The AppAdvice tech week in review: Apple prepares for encryption battle

Apple’s unlikely allies

The saga behind the San Bernadino iPhone 5c is about to heat up again, as Apple and the U.S. Department of Justice begin their court battle on March 22. At stake is the possibility of Cupertino being forced to create a backdoor into iOS. According to The New York Times, a surprising number of Apple’s competitors and business colleagues are showing their support for the tech giant’s stance.

New iOS devices

If we needed more evidence that a successor to the iPad Air 2 is coming, we’ve received it from a familiar channel. A report from AppleInsider points out that several older models of the iPad are growing more difficult to find, as resellers are experiencing low or no stock of those configurations.

Older versions of the iPad mini are also starting to dry up. While supplies of the iPad mini 4 are still strong, the original iPad mini and iPad mini 2 are much harder to find. This doesn’t really signify a new model of the smaller tablet; it’s more than likely the expected results of the recently-released iPad mini 4.

Apple is likely to announce a new 9.7-inch iPad later this month, alongside the so-called 4-inch “iPhone SE.”

Also making news:

• The iPhone will soon advise you if your handset is being tracked
• Think different again, as Apple updates the slogan’s trademark
• Video streaming has a long way to go on Apple TV
• Apple’s Phil Schiller promises ‘more good work to come’ on the App Store
• An Apple lawyer says there is no middle ground in its battle against the FBI

Nine years in the making, there’s finally a virtual assistant app that truly rivals Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana. It’s called Hound – Voice Search & Assistant, hands-free speech recognition and has been created by SoundHound.

Once you open the iPhone app, you can tap on the microphone or say, “Okay Hound,” and start asking questions. You speak naturally, and the app is amazingly good at understanding your speech.

Other apps and games making news:

• Save the day in Transformers Rescue Bots: Hero Adventures
• Immerse yourself in Deep Terror, a dark, eerie puzzler
• Glaze. makes photo and video enhancements simple

This week’s titles include a few space adventures, a trip to Broadway, and more:

• Manipulate wind and deflect your foes in Steelbound Sky
• Live the Broadway dream with Peter Panic and mini-games
• Lost Socks: Naughty Brothers is an exciting run-and-gun game
• You have to be fast when you’re Chased By The Sun
• Reach the target in Spiral Splatter, a challenging arcade puzzle
• Waste In Space is a meaningful endless arcade shooter
• Ride the Sparkwave and see how far you can go

Amazon’s lineup of voice-controllable speakers is growing. Earlier today, the online retailing giant unveiled two new options to join the popular Echo – the Echo Dot and Amazon Tap

The Dot can be described as a much shorter version of the Echo. While it features a built-in speaker, it can also connect to other speakers with an included 3.5mm audio cable or via Bluetooth. The Tap is the first portable speaker in the lineup. The built-in battery can provide up to 9 hours of music playback on a single charge.

Other accessory news:

• GoPro acquires two iOS video apps, Replay and Splice
• DJI’s new Phantom 4 drone will launch exclusively through Apple
• Light the way with Bluetooth-enabled Yeelight Bedside Lamp