This new Belkin accessory transforms your iPhone into a digital camera

1 day ago 5

The Belkin Stage PowerGrip attached to an iPhone.

The iPhone has a powerful camera built-in, but what if you could turn it into a proper digital camera that can keep you snapping Ansel Adams-worthy pictures all day long? Belkin’s newest accessory promises to do just that, and we really hope it works. The Stage Power Grip is a more ergonomically designed accessory that helps you take great shots while reducing shake, and it’s just been announced at CES 2025.

Belkin hopes to release the Stage Power Grip sometime in May, but that date isn’t set in stone (nor is the price). It functions as both a button to take pictures and a grip to help you keep a steady hand. It attaches to your iPhone via MagSafe and includes a 10,000mAh power bank, too. There’s also a built-in USB-C cable for charging other devices (as well as your iPhone, if needed).

The Stage Power Grip also doubles as a stand for the phone, making it slightly easier to position the camera for when you want to take timed pictures or you just need a way to prop up your device to binge a couple of YouTube videos. It has a separate battery from your phone and also includes a small LED screen so you can keep an eye on its remaining charge.

The Stage Power Grip comes in a variety of different colors.

While Belkin hasn’t finalized a price yet, the company says it hopes to keep the cost below $80 per unit.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

In addition to the Stage Power Grip, Belkin is releasing a load of other accessories — including the Stage Creator Bundle, the BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Wireless Charging Pad, the BoostCharge Compact USB-C Charger, the BoostCharge Power Bank, a new set of over-ear headphones called the Soundform Isolate, and a set of earbuds called Soundform Anywhere.

The Creator Bundle is particularly interesting, especially given Belkin’s Auto-Tracking Stand Pro from last year’s CES. The Creator Bundle’s tripod doesn’t automatically rotate, but it does use MagSafe for a much stronger grip. It also comes with clip-on microphones for better audio quality in recordings, an audio receiver, and a charging case for the two microphones.

The two chargers are worth noting, too. The BoostCharge Compact USB-C charger is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand but can deliver 45W charging with its base model or 65W with its secondary model — perfect for on-the-go power-ups. The other charger is the BoostCharge Pro Wireless Charging Pad, an easy solution that uses Qi2 to charge your device at 15W. It’s not as fast, but it has an integrated kickstand that makes it easy to see your phone while it’s juicing up. There’s also the BoostCharge Power Bank 20K, which offers a 20,000mAh battery in a fairly sleek body with an integrated USB-C cable.

These devices will be demonstrated at CES 2025, but don’t expect to see them on store shelves for some time yet. Most of this lineup is slated for an April 2025 or later launch.

Patrick Hearn

Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…

I finally have RCS on my iPhone, and it’s one of my favorite iOS 18 features

An iPhone 16 Pro showing RCS messaging.

Apple’s Messages app has certainly come a long way. When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it could only send SMS -- there weren't even picture messages. Then it got MMS protocol support in iPhone OS 3.0 with the iPhone 3GS. With iPhone OS 5.0, Apple implemented its own iMessage chat protocol, making it easy for Apple users to communicate with other Apple device users.

However, when it came to messaging Android users, Apple dragged its feet for the longest time, sticking with SMS and MMS, which aren’t encrypted and don't offer full-quality photo and video sending. It also sparked the whole blue bubble versus green bubble war.

Here’s every carrier that lets your iPhone send RCS messages to Android phones

A person holding the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max.

RCS messaging has gained popularity by leaps and bounds this past year, especially in the Western market. More than 1 billion people are estimated to use RCS messaging at present, and a huge part of that growth is due to Apple introducing RCS compatibility with the arrival of iOS 18.

While iOS 18 has supported RCS messaging with Android phones since it launched in September, carrier support was a bit scarce upon launch. Now, Apple has updated its support page with an expanded list of carriers that support RCS.

If your iPhone can handle iOS 18.2, it can probably handle iOS 19

An iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18, showing its home screen.

The last few iPhone updates have brought a lot of changes with them. Just take a look at iOS 18.2: It introduced a ton of AI-powered features that had never before been available. If you have an older phone, it's easy to worry that its hardware won't be up to snuff for the next round of updates. For now, you can breathe easy: If your iPhone can handle iOS 18, then it should also work with iOS 19, according to a new leak.

The news comes from the French site iPhoneSoft. Although Apple guarantees five years of support for its devices, some devices get supported for longer periods of time, but this tip suggests that any phone currently capable of downloading and installing iOS 18 will also work with iOS 19, although some features could be limited.

Read Entire Article