A Hands-On Look at All the New Features in iOS 13

[John Yester]

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[jml1982]

Still some basic features that aren't included on the iPhone OS!!! Give us PIP!!! I want to watch a video and be able to take notes for example.

Also, why can't we just have the apps on the screen where we want? On the bigger iPhones, instead of being forced to the top, I'd like it from the bottom up? And why can't we just have weather, stocks or other widgets right on the lock screen...

I just can't believe we are still waiting for these things after so many years... PIP came to the iPad with the iPhone 6 plus was released... I was hoping for it 5 years ago...

 

[mig991]

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Only if everyone in the group chat is using an iPhone.

 

[gavroche]

Maps has gotten to a point in Toronto where I prefer its directions to Google Maps which I’ve now deleted entirely. While I prefer flyover to getting around a city, I would go back to Google Maps for the occasional street view. Apple’s 3D implementation is far superior. Can we say that Apple has now surpassed Google Maps? Probably not everywhere but in some cities, the answer is an absolute yes. Steve Jobs’ play has paid off in spades. Apple built their own UI unrestricted from the constraints of a third party, they get to keep users’ data private and get their own anonymous data. Well done.

As a photographer who used Aperture religiously, I could see Apple’s play in rebooting a flawed foundation and starting brand new with Photos. That too is beginning to pay off. The editing tools in Photos is so versatile that a beginner can understand it and a professional can find what they need. Photos plugins make it possible to expand tools for pros. Unlike Aperture, Photos works across all Apple platforms on iOS and Mac. What’s still missing is a better organization and sorting system and it’ll have caught up to Aperture and can grow from there. Again, well done.

Sing In with Apple is another brilliant play. It leverages Face ID to start to eliminate passwords entirely. It’s another one of those Apple things that benefits both the user by its convenience and Apple in that it keeps you stuck (voluntarily) in Apple’s ecosystem. Try leaving Apple after having dozens of signs ins around the web. It’s the same reason why so many people are stuck (involuntarily) on Facebook.

I drive a lot, and find I have need for Apple Maps, Google Maps, and Waze. Each does a few things better than the others so depending on the situation, I use it. For example: Apple Maps does a better job showing where a building is when located in a cluster of buildings accessed from the same parking lot, in my opinion. Google does something soooo annoying... As soon as it says you have arrived, the map spins around in orientation. So although you technically have arrived at the address, you might still be trying to figure out which building you want. Hate this. Google Maps seems to have better eta calculation. Waze is awesome for police/road hazard warnings, so I often have it active in background even if not navigation.

Question... The Photos app used to do something I hated. If you edited a picture, it kept a copy of the original, and modified a new version. I hated this, because it resulted in your photos library ballooning up in size real fast. Does it still do This? Can that be avoided? Because of that I have always pulled a copy to desktop, deleted it from Photos app, modified it in Pixelmator, and then reimported. Annoying process.

Agree with you completely about Sign In with Apple. My favorite new feature. I was pleasantly surprised last year when they added the password support, including third party. While I was excited about the swype feature, I have a question. I use SwiftKey for to reasons... Swype, and multiple language support. I type a lot of messages in Spanish.. And regular keyboard thinks I'm misspelling everything. SwiftKey can have the two dictionaries same time. Think this will come to iOS? Or is it feasible to just start adding all the vocabulary words, so that it thinks they are English and spelled correctly...?

 

[KJESPOKO]

I'm super excited about these updates. The one feature that caught my attention most was CarPlay. I use CarPlay every day and have wanted a split screen mode since it was first available. The question I have, since I don't yet have the beta, can you customize what information is available in the split screen view? For example, can it show the recent text messages rather than the calendar view? Also, does it show the name of the song rather than the artwork of the current album playing?

I also would like to see the current temperature outside based on my location or have CarPlay pull the temperature that the car is reading. For example in my Suburban, the outside temperature is only displayed on the touch screen, not on the dashboard. Currently when using CarPlay the only way to find out what the outside temperature is, is to exit CarPlay and go to the standard Chevy screen. I would really like to see the current temp displayed all the time right below the time. Please tell me that current temperature is displayed somewhere in CarPlay! If not, please Apple put this feature in before the final release!

I can't wait to get my hands on this new update!

 

[jazz1]

Finally I’m glad I purchased the 2018 iPad Pro w/12.9” screen!

 

[mac_in_tosh]

Maybe it's a generational thing, but after a certain point the continual introduction of new features and the discarding of old ones becomes a bit hard to keep up with.

 

[extrachrispy]

(Answering the question about what's different between biking directions and walking directions)

In some countries you have dedicated bike lanes that
- don’t always follow the road, or the fastest direct line
- don’t have stairs
- don’t allow pedestrians

Subtle but important differences.

AND it's quite often a bad idea to mix fast-moving bicycle traffic and slow-moving pedestrian traffic. I'm really not a fan of MUPs for this reason, although if they're wide enough, they can still be an improvement over city streets that lack room for bicycles.