iOS 6 Announced…Now With More Siri
At Monday’s WWDC keynote, Scott Forstall went through all of the features that the newly-announced iOS 6 will have. Ready for it? I’ll go over the highlights here.
Siri
She’s getting a big upgrade, as our helpful assistant will graduate out of beta mode in iOS 6. Among the biggest upgrades:
- iPad availability is coming!
- Yahoo! integration for sports updates and news (Baseball, Football, Basketball, etc.)
- Detailed restaurant information, including pricing, menus, ratings and reservations (via Open Table)
- More sophisticated movie information, such as Rotten Tomato ratings integration, trailers, keywords (his example was “movies with Scarlett Johansson”)
- Launch apps by voice
- Tweet by voice
- “Eyes Free” mode and integration with the steering in certain automobiles (Honda, Audi, GM, BMW, to name a few)
- More languages
Facebook
Looks like we can’t escape it—Apple and Facebook aren’t going anywhere! To the hold-outs, here’s what’s in store:
- Built in to the iOS
- Universal sign-in keeps you logged in through Settings menu
- Sharing of photos, links, games (from Game Center), iTunes content, Maps
Phone
You mean to say that we should actually still use the iPhone as a…phone?
- Additional in-app options, such as Do Not Disturb, Remind Me Later, Reply with Message for those times you can’t (or don’t want to) answer a call
- VIP tagging of your most important contacts
- Two calls in a row will be sent through in the event of an emergency (I should be careful with this one)
FaceTime
Video chatting got some much-needed upgrades.
- Now available over cellular instead of just Wi-Fi
- Unifying phone number and Apple ID, plus Messages (for chat across IM and SMS/MMS)
Photo Stream
- Photo Stream sharing
- For Mac, Apple TV and web
New Safari
- New iCloud tabs that will show you your iCloud info across all linked devices
- Offline reading list
- Will work only in Mountain Lion and iOS 6
- VIPs—contacts that you can designate as ‘very important people’
- Two added inboxes: VIP inbox and flagged inbox
- Add photos from your device (finally!)
- Support for password-protected Office files
Maps
- Yelp! integration
- Turn-by-turn navigation
- 3D mode
- Siri integration
- Apple-specific cartography
- 100 million local businesses listed
…and a lot more, including Guided Access, the mobile Universal Access controls, Passbook, and more. It will launch in the fall and will be available for iPhone 4, 4S, 3GS, iPad 3 and newer and iPod touch (4G).
Read the full set of features on our blog, Barkings! Follow up-to-date news on more new products and features on our blog here.
Bonus: Watch Zooey Deschanel, John Malkovich and Samuel L. Jackson ask Siri all sorts of things…