Unlike Google, which canceled Google I / O, Apple declined to miss its appointment to announce software news at its annual developer conference. But, yes, everything in streaming. As tradition marks, At WWDC 2020 a new version of its mobile platform has been announced, which this year corresponds to iOS 14.
And what do we do talking about iOS in Xataka Android? Well the only thing we could do: compare iOS 14 with ndroid to see what news we had in our smartphones for a long time. I already tell you that iOS 14 releases some functions that, if you are an Android user, will sound a lot.
The app drawer (more or less)
The presentation of iOS 14 has started with App Library, or what is the same: the Apple version of the Android app drawer. It is somewhat more complex than the Android drawer since Automatically group apps (what you see in the image), but it also has a list of all the apps in alphabetical order. Does it ring a bell?
Apple is finally acknowledging that having zillion pages full of icons is impractical
With the app libraryApple is finally acknowledging that having zillion pages full of icons is impractical. Yes, there were folders, but in this way there is a new level to hide those apps that we don’t always want to have on the home screen.
Real widgets
Apple introduced widgets with iOS 8 a few years ago, but they were half widgets. We could only put them in the notification curtain and not on the home screen, something that we could do on Android from practically its beginnings.
IOS 14 widgets can finally coexist with the icons on the home screen. In other words, we can place a calendar or weather widget on any home page and the icons will “move away” to make room for it. iOS 14 has a gallery of widgets with all available and some are in various sizes, something that also exists in Android (for example, the Google Calendar widget has two versions).
Of course, there is a widget that was announced at the conference that looks great and we don’t have it on Android. Is named Smart Stack and it shows different information depending on the time of day and based on our use of the device. For example, in the morning it shows the news and at night it becomes the Apple TV widget.
PiP
The Picture in picture option has existed in iOS since version 9, but it was exclusive for iPads. With iOS 14, iPhone can finally take advantage of this function and watch videos in a floating window while using other apps. In Android we have it natively from Android 8 Oreo, although there were layers like Samsung Touchwiz that had incorporated it before.
(Google) Translate
Within the block dedicated to Siri, Apple has presented a language translator that looks a lot like Google Translate. We can ask Siri to translate a phrase for us into another language or use the conversation mode to be able to translate between two languages, just like we can do with Google Translate. Of course, Apple has emphasized that the conversations are kept private.
Bike routes on Maps
Apple Maps came at a time when Google Maps was already a very nourished service, so It is more than understandable that it is still adding functions that already existed in the Google app. An example is the indications for bike routes that finally reach iOS. Other options like Look Around also come (similar to augmented reality navigation). Well, they are halfway, because they will only be seen in the UK, Ireland and Canada.
These are the main novelties of iOS 14 that we already had on Android for a long time. They have also announced other news in Messages (which by the way already exist in messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Telegram), Carplay or App Clips, an interesting function that allows launching a kind of mini apps by scanning NFC tags or QR codes. What do you think about the news of iOS 14?