Tag Archives: Apple

iOS, Mobile, News

Apple Launches the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini with Better Everything

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What is an Apple event without an Apple iPhone? We do not actually know the answer to that. Whatever though, because the new Apple iPhone for 2021/2022 is here; the Apple iPhone 13 and its Mini version is here.

You will now that you have the new Apple iPhone 13 though if you put it beside an iPhone 12. While most of its overall dimensions stays similar, the camera array on the Apple iPhone 13 is just a tiny bit different. It is distinct enough to notice though. Instead of the cameras arranged in a straight line down, it is now diagonally placed across each other. There is a reason for this, and we will talk about it later.

Apple iphone13 design 09142021
Source: Apple

Flip it to the front and the only differentiator between the 12 and 13 is the size of the notch that houses the Face ID sensor alongside 12-Megapixel front-facing camera. It is still the same Super Retina XDR OLED display that you get from before though at 5.4-inch on the Mini and 6.1-inch on the regular iPhone 13. Except they are now brighter at up to 1200 nits.

At the back are two 12-Megapixels that handles different jobs. The one at the bottom is the main 12-Megapixel sensor that features a larger sensor than before for even better looking low-light photos. The main sensor also features Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) for steady handheld shots whenever and wherever you are. The other camera is an Ultra-Wide sensor.

The cameras also features Photography Styles where users can choose between a collection of pre-set colour settings to really bring out their creativity in photos. At the same time, the camera is capable of shooting videos in Dolby Vision HDR at up to 4K 60p resolution. On top of that you also get Cinematic mode with Rack Focus effects on the Apple iPhone 13.

All the added features are possible thanks to the new Apple A15 Bionic System on a Chip (SoC). It is made with 5nm process, which is still the standard we are used to today. The most advanced chip from Apple is now a six-core SoC though with two of its cores being high-powered cores for the best-in-class processing performance. It also features a 4-core GPU which is powerful enough to drive the most demanding mobile games you can find on Apple’s App Store. With a 16-core Neural Engine, Siri on the iPhone 13 is more powerful than ever.

  • Apple iphone13 colors us 09142021
    Source: Apple
  • Apple iphone13 design 09142021
    Source: Apple
  • Apple iphone13 hero us 09142021
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  • Apple iphone13 cinematic mode 09142021
    Source: Apple
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  • Apple iphone13 notifications 09142021
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  • Apple iphone13 maps 09142021
    Source: Apple
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  • Apple iphone13 facetime 09142021
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  • Apple iphone13 display 09142021
    Source: Apple

The Apple iPhone 13 will be available for pre-orders starting from 17th of September 2021 onward. It will start shipping out in Apple’s major markets from the 24th of September 2021 onward. Unfortunately, Malaysia is not a part of the first markets to get the Apple iPhone. We do not have to wait for that long though since the Apple iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini will be available 1st of October 2021 onward. You get to choose from pink, blue, midnight, starlight, and RED colour options for both the iPhone models. Storage options start at 128GB and tops out at 512GB. The Apple iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini starts at US$ 799 (MYR 3,899*) and US$ 699 (MYR 3,399*)respectively. You can find more information on Apple’s latest iPhone from their website.

*Official Malaysia pricing.

iOS, Mobile, News

The Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max Launches – The Most Advanced Apple iPhone is Here

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Apple’s Event just happened, and of course, as expected, we are graced with Apple’s latest iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max. For good measure, they keep the best for last. They launched the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max at the end of their show instead. It is the star of the show anyway, the most anticipated Apple device for the year 2021.

So, what changed? The design of the Apple iPhone 13 Pro series has not changed all that much compared to the Apple iPhone 12 Pro series. In fact, they feature the exact same dimensions that should also allow your iPhone 12 Pro cases to work with the newer Apple iPhone 13 Pro devices that was just launched. Even the camera module looks similar. There is no additional notches or dips on the device’s body itself that makes it stand out over the Apple iPhone 12 Pro series.

