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iOS 6: All the New Features Coming Soon to Your iPhone and iPad

1. Siri

Siri keeps being updated. The new version on iOS 6 does sports scores and stats. You ask what was the score for the Giants and she will reply that they were downed by the Rangers. It will also tell you about batting averages. It's also bringing movies with IMDB for reviews and information, and Fandango for tickets. You can ask for a movie that stars your favorite star or director, and she will find them for you. The result screen is quite nice, with integrated Rotten Tomatoes ratings.

2. Facebook integration

Facebook is now completely integrated with the iPhone. You will be able post to Facebook from Apple's apps, just like you can do with Twitter. That includes images directly from the Photos albums. Or location from Maps. It's even integrated with Siri. And the Calendar application, so birthdays and events are automatically synchronized at all times with Facebook.

3. New Phone features

This is a welcomed surprise: they are updating the Phone application, which has remained almost frozen for all this time. I like this feature, which Nokia already had some years ago: you can reply automatically with a message when someone calls you. The phone will show you a list of messages like "I'll call you later" or "I'm on my way" that you can click and automatically send while rejecting a call.A new "Do Not Disturb" preference will turn off calls and messages at night. The neat thing is that notification will come but the phone will not sound or light up. I'm quite happy about this feature, because the lighting up can be quite annoying. Still, you can mark some phone numbers as important, which will allow them to disturb you at night.

On the other hand, if someone is calling you repeatedly and continuously, the new Phone app will push the call assuming it is an emergency. This, I'm sure, will be misused several times.

4. New Facetime

The first big news is 3G support for Facetime. You will be able to call someone using Facetime over the 3G network. The quality will not be as good as Wi-Fi, but it will be supported.

Another neat feature of the new Facetime is that the device IDs are being unified. In iOS 6, when someone calls your phone number, you will be able to answer the call from your iPad or your Mac straight away. The ID unification will be the same with iMessage, which will hopefully fix the confusion. Sometimes users get messages in one device but not the other one.

5. New Safari

Safari is getting the live synchronization of tabs with Mountain Lion, so your browsing experience is unified across devices using iCloud. It also uses iCloud synchronization for an Offline Reading List, which allows you to read a story that you have marked to read later without a web connection. This is pretty neat for subway commuters and flights.

One of the best features, however, is the new support for web forms uploads. To me, it has always been so frustrating not to be able to upload a photo to a web site. Now you can click on the upload button, a Photo browser will appear, and you will be able to upload. I wonder if this service will also be available for other file types, like Pages documents.

6. Photo streams on iCloud

Now you can share your photos on streams. You can pick friends and they will be able to see any photos you uploads in a dedicated stream automatically. Everyone will also be able to comment on them. It's like creating private Instagram feeds on the Photos app.

7. Mail

Mail's Mailboxes have also been revamped for a new feature: VIPs. You can mark people as VIPs, and their emails will automatically go into a special folder. This is going to be the only folder I'm going to read from now on.

Another much-needed feature is attachment of photos and videos straight from the New Message window. At last!

8. Passbook

This a new app. It will allow you to have all your tickets and coupons—airplanes, train, movies, concerts, sport events, gift cards, loyalty cards, whatever—in a single wallet. It's quite pretty and useful. If you have a gift card, for example, it will show the card balance after you use it. It will also alert you about nearby shops when you have shop's coupons or gift cards.

Another really neat feature of Passbook—perhaps the best one—is that it will update your gate number in your boarding pass in real time.

10. New maps


The new Maps—fully developed in house—seems pretty insane. It's a complete overhaul and it truly looks fantastic. Here are all the new features.

New cartography
Apple bought a cartography company in 2009 and this the result of that. The new Maps app has new cartography, completely different from the one provided by Google. This includes new points of interests, restaurants, shops... everything is new. We will need to compare to see what's better.

Vector based vs bitmap
The new maps are not bitmap-based anymore. Say goodbye to the horrible and slow tile loading. Now they are vector based, which means faster loading and smoother, much better graphics.

Turn-by-turn navigation
At last, Apple's Maps will provide with turn-by-turn

Siri integration

Traffic information

3D view

nah copied it from another tech site. i do not know if it means pre 4s phones will get siri

havent downloaded any games in a while

niceeeee

josh idk how much u get into iphone games, but we have a great one for you: FRUIT POP.

my left wrist is literally sore because i was holding the phone so long yesterday playing that damn game.  i had to of played for 5 hours but it felt like 4 tops.  kidding, thats from a great commcercial, but i seriously played that game 2-3 hours through out the day.  and just in case your keeping score:

kearns: 1.9 mil

fish: 948k

nick: 880k

my roommate brian: 152k

plants v zombies is great i beat that game twice. jetpack was cool but repetitive

I downloaded angry birds 2 last week and HIGHLY recommend it.  I really wish I had this game 2 weeks ago, you know, before I was on a plane for 10 combined hours with no internet connection.  I was a big fan of the original angry birds but even with 100's of levels the game got boring.  however, this 2nd version has amazing graphics/animations, new birds/spells to choose from, and even involves a bit more strategy with each "level" normally having 3-5 different stages you have to go through.  like I said, I was a big fan of the original which is why I also love the 2nd, but you guys should def try it.  the only thing I don't like about it is you only have a certain amount of lives before they expire and you have to wait 20 minutes to get a new one or you can buy them.  I guess that's how all these new popular games are nowadays, gotta keep getting that $!

disagree, that's like saying this years madden is the same as 4 years ago madden.  but hey, if your not a fan oh well, im just happy I have something to get me through an hour of housewives if allie somehow gets control of the remote.

 

so I leave 2mrw, I'll miss you guys...wait a minute, no I won't!  just messing around, I think its finaly hitting me im going on an island vaca for 5 days and not stuck in Maryland with the weather starting to get cold.  with that said, I have 10 hours of plane rides coming up, any iphone game recommendations??

 

haha solid. plague is good but i dont think its what fish is looking for. jetpack joyride was great, beat that in a few days. monster dash is basically the same. fish would prolly like those.

is can you escape an escape the room game? love those, and guess what? a real life one just opened up in georgetown. they lock you in a room and you have 45 minutes to escape.

kingdom rush, plants vs zombies, cartoon wars, cover orange, istunt, slice it, guess code, burn the rope, catch a mouse, spy mouse -- some of my faves (new and old) that i would reccommend playing before anything else if you havent.

then theres boom beach and sim city which take a lot of patience but are pretty cool.

I did the escape the room thing in NYC, it's so freaking awesome I can't recommend it enough!