If you're looking to start stocking up on iTunes gift cards for the holidays, PayPal's Digital Gifts storefront on eBay today has the $100 iTunes gift card at $85 for customers in the United States. You'll need to be logged into a PayPal account, and once you complete the purchase the digital gift card will be emailed to you with a code to add the credit to your iTunes account.
Discounts on iTunes gift cards are getting more frequent as holiday shopping nears, with most deals marking $50 and $100 cards off by 15 percent. As Black Friday gets closer, you can expect larger discounts -- of around 20 percent off -- to begin popping up at various retailers. We'll be sure to notify you when these holiday deals begin happening; you can also keep an eye on our Black Friday Roundup and Deals Roundup for even more of the latest Thanksgiving and Christmas sales.
Apple says the iPhone X has the most durable glass ever used in a smartphone, with a strengthening layer that is 50 percent deeper, but a series of drop tests show that glass and concrete still don't play well together.
SquareTrade, a company that provides extended warranties for electronic devices, conducted several breakability tests on the iPhone X, and found that its glass back and lack of a home button make it "the most breakable iPhone ever."
Not only did the iPhone X's glass shatter when dropped on its front and back from a height of six feet, but the display also malfunctioned. Keep in mind that pocket height for most people is about three feet.
SquareTrade is naturally using the opportunity to push its two-year smartphone protection plan, which was recently reduced to $129 plus a $99 deductible for most claims, in the United States.
The plan covers cracked screens, liquid damage, battery failure, Lightning connector failure, and speaker failure. It doesn't cover loss or theft.
SquareTrade customers now have an in-home repair option with a lower $25 deductible to fix cracked screens. The service is currently available in more than 700 cities across the United States, with new cities added monthly.
A few YouTube channels also tested the iPhone X in extreme conditions to determine how durable and water resistant the device is.
EverythingApplePro placed the iPhone X in a 20-foot tube of water for 35 minutes without any signs of liquid damage occurring. He also put the iPhone X into a running washing machine, and the device still remained functional.
JerryRigEverything scratched the iPhone X with a utility knife, including the cameras, stainless steel frame, and rear Apple logo. He also tried to bend the device, without much success, and burn the display with a lighter.
While breakability tests are generally unscientific, the videos reveal that even the most durable glass in a smartphone isn't shatterproof.
Apple recently confirmed it will charge out-of-warranty rates of $279 for iPhone X screen repairs, and $549 for any other damage to the device, unless it is a manufacturing defect covered by Apple's standard one-year limited warranty.
There's also AppleCare+, an optional, premium warranty plan that extends an iPhone's warranty coverage to two years from the original purchase date of the device, and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage.
With AppleCare+ for iPhone X, the price of a repair would be the $199 upfront cost of the plan plus a $29 or $99 incidental fee.
If you shatter your iPhone X's screen once, for example, you would pay $279 out of warranty. With the upfront cost of AppleCare+ coupled with the screen repair incidental fee, you would pay $228.
If you shatter your iPhone X's back glass, having AppleCare+ is even more worthwhile. Apple's flat rate is $549 for this type of damage, while the upfront cost of AppleCare+ coupled with a $99 incidental fee totals $298.
All prices above are listed in U.S. dollars. AppleCare+ and Apple's out-of-warranty repair fees vary in other countries.
SquareTrade conducted breakability tests for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus a few months ago with similar results. Both of the glass-bodied models shattered on all sides in every single drop test, including front and back drops at a distance of six feet, a 22-foot shot drop test, and a tumble test.
Following a report last week that stated Broadcom was "exploring" the possibility of buying Qualcomm, which has made LTE chips for Apple's iPhone line for many years, today Bloomberg reports that this offer is moving forward. Broadcom has offered to acquire Qualcomm for $70 per share in cash and stock, in a transaction valued at a total of $130 billion. If completed, it would be marked as "the largest technology acquisition ever."
