Worldwide Developers Conference 2017

It’s no secret I prefer Android over iOS, but I can usually suspend my fanboy-ism long enough to appreciate the finer point’s of Apple’s systems. This year, it was just too difficult for me.

The Good Ridiculous

Apple has made a few too many hyperbolic announcements at WWDC:

  • A “revolutionary new 10.5 inch iPad Pro” that has the same screen size (but lower resolution) as my 2-year-old Android Tablet.
  • An amazing new feature on the iPhone and iPad (that has been available on Android since day one, and Windows PPC/Mobile/Phone since at least 2003) – user access to the file system. Oh wait. No, it’s just a single app that collates all your files in one place.
  • A “magic keyboard” that finally gives you the numpad back – why did they remove it in the first place?
  • The HomePod which will “reinvent music” … in the same way the Amazon Echo, Amazon Dot, Google Chromecast Audio, and Google Home did years ago.
  • The all new Apple Watch, that still looks as ugly as the first generation of Apple Watch… Seriously, they couldn’t make it round, or thinner or something?

The Bad Decent

Apple also announced a new App store. Google tends to update their App store without much fan-fare (and let’s be honest, manages to anger their users by doing so). Apple, however, feels the need to let everyone know that the store that usually only gets incremental improvements will be getting some major attention this time round.

The Ugly Amazing

Before you begin to think that Apple is incapable of doing anything new, let me say they made some awesome announcements too:

  •  iMac Pro:
    • 4GHz CPU with 18 cores
    • Vega graphics on a 5K screen
    • up to 128GB of RAM
    • up to 4TB of SSD storage

    Shame there is no VESA mounting plate for these things.

  • High Sierra: a stupid name for what is an excellent improvement on macOS. Because it keeps the Sierra name it sounds like it’s the previous operating system, with some extra polish. This isn’t the case. There is a whole new filesystem, improved graphics engine, and tighter integration with iCloud. This new release deserved more fan-fare and a better release name: Rocky.

 

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