robjn

tmay said:

So, I found links indicating that both Google and MS are working separately on "Andromeda" code named software; in Google's case, melding Android OS and Chrome, and in MS's case, allowing Windows 10 to run on a wider variety of devices, likely including ARM,

I'm not finding any links to "Andromeda" hardware from MS, so maybe this is just Thurott.

Thurott knows Microsoft stuff, including internal Microsoft code names.

There's a good reason why this "resting" unlock mode is an Accessability feature. Most people don't want their phone to unlock when they happen to walk past it.

Generally, users want to trigger the unlock. This could simply be by raising the phone or as recently discovered code indicates, tapping the screen.

There may be times when you don't want the phone to unlock, for example if you want to check the time on the lock screen.

By the way, Qualcomm outrageous cut on the retail price of the entire product is a major reason why laptops don't have a SIM card tray.

bill42 said:

All the sophisticated room modeling can't change the laws of physics that restricts the low frequencies you can get out of a small speaker. 

Please explain which laws of physics 'restrict low frequencies'.

A 4 inch woofer with very high displacement can produce as much or more bass than an 8 inch woofer with low displacement. Woofers with larger surface area have the advantage of being able to work on a larger volume of air. Woofers with higher displacement can produce more intense pressure waves that radiate out. What we perceive as 'loudness' relates primarily to sound pressure levels. When a woofer with high displacement compresses it's back volume it generates high pressure and this results in loud bass.

High displacement is harder to do because the woofer has to move further and faster, it's much easier to make a louder speaker by scaling up an easy and cheap design - this is what most manufacturers do - the easy thing.

bill42 said:

Metriacanthosaurus said:

With no exaggeration, the Home Pod appears to be the best home speaker money can buy.

Sadly at this size it will be lacking adequate bass to fill a decent sized room. Sonos and other competing sound systems with optional subwoofers will blow the audio quality of the HomePod out of the water. That being said I think the HomePod will surely be the best smart speaker that listens to and responds to voice commands with support for smart home systems. Perhaps that is what you meant to say.

Serious bass can be generated from a four inch woofer so long as it moves at the right frequency and generates sufficient pressure.

Large speakers generate a more pressure since they have a bigger diaphragm surface area and they also tend to have a lower natural frequency.  You get a boomy sounding bass when you are listening to large enclosure resonate but this is not a true reproduction of the source.

In this case Apple are generating a lot of pressure by means of high displacement. The combination of high displacement and a small back volume can result in high pressure = loud sound.

There is an old myth that a speaker enclosure needs to be as big as the wavelength it is generating. Since bass frequencies might have a wavelength more than ten meters long - no speaker is big enough. The fact is that the back volume can be small and we don't want to listen to the resonance of the enclosure we want to listen to the resonance of the diaphragm.

This patent shows that Apple have found a way to tightly control a driver by measuring and adjusting to external factors that effect the radiating impedance.

It's going to be interesting to see a tear down of the HomePod. There might be more microphones than the six Apple has shown us. I'm curious as to whether each of the tweeters has an integrated microphone in the back or if this technique is applied only to the woofer.

There is much more to HomePod DSP than this one patent covers. Those six external mics are being used to do a lot of different stuff!