Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

The Pixel Watch’s bezels are thicc

Based on early leaked images, I was concerned that Google’s upcoming Pixel Watch might feature rather large bezels, but it appears they’re Apple Watch Series 3 level thicc.

According to a new leak from Japanese retailer Joshin that WinFuture’s Roland Quandt shared, the Pixel Watch’s bezels take up almost 10mm of the smartwatch’s rumoured 41mm front. That said, based on the images shared by Quandt, Google’s Wear OS 3 is capable of making the sizable bezels fade into the background of the smartwatch to some extent.

I also occasionally use the Pebble Time Round (RIP), and it has massive bezels. Still, if you look at these renders of the Pixel Watch beside the Apple Watch Series 7, there’s no comparison regarding the size of both wearables’ bezels.

Ahead of Google’s big Pixel event tomorrow, leaks regarding the anticipated wearable are still flowing, including a look at its swappable bands and even unboxing images.

The Pixel Watch is rumoured to cost $349 USD (roughly $477 CAD) for the Wi-Fi version and $399 (about $545 CAD) for the LTE iteration.

Google’s Pixel Watch is expected to be revealed at the tech giant’s fall hardware event on October 6th, alongside the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. For everything we’re expecting to see at the keynote, follow this link.

Image credit: @rquandt 

Source: @rquandt Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Google shares new design teaser video for Pixel 7, Watch, and Buds Pro

Google released yet another teaser video highlighting the design of products it’s set to release at an event on October 6th.

The latest video joins design videos for the Pixel Watch and Pixel 7 Pro, although this time around, it shows multiple devices, including the Pixel 7, 7 Pro, Pixel Watch, and — strangely — the already-released Pixel Buds Pro.

The video starts by showing a few angles of the Pixel 7, particularly focusing on the camera bar, before switching to the Pixel 7 Pro. However, if you watched the Pixel 7 Pro design video, then the few shots in this video will look very familiar.

At about 16 seconds, the video moves over to the Pixel Watch — again, it seems to recycle shots from the smartwatch design video. Finally, it shows a few views of the Pixel Buds Pro, including an x-ray-like shot highlighting the internals. Then there’s a shot of the Buds Pro sitting in the charging case before the video closes out by cycling through all the colour options for the earbuds.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing in the video that we haven’t seen before. Google has extensively detailed its upcoming products since first teasing them at the I/O developer conference in May.

Google’s set to release the Pixel 7 series, Pixel Watch, and possibly more at its event on October 6th. You can check out a full breakdown of what’s expected here.

Header image credit: Google

Source: Google Via: Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

Alexa-enabled Echo Show and Echo Smart Speakers are up to 64 percent off

Amazon is continuing the discounts for its hardware. If you’re in need of an Alexa-enabled Echo Show or Echo Dot, then the massive online retailer is hearing you and offering up savings of 64 percent.

As a reminder, Amazon is also having its Prime Early Access deals event on October 11th and 12th.

Source: Amazon Canada

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.

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There’s a limit to how many custom lock screens you can save on iOS 16

One of the pivotal new features introduced with iOS 16 is the range of customizations for the lock screen with a new and improved lock screen media player, several new wallpapers, clock and widget customization and more. Most notable, however, is that you can create several lock screens and switch them up depending on your mood for the day.

Until now, we’d guessed that there ought to be a limit to the number of custom lock screens you can create, but an exact number was unknown. Now, thanks to Reddit user u/XiXMak doing some digging, we know that 200 is the maximum number of custom lock screens that you can have at once. Creating any more requires you to delete an older one.

The limitation shouldn’t impact the majority of iOS 16 users, as I don’t think many of you would like to have 201 custom lock screens ready to go, but it is still interesting to note that Apple chose 200 as the magic number. Why? We’ll likely never know.

Learn about how you can customize your iOS 16-running iPhone’s lock screen here.

Source: u/XiXMak

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Mobile Syrup

PlayStation is open to turning FromSoftware games into movies or TV shows

February’s Elden Ring is one of the highest-rated games of all time. (Image credit: Bandai Namco)

PlayStation is open to developing film or TV versions of FromSoftware titles following its recent investment in the company.

PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst said to Reuters that when the company purchased FromSoftware properties, it became open to the idea of giving them the PlayStation Productions treatment.

“You should think of collaborations on the game development side first and foremost,” Hulst said of FromSoftware, “but it’s also not unthinkable with our PlayStation Productions efforts that we explore opportunities.”

Sony has made films and movies based on some of its other IPs. For instance, Uncharted had a movie starring Tom Holland, while a TV series based on The Last of Us is in the works, as is a Ghost of Tsushima movie.

Dark Souls and Elden Ring both have so much hidden lore that you could probably make a series with several seasons out of either property. A title like Sekiro also has a dedicated storyline that could be adapted into a movie or TV series.

I’d definitely pay a lot of money to watch a horror movie based on Bloodborne.

Source: Reuters Via: Eurogamer

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Mobile Syrup

#a11yTO Gaming accessibility conference returns to Toronto this month

#a11yTO Gaming, a gaming conference focused entirely on accessibility, will return as an in-person event this month.

Taking place on October 15th at Microsoft’s Toronto office, #a11yTO Gaming will feature a variety of guest developers, an accessible gaming arcade, live gaming demos and more. Canada’s Steve Saylor, an accessibility-focused content creator and accessibility consultant, will once again host #a11yTO Gaming.

