Apple keynote 2017 launches many new tech, including iPhone X, FaceID, iPhone 8, improved ARkit, AppleTV 4K

iPhone X commemorates the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, launched at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino during its debut Apple event

September 13, 2017 07:10 pm | Updated 07:10 pm IST

Apple events attract a lot of attention and take a bite out of the tech scene. Will the September 2017 keynote turn out to be a trailblazing inaugural event at the Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino? | Photo: AP

Apple events attract a lot of attention and take a bite out of the tech scene. Will the September 2017 keynote turn out to be a trailblazing inaugural event at the Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino? | Photo: AP

 

Live updates:

 

0109 hrs: And the event, which was packed with several impressive innovations that can potentially have game-changing implications, comes to a close with a tear-jerking sign-off from Tim Cook: "Steve would be proud."

 

0059 hrs: At a glance, the iPhone X ...

... has an edge-to-edge OLED screen

... has no Home button

... a more fluid gestural touch navigation

... a water-resistant glass design that enables wireless charging

... a true-depth camera system enabling facial recognition called Face ID, to facially unlock your phone using the front camera, applicable with Apple Pay

... an interactive facial tracking tech enabling Animojis

... improved real-time camera lighting

... comes in 64GB, 256GB variants

... priced from $999

0055 hrs: iPhone X battery life will reportedly last 2 hours longer than iPhone 7's. That's what you want to hear. And another cool thing, a more efficient charging system with AirPower Charger . A mat that lets you charge multiple Apple devices — Watch, iPhone, Airpod — simultaneously.

0047 hrs: The iPhone X has similar camera specs to the iPhone 8, 12MP, but with a faster telephoto lens and improved flash . Get a run-down of the full features of the iPhone X straight from the horse's mouth . But the one feature you were afraid of being true, is true. $999, folks. It'll start shipping from November 3, 2017,

 

0045 hrs: That minor glitch apart, the phone's functions and navigations work nicely on the demo. The FaceID technology definitely works, as seen by how the cat emoji obediently smiled and growled on Federighi's command. Which is quite great.

0040 hrs: "Ho, ho, ho," Craig Federighi exclaims in embarrassment, as the FaceID feature refuses to unlock the phone during a live demo. Oops! What does this mean?

0035 hrs:Animojis are emojis that you can control with your face, Schiller tells us as we watch a human user's mesh face send a piece-to-camera message with a panda emoji speaking for him. Motion-tracking, expression-tracking all rolled into one piece of tech.

This is all some radical advancements in iterative development. Epic, as Apple's senior VP for software engineering Craig Federighi exclaims.

0025 hrs: The Face ID works with Apple Pay too.

 

0023 hrs: There's a lot of geekery involved in this Face ID technology (it involves a true-depth camera system, flood illuminator, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor; the IR camera takes an IR image, the dot-projector projects over 30,000 invisible IR dots on your face, and this image is passed through a neural network run by the A11 bionic neural engine — a specialised hardware built for machine learning algorithms — to create a mathematical model of your face, that must match with the initial image that you set up as your biometric ID). So, here's the simple story: phone recognises your face, and wakes up.

It learns your face, regardless of any masks your wear, and adapts to it even as you age, says Apple senior VP Philip Schiller. It needs your attention to unlock, meaning if you face it while your eyes are closed, it won't unlock. Super intuitive.

But what happens if I have an evil twin? Schiller admits the developer team is still working out the chinks in that.

0012 hrs: How to unlock the iPhone X ? Touch ID is now obsolete for Apple. You just look at it and it wakes up. Apple gives you Face ID .

0010 hrs: Ok, so no Home button . iPhone X wakes up with a tap on the screen, swipe up from the bottom to open the Home screen. Pretty intuitive and simple. Pause mid-swipe and you can multitask on extra tabs.

0003 hrs: Yup. It's the iPhone X .  As surmised , the X has a no-bezel glass finish, comes with a Super Retina Display . That's not OLED. Supposedly better. It has HDR display, Dolby Vision, a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, colour accuracy, 3D Touch, and True Tone.

0002 hrs: And the moment of truth. Turns out there's "one more thing", according to Tim Cook.

 

0000 hrs: And now the prices. The iPhone 8, with 64GB and 256Gb variants, will be priced at $699, and the 8-Plus will start at $799. Available from September 22.

