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Apple released a new color for the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini, and it’s purple. It goes on sale Friday, but I got my hands on an iPhone 12 with 256GB of storage in purple. And I can indeed confirm, it’s purple. But the timing of the new color is six months after Apple launched the iPhone 12 series and about six months away from the rumored iPhone 13. So should you buy one or wait? I promise to explain.

Purple is the sixth color for the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini, which come in black, white, blue, green, Product Red and now purple. There were six colors in Apple’s rainbow logo, which the company used from the late ’70s through the ’90s, and which also had purple in it. The new purple color isn’t available on the iPhone 12 Pro or 12 Pro Max, which makes sense because the Pro models usually stick to graphite, silver and gold finishes.

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Hands-on with the purple iPhone 12

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The purple iPhone 12 and 12 Mini go on sale April 23 and will be available on April 30. Prices start at $829 (£799, AU$1,350) for the iPhone 12 or $799 if you activate it on a carrier when you buy it. The purple iPhone 12 Mini starts at $729 (£699, AU$1,199) or $699 with a carrier discount.

Unboxing the iPhone 12 in purple is, no surprise, exactly the same as unboxing any other iPhone 12 or 12 Mini. It has the same thinner box design that Apple rolled out in October as a way to reduce its impact on the environment. The box has the purple phone on it with the word iPhone and the Apple logo in purple. 

It comes with the same accessories as other iPhone 12 models: a single Lightning-to-USB-C cable. Apple doesn’t include wired headphones or a wall charger in the box any more.

My first reaction to seeing the phone in-person? Yeah, that’s purple. In the promotion video at the event, the purple color looked like a deep rich shade, like Prince purple. Or Joker from Batman purple. But this is actually a pretty light purple. Almost like an Easter purple.

Last year, there was the iPhone 11 in purple, but that was more of a light lavender color. The purple on the iPhone 12 looks richer, but gives off the same positive vibes.

The flat aluminum edges on the iPhone 12 are also purple and match the back. It definitely looks striking in-person. But even though the color is new, everything else about the phone is the same. It has the same support for 5G. The OLED screen is covered with Apple’s ceramic shield. The body has an IP68 rating for dust- and water-resistance. It supports MagSafe wireless charging and accessories. It has the same A14 Bionic processor, runs on iOS 14 software and even has the same cameras.

And that brings me to the question: Should you buy it? We’re at that weird halfway point in the typical iPhone refresh cycle. And it’s smart for Apple to release a new color to help spur interest in the iPhone 12.

In most cases, if you’re due for an upgrade and are looking to get an iPhone, it would be silly to wait. Get the iPhone 12 and rest comfortably knowing that Apple supports its phones four or even five years after they’re released with OS and security updates.

If you know you’ll want the latest and the newest and you can wait six months, you probably already know your decision. And if you love all things purple, what are you waiting for? But let’s be real for a moment. No matter which phone you get or which color it is, most people will likely take this purple beauty and put it in a case.

Google probably wasn’t planning to reveal this until the company’s I/O developer conference on May 18th, but it looks like a cat may be out of the bag: the company’s testing a feature that should let you stop alarms and answer calls on your Android phone simply by saying “stop” — no need to pick up your phone or even say “Hey Google.”

We know this because a mysterious new setting called “Guacamole” has popped up in the Google app on Android 11 for some users — including me. (Android Police and 9to5Google tipped us off.) And while none of us journalists have been able to actually turn on the feature yet, it’s fairly easy to imagine what it does.

If you’d rather not imagine, 9to5Google’s sources say it specifically will handle alarms, timers, and calls by letting you say “Stop”, “Snooze” and “Answer/decline the call” respectively. None of those worked for me after I flicked the switch, likely because I wasn’t able to access a Google internal website for dogfooding employees.

I even tried adding a period to make it g.co/assistant-guacamole, thinking the “go” might have been a typo for one of Google’s g.co shortlinks, but no dice.

If the feature sounds familiar, it’s probably because Google already shoved some guacamole into its Google Home / Nest Hub smart speakers and displays at Google I/O 2019. You’ve been able to simply say “stop” to stop their alarms ringing for nearly two years already.

