Hey Siri Event Roundup
Apple was on the stage at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on September 9th 2015 to launch several gadgets including the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, iPad Pro, iPad Mini 4, New Apple TV and also new bands and finishes for their luxury Apple Watch at the Hey Siri event. They have also announced that iOS 9 and watchOS2 will also be launched on September 16th. So today we are going to give you a roundup of what happened at the Apple Event.
iPhone 6S and 6S Plus!
The main focus of this event was obviously the new iPhones which were launched at the later part of a event.
Design
The iPhone 6S and the 6S Plus look exactly like the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus other than that the newer iPhones are made out of stronger 7000 series aluminum which is a lot more stronger than the previous generation. The 6S will feature a 4.7 Inch screen while the 6S+ will have a 5.5 Inch screen much like the earlier generations. A new “Rose Gold” color option was also made available alongside the pre-existing Gold, Silver and Space Gray models.
3D Touch
3D touch is very similar to Apple’s new “Force Touch” technologies found on the new Macbook and the Apple Watch., which allows users to peek and pop, enabling customers to preview stuff like text messages, flight information, calendar information, and also to access shortcuts available through various kinds of apps throughout the App Store.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSTEB8cdQwo]
A9 Chip
The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus come with the beastly A9 chip with the embedded M9 motion processor which will provide better results in terms of tracking. The A9 chip is 70% faster in terms of CPU performance and 90% faster in terms of graphics performance than the previous generation A8 chip, which is very impressive.
Improved Cameras
Both the Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are equipped with better camera which has a 12 MP sensor at the back instead of the 8 MP available in the earlier models, which is capable of shooting 4k (3840×2160) videos at 30 frames per second. The front camera is also bumped up to an 5 MP shooter and now the screen is able to act as a flash for the front facing camera. Optical Image Stabalization (OIS) is now available for both photos and videos but is still limited to the Plus variant.
Pricing and Avaibility
The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will start at 199$ and 299$ respectively if you buy it with a 2 Year contract from the specified US carriers including Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and many more.
iPhone 6S Pricing:
16GB: 199$ with contract, 649$ without contract
64GB: 299$ with contract, 749$ without contract
128GB: 399$ with contract, 849$ without contract
iPhone 6S Plus Pricing:
16GB: 299$ with contract, 749$ without contract
64GB: 399$ without contract, 849$ without contract
128GB: 499$ without contract, 949$ without contract
Note: Pricing in US Dollars
The pre-order will begin on September 12th 2015 but the devices will be launched in many countries including United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United Kingdom, on September 25th 2015. The 6S and the 6S Plus will be available in 130 countries till the end of this year.
New Apple TV!
The forth generation of the Apple TV is really a big upgrade from the previous generations. Why?
Design
The design of the new Apple TV is very similar to that of the previous models retaining its black hockey puck design but it is a bit thicker and heavier. The device’s exact dimensions are 1.3 inches x 3.9 inches x 3.9 inches and it weighs just under 1 pound (425 grams).
New User Interface
The UI of the new Apple TV is much similar to iOS 9 with some little tweaks. You can double tap the home button to view the apps you have recently used and also search from wherever you want with the help of Siri. You can also customize your home screen and set new cinematric screen savers and more.
Siri and Touch Remote
Siri integration is a key part of the new Apple TV which allows you to search for stuff like music, movies etc from multiple apps like Netfilx, Hulu, HBO, iTunes etc. Siri can answer questions like who is starring the movie and reply parts of the movie by rewarding. For eg, you can ask Siri “What did she say?” which will rewind the movie for 15 seconds and also temporary bring up subtitles if its not enabled earlier.
The remote has a touch pad which helps you to navigate through the interface of the new Apple TV. It also has an in-built button and dual microphones for talking with Siri. The remote is also equipped with Bluetooth 4.0, an IR transmeter, accelerometer, gyroscope, lighting conductor for charging and a rechargeable battery lasting months on a single charge
App Store and Gaming
Apple is trying to compete with companies like Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft in terms of gaming by enabling an app store in the tvOS and providing native tvOS SDK and Metal for developers to create apps and games for the television. The Remote acts a game controller, with the touch pad acting as a virtual directional pad while it also supports MFi-certified Bluetooth controllers and Joysticks.
Pricing and Availibility
The Apple TV will be available at 149$ (for the 32GB version) and 199$ (for the 64GB version). Developers can request for the Apple TV Developer Kit by September 11.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGe66lSeSXg]
iPad Pro
The iPad Pro is a 12.9 Inch Tablet launched with a resolution of 2732×2048 on its vibrant retina display, which equals to 5.6 million pixels, more than any other iOS device and even the Macbook Pro with Retina Display. The display is both non-reflective and fingerprint resistant which is a really nice touch by Apple.
Specs
The iPad Pro comes with the new Apple A9X chip which is said to provide 1.6 times faster performance than the iPad Air 2. Apple claims that this device is 80% faster in terms of overall CPU usage and 90% faster in terms of Graphics than most portable PCs, making it able to run desktop class apps like iMovie with Desktop Class Performance.
The iPad Pro measures 6.9mm thick and weighs 1.57 pounds and also features a four speaker audio system with two speakers on each side to balance the frequencies, and put out an audio level of up to 3 times than that of the iPad Air 2. Other than this, the device is equipped with a 8 MP iSight camera, Touch ID, dual microphone and 3.5mm headphone jack.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlYC8gDvutc&w=560&h=340]
Accessories
Apple has introduced two accessories for the new 12.9 Inch iPad at the Hey Siri Event, one of them being the extremely overpriced stylus pen known as the Apple Pencil which can detect force, tilt as well as position and needs to be charged with the lighting connector on the iPad Pro. The second accessory is a delicate and clean smart keyboard which connects magnetically to the iPad Pro’s three dot Smart Connector.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iicnVez5U7M&w=560&h=340]
Pricing and Avaibility
The iPad Pro will be available in three variants: Silver, Space Gray and Gold, starting at 799$ for the 32 GB model, 949$ for the 128GB model and another extra 130$ for the LTE model summing up the price to 1079$.
