Apple TV, Watch

Controlling Apple TV with Your Apple Watch

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Controlling your Apple TV with your Apple Smart Watch. Chances are, if you clicked on this article purposely, you already have both of these items, but if you happened to accidentally click this article, but became intrigued, feel free to stay and;

You can buy Apple TV here

You can buy Apple Watch here

I’m going to make this as simple as I possibly can for you readers, and give you a step by step instruction on how to control your Apple TV with your Apple Watch.

So, the Apple Watch has a Remote app to control your Apple TV (After it has been linked).

Once you have linked your Apple Watch to your Apple TV, following the prompts, use your Apple Watch to turn on your Apple TV. You can even choose to watch Netflix through your Apple Watch. As well as other features such as pause/resume music and content, as well as head to your Menu. Don’t forget your Apple Music libraries are there for you as well.

Let’s Get Started

First things first, grab your Apple Watch.

  1. Press the Digital Crown to pull up your Home screen.
  2. Tap the Remote app.
  3. Tap Add Device, and you’ll see that you’ll have to note a password. Remember it.
  4. Grab your Apple Siri Remote.

Now, let’s move to the Apple TV.

  1. If you’re not already on the Apple TV Home screen, use the Siri Remote to press and depress the Menu button.
  2. Select Settings – General – Remotes.
  3. Click on Select to Add, which should now bring up your Apple Watches name.
  4. Remember that password I told you to note? Grab that password and enter it on the Apple TV.



Now, BACK to the Apple Watch (We’re almost done)

Click Done – An Apple TV icon should appear on your remote app on your Apple Watch. (If this doesn’t occur, try rebooting your Apple Watch) – If that doesn’t work, force restart your Apple TV.

Alright, we’re pretty much done. But you’re probably wondering where to go from here? How does this work? So, in a nutshell;

  • To access the Remote app, press the Digital Crown.
  • All of your apps will be right here.
  • Tap the Remote app, then you should see an Apple TV icon
  • Tap on that icon to access Apple TV
  • DONE – You can now control your Apple TV with your Apple Watch. Happy swiping and tapping!

Removing Apple TV From Your Apple Watch

If you every need to remove Apple TV from your Apple Watch, like other apps, press and hold on the Remote app icon, tap Edit, then hit the X button.

To remove the Apple Watch from your Apple TV, hit Settings > General > Remotes, click the name of your Apple Watch and finally, hit Remove.

Apple HomePod, News

Apple HomePod – Sound & Music Quality Better Than Google Home, Amazon Alexa?

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Now, we can’t give you a good review on the sound and music quality of Apple’s answer to Google and Amazon – The Apple HomePod. That is still to come, be rest assured!

But, for now, we will cover what we can with the information we have gathered thus far.

We have to presume that the HomePod will have fantastic music and sound quality, because in all fairness, the price for the HomePod certainly doesn’t add up just yet.

Apple HomePod Spatial Awareness

The first thing we’ll go through is the smart technology that allows the Apple HomePod to “sense where in the room it’s playing” – Apple have said that the HomePod senses where it has been placed in any given room, and automatically analyses the acoustics, adjusts sounds based on the location and “steers the music in the optimal direction”



Apparently, if you’re placing this Apple HomePod in a corner of a room, you won’t get that ugly tinny sound bouncing off two walls – It will instead adjust the several tweeters to adapt to its surroundings and play the best acoustics it possibly can.

Apple’s HomePod is able to detect the centre vocals and use beam forming to direct them. It uses the information it’s given by the A8 chip inside to precisely detect how to play music with the most optimal settings. It can detect something called direct energy to best make instrumentation as good as it can. The direct energy also helps with ambient audio (backing vocals and reverb), giving a fantastic boost that provides a rich mix to fill any room.

Two Are Better Than One

If you are excited to hear the Apple HomePod play your favourite tracks with its smart ability to adjust the acoustics to suit where it has been placed in any room, you should be excited to hear two of them (we don’t expect the average consumer to do this, as it will set you back a cool $700USD or $1000AUD)

But, if you wish to add another HomePod to your collection, and place it in the same room as your other one, you’re bound to hear a far greater music experience.

Not to forget, that with AirPlay 2, when you add multiple HomePod’s to different rooms of the house/office, the speakers can communicate with each other so you can play your favorite tunes throughout the whole house (or office, to liven it up a bit)

Now for the original question?

If you remember the title of this article asked, “Is the Apple HomePod’s music/sound quality better than Amazon Alexa/Google Home?” – The short answer to this is yes.

As both Alexa and Home are fantastic (and likely better home assistants than Siri), they are not purpose built for music and sound quality. Of course they both play a decent quality, but not the quality you’d expect after spending a few hundred dollars on a sound system type quality. This is where you see the price difference for these with Amazon’s Alexa fetching for about $229AUD and Google Home for $199AUD.

We hope that Apple’s promises of a superior music quality that will “blow us away”, as CEO Tim Cook said, are true, but we will wait, like the many other millions of Apple fans waiting to listen.