“We’re constantly experimenting with new ways to improve the overall experience with Google Assistant. We have no additional details to share at this time,” Google tells The Verge.

Despite its apparently unwavering commitment to using the Lightning port in iPhones, Apple is not usually squeamish about ending support for old accessories and products when it heralds the latest, greatest version of something.

That’s especially apparent this week, as it’s been revealed that the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro won’t work with the Magic Keyboard Apple made for its predecessor just one year ago.

French website iGeneration was the first to cover the news, explaining that although the 2020 and 2021 12.9-inch iPad Pro are mostly similar, the new one is 0.5 mm thicker. The site claimed to have seen Apple documentation saying that the older Magic Keyboard would not be supported. AppleInsider later claimed to receive confirmation directly from Apple that this is the case.

It’s important to note, though, that the Apple Store website does claim that the new Magic Keyboard works with the older iPad Pro models. Also, this only affects the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro; the 11-inch model still works with the previous Magic Keyboard.

That’s not the only legacy support issue with Apple’s new products this week. While the divisive Siri remote for the 2017 Apple TV 4K included a gyroscope and accelerometer, the redesigned remote for the new Apple TV 4K lacks those features. This change would have no impact on the TV-viewing experience with that device, but it does matter for games. Certain Apple TV games used those sensors to enable iPhone-like inputs and gameplay experiences.

That said, Apple has added support for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series controllers to the Apple TV platform, and while all Apple Arcade games are required to run on Apple TV, a large portion of them require dedicated gamepads to do so. Apple may see efforts to make games playable with its own remote as a dead end and could be looking toward those more traditional controllers for support in the future.

Listing image by Samuel Axon

Apple released a new color for the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini, and it’s purple. It goes on sale Friday, but I got my hands on an iPhone 12 with 256GB of storage in purple. And I can indeed confirm, it’s purple. But the timing of the new color is six months after Apple launched the iPhone 12 series and about six months away from the rumored iPhone 13. So should you buy one or wait? I promise to explain.

Purple is the sixth color for the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini, which come in black, white, blue, green, Product Red and now purple. There were six colors in Apple’s rainbow logo, which the company used from the late ’70s through the ’90s, and which also had purple in it. The new purple color isn’t available on the iPhone 12 Pro or 12 Pro Max, which makes sense because the Pro models usually stick to graphite, silver and gold finishes.

Now playing:
Watch this:

Hands-on with the purple iPhone 12

4:31

The purple iPhone 12 and 12 Mini go on sale April 23 and will be available on April 30. Prices start at $829 (£799, AU$1,350) for the iPhone 12 or $799 if you activate it on a carrier when you buy it. The purple iPhone 12 Mini starts at $729 (£699, AU$1,199) or $699 with a carrier discount.

Unboxing the iPhone 12 in purple is, no surprise, exactly the same as unboxing any other iPhone 12 or 12 Mini. It has the same thinner box design that Apple rolled out in October as a way to reduce its impact on the environment. The box has the purple phone on it with the word iPhone and the Apple logo in purple. 

It comes with the same accessories as other iPhone 12 models: a single Lightning-to-USB-C cable. Apple doesn’t include wired headphones or a wall charger in the box any more.

My first reaction to seeing the phone in-person? Yeah, that’s purple. In the promotion video at the event, the purple color looked like a deep rich shade, like Prince purple. Or Joker from Batman purple. But this is actually a pretty light purple. Almost like an Easter purple.

Last year, there was the iPhone 11 in purple, but that was more of a light lavender color. The purple on the iPhone 12 looks richer, but gives off the same positive vibes.

The flat aluminum edges on the iPhone 12 are also purple and match the back. It definitely looks striking in-person. But even though the color is new, everything else about the phone is the same. It has the same support for 5G. The OLED screen is covered with Apple’s ceramic shield. The body has an IP68 rating for dust- and water-resistance. It supports MagSafe wireless charging and accessories. It has the same A14 Bionic processor, runs on iOS 14 software and even has the same cameras.

