Great artists steal: The iOS 8 features inspired by Android

[Ironman273]

Great artists steal: The iOS 8 features inspired by Android
A lot of the WWDC announcement seemed awfully familiar to Android users.
by Ron Amadeo - June 3 2014, 9:00pm EDT
 

Apple has taken the wraps off iOS 8, its newest mobile operating system, at its WWDC keynote. There were lots of new features added to iOS, but any observer familiar with Android saw quite a few things that seem... familiar. That's because many of Apple's announced upgrades were things the Android OS has boasted for years.

Typing suggestions
 


The iOS 8 Keyboard bar (left) looks just like Android.

Apple added a little bar of suggestions to the top of the keyboard, which Android had (initially as an option) since the introduction of the on-screen keyboard in Android 1.5. While Android's keyboard just blindly does word pairs, iOS 8 seems to be able to intelligently offer suggestions in response to an "A" or "B" question. In the example, a friend asks about "dinner or a movie." Without typing anything, iOS offers "A movie," "Dinner," and "Not Sure." If this actually works reliably, it's a big step above the Android keyboard. Of course, we're just comparing this to the standard Google Keyboardavailable through Google Play. That's not the only typing solution on Android, which brings us to...

Third party keyboards


Even the warning messages are similar.

Apple finally relinquished its grip on the system keyboard, allowing third parties to replace Apple's solution with something of their own. This was another thing Android had with its initial implementation of on-screen typing in Android 1.5. Apple even showed off an iOS version of Swype, one of the most popular third-party Android keyboards. We've already heard from Swiftkey, the other most popular Android keyboard, that it is working on a system-wide iOS 8 version too.
 
Until now, third-party iOS keyboards could only work as a standalone app with their own typing interface. For instance, Flexy could only work in the Flexy app, not in any other app. Flexy made a workaround for this with an API that other apps could plug into, but this required developers to add support on an app by app basis. (Flexy has also announced that it will be adapting its keyboard to use Apple's new APIs.)


Android Keyboards: Swype, 8pen, Minuum and Dasher.

With user-replaceable system-wide keyboards, iOS users should be in for a wild ride of text input nirvana. Opening up the keyboard to third parties on Android has enabled tons of innovation, sometimes very useful (like Swype) and sometimes downright weird. Even users that don't switch to a third party keyboard will eventually see a benefit as, like Google, Apple will be able to see which keyboards become popular with users and adopt some of those ideas (like Swyping).

 

Go to Source (Ars Technica) for more...

[sanctified Veteran]

Oh, look, another article that cannot grasp the fact that there are not out-of-thin-air advancements in technological industry but instead we have procedural implementations, some dating back to mechanical and analogical principles made in the 19th century.

 

Everyone "steals", ergo no one "steals".

 

Signed: An Android user.

[Rippleman]

anyone who thinks like this is an idiot, nothing is brand new...

[Quillz]

Apple steals from Android and Microsoft. Android steals from Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft steals from Apple and Android.

 

Except it's not so much "stealing" as it is "implementing good ideas."

 

And at the end of the day, it's the consumers who win. Because whether you prefer iOS, Windows Phone or Android, you get a better product in the end.

[sanctified Veteran]

anyone who thinks like this is an idiot, nothing is brand new...

 

 

Apple steals from Android and Microsoft. Android steals from Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft steals from Apple and Android.

 

Except it's not so much "stealing" as it is "implementing good ideas."

 

And at the end of the day, it's the consumers who win. Because whether you prefer iOS, Windows Phone or Android, you get a better product in the end.

 

You two give me hope for neowin. Too bad we are minority.

[Michael Scrip]

I'd be interested to know how many features Apple stole from Google who stole from 3rd party apps.

[Dinggus]

With people stealing ideas like these, it'll be good in the long run.