Put the devices side by side and you might notice a small difference on the forehead of the devices. The Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max now features a smaller notch compared to the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro. The iconic notch has not changed in shape though. You get slightly more in terms of the display real estate in this case. They remain the same sizes though at 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch for respective model.

Apple iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 13 Pro Max 09142021
Source: Apple

The new ultimate Apple iPhone variants still feature the same Super Retina XDR display that you would find on the Apple iPhone 12 Pro models from before. Of course, the bigger displayed Pro Max will pack a bit more pixel on the 6.7-inch OLED display than the 6.1-inch OLED of the regular Pro device. They now come with something Apple calls ProMotion. To be fair, ProMotion is a fancier way of saying that the new device now features up to 120Hz (as low as 10Hz) in refresh rate. It is also a variable refresh rate that brings the display up to speed with other Android flagships.

You still get the usual HDR display with TrueTone technology on the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max. Of course, wide colour gamut coverage is still available on the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, important since they sold the device as a content creator’s ultimate tool. The ceramic shielded display now can display at up to 1200 nits in brightness though, which is brighter than the iPhone that came before.

Within the IP68 rated body that is made with a combination of glass, stainless steel, and ceramic is a mighty Apple A15 bionic chip that boasts a new more powerful 16-core Neural Engine for an even more responsive Siri and cleverer camera functions. The A15 bionic chip also features a new 6-core 5nm process CPU block with 2 high-performance cores. It also features a 5-core GPU.

There is a relatively new camera system on both the Pro and Pro Max devices too. They are still boasting the same resolutions as before. The new most advanced Apple iPhone features a main camera with a slightly larger sensor with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) though. The direct result of that is supposedly better low-light performance from the camera.

Apple iPhone 13 Pro New Camera System 09142021
Source: Apple

The ultra-wide camera can not only take great looking ultra-wide photos. It can also act as a macro camera with a minimal focal distance of 2cm. Thanks to the A15 Bionic too, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max’s camera app now features new Photographic Styles that allows users to quickly set their iPhone up to shoot photos with distinct colour profiles that reflects the users’ preferences. Night mode is also now available for all three of the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max’s camera app.

With better cameras and better neural programming, the video capabilities of the iPhone Pro models are extended. The most powerful iPhones can now shoot in ProRes format at 4K 30p resolution. You can also edit ProRes videos directly on the device. The most interesting addition to the video capabilities is Rack Focus via Cinematic mode on the. Rack Focus on Cinematic mode allows users or content creators to quickly change focus and add depth to films to force the viewers perspectives. The depth data is also built into the videos you shoot on the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max so that you can go back to the video and choose your focus moments to the dot while editing the video on board.

While Apple never discloses their battery capacity information to the public, they say that they have made some breakthroughs with the battery life of the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max. They managed to make the new Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max last for 1.5 hours and 2.5 hours longer on average compared to their respective predecessors. The numbers are quite subjective though, meaning Apple did not really disclose the actual battery life of the devices.

  • Apple iPhone 13 Pro Colors 09142021
    Source: Apple
  • Apple iPhone 13 Pro New Camera System 09142021
    Source: Apple
  • Apple iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 13 Pro Max 09142021
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  • Apple iPhone 13 Pro A15 Bionic Video 09142021
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  • Apple iPhone 13 Pro FaceTime 09142021
    Source: Apple
  • Apple iPhone 13 Pro Maps 09142021
    Source: Apple
  • Apple iPhone 13 Pro Notifications 09142021

The Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max is available for pre-order in the United States this Friday onward and will be available from the 24th of September 2021. There is some good news for Malaysia though. The devices will be available in Malaysia on the 1st of October 2021 onward. Both the Apple iPhone 13 Pro devices will be available in four finishes – Graphite, Gold, Silver, and Sierra Blue. You also get to choose between 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and now 1TB storage options too for both models. The smaller Apple iPhone 13 Pro will set you back US$ 999 (MYR 4,899*) onward. The larger Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max will set you back US$ 1,099 (MYR 5,299*) onward. There are no confirmed prices for the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max in Malaysia just yet. You can find more information on the most powerful Apple iPhones ever from their website.

