It’s that time of year again, the Apple fanfare has arrived…
Yes, the iPhone 6, with its new iOS8 operating system, is here and will be officially unveiled by the company in San Francisco, in just under two hours. (It has now been revealed. Check out pictures of the new device here!)
So, to whet your appetite, here’s eight features to look out for in Apple’s presentation:
1. Call on me
It’s often forgotten about in a world of smartphones that can just about drive your car for you, but the iPhone 6 will also be able to send and receive text messages and phone calls…
Improvements to video and audio controls will be introduced to make messaging across multiple platforms as seamless as possible.
New location controls will also make it easier to let your friends and family know where you are.
2. Hold the phone
Question marks remain over the size of the latest phone, and whether Apple will go bigger or smaller.
Earlier this year, there were rumours the iPhone 6 would be around the same size as the HTC One (11.9cm diagonally).
More recently, some sources claimed a second handset will also be released which would be around 14cm diagonally, larger than the Samsung Galaxy S5.
An anxious wait for those of you with skinny jeans and thus tighter pockets.
3. Picture this
We all like to play about with the cameras on our new phones, and this phone will be no different.
There will be greater editing tools available for your pictures and an exciting new time-lapse video mode will allow you to take pictures at selected intervals which, when played back, will create the impression of rapidly sped-up footage.
4. In the cloud
Although it’s been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently, the iPhone 6 launch is also set to bring with it a new iCloud update.
The iCloud drive will allow you to work on any document – text document, pdf, photo – across a variety of different devices from the iPhone itself to a Windows PC.
If you edit the file on one device, that edit will appear on each device’s version.
5. In the spotlight
A revamped version of the iPhone search system Spotlight is also set to be unveiled. Now, when you pop in the title of the latest film you want to go and see, for example, local screening times will appear.
6. Everything; including the kitchen sink
It’s expected the new iPhone will have much more of a focus integrating the device with our everyday life.
HomeKit will enable you to streamline your devices and also use your phone as a remote control around the house.
For example, if you tell Siri that you’re “going to bed” it will turn off the lights and lock all the doors for you. Provided you buy all of Apple’s other kit of course…
7. Touch of class
Although the Touch ID fingerprint scanner was introduced with the release of iPhone 5s last September to unlock the phone and when making purchases through the App Store, on the IOS it is expected it will also replace password security on third party apps.
8. Watch this space
Not only is Apple predicted to be launching the latest cutting-edge smartphone but it’s also rumoured to be launching the ‘iWatch’ or ‘iTime’ – a state-of-the-art smartwatch.
Apple has a live countdown to the launch, which you can follow at www.apple.com/live