The biggest takeaways from Apple’s tiniest keynote in years

Evolution, not revolution, was the tone of today’s low-key Apple event. Smaller is better, says Apple, with two big product “reveals” that show off compact new devices with impressive internals.

While most of the announcements today have already been discussed and dissected, like the 4-inch iPhone SE, new Apple Watch bands and a smaller 9.7-inch iPad Pro, there were a couple of surprises.

Here are the biggest takeaways from Apple’s oddly low-key “Let us loop you in” event.

iPhone SE: badass as iPhone 6S

The new 4-inch iPhone SE aims to meet the needs of two demographics — those that want a smaller iPhone and those that are coming to the iPhone family for the first time. Apple sold more than 30 million iPhones in this form factor (iPhone 5 and 5s) last year, showing us all the demand for an iPhone at this size. It may be small, but boy is it powerful, with the same internals as the iPhone 6S, Apple’s newest (and largest) iPhone in the lineup.

The price, too, is on the small side, with a 16GB iPhone SE coming in at an affordable $399. It’s free with a two-year contract or $17 per month without. You’ll be able to preorder this Thursday, and it’ll ship on March 31.

New iPad Pro: smaller and better

Phil Schiller couldn’t be more excited to tell us about this super-powered, right-sized iPad during today’s event. “People love the iPad Pro,” he says. This new, smaller iPad Pro is entirely new and based on a 9.7-inch Retina Display; it also weighs less than 1 pound. The internals are badass as well, with a four-speaker audio system that gives the new Pro twice the volume of an iPad Air 2. There’s a new, smaller Smart Keyboard, and the smaller iPad Pro will support the Apple Pencil, just like it’s big brother.

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro boasts a higher-end camera like the iPhone SE, and will cost a little less than expected, coming in at $599 for a 32GB model. The biggest surprise for those who read every rumor prior to the event: There’s a high-end storage option (256GB) for $899. Orders start this Thursday, March 24, and the device will ship on March 31.

iOS 9.3 just keeps getting better

iOS is the most advanced mobile operating system in the world, says Apple, and it runs on 80 percent of active iOS devices. That’s compared to a 2 percent install rate of Android’s latest OS. Innovative new features like Night Shift to reduce your nighttime exposure to blue light, and password (and fingerprint) protection for Notes, make iOS 9.3 the best mobile operating system around. Health, News and CarPlay get evolutionary advancements, too, in this new “dot” release. The best news: iOS 9.3 is available for everybody right now.

Apple doubles down on its FBI fight with the FBI

“We need to decide how much power the government should have over our data and our privacy,” Cook said.

Apple really cares about the environment

Lisa Jackson, the head of Apple’s environmental team, took a goodly amount of time to show us what Apple does to preserve our planet. Apple uses renewable energy in 93 percent of its operations worldwide, with 100 percent green energy used in the United States, China and 21 other countries around the globe. Apple built solar panels that don’t disturb the yaks in China, and 99 percent of its packaging comes from recycled paper or from sustainably managed forests.

Jackson introduced us all to the coolest recycling robot ever, Liam, who detects the parts in your old iPhone and then pulls them all out for reuse later in other iPhones or industrial products. Hi, Liam!

Apple brings people to Health

Jeff Williams is proud of the research studies that Apple has helped. One study became the largest Parkinson’s study in history, with over 10,000 participants, thanks to the accessibility of the iPhone and HealthKit/ResearchKit, which make it easy for iPhone users to participate even if they don’t live near a research institute. The technology has helped researchers find subtypes within Type 2 diabetes, and helps parents and educators diagnose autism earlier than ever, which leads to much better outcomes with earlier intervention, Apple says.

CareKit, a new initiative, lets patients manage their own care in concert with teams of doctors, including an app from Texas Medical Center that makes post-surgery recovery easier and more dynamic.

“We can do this science, we can do this medicine, with a phone,” said a researcher in the short film about all the new research.

Apple Watch gets new looks

Apple Watch is, according to Tim Cook, the top-selling smartwatch in the world — and No. 1 in customer satisfaction. That’s why they’re dropping the price to $299, right?

Even if a price-drop isn’t a response to decreased demand, Apple’s decided to add new, colorful Watch bands to the mix, with a new woven-nylon band, new Sport and Leather band styles, and a brand new space black Milanese loop for the black Apple Watch.

Apple TV gets dictation and folders

Apple brought all-new capabilities to the biggest screen in your house with the Apple TV App Store and Siri Remote. They sold the largest amount of Apple TVs after the intro of the fourth-generation Apple TV, which now can use a whopping 5,000 Apple TV apps. Cook walked us through some of the biggies, like HBO Now, NCAA March Madness Live, AG Drive, BrainPop, GrubHub and Solar Walk 2.

The big new features here are that you can now organize your Apple TV home screen into folders, just like on iOS, and now you’ll be able to enter text, usernames and passwords with Siri, because boy does that onscreen keyboard suck on the Apple TV.

Need a video recap? Here you go: