MacRumors

Nearly one month after Apple Pay launched in Hong Kong, the iPhone-based contactless payments service has expanded to The Bank of East Asia (BEA) and Hong Kong Telekom (HKT)'s Tap & Go contactless payments network.

BEA customers can add eligible MasterCard and Visa credit cards to Apple Pay and receive 5,000 bonus points between now and August 22, while the first 30,000 customers that complete three or more Apple Pay transactions between now and October 31 will receive a 25% cash rebate of up to $180.

Likewise, HKT Tap & Go customers that add prepaid cards to Apple Pay, and complete three or more Apple Pay transactions between now and August 31, will receive a cash rebate of up to $50.

Eligible cards can be added to Apple Pay by tapping the "Add Credit or Debit Card" option in the Wallet app on iPhone 5 and later running iOS 8.1 or above.

Other banks with Apple Pay support in Hong Kong include the Bank of China (Hong Kong), DBS Bank (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered.

Apple Pay retailers in Hong Kong include 7-Eleven, Apple, Colourmix, KFC, Lane Crawford, Mannings, McDonald's, Pacific Coffee, Pizza Hut, Sasa, Senryo, Starbucks, ThreeSixty, and elsewhere contactless payments are accepted.

Hunter Fan Company has announced that Signal, the first ceiling fan with HomeKit support, is now available for $379 through its website, Amazon, Build.com, Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards, and in lighting showrooms throughout the United States. The Symphony, a cheaper version with white blades, will launch in the fall for $329.

Hunter Fan Company first introduced the Signal and Symphony at CES 2016 earlier this year. The smart ceiling fans connect to a home's Wi-Fi network and, through HomeKit, the fans are able to be controlled using Siri voice commands. Using Scenes and Triggers, the fans can interface with other HomeKit products like lights and thermostats for a full connected home experience.

After first launching in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America, Obi Worldphone is now expanding availability to the United Kingdom with the launch of its flagship £99 smartphone, the Obi MV1. Former Apple CEO John Sculley is one of the co-founders of Obi, which "is in the business of making more affordable devices," as opposed to Apple's higher-cost iPhones (via Engadget).

In terms of specs, the Obi MV1 has a 720p display that measures 5 inches, a front-facing (2-megapixel) and rear-facing (8-megapixel) camera, a 2,500mAh battery, one 1.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 212 chip, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The MV1 does support microSD cards, however, that could potentially boost storage up to 64GB.

The design of the MV1 hopes to differentiate from the crowded "jungle" of the Android smartphone market, according to Obi executive Ankush Chatterjee. To do this, the company created the smartphone's "signature floating glass display," which is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and sits a few millimeters above the body of the device. The MV1 also has contrasting edge design, with rounded corners on the bottom of the handset and more angular, sharp edges on the top.

Whether it's to your tastes or not, the MV1 is comfortable enough in the hand, though the raised display isn't a particularly elegant feature. It's a thin, sharp edge after all, which your fingertips come into contact with regularly. Also, since the screen sticks out, it draws attention to how big and bulky the MV1 is for a 5-inch device, though that does help it feel robust.

Based on Android 5.1 Lollipop, the MV1 has an operating system called Cyanogen OS 12.1.1, allowing for "easy customization" by the user. The UI is said to be "colorful," while sporting a feature called Lightspeed UI that lets users access various widgets on the MV1's lock screen, like the phone's dialer, camera, and web apps.

For those users in the United Kingdom, the Obi MV1 can be purchased for £99 in black or white from the company's official website, or from Amazon.

Google has announced a new one-to-one video calling app for iOS and Android called Duo, which the company says aims to take the complexity and frustration out of video calling.

Users of Duo sign into the app using just their phone number and Google then sends them a confirmation text. After that, users can video call anyone in their contacts list who also have Duo installed.

Google says Duo is built to be fast and reliable, so that video calls connect quickly and work well even on slower networks.

Call quality adjusts to changing network conditions to keep you connected — when bandwidth is limited, Duo will gracefully reduce the resolution to keep the call going smoothly. For video calls on the go, Duo will switch between Wi-Fi and cellular data automatically without dropping your call. You can start your call at home, and continue seamlessly even when you head out the door.

Apart from its simplicity, Google is heavily hyping a feature (currently limited to Android) called "Knock, Knock", where a known caller's live video can be transmitted before the receiver has answered, allowing them to reveal things on the screen to entice the person to accept the connection.

