iOS6 is probably the most underwhelming release of iOS to date

[Power Macintosh]

How is this not a disappointment?
SO there's the new maps and all of you are acting as if it's the most revolutionary, innovative and intuitive thing you've ever seen.

It's just a freaking map. We had that before, ever since the first iPhone. What's the big deal? Besides, who uses the map anyways?

Seriously. You're all acting brainwashed.

 

[DaffyDuck]

How is this not a disappointment?
SO there's the new maps and all of you are acting as if it's the most revolutionary, innovative and intuitive thing you've ever seen.

It's just a freaking map. We had that before, ever since the first iPhone. What's the big deal? Besides, who uses the map anyways?

Seriously. You're all acting brainwashed.

Yeah, I know this comment would be downvoted a few days ago but I feel the new maps is a downgrade. Yes, I have actually used it. They should have made it a downloadable app in this release and kept Google until they have better data and a street view equivalent or better. They are taking away a feature that I find useful. Perhaps they will allow Google to release maps to the app store but we don't know that yet.

 

[edddeduck]

Yeah, I know this comment would be downvoted a few days ago but I feel the new maps is a downgrade. Yes, I have actually used it. They should have made it a downloadable app in this release and kept Google until they have better data and a street view equivalent or better. They are taking away a feature that I find useful. Perhaps they will allow Google to release maps to the app store but we don't know that yet.

The only way to get good data and info ration is to use your user base. That is what Google Maps did for correcting errors, getting feedback etc. As long as it is good enough for starters I will be happy enough as the interface and the actual maps look a lot nicer from what I have seen.

The proof will be when it ships I guess.

Edwin

 

[nuckinfutz]

They should have made it a downloadable app in this release and kept Google until they have better data and a street view equivalent or better. They are taking away a feature that I find useful. Perhaps they will allow Google to release maps to the app store but we don't know that yet.

Couldn't happen, the Map Kit API hasn't changed so there's no way to leverage both maps. People can always use street view from google.com/maps

 

[Calidude]

Yeah, I know this comment would be downvoted a few days ago but I feel the new maps is a downgrade. Yes, I have actually used it. They should have made it a downloadable app in this release and kept Google until they have better data and a street view equivalent or better. They are taking away a feature that I find useful. Perhaps they will allow Google to release maps to the app store but we don't know that yet.

I will admit that beta 3 is showing that Apple is aware that people recognize the weaknesses of the new Maps backend and they're working hard to bring it up to current standards, so hope may not be lost for Maps on iOS6 on release day. Or perhaps they simply haven't flipped the switches on that backend fully yet and will do so by the end of the betas.

The rest of iOS6 however, is still very much lacking. Let's hope the the hardware isn't crappy too.

 

[Zaft]

I will admit that beta 3 is showing that Apple is aware that people recognize the weaknesses of the new Maps backend and they're working hard to bring it up to current standards, so hope may not be lost for Maps on iOS6 on release day. Or perhaps they simply haven't flipped the switches on that backend fully yet and will do so by the end of the betas.

The rest of iOS6 however, is still very much lacking. Let's hope the the hardware isn't crappy too.

fresh of your ban i see

 

[edddeduck]

I will admit that beta 3 is showing that Apple is aware that people recognize the weaknesses of the new Maps backend and they're working hard to bring it up to current standards, so hope may not be lost for Maps on iOS6 on release day. Or perhaps they simply haven't flipped the switches on that backend fully yet and will do so by the end of the betas.

The rest of iOS6 however, is still very much lacking. Let's hope the the hardware isn't crappy too.

[sarcasm mode on]

Perhaps because it's a called a beta? You know betas are where it starts out unfinished and when it is good enough to release you.. you know... release it?

Edwin

 

[Picka]

I love how the word Beta is now used to released products which are clearly unfinished.

Google has been using it for a while, now Apple is following suit. Siri could do with another year of development, because at the moment it's crap.

Now Apple maps, 2 months away from release is a mess. If people seriously think 2 months will be enough to fix all the current issues and general usability of one of the major apps in any smartphone, then they are deluded.

My guess is they will stick with the "Beta" excuse as regardless of how good it is, the new iphone will continue to sell well, so Apple doesn't really care.

