YOUR 2-MINUTE GUIDE TO THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS APPLE ANNOUNCED AT THEIR NEW PRODUCT UNVEILING ON SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
The iPhone 6s is here. And it brought with it several bigger cousins.
As expected, Apple unveiled the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus today at its annual fall product launch event in San Francisco. Despite their familiar looks, the phones sport a new aluminum exterior, new colors, and a new feature called 3D Touch (essentially Force Touch for the iPhone). 3D Touch allows the phone to recognize the degree of force being used in touch gestures—a mini-tap vs. a full tap, for instance—and respond accordingly. While navigating the iOS interface, 3D Touch can serve as a new sort of "right click" functionality, calling up menus and allowing users to preview content from outside of a given app. It also opens up new possibilities for playing (and developing) mobile games.
The iPhone 6s will ship with Apple's new A9 chip, which promises to be 70% faster than the A8 chip found in the iPhone 6.
As expected, both phones are getting camera upgrades. The iSight camera now packs 12 megapixels and shoots super high-def 4K video. Meanwhile, the front-facing FaceTime camera is now at 5 megapixels and has a front-facing flash. Apple is also debuting a new feature called Live Photos, which turns still photos into mini-animations.
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As usual, both new iPhone models start at 16 GB (somewhat surprising, considering the growing footprint of iOS and the amount of extra space Live Photos must eat up) and come in 64 GB and 128 GB models. The pricing of the new phones is the same as that of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus: The iPhone 6s starts at $199 (16 GB) and ranges up to $399 (128 GB), while the 6s Plus starts at $299 (16 GB) and gets as pricey as $499 (128 GB). And for the first time, Apple is offering an upgrade plan that lets users buy unlocked phones and upgrade them every year, starting at $32/month.
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will be available for pre-orders on September 12 and start shipping September 25. Meanwhile, iOS 9 will be available for download on September 16th.
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus specs:
- A9 chip (3rd generation 64-bit chip)
- 3D Touch
- 12 MP iSight camera
- 4K video support
- 5 MP FaceTime HD camera
- Live Photos
- Stronger cover glass
- 2nd generation Touch ID
Apple Overhauls The Apple TV
Apple also gave an overdue refresh to the Apple TV. Most crucially, the set-top box will now support third-party apps.
Apple CEO Tim Cook before unveiling the new Apple TV said.
"Our vision for TV is simple, and perhaps a little provocative. We believe the future of television is apps."
The device also has a redesigned remote, which includes a touch pad and can be used as a game controller. As predicted, the device now also supports Siri voice control. It will ship with universal search, which will allow users to search for content across apps like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, and Showtime.
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While the overall user interface looks very familiar, the functionality of the Apple TV appears poised to change substantially, thanks to the integration of Siri and universal search. For instance, viewers can ask Siri for a specific episode of a specific show, or even an episode guest-starring a particular actor. As is typically the case with Apple, the name of the game here is usability. And with this update to Apple TV, the company is taking its most sincere crack yet at the fractured, imperfect design of Internet-based television and movie watching.
The Apple TV operating system now has a name: tvOS. The new OS, which Eddy Cue says is "based on iOS and built for the living room," also has a new suite of software development kit to let developers build new TV apps, including games—a use case Apple is pushing pretty hard, given how popular games have proven to be on the iPad and iPhone.
Apple also partnered with MLB to create new Apple TV-specific sports apps, promising to help scratch an itch often cited by those hesitant to cut the cord from cable. But the Apple TV won't be limited to video content, music, and games. Shopping app Gilt also demoed its upcoming Apple TV app on stage at today's event, and Cue mentioned the impending arrival of an Airbnb app on the Apple TV.
The new Apple TV, which comes in 32GB and 64GB versions, will ship in late October.
