Criticism at the ready, it’s time for a rundown of the 2019 Apple Event.
Starting with the launch of the Apple Arcade, which is the Apple answer to Google Stadia I guess?
Apple Arcade:
- Game subscription service for mobile, desktop and TV
- Exclusive games
- No upfront payment
- Available via the Arcade tab in the App store
- Partnered with Konami & Capcom
- Frogger (Arcade exclusive) available at launch
- Available from September 19th, with over 100 games at launch. The subscription will cost $4.99 a month, and if we go on Apple’s track record, we can expect pretty much the same for a UK price
- Designed to spread across multiple platforms, this is aimed to redefine the mobile gaming world, I’m not 100% sold on it, but hey, I’m sure someone will pay for it...
Apple TV+
- World wide premiere trailer for See
- Available from November 1st from $4.99 a month for the whole family.
- Original shows such as “The Morning Show,” “Dickinson,” “See,” “For All Mankind” and “The Elephant Queen.”
- When you buy a new product, you get one year of Apple TV+ for free
I can only presume that the last one is specific to the US, but one can hope, right? I can’t really say much about this, they’ve evidently invested in some good actors and jumped on the plot lines of some absolutely cracking films. It’s another on-demand subscription from another major company, and to be honest, we’re going to spoilt for choice with Netflix, Disney, Apple, Prime and I’m sure there are others I’ve missed out...
IPad
- IPad OS
- 7th gen iPad - home button’s back
- 10.2” Retina display
- 3.5 mil pixels
- New floating keyboard
- Made from 100% recycled aluminium
So basically, it’s a better, faster iPad with a bigger & better display, but the home button’s back. I mean, sure, fine. It’s not that exciting to be honest but I think the real star of the iPad show will be the release of the iPad OS.
Apple Watch
- 3 new health research studies, Hearing, Women’s health study, Heart & movement study
- Always on Retina display
- ‘All-day battery life’
- Built-in compass
So again, nothing has really changed from the previous generations. A slightly longer battery life with an “Always on” display might be worth it, but honestly, they probably have just saved up for a more impressive release next year.
iPhone 11
- Last year launched 3 iPhones, with the XR being the most popular iPhone & most popular smartphone in the world
- Combined 99% customer satisfaction
- iPhone 11 will replace the XR
- 6 new colours - Purple white yellow green black product red
- 6.1’ Liquid Retina display
- Dolby Atmos and immersive audio coming to the new 11 range
- Wide camera & Ultra-wide camera
- 120-degree camera view
- Immersive camera interface
- Semantic rendering
- Night mode
- Automatically on
- Front camera 4K video
- Slow-motion video to the front camera
- ‘Slo-mo selfies’ slofies
- A13 - fastest CPU ever in a smartphone
- Fastest GPU ever in a smartphone
iPhone 11 Pro
- 3 cameras
- Surgical grade stainless steel
- 4 colours - Midnight green space grey silver gold
- OLED panel
- True Tone
- 15% more energy efficient
- Pro display XDR
- HDR 10
- Dolby Vision
- Dolby Atmos
- Machine learning
- Lightning to USB-C for fast charging
So basically, they’re just answering the Pixel’s taunts from last year about their Night mode camera and giving the real Apple fans the ability to charge their phones from the newer MacBooks.
All in all, this year’s release has been a bit of a disappointment. No 5G phone and nothing from any of the devices that would make me consider swapping out an XS to get the 11 Pro. Obviously, it’s a massive jump if you’re going from anything pre iPhone X, and if so, this is on paper their best tech today. Well, if you’re Apple, I guess it’s a question of perfecting perfection ...right?
I’m way more interested in seeing what they have up for next year...
Sammy Curtis
