Apple TV 4K unveiled

The public address system requested everyone at the venue - "out of courtesy" - to switch off all laptop screens.

Seconds after, a familiar voice began echoing. It was that of the late Steve Jobs, the legendary visionary who had chartered the path Apple is currently enjoying.

His successor, CEO Tim Cook, turned emotional while dedicating the event to his former boss.

"Steve left so much to me and to all of us, not a day goes by that we don't think of him," he said.

A decade after Jobs introduced the first iPhone, which changed the way we look at mobile devices, Cook is beginning a new one with a "futuristic" smartphone.

The world's most valuable company finally unveiled the iPhone X - read as "ten" - a nod to the 10th anniversary of the iconic device, plus other new products that, for all intents and purposes, were mere undercards leading to the main event, so to speak.

New to Watch

What was a hotly-anticipated event turned into a game of patience.

First introduced was the latest iteration of the company's only wearable device, Apple Watch Series 3. The biggest news was that it will now come in a cellular version, meaning it will be able to make and receive calls, messages and others, even without an iPhone nearby.

The S3 architecture on the Series 3 is a faster dual-core processor, which, for the first time, allows Siri to speak through the Watch. The new custom chip, W2, is pegged to make Wi-Fi 50 per cent faster, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 50 per cent more power efficient.

Also announced was watchOS 4, which comes with an updated Heart Rate app that now comes with notifications that alerts a user if his or her heart rate is elevated beyond a specific threshold. The revamped Music app, meanwhile, automatically syncs playlists and, later this fall, will allow users to stream music - "40 million songs on your wrist", as Apple dubs it.

It will be available in the UAE on September 23, and prices will start at Dh1,299. The price of the Apple Watch Series 1, meanwhile, is now down to Dh999.

A better view

Apple also announced the souped-up Apple TV 4K, promising more true-to-life colours and better detail in any scene.

The device will soon offer 4K content from popular services, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Any video owned on an Apple TV will be converted to 4K, free of charge.
Also later this year, Apple TV 4K will offer live sports in the United States, in which users can track teams and games, as well as receive on-screen notifications.

The 32GB version will be sold for Dh699, while the 64GB model will go for Dh749.

Not-so-modest upgrades

For most of the waiting period, it was thought that the iPhone 8 would be the actual star of the show - but we all know that it was a mere appetiser.

The direct successor to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus - the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus - come with good upgrades, including a new glass and aluminium design, "most durable glass ever in a smartphone", plus the new A11 Bionic chip, wireless charging, cameras that support Portrait Lighting and augmented reality optimisation - all of these that we would further explain as we move on.

It will also ship with iOS 11, the revamped operating system that includes several new features that promise a more seamless and simplified experience.

The screens remain as Retina HD displays and still come in 4.7 and 5.5 inches, respectively. This time, however, only two capacities are available - 64GB and 256GB - and prices will start at Dh2,849. The UAE will be among the first countries to get first crack at these devices, with pre-orders starting on September 15 and availability beginning September 23.

The 'X' factor

As soon as all of those were out of the way, Cook seemingly brought a collective sigh of relief when he said there's "one more thing".

Alas, the iPhone X was finally confirmed and revealed, dubbed as the "future" of smartphones.

Though indeed a major announcement, everything that was unveiled were expected thanks to all the leaks and rumours during the lead-up to this day, some even dating several months back - and even as early as late last year, such as the biggest design overhaul to the iPhone since the transition from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6, the all-screen front display.

At 5.8 inches, the iOS 11-powered iPhone X is now Apple's biggest smartphone to date. It also features an enhanced Super Retina Display, and it's also the company's first device with an OLED screen.

"For more than a decade, our intention has been to create an iPhone that is all-display," Apple chief design officer Jony Ive said. "The iPhone X marks a new era for the iPhone - one in which the device disappears into the experience."

Though not the first in the market to have OLED - Apple is known not to pioneer certain features, but has a knack of putting its own touch and thus making it stand out - the company says the one found on the iPhone X is the "first OLED panel that rises to the standards of the iPhone". The device supports Dolby Vision and HDR10, both high-end display standards.

The device comes with the new A11 Bionic chip, featuring a six-core design: two performance cores that are 25 per cent faster and four efficiency cores that are 70 per cent faster than the previous A10 Fusion chip. It is also integrated with the new Apple-designed GPU, which is 30 per cent faster than its predecessor. Battery life has been bumped up, now two hours longer than the iPhone 7, and it now also supports wireless charging. Apple also previewed AirPower, a dock that wirelessly charges an iPhone, an Apple Watch and AirPods all at the same time - though they said it would be available "next year".

Major camera improvements

The iPhone X retains the dual-lens camera system of the iPhone 7 Plus, but now both lenses come with optical image stabilisation - first seen in the recently introduced Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - plus an improved f/2.4 aperture on the telephoto lens for better image quality.

And with Apple's push into augmented reality, the cameras have also been improved to work in sync with ARKit, which promises to bring more realistic and immersive AR experiences to life.

Portrait Mode - the iPhone 7 Plus' major camera feature - now also comes with Portrait Lighting. Simply put, this allows portrait shots with a shallow depth-of-field effect of not just blur, but new lighting effects, including totally blacking out the background and leaving the subject.

But perhaps this time around, the front camera - long viewed as merely for video-calls and selfies - would steal the show. And it makes up for the loss of the home button, an iconic part of the device.

Located beneath the tiny non-screen portion on top of the iPhone X is an intricate and complex camera system that won't just give you selfies - it's also home to the TrueDepth camera, the mechanism that powers the new Face ID, which uses face recognition technology to unlock the device. Apple has guaranteed that the innovation is fool-proof - even if you try to use photos or a twin, and it recognises the owner even if he or she is wearing glasses or a hat, or the face has changed - more facial hair, for example - over time.

Furthermore, Portrait Mode is now also available on the front camera, along with Portrait Lighting.

Another new addition is the pre-installed Animoji, which uses TrueDepth to capture 50 different facial muscle movements and replicates them in a dozen emojis, which can then be sent via iMessage.

As expected, though, the iPhone X will be released much later as reported. Pre-orders will begin on October 27 in almost 60 terrtories - including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and India - and will be in shelves starting November 4. It will also come in two storage configurations - 64GB and 256GB - and will start at Dh4,099.

Source: Khaleej Times