Top Stories: Top iOS 17 Features, M2 Ultra Chip Benchmarks, and More

[MacRumors]

With WWDC now in the rear-view mirror, we've finally had time to really dig into the new software updates and discover some of our favorite new features and changes.

New hardware was of course another big focus for WWDC, and while the Vision Pro isn't coming until next year, the updated MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro models began shipping out this week, so we're learning more about those as well. Read on below for all the details!

Top Five iOS 17 Features

Over a week has passed since Apple previewed iOS 17 at WWDC. The software update will be released later this year for the iPhone XS and newer, and is currently available in beta. Check out how to install the iOS 17 beta with a free Apple developer account.

We've put together a video and a list of the top five new features in iOS 17, including a useful new StandBy mode.

We also have an iOS 17 roundup with a detailed overview of the update.

M2 Ultra Chip Benchmark Results Reveal Impressive Performance Gains

The first benchmark results for Apple's high-end M2 Ultra chip surfaced on Geekbench 6 this week, providing a look at CPU performance improvements for the new Mac Pro and Mac Studio.

Due to Apple silicon's unified architecture, the new Mac Pro lacks graphics card support and user-upgradeable RAM. Check out our Mac Studio vs. Mac Pro Buyer's Guide for a comparison of the computers.

15-Inch MacBook Air Reviews: The Sweet Spot for Performance, Size, and Value

The new 15-inch MacBook Air launched in stores and began arriving to customers on Tuesday. One day earlier, the first reviews of the laptop were shared by select media outlets and YouTube channels, offering a closer look at the larger display and more.

Overall, many of the reviews found the 15-inch MacBook Air to be the perfect combination of performance, size, and value for most customers.

Mac Studio Reviews: M2 Ultra Chip, 8K Display Support

The new Mac Studio with M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips also launched on Tuesday, and reviews of the desktop computer are now available.

The Mac Studio is now equipped with an HDMI 2.1 port that supports an 8K external display at 60Hz, or a 4K display at 240Hz. Like many other new Macs, the Mac Studio now has faster Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and support for high-impedance headphones.

Here's How Apple Watch Widgets Work in watchOS 10

Starting with watchOS 10, Apple Watch users can turn the Digital Crown to scroll through widgets in the new Smart Stack on any watch face.

We've put together a guide with a detailed overview of how the widgets work on watchOS 10. The software update will be released later this year for the Apple Watch Series 4 and newer, and is currently available in beta for anyone with a free Apple developer account.

Apple TV to Support VPN Apps on tvOS 17

tvOS 17 includes a handful of new features for the Apple TV, including FaceTime and a redesigned Control Center. Another new feature is support for VPN apps, although it remains to be seen if there will be any limitations in terms of how these apps can be used.

VPN apps could allow for Apple TV users to watch geo-restricted content from any location, such as the U.S. version of Netflix in another country. tvOS 17 will be released... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: Top Stories: Top iOS 17 Features, M2 Ultra Chip Benchmarks, and More

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

VPN on Apple TV is pretty awesome. Especially if Netflix in your country sucks.

 

[Realityck]

M2 Ultra Chip Benchmark Results Reveal Impressive Performance Gains

The first benchmark results for Apple's high-end M2 Ultra chip surfaced on Geekbench 6 this week, providing a look at CPU performance improvements for the new Mac Pro and Mac Studio.

​

Due to Apple silicon's unified architecture, the new Mac Pro lacks graphics card support and user-upgradeable RAM. Check out our Mac Studio vs. Mac Pro Buyer's Guide for a comparison of the computers.

The Studio Mac and Mac Pro utilizing the M2 Ultra generated quite a bit of debate or discussions on Apple's AS platform. It was implied by a bunch of posters as unwanted, wait for the M3, but its performance is actually quite good. It also allowed many of us to get a feeling of how the AS platform will evolve. Now that we have the M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max and M2 Ultra released we can get some insight to what Apple might provide in the future. The M2 Extreme rumors are no more. Its still disconcerting to be still be waiting to see other M1 Macs to get AS SoC updates this year, but we have another half a year to go.

 

[Realityck]

VPN on Apple TV is pretty awesome. Especially if Netflix in your country sucks.

This years tvOS is first in a long time to see some new features.

• Enhance Dialogue, which lets users more clearly hear what is being said over effects, action, and music in a move or a TV show (‌Apple TV‌ 4K and HomePod 2nd generation required).
• Dolby Vision 8.1 support, offering ‌Apple TV‌ 4K users a more cinematic visual experience with dynamic metadata.
• Apple Fitness+ enhancements, including "Custom Plans," a new way for Fitness+ users to receive a custom workout or meditation schedule based on day, duration, workout type, and more; "Stacks," which allows users to select multiple workouts and meditations to seamlessly do back to back; and "Audio Focus," which gives users the ability to prioritize the volume of the music or the trainers' voices.
• Third-party VPN support, which enables developers to create VPN apps for ‌Apple TV‌.
• Control Center, now displays system status, including the time and active profile, and expands with other helpful details based on a user's personal activity.
• Video conferencing, Apple says that apps like Webex by Cisco and Zoom will launch on tvOS later this year, bringing their communications capabilities to ‌Apple TV‌ 4K.

Yes the VPN apps is an attraction for sure, also the updates to Dolby sound processing including enhance dialogue.

Apple TV‌ 4K users can take advantage of the new ‌FaceTime‌ app on ‌Apple TV‌ and initiate calls directly from ‌Apple TV‌, or start calls on ‌iPhone‌ or iPad, and hand them off to ‌Apple TV‌. ‌FaceTime‌ on ‌Apple TV‌ takes advantage of Continuity Camera support to wirelessly connect to the user’s ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌, and leverages the device's camera and microphone to bring participants together on the TV.

