iOS 6: Part 7

Welcome back to the next segment in my ongoing talks about Apple's upcoming iOS 6 update. Today we're going to talk about how the Mail and Safari apps have changed and been improved.




Mail:

So the mail app has been redesigned (though if you ask me it doesn't look much different) to be more streamlined and easier to use. There are also improvements to add attachments like photos and the like to your emails as well there is a new feature that lets you create a "V.I.P." list so that you'll lever miss an email from the sources that matter most.

Unfortunately that is it. If you were hoping for some substantial changes to the way you used your email app on Apple's iOS devices then this will come as somewhat of a let down. Sure it's great to make things easier to use, but don't tell me you've "redesigned" the whole app when picture by picture comparisons to older versions of the app look almost identical. But minor improvements are still improvements, so it will be interesting to see just how useful and good these improvements turn out to be.

Safari:

Unlike the new Mail app, the new Safari app actually brings in a number of substantial and great sounding changes and enhancements. First off Safari works through the cloud with iCloud tabs meaning that you can open a tab and start looking at a website on your iPod and then resume looking at that same page over on your iPhone. Secondly Safari now saves web pages to your Reading List which allows you to still be able to see and read everything that is on a particular web page even when you don't have Internet connection. And thirdly if you're posting a picture to a website you no longer have to go through the arduous process of leaving Safari, opening up the camera app, taking a picture, going back to Safari, then posting the picture. Now you can do all that right in Safari, something that sounds great to me.

All of these improvements to Safari actually sound like the sort of features that I would use and all sound like, if done right, they could be great. With so many problems with Safari in the past, I've slowly grown to hate (I'm among friends when I say this) Safari. But changes like these could slowly start to change my opinion. It's still going to take a lot more then that to make me start loving Safari, but it's a step in the right direction.

iOS 6: Part 6

Welcome to the next segment in my series about iOS 6. Today we're going to talk about additions and improvements to FaceTime and that thing that you might remember called phoning.





FaceTime:

So the only major change to FaceTime is that you can now use it over cellular and Wi-Fi services. This also extends to iPads where you use your phone number to FaceTime. So FaceTime hasn't really received any drastic changes, but this is quite a handy one, although I feel like it should have been there since the beginning. If you've read my other parts in this series you'd know how critical of everything Apple does these days is and I'm not going to change that now. FaceTime is a great feature, don't get me wrong, but this change isn't the type of big thing that will get me excited.

Phone:

Apple has done something really smart here. For the last few years everyone has spent so much time improving every other aspect of the phone that they sometimes forget about improving the sole thing that phones were originally made to do- that being phone people of course. But Apple remembered this time around and they made some pretty nice enhancements. If you get a phone call but you can't answer it at the moment (say you're driving, at the movies, or in the middle of some important conversation, etc.) then you can swipe up on the screen to reveal options like a set of preset messages that you can quickly select to send to the person notifying them as to why you can't answer like "Can't talk right now, call you later". This is actually such a useful feature that I could see myself using quite often, of course there are those people that never phone at all anymore who might feel that this improvements and the ones that I'm about to talk about are pointless, but for the rest of us this is great.

One of the other options you can select once you've swiped up is the reminder options which remind you based on preset times when to phone that person back. Again this is a feature that I could see myself using. I'm a very forgetful person and I'm constantly setting reminders on my phone for just about everything. So to have one more thing taken care of for me would be a warmly welcomed help.

Up last is the "Do not disturb" options in which you can select to not to be notified about any incoming calls or any other notifications for that matter. You can also pick to only receive calls from a select group of people or contacts. This is probably my least favorite new feature, not because there is anything wrong with it, but because I could see the above two enhancements being more useful.

All in all the new FaceTime features fall short, but the phoning options are greatly enhanced.

iOS 6: Part 5

Welcome back to another part in my series about everything iOS 6. Today we're going to talk about something completely new.






Passbook:

So Passbook is the new app coming with iOS 6 that basically turns your iPhone into a ticket. So say you want to go to the movies you can use your iPhone as the movie ticket. The same works for things like flights and concert tickets, etc. Passbook tells you all the information that your ticket normally would, like the balance left on your Starbucks card, or where your seat is at the concert. Passbook even claims to alert you in you're in the wrong airport terminal. And the handy thing is that the passes automatically pop up on your lock screen when they become needed. So if your movie is starting soon then the ticket will pop up and let you know that it's time and there it is conveniently placed for you.

So I've been pretty critical of some of iOS 6's new features but I have to admit that Passbook sounds pretty cool and actually really useful. So I approve this feature and I just wish that Apple would do more things like this. This is how you stay ahead of the competition. Of course the problem is that things like Google Wallet are already a thing. So Apple's got to do a lot more to win me over still.

iOS 6: Part 4

Welcome to part 4 of my ongoing series dedicated to everything iOS 6. Today we'll take a look at everything new involving photos.






Photo Stream:

What Photo Stream is is this new way of sharing your photos. Let's say you took some pictures at some family reunion and there was a funny picture of your cousin in one of those photos and you want to share it just with your cousin. With Photo Stream you can share this photo via iCloud to your cousins iOS 6 or Mountain Lion device via your photo app. If your cousin doesn't have one of those devices then they can just view them on the Internet. One thing that's cool about this is that it works over cellular and Wi-Fi networks meaning if you're using iPod Touch 4th Generations and higher, or if you have a phone without a data plan, then you can still use this feature. The other cool thing about Photo Stream is that you can leave comments on your shared photos.

I think it's time to get analytical. Sure on paper those features sound cool and useful, but then again are they really? I've been able to send emails with photos in them and leave comments that way for years. So why would I need Photo Stream. The only benefit that I could think of would be the fact that you supposedly can send unlimited photos, and we all know how frustrating it can be to send boat loads of photos via email. Of course that's why they created things like the cloud and Drop Box, both of which nullify this problem. So at the end of the day Photo Stream is basically a cleaner way to send your pictures off to people and doesn't really any significant benefit to it other then making things more seamless for you.