In Depth: 20 iOS 6 tips, tricks and secrets

Thursday, September 20, 2012

In Depth: 20 iOS 6 tips, tricks and secrets:
Another year, another operating system for your iOS device.
And boy, is this a sizeable upgrade. Depending on which generation of device you're rocking, this iteration offers everything from panoramic modes to Facebook calendars and even shareable Photo Streams.
So here are 20 quick-fire tips for exploring some of the new features of iOS 6, which go that bit further towards integrating your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch into your digital lifestyle.

• iOS 6 review

But before we start, make sure to back up your device to iCloud or iTunes, then you're safe to upgrade: with your device attached to your computer, hit the Check for Update button in the Version tab of iTunes, or simply tap into Settings > General > Software Update on the device in question, and we'll go from there.

1. Decline calls

This isn't the time for calls! If someone's ringing you and you don't want to take it, simply swipe up on the phone symbol next to Decline and Answer, and you can send a text or add a diary note to return the call. To define in advance a custom range of quick-fire texts, go to Settings > Phone > Reply with Message. That's all there is to it.

2. Do not disturb

You want to check out your iPhone's new OS without interruption, that's a given. So lay down a new rule by selecting Settings > Do Not Disturb. That moon by your clock means no more calls until you're ready to take them. Now let's crack on.

3. Send media from within Mail

Now you can insert a photo or video straight into the email you're currently composing. Just tap and hold in the body of the email for the contextual menu to appear, tap the rightmost arrow and select 'Insert Photo or Video'. From there you're free to search your Camera Roll and albums, find what you're after, and get attaching.

4. Mail VIPs

Anyone savvy to Mail in Mountain Lion will know about VIPs - important senders you define whose messages get sent to their own dedicated folder. Well now you can do the same in iOS 6. To define a sender as a VIP, tap their name in the sender field and tap Add to Vip. A star against the address signals their newfound prominence in your inbox.

5. Refresh your inbox

The way to refresh your inbox has changed. Just drag down past the latest email you've received and the refresh icon stretches. Release, and your messages are updated accordingly. Simple.

6. YouTube - gone!

As you may have noticed, the stock YouTube app has vanished from your iOS device. Hear Google CEO Larry Page seethe! He needn't worry. Some bods he employed saw to it that a free YouTube now appears in the App Store. Go there now and reinstate your favourite video portal to its rightful place.

7. Share Photo Streams

Now you can build folders of photos to share on the fly, with iOS 6's new Shared Photo Streams feature, turned on from Settings > iCloud > Photo Stream. Once enabled, tap into a section in the Photos app and hit edit, selecting images to include. Choose Share and you're presented with a menu that includes Photo Stream: tap it. From here you can tap in a recipient's email address, give the Stream a name and even define whether it's a Public Website or not. Next!

8. Apple Maps?

Google must be fuming: Apple also dropped its Maps app in favour of a home-grown version. Unfortunately, while it may look good and feel snappy, it lacks the deep search of Google's well-established geography. Still, the flyover feature is cool. Search a major city and go for a 3D trip by hitting the 3D icon where you see it (not available for all devices or cities).

9. Full-screen browsing

Safari now features a full-screen for web browsing. Just switch to landscape mode and tap the button with the outward-facing arrows for more online screen real estate.

10. Facebook integration

As with Twitter previously, Apple has promoted Facebook to the premier social network camp by allowing deep integration into iOS. To control that level more finely, go to Settings > Facebook and choose whether to allow the site access to your Calendar and Contact apps. With these functions turned on, you'll find Facebook Events and friends' birthdays appearing in your Calendar, as well as their Facebook photos populating your Contacts.

11. Tap to post

Pull down the Notification Center from the top of the screen and you'll notice two new buttons - Tap to Tweet and Tap to Post. Like it or not, that's the level of baked-in social media integration you can expect from iOS 6 onwards.

