We all love new stuff -- and iOS 6, the new software for iPhone and iPad, is packed with cool new stuff. But before you get too excited, is your iDevice a bit long in the tooth? Read on to find out which features you won't be able to get on your iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS or 3G, or older iPad.
The features that are most likely to be missing from your iPhone or iPad are Siri and some elements of the new Apple Maps app, as well as restrictions on photo sharing, FaceTime and Safari. Here's which features are missing from which phones.
iPhone 4S
As the most recent model, the iPhone 4S has all the features of iOS 6 present and correct. So there's the new own-brand Maps app, updated Siri and Safari, Facebook integration, 3G FaceTime, and a new-look phone app. Plus there's the photo stream to share snaps to the web, and a new data-storing Passbook. The 4S is also the only Apple device to support officially certified Made for iPhone hearing aids.
iPhone 4
The iPhone 4 gets many of the new features in iOS 6 -- but not all. Kicking off with the Maps app, the iPhone 4 won't get sat nav-style turn-by-turn directions or the 3D Flyover mode. We're not too fussed about missing out on Flyover -- the 3D-modelled cities in Android's Google Maps look lovely but are distracting when you just want to get around.
But turn-by-turn directions are far more useful and are a serious omission. Instead, you'll have to turn to third-party apps such as TomTom or CoPilot.
The other thing missing from the iPhone 4 is Siri. Apple's voice-controlled personal assistant has a tonne of new features in iOS 6, but none of them are coming to the iPhone 4, 3GS or older.
iPhone 3GS
The iPhone 3GS will get iOS 6, but as with the iPhone 4, turn-by-turn navigation, 3D flyover and Siri are missing. The 3GS also misses out on shared photo streams, 3G FaceTime and VIP smart mailbox. And there's no offline reading in Safari, but you can still stick with the likes of article-saving apps Instapaper and Pocket (formerly known as Read It Later).
But we're more worried about what the update will do to the phone's performance -- just because the new software will work on the phone doesn't mean it'll improve things. We remember when previous updates arrived on the iPhone 3G and 3GS, and slowed those older phones down to a horrifying extent. We suggest waiting to see how other 3GS owners get on before updating.
iPhone 3G and original iPhone
No iOS 6 for the 3G and original iPhone, but come on -- isn't it about time you got a new phone anyway?
New iPad
On to Apple's tablets. As with the 4S, the new iPad is the latest model and so is blessed with the full range of iOS 6 features -- including, for the first time, voice-controlled smart-aleck Siri.
iPad 2
The iPad 2 gets iOS 6 and all the new features and apps, including turn-by-turn navigation and 3D flyover in the new Maps app. But there's no love for Siri: the chirpy voice-controlled personal assistant remains exclusive to the iPhone 4S and new iPad.
iPad
The original iPad adds the new Maps app, but misses out on turn-by-turn directions and the 3D Flyover mode. At the time of writing it seems that the original iPad won't get the update, so there's no access to shared photo streams, no 3G FaceTime, and no VIP smart mailbox. Like the iPhone 3GS, if you want to save an article to read later, you'll need a third-party app because Safari won't save articles for you. And of course, Siri says no siree.
Which new Apple features are you most excited about? Are you disappointed that your phone is missing out? Which features would tempt you to splash out for a new phone? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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By gavmeister on 12 Jun 2012
Shame...
... I was hoping they'd be using NavTeq's maps which are significantly more up-to-date (particularly here in London).
However, if it's just the map data they're using and we won't have to deal with TomTom's poor customer service, then that's some blessing at least.
By mrmmm on 12 Jun 2012
ooooo lookie
How fresh and invigorating.
IOS to incorporate some SatNav into the OS. And get a proper SatNav data company on board too.
Oh, Just like WP7 did with Bing maps and Nokia, a year ago, and more.
You'll be telling me next that Twitter and Facebook don't need separate Apps 'cos they're baked into the OS too, next... What the Fruits have copied that too?
Meanwhile, over in the courts Samsung is being sued for copyright infringement....
By nickallison on 12 Jun 2012
Good for drivers, but is that all?
This might be good for drivers, but there are other reasons to look at a map, and also not just the location where you currently are or might be travelling to.
Is TomTom as good at covering the whole world? Totally unscientific and completely random example - compare Kathmandu on Google and at http://routes.tomtom.com.
What about other geospatial apps that use the in-built mapping?
By halsteadk on 12 Jun 2012
iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3: The Anatomy of a Case - ibtimes.co.uk
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"Basically, we don't know," Lynnette Prigmore, head of product development at Proporta, told IB Times UK. "We sell cases into Apple under the Proporta brand as well as some of the third-party brands we work with and we have as much idea as you do about when a new iPhone, iPad or iPod is going to come out."
Naturally, the delay in matching accessories to the product can have an impact on how many are sold. Prigmore confirms that there is a burst of sales when a new device comes out in the shops.
"The ideal world from a retailer's point of view would be that we would have accessories on the day of the phone going on sale," she said.
"It tends to be electronic retailers who want it quicker because there is a much higher attachment rate for people buying a case at the same time that they buy a device. That is the sweet spot."
She added that the retailers generally understand that if they haven't got the device - which many of the phone shops may not have before day of launch - then the case manufacturers don't have it either.
