MacRumors

Multiple reports are coming in that Instagram has lost support for iPhone XR and XS Max screen resolutions in the latest update to its iOS app.

The issue has been highlighted on Reddit and Twitter after Instagram users updated to the latest version (75.0), which was pushed to the App Store on Wednesday.

The resulting effect is that the Instagram interface looks as if it's been zoomed in, leading users to complain about blown out images, fuzzy text, abnormal spacing of icons and other graphical elements.

The issue isn't turning up for iPhone XS users who have updated the app, presumably because it shares the same resolution as the 2017 iPhone X. Instagram added support for the new iPhone XR and XS Max screen resolutions in October.

This is almost certainly an accident on Instagram's part, so it's likely to be fixed in the next update. iPhone XR and XS Max users who are experiencing the issue are advised to hold tight, and anyone who hasn't updated to v75.0 should probably wait until the next version is released.

We've reached out to Instagram to find out when that might be and will update this article if we learn more.

(Via Tehnot.com)

In late 2017, T-Mobile announced plans for a "disruptive" internet TV service, set to launch at some point in 2018. T-Mobile isn't going to make that release date, however, with the rollout pushed back until 2019.

According to Bloomberg, T-Mobile is delaying its TV service because the "project proved much more complex than expected."

T-Mobile executives faced the difficult choice of either offering a garden-variety streaming platform - a service that lets customers watch cable channels and other content online - or waiting until next year to deliver a more groundbreaking product, the people said.

When the project was announced, T-Mobile CEO John Legere made big promises about how it would disrupt the TV industry, and the high bar set by the company has made it difficult to complete the project on time.

T-Mobile's TV service is built in part on its acquisition of Layer3 TV, and while John Legere has promised to "fix the pain points and bring real choice to consumers," few details about the service are available at this time.

The carrier has promised to offer solutions to issues like lengthy contracts, increasing monthly bill costs, confusing bundles, and outdated user interfaces. 2019 is the prospective launch date for the service at this time, but Bloomberg's sources warned that plans could change.

Transit directions for Apple Maps have recently expanded to Belgium, Manila in the Philippines, Switzerland, Wyoming, and Iowa, Apple confirmed today in an update to its Feature Availability page for iOS.

In these locations, Apple Maps users can get directions using the transit options available in their states or countries. Apple actually implemented transit directions in these locales over the course of the last few months, but the Feature Availability page is only updated every few weeks.

Transit directions were added to Apple Maps in 2015 for a handful of cities, and since then, Apple has been working to expand the feature to additional areas. Transit information is now live in dozens of cities and countries around the world.

In addition to offering transit directions in new locations, Apple has also expanded its indoor maps availability to additional airports. All of the following airports now support indoor maps:

• Brisbane Airport (BNE)
• Central Japan International Airport (NGO)
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
• Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport (JAN)
• Melbourne Airport (MEL)
• Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT)

Indoor maps for malls and airports were introduced in iOS 11, providing full layouts of each mall or airport location with icons for restaurants, elevators, bathrooms, shops, and other notable landmarks. Different floors are clearly marked, making it easy to navigate through unknown areas.

A full list of all of the airports and mall locations where the Apple Maps indoor mapping feature is available can be found on Apple's feature availability website, which also houses a list of all of the locations where transit directions are available.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 5.1.3 update to developers, a little over a week after seeding the first beta and nearly two weeks after releasing watchOS 5.1.2.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.

As a minor 5.1.x update, watchOS 5.1.3 likely focuses on addressing issues that weren't able to be fixed with watchOS 5.1.2. No new changes were found in the first beta of watchOS 5.1.3, but we'll update this post if we find new features in the second beta.

The prior watchOS 5.1.2 update introduced the long-awaited ECG feature for the Apple Watch Series 4, allowing Apple Watch owners to take single-lead electrocardiograms to detect atrial fibrillation, which can be a sign of serious health problems.

Some 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models that were originally released in 2017 appear to be suffering from a display issue that causes a bright spot to appear right above the Home button on affected models.

The issue was outlined on the MacRumors forums, with complaints first popping up back in April 2018. MacRumors reader marmiteturkey explains the problem:

I have an approx 1in spot on my iPad Pro screen which is brighter than the rest of the screen - it's unevenly lit. The spot is about 2in above the home button, and although it has soft edges, I'm anal about my gadgets, and the difference in brightness could be described as 'minor', it's clearly there. It looks a bit like a pressure spot or similar. I always keep it in a case with a screen protector and the Smart Keyboard, so it's well looked-after.

