9/19/12
10:06 am

MacMost Now 763: iOS 6 First Look

Take a look at the new features of iOS 6. There is a new Maps app that includes flyover view and turn-by-turn spoken directions. There is better Facebook integration, new Safari features, a new Passbook app and a Do Not Disturb mode. You can also take panoramic images and create shared photo streams.

You can also watch this video at YouTube (but with ads).

Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost Now. On today's episode let's take a look at the new IOS 6.
So IOS 6 is new today for the iPhone, iPad and the iPod Touch. Now a lot of the new things that you have heard are coming with the iPhone 5 are actually just new features of IOS 6. But you can get them if you have an iPhone 4, 4S, or an iPad. Let's go and take a look at what some of these new features are. 
So one of the big new features is the replacement of the old Maps app which used Goggle Maps with a new one from Apple. You can see right away it looks a little different. The graphics and the colors are a little bit different but it works in generally the same way. You can move around, you can zoom in, you can look at different options here like showing traffic, you can switch to hybrid and satellite mode. So it works in a very similar way. You won't have to learn how to do anything new. One of the new things though is replacement of street view which allowed you to look at photos of different positions on the street with the idea of this flyover view. So with flyover you can zoom in and hit this button on the bottom right and now you get this kind of 3D views which take you into major cities and you can actually rotate around and you can see that the building are actually 3D models with texture applied to the sides. So you can actually zoom in pretty closely on the streets and fly through them.
You've also got turn-by-turn spoken directions so you can do directions like you did before. Choose a route. Then you can hit start. On an upcoming video I am going to show you how well these work with Siri too. You can actually basically do the entire thing hands free. You can ask Siri to take you to a location and then get voice directions from Siri for each turn until you get there never having to glance at your screen. 
Siri also has new functionality. For instance it can give you sports scores. "How did the Rockies do last night." Siri-"Okay sports fans let's take a look. The Rockies is on a 4 game losing streak right now." "Rats!"
Siri can also do something everybody has wanted for a while now which is to launch apps. So for instance "Open audible"
There is also FaceTime integration. Of course before you could have shared photos using the Facebook app and a variety of other apps. But now you can actually do it right in the Photos app right after taking a picture. You can share the Facebook very easily. The trick is, of course, having set up Facebook in your Preferences first.
Now in the Photos app you have the ability now to create new Photo Streams. Before you had your personal Photo Stream. Now you can actually hit the plus button there and you can share it and make it public. So you can have these shared photo streams or share it to a particular person.
Another big new features is the new app Passbook. In here now you can add various things like boarding passes, tickets, and store coupons. Now of course the company you are working with has to have support of Passbook and supposedly a lot are going to be doing that in the very near future.
FaceTime is another new feature of IOS 6. Not that FaceTime is new. It's not. But the ability to do it over cellular wireless networks is new. Now of course it depends on your carrier whether or not they allow you to do it. 
The Do Not Disturb is another cool new feature here. It is pretty basic. You turn it on and the phone won't ring, messages won't sound or light up the screen. In emergencies if someone tries to call you twice in a row very quickly it will ring through. You also can customize it by going into Notifications, Do Not Disturb and you can actually set a schedule for when it automatically goes on. So for instance have it set up for you nighttime or when you're busy. Also you can Allow Calls From a group that you set up and there is a function for having whether or not repeated calls will actually ring through. 
There also are a variety of options when you get a call. For instance you can have a button on the screen and it can send directly to voicemail. You can also set it to remind you later to call the person back or send them a text message in response to their phone call.
Safari has a few new tricks. For instance iCloud tab has now been synced with your Mac with Mountain Lion. Also in Reader, go into Reader and then you do the share button you can add it to your reading list and it will be available off-line as it is in Mountain Lion.
So another cool thing about the Safari app is now there is a full screen mode. If you go horizontal you get this little full screen button here on the bottom right hand corner and you go full screen and you can simple tap that again to have the top and bottom bars. 
One of my favorite new features is with the camera app. It works fine on my iPhone 4S even though it is shown as a feature of iPhone 5. It allows you to take panoramics very easily. In the camera app you can click the options button and then select panorama and then wave your phone vertically over a scene and you get a large image taken of that scene. So it can be way bigger than the 8 megapixels that the camera normally takes. You can take something that is a 20 megapixel picture of a whole area at 180 degrees.
One thing that is missing now from IOS 6 is the YouTube app. It was a default app since the very first iPhone but Apple and Goggle have been growing further and further apart and there was a licensing thing between Goggle and Apple for that app so now it is gone. YouTube works fine in Safari browser but there is also a third party YouTube app by Goggle that you can download from the App Store and you can see here it works pretty much the same way the old YouTube app did and perhaps with even more functionality now.
So IOS 6 works differently on your different devices. For instance on the iPad there is no Passbook app. That is strictly for the iPhone. Some older devices won't be able to upgrade to it. For iPhones you need the 3GS or newer to use IOS 6. The original iPad does not work with IOS 6. You can only use IOS 5 with that. But the iPad 2 and up does and iPod Touch 4th generation or 5th generation work with IOS 6 but again features may vary. For instance Siri is only available on the 4S and 5 on the iPhone and it's only available on the new iPad for iPads. So it depends on which one you've got as to which features you can use and exactly how it looks and works. For instance Safari is definitely different on the iPad than on the iPhone with tabs and more features and things like that.
I hope you found this useful. This is Gary with MacMost Now.

