By now, everyone is probably gradually upgrading to iOS 8, but there must still be quite a few who don't quite understand what new features and changes this "extremely significant" new iOS system brings. So, let’s review the 51 cool features of iOS 8 together and enjoy them all at once.
1. iPhone Becomes an Instant Hotspot with One-Click Network Sharing
When your iPhone is near your Mac, just one click automatically connects to the iPhone's network.
2. Make and Receive Phone Calls with Mac or iPad
You can use your Mac as a speakerphone to answer calls, and you can also make calls on your iPad.
3. Send and Receive SMS on Mac and iPad Too
In addition to iMessage, you can now send and receive SMS on devices running OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.
4. Enhanced Notification Interaction
Pull down a banner notification to quickly reply to text messages, emails, or accept calendar invitations.
5. Quick Access to Contacts from the Multitasking Interface
The multitasking interface now shows your recent and favorite contacts. With a few taps, you can message, call, and more.
6. Enhanced Tab View in Safari for iPad
Apple offers a brand-new tab view in Safari on iPad—clean and easy to scan at a glance.
7. Enhanced Sidebar in Safari for iPad
The Safari sidebar from OS X Yosemite has been perfectly ported to the iPad, making it convenient to quickly access Reading List and more.
8. Mail Gestures
You can swipe to flag or delete an email—extremely easy.
9. Improved Mail Composing Interface
Need to reference something in your inbox while composing an email? Just swipe down in the compose view to access other emails in your inbox.
10. Spotlight Online Search
Spotlight in iOS 8 can now quickly access online content, including Wikipedia, App Store, iTunes Store, and more.
11. Enhanced Group Chat
If you're in a group conversation, you can now leave it at any time. You can also add and remove other members, and rename the group.
12. Enhanced Do Not Disturb Mode
You can now set a group conversation to Do Not Disturb mode. Especially effective against chatty group members.
13. Continuity
Apple now allows users to quickly switch work between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Composing an email or browsing the web? You can quickly jump to another device and continue seamlessly.
14. QuickType
The iOS 8 keyboard will predict your typing behavior and provide personalized word suggestions.
15. Send Voice Messages
iMessage can quickly send voice messages directly, without switching to the Phone app.
16. Send Video Messages
In addition to voice messages, you can also send video messages, again without switching to the FaceTime app.
17. Auto-Play and Reply to Voice Messages
Lift the iPhone to your ear, and voice messages will play automatically. The same works for replying.
18. Photos on the Go
Apple provides a brand-new Photos app that, combined with iCloud Drive, backs up all your photos. The backup is fully automatic.
19. iCloud Drive
Directly access various files on your devices, whether they are stored on Mac, Windows, iPhone, or iPad, including files and documents generated by apps.
20. HealthKit
Your activity, health status, and more—Apple integrates them all into a single app, clear at a glance.
21. Health App
The new Health app tracks your fitness, medical information, and more, all centralized in one app.
22. Family Sharing
You can add up to 6 family members to share purchased movies, music, and apps (a credit card is required).
23. Ask to Buy for Children
iOS 8 can require a child's device to ask for parental approval before purchasing an app. The parent's device will get a prompt, and you can approve or decline the purchase.
24. Family Shared Calendar, Photos, and Reminders
In addition to the shared media content mentioned above, you can also easily share calendars, photos, and reminders. You can also know the location of family members' devices.
25. Notification Center Widgets
Notification Center can add third-party widgets (such as ESPN sports widgets), and you can view them directly in Notification Center.
26. Enhanced Photo Search
You can search photos based on location, album name, and more. iOS 8 will also suggest photos taken near the current photo's location and photos taken around this time of year based on the date.
27. Smart Photo Editing
iOS 8 makes editing photos incredibly simple. Smart adjustments provide many options such as exposure, brightness, contrast, and more.
28. Wake Siri with a Phrase
When the iPhone is connected to power, you can wake Siri without touching the phone—just a soft "Hey Siri" is enough.
