Last week’s WWDC conference included many new developments from Apple. Let’s look at the Apple updates, without technical jargon
This is a blog dedicated to my wife who’s not a gadget person at all, but uses an iPhone and a Macbook Air. After every big Apple announcement, she asks me to highlight some of the elements that will effect her user experience without the jargon. So here we go, bring on the Apple updates!
Let me start by saying the conference where the keynote was held is for Apple developers and focuses more on software than hardware, so we didn’t expect the announcement on the iPhone 7 here.
Apple Watch (watchOS)
If you use an Apple Watch, version 3 of the software will enable apps to load 7 times faster, with background updates (you don’t have to wait a few seconds for the info to update once the app has loaded).
Read: Kids and iPads ““ Draining more than just batteries
To reply to a message you can now “scribble”, which is a way to handwrite unique replies without only being able to use preset replies or voice reply.
The biggest update is SOS. By pushing the big button on the side you have the option to dial SOS which in the States dials 911. They say it updates for each country (so I’m hoping it can manually override as I would rather it dial Netcare 911). The magic is, after the call, it automatically sends a distress message to your emergency contacts along with a map pin of where you are, and at the same time displays your medical data on your home screens.
Apple TV 4 (tvOS)
This one will bore my wife, but apps I download to my iPhone that have a sister app on the Apple TV (4) will auto download to the little black box.
Sadly, no hardware redesign of the Apple TV 4 remote. It still sucks.
Macbook (macOS)
This is what my wife heard me cheering about in the lounge when they made the announcement. I so often go to my Macbook which is in screen lock mode and have to enter my password 4 times because I type it in so fast I make spelling mistakes. Now, if you have an Apple Watch, it will know it’s you and auto unlock! I have no doubt if you don’t want this feature you will be be able to disable it, but I think it’s brilliant.
The naming convention is getting simpler in that the software for MacBooks will no longer be “OS X”, but simply “macOS” and the follow on from El Capitan will be SIERRA (which will have all the changes).
SIRI(voice activation) is coming which means you can just talk to your computer and ask it to do things.
The other BIG thing is the ability to cut and paste across devices. For example, if I have a password on my iPhone that I want to put into a webpage on my Macbook, I simply “cut” it on the phone and then right click and “paste” when on my Macbook.
iPhone (iOS)
The iPhone screen now wakes up as you pick it up (it doesn’t unlock, just auto displays your locked screen that might be displaying widgets or notifications).
Accessing your camera from a locked screen is easier, simply swipe to the right (you used to have to swipe up and then click on camera icon). So it’s gone from two movements to just one gesture.
Thank God the MUSIC app is totally redesigned to be simpler and more graphically user friendly.
The PHONE app is integrating with VOIP services. If I’ve already lost you, it means apps like WHATSAPP will work a lot closer with your PHONE app for messaging and displaying photos of who’s calling.
Voicemail will be transcribed into a text so you can read it without having to dial in.
Messaging will become a lot more personalised with more graphical ways of your text appearing in the blue iMessage bubbles.
Predictive emojis based on what you are saying now pop up so you don’t have to search through 100 icons to find the one you want.
The updated software is due this Spring.
Conclusion
If you’re an Android lover you might be cynical and say half of these features you have already. Good for you. As an iPhone user, I have nothing against Android and at the same time don’t care who got what feature first.
I’m an Apple lover and really only care how my life is made easier using my Apple products.
Courtesy: Mark Pilgrim Blog
Bonus: Listen in to us chat all about WWDC’s major Apple updates with Mark in Episode 45 of Bandwidth Blog On Air!