Comments: 39 Responses to “MacMost Now 763: iOS 6 First Look”

Ron

12 years ago

I did the update but i have no FaceTime app and can not figure out how to get it back. In setting it shows that it is turned on. Any ideas?

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

There is no FaceTime "app" -- it is just another way to make a call. Select a contact that has FaceTime ability (they have registered as a FaceTime account) and you get it as well as voice call, text message, etc.

Liana

12 years ago

My son had the same problem with his i-pod. He updated to iOS6 and now facetime, messages and i-Cloud are "gray" in the settings, (same with twitter and facebook, but we don't use them anyway). He can open "mail, contacts and calendars" but the accounts and fetch new data are "gray" in the next screen. Facetime and the camera are turned on in the restrictions field, and he is frustrated with why it is turned on but not allowed. They had been working prior to him updating to iOS6

Rachiel duenas

12 years ago

Everytime I try to update my new ipad and iphone 4g it keeps failing...Any suggestions?

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

1. Keep trying, or:
2. Try another method. Are you updating on the device? Then switch to updating by syncing to iTunes on your computer.

Rachiel duenas

12 years ago

Thanks gary i guess ill just try and try..seems very difficult to upgrade my friends suffer the same thing..:)

Tony

12 years ago

I have an iPad 2 and Siri is working, but do not get sound for turn by turn on the new imap, only instructions in a window.

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

I didn't think Siri would work at all on the iPad 2. Not surprised that voice directions aren't on the iPad 2. Do you have a wireless connection -- I think that is required (otherwise, how would you use it?)

Tony

12 years ago

Sorry I mean the new iPad wifi only and yes I am connected to a wireless conection model number 1416.

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

Do you have "wifi only" or a wireless mobile connection? (You say both). If wifi only I don't think you get this because how would you use it while driving?

randi hellman

12 years ago

downloaded new update and now cannot connect to itunes store from phone...any suggestions

P Crilley

12 years ago

I dont want to lose google maps street view, I am a customer do I have any say in this or is apple doing its usual thing, " tough our way or not at all"?

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

The license between Apple and Google expired. Don't just single out Apple -- Google is part of this too. I suspect that Apple needed to make this move to get turn-by-turn spoken directions into Maps, a feature that is very much needed for iOS to stay competitive. Try "flyover" -- you may find you like it.

Andrew

12 years ago

Think there is a bug with the do not disturb function (or I'm misunderstanding it). When I toggle it to on, but specify the hours to be between say 10pm and 6am, it still silences all messages and calls outside of those hours too. Is this a bug or am I misunderstanding how it should work. I have an iphone4

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

If you turn it on, it is on. If you turn it off, then you can set times for it to be on.

Andrew

12 years ago

Hi Gary - Oh now I get it, I turn it to off but set times for it to be on! Doh, feel a bit stupid now! Thank you!

Charlie White

12 years ago

After upgrading to IOS6, I cannot get a street level view from maps. Was this a feature eliminated?

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

Yes. It is a whole new Maps app, no longer Google. Instead of Street View, there is "flyover" mode. You can fly right into some streets.

G Tyler

12 years ago

The first iPad is nearly a year newer than the iPhone 3GS and yet iOS 6 doesn't run on it? I am very disappointed in that. Do you think there's any chance they'll add support for it later? Once updated apps start requiring IOS 6, people are going to be pretty upset.