*Official Malaysia pricing.

Android, iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Switching Between iOS and Android is Painless with WhatsApp Now.

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Switching digital platforms is still a thing in the modern world. Switching platforms today though is harder than ever before, especially when you buy a smartphone. You get to choose between an Android or iOS smartphone if you go out to the market today to buy yourself a new one. Most of the time as well, you are going to stick to what you had before.

There is a reason why it is difficult for you to change platforms when it comes to smartphones. A lot of times, your operating system (OS) and its apps require you to have a functioning account with its particular provider to take full advantage of the system and its ecosystem of apps and services. For example, if you are on an Android smartphone you are required to have a functioning Google account to access Google’s Play Store and their own apps like Gmail and Calendar. Likewise, if you are on an Apple iOS device, you are required to have a functioning Apple account.

There is an added complexity on Android devices too, because Android devices come from different manufacturers. Different manufacturers have their own unique ecosystem too that requires you to have a functional account that could be tied to their ecosystem. One of the most famous ecosystems outside of Apple and Google right now is Samsung’s ecosystem which requires you to have a functioning Samsung account.

Of course, there are ways manufacturers have made porting from one platform to another easier over the years. The most notable effort of all is Samsung’s Smart Switch which makes porting and transferring data over any Android or even Apple device a breeze. It is not perfect though.

For the longest time, one of the most popular messenger apps that is available on both iOS and Android has been the biggest obstacle to switching platforms. That app is WhatsApp. There is a clear problem why too.

WhatsApp stores its data on your device. It regularly backs your messaging data into a cloud storage. On an Android device, the cloud storage of choice is Google Drive, which requires you to run a Google account anyway. On an Apple iOS device, you are relying on Apple’s iCloud storage services, which incidentally requires you to have an Apple account. You can see the problem here in itself.

While transferring your WhatsApp data over from platforms has been impossible if you are doing it over wifi, Samsung has rectified that with the latest Smart Switch version in Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 announcement. But what if you are not on a Samsung Galaxy device? Or, what if you want to switch from an Android to an Apple instead?

That function is now hitting other Android and iOS devices. The service now allows you to transfer your entire chat history and conversations from one smartphone to another, no matter the platform. The transfer also includes your entire WhatsApp media library for good measure.

Of course, there are some caveats. Your WhatsApp can only be transferred over from one platform to another via a wired connection. At the time of writing, your Samsung Smart Switch will require a USB Type-C connection with the donor Apple device to extra all its data, including WhatsApp data. While WhatsApp have not specified the transfer method, we are assuming that a cabled connection is the most viable way to data to be shared between an Android and iOS device without having to merge and mash Google Drive and Apple iCloud services together.

This opens up a whole other world of possibility for smartphone users though. Since transferring data between platforms are becoming easier, changing your smartphones is a simpler affair than ever before. That also means that the power to decide is now in the hands of the users more than ever. You get to choose which platforms works best for you every single time you want to upgrade your device, and that should mean more competitive pricing on even more powerful devices, especially in between platforms.

iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

More Apple Spatial Audio! This Time on Clubhouse!

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Apple’s Spatial Audio is sure making its rounds. In the previous weeks, the excellent virtual surround sound audio technology makes its way into Netflix apps for the iPhone and iPad. You can now use your Apple AirPods Pro and AirPods Max with Spatial Audio when watching Netflix on your iPhone or iPad. It does make sense too, in a sense. You get more immersive experience from your pocket devices.

Spatial Audio is nothing new though. Apple has implemented their own 360 virtual audio technology in they own apps. Apple’s Music app has embraced the surround sound technology since the beginning. Even Apple’s Apple TV+ has integrated the technology for a while now. The feature will be coming to other apps like Spotify eventually, of course you do have to wait for the clever developers to tinker with the technology and its algorithms a bit more.

