How to set a ringtone on your iPhone using GarageBand and iTunes

When Android users buy an iPhone, they sometimes find themselves facing certain limitations not present on Google’s mobile operating system (OS). One of these obstacles is setting a custom ringtone on iOS. Setting a ringtone is very straightforward on Android as long as you have access to an MP3 file. But on iPhones, there’s no direct way to set your favorite soundtrack as a ringtone without jumping through ten different hoops. The easiest way out still involves using iTunes, while the computer-less way to do it requires GarageBand on your iPhone and good comprehension skills to follow the instructions. Here’s how to set a ringtone on your iPhone using GarageBand and iTunes.

Navigate this article:

• How to change the ringtone on your iPhone
  • For Everyone
  • For select contacts
• How to set a custom ringtone on your iPhone
  • Using GarageBand
  • Using iTunes

How to change the ringtone on your iPhone

For Everyone

Your iPhone comes set to the default ringtone out of the box. But because so many people use iPhones without bothering to change their ringtones, you end up reacting any time someone’s phones ring. It’s a good auditory signal to have a different ringtone, making it easier to figure out when it is your phone which is ringing, and also if you just dislike the default ringtone. These are the steps involved to change the ringtone on your iPhone for every incoming call:

• Head to the Settings app.
• Click on Sounds & Haptics.

• Select Ringtone.

• Choose the new tone you want to use from the list.

And that’s it! This changes your default ringtone.

For select contacts

This is an underused feature on smartphones. On practically all modern smartphones, including iPhones, you can select specific contacts to play a different ringtone when they call. This is really useful for differentiating calls from your partner, your boss, or for someone who you are listed as an emergency contact but who do not very frequently call you. Hearing a different ringtone makes it easier to recognize just who is calling without needing to look at the phone. Here are the steps involved in setting a different ringtone for specific individual contacts:

• Launch the Phone app.
• Go to the Contacts tab.

• Click on the contact you want to set a unique ringtone for, and tap the Edit button in the top right corner.

• Scroll down and tap on Ringtone.

• Select the ringtone you want to set from the list of tones. This will only change the ringtone of this particular contact.

And that’s it. You do have to change ringtones for every such contact that you want an individual ringtone for.

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How to set a custom ringtone on your iPhone

The steps above are for choosing from the handful of ringtones that Apple has preloaded onto every iPhone. What if you want to set your own audio tunes as a ringtone? Here are the steps!

Using GarageBand

GarageBand is an app that comes preinstalled on new iPhones, iPads, and Macs. If you’ve already deleted it, you can download it from the App Store for free, so this part remains accessible.

• Launch the GarageBand app on your iPhone.
• Click on the plus (+) icon towards the top right corner.

• Choose Audio Recorder in the Tracks tab.

• Click on the third icon in the top left of the screen, as the screenshot below shows.

• Click on the “Loop” icon in the top right corner.

• Choose the Files tab.

• Select Browse items from the Files app.

• Tap the audio track you have downloaded and want to set as your ringtone.
• This will import the track to the Files section of Loop.

• Drag the imported file to the left of the screen and let it go.

• Click on the button in the top left corner.

• Select My Songs.

• Rename the project — if you want to.

• Click and hold on the project and choose Share.

• Select Ringtone in the middle of the screen.

• Tap Export in the top right corner.

• Voila! Now you will find it in the Sounds & Haptics section of the Settings app — where you can set it as your iPhone’s ringtone.

Using iTunes

If the audio file is on your Mac or Windows PC, you could respectively use Finder or iTunes to transfer it. If you have the former, though, it would be easier and faster to use AirDrop instead. Once the audio track is in your iPhone’s Files app, you just follow the steps above to set it as a ringtone through GarageBand. Alternatively, you can follow the steps below:

• Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC with a cable.
• Open Finder on Mac or the latest version of iTunes on Windows.
• Click on the Library tab of the Music section.
• Select Tones under Devices in the sidebar.

• Drag and drop an audio file to the empty list of tones.
• This will add the audio file to the list of ringtones available on your iPhone.
• To set it as a ringtone, follow the steps we’ve listed at the beginning of our tutorial.

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Setting custom ringtones on iOS isn’t as simple or straightforward as doing so on Android. If you miss the easily-accessible customizations, it’s never too late to sell your iPhone and buy an Android phone instead.

Do you set custom ringtones, or do you just use the built-in ones? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post How to set a ringtone on your iPhone using GarageBand and iTunes appeared first on xda-developers.

