ICYMI: The biggest tech news of the week, from Samsung Unpacked to DJI’s new drone
Today, the tech world runs like a carnival carousel that has gotten out of hand, making it difficult to keep up with the latest news. Have no fear – whether you’ve been on vacation or too busy ruining the latest episode of Secret Invasions, we’ve rounded up all of the week’s biggest tech stories right here.
In our weekly ICYMI (or ‘in case you missed it’) roundup, we’ll recap all the notable, exciting, or controversial tech stories from the last seven days so you can plug yourself in for a quick firmware update.
And since we’re tech teases, we’ll go through them all in reverse order of importance. So grab your coffee, cocktail or meal replacement shake and settle into some comfort as we walk you through the biggest tech announcements of the past week…
7. ChatGPT is coming to Android
The world’s most famous AI chatbot has finally landed on Android phones…well, for now in a few select countries, including the US. Still, OpenAI has promised that ChatGPT will roll out in other countries in the “next week”, so keep an eye on the Play Store if you haven’t seen it yet.
What exactly can you do with ChatGPT? It is especially good at summarizing complex topics, helping with coding issues, and brainstorming ideas. And now you can do all that on the bus or train to work – taking into account, of course, the chatbot’s tendency to hallucinate and occasionally turn to the dark side.
6. DJI’s new Air 3 with two cameras arrives
DJI continues to reign supreme when it comes to drones – and the new mid-range Air 3, which landed this week, is another polished addition to its fine fleet. The best feature of this drone is the dual camera setup, which gives you the equivalent of 24mm and 70mm focal lengths.
That makes the Air 3 ideal for shooting stills or video of distant subjects, without having to fly too close and risk being knocked down by angry geese. With excellent wind resistance and a generous 46 minutes flight time, it’s a nice step up from the already excellent DJI Mini 3 Pro.
5. Twitter gets X-rated
Another week, another Twitter meltdown. Except this one was so big that the social network is no longer called Twitter, it’s X. Yes, it’s the kind of name teenagers at school would brainstorm to make their project sound moody and mysterious, but Elon Musk isn’t backing down – Twitter , and his blue bird, are no more.
What caused this act of technical vandalism? Elon Musk explained it that it’s more than just a rebrand – in the “coming months” X will apparently get new features, including “the ability to control your entire financial world”. In that context, the Twitter name apparently no longer makes sense.
Yet there came a delightful footnote to the whole affair in the form of police stop employees from hacking into Twitter board outside headquarters, after being warned of a “possible unauthorized street closure”. The scriptwriters did a really good job of that.
4. The iPhone 15 Pro rumors blow hot and cold
As we head alarmingly fast towards the anticipated iPhone 15 series announcement in September, the rumors are starting to swirl like an early tornado formation – and this week brought good news and bad. You want the bad news first, right? The iPhone 15 Pro series could well get a price increase.
On the plus side, the iPhone 15 Pro’s rumored new action button (which could take the place of the mute switch) sounds like an increasingly useful new addition. It is rumored to have up to nine configurable functions, including a shortcut to your shortcuts.
The iPhone 15 is also apparently getting a new camera, but not quite the one we expected. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time for some more positive rumors about Apple’s next iPhone sequel.
3. Nikon Zf is rumored to get camera nerds excited
There’s only one thing photography nerds enjoy more than a new mirrorless camera – and that’s one that looks like a classic film camera. This is why new rumors about a possible new Nikon Zf caused such a stir this week.
Like the earlier Nikon Zfc, it is expected to be based on the legendary Nikon FM2 – a 35mm film camera – in a similar way to the full-frame Nikon Df DSLR. Unlike the Zfc, the Zf could also be a full-frame camera, sure to make it the darling of avid amateur photographers everywhere. Hold on to your camera straps, this could get exciting.
2. Sony’s exciting earbuds are (mostly) sonic stars
If you’ve been thinking about buying some noise-canceling earbuds this year, you’ve probably seen rumors of the Sony WF-1000XM5s (otherwise known as the ‘most eagerly anticipated earbuds of the year’). Well, this week they finally launched – and we were very impressed, if not as much as we’d hoped.
They’re comfortable and sound great, but we found that connectivity dropouts, average ANC (active noise cancellation) performance and a slightly busy app were enough to give it a star in our final ranking. But don’t get us wrong: the WF-1000XM5s are still some of the best noise-canceling earbuds on the market.
1. Samsung unboxes its new foldables and gadgets
Yes, AI chatbots are fun for a while, but nothing like a good old-fashioned gadget launch to remind you of the innocent days of 2013. And Samsung duly delivered one this week and brought its giant briefcase to Seoul for its second Unpacked event of the year – revealing seven exciting new products.
Okay, three of those were the pricey Galaxy Tab S9 tablets, but we’ve finally seen the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 as well. Both prove that foldables have matured incredibly quickly towards the somewhat tedious iterative update’ phase already, but no one else (other than Google) is making better foldable phones right now.
With the tech giant also unveiling the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and 6 Classic, it was certainly a satisfying, technical way to close out July 2023.