Chinese tech giant Xiaomi have debuted a new, longer-range, wireless ‘air charging’ technology.

Mi Air Charge allows a special charging beacon in the home to detect a device, such as a smartphone, and directionally provide up to 5W of wireless charging at a distance.

The company claims this is the first ‘truly’ wireless charging technology that doesn’t require a device to be physically placed at a base station for induction charging.

144 antennas comprising a phase control array allows the beacon to direct millimetre-wide charging waves via beamforming to a special rectifier circuit on a Xiaomi smartphone handset that recharges the device battery. The company believes similar technology will eventually be available for smartwatches, smart speakers and other home devices.

It’s not yet clear how far a user will be able to roam from the beacon, although Xiaomi claim the charging will work at ‘several meters’ distance.

Although the device is largely a marketing prototype at this stage, Xiaomi are expected develop it into a viable consumer product. The corporation has been officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2018, and is focusing on ‘Internet-of-Things’ (IoT) devices and supporting technology.

For IT support and expertise, contact our team today.

Samsung have unveiled Galaxy Fold – a folding smartphone with a large (7.3” 2152×1536) internal display.

Designing a folding phone presents challenges, not least how close to exact the fold can run without breaking the internal display.

The benefits? A larger screen inside looks a smart choice for certain app formats – such as Google Maps, or split-screen use between apps. Samsung have cleverly ensured the display switches as the hinge is opened, seamlessly connecting the ‘outside’ display to the ‘inside’ without a delay that might interrupt use of the phone.

But there are some quirks too – the impressive internal screen is 6% less bright than the external, and drains the battery significant faster than the external 4.58 inch display that acts as the more traditional phone keypad.

The South Korean electronics conglomerate is not the first to trial a folding smartphone, nor even the first to announce – with Chinese rivals Huawei and Xiaomi both previewing rival models with different folding styles.

The Galaxy Fold will cost a wallet-emptying $2000 – but does at least demonstrate a level of innovation that has been sorely lacking in the smartphone market in recent years. Studies suggest gadget-lovers are increasingly holding on to their devices for longer, with risk-averse manufacturers adding only incremental changes.

Folding smartphones have disrupted the market before, so perhaps if the design can be perfected, there may be new use cases that soon demand folding technology.

For IT support and expertise, contact Lineal today.

Apple have announced the iPhone XS, iPhone XR and fourth series of Apple Watch as part of 2018’s Apple Keynote Address at the Steve Jobs Theatre.

The iPhone XS, currently available for £999 pre-order for the 5.8” version, or as a ‘Max’ 6.5″ version at an eye-watering £1,099, will include an A12 Bionic chip powered by longer life batteries and driving the highest quality screen currently available on a smartphone.

Interestingly, Apple will also be debuting a more mid-range iPhone XR, with a range of colours, a new liquid retina screen positioned in a similar corner-to-corner style, and the same headline A12 Bionic chip specification. Updated 12MP camera technology allows each iPhone to introduce accurate depth of field in portrait mode,  and Apple have continued their glass-first theme to ensure all three versions of the latest flagship iPhones are waterproof.

For Apple Watch Series 4, Apple’s design team have rounded the edges to create a less square device, and re-oriented the more customisable watch face to make better use of the screen corners. The re-designed device will also include some new tricks: including electrodes able to take an electrocardiogram, and fall-detection should the wearer suffer an accident.

Each new product also corresponds to a drop in price of previous generations of Apple technology – including the Apple Watch Series 3 being reduced to a more affordable £279.

While the quality of Apple’s touchscreen products never fails to impress, Team Lineal were left wondering whether the Mac range will ever receive a new release. Predictions of a new Mac Mini, a new Mac Pro, and even the widely rumored new Macbook Air, were revealed to be unfounded.

Apple’s reliance on new iPhone sales is well-documented, with the popularity of the high-quality public-oriented product line pushing the tech giant to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company over the Summer. For at least another year, Apple’s focus has remained ‘business as usual.’

