royal collection: Apple iOS 6 preview: First Look

Introduction

As expected, Apple used the keynote of its annual WWDC event in San Francisco to announce the latest version of their iOS mobile platform. The sixth major build of the OS aims to bring the user experience to the next level with no less than 200 new features, services and UI tweaks.

The number is certainly huge, but then again so were the expectations of the millions of Apple fans around the globe. The fact that iOS 6 will only go official in three months' time heaps even more pressure on the latest release of the platform. By that point Android will probably have Jelly Bean to chew on, while Windows Phone will have released the multi-core friendly Apollo.
The iOS 6 key features include a Siri upgrade, system-wide Facebook integration and brand new Maps with turn-by-turn voice navigation. There're plenty of lesser new goodies such as achievements in the Game Center, new App store UI and the Music app, improved Safari with full-screen mode, better Mail, etc.
The complete changelog is coming up, but first we'll get the issue of compatibility out of the way. iOS 6 is compatible with the three latest iPhone generations (3GS, 4 and 4S), iPad 2 and 3 and the fourth-gen iPod Touch. The first iPad is not on the list, so if you are still holding on to the original Apple slate, you might finally want to consider an upgrade.
A few other restrictions apply, too: the iPhone 4S has finally lost its Siri exclusivity, but it's only going to share it with the iPad 3. The turn-by-turn navigation and the Flyover mode in Maps can be used only on dual-core iDevices - iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and iPad 3.
Now let's not waste any more time and get down to testing. We installed the beta release on an iPhone 4S, so all impressions of the OS are based on its performance. If you have an older-gen Apple smartphone your mileage may vary.

What's new in iOS 6?

As we already mentioned, Apple claims there are more than 200 new features in the iOS 6. We are sure the number is right, but not all of the changes are actually visible or even worth mentioning.

Here is what we believe to be a detailed list of all noteworthy updates brought by iOS 6:

Siri available on iPad 3
Siri now speaks Canadian English, Spanish (Spain/Mexico), Italian, Italian (Switzerland), Korean, Mandarin (Chinese/Taiwan), Cantonese (Hong Kong)
Siri can now provide sports scores, movie and restaurants reviews. It can launch apps and do status updates
Apple promises Siri integration with car handsfree systems
System-wide Facebook integration: Facebook contacts and events appear in the phonebook and calendar
Notification center gets quick Facebook/Twitter update keys
New Maps app with TomTom data, turn-by-turn voice navigation and 3D/Flyover view mode
Better Safari browser with iCloud tabs, full-screen mode, offline reading and faster performance
Passbook e-ticket app handles loyalty coupons, boarding passes, tickets
The Photo app can share photos with other iOS users. Likes and comments are supported
Updated Mail with VIP and Flagged mailboxes
Unified FaceTime/iMessages ID. FaceTime works over the cellular network
New UI for the App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, Music, Weather apps
You can set songs from your music library as alarm tones
Better privacy settings
New accessibility options and guided access (single-app mode for kids)
Re-organized settings, various new icons
Improved HDR camera function
Game Center now supports challenges (achievements)
Reject call with SMS
Do Not Disturb mode
Lost mode
Improved keyboards and auto-correction
Three new wallpapers
Various improvements under the hood
Display brightness settings menu has been changed

A long list it certainly is, but Apple got where they are with quality, not quantity. The iOS 6 may not exactly be 200 steps in the right direction but all those novelties promise to make a difference.

The three new wallpapers
And of course, there are plenty of features we would have liked to see on the list. It's just not in Apple's nature to respond to wishes and requests. What the company prefers to do instead is take the user experience along new paths - even ones you have never thought of.

Multilingual Siri knows more

The first and most important news about Siri is iPad 3 support. So, it's no longer exclusive to iPhone 4S but this is not quite what iPhone 4 owners wanted to hear.
Siri speaks new languages too: Canadian English and French, Spanish, Italian, the varieties of German, Italian and French spoken in Switzerland, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese. These are also supported in the satnav app.

The new languages for Siri
Support for POI search is supposed to get wider. Assistance with restaurant booking is part of Siri's new set of skills. It will find you exactly the restaurant you are looking for and filter the results based on user reviews. You can run impressively detailed searches based on food type, location, outdoor, pool, price range, ratings, etc. This feature is not available in every country, though.

Siri knows about restaurants
One of the much-touted features is Siri's new-found flair for sports. It can answer lots of questions and isn't limited to game scores. History, stats, player bios, player comparison, teams, records, etc. Siri should be able to return most of the info right onto its own screen, without switching over to the browser.

Asking Siri about sports
The same applies to movies. You will get all of your movie-related answers right inside the Siri window - anything about actors, directors, awards, movie stats, premieres and tickets, reviews, trailers, etc.

Siri knows movies too
The other new thing Siri can do is launch apps. Yes, it does look like one of those features that should have been there from the beginning, but better late than never, right? You can also have Siri update your Facebook and Twitter.

Siri can launch apps, update Facebook and Twitter
Apple announced they're working with various car manufacturers - BMW, GM, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, Honda and others - to integrate Siri tightly with the car's audio systems.

The Facebook integration comes a year too late

When the iOS 5 was about to launch many people were hoping for Facebook integration. Instead Apple gave us Twitter.
A year later, Facebook is tightly integrated with the iOS. It even goes deeper than Twitter did in iOS 5.

Configuring the Facebook integration
We already pointed out that Siri can do your status updates for you. There are dedicated shortcuts for Facebook and Twitter updates in the Notification center as well.

You can update your social statuses from the Notification Center
This is just the beginning though. Just like in Android you can sync your Facebook contacts with the phonebook. If you do, the system will search email and phone numbers, so it can link your contacts with their Facebook profiles.

A linked iPhone and Facebook contact
Upon a successful Facebook link, the contact's picture, addresses, important dates, emails, phone numbers and websites will be updated. You will also get a new Facebook field with a shortcut to the contact's Facebook profile. It will load in the Safari browser, not the dedicated Facebook app.
Unfortunately, the Facebook albums and feeds do not appear in the phonebook. All Facebook events will appear in the Calendar though.
You can share photos on Facebook right inside the Photo app. Addresses can be shared as well upon a drop of a pin in Maps.

Sharing a photo from Photo app • Sharing an address within Maps
Facebook integration extends to the App Store and the iTunes Store. Whenever you tap on an app, song, movie, TV show, etc. you'll get into the new store UI where there are three tabs - info, reviews and related. In review you can Like the app/song/…/movie on Facebook and write or read Facebook reviews.