Month: March 2019

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  The Galaxy S10 and S10e get stripped down. [credit: iFixit ]

In the lifecycle of any important gadget, after the announcement and release comes the teardown. iFixit has gotten a hold of the Galaxy S10, S10 Plus, and S10e and has stripped them all down to their base parts. As usual, modern smartphone design is a mess of adhesive that is difficult to repair. The pictures are fun to look at, though!

The newest component inside the Galaxy S10 is the new ultrasonic fingerprint reader, which lives under the display and can make a 3D map of your finger with nothing but sound. In terms of actual components, the sensor is a thin, tape-like strip that gets glued to the back of the display. We've seen prototypes with a large fingerprint-reading area before, but for this first-generation commercial version, Samsung's fingerprint reading area is just a tiny strip. It's actually way smaller than a fingertip, which means you'll need to be precise about your finger position when you use it.

There are lots of heat-mitigation techniques going on inside the Galaxy S10. Like the Note9 and Galaxy S9, a large vapor chamber handles cooling the SoC and storage. The back of the display is coated in copper, allowing it to act as a big heatsink.

Enlarge / The iPhone XR led iPhone sales, but iPhone revenue was down 15 percent year over year. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Apple has reportedly updated the rules of its strict repair program to be a bit more lenient toward iPhones with aftermarket batteries. Internal company documents reportedly instruct its Genius Bars and Apple Authorized Service Providers to repair iPhones with third-party batteries, something that the iPhone maker has never allowed before.

The change was first spotted by iGeneration, and MacRumors reportedly obtained the documents from reliable sources. Ars has reached out to Apple for an official statement.

Previously, official service providers were told to deny service to any iPhones that used third-party batteries. It did not matter if the requested service involved the battery or another component of the handset. Under the new policy, if the service requested does not involve the phone's battery, Genius Bars and Apple Authorized Service Providers can now ignore the battery and service the device as necessary.

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  Using the schlieren photography technique, NASA was able to capture the first air-to-air images of the interaction of shockwaves from two supersonic aircraft flying in formation. [credit: NASA ]

It wasn't an easy shot to get, but the end results of NASA's efforts to capture air-to-air images of supersonic shockwaves sure seem worth it.

To take these unprecedented photos, the space agency updated the imaging system on one of its Beechcraft B200 Super King Air aircraft. NASA scientists upgraded the camera so that it could capture a wider field of view, improved its connection to data storage, and increased its frame rate to 1,400 frames per second.

Then, the B200 flew up to about 9,100 meters. Meanwhile, two T-38 jets flew in formation, less than 10 meters apart, only about 600 meters away from the B200 aircraft. All three planes had to be in the right place, and a result, the camera system took exceptionally high-quality images of shockwaves created by the two T-38 aircraft and the interaction of the shockwaves between the two jets.

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  The new Versa Lite smartwatch sacrifices features for a more affordable price of $159. [credit: Valentina Palladino ]

Instead of doubling down and trying to make the next best Apple Watch killer, Fitbit is focusing on potential users and prices. Today, the company launched the new $159 Versa Lite smartwatch, a pared-down version of the $199 wearable it came out with last year. It will also bring the newly announced Inspire and Inspire HR fitness trackers, priced from $69 to $99, to all consumers.

The Versa Lite doesn't look very different from the original $199 Versa, but Fitbit removed a few features to keep the device's price down. The Lite doesn't have the ability to track floors climbed, count swim laps from your wrist (although it can track swimming workouts), play music, or show on-screen guided workouts.

The Versa Lite also doesn't have onboard Wi-Fi, but it can still receive smartphone alerts when your smartphone is nearby. It also has a new updates feature that will initiate a small update download every time the user syncs the device to the Fitbit mobile app. The Lite won't be the device that keeps you in the loop at all times like the Apple Watch or even the original Versa does—but it still keeps the digital world on your wrist.