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Core i9-12900HK review: Intel has the best gaming processor, for now

Intel’s 12th-gen H-series processors are the best that you can get in a gaming laptop, and the Core i9-12900HK really shows it off. It’s a 45W CPU that can go way farther, especially since it’s unlocked for overclocking. From our testing, we’ve seen in every benchmark that it outperforms the competition.

It’s worth keeping in mind, of course, that it’s also the newest thing. It comes out on par with Apple’s M1 Max in benchmarks, so when we get an M2 Max at some point, it will obviously beat this. That’s how these things work; it’s back and forth. AMD also hasn’t started offering its Ryzen 6000 H-series laptops for review yet.

But then again, you can’t play the same games on a Mac that you can on Windows. That’s why it makes it easy to say that this is absolutely the best gaming CPU right now. The only competitor is AMD.

Right now, Intel gets to just be king of the hill, especially when it comes to gaming. For creator applications, there’s still a whole family of 45W Alder Lake CPUs to choose from, and from what we’ve seen, Intel 12th-gen is a winner.

MSI Raider GE76

The MSI Raider GE76 is among the first laptops to ship with Intel's new 12th-gen processors, as well as NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Navigate this review:

• MSI Raider GE76: The laptop
• Performance: Intel Core i9-12900HK, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB DDR5 memory, and more
  • Intel Content Creation test
  • Geekbench 5
  • Cinebench
  • 3DMark
  • VRMark
  • PCMark 10
  • CrystalDiskMark
  • MaxxMem2
  • Video rendering
• Who should buy a laptop with an Intel Core i9-12900HK?

Check out the specs of this unit:

MSI Raider GE76 Specs

CPU	Intel Core i9-12900HK
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU 16GB GDDR6 Up to 1690MHz Boost Clock, 175W Maximum Graphics Power with Dynamic Boost. Max. 220W CPU-GPU Power with MSI OverBoost Technology. *May vary by scenario
Body	397 x 284 x 25.9 mm, 2.9kg
Display	17.3″ FHD (1920×1080), 360Hz, IPS-Level
Memory	32GB DDR5-4800 Memory Type 2 Slots Number of SO-DIMM Slot Max 64GB Max Capacity
Storage	2x 2TB M.2 SSD slot (NVMe PCIe Gen4)
Webcam	FHD type (30fps@1080p)
Keyboard	Per-Key RGB Backlight Keyboard
Connectivity	Killer Gb LAN (Up to 2.5G) Intel Killer AX Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.2
Audio jack	1x Mic-in/Headphone-out Combo Jack
Ports	1x Type-C (USB / DP / Thunderbolt 4) 1x Type-C USB3.2 Gen2 2x Type-A USB3.2 Gen1 1x Type-A USB3.2 Gen2 1x RJ45 1x SD Express 1x (8K @ 60Hz / 4K @ 120Hz) HDMI 1x Mini-DisplayPort
Battery	4-Cell 99.9 Battery (Whr)
AC Adapter	330W adapter
Color	Titanium Blue
OS	Windows 11 Pro
Price	$3,999

MSI Raider GE76: The laptop

• The MSI Raider GE76 has a 360Hz FHD display, but is also offered with 240Hz QHD and 120Hz UHD.
• It’s a laptop that’s focused on gaming, and if you’re looking for beautiful but accurate colors, look for something more creator focused like the MSI Creator 15.
• The keyboard has per-key RGB lighting, and there’s an RGB light bar across the front.

Most of this review is going to be spent talking about performance. After all, we’re mostly here to talk about Intel’s Core i9-12900HK, along with the new RTX 3080 Ti GPU, DDR5 memory, and other internals. I do want to talk about the MSI Raider GE76 though, as it’s actually the first MSI laptop I’ve reviewed.

It’s quite nice, using a stylish design with the MSI logo on the lid. From the outside, it’s pretty straightforward for a gaming laptop.

Across the front is an RGB light bar, which is pretty cool. It adds a nice touch to the gaming rig. Of course, if you’re one of the many people that buy a gaming laptop for something that’s decidedly not gaming, you wouldn’t appreciate it. For those people, MSI has its Creator line of laptops.

There’s also per-key RGB lighting on the keyboard. By default, it’s set to what you see above, where it just sort of cycles through different colors. It’s definitely pretty, and you can change it if you want.

It’s also got a 360Hz display, which is awesome for gaming. The high refresh rate makes for smoother animations and most definitely better gameplay. I’ve seen the demoes, and I’ve played the exact same scenarios on a 60Hz screen and a 360Hz screen. The results are better on the latter.

