We're always excited for Apple events, and by now, we're sure you know why. It's always great to see some good news and reveals during this pandemic that has surely made this year horrible! With this year's September 2020 event, we have to say that there's both good and bad news. The good news? Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch SE, iPad 8th Gen and a new iPad Air. The bad? No iPhone 12/20. Gutted! Check out The Verge's video below for a recap of the event:
Check Your Health
As the tagline "Time Flies" implied, there was definitely going to be a focus on the Apple Watch for this year's September event, and if you'd assumed that there would be a reveal of a new watch, you were correct! The Apple Watch Series 6 looks to be the smartwatch of choice for the health-conscious and the hipster (it is after all, an Apple product). The defining feature though is the ability to check your blood oxygen level, through a revolutionary app and the use of four LED clusters and photodiodes on the blood oxygen sensor, built into the back of the watch. The app will work perfectly in tandem with the sensors and advanced algorithms, which will determine the colour of your blood and give you detailed, accurate readings. It looks like that workout is going to become much more technical!
There's also plenty to be excited about from both the software and hardware side as well. The Apple Watch 6 will intoduce watchOS 7, which will allow you to add a personal touch like never before with a generous seven new watch face options, including types such as Stripes and Chronograph Pro. As an added bonus, curating, discovering and sharing new options will be included to further sweeten the deal. Those of you hungry for specs are in for quite a treat, with a dual core processor based on the monstrous A13 Bionic Chip included in the iPhone 11, plus expect Apps to run 20 times faster with an upgraded S6 SiP, with no effect on the eighteen hour battery life. Hungry for more? You also have included a U1 chip and Ultra Wideband antennas, a retina display that's 2.5 times brighter than Apple Watch 5, and perhaps the most important, faster charging with a 1.5 hour charge being enough to fully power your Apple Watch Series 6.
Last but not least, are the new Apple Watch Bands which are Solo loop and Braided solo loop alongside the two new stylish colours, Aluminium red and blue. Apple has proved once again they certainly know how to make an intelligent watch that's also a pretty face!
One Happy family
There's no shortage of people out there ready to convince you that technology will be the bane of your child's existence, but with the reveal of Apple's Family Setup, we think they'll be promoting the complete opposite! Next time your kids ask you for an iPhone, you can give them an Apple Watch with all the features of an iPhone! With Family Setup, they'll be able to make calls, send messages and even customize their own Memoji. As a parent, you'll get unprecedented access allowing you to approve contacts, send your kids lunch money securely on Apple Pay, view notifications on their spending plus check their location with maps and alerts. Facetime will also be offered, but there's no guarantee your kids will answer when they've snuck out somewhere.
The anti-technology brigade will be pleased (or livid) to hear that Family Setup includes a mode called Schooltime, made to keep kids focused with a yellow circle on the watch face signifying that access to apps is restricted, which should be a great feature for all you teachers out there! That's not all, parents can also set custom times for it to be activated, with no more hidden distractions to worry about. The feature though will require a wireless service plan in order to recieve cellular service, while also handily including emergency features for making notifying contacts more efficient than ever.
Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself: Special Edition
You thought releasing another special edition iPhone was enough for apple? You thought wrong! Hot on the heels of the announcement for the Apple Watch Series 6, we now have an Apple Watch Special Edition, which looks to be the Apple Watch experience without the Apple Watch price. Courtesy from the wizards at Apple, Expect a design and look that's the same as the Apple Watch Series 6, plus all the features such as heart rate and sleep monitoring, as well as a powerful S5 dual-core SiP, fall detection and up to 50 metres of water resistance. It will be available in celullar just like every other Apple Watch and priced moderately from $429 US. No excuses now not to jump on the Apple Watch bandwagon.
Push It To The Limit
The pandemic and its ensuing lockdowns have introduced an entire generation to the perils of 4AM binge streaming sessions combined with an excessive consumption of doritos and cheetos (we truly recommend the flaming hot variants). With this in mind alongside many gyms being closed, Apple's new fitness service, rightly called Fitness+, is the perfect way to convert those flabs into abs, all from the comfort of your living room. Apple describes it as 'a new kind of fitness experience," and it's not hard to see why, with videos of workouts starring motivational instructors that include personal metrics such as your heart rate, plus there's even a burn bar, allowing yourself to compete against others in setting new records. It's like a healthy way to get a high score!
There's an entire archive of videos to suit every kind of workout, whether it's a chilled out Yoga session or a sweaty cardio workout for when you're desperate for that summer body. Expect a fully customisable experience alongside suggestions and trainers that collaborate with others alongside curating playlists. You could even say that Apple are now providing us with personal trainers.
One Subscription To Rule Them All
Interesting in combining all of your Apple services under one convenient plan? Of course you are, and with Apple One, you'll get three options to simplify all of your services, starting with the individual plan that offers Apple music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade and 50GB of iCloud storage for only $14.95 US per month, with a family option available that allows sharing with up to five members alongside 200GB of iCloud storage for $19.95 US per month. Those of you intrigued by Apple Fitness+ will gravitate towards the $29.95 US per month selection, with everything in the previous plans plus a monstrous two terabytes of data packaged with Apple's new fitness app and Apple News Plus.
8th Time Lucky
In an announcement that will surprise nobody but is still exciting nevertheless, there's an iPad 8th Generation on the horizon! The new iPad not only plans to bring the iPad experience without the iPad price, but this 8th Gen iPad will be the first entry level model with a Neural Engine, powered by the A12 Bionic chip. The iPad 8th Gen starts at only $329 US and also comes bundled with a 10.2- inch display making this iteration forty per cent faster with twice the graphics capability. The real star of the show here though is iPadOS 14, with its stronger integrations with Apple Pencil alongside many other quality of life improvements such as universal search, redesigned widgets and sidebars for apps. With a price this cheap, those strapped for cash won't feel so bad for upgrading during this pandemic.
In The Air Tonight
Whenever there's a new iPad announced, you can be sure an iPad Air follows, and this time is no different. The new iPad Air, called iPad Air predictibly enough (it'll certainly be convenient searching this on Google), will integrate the one and only, A14 Bionic Chip, that aims to revolutionize what an iPad can be. With a beautiful liquid retina display oozing with vibrant P3 wide colours, immersive landscape stereo speakers, plus a forty per cent faster CPU, thirty per cent faster graphics, ten times faster machine learning, Wi-Fi 6 and even 4K video editing. Top it all of with a 10.9 inch screen plus a 2360x1460 resolution, and you may mistake what's on your screen for real life.
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