 

[MonkeySee....]

I love how the word Beta is now used to released products which are clearly unfinished.

Google has been using it for a while, now Apple is following suit. Siri could do with another year of development, because at the moment it's crap.

Now Apple maps, 2 months away from release is a mess. If people seriously think 2 months will be enough to fix all the current issues and general usability of one of the major apps in any smartphone, then they are deluded.

My guess is they will stick with the "Beta" excuse as regardless of how good it is, the new iphone will continue to sell well, so Apple doesn't really care.

Siri works really well. Why do you think its crap? Do you have a lisp?

Apple maps are very good considering. The maps are updating all the time and the use of yelp! is genius. (users can update the content themselves).

Apple will be getting rid of Google maps so I guess you have a decision to make.

 

[shandyman]

I love how the word Beta is now used to released products which are clearly unfinished.

Google has been using it for a while, now Apple is following suit. Siri could do with another year of development, because at the moment it's crap.

Now Apple maps, 2 months away from release is a mess. If people seriously think 2 months will be enough to fix all the current issues and general usability of one of the major apps in any smartphone, then they are deluded.

My guess is they will stick with the "Beta" excuse as regardless of how good it is, the new iphone will continue to sell well, so Apple doesn't really care.

Siri is hugely improved here in the UK, even at launch it was more accurate than I expected.

Apples maps have improved a lot from beta 1 to beta 3, I can see a huge improvement by launch, as it's more than likely that there's a lot of stuff not switched on in beta, like the high res satellite images, as per the release notes. We know that apple have C3's data of over 100 cities in 3d, most of which has not been switched on yet... I'm keeping an open mind until launch...

But you just want to boohoo everything, so carry on if you really have nothing better to do.....

 

[TheRealPorkchop]

Nope

You never were a die-hard Apple freak. We don't jump off easily. I was using Macs in '96 when the company was a year away from bankruptcy. Back then when the odds were heavily against Mac users the core of us stood together.

Let me ask this "what make YOU a die-hard Apple freak?" From what I'm reading that you die pretty easily.

I don't care what you call it. I'm a real Mac user that doesn't claim he's "die-hard" and then flakes and talks about jumping ship. Must be a new school kind of thing.

Oh, I'm sorry, guess I'm not the fan I thought I was then. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Yea, sounds more like a cult to me than anything else, certainly more than using just common sense to draw an opinion - but then again cults don't have opinions.

I'm a Mac user too, got a Mac Pro, Macbook, Powerbook, iPod Touch, iPhone 4 but what's that got to do with my opinion? My opinion is Apple has jumped its own ship and joined the social network bandwagon by putting what should be an add-on app into the OS and forcing everyone to use it or navigate around it. No point in mentioning other complaints because they aren't valid either because I'm not a die-hard true fan and neither are the other people who complain. Let's not even mention the restraints in the OS before iOS 6, like not being able to share a stupid ringtone or how SMS messages don't display gif's correctly (the little stupid stuff that ALL other phones are capable of doing easily).

It's just like Apple and Mountain Lion not supporting older Mac's with capable hardware just because they don't want to, they want to force you to upgrade to a newer machine. I don't know about you but I paid good money for my Mac Pro and for my stupid iPhone. I'm sorry it ticks me off that it doesn't do what other cheaper and more simple phones can do AND that it ticks you off because I voice my opinion on it. This is a forum isn't it?

And everyone jumps on Calidude cause he voices his opinion on this iOS release... it's ok for everyone else to post how much they just love it and want to go to bed with it but it's wrong for him (or me) to post our dislike for it. Yea, I think I'll take my ass to Jellybean camp and start doing some of the simple things that my iphone can't do because Apple wants to cripple it and stop paying for apps that are free with Android.

 

[SMIDG3T]

Yeah, the maps turn-by-turn is overdue so I'm not impressed by it either.

The Yahoo Sports/Yelp/Rotten Tomato integration is kinda weak, too. I'm surprised they haven't done this and much more already. Also, why waiting for iOS 6? Totally a cloud feature as stated earlier...

Facebook integration? Overdue and pretty boring for those of us who got over FB years ago...