Apple TV specs:
- Redesigned remote control featuring a touchpad, accelerometer, and gyroscope
- Siri voice control
- Developer kit and third-party app store
- Universal, cross-app video search
- tvOS operating system
- Bluetooth 4.0
- 64 bit A8 chip
Apple's New iPad Pro Tablet Offers Desktop Performance, Huge 13-inch Retina Display and Built-In Apple Pencil Stylus
Click to view a video of the new Apple iPad Pro
As expected, Apple previewed the latest addition to its tablet lineup as well: the iPad Pro. It sports a 12.9-inch screen with 5.6 million pixels, which is a higher resolution than the display on the MacBook Pro with Retina. Its new A9X chip promises "desktop class performance" that is faster than 80% of portable PCs on the market. The iPad Pro will ship in November.
For the first time, an iOS device will have a physical keyboard. In addition to a case that includes a keyboard, the iPad Pro will also support the Apple Pencil, the first Apple-built stylus for an iOS device. The Apple Pencil can be charged using the iPad Pro's lightning connector port. Both the iPad Pencil and the keyboard ship separately as add-on accessories.
The launches of iPad Pro and Apple Pencil present new opportunities for developers. One early partners is Microsoft, which shared the stage with Apple to show off new productivity features in Office for iPad. Apps like Word and Excel have been fine-tuned to work specifically with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.
The iPad Pro comes with a built-in digital keyboard, but this lacks the feel of a physical keyboard, so Apple is offering an optional keyboard called the Smart Keyboard which serves as a protective case for the iPad Pro and folds out into a stand and full-size keyboard with sensitive touch keys.
Speaking of Apple rivals, Apple has also been working with Adobe to build apps for the iPad Pro. Adobe announced Photoshop Fix, a new app that was built for the iPad Pro first. Eric Snow, the director of design for mobile apps at Adobe, demoed how Fix can work with other Adobe mobile apps like Comp and Sketch, which have been custom-tweaked for the iPad Pro as well. The new iPad-only Adobe workflow will be available in October. TypeKit fonts are now available on a mobile device for the first time.
Apple also added the iPad Mini 4 ($400), which is essentially the iPad Air 2 but smaller. The iPad Mini 2 is now available for $269.
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iPad Pro specs:
- 12.9 inch screen ("The biggest we've ever built in an iOS device," says Phil Schiller)
- The display sports 5.6 million pixels
- A9X chip (double the memory bandwidth and 2x faster storage performance of the previous chip, the A8X)
- 10 hours of battery life.
- Four-speaker audio system with 3 times the audio volume of the iPad Air 2.
- 6.9 millimeters thick (vs. the iPad Air 2 at 6.1mm)
- New cover that has a built-in physical keyboard
- Apple Pencil, the first Apple-built stylus for an iOS device
- Touch ID
- 8 megapixel iSight camera
- Up to 150 mbps LTE connectivity
- Comes in silver, gold, and grey
The New Apple Watch OS2
Before beefing up its lineup across bigger screens, Apple gave a quick update on the Apple Watch, which now boasts over 10,000 apps, including new additions like Facebook Messenger and a GoPro app. The company also announced new watch bands and product designs, including a strap co-created with Hermes. The Apple Watch will come in two new finishes: rose gold and gold, both in anodized aluminum. There are also new Sport models available, which start shipping today.
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Apple is also pushing the medical use cases for Apple Watch pretty hard. Apple invited Dr. Cameron Powell to demo an app called AirStrip, which promises to "change how doctors interact with their patients." Doctors can view live feeds of patients' medical data (including their heart rate), as well as their schedules, using the AirStrip app for Apple Watch.
Watch OS 2 will be available for download on September 16.
COMMENTARY:
Apple Is A Great Copycat, But Did They Improve Anything?
It used to be that Apple was, without a doubt, considered the king of innovation. Steve Jobs delivered products that changed our lives. Think: iMac. Think: iPhone. Think Different–-you get the gist.
Apple events nowadays, however, are known as much for innovation as they are for copycatting. And yesterday's annual September iPhone event included several products that—while they may still be on my Christmas list—look awfully familiar.
It could be argued, of course, that Apple can only iterate on their own devices so much each year. And as Jobs biographer Rick Tetzeli pointed out, it took a quarter century to move from the personal computer to the mobile computer, and it could take just as long before we see the next major breakthrough. This shifts the debate from being about whether or not Apple ought to be copying the hard work of others (and to be fair, plenty of companies have copied from Apple over the years) to a more salient question: Whose product does it best?
