After WWDC yesterday it’s probably safe to assume that everyone is up-to-date with what’s going on and what’s new.
After a day of using iOS6 on both my iPhone and iPad, I’ve a few points to take note.
* Siri on iPad is a stroke of genius. The updated features of Siri for sports fans are great, but Siri finds it difficult to understand “foreign” teams in native English language, e.g. Bayern Munich.
* The new Maps app is fantastic. It’s a lot sleeker looking than Google maps. This, right now, could be the “shiny” effect where it looks and feels new, but realistically this will wear off. However turn-by-turn directions is awesome on this, especially in the lock screen. Stunning feature for drivers. Also, full Siri support is the business. I’m hoping the API for all of this is good enough for devs to push data back to Apple, allowing for Starbucks and co. to have business-based location requests in Europe.
* The new app store UI tweaks are beautiful. Dark is better. On that, the blue tint to everything at the top bar is lovely.
* I really hope Passbook takes off.
* Do Not Disturb is a fantastic feature that needs to be easier to access.
* The deeper Facebook/Twitter integration is nice but it’s very easy to post to people’s accounts via Siri, even when in the lock screen and not having someones password. Frape central.
* The new Clocks app on iPad is, ironically, beautiful.
* I really hope third party apps like Wunderkit make use of the API to access Reminders as the slight extended functionality is important. I also hope Siri can make use of commands with the likes of Wunderkit/Clear etc.
* When updating apps, the store doesn’t go to the home screen when you tap to update or purchase a new app. This is a surprisingly big deal.
* I was hoping for more than Facebook/Tweet buttons on the notifications drop-down. What happened to the notion of widgets?
In terms of performance, battery life and what-not it’s no better or worse on my iPhone 4S or “new” iPad, which is probably not too surprising given iOS6 is just iOS5 extended in essence. Overall the experience is nice, refined and the tweaks & changes are welcome. It’s an evolution, not a revolution. But I assume there will be more to come.
Also this is the least buggy beta I think I’ve ever installed.
