Apple Is Going to Unveil iOS 6 On Monday Discussion

[Ed Hardy]

There's no doubt that Apple is set to take the wraps off iOS 6 tomorrow at its annual developer conference. The question is, what features will the new operating system for the iPhone and iPad have?

Read the full content of this Article: Apple Is Going to Unveil iOS 6 On Monday

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[Ed Hardy]

The basic feature I'd really like to see in iOS 6 is support for different signatures depending on which email account is being used. I deal with this irritating limitation daily: I have to use a SIG on work emails but I don't want it on personal ones.

Anyone else have a feature they'd most like to see?

[r0k]

* Looser app restrictions: I have a wifi analyzer app on my GP5 that finally allowed me to understand the problems with the placement of access points in my house. I'm hoping that competitive pressure forces Apple to allow similar apps on iOS one of these days. Though I doubt we will see anything like this as soon as iOS6.

* I'd like to see a "mark all as read" feature in iOS mail.

* I'd like to see the ability to upload movies via photostream but I'd also like to see the ability to control whether videos are included as they can be QUITE slow to upload (based on my experience uploading videos using an eyefi SD card).

* I'm looking forward to automatic app downloads as I enter my itunes password several times a day for updates now and I'm tired of it. Of course I'd also accept the ability to update apps without a password even if buying apps still requires one.

* I'd like to see a better way to handle pin code expiration. Right now, one of the main reasons I had for deleting corporate email from my iPhone was the miserable experience I was having. Get a text message from my wife? No problem, just type in 12 digits so I can unlock my phone and reply. Even if I was just using the thing a few minutes ago. This is because our company IT policy required locking in 5 short minutes. Read: always locked. What made this worse was the miserable way iOS impleements picking a new code. In the middle of something? Too bad. Your pin has expired and you have to make up a new one... NOW. So I'd really like to see Apple rethink the way they handle notification of an expired pin code (notifications screen, not a modal popup), and they way they allow you to change it (same day not same micorsecond it expires!)

* Now that I've walked around with a GP5 for a few weeks, I appreciate the value of a lockscreen with more on it than just the time and a few notifications. I'd like to see Apple add the ability to place something like widgets on the lock screen. I'm not in favor of the silly 2 tier screen structure Android uses, but I'm asking for notifications that can look a lot like a widget rather than plain text.

* I'd like to see a photostream gallery added to iCloud.com. Even if I have to go in and mark photos private to keep them from simply showing up, the ability for me to send ppl to a web site (besides facebook, smugmug, picasa, etc) within minutes of taking a photo has a lot of appeal. Not that the others aren't nice, they aren't as well integrated into the OS as iCloud is.

* I want a file system. I've been asking for this since I got my iPad and I'm tired of waiting. Face it. iOS is a computer OS that runs on handheld and tablet computers. Having to pass files around using that "open with" method is not only plain silly, but it leads to wasted storage as each app has its own sandboxed copy of every document. The only exception is the camera roll and I say I've had enough. Apple doesn't have to call it a file system but they need do give us a "documents" roll already.

* Enable Siri on older devices. There is really no reason Siri can't work on any device that can run the OS. I'm not going to re-up a year early just to get Siri but I'd really like to have the ability to read and reply to text messages by voice when I'm in the car. Apple has more money than most small countries right now so there's not much validity to the argument that offering new features on old hardware hurts the bottom line.

* Apple finally saw the light and made it possible to take photos from the lock screen. And without that silly double click of an already overworked home button. How about reply to a text message? If it's shown on the lock screen, I should be able to reply to it from the lock screen as well.

* Warnings when storage is getting full on the notifications screen. I ran out of storage when filming my daughter's band concert the other day and I would rather have known about it before the event than sit there deleting stuff during the event so I'd have room for another song.

[lelisa13p]

Ed, you just got your wish.

[Adama D. Brown]

I'm sorry, but multiple signatures is not a feature you should have to update the freaking OS for. Apple deserves a slap on the wrist either for not enabling that by default, or for not allowing third parties to provide more robust email clients if they won't do it themselves.

[lelisa13p]

Ed, when using Gmail separate signatures are allowed for each Gmail account. I use 2 of my 5 Gmail accounts on my iPhone/iPad mail but I don't use a signature on either account. Does iOS strip signatures set up thru Gmail itself? Is your situation similar but with signature on one account? This would be under the assumption that no signature is entered into Mail Settings on iOS device and using native Mail application.

[Ed Hardy]

I think I have a fairly typical email setup. My personal email is handled by Gmail while my work email comes from a Microsoft Exchange account. I use the iOS Mail app to get and send messages from both these accounts, and while it makes this process easy in many ways, attaching separate SIGs for each one isn't one of them. Or at least that's the way it is currently.

Ed, you just got your wish.

I have to say I didn't hear Tim Cook mention this today, but I was really busy trying to take all kinds of notes. lelisa13p, if you heard something in his keynote at the WWDC about separate SIGs for different accounts that I didn't that would be really awesome.

[jigwashere]

Ed, according to Lifehacker, Sparrow is a better mail app for iOS and does give you multiple signatures: How to Get the Best Features of iOS 6 Right Now

[lelisa13p]

It wasn't Tim Cook; it was the guy who was demonstrating/speaking in the last segment before Tim Cook came on again to wrap things up and tell everyone to enjoy their week there. I was watching Leo Laporte & his group on TWiT (they were streaming a live feed) and they ooohed when we heard that and I typed it to you about 30 seconds later or so. I don't see that item yet on any of the recapped notes but I'm going to listen to the keynote again. It may be one of the 200 new features that was barely mentioned; IIRC it was only a sentence in a segment discussing lots of things.

[Ed Hardy]

Different signatures for each email account is confirmed. Huzzah!