Untangle The Future Of Technology With Apple’s ‘Time-Flies’ Event!

TL;DR

• Apple Watch Series 6 launched;
• Watch SE with Watch OS 7;
• iPad Air with incredible features;
• More announcements coming on 16th Sep.

Apple ‘Time-Flies’ event meant a little more this year! Life has changed in ways big and small, but Apple didn’t fail to leave a positive impact on technology. At the company’s virtual event happening after Apple WWDC 2020, Tim Cook started out with new gadgets coming from Apple. If you missed watching the event, here is the quick glance of what all was announced on Day 1 of the Apple Event.

Apple Watch

“The future of health is on your wrist,” this was the headline Apple chose to launch their two new Apple Watches; Series 6 and the SE. Here’s what you need to know about the new watch updates.

Apple Watch Series 6

Series 6 is an all-in-one health care system and has received an update, with a key new health sensor, as well as features focusing to make the gadget easier to use with kids. The new Apple Watch Series 6 has got new colors and finishes, an always-on display, and extended health features, including blood oxygen saturation, or Sp02. Also, has received a new, customized A13-based processor that is faster.

Blood oxygen 

This new Apple Watch sensor can measure the blood oxygen level in just 15 seconds, and can also track blood oxygen in the background. The technology used here will enable the always-on-display, turning watch to look more like a watch. This new blood oxygen sensor is made up of four LED clusters and four photodiodes. It works with the Blood Oxygen app to determine the blood oxygen level.

ECG on wrist

Users can take an ECG anytime, anywhere, and see their fitness metrics at a glance. The electrodes are built into the Digital Crown and the back crystal work together with the ECG app to read the heart’s electrical signals. Users need to simply touch the Digital Crown to generate an ECG waveform in just 30 seconds. 

Family Setup

This feature will let parents set up a cellular watch for kids or older adults who don’t have an iPhone. It doesn’t require pairing with an iPhone and triggers parental controls. 

Apple Watch director Deidre Caldbeck, mentioned during the event, “Family Setup enables greater independence for your kids or older parents, and you have the comfort of knowing they’re just a call away.”

Users can utilize features like Emergency SOS, Maps, Siri, FaceTime, Alarms, and the App Store. Further kids can use their Apple Watch to track their own activities. Also, the inclusion of new Schooltime Mode enables kids to stay focused, by placing the watch in DND mode.

Parents can communicate with kids using iMessage and FaceTime, and set up automatic location notifications to keep track of family members and place content restrictions on app downloads.

Fitness Plus

Apple announced Apple Fitness Plus, it is a fitness streaming subscription, that guides the workouts using the metrics from the Apple Watch. 

Users can pick any workout video from the Fitness Plus app on the iPad, iPhone, or Apple TV and start it. The moment it is started, the Apple Watch syncs the heart rate, calories burned, pace, and duration data to Fitness Plus. 

A variety of weekly workout routines can be accessed for $9.99 (£9.99, AU$14.99) per month or $ 79.99 (£80, AU$120) per year. For a new Apple Watch buyer, this service will come for FREE first 3 months. 

Solo Loop

The new Apple Watch Series 6 will have an innovative new seamless strap, sans a clasp or buckle. They are made up of soft, stretchable silicone rubber, and have braided and non-braided versions. And they are swim-proof too.

Jeff Williams mentioned, “[The] Solo Loop is stretchable so you can easily slip it on and off your wrist.”

These loops are available in two materials and nine custom sizes, tailored to the size of your wrist.

Apple Bundle

It is the subscription bundle, bringing different services at different price tiers. 

• Users can access the bundle with Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage at $14.95 per month.
• With the Family Plan, they get an additional 200GB at $19.95 per month
• For the Premier bundle, users need to pay $29.95 per month and access Apple News Plus, Fitness Plus, and 2TB of iCloud storage.

New watch faces

With Watch Series 6, users can choose from the newest faces ever, then customize them to match their mood, style, or favorite activity.

