iOS 8 - Review - Released Today - Does it suck? By Monstercat

By @Monstercat
POSTED: 17 Jun 2014 17:10
BUMPED: 17 Sep 2014 20:17
CATEGORY: Technology
FEATURED: Yes (@Asparagus)
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Hello, all.

Today we are taking a look at iOS 8, which is a new major update for the operating system on Apple's devices, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, which was released today.

I'll try to keep this blog as short but as complete as possible, since iOS 8 contains A TON of new features and improvements.

DESIGN

Nothing has changed much here. Except Control Center. But if you were expecting a big redesign once again, then you were expecting too much. The design is nearly identical to iOS 7.

I have noticed significant speed improvements in the animations though and darker aspects of the OS. But really minor changes throughout.

NEW FEATURES FOR APPS

Messages

I bet all of you white girls are going crazy now.

Messages is by far the most updated app throughout iOS 8.

It contains a bunch of new features, including sending voice messages, group chat moderation, Do Not Disturb for group chats, Send my Current Location to friends, leave a a group chat, image batch files, multiple photos per message, easier way to send instant videos and photos, and lots more.

Photos & Camera

Photos also got some new features and improvements. They include iCloud Photo Library, smarter search features, more editing tools, more Smart Composition tools, more filters, Recently Added, Recently Deleted tabs, and lots more.

The Camera app also got a piece of the cake with Time Lapse mode, Panorama for iPad, new filters, more manual controls to camera professionals, and much more.

Mail & Safari

Mail got quite a lot of new features and improvements, they include improved and customizable swipe gestures, mark Mail as read or flagged, swipe-down gesture to browse inbox while typing a message, much smarter such as being able to set Calendar events for you, and lots more.

Safari got a pretty big overhaul for iPad, bringing a new tab view, new features such as a new sidebar, Request Desktop Site, Private tabs, and lots more.

There are other new stock apps added to iOS 8, but the most important one has to be...

Health

Behold Health! Available on the iPhones and the iPod touch for now.

Health allows other apps to allocate health information, similar to how Passbook allowed to collect pass information from other apps, remember that app you never used?

As an exclusive feature for the iPhone 5s and later, the M7 and M8 motion co-processors collect step count already, so that is implemented into this app built-in, as well as elevation using the built-in barometer in the M8.

It also includes sections for diagnostics, fitness, lab results, medications, nutrition, sleep, vitals, an Emergency Card, and lots more. Very handy if you have terrible health or get appointments frequently.

This is pretty useless for most of us for now, but it won't be, when the  WATCH comes out next year to keep track with all of this neat health stuff!

OTHER NEW FEATURES THROUGHOUT

Notifications, Notification Center, & Multitasking

Interactive Notifications have now made their debut on iOS, bringing a swipe down to reply gesture to texts, emails, calendar invitations, etc. This is also extended to third party apps.

You will also have a more functional Notification Center, with Widgets (something Android has had for years) no more Missed tab, and other minor improvements.

The Multitasking tray now shows you recent people and a way to quickly get in contact with them and it also comes up much faster.

Spotlight Search & Siri

Now Spotlight Search can search the iTunes Store, App Store, and even the web for information you want, aside of searching on your device. You can also choose to recieve other search results from other Search Engines, and shut off results from Voice Memos.

Siri is now smarter with new features such as Shazam song recognition and smarter search features.

Family Sharing & iCloud Drive

Tired of spending hundreds of dollars on apps, music, and books for your family members separately?

Well now Family Sharing allows you to combine what you purchased together and distribute it amongst your devices. Neat, huh? This is bound to save you lots.

iCloud Drive also allows you to store anything you want on iCloud through your account, using your space. Similar to how Google Drive works. You get the usual 5GB free. Users can decide whether to upgrade to iCloud Drive or not.

Third Party Keyboards & Extensions

You will FINALLY be able to get third party keyboards and extensions, such as Swype, installed onto iOS. Something Android has had for eons.

Aside from this, you get new features towards the first-party keyboard, such as QuickType, which learns how you type and brings suggestions as you're typing. You'll now be able to type uber fast without those annoying autocorrect fails! Users can decide whether they want this feature or not.

And this next one is a big one...

Continuity & Handoff

Now your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are more together than ever. Like a complex relationship if you will.

What does this allow you to do? Well, say you get a phone call. Normally you could only answer it on your phone. Now you can answer the call on your iPad, Mac, or iPod touch too! How cool is that?

You can also send SMS messages from iMessage from your Mac, iPad and iPod touch using your iPhone's number. You will also recieve SMS messages onto these devices.

You can also hand-off what you're working on on your Mac and continue working on it on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, or vice versa, such as documents and spreadsheets. This is neat, huh?

