The iOS 6 Review: Maps Thoroughly Investigated and More
by Brian Klug & Saumitra Bhagwat on September 19, 2012 2:21 PM ESTNew iCloud Features
Since iCloud made its debut last year alongside iOS 5 and OS X Lion, it has matured as a truly integrated service and has been at the center of Apple’s cloud strategy. With iCloud deeply integrated with iOS and OS X, it evident that Apple is using the service to keep users happy and stuck within Apple's own ecosystem. Good iCloud integration gives users a reason to buy tablets, notebooks and phones all from Apple, instead of picking and choosing from different vendors.
iCloud itself cannot be regarded as a new feature in iOS anymore as it its already been deeply embedded into the OS since iOS 5. There are however some new features that rely on the iCloud backend, such as iCloud tabs, offline reading list and Shared Photo Streams. Other features such as Facebook integration also leverage iCloud to keep contact lists and calendar events in sync. In conjunction with the iOS 6 release, Apple has also added new apps to iCloud.com, namely, Notes and Reminders. Other apps such a Mail, Calendar and Contacts have also been refreshed to blur the line between their iOS and OS X counterparts.
iCloud tabs lets you view your open tabs on your iOS 6 devices and Macs running Mountain Lion. The feature works as advertised, and the update speed across devices is quite impressive. This is a huge boon to the tablet usage model as it allows you to quickly switch between being productive on a notebook and relaxing content consumption on your tablet. Gone are the days when you need to email yourself links to your iPad to continue browsing what you had open on your Mac. This is also a big feature for keeping users using Safari on the Mac instead of migrating to alternate browsers like Chrome.
Safari on iOS also adds support for offline reading list, so you can cache pages for offline viewing later. These also get synced across devices almost in real time and at an impressive speed. If you’ve ever had to live through the nightmare that was MobileMe, you will truly appreciate the speed and reliability offered by apps and features that use iCloud.
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snoozemode - Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - link
With the increasingly more powerful hardware that runs Ipad and Iphone it only seems like a question of when, we will se Ipads and Iphones running OSX with something like a device-dependent skin and some under-hood tuning to fit the device. IOS feels aged in many ways and a merge in to something new seems natural.solipsism - Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - link
iOS is OS X. The took Mac OS X, brought down to it's core elements and built up iOS from that. At one point Apple advertised it as OS X Leopard and OS X Phone; I think at MacWorld 2008.You won't see the Aqua GUi, printer drivers, etc. on iOS because it doesn't make any sense. There is no advantage to have a user plug a mouse into their iPhone so they can navigate with a pointer. The UI was designed for touch. Why even consider scrapping that?
dcollins - Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - link
You obviously don't use the Mail App with Exchange. It still needs some work. My users have huge numbers of heavily nested folders (100s of folders, up to 5 levels deep) that they use to organize emails. When synced with Exchange, App pulls the entire list of folders and displays them fully expanded; you cannot hide/minimize nested folders! You cannot rearrange folders and moving emails between them is clunky at best.With more and more business users relying on iPhones for work, I would like to see a slew of improvements made to Mail's Exchange support.
robinthakur - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
I agree upto a point. Our advice to users is not to nest folders and store the emails to SharePoint, as well as minimise folders. This seems to trip up alot of devices though to be fair, which seem to have problems with Folders in Exchange. Being able to set Out of Office through the mail.app would be a go send also.dsumanik - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
or apple could just add collapsable folders.lol
yet another apple ifail
Stas - Sunday, September 23, 2012 - link
Give them a break. They have to invent them first.randomlinh - Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - link
"For now the sacrifice seems worth it as the payoff is something that works very well, but I worry about what happens down the road if you're forced to buy a device not because it's the best device for you, but because buying an alternative would hurt the experience on another, unrelated device"This is exactly what I fear. And I think we're closer to it than one might think
tekzor - Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - link
already happened with app storesGotThumbs - Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - link
Agreed.Apples walled garden offers zero choices for consumers when it comes to shopping for content elsewhere. The simple truth is that Apple controls each IProduct users access, and is expanding those controls continually, should be very concerning for its followers.
While I use two Android devices (Phone & Tablet), Google does not restrict/control my ability/freedom to shop for content outside their market place. Part of what makes an open market great is not limiting consumers options and allows price competitiveness. Consumers win.
Apple's currently in trouble (along with four publishing companies) for imposing price controls/fixing. Do you really care about Apples 30% share or are you more interested in getting the same product at the lowest price? At the end of the day....everyone wants their money to go as far as it can for them.
When you have options and time...you shop for the lowest price. Apple has eliminated ts collective users options/choices and wants to inflict its will on others...ie restricting Amazon's price structure and the economies of scale in selling the same books at a reduced price to consumers.
It simply amazes me how so many of the general public continue to willingly give up their freedom of choice. Do they really just want to be controlled and told what to do and how to hold their phone?
Microsoft NEVER EVER prevented a user from installing and using a different web-browser in Windows...yet they have been sued for millions all over the world....
. Apple builds a walled garden and forces its followers to shop ONLY at its market and even fixes prices so its sure to get its 30% cut on purchases....
...YET the DOJ continues to sit on their thumbs and does nothing.
What is wrong with this country?
OK I'm done with my rant.
btw. I wonder if the driver had followed Google Maps instead of Apples route....would he have avoided the traffic and arrived sooner? Just a thought.
Best wishes,
bplewis24 - Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - link
I'm glad somebody else is as baffled as I am about consumers' willingness to do the same. Eventually they will either wake up or get what they deserve.