12 ms·

iOS 8 reviewed

218 points by guardian5x 12y ago

Someone1234 12y ago
Credit where credit is due, the lack of customisable keyboards was a major gripe of mine when people asked me why I'd never buy an iOS device. A Swype-like keyboard (I actually use Google Keyboard's Swype mode, even though I own Swype) is a "must have" on my phone and has been for over three and a half years (since Swype beta was available on the original Galaxy Note). While there are definitely thumb typists who can type quite fast, for me personally Swyping is significantly faster than tapping. I refuse to go back to that, it is bad enough things like passwords require tapping (although thanks to LastPass working with Chrome on Android, that too might be a thing of the past). Now all we need is Microsoft to get with the program. Windows 8/8.1 still lacks a Swype-like keyboard and third party keyboards don't really exist. Kind of sucks on the Surface (you don't ALWAYS have the keyboard cover on).
- guardian5x 12y ago
  Interestingly Windows Phone 8.1 already has a Swype-like keyboard which works really well. I hope they will include it in Windows 8.1 or maybe Threshold as well.
  - Someone1234 12y ago
    I noticed that. I guess they figure people don't want to type on a tablet? I'd like to have that choice however.
  - snlacks 12y ago
    I am not an apple fan, but this update (based on reading this review) is very impressive. Maybe Apple will win over some Android/Other users without alienating their base. It seems likely. It's a good development for iOS and WP to have more flexibility without comprising the essence of what they are. When I got the Lumia 635, I didn't know about the swype-like functionality. I used it from time to time, without thinking, but never noticed it until someone else pointed it out. It works well, and would be nice on the Windows tablets.
- robin_reala 12y ago
  LastPass just updated on iOS to include Safari integration, so it’s gone here too.
- sirn 12y ago
  My usage case is probably a very edge case, but my biggest complaint with Android 3rd party keyboard ecosystem is how hard and inconsistent is to switch between third party keyboards. I like SwiftKey, but I use about three languages daily and SwiftKey is not good enough for two other languages I use (Japanese, Thai), so I have to use other keyboard. Switching between multiple keyboards in Android is totally pain. This was over a year ago, but back then I have drag down the notification area, choose Change Keyboard, select keyboard I want to use and go back to typing (maybe optionally switch the layout to the correct one before that) instead of a single button press. Some keyboard do provide a way to switch to other keyboard, but they're mostly non-obvious (e.g. in Google Japanese IME, you have to long press the layout switch [A/あ] button for few seconds, then choose "Change keyboard"). Even though most non-English keyboards also provide English layout, but most of time they're simply half-baked or just downright bad. I don't know how Apple designed their third party keyboard API, but I truly hope they have some kind of guideline regarding the keyboard switcher, and that third party keyboards in iOS are per-language so all non-English keyboards out there don't ended up implementing a half-baked English keyboard. Either way, I'm really happy to see SwiftKey coming to iOS, even more so when my favorite Japanese IME (ATOK) announced they're going to release a keyboard for iOS.
  - speedyapoc 12y ago
    You can switch keyboards just like you would when changing from English to Emoji, etc.
    - y4mi 12y ago
      you can switch keyboard layouts like that (i.e. swiftkey english to swiftkey japanese), but he wanted to (my example) change from aosp keyboard for japanese to swiftkey for english. This is often also possible, but the way differs for keyboards. i believe aosp keyboard put a button left to space which you can long-press in order to get the switch keyboard popup. but his biggest gripe was probably the settings which default for some keyboards after changing the standard...
  - blueprint 12y ago
    Apple's keyboard API requires that you implement a button for switching to the 'next' keyboard, in the same way that existing iOS keyboards have the button for switching.
- archagon 12y ago
  I'm a little surprised that Apple included custom keyboards. They've always been an "our way or the highway" company, and custom keyboards seem like a very geek-specific feature, even if they are better to type on. Not that I'm complaining! I can finally build a couple of new apps that I wasn't able to before. :) (If anyone is interested, I'm working on a clone of the existing Apple keyboard for use as a base for developing 3rd party keyboards: https://github.com/archagon/tasty-imitation-keyboard https://github.com/archagon/tasty-imitation-keyboard)
  - grey-area 12y ago
    They've always been an "our way or the highway" company Under Tim Cook I'm not sure that maxim will apply to design any more, it certainly didn't apply to software/hardware in the 90's pre-jobs. Perhaps Cook will still apply it to services like apple pay where it helps them lock in profits and customers, just like most other corporations.
  - harywilke 12y ago
    Apple has had a very long history of absorbing user hacks/extensions into its OS. Pre OSX there were lots if extensions that were bought out or blatantly ripped off that made it into the core of the OS. I'm a bit surprised it's taken them so long on this. I'm a bit surprised that some of the features of XtraFinder haven't been absorbed. Auto adjusting finder column widths are a huge pluses for me
    - lukifer 12y ago
      See also: the Quicksilver/Launchbar/Alfred ideas that are being folded into Spotlight in Yosemite. The big surprise is not that iOS8 is getting Swype, but that they are opening the APIs up for arbitrary third-party keyboards (albeit heavily curated, I'm sure).
  - r00fus 12y ago
