iOS 6 for iPad: Refinement or Ground Breaking?

[Mad Mac Maniac]

We will find out about iOS 6 in one month, what are your expectations? It should be released along side Windows 8, which (no matter your opinion) is definitely ground breaking and more feature rich for tablets than iOS.

This is my personal opinion on the development of iOS for iPad thus far

iOS3.2- original release. Designed purely off iPhone OS. A success due to simplicity and speed.

iOS 4- was previewed a couple months after the iPad was previewed, therefore the iPad probably had little to no design input on the OS (due to the secrecy of the project), which is why the iPad release was delayed a few months.

iOS 5-the first OS update fully created with the iPad in mind. Mostly overall refinements of all the apps. Biggest breakthrough was going completely PC-free, which was greatly aided by iCloud

iOS 6-... I think it's time for some ground breaking features. Honestly I think in it's current implementation iOS is pretty much complete. I can't see that many more simple refinements.. or at least not enough of them to leave me not disappointed.

What do you think?

 

[chriscrk]

There's always going to be room for improvement. I can't say I'm an expert in OS and I only use my dad's iPad from time to time, but from my experience on it, I feel like there's a lot of space in it, it doesn't take full advantage of such a big screen.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Still a lot of room to go.

Mapping needs a huge improvement over the incumbent Google Maps.

Sandboxing is nice but iOS apps need a better way of sharing data.

Siri could use an API for developers to leverage.

The Stores could be massively improved (with carts, wishlists, price trackers etc)

Notifications should be using iCloud or some other "presence" detecting feature

The Music app could improve greatly. I dislike the iPad music app.

 

[h1r0ll3r]

The ability to use a USB drive to transfer files to/from. That would be really nice.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Still a lot of room to go.

Mapping needs a huge improvement over the incumbent Google Maps.

I agree, although I think this is needed much, much more for iPhone to include turn-by-turn directions. The only thing that worries me about moving away from google maps is leaving their database of restaurants, businesses, hotels, etc. I would hate to take a step back in that.

Sandboxing is nice but iOS apps need a better way of sharing data.

+5. This is definitely needed. The lack of filesystems makes sharing data seem impossible at times. Oh and don't even try to send attachements in email...

Siri could use an API for developers to leverage.

Yes, although I think this may be difficult to pull off keeping it full featured, yet simple. Obviously Siri would have to come to the iPad first...

The Stores could be massively improved (with carts, wishlists, price trackers etc)

Sure. I use appshopper for most of that. The main thing I want to do is be able to do updates or free purchases without entering my password. I would like to be able to easily keep track of how much I have spent though.

Notifications should be using iCloud or some other "presence" detecting feature

I don't really understand what you mean. Are you saying you don't want notifications on both iPhone and iPad, just whichever device you are currently on?

The Music app could improve greatly. I dislike the iPad music app.

I don't really use it.

The ability to use a USB drive to transfer files to/from. That would be really nice.

I don't really see that happening. Apple is once again ahead of the party trying to kill USB drives. They may make iCloud function a little bit more like dropbox to transfer files to and from computers. I wish they would anyway.

 

[Sonisk]

The ability to use a USB drive to transfer files to/from. That would be really nice.

Why, when you can get something funky like this?
http://www.kingston.com/us/usb/wireless#wid

 

[Night Spring]

iOS 6-... I think it's time for some ground breaking features. Honestly I think in it's current implementation iOS is pretty much complete. I can't see that many more simple refinements.. or at least not enough of them to leave me not disappointed.

I think there are plenty of small refinements to be made, which may not be groundbreaking, but taken together, will significantly enhance usability of the iPad. I really can't think of any groundbreaking features that could be added to iOS at this point -- I mean, Siri could be added to the iPad, but that's not groundbreaking because it was already introduced with the iPhone 4S, "computer free" operation was added with iOS 5, but people didn't hail that as groundbreaking, so I really don't know what would be big enough to be considered groundbreaking, and in any case, I don't think we need groundbreaking OS improvements every year -- once a decade, or even once every 15-20 years is just fine.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

For a start, downloading an app shouldn't throw you out of the App Store just to scroll to the download icon. Just like the iTunes app, when you click download the icon should fly into the bottom right corner and show you an active downloads list. Same for app updates. I would also like to see time remaining/download speed.

I would also like to be able to access more statistics from the general menu such as: battery health, time remaining until full charge & estimated battery time remaining - in fact on that note, I would love to be able to slide down the task bar (I would rename it from Notification Centre) and get an estimated battery life calculated based on what you are currently doing, just like MacBooks have. The task bar should also be able to be added to with all sorts of widgets, including alarm clock and a bunch of settings.

Can't think of any more at the moment, but there are always improvements that I'd welcome.

 

[MacAttacka]

By God yes, it needs a huge update.

Windows 8.is on the horizon and this is a big deal especially with tablets.

iPad 3 got it spot on with the retina and now iOS 6 needs to battle android and windows in one fell swoop

 

[barkomatic]

I'm pretty happy with iOS5 as it is, but a few minor cosmetic changes/refreshes would be nice. I'd like to see moving wallpapers and weather widgets added to the lockscreen.

 

[TheWheelMan]

...iPad 3 got it spot on with the retina and now iOS 6 needs to battle android and windows in one fell swoop

I think iOS could use some updates too, but I still think it's better than Android and Windows 8 overall, at least based upon what I'm hearing about Windows 8 anyway. Sounds like it may already be a bust with developers.

What I hope is that the things that the IP4S has that aren't on the iPad yet will be added with iOS 6, and I'd like to see the overall interface prettied up a bit.

