iOS 10 - The Most Subtle Iteration Of iOS (Part 2)

If you haven't seen the first part on low-down of the iOS 10 features, then click here. 

Messages:

Messages is the most used app in iOS, hence Apple has directed all its effort making it a more personal, emotive and fun. It carries more bells and whistles than most chatting applications. 

Background animations are fun ways to spruce up a chat, balloons, fireworks populate the screen giving the chat a personal chat. Messages can now be emphasised by 'bubble effect' which makes the message bob to catch attention.

New Feature in Messages

Links shared in Messages are more richer and provide more context. Also there is a built-in camera tool through which you can snap pictures without leaving the app.

Digital Touch, the sketching feature of Apple Watch has now been carried to Messages. You can now send heartbeats, drawings and taps. They are sent to the receiver in real-time as you are drawing. it also has a new hand-writing feature along with a lot of photo editing tools.

One of the most handy feature in this new update is the predictable emoji. Once you have typed a message, it suggests all the word that can be emojified and a simple tap converts a word to an emoji

Emojification in Messages

Apple is also introducing a dedicated App Store for Messages, which houses apps with extensions that can be used in the Messages app. Simple apps that do things like allow you to send stickers and GIFs to friends are included, but the platform also supports more powerful apps that can do things like send payments or make a collaborative takeout dinner order with friends. All of this can be done without leaving the Messages app.

Photos:


The new photos app has now been updated with something Apple prides on, 'Siri Intelligence' which equates to new deep learning algorithms and advanced facial and object recognition techniques, aka computer vision.

With this intelligence, Photos can scan through an user's entire photo database and sort out animals, people, objects and more. Searching for 'beaches' will bring all the pics related to beaches. If we ask for pictures of 'cats' it returns with photos of cats in the user database.

There is also a dedicated user album called 'Peoples', which uses Siri Intelligence for face recognition. It can also distinguish facial expressions like screaming, smiling, disgust etc. 

There is another new tab, 'Memories'. This uses face recognition, location, date to create custom albums. This feature is quite enjoyable as it brings old memories that could have been only brought out by a tedious clean up of the database.

Siri Intelligence In Photos

All this learning is possible due to the device's GPU and done separately by each device to ensure privacy.

Photos is now equipped with 'Markup' editing tool for adding text and sketches. Apple has also added Live Filters and other capabilities to edit Live Photos. There is also an auto-enhance function and new brilliance adjustment slider.

Memories In Photos

Apple Music:

Apple Music has given has been given a much needed face life. it is quite minimalistic making it easier to find and listen content. Now tabs contain - Library, For You, Browse and Radio. It also includes search which makes it very easy to find songs and albums.

The new design focuses more on Album Art, along with a lot of white space and bold headings. Apple wanted to bring greater clarity and simplicity to the entire experience of using the app.

When playing a song in Apple Music, there is a new built-in feature that enables us to see lyrics. It also much easier to know which songs are in the device memory with then new 'Downloaded Music' section.

Apple Music With A New Redesign

Lyrics In New Apple Music

Apple Maps:

Apple Maps has been redesigned to have easier access to controls, destination suggestions and more useful feedback tools.

The Maps now provide traffic information and provide a dynamic view to see what traffic conditions are like ahead. 

But the biggest feature (also the one that distinguishes it from Google Maps) is Maps Extension. Developers can now integrate their app directly to Maps. Uber integration can show the nearest Ubers and even book them without leaving the app.

The New Apple Maps

Maps Extension

Maps too, has been induced with the new Siri Intelligence which allows it to make proactive suggestions by understanding common user habits. If you go to work everyday at 8, then it suggests quickest route and also any abnormal traffic ahead.

Now you can find all the important service like petrol stations, food, coffee marked along the route. It also adjust the route and let you know how much time a detour can take.

Apple Maps now knows where you have parked the car and marks it in the map, and also reminds the location in case you have forgotten.


That wraps up my two part post on the changes of iOS 10. This update had focused more on integration of the existing proprietary apps with more developers to make for a richer experience.

I hope you have found everything you need to know about the new iOS. If you have any queries please feel free to leave a comment.

Top 5 Best Educational Apps For Android And iOS

Education is quite crucial in this modern competitive world. Learning languages, supplementary courses are all necessary. But the key is to integrate them into you daily life. With the advent of the distance learning and mobile tech, taking courses has become easier than ever.

