Apple’s CareKit will help patients better manage their illnesses

Apple revealed a new way for people — and their doctors — to better manage their health during the Spring 2016 iPhone event on Monday. Building off of its successful ResearchKit program, the company debuted CareKit, “a framework to build apps that empower people to use data to understand their health,” according to Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO.

The open source development platform will launch with four basic modules. Care Cards will act like interactive To-Do lists, helping people remember to, well, do stuff — like take medication or perform physical therapy exercises, and track their goals using their iPhone or Apple Watch.

The Symptoms and Measurement Tracker will enable users to record feedback regarding how they feel and how well they’re recovering. For example, users might take photos to record the progress of a wound healing or use their phone’s accelerometer and gyroscope to measure a limb’s range of motion. Additionally, the Insight Dashboard module can compare a patient’s symptoms against the Care Cards to ensure that the person’s treatment is effective while the Connect module allows people to share all this data with their doctor.

Apple has already paired with a number of medical centers and app developers to begin incorporating CareKit functionality into their treatments. Sage Bionetworks and the University of Rochester are already using it to monitor the progression of Parkinson’s Disease in patients. The Texas Medical Center, conversely, is using it to help surgery patients better manage their recovery. CareKit will debut in April.

Get all the news from today’s iPhone event right here, and follow along with our liveblog!

Apple drops iPad Air 2 price to $399

Sure, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro might have been the star of the show at Apple’s spring event, but that isn’t stopping Cupertino from giving the budget-conscious crowd something nice. The company has dropped the price of the iPad Air 2 from $499 (£399) to $399 (£349) — yes, that’s the same price as the smaller, slower iPad mini 4. It still starts with a modest 16GB of storage, like it or not, but $499 (£429) now gets you a healthier 64GB capacity. If you can live without the Pro’s performance upgrades and input options, this might be your iPad of choice.

Get all the news from today’s iPhone event right here.

Source: Apple

Live Coverage of Apple’s ‘Let Us Loop You In’ iPhone SE and 9.7″ iPad Pro Event

Apple’s “Let Us Loop You In” event kicks off at 10:00 AM Pacific Time today, and we’re expecting to see several product announcements including a new 4-inch “iPhone SE,” an updated 9.7-inch iPad perhaps branded as an “iPad Pro,” and a few updates for the Apple Watch line, although upgrades to the watch itself will not be coming today.

We’re also expecting to see a full set of operating system upgrades today, as Apple has been beta testing iOS 9.3, OS X 10.11.4, tvOS 9.2, and watchOS 2.2 for several months now. Today’s event is being held at the Town Hall auditorium on Apple’s headquarters campus in Cupertino.

Apple is providing a live video stream on its website and via Apple TV.

Photo via Howard Gonzalez
In addition to Apple’s video stream, we will be updating this article with live blog coverage and issuing Twitter updates through our @MacRumorsLive account as the keynote unfolds. Highlights from the event and separate news stories regarding today’s announcements will go out through our @MacRumors account.

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Apple’s online stores around the world are currently down in advance of the event.

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Related Roundups: iPad Air 3, Apple Watch, watchOS 2, iPhone 5se, iPhone SE
Tag: March 2016 event
Buyer’s Guide: iPad Air (Don’t Buy), Apple Watch (Neutral)
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Apple Announces New Software Framework App Called ‘CareKit’

During today’s “Let Us Loop You In” media event at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, the company unveiled a new app called “CareKit” that will allow developers to build apps to “empower people to take on an active role in their care.”

The app will have a care card, symptom and measurement tracker, and the ability to share medical information with doctors and family members. CareKit will be open-sourced and will launch sometime in April.

Tag: March 2016 event
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Apple Announces Woven Nylon Apple Watch Bands, Drops Apple Watch Price to $299

At Apple’s March 2016 event today in its Cupertino headquarters, the company announced a brand new band material for its Apple Watch: woven nylon. Apple also announced several new colors for other Apple Watch bands, including a black Milanese Loop. The Apple Watch will also see a price drop, with the Apple Watch Sport now starting at $299.

The new woven nylon bands, which are the signature addition to the new “spring collection” of Apple Watch bands, are priced at $49 and come in 7 colors: gold / red, gold / royal blue, royal blue, pink, pearl, scuba blue and black.

