JOIN USApple iPadOS makes debut at WWDC 2019: Key features
For long, Apple iPad has been pitted as the laptop alternative, and even so with the beefed-up iPad Pro, but sadly users were never able to make optimal use out of it due to the limitations of the iOS, which predominately was tailor-made for iPhones. Now, Apple finally seems to have listened to the critics and patrons alike and introduced the standalone iPadOS at the ongoing Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2019 in San Jose.
The new iPadOS will fully make use of uniqueness of the large-screen tablet and companion accessory stylus Apple Pencil.
Apple iPadOS: Key features you should know
New Home screen: The iPadOS comes with an eye-pleasing new layout to show more apps on each page. Users also get a new Today View option that can now be added to the Home screen, allowing quick access to widgets for at-a-glance information, including headlines, weather, calendar, events, tips and more.
Multi-tasking: With iPadOS, users can now work with multiple files and documents from the same app simultaneously via Split View feature. He or she can also quickly view and switch between multiple apps in Slide Over. For instance, customers can compose an email while viewing another email side by side or access multiple apps like Messages or Calendar with just a swipe. App Exposé provides a quick view of just the open windows for any app with a simple tap.
Make the best use of Apple Pencil: With iPadOS, users can now mark up and send entire webpages, documents or emails on iPad by just swiping Apple Pencil from the corner of the screen. The new OS also offers refreshed interface offers quick access to tools, colour palettes, shapes, object eraser, a new pixel eraser for removing any part of a stroke and a ruler for drawing perfectly straight lines. The company claims, Apple Pencil will feel even more natural, using advanced prediction algorithms and optimisations to reduce its industry-leading latency to as low as 9 milliseconds.
More powerful Files app: This is a central place to quickly access and manage documents, and with iPadOS, it gets even better with iCloud Drive support for folder sharing.
Anyone with access to a shared folder will be able to see it in iCloud Drive and will always have the ability to access the latest version.
Thanks to iPadOS, Apple tablets will now support external drives, allowing users to easily plug in USB drives, SD cards or log into an SMB file server, all from within the Files app.
A new Column View with high-resolution previews helps users navigate directories, while support for Quick Actions such as mark up, rotate and create PDF makes it easy to be more productive on iPad. iPadOS also introduces local storage, zip and unzip, and new keyboard shortcuts.
New Safari: Previously, websites used to show limited information on the iPad display compared to a Mac PC, but with the new iPadOS, Safari browser will offer PC-like experience. The iPadOS offers scaled appropriately for the iPad display and optimises it for touch, so web apps like Google Docs, Squarespace and Wordpress work effortlessly in Safari on iPad. Safari also supports significant new features such as a download manager, 30 new keyboard shortcuts and enhancements to tab management.
Improved Text editing: With iPadOS, users will feel it easier and faster to point the text with even more precision and speed, select text with just a swipe and use new gestures to cut, copy, paste and undo.
The new iPadOS gets all the new features announced in the iOS 13 including system-wide Dark mode, new Maps, enhanced Photos app curation algorithm, user-privacy improvements including Apple sign-in, performance, custom fonts, and floating keypad, where users can swipe to create words,
The new iPadOS preview is now available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com, and a public beta program will be available to iPadOS users later this month at beta.apple.com.
The public version of the iPadOS will be available this fall (September 2019) as a free software update for iPad Air 2 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation and later and iPad mini 4 and later.
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