The Samsung T7 Shield is a a credit-card size external SSD intended for outdoor content creators or travelers. It’s drop, water and dust resistant, and offers up to 2TB of capacity.
This new rugged version joins other SSDs in the Samsung T7 line.
At a glance, today’s featured computer setup appears simpler than it really is. It showcases a Mac mini, a pair of mounted monitors and some typical-looking input devices. A row of water bottles stands to the right because the owner, who lives in India, is big on hydration as summer hits the subcontinent.
But there’s more to the setup than meets the eye. And some of it escapes the camera’s lens.
Ever show off your painstakingly constructed computer setup only to have everybody race past the gear just to ogle what’s showing on the screen(s)? The desktop wallpaper.
It’s kind of like that with today’s featured setup, the brainchild of a graphic designer.
He put together the dual-monitor setup around a 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro with a lineup of nice touches. And he also made the neato race-car wallpaper that got most of the attention.
This Samsung Galaxy A51 is almost certainly the only Android phone in the world that uses a Lightning port. That’s thanks to engineer Ken Pillonel, who hacked the handset to use Apple’s connector instead of USB-C.
The port is fully functional, with support for charging and data transfer — despite the fact that Apple designs its cables to work only with its own devices. Why go through all that effort? Well … why not?
The $1,599 price for the new Apple Studio Display makes it somewhat controversial. Samsung’s response is the $700 Smart Monitor M8, which measures 32 inches and has a UHD resolution.
Samsung clearly has its eye on Mac users. It built Apple AirPlay 2 into the screen. And an image of the display playing Apple TV+ is a prominent part of the press release.
Ever had trouble getting your Mac to recognize third-party peripherals, like a keyboard and mouse? Today’s featured setup is built around a brand-new Mac Studio mounted neatly on a pegboard behind a Samsung super ultra-wide display. But the Apple desktop computer refused to pair with a Logitech keyboard and mouse, according to the owner.
He said he had to go and buy Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse to establish working input devices. So what happened?
iPhone 15 Pro, which is expected to make its debut in 2023, could be Apple’s first handset with Face ID sensors hidden beneath its screen. This would reduce the amount of display space the front-facing sensors require.
A new report claims Apple will use technology currently being developed by Samsung to make the upgrade possible. In the meantime, Cupertino is gearing up to replace iPhone’s notch with a number of smaller, more subtle cutouts.
Drop test show the iPhone 13 Pro Max survives damaging falls better than Galaxy S22 Ultra does. This despite the Samsung model using a new type of glass.
The competition was relatively close, but Apple’s handset came out ahead.
MediaTek looks set to become the first mobile chipmaker to finally give iPhone 13’s A15 Bionic chip a run for its money in processing performance.
The Taiwanese company’s new Dimensity 9000 chipset, announced late last year, is yet to make its way into an Android device. But early benchmarks suggest it will easily outpace rivals from Google, Samsung and Qualcomm.
Samsung on Friday promised smartphone owners that it will release software updates that gives them more control over app throttling.
It comes after the South Korean firm was this week caught reducing performance for more than 10,000 apps and games on most of its smartphones. However, the company denies that it messed with “non-gaming” apps.
Samsung is this week facing backlash from fans after it emerged that the South Korean company is throttling more than 10,000 apps on almost all its phones. It is believed a feature that cannot be disabled is to blame.
The “performance limits” have been in place for years, some reports claim. However, Samsung carefully avoids throttling popular benchmarking apps so that its devices still achieve impressive scores.
Samsung has begun developing “tandem” OLED panels for new iPad models that are scheduled to be released in 2024, according to a new report.
Sources say that after Apple has begun transitioning to OLED displays for iPad — which was supposedly scheduled to begin this year before the move was shelved — it will follow with new OLED MacBook and iMac models.
You still rarely see a computer setup with a 3D printer in it. Today’s featured setup is an exception. You can see the printer against the wall on the left in the photo above.
Probably more workstations in the near future will have them. Why? Not only are they becoming more affordable, you can use them to make parts of the setup!
Apple’s most recent iPhone models offer better battery life than any of their rivals — and it could be about to get even better. Cupertino is reportedly preparing a new 5G chip that is even more efficient for iPhone 14.
