Apple iPad event (October 2014) in a nutshell
No one expected the second Apple event, held at its Cupertino headquarters, to be as big as its predecessor, and for many it felt as if it were simply a continuation of the iPhone event, which it was in many respects, with a few, brief announcements of interest.
Last event of the year?
Nearly every prediction regarding what was to be announced, with the exception of some obvious ones, hit the mark, and if we were to read between Tim Cook lines, these announcements are the last ones, in Tim Cook’s words: “before we close out this year”.
Cook’s started this hour and forty-five minutes event, at 10:00am PST, plus or minus five minutes, praising at lengths the success of the iPhone 6, as well as more news of the iPhone 6 reaching as many as 32 countries, by the end of this week. Apple Pay had its own share of stage presence, with Tim Cook announcing Apple Pay official launch this coming Monday, with over 500 banks supporting the platform.
Apple WatchKit, the Apple Watch development platform will also be released next month, as the company is encouraging developers to build apps for the device, which will be officially released sometime next year.
Almost 30 minutes into the event, Apple’s new operating system, Mac OS X Yosemite was announced as being officially released and available for free through the Apple Store.
Much of the emphasis was given to Safari, in a curious comparison graph, which included Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and... not even a mention of Microsoft Internet Explorer.
And now... for something barely different
Comedy star Steven Colbert treated Apple fans with an unexpected phone appearance, as part of Mac OS X Yosemite presentation, entertaining the small audience for a brief amount of time before the introduction of Apple iCloud Drive, Apple’s not-so-subtle response to Google Drive, which now can be integrated into Apple’s latest operating system, and accessed through a convenient file manager, just like any other physical drive.
Although no Apple TV announcements have been made, this is the second time we have noticed Tim Cook highlighting the ability to control Apple TV through the upcoming Apple Watch, in a not-so-subtle way, as he did once more, just before directing the audience attention to the star of the show, the iPad. Does this mean a release of the Apple Watch in concert with Apple TV? Time will tell.
An even thinner, lighter iPad Air 2, now in gold, was introduced by Apple senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller. The new device has now reached a paper-thin 6.1 millimeters, making this iPad 18% thinner than the original iPad Air. The 2014 iPad air 2 features also greatly reduced internal reflection through an improved anti-reflective coating, which makes it 56% less prone to glare, than its predecessors.
Rumors of an A8X processor have been confirmed. the Apple proprietary 64bit 2.5Ghz CPU is said to be 40% faster than the original iPad.
Battery life for the iPad Air 2 is still unchanged, at 10 hours, which is telling of how far along Apple has gone to compress the thickness of its tablet, as well as improve internal components, while retaining the same battery life as its predecessors.
The iPad Air 2 clearly follows in the footsteps of the iPhone 6, with a set of features that is now becoming consistent across all newest Apple iOS devices, such as motion tracking, sensor calibration and barometer.
A new iSight 8MP camera, with an F2.4 aperture is now part of the device, allowing users to create timelapse footage, Slo-Mo, single-shot HDR, as well as HDR video. A front-facing Facetime camera has also been added. Both camera sensors support face detection.
Connectivity is also a big factor leveraging the iPad Air, which includes 150Mbps 20 LTE, enabling the device to connect through any major network, with no restrictions, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
Finally, the rumors are true: Touch-ID is now part of the iPad Air, and most likely every future iOS device. The Touch-ID technology is embedded in the Home button, much like on the iPhone.
The pricing of the iPad Air 2 follows Apple’s historical trend: $499, $599 and $699 for the Wi-Fi versions, and $130 more in its LTE incarnation.
The Mini version of the iPad showcases similar specs in a smaller 7.9 inches form factor, except for the camera, capable of only 5MP resolution. The new iPad Mini comes with a price tag starting at $399, but here is a nice surprise: upon release of the iPad Mini 3, the price of the iPad Mini and Mini 2 have now been reduced by $100. Not a bad deal.
The prophecies, were once again true about the iMac with Retina display. The 27 inch, 5 millimeter thin, display embedded into the desktop class Apple product sports a massive, and unmatched resolution of 14.7 Megapixels, or 5120 pixels by 2880 pixels, pushing this new iMac into 5K resolution territory.
The new iMac features built-in Organic Passivation, otherwise known as pixel dust reduction, and a custom built, Apple proprietary timing controller, which reduces energy consumption by 30%, with improved LED power-efficient lighting.
Powered by a 3.5Ghz Intel Quad CPU, upgradeable to a 4.0Ghz, the new Retina iMac includes an AMD Radeon R9 GPU, and Thunderbolt 2 connector, with a price tag surprisingly attainable: $2499.
The Mac Mini has now been updated, with a 4th generation Intel Core processor, Intel Iris graphic GPU, PCIe flash storage, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi, starting at $499.