    Someone designing an old-school iOS6 keyboard might find a lot of interest - some folks I know still haven't warmed to the iOS7+ keyboard.
- robbyking 12y ago
  The lack of a Swype-style keyboard was for me the most difficult part of the transition from Android to iOS. After a few weeks I became comfortable with the iOS keyboard, but never really fluent.
- ajtaylor 12y ago
  I've had exactly the same thoughts. Swype is a godsend for me and generally just works. It knows how I type, and gives excellent suggestions so a significant percentage of the time I tap a suggested word rather than have to swype it out.
- HaloZero 12y ago
  For some reason Swype is not available in the US App Store, which is bugging me.
  - cstross 12y ago
    It has been pre-announced but not yet released. Ditto SwiftKey (although they announced a hard release date: tomorrow). EDIT: I spoke too soon: Swype for iOS 8 is out now: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swype-keyboard/id916365675 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swype-keyboard/id916365675
- drzaiusapelord 12y ago
  Two things have kept me away from iOS: the tiny phone screens and the lack of Swype. I can see myself moving back since I switched to Android from my old 3GS. The Android fragmentation is out of control, the app quality is usually sub-par, and making sure to keep buying a Nexus to avoid OEM crapware gets tiresome. I also find that bugs that would have gotten Apple mocked in the press and caused a massive outrage are ignored in the Android world. Namely the year or so Google Play Services would randomly lose its mind and drain your battery and the never ending Chrome bug where clicking a link just leads to an immediate page not loading condition (blank page appears and the spinning loading icon stops immediately). Heck, even the new version of Chrome does this. Thankfully not as often. If either of these happened in the iOS world, there would be a lot of yelling a demands for fixing, as opposed to the current state where serious bugs persist for months at a time. I'm willing to give Android L a chance before I leave. Hoepfully, we'll be seeing a higher quality of product here.
  - jsnk 12y ago
    I am thinking about switching to iPhone 6 after using my Nexus 4 for two years only because of poor battery of Nexus 4. Unlike some other iOS users' and ex-Android users' claims, I never experienced any significant lags or bugs in the new Android OSes on Nexus 4. I had some issues with WIFI on beta Jelly Bean, but that was a beta release for a reason. The so called scrolling problem on Android never happened to me at all. I find that gripes people have with Android are the one that's overblown out of proportion. They probably used Android years ago back in 2.X days, and still have a bad taste from it. Newer Androids are so much better than 2.X days, I would urge iOS users to try them out.
- umsm 12y ago
  When I had an android device, I thought this feature was over-hyped. I installed as many keyboards as I found and tried every single one for about a day. I hated all of them. They were all different and some added interesting features, but I found that I could type fastest on my iphone's stock keyboard. It just worked. On my android device, I ended up restoring the stock keyboard and never looked back until I sold it and bought another iphone. This was about 3 years ago, so maybe things changed since then.
  - sahaj 12y ago
    They were all mostly terrible until Google Keyboard came around with swipe support.
- FiddlerClamp 12y ago
  TouchPal has a customizable, swipe keyboard for Windows 8: http://www.touchpal.com/downloads.html#win8 http://www.touchpal.com/downloads.html#win8
  - Someone1234 12y ago
    That doesn't work with 8.1 which the Surface 3 ships with.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  I've found that as Apple gradually made the keyboard smarter and more predictive my ability to thumb type has gotten worse. I've noticed myself hitting letters perfectly and Apple 'thinks' I meant the letter next to it instead. I've been using their iOS 8 keyboard for a while and honestly it's not great. It still has the above issues and the prediction row is n't very predictive. I'm looking forward to switching to Swype as I love it when I play with my Android device.
- 3rd3 12y ago
  Does anyone know whether it's possible to add keys for undo/redo functions? I find the shaking gesture extremely inconvenient, especially on iPads.
chton 12y ago
To pick on just one point of this massive article: The quick actions on notifications are going to be very useful. I hope other OSs implement them too (I'm a WP user myself). They're unobtrusive, and they can make the entire phone feel more natural. They also enable new kinds of quick interaction: imagine an 'OK' button on a text message that lets the sender know you've seen it, without the need to send a message saying just that yourself.
- voxic11 12y ago
  Android has had this for quite a while, though not to many apps make full use of it. http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/notifications.html http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/notifications.h...
  - chton 12y ago
    I wasn't aware of this, despite having used enough Android in the past. Shows you how many implement it, I suppose :)
    - higherpurpose 12y ago
      Or how well you advertise it. Apple heavily promotes every feature tiny or large, while usually most of the cool Android ones get ignored even by the tech writers who are supposed to know about Android, let alone regular people or press.
      - coriny 12y ago
        Or that lots of Android apps are shoddy iPhone ports by developers who approach it as a second class citizen, and so are unaware of what it can do. And then they complain that Android users don't buy their apps...
    - kuschku 12y ago
      For example with emails you see this – get a new email, in the notification you can click on "delete" (as I get far too many unnecessary mails) or, if accidentally deleted, undo it again. Or click on Reply and directly write a reply. This works with AOSP Email and Gmail (maybe others as well).
