The latest version of the operating system for smartphones and tablets Apple is available as a free download since Wednesday. We tested it on a daily basis in the last three months.
iPhone and iPad take a facelift. Since yesterday evening, the owners of smartphones and tablets Apple can download iOS 8 and enjoy most of the new features that will be introduced with the iPhone 6 Friday.
Unlike iOS 7, which inaugurated the Last year a deep rupture graphics, this version is rather that of maturity, with design changes at the margin. Yet she brings as each update of iOS, sometimes a lot of new long-awaited features.
We have tested every day since Apple made its software available to developers, early June. Here are eight observations on iOS 8
Direct access to the library (g), the responses in the notifications (c) and options group discussions (d).
• More options in messages. The application messages iPhone faces competition from all sides, by WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts and Snapchat. Apple upgrades it. The integration of new photos and videos takes a handful of seconds. One can easily add a little voice memo. Contact cards were reviewed. They include all the photos sent to his correspondent and allow you to share location. Apple has also worked on group discussions. They earn a valuable feature of silencing and can be named.
In addition to the Messages application, we also appreciate the function of immediate response to a text message from the home screen or the within other applications. The notification takes place slightly down and reveals the answer fields. Those are several seconds each time gained.
Rapid deleting messages (g), the option to mark it as read (c) and drafts placed at the bottom (d).
• A more effective messaging. Apple is in the simplicity too. You can mark an email as read or delete it from the screensaver. In the application, a swipe of the finger to the right moves the mail to the trash. Options, configurable to allow the mark as read, to assign a flag or transfer quickly. When writing, we can finally reduce its message and decide to come back later. We also appreciate the shortcut to add the coordinates of its correspondents in his address book. Apple catching up with other messaging applications, and primarily Mailbox.
Three words suggested by the QuickType keyboard. Where it is found that iOS has 8 letters (d).
• An annoying keyboard, but open. Apple takes several years behind a system popular on Android. When you start writing a word, three boxes above the keyboard QuickType suggest new words you might want to write. The tool learns your habits editorial context and your audience. The recommendations are not the same as it is a family member or colleague. When the prediction works, writing is incredibly fast. Alas, it does not just fall every time. It does not embrace all the complexities of trade in writing, where you can switch abbreviations and turns of complex sentences, and thus can not rely on the proposals closed eyes. So you constantly have to decipher and navigate his gaze between the keys that you press, the suggestions in the middle and the word written above. The writing becomes sloppy and it sometimes takes to rail against iOS 8 which spring a word in the custom dictionary that we have had the misfortune to use only once.
Apple admits that this system will not please everyone. Suggestions for iOS 8 are detachable and it is for the first time possible to install alternative keyboards. Swifkey, well known on Android, for example, will write words without lifting your finger from the keyboard, connecting letters together.
Search Engine photos (g), the editing options (c) and time-lapse video ( d).
• Complete photo editing. Apple has improved the picture part of iOS Application 8 wins a search engine that draws in both titles in places photos and date. Apple also added quick editing tools. It adjusts the brightness and color of his shots, according to a large number of parameters. The ergonomics are well thought out, with a fence system that is moved. There are filters already present in iOS 7, but developers can add their own options. One can also edit photos from other applications without importing its library (Cam Pro 2.0 is one of the first to offer it.)
In the video part, Apple has added a feature time lapse, that is to say, recording and editing accelerated. The effect is fun, as long as you film without moving too much. However,
Spotlight search suggests applications (g), websites (c) or places (d) .
• Spotlight search away from Google . Spotlight search is present on the iPhone since iOS 3.0. She examined until a few sources such as contacts, messages, applications and media. iOS 8 goes further. Spotlight now returns results from the Web. In seeking “Le Figaro”, a link to the Wikipedia log entry appears prominently. In Safari, the site address is recommended, as well as web pages found on Bing, the search engine from Microsoft. The system also offers applications that are not installed on their phone or movies on iTunes. When you enter an address or a restaurant name is a link to the Apple Maps application emerges. The results are generally relevant and even reduce the number of Google searches that are done every day
The configuration of the family division
<. p> • Better designed for the family. iOS 8 does not always introduces system user accounts to share an iPhone or iPad to their children or friends. Apple prefers that everyone has a smartphone or tablet. 8 in iOS, you can now share applications, books, videos and music that has been purchased from other people from home (up to six users in total). Similarly, all purchases of family devices can be charged to the same credit card, after authorization. Since Apple does not require family book, this option can even be used between friends. Sharing photos and calendar events has also been improved.
The Handoff mode (g) and the new Health Application
• Close to come with the Mac dialogue. Apple continues to bring the iPhone, iPad and Mac. iOS 8 is accompanied by instructions Continuity. We can now answer on his Mac to calls on his iPhone, as long as both devices are connected. More useful, it is possible to start a task on a screen and find another. This works in some Apple applications, both for writing messages in Mail for consultation pages in Safari and research plans. This “Handoff” feature was not yet at the point in our tests. It will require, on the Mac, the next version of OS X, Yosemite.
In the same vein, iOS 8 adds support for iCloud Drive to store documents in the cloud and retrieve them on its various devices
The “widget” applications Weather Channel and NYT Now
• Extensions, health and home: an iOS becoming. iOS 8, after even after three months of testing, has not yet fully revealed. Apple has opened up new opportunities for developers, who will add a new dimension to the system of the iPhone and iPad. Applications can finally accommodate “widgets” in the Notification Center, as on Android. In France, the application of Weather Channel is one of the first to benefit ( Weather Channel is owned by the BBC group). Local forecasts are housed in the panel today. New York Times does the same with its mobile application NYT Now. A tap on the information refers to the full news.
In iOS 8, you can also choose to share documents with the services of their choice, not just those accepted by Apple (for example, send a picture of a web page directly on Pinterest). Developers will also be able to use the ID fingerprint reader Touch in their own applications.
Apple opened two further experimentation land, health and the connected home. A new application for iOS 8, Health propose to centralize all data collected by the form bracelets, watches and connected scales. Similarly, the iPhone and the iPad will simply monitor connected objects, since the voice assistant Siri.
Many applications should be updated to iOS within 8 hours after the output of the new operating system. This will determine quickly if developers continue to monitor the developments from Apple.
A point performance. Our test unit was an iPhone 5s, but iOS 8 can be used from the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 As each update of iOS, some functions will not be available on older devices (eg a must for iPhone 5 Continuity ). On our iPhone 5s, delays observed in the early beta versions have faded. Sometimes they made the keyboard unusable. Note that self sometimes tends to fall rapidly, which occurred the rest already with iOS 7 without one never finds the explanation. In the opinions collected from discussion forums, iPhone 4S owners who have installed the final version of iOS 8 note some decline in reactivity to iOS 7, but most complain of a decline in autonomy .
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