2353 hrs: The iPhone 8's glass-back will let you wirelessly charge your phone using a Qi wireless charging standard . That shot of an iPhone 8 just resting on a console that looks like a teacup coaster is adorable.

2345 hrs: And now, Augmented Reality . This is going to be big-ticket. Cameras will be calibrated for AR. Some pretty amazing tricks in this ARkit . Hold up your iPhone 8 at a sports game, and see stats hover on the screen. Map the sky.

2340 hrs: And now, the 12MP dual camera , with optical image stabilisation, new colour filter and deeper pixels. And some machine learning here too. New feature, ' Portrait Lighting ' senses depth and reworks the lighting for enhanced visual contrast. Impressive. Apple is eliminating the need for filters by replacing it with real-time lighting analysis and adjustment .

2331 hrs: And now, the A11 Bionic chip processor. It's a 64-bit design, six-core CPu with 4.3 billion transistors. Which basically means that it is 30% faster than the A10 and consumes half the power. It has a 12MP sensor providing 83% light, faster low-light autofocus, improved pixel processor, and hardware noise-reduction. Features, features.

 

2328 hrs: The iPhone 8's aluminium body is sleek, most-durable-ever glass design reinforced by steel. Water-resistant with True-toneRetina HD display . Comes in Silver, Space Grey (go figure), and Gold. Music-lovers, good news; ear canal safety, bad news: the iPhone 8 series speakers are 25% louder and have deeper bass .

2325 hrs: And finally, the iPhone comes up for discussion. It's the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus .

 

2319 hrs: Apple will upgrade your iTunes movie purchases to 4K. And pricing for Apple TV 4K starts at $179 for 32GB and $199 for 64BG.

2314 hrs: Now, Apple TV 4K . It will have High-Definition Range HDR . Say hello to visual hedonism. Meanwhile, customers get tired of waiting for Godot iPhone news. They want what they want. Hey, do you not know about how Apple events leaving the best for last?

2310 hrs:Series 3 will be priced at $399 , $329 without cellular.

2300 hrs: Oh, and Siri can talk to you on your watch too.

2259 hrs:Apple Watch Series 3 has cellular connection built in. Which means Apple Watch now has LTE . Which means you don't need to take your phone with you when you go out, plus you won't get weird looks when you talk to your wrist hereafter. But don't fall off your paddle-board into a lake with your watch on.

 

2254 hrs: The Apple heart-rate sensor is the most-used monitor in the world, says Jeff (because everyone is on solely first-name basis at Apple). Apple Watch now hopes to help combat arrhythmia by introducing the Apple Heart Study , being conducted with Stanford Institute of Medicine. Watch OS 4 to be made available from September 19.

 

2249 hrs: And Cook gets down to business, starting with the Apple Watch . The smart-wrist-watch has a 97% customer satisfaction factor, he says, which makes it the No. 1 smartwatch in the world. Cue a short-film promo montage of satisfied customers giving their tributes, accompanied by a musical soundtrack befitting a inspirational flood-rescue story.

2239 hrs: The Apple Park is powered by 100% renewable energy, says Cook, giving his audience a real realtor's pitch. Sustainable architecture looks to be getting a great boost.

 

2236 hrs: Phew, they fixed the audio.

2234 hrs: Oh lord, has the live feed been hacked? As Tim Cook opens the event paying his respects to Steve Jobs, his touching words are being drowned out by a male voice speaking Chinese. A cross-connection. The comments stream is afire with indignation and confusion.

2228 hrs: The Apple's event feed has been throwing our minds back to 2007, where the late Steve Jobs gushes about his latest brainchild, the iPhone. Meanwhile, as the countdown timer winds down, fanboys and fangirls people are like:

 

2220 hrs:

2210 hrs:

2154 hrs : It's that time of year, again. No, not Christmas. Although loads of goodies may be involved. Welcome to our live updates of Apple's September 2017 keynote event, taking place at the inaugural Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California.

The event is scheduled to begin at 22:30 hrs IST.

The 'X factor' this time round seems to be iPhone X (though, it's pronounced "10"), Apple's commemorative special edition release on the occasion of the iPhone's 10th anniversary. It's rumoured to be a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge device with OLED display and, supposedly, Face ID technology for biometric authentication.

Alongside, there are also expected to be updates on ARkit, Apple TV, iPhone 7 variants, iOS 11, and possibly more. Here's a as well as a timeline of the iPhone's evolution .

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