Lukáš Čambala
As expected, Apple presented a new version of the iOS 9 mobile operating system at WWDC, which brings more or less visible, but practically always useful news to iPhones and iPads.
One of the main changes concerns system search, which can do more in iOS 9 than ever before. The Siri voice assistant underwent a welcome change, which suddenly jumped several levels higher, and Apple finally added full-fledged multitasking. It only applies to the iPad so far. iOS 9 also brings improvements to basic apps like Maps or Notes. The News application is completely new.
In the sign of cleverness
First of all, Siri got a slight modification of the watchOS-style graphic jacket, but graphics aside, the new Siri on the iPhone offers many improvements that will make a lot of work easier for the average user. Unfortunately, Apple did not mention at WWDC that it would teach the voice assistant any other languages, so we will have to wait for the Czech commands. In English, however, Siri can do much more. In iOS 9, we can now search for more diverse and specific content with it, while Siri will understand you better and present results faster.
At the same time, after a few years of experimentation, Apple returned a clear position for Spotlight, which once again has its own screen to the left of the main one, and what's more – it renamed Spotlight to Search. "Siri powers a smarter Search," he writes literally, confirming the mutual and significant interdependence of the two functions in iOS 9. The new "Search" offers suggestions for contacts or apps depending on where you are or what time of day it is. It also automatically offers you places where you can go for lunch or coffee, again depending on the current situation. Then when you start typing in the search field, Siri can do even more: weather forecast, unit converter, sports scores and more.
The so-called proactive assistant, which monitors your normal daily activities, so that it can then offer you various actions even before you initiate them yourself, also looks very effective. As soon as you connect your headphones, the assistant in iOS 9 will automatically offer you to play the song you last played, or when you receive a call from an unknown number, it will search your messages and e-mails and if it finds the number in them, it will tell you that it could be the person's number.
Finally, true multitasking and a better keyboard
Apple has finally understood that the iPad is starting to become a work tool that can replace MacBooks for many people, and therefore improved it so that the comfort of the work performed also corresponds to it. It offers several multitasking modes on iPads.
Swiping from the right brings up the Slide Over function, thanks to which you open a new application without having to close the one you are currently working in. From the right side of the display, you only see a narrow strip of the application, where you can, for example, reply to a message or write a note, slide the panel back in and continue working.
Split View brings (only for the latest iPad Air 2) classic multitasking, i.e. two applications side by side, in which you can perform any tasks at once. The last mode is called Picture in Picture, which means that you can have a video or FaceTime call running on part of the display while you are fully working in the other application.
Apple really paid attention to iPads in iOS 9, so the system keyboard was also improved. In the row above the keys, there are new buttons for formatting or copying text, and the entire keyboard then functions as a touchpad with a two-finger gesture, through which the cursor can be controlled.
External keyboards get better support in iOS 9, on which it will be possible to use a greater number of shortcuts that will facilitate work on the iPad. And finally, there will be no more confusion with the Shift key - in iOS 9, when it is activated, it will show uppercase letters, otherwise the keys will be lowercase letters.
News in applications
One of the modified core apps is Maps. In them, iOS 9 added data for public transport, precisely drawn entrances and exits to/from the metro, so that you don't lose even a minute of your time. If you happen to plan a route, Maps will intelligently offer you a suitable combination of connections, and of course there is also the Nearby function, which will recommend nearby restaurants and other businesses to use your free time. But the problem is again the availability of these functions, to begin with, only the world's largest cities support public transport, and in the Czech Republic we will not yet see a similar function, which Google has had for a long time.
The Notes application has undergone a significant transformation. It finally loses its sometimes restrictive simplicity and becomes a full-fledged "note-taking" application. In iOS 9 (and also in OS X El Capitan), it will be possible to draw simple sketches, create lists or simply insert images in Notes. Saving notes from other apps is also easy with the new button. Synchronization across all devices via iCloud is self-evident, so it will be interesting to see if, for example, the popular Evernote slowly acquires a capable competitor.
iOS 9 also features a brand new News app. It comes as an apple version of the popular Flipboard. News has a stunning graphic design in which they will offer you news exactly according to your choice and requirements. More or less, you will create your own newspaper in digital form with a uniform look, regardless of whether the news is from any website. The content will always be optimized for iPad or iPhone, so the reading experience should be as good as possible, regardless of where you are viewing the news. At the same time, the application will learn which topics you are most interested in and gradually offer them to you. But for now, News will not be available worldwide. Publishers can sign up for the service now.