subdane 12y ago
Maybe I'm just a corner case, but the "Spotlight, multitasking" section didn't address whether Apple has changed the refresh settings when multitasking between apps. Not a day goes by that I don't switch between open apps (say, Mail and Safari) only to watch the browser content disappear under my fingers while it decides to hit the network and refresh the screen with the same content. This is especially frustrating when out of network/wifi range which happens frequently in NYC.
- Sephiroth87 12y ago
  That simply mean that the app was killed usually for memory reasons, you see the old content because the app shows you a screenshot that was taken before going in the background, and then starts again, thus refreshing
  - EpicEng 12y ago
    Who cares why it happens? I've gone back and forth between iOS and Android over the years and it never happens to me on my Android devices. Both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses obviously, but this used to piss me off to no end on iOS.
    - sigzero 12y ago
      Did you file something with Apple? That is a genuine gripe.
    - scott_karana 12y ago
      It's kinda strange, honestly: 2011's state-of-the-art Android phones (Galaxy S2) had 1GB RAM, and yet Apple is still stuck on that maximum, while Android has long moved on to 2GB on flagships. Kind of a shame :(
      - positr0n 12y ago
        The Galaxy Note 3 has 3GB of RAM and that was released a year ago.
untog 12y ago
It's ironic - the addition of extensions, custom keyboards and the like was possibly going to be enough to bring me back to iOS from Android - I always preferred the hardware, just wanted a little more flexibility from my software. But now Apple has totally ditched the 4" hardware factor - the main reason I liked the hardware so much. To me, Apple has lost an edge by doing that.
- rweir 12y ago
  eh, totally ditched? the 5s and 5c remains available.
  - untog 12y ago
    They're old models, though - and they won't get updates. So I could go through the process of switching from Android to iOS for... one phone generation. Doesn't seem quite so worth it then. EDIT: by updates I mean hardware updates. The 4" form factor is still alive in terms of devices you can buy, but it's dead in terms of development.
    - mhurron 12y ago
      The 4s is supported by IOS 8, it seems reasonable to expect that the 5s would be supported by IOS 9 and possibly 10.
    - yalogin 12y ago
      Why do you assume that there won't be a 4" model going forward? Do you know how many of those devices they sold? Its dead in terms of development is unwarranted exaggeration at the least.
      - untog 12y ago
        I assume there won't be a 4" device because they didn't announce one. I'd love to find out that I'm wrong.
        12y ago
ZanyProgrammer 12y ago
I really wish I could block ads somehow on my iPad Air. I'm pretty invested in the Apple ecosystem and use an LTE iPad Air almost every day on public transit, and the inability to block ads really makes mobile Safari a shitty experience. I mean, I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on. That and being able to have two apps run side by side would be a great boost to my commuting productivity, but I've long since resigned that I'll finally have to move ecosystems if I want any of that.
- jstalin 12y ago
  disconnect.me now has an ipad app. I've been using it to block ads (an extra fee). It works fairly well, but doesn't catch everything.
- untog 12y ago
  I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on I'd actually be interested to see an HN poll on this. I do not run an ad blocker and frankly I find most complaints about ads online to be totally overblown. Years ago there was a hellish amount of pop-ups, pop-overs and pop-unders, but these days I really don't have many problems, and I'm happy to support the sites I use.
  - abluecloud 12y ago
    Some of my browsing habits lead me to sites where there are literally popups upon popups. Sure, maybe I could only enable it for those sights, but that takes time - and I'm lazy. So whilst I see where you're coming from, you can't just rule out annoying ads all together.
  - DSMan195276 12y ago
    I'm in the same boat, I don't run an ad blocker, but I do block flash and java-script from running until I enable them per-website. I personally don't have a problem with ad's, but my home laptop is pretty slow and ad's on most websites eat a ridiculous amount of resources.
duncanawoods 12y ago
The feature I'm most excited about is full-speed Nitro javascript engine outside safari. The impact for Cordova, web views and 3rd party browsers should be awesome. http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/06/09/ios-8-webkit http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/06/09/ios-8-webkit
- e1g 12y ago
  The Nitro engine is available only to the new WKWebView component, but that component has a bug [1] which prevents it from loading local files. This means that Cordova must continue using the old UIWebView, which means no Nitro boost at least until 8.1 or possibly later (however long it will take to fix that bug). [1] http://www.openradar.me/radar?id=5839348817723392 http://www.openradar.me/radar?id=5839348817723392
  - untog 12y ago
    Wow. What a downer.
  - drewblaisdell 12y ago
    This bug, which continues to cripple HTML5 apps on the App Store but not ones accessed in Safari, seems almost too perfect to be unintentional.
    - jahewson 12y ago
      But Safari doesn't load local files, so the bug wouldn't be noticed there. Makes perfect sense.
      - drewblaisdell 12y ago
        The point of including WKWebView in the iOS 8 SDK is to make it accessible to non-Safari apps. They must have actually tested this new component. I don't doubt that there is probably an explanation that makes sense, but based on what we know, the least malicious explanation is that they forgot to test WKWebView with local files, which doesn't make sense.
