iOS 8 was officially announced during WWDC 2014, with Apple setting new standards for software and hardware for the next 5-10 years.
Aesthetically, the new iOS 8 is 99% what we already know from iOS 7. There are no dramatic changes and modifications in iOS 8, only improvements and small changes in points. Apple made it clear that the appearance part belongs to iOS 7 with 2014 being dedicated to iOS 8 and the new operating system.
iOS 8 Huge for developers. Massive for everyone else.
iOS 8 is made for developers rather than current and future iPhone 6, iPad Air and Apple smartwatch owners. The new features and tools that Apple has announced to support iOS 8 show in the best way that the future belongs to Apple and the combination of iOS, OS X, Mac, iPhone, iPad and whatever comes next as for example iWatch and iTV.
The changes announced at WWDC 2014 and the iOS 8 improvements have been in the works for at least 2 years at Apple. In the All Things Digital D11 interview, Tim Cook stated: "I think you will see us open up more in the future. But not to the degree that we put the customer at risk of having a bad experience. We think the customer pays us to make certain choices on our behalf. Some want full control, but not the masses. But we will open up more. Yes.”
iOS 8 supports the installation of alternative keyboards so that each user can choose the one he considers best not only for specific apps but throughout iOS 8. It is now possible to communicate between apps for data exchange as well as between apps and the iOS 8. Touch ID can be used in addition to unlocking the iPhone 5S and purchasing through iTunes. The notification center gets small widgets that can come from third-party app makers, not just Apple.
Continuity because Mac, iPhone and iPad communicate
New is the ability for iOS 8 to work better with the new OS X Yosemite with the least possible user intervention with the new feature, Continuity. The two new Apple operating systems will know when the iPhone 5S is near a Mac and will offer the possibility to use the 4G LTE network as an additional option in the list of available WiFi. Until now connecting iPhone and Mac required turning on WiFi Hotspot on the iPhone, finding the network and entering a passcode on the Mac.
With iOS 8 the iPhone 5S, the new iPhone 6 and even the older iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 will be able to work as if they were one. Composing an email can start on the iPhone, but once the Mac detects that there is an iPhone nearby, it can automatically pop up the email window with all its content right where it is on the iPhone. Similarly if the iPhone receives a call, the Mac owner can answer the phone using the Mac.
The games have their due in this version of iOS. With the introduction of Metal, iOS 8 manages to render up to 10 times faster and more complex graphics on the exact same hardware. Practically, this means that games on the iPhone 5S, iPad Air, iPad mini Retina Display will run faster or simply become better on the exact same hardware. With the new Metal framework, Apple gives low level access to game developers thus bypassing OpenGL ES and the overhead that communication with the CPU now adds. Now games made for iOS 8 will be able to talk directly to the GPU and take advantage of all the hardware's capabilities.
iOS 8 vs Snapchat, WhatsApp with self-destructing messages
In terms of entertainment and communication, the new iOS 8 offers significant improvements to iMessage as well. It is now possible to create a group for chat, but the user can manage it intelligently and choose whether he wants to be a member or not after a while, to be notified of new messages or not and also to see all attachments in one place. Also new is the ability to send voice messages that self-destruct after a while, like photos and videos to save space on the iPhone or for security reasons. Users can choose to save all iMessages, photos, messages and files if they wish.
Along with the new iMessage comes Apple's new smart keyboard with the ability to suggest words related to the user's text and style. If users decide to use the new iOS 8 keyboard instead of Fleksy or SwiftKey they can rest assured that Apple's word corrections and suggestions will be just as good and useful depending on the language and writing style.
Beyond the many changes and improvements concerning the iPhone and iPad itself with iOS 8, Apple is trying to offer a solution to a big problem. That of the collection of personal data concerning the health and communication of electronic and electrical devices in the home. The two new HealthKit and HomeKit hope to facilitate and become the standards for gathering health data and information as well as communication with the wonderful world of gadgets. It's almost certain that the iWatch and anything Apple introduces in the future in the health sector will use the Health app and more. At the moment only developers and companies manufacturing corresponding medical gadgets and instruments can take advantage of the new possibilities.
Spotlight and search in iOS 8 made sense
Spotlight and Safari have been significantly upgraded with new features and speed. Spotlight doesn't just search and find information from your iPhone and iPad, it can also search the web for movies, restaurants, cinemas or even apps in the App Store. All it takes is typing just a few letters and the options appear on the iPhone screen. The new Safari browser has become significantly faster and now takes advantage of the iPhone and iPad screen differently, as well as the ability to expand capabilities through third-party apps and widgets.
In summary, some of the new features of iOS 8 include the new iCloud Drive, the ability to store all photos and sync them to all devices, even Windows, the additional functionality and control in the camera, a new App Store with improved features to promote apps but also the navigation in it, possibility to reply via Notifications through the notification itself, SpriteKit and SceneKit for faster and better creation of casual games, Family Sharing, new Xcode for faster and easier creation of apps and the new programming language Swift exclusively made about Apple's needs and the future of iOS 8.
Extensibility for widgets and communication apps in iOS 8
The changes don't end here. iOS 8 will offer a total of 4,000 new APIs for developers to build apps they haven't even imagined or known they could build. This seems to be the goal of Apple, which rests most of the future of the company in the hands of third parties.
With the first version of iOS 8 beta 1 already available in the hands of developers we will discover many of the new features in the coming months as the beta matures and until iOS 8 reaches a gold version. Only during the presentation of the new iPhone 6 will we know exactly all the new features of iOS 8 and what the developers have achieved until then.