12. Guided Access

Ever given your iOS device to your son or daughter for them to play their favourite game, only to later find them watching Tory party broadcasts on YouTube? Let's ensure it never happens again: open Settings and tap through to General > Accessibility > Guided Access. Turn it On, and you can now lock them into the app of your choice choice. First define an unlock passcode, then open the app in question and triple-click the Home button. Now, with a finger, circle any areas on the screen you'd like to prevent them from interfering with. You can also choose to turn off motion, touch, and hardware buttons by hitting the Options button. Problem solved!

13. Send more photos

Get into the Photos app and tap edit, then tap each photo you want to share as a group. Simply hit Share when you're happy and you can send them in an email, over Messages or via Facebook - the choice is yours...

14. Read it later offline

Got too much stuff to read online? Just tap the button in Safari with the arrow jumping out of it, and you can Add to Reading List. This makes the page available offline, and it syncs with Safari on your Mac and any other iOS devices you own, if you bought into that ecosystem.

15. Lost phone

If you activated Find my iPhone in Settings > iCloud, you can make use of Lost Mode. In the event that you lose your phone, log into icloud.com, select Find... and you may well be able to see where it is. Lost Mode lets you input a password and display a number on the phone screen for the finder to call.

16. Reskinned iTunes

The iTunes app has received an 'update'. But it's questionable whether it's lost more than it gained. By adopting a slicker but less content on screen, the app offers a more expansive view of your search results. But it's time to stop looking for podcasts and iTunes content in iTunes, for example - these now have their own apps. Go get them from the App Store now. Oh, and you can forget about Ping. We doubt you'll lose any sleep over it...

17. Privacy

Thankfully iOS 6 isn't all about sharing your life with the world. In Settings you'll see a new option called Privacy. Use it. There you can control any apps that attempt to access your Reminders, for example - swinging the social media frenzy back in your favour.

18. Sounding off

Want to select a special alert to distinguish it from your Calendar or Reminder Alerts? Sounds > Settings is where it's at; From Facebook alerts to tweets, you can define each one's sonic output here.

19. Panoramic feature

If you're the proud owner of an iPhone 5, 4S, or fifth-gen iPod touch, check out the new panoramic feature in the Camera app. Just move your device continuously when taking the panorama. For everyone else, go download Microsoft's free Photosynth app, pronto.

20. Bedtime!

So you've explored iOS some and now it's time for a bit of well-earned shut-eye. The good news is iOS 6 thought of this too. Remember Do Not Disturb? It goes deeper than you think. Tap into Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb and you can schedule a timeframe for its action. There's no need to fret about emergencies either - just allow your favourite Contacts through your phone call firewall, and block out everyone else. You can even turn Repeated Calls on to allow for any persistent types. Easy. See you again for iOS 7!

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Nokia leaps on Apple Maps app criticism, claims superiority

Nokia leaps on Apple Maps app criticism, claims superiority:
Nokia has used its official Conversations blog to take a thinly-veiled shot at Apple's new Maps application.
The new in-house solution, which replaces Google Maps in iOS 6, has come under fire from some reviewers and users, who've pointed out inaccuracies and shortcomings.
Nokia has taken the opportunity to pounce on the criticism by playing up the strengths of its own Nokia Maps application, which itself has been six years in the making.
The blog post benchmarks Apple Maps against Google Maps and Nokia Maps, drawing attention to Apple's lack of public transport information, offline support, and the presence of turn-by-turn navigation in only 56 countries.

Pretty isn't enough

"Unlike our competitors, which are financing their location assets with advertising or licensing mapping content from third parties, we completely own, build and distribute mapping content, platform and apps," wrote Pino Bonetti of Nokia Conversations.
"In other words, we truly understand that maps and location-based apps must be accurate, provide the best quality and be accessible basically anywhere.
"That's been standard practice at Nokia for the past six years, and we also understand that "pretty" isn't enough. You expect excellence in your smartphone mapping experience."
In other words, brains, not beauty, count when you're trying to get somewhere.