There is one other app that just got Spatial Audio for their app though. That app in question is Clubhouse. They announced this milestone on their Twitter page, very much like any respected app organisation on Social Media platforms. Now is the time you start asking; “why?”

Again, surround sound technology is not exactly new. The technology does add a bit more in terms of realism in films. In Music, it adds a sort of depth perception of a recording studio, or stage. The technology puts your right in the middle of the action. In the case of Clubhouse, while you might argue that the reason the developers added Spatial Audio feature to the app on Apple devices is “because they can”, it is a bit more than that.

Yes, over the internet, you are getting high-quality voice calls from Clubhouse itself. It is the next best thing to hanging out with a bunch of people physically. At the same time, you are connecting with so many people from all over the world. You can just sit in a ‘club’ with hundreds of people all from different regions of the world practically.

While that is already impressive enough, there is a way to make it better. Yes, the answer to that is surround sound. Again, surround sound is more than just an entertainment technology. It can add a perception of space and depth around you with the right headphones. That is exactly what Clubhouse is trying to achieve here. They wat to add that sense of perception, that sense of realism.

The addition will also mean that Clubhouse is realty now the next best thing in terms of hanging out with your friends in this trying times. It may not make you choose clubhouse over other similar platforms at this time. It does add some sense of intimacy with other clubhouse users and friends on the platform though. You would really feel like you are talking to the person next to you.

The update is now rolling out for the Clubhouse app on iOS. There are still limitations to its implementation which also means you might not hear that much in difference when you get on the app, especially on Bluetooth audio. Clubhouse, on their Twitter post is also saying that Android will get its fair share of Spatial Audio soon. Clubhouse is now available for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Accessories, iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile

Netflix Now Supports Spatial Audio on Apple iPhone and iPad

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Spatial audio for Apple devices was announced back in 2020. It is Apple’s idea of a sort of 3D audio on Dolby Atmos. 3D audio was not really a new concept either at this point. Major electronic vendors like Sony have started experimenting with their own version of 3D audio with their 360 Reality Audio technology and their very own 3D Audio on the PlayStation 5. In a sense, if you want to describe Spatial Audio, it is like a virtual surround sound.

There is a sort of hardware limitation to the technology though. Not every audio hardware can support the technology at this time. That said, Apple’s latest TWS headphones line up like the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max supports the technology. Then you have a problem with the software side of things, not every software supports the technology yet. Why would you launch a technology that is not supported by any contents then?

There are no straight answers here. One of the answers is simply because they can. At the same time though, the announcement is a sort of signal to all the developers that are developing on the iOS platform. A sort of notice to tell people that Apple has the technology and developers can take advantage of the technology on their apps, with the right support of course.

Spatial Audio is not just beneficial for music or the illusion of live music though. It has the potential to really elevate your audio experience without spending thousands upon thousands of top dollars on top of what you already have. It is, in a sense, a cheap way to get immersive audio. Of course, the audio quality really depends on your audio hardware itself, and its tuning; you cannot defy the law of physics still.

This opens up the avenue for immersive entertainment experience on the go too. You can bring the cinema experience in your pockets. You can watch a movie on your Apple iPhone, for example, and feel like you are in the theatres while you are flying from Johannesburg to London.

Now, you can watch Netflix on iPhone and iPad with Spatial Audio. The first app that supported Apple’s Spatial Audio was Apple’s very own Music app in 2021. The support for Spatial Audio then extends to the Apple TV 4K as well at the same time.

Weirdly, Netflix is not the first third party app that received Spatial Audio treatment. Instead, apps like Disney Plus, and HBO Max are the first third party apps to receive the support. Of course, Apple would have equipped their Apple TV Plus app with Spatial Audio capabilities early on. In that sense, the support for Spatial Audio for Netflix is a long time coming. That is not to say that the update is not a welcome update though.

