After rolling out a series of beta versions since June 13 right after this year’s WWDC in San Francisco, Apple has released the final public version three months later on September 13. The system update is offered for free to owners of iPhone 5 and later, the iPad 4, iPad Air and iPad Pro variants, as well as the iPad mini 2 and later. The newest update, iOS 10.1 was recently released last October 24, 2016 after over a month of beta testing.
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During the key event at WWDC 2016, Apple unveiled its suite of new offerings with a 10-point feature set which matched the current version. First among these features is the UI/UX rehaul for the mobile user’s experience. This general redesign sets apart the lock screen as a primary experience, with the optimized second-gen Touch ID fingerprint mechanisms already in place.
With lessons learned from the Apple Watch, Apple has unveiled its new Raise to Wake feature, which allows the phone to sense if a user touches and lifts the device, lighting up and going straight to the Home screen. According to The Verge, this resolves the long-time issue of iPhone user’s tendency to tap on the Home button and jump to the Home screen accidentally.
Touch shortcuts have also been introduced, making onscreen notifications more responsive and interactive by design. Notifications that update locations have also been integrated with the 3D Touching option, in the same way that it works with the Apple Watch.
Among the many small improvements that iOS 10.1 brings about is the Portrait Mode, a feature specifically designed for the iPhone 7 Plus. Photography enthusiasts will love this feature because it does a cross-analysis of the photo’s layers, eliminating or blurring the background.
This gives capabilities usually found in DSLR cameras, all in the form factor of a smartphone. With the iOS 10.1, taking RAW images has also been integrated into the graphics chip, although this would mean eating up more storage, as RAW images require more space.
Control center has also been redesigned, with a more intuitive swiping navigation feature that lets users customize its contents, holding up multiple screens for different contextual menus and customizable widgets.
Perhaps in an effort to keep up with the Internet of Things craze, Craig Federighi explained how Apple has improved Siri such that it can now integrate with third-party development kits and activate functions via voice control. Siri now also brings its AI capabilities with the new QuickType feature, which creates suggestions and predictions as you type, all based on machine learning your habits.
According to a report by TechCrunch, the same artificial intelligence-based updates are brought in for Photos, which now creates what Apple calls “Memories,” a deep-learning technique that creates aggregates of faces, places, and objects based on an analysis that requires 11 billion computations per file.
Dynamic integrations with live traffic data have also been introduced with Maps, alongside its new, minimal design. Its revamped texture now highlights a cleaner look and a simpler interface, with more focus on content and easier access to controls.
Other apps like Music and News have also been stripped down and made cleaner, with the latter now allowing subscriptions and customizable breaking news notifications. As already expected, Music now integrates lyrics that hover as a song plays, but this may still face more development with third-party services.
With recent product updates like Google’s Home and Amazon’s Echo family, Apple is increasingly becoming invested with smarthomes. Through its HomeKit development framework, Apple has launched a dedicated app, Home, which enables users to intuitively control compatible accessories: force-tap, slide, speak.
Interestingly, Apple failed to mention how it now allows users to delete pre-installed apps. Commonly associated with Android users who have forced root access to their devices, the process can now be easily done with Apple’s suite of mobile products. Bringing more value to user experience than ever before, Apple is making headway into a fully integrated future.
