WHY THE NEW IPHONES HERALDS AN AUGMENTED REALITY EXPLOSION

13/09/17

#064

[ iphone ]

Last night we stayed late in the studio to view the latest Apple Event. Love them, loathe them or if you’re perfectly content with your Nokia 3310 and a good book, there is no denying that Apple do tech press conferences like nobody else.

So there we were, glued to our screen (an iMac screen), grasping our iPhones (of course) to see Tim Cook and company in the Steve Jobs Theatre. We were ready for maximum Apple; they did not disappoint. Here’s what we gleaned from it all…

[ 1. Moore’s Law is still in full effect]

And no, I’m not talking about the A11 Bionic chip – impressive as it may be. It was the detailed breakdown of the cellular Apple Watch that got me. Seriously, how is all that technology packaged in such a small space? Honey I Shrunk The Computer!

[ 2. AR is here.]

Well, it already was of course, we know that better than most. However, now it’s being heavily pushed by Apple we can expect the world to sit up and take notice. Apple’s developer’s tool for augmented reality, ARKit, is superb. We’ve been mighty impressed during our own experiments with it. When combined with the dual cameras and 3D scanners of the latest iPhones, it’s a recipe for some great augmented reality content. Factor in Google’s ARCore and Vuforia (Draw & Code’s current AR-engine of choice) and we’re being spoilt with tech and tools that can make even the most sci-fi of AR experiences a reality.

[ 3. X is not x.]

[ 4. It’s Deedra, not Deidre.]

During the Apple Watch demo we heard from Deidre. She was pretty awesome, what with being on a lake while addressing the world and all that. However, it seems that in Silicon Valley they don’t pronounce it “Dear-Dree”, they say “Dee-Dra”. They do not sound like Ken Barlow, not one bit.

[ 5. Apple has ‘deeper pixels’.]

Whatever that is. No idea if they have heavy electricity too.

[ 6. Apple TV’s lovely game and rubbish controller.]

Aside from announcing that Apple TV will now carry ‘Live News’ (live news on TV? It will never catch on), there was a lovely game revealed called Sky. You could see John Lasseter lean his ample Hawaiian-shirted body forward for this part of the conference. In amongst the esoteric game demo, it was hard to get away from the fact that the controller was the Apple TV remote. Hmmm, excuse us for being sceptical. For starters, it’s so small you can lose it down the back of the couch (you can, I know this). Secondly, why have it at all? The Apple TV must appeal to the Apple aficionado who almost certainly has an iPhone and iPad to hand that could do so much more than a puny TV remote. Sony are already doing it with PlayLink – come on Apple, connecting devices is something you do so well. Heck, you’re now allowing us to use our iPhones to control charging of other devices, surely using it as a remote for TV and controller for games is logical?

[ 7. Town Squares. ]

Not only were Apple Stores referred to multiple times as ‘Town Squares’, which was as pleasing on the ears as the sound of crying babies duetting with a scratched chalkboard, they will also be ‘changing the displays by the seasons’. Ya know, like every other shop always does. Nice one Apple.

[ 8. Apple are behind Android. Again. ]

No, it’s not the wireless charging (AirPower? How about calling it Apple Juice?) or the 3D scanning (FaceID? Why wasn’t it called Eye-D?) – both of which have appeared in some form or another on other devices. Instead, where Android, and Samsung particularly, have really innovated is pricing. With their mightily expensive Galaxy Note 8 they paved the way for the £1,000 iPhone X. Having said that, £1,000 for a must-have gadget is nothing new – most VCRs were £400-£700 in the early 1980s, the equivalent of two iPhone Xs today.

[ 8 Plus ]

This is a new number that fits between 8 and X. What do you mean you’ve never heard of it? I suppose you’re still running single cameras and quad cores too, you square.

[ 9. There is no 9. ]

A handy new smartphone feature is one thing, but revolutionising the world is quite another. So why does John think that AR will succeed where other much-vaunted products and technology has failed?

[ 10. The iPhone 8 (and 8 Plus) became obsolete in record time. ]

Apple are the undisputed champions of planned obsolescence – this time they outdid themselves by revealing two new phones, then showing a better one within half an hour. I may as well throw my iPhone 8 and 8 Plus in the bin right now.