 

People stealing ideas and making them better has been happening for years. I realized this when I learned of the story of barbed wire. The guy who invented it took the idea from farmers who would take nails and hammer them through boards diagonally to criss cross each other so when a cow leaned on the fence, it would poke them to make them back off. So, this guy came up with barbed wire, which only had 2 sharp ends. Then another guy came out with 3 sharp ends, etc, etc.

[Phouchg]

The problem is not stealing (or copying or taking inspiration from), but patents and "IP" of exceedingly trivial things. Whoever run first to the bureau, just might sue those who didn't manage. Do expect it.

[manosdoc]

The only thing here is that Apple says others copy them. The others just do it. Apple wants to play the angel, while others copy.

[Michael Scrip]

The problem is not stealing (or copying or taking inspiration from), but patents and "IP" of exceedingly trivial things. Whoever run first to the bureau, just might sue those who didn't manage. Do expect it.

That's a good point.  If Google did come up with some amazing new idea in Android... they should have patented it.  

 

The problem is... you can't actually patent an idea.  You can only patent a specific implementation of an idea.  I.E. how it works.... not the final result. I believe two companies could both patent basically the same thing... but achieved in different ways.  We've seen how complicated some patent applications are for something that seems so simple in the end. There's a lot of technical jargon describing how it works.

 

Originally... patents protected inventions... not ideas.  And I think you actually had to have a working example of your invention.

 

But software patents don't follow the original spirit of the patent office... and thus the whole system is a mess right now.

 

You can patent just about anything.  And most companies do (or should)

 

I know people think Apple "copied" or "stole" pulldown notifications and other things from Android... but did Google have any patents on them?  Maybe they should have. (I honestly don't know if they did)

[binaryzero]

LOL, Eric Bangeman.

[theyarecomingforyou]

The issue isn't that Apple is lifting ideas from Android, it's that Apple sues companies at the drop of the hat for violating its absurdly generic patents and tries to block competitor's products from sale. It's completely hypocritical and anti-competitive.

[Axel]

The issue isn't that Apple is lifting ideas from Android, it's that Apple sues companies at the drop of the hat for violating its absurdly generic patents and tries to block competitor's products from sale. It's completely hypocritical and anti-competitive.

 

Well that's the patent system for you. They're just following established rules and procedures. Apple sues Samsung, Samsung sues Apple. It's the environment that's been created that makes it so easy to pick on others or be picked on yourself.

 

I don't blame the companies for behaving how they do, they're protecting their own interests within the playing arena and the rules that have been laid out.

 

Ultimately it's the patent system that needs to be reformed before this madness can be controlled.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Well that's the patent system for you. They're just following established rules and procedures.

That's not an excuse. Killing a baby wouldn't suddenly be acceptable if the law against it was abolished. What Apple is doing is wrong, regardless of whether the system accommodates it. The reason the system is such a mess is because of companies like Apple abusing it.

[DeltaXray]

Oh not this again.

 

In terms of OS features everyone takes ideas from each other and impliments them in their own way.  Android do it, so do Apple.

 

Get over it and move on.  People should just be thankful that Apple have put so much effort into making it a much more open platform.

[Steven P. Administrators]

yay for inaccurate click baity titles /s

[Clirion]

I knew there was going to be a thread I could say this in.

 

"Apple Start your Photocopiers!"

 

 

For those that may not know what it is in reference to:

 

[Axel]

That's not an excuse. Killing a baby wouldn't suddenly be acceptable if the law against it was abolished. What Apple is doing is wrong, regardless of whether the system accommodates it. The reason the system is such a mess is because of companies like Apple abusing it.

 

For a start, that analogy is literally terrible.

 

Secondly.  If the system allows other companies to go after the likes of Apple or Samsung, then they're not just going to sit back and let it happen.  They're going to take the same approach towards other companies, that other companies can towards them.  It's do or die.

 

Assuming they took the moral high ground as you suggest, they allow themselves to get walked over.  Shareholders aint gonna be happy.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Secondly.  If the system allows other companies to go after the likes of Apple or Samsung, then they're not just going to sit back and let it happen.  They're going to take the same approach towards other companies, that other companies can towards them.  It's do or die.

