Advertisement

Article

WWDC 2012: Apple announces iOS 6

Christopher Park

Christopher Park

  • Updated:

Apple today completed its keynote for WWDC 2012 and announced the Fall 2012 release for iOS 6 while highlighting the big upcoming features.

iOS 6 is available in beta form to developers today and the planned Fall release supports iPhone 3GS and above, iPad 2 and above, and the iPod Touch 4th Generation.

Among the biggest announcements in iOS 6 are Apple’s own Maps service, greater Siri integration, Facebook integration, and iCloud support in Safari.

Apple also announced other updates for the operating system.

Siri

Siri turned out not to be as amazing as Apple claimed. iOS 6 introduces improvements to the dedicated voice command service. While Apple didn’t go over every new feature, it looks like Siri is getting a lot more integration in the operating system.

Instead of a launcher, Siri will offer better app integration and queried information. From the demo, Siri looks like it should be able to provide more accurate content than simply asking to search the internet. Certain features like local search will be available outside the United States for the first time. You can also now use Siri to find out how your favorite sports team is doing.

Apple also announced “Eyes Free.” The service is adding a physical hardware button for Siri on steering wheels of participating car manufacturers (BMW, GM, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda) so you can use Siri hands-free while driving and use voice commands.

Apple also announced that Siri will be available for the New iPad (3rd generation) when iOS 6 releases.

Safari

OS X Mountain Lion announced that iCloud will support syncing between desktop and mobile browsers. So you will be able to sync between your various devices via iCloud.

Another feature for iOS 6 is called Offline Reading List. It has the same function as Pocket or Instapaper, allowing you to download pages to read offline. You will also be able to upload photos through Safari from your Camera Roll.

Smaller new features are Smart App Banners, which improves handling offers to install or open iOS apps from websites, URL push, and using landscape orientation to show full-screen.

Notifications

The new features for Notifications are in-coming call control, Do Not Disturb, FaceTime over your mobile carrier, and pushing phone calls to your iPad and Mac.

Do Not Disturb can mute push notifications and stop the screen from lighting up. The feature can also be scheduled while allowing specific groups of people to still contact you.

Another addition to Do Not Disturb is repeated calls, which will allow a call to go through if a person is repeatedly calling. It’s an option that has to be enabled, but for emergencies, it could be important.

The Do Not Disturb feature also works with in-coming call control. So instead of ignoring a message, you can choose to send a default or custom message to the person calling and set a reminder about the call to look at later.

FaceTime over your carrier is exactly what it sounds like, you can now use FaceTime over your data plan on your mobile carrier.

The last feature is pushing a call from your iPhone to your iPad or Mac by attaching your phone number to your Apple ID.

Facebook

As it was rumored before, Facebook will have the same integration in iOS 6 that Twitter received in iOS 5. Simply log-in from Settings and Facebook integrates with the phone giving notifications and syncing with Contacts.

It intergrates “Likes” in the App Store and allows you to post pictures from your Camera Roll and locations from Maps directly from the device.

Maps

While Apple didn’t directly say that they were dropping Google Maps, they previewed iOS 6’s new Maps app on the iPad. Maps includes local search and Yelp integration and 3D maps.

Turn-by-turn traffic navigation will be built in and feature Siri integration, which makes sense with Siri getting included with upcoming cars. Maps will also feature traffic guides, data that will be pulled from users for real-time data. The iPad demo featured vector-based maps like the ones found in Google Maps.

Since the demo was shown on an iPad and demoed without real-time turn-by-turn, it’s hard to say if Apple’s own Maps service will be better than Google Maps.

Other New Features

Photo Stream will let you share photos with a select group of people and will show iPhoto, Aperture, and can be browsed in Windows and Apple TV.

VIPS is a new contact group that will highlight messages on the lock screen and add a new folder in your inbox.

Passbook will be a aggregation of tickets and passes into one app. In the demo, it showed movie tickets and boarding passes. The app will also update information through notifications, which will be useful for plane tickets.

Guided Access is Apple’s ongoing development for increasing accessibility for the disabled.

Game Center will be getting Challenges, which are like Achievements, for games.

Lost Mode is a recovery feature that will let you send a phone number to your phone. If the message is tapped, the phone will call that number.

Apple’s presentation of iOS 6 was another update to the operating system rather than anything radically new. The effect of Apple dropping Google Maps won’t be seen until the app is available so it’s difficult to say whether the new direction will actually offer an improvement on what we have now.

Everything else that Apple announced was expected, improvements on existing services. Increasing the usability of Siri with better integration in the OS overall will be a welcome change and seeing if Apple dropping Google Maps for their own service will provide better service is something to look at when it officially launches in the Fall.

Christopher Park

Christopher Park

Latest from Christopher Park

Editorial Guidelines