Gadgetory

neither is in its final version but the early releases are out and running on our iPad air 2 and Nexus 9 so let's see how Apple's next generation software looks next to Google's I'm Michael Fisher with PocketNow and this is a quick first look at i/o s9 vs. Android M boot them up and you're looking at the usual static grid vs. customizable canvas stop me if you've heard this one before but we all know the basic differences between these interfaces let's see how the major improvement stack up first multitasking Apple has largely been playing catch-up to Android and in this respect it's managed to simultaneously copy it and leap frogging copy part first despite the 90 degree offset note how similar the iOS app ribbon now is to the Android multitasker with cascading cards that can be dismissed by swiping them off the screen it's a pretty shameless rip but it seems to work fairly well and here's the Leapfrog bit Apple has also included native split-screen multitasking for the first time we've seen this on android before in the form of third-party interfaces from Samsung and others but it hasn't been launched for stock Android yet on newer iPads running iOS 9 this takes the form of a feature called slide over swipe in from the right side bezel and you get a list of compatible apps to dock on the right side you can also continue watching a video if you decide to take an incoming notification and on the iPad air 2 you can run a selection of apps simultaneously at whatever size you want the use of the side bezel plus the similarity to the windows snap feature reminds me of the better aspects of the Microsoft Surface it makes the iPad feel like a much more capable tablet even in beta form elsewhere Apple still trying to get on Google's level Android M includes the familiar Google now off to the left side with predictive information tailored to be useful based on location and time of day from calendar appointments to travel times to weather reports to upcoming TV shows well it's not yet integrated into this preview build Android M will also bring Google now on tap which if it works as advertised will allow for context-sensitive information too be called on-demand from whatever's on the screen at the given moment on the iPad Apple's new proactive assistant delivers news headlines app suggestions nearby points of interest and tells you when to leave the house if you want to make your next appointment on time which again is basically the same thing Google's been doing for a couple generations now it's even in the same place on the leftmost springboard panel though you can also trigger it with the more recent downward swipe gesture there are some cool plugins though if a lot of videos come back from your search requests you can watch them right on this screen and apps can also plug into Proactiv so you can open search results within say the Airbnb app directly instead of being directed to a website series gotten smarter too using iOS 9 on an iPhone will eventually let it do cool things like remind you not to leave your takeout on top of the car or guess at who a strange inbound caller might be she can also read your texts to you and allow you to reply by voice something you need a Moto X for on Android but while series word recognition is better than ever and her personality as a nice touch she's still not as versatile as Google now voice interface often requiring you to state things in a stilted and programmatic manner on the flip side if you need to take a note on your upcoming travels you'll be able to do a lot more with Apple's new stock keyboard while Google has improved its text selection in Android M Apple brings new formatting shortcuts and two-finger scrolling for precision cursor placement finally how about your privacy androids app permissions have long been a sticking point when installing third-party apps and now in version M you can approve or deny specific permissions per app just like you could on iOS you can also now manage all of them individually in the app permissions hub letting you see in one big list how many apps have access to say your camera or your microphone well this is great it hasn't stopped Apple from continuing to position itself as the privacy advocate in contrast to the information hungry Google but that's a talk for another time for now that's the major stuff we're gonna keep on soaking up impressions from Iowa 9 and Android M and we'll be back with more very soon while you're here see how well Android devices and iPhones have aged in our recent episodes of after the buzz and be sure to visit us at pocketnow.com and on social media to stay in touch till next time this has been michael fisher with PocketNow captain to phones on twitter reminding you that today's video was brought to you by beta software your experiences like your mileage will vary thanks for watching folks we'll see you next time