Hey guys,
Sorry it has been a few days since WWDC 2015 was aired. We were suppose to give you an article right after but we had streaming issues. Because of the issues, we could not get the stream until much later due to Apple restricting re-runs.
Due to Apple restrictions, we cannot show you any images or any footage of the event.
WWDC started on the 8th of June running until the 12th.
Normally we like to try to remain neutral in our articles for everything and highlight our joys no matter who it comes from. But after seeing this event, we were shocked at how badly they feel they can get away with the things they did to make fans of Apple love the stuff and even convert non-Apple users, but the clue we are about to give was more disturbing, that is, fans have been commenting around the internet that the things they announced were “Original” & “Innovative”! Including Apple themselves in a “we are ha ha funny saying its innovative, but we really mean it”.
So let us begin.
OSX
They first started throwing upgrade rate stats for their upgrade to Yosemite compared to Windows 8.1. Fair point. We still think it was false hate for Windows 8.
OSX got a new name that is giving mixed feelings to people. The name is “El Capitan”.
In the Demo, the first improvement which we think is nice is when finding the mouse, we all usually jiggle. Apple have made the cursor explode out into your face so when you stop jiggling, you can follow it easier as it shrinks back and find where you are. Neat.
Various apps on all platforms except OSX have had the ability to “swipe” an email left or right to do a certain action, usually, flag/favourite and delete. OSX has that ability now with 2 fingers on the Trackpad, to make it easier.
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has not had a “pin tab” system on it at all but Windows 8.1 allowed you to pin sites to the start screen. Chrome however has. Apple has now fitted the “pin tabs” ability and have put the feature of real-time updating to them, unlike Chrome or Windows 8.1 pins, allowing you to jump right into the site, fully loaded. This sparked some comment arguments as some of the extreme fans went to defend those who said it was a copy of Chrome, saying “Apple had this idea before Google, Google copied Apple!”. No guys, just no.
Another cool feature for Safari is the mute button when multiple tabs are open that may contain audio.
In the example, they showed an article from a news site and a website that had a video. While reading the article, the video started playing. In the URL, there was a speaker icon, this allowed you to mute the video sound while still being able to read. Not only that, but you can also use it to find the tab that is playing the audio for you to close it. Very cool.
(What’s next is very disappointing. Yes, good ideas should be implemented by competitors, but Apple did not sound like they took the next idea on the chin, but rather imply we made “something better” and “its our own idea”.)
Next in the Demo was Spotlight. What can Spotlight now do, well be a Cortana/Google Now On Tap Hybrid. Yep, copied 2 big features from its competitors and claim “mines better”.
Microsoft proclaimed, unlike its competitors, that Cortana is a “true personal assistant”, now Spotlight and Siri have been proclaimed that aswell. Spotlights feel and result gathering had a Cortana taste to it, but as it is a text based search system, they had it work more like Google Now. In spotlight, you can now type, quote “in your words” to find things on the Mac or the internet.
They Demoed the same thing as Google did in I/O 2015. This is our own example:
“find photos of the WWDC 2014 event”. Sure enough, spotlight will show all the photos relating to that search, just like Google Now. Apple made sure they avoided saying “Spotlight understands Context”, because if they said that, all hell would break loose.
Mission Control got a new feature. When you have a cluster of Windows on screen that are annoying to swap between, 3 fingers thrown up the Trackpad pushes the windows into smaller, organized presentation so you can find the window you want and bring it to the front. This is to answer the improved organized search of the window you want on the new Windows 10 OS, named “Task View”.
Back on July 20, 2011, OSX Lion was released. With it, the ability to have fullscreen apps. On October 26, 2012, Microsoft released Windows 8 with fullscreen apps. The difference is that Apple made sure it wasn’t the experience that you could only do. Microsoft did have the desktop apps and the fullscreen experience separate but what they didn’t realize is that many of the fullscreen apps were loved by those that prefer windowed apps that could be controlled to be fullscreen or not.
Now, Apple is slowly introducing the idea that using fullscreen is a lot better than windowed, making new features work only with fullscreen mode.
The next BIG copy, Snap-In Windows.
