Apple just announced its watchOS 4 for the Apple Watch at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) of 2017.
The new OS will be focused on Siri. The watch will now change the information displayed onscreen depending on the user’s personal apps, including calendar, notes, traffic, weather, and many others.
The new Apple Watch features are designed for a healthy lifestyle
The Apple Watch is being marketed as the “ultimate device for a healthy life.” Its apps have been updated, and the device has now been made compatible with the wireless AirPods.
The Activity app was updated to help sports enthusiasts create new exercise routines. The app will now suggest slight variations and tips, helping the user achieve its workout goals. It will also display notifications whenever the user is close to earning an achievement or if it’s possible to maintain the same level of intensity in each day of exercise routine.
The Workout app will now register swimming laps and improved heart rate algorithms, improving measurements of calories burnt and time consumed during each workout session. An upgrade was expected after a study was published showing that practically not a single consumer-grade fitness tracker can measure calorie burn rate accurately.
One of the most advanced features present in watchOS 4 must be GymKit, which pairs up with workout machines such as treadmills, stair steppers, and indoor bikes that are supplied with NFC technology. The machines will provide the watch with improved data on burnt calories, distances, speed, pace, and more, producing the most accurate workout data possible for a consumer-grade fitness tracker.
The watch will also renew one of Apple’s strong points of the past. The watchOS 4 will come with a new Music app with new intelligent playlists. The app will sync the New Music, Favorites, and Most Listened to mix to the user’s Apple Music account, allowing for an even more personalized listening experience.
The standard Apple Watch is available in 4 different casings, including rose gold and silver, and comes equipped with a sports band, priced at $269. The Apple Watch Series 2 is available in 6 different casings and with different bands, with a base price of $369. Lastly, there’s the ceramic Apple Watch Edition priced at $1,249 and the Nike+ Edition at $369.
Other announcements at WWDC 2017: iOS 11, iPad Pro, HomePod
Besides watchOS 4, Apple announced new versions of iOS, tvOS, and macOS. Additionally, the company announced a new home speaker named HomePod and a new iPad Pro tablet.
iOS 11’s features will be improved slightly, with iMessages synchronizing with other devices and saving space by uploading old photos to the Apple Cloud. The messaging app will also support person-to-person payments.
Siri will also support more languages on the developer’s side in iOS 11. It will translate user queries to other languages so they can be interpreted by third-party apps. Apple’s digital assistant will also regularly scan the user’s screen to seek out words to add to its speech-recognition algorithms.
The Apple App Store is also getting a revamp, picking up clues from Apple Music’s design which has apparently been successful with the public. It will feature organized tabs, big pictures for each app, and a clearer description of payment options within each product.
When it comes to the new iPad, it will get a new multi-app view that lets the user interact with several apps at the same time, not just select which app the user wants to switch to. Also, the new iPad Pro will feature increased compatibility with Apple’s stylus, and the Notes app will now serve to register the user’s handwriting.
The new iPad Pro has a 10.5-inch screen, aimed toward a professional clientele, as the iPad is widely used for event managing, music production, and other areas. The tablet is thinner than its predecessors, and it will come with a much clearer display and improved screen refresh rate. It will also come with a long-awaited upgrade in disk memory, set at 64GB. This new iPad is expected to start shipping sometime next week, at a starting price of $649.
Last but not least, there’s a new Apple product joining the family: The HomePod. Set to launch in December 2017, the HomePod will respond to a “Hey, Siri” command to perform different tasks and it will access the user’s Apple Music account and apps to play songs, announce the weather, read news headlines, text messages, and controlling other Apple-enabled home devices.
The user can also ask Siri about the musicians playing the current song and even tell her “Hey Siri, I like this song” to record the user’s tastes, mood, and preferred genres.
The HomePod will be sold at a starting price of $349.
Source: Apple Newsroom