29. Use Siri to Identify Music
Want to know what music is currently playing? Ask Siri. Siri integrates Shazam to identify it directly and provide an iTunes purchase link.
30. Purchase App Bundles
Developers can bundle apps and sell them at a discount—you know the deal.
31. App Video Previews
In addition to screenshots, developers can now add video previews to the app introduction page. More vivid and intuitive, it also makes it easier for users to decide.
32. Customize Share Menu
In iOS 8, you can add third-party apps to the built-in share menu. You can also rearrange the order of apps in the share menu, so you don't have to scroll to the end every time to find the one you need.
33. Bing Extension for Safari
Apple added a Bing Translate extension to the mobile version of Safari. If you don't recognize the language on the current page, tap "Bing Translate" and you'll find the translated content displayed directly on the current page.
34. Photos App Handles All Editing
You can complete photo editing right in the "Photos" app, because you can call on filters from other photo editing apps.
35. Third-Party Keyboards
If you want to use a keyboard better than the built-in iOS keyboard, you can now install and use third-party keyboards system-wide in iOS. By default, Apple blocks their access to the network (security is guaranteed).
36. Time-Lapse Photography
The "Camera" app in iOS 8 adds a time-lapse feature. With time passing by, now you can show off your skills.
37. Home Automation
Apple hasn't revealed all the details on this front, but we can expect more interactive home scenarios. You can use your iPhone to control various home activities, such as dimming the lights before bed, locking doors and windows, closing the garage, etc. You can just tell Siri to do it.
38. Better Gaming Experience
To make full use of the built-in A7 chip in the iPhone, Apple has developed new ways of gaming, delivering incredibly high frame rates for games on iPhone and iPad. The visuals are so beautiful I dare not look.
39. Braille Keyboard
iOS 8 supports a Braille keyboard, with direct support for 6-dot Braille input.
40. Burst Mode
You can take multiple photos in quick succession in an instant. Kids will surely love using this feature for continuous selfies, then picking out a few good ones.
41. Wi-Fi Calling
If the carrier conditions allow, you can make and receive calls directly over Wi-Fi, and call quality is much better than over cellular networks.
42. Take Panorama Photos on iPad
iPad users can now take panoramic photos. You can hold your iPad (mini) and capture creative or stunning panorama shots.
43. View Battery Usage
If you need to know which apps are draining your iPhone battery, just go to "Settings" in iOS 8 to see the specific power consumption information.
44. Calendar Supports Chinese Lunar Calendar
Apple added support for the Chinese lunar calendar in iOS 8, so you may no longer need some third-party lunar calendar apps.
45. Self-Timer for Photos
Want to take a selfie you're happy with but always feel like you can't get into position in time? Now you can set a timer, slowly strike a pose, and say "Cheese."
46. Travel Time Alerts
When you set up a calendar event, you can factor in the travel time to get there. The calendar will include this time and give you timely reminders, so you won't get the departure time wrong.
47. FaceTime Call Waiting
FaceTime call waiting lets you switch to another FaceTime audio call, and you can even switch between a FaceTime audio call and a regular phone call. Keep in mind, in the iOS 7 era, a FaceTime audio call would be dropped outright.
48. Emergency Card
You can set personal information such as your allergies and medical records to display on the lock screen in an emergency.
49. Notes App Adds Rich Text Editing Options
If you often use "Notes" to record a lot of things, you can now say goodbye to plain formatting: In iOS 8, "Notes" is more like Word or Pages. You can make text bold, add underlines, add photos, and more.
50. DuckDuckGo Search
If you don't like using Google, Bing, or Baidu for search, you can choose DuckDuckGo as your search engine in iOS 8. Duck Duck Go is superior to other search engines when it comes to privacy protection.
51. Open Touch ID
Touch ID can work with other apps in iOS 8. Fingerprint recognition with Touch ID can also be used to log in to other apps.
Source: http://sspai.com/26815