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What are you looking forward to when the annual WWDC developer conference is finally held?Is it a brand-new iOS 15, or an iPad OS with more functions, or a rumored homeOS, or a novel hardware that may appear?As the saying goes, "The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment", to Lei Wanwan's surprise, none of these concerns we mentioned at this WWDC conference.
Of course, Apple has indeed released a series of new systems and brought some new functions, but these "new functions" are simply relative to the old systems, rather than the "intelligent hardware world".It's a pity that a series of new systems of Apple have not changed the world, but for iPhone, iPad, Mac and other Apple hardware users, these new systems do bring some new meanings.
IOS 15 that is updated but does not seem to be updated
FaceTime
Apple said that FaceTime is one of the most important functions for Apple users, and Xiaolei felt that they should not include Chinese consumers in the statistical sample.In any case, Apple has enhanced FaceTime on iOS 15. In the experience, FaceTime's noise reduction ability is more excellent, and its voice is more prominent. In other words, we will have a clearer experience during video calls.
In addition, FaceTime has also joined the portrait mode in a fashion that allows us to create a large aperture camera face to face photography feeling during video calls. Apple thinks it is cool to do so, but Xiaolei has not found any value or significance in this design.
SharePlay
If FaceTime will be popular in China, the newly added SharePlay function will be the key.The new function allows users to play music or movies when using FaceTime and share these audio and video resources with the caller, just like inviting your friends to watch movies at your home.
In addition, this "sharing" has other meanings. For example, we can quickly switch the current video conversation picture to other devices, such as TV, so that the video conversation experience can be improved.
New information app
In the new information app, we can share more information, such as articles, takeout, map locations or song lists, in addition to traditional text or pictures.These functions and implementation ideas are full of "sense of vision", at least our WeChat or other social software has long allowed this, is not it content sharing?.
Focus mode
Apple said that in the era of smart phones, we have to face the interruption of information, but sometimes we may need to "calm down", so it is necessary to introduce a focus mode to keep us focused.The newly added "focus mode" allows us to achieve the goal of "keeping focused". We can select the specified App and block their information. If someone sends you a message when the focus mode is enabled, the system will tell them that you are in the focus mode and try not to disturb.
Live Text
Like Google Lens in those days, iOS 15 now finally supports the image text extraction function. The system can recognize and copy the text in the photos, which can be saved in notepad or other software.So why did Apple suddenly launch this feature?In fact, it is intended to make Apple's new Spotlight function easier to use.
In terms of the new search function, due to the addition of the image text recognition function, we can search the corresponding image through the "text in the image", and the text information in the image has more functions. If it is the location information, it can be directly located. If it is identified as a phone number, it can be directly dialed.
There is another upgrade for the image function iOS 15. The new Photos Memories function improves the "For You" tab. The photo collection automatically generated by the system can now add music from Apple Music. Of course, you can let the system automatically add music or choose your favorite music.
Of course, for domestic users, especially Android users, the performance of such functions has not brought any surprises, because we have already experienced them, and even these functions have been dead for many years.
Wallets, weather, maps
The Wallet App is getting upgraded, or to be more precise, Apple has released the functional restrictions of NFC to a certain extent. Now we can add more "keys" or even ID cards to the Wallet App, and let Apple's "excellent privacy protection mechanism" keep these key information on our behalf.
Of course, the practical significance of the wallet app function upgrade must be for convenience. Apple said that BMW will take the lead in supporting the iPhone digital key function. If you want to buy a BMW in the future, the new wallet app will be very popular;The wallet app on iOS 15 also supports more digital keys, such as room keys, office keys and even hotel keys. Of course, the specific performance depends on merchant support and actual measurement.
We can upgrade the weather app in a single stroke, just understand it as "like the Chinese weather apps such as Ink Weather".
The improvement of the map app focuses on the visual level. In short, the details are more abundant (different color blocks will be used to distinguish the elements on the map), and 3D city images are added to intuitively display the urban traffic situation for CarPlay navigation users.
AirPods search function
Finally, AirPods!Wait a minute, do you think there will be new products?That's too early to be happy.Apple did introduce some new information about AirPods on WWDC21, but it is not related to hardware.To be precise, the new changes are related to the "Find" function. Now the "Find" function can finally find your AirPods, which is similar to the principle of AirTag.