Also Apple has expanded AirDrop towards the Mac. AirDrop for Mac also works seemlessly with AirDrop for iOS as part of continuity.

Redesigned Control Center

Apple has now shown off the all new look for Control Center. All borders have been removed and shadows have been added, to make activated buttons more apparent.

I'm not sure how I like this yet. I think that it looks unrefined and like some things are missing. It may grow on me, though. (UPDATE: It hasn't.)

DEVELOPERS

Aside of iOS 8 being a huge user update, it is also a huge developer update. There are thousands of new tools for developers to make even more amazing and useful apps, since Apple is being less strict in that aspect.

They also introduced a new programming language called Swift, making it easier for developers to code, and to code in a more intuitive way.

They also unveiled Metal, a more sophisticated graphics architecture that puts less strain on the GPU, bringing more efficient and powerful graphics. You will see this shine on the A7 and A8 chips.

Here's the full roundup for the devs:

•4,000 new developer APIs
•HomeKit
•SceneKit
•SpriteKit
•PhotoKit
•Metal
•CloudKit
•Swift

Can't wait to see what developers can make with all these new tools!

TIDBITS

There are also other minor hidden user features in iOS 8 that I have found. These are some:

•iBeacon technology
•Battery usage by app
•Send Last Location
•Location-based apps
•Grayscale mode
•WiFi calling
•Safari Credit Card scanning
•Randomized MAC addresses
•Hide images from Photos app
•RSS Feeds in Safari
•Automatically Delete Messages
•Swipe to delete albums
•"Hey, Siri!"
•Add photos to notes
•New wallpapers
•Native Podcasts app
•City Tours flyover feature
•Redesign of Weather application
•App Analytics
•Automatically keep audio and video messages
•Toggle Handoff
•Revamped Playlists View
•Display Settings when choosing wallpaper
•HomeKit Privacy management
•New options for Messages in Settings
•Redesigned Safari Tabs
•Handoff and Suggested Apps options in Settings
•Toggle On/Off Contacts from Mail, Contacts, & Calendars
•Emoji Keyboard Icon
•New iCloud Photo gallery options in Settings
•Smart Photo Albums
•ApplePay integration
•TouchID liberation
• WATCH compatibility

Can you find them all?

SUMMARY

iOS 8 is a fantastic release. It brings lot of new useful user features (some from Android, too). But it's mainly targeted towards developers. What developers will be able to create with this release is bound to be extraordinary.

📱Compatibility: iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus; iPad 2, iPad 3rd generation, iPad 4th generation, iPad Air, iPad Air 2; iPad mini, iPad mini with Retina Display, iPad mini with Touch ID; iPod touch 5th generation.

So what do you think? How does it stack against Android? How do you feel about Apple catching up by borrowing Android features? Debate in the comments!

That is all! Thanks for reading! Future tech blogs, game reviews, and other things are coming soon!

2.1

+6 -0

GuitarGodAnth
24 Sep 2014 12:23

I give iOS 8.... 3 bent iPhone 6 Plus' out of 10

Monstercat
24 Sep 2014 15:02
In reply to GuitarGodAnth

My iPhone 5s doesn't have that feature!

Damn you, Apple. Leaving us in the dark!

Zero Lives
21 Sep 2014 15:15

Only teenager with a good amount of weath without a phone of sorts.

Nin10doh98
21 Sep 2014 00:48

"Still unable to turn off the panorama background on the home screen. 0/10" -Ninty
"No sharpshooters. 4/10" -Bret Hart
"Oh my... 10/10" -George Takei
"No Mewtwo. 0/10" -Mew2King
"No Mewtwo! 10/10" -Mango

NillocSkywalker
20 Sep 2014 02:17

Still as ugly as iOS 7. I hate that new flat look. #applepurist

The Unknown
19 Sep 2014 01:12

Doesn't it take up like a heap load of space on your apple device? I have only heard from my friend and not sure if I want to update.

Monstercat
19 Sep 2014 01:19
In reply to The Unknown

Yes, unfortunately.

I needed 5.8GB to be free in order to download, unpack, and install iOS 8. Some iPads needed up to 6.9GB free, lol.

So yeah, it sucks.

HullBreach
20 Sep 2014 10:12
In reply to Monstercat

It takes considerably less space to upgrade through iTunes than it does to update over-the-air.

HullBreach
18 Sep 2014 02:29

A very notable feature is Apple Pay, which will make use of the TouchID biometrics scanner and either the NFC chip on the iPhone 6 or that on the Apple Watch for quick checkout at a rapidly growing list of retailers and restaurants. Though NFC is not new in smartphones, the streamlined method by which Apple made use of it and the marketing muscle behind their implementation will undoubtedly push smartphone-based payments beyond any previous attempts.

