothing about photography or physics.
As for 'surpassed' sure. And let me guess, it also transforms into a space ship and can fly you to the moon? I'll join you there for cocktails this evening.
I have to say that I'm massively impressed with Apple's recent commitment to software QA and stability. I don't remember so many betas and GMs being thrown about before release.
Plus the more devices out there, the more bugs people will encounter. Apple's growth over the last 5 years has been exponential.
They've learned a lot from buggy disasters on launch date. iOS 7 and OS X Lion immediately spring to mind.
It's not perfect, but I'm sure it will improve over time. As it is, since you get both the original and depth mapped image you can open them as layers in Photoshop and clean them up using a layer mask. Here is an example of the original off the camera and a 30 second 'fix' in Photoshop. This was just a test snapshot.
[doublepost=1474584777][/doublepost]Here is another example of an image straight off the phone. It's not bad, you have to understand how the camera/software is going to react and what the limitations are but it opens a lot of possibilities. This is a pretty easy shot that looks much better having the subject isolated. Can I find fault? Yep, but I still think it's a lot of fun and I can't wait to see how far they can push this.