The color gamut isn’t anything too exciting, with 97% sRGB, 68% NTSC, 73% Adobe RGB, and 73% P3. This isn’t uncommon for a gaming laptop, where the screen tends to be so optimized for having a high frame rate and being anti-glare that color gamut doesn’t tend to be a priority. In the past, people who edited videos and such would buy gaming laptops for their power, but now, there’s a whole range of creator laptops that focus more on that. In short, stay tuned, because I have a review of the MSI Creator 15, which has a stunning 4K OLED display, coming up.

Brightness maxed out at 287.4 nits, which isn’t very bright. I assume that outdoor use isn’t a priority for a laptop like this. Contrast maxed out at 1,150:1.

Most of the ports are on the back, including a charging port that hooks up to the 330W adapter. There’s also HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt 4. Any of those can be used for connecting high-resolution displays, making it nice and easy to take this laptop on the go, and dock it when you get home. There’s also an Ethernet port back there, which I had to make use of because Wi-Fi was tremendously unstable for me with this device. Presumably, there will be a driver update at some point before launch.

Ports on the back of gaming laptops are for those things that you’ll leave plugged in often, like monitors, docks, or the charger. On the sides, there’s where you’ll find ports that are more specifically for peripherals that you might plug and unplug frequently, like headsets, mice, and so on. You’ll find USB Type-A on both sides (two on the right side, one on the left), an SD card reader on the right side, a USB Type-C ports (not Thunderbolt) on the left side, and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left side.

Performance: Intel Core i9-12900HK, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB DDR5 memory, and more

• The Core i9-12900HK currently offers the best CPU performance in a laptop.
• DDR5 is better than DDR4, but has longer latency times.
• The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the next step up.

Here’s the summary: I’ve been using this laptop for a week, and I’ve played tons of games on it, such as Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5. By default, the graphics are set to the best they can be, and I set the frame rates to the full 360fps that you can use with this display. I didn’t have any issues at all. It was phenomenal. This is just one of those situations where you’re not going to be able to get better hardware.

Intel’s new 12th-gen ‘Alder Lake’ processors use a hybrid architecture. It’s across the whole family too, and we first got to see it in our review of the Core i9-12900K and Core i5-12600K, which are desktop CPUs. This is our first time seeing it in a mobile processor.

It uses a process that we’ve been seeing from ARM processors for years. There are big, powerful cores (P-cores), which are used for the most resource-demanding tasks. And then there are efficiency cores (E-cores), which don’t use as much power and can be used for tasks that don’t require as many resources. This is managed by a scheduler that Intel calls Thread Director. The P-cores are Hyperthreaded, while the E-cores are not, so since the Core i9-12900HK has six P-cores and eight E-cores, it adds up to a total of 14 cores and 20 threads. That’s way more than anything we’ve seen before in a consumer PC.

The P-cores max out at 5GHz clock speed, while the E-cores max out at 3.8GHz Turbo. The TDP is 45W, but the processor has a max power of 115W. This thing can get powerful, although that’s also why Intel says it’s the most powerful mobile gaming CPU on the planet.

I started off this section just by saying that gaming performance was as smooth as can be with the most demanding settings I could find, because that about sums up what you need to know. I could also tell you video and photo editing performance is great, but really, that all kind of just goes without saying. For benchmarks, I ran almost every test I could find, so we’re just going to run through those. Spoiler: the scores are high.

Intel Content Creation test

This was a test that was provided by Intel, making use of Adobe Premiere Pro and Lightroom Classic. It’s essentially a script that runs through a series of operations in each app.

Both the Premiere Pro export and Lightroom import times are pretty similar to what we saw with the desktop parts that I reviewed last year, which is impressive. Lightroom export rook much longer, with a median speed of 45.7 seconds on the Core i9-12900K and 56.1 seconds with the Core i5-12600K. With the mobile chip, it was 125.9 seconds. The other two tests came out in-between the Core i5-12600K and the Core i9-12900K.

Geekbench 5

Geekbench is a test that looks at straight-up CPU performance. To be clear, this is not a snapshot of overall PC performance, as it should produce the same scores whether we have an RTX 3080 Ti GPU, or if we were using a machine with integrated graphics.

Product	Specs	Single-core	Multi-core
MSI Raider GE76	Core i9-12900HK, RTX 3080 Ti	1,774	12,630
HP OMEN 45L	Core i9-12900K, RTX 3090	1,921	15,723
MacBook Pro	M1 Pro	1,755	9,954
MacBook Pro*	M1 Max	1,780	12,720
Lenovo ThinkPad P15	Core i9-11950H, RTX A5000	1,669	9,309

*The MacBook Pro with M1 Max score was pulled from the Geekbench database.

