back to article Apple iOS 6 review

OK, so when iOS 6 arrives in an hour or so, you'll rush to download it no matter what. You may as well, it's free, especially if you're not using any old apps that might warrant compatibility fears. Apple has promised the new operating system delivers more than 200 new features, but the vast majority of those aren't user- …

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  1. HMB

    Mutual Benefit

    Nice to see iOS get a feature to allow a text reply to a call without answering, like Android has. Now I want to see Android get a Do Not Disturb feature. :)

    1. Fuzz

      Re: Mutual Benefit

      I can't believe these kinds of features are only just being implemented on modern smartphones.

      I'm pretty sure the auto reply with text feature was available on my Ericsson T28 if not it was definitely on the T39.

      The Do not disturb feature used to be part of Windows mobile you could set the phone to switch to your meeting profile when your calendar showed you as busy. Of course this feature (along with almost everything else) went missing in WP7.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Mutual Benefit

        Nokia's had this for a while in some Symbian phones (not all).

      2. steogede

        Re: Re: Mutual Benefit

        >> I can't believe these kinds of features are only just being implemented on modern smartphones.

        Samsung TouchWiz has had this for a while now.

        >> I'm pretty sure the auto reply with text feature was available on my Ericsson T28 if not it was definitely on the T39.

        I don't remember it on the T28 - never had a T39 so I couldn't say.

      3. Mike 102
        Thumb Up

        Re: Mutual Benefit

        Not on the T28 http://www.lokety.com/ericsson_t28s_manual.pdf

        that was my favourite phone though. could stand up to being thrown around, dropped, super slim, long battery...

        couldn't browse the internet, read email, check the weather, play any decent games, but I loved mine.

        Don't think it was in the T39 either

        https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxlcmljc3NvbnQzOW18Z3g6NjViZGJlOWIwMjBkNDMz

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sort of makes the iPhone 5 redundant if you have an iPhone 4s, not sure about the maps though unless Apple intend to offer advertising to businesses?

      Google maps appear far superior.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I waited almost 9 months

      For ICS, it took Apple a week or so from announcing iOS 6 to being able to update.

      Now that's what I call speed.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        Re: I waited almost 9 months

        Then buy a Nexus, idiot.....

        It's Apple-like upgrade experience.....

        1. gisabsr

          Re: I waited almost 9 months

          Unless you buy your nexus from one of the many operators that install their own firmware on the things, or Samsung's superspecial Yakjuxw, rather than Google's own Yakju, in which you might still be waiting.

          Of course, you could root the thing yourself, unlock the bootloader and change it to Yakju, but that rather defeats the point for 'normal', i.e., the majority of phone purchasers, no?

          And idiot? That special condescension app that comes with Android phones seems to be getting a real workout today, eh?

      2. Craigness

        Re: I waited almost 9 months

        Did you have to upgrade your operating system just to get the latest version of the maps or email app, etc? I'm still on gingerbread but have all the latest stuff that I want and when ICS is announced for this phone it will be a lot less than 9 months to wait.

        Ios 6 was announced months ago. They've spent a lot time getting it ready for specific devices, just like android OEMs do.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I waited almost 9 months

          "Ios 6 was announced months ago. They've spent a lot time getting it ready for specific devices, just like android OEMs do."

          Nope. iOS 6 was in beta and announced so that 3rd party developers could support it. Once it's out of beta, it will be available to everybody.

          In contrast, when Google is done testing an OS and releases it, THEN you can start waiting for OEMs to do their testing.

          It's a whole extra step.

          1. Mike Judge
            FAIL

            Re: I waited almost 9 months

            It's not a whole extra step, you have been fooled by clever marketing.

            Apple can announce and not have to deliver for 6 months, yet when Android users have to wait 6 months, that's a different matter apparently...

      3. Law
        Happy

        Re: I waited almost 9 months

        Just like the other guys suggest, nexus will get you the latest on the day providing your hardware supports it. Unfortunally its closer to iPhone prices too when sim free.

        Besides, iOS 5 to 6 was more like a service pack, where as gingerbread to ICS was a real os update.

        Having said that, my ICS xperia S is feeling very clunky now when compared to much smoother jelly bean on my nexus 7, so I'll probably pay the extra next time and get a sim free nexus instead of a free phone with contract renewal.

