iOS 8 Beta 2 Tidbits: Permanent Podcasts App, QuickType Keyboard for iPad, and More

[ogrady]

Let's restore some order

Ok, in order to restore some sanity and USEFULNESS to this iOS 8 thread I’m declaring THREAD BANKRUPTCY ;-) This means, there will be no more discussion of:

i) the re-inclusion of the podcast app, (it’s a TEST OS, Apple will likely make this an optional install later)

ii) jasonklee’s comment about remove all apps (it was either /sarcasm or /trolling). Don’t worry, Apple’s not going to take away Phone.app and Messages.app

iii) M$ Antitrust ******** (no one cares, and if you do, start a new thread please)

=============================================================
INSTEAD, Lets talk about some of the cool/new features in iOS 8 and if/how they work in beta 2:

1) Continuity/Handoff - anyone tried it? What did/didn’t work (remember that you need the beta iWork apps to use it)

2) Wi-Fi calling - this has crazy potential to disrupt the carriers. How does it work? Anyone got it going yet?

3) Keychain in Safari - it’s been syncing to iCloud since iOS but now Keychain can be used to log into third-party apps! You’ll obviously need to get an app beta from the developer to get it to work. Any examples of apps that can be logged in with Safari keychain yet?

4) Wi-Fi connection sharing - Share your iPhone’s Internet connection with your “Wi-Fi only” iPad (great for people who haven’t activated a data plan on their iPads) Again this could be revolutionary, will the carriers let it happen? Can it be enabled now?

5) Third-party keyboards (Swype and TouchPal have been demo’d)

6) iOS 8 ‘extensibility’ - Apple showed Bing translation in Safari, but it doesn’t appear to be in b2. Has anyone got it going? What will the UI be? What extensions top your wish list? (For example, I’d like Evernote integrated into iOS 8)

7) iCloud Photos – I turned it on and it seems to have all my photos, but what’s the UI on the Mac side? Doesn’t there have to be an update to Aperture & iPhoto to support it? (The new “Photos” app isn’t due until 2015).

8) Family Sharing – seems half-baked in b2. Plus I’m too scared to put b2 on my other iOS devices! Any experience?

9) iCloud Drive – Can’t find any UI for it in iOS. Same with the new pricing plans. Also something’s eating all my 55GB of iCloud storage. Probably because I turned on iCloud Photos and it’s storing all my photos online? Not sure.


If you really must gripe, kvetch and complain about the iOS beta, how about these:

a) no ability to switch default apps (browser, mail, calendar come to mind)

b) no widgets (how hard would it be to put a live weather widget on the home screen?!) and no, notification center doesn’t cut it, sorry.

Lastly, if you're looking for all the new things in iOS 8, I recommend this thread:https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1740199/

 

[C DM]

Ok, in order to restore some sanity and USEFULNESS to this iOS 8 thread I’m declaring THREAD BANKRUPTCY ;-) This means, there will be no more discussion of:

i) the re-inclusion of the podcast app, (it’s a TEST OS, Apple will likely make this an optional install later)

ii) jasonklee’s comment about remove all apps (it was either /sarcasm or /trolling). Don’t worry, Apple’s not going to take away Phone.app and Messages.app

iii) M$ Antitrust ******** (no one cares, and if you do, start a new thread please)

=============================================================
INSTEAD, Lets talk about some of the cool/new features in iOS 8 and if/how they work in beta 2:

1) Continuity/Handoff - anyone tried it? What did/didn’t work (remember that you need the beta iWork apps to use it)

2) Wi-Fi calling - this has crazy potential to disrupt the carriers. How does it work? Anyone got it going yet?

3) Keychain in Safari - it’s been syncing to iCloud since iOS but now Keychain can be used to log into third-party apps! You’ll obviously need to get an app beta from the developer to get it to work. Any examples of apps that can be logged in with Safari keychain yet?

4) Wi-Fi connection sharing - Share your iPhone’s Internet connection with your “Wi-Fi only” iPad (great for people who haven’t activated a data plan on their iPads) Again this could be revolutionary, will the carriers let it happen? Can it be enabled now?

5) Third-party keyboards (Swype and TouchPal have been demo’d)

6) iOS 8 ‘extensibility’ - Apple showed Bing translation in Safari, but it doesn’t appear to be in b2. Has anyone got it going? What will the UI be? What extensions top your wish list? (For example, I’d like Evernote integrated into iOS 8)

7) iCloud Photos – I turned it on and it seems to have all my photos, but what’s the UI on the Mac side? Doesn’t there have to be an update to Aperture & iPhoto to support it? (The new “Photos” app isn’t due until 2015).

8) Family Sharing – seems half-baked in b2. Plus I’m too scared to put b2 on my other iOS devices! Any experience?

9) iCloud Drive – Can’t find any UI for it in iOS. Same with the new pricing plans. Also something’s eating all my 55GB of iCloud storage. Probably because I turned on iCloud Photos and it’s storing all my photos online? Not sure.


If you really must gripe, kvetch and complain about the iOS beta, how about these:

a) no ability to switch default apps (browser, mail, calendar come to mind)

b) no widgets (how hard would it be to put a live weather widget on the home screen?!) and no, notification center doesn’t cut it, sorry.

Lastly, if you're looking for all the new things in iOS 8, I recommend this thread:https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1740199/

Just to address a a few things:

i) Certainly Apple could be testing things out, but there isn't much to indicate that. At this point it seems more likely that Podcasts (similar to iBooks) will actually be one of the stock apps included rather than going back to being a separate app in the App Store.

2) Pretty sure for Wi-Fi calling the carriers would be involved as well. I don't think it's in the sense of just calling via Wi-Fi without having a carrier plan, it's more that the carrier would support calls via Wi-Fi when possible, especially when their cellular signal is low or not present for some reason.

4) The Wi-Fi connection sharing, or basically Hotspot, is something that's been there in iOS for some time, and still requires having that feature on your plan from a cell phone carrier. The only new thing really in iOS 8 in relation to it is now it's much easier to have the Hotspot enabled and to connect to it, compared to doing more of it manually before iOS 8.

b) Widgets are coming, but in the notification center basically. Apple doesn't want to clutter up the home screen(s) and change user experience with widgets, but wants to allow them in some way via having a special section for them essentially. Now, perhaps a section in the notification center might not be the best place for that necessarily, but it's a start and perhaps will work out or perhaps a newer separate section for them will get worked out in the future.

 

[dannys1]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong... but under the "Do Not Disturb" section of the Settings App, if you scroll down to the bottom, there's a section entitled "SILENCE"... I believe if you have "Always" checked, it will do precisely what you're hoping. Even if you're in an app (say, Netflix, for example), notifications will be silenced (i.e., not shown) while you're watching a video while "Do Not Disturb" is enabled...

Gah, you're bloody right too. And the back of my head i sort of knew that was there, what an idiot.

Thanks for the reminder!

 

[Kkulpa64]

I am having an issue with quicktype. I am running ios 8 beta 2 on iphone 5s. It says predictive type string is on yet it is not active. Cold there have been a seeting thats preventing it?