Apple’s newest operating system, iOS 8, was released on Sept. 17, inciting excitement and curiosity among students.

This update brought new features to the iPhone, such as the quick-text addition to the keyboard.  As the user types, it recognizes the words and suggests three words that might be used next.

This is one of the most popular features among students that have upgraded their phones.  Students such as Thomas Quigley ’18 like this feature because it allows for them to type much faster, with less effort.

Another feature that students appreciate is the improvement to the group chat.  This change included the ability to name, add members to, and leave a group chat, which was not available on the previous operating system.

However, this upgrade does not come without flaws. Some students do not consider the update to have noticeable differences from iOS 7, the previous operating system, while others were disappointed at with the amount of memory the new operating system requires to function.

While some were disappointed at the lack of improvement, others experienced the sudden decrease in the speed of their phone.

“I thought it would make everything load faster and overall be better, but it’s actually slowed my phone down, and caused many glitches,” Kristina Wasserman ’17 said.

This wasn’t the only flaw encountered by students hoping to download the latest software.  Because of the size and amount of memory required for the new software to download and update, many students needed to clear their camera rolls to make space for it.

“I wasn’t very impressed by iOS 8.  I like the suggested words, but it isn’t worth deleting your camera roll for,” Jackson Delgado ’18 said.

Apple released iOS 8.0.1., its first update for iOS 8, on Sept. 24, but revoked it an hour after its release.  This update was designed to fix the minor bugs with the software that could cause some apps to close unexpectedly.

However, this update reduced the cellular reception on phones, and for the newer generation iPhones, rendered the touch I.D. useless.

On Sept. 25, Apple released iOS 8.0.2., designed to fix the bugs that iOS 8.0.1. had created.  This is the most recent update that is available for download currently on Apple devices.

While students debate whether the update is worth it or not, some new features are appreciated.

“Compared to iOS 7 I can’t see any major upgrades,” Fleur Byrne ’17 said. “But some new helpful features with group chats are a nice touch.”