        1. Clark Nova

          @Law - Re: I waited almost 9 months

          You might be in luck. The AOSP (android open source project) are adding (experimental) support for the xperia S:

          http://www.xda-developers.com/android/sony-xperia-s-added-to-aosp-as-experimental-device/

          And Sony appears to be playing ball:

          http://www.xda-developers.com/android/sony-releases-xperia-s-binaries-for-aosp-support/

          So it's possible that the next android release will run directly on your current phone...

      4. Wize

        Re: I waited almost 9 months

        "...it took Apple a week or so from announcing iOS 6 to being able to update."

        Big difference between announcing to the public and working on it behind closed doors.

        Do you really thing they are releasing something that's been knocked together in a week (including testing?)

    4. Velv
      Devil

      Re: Mutual Benefit

      Do not Disturb on a timer. My Nokia had that a few years ago

      Have Apple copied Nokia?

      Lawsuit?

      1. Julian 3
        Mushroom

        Re: Mutual Benefit

        Apple will probably sue Nokia now claiming they patented it 9 years ago!

      2. ZillaOfManilla

        Re: Mutual Benefit

        Timeriffic, SemiSilent & Shush! Offer the same functionality on Android if you want it. I have been using them for ages now.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Mutual Benefit

      You know as well as I do that its perfectly fine for apple to copy other peoples innovations, but its absolutely evil if anyone else copies an obvious feature that appeared on apple first ;)

    6. Bad Beaver
      Facepalm

      Re: Mutual Benefit

      Don't tell me Android cannot do proper profiles either? I knew the fruit could not but the 'droid too? Oh my.

      My Nokias (both Symbian and MeegGo) know what time it is, how much power they have, where they are (by oodels of sources including cell-id, WLAN, NFC, BT…) and have apps that make them act accordingly in all sorts of ways. I never really change settings manually anymore. Very useful.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Mutual Benefit

        I think tasker on android does pretty much everything you'd want - and probably a lot more - (though it is a paid add on).

        1. John H Woods

          Re: Mutual Benefit

          +1 for Tasker. It's not expensive and it can do all sorts of clever things, e.g. direct phone calls from certain people direct to voicemail when you are in a given location; prevent the screen locking when headphones are plugged in but lock asap when they are removed, only poll for wifi when you are specific locations etc.

    7. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Mutual Benefit

      I'm running Cyanogenmod 10 on an HTC One X and I have a sort of Do Not Disturb (although they call it Quiet Hours - under Settings -> Sound -> Quiet Hours) - not sure if it works for calls, but it mutes notifications etc.

    8. vic 4
      Go

      Re: Do Not Disturb feature

      Nothing in android stopping a third party app doing that. I've got one installed to ignore calls/texts from a blacklist. I've sure there is bound to be loads in the store, just can't be bothered to look. If not let me know how much you want to pay and I may write one.

  2. JDX Gold badge

    Upgrade or wait?

    I have an iPad 2 but never upgraded the OS. Is it generally better to wait a while in case of bugs, or does iOS not normally suffer that kind of syndrome?

    1. Scott 2
      WTF?

      Re: Upgrade or wait?

      Really? Downvotes?

      Unless they're in answer to his question (in which case fair enough, kinda), then that is utterly pathetic fanboi crap. Seriously, iOS has bugs, like any other OS - yes including OSX.

      Maybe I should make a post saying I prefer pears as they're generally jucier and taste better.

      1. Shaun 1
        Joke

        Re: Upgrade or wait?

        Downvoted because I don't like the taste of pears...

    2. Dante

      Re: Upgrade or wait?

      Always better to wait to update. No matter which device or provider.

    3. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Upgrade or wait?

      JDX,

      I'd wait to update if I were you. Not long, but just to see if there is anything major out there.

      It took Apple ages to fix the WiFi problem on the original iPad, it kept disconnecting itself from the network and I had to give it a fixed IP address to make it work even vaguely properly. Then when iOS 4 finally came to the iPad 1, about 6 months after the iPhone got it, they resurrected a similar bug. Which they fixed pretty speedily this time, to be fair.