Google have made public their plans to release a comprehensive Android Chat app, comprising of both SMS and a new rich communication standard (RCS.)

In an exclusive with the Verge, Android announced the new app, which looks distinctly like the direct challenge to Apple’s iMessage fans Android have been hoping for, and which will be able to centralise messaging under a single platform.

Unlike Apple users, content with the excellent iMessage, Android users have long been split among a variety of messaging apps. They must suffer SMS run via Android’s ageing ‘Messages’ app, and direct messaging spread out among video/IM hybrid Google Hangouts, world domination software WhatsApp, various invasive species of Facebook Messenger, the re-branded Microsoft Skype app, and Google’s own doomed chat app: Google Allo. It’s all a bit of a mess.

In addition to overhauling this, Android Chat will also be available from a desktop client with SMS abilities (much like iMessage) and include new rich communication standard style messaging familiar to Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp users.

A single ‘feed’ encompassing rich content abilities also tracks the trend in the commercial sector: with firms looking to adapt from email to group-managed, millenial-friendly, cross platform communication apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams.

However, in addition to trying to build a fan-base for individual use, Google is presenting fresh opportunities for businesses. RCS has already been trialled by the tech giant in partnership with a number of companies (pictured), who plan to evolve currently SMS-based messaging services into RCS based customer service that integrates more complex tasks, such as calendar bookings and imagery.

Google Allo ran out of steam around 50 million installations. Whether, like iOS, Android can finally centralise disparate systems under a kingmaker will soon be tested.

Android Oreo, the latest version of the popular Google-developed smartphone operating system has been released publicly.

Version 8 of Android’s sweetly-named world domination plan was announced to coincide with 2017’s solar eclipse, visible across much of North America, and includes a number of upgrades to software performance and device functionality.

The most visually compelling changes are the partial screen management of apps – in particular Android’s new ‘notification dots’ which launch a floating speech bubble-style notification from the app icon itself, and ‘picture-in-picture’ app-minimisation into a small corner screen allowing app-multitasking.

The defining test for this will be whether users increasingly see their smartphones as even more powerful workhorse devices, capable of running a computer-style ‘desktop’ of apps all at once, or find the extra content on screen overwhelming.

In hardware terms, Google claims Android Oreo will bring significant advantages behind the scenes improving app security from Google Play, battery life, and system performance. This last benefit has been achieved, Google adds, by the way Oreo will limit the computing demands of background apps not being displayed.

There are also nods to the latest trends – fresh emojis for the newest standard of Unicode, richer screen colours (subject to device) and, in a move likely to be welcome amongst recovering smartphone addicts: intrusive notification ‘snoozing’.

At the time of writing, Android Oreo is currently only available in Beta, with Google’s own Pixel and Nexus handsets widely expected to be the first to receive the new update. Third-party developers (prolific in the open-source universe of Android) are likely to be spoilt too: with early availability and various development tweaks, such as tooltip functionality and new API tools for Oreo apps.

Timescales from the other Android smartphone manufacturers are unclear – although speaking to TechCrunch: LG, Huawei, HTC, Blackberry and OnePlus statements suggested a willingness to offer Android Oreo to customers sooner rather than later, with Motorola and Samsung sounding slightly more cautious.

For IT Support and technical expertise: contact Lineal’s IT support team today.

Mobile phone charges for travellers within the EU officially end from today under a new EU Law.

Additional fees levied by mobile providers for cross-border calls (‘roaming’ charges) had been significantly higher – often catching out unsuspecting holidaymakers.

The end of costly EU roaming charges is widely credited as one of the EU’s most popular achievements, ending fees that the commission felt represented one additional cost barrier to cross-border communication. The agreement has not been without difficulties however, and the new regulation has taken 10 years to come into force.