APPLE PENCIL (SEPTEMBER 2015) VS FIFTYTHREE PENCIL (NOVEMBER 2013)
The name alone caused a flurry of Twitter outrage among the techno-savvy hipster artist elite. Apple outright lifted the "Pencil" name from, well, a real pencil—but that wasn't the issue. There's an existing stylus with that same name, FiftyThree’s much-praised Pencil.
Is Apple’s reinvention better?
Apple’s Pencil, judging from the demos during the keynote, is impressive. There's a virtually undetectable latency–-the time between when you begin pressing the Pencil to the screen and the time the iPad knows you’re doing this. But besides this latency improvement, Apple's Pencil itself doesn’t actually offer any noticeable drawing features that FiftyThree’s Pencil doesn’t. Both detect varying degrees of pressure to create thick or thin lines, both allow you to draw with the point of the tip or with the tip at an angle.
Apple’s hardware design does, however, seem to have some improved benefits when it comes to power. Apple’s Pencil plugs into a Lightning port for charging. FiftyThree’s Pencil requires you to take the battery out and plug it into a USB port. Also, it’s impressive that you can charge Apple’s Pencil for only 15 seconds and get 30 minutes' worth of use from it. Then again, Apple’s Pencil only lasts for 12 hours per charge, while FiftyThree’s Pencil lasts for up to 90 days–-that’s handy if you're sitting in a field sketching sunflowers for days at a time. Also in FiftyThree’s court: Its Pencil has an eraser at the other end. Apple’s Pencil? Nope.
As far as cosmetic design, Apple’s Pencil is what you would expect: a cold-looking sliver of white plastic (Steve Jobs might use it to impale himself if he saw it). FiftyThree’s Pencil, on the other hand, while trying a bit too hard to appeal to the Brooklyn hipster, at least offers a few varieties such as a nice black, brushed aluminum to give you more style options.
Engadget spoke with over a dozen professional artists, illustrators and designers to gauge the reaction to the new Apple Pencil stylus. Many use styli in their everyday workflows through options including dedicated Wacom graphic tablets, all-in-one solutions like the Surface series or capacitive options like FiftyThree's Pencil for iPad -- and they've got a lot to say about Apple's entry into the market.
An illustrator working at architecture studio Foster + Partners, who asked not to be named due to the firm's work on Apple's new headquarters.
"I've tried [Wacom's capacitive] Bamboo stylus on my iPad and it was rubbish. This looks much better. I can't see using it for sketching, though, because it's missing the software. The iPad versions of Adobe's Creative Suite aren't as good. ... I'd rather buy the [Wacom] Cintiq, and have full Photoshop with a sensitive pad."
Mike Messina, senior UX/UI designer at [Engadget's parent company] AOL says.
"It (Apple Pencil) doesn't look to have many practical applications in terms of a professional design tool as it's not possible to use full Creative Suite and other industry-standard applications on a tablet device."
Messina uses a Wacom professional tablet and stylus for his work in combination with Adobe apps like Illustrator and Photoshop. He says.
"I don't think [the Pencil] compares to traditional [graphics] tablets and is more of an expensive toy -- albeit a nice one."
Although Apple's dedicated developer community will undoubtedly create great apps that support the Pencil, the chances of these apps being useful for more than the average consumer are low. Many creative industries are entrenched in Adobe software, while other studios, such as Disney, have their own tools like Meander, the program that was used for the Oscar-winning short Paperman. Adobe's apps for iOS are useful for certain tasks, and they will sync through Creative Cloud to the regular desktop apps, making the iPad Pro a potentially useful companion device.
Artist/illustrator Dennis de Groot explains.
"Where I could see a big advantage is in this replacing my sketchbook. I like to go around the city and have a coffee while sketching out new ideas. The hassle with that is that I'm always carrying a variety of pens, pencils, rulers, a sketchbook, a lightpad, etc. If it's as accurate as said, this could potentially replace that whole bag of tools for me."
Winner: Close call, but FiftyThree did it first and offers a better design–-and that eraser.
