With the announcement of the next release of IOS – version 8 the speculation is around what additional functionality and integration will be included.
The major “areas” that IOS8 seeks to address appear to be
Home and Health
Input and messaging
Photos
Siri
I suspect that there will be a roll call of other “little” features or changes that make usability and integration their focus. The general consensus though is that a lot of the changes seem to be including features that exist in Windows phone or Android phones at present. So what would encourage me to move from an Android Samsung S5 to an IPhone running IOS8?
1) Battery life – we need better longer lasting batteries that charge quickly. Removable would be good but unlikely
2) Screen size and weight – small isn’t always better – especially for those of us who have a lot of information coming to our phones.
3) Consistency of apps and purchases – the ability to re-download the apps and addons you have purchased when you get another device.
4) Free timely updates. In terms of number of updates and what they address Android (or Samsung or O2) seem to be behind the curve in terms of new functional releases at more regular intervals.
A phone and its OS should be an extension of the desktop / laptop / tablet that you use and it should be able to extend the scope of where you can work and collaborate – not just for making phone calls. Lets see if IOS 8 is able to pull together all those requirements. Hopefully we will get a list of the hardware that can actually run IOS8 soon.