Apple has officially announced iOS 8, the next version of the iPhone and iPad mobile operating system, at its developer conference in San Francisco. The update includes some noticeable user interface and design changes from iOS 7 while maintaining the same design language. iOS 8 is compatible with all the devices which supported iOS 7.

iOS 8 New Features and Compatible Devices

Compatible Devices:

Here is a complete list  of Compatible devices mentioned below for supporting iOS 8.

• iPod: iPod touch 5th Generation
• iPhone: iPhone 4S, 5, 5S, 5C
• iPad Mini: iPad mini original and iPad mini 2 retina display
• iPad: iPad Air, iPad 4th Generation and iPad 2

Features of iOS 8:

iOS 8 is released with lot of features and improvement in the iOS 7. Here you will find the complete catalog of new features along with live commentary on all of them.

Health Kit

Apple has created a new APL called health kit. With this API Developers also will able to link applications to a central database of your personal health data.

Camera

Apple has updated the camera software quite a bit. For users, iOS 8 will add Time Lapse photography, which is pretty cool. But the news may be in the developer’s side, with a new camera application programming kit that will allow third-party apps to access the camera hardware in depth, with controls that weren’t available before. This may indicate that the camera in the next iPhone may be beefed up quite considerably.

Photos

Apple has included new photos app that includes new editing capabilities that can be used with a simple thumb gesture. It seems pretty easy to use, especially their equivalent to Photoshop’s Shadows and Highlights, which uses smart image analysis to get pretty great results.

Continuity 

Continuity is one of the most exciting things in iOS. It is a group of technologies that seamlessly integrates both Macs and iOS devices:

Airdrop

It works between Mac to iPhone. You can drag and drop a file from your Mac to your iPhone via Wi-Fi network.

Handoff

Your iPad and iPhone are always aware of what you are doing on your Mac. So when you are working in a Mail message and you have to leave your workstation, you can pick it where you left it on your iPad or iPhone to continue that message right away. The iOS device will show a small icon on the bottom left corner of the lock screen. Clicking on that icon will open your work which you have done before.

Text Message

Now you can send message from your iPone to Mac. The iPhone would relay your regular text messages—sent by non-iOS phones—into the iMessage app in your Mac. All your messages, regardless of their origin, will be synchronized everywhere. I wish this worked with other chat services, like Gchat or Facebook, finally providing a centralized, seamless message center.

Notifications

The notifications have been enhanced. At last, the new iOS 8 provides with a way to answer notifications without having to leave your app. You can also do the same from the lock screen, without having to unlock your phone.

People

You can access people by double tapping on the home button. The most contacted people will pop as line of icons. Clicking on one face will give you access to all the forms of communication available. Chat, FaceTime or FaceTime voice.

E-Mail

The new mail has variety of enhancements, but the gesture based message manipulation. You can swipe left to delete or reply to a message. Swipe a bit harder and you can easily delete the message itself.

Spotlight

Spotlight is accessible from the lock screen and everywhere in iOS with a downward swipe. It works across the entire iPhone to give you results but also now offers you suggestions of things that are not stored in your device. It will give you suggestions on:

• News
• Wikipedia
• Nearby places
• iTunes store music, podcasts and movies
• iBooks store
• Suggested websites
• Movie showtimes

Keyboard enhancements

For the first time, Apple is renewing its keyboard. The new iOS finally supports context-sensitive predictive typing, giving you a list of words that you can use to make your text entry a lot faster.

iMessages

You can mute particular conversations now, which will be very convenient. Another cool feature is the ability to share your location on a conversation by conversation basis, and for limited times. You can send audio and video messages in iMessages too. You can listen to audio messages sent via iMessage from the home screen. Just take your phone to your ear to listen, no touch required.

Siri

Siri is also updated in this iOS version. In this we just need to say “Hey siri” ( Just like Hello Google! ) , then it automatically gets activated. Another good addition is integration of Shazam. Siri is now able to recognize the songs on the spot without opening the app,Wow this is cool right!