Looking to the Future: iOS 8 and Beyond

James Falconer

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I know, talking about iOS 8 may seem silly… but is it, really? Shouldn’t we start discussing and debating what we want to see in the next generation iOS? I think it’s probably a good idea :)

With that in mind, some iOS 8 ‘concepts’ had been floating around the interwebs earlier this month. While the concepts were obvious outside designs from third parties, they were done well, and they got me thinking.

What would YOU like to see in iOS 8? Do you like the design cues in iOS7, or would you go to a different overall look and feel? How about your home screen, or perhaps there’s a different way you’d like to see notifications handled? Sound off!
 

kch50428

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Part of me wonders if the mobile industry as a whole hasn't reached a point where it's doing everything technologically possible to do and should start finding ways to do the things its already doing better... Make Siri more client side in the client/server model than it is...
 

Larry Pager

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1) Notifications. Still not good enough. Android's implementation is better. I like how there are icons in the upper lefthand corner to tell you what is going on, i.e. email, missed call, etc and how you can swipe them away to get rid of it (i.e. a missed call). It's also more elegant since control center and the notifciations bar are combined into one pull down menu. On the plus side, I do like how iOS 7 displays the information, i.e. weather, stocks, calendar, reminders. Although I think it would be better to use a graphical representation of the weather, i.e. how they show the weather now in the default app. I'm interested to see how iOS 8 will handle notifications.

2) Settings. I don't know really what to do with this- back in iOS 4 when there weren't so many settings, it made sense to unify all the settings into the settings app. Now as the settings get more complex and you can fine-tune apps to your liking, it is annoying to have to exit an app, go to settings, and adjust them. It would be better if each individual app had its own settings menu within the app. BUT... it is nice to be able to turn off a particulare feature, i.e. location settings for all the apps. It would be a pain to go through each individual app to turn them all off or on. So I don't know what to do with that.

3) Design. I like iOS 7. I like the flat design, it looks great. I think for the most part it is a success (except for the game center blobs). BUT... grid of icons are getting old. Something needs to change. Widgets anybody? I've used Android and are they necessary? For the most part, no. But it is nice to have your calendar on one homescreen and to quickly flip through the homescreens to get a quick view. It's nice to have the time and weather widget- it's purely cosmetic, but it mixes things up.

4) Stocks app. It would be nice if you could get dynamic quotes.

5) Sharing. In Android, whoo-boy, you get a huge list of ways of sharing a picture or news article. Incorporate more services.

6) Control Center. Should be more customizable, like the notifications bar. Like the bottom 4 apps? We should be able to change them. I don't like the positioning now since I'm always accidentally pulling up the menu and accidentally turning on bluetooth when I try to get rid of it. Maybe put a bit of a dead space on the top part of the menu? However I think that with a bigger screen, this could solve the problem.

7) Mail app. Why can't I delete a message with one button, swipe, etc? I like gmail's design on Android- by each message there is a brightly colored square with a letter of the email heading. Easier to visually see what is going on.

Overall, I like iOS 7- it's a big change, so I think iOS 8 will be a refinement of 7. I'm not expecting any HUGE changes. My theory is that iPhone 6, the hardware will get all the attention with a refinement of iOS 7. iOS 9 is when you'll see a huge change in software since the 6S is the same design.
 

BenitoC

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The next iOS needs to be optimized for the large iPad screens. There is a lot of screen real estate and now even more powerful processors, this could be put to even better use with the large screens.
 

James Falconer

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The next iOS needs to be optimized for the large iPad screens. There is a lot of screen real estate and now even more powerful processors, this could be put to even better use with the large screens.

I do think this will be taken into consideration. In my opinion, the next iteration of the iPhone will have some screen size variations. I'd be surprised if we didn't see a larger iPhone next year. Could be wrong (I often am), but we will see!
 

jsntrenkler

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I would like to see add Apple add the following to iOS8

*Theming - You could purchase themes from the app store
*3rd Party Keyboards - Would love to have options
*3rd Party SMS Support
*Ability to assign default apps - i.e.; Chrome instead of Safari if that is a users preference
 

Tre Lawrence

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I would like to see add Apple add the following to iOS8

*Theming - You could purchase themes from the app store
*3rd Party Keyboards - Would love to have options
*3rd Party SMS Support
*Ability to assign default apps - i.e.; Chrome instead of Safari if that is a users preference

You all but hit my major point with your first two: CUSTOMIZATION. I'd love the opportunity to make iOS truly mine, and a third-party keyboard or two would be awesome.
 

Premium1

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I know, talking about iOS 8 may seem silly… but is it, really? Shouldn’t we start discussing and debating what we want to see in the next generation iOS? I think it’s probably a good idea :)

With that in mind, some iOS 8 ‘concepts’ had been floating around the interwebs earlier this month. While the concepts were obvious outside designs from third parties, they were done well, and they got me thinking.

What would YOU like to see in iOS 8? Do you like the design cues in iOS7, or would you go to a different overall look and feel? How about your home screen, or perhaps there’s a different way you’d like to see notifications handled? Sound off!

I think if they do go to a larger screened iPhone, we will see some more gesture based things like are currently on the larger iPad screens. I would love some more gestures on top of those already integrated into IOS.
 