Users should expect to see the update rolling into their Apple iPad and Apple iPhone devices in the coming days. If you do not have Netflix, you can always try Apple’s Spatial Audio technology via Apple TV Plus app. Just make sure you have an Apple AirPods Pro or AirPods Max to go with your Apple iPhone and iPad. For Netflix users, you can turn on Spatial Audio from Netflix’s settings menu. If you do not see the option yet, you might want to check if your app is updated or wait for the latest app update from the Apple App Store.

iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Spotify Will Support Apple’s AirPlay 2, Eventually

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Apple’s AirPlay function is one of the best things to have in the IoT focused world today. The system allows your Apple devices to connect to anything wireless in your home with AirPlay support and allow you to stream anything from any of your Apple devices in your home to the AirPlay supported devices.

Apple’s AirPlay 2 comes with added functionalities too. One of them really makes Apple’s ecosystem one of the most seamless in the world, if not the most seamless. It added streaming over WiFi function, which also means you get to play a single audio, from anywhere in your house, to your entire house, as long as you have speakers with AirPlay 2 enabled. It also allows you to choose between left and right speakers on enabled speakers, especially if you choose to use those speakers as your TV speakers.

We are not going to elaborate on the kinds of things you can do with AirPlay 2 though, because it has been launched for a while and you would have known its benefits by now, especially if you are coming from the iOS ecosystem. If you still do not know how to work with AirPlay 2 and the benefits of the system, get learning.

While AirPlay 2 has been Apple’s standard for three years now, it does not automatically become an industry standard. Not all smart TVs in the market gets AirPlay 2 support. Some of them could be hardware limited too though, so there is nearly nothing you can do about that. The big surprise is from app developers instead. For example, Spotify has not been supporting AirPlay 2.

A few days ago, there was an apparent posting in Spotify’s community forum that mentions that Apple’s AirPlay 2 support will not be coming to Spotify “for now”. This is in response to the numerous requests from Spotify’s iOS users in adding its support to the app. Of course, that might not have gone too well with users.

Spotify has since then clarified to the statement. Spotify says that they are still working on AirPlay 2 support on the app. In the clarification also Spotify did shed some light on why their app has not supported the function and why users may not see its support coming too soon.

https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/1423744958541058052

The developer that clarified the issue reveals that including AirPlay 2 support on the app is more complex than just adding a provided API to the current app and just let it work its own magic. There are a bunch of new commands that has to be written into the app. While adding a bunch of new command lines may not be the most complex thing for engineers to work with, Spotify says that the API, or at least Apple’s documentation on the API is a big stumbling block for its developers. In that case, developers might have to do a lot of guess work, and experiments to get the API to function without entirely messing itself up.

Spotify, with the new clarification, has not set a timeline for AirPlay 2 support though. While they did say that they are working on it and is assuring users that it is coming, there are no confirmations as to when. Still, at least you know it is coming, unless Apple comes back with AirPlay 3 this year.

Source: The Verge, Engadget

Computers, Lifestyle, News

Spotify Beta App Released with M1 Native Support

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Apple’s M1 chip for their Mac platform has been around for nearly eight months now. At the same time, while there is a growth for apps that natively supports the M1 chip, it has been a little slow in adoption from major app developers. At least there is some good news today though.

There are a few reasons why app developers want to develop apps that natively supports the M1 chip. Due to the unique architecture of Apple’s silicon, apps need to behave a little differently to take advantage of the chip’s power. In some sense, apps for the Mac have to be developed to work very much like mobile apps, but more feature rich than one.

This means that regular apps you usually see for your PC and regular Intel or AMD powered Mac, while runs on an M1 variant Mac, will run a little slower with more noticeable lags. This is also something you will see on regular PC apps running on other ARM based chips like the Qualcomm Compute platform. To ensure that the apps behave as they are designed to, they have to reengineer their apps a little bit to optimise its running processes for the ARM architecture-based chips.

