My 3 favorite things from Apple’s WWDC 2017

Rufaro Madamombe Avatar
Apple

It’s that time of the year again when Apple hosts its annual worldwide developers conference where they showcase the new stuff they have been working on and are soon to launch. Here are my favorite things from the conference.

1. Watch OS 4

The Apple watch is getting a new operating system version that adds a new watch face that is powered by Apple’s digital assistant (Siri). I’ve never owned a smartwatch but I picked this as my number one. The reason being that the Siri watch face makes the experience more streamlined to show you what is important to you on the display and there’s nothing that excites me more than personalization. To achieve this it leverages machine learning to learn what exactly you need to see.

Other additions include new watch faces that have popular cartoon characters like Woody, Jessie, and Buzz from Toy Story. User interface changes of the workout app and integration to gym equipment; and more features for developers will be coming.

2. HomePod

This is a new device from Apple which is a speaker that is controlled by their digital assistant (Siri). You can play music on the speaker by telling Siri to do so through voice commands and you can also control your smart home appliances from the speaker as well through Siri.

Other speakers that do the same thing already exist like the Google Home or the Amazon Echo but these products aren’t fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem so this is why it is a big deal in the Apple community. It makes the experience of using Apple products more enjoyable. If you’re not already in the Apple ecosystem, then the other alternatives will give you the same functionality at a less price than the HomePod.

3. Mac OS High Sierra

The new Mac operating system adds quality of life improvements when using the OS like auto play blocking on website, ad tracking prevention and split screen when composing and viewing emails.

I’m a developer and if I had the money, I’d buy a Macbook in a heartbeat. The addition of virtual reality compatibility on the Mac OS just makes me want one even more because I’m really interested in creating virtual reality experiences. Of course you can do this on a computer that’s not from Apple but the only way to develop things for Apple products is on Mac OS which is available on Macbook and iMacs only.

 

What I think about it all

Three other Apple announcements were a new iMac Pro, the addition of Amazon to their TV OS and iOS 11. I picked the above as my top because they are the ones that will impact people the most and they hint at what Apple is looking towards. Apple tends to be late to the game in terms of adding features to its devices but whenever I see them doing something, it usually means that there’s something more to it. The addition of virtual reality compatibility, augmented reality on the iPhone (AR kit) and improvements to Siri through machine learning shows me that Apple wants to encourage the adoption of these technologies as they hold potential in the business sector.

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4 comments

  1. About time

    Well, at least they are following up their apology to the pro market with that iMac Pro. Maybe we’ll see the i9’s in the Mac Pro refresh?

  2. ronymnz

    Uhmmm where you speak about the watch, you make it sound like Watch didnt have siri, but its just the siri interface thats different

    1. Rufaro Madamombe

      HI, thanks for the feedback, what I wanted to highlight was the fact that Siri is now a main part of the experience of the Apple watch since they’ve added a watch face that is powered by the digital assistant. Will edit to make it more clear.

  3. About time

    Ah! I did some poor man maths and I’ll be damned if the iMac pro isn’t value for money! Spec for spec, especially for the screen, form factor for form factor, its almost mission impossible to find a better AIO computer for the money, even if you opt for a tower build. At least until the surface studio refresh. Or thread ripper release

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