acheron 12y ago
I hadn't heard about the "family sharing" thing. My wife and I use the same Apple ID, because we're not going to buy apps twice. Mostly it works fine, every once in awhile we run into a hiccup though. If the family sharing works well it'd be a nice help.
shurcooL 12y ago
> Mobile Safari also picks up support for WebGL, an API that has been supported in recent mobile versions of Chrome and Internet Explorer for a while now. For me, that's the feature of iOS 8 I'm most excited about. I'm really looking forward to do some hobby graphics/game development using Go and have that run on my iOS device.
- frik 12y ago
  WebGL support on iOS 8 is the best new feature for me. It looks like there are still some limitations that Apple could fix: http://codeflow.org/entries/2014/jun/08/some-issues-with-apples-ios-webgl-implementation/ http://codeflow.org/entries/2014/jun/08/some-issues-with-app... about 75% of all user already have a browser with WebGL support: http://webglstats.com/ http://webglstats.com/
kuhnster 12y ago
Has anyone considered if the iPhone is a good choice of you are a Gmail user? I have noticed that the Gmail app load time, on the iPhone, is unusably slow but it is one of the apps I need to use daily.
- dewey 12y ago
  Is there a specific reason you are using the Gmail app instead of the OS provided mail app?
  - notlisted 12y ago
    Not the OP, but I noticed the same and in my case the reason it's simple: I have all my email/attachments since 2004/2005 in gmail. I use full archive search way more often than I care to admit. I love how gmail works/syncs across all platforms (my iPad on iOS, two Android devices, PC laptop and Mac desktop) and doesn't limit me to the Mac/iOS platform.
    - dewey 12y ago
      Shouldn't it work the same way if you are just using IMAP? I never used the gmail app that's why I'm not familiar with it's inner workings.
  - acheron 12y ago
    For me it's because I've come to rely on the Gmail tabs (primary/social/promotions/updates), which the built-in Mail app just ignored. I could probably duplicate the effort with folders (though I use those also, in parallel to the tabs), but I just started using the Gmail app instead which handled it all fine.
    - r00fus 12y ago
      There's that - and the fact that Gmail app can prevent the non-Primary tabs from sending notifications. Also there's search... Mail.app does not handle search well for Gmail.
  - 12y ago
recalibrator 12y ago
As a Blackberry user, I was just thinking today how I could never go back to the iPhone. Multitasking is much faster on the BB10 OS. No button mashing and drilling down menus - not like I remember with the iPhone. Of course, the iPhone has it's strengths too, but I just want to get work done.
- serve_yay 12y ago
  A Blackberry strikes me as more of an impediment to work these days, but then I guess that's why the market exists.
ksec 12y ago
This update requires 1.1GB download and 5.5 GB Free space to install!. Did iOS7 also have similar requirement? I dont record that happened last time.
- cenhyperion 12y ago
  iOS did have a sizable requirement, although I forget how much space was required to do the install. I had many friends who had difficulty upgrading due to it.
  - ksec 12y ago
    Because I remember iOS7 had the quickest update rate ever. It slows down the Internet as well as router around places. However to have that kind of update rate their iPhone must have been able to update, I am not so sure everyone had 5GB free space
- Joeri 12y ago
  Apparently if you update through itunes it requires less space. The space for the upgrade is one thing, but the additional 700 mb+ used after the update is much worse. The iphone 8gb had 6gb free under iOS 7. Under iOS 8 that goes down nearly to 5. And to make matters even worse, the apps will double in size due to the use of 3x images. I don't understand why apple is still selling 8gb devices, because the user experience on those is going to be horrible.
shurcooL 12y ago
"This update cannot be installed because it requires at least 6.9 GB of storage." That's over _half_ of the maximum available capacity on my 16 GB model. No wonder they're releasing 128 GB iPhones now.
- billyhoffman 12y ago
  That is simply the "slack" space needed to download iOS 8 and install it inline on your phone. The OS does not consume 6.9 GB of your 16 GB model. See the Ars Technica review
  - shurcooL 12y ago
    I know that (it still does consume more than iOS 7 did, but not 6.9 GB of course). But it's pretty inconvenient to have to delete more than half of the contents of my device for the update.
    - billyhoffman 12y ago
      Then don't update over-the-air. If you plug your iPhone into your computer and update via iTunes you don't have to delete anything from your device.
  - takeda 12y ago
    Well, 1.1GB for the file, and 5.5GB for the installation. That's still huge.
- r00fus 12y ago
  Is this the same case if you upgrade using iTunes and USB connection?
  - evilduck 12y ago
    Nope.
  - ndrake 12y ago
maxst 12y ago
Let's not forget APNG. https://twitter.com/stuartparmenter/status/512071807520616448 https://twitter.com/stuartparmenter/status/51207180752061644...
frik 12y ago
Would you install it on an iPad 2 with iOS6?
- aisenik 12y ago
  I've been using it on my iPad 3, which is functionally slower than the iPad 2, and it's fine. The biggest annoyance is the password screen animation doesn't really work at all, and I'm sure other animations aren't as fast as they could be but the login is the only place I notice it. The iPad 2 has more GPU/pixel so I wouldn't expect it to be worse. Apps work fine, Safari is better than ever.
jl6 12y ago
Now that the iPhone has a big screen, there's only one feature it's missing before I'd be happy to trade in my Android: background camera upload syncing for Dropbox that doesn't cut out after 10 minutes. Edit: would appreciate an explanation for the downvote. Does iOS already allow this and I missed it?

