Apple on Monday previewed iPadOS, the powerful operating system with a new name to recognize the distinctive experience of iPad.
iPadOS builds on the same foundation as iOS, adding powerful new capabilities and intuitive features specific to the large display and versatility of iPad.
Introducing new ways to work with apps in multiple windows, more information at a glance on a redesigned Home screen and more natural ways to use Apple Pencil, iPadOS also benefits from the great new updates in iOS 13, making it the perfect device for consumers and creative pros alike.
“iPad transforms how people work and express their creativity, and with iPadOS, we’re taking it even further by delivering exciting capabilities that take advantage of its large canvas and versatility,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “iPadOS delivers exciting features, including a new Home screen with widgets, more powerful multitasking and new tools that make using Apple Pencil even more natural.”
The majority of changes move it away from the mobile phone and bring it closer to the functionalities of computers.
It improves the ability to work with several open windows at once (including several windows of the same application), it adds the possibility of opening the contents of SD cards and USB drives directly in the file application and modifies the Safari browser to bring it closer to the Mac version.
The new operating system also reduces the latency of the digital pen from 20 to 9 milliseconds.
As for the new Apple Watch, the tech giant run by Tim Cook announced Monday at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, that the new WatchOS 6 enables direct access to the “app store” without relying on an iPhone.
Although the smartwatch still has to be linked to the phone, the fact that applications can be purchased and downloaded directly through the device greatly increases its autonomy.
The Cupertino based company also took the opportunity to end one of its most iconic software, the iTunes music and video player and store, which will be replaced by three different services each focused on one functionality: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV.
Thus, almost two decades after Steve Jobs announced it in 2001 and after revolutionizing the way music was consumed legally, with massive implications for the industry, iTunes will disappear from the new operating system for Mac computers, the MacOS 10.15 Catalina.
MacOS Catalina (named after Santa Catalina Island, near Los Angeles) also brings compatibility with applications designed for the iPad, so that developers who until now created apps exclusively for tablets can now move their products to all Mac computers.
Apple also presented a function in the new operating system that allows the iPad to be used as a secondary computer screen, as well as the ability to control the device only by voice commands, something designed specially for people with physical disabilities.
All these announcements eclipsed what is traditionally WWDC’s highlight, the iOS update for iPhones, which in its 13th edition introduces a system-wide dark mode.
With this new feature, Apple joins a generalized trend in the industry (Google already announced the same modality a few weeks ago for Android Q), which extends battery life and offers an aesthetic much appreciated by some users, in addition to supposedly mitigating the harmful effects of spending too much time exposed to a screen.
Dark mode can be enabled and disabled from the setting menu or from a specific button in the control center. Once enabled, it will change the color of the phone’s interface and other built-in applications such as Apple Music, Notes, Messages, Photos and Calendar.
Sources: Apple.com; EFE.com
