Roundup of iOS 6 Launch Day News and Reviews

[doelcm82]

I need to get a 5....alot of this stuff doesn't work on my 4.

Just get a 4S...
Just about all the apps, but no extra row of icons.
I can live without that.

Hopefully I pick mine up tomorrow.
The whole iPhone 5 thing is a big disappointment.

Maybe 5S

.

There's more to the iPhone 5 than just an extra row of icons. (A very superficial way to look at it).

Well, if you want everything to work well, get the 5. The 4S will run just about all the apps, but flyover needs a little extra horsepower to work well, and a fast connection to download the map tiles. The 5 runs twice as fast as the 4S, and has LTE and dual-band WiFi, which you can take advantage of when they're available.

If you already have the 4S, it's probably worth waiting for the 5S, but why buy a phone that probably won't get all the features of iOS 7 next year.

Also, the 4S is only sold at 16GB memory now (if you're buying new). I don't think I need 64GB, but I think 16GB would be a bit cramped for my tastes.

If money is really tight, ignore my advice and get the phone you can afford, but if you have a 4, then chances are you've had it for two years. If you can afford the 5, it should serve you well for the next two.

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If you want Google Maps back (albeit without Street View), you can go to maps.google.com in iOS Safari, then add a nice shortcut to your homescreen. Have already done this, and it works pretty well. Ok, not a dedicated app (which I'm pretty sure Google will launch), but it beats Apple Maps!

I'm not far from Norway's second city, Bergen. On the plus side, the basic road data is more up-to-date than Google maps (street names etc), but:

- Satellite imagery is much older. 3 year old roads disappear & neighbours' house, too!
- Businesses - apparently none exist around me, whereas Google even has small two-man electrical firms. In a large town nearby, most of the businesses have disappeared, too.

Graphically it's nice, but the content is far too poor at present. I'm also not convinced Apple needs to offer its own version of everything. Let the mapping experts take care of this

I've already done this. The help says you can press and hold a location to bring up StreetView, but it doesn't seem to work on my iPad. I wonder why Google doesn't support QuickTime VR (AKA StreetView) in the web app.

Still, it's good to have as a backup if the Apple maps steer me wrong.

 

[machestnut]

There's more to the iPhone 5 than just an extra row of icons. (A very superficial way to look at it).

Well, if you want everything to work well, get the 5. The 4S will run just about all the apps, but flyover needs a little extra horsepower to work well, and a fast connection to download the map tiles. The 5 runs twice as fast as the 4S, and has LTE and dual-band WiFi, which you can take advantage of when they're available.

If you already have the 4S, it's probably worth waiting for the 5S, but why buy a phone that probably won't get all the features of iOS 7 next year.

Also, the 4S is only sold at 16GB memory now (if you're buying new). I don't think I need 64GB, but I think 16GB would be a bit cramped for my tastes.

If money is really tight, ignore my advice and get the phone you can afford, but if you have a 4, then chances are you've had it for two years. If you can afford the 5, it should serve you well for the next two.

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I've already done this. The help says you can press and hold a location to bring up StreetView, but it doesn't seem to work on my iPad. I wonder why Google doesn't support QuickTime VR (AKA StreetView) in the web app.

Still, it's good to have as a backup if the Apple maps steer me wrong.

Very well said, It surprises me how much hate is going on for the new Iphone 5. It was updated in every way from the outside to the inside. Yes the changes are subtle but it's still built on a great foundation. I understand why people wouldn't update from the 4s, its the same reason I didn't update from my 4 to the 4s. But now I am excited about the 5 and the changes.

 

[jwkay]

Another maps cock-up

Seems Apple Maps really isn't ready for the big-time (outside the US, of course!) Forget 3D flyover - what use is that when you can't even get the basic cartography correct!

(Article in Norwegian, currently the headline story in our biggest regional newspaper: http://www.bt.no/nyheter/lokalt/Her-har-vi-vel-glemt-noe-2768181.html)

 

[fatboyslick]

There's more to the iPhone 5 than just an extra row of icons. (A very superficial way to look at it).

Well, if you want everything to work well, get the 5. The 4S will run just about all the apps, but flyover needs a little extra horsepower to work well, and a fast connection to download the map tiles. The 5 runs twice as fast as the 4S, and has LTE and dual-band WiFi, which you can take advantage of when they're available.

If you already have the 4S, it's probably worth waiting for the 5S, but why buy a phone that probably won't get all the features of iOS 7 next year.

Also, the 4S is only sold at 16GB memory now (if you're buying new). I don't think I need 64GB, but I think 16GB would be a bit cramped for my tastes.

If money is really tight, ignore my advice and get the phone you can afford, but if you have a 4, then chances are you've had it for two years. If you can afford the 5, it should serve you well for the next two.

