At this year’s World Wide Developer’s Conference, Apple spent equal time talking about hardware and software updates. The annual event heated up when the MacBook lineup received a healthy dose of upgraded processors and graphics, among other spec bumps. Also, a brand new “next-generation” MacBook Pro was unveiled. Later, the mobile iOS that powers iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches was significantly enhanced with the introduction of iOS 6. For all the details, read on.
MacBook
The MacBook Air was refreshed with the following spec bumps. The thin-and-light laptop now packs the 3rd-gen Intel Core processors, also known as Ivy Bridge; these dual-core i7s can reach speeds up to 2.0GHz (or up to 3.2GHz with Turbo Boost). Memory reaches 8GB 1600MHz, and graphics can perform up to sixty percent faster. Flash storage has been beefed up to 512 GB and is 2x speedier featuring a 500MBps read speed. The Air also includes a USB 3 port and a FaceTime HD camera (720p). There are two 11-inch and two 13-inch configurations, both shipping today and both starting at $100 cheaper than the previous generation. The 11-inch MacBook Air with 64GB starts at $999 and the 13-inch Air with128GB starts at $1,199.
The MacBook Pro was also refreshed and here are the note-worthy spec bumps. Just like the new Airs, the updated Pros now include the 3rd-gen “Ivy Bridge” Intel Core processors; these dual-core i7 processors reach speeds up to 2.7GHz (or up to 3.7GHz with Turbo Boost). Memory reachers 8GB 1600MHz. Graphics are upgraded to NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 650M (based on the graphics chip maker’s new Kepler architecture), with up to 1GB video memory that is up to sixty percent faster than before. USB 3 is on board. There are two 13-inch and two 15-inch MacBook Pro configurations, both shipping today and they start at the same price ranges as the previous generation Pros. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with a 2.5GHz processor speed starts at $1,199 and the 15-inch Pro with a 2.3GHz speed starts at $1,799.
And now we move onto what Apple is branding the “next generation” MacBook Pro. The company says it’s “the best computer we’ve ever made.” In short, what makes this new breed of Pro so special is that it’s made thinner and lighter and it packs a gorgeous Retina Display. You want hard specs, so here they are. This new Pro measures at 0.71 inches thin (a quarter thinner than the standard Pro) and it weighs 4.4 pounds. The 15.4-inch screen is a Retina Display with an impressive resolution of 2880×1800, packing 4x the number of pixels than the previous-gen Pro. With 220 pixels per inch, Apple crowns this “the world’s highest-resolution notebook display.” Lion has been updated to take advantage of the higher resolution; Mac apps like Mail, Safari, iMovie and iPhoto will be compatible, along with others like Aperture, Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Autocad, and the game Diablo 3. Just like they had to do when the Retina Display came to the iPhone, software developers will have to update their apps to make them Retina-ready. Jumping inside, the Pro runs on Intel’s fastest quad-core processors, that is Core i7s up to 2.7GHz (or up to 3.7GHz with Turbo Boost); memory goes up to 16GB 1600MHz; next-gen NVIDIA Kepler graphics GeForce GT 650M; up to 768GB fast flash storage; up to 7 hours of battery life with 30 days of standby time. Across the left-side of the powerful, noticeably thinner lappy you’ll find an SD card slot, HDMI, and USB 3 ports; along the right side there’s a MagSafe 2 port (the new port has been made thinner to fit the design), two Thunderbolt ports, USB 3, and a headphone jack. That’s right, this Pro has ditched an optical drive, FireWire, and Gigabit Ethernet. Apple sells adapters if you require these. Additionally, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display features a glass multitouch trackpad, backlit keyboard, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0, FaceTime HD camera, dual microphones, stereo speakers, and a new internal fan system that outputs nearly imperceptible sound. Two configurations of the next-gen Pro ship today starting at $2,199.
iOS 6
The next OS for Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch is coming soon and it includes a slew (that is over 200 in total) of welcome new features. Significant enhancements are coming to Siri. The personal assistant will have a great knowledge of sports (scores, player stats, standings, schedules), restaurants, and movies thanks to integrated services from Yelp (for restaurant reviews), Open Table (for making reservations), and Rotten Tomatoes (for movie reviews). Additionally, Siri will be able to launch apps (“Play Temple Run”). A new partnership with many auto makers (including BMW, GM, Mercedes, and Audi) enables Eyes Free, a service that integrates Siri with your car; press a button on your steering wheel to activate Siri without having to fiddle with your phone. What else? Additional language support is coming, local search is going international, and Siri is coming to the new iPad.
Next up is Facebook integration. Like Twitter before it, Apple has made it easy to share content with your Facebook friends with a single sign-on feature. In addition to sharing things from within apps like Photos, Safari, Maps, iTunes, and Game Center, users can even “like” apps in the App Store and easily recommend favorites to friends. Integration goes deeper; Facebook friends will fill up your Contacts and upcoming birthdays and events will show up in Calendar. Also, sharing is made simpler now that prompts to Facebook and Twitter have been built into Notification Center and Siri.