Through the deal, Broadcom would become the third-largest chipmaker in the world, behind Intel and Samsung Electronics, and the combined Broadcom-Qualcomm business would "instantly become" the default provider of certain components required to build more than one billion smartphones sold every year. The acquisition would eclipse Dell's $67 billion purchase of EMC in 2015, considered at the time the biggest in the technology industry.
“This complementary transaction will position the combined company as a global communications leader with an impressive portfolio of technologies and products," Hock Tan, resident and chief executive officer of Broadcom, said in a statement Monday. “We would not make this offer if we were not confident that our common global customers would embrace the proposed combination.’’
In the midst of the acquisition news, Qualcomm and Apple have been embroiled in a legal battle since January after Apple sued Qualcomm for $1 billion. Apple accused Qualcomm of charging unfair royalties for "technologies they have nothing to do with" and failing to pay for quarterly rebates. As the disagreement escalated throughout 2017, with a new lawsuit emerging just last week, Apple is said to be considering eliminating Qualcomm chips from its devices completely moving forward.
However, through a newly combined Broadcom-Qualcomm company, which could bring about new management, analyst Stacy Rasgon pointed out that the acquisition could finally "smooth things over" between Apple and Qualcomm.
If Broadcom can pull off a deal, it could help smooth things over with Qualcomm’s biggest adversary. A change of management at Qualcomm might help resolve the dispute with Apple more quickly, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Stacy Rasgon.
Broadcom also said that its offer stands whether or not Qualcomm completes its pending acquisition of NXP Semiconductor, which is currently facing regulatory scrutiny in Europe and resistance from NXP shareholders. Following the signing of a definitive agreement, Broadcom said it expects the proposed deal to be completed "within approximately 12 months."
Update 11/13: Qualcomm has rejected Broadcom's offer, stating the following in a press release: "It is the Board's unanimous belief that Broadcom's proposal significantly undervalues Qualcomm relative to the Company's leadership position in mobile technology and our future growth prospects."
Apple is likely to expand its supply chain for Apple Watch, following significant unit growth for the wearable over the third fiscal consecutive quarter this year (via DigiTimes).
Apple Watch's overall shipments are expected to reach at least 25 million units in 2018 and most of the sales will be contributed by first-time buyers instead of replacement demand from users of previous-generation models, the sources estimated.
During last week's earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple Watch had seen unit growth of over 50 percent for the third consecutive quarter and "continues to be the best selling and most loved smartwatch in the world".
The fiscal quarter ended September 30, so it's not clear how many Apple Watch Series 3 units were included in the recorded growth and Apple doesn't provide a breakdown of numbers. The Apple Watch Series 3 was released on September 22. Cook also revealed that Apple's entire wearables business was up 75 percent year over year in the fourth quarter, and in fiscal 2017, already generated the annual revenue of a Fortune 400 company.
Apple's upstream suppliers include Quanta Computer, Universal Scientific Industrial (USI), Career Technology, Kinsus Interconnect Technology and E&R Engineering, all of which are expected to see increasing orders for the Apple Watch, according to sources.
Foxconn affiliate ShunSin Technology has also recently landed orders for providing SiP (system in package) packaging services to Apple Watch and are said to begin the supply in March 2018. The fact that ShunSin is entering the supply chain means Foxconn may also have interest in obtaining Apple Watch assembly orders, according to market watchers.
Apple will hold a special Apple Watch Activity Challenge on Veterans Day, November 11. As with past holidays, Apple Watch owners can earn an exclusive badge and an iMessage sticker if they complete the challenge (via 9to5Mac).
To earn the badge and sticker, Apple Watch wearers must clock up an eleven-minute workout on Veterans Day. To record the activity, wearers need to use Apple's stock Workout app or a third-party app that feeds data to Apple's HealthKit.
Veterans Day is a U.S. holiday, so the Challenge won't show up for Apple Watch users set to other regions. The last special activity challenge Apple promoted occurred in summer in coordination with the National Parks Foundation.