Apple HomePod, News

Apple HomePod – Is this Apple’s Answer to Google and Amazon?

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With the latest release of the Apple iPhone x, the spotlight has been on Apple.  It’s a huge step forward for Apple, as well as a huge step forward in the home music, and at last, the home assistant category. The Apple HomePod, released in December will be priced at $350USD.

Although the HomePod has not been released to us just yet, it looks pretty great if we go by the keynote speech in June of this year. I, for one, am very excited for this release!

It’s About The MUSIC

Apple have promised a “powerful speaker that sounds amazing and adapts to wherever it’s playing” – And we have been waiting for an all-in-one powerful speaker, assistant and home control device for a little while now. Of course we’ve seen the Amazon Alexa/Echo, as well as Google Home, but this interaction is all through the familiar Siri voice interaction.



But what’s a speaker if it doesn’t have good bass? (Apparently) we have nothing to fear with this 4-inch high-excursion woofer. We haven’t heard the quality in person just yet, but we will be straight on it as soon as we get our chance. Apple CEO Tim Cook has been quoted saying that the Apple HomePod audio quality will “blow people away” – So that’s something to look forward to.

The Apple HomePod – Aesthetically Beautiful

Apple have designed the HomePod very well on first appearance. It’s very compact, and just under 7 inches tall, and 2.5kg. The HomePod boasts a seven-tweeter array towards the bottom of the device for superior mids, highs and sound control (no matter the placement of the HomePod).

To make sure Siri can hear you, even with loud music playing, Apple have designed the HomePod with a six-microphone array, which for your security purposes, is encrypted and only activated after the “Hey Siri” command.

This is all inside a beautiful mesh fabric designed for the best aesthetics and acoustic performance. Available in two colours: White, and Space Grey.

Apple Intelligence

What looks to set this apart from competitors might be its brain – The Apple designed A8 chip, which controls how the woofer works in conjunction with its surroundings, including the ability to “beamform” so the microphone can hear you over the music. Of course we can’t forget all the features this chip allows Siri to control – These will be discussed in future articles.

Apple’s HomePod – Full of Features

There is much to discuss on the features of the new Apple HomePod including:

  • Spatial awareness
  • Multiple room functions (including AirPlay 2)
  • Music Intelligence
  • Siri commands (inc. timers, clocks, measurements, news, weather, etc) and,
  • Smart Home commands
    See the official info here from Apple

We are excited to follow this article with many detailing the above features of Apple’s HomePod. Consider this article, much like Apple’s keynote in June a bit of a teaser for what’s to come.

Let us know your initial thoughts on Apple’s HomePod.  Will you be ordering this December?

How-To, iPhone

How to Navigate your new Apple iPhone X with no home button

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So I’m sure you’ve seen by now that unlike every previous iPhone ever created, we have been left without an official home button on the brand new Apple flagship smartphone, the iPhone X.  Understandably, you might have a few questions about some of the commands the old home button used to control, and HOW TO adapt to Apple’s new design.

How to Unlock Your New iPhone X

Obviously, there is no TouchID anymore with the absence of the official home button, but not to worry! FaceID looks quite promising (and speedy, too).



It works exactly how it sounds it works. Look at your iPhone X and (given you’ve set up your security preferences) your phone will unlock, with a swipe of the screen to finish the process.

Now that you’ve unlocked your phone, you might want to know how to bring up the home screen?

How to go to the Home Screen on Your New iPhone X

Swipe up from the bottom of the screen. It probably couldn’t be any easier than this (unless we still had a designated button).

What about the Control Centre?

It’s as simple as swiping DOWN from the TOP RIGHT hand side of your new iPhone X.

To bring up your notifications, it’s the exact same action, but from the TOP LEFT hand side of the screen. (Even the centre of the screen will do the same job)

 

How do I Switch Between Apps?

Okay, imagine that your new iPhone X still has a home button. To swipe right, swipe your finger/thumb from the bottom left corner of the phone and draw an imaginary semi-circle over where the home button used to be. The same goes for swiping left, but swap sides.

Where is Siri?

If you don’t want to do the regular call for Siri – “Hey Siri”, not to worry! Just press and hold the power button on the right side of your new iPhone X.

What about Apple Pay?

This one can take some getting used to.

Double clicking the power button on the right side will bring up your wallet. You will then need to use FaceID to make and complete a payment.

How do I Screenshot?

Super simple! Simultaneously long hold press both the power button and the UP volume button. It’s handy that these two buttons are parallel to each other.

And finally, what about Hard-Resetting my new iPhone X?

It’s a little tricky, and you might not get it your first time, but bare with me.

Really quickly, tap the volume UP button, followed by the volume DOWN button, then HOLD the power button down. You should eventually see your screen go black and the Apple logo appear.

I hope this guide helps you overcome and adapt to the changes that have been made. Nothing is ever too difficult to adapt to for us Apple faithful.

Click HERE for the latest prices on the iPhone X.

iPhone

iPhone X Launch Day. Worth the upgrade?

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3/11/2017 – The launch of the brand new, highly anticipated Apple iPhone X in Australia.

