This saga of blaming one another for copying the core features and the notable points, has been running since long and whenever there is a major announcement done by a brand, the other claims that most of it is inspired or copied. The question to ask here, is whether it is really necessary to blame the other party for copying the features? is the blaming side so unique and it never did anything similar?
Take Apple for instance, at least for this year’s WWDC Keynote where the iOS 8 was announced. Apple always pulls the leg of competitors during the keynote, and this time it was over the line. Not that I’m an Android fan, I like Apple and it’s iOS ecosystem. But the blame game has to be limited and you could happily do it only if you are unique and have something totally different.
Apple has been unique with quite a lot of stuff but there was quite a lot of inspired stuff this time, in the iOS 8. But that doesn’t really matter when the user needs the features and that’s integrated into the operating system. What one doesn’t like is the way Apple tried to showcase itself as a brand which does everything right and better than the other brands.
Apple iCloud Photo Library – Google+ Photos
Unlike earlier, now the Apple users would be able to store more than 1000 photos and videos in their library, and everything would be now stored in the cloud, i.e. in the iCloud Photo Library. But wasn’t Google doing that already? the Google+ photos comes with the unlimited storage for photos and videos. The functioning is quite the same, where you could sync the media on different devices.
QuickType keyboard and Predictive Typing
Apple called this as an intelligent keyboard for the iOS devices, but Android has been having this based on the company providing it. These features, if not available through the Android keyboard, would be available through the third party services / apps which have been available from years.
Hey Siri – Ok Google Now
The hotword Ok Google Now was available in many Android devices with the latest Android OS, and you could use that with the Google Now feature. Apple introduced Siri a couple of versions earlier to the iOS 8 but the “Hey Siri” hotword to activate it and listen to your commands is something new from Apple for the iOS users. It all started with the Voice Actions which were introduced in Android, to which Apple responded with Siri, but Google stayed ahead with the hotword detection.
Hotword detection keeps the mic always active and thus, there is a battery drain. Thus, the Google Now Launcher keeps the detection on only when the screen is turned on. But with Moto X, the word is detected even when the screen is turned off, because the device comes with a dedicated processor for the voice, but Apple doesn’t have such a thing yet, thus you would be able to use the “Hey Siri” feature only when the iOS device is plugged in and charging.
Interactive Notifications – Are these new?
The interactive notifications in the iOS 8 is something new for the Apple device users, and Apple gave quite a lot for hype for it. It is something where the users would be able to respond to the notifications right from the notification panel, without having to leave the current app page. Android doesn’t have this? they have it since long for some apps, where you could directly hit the reply or archive button on Gmail app, Call back or message a contact whose call was missed and shown in the notification panel. Moreover, you could install the CyanogenMod to make things even better.
TestFlight for Developers
Apple has now allowed the developers to run and beta test the apps before officially releasing them in the App Store. This was after the company acquired TestFlight, a technology which gives that feature to the developers. But Android users have been getting the feature of beta testing the apps already, since quite some time now.
Videos in the App Pages in Store
Apple’s developer crowd were amazed and cheered happily when it was announced that they would be now able to add videos and show them in the App Store. In Android, this was something the developers were able to do since 2010, four years ago.
Widgets for Third Party Apps
iOS still doesn’t allow the widgets on the home screens but there is at least some possibility in the notification center, where the widgets are available as a notification, and you can play around with it. In Android, widgets is something very much advanced and you can have those widgets on the home screens, notification panel. In Apple, there is a now a third party app support unlike everything that was available only for the system apps, but that is again already seen in Android OS.
There’s a lot of such features which Apple mentioned for the first time, while the Android users have been enjoying since a lot of time. Apple took inspiration from Android, if you look at the WWDC event this year but Android too does that, and there’s nothing wrong in doing that when you are catering to the needs of the users, but the blame game is what makes it look bad when the well known and respected brands do it.
Do you agree Apple has done quite a lot of copy-paste job this time, for the iOS 8?