Apple Special Event
It’s finally here, boys and girls! Since this event is extremely long with several updates and innovations – I’m going to break it down into multiple posts. Here’s the iPhone! Have you checked out the Apple Watch Series 4 yet?
- The iPhone has officially become the number 1 smartphone in the world, with a 98% customer satisfaction.
First look at the iPhone Xs
Similar to every time a new iPhone is released, this one too is the… “Most advanced iPhone ever created“. I’d honestly be surprised if they ever create a… worse version of the iPhone.
- Stainless steel.
- (Like the iPhone X) The screen is edge-to-edge, with rounded corners.
- Apple claims that the glass used on the iPhone Xs is the most durable glass to ever be on a phone.
- 3 finishes – gold, silver, space gray.
- IP68 Waterpoof. What does this mean?
- Protected from dust, liquid.
- As well as under 2 meters of water for 30 minutes. So yes, if you drop your watch and it’s deep down in your pool, you actually have a solid 30 minutes to rescue it!
Apple actually went ahead and tested this in water, salt water, orange juice, tea, wine, and even beer!
Display
Packed with super retina display, I’m about to tell you something remarkable.
The iPhone Xs has a screen size of 5.8 inches. It’s .3 inches bigger than the iPhone 8 Plus. Now, note the picture above for a second. The iPhone Xs actually has a bigger screen than the iPhone 8 Plus… but in a smaller body…
The iPhone Xs also displays HDR movies powered by Dolby Vision.
iPhone Xs Plus Max
“What’s bigger than plus? Max!“. Yes. This was exactly what they said on stage, great #reasoning.
Now the iPhone Xs Max, as you probably would have guessed, is a bigger version of the iPhone Xs. While the Xs has a display of 5.8 inches, the iPhone Xs Max packs 6.5 inches of pure screen! The reason it’s referred to as “max” is because it’s bigger than a plus sized iPhone, but in a smaller body.
Both iPhones share similar features, none the less.
- Tap to display,
- Face ID,
- Stereo Sound (which actually gives it a wider sound, like in an IMAX theatre!)
- OLED display
Face ID
Powered by true depth face recognition software (wow, that was long), the Face ID is both secure, as it is seamless, and is included in both the iPhone Xs and the iPhone Xs Max.
According to the event, Face ID is supposed to be way faster, but we saw the keynote where they first introduced Face ID and that took a minute…
Furthermore, Apple’s Face ID technology is claimed to be the most secure facial authentication software ever to be in a a smartphone!
Performance
If you don’t expect a new chip with each Apple device, then do you even Apple?
The A12 Bionic chip, however, definitely lives up to its name. The power it packs… let me just tell you what all it has.
- It’s the industry’s first ever 7 nanometer chip – with 6.9 billion transistors.
- Packed with 2 high performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, with 50% more energy efficiency.
- Basically, the phone has more power and can do things faster.
- The smartphone is 50% faster – with a huge jump in graphic performance.
- Apps will now launch 30% faster than before!
Furthermore, in these new iPhones you have a constant machine learning engine system. I’ll get more to that below!
For comparison, the A11 Bionic Chip (last iPhone’s “best chip ever“) could process 600 billion operations in one second. This year around, the A12 Bionic Chip can process 5 trillion operations in one second. That’s not a small number, yo.
Machine Learning
What is machine learning in an iPhone? Well, the most basic of explanations includes: when your device tries to understand you and figure out what you mean/want before you having to even ask for it.
Predictive text? Machine Learning.
Giving you the option of finding x photo? Machine Learning.
Calendar suggestions? Machine Learning.
The A12 Bionic allows machine learning, and the phone to be even faster than before.
This chip also allows your favourite Animoji’s to appear on a real time FaceTime call! Imagine Snapchat filters but while FaceTiming.
This also paves the way for augmented reality which is an absolute gold mine. There are apps being developed which let you play around with AR thoroughly.
Look at this picture below: 3 people at the Apple event played an AR powered game simultaneously. Just like when you play Pokemon Go and see a Pokemon in your room, this app created a game in a common space and allowed the players to fight common monsters. To the ordinary eye, this was just 3 human beings going round a table, laughing.
Siri Shortcuts
This has to be one of the best features on iOS 12. To know more about them, check out this link. Basically, it allows you to make shortcuts for your day-to-day events.
Do you call someone everyday at 10 am? You’ll get a reminder from Siri everyday to do that!
ARKIT 2
ARKIT is a platform that allows developers to make augmented reality apps even more … real.
In this example, you can look at an object in your browser (Safari) and with ARKIT you can produce the object in real time!
