iOS 8 preview
KEYBOARD WARRIORS
Android's long led the way for keyboard support, but not for much longer. For starters, iOS 8 will feature a new QuickType keyboard, which brings predictive text to the Apple party. And about time, too.
Apple iOS 8 review
It's context-sensitive and personalised, learning how you speak to various friends and colleagues and adjusting its suggestions accordingly. So, for instance, it will give you different options if you're replying to your mum than it would if you were texting your mate. We're a bit sceptical, to be honest. Much of its success or failure will presumably depend on how much the language you use varies from person to person and how consistent you are. We'll see.
However successful it is, all the learning it does will be local to the device and won't ever be uploaded anywhere. And it'll work with lots of different languages.
But that could all be irrelevant anyway - because Apple is opening up the keyboard to third-party apps.. So expect to see the likes of Swiftkey and Swipe on iOS soon. It's a big move, and one that could have big implications. The lack of third-party keyboard options has long been a stick for Android-ites to beat Apple with - but no more.
THIRD-PARTY CENTRAL
Keyboards aren't the only things being opened up to third-party devs. In fact, there's very little about iOS 8 that won't be accessible to non-Apple app-makers.
Take Touch ID. Previously, it was a closed shop: you could use it to log into your iPhone 5s, but not much else. Now, devs will be able to build Touch ID functionality into their apps, enabling financial or password programs to include an extra level of security in their login, or shopping apps to use it to authorise purchases. Want to buy that new TV on Amazon? Just press your finger to the button.
It's the same story in Notification Centre. You can now add third-party widgets - yes, widgets, finally - to your feed, meaning that you can now respond to notifications as you get them. So, when you receive an alert that you've just been outbid in an Ebay auction, you'll now be able to up your bid without leaving Notification Centre. Open a photo and you'll be able to apply filters from any camera app you have installed. Tap on a web image and you'll be able to pin it to Pinterest. Open the camera and you'll be able to control aperture, exposure and ISO, if you have an app that does that. And so on.
But before you scream "Security nightmare!", don't worry - Apple will still keep everything locked down. Third-party apps won't have access to your personal data unless you explicitly allow them to; instead, they'll request permission to do something and Apple will say yay or nay.
In the case of Touch ID, for instance, your fingerprint info will remain protected on your phone. If you want to use it to pay for something on Ebay, for example, the Ebay app will merely ask Apple if the correct fingerprint has been registered. It won't actually see the fingerprint itself.
Basically, it will give iOS an Android-like openness in how apps work with each other, while keeping Apple in ultimate control of everything.
MESSAGE RECEIVED
Apple's various messaging apps will also get new skills.
In Mail, you'll now be able to swipe emails to flag them, mark them or delete them. You'll also be able to minimise half-written emails, enabling you to go into your inbox to find and copy info from another message before pasting it into the first one. If you receive an email with appointment info within it - even just a mate suggesting that you go to the pub tomorrow night - you'll see a prompt above it to add it to your calendar.
Within the Messages app, it'll be possible to share your location within iMessages, or add a short speech note to conversations via the Tap To Talk function. Group messages have also been improved: you can add and remove people from threads or name them to make finding them easier. You'll also be able to set a Do Not Disturb option - useful if you're on a particularly active thread that you don't want to leave, but also don't want to keep getting annoying buzzes from every time one of your contacts sends a no-doubt witty reply. Or you can just choose to leave the thread entirely if it all gets too annoying.
Finding contacts in the first place should also be easier now: double-tapping the Home button will now bring up your most recently accessed contacts, as well as most recently opened apps. And within that view you'll be able to tap on a contact and text, mail or FaceTime them, all without opening the apps themselves.
Again, it's an example of iOS apps all working together to make a seamless whole. But that's got nothing on Continuity...
CONTINUITY THEORY
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