From worrying about the environment to introducing new products, Apple special event just ended now and the company is yet far away from disappointing us even when we already knew what was going to get released. Yes, a new iPhone SE, a 9.7 inch iPad Pro and some new cool Watch bands. Apart from this Tim Cook emphasized on how important the environment is for Apple and introduced Liam, a new Apple technology that is capable of recycling your every Apple product. In addition to this the tremendous success of ResearchKit and HealthKit allowed him to proudly announce CareKit to help the patients with utmost care and privacy. Let’s dive into the details.
The event started at 10:30 pm yesterday at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, CA. Tim Cook kicked off the keynote emphasizing on how important environmental policies are for Apple with an aim to convert every process at Apple to run on 100 percent renewable energy. All of the operations at Apple are running on 93 percent renewable energy as of now. With this kick start, Liam was introduced which is a custom designed robotic arm that can recycle 1.2 million Apple products every year, separating each and every component from the device which can be further reused. Take a look at this video to get an idea.
With ResearchKit and HealthKit, Apple helped the researchers and doctors to monitor and take care of their patients remotely without the need for any visits. This has introduced a method for a deeper understanding of the patients’ condition and the effectiveness of the medicine. Primarily adopted for Parkinson’s disease and Diabetes, the consistent and systematic data from the iPhones and Apple Watch allowed the researchers to find that the Type-2 diabetes has two more subtypes which would have not been possible without the kits. With these kits already in the treasure, Apple announced CareKit which is “a framework to build apps that empower people to take an active role in their care.” It basically helps you to take care of yourself after a treatment, say a major surgery in a more holistic manner rather than following just a sheet of paper that is handed over stating do’s and dont’s. It will be open source just like all the other kits and will be available in April. Here is a small video about ResearchKit and how it is helping people:
Moving on to the products. Cook announced some new bands to the Apple Watch including new Woven Nylon bands available in seven new colors ($49 each) and the Milanese Loop ($149) now in gorgeous black. That Watch also got a price cut to $299 from $349. That was it for the Watch.
After a little talk about the Apple TV, the iPhone SE was released which is the new entry level iPhone as the 5s is discontinued now. The SE is typically 5S on the outside but 6s on the inside. It has a 4-inch Retina display, A9 chip, M9 motion coprocessor and a 12 MP iSight camera coupled with FaceTime HD camera with Retina Flash. The phone is as fast as the 6s and is almost 3 times faster than the iPhone 5s. All of the features that we saw in 6s like Live photos and 4k video recording come with the SE too. Think of it as a 4-inch iPhone 6s. The phone will be available in all the colors as the 6s and starts at $399 for 16 GB model and goes upto $499 for 64 gigs. Orders are starting March 24.
The new 9.7 inch iPad Pro was the much anticipated launch for the day. The 9.7 inched version is highly derived from its daddy iPad Pro. Starting from $599 for the base 32 GB WiFi only and going up to a whopping $1,029 for 256 GB WiFi + Cellular, the new iPad Pro is a $100 more than the iPad Air 2. It has a resolution of 2048 x 1536 with 264 ppi, an A9X chip coupled with M9 motion co processor, the new iPad Pro packs a wide color and true tone display making it the first iPad to include a true-tone display that changes with the environment around you for a more comfortable watching experience. It has a 12-MP iSight camera coupled with a true-tone flash and Live Photos and is the first iPad with focus pixels and auto HDR. It is also the first iPad with 4K video recording and cinematic video stabilization and the first iPad with 5MP FaceTime HD camera and Retina Flash. Having the same speaker system and the true tone display makes it a 100 dollars costly than the Air 2. The orders are starting from March 24. A small video for the new iPad Pro.
So the Liam, ResearchKit and CareKit, Watch bands, iPhone SE, iPad Pro 9.7 inches and a great keynote. All in all it was predictable but not disappointing.
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