However, as always with the EU, this welcome news for travellers comes with some specific caveats:

• Users will still be charged high fees for data use (at around £8.30/GB, falling incrementally in future years), whilst standard calls and texts will remain at typical network pricing. 
• EU roaming phones will be monitored for time spent on ‘home’ networks and ‘roaming’ networks to discourage phone users taking out a contract in a cheaper country and using it permanently in a more expensive country. If found not to be truly ‘roaming’, extra charges may still apply.
• Call fees will still be higher for international calls made from the customer’s home country.
• Countries in ‘Europe’ but not in the European Economic Area (EEA) will not be included in the agreement (including Switzerland, Serbia and the Channel Islands among others) nor will calls from cross-channel ferries and other satellite-linked areas.
• It’s as yet unclear what will happen after Brexit.

For communications expertise and support, contact Lineal today: 01271 375999

If you let your iPhone download Apple’s iOS 10.3 update this week, you downloaded the most advanced version of iOS ever.

But you probably noticed that it took a long time to finish updating. A really…. long…………. time. Android updates appear to complete inside 5-10 minutes, so surely a quick software patch shouldn’t take this long?

Never fear, there’s nothing wrong with your iPhone (necessarily). iOS 10.3 introduced an unusually extensive, 600 MB worth of changes which don’t just tinker at the edges of what Apple’s most popular operating system can do, but pull it apart and re-build it.

First and foremost, iOS 10.3 introduces a new file structure known as APFS. It take a long time for your phone to re-write its entire file structure but those with patience will receive a phone that’s better optimised for Flash and SSD storage, offering space sharing for some data which frees up GBs of space, and theoretically provides stronger encryption security.

In practice it is the extra capacity which will be most welcomed by smartphone addicts, and may simply help extend the practical life of an iPhone user’s device.

At least 60 patches for known iPhone security exploits are also included in the iOS.10 update, including preventative measures for full-screen adverts that would once have effectively locked you into a browser session.

The update also fixes various wireless connection and Bluetooth issues, for example improving the connection to a pair of Apple AirPods. A handy ‘Find My AirPods’ feature enables you to seek out those pesky wireless earpieces, which could so easily get lost.

As always it’s sensible to let someone else take the update plunge first, and back up your files before moving: but iOS 10.3 has been a largely successful update, and it’s worth persevering with.

For Apple support and expertise, contact Lineal today.

Apple’s recent financial results show record iPhone sales for the final quarter of 2016 – and that could be a problem.

More than 78 million iPhones were sold during the final 3 months of 2016 and it’s easy to see why. Exceptionally high build quality, ease of use and Apple’s range of strong supporting services make the iPhone a popular choice for both personal and business customers alike. In the case of the iPhone 7, bad press stories regarding the Samsung Note 7 battery disaster no doubt helped win over premium smartphone buyers for another year.

Globally speaking, Android may dominate the smartphone market, but the user base is split between dozens of manufacturers – whilst the Apple’s iPhone stands alone as a cultural icon of the decade.

But a very troubling trend is emerging for Apple. As industry analysts have noted in recent years – Apple is becoming increasingly dependent on smartphones for its sales.

iPhone in Numbers:

As of December, nearly 70% of Apple’s entire revenue is generated by smartphone sales. $54 billion each financial quarter. And this is before considering the proportion of sales attributable to services that support the iOS ecosystem.

That’s a lot: the iPhone generates more than twice the revenue of every other Apple product and service added together.

Not all Apple products were created equal. iPad sales continue to fall (as customers hold on to premium devices for longer periods.) Despite a massive advertising push, fewer than 1 in 10 iPad’s sold (less than 1% of Apple’s entire revenue) were iPad Pros.

True Mac fans could easily be wondering if Apple will one day become disinterested in their conventional desktop hardware range.

Too big to Fail?

So has Apple’s signature product become too big to fail? If rumours of a radically updated iPhone 8 are to be believed, the iPhone may become even more of a success, and Apple may be gambling ever more on each new model’s popularity.

Apple’s reputation and heritage gives the impression that they are a successful computer manufacturer, like Dell, when in fact Apple is now arguably even more like Nokia or Blackberry.