Generally very good

It appears that Apple's new Maps app isn't 100 percent complete at the time of release, a point made clear by a Tumblr blog poking fun with poorly rendered maps and incorrect location data, and other online criticisms.
Despite the criticism, our TechRadar iOS 6 review, found Maps "generally very good," though the reviewer did "encounter a number of errors."
Flyovers - Apple's answer to Street View - are "superb where they're available" although they're limited to a few cities at the time of writing.
Our reviewer found that the level of detail offered in Google Maps will be what most users will miss when using Apple's solution.

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Apple responds to criticism regarding new Maps app

Apple responds to criticism regarding new Maps app:

Since iOS 6 went live yesterday morning, there has been a lot of commotion regarding Apple’s new Maps application. As most of you know, Apple replaced Google’s mapping software with its own in-house solution this year.
And people hate it. Reports over the last 24 hours have berated the app for not having transit information, being inaccurate, and just flat out not being as good as its predecessor. Well, Apple responded to the criticism this afternoon…(...)
Read the rest of Apple responds to criticism regarding new Maps app

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And the winner of our iPhone 5 giveaway is…

And the winner of our iPhone 5 giveaway is…:

Let me tell you that picking a winner for our awesome iPhone 5 giveaway wasn’t easy. But we did it. Over 5,000 of you retweeted our giveaway, 2,500 liked the post on Facebook, and 4,000 left a comment. Talk about being overwhelmed!
I just spent the last few hours of my life browsing through the entries to pick a winner, so without further ado, let’s find out who the lucky person is…(...)
Read the rest of And the winner of our iPhone 5 giveaway is…

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"And the winner of our iPhone 5 giveaway is…" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
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Facebook Messenger update brings texting support to select devices

Facebook Messenger update brings texting support to select devices:

Today Facebook is introducing texting support for its Messenger application for Android. A thorough redesign has transformed the old, tired inbox into a full-fledged SMS app. As you swipe to the left, a list of available users is given, which will allow you to directly send a message over your carrier’s cellular network. Additionally, you can create groups to message multiple friends at once.
There is a downside however, as Facebook has only made the application compatible with a handful of devices. Currently, the HTC EVO 3D, HTC One X, LG Optimus Black, LG Optimus Hub, Samsung Galaxy Ace, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Galaxy S3, and Samsung Galaxy Y are supported. If you’re rocking one of the aforementioned devices, be sure to hit the Play Store download link or scan the QR code below.

Play Store download link

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Dyzplastic reveals yet another figurine, number 8, from their Series 3 Android collectibles

Dyzplastic reveals yet another figurine, number 8, from their Series 3 Android collectibles:

Earlier today we reported on Dyzplastic’s plans to start taking orders for their Series 3 Android collectibles starting on September 24th and shipping slated to commence on the 26th. With that announcement, Dyzplastic also showed the 7th figurine in the series. Since then they have updated their blog with yet another figurine bringing the count up to eight. This one goes by the name Professor Skully McRivethead and is graced with a design by artist Huck Gee, famous for his Skullhead designs.
If you are looking for a little bling to decorate your desk space, you may want to get ready to place your order.
source: Dyzplastic

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Verizon CFO Shammo thinks unlimited data plans on the way out

Verizon CFO Shammo thinks unlimited data plans on the way out:

During a Goldman Sachs investor conference today, Verizon’s chief financial officer Fran Shammo shared some information about Verizon’s “Share Everything” plans and their impact on unlimited data plans. Shammo indicated Verizon was seeing many more people switching to “Share Everything” plans than had been originally projected. Verizon is also seeing customers buying more devices to tie to these “Share Everything” plans, a result the plans were intended to produce. What may be surprising to some is that many of the customers switching to “Share Everything” are coming off of unlimited data plans.
Shammo says many users realized they did not really need unlimited data. He thinks unlimited data plans will go by the wayside eventually. Verizon certainly seems to be banking on this as they have changed their new customer and upgrade policies to pretty much force users away from unlimited data plans. New users cannot get unlimited data plans and users who want to upgrade their device have to forego any subsidies if they want to keep an unlimited plan.
AT&T also seems to be looking to go down the same path with Verizon of moving away from unlimited data plans. Meanwhile, Sprint and T-Mobile are trying to leverage unlimited data plans as a way to compete against the bigger carriers.
Is Verizon’s strategy really just creating a self-fulfilling prophecy situation? Is unlimited data important enough to sway your decision regarding a carrier?
source: c|net

