Is the iOS 8 update available for iPhone 4s, 5, 5s, and the new iPhone 6 all that it is cracked up to be?

With the release of the update on September 17, I found myself downloading this update at a slow pace due to the heavy traffic of many iOS users wanting to acquire the update. After putting up with an incredibly painful slow download and installation of the update, it hit me that these features on this update already exist on the competitors such as the Android and Windows phones.

Now my experience of iOS 8 was a complete nightmare. For example my iPhone locked me out randomly after the first few days and as I input my password it locked me out completely to the point where it disabled me. After getting in contact with the employees at the genius bar at the Apple Store they told me to come in and let them see first-hand. After checking in with the folks at the store they said to wait for the revised update of iOS 8 which happened to be the following evening for me and it fixed the previous problems from the original iOS update.

But having this update running my iPhone 5s I did notice the positives of the update, like organizing your group chats, silencing and even leaving them just by going into your group chat details and messing with the options. Finally! This was such a burden for me in the past with everyone posting a reply to one another where you’re not being talked to directly, which is annoying since you get these updates from the group chat constantly.

Another positive to this update is you can do quick replies to text messages, emails, etc. even when your device is still locked and all you need to do is quick swipe and you’ll be presented with a text box for you to reply to your message. With this feature I can now reply to all my friends and associates with ease and swiftness without unlocking the phone and get tempted to stay on it and lose focus on my prior tasks throughout my day.

In addition the camera gets updated with the ability to take the perfect “selfie” with a timer, followed by more editing tools to edit your photos to your liking such as making certain adjustments to lighting, adjusting your angles of the shot.

Another feature is you can manage your usage of apps in a detailed log showing how much your battery was used to run your app that is located in general settings. But as I ran through this detailed log I found myself very wasteful of my battery life since I’m constantly running my music apps and my data driven apps which run nonstop in my daily life.

My overall negatives towards this update are that this should’ve been introduced back when the iPhone 4s launched in 2011, and at that time the competition were running these types of features right out of the box. Bottom line, if you want a more interactive camera app with tools and want to leave annoying group chats with your friends, I say go for it because it will be worth it. But, to be honest, if you’re on iOs 7 I say don’t update until later on when apple releases another update with actual distinctive features you can’t get with the competitors because this one isn’t as revolutionary as Apple wants you to think it is.