Do you use an iPhone, an iPad, a Mac or even an Apple Watch? Apple’s recently concluded World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco has news you can use. WWDC is all about the software that powers these devices, and Apple showed off the next generation of features coming to an Apple-branded product near you soon. Here’s my pick of the announcements that mattered at WWDC.
 
 

iOS 10
Apple’s mobile OS for iPhones and iPads will see a makeover in iOS 10, for instance, with a redesigned lockscreen which allows you to quickly interact with notifications via 3D Touch to, say, reply to messages, accept calendar events and the like, straight from the lockscreen.

Aside from redesigned Music and Maps apps, the Photos app brings in several big improvements, including facial, object and scene recognition features, all happening directly on the mobile device itself. Messaging too is getting a shot in the arm with the ability to send animations, handwritten notes and invisible messages that only appear when tapped — not to mention automatic emoji suggestions which will scan your messages and suggest words you can replace with emojis (*cue eyeroll*). Siri, Apple’s voice assistant for iOS, has been opened up for developer access, which now allows apps like Uber and WhatsApp to let you hail a cab or send a message without even touching your phone.

macOS Sierra
Siri seems to be the thread that’s finally going to tie together all of Apple’s platforms, and it’s finally arriving in the new macOS Sierra packing the ability to search photos and documents, send messages and more. If you use an iOS device along with your Mac, you’re now not only going to be able to copy text and images from the mobile device and paste them on the Mac (via what Apple calls the “Universal Clipboard”), but also have the ability to access the files on your Mac’s desktop on all your other Macs and iOS devices. There’s a new Picture-in-Picture mode which, as the name suggests, allows you to watch a video while you’re completing other tasks. Oh, and in case you hadn’t noticed, Apple has dropped the OS X name in favor of the new “macOS” moniker. 

watchOS 3
Apple Watch owners can finally rejoice, as watchOS 3 brings in massive improvements in app launch times. No more pensive moments waiting for the app to launch and update its data from the phone — your most used apps can now have their information updated in the background and launch almost instantly. You can now discreetly reply to message notifications with the new handwriting-to-text feature called Scribble, and there are a host of fitness-related improvements, including a Breathe app for coaching you through deep breathing sessions. Own a Mac? You can now auto-unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch, no password required.

tvOS
Likely the smallest update of the lot, tvOS saw improvements to the companion iPhone remote app, plus updates to Siri on the Apple TV to search content on YouTube and find movies and TV shows based on subjects. And, finally, Apple TV now has HomeKit support, so you can control smart home accessories via your Apple TV remote. Watch this space, folks — Apple TV will be Apple’s Trojan Horse in the connected home space.

A pricey call

It’s been a great year so far for flagships, and with the 10, it is HTC’s turn to take a shot at the premium flagship crown. HTC is traditionally strong in the design department, and the 10’s all-metal design is no different, feeling just as premium and well-built as its predecessors and worthy of the not-insignificant pricing. The rear curve flows into a thick chamfered edge, which gives the phone a distinctive look and some much-needed flair in an otherwise safe design evolution.

The screen, a 5.2in number, is packed with pixels with its quad-HD resolution, and is an impressively bright LCD screen, which is bested at vibrancy only by Samsung’s Super AMOLED displays. No always-on mode either. Of course, for a flagship at this price, the choice of the top-end  Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM was a given, but what helps HTC’s cause is the Sense UI Android 6.0.1 skin. It’s a great mix of vanilla Android features with some useful add-ons, and is far lighter, bloat-free and cleaner than Samsung’s and LG’s implementations. Audio performance, too, is a strong point in the phone’s favour, and while the camera shoots excellent daylight and low-light images and sharp images with blurred-out backgrounds, it gets a little tricky when lighting is inconsistent.

In all, the HTC 10 is an improvement over its predecessor in every sense, yet the bar for premium flagships is insanely high this year, and one could only wish HTC had priced this competitively to take the fight to the competition. 
♦ Rating: 8/10
♦ Price: Rs 52,990
♦ URL: bit.ly/TT-HTC10

Counting the sips  

The premise of the Hidrate Spark connected water bottle is simple. Pair the bottle with your phone over Bluetooth, and set your water drinking goals. The sensor inside the bottle will automatically track how much water you’re drinking, ever so often glowing (and send you reminders via the app) to remind you to take a sip or two!
♦ Price: $54.95
♦ URL: bit.ly/TT-HidrateSpark

technocool@kanwar.net; follow me on twitter @2shar