Today is one of those days that another major app developer jumps on board of the M1 train. Spotify has just released a new Beta app with native support for Apple’s M1 silicon. For Spotify users currently on M1 Macs, that should mean a major improvement in the apps experience on their Macs.

To be fair, the Beta release should not come as a huge surprise. Users have been asking Spotify to release an M1 supported Spotify app since the M1 chips launched into the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and iMac. The native support should mean that the app runs a lot smoother and faster, on top of being a little bit more stable on M1 chips.

It is still in Beta though, which also means that you can expect some hiccups from time to time. In that case, you might want to report all sorts of bugs you will encounter in your experience so that Spotify can rectify as much as possible before the app goes full prime time. According to their own Spotify community post, they would also like to hear from users if their app works nicely.

You can download the Spotify Beta version for M1 based Mac devices on their website. Their community page post also features some instructions on how to get the Beta app up and running. You can easily go back to the regular version too, if you are not too keen with the Beta app by simply downloading the app from their website regularly.

Computers, iOS, Mobile, Podcast

Tech & Tonic S02E15 – Everything We Know From WWDC 2021!

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WWDC 2021 happened last week and it was huge. Taking the stage was not just one thing. The hour-plus long keynote turned out to highlight the many improvements Apple is bringing to all their devices. They started with the Apple iPhone’s iOS 15, iPad’s iPadOS 15, and the WatchOS 8. They also announced macOS Monterey in the keynote. 

These are not small updates to your Apple devices though, mind you. They come with a whole bunch of feature updates and security updates to make their platforms the most user friendly ever in terms of privacy control. There was plenty to be excited about too with the new updates.

What are our highlights? Listen through to the podcast! 

iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

[WWDC 2021] Apple Launches iPadOS 15 – Not Just an Enlarged iPhone Anymore

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Apple’s iPadOS has always been very closely related to the iOS. After all, when iPad first launched it was running the regular iOS that was enlarged and optimised for larger displays at 9.7-inch. Over the years though, the iPad had its own development team, and the platform grew very quickly into something rather special on its own. In 2021 then we have the iPadOS 15 for the modern Apple iPad.

The iPadOS 15 really shows the maturity of the iPad tablet platform. It still shares some features with the iOS, especially iOS 15 that was also launched in the same WWDC 2021 conference. It shares the privacy and security features, for example. It shares the same Siri and on-device intelligence as well with iOS 15. But iPadOS 15 is a lot more than that too.

The Widget Life

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    Source: Apple
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    Source: Apple

For one, widgets has been improved on iPadOS 15. While widgets has been a thing on Apple’s mobile devices, it really comes to its own on iPadOS 15. You can now move and place your widgets anywhere on your home screens to really place the things that matter to you most on your front page.

App Library

When you place widgets though, there might be less room for app icons to be on your home screen. That means you end up with more home screens than you need. That has always been an issue with Apple’s interface. With iPadOS 15 though there is now an App Library. You can now delete apps from your home pages and store these apps for later use in the App Library, kind of like the App Drawer from Android. Actually, it works exactly like that.

Better Multitasking, More Productivty

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    Source: Apple
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    Source: Apple
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    Source: Apple

Multitasking on the iPadOS is also improved in iPadOS 15. It is plenty more intuitive with a dedicated multitasking button that allows you to launch apps or put apps in split screen mode or in Picture-in-Picture mode. Plus, the multitasking bar allows you to monitor and access all the apps you currently have open. You can close apps from the same page too.

Taking notes on the iPad has always been the natural ground of iPad, especially when Apple introduced their Apple Pencil.  Notes on iPadOS 15 is a lot more intuitive than before though with the addition of Mentions. While Mentions is not something you use when you do not share Notes with others, it helps a lot when the Notes is meant to be shared with other people or your working team. You can create the notes while tagging another person to either assign the work to the person, or to point out the person in-charge of the notes. To make things easier to find, you can add tags too. Just a simple hashtagging of keywords basically to make the notes easier to navigate and to surface important notes.