Monstercat
18 Sep 2014 03:32
In reply to HullBreach

Maybe. Some major retailers are opting out from supporting Apple Pay, such as Walmart, being the most significant.

And since it also requires the iPhone 6 and later, basically everyone else with an older iPhone will not be able to take advantage of it, taking away from the potential.

HullBreach
19 Sep 2014 19:03
In reply to Monstercat

Since Walmart employs enough people to populate a small country, it would take them considerable time to update their infrastructure for NFC readers at every check-out aisle. I'm guessing that they will start moving that direction in a few years, starting with Sam's Club - which is much more targeted toward the enterprise users that benefit from the enhanced encryption and data security offered by the iPhones. When only a small scattering of Android phones with vendor-specific NFC solutions existed, there was no incentive to adopt the technology; now, there is.

It wouldn't make sense for Walmart to skip out on this technology when competitors will be adopting it. Plus, Walmart has been known for decades as being a company that innovates with the newest technology, starting with launching their own inter-store communication satellites before the World Wide Web existed to later implementing of some of the earliest self-checkout lanes, RFID tracking on shipments, in-store video advertisements, etc. Some of what they pioneered has become standard across big box stores.

Like you, though, only the iPhone 6 (and the 5S with the upcoming Apple Watch) support Apple Pay, so the full incentive to adopt it will not come until the market penetration has grown in a few years. In the short term, most retailers we see with Apple Pay support will most likely be ones who already supported NFC for chip-based credit cards, which are just starting to see more usage in the magnetic-stripe dominated United States.

Monstercat
20 Sep 2014 00:30
In reply to HullBreach

They have confirmed that they are not adopting it, along with Best Buy. Check out this article.

HullBreach
21 Sep 2014 11:58
In reply to Monstercat

I didn't get from that article that they are never going to implement it. I saw that they just have no current plans. It goes back to what I said about the massive existing infrastructure.

As PCI-DSS (the credit card security standard) continues to push the United States toward EMV technology over the next couple years, the retailers will have no choice but support NFC-based payment systems.

We work with credit card processing infrastructures every day at my employer, and it's a pain to make sure security of all our clients meet the requirements, while still using MSR (magnetic stripe readers). You can buy USB-based MSRs for about $70 and plug them into any Windows machine (Macs actually block them.) to see the plain text of what it on a credit card. (The same goes for drivers' licenses, hotel room keys, loyalty cards, self-park tickets, etc.) Magnetic stripes actually follow an ISO standard, so coding up a single regular expression in any programming language easily can pull out the necessary data.

Stop-gap measures to keep credit card data secure include encrypted MSRs and secure storage of credit card data with a tokenized reference. Those help, but they do not fully protect the data in cases of breaches, like Target and Home Depot. I suspect this is why Target plan in pushing forward with Apple Pay (and I'm assuming Android NFC payments, as well) as a transition, while keeping their existing infrastructure in place.

It's only a matter of time before both Walmart and Best Buy shift to EMV readers. By adding these, they will be able to tie into the API for Apple Pay and the Android solutions.

Monstercat
21 Sep 2014 15:40
In reply to HullBreach

That makes sense.

In the mean time, it'll give Apple time to release more products with NFC and Apple Pay, such as the Apple Watch, and iPhone 6s, therefore making it irresistible for them to adopt it.

More people should be owning NFC-enabled devices by then, in both Android and iOS ecosystems.

HullBreach
21 Sep 2014 16:47
In reply to Monstercat

The NFC items everyone needs to buy are the amiibos, since that will help my Nintendo stock.

FancyPants
18 Sep 2014 01:55

What's this about Widgets?

HullBreach
18 Sep 2014 02:25
In reply to FancyPants

Widgets are available for third-parties to integrate into Notification Center with custom UIs. They add the ability to create custom swipe gestures to interact with apps running in the background without having to pull them into the foreground. For stock apps, iMessage is the most notable to take advantage of this by letting users respond to messages while running other apps or without unlocking the device.

Monstercat
18 Sep 2014 03:35
In reply to HullBreach

I wish you could install widgets on the Notification Center without having to download the actual app it corresponds with.

For example, I'd like to know the moon phases, rain chances, Breaking News updates, etc. from specific developers without having to download applications to install them.

FancyPants
18 Sep 2014 00:39

Whoawhoaehoa

Downloading it now.

Rlad116
18 Sep 2014 00:34

No. I could argue so many things, but I will say this: with ios8 released I am thinking of doing some app developing for Apple.

iOS 8 - Review - Released Today - Does it suck?

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