What happened at the Apple Special Event today?
Tim Cook spoke briefly about the Apple Watch after a long round of applause
Jeff Williams explains more about the watch and how they are adding functionality like ability to see transit information and they are giving developers more access to the hardware. Some features coming soon are:
- Messenger coming to the watch so users can send texts and share location from the wrist.
- Translation to over 90 languages.
- Go Pro turning the watch into a viewfinder.
Cameron Powell demonstrated AirStip which apparently will change the medical industry and how Doctors will communicate with patients… Well, in Apples ideal world at least. One really cool thing was the ability for pregnant mothers to be able to listen to their unborn child’s heartbeat.
Jeff Williams came back on stage to show the future changes coming to the iWatch collection. Everyone is going to want the leather strap that wraps around your wrist not once but twice! Wow, and just when you thought it was as imaginative as possible and they couldn’t make any new awesome changes, they showed the new watches. Different colours. Most available on September 16th.
Tim Cook came on to tell us about the new iPad which is the clearest expression of computing from Apple. It’s now been around for 5 years! That’s why they have launched the new incredible iPad Pro with a screen of “Bigger” they haven’t actually said the size yet
Phil Schiller came on to introduce and tell everyone about the new iPad which is Bigger and the most incredible iPad yet. The iPad Pro! The screen is 12.9″ (something similar to Surface Pro?)
However the 12.9 is basically just two iPad Minis next to each other so now you can run your apps side by side. This is the most Innovative and advanced display they have ever built. Made of the best oxide TFT material with a variable refresh rate. Its an amazing display with an amazing chip.
DISCLAIMER! I’m not the one saying amazing innovative awesome etc. this is all self proclaimed from Apple.
He then went on to talk about the hardware and how the chips have been going massively faster. The iPad HD is faster than 80% of portable PC’s shipped in the last 12 months and the graphics is faster than 90% of mobile computers shipped in the same period.
The new iPad Pro will also have some form of quad audio system and a new accessory for the ipad pro, a smart keyboard. Very similar to the Surface keyboard but it has some raised keys and attaches magnetically to the iPad Pro. The iPad will then disable the on screen keyboard.
Apple Pencil – This deserves it’s own section. Its a pencil like the surface pencil. Thats all. It has everything all the other pencils have that are on the market but you need to add original, latest, Most, Best and extraordinary to all of the above existing features. Here is a pic.
Hell has frozen over
Microsoft are presenting Office on the iPad Pro at the Apple Special Event. They are showing the multi / splitscreen functionality.
Adobe came on to introduce a host of features for the iPad Pro which graphic designers all over the worlds will be thrilled to see. Irene from 3D medical explained how patients are with doctors for just 7 minutes and that the new iPad can bridge these issues.
Starting at $799 I’m sure all those remote villages will be snapping them up for the medical benefits.
There are now 5 iPads in the range.
Tim Cook – The TV is really in its Golden Age? But its standing still in a time when the iPad and iPhone is taking over. So they have created the future of television which is Apps? This has been going on for many years but please don’t tell Tim… He is basically describing most new smart TV’s with PVR.
Eddie Cue came on to show how it all works. Picture using your iPhone to control your TV and that’s how it works. It has a touch screen and Siri.
If you have Netflix or Amazon Prime it’s pretty much the same thing. Sorry, nothing major here to show. Apparently its really cook though. What people really want is to be able to add their own movies to Apple TV like Plex.
It does have some cool features like if you say “What did she say” it will rewind 15 seconds and turn on captions. Siri also seems to help navigate through your search based on Cast, Actor and even age rating (although, show me ‘those’ movies may not work as expected….)
Apple went on to explain the shopping and searching functionality but its pretty much like using an iPad.
Tim Cook eventually comes back onto stage for the iPhone. 90 Minutes later!
Apple iPhone is growing faster than any other phone. And according to Apple the most loved phone!
The Newest iPhones are iPhone 6s and iPhone+s Plus
Some of the details are – They are the most advanced iPhones in the world!!!
- Available in Silver, Gold, Space Grey and Rose Gold.
- Toughest Screens on iPhones ever
- They have Mulit-Touch? So not going backwards then.
- 3D Touch uses force touch for enhanced touch abilities.
The force touch seems to offer some pretty cool short cuts for email, a definite win. There are a lot of peeks that can be done without actually opening emails and links.
You can peek into things like:
- Phone contacts
- Website links
- Air travel
- Maps and directions
- emails and texts
There will be a new Co Processor to continue monitoring health and enabling Siri. but now onto the Camera which is pretty much what everyone cares about!
The camera is a all new iSight 12m pixel camera. Unlike other cameras when you add pixels the pictures can get dirty. apple say they have solved this issue with deep trench isolation.
4K Video will be available on the new iPhone
FaceTime and front facing camera will use the screen as a flash for selfies. The screen will brighten up to 3 X more powerful for selfies.
Live Photos will also capture a few seconds of the photo so using the Force Touch you can see a more realistic version of the picture to add context. Browsing the gallery will give glimpses of the photo in motion.
LIVE PHOTO will be on by default. (Bring on the 128GB Models) – You can also use the Live Photo as a background to your iWatch
Some of the technical specs:
- 3d Touch
- 7000 series aluminium
- 64Bit A9 Chip with M9
- 2nd-generation Touch ID
- LTE Advanced and Faster Wi-Fi
- 12MP iSight Camera
- 4k Video
- 5MP Facetime camera with Retina Flash
- Live Photos
Costs – Well, these figures don’t mean much but they did say that the new phones will come in at the same price as existing versions and the current models will drop by about $100
That’s about it from the event, I will have to go back and correct any mistakes but for now, thats a wrap.
Feel free to comment and add.
Michael is a Technology & Digital Consultant to the Real Estate, Property, Travel and Tourism industies with over 13 Years of leading Technical teams & Programme Management. He has worked with agencies in multiple countries and cities from the UK, New York, Russia, France, Dubai to Australia and South Africa. In his spare time he is a commercial drone pilot that dabbles with Photography & Videography.
