Are Apple’s newbies just better versions of Android’s oldies?

Apple recently showcased their new iPhone OS  iOS8, which is already being rolled out in beta form to some 1 million users only for now, but these will be available later this year.

We took a look at some of the features that have been put in place for iPhones and where we’ve seen them elsewhere.

Health tracker

What it does: There’s now  a health tracker that will be inbuilt the mobile platform to monitor health issues such as heart-rate, sleep activities and even how many footsteps you take.

Where we’ve seen it: This is similar to Samsung’s health apps that have been present on the Galaxy range of smartphones like the Galaxy S5.

iMessage

What it does: With this facility you can send text, audio and video messages to other iPhone users. You can also share locations. The messaging platform also allows you to leave group chats or mute them for a preferred time interval with its “Do Not Disturb”  feature. The photos and audio messages can even be set to self destruct after a few seconds.

Where we’ve seen it: Erm, Whatsapp, Viber, Snapchat, WeChat and Telegram. The mute feature is largely Whatsapp. The audio and video notes are typical of Viber, WeChat, Telegram. The self destruct texts and videos are all Telegram and Snapchat features, respectively.

QuickType

What it does: Wonder what took them so long! This feature predicts what words you are going to type next from it’s memory or from a history of previous typing styles in older messages.

Where we’ve seen it: Practically every other phone! Predictive text has long been around to speed up typing messages.

 App Buying

 What it does: Basically just that. Buying apps from the app store. However this time it comes with an “Ask to Buy” feature that allows parents to lock the store to prevent kids from buying whatever they want if the phone account is registered to the parents’ credit cards.

Where we’ve seen it : Nowhere yet, as Android’s play store is still open to whoever has the device at that point.

HomeKit

What it does: It allows developers send feedback to iTunes on how to develop various smart appliances in the home.

Where we’ve seen it: Nowhere. This makes it special because Apple is getting its consumers involved in creating a product that they themselves want to use.

Siri

What it does: Voice commands, for moments you’re too busy to use your hands.

Where we’ve seen it: In Samsung phones with S Voice. This time though, Siri will be able to be used even when you phone is locked, making it better than S Voice which has to be launched.

Those are just some of the changes we expect to see on the iOS 8 platform. Are they better than the Android platform? Maybe just a little. Still, Apple’s improvements the various features are not to be ignored because they may encourage competition from other phone makers who may follow suit.

Image Credits: TechFat, Sanziro, iPhoneHacks, iPhoneInCanada, ITBusiness