T3 India

Andrew Williams

Marshall to rock out with its own Android phone

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Rather than just being a generic Android phone with the Marshall logo slapped on the back, it does look as though this Android, called the Marshall London, might be a top pick for audio nuts.

First of all, it uses a good-quality Wolfson WM8281 DAC to make the most of high-quality digital audio files.

Then there are the speakers. The Marshall London has two front-facing speakers, although we’ll have to wait to see whether they’re better than the HTC One M9’s pair. Apparently they’re 13 mm x 18 mm in size, which seems large for a phone.

The London is also one of the only phones we’ve come across with share-happy dual headphone jacks, each with their own volume control. They’re old-fashioned dials too. No volume buttons here.

Finally, it has dual MEMS microphones to let you record loud audio without that ugly clipping sound you get with most phones.

Aside from the music angle, though, this is no Galaxy S6-worrier. It has a relatively small 4.7in 720p screen, Snapdragon 410 CPU and 8-megapixel main camera.

It doesn’t look like it’ll come cheap, either. A Swedish Krona pre-order price of 4995 equates to £370. That’s a lot of cash for a phone of this size and power. Those speakers has better be good.

Don’t forget to check out our predictions for the forthcoming iPhone 6S.

New Android Wear features incoming: interactive watch faces and more

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What’s up next for Android Wear? Google’s smartwatch OS is to get official support for watch faces you can interact with and a system that’ll let you send your heart rate or a scribble to another Wear user.

One is long overdue, the other nicked from the Apple Watch, but we’ll be glad to see them arrive in August, which is when Phandroid says the update is coming.

Interactive watch faces will let you do things like switch the colour of the clock with a tap, or cycle through screens such as weather, fitness tracker stats and your next calendar appointment. It sounds like watch face devs will have much more control in the future.

With any luck it’ll mean you have to use Android Wear’s insides even less often.

The new Android Wear communicator feature is called Together, and will let you send little digital notes to your Wear-wearing friends. If you have any.

Phandroid says, according to the code, this is actually restricted to a single special watch face, but we imagine it’ll be opened up by the time we get hold of it.

With any luck the Android Wear update will feature a few more goodies than this leak covers too.

iPad Pro release date may be November, 12.9-inch display rumoured

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What happens when a MacBook falls in love with an iPad? An iPad Pro, by the sounds of it.

Apple is working on a 12.9-inch version of the iPad and, according to the notorious Apple rumour-maker Digitimes, the tablet is going to be released in November. This is the usual time of year for iPads to be unveiled. But can we trust Digitimes?

It says "Apple's upstream supply chain is expected to start supplying components” in “late-September” before the tablet actually goes on sale in mid-November. And apparently the thing is being made by Foxconn. No surprise there. Foxconn makes an awful lot of Apple gear.

What’s a little more unusual is Apple is apparently being “cautious” about ordering a giant initial batch of iPad Pros, as if it is testing the water rather than jumping right into the lake like a dog chasing its favourite ball.

Other than a larger-than-usual screen, the iPad Pro is expected to have stereo speakers and possibly a Force Touch pressure sensitive screen. Not only would that let you perform new gestures with your digits, it should also make the iPad’s virtual keyboard feel more satisfying to type on.

But is this fabricated Digitimes trash? Does the iPad Pro even exist? Either way, we’ll be on the lookout for more.

Check our iPad Pro (or iPad Plus): everything we think we know

iOS 9 and Mac OS X El Capitan public betas released

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Sign up to the Apple beta programme on the Apple website and you’ll be able to get on-board with the betas very soon.

You don’t need any special knowledge or developer credentials to use the betas of iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan. However, you probably will need patience.

While Apple clearly thinks these bits of software are stable enough for the public already, they’re still going to be far from bug-free. “Please keep in mind that you should not install beta software on production or business-critical systems,” is Apple’s sound advice.

There are definitely a few interesting new features worth checking out, though. iOS 9 gets a battery saver mode for the first time, along with new Siri powers that give the digital assistant more uses. She’ll be able to search content with apps: pretty smart.  

OS X El Capitan offers new a multi-tasking style, takingcues from mobile phones in giving you a split-screen dual app view. Safari and the Notes app get a pretty deep redesign too – check out our El Capitan image gallery. 

In US lingo, full releases of OS X El Capitan and iOS 9 are expected in the “fall”. That’s likely to mean they arrive in September, when Apple’s new iPhones are usually unveiled.

Check out our full details roundup of iOS 9 features.

OnePlus 2 will have a whopping 4GB of RAM

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Will there be anything left to reveal on the OnePlus 2’s 27 July launch date? On its official forum, OnePlus has announced the new phone will have 4GB of RAM, making it the first major western phone brand to offer it as standard.

The Asus ZenFone 2 offers a 4GB version, but good luck finding that sold anywhere.

The OnePlus 2 doesn’t use just any old RAM either, but LPDDR4. It’s the latest speed standard among phones, used by just a few top-end mobiles including the Galaxy S6.

With it, OnePlus promises "faster loading times, smoother gameplay, and never-before-seen energy saving features.” It claims LPDDR4 lets you switch between apps while using less battery, which could come in handy when none of the other 2015 flagships are stamina superstars.

Being able to use 4GB of RAM is one of the first obvious advantages of using a 64-bit processor we’ve seen, even though we’ve been using 64-bit phones for almost a year now.

Want more OnePlus action? The phone will be officially announced on 27 July, or the small hours of 28 July in the UK. OnePlus claims this is the "last OnePlus 2 announcement” we’ll see until then. 

Don't forget to check out our guide to the best smartphone.