As Spring approaches each year those that follow tech news will notice there’s a shift in what people are interested in with Apple. That’s because Spring is about the perfect halfway point between when Apple released their last iPhone and iOS and when they’ll release the new versions of both. People know all about iOS 7 and the iPhone 5s by now, but what they’re all really interested in is what comes next â€" iOS 8 and the iPhone 6 .
Don’t Expect A Lot Of Noticeable Changes
Yeah, I know plenty armchair pundits think Apple needs to totally reinvent and “revolutionize†every single product line every single year, but, frankly, that’s just freaking impossible. Sometimes the next major release of iOS just needs to have some incremental improvements and that is what we’ll most likely see in iOS 8: evolution, not revolution.
Why? Because iOS 7 was the biggest change to iOS since its inception and Apple just doesn’t have the time or manpower to completely redo it every year â€" nor should they. Now that iOS 7 completely changed the way iOS looks, users can expect its design aesthetic to stick around for at least the next two to three years. And that’s a good thing. Because completely revamping the look and feel of your OS results in a lot of bugs and always having to tidy things up â€" just look at how buggy iOS 7 still is six months later!
And that’s not Apple’s fault. Any major software maker that puts out a major software update has catching up to do after its initial release. That’s the nature of software. Bugs inevitably occur and, as usage of the new software increases, its creators (and users) find ways in which it could still be tweaked to make it work better.Â
If you “evolution-ize†your software each year you never have time to work at it long enough to get all the bugs out, or the look and features right. So, with that in mind, I wouldn’t get your hopes up on seeing any major design revamp in iOS 8.
Take the above leaked screenshots that just turned up on Weibo, which are said to be of iOS 8. On the surface it looks very much like business as usual. Take a closer look, however, and you’ll see a series of new icons: Healthbook, Preview Text Edit. As expected the icons are the same, as is pretty much everything else about what you can see in the image.
We know what Healthbook is all about. But what are Text Edit and Preview? Simple: they’re mobile versions of the very same Mac OS X applications. Furthermore, these apps will act as a bridge between your iPhone/iPad and Mac PC, and it’ll all happen inside iCloud.
“The apps are built to serve as tools to view Preview and TextEdit files stored in iCloud by OS X. Apple added iCloud synchronization for Preview and TextEdit with OS X Mountain Lion, but has not yet released iOS counterparts to actually view the synchronized content,†reports 9to5Mac [1] .
Are these leaks legit? Perhaps… but there are also a couple of reasons why they might not be: 1) they come from a social network in China and 2) stuff like this is easily done in Photoshop. The source of the leaked image also claimed the new iPhone will posses either a 5.5 or 5.7in display. Again, nothing we haven’t heard before.Â
So, beyond these aspects, what else does iOS 8 have in store for us?
iOS 8 Will Be The Mobile OS We All Wanted iOS 7 To Be
The star of this autumn’s Apple launches will be the iPhone 6 and not iOS 8 â€" exactly the opposite of last year when iOS 7 was the star and the iPhone 5s was the backup singer, with the 5c on bass.
Instead of knocking it out of the park with tons of new design and usability features, look for iOS 8 instead to become the most stable, consistent, “it just works and looks beautiful doing it†mobile OS that has ever existed. In other words, iOS 8 will be everything we wanted iOS 7 to be without the bugs, crashes, and design inconsistencies.
As for new features in iOS 8, I suspect we’ll see more “hidden†features than outright visible features. By this I mean iOS 8 will probably be like a bright new shiny Christmas gift to developers with hundreds of new APIs that allow them to make better apps for users. As new API access isn’t something most users will ever notice â€" even though they greatly benefit from them â€" this could make iOS 8 seem a bit “boring.â€Â
However, if Apple does open up hundreds of new APIs (as it frequently does with each iOS release), it could make for some great third-party app features for users.
Like what?
For starters I think we’ll see Apple expand Touch ID a little bit. If Apple would give developers access to this, it would make interacting with third-party apps so much better. Instead of entering a passcode for passcode protected apps (like your banking apps), the user could just touch their finger to the Touch ID like they currently do to unlock their iPhone 5s. Touch ID access to third-party developers could also make shopping apps a lot better, as you’ll no longer have to enter your username or password to confirm a purchase.Â
Speaking of buying stuff â€" it’s very likely Apple could roll out its much-wanted mobile payments system with iOS 8. This would build on features such as the Touch ID and iBeacons (introduced in iOS 7) and really allow users to take advantage of the things that, quite frankly, were a bit of a let down in iOS 7.
I also expect we’ll see continued refinement to the much-loved features of iOS 7, including improvements to Notification Center, Siri, and Control Center. We’ll also probably see tighter sharing integration with OS X, better Apple TV support, more social support (like LinkedIn integration).
