Since its public beta testing phase directly following Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference in June of this year, Apple fanatics have been able to give the newest iteration of the iPhone’s operating system for a spin. On offer is a bevy of new features that focus on smartly predicting what apps, contacts and content we use the most and placing them right at our fingertips.
More Intelligent AI
Siri, Apple’s personal assistant, is getting smarter and making proactive changes to the way we use our iOS devices. The first thing you’ll notice is that by swiping left from the home screen, there is a list of suggestions of favourite contacts and apps right there for you to access, as well as any nearby restaurants, news, or any other nearby location-based information that might be useful based on your previous search queries. Speaking of the search bar, functionality has been enriched to include simple conversation and math.
The maps app can now guide you through public transit which is a huge improvement, allowing it to finally rival Google Maps in terms of functionality. The News app, a new addition, follows the trend of a smarter AI and aggregates stories that follows a pattern of other topics you have shown interest in.
Bigger and Better
On the larger and more capable cousin of the iPhone, the iPad will now feature split-screen multitasking which allows for more than one app to be used at once, taking advantage of the 16:9 aspect ratio. Meanwhile, the keyboard sees the addition of a toolbar and a swipe gesture that requires two fingers, making everything easier to cut, copy, and paste.
All of these improvements come with the expected jumps in performance, and with battery optimisation also in the works with a Low Power mode, you can expect this iteration of the famously user-friendly OS to deliver the quality goods we’ve come to expect from Apple.