Other new bands include red and marine blue classic buckles, marigold and blue jay modern buckles, white and storm gray leather loops, space black milanese loop, and yellow, apricot and royal blue sport bands.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 2
Tags: Apple Watch bands, March 2016 event
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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Apple Announces iOS 9.3 is Launching Today

At its media event in Cupertino today, Apple announced that iOS 9.3 will begin to rollout as a free update to users worldwide today. As previously announced thanks to betas of the software, the update will bring new features to iOS, mainly centering around Night Shift.

Updates to older apps like Apple News will see some small UI shifts to highlight breaking news stories, and the company announced that its CarPlay features will continue to appear on a wide array of vehicles in the coming year. Also briefly touched upon in iOS 9.3 was a featured called “Education,” which will allow teachers and administration access to organizational features inside of classrooms on devices like the iPad.

Stay up-to-date with the event today on the MacRumors live stream.

Tag: March 2016 event
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Apple Announces 9.7-Inch iPad Pro with Apple Pencil Support, True Tone Display

At its March 2016 event today, Apple announced a new 9.7-inch iPad Pro with Apple Pencil support and a similar display to the one in the 12-inch iPad Pro.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Marketing, said that the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is the “ultimate PC replacement,” and that many Windows PC users will switch over to the new iPad Pro. They chose to make a 9.7-inch version because that size is the most popular iPad size, with Apple selling over 200 million units. Schiller also pointed out that there are 600 million users of PCs over 5 years old, and that those users would benefit from switching over to a new iPad Pro.

The 9.7-inch version of the iPad Pro comes with the same display materials as the larger 12-inch version that’s 25 percent brighter than the iPad Air 2 and 25 percent greater color saturation. It also has the lowest reflectivity of any tablet and has an “incredible” contrast ratio. The 9.7-inch iPad Pro also comes with a True Tone display that uses new four-channel ambient light sensors that measure the color of ambient light  to adjust the display to match.

Like the 12-inch iPad Pro, the 9.7-inch version also comes with four speakers, granting it 2x audio output of the iPad Air 2.

The A9X chip also features 12 cores of graphical power that, according to Schiller, makes it more powerful than an Xbox 360. Like other Apple devices, including the new iPhone SE, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro comes with an M9 motion coprocessor that enables always-on “Hey Siri” support. Its Smart Connector can enable adapters and peripherals, like a USB camera adapter and an SD card reader.

The new 9.7-inch iPad Pro comes in four colors: silver, gold, Space Gray and Rose Gold. The 32 GB Wi-Fi variation starts at $599, while the 128 GB and 256 GB Wi-Fi variations are priced at $749 and $899, respectively. It’ll be available for pre-order on March 24. Additionally, Apple announced that the 12-inch iPad Pro will be available in a larger 256 GB variation for $1,099.

Finally, the iPad mini now starts at $269 while the iPad Air 2 starts at $399.

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Related Roundup: iPad Pro
Tag: March 2016 event
Buyer’s Guide: iPad Pro (Buy Now)
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Apple Announces 4-inch iPhone SE Starting at $399

Apple today announced the iPhone SE, a new 4-inch iPhone that boasts many of the same features as the company’s larger iPhone 6s.

The iPhone SE features the A9 chip and the same embedded co-processor as Apple’s flagship 4.7-inch phone, making it double the speed of the iPhone 5s, which was Apple’s last 4-inch handset. The new phone also packs the same graphics capabilities of the larger iPhone 6s, making it three times faster than the iPhone 5s.

The iPhone SE features Apple’s latest 12-megapixel camera. Thanks to the improved camera, 63-megapixel panoramas can be captured and 4K video at 30 FPS is supported. The new handset also features a 5-megapixel front-facing FaceTime camera with a True Tone Retina Flash feature that lights up the display of the iPhone significantly more than usual, just before a photo is captured.

The iPhone SE also comes with Apple Pay, new microphones, Live Photos support, always-on “Hey Siri” voice activation, faster LTE and Wi-Fi performance, as well as improved battery life.

The iPhone SE will be available to order from March 24 and begin shipping on March 31. First wave launch countries include the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

Prices begin at $399 for the 16GB version, while the 64GB version will cost $499. A two-year contract is free for the 16GB version and financing starts at $17/month for the same model. Four colors are available with matte chamfered edges: Silver, Gold, Space Gray, and Rose Gold.

The new iPhone SE will be available in over 100 countries by the end of May.

Tag: March 2016 event
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Amazon Cloud Drive unlimited storage plans are now available in Canada

Amazon is offering Canadian residents the chance to purchase an unlimited amount of cloud storage for their files. The company has launched two such storage subscription plans for its Amazon Cloud Drive services to the folks in the Great White North.

