iOS 8, thoroughly reviewed

In-depth iOS 8 review at Ars.

With this release, Apple is trying to make additions that developers and power users want without upsetting people who come to iOS specifically because of its consistency and simplicity. It’s telling that just about every major iOS 8 feature can be disabled or ignored, and that big transformative features like third-party extensions are hidden from view by default. A surface-level glance at iOS 8 suggests an operating system that isn’t all that different from iOS 7. Look just a little deeper, though, and you’ll see just how different it is.

As someone who finds Android the least crappy mobile operating system (by a very, very narrow margin), I see little in iOS 8 (or the new iPhones, for that matter) to convince me otherwise. The additions are very welcome for iOS users, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before; nothing that makes me go – yes, this gives iOS the edge it needs (for me). Not that it matters – iOS, the iPhone, and Apple are doing just fine without massive hordes of Android users making the jump.

If feels like to me the new iPhones and iOS 8 are here to consolidate their existing market – not to expand it at the cost of the competition.

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