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Apples recent iPhone event brought some nifty ideas, from the camera button to a reinvention of Google Lens and beyond. The company also announced that it's bringing simple multitrack recording to Voice Memos. This was particularly exciting for me since, well, I use Voice Memos a lot. I have nearly 500 of these little recordings that were made during the lifetime of my iPhone 14 Pro and thousands more in the cloud. You never know when youll need a random tune you hummed while waiting for the subway in 2013. So this feature felt tailor-made for me. I write songs. I play guitar. I do everything that lady in the commercial does, including opening the fridge late at night for no real reason. Apple Then reality hit. This isnt a software update that will hit all iPhone models. Its tied to the ultra-premium iPhone 16 Pro, which starts at a cool $1,000. I dont really want to upgrade right now, so the dream of singing over an acoustic guitar track right on the Voice Memos app is dead on arrival. Why is this particular feature walled behind the iPhone 16 Pro? Its a simple multitrack recording function. From the ad, it looks like the app cant even layer more than two tracks at a time. This cant exactly be taxing that A18 Pro chip, especially when the phone can also handle 4K/120 FPS video recording in Dolby Vision. Pro Tools, a popular digital audio workstation, was first introduced in 1991. This was two years before Intel released the Pentium chip. Computers of that era had no trouble layering tracks. For a bit of reference, last years A17 Pro chip had around 19 billion transistors. An original Pentium chip had around three million. In other words, a modern smartphone chip is around 6,300 times more powerful than a 1993 Pentium-based PC. So let us layer tracks on Voice Memos, Apple! It can't be that complicated. Ive been using dedicated multitrack apps ever since the iPhone 3. Apple throws GarageBand in with every iPhone. Both GarageBand and third-party recording apps have a place, sure, but nothing beats the quickness and ease-of-use of Voice Memos. Itd sure be great to be able to make a quick-and-dirty acoustic demo of a song and send it out to someone without having to navigate a fairly complicated interface. Apple Yeah. I see the elephant in the room. Theres a part of the ad that Ive been avoiding. The woman records the vocal layer over the guitar track without wearing headphones. She just sang into the phone while standing in front of that refrigerator. Now, thats something old-school Pentiums could not do. Theres some microphone placement wizardry going on there, along with machine learning algorithms that reduce unwanted ambient noise. The iPhone 16 Pro has a brand-new microphone array, so I get that older models might not be able handle this particular part of the equation. But who cares? Thats a really neat feature. Its also completely unnecessary. If youre reading this, you are likely already wearing earbuds/headphones or have some within reach. Record the first track without the headphones. Record the secondary layer while wearing headphones. Thats it. Problem solved. You can even do it in front of the refrigerator. Also, both the base-level iPhone 16 and the Pro support Audio Mix, which lets people adjust various sound levels from various sources after capturing video. This is done without the new Studio Mics on the iPhone 16 Pro and seems to reduce ambient noise in a similar way. So it could be possible that there's a software solution here to handle even that elephant in the room. After all, the company credits "powerful machine learning algorithms" for this tech if it can erase environmental wind noise, surely it can handle music playing in the background? So I am once again asking for Apple to let the rest of us play around with multitrack recording on Voice Memos. Theres no reason every older iPhone model couldnt compute its way to a simple guitar/vocal two-track wav file. Pop the feature into a software update. I hear theres one for iOS 18 coming really soon, and another for Apple Intelligence after that.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/i-dont-get-why-apples-multitrack-voice-memos-require-an-iphone-16-pro-175134621.html?src=rss
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This really solid Baseus 30W/10000mAh MagSafe power bank is on sale via Amazon for 40 percent off. That brings the price to $28, from $46. This is a record low for this particular power bank, but be sure to clip the coupon to get the deal. This is one of the best MagSafe batteries out there and easily found a place on our list of the best power banks. It specializes in magnetic wireless charging for iPhones, of course, but also has a built-in USB-C cable. This means you can use the device to charge the vast majority of modern gadgets, though not wirelessly. The USB-C cable is also used to recharge the bank itself at a power outlet. This isnt a Qi2-certified product, but it still managed to charge an iPhone 15 just as quickly as the latest Qi2 Anker bank. It gets a modern iPhone to 55 percent in around 30 minutes. Its also quite small and pocket-friendly, with a strong magnet that allows for one-handed smartphone use as it provides juice. On the downside, this is a fairly bare-bones device. Theres no status display or a kickstand, such as the likes found with rival power banks. However, it nails the basics, especially for $26. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-magsafe-power-banks-is-40-percent-off-right-now-165924327.html?src=rss
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The Food and Drug Administration has approved Apples over-the-counter Hearing Aid feature. Designed for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, it transforms the second-gen AirPods Pro into OTC hearing aids. This follows the FDAs 2022 decision to allow adults with less-than-severe impairment to use corrective consumer hearing devices without a professional test, prescription or fitting. The FDA says Apples software-based Hearing Test feature for AirPods Pro showed similar benefits to those who received a professional fitting of the wireless earbuds. Results also showed comparable performance for tests measuring levels of amplification in the ear canal, as well as a measure of speech understanding in noise, the FDA wrote in its announcement. The agency adds that it didnt observe any adverse events from using the device as an OTC hearing aid. Apples Hearing Aid feature, coming in iOS 18, starts with a hearing test on your paired iPhone or iPad. As the image above shows, the test begins by ensuring your earbuds have a good seal. After that, it activates active noise cancellation (ANC) and asks you to tap the screen when you hear tones in the left and right ears. Once you finish, your results will live in the iOS Health app, where you can see how your results change (or not) over time. You can download your results and give them to an audiologist anytime. (If the test determines you have severe hearing loss, it will recommend you seek a professional assessment since the AirPods feature is only approved for those with mild to moderate impairment.) Engadgets Billy Steele got an early preview of the feature after Apples big iPhone 16 event earlier this week. It seems to be as quick and easy as Apple describes, our audio expert wrote. Although the demo was a simulation, it covered each step of the process, adding up to only about five minutes. Apple developed the feature using 150,000 real-world audiograms and millions of simulations. The companys FDA application was reviewed under the agencys De Novo premarket pathway, which provides a runway for novel devices that dont carry serious risk. Apples Hearing Aid and Hearing Test features will arrive no earlier than when iOS 18 launches to the public on September 16. The AirPods Pro (second-gen) is required to use the feature. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/the-fda-greenlights-apples-hearing-aid-feature-for-airpods-pro-164912484.html?src=rss
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