Specific attractions this year include representatives from Ubisoft Toronto talking about Far Cry 6 and job opportunities at the studio, Dave Evans from St. Catharine’s Falling Squirrel demoing his innovative The Vale: Shadow of the Crown and Rodrigo Sanchez from Eidos Montreal to discuss Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Tickets cost $49 and are on sale until October 10th. Those using the promo code ‘THANKSTORONTO’ can get tickets for $20.

A main #a11yTO event focused on accessibility in areas beyond just gaming will also take place on October 17th and 18th in-person and online. More information can be found here.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over one billion people worldwide live with some form of disability. Video games, meanwhile, are enjoyed by roughly three billion people around the world. Therefore, there’s a large audience who would like to play games but are physically restricted or even prevented from doing so due to their disabilities.

That said, in a 2022 Game Developers Conference survey, only 39 percent of respondents said they had implemented accessibility measures into their game. The rest of those surveyed said “no” or “don’t know / N/A.” One respondent even said, “unfortunately there is still a lot of pushback in implementing accessibility features.”

Therefore, there’s a lot of work that can be done in promoting the importance of accessibility and getting more of the industry on board with implementing such features into their games. With that in mind, those who are interested in gaming from either the consumer or developer side of the industry could get a lot out of #a11yTO Gaming.

Image credit: Eidos Montreal

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Mobile Syrup

‘Adaptive Transparency’ isn’t coming to Apple’s older AirPods after all

Despite reports emerging on Reddit that the 1st-gen AirPods Pro now feature an ‘Adaptive Transparency’ toggle after updating to iOS 16.1’s latest beta, it looks like the feature isn’t making its way to Apple’s older buds.

The toggle appears to have been a bug, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, and the next beta version of iOS 16.1 will remove the option entirely. The AirPods Pro (2nd-Gen)’s Adaptive Transparency allows users to hear noises around them without removing the wireless earbuds, adapting to louder sounds and passing them through the wireless earbuds.

The original AirPods feature standard transparency that passes all audio through the wireless earbuds. While useful in some situations, Adaptive Transparency is far better, and I find myself actually enabling it quite frequently when I’m working from the MobileSyrup office.

Given Apple isn’t known for bringing key new features to older products, especially when a new version is recently released, the fact that this is just a glitch isn’t surprising. It’s likely Apple will release a fix for the issue in the coming days.

For more on Apple’s AirPods Pro (2nd-Gen), check out my review of the high-end wireless earbuds.

Source: @markgurman, Reddit (u/ddpacino) Via: 9to5Mac

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Mobile Syrup

Stadia optimizations make their way to Nest Wifi Pro’s listing page despite Google killing the platform

Google revealed its new Nest Wifi Pro this week. The new Nest product is Google’s first mesh router system that supports Wi-Fi 6E with a tri-band connection that offers 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz access.

Since the Nest Wifi’s inception, Google has touted how the mesh router system automatically optimizes itself and prioritizes bandwidth for any Stadia devices it is connected to. The new Nest Wifi Pro’s ‘Tech Specs’ page alludes to the same under the ‘Automatic Wi-Fi optimization’ subsection, as spotted by 9to5Google and as seen in the screenshot below:

Now, mentioning the feature under ‘Tech Specs’ wouldn’t have raised any eyebrows if the Nest Wifi Pro was released about a week ago, considering that until a week ago, Stadia was still a platform, alive, though not doing so well.

Then, on Thursday, September 29th, Google announced that it will soon be taking Stadia off life support, with its final death set to take place on January 18th, 2023.

It’s likely that marketing material for the new Nest Wifi Pro was written up before Google announced it will be shutting down Stadia, and the same goes for visual assets. The Nest Wifi Pro’s ‘Overview‘ and ‘How it works‘ pages both contain assets that show individuals holding Stadia controllers. They look happy too, so maybe no one told them the platform is dying.

On a more serious note, the Nest Wifi Pro will be able to do what its ‘Tech Specs’ page says, and provide an optimized connection for Stadia gaming. Google might have left the excerpt in intentionally, with plans to remove it on January 18th, 2023.

Image credit: Google

Via: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Apple now sells refurbished iPhone 12 Pro online

After offering older iPhone 11 series models, Macbooks and iPads in its refurbished store, Apple has finally added the 2020-released iPhone 12 Pro to the mix, as first spotted by iPhone in Canada.

As is usual with Apple’s refurbished products, the price cut only amounts to a few hundred dollars or so, but the products are guaranteed to work, feel and look like new.

If you’ve been waiting to purchase an older iPhone that is highly capable, discounted iPhone 12 Pro from Apple refurbished store is a neat choice. Check out some of the available options below:

Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro 128GB – Pacific Blue (Unlocked): $979 (regularly $1,259)

Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro 128GB – Gold (Unlocked): $979 (regularly $1,259)

Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro 128GB – Silver (Unlocked): $979 (regularly $1,259)

Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro 128GB – Graphite (Unlocked): $979 (regularly $1,259)

Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro 512GB – Pacific Blue (Unlocked): $1,329 (regularly $1,669)

Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro 512GB – Silver (Unlocked): $1,329 (regularly $1,669)

Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro 512GB – Gold (Unlocked): $1,329 (regularly $1,669)

Refurbished iPhone 12 Pro 512GB – Graphite (Unlocked): $1,329 (regularly $1,669)

Check out all refurbished iPhones available on Apple’s online store here.

Learn more about the iPhone 12 Pro here.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.

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Save up to 25 percent on Samsung TVs through Amazon

Samsung is having a banger of a sale on Amazon Canada. If you’re looking for a great deal on various sizes of TVs, which will help put upwards of 25 percent.

Check out the details below.

Source: Amazon Canada

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.