Amazon first offered these subscription options for the U.S. in 2015, and the choices and prices remain the same in Canada:

• Unlimited Storage Plan (free 3-month trial, then $59.99 per year—equivalent of less than $5 per month): Store an infinite number of files—new and existing photos, videos, files, documents, movies, and music in Cloud Drive. Customers can auto-save all of the photos and videos from their mobile devices, automatically back up all of the content on their computer, and access any of the content at full resolution from any device.
• Unlimited Photos Plan (free 3-month trial, then $11.99 per year—equivalent of less than $1 per month): Store an infinite number of photos in Cloud Drive without worrying about taking up space on phones, cameras, or other devices. Customers can automatically upload existing collections and store all future photos taken. This plan also includes 5 GB of additional storage for videos or other documents and files.

Amazon Prime members in Canada already have unlimited photo storage via the Cloud Drive service, but they can still sign up for the Unlimited Storage Plan option.

Should you upgrade to the Galaxy S7 from the Galaxy S5?

The Galaxy S7 is a great melding together of the GS5 and GS6 — so is it time to upgrade?

Despite all of the advancements in the Galaxy S6 last year, millions who owned and loved their Galaxy S5 weren’t super impressed by the new version. Even though the phone was made with better materials, had a nicer screen and dramatically improved camera, the loss of a removable battery, SD card and waterproofing were big changes that didn’t sit well with people.

In some ways, that makes the Galaxy S7 tailor-made for anyone who has a Galaxy S5 and skipped last year’s phone — it has all of the same great qualities of the Galaxy S6, plus an SD card, waterproofing and dramatically improved battery.

With most Galaxy S5 owners coming up on two years with their phone, it’s time to consider an upgrade — we’re going to explore if the GS7 is the way to go.

Hardware and specs

In terms of how the phones look and feel in use, is this even a contest? No, it is not. The Galaxy S7 is a marvel of modern smartphone engineering. The Galaxy S5 … well, it wasn’t that great even the day it was released, and it hasn’t aged particularly well. The metal and glass construction of the GS7, despite its similarity to the GS6, is extremely impressive — although it sure is susceptible to dings and scratches over time. The GS5 may be a bit more robust, and easier to grip onto with the rubbery textured back, but I wouldn’t ever make that trade off when it involves the bland and cheap physical design of the phone.

The great thing here is that Samsung has kept the smaller screen size of the Galaxy S5 consistent in the Galaxy S7, meaning you don’t have to give up your compact and manageable phone in order to move to the latest in specs and capabilities. The two phones are almost the exact same height and thickness, and the GS7 is actually a couple millimeters narrower, making it even easier to hold.

Is this even a contest? No, it is not.

The screen size may have stayed the same, but the quality has definitely increased over the last two years. The bump from 1920×1080 resolution up to 2560×1440 immediately makes everything crisper, but it’s the other parts of the display that have really improved: brightness, colors and viewing angles also upped their game a couple of notches. The Galaxy S5 surprisingly still holds its own today with a really solid display, but Samsung has moved on to much better since then.

More striking a difference can be found in the fingerprint sensors on these two phones. Well, saying “sensor” in reference to the Galaxy S5 is a bit of a misnomer, as it’s more of a “scanner” that requires you swipe the tip of your finger over the entirety of the home button. That alone makes the experience really bad, even though it’s just as secure as the one-touch component on the Galaxy S7. Moving to the newer style will feel like a revelation.

Internally, there are notable updates. The Galaxy S5’s Snapdragon 801 is still a very capable processor, but you can’t argue with the increased power, graphics performance and efficiency of moving to the Snapdragon 820 (or Samsung’s Exynos 8 Octa) — particularly when you’re talking about a phone you’re likely to use for two years after buying it. The same goes for the jump to 4GB from 2GB of RAM

Software and performance

Much like the hardware, the Galaxy S5’s software is starting to show its age. The Android 5.1.1 Lollipop currently available on the phone is much nicer than the Android 4.4 KitKat it launched with, but is a clear step behind the much slicker and visually appealing Android 6.0 Marshmallow that’s available on the Galaxy S7. We tend to forget just how old that software looks when we’re busy paying attention to the latest stuff … and make no mistake, it looks old on the GS5 — the colors, transitions and odd features just don’t look great nowadays.