218 points by guardian5x 12y ago

Credit where credit is due, the lack of customisable keyboards was a major gripe of mine when people asked me why I'd never buy an iOS device. A Swype-like keyboard (I actually use Google Keyboard's Swype mode, even though I own Swype) is a "must have" on my phone and has been for over three and a half years (since Swype beta was available on the original Galaxy Note). While there are definitely thumb typists who can type quite fast, for me personally Swyping is significantly faster than tapping. I refuse to go back to that, it is bad enough things like passwords require tapping (although thanks to LastPass working with Chrome on Android, that too might be a thing of the past). Now all we need is Microsoft to get with the program. Windows 8/8.1 still lacks a Swype-like keyboard and third party keyboards don't really exist. Kind of sucks on the Surface (you don't ALWAYS have the keyboard cover on).

guardian5x 12y ago
Interestingly Windows Phone 8.1 already has a Swype-like keyboard which works really well. I hope they will include it in Windows 8.1 or maybe Threshold as well.
- Someone1234 12y ago
  I noticed that. I guess they figure people don't want to type on a tablet? I'd like to have that choice however.
- snlacks 12y ago
  I am not an apple fan, but this update (based on reading this review) is very impressive. Maybe Apple will win over some Android/Other users without alienating their base. It seems likely. It's a good development for iOS and WP to have more flexibility without comprising the essence of what they are. When I got the Lumia 635, I didn't know about the swype-like functionality. I used it from time to time, without thinking, but never noticed it until someone else pointed it out. It works well, and would be nice on the Windows tablets.
robin_reala 12y ago
LastPass just updated on iOS to include Safari integration, so it’s gone here too.
sirn 12y ago
My usage case is probably a very edge case, but my biggest complaint with Android 3rd party keyboard ecosystem is how hard and inconsistent is to switch between third party keyboards. I like SwiftKey, but I use about three languages daily and SwiftKey is not good enough for two other languages I use (Japanese, Thai), so I have to use other keyboard. Switching between multiple keyboards in Android is totally pain. This was over a year ago, but back then I have drag down the notification area, choose Change Keyboard, select keyboard I want to use and go back to typing (maybe optionally switch the layout to the correct one before that) instead of a single button press. Some keyboard do provide a way to switch to other keyboard, but they're mostly non-obvious (e.g. in Google Japanese IME, you have to long press the layout switch [A/あ] button for few seconds, then choose "Change keyboard"). Even though most non-English keyboards also provide English layout, but most of time they're simply half-baked or just downright bad. I don't know how Apple designed their third party keyboard API, but I truly hope they have some kind of guideline regarding the keyboard switcher, and that third party keyboards in iOS are per-language so all non-English keyboards out there don't ended up implementing a half-baked English keyboard. Either way, I'm really happy to see SwiftKey coming to iOS, even more so when my favorite Japanese IME (ATOK) announced they're going to release a keyboard for iOS.
- speedyapoc 12y ago
  You can switch keyboards just like you would when changing from English to Emoji, etc.
  - y4mi 12y ago
    you can switch keyboard layouts like that (i.e. swiftkey english to swiftkey japanese), but he wanted to (my example) change from aosp keyboard for japanese to swiftkey for english. This is often also possible, but the way differs for keyboards. i believe aosp keyboard put a button left to space which you can long-press in order to get the switch keyboard popup. but his biggest gripe was probably the settings which default for some keyboards after changing the standard...
- blueprint 12y ago
  Apple's keyboard API requires that you implement a button for switching to the 'next' keyboard, in the same way that existing iOS keyboards have the button for switching.
archagon 12y ago
I'm a little surprised that Apple included custom keyboards. They've always been an "our way or the highway" company, and custom keyboards seem like a very geek-specific feature, even if they are better to type on. Not that I'm complaining! I can finally build a couple of new apps that I wasn't able to before. :) (If anyone is interested, I'm working on a clone of the existing Apple keyboard for use as a base for developing 3rd party keyboards: https://github.com/archagon/tasty-imitation-keyboard https://github.com/archagon/tasty-imitation-keyboard)
- grey-area 12y ago
  They've always been an "our way or the highway" company Under Tim Cook I'm not sure that maxim will apply to design any more, it certainly didn't apply to software/hardware in the 90's pre-jobs. Perhaps Cook will still apply it to services like apple pay where it helps them lock in profits and customers, just like most other corporations.
- harywilke 12y ago
  Apple has had a very long history of absorbing user hacks/extensions into its OS. Pre OSX there were lots if extensions that were bought out or blatantly ripped off that made it into the core of the OS. I'm a bit surprised it's taken them so long on this. I'm a bit surprised that some of the features of XtraFinder haven't been absorbed. Auto adjusting finder column widths are a huge pluses for me
  - lukifer 12y ago
    See also: the Quicksilver/Launchbar/Alfred ideas that are being folded into Spotlight in Yosemite. The big surprise is not that iOS8 is getting Swype, but that they are opening the APIs up for arbitrary third-party keyboards (albeit heavily curated, I'm sure).
- r00fus 12y ago
  Someone designing an old-school iOS6 keyboard might find a lot of interest - some folks I know still haven't warmed to the iOS7+ keyboard.
robbyking 12y ago
The lack of a Swype-style keyboard was for me the most difficult part of the transition from Android to iOS. After a few weeks I became comfortable with the iOS keyboard, but never really fluent.
ajtaylor 12y ago
I've had exactly the same thoughts. Swype is a godsend for me and generally just works. It knows how I type, and gives excellent suggestions so a significant percentage of the time I tap a suggested word rather than have to swype it out.
HaloZero 12y ago
For some reason Swype is not available in the US App Store, which is bugging me.
- cstross 12y ago
  It has been pre-announced but not yet released. Ditto SwiftKey (although they announced a hard release date: tomorrow). EDIT: I spoke too soon: Swype for iOS 8 is out now: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swype-keyboard/id916365675 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swype-keyboard/id916365675
drzaiusapelord 12y ago
Two things have kept me away from iOS: the tiny phone screens and the lack of Swype. I can see myself moving back since I switched to Android from my old 3GS. The Android fragmentation is out of control, the app quality is usually sub-par, and making sure to keep buying a Nexus to avoid OEM crapware gets tiresome. I also find that bugs that would have gotten Apple mocked in the press and caused a massive outrage are ignored in the Android world. Namely the year or so Google Play Services would randomly lose its mind and drain your battery and the never ending Chrome bug where clicking a link just leads to an immediate page not loading condition (blank page appears and the spinning loading icon stops immediately). Heck, even the new version of Chrome does this. Thankfully not as often. If either of these happened in the iOS world, there would be a lot of yelling a demands for fixing, as opposed to the current state where serious bugs persist for months at a time. I'm willing to give Android L a chance before I leave. Hoepfully, we'll be seeing a higher quality of product here.
- jsnk 12y ago
  I am thinking about switching to iPhone 6 after using my Nexus 4 for two years only because of poor battery of Nexus 4. Unlike some other iOS users' and ex-Android users' claims, I never experienced any significant lags or bugs in the new Android OSes on Nexus 4. I had some issues with WIFI on beta Jelly Bean, but that was a beta release for a reason. The so called scrolling problem on Android never happened to me at all. I find that gripes people have with Android are the one that's overblown out of proportion. They probably used Android years ago back in 2.X days, and still have a bad taste from it. Newer Androids are so much better than 2.X days, I would urge iOS users to try them out.
umsm 12y ago
When I had an android device, I thought this feature was over-hyped. I installed as many keyboards as I found and tried every single one for about a day. I hated all of them. They were all different and some added interesting features, but I found that I could type fastest on my iphone's stock keyboard. It just worked. On my android device, I ended up restoring the stock keyboard and never looked back until I sold it and bought another iphone. This was about 3 years ago, so maybe things changed since then.
- sahaj 12y ago
  They were all mostly terrible until Google Keyboard came around with swipe support.
FiddlerClamp 12y ago
TouchPal has a customizable, swipe keyboard for Windows 8: http://www.touchpal.com/downloads.html#win8 http://www.touchpal.com/downloads.html#win8
- Someone1234 12y ago
  That doesn't work with 8.1 which the Surface 3 ships with.
k-mcgrady 12y ago
I've found that as Apple gradually made the keyboard smarter and more predictive my ability to thumb type has gotten worse. I've noticed myself hitting letters perfectly and Apple 'thinks' I meant the letter next to it instead. I've been using their iOS 8 keyboard for a while and honestly it's not great. It still has the above issues and the prediction row is n't very predictive. I'm looking forward to switching to Swype as I love it when I play with my Android device.
3rd3 12y ago
Does anyone know whether it's possible to add keys for undo/redo functions? I find the shaking gesture extremely inconvenient, especially on iPads.