Incipio approaches the news blackout in a very different way. CEO Andy Fathollahi said the company starts preparing for a new Apple device well in advance.
His staff monitor the rumours closely and begin to work on accessories that match those specifications.
"We start looking at possible designs around six months to a year before," he told IB Times UK.
"We take mills of devices that we carry around with us before we design the cases. We want to get a feel for what the product is going to be like. Then we carry those around with the cases on to see what that feels like because as a user you are going to live with that case for a long time and we want to make sure it is right"
Fathollahi said the designers throw away 75 percent of their designs along the way because the phone dimensions often change significantly from the early rumours.
Rumour Control
In order to operate that kind of design process Fathollahi has to be glued to websites promising the latest news on yet-to-be-launched phones.
"I look at them all, sites like 9to5mac.com. I have a whole bunch of sites set up on my Twitter and I use that like an RSS feed. I don't tweet much myself but at the end of the day I go home and I check Twitter and see what everyone has been saying and watch the videos," he said.
Even though Proporta does not make cases in advance of the specs being released, Prigmore also said her teams watched the rumour websites.
"We would be stupid if we didn't look at that. Also we are in the tech industry so we read rumours on everything not just phones or Facebook, anything that is out there.
"So we keep an eye on it until we actually know what it is going to be and that's the point where we actually push the button on anything," she said.
Prigmore did not name any specific sites but said the team might set up Google alerts and watch discussions on Facebook and Twitter.
With the latest smartphones being so prevalent in consumer minds it doesn't even need to be a technology site to find out the latest news.
"You'd have to be on the moon to not hear about it. Phones have progressed and when Proporta first started up it was very much aimed at the business user," she said.
"The company was in the protective market and now it's much more about having that lifestyle thing."
Time to Market
Prigmore said Proporta was fortunate to work very closely with its manufacturing partner so it could get product out quite quickly after a device launch or announcement.
"With the Samsung Galaxy S3 for example we had product out two weeks after it had been announced based on the little CAD drawings that Samsung had released," she revealed.
"Then once we actually got our hands on the device we checked it. Fingers crossed it matched up quite nicely, which nine times out of 10 it does."
Incipio CEO Fathollahi said his company also had to be prepared to make sure it is ready to roll as soon as a case is ready.
"We have manufacturing units all over the world and we are the biggest manufacturer of cases bar none," he said. "The analogy I use is that we're like a big ship, which means when we want to make a turn we have to start planning a long way ahead."
He said that meant making sure enough resin was ordered, that packaging suppliers were briefed and that important cogs in the company's distribution network have been prepped.
"We have a fabulous relationship with Fedex, their reps are in our offices every week to meet with different teams," he added.
With different kinds of cases being made from a wide range of materials, the two weeks to market timeline Proporta talks about does not fit every option.
So called 'Cut-and-sew' cases made in leather, PU or other soft material will be able to hit that target but Prigmore admits that hard shell cases made out of a polycarbonate can take six to eight weeks to create.
"With leather for example you don't have any tooled pieces in it because it is all handmade so that can be produced very quickly," she described.
"If you are making a hard shell we have to make sure we have got volume control and the holes in the right place and any ports for headphones. That goes into what is called tooling - we make a tool and then we can make the cases from that. It takes about three to four weeks to make a tool depending on the detail of it. So production takes much longer"
Those outside the industry might think that once an announcement has been made all the problems would be solved for accessory makers.
However, Prigmore said that even after a company has officially shown off a handset Proporta would not expect to be given a dummy model to work from.
She said practices had not changed much from how things used to be.
"Back in the day, with things like the iPod Nano, they used to announce it and then Steve Jobs would say, 'And they are on sale now!' and boom it would all go on the website," she remembered.
"We would then obviously buy them like any consumer would and wait for them to arrive."
Fathollahi seemed at ease with the Apple culture of secrecy and described how a similar system was in place at his production facilities on the west coast of America.
He called the Incipio laboratory a closed environment and revealed that the company had even written its own iPad app to take the photo of anyone who comes to the facility for added security.
"You can't get into our production plant without going through reception and signing in. The app is called Guestbook and instead of being invasive like airport security it's a fun thing," he explained.
"We built a custom desk so that when you enter you are looking at an iPad and the receptionist. The iPad takes your photo and you feel like, 'Oh that was fun'.
Business Tactics
So how do you build a business based on a product that is kept secret until the very last second?
Prigmore said Proporta did not just focus on those early sales when a new handset was launched but made sure the accessories it makes for companies such as Samsung, HTC and Apple hit specific events in the calendar year.
That could include a back-to-school range, Christmas themed cases or classic British designs that would live on beyond the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
"We work with Ted Baker so we have quite a lot of access to different trends that are coming in. We've worked with the London College of Fashion before as well. So it tends to be more on the design side," she said.
She was also thankful that the majority of the company's designs would work across a number of different accessories.
Even with the introduction of tablets or very large mobile phone handsets such as the Samsung Galaxy Note, they could still be applied across the range.
"Most of our designs are quite transferable and we use some of the same designs on an iPhone as we would use on an iPad," she said.
"It doesn't matter too much unless they release something star shaped, that might be tough to reconfigure. As long as it stays pretty much rectangular then we are usually OK."
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