Apple and Tim Cook unveil new iPhone 7 in San Francisco
THE new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were revealed by Apple CEO Tim Cook this morning. The water-resistant devices have improved camera features, a new home button — and no headphone jack.
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THE rumours were true: there is more and less to love about the iPhone 7.
The headphone jack has gone, and we’ll all have to get used to using the adapter that comes with the new phone, or switch to either earphones that connecting through the Lightning port or wireless earphones such as the new Apple AirPods.
But the more we’re going to love about the new iPhone is the camera.
And that means there is now a compelling reason, other than just physical size, to consider upgrading to the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus.
Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled a second generation Apple Watch, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, with a dual lens camera. And for the first time, your favourite Apple device will be able to swim, shower and soak with you.
Cook kicked off the launch of the iPhone 7 in the most novel way: Carpool Karaoke.
The keynote event at the Bill Graham Civic Centre in San Francisco began with Tim Cook joining Pharrell Williams and James Corden for Carpool Karaoke, Cook began with a focus on Apple Music.
Cook said the streaming music service has 17 million paid subscribers, up from 15 million in June, and highlighted the exclusive music content.
Apple will host its 10 annual Apple Music Festival in London in a few weeks.
Cook then addressed the App Store. More than 140 billion apps have been downloaded on Apple devices.
“The App store has forever changed the world of software and forever has changed all of our lives,” Cook said.
There has been 106 per cent year on year growth in downloads. A key factor for the Apple App Store is that Apple users are more likely to buy apps than Android users, a fact that Cook pointed out saying that the App Store has generated more than two times the revenue “of our closest competitor”.
“Gaming is the most popular category on the store, with over half a million games to choose from”, he said.
GOOD NEWS FOR SUPER MARIO, POKEMON GO FANS
Tapping in to the nostalgia that has fuelled the success of Pokemon Go, Cook announced that Super Mario is coming to the App Store.
In more gaming news, Pokemon Go is coming to the Apple Watch.
John Hanke, Founder and CEO of Niantic, said the smartphone app has been downloaded more than 500 million times and players have walked more than 4.6 billion kilometres.
The Pokeon Go app shows how far you need to walk to the next Pokemon stop, track how far you walk and calorie burn and identify nearby pocket monsters.
The Pokemon Go app will be available by the end of this year.
APPLE WATCH SERIES 2
Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams also announced the second generation of Apple Watch.
The focus of the launch video is sport, with Apple Watch able to be used in swimming, meaning the watch is waterproof this time around.
The second generation is called Apple Watch Series 2.
Williams said the first Apple Watch was splash proof, this version is swim proof. You can wear it swimming or surfing, and is water resistant to 50m.
The speaker in the second version of the watch ejects water from the watch.
To test the effect of swimming, Apple built a simulator and put Watches in a swim simulator 24 hours a day for weeks at a time.
Apple has extended its fitness lab research into calorie burn while swimming. The workout app has two new workouts: a pool swim and an open water swim.
Williams says the Watch will get more accurate over time as it recognises the stroke style of the individual swimmer.
The second generation watch also has its own GPS built in, making it a much more effective running watch.
With a waterproof rating and GPS, Apple has answered the two most asked features from people who are keen runners, swimmers, cyclists and triathletes.
Along with a new chip, new operating system, GPS and waterproof rating, the Apple Watch Series 2 also comes in ceramic that is four times harder than stainless steel.
“It is faster, it is brighter,” Williams said of the second generation Watch. “We think that Apple Watch is the ultimate device for a healthy life. We think it will be especially popular with runners.”
Hermes line of @Apple Watch Series 2 #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/6ebU4aSjzN
— Mike Allen (@mikeallen) September 7, 2016
Apple Watch Series 2 starts at $529. Available on 16 September. Preorder from 9 September
Apple Watch Series 1 starts at $399. Available on 16 September. Preorder from 9 September
Apple Watch Hermes starts at $1779 and is available in Australia only from 23 September
WatchOS 3 ships on 14 September
APPLE WATCH NIKE PLUS
Taking its focus on health and fitness to a new level, Apple has released a special Watch in partnership with Nike called Apple Watch Nike Plus.
Nike president Trevor Edwards said staying motivated with exercise can be tough and more and more people are turning to running devices.
“But these devices are complex, they’re cluttered and they’re difficult to use,” Edwards said.
The Nike Plus sets out to simplify that. “Starting a run has never been easier”.
The Nike Plus prompts you with the number of days since your last run, a weather report and a note when your contacts are out running.
Every Sunday there is “Just Do It Sunday” where you joking other runners out for their weekly run.
“The Apple Watch and Nike Plus focuses on you and your life,” Edwards said. “It’s a journey that we’re on together and this is really just the start of a journey that we’re on together.”
The original Watch will still be available. It will be called Watch Series 1 and will have the same processor as Series 2.
Apple Watch Nike+ starts at $529. Available late October. Preorder from 9 September.
IPHONE 7 AND 7 PLUS
In a video presentation that at times looked like something out of Game of Thrones with baths of magnetised metal, chief design officer Jonny Ive, talked about the process that goes into designing the iPhone 7.
