The IT Nerd

Shock, Apple announced the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus in one of their media events. You’ll also be shocked to know that it dropped the headphone jack. Okay. You’re not shocked about that as rumors had been floating around in regards to that for some time. But in all seriousness, they did announce quite a bit. Here’s a quick rundown:

• The Apple Watch “Series 2” was announced. The new Apple Watch is actually swim proof and adds swim tracking to the Workouts app including pool swimming and open water swimming. The Apple Watch speaker is the only unsealed part of the casing and it intelligently ejects water after a workout. It also has a built-in GPS is also included for outdoor running and walking without an iPhone. There’s also available in a new Nike+ version with a special version of the Sports band paired with the aluminum model watch. Nike+ Apple Watch is offered in four color options.Apple Watch Series 2 starts at $369 USD (including Apple Watch Nike+). The “original” Apple Watch gains the same S2 chip at $269 USD (without GPS and swimproof features). Pre-order starts September 9th ahead of release on September 16th. Nike+ models are coming in late October.
• Pokemon Go is coming to the Apple Watch later this year. Yawn.
• Apple has announced brand new truly wireless AirPods, premium wireless headphones that work in concert with the iPhone 7. The AirPods are independent separate earbuds, that have sensors in the buds to know when they are inside your ear.They work with both the iPhone and Apple Watch and can switch between them. Dedicated separate charging case delivering 5 hour battery life. A case provides 24 hours of power. If that’s not enough, Apple will be launching a range of new headphones with wireless Solo 3 and wireless Powerbeats 3. They are also launching a new range called BeatsX, which is a cheaper collection that uses cables.
• macOS Sierra will be kicked out to the world on September 20th. Rejoice as it includes Siri for Mac, Apple Pay, and more. Oh yeah, it’s free.
• iOS 10 will hit the streets on September 13th. Rejoice as it has a revamped iMessage app with things like stickers and new emoji features, Siri SDK for third-party integration with the personal voice assistant, redesigned Maps app, Faces and object tagging in Photos, and much more. It too will be free.
• watchOS 3 will be coming on the same day as iOS 10. Surprise, it will be free.
• Strangely, no mention of when tvOS will make an appearance.

• Finally the iPhone 7 will start at $649 USD for the entry-level 32GB model and move up the usual premium for 128GBs and the new 256GB high-end model. The iPhone 7 Plus will be priced at its usual premium starting at $769 USD (32GB) and up from there for the 128G, and 256GB models. The new iPhone 7 models will go up for preorder on Friday, Sept 9 and launch on Sept 16.  Why should you get one? Here’s some reasons why:

  • Redesigned Home button with Taptic engine
  • A10 Fusion four-core CPU
  • Water and dust resistant enclosure
  • 12 Megapixel cameras with new quad-led True Tone flash
  • Dual-camera system for enhanced zoom on Plus models
  • Optical image stabilization in all iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models
  • Lightning Earpods + Lightning to 3.5mm adapter in box
  • Color options: New glossy “Jet black”, second “black” finish with black logo, silver, gold, and rose gold
  • Repositioned antennas

Now if you missed the event, Apple will post a replay that the public can get access to. As soon as the link is live, I will post it here.

UPDATE: Here’s a link to the video.

This entry was posted on September 7, 2016 at 3:16 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.