Energy packed for travel
Newly on iPhones and iPads we will also see improvements related to battery saving. The new low-energy mode turns off all unnecessary functions when the battery is almost empty, thus providing another three hours without the need to connect the device to the charger. For example, if you have your iPhone with the screen facing down, iOS 9 will recognize it based on the sensors and when you receive a notification, it will not light up the screen unnecessarily, so as not to drain the battery. The overall optimization of iOS 9 is then supposed to give all devices an extra hour of battery life.
The news regarding the size of the new system updates is also nice. To install iOS 8, over 4,5 GB of free space was needed, which was especially a problem for iPhones with 16 GB capacity. But Apple optimized iOS in this regard over a year ago, and the ninth version will require only 1,3 GB to install. In addition, the whole system should be more agile, which probably no one will reject.
Improvements in security will also be positively received. On devices with Touch ID, a six-digit number code will be activated in iOS 9 instead of the current four-digit one. Apple comments on this by saying that when unlocking with a fingerprint, the user will practically not notice it anyway, but the 10 thousand possible number combinations will increase to one million, i.e. more difficult for a possible break-in. Two-step verification will also be added for greater security.
For developers involved, the new iOS 9 is already available for testing. The public beta will be released in July. The release of the sharp version is then traditionally planned for the fall, apparently concurrently with the release of new iPhones. Of course, iOS 9 will be offered completely free, specifically for iPhone 4S and later, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2 and later, and iPad mini and later. Against iOS 8, it did not lose support for a single device. However, not all featured iPhones and iPads will be available on all mentioned iPhones and iPads, and others will not be available in all countries.
Apple has also prepared an interesting application for owners of phones with the Android operating system who would like to switch to the Apple platform. With Move to iOS, anyone can wirelessly transfer all their contacts, message history, photos, web bookmarks, calendars and other content from Android to iPhone or iPhone. Free apps that exist for both platforms, such as Twitter or Facebook, will automatically be offered for download by the app, and others that also exist on iOS will be added to the App Store wish list.
Finally
no, we don't need a lot of ram on apple phones and tablets, ios can get by with a little... and the first real multitasker is coming with a bang, and you can't do without Air 2, which has 2GB of ram :D
It happens that you have already tested the 9 for us and you know what and how it will run, thanks for that :-D
What was it was….
It's not about testing, Apple directly said that Multitasking will be the only device that has 2GB of RAM and the rest with 1GB are out of luck and the age is not taken care of at all, neither the iPad mini 3 nor the iP6 plus will get full Multitasking, and Anton you won't delete it, he meant Multitasking no for all of iOS 9
the kid should be left alone. they think that with 1gb of ram you can live there forever. it's just a little and it's enough, and it's not just about the system itself, but about third-party applications as well. it's just that a big game takes a lot of time out of the frame, so if I click into Safari and open a couple of tabs, the game resets (crashes). legally, it's nothing special, that's why I don't understand how some people can defend Giga frames. and especially on the tablet, it is cruelly small where the websites are always in full view (not the mobile version), the authority of a couple of tabs and your pages are already refreshed. but I don't want to see this stupid apple sheep, the system doesn't crash because everything closes right away if necessary (and it doesn't even ask, do you have a game to play and did you go to look something up on the web? bad luck, the game resets from the beginning). it was clear that proper multitasking is not possible with 1GB of RAM, the numbers don't work.
Absolutely agree
and won't it be the case that there will be two variants of multitasking? 50/50 and 66/33? right, the smaller one should be for older devices, right? I didn't see the stream, I just read something.
jo
As for the discussed multitasking, in my opinion, it is at least partially marketing... clearly, RAM plays a significant role here, but it also makes sense that Apple brings unique functions within the ecosystem to a platform that is now declining in terms of sales! The iP6+ is cannibalizing iPads, and the best way to kick-start tablet sales again compared to the rest of the portfolio is with such user-friendly features.
As for iOS9 as a whole, the news didn't convince me much as a Central European... we've known our stuff about Czech and Siri for a long time, and spotlight is practically unusable in our region. There is perhaps no need to talk about the local adoption of ApplePay and the associated Passbook, now Wallet. Likewise, the reality of Czech publishing houses preparing attractive and largely free content for the News application is hard to imagine. And Apple Maps is a chapter by itself, within which, according to my estimation, we will not see mass transport until next year at the earliest...