APPLE SMART KEYBOARD (SEPTEMBER 2015) VS MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO TYPE COVER (FEBRUARY 2013)
Apple’s got a bold tagline on the page announcing their new Smart Keyboard page: "The only thing we didn’t reinvent was the alphabet."
Eh, that’s not exactly true. I mean they didn’t reinvent the other fabric covered tablet keyboards that came before this one. Microsoft’s Surface Pro Type Cover is the most obvious example. That keyboard cover has been around for years and works exceptionally well as both a keyboard and a cover for a tablet. That’s not to say Apple’s new Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro won’t work just as well, it’s just not super innovative (though it is welcome to finally have an Apple-sanctioned keyboard cover).
Winner: The Microsoft Surface Pro Type Cover. Apple, talk to us when you add some kind of trackpad so we can slide the text cursor around the screen inside word processing apps.
SIRI REMOTE (SEPTEMBER 2015) VS WII CONTROLLER (NOVEMBER 2006) VS FIRE TV REMOTE (APRIL 2014)
Look, I’m a HUGE fan of the Apple TV. Matter of fact, after my iPhone it’s probably the most-used Apple device I own. I’m immensely excited about the new Apple TV, its games, and its new remote that includes voice control. But I’ve seen most of its features in other products before.
The new Apple TV remote–-officially called the Siri remote-–features a glass touch surface across the top with physical buttons below it. Apple does deserve props for the glass touch surface, that is truly innovative on a television remote. However, two other big features of the Siri Remote–-Siri voice control and its use as a gesture-based game controller—are something we’ve seen before.
First, Amazon’s Fire TV has had voice control for a while now. You can press its mic button and speak what you want to watch. That being said, Fire TV's voice controlled remote only searches across the Amazon Instant Video library, while Apple's new remote will crawl across all apps and channels—including HBO, Hulu, Netflix, and Showtime—for what you want to watch.
As a game controller, the Apple TV has clearly borrowed from almost every other digital media player as well as games consoles, including the Roku and Wii. It’s still cool, just not original.
Winner: The new Apple TV and its Siri Remote beats what came before it. The fact Siri can handle more advanced commands other than simple movie search queries, such as fast-forward and check the weather, makes Apple the innovator in this department.
LIVE PHOTOS (SEPTEMBER 2015) VS GIFS (1987)
Apple managed to keep one small iPhone feature from getting leaked: the introduction of Live Photos on the iPhone 6s. Live Photos are pictures that automatically record a few seconds on each side of the still frame. When viewing the picture on your iPhone 6s it looks like a still image until you force-touch it. Then it comes to life.
Sure, this is a pointless eye-candy feature—but it’s one that I think offers surprise and delight. Of course, that’s not to say Apple has innovated here. I mean, wizards have had this technology for a long time. And seriously, CompuServe beat Apple to the animated GIF by about, oh, 38 years.
Winner: I’m going to say GIFs, because some can keep me laughing for hours. Then again, GIFs generally are low-res and don’t look anything close to as beautiful as the Live Photos the iPhone 6s allows you to take.
APPLE WATCH (SEPTEMBER 2015) VS A WATCH (1570S)
Apple began its iPhone event by showing off the latest iteration of the most expensive iPhone accessory ever: the Apple Watch. Though it didn’t unveil the Apple Watch 2 (that’s likely for 2016) it did unveil some pretty cool new anodized aluminum color options: gold and rose gold.
The Apple Watch is no doubt a computing marvel and it deserves its praise-–but I mean really, is it better than a regular watch? Take Storm watches, for example: They’re beautiful, come in a wide array of colors and materials, and have more band options than you could ever need–-and they, you know, tell the time exceptionally well while featuring a battery that lasts for years.
The Apple Watch is a great, tiny computer, but as far as a timekeeping piece? I like my watches to keep on ticking without needing to be recharged every 18 hours.
Winner: Regular watches.
Courtesy of an article dated September 9, 2015 appearing in Fast Company, an article dated September 10, 2015 appearing in Fast Company and an article dated September 10, 2015 appearing in Engadget
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