There’s no doubt that the new flagship Apple smartphone is stunning with its 5.8inch OLED display, but is the extravagant price really worth it?

Let’s go over a few of the specs of this gorgeous new smartphone

Capacity Size Weight Display Water Resistence Chip Camera Charging Operating System
64/256GB 5.65×2.79inch 174g

6.14oz

 5.8inch

OLED

 IP67 rating A11 Bionic 12MP Back

7MP Front

 Wireless

Lithium-ion battery

 iOS 11

 

First things first, let’s go over the look of the Apple iPhone X

There’s no doubting its aesthetics with a large 5.8inch OLED display holding a screen resolution of 2436 x 1125 pixel resolution at 458 ppi – Which sadly, still hasn’t caught up with Samsung’s Galaxy S8 impressive 2960 x 1440 at 570 ppi, BUT we must also consider the fact that the stock setting for the Samsung Galaxy S8 screen resolution setting is set to 2220 x 1080 at 570 ppi. This is probably to enhance the battery life for the Galaxy S8.

The iPhone X is just 5.8mm taller than the iPhone 8, but the iPhone 8+ is a huge 14.8mm taller than the iPhone X. It’s also handy to keep in mind that the iPhone X is the same size as the Samsung Galaxy S8, so if you’re not happy with your current Samsung and are thinking about converting, you’ll be used to this phone in your hand.

With the screen resolution specs out of the way, let’s get back to the actual look of the Apple iPhone X

The most obvious stand-out difference between the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 is the fact that the screen has stretched out to almost the entire length of the phone, consequently abolishing any home button. This change is resulting in a love-hate indifference between Apple enthusiasts. This change means that any full screen viewing will have an annoying black panel (your speaker and front camera) in the way of your viewing pleasure. Though this is a little drawback, I’m sure after a few weeks of use, this will no longer bother you.

Apple are now claiming they have “the most durable glass in any smartphone” – But don’t let this fool you into thinking you won’t need a case. If you drop this iPhone X, it will shatter. Glass is still glass at the end of the day, and we know that glass is fragile, so I don’t recommend leaving things to chance – get a case.

So, there’s no home button now. How am I meant to return to the home screen?

It’s pretty simple – Just swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Now, to get to the control centre of your new iPhone X, you’ll have to swipe down from the top of the screen from the left side. Swiping down from the right will open your notifications. Sounds simple, right?

Obviously with the absence of a home button on the iPhone X, there is no fingerprint scanner anymore, but not to worry! – FaceID has replaced TouchID. One more thing to cover on the absence of the home button. How do I switch between the apps that I’m using? Okay, imagine that your new iPhone X still has a home button. To swipe right, swipe your finger/thumb from the bottom left corner of the phone and draw an imaginary semi-circle over where the home button used to be. The same goes for swiping left, but swap sides.

OLED Display

It’s great to see that Apple have finally upped their screen resolution game and followed Samsung steps in ditching the IPS LED displays (which are still great!) and moved onto the OLED display, giving a much richer display with the ability to turn off and on any pixels that aren’t needed at any time.

Is the Apple iPhone X faster than the iPhone 8?

In short, yes.

Both the X and 8 have the same processor, the A11 chip – but the difference between the two in terms of speed is seen because of the size of the chips. Apple have managed to shrink the size of the new A11 chip for the iPhone X, allowing them more room for additional transistors into their new flagship smartphone. This will help improve the performance and the battery life of the new iPhone X.

Apple are actually claiming that their new flagship iPhone X is going to last 2 hours longer than their former iPhone 7. Not only have Apple upped their battery performance in the new iPhone X, but the new A11 chip has a new Apple designed Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), breaking off their relationship with Imagination Technologies – This means faster processing during game time and creation apps, but if you’re just scrolling through Facebook or checking your emails, you won’t notice a difference.

Wireless Charging of the Apple iPhone X & iPhone 8

Apple have finally introduced wireless charging in the iPhone X and iPhone 8 thanks to the new glass backs. A feature that Samsung have been running in their flagship phones since early 2015 in the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Although it is important to note that wireless charging does not charge your phone as fast as wired charging (maybe one day it will!)

Apple have designed their own wireless charging accessory called AirPower, which actually has the ability to charge more than one phone at once. It is fair to note that this isn’t the first wireless charger with that ability. Of course, I should mention just in case anyone thought Apple had a change of mind, there is certainly no jack for your headphones (hope you still have that dongle!)

Finally, let’s talk about the camera of the Apple iPhone X & iPhone 8

The biggest difference in cameras from the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X is the latter has the superior aperture rate of f/2.4. Of course, the iPhone X has a dual camera which will allow for greater zoom capabilities and depth-of-field effects. So overall, the difference between camera capability between the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X is not a lot, BUT if you’re coming from an iPhone 6S or 6S Plus, you will notice a more dramatic change in picture quality. The iPhone X can now record at 4K video at 60fps, and even slow-motion at 1080p at 240fps.

Do I upgrade to the Apple iPhone X?

Well we did, and we love it!