June 9th, 2014, By Don Catalano
With Apple previewing iOS 8, there are a bunch of new features that users will find extremely useful. Here are 5 new iOS 8 features that we learned from Monday’s keynote.
One of the most common complaints about the iPhone is the battery drains too fast. Besides closing unused apps and lowering screen brightness, not much else is commonly known to help with this issue. In iOS 8, users will now be able to selectively change settings or uninstall certain apps to get the most out of their battery. There will now be a way to see which apps and functions are draining your battery the most.
iOS 8 brings big changes to the keyboard since the very first iPhone. Now you can tap to choose the perfect suggestion for your next word. Apple is also letting developers offer their own keyboards.
Although widgets have been around on Android devices for years, Apple definitely steps up with introducing a natural integration of widgets into iOS 8. Third-party apps will now be allowed to define widgets in the Notification Center. Though they will only reside in the notification center, not the home screen, this is still a big step for Apple.
New to iOS 8 is the ability to say “Hey Siri” to wake up the phone and ask Siri anything you want. Siri also now supports purchasing iTunes content and has gained 22 new dictation languages. Apple has built in Shazam song recognition as well as streaming voice recognition.
Spotlight searching in iOS 8 will now include results from Wikipedia, Near-by places, App Store, iTunes and even trending news.
iOS 8 will be available on newer versions of the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch starting this fall.