      I'm tempted never to upgrade again. Because they only gave the iPad 1 half the RAM of the iPhone 4, I don't think it ever worked as well once it was 'upgraded' from iOS 3. It always seemed just that little bit slower. Mostly it would work perfectly, but every so often you'd get an annoying stuttery lag, and I had to start rebooting it weekly (not a major pain admittedly). It makes me wonder if I should leave the iPad 3 well alone.

      1. MGJ
        Go

        Re: Upgrade or wait?

        One thing to watch for; if you have your music compressed on your phone but not your PC, previous updates would fail as they tried to restore the uncompressed music and then failed when they ran out of space.

        Also, my 3GS doesnt currently have turn-by-turn navigation in Maps; isnt that one of the main features added by this upgrade (and therefore worth doing?)

      2. micheal
        Joke

        Re: Upgrade or wait?

        Not sure half of the 32Gb i-phone 4 is less than half the 32Gb ipad 1

        else yes, I agree

        1. Andrew Hodgkinson
          FAIL

          Re: Upgrade or wait?

          Memory is not the same as storage space. The iPad 1 didn't have much RAM, forcing it to swap to Flash much more when iOS was upgraded. The speed impact could be quite dramatic at times.

          1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
            Happy

            Re: Upgrade or wait?

            I actually typed 'memory', then erased it and stuck in 'RAM' to avoid confusion. Or so I hoped... But then the use of a Joke Alert icon has me confused as to whether the poster is in fact aware of the difference between memory and storage, or not.

            I'm all confused. Insufficient memory error: Reboot head.

  3. djstardust
    FAIL

    Only for some though .....

    My very expensive ipad 1g 64gb with 3G won't get this update. Technically possible (as the iphone 3gs with the same hardware gets it) but Apple want me to spend £700 all over again.

    Screw them, they think of their cash mountain and shareholders before their long term customers!

    1. ThomH

      Re: Only for some though .....

      The 3GS version of iOS 6 is an awful experience. Though arguing that you're better off not using it hardly seems to make up for the fact that you don't have a choice.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Only for some though .....

        What BS - installed it in 20 minutes and it's faster.

    2. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Only for some though .....

      I'm sorry did they tell you iOS5 was going to stop working?

    3. MechaNikos

      Re: Only for some though .....

      The iPad (1) has the same A4 CPU as the iPhone 4, but suffers from having only 256MB of RAM. Running iOS 6 on it would probably render it slower than a drunk slug with a limp. iPhone 3GS on the other hand, has the same 256MB of RAM with a much slower CPU, but drives a much smaller screen.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Re: Only for some though .....

      Then spend the money on Apple shares instead!!!

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Only for some though .....

      My very expensive ipad 1g 64gb with 3G won't get this update. Technically possible (as the iphone 3gs with the same hardware gets it) but Apple want me to spend £700 all over again.

      Screw them, they think of their cash mountain and shareholders before their long term customers!

      --------------

      That's it you tell Apple where to stick it. Your next purchase should be an Android tablet. It'll probably come with honeycomb or ice cream sandwich, but don't worry Jellybean _IS_ coming!!!!!

      And don't give me crap about jailbreaking the tablet to install a custom ROM

    6. John Robson Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Only for some though .....

      You're not a long term customer - you're a one off customer.

      A long term customer would have upgraded each year....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Devil

        @John Robson: Re: Only for some though .....

        Not necessarily. A long term customer would upgrade where it is sensible to. A fanboi would upgrade for the sake of upgrading and having the latest shiny-shiny.

  4. djstardust

    Fair comment, but iOS5 has made my ipad all sluggish and sloe (as many others have reported) so it's actually worse than when I bought it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sloe ?

      > has made my ipad all sluggish and sloe

      That's a completely different kind of fruit (related to the plum).

      1. PJI

        Re: Sloe ?

        Ah, time to make some more Sloe Gin. Winter is not all bad.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    DND silences incoming calls, either while its switched on or at specific times

    I have been waiting for this for about 9 years, ever since my Nokia 6310i gave up the ghost.

    It' useful for teachers and other people who just can't have their phone disturb them during the day; with the switch on the side, sometimes you can forget you put the phone on mute ages ago.