With Apple Pencil too, iPadOS 15 becomes an essential work tool especially when you are on the move. With the Pencil, you simply swipe up from a corner to bring up quick notes to jot down things like phone numbers, or any other important information quickly and seamlessly. When you browse through the web on Safari, and you find something that would catch your interest, you simply swipe up to bring up quick notes and the option to copy down the website URL will appear. You can even copy sentences or segments of the website with links on notes.

Language Barrier? Not Anymore

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Source: Apple

The Translate app also comes to its own in iPadOS 15. You can now have a natural flowing conversation with other people even if you are speaking different languages now with iPadOS 15. Your iPad automatically translates conversations for you in real-time. Translate also now works with every other thing within the iPadOS ecosystem. It does not stop there though; your iPad is now also your language coach to practice handwritings.

Swift Playgrounds

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    Source: Apple
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    Source: Apple
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    Source: Apple

To really fulfil the potential that the iPad platform has to offer now though is something Apple calls the Swift Playgrounds. The Swift Playgrounds is Apple’s coding platform the Apple’s own coding language. With the iPad’s Swift Playgrounds, you can either learn to code, or develop a new app from the ground up with the built-in SDK. You can even simulate apps for different platforms with Swift Playgrounds, which also adds a layer of productivity and function for the iPad. If you have Apple’s iPad Pro with M1 chip, this is one of the most sensible additions to the iPadOS.

Availability

Apple’s iPadOS 15 is now available as preview on iPads equipped with Apple A12 Bionic chips or later. The full OS update will be available later in Fall 2021. For more information on Apple’s iPadOS 15, you can visit Apple’s Website.

Health, iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

[WWDC 2021] Apple Empowers Personalised Health With Improvements to Health App

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Healthcare is getting more personal and as a result, medical professionals require more data than ever to effectively treat diseases. That said, individuals are also becoming more health conscious and have been tracking and collecting data such as sleep times, heart rate, blood oxygenation and more through wearables like the Apple watch. Apple is taking the next step in enhancing their Health app to allow even better insights and secure data sharing.

With the latest update to the Apple Health app on iOS, the company is making proactive strides to putting more actionable data into the hands of its users. The new update to health allows users to gain more insights with trend analysis. The new feature allows users to track and visualise data trends for 20 types of data. This includes cardio fitness, sleep and even resting heart rate. These trends allow Health app users to track and visualise health and lifestyle metrics that are important to them. The Trends feature will also proactively highlight changes in the data that may be significant to users. The changes will be highlighted and surfaced in a way that is easily understood.

Apple is also bringing a new feature called Walking Steadiness. The feature comes in the wake of an increasing number of cases where serious conditions and loss of independence resulting from a fall. A staggering 37 million cases were reported in April 2021 by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The new feature collects mobility data as users use their iPhones. The algorithms assess balance, stability and coordination using the motion sensors of the iPhone. Based on this data, it will return a classification OK, Low or Very Low. The app will then notify users if their steadiness drops below their preset levels and recommend curated, clinically validated visual exercises to increase strength and balance. Joining the steadiness feature is the respiratory rate measurement on the Apple Watch which will allow users to monitor their breathing even when asleep.

Apple’s greatest contribution to personalised health comes with its implementation of Health Sharing. The new feature allows users to share their data with others. While screen capping has always been an option on other platforms, Apple is allowing users to curate and allow visual access to the data to others. This means that users are able to keep an eye on their ageing parents or even share relevant data with their healthcare provider for better care and management of their conditions. It will also allow users to have better, more meaningful conversations with their doctors and allow more effective management. Apple is also including the ability to store vaccination records and tests in the app.

That said, Apple Health isn’t leaving privacy in the lurches. Apple is allowing granular control of the data collected in the Health app to the user. In fact, the company guarantees that the data collected remains private and secure. The data stored is encrypted securely even during sharing and is locked behind a passcode, Face ID or Touch ID on the phone itself. The company guarantees that it doesn’t have any access to the data even when the data is shared.