Today Apple announced iOS 6.0 during the WWDC 2012. The latest version of the Apple’s mobile operating system brings 200 new features and several advancements to the Siri digital assistant.
Siri will be available on the new iPad with iOS 6 and brings a score of new features and improvements. You can now ask Siri for sports scores. You can also inquire about standings or players and Siri will give you the answers.
Siri now integrates with OpenTable to bring you information on restaurants. Siri will sort restaurants by ratings and you can even make your reservations directly through Siri.
By integrating with Rotten Tomatoes, Siri brings you information on movies, actors and directors along with what movies are playing where.
You can now tweet through Siri which has Twitter integration. You can now even tweet while you are behind the wheel thanks to Apple’s collaboration with BMW, Mercedes and others.
International users will be happy to know that Siri now comes with support for more languages. Italian, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese is now supported by Apple’s voice assistant.
With iOS 6 Apple also brings deep Facebook integration similar to the Twitter integration offered with the last version of iOS. Once you have signed into Facebook through your settings you will be able to share content directly from your applications like Photos, Maps and Safari.
Twitter and Facebook are also integrated into your notifications center and you can share your favorite apps from the App Store through Facebook as well.
Facebook events will also now appear on your Calendar and Apple will provide the APIs so you can bring social integration to your own apps.
With iOS 6 Apple will introduce an all new Maps feature which will replace the Google Maps. The new Maps brings 3D Maps and turn-by-turn navigation.
With Yelp integration, you will get access to over 100 million business listings and even offers its own traffic service with public sourced real-time incident reports.
The turn-by-turn navigation feature is done in real-time, and integrated with traffic reports so you can be re-routed to save time when you are on the road. The Maps can even be accessed through your lock-screen.
Siri integration in Maps allows you to use your voice assistant to talk you through the directions.
The Flyover feature in Maps allows you a birds eye view of major cities across the world and you also have 3D maps.
iOS 6 also brings improvements to the Phone app. You can control incoming calls during a meeting with a text message response or have a reminder set to deal with the call at a later time.
Apple has introduced a ‘Do not disturb’ feature which allows you to schedule the times which you want to answer calls from certain users.
The Passbook app in iOS 6 acts as a virtual wallet. However instead of storing cash, it is a collection of boarding pass.
You don't have to worry about searching through your wallet for your coupons, gift cards, passes or tickets. Passbook will keep all your content beautifully organized.
Passbook is location aware, and will pull out your relevant ‘passcard’ based on your geo location.
Facetime is taking a much anticipated leap since it was first launched by allowing Facetime over Cellular networks along with Wi-Fi.
The other improvement with Facetime is Apple will integrate your Apple ID with your phone number allowing you to even stay in touch with your friends through your Mac or iPad.
The Mail app will be improved in iOS 6 with a more streamlined interface. It offers VIP lists to keep an eye on the important emails and adds the ability to add document or image attachments from your device. Refreshing your mail can be done by simply swiping down.
iOS 6 also brings improvements to the Safari web browser. Features like iCloud tabs, offline reading and the ability to add photos to sites like eBay and Craigslist without having to leave the site.
iCloud Tabs keeps track of which pages you have open on your devices, so you can start browsing on one device and pick up right where you left off on whatever device is handy. Safari now saves web pages — not just links — in your Reading List, so you can catch up on your reading even when you can’t connect to the Internet
Shared Photo Streams is another feature of iOS 6. You can share your photo streams with your family and friends. Friends with iOS or Macs running Mountain Lion will have the photos delivered immediately to their devices. Photo streams can even be viewed on your Apple TV.
You can comment on the individual photos or like them. Best of all your shared photos will not be counted against your iCloud storage so you can share as much as you want.
These are just some of the great features you will see in iOS 6. We are sure that Apple will also have some special titbits which will be revealed alongside the next iPhone when it is released this fall.
What are your thoughts on iOS 6. Let us know in the comments section.
source – Apple