Premium1

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Part of me wonders if the mobile industry as a whole hasn't reached a point where it's doing everything technologically possible to do and should start finding ways to do the things its already doing better... Make Siri more client side in the client/server model than it is...

I think this is what google has been doing, especially with updating their apps outside of major OS updates. Google Now continues to improve and it seems Google and Apple are more worried about making what they have work better and with less drastic visual changes(minus IOS7) to improve what essentially "works" but as witnessed with all the updates still has room for improvement.
 

Premium1

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I would like to see add Apple add the following to iOS8

*Theming - You could purchase themes from the app store
*3rd Party Keyboards - Would love to have options
*3rd Party SMS Support
*Ability to assign default apps - i.e.; Chrome instead of Safari if that is a users preference

I would love to have the options for alternate keyboards. I like the apple keyboard but from using android in the past i love the swype type keyboards, and also the ability to assign apps as default would be awesome but i don't see apple giving up that much control of the experience to normal people such as you and I.
 

Les74

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Honestly, the only thing I would consider a "need" would be a quick reply feature. How it's managed to avoid being implemented thus far boggles my mind.
 

ShiftyAxel

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I'd like to see improved gesture integration- having swipe navigation implemented at the OS level instead of within apps would make for a more unified experience.
That, and making further use of Touch ID's capacitive sensor. Something akin to the gesture area on old webOS phones- swipe up for multitasking, swipe left/right for app switching etc.
 

DYLANHABKIRK

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I really like iOS7

It's hard to speculate on iOS8, and further - when we're only just starting to get a full taste of iOS7.

Sure, there's improvements to be made - but we still don't know what more to expect from the current Beta's and future releases.

I'll hold off on my desired feature requests, and speculations until later in 2014 when it will be easier to guess what's to come. Based on new devices next year, it will make it much easier to speculate the direction they are headed.
 

ajst222

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TOO MUCH PRESSURE! iOS 7 has just caught my eye and I can't wait to get an iPhone. Can't I just get to know it stress free for a little bit? ;)
 

James Falconer

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TOO MUCH PRESSURE! iOS 7 has just caught my eye and I can't wait to get an iPhone. Can't I just get to know it stress free for a little bit? ;)

lol I hear ya. But after you get settled with iOS 7, pop back in here and let us know what you'd like to see in the next major build!
 

crazygonzo

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We all know what's missing and what can be improved but knowing Apple and their approach ? Of course I hope that iOS 8 puts to shame Windows 8 and it'll be incredible but realistically speaking I don't expect iOS 7.1 or 7.2 to be huge since 5.1 and 6.1 were just polished fully optimised bug free (if there is such a thing) versions. There's a lot of small and big omissions that should be addressed but this is what should be done asap:

- Wider customisation options from AppStore and more freedom.
Simple themes and similar tweaks could be allowed in the AppStore and developers would make some money, lock screen would really benefit with this. It wouldn't be much work on Apple's part so it's possible they'll allow to choose our default apps, I think that putting Passbook, Weather, Clock, Calendar, Contacts, Calculator, Compass, Notes, Memos, Stocks, Safari, Mail, Maps and Newsstand in the AppStore would solve the complains. Those would still be available out of the box but the simple ability to delete/replace them is a reasonable move (of course by choosing 3rd part alternatives we would lose the iCloud syncing etc.). While Settings, AppStore, Camera, Photos, Music, Videos, Messages/Phone would be eternally unmovable on every device. This can be done even tomorrow.

- Multiple Accounts.
It would make everything easier but I believe a single Restricted Access option would suffice at this moment, when switched ON a 'guest user' would be unable to delete/purchase anything or change the settings. Fast & useful, just type your password and it's ready.

- Split-screen multitasking on devices with bigger displays.
Tablets need this, there's nothing to explain here. It's an essential element of the tablet experience that's still missing.

- Smart unified file management and a place to sort some of your incompatible files that you download in Safari.
Because those are serious devices used at work by many people. This is the only feature with which Apple could have a problem in 2014.

And here's what Apple can do with a minor update like iOS 7.2, those logical improvements don't deserve the spotlight but are important:

- Offline Siri.
Enlarge the system by an additional 400MB and our device could have almost all of the voice assistant functionality except the web informations.

- AirDrop with a Mac.
Cables suck ! I should be able to quickly transfer my files between any iOS device and a PC with WiFi.

- FaceTime group conferencing.
It'll never be as popular as Skype but it would be nice.
 

kdem24

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I would like to see add Apple add the following to iOS8

*Theming - You could purchase themes from the app store
*3rd Party Keyboards - Would love to have options
*3rd Party SMS Support
*Ability to assign default apps - i.e.; Chrome instead of Safari if that is a users preference

The keyboard is the only thing I would love to see in an update or ios8. I had the galaxy s 2 before switching to iphone, and the only thing I miss is the ability to use different keyboards. Mainly the swiftkey keyboard. Bring swiftkey to iphone!!!!
 

Spencerdl

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I would love to see total CUSTOMIZATION. This would be a serious plus and "jailbreak" would never have to cross my mind
 

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