It was just not the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus that the Cupertino-based Apple launched on September 9. Here's a lowdown on three more gadgets launched by the company in San Francisco.
Apple Watch
Apple's event at San Francisco on Wednesday kicked off with updates for the Apple Watch. The event was eagerly looked forward to and first up, Apple introduced Watch OS 2, which will be made available by September 16.
Apple lined up plenty of apps for the wearable gizmo, and had popular apps like Facebook Messenger, Airstrip, Go Pro etc made available. The iTranslate app can really prove a boon for many, translating on the go, and performance results will be eagerly awaited.
It seems like Apple is leaning towards providing health industry benefits. With Airstrip, a doctor can monitor a patient's vital signs. All this can be done remotely, providing immense ease, but it remains to be seen how many will be willing to impose such pricey gadgets with the treatment package.
Indulging in high fashion, Apple announced partnership with Hermes, a french company, to bring out new line of leather straps for the watch. With colours like rose gold, emphasis seems to be on female customers.
Apple iPad Pro
Apple took off the covers from its latest iPad, called the iPad Pro. As the name suggests, the new tablet is aimed at power users and professionals, and Apple was ready with its bag of tricks to make sure that the device is not just pretty to look at, but a capable piece of hardware as well.
The iPad Pro comes with a 12.9-inch screen, with a resolution of 2732 x 2048. With a pixel density of 264 ppi, the display pretty much goes head to head with that of the iPad Air 2.
With a thickness of 6.9 mm, the device measures 713 gms, which is reasonable for a professional tablet.
The tablet comes with A9x chip, which apple terms as desktop class, and is accompanied with a console grade GPU. The iPad Pro is claimed to be 1.8x times faster than its predecessor. Going further, Apple claimed that iPad Pro is faster than 80 per cent of the PCs shipped in the last six months.
To further bolster the tablet, Apple partnered with IBM and Cisco Systems. Not stopping there itself, Apple also forged a partnership with Adobe and Microsoft to bring more goodies onboard.
The iPad Pro brings together the goodness of Apple product and MS' office suite.
After shunning and even mocking the concept of a stylus earlier, Apple finally gave in and has created an 'Apple Pencil' for its latest iPad. The stylus comes not only with pressure sensors, but also a couple of tilt sensors as well. The pencil discerns nicely the parameters like angle and position too.
Clearly, the emphasis is aimed towards professional artists, who will be able to shade their creations by tilting the 'Pencil'. Apple also unveiled a smart keyboard, which can fold up and also act as a cover when needed. Both these will be sold separately and priced $99 for the Apple Pencil, and $169 for the smart keyboard.
The iPad Pro comes with four speakers, and depending upon user's orientation, the device balances the left and right units. The tablet will be available in space grey, gold and silver. Along with its two accessories, the three will ship this November.
The pricing for iPad Pro has been revealed as $799 for 32 GB (Wi-Fi Only), $949 for 128 GB (Wi-Fi only), and $ 1079 for 128 GB (Wi-Fi + LTE version).
With these pricings, there is no doubt that Apple is trying to woo corporate users towards its products, eyeing the MS Surface Pro users as well?
In other announcements, Apple dropped in the word regarding the iPad Mini 4, and the iPad Mini 2.
The former will be now coming with specs similar to last year's iPad Air 2. It will be priced a $399 for 16GB Wi-Fi version, whereas the cellular version will be starting from $529.
Apple iPad 2 will be getting a price cut, and will now retail for $279 for Wi-Fi version, and the cellular version will cost $409.
Apple TV
Apple chief executive Tim Cook announced the revamped version of its Apple TV. Calling it the future of television, Cook emphasised the company's long term effort in developing the new age television and concentration towards ease of general use and personalisation of the device.
The new Apple TV will be based on the A8 chip, and more interestingly will come with tvOS, which seemed like the company's popular iOS.
The TV will run app store, allowing the developers to create softwares much like the iPhone. This will include video games as well.
The included remote consists of touch interface, can act as a game controller, and works on Bluetooth interface. This allows the user to operate the controller without pointing it towards the TV specifically. The build quality however seemed not really sturdy.
As earlier mentioned, the ease of use also includes assistance by Siri, the digital assistant by Apple. Siri can rewind the video by 15 seconds, and switch the subtitles on when a viewer asks "What did she say"?
The Apple TV has been priced at $149 for 32 GB, and $199 for 64 GB. The new TV will be available late October 2015.
Also Read: iPhone 6S and 6S Plus: What's all the fuss about?