Once they do so, the video continues seamlessly, which makes video calling "more spontaneous and welcoming, helping you connect with the person before you even pick up," says Google. The company has made no mention about whether the feature will be coming to iOS - and even if it did, users would have to unlock their iPhone first before taking a call.

Google notes that Duo isn't a replacement for its other video calling app, Hangouts, which it hopes will appeal more to enterprise users as the service is further integrated into the Google Apps suite.

Google Duo is a free download that should be available on the App Store for iPhone sometime today. [Direct Link]

Apple has green-lighted its carrier billing feature for iTunes users in Taiwan and Switzerland, allowing them to charge app and media transactions directly to their cellphone bill (via Mashable).

The two countries join Germany and Russia in allowing customers to pay for music, movies, apps, books (excepting Taiwan, since Apple doesn't sell books there), Apple Music memberships, and other iTunes content with just their phone number, instead of using a credit or debit card.

At present, the option in Taiwan is only available to Far EasTone contract holders, but is expected to roll out to other carriers soon. Salt (previously Orange) reportedly lets its customers use carrier billing in Switzerland, but we're still waiting to learn which other carriers in the country support the feature.

Users wanting to take advantage of carrier billing can sign into the iTunes Store or App Store, navigate to the 'Payment Information' section, and choose 'Mobile Phone' from the payment options list. Further details can be found on Apple's support page covering mobile phone billing.

Apple debuted the billing scheme in Germany back in October 2015, before rolling it out to users in Russia a month later. Apple is likely to continue to expand the initiative to more countries as it seeks to secure deals with carriers for lower transaction handling rates.

Starting this week, Logitech-owned Jaybird's Freedom Wireless Bluetooth Headphones are available for purchase in two new exclusive colors from the Apple Online Store and Apple retail locations.

Designed to match Apple's line of iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, the two exclusive colors include a Space Gray and Rose Gold. The Space Gray Freedom earbuds feature Space Gray highlights on the remote and the earbuds themselves with a black cord and accents, while the Rose Gold earbuds feature a Rose Gold remote and earpieces with a white cord and accents.

Launched earlier this year, the Jaybird Freedom Wireless Bluetooth Headphones have previously been available directly from Jaybird and from third-party retailers in Carbon (black/gray), Gold (gold/white), Blaze (red/silver), and Ocean (blue/silver). The standard colors are not available from Apple Stores.

Jaybird has been designing Bluetooth earbuds since 2007 and the Freedom Wireless Bluetooth Headphones represent the culmination of years of design refinements. The earbuds are the smallest Jaybird has produced yet, thanks to a clever decision to move many of the audio components from the earbuds themselves to the remote control.

Jaybird's earbuds are wireless and connect to devices over Bluetooth, so they're able to work with iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Macs, and more. They'll be compatible with the upcoming iPhone 7, which rumors suggest will not have a headphone jack. We went hands-on with the Jaybird earbuds earlier this year and while we loved the comfort, the small size, and the battery life, the large remote was a little difficult to deal with.

The Rose Gold and the Space Gray Jaybird Freedom Wireless Bluetooth Headphones, priced at $199.95, are available starting today from the Apple Online Store and many Apple retail stores.

Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming watchOS 3 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the fifth beta and two months after first unveiling watchOS 3 at its 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference.

The sixth watchOS 3 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on an iPhone by going to General --> Software update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery, it must be on the Apple Watch charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone. watchOS 3 also requires an iPhone running iOS 10 to install.

watchOS 3 introduces significant changes to the watchOS operating system. A new dock, accessible by pressing the side button, replaces Glances and houses 10 favorite first and third-party apps. Apps in the dock are kept continually up to date and are stored in memory for a new instant launch ability.

New Activity Sharing options allow Apple Watch owners to share workout and activity information with friends, and there are new fitness features for Wheelchair users. A Breathe app guides users through daily deep breathing sessions, an Apple Watch can unlock a Mac, and Apple has added apps for Reminders, Find My Friends, and accessing one's heartbeat.

Additional watch faces support complications, there are three new watch faces to choose from, including a new Activity watch face, and an SOS feature will make sure an option to get help in an emergency is always right at your fingertips. On the iPhone, there's a new Face Gallery for customizing Apple Watch faces, and watchOS 3 allows the Apple Watch to be located via Find My iPhone for the first time.