There Will Be Some New Stuff Too - The “Health†OS
Just because iOS 8 will be a refinement of iOS 7 doesn’t mean there won’t be a few totally new features to look forward to. While this is all speculation, it’s probably very likely we’ll see software expansion of the M7 motion co-processor. Right now it collects a bunch of motion data, which only third-party apps can display. I suspect the inclusion of this motion co-processor in the iPhone 5s was to get quantifiable data and large scale testing to see how it works, and after a year of that, iOS 8 will likely have some kind of dedicated health app to take advantage of the data.
Of course, it’s possible iOS 8 will take this further and be the “health†OS. If rumours are to be believed, Apple is thinking of adding more sensors to the next iPhone and/or rumoured iWatch (which will talk to the iPhone) that will provide the user with all sorts of personal health data like heart rate, blood pressure, calorie burn and more. Some people have said this new health-centric iOS will have an app called “Healthbook†â€" an app much like Passbook, which uses cards to display coupons and tickets. Healthbook would use a card system to provide user health statistics.
Will that happen? As I’m a huge fan of the M7 motion co-processor and using technology to quantify health data about users, I’d love to see iOS 8 be the “Health OS.†There’s huge signs that this is a real possibility too, as Apple has been hiring health and fitness experts and engineers like it’s going out of style. Time will only tell, however. But thankfully we’re now only about four month away from the next WWDC, when Apple should reveal what the next iOS will be like.
iOS 8 Maps Overhaul
According to reports, Apple's focusing a lot of its attention on mapping services for iOS 8.
Writing for 9to5Mac [2] , Mar Gurman cites anonymous "sources briefed on the plans" who claim Apple chiefs Tim Cook, Eddy Cue, Craig Federighi and Patrice Gautier want to get iOS maps to an "incredibly high standard."
The report claims that Apple's aforementioned bigwigs have headed-up engineering teams on various initiatives to tweak and improve the Apple Maps app, which was a buggy mess at launch and drew plenty of flak towards the iPhone maker after its abandonment of Google's solutions.
This is set to continue, with more efforts being made to improve the Maps UI and getting more reliable data flowing into it.
A key change will be the updating of Apple's mapping database with input from a handful of the company's acquisitions, including BroadMap, Embark and HopStop.
As well as beomcing more reliable and user-friendly, it's believed you'll see a greater quantity of POI data, the idea here seems to be that key locations such as major roads and transit links such as stops, stations and airports will be easier to find, as well as much more data rich and more useful as a result.
Focusing in further, the public transport components are getting a lot of attention from Apple's boffins. Directions and service information is expected to become a much more finely-tuned affair and it's said transit will be "deeply integrated".
However, with that said the transit improvements are probably going to be isolated to major US cities at first, with New York, LA and San Francisco being pointed to initially. As always with Apple the plan is to roll this out more broadly later on.
"When a user chooses to receive transit directions in the iOS 8 Maps app, a translucent panel slides up from the bottom of the Maps app with a list of different routes, according to the sources briefed on the application," 9to5Mac reports.
"Each route uses icons to notate the method of transportation (for example, a bus or train). The left side of the route choice panels share the departure and arrival times, and the right side notes the travel time. The transit view is said to split the screen between the routes list and the map so that users can also visually see the provided routes."
These menus will also allow users to pick between immediate routes and scheduled travel times.
Augmented reality is also going to play its part and this is said to include navigation routes imposed over what's in your camera viewfinder. An Apple patent shows how this could work.
Other related features include car integration, which will probably fit in with Apple's much-reported CarPlay, and even indoor mapping - although it's said these features may not arrive in tandem with iOS 8's public launch and would instead arrive later as part of an additional update.
iCloud iMprovements
iOS 8 may come with significantly modified iCloud capabilities, according to reports. Apple is allegedly expanding iCloud with the addition of two new iCloud-based applications and enhanced tools for developers to plug their own apps into iCloud.
The word comes via 9to5Mac's [3] sources "with knowledge of these initiatives", which claim the two iCloud apps are versions of Preview and TextEdit Mac applications re-jigged and optimised for iOS touch devices. It's thought you won't be able to modify documents with these apps, they'll simply act as a method of viewing compatible files stored on iCloud.
"Apple added iCloud synchronization for Preview and TextEdit with OS X Mountain Lion, but has not yet released iOS counterparts to actually view the synchronized content," the site reports.
As far as document editing is concerned, users will "be encouraged" to use Apple's free iBooks and iWorks apps.
Allegedly, this is all largely thanks to the influence of Craig Federighi, who is said to have brought the iOS and OS X teams together to work cooperatively on applications.
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