Windows 7, when released on October 22nd, 2009, had the ability to drag windows to either side or top to get a resize reaction. Moving the window to the left or right of the screen would make the window resize to take half the screen on the side you snapped it too. Moving the window to the top would make the Windows maximize. It was a very handy feature for multitasking. This multitasking continues today on 8.1 and 10. Windows 8/8.1 introduced Snap-In for the fullscreen apps. You can pull in 2 apps and have them sit side by side. Between them is a line that helps you adjust the size when you drag it left or right. This feature is fantastic, so Apple had to jump on this bus with their own Snap-In feature that works exactly like Windows 8.
Virtual Desktop has got some performance improvements aswell as the ability to drag a window to the top to create a new desktop. Apple are making sure they remain champion of the Virtual Desktop as Microsoft introduce it in Windows 10.
Virtual Desktop has been on the Mac since OSX Leopard which released on October 20th, 2007. This was renamed “Mission Control” with the release of OSX Lion.
Apple have had their Notes App for a while now, but it has been very basic in its features. Microsoft OneNote, included in the Office package has been kicking but in the notes department, so as always, Apple needs to have some of that cake and have improved Notes on all platforms to make it more on par with OneNote.
Finally, OSX has had some performance upgrades to make everything run more smoother and faster.
OSX El Capitan will be a free upgrade.
It will be released in US Fall with no exact date as of yet.
iOS
They first started throwing upgrade rate stats for their upgrade to iOS 8 compared to Android Lollipop. Windows Phone has never needed a turnover of upgrades to their OS but being in third place makes them out of the race in Apples eyes.
Siri has now been made to be more like, but never match or exceed, Cortana, but also attempting to be a voice applied Google Now On Tap as shown at the Google I/O 2015.
Windows Phone 8 had implemented what is known as “Wallet”. This app allowed you to input your Debit/Credit Cards and other cards, like Membership Cards/Coupons to it and use it with tapping your phone to the terminal with the NFC technology you see in NFC enabled devices today and, well, then. Wallet was implemented in such a way to be able to be moved between different devices that allows it to be independent from other requirements, like the Secure SIM etc. Because Windows Phone wasn’t hitting it off anywhere but the US, the US were the main people to implement and work with businesses to allow the Wallet to work. Today, it hasn’t done well at all.
ApplePay has now been improved to be exactly Windows Phone Wallet, right down to the name! WP Wallet has “Hub” with it, but it was mainly referred too and is named right now, “Wallet” on Windows Phone. So everything that the Windows Phone Wallet can do, Apple does aswell and fans love it! Thanks to popularity over everything, many around the world have jumped on board and ApplePay is getting the support that Windows Phone Wallet didn’t.
Nokia made map/nav apps including a transit app for buses and trains etc. These apps are now named “HERE …”. These apps are very popular and well done compared to Apple Maps. Apple decided to create their own Transit App that has the same look and feel of HERE Transit, and called it… “Transit”. If its popular, Apple must have it.
Windows 8 and Windows Phone have a very popular App called “News”. It allows you to get all the different articles you are interested in, via news brand or categories etc, bringing them to a one stop shop. Apple made a new news app called “News”. Repeat the last sentence and you have exactly that. If its popular, Apple must have it.
iPad have taken a different approach to cursor moving in text writing. Instead of the various methods on each platform today, iPad have introduced a virtual Trackpad overlay on the virtual Keyboard. Using 2 fingers on the Keyboard will make the Keyboard keys drop transparency and allow you to move the cursor to where you need it, but also help with text selection.
The introduced Multitasking Snap-In has been implemented into iPad aswell. Slide your finger from the right of the screen (Like the Charms menu of Windows 8) will bring up your selected App to use simultaneously with the app you were using. Eg: Safari and Email.
With the side app opened, you can drag the top, down, to open a list of other apps you can snap. With the apps you want onscreen, you can then turn them active to the Snap-In style controls of OSX that is like Windows 8, with the same resize line etc.
While having the 2 apps together, you can do what nobody else have really implemented, and that is simultaneous scrolling of both apps together with multi-touch. As nice as that is, its rare you would need to scroll 2 different apps at once.