Not too much like Blackberry hopefully, because if this trend continues, any failure for the iPhone ‘brand’ could one day spell serious trouble for Apple itself.

For Apple support, repairs and expertise – contact Lineal today.

smartphone security

We increasingly live in a mobile dominated world in which Smartphone sales have skyrocketed whilst traditional PC sales have stalled. With portable devices likely to be the future of many people’s IT use – we’ve put together a few of the main smartphone security threats you need to be aware of.

• Mobile Phishing & Fake Apps

Phishing websites which pretend to be your bank in order to get your personal or financial details have been around for many years, but for few people imagine that this is also a big risk on their smartphone.

Fake apps are the most obvious modern incarnation of this scam. IT security specialist ESET recently showed that a popular app like Prisma spawns multiple fakes online, downloaded unwittingly over 1.5 million times before being pulled from Google Play, with many containing harmful malware which attempt to steal personal information.

Don’t attempt to download an anticipated app before it’s official release date, as it’s likely you’ll be downloading a fake. Avoid downloading apps from unknown third-party websites, check the comments for warnings from other users, and invest in mobile antivirus to intercept downloaded threats to your smartphone security.

• Old-fashioned Theft

In addition to fitting in your pocket, your phone contains a staggering amount of personal information about you which makes theft a real danger – everything including your personal details and those of friends/family, your emails, GPS coordinates of places you regularly visit and more: all stored on the device.

Home Office research suggests iPhones are the device most likely to be stolen – perhaps reflecting the Apple smartphone’s high value, quality and distinctive branding.

In addition to setting numeric pin codes on every device to prevent the danger of theft, tracking and lifesaving wiping tools like are strongly advised.

• Public Wi-Fi Networks

With the proliferation of portable devices, many businesses, particularly in retail, offer public Wi-Fi hotspots to customers.

The problem with this is that you’re sharing a network with… whom? Terrifying free tools like [Redacted – obviously] and [Redacted] allow anyone on a shared public network to view insecure websites you visit, and snoop on any keystroke you type.

Not every public Wi-Fi network is a security nightmare, but it’s sensible to avoid using public Wi-Fi to do anything sensitive, such as online banking. A 4G data connection or simple telephone banking is the easiest alternative if you’re on a mobile phone, and likely to be more secure than a public Wi-Fi Network.

It should probably go without saying that you shouldn’t connect to entirely unrecognised, unsecured or unknown Wi-Fi networks either. For obvious reasons.

• Being Personally Targeted

The problem with the wider shift to portable devices is that we carry our workplace into the outside world. Many of us expect complete access to our business data on our smartphone (as we would on our PC) wherever we are.

But carrying your work phone outside work means you’re also outside the protection of in-house IT security software and firewalls.

A simple phishing email can easily be targeted to you outside working hours when you’re ‘off-guard’, and the potential loss of confidential company data could be devastating.

Of course, many of the best IT security software providers now offer Android & iOS smartphone versions of their antivirus software – so why not extend your business’ IT security to your smartphone?

For IT support and security guidance – contact Lineal today.

As always, it’s worth firstly re-booting your device (something most of us won’t normally do more than once or twice a week) to check whether the problem persists. This will prompt iOS both to refresh the mail app, and install any necessary updates from Apple.

You attempt to can send the email again by going to the outbox, selecting the message with the red [!] warning icon, and touch the send command to attempt to re-send the message. If your connection dropped whilst sending, this can be used to prompt a successful second attempt when the connection is restored.

If your outgoing email still remains stubbornly unsent, it may be best to delete the un-sent email and re-draft (some artful copy-pasting can alleviate this frustration considerably) by selecting the failed email in the outbox, choosing ‘edit’ and choosing ‘trash.’

Should your device remain uncooperative, putting it into ‘Airplane Mode’ should turn off wireless connection searching – which can help Mail stop searching for a way to send the email, and give you the chance to ‘trash’ the offending draft.