    I'd like to see a "battery saving mode" which switches off Location Services, 3G, Bluetooth etc. - rather than having to manually adjust all the settings when you're away from home and realise you are about to run out of battery with no way to charge the phone.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: DND silences incoming calls, either while its switched on or at specific times

      Isnt there a 'Llama' or something similar in the AppStore to do all that you have asked for and much more?

      Shocking, if there isnt.

    2. Chris 171

      Re: DND silences incoming calls, either while its switched on or at specific times

      re Battery save mode, Symbian does exactly that.

      Even the fanbois are struggling to shout about the new iphine and its joyous software.

      The market is changing it would appear.

      Good.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: DND silences incoming calls, either while its switched on or at specific times

        Nokia killed Symbian - so has Windows 8 phone got this feature ?

      2. Heathroi
        Pint

        Re: DND silences incoming calls, either while its switched on or at specific times

        well even God rested on the seventh day. ( and there my metaphor crashes because apple is only up to 6)

        beer. because.

  6. Benny
    Thumb Down

    Cloudy Maps

    The other issue with Apples maps compared to Googles maps, is that the satellite view for where I live now has a load of clouds obscuring large parts...eg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6036078/thecloud.png

    1. mafoo
      Devil

      Re: Cloudy Maps

      Maybe thats from the "Cannabis Clinics" points of interest, listed just under "Candy Stores"

      Seriously.

    2. Heathroi
      Meh

      Re: Cloudy Maps

      that's Apple's icloud. They thought you might like to your stuff in it.

    3. Thumbs
      Unhappy

      Re: Cloudy Maps

      I have a plane over mine :-\

  7. uhuznaa

    Not that useful on a 4

    You get hardly any of the new features (no turn-by-turn, no 3D maps, no Siri, no panorama cam) but Google Maps and with it Street View will be gone for good.

    This is poor, especially since at least navigation and Siri should work just fine on it.

    1. A. Nervosa
      FAIL

      Standards

      Notice, though, that this didn't stop The Register writing a 'review' of iOS 6 used on a device that isn't even capable of demonstrating many of the features that said iOS delivers?

      Seriously, Reg, what kind of shit article is this? If you're going to try objectively report on iOS 6, put your hands in your pockets and buy your staff a phone capable of running it. Either that or spin this god awful excuse for a 'review' into a massive slag off piece about why Apple chose not to implement half the features on the iPhone 4.

      Grow some teeth, pick a side and run with it but stop putting up these useless reviews.

    2. TheOtherHobbes

      Re: Not that useful on a 4

      The new version of Maps is utter pants anyway.

      I regularly use Goog Maps on my i4 as a mini GPS. I don't care about turn by turn - I just want a good map with a shiny blue dot on it.

      Maps is not a good map. Rural A roads and smaller aren't numbered. They're not even named correctly. Only dual carriageways get proper numbers.

      There are also really bad, really obvious mistakes. One village near me is in completely the wrong place. If you try to route to it you - quite literally - end up half way up a hill in the middle of nowhere.

      I don't mind Apple getting rid of Goog maps. But this version of Apple Maps is nowhere close to being fit fo purpose. And really, when you're the biggest corp in the world, how hard is it to check these things and get them right?

      Once the punters try it, I predict more bad PR for Apple.

      1. peter_dtm
        Go

        Re: Not that useful on a 4

        try NavFree it's free and works like a high end gps

        or in the uk Outside - Ordanace Survey based ( and you can download the maps so no need for 3G data)

        1. badmonkey
          Stop

          Re: Not that useful on a 4

          NavFree on Android is riddled with shitty internet dating ads.

          It also doesn't do offline search or navigation, so wtf is the point as a replacement to Google Maps? Idiotic.

        2. Wam

          Re: Not that useful on a 4

          Yes - NavFree is pretty useful, even on Android, if you're abroad and don't want roaming data costs.

      2. Jon B

        Re: Not that useful on a 4

        It's obviously a purely business decision, rather than wanting to provide a better user experience.

      3. h4rm0ny

        Re: Not that useful on a 4

        This might be a stupid question but I can't work it out from comments or the article. Can you still use the Google maps on iOS6? I presume you can still access the online version. Is it possible that Google will release an App that provides it in a more useful format and / or other app writers can use Google maps instead of the Apple maps?