 

Assuming they took the moral high ground as you suggest, they allow themselves to get walked over.  Shareholders aint gonna be happy.

That mentality is exactly why modern society is in such a terrible state. If it will make money then companies will do it, however unsavoury. We've seen drug companies going abroad and running ridiculous experiment on poor communities to avoid regulations; we've seen companies pollute the environment because the regulatory fines are cheaper than disposing of hazardous substances safely; we've seen companies manufacturing food products with pink slime simply because it's cheaper than proper meat; we've seen agrotech companies sue small farmers out of existence when their GMOs contaminate neighbouring fields.

 

The reason the patent system is such a mess is because of companies like Apple. They sue anyone they can and set ridiculous precedents, which then emboldens them to go further. I couldn't care less whether shareholders are happy - businesses should be expected to behave ethically. Apple has fallen short of that mark.

[Bertch]

yay for inaccurate click baity titles /s

Yea, I thought those were only for the front page :p

 

I kid, I love Neowin! :hug:

[Draconian Guppy]

Oh, look, another article that cannot grasp the fact that there are not out-of-thin-air advancements in technological industry but instead we have procedural implementations, some dating back to mechanical and analogical principles made in the 19th century.

 

Everyone "steals", ergo no one "steals".

 

Signed: An Android user.

Agreed,

 

Everything has existed before and after so many things, I could say Google (Android) copied keyboard layout from Nokias symbian phones or even older.

 

It's a vicious circle and people have to let go of it: "Y copies X"  "X copies Y"  " Z copies Y" "W copies Z"  and so on and so forth.

[TAZMINATOR]

As I said before: No one is original these days.

 

You can see similar things around you...  For example, houses, cars, tools, etc.

 

To me: Not making sense because no one is complaining about similar houses, similar cars, etc

 

only complaining about the phones/tablets..

 

You can NOT do something about it...  That's the way they do their product as the way they want.

 

People choose a product based on the features available to them and how the product look such as look and feel.  Size, materials, glass type, etc.

 

People who complain about the phones/tablets are weirdos.

 

Don't forget there are many types/size of people on the earth...  that whether they like the product or not..     For example, tall person won't fit in small car... saying "it's too small for me"  that's the reason company B makes big car or truck for tall people. Then company A follow company B for bigger sizes in order to keep the customers.

[Draconian Guppy]

As I said before: No one is original these days.

 

You can see similar things around you...  For example, houses, cars, tools, etc.

 

To me: Not making sense because no one is complaining about similar houses, similar cars, etc

 

only complaining about the phones/tablets..

 

You can NOT do something about it...  That's the way they do their product as the way they want.

 

People choose a product based on the features available to them and how the product look such as look and feel.  Size, materials, glass type, etc.

 

People who complain about the phones/tablets are weirdos.

 

Don't forget there are many types/size of people on the earth...  that whether they like the product or not..     For example, tall person won't fit in small car... saying "it's too small for me"  that's the reason company B makes big car or truck for tall people. Then company A follow company B for bigger sizes in order to keep the customers.

Very well put! I think the main reason people complain a lot of technology is the accesability of it.

[Tomoko]

Someone is really grasping at straws here. Those screenshot comparisons looked nothing alike.

[Michael Scrip]

The issue isn't that Apple is lifting ideas from Android, it's that Apple sues companies at the drop of the hat for violating its absurdly generic patents and tries to block competitor's products from sale. It's completely hypocritical and anti-competitive.

Yes... but Apple HAS those patents.  Every time Apple takes someone to court... they bring those documents.  

 

Anybody can patent anything.  But like someone said earlier... it's whoever gets to the patent office first.  Yeah it sucks... but that's how the rules are today.

 

Maybe someone else could have patented "rubberbanding" or any of the other things that seem obvious... but they didn't.