An issue with Apple's autocorrect feature emerged over the weekend after users began updating to iOS 11.1. First noted by Reddit user The Cravin, typing the letter "i" can result in autocorrect replacing it with the uppercase letter "A" and a question mark symbol. The problem isn't universal, but is affecting enough users for Apple to publish a support document that offers a workaround until it can be resolved in a future update.
The workaround involves setting up a Text Replacement for the letter "i". To do this, go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Text Replacement, and tap the plus (+) button. In the Phrase field, type an uppercase "I", and in the Shortcut field, type a lowercase "i". This should fix the problem until Apple addresses it properly in the next iOS update, which shouldn't be far off.
Apple has updated its vintage and obsolete products list with three additional products: the Time Capsule (4th generation), AirPort Extreme (5th generation), and the Mac Pro (Mid 2010).
The Mac Pro and two wireless routers listed above are now classified by the company as vintage in the United States and Turkey, and obsolete in the rest of the world. Apple defines vintage products as those that have not been manufactured for more than five but less than seven years. Macs and other products on the vintage and obsolete list are generally no longer eligible for hardware service.
Apple radically redesigned the Mac Pro in 2013, but a new high-end high-throughput modular Mac Pro machine is in the works and will debut after 2017. As customers wait for a new Mac Pro, current machines have seen a significant price drop. The 4-core Mac Pro has been discontinued, and the 6-core machine is now available at entry-level pricing.
Apple dismantled its wireless router division last year, sending engineers who worked on the AirPort line-up into other product teams, including one that works on Apple TV. Currently, Apple still sells the AirPort Express ($99) and high-rise 6th-generation AirPort Extreme ($199) wireless routers. The company also sells one wireless router with built-in network-attached storage – the AirPort Time Capsule in 2TB ($299) and 3TB ($399) capacities – but the device hasn't seen a refresh since 2013.
Samsung today posted a new video on its YouTube channel called "Samsung Galaxy: Growing Up," which follows the life of a young man as he purchases Apple devices over the course of ten years, and then decides to switch sides to Samsung on the eve of the iPhone X launch. The 1-minute commercial features the song "I'm Moving On" by Chyvonne Scott.
The video begins at the iPhone launch in 2007, and subsequent years show the main character facing storage issues when taking a photo and waiting in long lines under poor weather conditions for the latest iPhone. At one point, he drops his iPhone in water and has to place it in a bowl of rice, while his girlfriend's Samsung device continues to function.
Other points made in the ad center around the iPhone's lack of stylus support, as well as its need for dongles after the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack in the iPhone 7. The ad ends with the character's decision to turn off his iPhone and purchase a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, and he eventually walks past a line of people waiting for the iPhone X -- including a guy with a notch-like haircut -- without joining them.
The latest Samsung smartphone is the Galaxy Note 8, which launched in September with dual rear cameras, a 6.3-inch AMOLED 'Infinity Display', and a new and enhanced S Pen with improved pressure sensitivity. Many publications favorably reviewed the Note 8 prior to its launch, agreeing that the lack of an explosive battery made Samsung's newest device a step up from the Note 7.
New rumors surfaced this weekend suggesting Blizzard's first-person shooter Overwatch could be launching soon on Mac. A Reddit user on r/macgaming (via MacGamerHQ) managed to download an unlisted installer for Overwatch on Mac -- titled "Overwatch-Setup.zip" -- by apparently altering the download link for the PC version of the game available on the official Battle.net website.
The installer is properly signed by Blizzard and launches Battle.net -- an app that centralizes all of the player's Blizzard games into one place -- with Overwatch appearing in the "Games" tab. Redditor Heyoni shared a few images of Overwatch appearing in Battle.net on their Mac, but as of now the game is not able to launch and delivers an error message when "Play" is clicked.
The Reddit thread discussing the news theorized the potential for this being a bug, or that it could be a hint for an upcoming announcement related to Overwatch's debut on Mac. Blizzard just wrapped up its annual BlizzCon event, in which it unveiled a new support class for Overwatch named Moira, a new map called Blizzard World, and a new character cinematic focusing on Reinhardt. During the event, no news was given regarding Overwatch expanding to Macs.