        1. JC_

          @h4rm0ny

          My guess is that Apple would use the excuse of "duplicate functionality" to forbid a Google maps app.

      4. TheOtherHobbes

        Re: Not that useful on a 4

        And here we go. From the BBC:

        New Apple maps app under fire from users

    3. h4rm0ny

      Re: Not that useful on a 4

      The iPhone4 came out two years ago, though. Is it reasonable to ask that devices always be built with hardware capabilities two years ahead of current needs? Is the expectation that hardware development should always be ahead of software development? Do you expect the OS writers to say 'this hardware they've given us, we shouldn't use it to its full capabilities so that when we release a new version two years from now, it will still run on this hardware." Is that coherent?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Based on the bulk of the review,

    it seems that most of the improvements are in Apps rather than the OS.

    The OS is the stuff that enables the Apps to function, not the functionality of the Apps.

    Maybe there is a big difference between iOS5.1.1 and iOS6, but this article doesn't give us any clue about what that OS difference is.

    Please let us know if you have info on that.

    1. ThomH

      Re: Based on the bulk of the review,

      There are a bunch of new APIs under the cover. None of it is earth shattering and significant parts of it are more to do with offering centralised and properly updated support for things you could have achieved by other means (eg, the Facebook integration, the helping hands for UI state preservation and the new constraints-based layout framework, the latter being no doubt to enable iPhone 5 support) but there's quite a lot there nevertheless.

      In the world where Chrome is on version 21, Firefox is on version 15, etc, I don't per se see anything wrong with incrementing the version number just for significant internal changes but I think your main point is correct — if this is of interest to you at all will mainly hinge on what you think of the app updates.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Based on the bulk of the review,

        Thanks ThomH, that's quite a helpful insight. I guess that whether it should be labelled iOS5.2 or iOS6 has as much to do with Apple wanting a "New" iOS for the iPhone 5 as their software release and QA process.

        I've been trying to figure if I should upgrade: The leap from iOS5.x to iOS6.x suggested some significant core improvements or security enhancements. But, since the changes to the Apps don't do much for me personally, I think I'll hold off until maybe there is a security fix required or other significant core change.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What an ugly outdated GUI !

    I'm sorry but that interface looks so exhuasted and outdated it's embarrassing. It would have looked cool and hip in the 90's/00's but ffs, haven't we moved on since then?

    Say what you want about Windows Phone (and yes I own one), but at least I've got a phone that has the balls to do something different. This phone has just got 'Footloose' written all over it (original film, not the remake) - I.e, bad hair styles, crap music, shite dancing (when looked at from a 2012 perspective).

    Apple, time for a reboot?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You've put your finger on it!

      THAT'S what's bugging me about the look of iPhones - the interface looks way too much like the ORIGINAL OS-X, from way back in 2001! Dated dated dated... :-(

    2. Mark Wilson
      Thumb Up

      Re: What an ugly outdated GUI !

      Totally agree, the fact they are just dumb icons too, why? I have an iPhone 4 and after trying my wife's Nokia with Windows Phone 7.5, I really feel like my phone is second best despite being 3-4 times the price.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Re: What an ugly outdated GUI !

      Say what you want about Windows Phone (and yes I own one),

      Oh you poor man I feel so sorry for you

  10. Steve Knox
    Joke

    First Maps Pic

    should read "Just a stone's throw away!"

  11. Tom 35

    Passbook - and that may yet prove a damp squib.

    It has to be universal before everyone will invest time and effort to support it. If it's just Apple it will be very limited.

    I expect Apple will throw some money at a few companies to support it.

  12. Glostermeteor

    Are widgets patented to Android only? if not I am very suprised IOS STILL does not have them. Android is light years ahead of iOS in terms of user configurability and experience.

    1. ThomH

      Apple prefers to put the information that it expects people might want into the notification area — so in there you get weather, stocks, a summary of your inbox, your Twitter activity, etc. Third party apps are restricted to posting text summaries but otherwise put whatever you want in there. So it's not that iOS still doesn't have them, it's that Apple has chosen to implement something else instead.

