SAN FRANCISCO New features promised for smartphones, tablets and watches could improve how we interact with technology. Although its too soon to tell how well these will work in practice, heres a look at what Im looking forward to most this fall.
Multitasking arrives on iPads
I like to do other things, such as checking email or Facebook, when Im watching video. Laptops let me do this. With iPads, video stops as soon as I open another app. I need to pick up a second device to multitask.
With the upcoming iOS 9 update, you can slide a window from the right of an iPad to launch a second app, such as a map when youre doing email.
Best of all, you can have video running in a small window in the foreground while you do other things with an app that takes up the rest of the screen. You can even move the video off screen and still listen to its audio while you work.
Samsung has tried this with some Android phones and tablets, with mixed success. Video sometimes stops anyway when you try to run it on the side, as apps werent designed with this in mind. With Apple, it will be a core feature.
Better maps
Apple Maps has improved a lot for driving and walking directions since it ousted Google Maps in 2012 as the default service on iPhones. Transit directions are coming with iOS 9, though only in select cities at first.
On Android, Google Maps will get offline navigation, matching what Windows phones offer with Here Maps. Youll get turn-by-turn directions and details on local businesses even when cellular service is sketchy or nonexistent.
Voice assistantslearning context
Siri on Apple devices and Google Now on Android devices are supposed to get smarter by doing more based on context. Calling on Googles assistant while listening to a song might give you information on the artist. Doing so while reading an email on movie plans might get you reviews and trailers.
Siri, meanwhile, should know whether youre going on a run or getting in a car. You might automatically get music on a run, but an audiobook in your car.
Android app improves controls
Android users will get more control over what permissions they give apps. Currently, youre shown a long list of permissions when installing new apps, such as letting the app access your ******** or the phones microphone. You have to accept all of them or forgo the app.
With the upcoming M version of Android, you give permission as apps need it. Thats how it works on iPhones.
Apple Watchgets updates
On Apple Watch, apps from outside parties have essentially been extensions of phone apps. All the computing is done on the phone, with bits of information transferred to the watchs screen wirelessly.
That will change with the upcoming watchOS 2 system. For the first time, third-party apps will be able to directly interact with sensors and controls on the watch, something Apple apps can already do. That makes it possible for outside parties to write games, fitness and other apps that work without the phone.