According to iPad Pro users who have the problem, it appears to be an issue with uneven backlighting in that area. MacRumors can confirm the problem, as we have a 10.5-inch iPad Pro on hand that appears to be experiencing the same issue outlined on the forums.

Customers have been complaining of the problem for months now, though it continues to be unclear how many iPad Pro models may be impacted by the issue. It is not known if a similar issue will impact the new 11 and 12.9-inch 2018 iPad Pro models, as these devices are too new and the problem appears to surface after several months of usage.

Multiple users who were affected with the bright spot on their screens have been able to take their iPad Pro models to Apple for a replacement, but users who are no longer under Apple's one-year warranty or AppleCare+ have not had luck getting a free replacement device.

Out of warranty, Apple is asking customers to pay the display replacement fee, priced at $449 for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and $599 for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.1.2 update to developers for testing purposes, a little over one week after seeding the first tvOS 12.1.2 beta.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the new tvOS 12.1.2 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode.

tvOS updates have historically been minor in scale, focusing on under-the-hood bug fixes and improvements rather than outward-facing changes. Apple unfortunately provides little to no information on what's included in tvOS updates, so we may not discover anything new after installing the new beta.

Though we don't often know what's included in tvOS updates, we share when new software is available so developers and public beta testers are able to download it upon release.

If there are noticeable changes in the second tvOS 12.1.2 beta, we'll update this post with details.

Update: Apple has made a new beta of tvOS 12.1.2 available to public beta testers.

Amazon and B&H Photo today have discounts on a few new Apple products from 2018, including the 9.7-inch iPad and MacBook Air. In many instances, these are the lowest-ever prices on each device, and some retailers like B&H Photo are providing further discounts thanks to clippable coupons on each product page.

At Amazon, you can buy the 2018 9.7-inch iPad for up to $100 off in multiple configurations. The sales start with the 32GB Wi-Fi model down to a new low of $229.00, from $329.00, and also include some cellular options. You can check out the full list of items discounted below:

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

9.7-inch iPad (2018)

• 32GB Wi-Fi (Silver) - $229.00, down from $329.00
• 32GB Wi-Fi (Space Gray) - $229.00, down from $329.00
• 128GB Wi-Fi (Gold) - $329.00, down from $429.00
• 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular (Silver) - $499.00, down from $559.00
• 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular (Gold) - $499.00, down from $559.00

For the MacBook Air, you can find discounts of up to $150 off today, including 128GB and 256GB models of the new laptop. Amazon and B&H Photo also have notable discounts on the older 2017 MacBook Air, so check out the full list below for all of these sales:

13-inch MacBook Air (2018)

• 8GB RAM, 128GB HD (Gold) - $1,049.00, down from $1,199.00 at Amazon and B&H
• 8GB RAM, 128GB HD (Silver) - $1,049.00, down from $1,199.00 at Amazon and B&H
• 8GB RAM, 128GB HD (Space Gray) - $1,049.00, down from $1,199.00 at B&H
• 8GB RAM, 256GB HD (Gold) - $1,249.00, down from $1,399.00 at B&H (with on-page coupon)
• 8GB RAM, 256GB HD (Silver) - $1,249.00, down from $1,399.00 at B&H (with on-page coupon)
• 8GB RAM, 256GB HD (Space Gray) - $1,249.00, down from $1,399.00 at B&H (with on-page coupon)

13-inch MacBook Air (2017)

• 8GB RAM, 128GB HD (Silver) - $849.00, down from $999.00 at Amazon and B&H
• 8GB RAM, 256GB HD (Silver) - $949.00, down from $1,199.00 at Amazon and B&H

In Amazon's main Gold Box deal today, you can also save on Tile's new replaceable battery Bluetooth trackers. This includes the Tile Mate with Replaceable Battery 1 pack for $15.99, down from $24.99; the Tile Mate with Replaceable Battery and Tile Slim 4 pack (2 x Mate, 2 x Slim) for $44.99, down from $69.99; and the Tile Pro with Replaceable Battery 2 pack (1 x Black, 1 x White) for $44.99, down from $59.99. Head to Amazon to browse all of the latest last-minute shopping ideas in the company's Gold Box deals section.

