The iOS 6 Review: Maps Thoroughly Investigated and More

Mail

Unlike other apps in iOS, Mail has seen a steady stream of new features, usability improvements and UI tweaks in almost every release. We’re on the 6th major release of iOS, and Mail is already a very mature app in terms of its feature set and capabilities. At this point, there is very little that can be done to improve the core functionality of the app. So the focus is on small usability tweaks that enhance the overall user experience and workflow.

In iOS 6, Mail gets support for VIP lists introduced in OS X Mountain Lion. The main screen gets a dedicated VIP folder that lets you keep track of emails from the important people in your life. Tap the blue arrow, and you can easily manage your VIP lists and set custom notification alerts. The latter can also be accessed through Notifications under Settings. I find VIP lists to be quite useful, especially on my old Gmail account that gets more spam mail than mail that I actually care about. VIP lists makes it really easy to filter out and keep track of important emails.

One of my biggest gripes about Mail has finally been addressed in iOS 6, and that is the ability to add photos and videos to emails from within the app. This was quite frustrating earlier, when I’d write entire emails, only to realize that I needed to scrap the draft and rewrite the whole thing again after adding the photo/video from a third app. Well not anymore; a simple long tap brings up a contextual menu that lets you add a photo or video to your email. I’m amazed at how such basic functionality has been missing from the Mail app until the 6th release of the OS. 

To top it off, there’s a cool new animation on the main screen when you swipe down, that refreshes all mailboxes simultaneously. Quite the time saver.