In one of the longest keynotes that I’ve ever watched (which is available here if you want to watch all 90 + minutes of it), Apple announced a number of things:
OS X Yosemite (aka: OS X 10.10) was announced and will be free to download in the fall, though there’s a public beta available to the first million who sign up. Assuming that you’re not an Apple developer of course. Yosemite includes a user interface redesign, as well as major new features focusing on seamless integration between Mac and iOS devices, a new cloud storage system called iCloud Drive, as well as the ability to make phone calls and send text messages through an iPhone. Some key highlights include:
Continuity: Finally, it’s possible to share files between Mac and iOS devices and it’s also possible to make phone calls on a Mac via an iPhone.
Handoff: This is a feature that allows iOS devices and Macs to seamlessly transition from one device to another. For example, if an e-mail is started on a Mac, a user can pick up an iPhone and continue the same e-mail on their iOS device.
There’s a new notification centre that integrates widgets and looks very much like iOS 7.
Spotlight: The new Spotlight allows users to not only search through their computer, but online through sources like Wikipedia, Yelp and for live movie times. In addition, Spotlight can do unit conversions, like converting miles to kilometers.
iCloud Drive: A Dropbox-like service that syncs documents across Macs, iOS devices and Windows and is fully integrated with MacOS X and iOS. Apple has introduced new pricing for iCloud with the debut of iCloud Drive. The first 5GB of iCloud storage is free, while 20GB costs $0.99 per month and 200GB costs $3.99 per month. Tiers of up to 1TB are also available.
A new feature in Mail is Mail Drop. This solves the problem of sending attachments that are too large for some e-mail systems and result in failed attempts to send. iCloud now encrypts the attachments and sends the recipient a link to the attachment if it’s too large (Windows) or it downloads automatically (Mac).
Another new Mail feature is Markup which allows users to sketch and doodle on emails.
Safari: It’s been improved to give new tab views, new privacy features, and support for advanced HTML5 video. Apple says that you’ll get a 2 hour increase in battery life when streaming Netflix because of their implementation of video. There’s also Smart suggestions, which display favorite sites directly under the search bar, also help to replace the bookmarks bar. It’s also faster in a whole host of ways.
The ability to answer Text messages from the messages app just like one answers iMessages from the messages app.
Apple announced iOS 8 which also will be available this fall (unless you’re an Apple developer which enables you to get it now) which gets a multitude of new features including:
Interactive notifications let users pull down notifications and interact with them to respond to text messages or other notifications without leaving the current open app, or complete actions from notifications shown on the lock screen. For those of you who use MacOS X Mavericks, this feature will be familiar to you.
Something that is long overdue is a feature called QuickType which adds predictive typing suggestions that adapt to the current context.
Another thing that is long overdue is the ability to add third party keyboards.
Messages gets some welcome improvements including the ability to name conversation threads, add and remove people from group conversations, allow users to leave group conversations, and the option to turn on “Do Not Disturb,” which will mute message notifications from a noisy group message thread. Video and audio messages can be recorded in the app and your location can be shared with others.
HealthKit was announced today. It’s a is a new developer API that will gather and consolidate users’ health information from multiple sources and apps, such as those from Nike and Fitbit. A corresponding “Health” app will monitor fitness metrics, linking into third-party apps to gather data. This has been tested with the Mayo Clinic for what it’s worth.
There are a ton of new APIs, the most interesting is Extensibility. This feature allows apps within iOS 8 to share information with each other and with the Notification Center.
Another new item that is of interest to developers is access Touch ID for the first time is available to developers to protect sensitive apps. Seeing as PayPal has a fingerprint security feature on the Samsung Galaxy S5, I fully expect them to be at the front of the line with a similar feature for iOS.
Another new API is Home Kit which allows developers to integrate smart home technology into iOS. Not much was said on this, so we’ll have to wait and see what comes of it.
Siri gets some new features including a hands free mode that allows you to ask Siri a question by saying “Hey Siri”. Those of you with Moto G and Moto X phones along with anyone who has Google now will be unimpressed. There’s also Shazam song recognition, 22 new dictation languages, streaming voice recognition to show users search results as they speak among other new features.
Family Sharing: This will let families share photos, calendars, reminders, and more among up to six family members at once. Also if a child tries to buy an app, the parent gets a notification to say yes or no to the purchase.
One note about iOS 8, here’s what it will run on:
iPhone 4s
iPhone 5
iPhone 5c
iPhone 5s
iPod touch 5th generation
iPad 2
iPad with Retina Display
iPad Air
iPad Mini
iPad mini with Retina Display
Lastly, a new programming language called Swift was announced. This is a programming language for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch that Apple calls modern, fast and powerful and designed for safety.
So, is there anything about today’s announcements that excites you? Post a comment and share your thoughts.