      If you look at the history of widgets elsewhere — banished from Windows, ignored in OS X, the related clutter a driving force behind the average user's preference for search engines over web portals — you can sort of understand that position, even if you're part of the large group of people that don't agree with it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Android puts new information (new messages, etc.) into the notification area too. But that's not quite the same as being able to put live information direct onto my home screen, like financial prices, task list, sports results, etc. - these things you don't want notifications for, you want to be able to pick up your phone and see them at a glance. Windows phone has live tiles, which seem to be somewhat similar in that they can be made bigger or smaller and display live info.

        I think you'll find that when Apple to eventually add this (and they will), it'll suddenly go from being that thing that nobody really wants or needs to being an essential life-changing experience that you simply cannot do without.

        1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

          In moving from Android to Win Pho, widgets, and the control of the home screens is the one thing I really miss. I can't complain, because one of the reasons I moved is that I wanted a simpler OS - I want a phone with a great address book, that also does computery things, not a mobile computer. I'd be even less happy with an iPhone. And Win Pho 8 looks to be copying some of the widget goodness from Google - which is all to the good.

          I don't really understand people saying they don't like widgets because it makes the home screen look cluttered. But the strength of Android is that it accommodates them as well. The ability to ruin the designers' idea of uncluttered elegance is what makes widgets so great. Sure Google, Apple or MS may not think that being able to change screen brightness from the home screen is important, but they're wrong! Phone screens are still crap in sunlight, and you have to dial the brightness to max, but with Android I could leave it low in side, and know I only had to hit one button to make the phone usable outside. So my Android had a bar that allowed me to change brightness, turn on the satnav and turn off mobile data. I could also leave a gap where I swiped my finger down to open the notification area, and avoid accidental presses

          In my case, it's not so much the email type widgets (I'll use the full app), as the phone control ones. Though on a tablet I'd love both. But Android is streets ahead, because it puts the customer in control. MS are catching up, but Apple seem to have made very little improvement. And the notification area becomes totally pointless once you've got more than a handful of updates, because it's then just a big old scrolly list, and no use to just glance at.

        2. ThomH

          @cap'n

          Apple puts live information into its notification area, not merely new messages. So, for example, the topmost thing by default is a five-day graphical weather forecast, which is updated live.

          Apple's notification area also lists new information as per its Android inspiration but it goes further. It's not merely posting notifications for weather, stocks, etc.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        ah yes, the notification area that was blatantly copied from android....

    2. squilookle

      Looking at the screen shots in the article, much of IOS, especially the grid of icons and the buttons for call handling look really dated to me. I don't think it is a particularly nice looking bit of design.

      However, I'm a happy Android user and I'll defend Apples decision not to have widgets - I only have a few icons for things I launch often on my home screen because the widgets don't have a uniformed look and I feel my home screen looks cluttered with them on. The only exception is the power options widget which I have on the second screen to the left, so I can just swipe left and change the screen brightness, etc.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is it just me..

    ...or does the iOS 6 App Store bear a canny resemblance to the Google Play Store.

    1. Chris 171
      Joke

      Re: Is it just me..

      I don't know, I didn't go into app store.

      /PF

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Google maps

    In Safari go to http://maps.google.co.uk/ and create a homescreen icon for it. Enable Location Services for Safari, if not already, and you can then use your new icon for Google Maps. It's not as slick as the original dedicated app but it's got the all-important detail and can route, etc.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    WARNING : Siri is sick

    I just upgraded my 4S and poor old Siri no longer sounds anywhere near as clear as before... perhaps they only tested the US female voice, the UK male voice sounds more like Stephen Hawking's machine after the upgrade.

    I synced my phone before upgrading, now to work out how to revert...

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    >UK male voice sounds more like Stephen Hawking's machine after the upgrade.

    It was like this for a while during beta with US siri, the hq voice returned only recently. The speech is streamed from NV - my guess would be they are working on cache for UK language and are thinking of the Eskimos. Either way it will be fixed without requiring an OS update.

  17. Steve Evans
    Headmaster

    COME HERE BOY...

    "It's satellite snaps seem more detailed"

    Tut tut tut...

    1. JeffyPooh
      Pint

      Re: COME HERE BOY...

      Well done sir. Its * a damn shame people get it wrong. (*sic)

  18. JeffyPooh
    Pint

    Google Map app

    Wasn't Google Map supposed to reappear as a stand-alone app?

