The apple hole is too big. The truth of Touch Bar is like this.

Tencent Digital (Compiler: Human) At Apple's press conference last week, we saw the new 2016 MacBook Pro laptops, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro's embedded OLED touch bar Touch Bar became the most attractive. Highlights. Touch Bar is embedded above the keyboard, penetrating from one side to the other, allowing our hands to operate on it. One hand operates the larger touchpad, and the other hand can operate the Touch Bar to achieve various functions. So how is the Touch Bar used?

Touch Bar actually uses the WatcOS system

Of course, these secret Apples won't tell you, but Steven Troughton Smith, an Irish programmer and developer, came to the conclusion after carefully studying the hardware and software of Touch Bar. Touch Bar used a type called T1. The processor, which is actually a variant of the S1 processor used in the Apple Watch, is a chip Apple has created specifically for wearable devices.

Simply put, Apple MacOS system saves the current information in Touch Bar's memory, and then processes this information through a specially customized version of WatchOS system. This data is transferred to the Touch Bar through the MacBook Pro's internal cable. The WatchOS system relay will send information back to the MacOS via multi-touch and display the corresponding content on the Touch Bar's OLED screen.

There are rumors that the Touch Bar's T1 processor will bring additional security features to the Touch Bar, and this is very likely. Troughton Smith agrees with this statement and says that the Touch Bar still works when the macOS is in sleep mode. Therefore, Touch Bar's T1 chip is mainly responsible for managing the security of various input devices, including Touch ID, camera, Touch Bar and so on.

"From the point of view of the file system, although it is a variant of the watchOS system, it is still a new system. Although Apple will not promote it, it will connect iOS and macOS together." said the developer. .

This variant of the watchOS system will not be able to install the App independently. The Touch Bar itself is equipped with a 25MB depositor space and is used to control the hardware after the OLED screen is booted through the virtual hard disk. At the same time, the Touch Bar seems to be able to process one activity item at a time, so applications running in the background cannot be operated through the Touch Bar.

A long high resolution display

As for the Touch Bar's hardware configuration, the first is that it supports 10-point multi-touch input. The Touch Bar replaces the function keys of the original keyboard and is therefore basically the same size as the original physical keyboard. At the same time, the resolution of the OLED screen is 2170×60 pixels. This is also a high-resolution screen of a retina, so as an extension of the user interface, the effective resolution is basically 1085×30 pixels. This does not include the part of Touch ID fingerprinting.

The entire Touch Bar is divided into three areas, which are the 128 pixel wide system button area, the 1370 pixel application control area, and the 608 pixel control panel area. All three areas are isolated with 32 pixels. In the future, Apple will further explain the control design of the application. The default width should be 16 pixels, while the fixed space area is 32 pixels, and the large application area interval is 64 pixels.

For example, Fluid's layout button in the application area has a pixel width of 144 pixels and a gap width of 31 pixels. In the case of document editing, the word list will occupy 890 pixels, while the button next to the measurement is 144 pixels and the extra control button is 151 pixels wide.

The emergence of Touch Bar brings more iOS features to macOS

Once again, the appearance of the T1 chip and the Touch Bar has brought about a security discussion. According to the theory of Troughton Smith, even if the macOS system is in standby or hibernation or even closed, the Touch Bar can still work, and this will lead to the future. There will be some features from the iOS system on the MacBook Pro.

"Perhaps one day, the future MacBook Pro will use the more powerful A-series chips in the Touch Bar, and then you can run iOS application extensions in macOS, including application notifications, system tasks, network status, and more." Troughton Smith Indicated.

However, he also pointed out that the T1 chip is associated with the Touch ID fingerprinting system. They are all bundled in the same processor as the iPhone. Therefore, if the chip is replaced, the Touch ID sensor must be turned off. According to Apple's Touch Bar operating guide, Touch ID is a part of the entire Touch Bar, so if the OLED is replaced, the entire upper half of the MacBook Pro will have to be replaced.

On the other hand, Craig Federighi, chief software engineer from Apple, said that the Touch Bar may indeed run non-macOS system features in the future. For example, if the user wants to run a Windows system on a MacBook Pro, the Touch Bar will display different function keys or features according to the Windows system. It seems that Apple has also confirmed that it can run an operating system from Microsoft on its own Mac device.

Apple's rules

Apple has provided developers with an API interface, providing developers with a guideline for developing Touch Bar functionality. According to Apple's introduction, the Touch Bar is still just an input device, not the MacBook Pro's "sub-display", although technically speaking, the Touch Bar is indeed a display.

"The user can control after watching the Touch Bar, but the user's main vision still needs to stay on the home screen." Apple said. "The Touch Bar cannot be used to display alerts, alerts, messages, mixed content, static content, or any other feature that draws the user's attention and allows the user to shift the line of sight off the screen."

It seems that Apple has imposed restrictions on how the Touch Bar is used. Although it is an OLED display, it can only be used to replace the original function keys and perform some expansion operations, and whether it will provide more interaction in the future, or The main screen expands each other, so you have to see how Apple has positioned it.

Source: digitaltrends