What's in iOS 6 ? (WWDC '12)

As announced in the WWDC yesterday, iOS 6 has officially been launched as Apple's newest upgrade to their famous platform. Apple also announced and discussed several of the key features that have been integrated into the OS. Here they are:

Apple Maps 

Apple has incorporated several essential features into it's Maps application including turn by turn navigation (right), 3D Mapping (center) and Traffic data (not shown)

Through "a coordinated worldwide effort", Apple has set up its own Maps application, getting rid of Google's Maps application which was previously the standard on iOS. Apple's maps application sounds thoroughly promising with turn by turn navigation, Siri-integration, alternative routes, 3D Mapping, anonymous, real time traffic, etc. Read the full article.

Siri 

Siri, after being heavily beefed up, has made it's way to the iPad too with Rotten Tomatoes, Open Tablem, Sports Information and Yelp integrated.

The new and improved Siri has now made its way to iPad. With yelp and open table integration, Siri is better than ever and it's now on the iPad 2 and also on The New iPad. Another great addition to Siri (For iPhone and iPad) is the new "Eyes-Free" capability. Essentially this is just a 'Siri button' on the Steering Wheel of car manufactured by several major car companies that plan to add it within 12 months. Car manufacturers include BMW, GM, Audi, Land Rover, Jaguar, Toyota, Honda and Mercedes.

Siri has also been beefed up with its integration with Yelp, OpenTable, RottenTomatoes and Sports information. It can now also launch applications and post to Facebook. Lastly, Siri's finally gone international!



Passbook 

Passbook scans and organizes your Gift Cards, Admission Tickets, Boarding Passes.

A new stock application in iOS 6 which allows you to scan your gift cards, admission tickets, boarding passes and more onto your iPhone and then simply whip out your iPhone whenever you need them. Several major flight companies are apparently agreeing to this. Passbook also seems to be very efficient considering that it alerts you (push notification) to things such as a gate or terminal change. Also it appears to group multiple tickets together. So if you're boarding a train with two other people you needn't search your iPhone for all of your tickets, merely for one.

iPhone: Do Not Disturb

Reply with a text, Get reminded, Switch on do not disturb mode and screen your calls. It couldn't get any better

Everyone's been in a situation where they can't answer someone's call but can't simply hang up either for fear of offending the person. For such situations, Apple has provided a solution. There's now a new option on the incoming call to swipe up and you have the option of:

• Sending a preset text message such as "Can't talk right now... I'll call you later" or type a custom one.
• You can tell your iPhone to remind you to call the person back - in one hours, when you leave, when you get home or when you get to work.

If all else fails and you need a solution, simply go to your settings and enable "Do Not Disturb". Calls and Text Message will still be received but they won't light up your phone and neither will they make it ring or vibrate.

Another great addition to this is that you can screen your calls. So important calls such as from your boss will still come through but the more trivial ones will not. Also you'll have the ability to allow a call to come through it the person has called more than twice in three minutes. Apple couldn't have made this any better.

Facebook Integration

Facebook has been integrated throughout the OS adding some amazing functionality too.

Just as Twitter was last year, Facebook has been integrated into iOS this year. Facebook - Integration on iOS 6 allows you to do everything you can with twitter-integration: Post updates, Share links, photos, emails, notes, etc. But it also includes some amazing new features such as: Contact and Calendar integration (Including contact info, pictures, email and birthday alerts) and also the ability to 'like' (Facebook like) Apps and Songs on the App Store and iTunes Store. You can even see which apps and songs your friends have liked.

Accessibility

Accessibility and Guided Access will greatly help the the disabled

After a lot of heartwarming stories of how the iPad has helped the disabled, Apple revealed their new Guided Access feature for iOS 6 which allows better access for the disabled. Parents of autistic children who have been greatly helped by the advent of the iPad can now disable certain inputs such as hardware buttons so that the child doesn't accidentally exit the application.