For complete details on the new features coming in watchOS 3, which will be released to the public this fall, make sure to check out our watchOS 3 roundup.

Apple today provided developers with the sixth beta of tvOS 10, the next-generation operating system designed to run on the fourth-generation Apple TV. tvOS 10 beta 6 comes one week after the release of tvOS beta 5 and two months after the operating system was first shown off at Apple's 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference

tvOS betas are harder to install than beta updates for iOS and OS X. Installing the tvOS beta requires the Apple TV to be connected to a computer with a USB-C to USB-A cable, with the software downloaded and installed via iTunes or Apple Configurator. Once a beta profile has been installed on the device through iTunes, new beta updates will be available over the air.

tvOS 10 builds on features initially introduced with tvOS last October, bringing expanded Siri capabilities like topic-based search, Live Tune-In for automatically accessing live channels, and options for managing HomeKit accessories.

Single-Sign On allows users to sign in and authenticate cable credentials just once instead of requiring authentication in all cable-supported apps, games are now able to require controllers, and there are new features for Photos and Music.

A dark mode offers a better visual experience for darker rooms, universal apps are automatically downloaded, and there's a new Apple TV remote for iOS devices that mirrors the Siri Remote.

Over the beta testing period, Apple has been making slight tweaks and updates to the tvOS 10 operating system, but many of the changes are under-the-hood and not readily apparent to testers. Any outward-facing changes discovered in the sixth beta will be noted below.

For a full overview of all of the new features in tvOS 10, make sure to check out our tvOS 10 roundup.

In China, low-cost smartphones have brought an overall uptick in sales in the second quarter of 2016, while high-end devices -- from companies like Apple and Samsung -- continue to face declining sales numbers in the country (via DigiTimes). Local vendors in China are said to be "focused on promoting entry-level and mid-range 4G models," instead of trying to convince the Chinese public that Apple or Samsung's smartphones are worth the higher price points.

Specifically, smartphone shipments totaled 149 million units in Q2 2016, increasing 2.7 percent from Q1 2016 and 14.3 percent from the year-ago quarter. This surge comes from China's top-selling smartphone companies (in order of smartphone market share in China): Huawei (14 percent), Oppo (12.7 percent), Vivo (11.2 percent), and Xiaomi (10.4 percent). Apple comes in fifth place, "with its market share falling into a single-digit range," although the specific number wasn't disclosed.

Sales of high-end models from Apple and Samsung Electronics continued to suffer declines in the second quarter as local smartphone vendors focused on promoting entry-level and mid-range 4G models capitalizing on subsidies offered by the top-three telecom operators, Digitimes Research noted.

The double-digit shipment growth rates enjoyed by China-based smartphone vendors in the first two quarters of 2016 were higher than the growth rates of smartphones shipped to consumers from retail channel operators, resulting in an increasing pile-up of inventories at channels.

As it was reported earlier in the summer, low-cost devices that are available to a wide range of users who have yet to purchase a smartphone are helping to contribute to an overall growth in the worldwide market. Apple still faces some issues in the Greater China market, reporting an 11 percent revenue drop in mainland China in April, in the same earnings call that confirmed the company's first year-over-year revenue decline since 2003.

In the same call, CEO Tim Cook remained "optimistic" about Apple's presence in China, saying that "China is not as weak as has been talked about. We may not have the wind at our backs that we once did, but it's more stable than the common view of it." Despite some hindrances placed on Apple services like iTunes and iBooks in the country, not to mention Apple's occasional scuffle with Chinese regulators, China remains Apple's third-most profitable market behind the United States and Europe.

Microsoft today updated its suite of Office apps designed for the iPhone, adding finger-drawing support to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

In January, the company added inking support to its productivity suite for the iPad Pro to take advantage of the Apple Pencil, but now iPhone users can also make use of the feature using their digits.

A new Draw tab can be found in each of the three apps. The drawing tools in this tab allow iPhone owners to use a stylus or finger to write, draw, highlight, and annotate various Microsoft Office documents.

The thickness and color of the pen can be changed, while hand-drawn shapes can also be transformed into customized shapes. Excel users can annotate over cells, while those who use PowerPoint can draw freeform over slides.

Microsoft Word [Direct Link], Microsoft Excel [Direct Link], and Microsoft PowerPoint [Direct Link] are all available for iPhone on the App Store. While the apps are free to download, users need a qualifying Office 365 subscription to create and edit documents.