iOS 8 - What we wanted, and what we got

On Monday, Apple held its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote address.

Among other things, The Big A revealed the direction its iOS mobile operating system would be heading over the next year or so.

A couple of weeks ago, we listed some of the main features we wanted to see in iOS 8. It was a kind of wish list gleaned from using iOS 7 over the past six or seven months.

Now, iOS 8 has been revealed, filled with an undeniably generous bunch of tweaks and additions. But are we going to get what we want from it?

Let's run through our initial requests, and whether they will be met come iOS 8's consumer release this autumn.

We're off to a flying start - Apple will indeed be adding video previews to the App Store in iOS 8.

As we pointed out last month, this is a feature that has massively improved the game-browsing experience on Android. Being able to watch an introductory video of a new and unknown game really lets you know whether a game is likely to be for you in a way that simple screenshots just can't.

From the brief screengrab Apple flicked up at the keynote address, the Cupertino kids appear to be pretty much mimicking Google's approach (no change there, then) of plonking the video preview clip in with the screenshots.

Customise default apps

Apple will still insist on defaulting to Safari for web browsing, Calendar for appointments, and Maps for directions in iOS 8, it seems. But there is a hint that things are changing on this front.

Apple announced that it will allow you to ditch Apple's own default keyboard and apply a third-party alternative in iOS 8. That's something we never thought Apple would do.

If it can concede on this long-standing point of contention, it may pave the way to a less controlling attitude towards Apple's other default apps.

Control over pre-installed apps

We didn't get any encouragement on this one, unfortunately. It looks likely that you'll still have to put up with Apple's arbitrary selection of pre-installed apps - Stocks, Compass, Passbook, and all - without the ability to delete or hide them.

Of course, Apple didn't have time to run through every last feature of iOS 8, and some of those features won't even have been implemented yet. So, there is hope that we'll finally be able to decide exactly which Apple apps we want on our iPhones and iPads.

Improved keyboard

We've already mentioned the surprising announcement that Apple will be permitting the use of third-party keyboards in iOS 8. One possible reason for the company's unusual magnanimity is this: Apple is finally going to improve its stock keyboard.

iPhone and iPad users will finally be able to benefit from a predictive word recommendation system, which Apple calls QuickType. This will learn your typing style and provide contextual word recommendations that you'll be able to auto-insert into text fields with a tap.

Yes, the likes of Android and Windows Phone have had this for ages. And, yes, you'll be able to install the likes of SwiftKey, which is a proven leader in the field. But you might not need to.

Make Notification Center better

I almost felt ungrateful asking for this. It took until version 5 of Apple's mobile OS (preceded by lots of grumbling) to get any sort of Notification Center at all. And, well, iOS 7's version does look all snazzy and opaque.

But iOS Notification Center as it stands just isn't particularly good. Not compared to Android's notification solution, at least.

Apple is addressing this in iOS 8. You'll get the ability to respond to many notifications directly from within them, without having to exit what you're doing (like on Android).

You'll also be able to install widgets here in the Notification Center, granting you glanceable and interactive information from your favourite apps without having to boot them up (also like on Android).

On a more basic level, it looks like Apple has simplified the Notification Center layout, ditching the needlessly convoluted three-tabbed layout in favour of just the two.

Who knows - I might even start using it.

More Touch ID applications

Apple gives us more of what we want here, though expanding Touch ID's range to fulfil its evident potential was a bit of a no-brainer.

Now, rather than just authorising app purchases and letting you gain access to your iPhone, Apple's fingerprint authentication technology will be opened out to third-party applications. This will enable you to log in to your bank accounts and the like without having to remember and key in a password.

As predicted, Apple will use its Keychain system to enable authentication without giving every third-party app developer access to your biometric information.

Proper downloaded file storage

Apple will be "expanding how iOS handles documents to enable you to open and edit documents using more apps and to share documents between apps without creating unnecessary copies".

Also, Apple will improve iCloud so that you can gain access to a traditional-looking file storage interface, which will then (of course) be synced across all your devices.

We're not entirely certain this will provide the simple focal point for our downloaded PDFs and documents for which we asked, but it may well do.

Include other messaging services in iMessage

Our wish was for iMessage to become a bit more like Messages on OS X, Apple's desktop operating system. There, you can receive your Google Hangouts messages, Yahoo! messages, AND your Apple messages all in the one spot.

Well, you won't be able to do that in iOS 8, but Apple is improving iMessage a fair bit.

It'll play nicer with text messages from your non-iPhone-owning contacts, for one thing. Plus, it will feature things like instant voice and video messages, and the ability to quickly share your location.