Unfortunately, a comment made by an Overwatch engineer in a new interview suggests Blizzard is still not planning on launching the game for Mac anytime soon. Tim Ford, the lead software engineer for gameplay systems on Overwatch, told Gadgets 360 that Blizzard has "no plans" of launching Overwatch on Mac. Ford said this is due to "several technology decisions" Apple has made on Macs, which make it "a little difficult" for Blizzard to create a Mac version of the game.
With Overwatch being available on the PS4, Xbox One, and Windows PC, it’s one of the rare Blizzard games that’s not on the Mac. It's odd considering that every other Blizzard title has graced Apple’s line of computers. Ford explained why Overwatch will not be making it to the Mac.
“We have no plans of giving this game on the Mac," says Ford. "There are several technology decisions that Apple has made that has made it a little difficult for us to release Overwatch in the way we want it to be consumed, and that is why we haven't pursued it."
Before Overwatch launched in May 2016, Blizzard said a Mac version was not a priority because it was "just too challenging" at that point to support Apple's platform, due to the "technology behind Macs." Then, in May 2017, Blizzard vice president Jeff Kaplan said the company is keeping an "open mind" about bringing Overwatch to Mac gamers, it just needs the "priorities of our development process to line up with the capabilities of the platform."
As news of the Mac installer spread online, Polygon reached out to a Blizzard representative, who stated that the Overwatch development team has "nothing to announce at this time" regarding a Mac launch for the game. For now, Overwatch is available to play on Windows PCs, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Most iPhone X owners have had barely 48 hours to get to grips with Apple's new home bar-based user interface which does away with traditional home button functions, but the general consensus is that it becomes extremely intuitive to use after just a few hours. In this article, we've gathered some neat tips and gestural tricks for using iOS 11 on iPhone X that you may not have come across.
Some of the tips listed below offer an alternative one-handed approach to gestures that typically require two hands, while others simply demonstrate a quicker way of interfacing with your iPhone X that Apple hasn't made explicit in its support literature. Hopefully at least one of them will be new to you and will help you get more out of your new smartphone.
There's a strange bug with the Apple Watch today that's causing resprings whenever Siri is questioned about the weather. Asking Siri something like "What's the temperature?" or "What's the weather?" or "Is it raining?" causes the Apple Watch to crash.
The issue has been documented in several threads on the MacRumors forums and on reddit, and we've also been able to replicate it on our own devices.
Complaints about the problem appear to have started this morning, and the bug is confirmed to be affecting both LTE and GPS Apple Watch Series 3 models as well as older Apple Watch models running watchOS 4.1. Not all Apple Watch owners in all countries are affected, but it appears to be impacting users in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
It's not yet clear what's causing the issue, but the weather app itself is working fine, and restarting and resetting the watch don't appear to fix the problem. From MacRumors forum member SRLMJ23:
It is not rebooting, it is spring-boarding. The App (Siri or Weather?) is crashing but not the entire watchOS. Just time how long it takes for a reboot vs. spring-boarding. Spring-boarding takes way less time than an entire reboot.
However, this bug appeared today because yesterday everything was working fine when I asked Siri "What is the forecast for today" or "What is the temperature right now."
I am sure Apple will fix this pretty quick!
I have an Apple Watch Series 3 + LTE/GPS. Very odd bug, cannot wait to see what Apple has to say about this.
Curiously, asking Siri about the weather tomorrow or next week doesn't cause a problem -- it's only questions about the current weather conditions that are resulting in errors. It's possible that this is an issue related to the upcoming time change, as one reddit user has discovered. Daylight Saving Time is set to end on Sunday, November 5 in many regions in the United States and Canada.