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Review: iOS 6

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Review: iOS 6:

Introduction and Phone/FaceTime

iOS 6 is a big upgrade. The interface has been given a minor makeover with improved accessibility features.
Google's apps have been given the boot, so there's no YouTube and no Google Maps; Apple's written its own navigation and mapping app with considerable help from TomTom; Siri's been improved and finally works properly in the UK; the phone app's been tweaked, Safari and Mail updated and FaceTime brought to 3G.
It's much more social than before, with shared Photo Streams and Facebook baked into the OS like the word Blackpool in a stick of rock, and there are a host of other improvements to make your iOS device that little bit friendlier.
At least, that's the case on newer Apple kit. iOS 6 works on all iPhones from the 3GS onwards, the iPad 2 and new iPad, and the fourth and fifth generation iPod touches.
However, the older the kit the less of iOS 6 you actually get. Some of the big features - Siri, turn-by-turn navigation, panoramic photos and FaceTime over 3G - aren't available for the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4.
The 3GS doesn't even get the offline reading list feature, and Siri's not available for the iPad 2.
Is it worth the upgrade? We've installed iOS across multiple iOS devices: an iPhone 4, an iPhone 4S, an iPad 2 and a new iPad (that latter one courtesy of Vodafone) to find out.
As we discovered, even when you don't get all the new features, there are still enough improvements to make the jump worthwhile.

iOS 6: Phone and FaceTime

iOS's Phone app has some welcome improvements. When a call comes in you can now swipe up to access more options than just Answer and Decline: you can reply with a pre-defined or custom iMessage or SMS, or set a reminder to call the person back.
Such reminders can be time-based or location-based, so for example you can set a reminder that kicks in when you get home.

The Phone app also gets a new Do Not Disturb feature, which you can schedule for specific times (although we'd have liked a quick access icon in the lock screen or notification area.
Come to think of it, location-based activation would have been useful too). This enables you to silence all calls and alerts, or to ring only when specific people call, and you can also specify whether repeated attempts to call you should override the Do Not Disturb settings.
FaceTime's been given a boost too: you can finally use it over 3G, provided you have the right hardware (iPhone 4S yes, iPhone 4 no) and the right calling plan: Vodafone says some of its cheaper calling plans won't include FaceTime over 3G, although Orange, T-Mobile and Everything Everywhere don't differentiate between FaceTime and Facebook. Three hasn't published its policy yet.

Mail, Maps, Siri and more

iOS 6: Mail and Safari

Many of Safari's new features will seem awfully familiar to users of other OSes, apps and browsers: there's offline reading, enabling you to save pages to read them later; there's full-screen landscape browsing; and there's tab syncing between your various iCloud devices.
You can also post photos and videos to sites from within the browser. None of these things are earth-shattering, but they're still handy.
Mail gets some tweaks too, including easier photo and video attachment.
Apple has adopted pull-to-refresh, and as with Mountain Lion there's a new VIP mailbox for your important contacts.
The VIP list syncs via iCloud, so if someone's a VIP on your iPhone they'll be a VIP on your iPad too.

iOS 6: Maps

We'll be honest, we feared the worst: with Apple giving Google Maps the boot in favour of its own offering, we half expected an app that was just great in America and utterly useless in the UK.
We were wrong.
Thanks to data from TomTom - including free live traffic information, something you have to pay extra for in TomTom's own iPhone app - the UK maps are very good, offering turn-by-turn navigation that Siri can read aloud if you wish.

Apple has also integrated local search, with mixed results: while restaurant reviews from Yelp are handy if you live in a large conurbation, reviews aren't always available in more rural areas.
We also found a number of errors, such as occasional American spellings (eg "Exhibition Center") and the odd mapping glitch, such as the one that identified our local Italian restaurant as a Sainsbury's supermarket fifteen miles away.