  19. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

    3GS Speed Up

    I installed iOS 6 on my 3GS last night. It seems to have restored some of the speed back to the phone. The user interface is much more responsive.

  20. A Non e-mouse Silver badge
    Flame

    Bring back the Moderatrix

    Can the Moderatrix please come back ? It's getting rather tiring to read the comments on Android & Apple stories just to see most of them are of the ilk "My Toy/Tool/Gadet/etc is bigger/better/etc than yours" or "Company X did this centurys before company Y"

  21. corcoran

    Will I still get audible text alerts in my ear while I'm on the phone? I'M BETTING SODDING YES.

  22. b0ned0me

    Interesting set of comments...

    Half of them are moaning about how the UI is 'dated' and Apple should focus on making it more snazzy and whizzy like android

    The other half are moaning about how both android and iOS are only now getting round to implementing useful functionality that feature phones had implemented a decade ago

    Clearly Form Vs Function is still a challenge for everyone

  23. measmyself
    FAIL

    Aren't these pretty much a bunch of app updates all released on the same day?

    Android users get things like this added as the apps are updated (except the DND settings). But things like the facebook integration or any other integration all come when you install a new app such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype.

    Browser sync and stuff comes with Chrome or Dolphin browser install.

  24. Eddie Edwards
    Pint

    Places of Interest

    Let me tell you about the evening me & my mate Dave decided to use the Google Maps app to try and find a Karaoke bar in central London.

    We walked 10 minutes to a Karaoke bar which was boarded up, another 15 minutes to a Karaoke bar that wasn't open that night, and eventually ended up 15 minutes later in a gay bar where a couple of straight men were *not* welcome. And it wasn't Karaoke night anyway.

    We would have done better getting pissed where we were and then walking the streets singing Delilah at the top of our voices. (Maybe Siri would have suggested that.)

    So yeah, POI databases - don't really care about the size. Large doesn't mean useful, and may mean the opposite.

  25. CaptainBlue
    Thumb Up

    Bluetooth

    Finally they've moved Bluetooth on/off to the main Settings list rather than yet another touch below.

  26. Alistair MacRae

    Can you keep google maps still?

    I don't want to upgrade and lose it. I find the street view and lots of points of interest very useful.

    Can you have both apps?

  27. Kingprawn
    FAIL

    Going back

    Upgrade my 4 to iOS6 last night and I'll be restoring a backup as the new Maps suck! Though it won't be long before I jump ship to another phone as Apple really seem to have lost the plot. They've spent more time building a higher ring fence with the maps, and YouTube removal, without adding anything worthwhile for the users (you know Apple the people that pay your wages).

    1. Wibble
      Unhappy

      Re: Going back

      How can one 'backgrade'?

      Like a prat I updated my iPhone 4 and now really regret it. How can one backgrade to the previous version?

      1. Wibble

        Re: Going back

        I've found this link on the Apple site. Wonder how long that will remain!

        1. Wibble
          Windows

          Re: Going back

          Arse. Restored the iPhone to 5.1.1 then tried to recover from the backup... alas this is "incompatible with the old version of the software". I don't have a TM backup to hand, so I'll have to restore it to iOS 6(.6.6) and re-try this later.

          Key to this is getting the "iPhone3,1_5.1.1_9B206_Restore.ipsw" file from Apple.

          Apple's going off the boil IMHO.

        2. Kingprawn

          Re: Going back

          Cheers @Wibble I had to do this when I upgraded to iOS5 as the processes bricked my phone. I really should have learnt then to jump from the Apple burning ship. :o)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Going back

      You don't pay their wages. Don't for one minute think you do.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Safari's new browser tab sync feature

    So I'm browsing an "artistic" site on my iphone and that tab now cloud syncs to my ipad which my wife is using.

    Imagine how much I'll love that new feature.

    (Anonymous just incase it's doing it already.)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Safari's new browser tab sync feature

      Then switch cloud synchronisation off. Simple.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's all the same

    Android devices may not be on the latest OS but run (practically) everything.

    Apple handsets are on the latest OS, yet you need the latest device to get all the features???

  30. irksum
    Alert

    Wonder if they've fixed that email bug...

    ...you know, the one where you have an email in the Drafts folder, you open it and press Send, but a random email-server authentication error occurs and the email isn't sent, and has disappeared from Drafts and is nowhere to be seen in the Outbox. So you have to retype the email all over again.