Lastly, Aspyr has Sid Meier's Civilization VI for Mac down to just $15.00, from $59.00, during its new holiday sale. You can find all of the Mac system requirements for the strategy game right here.

For more ideas on holiday gifts, be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to check out this week's discounts, including Apple's HomePod for $249.00 at B&H Photo and a new 25 percent sale on select gifts at Pad & Quill.

A few months ago, the 2019 Lexus ES became the first vehicle from Toyota's luxury brand to add support for CarPlay, built on top of the brand's Enform 2.0 infotainment system, and Lexus now has a half dozen 2019 models announced with CarPlay support.

I've had a chance to spend some time with a Lexus ES 300h Ultra Luxury hybrid model that includes a number of technology features, so here's a look at what iPhone users can expect now that Lexus is rolling out CarPlay support.

CarPlay support comes standard on all ES models starting from October production, and the base ES infotainment system comes with an 8-inch color display that can use a tethered smartphone with the Scout GPS Link service to provide navigation. My test vehicle, however, was equipped with a Navigation Package that boosts the center display to a 12.3-inch widescreen palette and provides native onboard navigation capabilities.

This widescreen display offers a choice of an ultra-wide view of main apps within the Enform system like navigation or a split-screen view to put a traditional size navigation pane alongside an audio pane, for example.

Widescreen CarPlay

The 12.3-inch display on the Lexus ES makes it one of the few vehicles on the market, along with some models from the likes of Mercedes and Alfa Romeo, to support widescreen CarPlay, which takes over the entire display. While most users are familiar with the traditional 4x2 grid of icons for the CarPlay home screen, with a wide enough display as in the Lexus ES with navigation, the CarPlay interface will actually increase this to a 5x2 grid.

Individual apps are of course also optimized for the large screen, which means you'll get an encompassing view of what's ahead of you in Apple Maps and other CarPlay navigation apps.

Music apps and more are also expanded to fill the screen, but the extra real estate really isn't of much benefit as it typically results in more padding and blank space rather than being able to display additional content.

This widescreen CarPlay interface, while offering some benefits with the increased scope of view, does have some drawbacks. The primary one is that with CarPlay taking over the entire display, you don't have a simultaneous view of other apps from the Enform system such as audio. You can configure the digital driver's display to show some audio information such as the radio or SiriusXM stations and song titles, but this view is pretty limited.

Unlike the Acura RDX I reviewed that limits CarPlay to taking over the left three-fourths of the display while maintaining a view of key Acura infotainment functions in the right display pane, there's no ability to do this on the Lexus. Ideally, full screen or partial screen would be a user preference, but that's simply not how it works in either the Acura or the Lexus, with the two brands opting for opposite solutions.

Remote Touch and CarPlay Controls

The giant 12.3-inch widescreen (as well as the smaller standard 8-inch screen) is not a touchscreen, which makes reasonable sense considering just how far the driver would have to stretch to reach the right side of it. As a result, Lexus has opted for a Remote Touch trackpad interface and associated hardware buttons down on the center console within easier reach of the driver.

The previous joystick-style Remote Touch interface used by Lexus has been the subject of significant criticism, and while the trackpad may improve things a bit, it's still a bit of a chore to use. The system does not use absolute positioning as in the Acura, so navigating around the Enform interface on the Lexus requires dragging your finger around on the trackpad to get the cursor where you want it and then pressing or double tapping on the trackpad to register your selection.

The system offers both haptic and audio feedback as the cursor lands on clickable items, which some may consider helpful but which I found to be a bit much. Fortunately, these can be turned off entirely or the volume/haptic strength adjusted.

The trackpad does support some gestures including pinch-to-zoom on the Enform system's maps (but not CarPlay), double tap (equivalent to press), and flick (to quickly scroll lists or pan Enform maps), but it's still a somewhat limited substitute for the intuitiveness of direct touchscreen manipulation.

Hardware buttons above the trackpad offer quick access to the navigation app, the main menu (which slides up from the bottom like a dock rather than taking you to an entirely different screen) and a "back" function to walk you backward out of your current location within the app and settings hierarchy. Below the trackpad is a single button labeled with an inverted double chevron that provides a supplemental function depending on where you are in the system and is only occasionally active.

As is typical, voice access to CarPlay via Siri can be controlled using a talk switch on the steering wheel, with a short press bringing up the Lexus voice assistant and a long press activating Siri.

