Apple is preparing a software update for the three-year-old iPhone 12 after French regulators claimed the phone exceeded appropriate radiation levels. France stopped selling the smartphone after recommendations from ANFR, the national radiation monitoring body.
The software update will not adjust radiation levels but will “adapt to the protocol used by French regulators”. (I’m also not sure how that works.) Apple believes the software fix will be enough to allow the iPhone 12 to pass future radiation tests, saying it looks forward “to the iPhone 12 continuing to ‘be available in France’.
Belgium and Denmark do not have the same concerns as France. Belgian Digitalization Minister Mathieu Michel said local tests were “reassuring” and advised against a suspension of sales. The Danish safety authority followed suit, suggesting it had no concerns about the iPhone 12’s radiation levels.
—Mat Smith
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The biggest news of the week meets Engadget’s lens.
Our spinoff video series continues to let Mat do his thing, whether it’s throwing his iPhone at the camera, complaining about 2000s movies, or writing about himself in the third person. Our short but sweet edition this week covers the iPhone 15, the return of movie rentals (sort of), and Sony’s Aibo dogs getting a second chance. There is a new video every Saturday morning.
Watch it here.
A two-hour demo showed new tricks.
How do you top a well-received open-world game with its sequel? Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham played two hours of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at a press event earlier this week, and it seems the answer is to go further. This is the same tactic used by Sony’s development teams to The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn And God of the war.
Because the world of New York in this game is almost twice as large as the original, with the addition of Brooklyn and Queens, finding new ways for players to get around was a major priority for developer Insomniac. Enter web wings, a tool for gliding around the city, catching wind tunnels and updrafts that propel you at high speeds. It is not intended to replace the basic mechanism of web throwing, but to augment it. And gliding seems to be the new horse in video game trends.
Continue reading.
A small number of mobile and web users can now access the Metaverse.
Meta announced Great rumble, the first game from its in-house studio Ouro Interactive, is now available to a small number of mobile users via the Meta Quest app on Android. It will also make its way to the app on iOS devices in the coming weeks. When Meta launched the first-person shooter, it said Great rumbleThis would be one of the first worlds available when its new app is released. He also said the game would feature cross-platform play on mobile, web, or a VR headset.
Continue reading.
We also dive into our review of Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6.
This week, Cherlynn shares her thoughts from the field at Apple’s iPhone 15 launch event. It turns out that the iPhone 15 Pro’s titanium body is noticeably lighter. (Which we hope is the point.) Engadget’s Malek Saleh also joins to discuss his review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and Dyson’s ridiculous Zone air filter mask/earphone.
Listen now
