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iOS 6's Smaller Changes: Custom Email Alerts, 'Find My Friends' Geofencing and More

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Apr 12, 2001
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As is typical when previewing a new operating system, on Monday Apple's Scott Forstall showed off 10 main features of iOS 6 including improvements to Siri, Facebook Integration, a new Maps app, and a Do Not Disturb mode.

However, there is a lot more to the next iPhone operating system than that. A slide shown at the end of Monday's keynote displayed a number of new features that didn't warrant full keynote coverage but are still worth mention to iOS users:

NewImage18.png



- Users can now set custom email alerts for any of their VIP contacts.

- Turning Bluetooth on and off is much quicker than it was in iOS 5. Bluetooth controls are now located in first page of System Preferences, next to the Wi-Fi and Airplane Mode controls.

- The iPad gains a native Clock app with similar function to the iPhone version.

- Users no longer need to enter their password to update apps -- only when purchasing an app for the first time. Additionally, users aren't kicked to the home screen when buying or updating an app in the App Store.

- Newly downloaded apps gain a temporary 'New' banner on the icon to make them easier to pick them out.

- Geofencing alerts have been added to Find My Friends. One possible use, suggested by Macworld: "If you're one of the many workers who carpools, you can set up a geofence on the driver to let you know when they leave their house."

- In iOS 5, the color of the menu bar would change depending on what was happening in the background -- green for a phone call or blue for Personal Hotspot. In iOS 6 those colors still exist, but the menu bar changes color to better complement the app. MaxThemes.com has more on how Apple color-matches the menu bar.

- One of the most unnecessary additions to iOS 6 is also one of the most telling. Apple has made the metallic volume slider in the iPod app and elsewhere change its reflection as the iPhone is tilted -- as if it were actually reflecting light. While some may say it's a waste of engineering resources, this shows Apple's incredible attention to detail.

Article Link: iOS 6's Smaller Changes: Custom Email Alerts, 'Find My Friends' Geofencing and More
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/15/ios-6s-smaller-changes-custom-email-alerts-find-my-friends-geofencing-and-more/
I would love the ability to double tap the home button and swipe past the music, swipe past the volume and get to a brightness slider. It would also be better to have a toggle for wifi and bluetooth in that swipe tray as well.

oh well.....
 
Very nice, all those little fixes seem to have fixed all the iOS annoyances. Good job Apple! :)

So, Apple's patent for "time of day based shadows" for lack of a better term, is actually real?! Holy **** that's awesome!
 
Have to mention the addition of per account email signatures. Been clamoring for this for a long time.
 
I'm still waiting for background process indicators.

Essentially, if an app is actively navigating (Like maps or Navigon) it gets a little circle icon (Like the notification number in the top right) in the top left with the navigation arrow. Likewise they could add ones for general background processing (a gear), background downloads (a spinning activity indicator?), music (a quarter note) and any of the other "active" background modes.

This would help immensely to help users distinguish apps that are actively using resources in the background versus ones that just have a saved state. Also there are still many apps that don't implement background downloads, and so when I leave the app during a download the only way to tell if it is continuing is by opening the app and checking if the progress bar has moved.
 
IPv6 support for Wi-Fi and LTE

I like this line that I found on the slide => "IPv6 support for Wi-Fi and LTE"

The LTE being the important thing to take note of. I think everyone already assumes that the next round of iDevices are going to include an LTE option (phones won't have an option). This is one of the first official documents that I've seen of Apple confirming LTE support in iOS.

This is great for me since AT&T has launched it's LTE network in my area and I've been off contract since August 2011. So I'm ready for an upgrade, but I'm holding off for the new iPhone.
 
Knowing Apple, it probably didn't take much time to do, so someone probably figured it was worthwhile since it was probably easy to write the code.
 
Changing the anisotropic angles with the tilt is fairly awesome. Sure, it serves no great purpose, but I can't believe people complain about it.
 
I'm not sure I would say there is a fanaticism to detail. This is more of a case of Apple doing something clever for the sake of being clever. Attention to detail would be if they noticed something was a pixel off and fixed it. Changing something that wasn't broken to something that has a "cool" effect is something but it's not attention to detail. Attention to detail would be fixing Bluetooth File Exchange, which still in 10.7.4, has not been fixed. It's an advertised feature of Lion, yet the entire UI was broken by the Lion update and has never been touched by Apple's hands as far as I can tell during the Snow Leopard to Lion transition. Attention to detail would be making fullscreen Pages mode actually fill the screen and give you a toolbar, rather than presenting a document letterboxed on all sides with no toolbar.

If anything, I think Apple's attention to detail has decreased over the last 5 years when it comes to software.
 
marty1980 said:
I like this line that I found on the slide => "IPv6 support for Wi-Fi and LTE"

The LTE being the important thing to take note of. I think everyone already assumes that the next round of iDevices are going to include an LTE option (phones won't have an option). This is one of the first official documents that I've seen of Apple confirming LTE support in iOS.

This is great for me since AT&T has launched it's LTE network in my area and I've been off contract since August 2011. So I'm ready for an upgrade, but I'm holding off for the new iPhone.
Click to expand...

They most likely support IPv6 over LTE because it's a requirement with Verizon.
 
Awesome details. The magnificence of Apple is in the details. Genius is in the details in everything else in life and art.

I love Apple.
 
While these are all welcomed additions, can't help but to be disappointed by the improvements that weren't made.

- Multitask switching would greatly benefit from an Expose style switcher (especially on iPad).
- Quick settings changes accessible in Notification Center (like wifi, vpn, brightness).

iOS 6 is going to seem behind on productive functionality compared to Windows 8 RT tablets that will be out in fall. I in no way prefer Windows, but I do like their side-by-side metro apps feature. I used to try to type research papers on the iPad. Extremely annoying having to swipe back and forth incessantly as I go from Kindle/Safari to Pages.
 
guest account?

i'm not in the market for an iPad at the moment, but if i ever get one i would love to have the presence of a guest account.

the iPad sure would be left on the coffee table for everyone else to be used, but i wouldn't want anyone to have access to my personal stuff like pictures and messages and such.
 
I don't think Apple spent any resources on that reflective button. It's more likely an intern wrote it or someone else as an extracurricular project.
 
Visible reflection is like an overt Easter egg. I understand Eater eggs are "no longer allowed", but one wonders how many get through anyway. Probably more in the dev releases than the public ones, eh?

I also wonder what the process is for "gee wiz" features. They certainly include quite a few as the "200 new features" and focus on the utility ones during Keynotes.
 
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