Last week on #TechTuesdays we stopped and took a look at those fancy new iPhone models coming out on September 25 from Apple — the space gray, silver, champagne gold, and rose gold
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus variants.
Apple’s September “Hey, Siri” event yielded more than just iPhones, however. In addition to those updates, there were significant refreshes made to the iPad and Apple TV lines. Most notably, there is an all-new, beastly iPad Pro with stylus and keyboard support, as well as a do-it-all Apple TV. We’ll check out each below and what they bring to the table both business-wise and in the sheer interest of entertainment.
iPad Pro
Quite simply, the iPad Pro is taking standout features of Microsoft’s Surface tablet and introducing them to the hardware and software fit-and-finish of the iPad and iOS. Let’s go down the list of the new iPad’s key features.
Apple Pencil — It’s important to point out how Steve Jobs notoriously “downvoted” (to use Internet lingo) the stylus as an input method during his
original iPhone keynote, although the stylus for the iPad Pro — the whimsically-named Apple Pencil — is designed for an entirely different screen real estate with creative professionals in mind.
Sensors are built into the Pencil itself, and unlike many competing products, the Pencil not only detects positioning and pressure level, but it also detects the tilt of the device. This means that you can touch one on-screen pixel at a time as you wish, and that thicker lines can be drawn with the Pencil by pressing harder against the screen. More interestingly, holding the Pencil at an angle allows you to add shading to what you are doing, as if you were tilting a regular drawing pencil.
The Apple Pencil is an optional $99 add-on accessory.
Apple Smart Keyboard — Moving beyond just offering Bluetooth keyboards, the new iPad Pro can now be paired with the all-new Apple Smart Keyboard. As its name suggests, the Smart Keyboard incorporates the design of the existing iPad Smart Cover with an integrated keyboard that is covered with a sort of woven fabric. It connects to the iPad Pro via the Smart Connector at the bottom of the iPad Pro unit. This is a magnetic port that offers up both data and power functionality — the Smart Keyboard does not require its own dedicated battery as a result.
The Apple Smart Keyboard is an optional $169 accessory.
Other iPad Pro Specs — The new iPad Pro features a A9X chip (a slightly beefier version of the new iPhone 6s’s A9 chip), and we’re going to have to wait until benchmarks are available to truly understand what this new machine is capable of. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook compares the iPad Pro to most desktop-class computers, and Apple notes that in their tests the A9X enjoys a 1.8x speed advantage and 2x graphics performance advantage over last year’s A8X in the iPad Air 2.
The iPad Pro’s display offers 5.6 million pixels… the most ever in an iOS device. There’s also an impressive (for an iPad) 8-megapixel camera on the rear with 1080p video recording, and a 1.2 megapixel front shooter capable of 720p video recording. Finally, there are now four speakers instead of two in other iPad models.
iPad Pro starts at a $799 price (32GB, Wi-Fi only), with 128GB Wi-Fi only weighing in at $949, and a 128GB model with cellular ready to assault your wallet to the tune of $1,079. All models will be available sometime in November.
Note: The iPad Mini also received a refresh.
You can read more here.
Apple TV
In the interest of having a little fun, let’s take a look at the new Apple TV that was also announced during the “Hey, Siri” event.
During the Apple TV’s lifespan, Apple has officially referred to the product line as a “hobby” that hasn’t seen frequent, significant updates. That’s all changed with the introduction of this latest Apple TV, as Apple is going “all-in.” This may not alter the way you do business, but it’s a fun item for the home that may end up transforming how you interact with quite a number of elements in your house, so we’ll quickly hit the highlights below.
Siri — A big part of the new Apple TV is fully-integrated Siri support. Pressing the dedicated Siri button on the new remote will allow you to interact with the device with just your voice, or you can simply say “Hey, Siri” from anywhere within the room. You can use Siri to search through your iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Showtime libraries all at once (with more sources being supported in the future). You may tell Siri to pull up a specific show, or a certain genre, or even the exact episode of a show that features a particular guest star, for example. You can even do things like ask Siri “Wait, what was that?,” and she’ll rewind 15 seconds and put on closed captioning.
Apple TV Remote — The remote for the Apple TV has been completely redesigned. Aside from the aforementioned dedicated Siri button and your typical assortment of buttons, there is a glass touch panel at the top that allows you to effortlessly (at least in theory) scroll through menus and selections. Oh, and a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope, which leads to the next point:
Gaming — Apple TV’s new remote with integrated accelerometer and gyroscope functions just as a Nintendo Wii controller does, allowing for motion-controlled gaming. The new Apple TV allows for third-party, dedicated game controllers, too. That’s one way to keep the kids entertained, right?
App Store — More than just keeping the children enthralled, the new Apple TV app store will allow for all manner of app development that will make the platform a far more entertaining product for the entire family than was ever previously possible.
Available in late October, the new Apple TV comes in a 32GB variant at $149 and a beefier 64GB version at $199. Here’s a nice
video walkthrough of the new features.
Wrap-Up
That’s all for that whopper of an Apple event! Good stuff for many of you good folks out there.
So, what’s next in the pipeline?
Google is hosting a media event on September 29 to introduce new Nexus phone models and a second-generation Chromecast, so keep it with #TechTuesdays over the next couple weeks as we sum up all the lovely announcements from that little shindig, too.
Until next time!