The Maps app doesn't have Street View, but the iPhone 4S/5 and recent iPads get Flyover View's 3D models of cities.
When they're available they're superb, but they're not widely available yet: for example London's there, but Glasgow isn't.
Navigating on an iPad feels a bit silly but on the iPhone 4S/5 it's a very nice experience, with clear directions and fast rerouting if you miss a turn.
However, the interface isn't ideal for in-car use: you shouldn't interact with any app while driving, of course, but even when parked Maps' tiny interface elements mean you'll need to take the phone out of any cradle to adjust anything.

Maps is a decent app, but we think existing, dedicated sat-nav apps have more finger-friendly UIs and more features, even if they do charge for traffic data - and if you've got an iPhone 3GS or 4, those apps are your only option.
Without turn-by-turn navigation all Maps can offer is a list of directions, and if you don't go the Apple way you're on your own. There's a metaphor in there somewhere.

iOS 6: Siri

It's still in beta, but Siri has been massively improved in iOS 6, especially for UK customers: at last Siri can do local searches, so you're not just limited to a subset of the US version's features.
If you liked Siri but found its limitations infuriating in iOS 5, you'll find the iOS 6 version a big improvement.
This time around Siri can give you driving directions, tell you what time films are on and whether they're any cop, find your friends, provide football scores and launch apps, and it integrates with services including Wolfram Alpha, Facebook and Twitter.
There's also Eyes Free for integration with in-car audio and voice control systems, something Apple is currently liaising with car manufacturers about.
Apple is rather keen on Siri, not just for answering questions but also for dictating text. We've found computer dictation patchy over the years, but it's genuinely impressive in iOS 6 - especially on the new iPad, where thankfully you don't need to hold the tablet next to your face for it to hear you.

iOS 6: Facebook and Passbook

iOS already has Twitter integration, and Facebook joins it in iOS 6 with the same ability to share photos and post updates.

The contact and calendar integration is superb, adding Facebook events and friends' birthdays to your Calendar (if you want it to) - although if your social network is full of acquaintances rather than genuine friends that can quickly make your diary a disaster area.
You can also tell Facebook that you like particular apps and songs.
iOS has another book: Passbook, Apple's app for tickets, loyalty cards, boarding cards and anything else that's currently taking up too much room in your wallet.
It hadn't gone live at the time of writing, so we can't say whether it's of any use just yet, but from messing around creating our own cards in Passsource.com it's clearly going to be a doddle for developers to support it.

Verdict

The big question about any OS upgrade is, will installing it make you glad you did it?
The answer is yes, but some users answer yes more emphatically than others.
If you've got an iPhone 3GS the upgrade is really just a collection of minor improvements, whereas if you've got an iPhone 4S you're invited to the whole iOS party.

We liked

The two most impressive features are Maps and Siri, and while it's easy to jeer at the former - Android's had turn-by-turn navigation for a long time - Apple isn't just playing feature catch up: it's cutting yet more ties between it and Google.
Building a Google Maps-rivalling service is an impressive achievement; doing it this quickly and this well is astonishing.
And there's much, much more to Siri than just voice navigation: where iOS 5's version didn't really deliver for UK users, the new version is superb.
Other improvements are more minor, but a better phone app, improved Mail and Safari and (potentially) Passbook are all worthwhile.

We disliked

We're sure that in some cases the device differences are due to hardware limitations, but we're equally sure that in others the lack of features are not: if it's so hard to do turn-by-turn navigation on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, how come our TomTom app has done it for years?
Why can't the iPhone 4 do FaceTime over 3G, when it's fine with Wi-Fi?
Maybe Apple didn't feel the user experience was right, or maybe they felt their resources would be better spent on new goodies instead, but it's still frustrating to see your device denied some of iOS's more useful features.

Verdict

We could say the same about iOS 6 as we did about iOS 5: it "has been trailed for so long that the element of surprise went ages ago, but there's enough here to make your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch feel shiny and new all over again." iOS 6 is rather like the iPhone 5 or Mountain Lion; the refinement of something that already works extremely well.

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