Other Features




Of the '200+' new features on iOS 6, here are some others that we currently know of:

• Safari gets upgraded with iCloud tabs, offline reading list and full-screen landscape view.
• The Stores get a makeover to bring 'a new kind of shopping experience'
• Mail too has a few new features such as VIP contacts (important) and the ability to add photos and videos to an email straight from the app.
• Find my iPhone and Find my Friends have too been upgraded presumably with Apple Maps.
• The iPad seems to have gained a clock application but so far, no Weather' or 'Stocks' applications on iPad.
• FaceTime now works over cellular. (Pretty cool)
• Shared Photo Stream - You can now share your photo stream with whoever you choose, over the cloud.

The Shortcomings

I've already listed most of the shortcomings of the WWDC 2012 but one of the major disappointments in relation to iOS 6 is it's incompatibility with the original iPad. Original iPad owners are now forced to make a choice: Buy "The New iPad" or stick with iOS 5.

Overall

Summing up, the WWDC '12 had some major announcements for Mac and iOS Users as well as for Prospective buyers. iOS 6 was a major part of the event, and aside from the obvious disappointments, it seems to be quite promising.

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WWDC '12: The Shortcoming and the Disappointments

Apple's WWDC '12 Presentation just got over a few minutes back and although there was a great deal announced, which was, for the most part, very impressive, Apple still left a lot to be asked for.

• Despite what rumors suggested, the entire Mac lineup did NOT get an upgrade. The notebook lineup, however, got a significant improvement as well as a new member: The Next-Generation Macbook Pro: 15.4 Inch, Retina Display)
• iOS 6, albeit amazing, will NOT be supported on: The Original iPad, iPhone 3G or below, iPod Touch 3rd Generation or Below; Heartbreaking for owners of said devices but potentially very lucrative for Apple.
• Mountain Lion starts shipping in July, not before that. Not a free update either. However, it's still cheaper than Lion's update was.
• iOS 6 will not release till fall and only added one new application.
• No Apple TV SDK as opposed to rumors which were widely thought to be confirmed.
• No Siri on Mountain Lion, although Dictation was there
• Mountain Lion's Unified Safari Bar didn't make it to iOS 6.
• No new iTunes interface on Mac. Really need that!
• Nothing groundbreaking. Nothing Apple.

Apparently, not everyone's since the original iPad doesn't get support for iOS 6

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iOS 6 Rumors: The Confirmed, The Possible and The Unlikely

With the much-anticipated WWDC 2012 (Worldwide Developer's Conference) right around the corner (11th June to 15th June), everyone has high hopes for the future of iOS, the release of OS X Mountain Lion, the new Mac lineup, the next generation iPhone and the new Apple TV OS. This article is a roundup of all the rumors related to the launch of iOS 6.

Given Apple's past release schedule of iOS, it's hardly surprising that the computer giant is expected to come out with their latest version of iOS: iOS 6 (not to mention the myriad rumors floating around)

So what's expected in iOS 6 ? I once wrote about the hopes and expectations we all have of the next version of iOS, but that was far before any concrete evidence came up. 

Apple Maps

Goodbye Google Maps. Hello Apple Maps ?

Recent reports and rumors, (largely from 9to5mac) have suggested that Apple plans to incorporate in iOS 6 their very own Maps application with 3D mapping and possibly better satellite navigation features. While nothing about this is set in stone, it's widely know that Apple's recent acquisition of the mapping companies C3, Placebase and Poly9 is linked to their launch of the new Maps application for iOS 6. Rumor has it that Apple may also include the ability to download maps for offline navigation into its new Maps application.

Chances of inclusion: Almost definite.

What we can hope for: At this point, we're quite clueless about what Apple actually has planned for the application, so anything I say will be nothing but a stab in the dark.

