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iOS 9: Second Opinion
The IOS 9 did not different too much from IOS 8, Apple spend most its effort in improving the existing functions and features. Right of the bat, the IOS 9 is much slimmer than IOS 8, come in at 1.3 GB compare with the 4GB from IOS 8.
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This is a good news for those older Apple devices, because some older apple device can get the upgrade, but struggle to run it. That start off with the assistant that is on 24hours standby, Siri. The Siri receive a big update in terms of its capability. Apple said Siri’s processing ability and accuracy have been improved by 40%, and it is now more proactive. It can suggest the apps you use the most, favorite contact in the Spotlight search. Some new command features that Siri received for example, by saying remind me about this website when I get home, it will automatically put the website into the Reminder app. Or you can do something like tell siri to search for pictures inside that, if you have an email contain an event, then the calendar app will automatically synch the event date into the calendar app. Without me knowing, calendar already showing my hotel reservation, and remind me my check in and check out date. Speaking of searching with Siri, if you swipe to the left you can bring up Spotlight search. This search engine has been exist since IOS 3, but in IOS 9 it receive a big update for example, you have quick search icon for Fast Food, Nightlife, Cinema, gas station, hotels and bars. For example, if I tap the Gas station icon, all the nearby gas will show up. Then I can choose the one I want to go, the Apple Map will give me turn by turn guidance to the destination. You can now use the search bar to search for search information on app stores and from internet. If I type MLB into the search bar, it will bring up for example recent game played by the team and the score. In case if you wonder does Apple bother with Apple Map, apparently Apple did not give up on it. The Apple Map now has a new function called transit. It can give you the complete outlook of the public transit route. If I tap on a particular subway station, the map will display subway lines going by this station, and the live schedules of the next arriving train. But this function will only be offered in selected big cities upon its release. Hopefully Apple will slowly expand this function to other cities. If you plan your trip with the transit function, the map will even tell you which exist to take at particular station. Oh yeah, the nearby function is finally added and the Apple Map will also let you know if the nearby place you search accept Apple Pay. The Notes app in the older IOS is pretty boring and has limited function, in IOS 9 you can changes text format, draw, add pictures and hyper link into it. You can finally use it as a colorful sketchbook or scrapbook. If you are starting to yell boring, then this app will cheer you up (hopefully). In IOS 9, apple introduce a brand new News app. The app is very similar to Flip board claimed by Apple, but I personally feel it is directly inspire by HTC’s BlinkFeed. You can subscribe to major media sources such as New York Times, CNN, Washington Post…etc. You can also search news or article of your topic of interest inside the category section in the app. You can read all the news in just one place without existing and navigating to different apps or websites. I personally really like the layout, it feels like reading a magazines where it has pictures and bold up title to grab reader’s attention. This one of those few apps where I cannot stop admiring the apples beautiful layout. The biggest improvement in the IOS 9 to me is actually the functionality on the IPad, the improved Quick Type keyboard and the amp up multitasking experience really make the iPad a lot more productive than just use for entertainment. The quick type keyboard allows quick access to function such as copy, cut and paste. So you no longer need to long press the screen to bring up the pop bubble to access the features. The biggest improvement is the track pad. All you have to do is put 2 finger down on the keyboard, and it will transform into a track pad where you can easily drag the cursor around and select text with ease just like on the laptop. The multitasking is probably the most important feature on the IPad. The user can fully utilize the big screen and the powerful processor. There is 3 different type of the multitasking, slide over, picture in picture and split view. Slide over allows you user to quickly access another app by slide it over the current app. The app you choose to slide over from the app drawer will only occupy 1/3 of the screen. But you only can use one app at the time. Picture in picture is exclusive for video, what happen is that if you are watching a video stream on a website or from the Video app. You can put the video in a small floating window you can drag around the screen. This enable you to work on other things and watch video at the same time. Split view is same as the muti-window on Samsung devices. You can open 2 app at once, freely adjust the window size and use both app simotenusly compare to the slide over. If you want to resume back into one app, you can just slide the app you don’t want to use away. The downside is that Split view is exclusively for IPad Air 2 and only support Apple’s own app. Hopefully it can support 3rd party app like the on the Samsung devices in the future. I am very impress about the changes Apple bring to the IOS 9. You can criticize that Apple is very slow at adopting new features. But these new features do made the Apple devices more competitive, and it does fix a lot of shortcoming on the IOS 8 such as Apple Map and spotlight search and of course the muti-tasking on IPad. The only complain I have will be that I am little disappointing that the muti-tasking is for IPad only because the Samsung made the muti-tasking features available from tablet to smartphones. What do you think of the IOS 9? What others features or improvement you would like to see? If you are Apple user, are you looking forward to the IOS 9?