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I've already done this. The help says you can press and hold a location to bring up StreetView, but it doesn't seem to work on my iPad. I wonder why Google doesn't support QuickTime VR (AKA StreetView) in the web app.

Still, it's good to have as a backup if the Apple maps steer me wrong.

My decision to get iPhone 5 is based on how much iOS6 slows down my iPhone 4S. At present it seems the same so cant see a reason to change

 

[Coastercub]

Anyone else had problems with the music app and iTunes Match. WTF has apple done to it. It's almost completely useless now. It's hard to tell if a track is local or in the cloud and you can't delete tracks if iTunes Match is enabled. iOS 5 it was perfect, now it's just awful to use.

 

[nizmoz]

Apples maps aren't apples either. Its tomtoms. See he tab you lift in maps bottom corner.

 

[jwkay]

Apples maps aren't apples either. Its tomtoms. See he tab you lift in maps bottom corner.

...which probably explains why they have international ferry routes going overland

 

[fatboyslick]

...which probably explains why they have international ferry routes going overland

See my post earlier - in the UK TomTom is one of the weakest sat nav's available - which is strange as they're European - but generally they're regarded as having out of date maps.

 

[Ashin]

Let's all laugh at people who actually "upgraded" to iOS6

hahahahahahahhaa

 

[KPOM]

I understand where they are coming from. But maybe they could have taken a few million more out of their cash hoard, hired some additional developers, paid more for a better business partner, and created a better product. Yes, I see why it had to be done. There are few data providers, true. Garmin would have been a better choice for base map data, however. Plus, when you search for places now, you get far fewer results. It really puts a dent in the image of their otherwise stellar products.

The main providers of map data are Tele-Atlas (which supplies Tom-Tom) and Navteq, which is owned by Nokia. Perhaps they could have struck a deal with Nokia and Microsoft when they did the cross-licensing deal on the iOS licenses. That said, it isn't simply a matter of throwing money at it. They could have the biggest team in the world, but building a database takes time.

 

[Jimrod]

Let's all laugh at people who actually "upgraded" to iOS6

hahahahahahahhaa

Seems to me that maps is the only real problem area. I've got sat-nav in my car which I use for holidays, outside that having amazing maps has never been a big issue in my life. I'm happy enough with iOS6, each to their own.

 

[xxgilxx]

Whoa! Maps really does suck! Shame on you Apple!

 

[k995]

The main providers of map data are Tele-Atlas (which supplies Tom-Tom) and Navteq, which is owned by Nokia. Perhaps they could have struck a deal with Nokia and Microsoft when they did the cross-licensing deal on the iOS licenses. That said, it isn't simply a matter of throwing money at it. They could have the biggest team in the world, but building a database takes time.

BS, apple doesnt need sattelites it needs the maps themselves and thats simply a question of buying them. Tele atlas IS tom tom and apple did make an agrement with tomtom together with OpenStreetMap to provide the maps.

The interface itself is apple.

Apple should have seen its maps were inferior and the application lacked, but knowing apple they probably figured to amze people with the gimmick 3d view and promisses "it will get better" Like they did with siri or icloud or mobileme or ...

 

[Stones]

Seems Apple Maps really isn't ready for the big-time (outside the US, of course!) Forget 3D flyover - what use is that when you can't even get the basic cartography correct!

(Article in Norwegian, currently the headline story in our biggest regional newspaper: http://www.bt.no/nyheter/lokalt/Her-har-vi-vel-glemt-noe-2768181.html)

Strange that the maps in the TomTom app show correct maps for that part of Bergen.

 

[molingrad]

Apple maps suck besides compass feature.

I live in Boston I need street view and transit directions. BIG step backwards.

Google please hurry up with native app, safari link doesn't cut it!

 

[k995]

Strange that the maps in the TomTom app show correct maps for that part of Bergen.

OpenStreetMap as well, so its probably apple that screwed up with creating the maps themselves. Wich actually makes it worse.

 

[Rabbit4Paint]

I think Apple made the right decision break away from its dependence on google... Whether or not its Maps App was ready. When apple first released Mac OS X 10.0 (Cheetah) it was definitely not ready to take over OS 9. But it was the right time to make the change... Because the change had to be made sometime and the systems have only improved since then. If you look at where the Mac operating system would be now if Apple hadn't launched OS X when they did... we would all be complaining about that instead. I remember downgrading right back to OS 9 after installing 10.0... But after a few updates (10.1, 10.2) the system began to show its superiority over not just OS 9 but other consumer operating systems as well.

