The next iOS version has never been as big a deal as upgrades to Android or Windows. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, must've been the line of thinking and it's up to you to replace broke with fragmented or catching up, as needed. On the other hand, with the rather rapidly improving hardware, fragmentation is becoming a bit of an issue for Apple to address too.
Anyway, we're now at number 6, along with 5 million (and counting) iPhone 5 users. Now, what follows may seem as a mere prelude to our iPhone 5 review but people only now considering the iPhone 4S may find it quite helpful. By the looks of it, there may be some people considering keeping the iPhone 4S but we're yet to see about that.
Let's focus now on the key additions and improvements to the Apple iOS instead.
Key features
Faster and more stable all around
Siri available on iPad 3, wider language support with Canadian English, Spanish (Spain/Mexico), Italian, Italian (Switzerland), Korean, Mandarin (Chinese/Taiwan),Cantonese (Hong Kong)
Siri now serves sports info, movie and restaurants reviews. It can launch apps and do status updates
System-wide Facebook integration: Facebook contacts and events appear in the phonebook and calendar
Notification center gets quick Facebook/Twitter update keys
New Maps app with TomTom data, turn-by-turn voice navigation and 3D/Flyover view mode
Better Safari browser with iCloud tabs, full-screen mode, offline reading and faster performance
Photo Stream can share photos with other iOS users. Likes and comments are supported
Updated Mail app with VIP and Flagged mailboxes
Unified FaceTime/iMessages ID. FaceTime works over the cellular network
New UI for the App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, Music, Weather apps
You can set songs from your music library as alarm tones
Improved privacy settings
New accessibility options and guided access (single-app mode for kids)
Re-organized settings, various new icons
Panorama mode in Camera
Game Center now supports challenges (achievements)
Reject call with SMS
Do Not Disturb mode
Lost mode
Improved keyboards and auto-correction
Power toggles moved to top of settings menu (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Tethering)
Various improvements under the hood
Main disadvantages
No offline maps support and maps are not up to scratch currently
Variable compatibility across the device range
Passbook not on par with Google Wallet, not truly useful
An altogether conservative approach to design and layout
Notification Center could've offered more functionality
No widgets
Underused lockscreen
Limited themes and personalization options
Apple claims that iOS 6 brings about 200 new features but the noteworthy ones are right there in the bullets above. Depending on where your comfort level is, the major feature can either be the new Maps, the improved Siri or the Facebook integration.
Many people expected to see more from Apple this year but few really had a clear idea what that is. Being "wowed" by Apple has been a legitimate expectation for millions of users out there but those who think their creativity peaked in iOS 4 and the iPhone 4, and has been somewhat flat since, may have a point.
The iOS 6 isn't a dramatic rethink of the design philosophy but brings a reasonable level of change, and improvement, to many important parts of the experience, which will be felt in day to day use.
Follow us as we delve deeper into iOS 6 and find out if Cupertino still has its software chops intact.
Note: This is our in-depth review of iOS 6 running on an iPhone 4S. The dedicated iPhone 5 review is coming soon, so stay tuned!
Just in case there wasn't enough speculation surrounding the new iPhone and iPad, the latest rumor has it that Apple will release them along with a whopping six other new products this year.
According to Apple Insider, Ming-Chi Kuo from KGI Securities suspects that Apple will add new models to its iMac, MacBook Pro, and iPod lines throughout the fall.
It will start in September, with the oft-rumored September 12 event where Kuo believes Apple will announce a new 21.5-inch iMac and a 13-inch MacBook Pro with retina display. While the new iMac isn't expected to have a retina display, it will reportedly feature a brand new design as its main draw.
September will also supposedly see the release of the highly anticipated iPhone 5 and a new revision to the iPod Touch. No details were revealed on what to expect from the new iPod Touch, but it will likely carry many of the same improvements and new features as the new iPhone.
A full fall for Apple
October is expected to be equally busy for Apple, according to the same KGI Securities report.
Early in the month Apple is expected to launch a new iPod Nano with wireless capabilities to download music directly from the iTunes store.
Much has been said already about the rumored iPad Mini, and according to KGI Securities a new regular-sized iPad will join it on store shelves in October. The new iPad will reportedly remain essentially the same as the current model, with the key difference coming from support for the newsmaller dock connector that will be introduced with the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini.
Apple's final new product will be a new 27-inch iMac. The new iMacs are expected to use a new "full lamination process" to fuse the display panel with the glass. However, the process is apparently more taxing for a larger 27-inch display than for the 21.5-inch model, which is why KGI Securities believes the larger model will launch in October rather than September.
KGI securities paints an impressively full schedule lined up for Apple. Of course, it all comes without official word from Apple, so we'll have to wait until the September mystery event to see how it all pans out.
Download and install the Air Video client from http://inmethod.com or theiTunes Store. Once it's launched, you'll see the icon in your menu bar. Click it and select 'Preferences' to open the app's preferences.
2. Define shared folders
In the Air Video Server Preferences, select the Shared Folders tab. Click 'Add Folder', select a folder where you have stored some videos, and click Open. It will be added to the list. Repeat with other relevant folders.
3. Use the app
When the server's running (toggle in the preferences or the menu item), you can now access your shared folders from the Air Video app and stream videos within, which can be sent to your Apple TV via AirPlay.
A new update for both second and third generation Apple TV devices was released Monday, Software Update 5.1.
Though the update brings a few new features and upgrades into play, there aren't many major improvements.
Chief among the additions is the ability to view Shared Photo Streams, which now allows you to "browse photos and comments, and receive notifications of new content," according to Apple's support page.