Shared Photo Streams: Yeah, pretty weak. Photo Stream is a half-baked idea to begin with.

Passbook will be huge eventually but it's hard to get amped about coupon/ticket consolidation. Payments will be integrated *eventually* and that'll be nice, but that's probably iOS 7 or beyond.

Facetime over cellular: It'll probably be LTE only but it's not like people use FT much these days anyway.

Phone Replies: Yeah, I'm surprised they even listed that as a standout feature.

Attaching pics within e-mails: LOOOONG overdue. Ridiculously overdue. I'm surprised they weren't too embarrassed to even mention it.

Safari enhancements aren't interesting.

Accessibility features: Again, hardly a standout feature.


So yeah, these updates are just fine but they shouldn't call it a full point upgrade.

I see it's quite hard to please you.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Yea, I think I'll take my ass to Jellybean camp and start doing some of the simple things that my iphone can't do because Apple wants to cripple it and stop paying for apps that are free with Android.

Hasta la vista

 

[jnmiah]

Very disappointed.

Most of the additions have been available on my other devices for years.

Playing catch up is fine, but they need to add features that other devices don't have in addition to the catchup features.

That's very true

 

[Beeplance]

Perhaps one of the reasons why iOS 6 does not have too many "good" or "innovate" features is because of the new Maps. Given that Apple had created it from the ground up & done all the cartography themselves, it would be reasonable to say that they have diverted alot of resources to the creating of this app. Some may say that this is a "cloud" thing, but that flyover feature & 3D maps show that Apple did indeed put in alot of effort into make it concrete & useful for the end user.

Maybe this is the reason why in iOS 6, apple chose to only provide incremental updates to the other components, because the focus here is the new maps app. Besides, I don't think there is any need to complain about apple continuing to improve the other parts of an already were solid OS.

 

[edddeduck]

I'm a Mac user too, got a Mac Pro, Macbook, Powerbook, iPod Touch, iPhone 4 but what's that got to do with my opinion? My opinion is Apple has jumped its own ship and joined the social network bandwagon by putting what should be an add-on app into the OS and forcing everyone to use it or navigate around it.

I hardly think not logging into Facebook or Twitter is a great hardship. I get your point but for the majority of users the features are very welcome.

No point in mentioning other complaints because they aren't valid either because I'm not a die-hard true fan and neither are the other people who complain. Let's not even mention the restraints in the OS before iOS 6, like not being able to share a stupid ringtone or how SMS messages don't display gif's correctly (the little stupid stuff that ALL other phones are capable of doing easily).

Sharing ringtones? I agree that iOS is not the best in all aspects but being able to share a ringtone is not a key feature by my reckoning (I am willing for the forum to say I am wrong on this point).

It's just like Apple and Mountain Lion not supporting older Mac's with capable hardware just because they don't want to, they want to force you to upgrade to a newer machine.

Any machine that is not supported in ML is either 32bit (the OS is 64bit now) or the graphics card manufacturer did not update the drivers to support 64 bit. Sure technically Apple could have made them keep working but it would also mean they would have to forgo things like updated 64bit clean OpenGL stack etc.

Progress has a price, at some point older machines won't work on the latest OS.

And everyone jumps on Calidude cause he voices his opinion on this iOS release... it's ok for everyone else to post how much they just love it and want to go to bed with it but it's wrong for him (or me) to post our dislike for it. Yea, I think I'll take my ass to Jellybean camp and start doing some of the simple things that my iphone can't do because Apple wants to cripple it and stop paying for apps that are free with Android.

I have found that highlighting issues with iOS or Mountain Lion is not normally a problem in these forums, it's when people get hyperbolic like "Apple wants to cripple it", people react due to the over the top and factually unlikely comments.

If people say "for me and my friends iOS really would be better if it had bluetooth contact sharing" that's unlikely to get any vitriolic response and more likely to get a debate on the feature. But if you for the same issue is posted like "iPhones can't share contacts over Bluetooth because Apple want to cripple it" you will get a different response to the same point.

What I am saying is when posting in a public forum the tone of the post is as important as the point you are trying to make. If you are hyperbolic and confrontational then you are more likely to get your point ignored as people focus on how you said it.