Okay, I think I've figured it out. It's a bug related to the end of Daylight Saving Time. If I ask for the weather in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, it works. If I ask for the weather in Winnipeg, Manitoba, it crashes. Saskatchewan doesn't observe DST. I think if a time change is set to occur within 24 hours in the city you're asking about, it will crash.
Apple will likely have this fixed shortly (or it'll clear up after Sunday), but for now, it's best to avoid using the watch to ask questions about the weather in order to prevent sudden resprings.
An animated cat, fox, pig, and rooster singing Bohemian Rhapsody is the epitome of a new social media phenomenon dubbed Animoji Karaoke.
Over the past week, both reviewers and customers lucky enough to have the iPhone X in their hands have shared fun, humorous videos of Animoji in action, ranging from goofy voiceovers to full-out music videos.
Animoji, for those unaware, are custom animated characters that use your voice and mirror your facial expressions captured by the iPhone X's new TrueDepth camera system. You can even record yourself as a Pile of Poo.
iPhone X users can create Animoji recordings up to 10 seconds long in the Messages app, but the internet discovered that iOS 11's new screen recording feature allows for much lengthier clips. Enter Animoji Karaoke.
The idea was conceived by technology reporter Harry McCracken, who decided it might be fun to lip-sync a song and have an Animoji character mimic his performance. From there, similar videos have spread on social media.
To create your own Animoji Karaoke, play a song loudly enough for it to be picked up by the iPhone X's microphone while lip-syncing. After messaging the Animoji, tap on it, and tap on the iOS share sheet to save it as a video.
A few people have gone a few steps further by stitching together multiple Animoji clips and editing in some other post-production effects.
Animoji might end up being a gimmicky feature that fades over the coming months, but for now, Apple is certainly benefitting from a wave of free viral marketing. If you see a singing fox in your timeline, now you know why.
T-Mobile and Sprint today announced that plans for a merger have officially ended after the two companies were unable to find "mutually agreeable terms."
Rumors last week suggested the merger might be called off because Sprint parent company SoftBank was having doubts about the deal over the ownership terms. SoftBank was concerned about "losing control" of the combined company, as T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom wanted a controlling stake.
The two companies allegedly attempted to save the merger by negotiating new terms after Deutsche Telekom submitted a revised offer, but an agreement was not able to be reached.
In a statement, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said that while a deal with Sprint was "compelling," it would have needed to offer "significant benefits" for both consumers and shareholders.
"The prospect of combining with Sprint has been compelling for a variety of reasons, including the potential to create significant benefits for consumers and value for shareholders. However, we have been clear all along that a deal with anyone will have to result in superior long-term value for T-Mobile's shareholders compared to our outstanding stand-alone performance and track record. Going forward, T-Mobile will continue disrupting this industry and bringing our proven Un-carrier strategy to more customers and new categories - ultimately redefining the mobile Internet as we know it. We've been out-growing this industry for the last 15 quarters, delivering outstanding value for shareholders, and driving significant change across wireless. We won't stop now."
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said Sprint had decided that it would be best to move forward alone. Sprint will instead aim to "compete fiercely" in the wireless industry.
"While we couldn't reach an agreement to combine our companies, we certainly recognize the benefits of scale through a potential combination. However, we have agreed that it is best to move forward on our own. We know we have significant assets, including our rich spectrum holdings, and are accelerating significant investments in our network to ensure our continued growth. As convergence in the connectivity marketplace continues, we believe significant opportunities exist to establish strong partnerships across multiple industries. We are determined to continue our efforts to change the wireless industry and compete fiercely. We look forward to continuing to take the fight to the duopoly and newly emerging competitors."
This is the second time that T-Mobile and Sprint have failed to reach a merger agreement. Sprint parent company SoftBank attempted to purchase T-Mobile back in 2013 in a deal worth more than $20 billion, but ultimately abandoned its plans in 2014 amid regulatory scrutiny.
Even had the deal succeeded this time around, it's not clear if it would have gained regulatory approval. Back in 2014, U.S. antitrust regulators said having four national carriers in the United States was important for maintaining a competitive market.