chton 12y ago

To pick on just one point of this massive article: The quick actions on notifications are going to be very useful. I hope other OSs implement them too (I'm a WP user myself). They're unobtrusive, and they can make the entire phone feel more natural. They also enable new kinds of quick interaction: imagine an 'OK' button on a text message that lets the sender know you've seen it, without the need to send a message saying just that yourself.

voxic11 12y ago
Android has had this for quite a while, though not to many apps make full use of it. http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/notifications.html http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/notifications.h...
- chton 12y ago
  I wasn't aware of this, despite having used enough Android in the past. Shows you how many implement it, I suppose :)
  - higherpurpose 12y ago
    Or how well you advertise it. Apple heavily promotes every feature tiny or large, while usually most of the cool Android ones get ignored even by the tech writers who are supposed to know about Android, let alone regular people or press.
    - coriny 12y ago
      Or that lots of Android apps are shoddy iPhone ports by developers who approach it as a second class citizen, and so are unaware of what it can do. And then they complain that Android users don't buy their apps...
  - kuschku 12y ago
    For example with emails you see this – get a new email, in the notification you can click on "delete" (as I get far too many unnecessary mails) or, if accidentally deleted, undo it again. Or click on Reply and directly write a reply. This works with AOSP Email and Gmail (maybe others as well).

subdane 12y ago

Maybe I'm just a corner case, but the "Spotlight, multitasking" section didn't address whether Apple has changed the refresh settings when multitasking between apps. Not a day goes by that I don't switch between open apps (say, Mail and Safari) only to watch the browser content disappear under my fingers while it decides to hit the network and refresh the screen with the same content. This is especially frustrating when out of network/wifi range which happens frequently in NYC.