Supply chain sources say the chip will be manufactured exclusively by TSMC using its latest 6-nanometer process, with Samsung losing out on orders.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 has the best chip available for an Android smartphone, but it can’t keep up with Apple’s A-series processor in the iPhone 13 series. Apple’s flagship solidly beats Samsung’s new top-tier models in benchmark tests. It isn’t even close.
And this is despite the iPhone 13 coming out months ago.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S22 series on Wednesday, and there’s not much for Apple users to be jealous of. The iPhone 13 series from 2021 is as good or better in almost every way.
But there is an exception. The latest Androids from Samsung are almost certainly less likely to break when dropped than iPhone. But the iPhone 14 can — and should — steal a feature from the S22 that will fix that.
Debates over the relative merits of iOS versus Android can go on forever, but there’s always been one area where Apple was way ahead: offering years of operating system upgrades.
Not anymore. Samsung committed itself Wednesday to releasing four generations of Android OS updates for its high-end smartphones. And for its tablets, too.
Anyone with a curious cat knows the desktop can be one of their favorite spots. Sometimes it’s like they’re trying to ensure you can’t work, as they sit or stretch out right on top of the keyboard or in front of the screen. And that’s just when you’re sitting there. Who knows what they do when you’re away. Other than dreaming up other ways to hasten your unemployment.
Lucky for you, today’s featured computer setup shows a simple method for protecting peripherals like input devices — keyboard, mouse, perhaps a trackpad — from pushy pets. And if you’ve got canines, take heart. It also works for dog slobber.
Every year Samsung subsidiary JBL rolls out a tempting raft of updated or new audio products at CES, but you can’t get them right away. CES 2022, held in Las Vegas earlier this month, was no different. The company showed its new JBL PartyBox Encore and a slew of other Bluetooth speakers, earbuds and headphones. We’ll round them up below. Some are coming in spring and others in summer.
We have disappointing news for anyone currently thinking about swapping their Android smartphone for an iPhone. Apple just cut its trade-in prices for a bunch of popular handsets from Google and Samsung.
The reductions are pretty significant in most cases. A Galaxy S21+ 5G, previously worth up to $435 according to Apple, now fetches $325 max. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, previously valued at up to $545, will now get you only $405 at most.
Apple cut the trade-in values of some Mac and iPad models, too. Luckily, you have other options for recovering more cash from your old gear.
Samsung this week announced its newest Exynos chipset for smartphones and tablets, and it comes with a major graphics improvement that could just persuade mobile gamers to swap iPhone and iPad for Galaxy devices.
The Exynos 2200 is the world’s first mobile system-on-a-chip (SoC) with an AMD RDNA 2 GPU that supports ray tracing. It could enable major visual improvements in upcoming Android games — if developers take advantage of it.
Multiple companies are reportedly gearing up to produce OLED displays for future iPad models. This would lead to a noticeable improvement in image quality.
But it’s apparently not going to happen before 2023.
At CES 2022, Samsung Electronics showed a new portable screen and entertainment device it’s calling “The Freestyle.” The company also called the device the first of its kind. It’s a small projector and smart speaker that works with iOS and Android devices to stream video or sync audio to ambient lighting.
Reader and technologist Andrew (last name redacted, so to speak) runs a “boutique AV, IT [and] cyber systems integration company from a home office” in London — though he supports sites worldwide. Clearly, he has a lot to do.
And he does it using a late-2013 Mac Pro he fondly said should be on the Death Star from Star Wars, plus a 2017 MacBook Pro he described to Cult of Mac as “perhaps the worst-constructed laptop I have ever owned.”
![Apple's hardware plans for 2022 sound intoxicating [The CultCast]](https://www.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CC-526-1.jpg "Apple’s hardware plans for 2022 sound positively intoxicating [The CultCast]")
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Even more details surface about Apple’s hardware plans for 2022. If last year was “modest” (LOL), this year looks jam-packed with major updates. We’re talking redesigned AirPods Pro, a new Apple monitor, even-more-impressive MacBook Airs and … an iPhone? You gotta be kidding us.
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.