KUALA LUMPUR: iPhone and iPad users can expect a richer experience with their devices thanks to the new iOS 11.3’s augmented reality and Animoji features.
The introduction of ARKit with iOS 11 put augmented reality into the hands of hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users.
Now, ARKit 1.5 affords more immersive AR experiences that better integrate with the world and gives users the tools to power a new generation of AR apps.
In addition to horizontal surfaces like tables and chairs, ARKit can now recognise and place virtual objects on vertical surfaces like walls and doors, and can more accurately map irregularly-shaped surfaces like circular tables.
Using advanced computer vision techniques to find and recognise the position of 2D images such as signs, posters and artwork, ARKit can integrate these real-world images into AR experiences such as filling a museum with interactive exhibits or bringing a movie poster to life.
The view of the real world through the camera now has 50 per cent greater resolution and supports auto-focus for an even sharper perspective.
New Animoji
Animoji has been a hit with iPhone X users, who’ve used their voice and facial expressions to record and send Animoji messages and even create Animoji karaoke videos.
The upcoming iOS 11.3 will have four new Animoji: a lion, bear, dragon and skull.
Working with the A11 Bionic chip and TrueDepth camera, the iPhone X captures over 50 different facial muscle movements, then analyses and animates them, allowing users to send Animoji messages as one of 16 different characters.
Batteries
The iOS 11.3 adds new features to show battery health and recommends if a battery needs to be serviced. Additionally, users can now see if the power management feature that dynamically manages maximum performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns (first introduced in iOS 10.2.1) is on, and can choose to turn it off.
Other features
The new Health Records feature brings together hospitals, clinics and the existing Health app to make it easy for consumers to see their available medical data from multiple providers, whenever they choose.
Patients from participating medical institutions will have information from various organisations merged into one file, and receive regular notifications on their lab results, medications, conditions and more. Health Records data is encrypted and protected with a passcode.
Besides that, Apple Music will soon be the home for music videos. Users can stream all the music videos they want without being interrupted by ads. They can also watch the hottest new videos, the classics, or ones from their favourite artists back-to-back in new music video playlists.
The developer preview of iOS 11.3 is available to iOS Developer Programme members at developer.apple.com now.
This will be followed by a public beta preview available at beta.apple.com.
iOS 11.3 will be available this March as a free software update for iPhone 5s and later, all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation, iPad mini 2 and later, and iPod touch 6th generation.