Along with the new generation of its iPhones in September, Apple also introduced its new mobile OS, iOS 9. While the inventors of this operating systems rub their palms in pleased satisfaction, it seems that some of these 'innovations' actually pre-existed on Android. Let's take a look.
iOS 9 Siri versus Google Now
Siri is said to be more effective than before, with the voice assistant from Apple reminding you of approaching deadlines as well as informing you on the current state of traffic among other valuable information such as duration of the travel from work to home. This sounds great, right? However, Android seems to have an equivalent, the Google Now, which it obtained in 2013.
Public transport on the maps
In version 5.7 of Google maps, which came along more than 4 years ago, there was an introduced feature that allowed you to know which trams, buses and trains were departing and at what time. Users of both iOS 9 and Android were able to enjoy this app from Google maps. However, this app seems to have been reborn on Apple's own apps since its original birth had already happened on Android.
Low power mode
This app temporarily reduces your iPhone's power consumption until it is fully charged as some effects such as mail fetch, automatic downloads, background app refresh and vitual effects are reduced or turned off.However, it's worth noting that Power saving mode, which has now sneaked into iOS 9, was availed for all devices that were running Android 5.0 Lollipop last year. This app enables your battery to last longer. Android claims an extra 90 minutes average per charge while Apple claims an extra three-hour improvement. It's up to the users to verify this.
Split-screen mode
When the iPad update from iOS 9 hit, it presented itself with a new sleek feature of splitting screens. Well, this however seemed like a welcome to the club update since it had already landed on the Galaxy Note series, beginning with Galaxy Note 2, which at the time was running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The Dual Window is also on the LG G3 smartphone.The multi-window feature, however, remains limited to iOS 9.
Notes app 2.0
With the latest update of iPhone's Notes app to version 2.0, users can now enjoy using the app as a shopping list too where you can just select items from the list with a tap. On top of this, one can also draw inside the application as well as on top of photos.However, the big blow to this piece of interesting news is that the app already existed on Samsung's Galaxy Note series, in which it also comes with a much wider range of functions.
Upper-case keyboard
The tiny keyboard on iPhones has been a nuisance till the latest development from iOS 9 came around, with the shift key on Apple's keyboard now indicating to you which letters have been capitalized. Oops! This feature has been around since the birth of Android phones.
Picture-in-picture
Picture-in-picture allows you to watch a video on the small pop-up window at your screen's corner while doing something else with the rest of the screen such as browsing the net. This amazing feature was also born on Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note 4 long before it was conceived in Apple. The feature actually is much more modified on Android devices.
News apps
This app from iOS 9 sources news from diverse feeds and brings it to you in one place with no hassles whatsoever. This brand new feature on Apple has long been existing on Android though it's not been one of its popular features.In conclusion, its pretty obvious that these iOS 9 features now presenting on iPhones had already been on Android devices and what could probably be said about Apple is that their game can at best be described as a modification affair. However, it's still important to wonder whether this will affect Android in any way.