Yes there are features missing in the Maps App, but it will get better. Apple realized that they had to separate themselves from google sooner or later and they jumped in with their owns Maps app this update. I'm sure google will (sooner or later) supply their own app for download through the App Store.... Perhaps this is a missed opportunity by google who didn't have a backup maps app ready (unlikely but there are always two sides to each coin).

Although I agree that a lot of features are missing in the new maps app, I do look forward to what the future of the app will bring... As history shows it only gets better from here.

 

[Jayomat]

Yeah Yeah, god's favorite creation, we know that, i wonder if you are familiar with the world map, how typical........

get some sense of humor

 

[Dionte]

As for the original iPad? Apple's not offering of an OS upgrade to a device they sold as new 559 days ago is scandalous. Where is the outrage about this?
1 year, 6 months, 9 days from unbox to a "to-the-bin" for a 500 pound plus piece of kit!

That was wrong, it's more powerful than the 3GS so there was no excuse.

 

[mattopotamus]

I used apple maps yesterday and it got me to where I needed to be =/

 

[gmalone]

NIGHTMARE upgrade -- Lost Contacts

For many, upgrading to iOS 6 has become a nightmare. A co-worker lost all of her contacts by upgrading. A call to Apple and review of Google discussions shows that many others have also lost their contacts. For my friend, she was like millions that aren't technical and didn't have a backup -- hadn't activated iCloud, hadn't backed up to iTunes. Her contacts are GONE. Apple apologized and said this was an "emerging issue" for many upgrading users. The CRIME is that Apple could release an update that even had the possibility of deleting a user's local data. I've said it before and will say it again, Apple makes great hardware, but are HORRIBLE at software. We still live in the stone age of technology despite the hype.

 

[KPOM]

BS, apple doesnt need sattelites it needs the maps themselves and thats simply a question of buying them. Tele atlas IS tom tom and apple did make an agrement with tomtom together with OpenStreetMap to provide the maps.

The interface itself is apple.

Apple should have seen its maps were inferior and the application lacked, but knowing apple they probably figured to amze people with the gimmick 3d view and promisses "it will get better" Like they did with siri or icloud or mobileme or ...

There's nothing wrong with the interface. It's the data that needs work. Google has done a good job compiling lots and lots of data, and also analyzing it (which is how they estimate traffic data) that was lost when they transitioned to Tele-Atlas.

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For many, upgrading to iOS 6 has become a nightmare. A co-worker lost all of her contacts by upgrading. A call to Apple and review of Google discussions shows that many others have also lost their contacts. For my friend, she was like millions that aren't technical and didn't have a backup -- hadn't activated iCloud, hadn't backed up to iTunes. Her contacts are GONE. Apple apologized and said this was an "emerging issue" for many upgrading users. The CRIME is that Apple could release an update that even had the possibility of deleting a user's local data. I've said it before and will say it again, Apple makes great hardware, but are HORRIBLE at software. We still live in the stone age of technology despite the hype.

I know it's difficult to say, but that's why backups are so important. Sometimes there are glitches. If 99% of us install without a hitch, but there are 10 million of us who upgrade, that still means that 100,000 will have issues. It's impossible to release something that is 100% perfect. Even Microsoft, which is primarily a software company, struggles with this.

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That was wrong, it's more powerful than the 3GS so there was no excuse.

I think the difference is that they were still selling the 3GS as new up until 1.5 weeks ago. They stopped selling the original iPad as new almost 20 months ago. Also, the 3GS and iPad 2 aren't getting all the features of iOS 6 (only the 4S and 5, along with the new iPad do).

 

[SuperCachetes]

Really happy to say that it seems like iTunes Match is snappier. (Seriously)

Updated my iPhone 4 to iOS 6 yesterday, and after about a 5-minute iCloud initialization of some sort, scrolling through artists and such in the Music app is definitely smoother. (My library is about 19,000 songs...) Perhaps they have done something differently with the way the iCloud information is cached on the phone.

Can't say if anything is faster about actually cueing up music and playing it, but from a user experience perspective, I applaud even the slight improvement in scrolling.

 

[epicwelshman]

hahaha you are so funny...make shore you don't travel outside the US with this kind of mentality

a) sure
b) sarcasm

 

[theluggage]

When apple first released Mac OS X 10.0 (Cheetah) it was definitely not ready to take over OS 9. /QUOTE]

True - but they didn't dump Mac OS 9 the day that 10.0 came out, it didn't come as the default on new Macs until 10.1, and even once you'd switched to OS X, OS 9 emulation was available via Classic mode until the Intel switch.

They should have kept the new maps optional until they were up to snuff.

I watched the youtube video of the keynote where the new Maps was demo'd and worked out what happened: sections of the crowd were cheering when their home town was shown... Apple obviously misunderstood and thought they were cheering at Maps doing party tricks that Google Earth has done for years.