Siri on iPad

Reports from 9to5Mac suggest that Siri on iPad will have complete functionality similar to its iPhone counterpart. (See 9to5Mac's mockup above)

Another sure shot feature of iOS 6 is the inclusion of Siri into the iPad. Previously, The New iPad (third generation) saw Voice Dictation, an omnipresent feature of its touchscreen keyboard, yet that came nowhere close to reaching anywhere close to achieving the level of efficiency or functionality that Siri already has. However, we expect this to change with iOS 6. Recent reports say that Siri will almost certainly be included in the iPad, with most the same features as its iPhone counterpart aside from the obvious phone call commands.

Chances of inclusion: Almost definite.

What we can hope for: That Siri (and iOS 6) be compatible with all iPads including the "antiquated" first generation iPad.

Facebook Integration

Based on ubiquitous reports all reporting with unanimity about the likelihood of Facebook being integrated into iOS much the same way as Twitter was in the previous major release (iOS 5)

Chances of inclusion: Almost definite.

What we can hope for: That Facebook Integration be a little bit more functional than its Twitter counterpart. 

OS X-ification

The release of OS X Mountain Lion (downloadable next week) was widely based on the idea of iOS-ification. In other words, Apple brought many of the most popular features of iOS to OS X Mountain Lion, including Notes, Reminders and Messages (iMessages).

OS X-ification (not the official term) is a highly anticipated and probable part of the new iOS 6 and will likely include Safari's new unified bar, a (slight) change in design and possible incorporation of several other attributes of OS X into iOS.

Chances of inclusion: Reasonable

What we can hope for: That iOS takes some new design features from OS X and Safari's unified Search and URL Bar.

Design and Appearance

Although it may take some aspects of its possible new design from OS X, iOS 6 is widely rumored to have some completely new design traits which may include a redesign of its Stores (iBookstore, iTunes Store and App Store). 

Chances of inclusion: A completely novel and redesigned OS is highly unlikely.

What we can hope for: Radical changes to break free of the monotony of iOS which has had, but slight changes since its original launch in 2007.

User Accounts on iPad

A feature that's been on my wish list since the launch of the iPad, User Accounts would be an extremely convenient as well as useful feature, especially on a Tablet like the iPad which is marketed as a Family device yet has a one-time Mail login system; a device which is typically designed for a single person's use yet has a design and functionality that encourages several users.

Chances of inclusion: Uncertain.

What we can hope for: That multiple user accounts with option for a Guest Account and Quick Account Switching.

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Expected Release Date of iOS 6

As I mentioned in another article recently, Apple - although often extremely unpredictable - does follow some patterns when it comes to software / hardware release dates.
Luckily for us, it usually doesn't digress much from these patterns. So it's a simple matter of observing this pattern for iOS major updates as well as the rumors floating around and figuring out when they'll be releasing the new version of iOS. For example:

• iOS 2 was announced in March, released in July
• iOS 3 was announced in March, released in June
• iOS 4 was announced in April, released in June
• iOS 5 was announced in June, released in October

From the iOS release date history shown above, we can glean a fair bit of information. Apple will probably release their next operating system, iOS 6, sometime in the new few months.

Now, assuming that Apple found June a preferable date to release iOS 5 due to some particular reason, it's possible they'll feel the same for iOS 6. But it may just be that they chose June because they needed enough time to develop iOS and OS X Lion. 

Still, since they generally take a year or so to release their next major update for iOS, chances are June will be the winner. Which means that, once again we'll have to wait for a few months - maybe september or october - to actually be able to download it.

With a little help from rumors floating around, I believe a possible expected release date will be sometime in mid-June.

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What and What Not to Expect and Hope For in iOS 6 ( Expected Release Date too )

iOS 5 brought about with it several changes and was called the greatest update for the most advanced mobile platform iOS. And I admit, it was amazing. But as a new platform - or rather, as a new category of platforms - iOS can only learn from its short comings. And as great as the platform is, there are several. Many, I believe, Apple will rectify in the next update of the operating system. Others, they may miss out on. And others still they may simply be too adamant or stubborn to incorporate into the Operating System.

Here's What to Expect in iOS 6:

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