For Apple hardware expertise, support and supplies, contact Lineal today.

Popular messaging app WhatsApp have launched end-to-end WhatsApp encryption for over one billion users.

The new security capabilities introduced by the Facebook owned company ensures that every message remains encrypted during transmission, preventing even WhatsApp from reading user data.

With encryption and technological privacy issues regularly appearing in recent news headlines, the WhatsApp encryption upgrade comes at just the right moment for the security concerned, after more than two years of delays in development across multiple platforms.

Much like during Apple’s recent legal dispute with the FBI, the move would also prevent the release of confidential user data following a court order. According to reports from the New York Times, the technology provider have been reported to already be in a longstanding dispute with the US Department of Justice over user data.

WhatsApp are making it clear they support absolute user privacy, with “not even WhatsApp” able to read the encrypted data, and users able to verify their connections are secure via a 60 digit or QR code swap.

From today, the WhatsApp conversation screen will now display an official notification to all users – confirming that their messages are encrypted successfully.

For hardware and software security advice – contact Lineal today.

Smartphone banking app malware hacks SMS codes

A dangerous new banking app malware has successfully bypassed smartphone security used by some of the world’s biggest banks.

Customers of Australia’s four biggest banks, and numerous New Zealand Banks, have all been declared at risk from the malware which activates when using a banking app, copying details from login screens.

Most worryingly, the malware can also divert two-factor authentication codes sent to a given smartphone by SMS – and pass the code to criminals, breaking a tried and trusted system used by many online financial apps around the world.

ESET security systems (commonly deployed by commercial clients for server and endpoint security) recently detected the extremely sophisticated malware, which downloads via fake Adobe Flash windows on video streaming websites.

On Android, personal users can uninstall the malware manually via Settings > Apps > Flayer > Uninstall, and are advised to only accept approved downloads from trusted public sources such as Google Play.

Commercial clients should take similar precautions against banking app malware and similar, protecting company devices behind specialist security systems.

For IT security advice and support, contact Lineal today by clicking here.

Smartphone manufacturer Ringing Bells has launched a £2.50 Smartphone, the Freedom 251, aimed at bringing mobile access to rural parts of India.

The Freedom 251, which costs only 251 rupees, runs on Android and features a 1.3Ghz quad-core processor, 8GB of memory, with front and rear facing cameras.

As the second largest mobile phone market in the world, India is already estimated to have around 236 million mobile users – but this is expected to grow to a staggering 317 million during 2017.

Part of that growth includes tailoring the system to the needs of users in rural India – the Freedom 251 will include software aimed at farmers and fishermen, elderly users needing medical assistance, and even includes an app for ‘women safety’.

Wider connectivity is not only expected to bring economic benefits for Indian consumers, but also to third parties – with the £2.50 price reflecting an already heavy subsidy from interested companies looking to be the first to reach India’s newest smartphone customer base

A smartphone for less than the cost of a cup of tea? Welcome to the future.

For business IT Support, contact Lineal IT today: 01271 375999 or email: [email protected]

Google and Apple’s respective CEOs have joined forces over the issue of customer privacy, with Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly refusing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ‘backdoor’ access to iPhone software.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai backed Apple’s decision on Twitter, arguing that assisting the FBI to gain such access to a private individual’s smartphone would be a ’troubling precedent.’

The mobile phone privacy dispute with the FBI over encryption comes 2 months after Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people in a mass shooting in San Bernadino, California, with investigators demanding that Apple now assist the authorities in accessing Farook Malik’s iPhone 5C.

Both Apple and Google argue that ‘backdoor’ decryption would put the privacy of millions of ordinary smartphone users at risk from Government intrusion, with Tim Cook famously arguing that ‘You can’t have a back door that’s only for the good guys’. In theory, each iPhone’s encryption method is unique, and Apple argue that there should be no possible method for accessing a given user’s data.

