Yesterday the world saw the unveiling of Apple’s upcoming innovations at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) held at San Francisco. The Keynote, State of the Union, Apple Design Award and the rest of the event was held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Unlike the earlier year’s events, this year’s event only unveiled software updates to the Apple products. The whole event was available online streamed live and people could access it through their respective devices. It was available through the WWDC iOS app or through either of the 2nd or 3rd generation Apple TV.
From launching the iOS 10 to getting Siri on the Mac to getting updates for the watch and the TV, Apple is trying hard to get ahead of its competitors. Following from here on we have listed whether Apple’s WWDC event has left its mark on the world or not.
THE EVENT
The event was like anything you’d expect form an Apple conference and kicked off with Tim Cook taking to the stage and first paid his respect to the victims of the Orlando shootings, condemning the violent act. It then moved forward with quite a few updates to the ecosystem. Here are our 5 takeaways from Apple’s WWDC conference:
- Watch OS 3
With the updated OS 3 for the watch, users will be able to see the notification on the watch without opening it. With a feature called ‘Scribble’, users will be able to hand write a message letter-by-letter on the watch screen. Apps launch faster and the updates of the watch apps are seven times faster because of the background update feature. However, some developers are afraid that this feature might affect the battery life of the watch.
As the watch’s main purpose was towards health & fitness, the OS 3 has a new ‘Activity Sharing Feature’. This feature allows users to track down how much exercise the user’s ‘Activity Friends’ have done, so that he/she can motivate themselves to cross the limit.
Besides these, OS 3 includes updates supporting Apple Pay, and some more fitness apps. The beta version will be available immediately, while the complete version will be available only in autumn.
http://images.indianexpress.com/2016/06/apple_watchos.jpg
http://images.indianexpress.com/2016/06/apple_watchos.jpg
- MacOS Sierra and Siri on the Mac
The Operating systems of the Mac systems has been renamed from OS X to MacOS. The new version of the MacOS has been named Sierra after the Sierra Mountains. The new OS includes Siri, Apple Pay and Auto unlock features. With this feature users will be able to unlock Mac with just the watch when they are in its vicinity. The Universal Clipboard feature will allow them to copy things from the iPhone and paste it onto the Mac. With Sierra, Apple devices can be connected to each other easily and faster than earlier.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/13/apple-wwdc-keynote-key-points-at-a-glance#img-4
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/13/apple-wwdc-keynote-key-points-at-a-glance#img-4
The big news is that Siri is finally on Mac. With this Mac users can easily ask Siri to search local files, play music, message or browse the net much more easily.
- iOS 10
With iOS 10, the home screen has changed quite a bit. With more widgets available on the home screen, users will be able to view app information on the home screen itself. Users can also view their messages on the lock screen itself, and using 3D touch they can respond to those messages. Unlocking notifications to view messages is not required anymore. This lock screen feature also works with third party apps such as Uber.
- Apple Music, and iMessage
Apple has tried to revamp Apple Music and iMessage this time. After heavy criticism for Apple Music, Apple has completely refurbished the app. The new app shows lyrics to songs and also has resurrected some of the iTunes app features like Recently Added category and the Recently Played category. It has included in the daily playlists, top charts and radio in its “browsing” and “for you” category. These features have been found to be similar to ones in Spotify, another music app.
http://cdn.iphonehacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/lyricForMusic.jpg
http://cdn.iphonehacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/lyricForMusic.jpg
On the iMessage front, they have bought the new “Emojifiable” feature which brings up relevant emoji on the keyboard whenever a message is typed. iMessage now also allows the user to share music, sketches or even heartbeat. It also transcribes voicemail automatically, something which is apparent in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Similar to Facebook’s Messenger app, the user will be able to search pictures from the Keypad, but here you could do it with the live camera as well.
- Miscellaneous:
The Map has also been updated. Through Apple Maps, now users will be able to book Uber directly and pay through Apple Pay. The HomeKit is the new app which when installed allows the user to control garage lights, the thermostat all through the different Apple devices. One of the new features announced to the developers is Swift Playground App. With this app normal people will also be able to learn coding.
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http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/06/Screen-Shot-2016-06-13-at-2.08.26-PM.png
Finally, in conclusion Apple has unveiled a lot of updates from its bag. From revamping Apple Music to getting Siri on Mac, Apple has pushed its boundaries. However, it is already facing both positive and negative criticism. But users will have to wait a little more to see the effectiveness of Apple’s WWDC event, concluding on June 17, 2016.