It will be interesting to see how many take advantage of this new functionality? Last years focus to utilize the Apple TV 4K for Home automation and as a Matter network hub was not very exciting.

 

[coolbreeze2]

I just finished installing the latest beta on my iPhone 14 Pro Max. Am anxious to try the new features. Which feature is everyone enjoying the most?

 

[Realityck]

I just finished installing the latest beta on my iPhone 14 Pro Max. Am anxious to try the new features. Which feature is everyone enjoying the most?

Try using FaceTime with Apple TV 4K with using a iPhone or iPad with FaceTime active center stage selected as the Continuity Camera. Actually works pretty good. Should make for some interesting family VTC sessions.

 

[coolbreeze2]

Try using FaceTime with Apple TV 4K with using a iPhone or iPad with FaceTime active center stage selected as the Continuity Camera. Actually works pretty good. Should make for some interesting family VTC sessions.

Ok I will. Thx.

 

[rjw1678]

How many of the new iOS 17 features will be in 17.0? If it is like iOS 16 then it will take til the .6 release to get most of the new features.

 

[Realityck]

How many of the new iOS 17 features will be in 17.0? If it is like iOS 16 then it will take til the .6 release to get most of the new features.

I think it would be best to review what shows up immediately in the next so many 17.0 betas to get a idea of what’s planned, vs features requiring delays.

 

[sternfalter]

Is Journal active on the first beta? I can not find it.

 

[coolbreeze2]

Is Journal active on the first beta? I can not find it.

I don't see it either and it says on the overview page "Later this year, Apple plans to introduce a Journal app that will let iPhone and iPad users record their daily thoughts and activities." I guess that means later for the beta as well.

 

[CarlJ]

VPN on Apple TV is pretty awesome. Especially if Netflix in your country sucks.

VPNs for pretending to be in a different country to get around media licensing agreements is shady at best. I'd venture a guess that they added the VPN support so the AppleTV can be used for FaceTime connections back to a corporate office for secure videoconferencing.

 

[coolbreeze2]

VPNs for pretending to be in a different country to get around media licensing agreements is shady at best. I'd venture a guess that they added the VPN support so the AppleTV can be used for FaceTime connections back to a corporate office for secure videoconferencing.

shhhhh

 

[svish]

15" Air is a great laptop. Good to see VPN support for Apple TV

 

[jdclifford]

I just finished installing the latest beta on my iPhone 14 Pro Max. Am anxious to try the new features. Which feature is everyone enjoying the most?

Increased battery drain!

 

[jdclifford]

Is Journal active on the first beta? I can not find it.

Not yet

 

[anthogag]

When is Apple releasing public betas for all the new operating systems 🤌

 

[Realityck]

When is Apple releasing public betas for all the new operating systems 🤌

Usually its during first half of July. It would be third beta. Dev Beta 2 is next week.

 

[coolbreeze2]

Increased battery drain!

Too funny!

 

[SanjayKumar12]

With WWDC now in the rear-view mirror, we've finally had time to really dig into the new software updates and discover some of our favorite new features and changes.

New hardware was of course another big focus for WWDC, and while the Vision Pro isn't coming until next year, the updated MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro models began shipping out this week, so we're learning more about those as well. Read on below for all the details!

Top Five iOS 17 Features

Over a week has passed since Apple previewed iOS 17 at WWDC. The software update will be released later this year for the iPhone XS and newer, and is currently available in beta. Check out how to install the iOS 17 beta with a free Apple developer account.

We've put together a video and a list of the top five new features in iOS 17, including a useful new StandBy mode.

We also have an iOS 17 roundup with a detailed overview of the update.

M2 Ultra Chip Benchmark Results Reveal Impressive Performance Gains

The first benchmark results for Apple's high-end M2 Ultra chip surfaced on Geekbench 6 this week, providing a look at CPU performance improvements for the new Mac Pro and Mac Studio.

Due to Apple silicon's unified architecture, the new Mac Pro lacks graphics card support and user-upgradeable RAM. Check out our Mac Studio vs. Mac Pro Buyer's Guide for a comparison of the computers.

15-Inch MacBook Air Reviews: The Sweet Spot for Performance, Size, and Value

The new 15-inch MacBook Air launched in stores and began arriving to customers on Tuesday. One day earlier, the first reviews of the laptop were shared by select media outlets and YouTube channels, offering a closer look at the larger display and more.

Overall, many of the reviews found the 15-inch MacBook Air to be the perfect combination of performance, size, and value for most customers.

Mac Studio Reviews: M2 Ultra Chip, 8K Display Support

The new Mac Studio with M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips also launched on Tuesday, and reviews of the desktop computer are now available.

The Mac Studio is now equipped with an HDMI 2.1 port that supports an 8K external display at 60Hz, or a 4K display at 240Hz. Like many other new Macs, the Mac Studio now has faster Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and support for high-impedance headphones.

Here's How Apple Watch Widgets Work in watchOS 10

Starting with watchOS 10, Apple Watch users can turn the Digital Crown to scroll through widgets in the new Smart Stack on any watch face.

We've put together a guide with a detailed overview of how the widgets work on watchOS 10. The software update will be released later this year for the Apple Watch Series 4 and newer, and is currently available in beta for anyone with a free Apple developer account.

Apple TV to Support VPN Apps on tvOS 17

tvOS 17 includes a handful of new features for the Apple TV, including FaceTime and a redesigned Control Center. Another new feature is support for VPN apps, although it remains to be seen if there will be any limitations in terms of how these apps can be used.

VPN apps could allow for Apple TV users to watch geo-restricted content from any location, such as the U.S. version of Netflix in another country. tvOS 17 will be released... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: Top Stories: Top iOS 17 Features, M2 Ultra Chip Benchmarks, and More

Amazing features!