Then Phil Schiller, head of marketing, came to the stage to talk about 10 new features of the iPhone 7.
The new iPhone 7 comes in two new types of black (jet black and black), along with gold, silver and rose gold.
The home button also gets a revamp. It now has a Taptic Engine, similar to technology on the Apple Watch, that provides the feel of movement while being a solid piece of glass.
The former Apple employee in me has to say water resistant ≠water proof ðŸ˜
— Gek 🌠(@thegeek_chic) September 7, 2016
For the first time, the iPhone is water and dust resistant with an IP67 protection standard.
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus get a battery boost, with Apple calling it the longest battery life of any iPhone.
The iPhone 7 is rated as having 14 hours of wifi browsing on a battery charge and the 7 Plus has 15 hours.
Apple has dumped the 16GB phone size and the iPhone 7 now comes in 32GB, 128GB and 256GB, with Jet Black only available in the two bigger sizes.
The waterproof Apple Watch (GIF form) pic.twitter.com/dmuLKYthFW
— Sam Murphy Kelly (@HeySamantha) September 7, 2016
iPhone 7 starts at RRP $1079 inc. GST
iPhone 7 Plus starts at RRP $1269 inc. GST
Pre orders from Friday 9 September with availability from Friday 16 September
IPHONE CAMERA
The camera is always the biggest feature of a new iPhone.
With the iPhone 7, there is a new camera. For the first time, there is an optical image stabiliser in both the 7 and 7 Plus. There is a wider 1.8 aperture, a six-element lens and a faster 12 megapixel sensor and an improved flash.
Schiller spent a few minutes talking about improvements to the image sensor processor which takes 100 billion operations with every shot.
Apple just made the #iPhone7Plus more irresistible with a dual-lens camera https://t.co/Tr6cu3JVAv pic.twitter.com/Y0d8rutV0B
— CNET (@CNET) September 7, 2016
The iPhone 7 has upgraded the front facing camera to 7 megapixels but keeps the main camera at 12 megapixels.
The biggest news with the iPhone camera is in the 7 Plus, which has two cameras: one has a wide angle lens and one has a telephoto lens.
When you take a photo with the 7 Plus, you have the option to hit 2x which takes a picture with a telephoto lens.
You also have the option of extending the zoom from 2x to 10x, although that is with a digital zoom when you go past the optical zoom of 2x.
The camera app in the new iPhone 7 Plus has a portrait mode, which automatically adds depth of field to a scene, keeping a person in sharp focus with the background blurred through shallow depth of field.
Here’s how the iPhone 7 camera works https://t.co/ThQhbQAMRp pic.twitter.com/dMDb0ezkyI
— Apple News (@applenws) September 7, 2016
Photographer Jason Nocito, who tried the feature in the iPhone 7 Plus, said “this camera is gonna change the game”.
The portrait feature will be issued as a free update to iPhone 7 plus users later this year.
The iPhone 7 will have a screen that will be 25 per cent brighter than the 6S with a wider colour gamut. Instagram is updating its filters to suit the new phone.
APPLE AIRPODS
It has taken nearly 90 minutes but Apple is finally getting to the most talked about feature: the earphone jack.
The new iPhone has stereo speakers and, the rumours were right, the headphone jack has been dumped.
“From the start, we designed Lightning to be a great digital audio connector,” Schiller said.
The new iPhone will come with new EarPods that connect to the Lightning. Every iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will come with an adapter to connect your existing headphones through the Lightning port.
Why dump the audio jack?
“It comes down to one word: courage,” Schiller said. “Maintaining a single purpose ancient connector doesn’t make sense.”
If you don’t want to use the EarPods that come with the iPhone 7, Apple will release wireless AirPods.
The AirPods provide up to five hours of listening on a single charge.
The AirPods extend from the ear like a small stick and have microphones that automatically reduce background noise when you talk.
The AirPods come in a case that holds up to 24 hours of battery life.
To charge the AirPods, you put them in the case and charge the case through a Lightning port.
There is also a new wireless range of Beats headphones, including new wireless Beats for wearing while exercising and an “affordable” Beats X range.
Never forget. #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/1UdT3wNqFn
— I Love Apple (@TheAppleProduct) September 7, 2016
Wireless AirPods including charging case RRP $229 inc. GST from late October
FASTER PROCESSING CHIP
Apple says its A10 Fusion is most powerful chip ever for a smartphone https://t.co/JOpU2Guycs by @deantak pic.twitter.com/R4rqMlzgUr
— VentureBeat (@VentureBeat) September 7, 2016
"The Apple A10 Fusion, it's the mist powerful chip ever."
— shinji ikArie (@arienienhuis) September 7, 2016
I beg to differ. pic.twitter.com/Y6UW9wOVhz
The final of 10 key features in the new iPhone is the new chip, the A10 Fusion. Schiller said the chip was the most powerful chip in a smartphone ever. The A10 is 120X faster than the original iPhone and 40 per cent faster than the A9 chip in the iPhone 6S.
Rod Chester travelled to San Francisco as a guest of Apple.
Originally published as Apple and Tim Cook unveil new iPhone 7 in San Francisco
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