On Tuesday however a Federal Judge ordered Apple to disable Farook Malik’s suspected phone setting which enforces usage delays or wipes the iPhone in the event of multiple incorrect password attempts, giving the FBI the opportunity to automatically test millions of possible passwords without penalty.

Both companies’ actions are being driven by the issue of reputation: giving law enforcement authorities the ability to access an individual’s data would utterly undermine smartphone manufacturers’ advertisement of user security.

With neither side willing to back down, expect the dispute to go to the courts, with the key issue being whether Apple can control permitted access to this iPhone, and this iPhone only.

For specialist IT Support, contact Lineal today: 01271 375999 or email: [email protected]

3D Touch technology shows potential

Apple’s iPhone 6S pressure sensitive 3D Touch screen can even be used to weigh small quantities of materials using a third-party application, users have discovered.

An iPhone 6S screen can be used to hold a measuring container, re-calibrated to zero with a tare function via a web app, and set to display the mass of ingredients placed in the container by measuring the downforce they exert on the 3D Touch screen.

An interesting proof of concept, expect to see this useful bit of technology spread beyond Apple’s iPhone – rumours have been circulating online that Samsung’s next flagship smartphone will also have a pressure sensitive screen.

For now the technology is not necessarily practical for actual cooking (unfortunately illegal uses might be entirely possible) because the maximum accurate weight is only 385 grams.

Expect to see more sensitive screens and wider measurement ranges in future iterations of the 3D Touch, and similar screens from rival smartphone makers as a new standard feature.

Now if only it could mix the ingredients too!

With over 25 years of experience – contact Lineal today for Apple IT Support: 01271 375999 or [email protected]

This week saw the hotly anticipated release of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, Apple Inc’s flagship smartphone announced in their annual product release that has become as inevitable as the tides.

With the iPhone now accounting for something close to 70% of Apple’s revenue, the 6S and 6S Plus were the main attraction. The new design fixes old durability problems with a stronger case and tougher screen, but added features include the obligatory faster processor, a new rose gold colour choice, and an upgraded 12MP camera – all aimed at keeping ahead of the competition, at least when it comes to performance.

‘3D Touch’ is Apple’s newest technical innovation, making the screen of the company’s newest devices pressure sensitive. This gives users the illusion of screen depth by accurately judging the strength of the screen press, allowing for new capabilities like a ‘peek’ at an app with a gentle touch, and giving Apple another technical edge with which to play the long game.

Not that Apple’s thinking hasn’t been questioned: commercial clients may find the power to shoot high resolution 4k video enticing, but will likely be sceptical at how practical it is to save such high-quality video files on a smartphone.

Indeed, for a company whose founder’s dislike of the stylus is well documented, releasing a large tablet with a stylus appears an open invitation for criticism. Nevertheless this is exactly what Apple have now done, introducing the new iPad Pro, a 12.9 inch tablet, ostensibly optimised for creative use by designers, illustrators and other editors needing a larger screen.

The demonstration of the iPad Pro included the new $99 (£65) stylus, the Apple ‘Pencil’ effortlessly photoshopping a woman’s smile on screen, an illustrative but perhaps ill-chosen example that somehow made it through Apple’s press office without ringing media alarm bells. Appropriate use aside, the technology is nevertheless impressive: the Apple pencil combined with 3D Touch allows pressure sensitive brush strokes on screen drawn with great precision.

This year’s releases represent Apple maturing a little, yet still relying on groundbreaking technical features to stay ahead of the curve.  Apple Inc. shares actually slid two percent to close lower on Wednesday, with investors holding their breath to see whether the new products were enough to really ‘impress’ customers. The tech giant has arguably sacrificed some of the flamboyance of previous years’ releases to concentrate on the innovation needed to outpace rivals, and open more important doors for its own future, including in the form of its renewed invasion into our living rooms with the new Apple TV and tvOS complete with the long heralded AppStore.

Lineal has over 20 years of business experience with Apple Mac, including connecting your mobile devices for working on the move – why not get in touch with us today? http://www.lineal.co.uk/contact/