Sephiroth87 12y ago
That simply mean that the app was killed usually for memory reasons, you see the old content because the app shows you a screenshot that was taken before going in the background, and then starts again, thus refreshing
- EpicEng 12y ago
  Who cares why it happens? I've gone back and forth between iOS and Android over the years and it never happens to me on my Android devices. Both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses obviously, but this used to piss me off to no end on iOS.
  - sigzero 12y ago
    Did you file something with Apple? That is a genuine gripe.
  - scott_karana 12y ago
    It's kinda strange, honestly: 2011's state-of-the-art Android phones (Galaxy S2) had 1GB RAM, and yet Apple is still stuck on that maximum, while Android has long moved on to 2GB on flagships. Kind of a shame :(
    - positr0n 12y ago
      The Galaxy Note 3 has 3GB of RAM and that was released a year ago.

untog 12y ago

It's ironic - the addition of extensions, custom keyboards and the like was possibly going to be enough to bring me back to iOS from Android - I always preferred the hardware, just wanted a little more flexibility from my software. But now Apple has totally ditched the 4" hardware factor - the main reason I liked the hardware so much. To me, Apple has lost an edge by doing that.

rweir 12y ago
eh, totally ditched? the 5s and 5c remains available.
- untog 12y ago
  They're old models, though - and they won't get updates. So I could go through the process of switching from Android to iOS for... one phone generation. Doesn't seem quite so worth it then. EDIT: by updates I mean hardware updates. The 4" form factor is still alive in terms of devices you can buy, but it's dead in terms of development.
  - mhurron 12y ago
    The 4s is supported by IOS 8, it seems reasonable to expect that the 5s would be supported by IOS 9 and possibly 10.
  - yalogin 12y ago
    Why do you assume that there won't be a 4" model going forward? Do you know how many of those devices they sold? Its dead in terms of development is unwarranted exaggeration at the least.
    - untog 12y ago
      I assume there won't be a 4" device because they didn't announce one. I'd love to find out that I'm wrong.
      - 12y ago

ZanyProgrammer 12y ago

I really wish I could block ads somehow on my iPad Air. I'm pretty invested in the Apple ecosystem and use an LTE iPad Air almost every day on public transit, and the inability to block ads really makes mobile Safari a shitty experience. I mean, I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on. That and being able to have two apps run side by side would be a great boost to my commuting productivity, but I've long since resigned that I'll finally have to move ecosystems if I want any of that.

jstalin 12y ago
disconnect.me now has an ipad app. I've been using it to block ads (an extra fee). It works fairly well, but doesn't catch everything.
untog 12y ago
I'd never run (and I'm sure a lot of people here don't either) a desktop browser without some sort of ad blocking going on I'd actually be interested to see an HN poll on this. I do not run an ad blocker and frankly I find most complaints about ads online to be totally overblown. Years ago there was a hellish amount of pop-ups, pop-overs and pop-unders, but these days I really don't have many problems, and I'm happy to support the sites I use.
- abluecloud 12y ago
  Some of my browsing habits lead me to sites where there are literally popups upon popups. Sure, maybe I could only enable it for those sights, but that takes time - and I'm lazy. So whilst I see where you're coming from, you can't just rule out annoying ads all together.
- DSMan195276 12y ago
  I'm in the same boat, I don't run an ad blocker, but I do block flash and java-script from running until I enable them per-website. I personally don't have a problem with ad's, but my home laptop is pretty slow and ad's on most websites eat a ridiculous amount of resources.

duncanawoods 12y ago

The feature I'm most excited about is full-speed Nitro javascript engine outside safari. The impact for Cordova, web views and 3rd party browsers should be awesome. http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/06/09/ios-8-webkit http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/06/09/ios-8-webkit

e1g 12y ago
The Nitro engine is available only to the new WKWebView component, but that component has a bug [1] which prevents it from loading local files. This means that Cordova must continue using the old UIWebView, which means no Nitro boost at least until 8.1 or possibly later (however long it will take to fix that bug). [1] http://www.openradar.me/radar?id=5839348817723392 http://www.openradar.me/radar?id=5839348817723392
- untog 12y ago
  Wow. What a downer.
- drewblaisdell 12y ago
  This bug, which continues to cripple HTML5 apps on the App Store but not ones accessed in Safari, seems almost too perfect to be unintentional.
  - jahewson 12y ago
    But Safari doesn't load local files, so the bug wouldn't be noticed there. Makes perfect sense.
    - drewblaisdell 12y ago
      The point of including WKWebView in the iOS 8 SDK is to make it accessible to non-Safari apps. They must have actually tested this new component. I don't doubt that there is probably an explanation that makes sense, but based on what we know, the least malicious explanation is that they forgot to test WKWebView with local files, which doesn't make sense.

acheron 12y ago

I hadn't heard about the "family sharing" thing. My wife and I use the same Apple ID, because we're not going to buy apps twice. Mostly it works fine, every once in awhile we run into a hiccup though. If the family sharing works well it'd be a nice help.