More features

• The new Sleep app helps in making a regular bedtime routine and keep track of the sleep trends night after night;
• The new always-on altimeter regularly tracks elevation change in real-time;
• Get ready to groove on 70 Million songs on Apple Music4;
• Share Activity rings with friends and family;
• Invite friends to compete in a 7-day challenge.

Environment care

Apple has taken note of the environment and has made products without harmful chemicals like beryllium or mercury and using 100% recycled rare earth minerals in its devices.

Color and design

The Watch Series 6 has brand new Red & Blue aluminum cases. The material can be chosen from titanium, stainless steel, and 100% recycled aluminum. The colors available are Space Black Titanium, new Gold Stainless Steel, and Silver Aluminum.

Cost and availability

The 40mm GPS model starts at $399 (£379, AU$599); The 44mm model starts at $429 (£409, AU$649); Adding the cellular option to either model adds $100 to the price. Apple is expected to start shipping this Friday.

Apple Watch SE

This is the Watch for people running on a budget, and will have WatchOS 7, water-resistance and a proprietary dual-core S5 processor, and has got a much bigger display.

Users can access SE variants starting at just $279 and it will start to ship out from Sep 18.

I’m hoping Apple products would bring world close together and will help in solving some of our greatest challenges, to improve our way of life, our health and our future.  

Abhinav Singh, CEO of Techugo

Eighth-Gen iPad Air

Apple knows how to capture the users’ attention, and this is where, just before the holiday season, the tech giant revealed the new iPad Air. It was the 10th anniversary of the iPad’s launch, Apple revealed it has already sold over 500 Million of the devices. Let’s find out what new this iPad Air has received.

Design

Talking on the design perspective, Apple has made significant changes and has much thinner bezels all around the display. The brand new iPad Air has got a bigger screen- 10.9 inches, and this could be achieved by removing the home button on the front of the device. Now, Touch ID to unlock the screen will be available on the top button instead. You cannot miss the Liquid Retina display (2360 x 1640) on this new iPad Air that will come fully laminated with True Tone support and anti-reflective coating.

Hardware 

The processor has received the major update and is upgraded to the all-new A14 Bionic chip, and as stated by Apple, the new processor is powerful enough to handle tasks like editing 4K video and playing graphics-intensive games, thanks to a new four-core GPU.

Inside the device, apart from A14 Bionic, a 5nm chip with a six-core CPU with two high and four low are available, and 11.8 billion transistors. Apple has promised to improve its performance by 40% compared to the last iPad. As per Apple, it’s the “most advanced chip” it has ever made, and it also includes specific ML accelerators that apps will be able to use. 

USB-C

Further, iPad Air has switched over to a USB-C connection from Apple’s own Lightning port. It will support 20W charging and 5Gbps data transfers. Here, Wi-Fi 6 will also be included, and optional LTE models will be available, with Apple promising 60 percent faster LTE connectivity.

Camera

The camera of iPad Air has got 12-megapixel rear camera from the iPad Pro and upgraded it with improved video stabilization on the Air. The front-facing 7-megapixel FaceTime HD camera is included on the Air, with smart HDR and support for 1080p 60fps video capture

Accessories

To talk about the accessories, this latest iPad Air is ready to support the (new) Apple Pencil, which would attach with the tablet magnetically. You can buy this new Pencil for $129. And the Magic Keyboard is sleek and quite similar to Apple’s iPad Pro, with a cost of $299. This new iPad Air will also support Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio and is available at $179 with new Smart Folio covers and can be bought at $79,

Colors

The iPad Air will be available in five colors- silver, space gray, rose gold, green, and sky blue. 

Cost & availability 

It’ll be available starting at $599 (£579, AU$899) and Apple says the new iPad Air will be available next month.

On the other hand, the eighth-generation entry-level iPad (most in-demand) starts at $329 (£329, AU$499) and is $299 for education customers. This 10.2-inch device will have a similar display size and hardware design as before and will be available starting from this Friday. 

But this is not all!

Apple is set to release a number of software updates on September 16th, including iOS 14 which is expected to be better than iOS 13, along with iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14. 

So keep watching this space with Techugo and brighten up your day with Apple technology.