Although iOS 6 had been unofficially available in its beta form for some time now, the latest iteration of Apple’s flagship phone formalized the release. Apart from aesthetic and functional improvements, Apple had promised some new features and firmer security knots in order to seal the bundle. Did they live up to the innovative trend? Let’s take a closer look at some of the highlights without further ado.
The Aesthetics
At the first glance the UI seems just about the same. Same old icons, same old grid-based home screen. The only noticeable change we found was the color tone of the Music (formerly iPod) has been made lighter. The lack of an interface lift may be good or bad, varies from person to person, but we think it’s about time we feasted our eyes on something that looks… different.
The Features
This is sure to be the center-piece of our plot. iOS 6 packs a good bunch of features and some of them are very neat, in terms of practicality and usability in general. Let’s delve down and talk about the most important ones, in our humble opinion.
- Facebook Integration Yup you’ve heard it right. Facebook and Twitter are now an integral part of the iOS. This means seamless integration of your ‘Online You’ right into your phone.
- FaceTime over Cellular Data A feature most desired, and Apple provides. You can finally say “Hi” to your people via Cellular data. There are other alternatives to FaceTime, some might say. But we daresay that FaceTime blows every other app away. Few apps could’ve done better, most would’ve done worse.
- Panorama The camera continues to improve. You can finally shoot panoramic photos from your nifty little 8 Megapixel snapper. And the change is done within the software, so you can do it on older iPhones too.
- Passbook Definitely one of the coolest features in iOS 6 that we’d like to see prosper much more. Passbook is Apple’s alternative to NFC. It stores all your important information, basically acting as your chamber of secrets… well so to speak.
The Originals
Apple claims that Siri has become better and packs more intelligence. We decided to put it to test. We’ve had our share of good times with our virtual friend and we’re happy to inform you that Siri has some very interesting replies up its sleeve that will crack you up, once you decided to ask it mindless questions… again.
Apart from that, Apple has replaced Google Maps with its own version of Maps. Obviously the change of plan was done in a hoot and it’s fairly obvious that Apple’s own version of Maps is in its infancy. Competing with a mainstream giant like Google Maps is going to be tough but knowing Apple, we’re optimistic.
The Ending Note
These are some of the highlights that users can look forward to. While the naysayers might criticize Apple for not reshaping the operating system aesthetically, we confess that we’re of the same mind. Besides the obvious, iOS 6 sports a stronger security mainframe and showcases leading performance benchmarks all around.
While iOS 5 was a disappointment apart from Siri’s introduction, we’re happy to announce that iOS 6 presents a plethora of goodies that people cannot miss out on.
