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A Closer Look at 'Handoff' and Other New iOS 8/Yosemite 'Continuity' Features

iOS/iOS Handoff

This Handoff is especially required between iOS/iOS and probably less for iOS/OSX.

I foresee that this will be needed to answer an incoming call or text on your iWatch without having te get your phone from your pocket.
 
Battery?

This feature will let me think once more about switching from Windows to OS X...

On the other hand I'm wondering how this is going to affect battery time, especially on the iPhone.
 
I am excited. Hoping to buy a new 27" iMac with Broadwell processor later this year ... :cool:
 
I'm sure this was stolen from Android, too. At least according to the Android legion, who actually believe that Apple stole widgets from Android. :)

I might actually just spend the money to get a developer account just to use this stuff early.
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
I'm not confusing them. I'm talking about two different things. One is that the APPS on the *MAC* have been getting dumbed down by Apple for awhile in favor of compatibility with iOS versions.

The texting thing is more about all the coverage of these big improvements to Messages, when nothing is more convenient than actual talking. I watch people text at work all day long. They stop WORKING to answer some dumb arse question from their wife, a friend, whatever. I'd fire their arses if it were up to me.



It's not the iOS software that I'm saying is being dumbed down. It's the Mac Apps that got dumbed down to be compatible with the iOS versions. Yes, they will "improve" from there again, but why should the Mac versions get penalized to begin with? It's only for sake of compatibility with iOS. That's not a good reason, IMO. Mac software should be BETTER than the iOS versions. But since many seem to think (even hope) that future Macs will be ARM powered, I guess it won't matter. You just have a big smart phone instead of a real computer some day. It will be an appliance instead of what many of us think of as a computer. That's fine for some things, but some of us prefer an open model with real power. The company that keeps delivering that will get our business.
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I think that you raise an important philosophical question about the role of each device in our day to day life, and i think that Apple is the only company that think about these questions.

I tend to disagree with the idea that each device should have it's own apps or system, there's no reason why a mail app shouldn't get connected seamlessly to your mac when you get closer to it because i don't think the mail app should have functionality that the iPhone can't handle. Another example is Safari, it's absolutely great that you can start something on your iPhone and get to the same screen exactly on your mac or IPad. Again, Safari for the iPad or mac should have more functionality, it's ok as it is.

I do agree that there tasks that should be reserved to your mac, this will always stay like that and there is no reason to think it will go away, you will always be able to use the "pro" apps on a machine that is capable of handling pro tasks.

I think that you cant ignore the advantages of this Continuity features, for me it's one of the reasons i chose a mac as my laptop.

I also think that Apple understands that the Ecosystem is their real advantage against other companies and thats the reason they invest in it so much.
You can claim that they dont have the best phone, they dont have the best operating system or best hardware.
But, there's no question who has the best and complete ecosystem. It's easy, there's no competetion.
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
So this "handoff" concept is the reason Apple has been destroying professional quality applications and dumbing them down with new versions sans most of their features so that they could run the minmalist iOS version instead and thus be able to "handoff" the app between the two?
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...wow
 
You guys need to turn Bluetooth on, and on both machines for Continuity to work. Well, when I say 'work'...

I've got a non Retina 2012 MacBook Pro with an iPhone 5. Both running the latest betas. Bluetooth turned on on both machines and Continuity isn't working properly: when making a call, the window pops up but nothing happens. When receiving a call, the window just doesn't pop up at all.
I also started an email on my phone and the little Mail app popped up in the Dock. However there wasn't a trace of my writing.
Yet it worked on Safari as it loaded the same page I was looking at on my iPhone.
I can also see the app I'm using on my Mac thanks to this little icon that appeared on my iPhone lockscreen.
 

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Too bad most of the apps mentioned are rubbish and I only use a few of those mentioned in iOS none in Mac OS. I only use Mail, Safari, Maps, Messages, Calendar and Contacts in iOS. I wouldn't use any of them if third parties were allowed greater integration into iOS and the ability to be set as defaults for those functions.

Now if this system was opened up and got support from third parties it would be useful. Especially MS Office, Thunderbird/Outlook (mail, contacts, calendar), Firefox/Chrome, Skype and Spotify support.
 
Wonder how this works if a family shares a Mac/iPad. Multiple user log-in in iPad would solve any issues... Especially if this could be achieved seamlessly using touch id in a future iteration - ownership of the lock screen passing to most recent user.
 
I'll wait to see how well this works

My iCloud Safari tabs take so long to show up on my other devices that it's often faster to just type in the websites' URL. I've also noticed such a significant delay with photos appearing in my photo stream that I usually just use instashare to speed up the process. I'm not too optimistic about this being much (if at all) better.

It would be cool if handoff worked with Apple TV to so that when I was watching my TV I could pick up my phone and use it as a keyboard right away, rather then having to open remote, etc.
 
newagemac said:
This is the future and unfortunately it looks like Android is going to be left out of the party.
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Yeah, y'know, like what, I always want to start typing an email on my phone while I am travelling, until I realise every time: "No wait! Let me wait until I get home, "hand it off" to my computer, finish typing and only then send it!"

That was a requirement that I always had! Y'know, like, it's sooo cool!

Hey, is that a Reality Distortion Field over there...?
 
jasonklee said:
Yet another feature taken from Android.
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I've seen a ton of misinformed posts here. This one is tops.

till213 said:
Yeah, y'know, like what, I always want to start typing an email on my phone while I am travelling, until I realise every time: "No wait! Let me wait until I get home, "hand it off" to my computer, finish typing and only then send it!"