The Phone app has been slightly tweaked. When you receive a call, you will notice a new swipe-up menu that enables you to “reply with message” or “remind me later.” These come in handy when you cannot take a call when it’s coming in; the first option will send a pre-made custom text message to the caller, and the second option will alert you to call back the person at a specified time. A new option in Settings called Do Not Disturb, when switched on, tells your phone not to bother you with alerts. This will likely come in handy during the night time when you’re trying to sleep. Alerts will still come to your device, but it will not force the screen to light up and all sound will be silenced. You can choose to receive no calls at all, or only calls from certain numbers. And get this: you can make it so repeated calls are seen as emergencies. For example, if your mom calls you three times in a row this will force your device to disable Do Not Disturb so that you are alerted to the call.
More updates… In iOS 6 FaceTime will work over 3G, (officially) at long last. Safari features iCloud tabs (the real-time syncing of tabs across multiple Apple devices), an offline reading list, photo upload from camera roll, smart app banners (if you’re at Yelp.com the browser will remind you that you have the Yelp app and it will prompt you to go there instead), and full screen support for landscape mode. Shared Photo Streams allow you to easily and quickly share photos with friends; choose photos you want to share, choose friends you want to share them with, and hit send–that’s it. Friends will receive them like a text message and them can view them and even comment on them. In Mail you can brand contacts as VIPs which in turns highlights their incoming messages as important; the VIP list is iCloud-enabled meaning it will stretch across all your iOS devices. Also in Mail it has been made simple to embed photos and video directly into a compose message window; and pull-to-refresh message list has arrived.
A new app from Apple called Passbook is “the simplest way to get all your passes in one place.” Boarding passes, store cards, movie tickets–they all live inside this app. They’ve made it so that you don’t have to go hunting inside your Starbucks app to find your store card or your Fandango app to pull up your movie ticket. And Passbook does so much more than this. The app is time and location enabled. For example if you walk into a Starbucks, Passbook will automatically bring up your store card in the lock screen; one swipe and you’re ready to use it at the counter. Another example: you’ve purchased a movie ticket from Fandango and you arrive at theatre. You guessed it–the ticket will be waiting for you in the lock screen as you approach the ticket attendant. The information stored in Passbook updates itself in real-time, too. Say you’re scheduled to depart from United Airlines and the gate changes an hour before take-off; Passbook will notify you and update your boarding pass accordingly.
A new feature called Guided Access will assist teachers and people with disabilities. It restricts touch input to certain areas of the screen, and it also turns off the home button. Here’s a perfect example of Guided Access at work. Today teachers take advantage of the iPad by using them as test-taking devices. With Guided Access, teacher can lock students to a single app so they can’t exit the test and find answers in Safari.
The company saved the most intriguing news for last. In iOS 6 Apple is ditching Google Maps and replacing it with their own Maps experience. The new Maps app is built by Apple from the ground up; it is vector-based and already includes 100 million business listing around the world for intelligent local search. Yelp is integrated for reviews and landmark photos. Traffic view and incident reports are included; anonymous real time crowd-sourced traffic information keeps users on-the-go informed and up-to-date. Siri integration is there (“Where is the nearest gas station?”), as is free turn-by-turn navigation that works in the lock screen. A cool feature called Flyover shows users photo-realistic and interactive 3D views of cities.
iOS 6 ships this fall and will be compatible with iPhone 3GS and later, the 2nd and 3rd gen iPads, and the fourth gen iPod touch.
Mountain Lion
Mac OS X Mountain Lion is almost here, so Apple made sure to set aside some time to talk up the new operating system built for Mac desktops and laptops. It includes over 200 new features and over 1700 new APIs for developers. A new iCloud features allows you to store Documents in the Cloud (from Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Preview, and Text Edit) across your devices. The Notification Center will show you unobtrusive banners and alerts for incoming messages and updates. Anywhere you can type you can use your voice to perform Dictation. Like in iOS 6 Facebook integration is here. Safari features the fastest JavaScript engine, a new unified smart search field, iCloud tabs, and a new Tab view (you can use gestures to visually navigate across your live open tabs). Power Nap keeps your Mac up to date while it sleeps. It will fetch your email and Photo Stream, keep track of calendar and reminder updates, and if it’s plugged into a power source to charge it’ll back itself up via Time Capsule and download App Store and System Updates automatically. In sum Power Nap automatically refreshes data, is power efficient, and it runs a silent operation (it won’t force the fans to spin). It’s compatible with the second-gen MacBook Air and the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Also coming to OS X in Mountain Lion is AirPlay Mirroring and Game Center; cross-platform gaming between Mac and iPad was demoed at WWDC, as was gaming on an HDTV via AirPlay Mirroring.
Though a hard date wasn’t provided, Apple announced Mountain Lion will release in July for $19.99 in the Mac App Store.
That concludes the major announcements made at WWDC 2012. The MacBooks have been refreshed and the Pro with Retina Display has marked the beginning of a new era for the laptop market. iOS 6 makes the iPhone and iPad even more powerful and resourceful, and Mountain Lion is just a few weeks away from general release. Overall, a fine affair for hardware and software aficionados like.