Damn, Apple just dropped a ton of new hardware today, including new iPhones, iPads and a brand new Apple TV. There were a lot of goodies snuck into today’s event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, so here’s a recap of everything Apple unveiled that you need to know about.
Much of what we saw today builds on the developer rollouts made back in June. The biggest is the new version of the operating system for the iPhone and iPad, iOS 9, which has been in public beta since July and brings with it improved battery life, public transit information, improved search through Spotlight and Siri and an improved keyboard. iOS 9 also buffs up supporting iPads with a side-by-side view, picture-in-picture video, an app shortcut bar and two-finger cursor control while editing text.
But there's plenty that's new: Here are the highlights.
As always, and like all companies, Apple bolsters its announcements with testimonials and numbers selected to paint a rosy picture of its current lineup, such as the 97 percent customer satisfaction rating for the Apple Watch and the availability of 10,000 Watch apps. That said, the stock market seemed unimpressed.
This was one of the most third-party-demo-filled Apple events I've seen; it felt more like an E3 press conference. And buried in a demo email, OS X El Capitan might be shipping September 30. IOS 9 arrives September 16.
iPhone 6S and 6S Plus:
Both the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus use the same body design as their predecessors, but come in a new rose gold aluminum finish; the aluminum is a new alloy, and they use new, stronger glass on the screens.
Apple has evolved multitouch into 3D Touch, what Apple's calling the multitouch interface used by its Force Touch technology. Different degrees of pressure perform different levels of operation, analogous to tap vs. tap-and-hold, using vibrational feedback. In some ways, it performs the same functions of devices with wraparound screens, like the Galaxy S6 Edge. It does look like there will be a bit of a learning curve.
The chip jumps to A9 with an M9 motion coprocessor that's built in (for fitness trackers, for example) that's always on -- as is "Hey, Siri" -- for much better performance. The updated Touch ID is also faster.
The new iSight camera bumps to 12 megapixels with more focus pixels for (theoretically) faster, more accurate focus. The photodiodes use something Apple calls Deep Trench Isolation Technology to minimize crosstalk; it looks like there are gaps between the wells to keep electrons from leaking into neighboring wells and contaminating the colors.
As expected, Apple rolls out 4K video (best for editing or playing back on a large screen). The FaceTime camera bumps up to 5MP, and Apple uses the phone display as the flash with better white balance.
Live Photos lets you press on a photo to animate it. It captures a couple seconds before and after the shutter press to capture extra data, a popular feature in standalone cameras. The format will be supported by the Facebook app later this year.
Wi-Fi is faster, as is the cell networking. And there are new accessories, including a color-matched charging dock.
The prices run the same or less as the previous generation, but they're muddied because of the disappearing two-year contract There's a new upgrade program, $32 per month for 24 months, which allows for new iPhone every year. Preorders start September 12, available September 25 in a variety of places, including US, UK and Australia.
Apple TV
Apple dropped a redesigned Apple TV Wednesday and while the box itself hasn’t changed much, with a new app store, OS and multitouch remote, it’s obvious that the company is fully revisiting its “hobby” device
Tim Cook says that Apple believes the future of TV is apps, so they spent most of the event talking Siri and OS as opposed to the hardware. Apple unveiled tvOS with some insanely powerful Siri support. Want to see “that one Modern Family episode with Edward Norton”? Well, now Siri can find it.
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| Apple TV's new interface |
Apple is putting more of an emphasis on casual gaming than ever with the new Apple TV. They showed off a few couch-friendly games. These obviously aren’t going to be tackling console gaming anytime soon but the new remote has some Wiimote-style motion controls (thanks to a gyroscope and accelerometer) that look to add a new dynamic to iOS gaming.
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| Apple TV's Touch Surface Remote |
The hardware star of the new Apple TV is definitely its new Siri-powered touch surface remote. The Bluetooth 4.0-powered remote allows users more advanced control thanks to its variety of inputs.
iPad Pro
Apple unveiled the ultimate powerhouse tablet today with the iPad Pro, starting at $799. This behemoth sports a beautiful high-def 12.9″ screen with enough screen real estate to allow split, “full-screen” multitasking. Apple also introduced a couple of wild new hardware peripherals for the iPad Pro.
Specs:
- 12.9″ screen rocking a 2,732 x 2,048 display
- 6.9mm thin, weighs 1.57 lbs
- Starts at $799 for the 32GB model, comes in
- Powerful new A9X chip that’s 1.8x than the A8 before it.
- 10-hour battery life
- 8MP iSight camera
- Touch ID
- Powerful four speaker audio
Apple Forgot the iPad Mini 4
Apple didn’t give a shit about discussing the changes to the new iPad mini 4. At the event they brushed over that they’ve updated the mini’s internals and that the device is now rocking the same power as the iPad Air 2.
Apple Surface iPad Keyboard
Unlike past iPads, the iPad Pro is really gunning to be a content creation machine, to do that Apple wanted it to have a physical keyboard to handle text entry. What they dropped today is pretty much a Microsoft Surface keyboard clone. Apple was relatively light on details but said the keyboard utilizes new Apple dome switches (?) and also takes advantage of the new magnetic connector on the iPad Pro. It costs a whopping $169!Precise Apple Pencil
The rumored stylus exists, and its dubbed the Apple Pencil. It emits signals from two locations to make shaded strokes, and the system scans twice as fast to capture them. It recharges off the Lightning connector, which plugs right into the tablet. Rather than pressure, it tracks tilt and pressure, which one-ups most iPad styluses, Apple claims it's more precise, and it's supported by many apps out of the box.
Apple is really working hard to make the iPad a content creation gadget,
The Pro also runs Microsoft Office apps, in split screen, no less. Adobe demonstrated Adobe Comp; a new app called Adobe Photoshop Fix, formerly Project Rigel, which has facial feature detection built in and which will ship in October; and Photoshop Sketch with specific support for the Pencil.
New Apple Watch
The Apple Watch was not forgotten at today’s event, in fact, the device gained some new gold and rose gold finishes for the Apple Watch Sport, stylish new designer bands from Hermes and others, and a host of new apps. |
| Image: Engadget |
Starting with a recap of the June Watch OS 2 announcements, it then moved into the availability of Facebook Messenger, GoPro control and iTranslate apps. We heard about a bunch of new Watch apps, like the AirStrip app health app for physicians to communicate health data and schedule in real time and well as monitor patients at home.
Watch OS 2 will be available September 16.
The whole show closed with some live tunes from OneRepublic.
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