The big improvement over previous generations is going to be in multithreaded performance. That shouldn’t be surprising, since there are more cores. Specifically referring to CPU performance, we can see that the Core i9-12900HK is just about on par with Apple’s M1 Max, which goes in top-end MacBook Pro laptops.

Cinebench

Cinebench is another test that exclusively focuses on the CPU.

Product	Specs	Single core	Multi-core
MSI Raider GE76	Core i9-12900HK, RTX 3080 Ti	1,833	14,675
HP OMEN 45L	Core i9-12900K, RTX 3090	1,894	23,659
MacBook Pro	M1 Pro	1,530	9,552
MacBook Pro*	M1 Max	1,529	12,258
Lenovo ThinkPad P15	Core i9-11950H, RTX A5000	1,606	12,264

Being that this test is still just testing the CPU, the results are similar, except for how the desktop CPU really blows away everything else in multi-core scores.

3DMark

3DMark is the first one that’s going to give us an overall score, along with both CPU and GPU scores. It provides some additional insights, as well as several tests. I ran the CPU Profile test, Time Spy, and Time Spy Extreme.

Test	Total Score	CPU Score	GPU Score
Time Spy	12,287	12,237	12,296
Time Spy Extreme	5,867	5,282	5,984

Also, according to that, this machine should get the following performance when gaming:

Game	Resolution	Frame Rate
Battlefield V	1440p Ultra	115+
	1080p Ultra	140+
Apex Legends	1440p Ultra	130+
	1080p Ultra	140+
GTA V	1440p Ultra	70+
	1080p Ultra	105+
Fortnite	1440p Ultra	125+
	1080p Ultra	170+
RDR 2	1440p Ultra	45+
	1080p Ultra	55+

Note that this is probably the biggest disparity from the desktop parts. If you’re deciding between a gaming laptop and a gaming desktop, this is something to pay attention to.

 

Finally, these are the CPU Profile results:

VRMark

VRMark is, well, it’s exactly what it sounds like. It tests virtual reality with three different tests. There’s the Orange Room, Cyan Room, and Blue Room. Orange Room is entry-level, while Blue Room is a test I’ve only seen a handful of PCs pass.

Test	Score
Orange Room	11,452
Cyan Room	11,542
Blue Room	3,815

Out of all of the tests that I’ve run over the years, this is the top laptop score for the Blue Room test. Anything above that is a desktop, all of which have Core i9 processors from ninth- through 12th-gen, and graphics of either RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 3080, and RTX 3090. In other words, we’re in pretty good shape here.

PCMark 10

PCMark 10 is my favorite tests, because it really tests out a bit of everything. In fact, in most of my benchmark charts, I sort them by PCMark 10 score, and that’s how I decide what to compare a machine to.

Product	Specs	Score
MSI Raider GE76	Core i9-12900HK, RTX 3080 Ti	7,820
HP OMEN 45L	Core i9-12900K, RTX 3090	9,012
HP OMEN 30L	Core i9-10900K, RTX 3080	7,463
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	Ryzen 7 5800H, RTX 3070	6,800
Lenovo ThinkPad P15	Core i9-11950H, RTX A5000	6,788

For reference, here are some details:

The scores are really impressive. It beats a desktop from 2020 with an RTX 3080, so that’s saying something.

CrystalDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark is for testing storage, so out of all of the tests we’re doing, this one has the least to do with the new CPU and GPU. Really, it’s just for if you’re considering the MSI Raider GE76.

MaxxMem2

MaxxMem2 is a test for benchmarking RAM, and I haven’t used it much in the past. I’ve been using it more recently now that DDR5 is out, and more specifically, since DDR5 is too expensive to be mainstream. This test lets us see if DDR5 is worth the premium.

DDR5 is new to Intel’s 12th-gen CPUs, which is why this matters now. In my HP OMEN 45L review, it got 37,813MB/s on read, 41,851MB/s on write, and 32,440MB/s on copy, with 81.7ns latency. Right now, you could probably say that you could live without DDR5, given marginal improvements, longer latency, and higher prices. It’s something to keep an eye on though.

Video rendering

And now, it’s time for the old 8K video rendering test. That’s where we dump some video files into a video editing application, and export them. It’s about four minutes long, and I ran the same test on the Apple MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro processor.

Product	Software	Rendering Time
MSI Raider GE76	Adobe Premiere Pro	10:52
	DaVinci Resolve	6:17
MacBook Pro	Adobe Premiere Pro	29:46
	DaVinci Resolve	2:25

Apple’s laptop still does a lot better in DaVinci Resolve, but the MSI smokes it with Adobe Premiere Pro. And before anyone says otherwise, Premiere Pro does run natively on Apple Silicon.