With a bit of exaggeration roughly like this, if you don't live in America or China, you won't even notice iOS9…
PS: an inquisitive, sincerely intended question for Anton commenting below: Have you ever met an Apple fan who, for example, would immediately run to the nearest Android fan page after Google I/O and stroke his ego in the comments? (On the contrary, it is quite reliably true…)
What I like about iOS9 is the keyboard support, it would still like the page scroll arrows to work. Just hold down cmd and all the shortcuts that can be used at that moment will pop up. Full multitasking is better, the partial one with a small window on the left is half-baked. But the video playback in the window is not bad.
Was I dreaming, or will the spotlight be in the far left screen again?
It didn't seem!
Hmm, I was glad they moved it up - I was forever accidentally climbing into it when it was on the left, and now it's back there! Another thing that annoys me are their apps, see news, I don't know why there is no switch in the settings to turn off 90% of their apps.
so put them in one folder :)
That's what I have right now. Ever since iOS 4 :D, but I would still like to turn them off. And they could also revert back to the lock screen unlock slider. Because, the unintentional unlocking/opening of the camera when taking it out of the pocket when a message or a call comes in (I've already picked it up in my pocket many times) is quite annoying. I don't know if it's just me or is anyone else having this problem? :)
Complete agreement. Also, the Spotlight on the left side annoyed me. The top fits me really well. I would also like to get rid of unnecessary applications, for example Tips, Compass, Reminders, Dictaphone, Podcasts, Actions, Kiosk, Watch, Game center and Health
Matter of opinion. I use a voice recorder, podcasts and reminders.
I wonder how exactly it is with the multitasking thing. I believe that picture in picture should also work on iPad mini 3. On the contrary, Split View is only for Air 2. How about Slide Over?
I already have it on my first generation iPad Air. It works by dragging anything in the application to the left and a panel will pop up. So far, there are only native iOS apps. You can, for example, read notes or write messages in this side panel. But that's where it ends. They will not ride side by side. If you click on a larger window, it will hide there. Hold tax for smaller ram
Here are the screenshots
For me, I would evaluate this year's WWDC like this:
OS X, iOS - not much new features, I don't care if everything will work really well and smoothly, which we didn't find out (if they said they fixed iOS 8 bugs, they would admit that there were bugs)
watchOS – the native application is great, I would say the other things are rather nonsense
Music – I'll try it and see, I didn't see anything very groundbreaking about it
As a developer, I was rather disappointed by WWDC, not because there isn't much new stuff, but because the presentation was quite confusing and I don't really know what the new systems will bring to me as a developer (besides native apps for watchOS and Swift 2). As an example, I will give watchOS, where the gentleman spent a lot of time discussing the fact that they will be able to put photos on the watch screen, but he did not say much about native applications. And the performance of Music seemed downright embarrassingly long and pointless.
I think that's because Apple is aware of how many people are watching the event, so it's targeting regular users, even though it's at a developer conference... And developers will learn more in the next lectures...
Sure, I understand that, on the other hand, even for a regular user, I found the presentation quite confusing with very little informational value. E.g. an appearance by Drake or the guy from Epic Games who introduced the engine, which personally seemed normal to me.
I think that's because Apple is aware of how many people are watching the event, so it's targeting regular users, even though it's at a developer conference... And developers will learn more in the next lectures...
I think that's because Apple is aware of how many people are watching the event, so it's targeting regular users, even though it's at a developer conference... And developers will learn more in the next lectures...
I didn't have very high expectations for this year's WWDC, perhaps everything that was expected was presented... so I have one big disappointment in what is actually usable for the Czech Republic :/ Siri nothing, predictions nothing, Spotlight nothing, maps nothing, Apple Pay nothing...
As part of last year's WWDC, for me, as a user, the clarity of the system was quite negative, and I somehow feel that this year they have made it even more confusing, be it the "intelligence in Siri" or the 3 versions of multitasking (2 windows, sidebar, videos)…
I see a nice plus for notes and supported devices... Otherwise I agree with Zbynk Riha, this year the presentation seemed quite confused.
Feel free to correct me, but watching the stream we notice that full multitasking itself will not be on the 1st generation iPad mini. I would like to ask if it has changed in any way?
Ipad mini 2, am I blind or have the center notifications really disappeared (swiping with a finger from the top) and then the option to turn on Wi-Fi etc. when swiping from the bottom????