Unfortunately, the new AirPods search function only supports AirPods Pro and AirPods Max at present. I have to say that Apple also has a set of "knife skills".
IPadOS 15 makes iPad more "iPad"
The first upgrade of iPadOS 15 focused on small components. We can freely define the small components on the desktop. Of course, some of the small components are system level and made specifically for the iPad. For example, we can quickly join the game through small components or enter the album for browsing.
In order to make the system desktop more clean, iPadOS 15 has designed a dedicated "resource library" function for iPad, which allows us to integrate infrequent software into the resource library, and also strengthens the ability to organize the resource library. In other words, it is easier for us to organize the software.
The second feature upgrade of iPad OS 15 is multi task interaction.First of all, on the iPad OS 15, we can open the multitasking interface with one button, and select the software we need to enter the split screen state.What if we want to browse the third software?It is very simple. When you return to the desktop in split screen mode and open the third software, the software will be displayed on the side bar. Taking the "Mail" App as an example, we select the mail you want to open in the mailbox, and the mail will be displayed on the screen in the form of a floating window.
If you don't need to use email, just swipe down the page, and the app will enter the newly added "App Shelf" component.
Quick memo
In iPadOS 15, the memo function has been comprehensively upgraded. In brief, the new "quick memo" software is not just an app, but a system level application with a hierarchy above other apps.We can open the "Quick Memo" on the icons of some commonly used software in a quick start way, quickly record information points, and add the current web page and hyperlink to the Quick Memo to facilitate our unified retrieval.
Translation App
The translation app has finally arrived on the iPad OS, and its functions have been improved.The new translation app has learned the skill called "automatic translation". No matter on any page, we can use the translation function to translate text, and face-to-face conversations can also be translated with the help of the translation app, so we no longer have to worry about language barrier.
Programming ability
Your iPad can finally be programmed happily!With the addition of Swift Playground, programmers can quickly compile software on the iPad and submit it to the App Store with one click after compilation, which means that simple and less complex programming can now be completed by the iPad without having to take out your 1.4KG MacBook Pro.
Apple has made targeted improvements in these aspects
Privacy capability
With the launch of the App privacy report function, you can intuitively see whether all kinds of software on the mobile phone have well protected your privacy. For example, those "rogue software" will have nothing to hide after asking you for permission several times and asking you for information.Mail, iCloud and Safari have also enhanced privacy protection to varying degrees, such as hiding IP addresses, which makes our information more difficult to disclose.
When discussing privacy protection, Siri also performed on the stage, but this time Siri did not mess up, but showed a good local operation skill.In short, we can use Siri to operate and change the basic functions of the mobile phone without networking. Other voice assistants may be "smart", but they can't do without the network. On the contrary, when Siri is running completely locally, IQ is still online.
Health App
In terms of health functions, Apple always pays attention to the health of users. This time, they have invited medical experts, hoping that the health functions on Apple devices can help ordinary consumers pay more attention to their health.
For example, based on Apple's various software capabilities, we can observe our activity status through health apps, and give suggestions to avoid falling through big data.This function seems a bit funny, but it is still meaningful to put it on the elderly.In addition to monitoring walking stability, the health app will also give suggestions for improvement, so that we can avoid "unstable walking" as much as possible.
Everyone will have a physical examination, but we can't understand what to do?Don't worry, now the Health App can help you look at the test sheet.In addition to helping you analyze the results of the test sheet concisely and easily, Apple will also give suggestions on "how to reach a healthy state" according to the content of the test sheet and sports performance to improve our health state.
With so much personal information, the health app is simply our "medical record book", so we can directly share our health data when we see doctors (I don't know if it is only American doctors). Some medical institutions that have cooperation with Apple will give advice on your health data.
In addition, in the health app, we can not only pay attention to our own health status, if we join the family group, we can also see the health of their families. Once their health has a bad trend, the health app will notify other members, urging everyone to care about their health.
WatchOS 8 makes Apple Watch a health helper
The new watchOS seems to care about your breathing state. It not only introduces new functions to let us pay more attention to your breathing state, but also can detect our breathing rate when we sleep at night, making the health monitoring of Apple Watch more comprehensive.
