Almost on expected lines, keynote address by Tim Cook at the WWDC 2018 didn’t see anything very significant. It was largely about the next version of the main operating system that runs the iPhones and iPads, the iOS 12 and the other OSs, the tvOS (ver.12) and the watchOS (ver. 5).
Here are some of the major takeaways from last night’s events:
- The improvements brought about in the iOS 12 will focus on better performance and stability of the devices
- Apple claims the new OS will show 40% faster than iOS 11 in launching of apps, 50% faster display of the keyboards and 70% quicker to have the camera ready to click pics
- Augmented Reality (AR) will be featured in a big way
- A new feature called Digital Health will also be seen; this will be mainly to help the monitor the device and its usage
- The lockscreen on the iOS 12 will be different and can allow more widgets to be accommodated
The excitement among the audience rose when the presentation demonstrated the new ‘Animojis’ that one can start using to send once the iOS 12 update is in place. That and the new Memoji where you can convert your face into a cartoon character, was well received.
Another addition to iOS 12 will be the FaceTime feature that allows you to hold voice calls within a group of up to 32 people. More interestingly, as someone starts speaking his or her image floats up in an enlarged size to indicate that it is that person’s voice now coming through. The Animojis and Memojis can actually be fed even as you are holding a video conversation with someone. Some of these features may not be new as Samsung has already brought them in their devices.
The underlying theme with Apple’s shows such as this is that as a corporate philosophy, they try and marry their hardware and software in such a manner that the user is lifted to another level in terms of the experience in using Apple’s devices, whether it is an iPhone or an iPad.
Apple takes ownership for both, which cannot be said about the most popular OS, the Android. Google doesn’t build the hardware; at best gets it made by other phone makers.
And Apple did take a dig at the WWDC 2018 about how their last OS, the iOS 11 is available and operating on 81% of Apple devices launched over several years, whereas Android’s last OS, Oreo or version 8 is operating just 6% of the devices.
A lot of improvements in the deployment of SIRI will also be seen in the new OS.
The digital health dashboard, as mentioned above tries to address the tendency among the phone users to spend too much time with the device and with this new feature, there are ways you can cut down on it. You will be able to set the duration you wish to spend on each app daily and the Do Not Disturb or DND mode helps in limiting the amount of notifications clogging up the lock screen.
Apple also announced a new theme for the new version of macOS, with a dark motif replacing the current one. Some improved security measures while using the proprietary Safari browser also found mention in the keynote address at the WWDC 2018.