Who should buy a laptop with an Intel Core i9-12900HK?

While we’ve seen in numerous tests now that the Intel Core i9-12900HK is best-in-class, that class isn’t for everyone.

Who should buy a laptop with a Core i9-12900HK:

• People who want the best gaming performance from a portable PC
• Creators that do a lot of video editing
• Users that want to be able to overclock their laptop

Who should not buy a laptop with a Core i9-12900HK:

• Gamers who don’t plan on bringing their PC anywhere would be better off with a tower, as we’ve seen from Core i9-12900K scores, and even Core i5-12600K scores
• Users who don’t game. Intel has a whole suite of CPUs coming from the 12th-gen family soon, which will show up in laptops like the Dell XPS 13 Plus. These laptops are way better for productivity, portability, and battery life.

There’s a certain use case that’s filled by the Intel H-series. That’s the gaming laptop space, the creator laptop space, and the mobile workstation space, although even mobile workstations often use Xeon chips. If you’re thinking about a laptop with a Core i9-12900HK, you have to fit into one of these categories, and you have to want the best.

Even if you’re a gamer, but you’re OK with a more mainstream option, there are much better alternatives for you. And as mentioned above, if you’re just looking for a great productivity laptop, take a look at the new Intel P-series that’s coming soon.

The MSI Raider GE76 should start shipping in early February, as will other Intel 12th-gen H-series laptops.

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How to pair and set up your new Apple Watch Series 7

The Apple Watch is a powerful wearable that is famous for its fitness and other non-health related features. When you buy an Apple Watch, you’re investing in a device that will simplify (and potentially even save) your life. The Series 7 is the latest and most advanced model sold by the company. It comes with a larger display, longer battery life, and better durability. If you’ve just bought one, you must be wondering how and where to start. Here are the detailed steps to pair and set up your new Apple Watch Series 7.

How to pair and set up your new Apple Watch Series 7

• Start by turning on your Apple Watch by holding on its side button.

• Give it a few seconds to boot. Once it does, bring your iPhone close to it and make sure you have Bluetooth and WiFi enabled.

• A pop-up should appear on your iPhone. Click on Continue.

• If you don’t see the pop-up, launch the Watch app on your iPhone and tap Set Up for Myself.

• Your Apple Watch will then display an animated sphere — scan it with your iPhone, as it instructs you. You need to position the Watch squarely in the frame.

• Allow it to download and install the latest software update available for watchOS.

• Click Set Up Apple Watch.

• Choose which wrist you will be wearing it on.

• Agree to the terms of service after reading them carefully and thoroughly.

• Enable Route Tracking to make the most out of your watch.

• Decide whether you want to share watch analytics with Apple or not.

• Adjust the text size, depending on your preferences. A live preview of the text will appear on your watch’s screen to help you decide.

• Set an optional numerical passcode on your Apple Watch.

• Set up Activity if you plan on using your watch for fitness tracking.

• Decide what your daily Move goal will be. That’s the number of active calories you have to burn per day.

• Choose how many minutes of Exercise you want your daily goal to be.

• Set up your daily Stand goal. Each hour you would have to stand up for at least one minute to earn a Stand point.

• Optionally enable Blood Oxygen monitoring.

• Choose whether you want your watch to automatically download software updates in the future.

• Click on Continue when you’re presented with the Heart Rate Notifications screen.

• Tap on Continue when the Emergency SOS explanatory screen appears.

• Click Continue after the Always On Display prompt shows up.

• Decide whether you want your Apple Watch to install all available third-party apps from your iPhone.

• Choose whether you want your apps to appear as a grid or an alphabetical list.

• Give it time to sync your data.

• A pop-up will inform you that your Apple ID is now being used for iMessage and FaceTime on the new Apple Watch. Tap OK.

• Click OK when the welcome screen pops up.

• There you will find a list of installed (Apple and third-party) apps. Click on any of them to adjust the respective settings.

• In the Face Gallery, you will get to choose between dozens of watch faces and customize them.

• The Discover tab includes tips and resources revolving around your new watch and the latest version of watchOS.

• By clicking on All Watches in the My Watch tab, you get to view the watches paired to your iPhone and set up new ones.

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The Apple Watch is a complex device, and watchOS 8 is a relatively feature-rich wearable operating system. By going through all settings, one at a time, you ensure you don’t miss out on any of the perks the watch has to offer.

Apple Watch Series 7

The Apple Watch Series 7 has a larger display and a more rugged display and frame compared to its predecessor.

View at Amazon

What’s your favorite Apple Watch feature? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post How to pair and set up your new Apple Watch Series 7 appeared first on xda-developers.

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