Apple Inc. finally made iOS 9, its newest operating system for iPhones and iPads, available to download for the general public. The OS, which was released on September 16th, has been met with both appraisal and criticism.
The new software brought several new features, as well as revisions to some old features.
One of the newest additions is the News app. The app combines a countless amount of news sources into one. It takes all of the sources that you choose yourself, and puts them into a feed that you can scroll through.
Junior Matthew Vogus is one of the many students who have updated to iOS 9. However, like many, he has some problems with it.
“I didn’t notice a ton of new changes, but I definitely noticed some,” Vogus said. “My favorite change was to Siri. I liked how they updated her to be more interactive and helpful.”
This is in reference to the improved intelligence of Siri in the new update. Siri can now understand you better, deliver results faster and give you suggestions before you even ask.
Although this app may only tailor to older users who keep up with the news on a regular basis, it is still useful.
Another huge feature added with the update is the increased battery life. Many claimed that upgrading to iOS 8 shortened the battery life of devices, and Apple is trying to make up for that.
In addition to the improvements to extend the battery life, there is a new “Low Power” mode, which, according to the description in the Settings app, “temporarily reduces power consumption until you can fully charge your iPhone.”
Certain settings like mail fetch and automatic downloads, as well as some visual effects, are reduced or turned off.
Students around AHS have upgraded to the new OS, and it has come with a lot of negative comments.
For sophomore Grace Hatch, as well as Vogus, the new multitasking feature, where you double click the home button to see your open apps, was a bad change.
In stead of seeing the whole app in a scrolling fashion like before, the apps overlap and fade in and out of the screen.
“I do wish I stayed on iOS 8 because it was simpler and I don’t think there was a huge need to change over to iOS 9, Hatch said. “I wouldn’t recommend this update to others because I don’t think it was a necessary update to get.”
Vogus agreed with Hatch, saying that he wouldn’t recommend it. “It lags so much and just has some bugs that should be fixed,” Vogus said.
However, senior Ananda Poudel is keeping a more positive viewpoint on the update.
“If you have an iPhone 5s, you shouldn’t update because it becomes laggy and the processor is weaker,” Poudel said. “But if you have a new phone, like a 6 or 6s, you should get it because they’re faster and they have better batteries.”
iOS 9.0.1 released on Sept. 27, which brought small bug fixes for apps such as Safari and Photos.
The iOS 9.1 update is coming soon, which aims to fix many more of the bugs and lag issues that users of iOS 9 experience. In addition to bug fixes, Apple is adding new emojis. It would be a much smarter move for consumers to wait until the bug fixes come, as apps like Messages lag to a noticable extent.
The iOS 9 update came out the same day that Apple unveiled the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which was released on Sept. 25.
The new phone has new features such as 3D Touch, where the phone realizes when you press deeply on the screen, making some operations easier and time saving.
One of the biggest changes is the new ability to shoot videos in 4K video, which, according to Apple, is “up to four times the resolution of 1080p HD video.”