John

12 years ago

That's highly unlikely as support for older products usually isn't a company's prerogative from a business viewpoint. I was surprised the 3GS even made the list of supported hardware.

G Tyler

12 years ago

That's part of my point. If they can get it to work on the 3GS then it should be easy to get it to work on the first generation iPad. I probably wouldn't be questioning it if the 3GS was incompatible.

G Tyler

12 years ago

Is there an iTunes section for Passport supported apps? The button on the iPhone rarely works. Maybe it's just load related now, but I still prefer to browse for new apps from home using iTunes. I'm also wondering if I will end up with a different app for each of my membership cards. That doesn't sound so fun. Can companies integrate with Passport without having to produce an app? I heard there would be a way for local restaurants to offer coupons through it by advertising to users that are in proximity.

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

The button worked for me. It just brings up a list of apps that can send things to Passbook. We'll just have to wait and see if they make this an iTunes app section and if companies can send things there without having an app. The feature is on 24 hours old, wait and see...

G Tyler

12 years ago

I read through the developer information on Passport and you can actually receive new passes via email. No apps are required. I predict that the stores will be sending emails shortly with virtual replacement loyalty cards. You can open the email on your Mac and it will put it in iCloud for your phone(s). It sounds like it will be pretty useful, but as you say - we need to wait and see.

12 years ago

I was having the issue posted on this site and the workaround fixed it. If that's what you're getting, you may want to try it.

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-apple-ios6-passbook-20120920,0,7377968.story

John

12 years ago

My biggest let down from this update is the maps app. In my region, it's far from accurate and locations and spots are missing. Hope Apple will be able to expand on it in the follow up update.

Russ

12 years ago

Thanks for the iOS 6 first look. Is there a YouTube app for the iPad? Currently, I have the iPhone version on my iPad. Sorry, if I missed something.

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

You are using the one and only app. Doesn't look too bad in 2X mode on the iPad. But Google has said they are working to either make it universal or have a separate iPad app. So we'll be on the lookout for that.

Rob

12 years ago

Hi Gary
Here's a weird one with IOS 6. I use my iPhone 4 in the car to listen to podcasts. Normally if I get a call, the podcast fades then pauses while the call is in progress, then when the call finishes the podcast starts playing again without my needing to press play. I updated yesterday and on the way home got a couple of calls. Both times the podcast didn't start playing again... weird. I had to manually press play. Anyone come across this?

Rob

Frank Erazo

12 years ago

Gary:

Great overview! I am a bit curious about iOS6 and the iPhone4. For example, the panoramic and Maps (voice by voice direction) do not work. I am pretty confident those two features are only available for 4S and above.

As for the Passbook, you mentioned that more is to come in the future with that, but is there anyone using that already - for example, Starbucks?

Thanks.

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

Right. You need Siri to do voice directions and Siri is iPhone 4S and 5. Panorama probably needs the faster processors. There are many companies using Passbook right out of the gate. Run it and then tap the App Store link at the bottom to see a list.

Frank Erazo

12 years ago

Hmmm...did exactly that and I'm always getting the "Cannot connect to iTunes Store". I click OK, and it then shows me the iTunes store. I'm on a 3G connection, so I'll have try it again from a WiFi.

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

Right. Seems to not be working at the moment. Expect an update soon.

12 years ago

See my first post above regarding getting the message "Cannot connect to iTunes Store." It seems to be a bug. [See link above]

Rachiel duenas

12 years ago

Will it be ok to update a jailbroken iphone 4 to ios 6?

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

Not sure it will update properly, and then not sure it will remain jailbroken when you update (pretty sure it won't).

HsusinH

12 years ago

I've just updated to IOS6 on my iPad 2. If using Google as the default search engine in Safari then the search is directed to Google HK and since that site is largely in Chinese characters it is very difficult to read. Before the update the search went through Google.com.

The iPad was originally bought in China but the region is set to UK and we've been using it with no problem for more than a year.

Using Bing or Yahoo as the default search engine works properly.

Nilesh

12 years ago

Hey Gary, The Podcast App says it can sync between devices, but it doesn't, do you know how?

Gary Rosenzweig

12 years ago

Did you turn on "Sync Subscriptions" in the settings? On both of your iOS devices?

Comments Closed.

MacMost Now 763: iOS 6 First Look

Comments: 39 Responses to “MacMost Now 763: iOS 6 First Look”

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