Coursera

Coursera Learning App

This app is amazing, it enables you to learn top courses for free. Coursera allows you to engage in a variety of courses from a slew of top-tier universities and institutions around the globe. Enrol in classes, stream and download lectures, and watch content on your own time.

Khan Academy 

Education is sometimes extortionate.Propitiously, we have Khan Academy, which provides more than 3000 free courses.Best Math and Science courses available for free.There are many video lectures.The founder of Khan Academy is Mr Salman  from USA.All the lectures are available in english.it enables you to learn various subjects like History, Economics, Civics, Math, Science, Astrology, Computer Programming etc.So, what are you waiting for ? Download this app right now!

Memrise

Everyone loves to learn a foreign language like French, German etc. Memrise enables you to explore many languages with many weekly assignments etc.You can learn many languages in less than a month and increase your chances to get jobs.Though some services are premium, it is always user-friendly.

Duolingo

The other best app to Be a Language Geek is Duolingo. It is the best app, with 50 Million downloads. You can learn 2000 words and 8000 sentences in more than 20000 different exercises and games. It also uses low data. Duolingo also offers 50+ language courses

Dabblr

Dabblr is a mobile app meant to fulfil all your learning needs.There are many courses which can help you to have quick recap before your exam.You can discover news from every part of the world in an instant.The best part of this app is Vocabulary, it always enables you to improve your Vocabulary.It also improves your IQ in aptitude.Which can make you an adroit in Math.

 So we're done with the Top 5 Educational Apps.If you found something interesting, do comment below and follow technical boom.You can also find my other posts.To explore something about iPhone 7 click here


Want to update your iOS device to iOS 10 then , click here.

iOS 10 - The Most Subtle Iteration Of iOS (Part 1)

It has been 9 years since the first iOS launched it in the 2007 Macworld Expo. It created a gargantuan change in the mobile software industry. The success of iOS has been momentous. When the iPad released in 2010, it make industry standard computer and took over laptops and bulky custom computer. 

Over the years it has gone through boundless refinements, many of them bold. Like iOS 7, it took a huge leap and changed the face of iOS, literally. Needless to say, the popularity was so high, that Google immediately joined the bandwagon of Material Design. But the iOS has advanced far more than Android in various aspects. But the new iOS is going to please people from both sides.

iOS 10 on iPhone 6s

Lock Screen And Home Screen:

iOS 10 completely overhauls the lock screen. The have added so much functionality to it that for most of the time, you can do your without unlocking the phone. All this was possible due to the new Widgets panel and new Notifications. Apple has replaced the 'Slide To Unlock' feature with 'Press Home Button To Open'. They have also added the long awaited 'Raise To Awake' function (Only for M9 chip and above). 

This helps to have a better glance at information and even respond to it. You can talk in a WhatsApp Group without even unlocking the phone. Instead of darkening the background and putting all notifications in an order, iOS now splits them based on the app and doesn't darken the wallpaper.

The home screen looks largely similar to the lock screen. Widgets can be accessed by swiping to the left of home screen. But he big difference here is a lot of new 3D Touch functionality is added. Also, there are new animations for folders and app opening/exiting.

Siri And Quicktype:

Apple has given a new lease of life to their voice assistant, Siri, making it even more versatile than ever. The new Siri SDK or SiriKit allows developers to integrate their apps with Siri. You can now ask Siri to hire an Uber, and it would do it in a jiffy without even opening the app.

QuickType is the artificial intelligence of the iOS keyboard. It can provide better contextual predictions, such as, if you are telling about a person in an sms, it suggest the phone number and address. Now, you can also type in multiple language without having to switch keyboard. Quite useful for those learning a language.  

Lock Screen of iOS 10

Siri With Third Party Apps

Miscellaneous Refinements:

Apple has now provided the functionality to delete stock apps.

Deleting Stock Apps

A new app 'Home' is added. It integrates all your smart home appliances, like bluetooth lamps, smart LEDs, smart locks etc. You can even put certain presets. Such as a preset 'I'm Home' would unlock the door, switch on the light in the hall, turn on the coffee machine and switch on the AC. This is a huge advancement in the modern world of IoT.

Apple Home App

Safari in iPad enable side-by-side browsing

You can now copy in one Apple device and paste it in other. (Only for device with macOS Sierra and iOS 10).

Bedtime alarm in iPhone reminds you to have proper sleep and also shows your sleep analysis.

Music storage can be optimised, options of 8,16,32,64GB are given. If there are songs that you haven't listened for a while, the music app deletes them and saves space.

iOS has new keyboard sounds and lock sounds. They are much pleasanter now.