With most infotainment systems, the volume of the radio/audio and navigation voice prompts can be controlled independently, typically with changes made while the navigation voice is speaking adjusting that volume while changes made at other times affect the main audio volume. That's not the case with the Lexus Enform system, either for the built-in navigation or CarPlay navigation, and it's rather infuriating. The only way to adjust the volume of navigation voice prompts is to dive into a settings menu that isn't even available while the car is in motion.

Ports and Connectivity

The wired CarPlay connection is managed through a pair of USB ports near the front of the center console in a section that can be hidden by a pop-up cover when not in use. Two media devices can be connected to the Enform system simultaneously, but if either of them is an iPhone connecting as CarPlay, the other USB port becomes charge-only.

To the right of the USB ports is a cavity with a removable plastic insert that divides it into a cupholder and a narrow upright phone slot. You won't be able to see much of your screen when your phone is in the slot, but otherwise it can be a convenient, space-saving place to put your phone, provided your phone fits.

The slot holds my iPhone XS Max in an Apple case in the normal position with essentially no room to spare. If I want to have the phone plugged in for CarPlay or charging and need to place the phone in the slot upside down, it doesn't fit due to the slight protrusions of the volume and power buttons on the upper part of the phone. A smaller phone model in a thin case would fit just fine though.

On the rear of the center console is a pair of 2.1A charge-only USB ports with spring-loaded covers, as well as a 12V power port. There is also a 12V power port up front inside the center console compartment.

Qi Wireless Charging

While Lexus's CarPlay implementation is wired, the ES does have an optional Qi wireless charger, although it's tucked away inside the center console compartment. It keeps your phone secure and hidden away, but for those who prefer a charger more out in the open where it's easy to toss the phone onto it as you sit down and grab it as you exit the car, the compartment location makes things a little more inconvenient.

Even more so, the wireless charger is a tray that's partially tucked under the front lip of the center console with only a small amount of vertical clearance, and the charger isn't particularly large. I have an iPhone XS Max with an Apple leather case on it, and my phone just barely fits on the charger. I have to carefully slide it under the lip of the console compartment to get it onto the charger, and then it takes a little bit of maneuvering to get the phone out again.

Smaller phones would have a bit more room side to side, but if you're using a thicker case you can likely forget about using the wireless charger. At least for my phone, the tight fit certainly ensures the phone remains secure on the charger, but overall there's just too much of an effort required to get my phone on and off the charger when quick and convenient is my primary goal in using a wireless charger to begin with.

The wireless charger is a standalone option on all trims, but its $75 price tag is remarkably cheap compared to some other manufacturers that are charging more like $300 or even as much as $500 for the option.

Wrap-up

CarPlay on the new Lexus ES has some novel attributes, but overall the experience leaves a bit to be desired. The widescreen CarPlay experience is definitely something different compared to most other manufacturers, and the expansive view of CarPlay navigation apps is very nice. But other CarPlay apps can't really take advantage of the extra screen real estate, so the benefits are limited. The widescreen CarPlay also comes at a cost when there's no option for a split-screen view that would let you see information from both CarPlay and the Enform system side-by-side.

Trackpad infotainment control systems are hard to get right in an age when we're so accustomed to direct manipulation on our iPhones and iPads, and I feel like the Remote Touch interface in the Lexus ES isn't the best implementation out there. Navigating around the large screen via trackpad is cumbersome, and while the Enform system helps a bit by snapping to available UI actions as you get close, you don't get that assistance when using CarPlay.

Wireless charging is becoming more and more prevalent in vehicles, but it's frequently slow and in the case of the Lexus ES it's not particularly convenient to use with it being a tight fit tucked away in the center console compartment. And of course, it feels like a missed opportunity to not offer wireless CarPlay, although it's hard to put blame uniquely on Lexus considering BMW is the only manufacturer that has managed to roll it out.

The 2019 Lexus ES starts at $39,600, but if you want to max out your trim and options to get all of the goodies like a hybrid engine, premium audio/navigation package, and more, you'll be approaching $55,000.

CarPlay is thankfully included on all trims at no additional charge as of October production, so as long as you don't end up with one of the first ES vehicles to roll off the line, you'll be good to go. If you want the widescreen 12.3-inch center display rather than the more traditional 8-inch screen, you'll need to add several options and packages, including the Navigation Package, that total around $4,500 at a minimum.