The keynote opens with a walkthrough of the new Steve Jobs Theatre followed by the voice of Steve Jobs describing his vision. “Over a decade a go he began to work on a new campus for Apple”, Tim Cook said about Steve Jobs. “Today we honor him.” Tim describes Apple Park and the opening of the Steve Jobs Theatre, which opened today for the Apple Keynote.
Apple Park was converted from a sea of asphalt to 175 acres of green space. It was developed to create collaboration. It is powered by 100% renewable energy. The visitor center will have an augmented virtual reality walk through of center.
Apple stores are now known at “Town Centers, a place of gathering”. “Today at Apple” launches new programs go out into neighborhoods to educate Apple communities lead by creative teams and a new position “Creative Pro”. Several new locations and/or renovations are scheduled from Paris to New York. The newest flagship store in Chicago will help transform the riverfront; set to open in October.
Apple Watch is the first item announced in today’s Keynote. Since the launch of Series 2, the watch line has grown 50% over the previous year. Today Apple Watch is now the #1 watch in the world. Apple then proceeds to show a video describing how people across the world use their Apple Watch. Watch OS 4 is announced and will launch September 19th. New features such as improved workouts, swimmer metrics, fitness overall. The heart rate app will update providing different heart rate measurements such as resting heart rate. Apple Watch will also notify you when you have an elevated heart rate when you are not active. Another new feature is the Apple Watch will allow users to participate in a heart study to help with arrhythmia.
Apple Watch Series 3, announced today, will now include cellular. You will not need to manage a separate cellular number. It will use the same number as your phone. The display now has an integrated antenna. Coming next month, cellular is going to change the way we listen to music. Inside the watch has a new dual core processor. Siri will now be able to talk in the new watch. The watch also includes a new barometric altimeter. The case of Series 3 is the same size as Series 2. The only difference is the back crystal is .2mm larger in size. The Series 3 watch is amazing. During the keynote, Apple showed it capabilities live by calling an employee on a lake while she was doing SUP (Standup Paddle Boarding). Another new option is a ceramic watch with grey finish. So excited to snag one of these. Ceramic is known to resist scratches. A version with cellular is starting at $399 and a non-cellular available at $329. Series 1 prices starting $249.
The next release is Apple TV 4K. Apple TV was just awarded its 2nd Emmy. Apple TV 4K includes 2 technologies of course one being 4K. The other is HDR (High Dynamic Range). HDR provides better color enhancing the experience of 4K. The screensavers on the new Apple TV offer 4K images to really show how the colors are enhanced. The Apple TV has the A10X Fusion chip which is also in the new MacBook Pro’s. Apple has worked with the major TV studios to offer a better selection of movies and TV shows. If a consumer has bought an HD version of one via the iTunes Store they will get upgraded for free. Apple TV will also support Amazon Prime Video. Sky an interactive game is announced to be exclusive to Apple accessible via Apple TV 4K, iPad and iPhone. Apple TV 4K will start at $179.
A look back at the history of iPhone show us how the app store and touch changed the game. FaceTime and iMessage changed how we communicate. Touch ID and ApplePay changed how we access our device and pay.
iPhone 8 is the confirmed name of the new iPhone. It includes the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. Both have glass in the front and back. It comes in silver, space grey and gold. It appears to have more of a rose gold appearance. The glass is said to be the most durable than any other smartphone. There is 4.7 retina display in the iPhone 8 and 5.5 in the iPhone 8 Plus. New speakers are 20% louder than an iPhone 7 and deeper bass. A new chip A11 Bionic is a six-core CPU. 25% faster than A10. The first Apple GPU which is 30% faster than previous GPU. The new camera on the iPhone 8 is 12MP, which provides new color filters and less noise. The iPhone 8 Plus has 12MP dual cameras. A new feature for the iPhone 8 Plus is Portrait Lighting. It allows the user to select the lighting. It is not a filter however adjusts the light sensors. The video features will be the highest video capability in any current smartphone. 4K video never seen before. Slow-mo is now available at 1080p. The most amazing feature is augmented reality. The camera is calibrated for AR. While at a baseball game you can use AR Kit to show play states while looking at the players. This is a game changer. A new game to showcase AR Kit is exclusive called “Machines”.
Wireless charging is introduced with the iPhone 8. It is about time. The iPhone 8 adopts Qi Wireless Charging. This will help expand wireless charging options across the world. Mophie and Belkin will provide additional wireless charging options for the iPhone. The standard iPhone 8 will be offered at 64GB and prices begin at $699. iOS 11 will be available for upgrade on September 19th. This will include all iOS devices.
iPhone X is the icing on the cake. It eliminates Touch ID and the Home Button. It has an endless screen. It has a surgical grade stainless steel case. It is engineered to be water and dust resistant. iPhone X has what is called “The super retina display”. The display has 2436 X 1125 resolution. It has OLED technology. This display supports HDR and has 1 million to one contrast ratio. Tapping on the screen now wakes up the phone. To go to home screen you will swipe up from the bottom. How to unlock the new iPhone X? To unlock you new iPhone X you simply look at it. This is called “FaceID”. Face ID is located at the top of the display known as the “true depth camera system”. It is jam packed with featured. It will recognize you even in the dark using IR. You face is a mathematical model. The A11 Bionic chip includes a neural engine. It is start of the art real time processing system. With Face ID you have a 1 in million change of someone able to unlock your phone. Animojis allow users to animate emojies using facial recognition. It will record facial movements and voice and send to another user. Upon first look with the demo, I am not a fan of the true depth camera system location, as it shows as a black spot on the display in full screen causing the eyes to navigate to it each time instead of the content displayed. It is a distraction. The camera is similar to the iPhone 8 Plus. It does however have dual optical image stabilization resulting in much less camera shake. This reduces overall noise in images. Especially in action shots. With the front camera an improvement is the selfie options. You can now take selfies with portrait mode using the front camera. Battery life overall has increased by two additional hours over iPhone 7. Prices available starting at $999 in 64GB and also available in 256GB. It will be released October 27th.
AirPower is introduced to charge the new iPhone series, Apple Watch Series 3 and new Airpod case. This will be available next year.
The keynote wraps up and ends with a quote from Steve Jobs.
