By Joseph Vitale

If Apple is good at one thing, it is building a massive amount of hype around its product launches. Its latest gadget is its most beautiful, one of the speakers at its developer’s conferences will say. The banners will warn of a life changing announcement, one that symbolizes the biggest leap in the California company’s long history.

Sometimes what they say is true: the iPhone changed the world in immeasurable ways. Other times, the truth is a stretch, often leaving casual users — myself included — indifferent to a new product launch for which others are quite simply going bananas.

More than a week after I downloaded Apple’s new mobile operating system for my iPhone, I have been left feeling more of the latter. Things in life have been pretty much the same. However, the iOS 8 does make a few tasks easier. Some features are a bit more intuitive; others provide more information for reasons hard to determine.

The biggest changes arrive within the messaging application, iMessage, which Apple says is its most popular application. Now, there is an option for predictive typing — a feature found on other mobile operating systems — that guesses what words or phrases you are about to use.

Upon typing “Th,” for instance, there are a few possible suggestions: “The” and “This.” With more letters come more accurate predictions and, according to Apple, the program makes better predictions based on the user’s typing habits. Just as important, developers ensure much of the conversation-monitoring is done local to the device, meaning no NSA contractor is studying your texting habits.

Another feature in iMessage is a new menu for sending photos, which shows a vertical carousel of recent photos from which a user can choose. iMessage also allows voice messaging and more simplified video messaging, largely to compete with third-party apps like Vine and Snapchat.

The new iMessage also makes using group chats a bit more bearable. Now iOS 8 users can opt to silence alerts from chats with constantly chatty users. Users can also look at other details within the group thread, such as a log of sent photos and videos, and even title the group for sorting purposes within the application.

In the Notification Center — which appears by swiping down from the top of the screen — more options and information are available as well. Apple has brought back widgets so that some apps — like the ever-popular Evernote — can now appear as a widget. Other preloaded applications, like weather and stocks, provide more information in the notification center.

For the many who take advantage of their iPhone’s camera capabilities, there are also some expanded options for sharing and editing photos on Apple’s software. The app now allows users to edit photos with more detail and precision, providing toggles for light and color aspects.

Users can also share photos on Flickr and Tumblr along with Facebook and Twitter. Other new camera features include Timelapse, which speeds up a video to a desired time length. A Slo-Mo option is also available on iOS 8.

Other small features scattered across apps also help with day-to-day tasks. Users can install third-party keyboards, for example. Another addition is the option for third-party apps to make use of TouchID fingerprint scanning, an option found on the iPhone 5S, 6 and 6 plus.

While these features are successful, others are taking more time to be implemented. Apple has suspended the implementation of third-party health apps in the Health Kit app, which is now a native app on the phone. Increased interaction between Apple’s iOS devices and its computers, known as Continuity, is also on hold until the Yosemite operating system is released later this fall.

There are plenty of other small updates in the new iOS that allows users to do some pretty neat things. Shazam is now built into Siri; just ask Siri what song is playing if you are curious. In addition, Safari is able to scan credit card information during a purchase.

For those who use the Spotlight feature, more options are listed, such as items in the iTunes store. Other features (like a list of how much battery power each app is consuming) are hidden in the settings options of the iOS.

Overall, it is difficult to believe the hype that the new iOS has changed lives: it has not. But, there is certainly a handful of features well-worth the update. They make everyday tasks a bit simpler and, ultimately, pack more punch into our smartphones.

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Joseph Vitale is the Managing Editor for The Fordham Ram.