I recently switched to an imported phone with a bulky 1" sensor (Vivo X100 Ultra) and although far from my Sony mirrorless, the quality of shots and color science went up dramatically compared to my older Pixel 9 Pro (way overprocessed) and iPhone 13 (way oversaturated and pretty low-res). This is not to say there's no AI or strong computational component to it, but larger and more expensive sensors, which still have not found their way in mainstream phones, do bring massive advantage if they are not killed by excessive AI processing (as, sadly, I saw multiple times when test-driving Samsung Ultra phones)
Ironically enough, the Vivo ("Zeiss") color science also looks more accurate than most phones I've owned, and is pretty flexible at editing time.
This might be asking too much, but will there be any way to run the newer pebbleOS on the first-gen Pebbles? I love my Steel, and am currently still using it
Has Telegram made any active effort on the encryption/privacy side in the last years?
With no E2EE except in unpractical, single-device "secret chats", it falls behind the majority of chat platforms (aside from Meta-owned ones, at least), and feels like a Western WeChat more than a place I would like my data to be owned by. Which is a shame because its UX is consistently great.
It seems like the effort Apple is putting in stopping this is an indicator of how many people buy iPhones just for being in their iMessage circles. Which is only possible as long as Apple keeps snubbing RCS and making messaging painful to non-iPhone users.
If, say, a random cheap Motorola with Beeper could keep them in the same groups as before, Apple would probably lose a (small) chunks of its clients.
The thing that bothers me is that Apple’s actions hurt iPhone owners. Making it harder for them to communicate with non-iPhones is a bad experience. Intentionally making their product worse to encourage lock-in is anti-user.
I’m oddly surprised that iPhone owners are ok with this.
Most iPhone owners are unaware that it's intentional on Apple's part, and are lead to believe that other devices just aren't sophisticated enough to make the bubbles blue.
> how many people buy iPhones just for being in their iMessage circles
This is news only in the US. Literally everywhere else in the world (where iPhones don't have a supermajority market share), third-party apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, etc have been used for the past decade, with no problems whatsoever. My own WhatsApp account has been active for a decade, with chats going back exactly that far.
My experience is that third party applications are the norm in the US, too. Everyone I know uses Facebook Messenger or Discord, and that situation has been the norm for at least a decade (and Discord itself is nearing a decade of existence now). Facebook Messenger is easily the default multi-platform option.
90% of my Messages app is SMS threads, and the vast majority of my messaging activity is Slack, Discord and Facebook Messenger.
I would probably go as far as saying that this is only the "norm" on HN or in crowds where they think people spend $1200+ on a device just for the color of text bubbles.
My teenager and his friends don't even use iMessage, they use Snapchat almost exclusively to communicate. Someone messages them on iMessage they read it and then respond on Snapchat.
Which ones? I have friends (young and old) all over Europe and everyone uses WhatsApp. Everywhere I've been in Europe defaults to WhatsApp, even for business communication.
Like, it's n=1, but still, my experience is quite broad.
EU: I'm trying to get everyone i know onto signal. Hard fight.
I tried whatsapp for a month and it was so facebooky (that I also got rid of yeeaaars ago, after trying for a month) that I deleted it.
Whatsapp is very common, though and I am gradually being pushed out of various communications (my doctor, for example, pharmacies).
At least I don't have to bugger about with Teams which is the requirement for my kids' schools. Amicable divorce, but I don't have that on my phone, unlike my ex (who hates it).
If any company with a restricted service exposed to the internet found someone illegally gaining access by spoofing device IDs or API keys, the engineers who noticed would immediately shut down access and inform management, so they can run it up the chain to legal. There need be no other motivation beyond preventing illegal access to a computer system.
I doubt Beeper Mini is on the radar of anyone high up at Apple. Some engineering team responsible for the services that back iMessage is just spotting and dealing with one of probably many malicious actors.
RCS support has also already been announced by Apple for 2024.
This is simply not true. Frankly, my first instinct would be to let it go if they're not causing issues. I certainly wouldn't start swinging the ban hammer around without knowing that the hell the traffic is.
It could be a bug in our client code, and I could be cutting off paying customers. It could be some weird and/or poorly written software by a customer. It could be some bizarre WAN accelerator issue at some giant company with real devices.
I would presume that at least someone at Apple knows that the traffic is from Beeper, and what Beeper is. I would expect that it hit the desk of a mid-tier Director at least (would you or your manager be comfortable implementing heuristic blocking without telling a director?).
It still may not be a strategic decision, but I wouldn't assume that decision makers aren't aware of what's going on.
The rumors and articles on this are all over the place. Some are reporting that the non-pro phones will only support USB 2.0 speeds while the pro phones will support faster Thunderbolt.
Others talk about the cables saying that Apple will ship USB-PD (power delivery) cables which are specified as USB 2.0 with all of the phones.
Are the speed limits on the ports or on the cables or both? When these launch there will confusion for several days and perhaps until testers get them in their hands to try different cables.
The included cable will support USB 2.0 no matter which iPhone you buy. Just like with all USB-C MacBooks, iPads, and the vast majority of Android devices. It's a charging cable, after all.
The capabilities of the port itself may vary depending on which iPhone model you buy, with the iPhone 15 Pro supporting Thunderbolt/USB4.
This is a disastrous situation in terms of e-waste, if we consider how long laptops can survive when using a reasonable software stack.
With most Linux setups, web browsing on extremely JS-heavy websites is the only area where you might feel considerable differences between a new laptop and one from 7-10 years ago.
I have used Metallum for years, and love how intuitive and user-friendly it feels. The design is oddly cozy, has no ads (I guess?), and gives you the feeling of being in an infinitely deep library of dark magic and forgotten knowledge
I was curious about the 30min limit for G9. I thought it was from overheating or something. I had A7R3 didn't think about 30min limit (don't think I ran into it) can't recall though.
It may have been, but at least in the EU, there was a tax of 4.9% for video cameras (vs. tax free digital photo cameras) in the past, causing many manufacturers to artificially limit the video length to 29:59 minutes to not be classified as such.
It's both, actually. I run an A7S2, you have to take care that the camera has a sun shade and the screen is angled away from the case so that the CPU doesn't overheat.
And obviously, you'll still need to run Openmemories ;)
I am probably part of this problem - an enabler, so to say. I was hosted a nice lady with a house full of duck themed things (this was in southern England, probably not the same lol), and left her two (rather cute) duck-themed things when I moved assuming that she'd like those.
She was unequivocally happy when I did, but perhaps it was just because of the gesture.
(EDIT: also, the rooster/horse/duck example of feedback loop would make for a terrific blog post)
Ironically enough, the Vivo ("Zeiss") color science also looks more accurate than most phones I've owned, and is pretty flexible at editing time.