That was a requirement that I always had! Y'know, like, it's sooo cool!

Hey, is that a Reality Distortion Field over there...?
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Wait till s-handoff. It'll be used plenty.

Edit: wow just read more about this, this really is pretty cool even just the implementation of it. No opening other apps, no active need to sync anything, it just let's you do your work seamlessly. well done, apple.
 
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Gee, now the NSA will be able to listen to us in stereo and get different angles for their video through multiple cameras! :)


Just kidding, of course. I think...
 
ekwipt said:
I just want FaceTime to ring on preferred devices when I'm home at the moment all three ipad iPhone and MacBook ring at once, kind of annoying. F you could select preference when on the same network or something, this would be great
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For me, if I get a facetime call and I answer or clear it on my iPhone, I wish it would also clear it from my iPad and Mac. I don't like having to manually clear missed calls from each device.

goobot said:
Is this an api? If not it should. Devs could do some cool stuff with this.
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It sure is an API. Third party will be able to get in on this. :)

MagnusVonMagnum said:
So this "handoff" concept is the reason Apple has been destroying professional quality applications and dumbing them down with new versions sans most of their features so that they could run the minmalist iOS version instead and thus be able to "handoff" the app between the two?

While in principle, it sounds neat to be able to do such a thing, it's a shame that it has to be at the expense of the software's capabilities on the Mac. I guess if they move to ARM, it won't really matter anymore since the iPad (in a clam shell or whatever form instead) will BE your "Mac" from then on. Welcome to the dumbing down of the computer, the Internet and the population that uses it. I couldn't help but notice how messages pretty much chooses your words for you now. At some point, it will just go ahead and reply FOR you and make the decisions as well using artificial intelligence, freeing you up to stare at more commercials (which are currently at a 20 minutes of commercials for a 60 minute program ratio or a 3 hour for a 2 hour movie despite the fact that hardly anyone watches them (skip them with the DVR or get your stuff from iTunes or wherever and don't even have to skip them).

Heck, I remember the days when we had really high tech phones. Those phones actually allowed you to use VOICE CALLS where you could talk hands free and not have to use your thumbs to type fractured sentences or stare at a screen that could get your killed while driving. Somewhere along the line, phones got DUMBER and required "texting" instead of talking. Imagine that. Slower productivity and more danger for what? ZERO benefit. Frankly, people don't need to know what you're doing at work. Obviously, you're not working if your texting and if you weren't texting, you should be WORKING. I wouldn't be shocked if companies started an automatic zero tolerance FIRING policy if they catch you texting on company time. I would. I'm not paying you to chat with your friends. IT CAN WAIT.
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I sincerely enjoyed your comment very much.
It's hard to decide where I stand on this because there are costs and benefits to this... I mean, Pages and Numbers obviously got dumbed down but they are slowly getting their power features back. Undoubtedly dumbed down for seamless iOS compatibility.

At the same time, it sounds great to me to just use the device you want to get stuff done. I like the idea of the iPad or iPhone are just another computer screen, another extension, in a way. This has been a dream for me, but I didn't think about the slow down of Mac apps that this will require.

But we also have the Mac Pro, for power users. I don't think we'll be seeing Final Cut Pro (for the lack of a better power tool off the top of my head) using the hand-off feature to the iPad anytime soon (let's ignore the fact that Final Cut Pro also got dumbed down I think, lol).

The more I saw the keynote, the more I thought Apple is laying the groundwork to ending OSX and iOS, and creating one operating system for both. It would make for quite the keynote. We could have universal apps like we have now, and could also have Mac only apps (like we have iPad only apps).

If Apple were able to just do ARM in the future and lower/eliminate their dependence on Intel, that sounds crazy but is probably the direction they're headed in. Why not have complete control? While Intel is surely making great technological strides, I wonder if Apple can do even more great things when they run the show, the schedule, the tech in the chips.
 
How

Can someone provide steps to setting this up? I have both iOS 8 and Yosemite, need I turn Bluetooth on?

Disregard. After I asked that, I thought, why not try turning bluetooth on? And it worked. :p
 
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Ok I don't understand how does it work, handoff and continuity... Apple says the devices are "aware" of each other..
Some of the guys are saying it should be connected to the sane wifi...
Yet another ppl are saying it should have Bluetooth enabled in both devices..
So how actually does it work..

1. If it should be in the same wifi, I'm pretty sure apple can get the same feature as they did with the Apple TV, be on any wifi, and u can stream content, that is pickup where you left off, or answer from a device..

2. If it runs bluetooth, then My friends say, they have on android, using 3 md party apps and softwares..

3 with this feature of SMS and phone call, apple has I think forgotten about the iPad with a SIM card.. I mean, now it's possible to answer a call or message using even your iPad, and continue your work even on an iPad, and it doesn't require my cellular, y will I pay more for a iPad with a sim when I can do exactly everything without a SIM card..
Atleast there used to be 1 diff between them, that is data.. Now if you have an iphone, and a wifi only iPad, it'll do everything what a iPad with sim could do, and that too without using another sim.. So I don't need to pay for 2 different SIM cards, with handoff , continuity and instant hotspot, I can do all kinds of stuff on my wifi only iPad, and leave my iphone across the room..

P.S there are done android devices that sport calling features, I think apple took them on by letting you call from your iPad or Mac without using a sim, and using your iphone! So basically it's 2 features in 1
 
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