Apple's 2016 event was hyped to be about the new iPhone 7 and Apple will not disappoint. Other things expected included the wireless EarPods and the removal of the 3.5mm jack on the iPhone.
I'm hoping for a change in the stupid design of the Apple Magic Mouse and having the Lightning connector moved to the top of the mouse so you can use it whilst it charges but that's likely not going to happen.
Anyway, the presentation begins soon so I'll need to begin writing since this post is now live.
Apple + Nintendo
This might sound too good to be true, but I'm happy that Nintendo chose Apple to release their new Mario Run game. Firstly, seeing Miyamoto at the Apple Event was absolutely awesome. The game looks good fun for a mobile game (I'm not a huge fan of Mario games on my Wii U).
Hopefully this move will lead to more collaboration and more games from Nintendo on our Apple devices.
iWork update
The next big thing to be mentioned was the update for iWork. This update adds real-time collaboration with colleagues or the like using iWork applications. This is very similar to the way that Google Docs works or whatever.
Apple Watch
Pokémon Go for Apple Watch
Niantic, developers of Pokémon Go, are now bringing Pokémon Go to the Apple Watch. It's more convenient than checking (or staring) at the phone screen and I think although the audience didn't look too interested, I think it looks great.
Apple Watch Series 2
Whilst it was predictable that Apple would make the next iteration of the Apple Watch more waterproof, the way it has been designed is phenomenal. The speaker that is used to expel water after a swim is well thought out that only Apple would do. The screen has been revamped too, now with a brightness of 1000 nits. It also now includes built-in GPS. It now also features a dual-core processor.
Obviously, Apple has also released some new designs too. Nike came on to talk about their new Nike Plus Apple Watch which attempts to motivate you to run - to me perhaps the most useful reason for me to get an Apple Watch since I cannot even motivate myself to get out and run!
Apple has priced the Apple Watch Series 2 at $369 and renamed the original watch as the Series 1 and priced it at $269 and added the same dual-core processor found in the Series 2.
The new Apple Watch Series 2
iPhone
Apple has now sold over a billion iPhones - making it:
The best selling product of it's kind in the history of the world.
iOS 10
You can now raise your iPhone to activate it. Machine learning has been added to the autocorrect in the keyboard. HomeKit has had a major improvement, adding it to the Control Center and adds hundreds of support. Tim Cook believes that HomeKit is going to be a big deal.
Messages is getting many new features including stickers and the ability to send payments using the messages app.
iPhone 7
iPhone doesn't always excite me - I'm more into the Macs, but I'm excited this year because it's the tock in the Apple tick-tock cycle.
A 'gorgeous new design' according to Cook. The new iPhone 7 actually is beautiful and it's high gloss back looks absolutely amazing. It's made using as few parts as possible, making it more solid than previous versions. The antennas have been far better hidden and don't look as ugly as before. Here's a picture of the new iPhone 7 in gloss black.
The gloss black iPhone 7
As expected, the iPhone's home button is getting haptic feedback and the iPhone is being made water and dust resistant. It's classified as IP67.
The camera is still 12MP but has a better flash LED. Phil Schiller also explains that the images are much better and showed some examples that show how good it is when the object is moving. The iPhone 7 also features a new 7MP front-facing camera.
The iPhone 7 Plus now features a 2x optical zoom - nice addition but not enough yet and I will stick with the simple iPhone 7 if I get it.
However, the addition of the portrait feature might sway me, since this allows you to take a depth of field photo - and they do look amazing. Here's the picture shown in the event:
A depth of field photo taken on the iPhone 7
It's about time but Apple has finally added stereo speakers to the iPhone 7. Another expected change was the move from the 3.5mm audio jack to the Lightning connector - something that is nice but will take time for people to change to. Apple has kindly included an adapter from Lightning to the 3.5mm jack. My main concern now is how this will work with my next MacBook Pro (not considering one at the moment).
Next: Wireless EarPods, known as Apple AirPods. I must admit, I really dislike the looks of them and really wouldn't go around with wireless waves going through my head like that but they may appeal to some!
Apple has added their latest quad-core CPU to the iPhone 7 called the A10 Fusion - 120x faster than the original iPhone, 40x faster than the iPhone 5 and 2x faster than the iPhone 6. Its design is unique in the sense that it runs two cores on low-performance mode which are designed for processes that require less power and this should make it more power-efficient. In terms of graphics, the new graphics processor is 240x more powerful than the original iPhone's graphics processor. A sample of this was shown where we get to see 400 flying monkeys. Phil then tells us that:
Nothing proves performance like 400 flying monkeys
Apple claims that they have improved the battery life over the iPhone 6. We'll see about that.
As always, I'm happy to hear that Apple manufactures using the most environmentally friendly materials available.
The end
As always the event finished with a song and I must admit the song was a dreadful choice in my opinion, but that's just me. I was also disappointed that no new Macs or a new iPad were announced today. Overall the keynote was good and the iPhone 7, which dominated the keynote, looks beautiful.