That is a glimpse to the innumerable changes in iOS 10. Apple has definitely went with the theme of practicality. I hope you have enjoyed the post and are pumped for the Public Release on September 13. The second post will be followed up after the Public Release and initial bug fixes. 

That's it for the post. If you have any queries, please feel free to use the comments. 

The second part is here.

iPhone 7 - Stepping Up On Practicality

It has been 9 years since the first iPhone has launched way back in 2007 by Steve Jobs, it created a massive revolution everywhere around the world. It became a symbol of simplicity, elegance, responsiveness and its rich ecosystem. Overtime it had tougher competition and higher expectations to meet.

Owing to the grand ceremony of the 10th iPhone next year (2017), Apple has decided to shy away from any major changes and resort to simple yet practical improvements. And I am glad to say, they have done a great job.

iPhone 7 Plus and AirPods

Design:

• There have been minor tweaks in design. First of all, the plastic line for radio signals has been minimised.
• Apple has now provided water and dust protection for its iPhone 7/7 Plus which previously worried iPhone owners.
• Apple has ditched the Space Grey colour for the two new blacks, matte Black and glossy Jet Black.
• It carries the taptic feedback tech from MacBook and puts it in the Home Button. It means that there is no physical button but the phone gives a light sensation in your fingers which feels a lot like a click. This elongates the life of the most use Home Button.

Colour Variants

Performance:

This year has been a wild ride in terms of performance in Android. Lots of powerful SoCs, Processor, Graphics Chips, Ram upto 6GB. But Apple has been known to be master at streamlining their hardware and software so well that iPhone 5S with slower processor and 1 GB RAM beats many phones with triple the RAM and latest processors. The new A10 Fusion chips is going to put aside all competition.

• The A10 Fusion chip has been based on a new architecture that makes it more advanced
• It now has a special 4 Core design. 2 High Power cores that are 2X as fast as iPhone 6S, and 2 High Efficiency cores that consume 1/5th the power compared to the iPhone 6s
• This new design lengthens battery life, brings tremendous performance improvements. 
• The Graphic Performance has been tweaked. It is now 3X times as fast as iPhone 6s.
• Most importantly, the storage sizes have been modified.

A10 Fusion Processor

Camera:

Apple has taken a different strategy on the camera specs this year. 

• The iPhone 7 comes with a improves 7MP FaceTime front camera. 
• It has a 12MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture which is better than Galaxy Note 7's camera. The better aperture improves exposure and is useful in low-light photography. 
• To aid in low-light, the new iPhone comes equipped with quad-LED flash which is 50% brighter than the previous two-LED flash.
• It also has optical image stabilisation, which means that your pictures and videos will never be shaky anymore.
• But the most awesome feature has to be 4K recording at 60FPS. For those who don't know what it means, it is equivalent to a DSLR quality video.

• Now the iPhone 7 Plus takes the camera advancement to the next level.
• It does not have one 12MP lens but two. One being a Wide-Angle lens and other Telephoto lens.
• This gives it the ability of Optical Zoom (upto 2X), that is, zooming without losing details, something that a high-end phone like Note 7 doesn't have. It can do Digital Zoom upto 10X.
• Now Apple wants to replace DSLR so effectively that they even added a feature that creates the Bokeh effect without any software mumbo-jumbo. Even the Note 7 doesn't have this. Only high-end DSLRs are known to have it.
• But what makes it different from all other android phones, now and in future, is that the camera data is processed through the new architecture of A10, which makes it worthy of replacing most of the professional cameras.

This shows how Apple wants to make DSLRs obsolete. It truly is the best camera smartphone.

iPhone 7/7 Plus Back

Other Refinements:

This year Apple has focused on practicality than style and renovation. There are multiple tweaks which seem small but at the end you will be left drooling at your nearest Apple retailer to get your hand on one, if you wallets are fat enough, that is.

• Now iPhone has two stereo speakers, one on bottom and one on top. It 50% louder which is crucial for media consumption.
• The new Retina HD Display is 25% brighter and has a wider colour range.
• 3D touch not only provides extra options but now responds to you with the same taptic engine.
• The new antennas now enable a transfer speed of 450Mbps on LTE, which is unheard of in the industry.

iPhone With iOS 10

Well that wraps up my post on the new iPhone 7/7 Plus. The amount of effort put by Apple to make such subtle differences that create a massive ripple of change in user experience is spectacular.

I hope you have found everything you need to know about the new iPhone. If you have any queries please feel free to leave a comment.