Apple's website now lists iPhone X availability at its retail stores in the United States and several other countries around the world.
Simply visit the iPhone X purchase page for your country from the list below, select a carrier if required, choose a color, and then click on "Pickup: Check Availability" below your desired storage capacity.
A window will pop open with iPhone X availability—if any—at nearby Apple stores based on your ZIP or postal code.
At stores where the iPhone X is available, customers can complete the checkout process and reserve the device for same day in-store pickup. We recommend bringing at least one valid government-issued photo ID with you.
At the time this article is published, for example, the iPhone X is available for pickup today at several Apple stores in the Los Angeles area. However, many countries outside of the United States don't have any stock today.
iPhone X availability tool is now enabled on Apple's website
The tool is also a good indicator of iPhone X availability for customers who are planning to walk into a store and purchase one, although in most cases it's more convenient and guaranteed to reserve one for in-store pickup.
In the handful of countries outside of the United States listed below, Apple also resumed its similar Reserve and Pickup system today.
Starting at 6:00 a.m. local time across Canada, for example, the page came online and allowed customers to reserve their desired iPhone X configuration at a nearby Apple retail store at full retail price, with payment completed in store.
iPhone X supplies were depleted within just minutes, and the Reserve and Pickup page now advises customers to check back again at 6:00 a.m. local time tomorrow. If you refresh periodically, however, sometimes a few models appear.
Apple's Reserve and Pickup system outside of the United States
iPhone X pre-orders began October 27 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time, and within just minutes, shipping estimates slipped to 5-6 weeks around the world. The estimate has since improved to 3-4 weeks for orders placed today.
Given the long wait time for online orders, trying to purchase an iPhone X with in-store pickup or as a walk-in customer may be quicker options, and Apple's availability tool makes it easy to check supplies without leaving your home.
Afghanistan's government has ordered a block on messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram, according to a letter sent to the country's internet providers that was widely shared over social media on Saturday.
The letter was reportedly sent to Afghan ISPs after the country's National Directorate for Security ordered the move, in what some observers believe is an attempt to prevent use of the encrypted messaging services by the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
According to Reuters, the letter by telecoms regulator ATRA, dated November 1 and signed by an official of the regulator, directed internet companies to block Telegram and Facebook's WhatsApp services "without delay" for a period of 20 days.
However, the temporary ban does not yet appear to have been enforced, with both services said to be still working normally on Saturday on both state-owned operator Salaam and private service providers.
Public use of mobile phones has boomed in Afghanistan since the Taliban was removed from power by a U.S-led campaign in 2001, while use of services like WhatsApp, Messenger, and Viber are popular among the country's politicians as well as the Taliban, which also maintains a sophisticated social media operation.
However, civil rights groups and Afghan social media users have criticized the attempt to block the chat platforms. Many argue such a ban is unenforceable anyway because it can be circumvented by the use of virtual private networks (VPNs).
Prominent newspaper editor Parwiz Kawa told the BBC that his country was finally an open society after years of censorship, therefore any ban on social media would not be tolerated.
"The public reaction - including our own front page - is to resist," he said. "We can't tolerate any ban on social media or any censorship."
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
With the iPhone X now in the hands of thousands of customers around the world, many early adopters are putting Face ID to the test to see if Apple's facial authentication system is as secure as it advertises.
Apple says the probability that a random person in the population could look at someone else's iPhone X and unlock it using Face ID is approximately 1 in 1,000,000, compared to 1 in 50,000 for Touch ID, but it notes the probability of a false match is different for twins and siblings who look like you.
We've already seen that Face ID can be fooled by identical twins, and now a video shared on Reddit appears to confirm that Face ID can sometimes fail to distinguish between siblings who aren't twins but have similar appearances.
In the video, the sibling who set up Face ID on his iPhone X was able to unlock the device with his face as expected. Next, he handed the iPhone to his brother. Face ID didn't authenticate his brother's face upon first attempt, but once he put on a pair of black rim glasses, his face was able to unlock the iPhone X.
