Review: Apple iOS 9
Apple left significant aspects of iOS more or less unchanged when you compare iOS 8 to iOS 9. That's fine, and something most OS makers need to do.
Apps that are carried over from iOS 8 include messaging, the phone, the camera, contacts, Game Center, Health, compass, stocks, voice memos, iTunes/App Stores, videos, clock, and the weather app. I don't think Apple is trailing its competition much with these apps, and the versions we've been using the last year are decent enough.
There are a couple of exceptions. One is the phone app. The phone app hasn't been updated in forever and it feels like a relic. I'd like to see much more obvious and seamless controls for features such as HD Voice, WiFi Calling, and even FaceTime, which I've long believed needs to be part of the phone app.
The contact app goes hand-in-hand with the phone app. It's still not as socially aware as the contact apps in Android and Windows Phone, which means you can't see the recent social networking updates from your family and friends. The phone and contact apps need work, and need to work better together.
The video player app is incredibly limited in its feature set. You can essentially play iTunes purchases and that's it. I'd like to be able to more easily share videos and maybe even discover details about them via links to IMDb. The video player app offers none of these. Google Play Movies & TV can interact more with associated online content.
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