Take a look at this machine (juicer? mixer? whatever it is). This was actually an image on an online web page, and using ARKIT 2, you were given the possibility to put it on your kitchen table to see how it would look!
ARKIT 2 also supports the integration of the measure app which has to be my absolute favourite.
To put ARKIT 2 in use, check out this HomeCourt app and its integration with the new iPhones. Using ARKIT 2 and the Camera app, you can, in real time:
- Run real time ball detection,
- Run movement trajectory,
- Track speed,
- Understand angles,
- Identify shot types.
This app was specifically designed to help basketball players (of all levels of expertise) improve their game and techniques. How amazing is this?
I want you to realize that there’s no sensor on any player, or the ball, or the court. The new iPhone can identify the way the player is throwing the ball, the angle at which the ball flies, the player’s technique, everything – even how many baskets you actually make!
Camera
Everyone wants to know about the iPhone camera. They are so widely used around the world that one of them even appeared as the front page of a Time magazine edition!
- 12 MP wide angle camera with deeper pixels and improved optical image stabilization.
- Improved True Tone flash.
- 12 MP telephoto camera.
- A 7 MP selfie camera, which drastically improves portrait mode photos.
The new tech behind the camera allows for better photo analysis, lighting, and other optimizations.
With Smart HDR, you can now capture crispier pictures. It allows you to capture details that you wouldn’t have been able to before – water drops, sunlight, strands of hair
Furthermore, you can even adjust the depth of the background in your pictures! Using as an example the picture above, you could make the water and the buildings extremely clear if you’d like, or even more blurred.
Battery life
The iPhone Xs gets you 30 minutes more battery life than what a new iPhone X has.
The iPhone Xs Max gets you an hour and a half more battery life than what a new iPhone X has.
Dual Sim Capability
For people who travel for long periods of time, switching out sim cards is a hassle, specially when you have a locked phone. With Dual Sim Dual Standby you can now have 2 phone numbers in 1 iPhone.
With eSim technology (in iPads, iWatches, and iPhones), you have the functionality for a second phone number without needing a physical sim card in your phone. However, for the folks in China this isn’t allowed – which is why a modified iPhone will be sold there that allows two sim card entries into your iPhone.
Environment
- Apple runs on 100% renewable energy!
- The new iPhones use a recycled tin in the main logic board of the iPhone – without reducing performance. This one change prevents the mining of 10,000 tons of tin oil.
- The speakers are made with recycled plastic.
- Apple GiveBack program – regardless of the device you have or the condition you have it in, you can give your device back to Apple and they give you an appropriate amount ($$$$) for it.
- These products are either fixed and donated to others, or recycled and re-used for future products.
Surprise! The iPhone Xr
What? Yes. Remember the iPhone 5c? The iPhone Xr is the 5c version of the iPhone X.
It has many commendable features, let’s take a look:
- Durable glass.
- Aluminum finish.
- Colours offered: white, black, blue, corral, yellow, and others.
- Edge-to-edge glass.
- IP67 protection.
- The iPhone Xr has the most advanced LCD ever in a smartphone – known as the Liquid Retina display.
Comparing it to the iPhone 8 Plus, the iPhone Xr has a bigger display in a smaller body. 6.1 inches, to be precise – which is pretty darn decent.
Since it looks like the iPhone X, you can assume it has a similar iPhone X experience – albeit without a 3D Touch feature. However, it does come with Haptic Touch, which is a vibration sort of experience with each tap on the screen!
Yes, it has the Face ID recognition software, as well as a true depth camera system.
You can use your face to unlock your phone as well as to pay using Apple Pay. Also, it supports Apple’s A12 Bionic Chip – which includes all of the incredible experiences mentioned above.
As opposed to the recent iPhones, the iPhone Xr only has a single back camera. Nonetheless, it is a 12MP wide-angle camera as well with several nice features. And yes, it has portrait mode as well.
As far as battery life, comparing it to the iPhone 8 Plus – the iPhone Xr gives you an hour and a half more battery than the 8 Plus. Decent!
Pricing and availability
The iPhone Xr pre order starts October 19th for a whopping price of only $749! That’s one of the cheapest new iPhones we’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Also, it’s available in 64 GB, 128 GB, or 256 GB.
As far as two other new phones, the iPhone Xs starts at $999, while the iPhone Xs Max starts at $1099. Now, since it is a vastly better phone than the Xr, it comes with one final surprise. These phones have 3 sizes as well, but instead of a 64-128-256 GB pattern, it has a 64 GB, 256 GB, and a 512 GB model.
You are literally witnessing a phone that has more storage space than my current LAPTOP.
That being said, these iPhones start shipping on September 21st!
