Emerging Technologies Blog

After months of rumours, speculations etc. Apple Inc formally revealed iOS 9 today, its newest mobile operating system and successor to iOS 8. As any Apple fanboi would expect, iOS 9 will provid the gamut of mobile services to your iPad, iPod and iPad. For instance, Siri now has a feature that mimics Google Now and the long-rumoured split-screen multitasking feature finally arrived in iOS 9. The new Apple iOS 9 released date is slated for July. Although developers can have a feel of it as from today. However let us take a look at some of the interesting features Apple stole from Android for its new OS. Shall we?

Siri got a makeover by Android

Like I said earlier, Apple borrowed a lot of features from Google's Android. There is a new feature in Siri known as ''Proactive Assistant'' that works very similar to Google Now virtual assistant. For instance, just like Google Now, Siri can make recommendations or perform certain tasks without you raising your finger. You could tell Siri to remind you about something while reading an email. Or it could search your contact and suggest you to call them based on upcoming meetings.

Proactive Assistant will also automatically add invitations and events to your calendar, which is a nice addition. You’ll also get Google Now-like features such as notifications that you need to leave to arrive at a meeting on time, based on traffic conditions. Unlike Google Now, however, all of the data analysis needed to facilitate these features happens on the device — no data is stored on Apple servers and nothing is shared with third parties.


News for iOS 9

A personalized news app will be introduced with iOS 9, with a Flipboard-style layout, customized layout and recommendations, and it will be interactive, too, with photos and videos built into the text layout. The kicker is that Apple has struck deals with publishers like NYT or Rolling Stones, but also local stations, blogs and so on, to deliver some free content every day to News users.


iOS 9 also introduces new power-user features designed specifically for the iPad. The on-screen keyboard includes shortcuts for cut, copy, paste, and more, as well as a new mode that turns the keyboard into a trackpad. Perhaps the biggest change to the way iOS works is in the new multitasking mode for the iPad. iOS 9 now lets you run two apps side-by-side at the same time, a feature that's been a hallmark in Microsoft's Surface tablets and Samsung's Galaxy tablets for a long time.

A redesigned task switcher lets you swipe apps in to the same screen, much like Windows 8, and both apps remain fully active on the screen at the same time. Apps can be split 50-50 or 70-30 on the screen, and the iPad's existing multi-finger touch gestures work in either side. Videos can be watched in a picture-in-picture viewer that can be moved around the screen. Apple says that the split-screen mode will only be available on the iPad Air 2 (and presumably new iPads announced later this year), while picture in picture and the ability to swipe in apps from the side will come to older iPads.



Greatly reduced iOS storage footprint 
How does going from 4.6 GB to just 1.9 GB free storage space needed sound to you for iOS 9? Not bad at all, especially for folks with 16 GB iPhone versions.

Low Power Mode 
Finally! This new feature will extend battery life by up to three hours when enabled. It’s similar to offerings from Samsung and HTC, but not quite as extreme. It does limit some functionality, but all core features are still acceptable.

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