News digest No. 8. Here are all the most interesting things of the week that you might have missed.

On your day off, I suggest you remember what interesting and important things happened during this work week in order to keep abreast of what is happening in the world of gadgets and technology, and also discuss this news with friends.

Below we have collected all the most interesting things over the past six days, what was written about and discussed on the pages of iPhones.ru.

This week we sorted out Apple Watch chargers, chose a unique Predator all-terrain vehicle, chose the best artificial intelligence, learned to use an iPad as the main screen for a Mac, and much more.

Read about this in our digest:

1. What’s wrong with cheap chargers for Apple Watch

One weekend in January, I went to my hometown and took with me a couple of compact, inexpensive aftermarket Apple Watch chargers. It was trivial to take Apple’s branded “washers” out of docking stations at home, and I also wanted to test compact Chinese chargers. We once wrote about one of these here.

Well, damn it, I regretted it. In short: they are disgusting to use, and most importantly, unreliable. It looks like any Chinese charger for Apple Watch and an original charger. Platform with a recess, magnet inside. You grab it, it’s charging. And everything seems to be fine.

But then the problems begin. And they are clearly the same for all such chargers.

2. What kind of all-terrain vehicle Predator, which Putin and Peskov drove around Chukotka?

On January 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug for the first time and visited the city of Anadyr.

There he was met by a motorcade of cars, among which was a Russian-made Predator all-terrain vehicle. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov also took a ride on this special vehicle.

We figured out what kind of car it was and, finally, he really was a Russian politician.

3. We have collected the 10 best games for Nintendo Switch that are worth buying this console in 2024.

This portable console turns 7 years old in 2024. However, the Switch is another unique device that offers the player an incomparable interaction experience, thanks to its joycons and closed libraries for games for every taste.

We’ll tell you what to play on Nintendo Switch this year in this article. If you have long wanted to get yourself a pocket console on which you can use very “adult” titles at any time and any algorithm, be sure to check out what games you need to start getting acquainted with Nintendo.

4. The best inexpensive smartphones in 2024. What to buy for up to 20,000 rubles

If you need to buy an inexpensive smartphone, but at the same time you need a gadget with good hardware, a decent socket and some interesting feature, you need to look in the price segment from 10 to 20 thousand. There are several different models, each of which has its own unique shape.

We have collected a selection of inexpensive smartphones from 10,000 rubles to 20,000 rubles. Difference between Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Realme and Xiaomi.

If you need more affordable devices, here is our selection of smartphones under 10,000 rubles.

5. Abandoned ChatGPT and switched to Bard from Google. How are they different, which is better?

In February 2023, Google donated Bard. And although the company had endless resources, the first version of its AI was underwhelming. Generation errors, confusion in facts even in the presentation video and the generally crumpled work of Bard included ChatGPT in the status of an indestructible champion, which even the most influential web company in the Western world could not equal.

Currently Bard is faster, more accurate and smarter than ChatGPT 4.0, which costs $20. And we’re not even talking about the comparison with ChatGPT 3.5, which, although it brought glory to OpenAI, a year later seems like a visible antediluvian chatbot.

I say this so confidently because I myself notice the difference and have long had Bard in quick access, and not Coplolot from Microsoft and, especially, not the expensive ChatGPT.

Read how Google did the impossible and beat OpenAI in the AI ​​race by the end of 2023.

6. How to use iPad as your main screen for Mac

There is an obvious gap in the Apple gadget ecosystem. iPads with a secondary display cannot be used in place of your primary Mac display. There is an option to extend the Sidecar desktop, but it’s a little different.

I’ve been looking for a long time to use an Apple tablet as the main screen for my Mac. This is not needed on an ongoing basis, but from time to time this opportunity really helps out.

I’ll tell you why to use it, what options I tried and what I finally settled on in this article.

7. Various interesting things

📍Apple began producing Vision Pro glasses in stores, and a little later announced in a press release the start of sales of the Vision Pro mixed reality helmet: it will appear in stores on February 2. Pre-orders will open on January 19th.

Mark Gurman on the pages of Bloomberg says that some retail employees are already flying to Apple Park for training. Apple executives also scheduled expanded retail training for the third week of January.

📍At CES 2024, Rabbit R1 was presented – a compact gadget that can manage any mobile applications itself.

With Rabbit OS, users can control music, turn on taxis, order groceries, send messages and much more, all from a single interface. That is, the device does not switch between the conditional Spotify and Uber, but uses the capabilities of the services in its interface.

Rabbit R1 is already available for pre-order for $199 or 18 thousand rubles. Deliveries will begin in March.

📍 Full technical specifications and prices for all Samsung Galaxy S24 appeared on the WinFuture website a week before the presentation.

In Europe, the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus will be powered by the Exynos 2400 processor, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The Galaxy S24 comes with 8GB of RAM, while the S24 Plus and Ultra come with 12GB of RAM. Screen sizes remain unchanged, but now all smartphones will have flat displays with a frequency of 120 Hz.

📍A nuclear battery for smartphones has been created in China. The charge will last for 50 years. Its dimensions are 15x15x5 mm (smaller than coins). It can produce a power of 100 microwatts and a voltage of 3 V. According to the Betavolt company, this is enough for 50 years of continuous operation.

The creators intend to establish commercial production of batteries for use in smartphones, drones, mobile devices, space and other areas.

That’s what this week was like. Enjoy your holiday and see you in the next Sunday digest.

Previous news:

👉 Sunday digest #7
👉 Sunday digest #6
👉 Sunday digest #5