Speculation on what will come from Apple’s magic hat
The rumour mill grinds into action now that Apple has announced WWDC for 2017. You may remember last year with the approach of the iPhone 7, we were told by countless pundits that this was to be a failure, compounded by the lack of innovation and (paradoxically) the removal of the headphone jack. The earbuds were to be connected via the Lightning port and was predicted to be a disaster.
But few who bought the iPhone 7 missed a beat with the Lightning connectors, and if anyone insisted on using devices with a 3.5mm jack, Apple provided an adaptor in the box. Conveniently that also works with medical devices, like the blood-glucose monitor I bought.
We have already been told by some experts that Apple is not going to innovate with the iPhone 8, or iPhoneX that some want to call it as a reminder that we have had 10 years of iPhones. Apple will consolidate existing technologies. This may include an OLED (Organic Light-emitting Diode) screen, with Bloomberg reporting that Applied Materials has increased orders for machines to make these screens. We should also expect to see a newer, faster A11 processor.
Previous A-series chips had a secure enclave for storage of mathematical fingerprint data (not the print itself ), while the A10 had fusion technology allowing some resources to be used for power apps (like games) and other cores assisted workaday processes such as mail. Don’t forget 64-bit computing too. Some developers have and their apps will stop working soon. Face-recognition technology may be on the way and Apple recently bought RealFace: an Israeli company that specialises in this area.
It is good to make incremental improvements to existing technology rather than add unnecessary bells and whistles: the Asus Padfone was a wonderful example of this; but there have been other manufacturers who include tricks because they can. Apple has been tarred with this brush over its Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro, but this is mainly by those who haven’t used the computer.
I compare the limited use of the Touch Bar with the preference of some users to stick to the mouse (or touchpad) when for years power users of Macs have used keystrokes: a far more efficient way to work. Once these are incorporated into the mental toolset we each develop, the workflow improves. I have noticed a similar adaptation to the way I work when the Touch Bar is available.
Most of the time, if I am writing in my preferred third-party text editor, there are no related options on the Touch Bar, so I stick to the cursor and keystrokes. However, even in this non-adaptive state, Volume, Brightness, Siri and other options are available on the Touch Bar if I want them.
Switching to an application optimised for the Touch Bar, I have a set of tools available that I can use if I wish. I have found that initially, I tend not to try these, sticking to better-known keys or menus, but gradually I begin to incorporate Touch Bar tools into my workflow, and that includes spelling suggestions as I type in certain applications.
There is some speculation that Apple might
be planning a special event in March. This makes sense as most previous iPad introductions have been early in the month and some hardware updates are overdue.
Favourite for the event (if it happens) are updated iPad Pro models, with the smaller of the two going up to a 10.5-inch screen. That would make much sense. The 12.9-inch version is my preferred device for productive work, and several graphic artists prefer the larger screen area, and the Apple Pencil. The small increase from 9.7-inch might be just the boost the smaller Pro model needs. There is no news on the iPad mini or iPad Air.
Some commentators hope that new Macs could also be announced if this March event takes place. It is possible, but would make the presentation cluttered. A second event in early April if there are indeed new Macs (and I hope so), would spread the load better: for Apple, reviewers and distributors. The iMacs need a refresh at least, but there is also some talk of a separate keyboard with a Touch Bar.
The workhorse Mac mini needs much love from Apple right now too. I have owned several of these underrated, small machines and they churn away out of sight as servers or in offices. Several colleagues have these and we have two labs full of them. Then there is the Mac Pro that arrived in a blaze of glory in 2013 with Xeon chips. Some commentators expect this to be phased out, but there is some optimism that this may see at least a speed bump.
Graham K. Rogers of Mahidol University’s Engineering Faculty, has OS-X flavoured web pages at www.extensions.in.th/index4.html and he can be followed on Twitter (@extensions_th).