Interestingly, the Galaxy S5 actually holds up pretty darn well in terms of daily performance — remember, we’re still talking about a Snapdragon 801 processor here, powering just a 1080p display. Firing mine back up after a good amount of time in a deep slumber, I was surprised by how well it still performs in my typical use of apps. The Galaxy S5 alone doesn’t exhibit much stuttering through the interface … everything just moves at a bit slower pace. Setting it next to a Galaxy S7 you can tell things are slower all around on the older phone, but that’s to be expected.

The software doesn’t look great at this point, but the performance has actually held up well.

We know that Marshmallow will make its way to the Galaxy S5 at some point, presumably after the rollout for the Galaxy S6 series of phones is finished, but what we don’t know is just how much of the Galaxy S7 experience will be coming back to the older phone. Chances are a few of the features will be left behind, but if the visual changes make their way back and performance can stay high then that update may give some legs to the old Galaxy S5.

In terms of battery life, it’s a win for the Galaxy S7. Being able to swap out the Galaxy S5’s battery was a bit of a crutch for it, as its 2800 mAh capacity just wasn’t quite enough for a day of heavy use. With a larger (3000 mAh) battery and more efficient processor the Galaxy S7 can handle a full day much easier than the two-generation-old phone, though it isn’t quite the battery campion that the larger Galaxy S7 edge is.

Add in the new charging features available in the Galaxy S7, which includes Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging (compatible with Quick Charge 2.0) and both leading wireless charging standards, and you have a much improved overall battery experience. Not only will the Galaxy S7 last longer on an average day, but it’s quicker to get charged up when your reserves run low.

Camera quality

Besides the hardware of the Galaxy S7, the next largest jump to observe is the improvement in camera performance. For its time the Galaxy S5 was actually pretty impressive for daytime shots, but where Samsung came up amazingly short was in low-light performance. The GS5’s lack of OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and weak combination of a small sensor and f/2.2 lens just didn’t provide enough light to get any good shots in even decent lighting. That hasn’t changed any over time.

Again, this isn’t really a close competition.

Now in 2016, Samsung is completely hanging its hat on low light camera performance in the Galaxy S7. The new sensor and lens come together to give you lots of light in even troubling conditions, and it’s a real treat to use. The daylight performance isn’t miles ahead of the Galaxy S5 in the same way, but it is noticeably better in terms of clarity and particularly in focusing speed. Take a look at a few sample shots here to see how the two compare.

Galaxy S7 (left) / Galaxy S5 (right); click images to view larger

The photos are higher quality across the board here, and low light shots in particular aren’t even in the same realm. But beyond the photo quality, the Galaxy S7’s camera is much faster to open and take shots, quicker to focus in every situation and more capable with new video recording modes, a full manual camera mode and automatic HDR when shooting in auto mode.

At this point it’s clearly established that there’s far more to this upgrade than just one area, but the big jump in camera quality is one area that’s going to weigh heavily on many people’s decision.

The bottom line

Moving from your current phone two years later to the newest model of the same device definitely feels like the path of least resistance, but in this case it’s also just a really good decision. Whereas upgrading to the Galaxy S6 last year would’ve been more costly and involved losing some features that Galaxy S5 owners coveted, this year there isn’t really anything to complain about. The Galaxy S5 is still a fine phone today, actually, but we wouldn’t blame you for looking for something new — and if you choose the Galaxy S7, you’re getting a dramatically improved hardware experience, a better screen, better performance (now and into the future) and a mind-blowing step up in camera quality.

You got your money out of the GS5 — time to move on.

At the same time, in the upgrade process you haven’t lost waterproofing (though you did lose the USB port flap!), the SD card slot, the compact size or the familiarity with Samsung’s software and services. Sure the battery can’t be removed anymore, but the battery is also bigger and accompanied by fast charging and wireless charging tech — that just isn’t a reason to hold yourself back.

And because you’re likely coming up on two years using the Galaxy S5, chances are there will be some financial incentives that will help with your Galaxy S7 purchase. If you bought your GS5 outright you’ve gotten your money out of it at this point (but obviously, look into selling it anyway), and if you were on a contract it’ll be time to get your carrier to help out a bit in terms of a financing or lease program. Now that doesn’t mean the Galaxy S7 is inexpensive in any way — it’s still going to set you back at least $600 — but considering all of the factors this is going to be a pretty easy upgrade to make.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

• Galaxy S7 review
• Galaxy S7 edge review
• Galaxy S7 edge with Exynos: A Canadian perspective
• Here are all four Galaxy S7 colors
• Details on the Galaxy S7’s camera
• The SD card is back on the GS7
• Join our Galaxy S7 forums

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