 

[wolfpackfan]

I think the thing I'd like to is more related to iCloud. I'd like to see a true iDisk capability in iCloud that is built-in to both Finder on my Mac and the IOS file system. I want to be able to copy files on my Mac with Finder into iCloud and immediately be able to open them on my iPad (like PDF's).

 

[MacAttacka]

I think iOS could use some updates too, but I still think it's better than Android and Windows 8 overall, at least based upon what I'm hearing about Windows 8 anyway. Sounds like it may already be a bust with developers.

What I hope is that the things that the IP4S has that aren't on the iPad yet will be added with iOS 6, and I'd like to see the overall interface prettied up a bit.

Windows rt or whatever it's alled may be a pos but it's leveraging the windows brand and it may well come with office. With dell and hp selling it by the truckload with Samsung and co building the units, it could a much bigger threat than the gutter end android. Im pretty sure Steve jobs knew it would be a much more formidable competition than android ever was. Unlike google, ms will want to make money from their tablet. Apple need to really take the lead here and nip windows 8 in the bud. One prong was iPad 3 the other must be ios. As good as it is, iPad still misses many markets. When Windows 8 offers flash, file manager, multitasking, USB, SD card, in one fell swoop it instantly tackles almost all of iPads criticisms. It will be a rock solid OS, will get developer support. Make no mistake this will be the most formidable co petition iPad has faced. Timing is everything and apple need to get this right

 

[RemE]

For sure they could improve the music player, at least make it the same as the iPhone regarding podcasts.

When at my desk on the big PC I use Airfoil Speakers to stream podcasts from the iPad over the big speakers. The iPad's Player just blows for podcasts, the iPhone has easy access to "get more podcasts" from that specific content provider (e.g. dark secret place on demand) where you just press one button and are right at the site with a list of shows. On the pad you are sent to itunes, where you have to search for your provider, what's with that??

This plus it's just not a friendly UI at all, much room for improvement, I'm suprised at the lack of detail they put into this.

 

[Redjericho]

Still a lot of room to go.

Mapping needs a huge improvement over the incumbent Google Maps.

Sandboxing is nice but iOS apps need a better way of sharing data.

Siri could use an API for developers to leverage.

The Stores could be massively improved (with carts, wishlists, price trackers etc)

Notifications should be using iCloud or some other "presence" detecting feature

The Music app could improve greatly. I dislike the iPad music app.

Can fix all this with a jailbreak, I would honestly just prefer a huge refinement of iOS 5, it is currently very RAM heavy. I would be fine if they just sped things up a bit and didn't add any new features (Not that it's not fast already)

I guess Siri is all I would really want to see, kind of ridiculous it didn't come with it already.

 

[tigres]

I hope they completely re write mail app. It is too lame and old to use quickly. Back and forth to mailboxes and such- 3-4 clicks when getting anywhere.

Same goes for shortcuts to settings like Bluetooth and wifi etc.
And lastly, the dreaded missing kill all apps. Over time you are clicking upwards of 20+ apps one at a time to free memory-

I personally would like to see a complete revamp of the overall looks of it; but that's just me.

 

[TheWheelMan]

When Windows 8 offers flash, file manager, multitasking, USB, SD card, in one fell swoop it instantly tackles almost all of iPads criticisms.

Well, Flash is a non-issue since it really is going out of style to be replaced by HTML 5. Not sure why you threw that old dinosaur in there. But the rest I do agree with.

 

[nuckinfutz]

I don't really understand what you mean. Are you saying you don't want notifications on both iPhone and iPad, just whichever device you are currently on?

Yes. I'd like to see something like smart logic that recognizes the device that is actually receiving keyboard input and restrict notification chimes to just that device so that when i'm messaging i'm not hearing a cascade of chimes coming from all of my devices.

 

[PhoneI]

We will find out about iOS 6 in one month, what are your expectations? It should be released along side Windows 8, which (no matter your opinion) is definitely ground breaking and more feature rich for tablets than iOS.

no matter what my opinion is? Um, I have used Windows 8 for a few months now and I would consider it more annoying than groundbreaking.

 

[eddiexhart]

You know what could be groundbreaking?

The simply ability to attach a picture or file within an email.

THAT, would be Devine......

 

[nuckinfutz]

You know what could be groundbreaking?

The simply ability to attach a picture or file within an email.

THAT, would be Devine......

Sparrow app for iPhone.

 

[Nova Sensei]

iOS is starting to feel dated (to me anyway).

These days people want to consume a plethora of media quickly and in real time. At the same time they want to be connected to their social networks and also be entertained. iOS5 can do that, but it feels clunky.

I think in 10 years time, iOS5 will look laughably simple. That's the beauty of tech though.

 

[MythicFrost]

I expect iOS 6 will be ground breaking for all iDevices. I'm hoping they'll bring something really good to the table which fixes all of iOS' flaws.

Oh and Windows 8 for tablets is going to fail, mark my letters! If they made Windows 7.5 for tablets on the other hand... that'd be pretty awesome, but no desktop OS will ever work as well on a slate as a multi-touch OS built from the ground up, even if they spend an entire year or two trying to make it work.

 

[erawsd]

It is def time for a major update -- the "simplicity" is starting to stand in the way of function. iOS was originally designed for a 3.5" phone that had no apps, no multitasking, and little-to-no productivity value.

 

[PaulWog]

It is def time for a major update -- the "simplicity" is starting to stand in the way of function. iOS was originally designed for a 3.5" phone that had no apps, no multitasking, and little-to-no productivity value.

One major productivity feature I'd like to see is multi-window view. I'd like to snap 4 or 5 windows into view, and switch to a webpage or document that I'm working on, then snap into the window view again and click on something else to get to that.