The iOS 6 Review: Maps Thoroughly Investigated and More
by Brian Klug & Saumitra Bhagwat on September 19, 2012 2:21 PM ESTMobile Safari
There are really only a few things that a smartphone OS needs to do right. Messaging (SMS and email), 3rd party applications (with a marketplace), PIM (personal information management – calendar, contacts, etc), and finally inclusion of a decent web browser. This last section is devoted to the iOS 6 improvements to Safari.
With iOS 6, Apple hasn’t dramatically changed anything but (you guessed it), made some tweaks. First is the inclusion of a full screen mode for landscape.
(Left) New fullscreen button at bottom right, (Right), Full screen view for Safari in iOS 6
If you rotate into landscape, there’s a new full screen icon which appears. Tap it and boom you’re given a full screen browsing experience without the loss of status bar and bottom bar. Tapping again in full screen mode brings up the toggle to switch back into windowed mode.
The other new feature is inclusion of an offline reading mode. Tapping on the send/action button lets you send the current page to an offline cache. I have no doubt this leverages some of the reading view backend. There’s a progress indicator under the bookmarks icon while the device is caching pages for reading offline, and it continues on into the background. Going in that menu brings you to another category with a list of what all you’ve made offline that has and hasn’t been read yet.
Currently open on the desktop
Another feature is iCloud tabs, which as the name suggests syncs open tabs across devices with iCloud logins. At some level this brings MobileSafari back up to parity with the equivalent feature in Chrome (synced tabs).
JavaScript Performance
This section wouldn’t be complete without mention of the speedups made to Nitro for MobileSafari, which is Apple’s JavaScript JIT engine which works for ARMv7. I tested the iPhone 4 and 4S on iOS 5.1.1 and iOS 6 GM and saw around a 10% and 30% improvement, respectively. I’m not entirely sure why there’s such a discrepancy between the two, however it’s possible that the new Nitro sends things off to multiple threads more effectively.
| iOS 5.1.1 versus iOS 6 GM | ||||||||
| Device | iOS Version | Sunspider 0.9.1 | Browsermark | HTML5test.com | css3test.com | |||
| iPhone 4 | iOS 5.1.1 | 3553.1 | 52557.0 | 324+9b | 459 of 946, 221 | |||
| iOS 6 GM | 3358.8 | 57351.0 | 360+9b | 498 of 946, 221 | ||||
| iPhone 4S | iOS 5.1.1 | 2242.9 | 86062.0 | N/A | N/A | |||
| iOS 6 GM | 1716.0 | 109775.0 | N/A | N/A | ||||
There’s also a nice jump in HTML5 feature support, which I’m always a fan of seeing. The user agent string in iOS 6 GM now reports webkit 536.26 alongside safari version 8536.25.
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crankerchick - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
The overwhelming theme I keep seeing as I read the various iOS 6 reviews is a tendency to make excuses for Apple. This article and Rene Ritchie's both say things to the nature of "It took a lot for Apple to do [x] so that is why this feature was [y]."I can't help but point out that when it comes to Android, reviewers are a lot quicker to point out something that sucks and offer no excuse for why it's excusable, yet when it comes to Apple releasing another boring update to iOS, with the exception of Maps, all is more or less excused because, "Maps took a lot of work and time."
When I'm on Android-centric site, I get excuses for why Android is still the best. On an Apple-centric site, I get excuses for why Apple is the best. On AnandTech, I expect (and usually receive) more unbiased opinions. In this case, I don't get the bipartisan vibe though. It reaks of excuses. Just my opinion.
UsernameAlreadyExists - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
This is not the only article I've had this problem with. I had the same feeling while reading the article about the data&voice support. The worst thing is that I've used to rely on Anandtech being rather objective and declaring things as they are. I just hope that they won't invent a completely new camera into iPhone 5 when they review it like SlashGear did (unlike Engadget and Digital Photography Review).mrandross - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
Does anyone know how they changed the wifi signal to display in dBs?They're not jailbroken with SBsettings on iOS6...
yticolev - Saturday, September 22, 2012 - link
I'd like to know that too, especially if it represents the cell tower data signal and not just wifi. I love having my iPhone voice bars represented in dB and would like the same for data as I do use data more often than voice.mrandross - Saturday, September 22, 2012 - link
I found a couple different ways. If you had it previously from a jailreak and restored from that backup, then it'll appear again.If you don't have that available there's a plist edit
http://idevicecentral.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&p=...
yticolev - Saturday, September 22, 2012 - link
Thanks! I saved the page for future use.I've never done a jailbreak. I used this method to hack the bars into dB:
FieldTest dial *3001#12345#* - you can then keep numerics instead of bars in the top left by force quitting FieldTest after launching it (hold down power/lock until power off appears, then hold the home button).
IndyJaws - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
Perhaps I overlooked it at the iOS 6 announcement, but I'll admit to being disappointed for the lack of two main features for iPhone 4 (not 4S) owners - turn by turn navigation and panorama photos. I understand the graphical horsepower needed for 3D flyby, but sad that Apple chose to leave those of us out for the other two features, especially when there are a plethora of apps that do provide those abilities. Yes, I realize I can use them instead (in fact, must), but would prefer OS integration for convenience. Brian (or Saumitra) mentioned that there might be additional horsepower needed for the panorama feature, but there's nothing special about it that makes me think it's just a way to Apple to prod users to the latest phone.Stas - Sunday, September 23, 2012 - link
Solution: give Apple more money for new device.Sind - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
iOS 6 maps are terrible period. I'm starting to believe the hype that AnandTech is putting an Apple spin on things instead of one that is aimed for the consumer. Terrible biased review of a bad product that lowers user experience. What happened to "it just work's"? Don't release something until it is ready. Apple has put their corporate intentions ahead of the user experience and that is wrong, and Anand's failure to mention that is damning.ciparis - Sunday, September 23, 2012 - link
Have you personally had trouble with Maps?