Lack of originality with iOS 8. Many iOS 8 "new" features already on Android

It used to be that when a new Apple iOS operating system was released to much fanfare at a developer conference, the audience was wowed with a sense of everything being so clever and so new. However, most recent announcement and demonstration of iOS 8 at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco may have left non-Apple fanboys a little nonplussed as many of the “new” features are no longer new on the Android platform.... they're old news.

iCloud vs Google

The iCloud Photo library has been expanded to 5GB of free storage (up from 1,000 photos for just 30 days). Google+ Photos offers unlimited storage for videos and photographic content already.

For general media cloud storage, iCloud offers 5GB free versus Google Drive with 15GB of free storage.

QuickType Keyboard

The new keyboard from Apple named QuickType comes with on-screen suggestions via predictive text to speed up the entry of information. Third party keyboards will also now become available for iOS 8 too. One of the complaints over years about Apple devices has been the single keyboard and the lack of differentiation between lower-case and upper-case letters on the keyboard.

SwiftKey and other third party keyboards for Android have been available for years already. These offer various input methods to speed up keyboard entries including predictive text as just one of them.

Widgets Anyone?

Simplistic widgets that can convey important updates on email counts and other notifications are finally coming to iOS 8. But hold on to your hat; only on the pull-down Notification Center. Limited space there.

Android already offers multiple home screens with a plethora of widgets that can be added to any of these screens. Move them around, position the widgets how you like that and swipe across to see different screens (one screen for personal apps, another screen for business apps, etc). This has been around for years on the humble Droid.

Respond to Notifications

Respond to a notification like a new email without needing to enter the iOS system and click on the email icon. This will help iOS users cut down on unnecessary taps to see the email they've just been notified about. Just swipe downwards and the UI will present a way to respond quickly to the Interactive Notification.

This has also been present with Android in one manner or another for a while. Dealing with emails is quick to do, replying requires a follow-up visit to the Email app which auto-opens when clicking on the notification.

App Store Video Content

App Store visitors can now watch video previews of how an app looks and behaves before committing to downloading and installing it. This is something that the Google Play Store has offered developers/customers for some time.

Wake up, Siri

Waking up Siri, the voice assistant service, will now be possible just by saying “Hey Siri” to an iPhone or iPad. Google Now is the competing service for Android and has responded to “OK Google” since Google Android 4.4.

All in all, it is difficult to see iOS as innovative any longer. The Android team of developers seems to have it beat on so many levels. Is it any wonder that Droids are outselling iPhones now? Maybe the news is out...

Also see:

Apple Announced iOS 8 - Here are the Essential Features and Improvements