Apple’s ‘Spring Forward’ event – Now a week has passed, let’s see what was revealed
At Apple’s Spring Forward event, details were revealed about the new Apple Watch, as well as planned updates for the MacBook, Apple TV and a project called ResearchKit. The new Apple Watch, in 3 different types, ranges in price from £299 to £13,000, and the new MacBook is a mere 13.1mm thick. Let’s take a look at all the new developments…
The Apple Watch
The Apple Watch comes in three types: the Apple Watch Sport, which will cost $349 (£299), the Apple Watch which will cost $549-$1049 (around £360-£700) and the Apple Watch Edition (the gold version) which will cost between $10,000 and $17,000 (£6700 to £11,300). The watch will come in two face sizes - 38mm and 42mm.
A range of apps have been revealed that will operate on the Apple Watch. These are: Uber (a Taxi app), Instagram (image sharing), NY Times (news), American Airlines (flights), Mint Personal Finance, Shazam (song recognition), SPG (hotels), Twitter (social media), Citymapper (maps), ESPN (sports), Evernote, Opentable (restaurant reservations), Alarm.com, Babbel (language learning) and We Chat (messaging).
The release date is April 24th with pre-orders from April 10th. The watch will take 2.5 hours to charge fully, and will hold 18 hours of charge with 45mins app usage. It will last 72 hours when just used as a watch.
The MacBook
The new MacBook, unlike its predecessors, has one USB-C port rather than more than one port. This will be used for charging, plugging in external hard-drives, charging iPhones, speakers and so on. It will have a 12 inch screen, it’s 13.1mm thick and has a Core M processor –meaning no fan is necessary.
It will last 10 hours on battery power, and will be priced at $1299 (around £870). It will be available in silver, grey and gold.
Apple TV
Apple TV will be available at $69 (compared to previous price of $99), and will have an exclusive deal with HBO Now (available to Apple TV customers for $15 a month).
ResearchKit
ResearchKit is a tool to allow doctors to collect information in order to further medical tests, trials and treatment developments. It works for medical researchers, and for individuals to track and manage their conditions. It will include apps that can track conditions such as asthma, heart disease and Parkinson’s.