Last week on
#TechTuesdays, we took a time out to look at what
Google’s yearly I/O conference mobile updates meant for small business owners. This week, we’re switching sides and spending some quality time recapping yesterday’s opening-day WWDC 2015 announcements from Apple.
There are quite a number of impactful announcements of note to small business owners. This week, we’ll focus on mobile — namely, iOS 9 and what it brings to the table.
Multitasking
Multitasking on the iPad just became a lot more useful — or it will when iOS 9 becomes available this fall, at least. The new software will allow compatible iPads to perform a number of new splitscreen tasks that make working in multiple apps at once a breeze.
The first of these is “Slideover.” Slideover allows you to slide in a small panel from the right side of the iPad screen with just one finger. Usage cases include sliding the “Messages” panel into view so that you may check your texts and iMessages without ever leaving the app you’re already in, or sliding the “Notes” app into view to check on previous notes you made as you compose an email. You switch between apps to display in the Slideover view by pulling down on the Slideover panel to bring up a carousel of frequently used apps. Just tap on the one you want to switch to, and you’re good to go. You can slide the panel back out of sight when you’re ready to return to your original app. It’s pretty nifty.
The second multitasking feature in iOS 9 is activated when you’re in Slideover. If you tap on the divider between the active Slideover panel and the previous app you were working in, Splitview is activated. Splitview makes both the Slideover panel and the app you originally had opened simultaneously active, allowing you to seamlessly work between the two different apps and control both at once. It’s true multitasking. Additionally, the slider dividing the two active apps can be adjusted, allowing you to expand the Slideover panel to 50% of on-screen real estate or even take it full-screen.
iOS 9’s new multitasking features allow you to get work done more quickly. However, bear in mind that Slideover is only available for iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, and iPad mini 3. Also, Splitview is exclusive to iPad Air 2.
Siri Gets Proactive
If you’re a businessperson, sometimes you need a great personal assistant to help you out. Apple’s personal digital assistant is Siri, and you’re probably well-acclimated with her, for better or worse. But Siri just got sharper in iOS 9. Here’s how.
Apple’s iOS 9 Proactive Assistant intelligently uses context to better serve your needs. Similar to Google Now, Siri’s Proactive update suggests contacts, apps, and media based on your current activity, time of day, your location, and more. For example, Siri can now automatically remind you to leave at a certain time in order to make your flight, relative to current traffic conditions. Or, if you get called by an unknown number, Siri will automatically scour your Facebook contacts and email addresses and attempt to suggest who the caller may likely be based on this information. This kind of thoughtfulness and detective-work are hallmarks of Siri’s new behavior thanks to Proactive.
Battery Life
You can’t get any work done if you mobile device is always dying on you. Fortunately, Apple took a crack at battery optimization with iOS 9. In fact, the major focus of the new software update has been bug fixes and optimization, and it shows here.
Apple says iOS 9 will provide a full hour of additional battery life during normal usage compared to iOS 8. Additionally, there’s an all-new Low Power Mode that can be activated in Settings. You’ll even receive an automatic pop-up to remind you to consider engaging this mode as your iPhone or iPad reaches both 20% and 10% battery life. While some features will be unavailable in Low Power Mode, the setting gifts your Apple device with an
additional three hours of battery life on top of the one additional hour iOS 9 already offers under normal conditions. Not too shabby, huh?
Wrap-Up
With a focus on performance and intelligently enabling folks to get more work done, iOS 9 aims to please when it releases for free this fall on all devices that supported iOS 8. While Apple hasn’t announced an official date of availability, you can likely bank on an early to mid-September release.
The above isn’t all the fun coming out of WWDC 2015, however. Stay tuned next week when #TechTuesdays tackles Mac OS X’s new update, El Capitan. Until then!
