Apple releases iLife 11

Within fifteen minutes of Apple’s “Back to the Mac” keynote address, the latest update to iLife has been released. As you can imagine, there are quite a few new features to each of the five applications within iLife, so let’s take a look at what’s new in iPhone, iMove, and GarageBand.

iPhoto

As you would expect, iPhoto has received an updated interface with a greater concentration on a full-screen view. Previously, you could view and edit photographs in full-screen mode, but now you can do a lot more without having any distractions. There are also updates to the slideshow, book and even card functions of iPhoto with brand new design options and tools for making excellent designs. We’ll know more about these features once the Apple Online Store returns to normal and when we get a chance to try the software out for ourselves.

iMovie

The 2011 version of iMovie has highly improved audio editing features, new themes focusing on both news and sports, a people finding function and the ability to create movie trailers with minimal effort. The audio editing features are now more powerful to offer the end user with more control over the sound, while keeping it fairly simple to use. The ability to create movie trailers looks very impressive, with 15 pre-set designs that will give your footage that instant “Hollywood” feel, while giving you a lot of control over the end design to make them your own.

GarageBand

GarageBand in iLife 11 appears to be a little more educational than previous versions, with additional piano and guitar lessons alongside a few new features to help improve timing and rhythm as well as a new ‘How Did I Play?’ feature. GarageBand now has the ability to take live recordings that are slightly out of rhythm, and to match them almost perfectly with a given tempo. A similar feature also helps to keep each musician in time and by using the new ‘Flex Time’ feature, you have complete control over the audio wavelengths. The updated guitar and piano lessons have been updated to help you follow your progression through the lessons with a new ‘How Did I Play’ function that in our opinion, isn’t too different from something such as Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

iLife 11 will be available to purchase today, and will ship on every new Mac from today forwards. If you want to purchase the upgrade for your existing Macintosh, you can do so for just $49, which is a great price for the great selection of new features available. We’ll have more in-depth information later today, but don’t forget to keep up to date with today’s keynote over on the liveblog.