Apple has been very transparent that Face ID can be less reliable in these situations, so the video doesn't come across as a PR disaster in the making for the company. But, it does visualize that Face ID isn't 100 percent failproof.
For those concerned about the security of their iPhone X in these cases, Apple's only recommendation is to use a traditional passcode instead of Face ID for authentication. Unfortunately, at least for the time being, that means disabling one of the key new features of a smartphone that costs at least $1,000.
Update: A similar video has surfaced of two half-brothers unlocking the same iPhone X with Face ID. The younger brother is supposedly 14 years old.
Not only do the siblings look somewhat similar, but Apple said probability of a false match is also different among children under the age of 13, because their distinct facial features may not have fully developed. Perhaps the 14-year-old brother falls within that category, even if slightly older.
Update 2: In a follow-up video, the original brothers who posted on reddit reveal that Face ID initially failed to authenticate the second brother, but after inputting the passcode several times after failed attempts, it began to authenticate his face. The brothers' faces were close enough in appearance that Face ID worked as intended by "learning" that it should recognize both brothers as the same person.
The iPhone X launched today and the jury is still out in regard to what the device means for iOS gamers. It stands to reason that the new swipe gesture that replaces the home button is inevitably going to get in the way of some games which require either frantic or elaborate full-screen swipes, but in our experiences the few games that have been updated so far haven't had much of an issue accidentally triggering the home gesture.
If you're looking for some new games to load up on your iPhone X, over at TouchArcade we've got a roundup of the best games for iPhone X. It bridges the gap between games that are fun on touch screens anyway, and titles that have been updated to support the full-screen resolution of the iPhone X. It's likely you own more than a few of these, as games getting zero day updates are typically all classic titles.
If you're looking for graphically impressive games to put the new GPU to the test, we've been posting roundups of the best iPhone games for that for years now. Whenever a new device is released we dig through the App Store and come up with the latest crop of 3D intensive games, and it seems like more than anything else the list just evolves instead of being totally fresh each time. The Infinity Blade games are still some of the best looking iOS games, but The Witness is a recent addition to our list of showstoppers.
We're spending tons of time testing all sorts of games on the iPhone X to continue to flesh out our best games for iPhone X article, which is no small undertaking given the enormity of the App Store catalog. Our community is also at work searching for great iPhone X games, but like most new hardware launches, apps and games that take advantage of everything on day one are few and far between.
Be sure to drop any particularly great iPhone X games that you've played in the comments, and in the meantime, follow along with us over on TouchArcade for all the latest news, reviews, and loads more covering every aspect of mobile gaming. We'll be back with a more traditional news roundup next week, and hopefully by then I'll have an even more exhaustive list of must-haves for the iPhone X.
The iPhone X is here! Apple Stores around the world opened up at 8:00 a.m. local time on November 3 and deliveries kicked off around the same time, getting the iPhone X into the hands of millions of customers today.
We got our hands on an iPhone X this morning and spent the day testing it out to get acquainted with all of the new features. Check out the video below to see a walkthrough of the unboxing process and Face ID setup.
Our video also covers the new Studio Lighting feature available on the iPhone X, plus it goes through all of the new gestures you're going to need to learn to navigate through the iOS 11 operating system. Without a Home button, there's a whole new workflow to learn that can take a couple of days to get used to. Once you've got it down, though, it seems to be a more intuitive navigation experience.
Face ID takes under 30 seconds to set up, so getting the iPhone X up, running, and ready to recognize your face is incredibly fast. Face ID also seems to work quite reliably, and the new Animoji feature that comes alongside Face ID is fun to use.
We're going to be taking a much closer look at the iPhone X and going over every new feature in detail both on MacRumors.com and on YouTube, so stay tuned and make sure to follow our YouTube channel if you don't already.
Afghanistan's government has ordered a block on messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram, according to a letter sent to the country's internet providers that was widely shared over social media on Saturday.