And that brings me to the question: Should you buy it? We’re at that weird halfway point in the typical iPhone refresh cycle. And it’s smart for Apple to release a new color to help spur interest in the iPhone 12.

In most cases, if you’re due for an upgrade and are looking to get an iPhone, it would be silly to wait. Get the iPhone 12 and rest comfortably knowing that Apple supports its phones four or even five years after they’re released with OS and security updates.

If you know you’ll want the latest and the newest and you can wait six months, you probably already know your decision. And if you love all things purple, what are you waiting for? But let’s be real for a moment. No matter which phone you get or which color it is, most people will likely take this purple beauty and put it in a case.

Apple released a new color for the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini, and it’s purple. It goes on sale Friday, but I got my hands on an iPhone 12 with 256GB of storage in purple. And I can indeed confirm, it’s purple. But the timing of the new color is six months after Apple launched the iPhone 12 series and about six months away from the rumored iPhone 13. So should you buy one or wait? I promise to explain.

Purple is the sixth color for the iPhone 12 and 12 Mini, which come in black, white, blue, green, Product Red and now purple. There were six colors in Apple’s rainbow logo, which the company used from the late ’70s through the ’90s, and which also had purple in it. The new purple color isn’t available on the iPhone 12 Pro or 12 Pro Max, which makes sense because the Pro models usually stick to graphite, silver and gold finishes.

Now playing:
Watch this:

Hands-on with the purple iPhone 12

4:31

The purple iPhone 12 and 12 Mini go on sale April 23 and will be available on April 30. Prices start at $829 (£799, AU$1,350) for the iPhone 12 or $799 if you activate it on a carrier when you buy it. The purple iPhone 12 Mini starts at $729 (£699, AU$1,199) or $699 with a carrier discount.

Unboxing the iPhone 12 in purple is, no surprise, exactly the same as unboxing any other iPhone 12 or 12 Mini. It has the same thinner box design that Apple rolled out in October as a way to reduce its impact on the environment. The box has the purple phone on it with the word iPhone and the Apple logo in purple. 

It comes with the same accessories as other iPhone 12 models: a single Lightning-to-USB-C cable. Apple doesn’t include wired headphones or a wall charger in the box any more.

My first reaction to seeing the phone in-person? Yeah, that’s purple. In the promotion video at the event, the purple color looked like a deep rich shade, like Prince purple. Or Joker from Batman purple. But this is actually a pretty light purple. Almost like an Easter purple.

Last year, there was the iPhone 11 in purple, but that was more of a light lavender color. The purple on the iPhone 12 looks richer, but gives off the same positive vibes.

The flat aluminum edges on the iPhone 12 are also purple and match the back. It definitely looks striking in-person. But even though the color is new, everything else about the phone is the same. It has the same support for 5G. The OLED screen is covered with Apple’s ceramic shield. The body has an IP68 rating for dust- and water-resistance. It supports MagSafe wireless charging and accessories. It has the same A14 Bionic processor, runs on iOS 14 software and even has the same cameras.

And that brings me to the question: Should you buy it? We’re at that weird halfway point in the typical iPhone refresh cycle. And it’s smart for Apple to release a new color to help spur interest in the iPhone 12.

In most cases, if you’re due for an upgrade and are looking to get an iPhone, it would be silly to wait. Get the iPhone 12 and rest comfortably knowing that Apple supports its phones four or even five years after they’re released with OS and security updates.

If you know you’ll want the latest and the newest and you can wait six months, you probably already know your decision. And if you love all things purple, what are you waiting for? But let’s be real for a moment. No matter which phone you get or which color it is, most people will likely take this purple beauty and put it in a case.

After Apple announced this week that both its new iMac and iPad Pro lineup were getting its stellar M1 processor, a lot of people speculated if that meant the company was getting ready to put macOS on the iPad. And look, maybe that would be a great thing—a touchscreen Mac at long last!—but Apple is definitely not going to merge the Mac with the iPad. At least not anytime soon.