Edwin

 

[Kariya]

...lol at all these arm-chair critics. Why don't you go and develop your own mobile OS and ecosystem that is superior to Apple's then come back and open your mouths.

Consumers these days...think they know everything. Majority of you are freaking clueless!

 

[vebs]

...lol at all these arm-chair critics. Why don't you go and develop your own mobile OS and ecosystem that is superior to Apple's then come back and open your mouths.

Consumers these days...think they know everything. Majority of you are freaking clueless!

People pay a lot of money for their idevices, they have the right to give their opinions.

 

[throys]

all windows 7 users will have to buy a new device to get windows 8 new featured phone, Android OS hasnt also much new innovations apart from bloated software where half of it never used by user, iOS slowly getting better and better, not because we want everything as a user wants in a phone we will get.
I think apple either taking it easy and watching the competitions or since steve job passed away maybe they lacking some innovations to bring forward as yet, either case I'm happy with iOS as it simple and I dont get the big factor where a user need to skin or customise thier device to that extent. We just have to wait for the new iphone to release if its the same size iphone then apple is in deep trouble as I will remain with iphone 4S until a slightly larger screen comes out and I'm happy with the OS

 

[hafr]

Perhaps one of the reasons why iOS 6 does not have too many "good" or "innovate" features is because of the new Maps. Given that Apple had created it from the ground up & done all the cartography themselves, it would be reasonable to say that they have diverted alot of resources to the creating of this app. Some may say that this is a "cloud" thing, but that flyover feature & 3D maps show that Apple did indeed put in alot of effort into make it concrete & useful for the end user.

Maybe this is the reason why in iOS 6, apple chose to only provide incremental updates to the other components, because the focus here is the new maps app. Besides, I don't think there is any need to complain about apple continuing to improve the other parts of an already were solid OS.

They have had so much money they didn't know what to do with it all, and my guess is it's not very likely the Maps project used up all of their personnel.

If what you're saying is true, that the creation of Maps basically made the rest of Apples iOS department come to a halt, I would say they're in a pretty bad place...

The thing with Apple is that we, the customers, have proven to them time after time that they can get away with being up to several years behind their competition in terms of functions, and shut us in quite extensively, as long as they do what they do with a cool design (both software and hardware).

They throw us a bone from time to time, but really, why should they give us everything we want, everything they can give us, if giving it to us little by little increases their sales?

 

[i0Nic]

I agree that iOS6 was a disappointment, but I don't think we have seen everything yet. I'm expecting some cool new iOS6 features when the new iPhone is announced.

One thing I was hoping for was a refinement of the UI design. Google is taking Android to a flatter, cleaner appearance. Apple seems to be revelling in skeuomorphism which is the wrong direction.

That along with a better method of multitasking and some enhancement to the tired home screen would've made all the difference.

We'll see what the next iPhone brings to iOS.

 

[MozMan68]

This thread is so lame...how is an unreleased operating system "underwhelming?"

 

[watchthisspace]

This thread is so lame...how is an unreleased operating system "underwhelming?"

Because the known features iOS 6 brings isn't appealing to many?

 

[edddeduck]

Because the known features iOS 6 brings isn't appealing to many?

Or because people in general enjoy a good moan. If you like what you have you won't complain but if you dislike it you will moan long and loud on the forums about your dislike or problem.

It's just human nature.

 

[nuckinfutz]

"iOS 6 is lame and underwhelming. Android and Windows 8 are so much more innovative"

"Well, what's missing that prevents you from getting your job done?"

"I don't know ....I just expected something more Revolutionary™"

"Oh so you don't have a specific complaint? Just some sort of expectation based on nebulous features that don't exist?

"Yes...something like that. I'm bored"

Pretty much the extent of threads around here. The focus is primarily on user facing features for many here. They cannot be bothered to look nor try to understand architectural differences.

This is why there's a schism between what geeks know of the computing world and what consumers know. Consumers may not be able to articulate why they like a certain OS more than others they just know it "feels" right.

Geeks get caught up in minutiae and often doing things the harder way.

iOS 6 will be a popular OS. People don't have to relearn their phones yet a bunch of annoyances with purchasing, updating through the app store and many more things will be improved.