shurcooL 12y ago

> Mobile Safari also picks up support for WebGL, an API that has been supported in recent mobile versions of Chrome and Internet Explorer for a while now. For me, that's the feature of iOS 8 I'm most excited about. I'm really looking forward to do some hobby graphics/game development using Go and have that run on my iOS device.

frik 12y ago
WebGL support on iOS 8 is the best new feature for me. It looks like there are still some limitations that Apple could fix: http://codeflow.org/entries/2014/jun/08/some-issues-with-apples-ios-webgl-implementation/ http://codeflow.org/entries/2014/jun/08/some-issues-with-app... about 75% of all user already have a browser with WebGL support: http://webglstats.com/ http://webglstats.com/

kuhnster 12y ago

Has anyone considered if the iPhone is a good choice of you are a Gmail user? I have noticed that the Gmail app load time, on the iPhone, is unusably slow but it is one of the apps I need to use daily.

dewey 12y ago
Is there a specific reason you are using the Gmail app instead of the OS provided mail app?
- notlisted 12y ago
  Not the OP, but I noticed the same and in my case the reason it's simple: I have all my email/attachments since 2004/2005 in gmail. I use full archive search way more often than I care to admit. I love how gmail works/syncs across all platforms (my iPad on iOS, two Android devices, PC laptop and Mac desktop) and doesn't limit me to the Mac/iOS platform.
  - dewey 12y ago
    Shouldn't it work the same way if you are just using IMAP? I never used the gmail app that's why I'm not familiar with it's inner workings.
- acheron 12y ago
  For me it's because I've come to rely on the Gmail tabs (primary/social/promotions/updates), which the built-in Mail app just ignored. I could probably duplicate the effort with folders (though I use those also, in parallel to the tabs), but I just started using the Gmail app instead which handled it all fine.
  - r00fus 12y ago
    There's that - and the fact that Gmail app can prevent the non-Primary tabs from sending notifications. Also there's search... Mail.app does not handle search well for Gmail.
- 12y ago

recalibrator 12y ago

As a Blackberry user, I was just thinking today how I could never go back to the iPhone. Multitasking is much faster on the BB10 OS. No button mashing and drilling down menus - not like I remember with the iPhone. Of course, the iPhone has it's strengths too, but I just want to get work done.

serve_yay 12y ago
A Blackberry strikes me as more of an impediment to work these days, but then I guess that's why the market exists.

ksec 12y ago

This update requires 1.1GB download and 5.5 GB Free space to install!. Did iOS7 also have similar requirement? I dont record that happened last time.

cenhyperion 12y ago
iOS did have a sizable requirement, although I forget how much space was required to do the install. I had many friends who had difficulty upgrading due to it.
- ksec 12y ago
  Because I remember iOS7 had the quickest update rate ever. It slows down the Internet as well as router around places. However to have that kind of update rate their iPhone must have been able to update, I am not so sure everyone had 5GB free space
Joeri 12y ago
Apparently if you update through itunes it requires less space. The space for the upgrade is one thing, but the additional 700 mb+ used after the update is much worse. The iphone 8gb had 6gb free under iOS 7. Under iOS 8 that goes down nearly to 5. And to make matters even worse, the apps will double in size due to the use of 3x images. I don't understand why apple is still selling 8gb devices, because the user experience on those is going to be horrible.

shurcooL 12y ago

"This update cannot be installed because it requires at least 6.9 GB of storage." That's over _half_ of the maximum available capacity on my 16 GB model. No wonder they're releasing 128 GB iPhones now.

billyhoffman 12y ago
That is simply the "slack" space needed to download iOS 8 and install it inline on your phone. The OS does not consume 6.9 GB of your 16 GB model. See the Ars Technica review
- shurcooL 12y ago
  I know that (it still does consume more than iOS 7 did, but not 6.9 GB of course). But it's pretty inconvenient to have to delete more than half of the contents of my device for the update.
  - billyhoffman 12y ago
    Then don't update over-the-air. If you plug your iPhone into your computer and update via iTunes you don't have to delete anything from your device.
- takeda 12y ago
  Well, 1.1GB for the file, and 5.5GB for the installation. That's still huge.
r00fus 12y ago
Is this the same case if you upgrade using iTunes and USB connection?
- evilduck 12y ago
  Nope.
- ndrake 12y ago

maxst 12y ago

Let's not forget APNG. https://twitter.com/stuartparmenter/status/512071807520616448 https://twitter.com/stuartparmenter/status/51207180752061644...

frik 12y ago

Would you install it on an iPad 2 with iOS6?

aisenik 12y ago
I've been using it on my iPad 3, which is functionally slower than the iPad 2, and it's fine. The biggest annoyance is the password screen animation doesn't really work at all, and I'm sure other animations aren't as fast as they could be but the login is the only place I notice it. The iPad 2 has more GPU/pixel so I wouldn't expect it to be worse. Apps work fine, Safari is better than ever.

jl6 12y ago

Now that the iPhone has a big screen, there's only one feature it's missing before I'd be happy to trade in my Android: background camera upload syncing for Dropbox that doesn't cut out after 10 minutes. Edit: would appreciate an explanation for the downvote. Does iOS already allow this and I missed it?