Spatial AF

Apple's new iPhone 15 contains an updated Ultrawide-Band (UWB) chip. Both the base and Pro models will receive an update in the form of an updated ultrawide-band chip, upgrading the U1 that was first introduced with the iPhone 11 Pro in 2019. Unlike and better than Bluetooth, UWB is three-dimensional in its ability to determine the proximity of users, beacons, and other devices.

This will improve location accuracy, particularly with Apple's Find My app, to make finding nearby devices, such as AirPods, AirTags, (or other people) even easier.

Apple's latest version of AirPods Pro, will provide lossless spatial audio for the yet to be released Apple Vision Pro headset. Every one of Apple's devices that have audio output now feature Dolby surround sound processing, which has placed the Cupertino-based company head and shoulders, above the rest of the industry.

The new iPhone 15 also allows 3-dimensional video images to be captured for playback in the new Vision Pro headset. The iPhone captures these images when in landscape orientation, by combining images from two separate lenses from the Apple camera system, both located on the top edge of the device.

I recently took an Uber to a friend's house, while waiting for the Uber I apparently laid my keys down on a table in the lobby while awaiting pickup. When walking away from my friend's house to the local grocery I wanted to use my AirPods to make a phone call - it was then that I noticed that I didn't have my keys with me.

I keep my AirPods on my keyring, I also keep an AirTag on this same key ring. So after a quick call to my friend and not finding them there, and before calling Uber's lost and found I opened the my FindMy app and saw that the AirTag was located in the lobby of my building and my keys and AirPods were probably with it.

When I arrived at my building I was able to use the FindMy app to walk me right to where someone placed them - on a lobby table where Amazon deliveries are put. The U1 UWB chip in my iPhone interacted with the chip in the AirTag, by utilizing iPhones in the area, to locate the tag and broadcast its precise location to me.

Each AirTag disc includes a Bluetooth transmitter, and one of Apple's U1 chips, which are powered by a disposable CR2032 battery that can power the AirTag for about a year. This means even if an older iPhone that doesn't have the U1 chip, irregardless it can still detect the AirTag via Bluetooth and broadcast its location.

This is a very basic example of the power of spatial computing and its benefits to users. I have written about Ultrawide-Band and how it can be used in commerce, but there are many benefits. This is nascent days of the spatial computing, but in the next five years you will see tremendous expansion in the computing landscape.

Spatial computing is deeper experience, it includes more of our human senses to provide a greater presence for content you are consuming, or you and information you are presenting to others. It's based in three-dimensional audio and video, and provides everything but smell, and taste - touch is kind of addressed with haptics, expect advances and more use of touch feedback as we dive deeper into decade.

We are standing at the threshold of a new era in computing technology. One that will be staggeringly immersive, highly present, and deeply intuitive for end users. The ability to personalize environments based on whatever user is present will redefine how and where workers will perform tasks and fulfill individual needs.

The Vision Pro will be the first new device that Apple has released in well over a decade. The iPhone, Macs, iPads and accessories have been their mainstay for years. You can bet that this new device was carefully considered and the category and uses thoroughly thought out before green lighting the project and making it a reality. Apple is not one to put out unsuccessful products that don't get uptake.

If you are not aware of or haven't experienced Apple's Spatial Audio with AirPods, a MacBook, or even an iPad or iPhone I encourage you to get access to it. With it you can start to see the advantages of spatial computing. How much more present you can be in the moment, and how much more immersive your content is.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, when people, devices, and products can all be instantly located, when memories feel as real as the day they happened, and when your presence becomes greatly compelling the advantages of spatial computing will be much more obvious than it is today. It is the future of computing.

Just using my iPhone 12 Pro Max as a webcam with Apple's continuity camera feature has made a big difference in how I am seen in online meetings. The use of the AirPods Pro brings me more fully into the conversation, and they help me concentrate on what's being said, rather than wanting to plug my ears from the tin-can sounding speakers found on most laptops.

These advances are just the beginning of what the future of spatial computing will hold for us. Having mobile devices that will make life as seamless as a SpeedPass lane on the highway is the future of our lives. Start embracing and using it today.