The next interesting feature, specifically for video is Picture-in-Picture. You can play video in a small, movable window that sits on the active app you are using, like email, so you can do other work while still watching the video. You can also hide it to the side of the screen to have the audio keep playing while you work until you want it back. You can also control the video on the little window for adjustments and closing.
The Battery Apps have been improved to pretty much work like “Battery Sense” in Windows Phone. It gives you detailed info on battery usage and advanced controls to improve battery life.
iOS 9 has also got performance upgrades to make it smoother and faster.
iOS 9 will be a free upgrade.
It will be released in US Fall with no exact date as of yet.
This time, iOS 9 will be compatible with all previous iOS devices to make sure everybody uses it.
Picture-in-Picture will work with all iPads but Snap-In will only work for the Air 2.
WatchOS
The biggest thing for WatchOS 2 is performance upgrades.
They have added new faces for the watches, including faces with multiple information from various apps.
They implemented the crown in calendar to do what they call “Time Travel”. You can now scroll through time to see all future events at the time to goto.
You can now reply to emails.
Facetime audio can now be played through the watch.
ApplePay can be used on the watch.
Transit App is now on the watch.
Video playback is now possible.
The biggest excitement for developers for WatchOS 2 is now they can build “Native” apps. This means they can have apps that are built and held within the watch so it doesn’t rely on having the iPhone with you, like you are required now.
Finally, Apple announced “Apple Music” which is basically like any other app, whether it be Pandora, Spotify or anything in between. It is just improved version of mixed apps. The big difference is instead of a computer determining your playlist, Apple employees will make them for you based on their experience of music and make sure you get the right music at the right moment.
That’s it. Apple didn’t make the big jumps of innovation like they have in the past. They instead have approached the Google/Samsung vs Apple path and copied popular features that both Microsoft and Google have implemented and subtlety called them “their idea”. Even if they didn’t claim it as their idea, Apple fans have jumped in already saying how Microsoft and Google love to copy Apple.
The popularity over features fight between users is just not the right way to look at everything. Buying something because everyone else does over everything is foolish and it blocks fair competition. Not having competition and having one of everything always brings unfair corruption to the consumer.
When it comes to Computing, Microsoft take the cake over other OS’s, even Windows 8.1. Looking to the future, Windows 10 will be turning heads forever more unless Apple or Google can bring something so awesome to the table, that Windows has no chance to beat it. Nevertheless, Apple and Google have their own experience that many have tried and like, so if you get bored with Windows, you atleast have an alternative.
When it comes to Mobile however, in terms of tablet, the 2 in 1 and tablet Windows devices will and has already taken out iPad and Google tablets, especially with the Surface. iPad only hangs on with popularity. Again, you still have choice.
In terms of handhelds, The biggest thing against Windows Phone is Apps and Popularity. If Windows Phone, iPhone & Android all had the same working, popular apps and features, and remove the “I buy this device coz others do”, the only difference will be picking the style you like. Apple with all Apps, Google with Apps and Widgets, Windows with Apps and Live Tiles then the hardware look and feel. In turn, this gives you choice, not forced decisions.
For interconnection, Windows 10 brings Universal Apps to run iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps together, but Windows Apps that can run the exact same across all Windows devices. Synchronization of settings and other data across Windows devices having the look and feel together, keeping the experience the same yet specific for the device you are using at the time. This is why we are seeing preparations of iOS and OSX coming together. Again, this show you can have choice.
We know that everyone copies each other, but the way Apple have done it, making sure popular features from competitors are used to prop themselves up and make sure theirs is looked at as better, despite it matching or being not as good, is just childish. To understand what we mean, just look at Apple Fullscreen Apps vs Windows 8 Fullscreen Apps in terms of popularity and you will see nothing but hate on Windows but “How Awesome” on the ever growing popularity of Apple, despite being almost the exact same, but soon to be matching, Microsoft still cop the flak.
Tell us what you think about what Apple have done in their updates. Do you disagree about our anger for copying competitors like Apple have? Comment below.
See you next time.
