While watching football this morning I saw a commercial for the iPhone 5, which reminded me of how excited I am that I updated my iPhone 4S to the new system, iOS 6! I updated my iPhone as soon as I could after iOS 6 debuted, as I’m sure every other iPhone user did. I may not be the most tech-savvy person, but I must say I am enjoying the new features and changes. Here are my favorite iOS 6 updates:
Calling updates: this is one of my favorite new features. Now, instead of just silencing the call, you can send messages to the person calling you. This message can range from the standard “Sorry, can’t talk right now” to whatever custom message you prefer. You can also set a reminder on your phone for the missed phone call, to make sure you return the call when you are available. My friends interrupted our studying to test out these features, including the reminder option set for when you leave a certain location. Sure enough, when we left our study party at SAL, my friend received a reminder on her phone to call me!
The Do Not Disturb option: Now instead of having to turn off all notifications or silence your phone, you can turn on the do not disturb feature on your phone! This will run either on a scheduled time period, or whenever you manually turn this feature, to silence all notifications except the ones you deem important enough to know. I definitely appreciate this option, so my automatic notifications won’t wake me up while I’m sleeping anymore!
Photo sharing options: iOS 6 has equipped the photos app with more sharing features, like Facebook. While this is a small change, the sharing options display is also cleaner and simpler to use than the previous one. And the iPhone Camera can now take panoramic shots, which I am so excited to try out! Since my camera broke after a summer in Madrid, I now use my iPhone to take all my pictures and appreciate the updates to the photos app.
Email: The email app was updated with the addition of a VIP inbox, which allows users to keep track of their most important contacts and emails without having to search endlessly through their general inbox. So far I’m using it to keep track of all important VSA emails and notes! The new attachment options also mean that I can attach pictures to emails directly from the email app, as opposed to going through the photos app. Looks like Mom and Dad will be getting more photos of my exciting junior year!
Siri: I haven’t had a lot of success with Siri in the past, but now that Siri has access to Facebook and twitter, plus movie reviews and expanded restaurant reservations, I’ll have to give it another try! Plus Siri can now look up sports scores for me!
Passbook: I’m so excited to load all of my tickets and gift cards on my iPhone! I haven’t tried the app out yet, but I can’t wait to see how it works, and to finally take all those gift cards out of my wallet!
Maps: As exciting as the new 3D view in Apple Maps is, I must say that I miss google maps. While many users have also experienced difficulty and received incorrect directions from Apple Maps, I’m hoping that I can avoid those snags in the app! Also the new maps can’t give you public transportation directions anymore, which means that I’ll have to download a secondary transit app.
Woohoo! iOS 6!
While I’ve only had iOS 6 for less than a week, I am already loving the new features, and now will have to debate upgrading to the iPhone 5!
Until next time, Fight On!