    First found that bug in iOS3, still hasnt' been fixed in 5...

  31. Doctor Tarr

    iOS Updates

    It’s great that Apple provide these updates quickly and for free but if I was happily using Google Maps on my iphone (I don’t own one by the way) and I upgraded to iOS6 would the Google app get removed? What about all my saved settings? Can you get Google Maps separately? Is this the same for all apps in an upgrade where Apple chose to provide their own version?

    What’s the behaviour like on Andriod; I’ve never felt the need to upgrade mine?

    It seems a bit off to me that you may have paid for an app that you can no longer use because the handset manufacturer decided they wanted you to use their version.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iOS Updates

      It's effectively removed as the 'maps' application is now using Apple's maps instead.

      You can still use Google Maps from a browser.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I reckon Android will lose users to Windows Phone much more than iOS users to Windows Phone.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Doubt it. Windows Phone is closer to the iOS model. One interface common across all devices, tightly controlled/integrated hardware and software.

      Android has very low spec devices with huge variations in hardware. You can call this choice, I call it a mess.

    2. ThomH

      If that's true it'll be because Microsoft will supply its OS to anyone that wants to buy it and bundle it onto a phone, exactly like Google. So if WP8 were to start picking up steam then the sales people at Microsoft will be chasing Google's immediate customers, which should manifest itself as a benefit to end customers through market competition and diversity, and lead to WP8 being in a similar price bracket to Android.

      Conversely the marketing support for iOS is locked in.

  33. Zot
    Mushroom

    The Apps store's "More Reviews..." button is now completely broken!

    Even when there's potentially hundreds of reviews, you can only see 4 or 5.

    That's a really easy bug to spot in the general testing of operations. It's very visible, and they fucked it up.

    The QA dept. needs to be given a good kick in the tick-box for missing that one.

    1. Zot
      Thumb Up

      Re: The Apps store's "More Reviews..." button is now completely broken!

      As soon as I posted that, which was a problem reported a lot, it's now been fixed their end. Huzzah!

  34. Dana W

    I'm ok with it.

    Just tested the turn by turn spoken navigation. It works very well.

    So far I'm liking it fine. "Except the but tickets here button."

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    'Especially when the iPhone gets NFC as it almost certainly will next year. By then sellers will be not only supporting Passbook, but will have begun building an NFC service infrastructure the iPhone can use.'

    So Apple are going to sell an NFC iPhone next year (which, by the way, there is absolutely no indication of let alone it being 'almost certain') knowing that the infrastructure won't be there yet, but it will be once loads of people have bought NFC-equipped iPhones (which they initially won't be able to be use the NFC in very much) and that encourages businesses to actually install NFC equipment, so that maybe six months after buying the phone, people can finally actually use this new feature that's actually been around for ages but nobody gave a crap about because it's a solution in search of a problem.

    Are you really running that as an argument? Really? What incentive does Apple have to design & manufacture something into the iPhone design to support an infrastructure that isn't widespread and that they will make no money off but will make a lot of money for other people? And what incentive will there be for people to buy these new NFC'ed iPhones, purely on the promise that at some point in the future they'll possibly be able to use this new feature to do some things they don't find a particularly inconvenient process without the new fangled tech anyway?

    I mean, what? Do you own shares in NFC chip makers or something?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      ".... support an infrastructure that isn't widespread...."

      Maybe on your planet. Here on Earth NFC terminals for payments by bonk are springing up everywhere!

      And don't forget, NFC isn't just for payments. Get a SGIII and find out what Apple will be copying, or at least catching up with.

      1. Doogie1
        Facepalm

        "And don't forget, NFC isn't just for payments. Get a SGIII and find out what Apple will be copying"

        What? All the data off of your S3?

        http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/21/android_nfc/

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iOShite6 + idiotPhone5 = Not worth a penny.

    Have you noticed, even Apple marketing wuoldn't use "Magical/Revolutionary" this time round?

    They know its rubbish!

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    100m+ downloads of iOS 6 in the first weekend alone is a pretty decent indicator of how many iOS devices are actually in use - at least an ageing 3GS can take iOS 6 (albeit with a few features unavailable).

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