In an interview with The Independent, Apple’s head of marketing Greg Joswiak and hardware chief John Ternus said in no uncertain terms that the iPad is the iPad and Apple plans to keep it that way. The iPad will continue to run iOS, and there will not be a macOS version of the iPad.

“People say that [the Mac and iPad] are in conflict with each other. That somebody has to decide whether they want a Mac, or they want an iPad,” Joswiak told The Independent. “Or people say that we’re merging them into one. That there’s really this grand conspiracy we have to eliminate the two categories and make them one. And the reality is neither is true.”

Instead, Apple wants to make the Mac and the iPad the best in their respective categories. According to both Joswiak and Ternus, Apple doesn’t want to limit what either device can do just because of their form factor. People have workflows that span both, and people prefer using one device over the other for certain tasks. That’s something we also noted recently when comparing Apple’s approach of putting the same processor in all its devices to the Windows PC philosophy of having lots of different configuration options to choose from.

But as The Independent notes, the iPad has more power than it really needs and Apple hasn’t yet released a powerhouse app to show off its performance. For instance, Apple’s Final Cut Pro film-editing app only runs on macOS (while Adobe Premiere Pro works on both Macs and iPads). We’re still waiting to see software that makes use of the incredible new iPad Pro display, M1 processor, and Thunderbolt support. Apple continues to swear up and down that a touchscreen Mac is not happening, and that the iPad is its own separate category, and that’s true—at least for the time being. But the iPad Pro is now the most impressive tablet ever from a hardware standpoint—so where does it go from here?

Joswiak has an answer for all that: It’s better to make something too powerful to start, then bring the demanding programs to it, rather than try to run a demanding program on something that doesn’t have the power to run it. It’s all about having enough headroom, he said.

This isn’t an admission on Apple’s part that it plans to bring Final Cut Pro or other software not currently on the iPad Pro to the iPad Pro. Joswiak was tight-lipped about that in the interview, but his logic makes sense: build out the hardware and then bring the software experience. We’ll just have to wait and see what other things Apple has in store for the iPad that don’t involve macOS.

The University of Minnesota has been banned from contributing to the Linux kernel by one of its maintainers after researchers from the school apparently knowingly submitted code with security flaws.

Earlier this year, two researchers from the university released a paper detailing how they had submitted known security vulnerabilities to the Linux kernel in order to show how potentially malicious code could get through the approval process. Now, after another student from the university submitted code that reportedly does nothing, kernel maintainer and Linux Foundation fellow Greg Kroah-Hartman has released a statement calling for all kernel maintainers to reject any code submissions from anyone using a umn.edu email address.

In addition to not accepting any new code from the university, all of the code submitted in the past is being removed and re-reviewed. It seems like it will be a massive amount of work, but Kroah-Hartman has made it clear that the developer community doesn’t appreciate “being experimented on” and that all of the code from the university has been called into question due to the research.

The university has put out a statement, saying it’s been made aware of the research and its subsequent ban from contributing. It says it has suspended that line of research and will be investigating how the study was approved and carried out.

In a statement meant to clarify the study, the researchers said they intended to bring attention to issues with the submission process — mainly, the fact that bugs, including ones that were potentially maliciously crafted, could slip through. Kernel developer Laura Abbot countered this in a blog post, saying that the possibility of bugs slipping through is well-known in the open-source software community. In what appears to be a private message, the person who submitted the reportedly nonfunctional code called Kroah-Hartman’s accusations that the code was known to be invalid “wild” and “bordering on slander.”

It’s unclear if that submission — which kicked off the current controversy — was actually part of a research project. The person who submitted it did so with their umn.edu email address, while the patches submitted in the study were done through random Gmail addresses, and the submitter claimed that the faulty code was created by a tool. Kroah-Hartman’s response basically said that he found it unlikely that a tool had created the code, and, given the research, he couldn’t trust that the patch was made in good faith either way.

There’s been criticism from some in the open-source community, saying that Kroah-Hartman deciding to pull any patches submitted by U of M personal is an overreaction, which could lead to bugs fixed by legitimate patches being reintroduced. It is worth noting, however, that the plan is to re-review the patches and to resubmit them if they’re found to be valid.