In terms of fitness, Apple Watch has always been dutiful, but now Apple has once again strengthened Apple Fitness+'s ability. In addition to giving better fitness advice, it has also prepared a corresponding song list for us to make your fitness less boring and boring.
In terms of visual design, watchOS 8 also has some new improvements.For example, we can choose our own big head photo as the Apple Watch dial, and Apple has also lovingly added the depth of field effect to the big head photo of the dial, and sliding the crown can play the dynamic effect.
Now we can also use the Apple Watch to send messages quickly, and even enter the album to send messages to contacts in the form of "picture+text+expression" without picking up our iPhone.
I didn't expect Apple to talk about smart home ecology
Apple has finally launched the concept of smart home, and started to think about how to integrate smart home components in the home.Of course, Apple has HomeKit, which can connect HomeKit devices quickly and stably.In the home scene, the new iOS 15 features mentioned earlier have a more important role, because the ability to "share" various devices is an important part of the smart home scene.
Interestingly, Apple has announced two major changes: it has formed the Matter Alliance with other leading manufacturers, and now Apple's devices will support both HomeKit and Matter protocols;Siri will be open to third-party manufacturers. As long as their devices support HomeKit, they will be able to use all of Siri's capabilities, and Apple will ensure that our privacy is also protected.
MacOS Monterey comes on stage, your Mac becomes stronger
The new macOS, like iOS and iPadOS, will carry forward the concept of "sharing". FaceTime, multi task, information function, focus mode, quick memo and other functions or function upgrades will also be added to the new macOS, so that we can use the Mac more efficiently.
Universal Control
As we all know, iPad and Mac are more and more similar. For example, two new products have used M1 chips, and their software and hardware are close to getting through.So, when will iPad and Mac be integrated?Although Apple has not yet made a statement, with the launch of Universal Control, the integration of these two devices will go further.
For example, when we put MacBook and iPad together, we can directly move the cursor from MacBook to the next iPad to directly operate the iPad.Try dragging files from MacBook to iPad directly?That's no problem.
From the surface, it seems that the iPad has become the second screen of the Mac, but in fact, this is to connect terminals of different forms. As long as they are close together, we can freely transfer and switch various information and content between devices.If you really want to say, the Hongmeng system just released wants to achieve similar results.
AirPlay to Mac
AirPlay has been available for a long time, but it is very new on the Mac.The new AirPlay to Mac function makes AirPlay behavior more diversified. For example, through AirPlay, music on the iPhone is transferred to the Mac to play, making full use of the loud speakers on the Mac.
Quick Instructions
Is the quick command easy to use?That's for sure. The emergence of the quick command function on the iPhone has made many complex operations simple, but how can it be that such a good thing can't turn to MacOS?Good news, now.On the latest MacOS, fast commands have finally been added. Apple said that many tedious operations can be automated with the help of the fast command function, and it may also be possible to let the computer write its own code.
Safari
"Veteran" App Safari finally ushered in a big upgrade, but the so-called "big upgrade" is just a change of face and support for expansion.The new Safari integrates the search bar and multiple functions directly into the address bar (just like Chrome). Of course, the address bar has a new design, which makes it look more refreshing and simple.On the iPhone, Safari's tab has also been newly designed. The action of browsing, displaying and switching will be more smooth and easier to use.
Congratulations on not staying up late to watch WWDC21
When the press conference came to an end, Xiao Lei found that the technology bloggers who chased WWDC together on Weibo either turned to watch the national soccer team or went to sleep.From the content of the press conference, the WWDC has a large amount of information and dense content, but if you look at the whole process, you will find that many so-called "highlights" are very reluctant, whether it is iOS 15 or other systems. What's more embarrassing is that many "new features" on iOS 15 and iPad OS are familiar, and the new systems have not brought us too many surprises.
So how should we summarize this WWDC conference?There is no rumored homeOS and no new hardware products. Is it Apple's lack of innovation or our expectations too high?Perhaps there is another reason: the development of major systems has been very perfect, or when it comes to the bottleneck stage, it is very difficult to carry out radical innovation.Therefore, it will become more common for functions to learn from each other, and top manufacturers tend to "think alike" in some directions.
