It is a great regret if you can’t experience Apple’s annual WWDC in San Francisco, CA by yourself, for it is really a grand ceremony for developers and Apple lovers. If you have watched the WWDC 2014 keynote in another way, what impressed you most? A genius Apple team? A big enthusiastic and excellent crowd of developers from all over the world gathered together? Or maybe just impressed by the youngest Apple developer of only 13 years old? The whole conference was full of passion and of course those brilliant ideas. You may feel disappointed that there was no release of any hardware like the expected iPhone 6, but iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite, two big highlights in WWDC 2014 are enough to surprise you!
Take a look at their new features and functions compared with the old versions.
OS X 10.10 Yosemite
1. New System Name
Since the OS X 10.9 Mavericks released last year, Apple has made changes to name the Mac system after those places in California and this year it is Yosemite. The background of OS X 10.10 Yosemite adopts the beautiful scenery in Yosemite National Park.
2. Flattening design
As predicted before, the new released OS X 10.10 Yosemite adopts the flattening style and you can find that the dock bar and its icons are totally changed and they are translucent. It is quite same with iOS system in visual aspect.
3. More Powerful Notification Center
Apple team improved the Notification Center a lot by adding the day view function and supporting those small plugins about weather, stock, schedule, etc.
4. More Effective Spotlight
The search bar “Finder” which is at the top right corner in previous versions now has been moved to the middle of the screen to take over users’ visual focus. Users can make a fast and universal search for contents such as apps, mails, web pages, news, map, currency conversion through the search bar without running any app.
5. MailDrop
This new function is designed to solve the problem of transferring those large files and can transfer the maximum file of 5GB.
6. iCloud Drive
As a new design in Yosemite, iCloud Drive breaks the independence between iOS and OS X. Users can store and visit files of different types on different platforms. For example, when you use Mac to upload file to iCloud Drive, you can visit the file on your iPhone or iPad.
7. New Safari
The Yosemite system brings a new browser “Safari” to Apple users. It supports Google, WebGL, SPDY, etc. Safari attaches more importance to user privacy and security with its no trace browsing. Meanwhile, with the new Safari, users can enjoy online video of 1080p of another 2-hour than the former one.
8. Handoff
This is one of the biggest highlights of the new system. It can realize information interconnection between Mac and iPhone through Wi-Fi. Users can use Mac to make or pick up a call on iPhone, or use Mac to check and reply iPhone messages as long as their iPhone is within the identification range of Handoff.
9. AirDrop Improvement
With the release of OS X 10.10 Yosemite, all information such as files and pictures can be transferred and shared between iOS and OS X without any obstacle.
iOS 8
Compared with iOS 7, iOS 8 is designed with a lot of new features and functions.
1. Third-party Software Keyboard
Apple’s former operating systems fail to support third-party keyboard due to security and privacy. And now with iOS 8, Apple finally makes it happen! According to foreign media report, app developer Syntellia has shown the successful operation of Fleksy on iOS 8.
2. Group Messaging
Among those new features, the overall upgrade of message or call is what users care about most. In addition to the original iMessages, iOS 8 allows users to enjoy message services such as thread chat, sharing location and sending voices and videos.
3. QuickType
In previous operating systems, QuickType allows access to special characters, alternate character set, special keyboard layout, hand writing, dictation and auto correct. And now in iOS 8, QuickType supports predictive typing suggestions. For example, if you got a message “do you want to go out for dinner or movie?” It may automatically suggests you movie or dinner or maybe some other choices. It learns how you type. Meanwhile, it also supports multiple languages.
4. Interactive Notifications
In the new iOS 8, Apple redefines the Notifications, allowing users to control it on the lock screen. For example, you can get most recent apps and most frequent contacts by double clicking the “Home” tab. What’s more, if you got a message, just pull down and make a fast reply from right where you are without leaving the app you’re in.
5. Health Platform – HealthKit
Apple released a health platform – HealthKit. Data such as blood pressure and weight from a third-party’s health management app can be collected on this platform to control your health status.
6. Family Sharing
This new function of iOS 8 supports music, movie, photo, schedule and message sharing among 6 family members. And two important points are that purchasing items on iTunes store can be shared and it also can control your kid’s expenses on apps. For example, when your kid wants to buy apps on iTunes, permission from the primary account number shall be passed.
7. Calendar
Apple has made some improvement in office application such as calendar. It adds the lunar calendar to iOS 8, and settings for place and time of schedules are more precise.
8. Spotlight Improvement
iOS is no longer restricted to local search. The new iOS 8 allows users to do Internet search for movies, music, news, Google, etc.
9. Photo Editing
The new added smart editor allows users to adjust photo parameters such as exposure, brightness, contrast, etc, and synchronize them to iCloud to realize photo sharing on different devices.
10. Smart Home Platform – HomeKit
HomeKit, another application programming interface open to smart home, bridges the distance between smart home to our life. On the basis of HomeKit platform, Apple allows Siri to help control doors, lights, temperature, locks, etc.
11. App Preview
App Preview is what iOS users concern for a long time. Now iOS 8 finally allows app developers to provide app previews and displays apart from screen capture for Apple users before purchasing.
Apple also made a lot of improvement in TouchID and Siri. Some hidden features such as app battery consumption monitoring, DuckDuckGo search engine and Braille keyboard were not mentioned in WWDC this year. But surely they will provide great convenience and experience for the increasing Apple users all over the world.