Scientists have discovered that humans aren’t as good when it comes to multitasking as once believed. But that obviously was before Apple announced split screen capabilities for the iPad with iOS 9.
The public beta for iOS9 showed a number of multitasking features which were exclusive to the latest iPad’s and the iPad Pro wasn’t even mentioned. The features included a side-by-side split view, a slide over app sidebar, quick type and picture in picture with videos floating over other apps.
iOS 9 will run on all models since the iPad 2 but it is only the iPad Air, Air 2, mini 2 and mini 3 which will offer these new functions.
It is understood that the features may be changed before the software is officially released later on in this year but if the public beta version was anything to go by, they are spectacular.
The slide over function allows you to slide a 2nd app into a sort of sidebar which will take up around a third of your screen. It works irrespective of whether the iPad is positioned vertically or horizontally. The public beta only allows you to use built-in apps but Apple believes that more 3rd party developers are going to take advantage of this by the time iOS 9 is released.
Whenever you have opened an app using the slide over feature, you will also be able to move the divider between both apps all the way to the middle of the screen. This activates the split view feature. This feature is only available on the iPad Air 2 though. The feature will allow you to use both apps to their maximum potential at the same time. You can even drag stuff between both apps.
As far as picture in picture is concerned, it will allow you to watch videos while continuing to use your iPad. You will just have a floating video screen which can be moved as per your convenience and moved off-screen too if you want to mute the audio.
Quicktype gets an upgrade with the latest iOS as well. Certain basic functions like attachments, copy/paste and formatting are now on top of the keyboard as part of a brand new shortcut bar.
Probably the biggest update so far is that the entire touchscreen is now capable of being converted into a touchscreen by simply using a couple of fingers together to activate a cursor which will make it easier for you to select text or edit/format selections.