Additionally, 5.1 allows users to have more than one iTunes account per device, and will make switching between those accounts simple and easy.
Improved stability and AirPlay integration
While there are also some performance-related improvements to Apple TV, some smaller additions have also been implemented.
There's now some better AirPlay functionality, including the ability to "send audio content from Apple TV to AirPlay-enabled speakers and devices."
That includes both AirPort Express and additional Apple TVs.
Fortunately, users can protect their AirPlay with an onscreen code, which should help prevent others from hijacking things like party playlists.
Users will also be able to search for movie trailers right from their Apple TVs, and U.S. users can now local theater times.
New screen savers have been added, and users will also find better options for subtitling after updating their Apple TV.
When faced with the prospect of buying an Apple TV, a question many people ask is: "Why would I want one?"
And, to be fair, Apple's black hockey puck does initially appear quite limited and restricted - a seemingly impenetrable box that doesn't even enable you to load apps, nor offer the freedom of watching whatever you want, whenever you want.
Critics often use it to bash Apple's 'closed ecosystem', arguing that the Apple TV is little more than a device designed to funnel more of your money to the iTunes Store and Apple's ever-growing cash mountain. Even Apple itself isn't particularly bullish about its tiny device, referring to it as a 'hobby', and usually only gives it the briefest of mentions during keynotes and earnings calls, before banging on about the iPad.
But there's clearly something to the Apple TV, otherwise Apple - notorious for its razor-sharp sense of focus - would have canned it a long time ago. We reckon its detractors often miss the point about what the device is for, and, importantly, what it has the potential to be.
For us, the Apple TV is an essential part of our Apple ecosystem. Even out of the box, it can impress in key areas, but add an iOS device to the mix and you have the potential to revolutionise your viewing habits. Bung in a Mac as well and you have the kind of media centre TV addicts would have killed for only a few short years ago.
This feature explains why we're hooked on Apple's tiny black box, and why its future is brighter than ever. By the end you won't so much be asking yourself why would you want one, but instead: why wouldn't you?
The Apple TV, which sets you back £99 in the UK, is a simple unit and it's very easy to set up. It connects to a TV via a single HDMI lead, optionally to an amp via optical audio, and to your network via Wi-Fi.
The latest interface revision's home screen is vaguely iOS-like, providing straightforward access to a number of sections and content sources.
Box of tricks
First up, you get Movies, which is essentially a rental service. Not every film you'd find in a brick-and-mortar shiny-disc rental shop finds its way to the iTunes Store (which is where the Apple TV draws its content from), but the selection is improving all the time.
Pricing isn't too bad either, at £3.49 per film. Although you can perhaps find better deals if you venture into your local town, the Apple TV wins out through immediacy: confirm a rental and it starts streaming. Assuming you have a reasonable broadband connection, even HD movies should be ready to watch within a few minutes at most.
If something crops up and you no longer have time to sit in front of your TV, you can delay starting the film for up to 30 days, but once you press play you've got 48 hours (24 in the USA) before the rental disappears. Note that you can also watch a film as many times as you wish during the limited window - handy if you fall asleep half-way through while the rest of your family remains glued to the screen.
The next option is TV Shows. Although Apple briefly flirted with TV show rentals in the USA, all shows are now purchase-based. You can buy shows by the episode or series, and cost varies depending on the network, the show itself and whether or not you're downloading HD. Expect to pay up to £2.49 per HD episode, although buying an entire season or series usually drops the per-episode price average, and the iTunes Store also offers regular sales on older shows.
If you're not all that fussed regarding picture quality, switch Video Resolution to SD in the iTunes Store section of Settings to save yourself a few quid.
Note that because the Apple TV is a device with limited storage (its guts essentially reveal a headless 8GB iPod touch), you don't store purchases on the device itself. Instead, TV shows are stored in Apple's iCloud service and streamed on demand. (This is also the case for an increasing number of movies in the USA, which can be purchased rather than just rented through the Apple TV. We assume this feature will eventually find its way to the UK.)
Beyond iTunes
The third option on the home screen is Music, which is also service-based, in that it's a link to iTunes Match. This is a £21.99 per year subscription that attempts to match the music collection stored on your Mac and then enable you to play it back through Apple devices, without having to sync myriad files between said devices.
This option works nicely if you're already using iTunes Match. If you're not, there are other ways to get your music - and, in fact, plenty of other non-iTunes Store content - on to your Apple TV. The fourth of the home screen's options is Computers, and this enables you to connect your Apple TV to the iTunes Library of any Mac (or PC) on your network that you've set to allow Home Sharing (Advanced > Turn On Home Sharing in iTunes).
Once connected to a Mac, you get a menu on the Apple TV that enables you to access all relevant content that's sitting in iTunes: music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, iTunes U content and photos. Although this does have the downside of requiring your Mac to be awake, the benefits are clear: you're not reliant on the iTunes Store.
If you've used the likes of Handbrake to convert videos to an iOS-compatible format, and stored the results in iTunes, the Computers section will enable you to access this footage. If you're not using iTunes Match, you get access to your music collection, for no cost.
The remaining items on the Apple TV home screen refer to specific online services, further expanding the content you can access via the device. Some of the options, such as YouTube and Vimeo, are free, whereas others, such as Netflix, require a subscription.
Towards the end of the list you'll also find several photo services, if you fancy turning your television into a massive, energy-guzzling photo frame.
Remote control
Whatever type of content you're trying to access, one thing will become clear before long: the remote control that Apple bundles with the Apple TV is dumbed down to the point of it being borderline useless in certain scenarios, and this is exacerbated by the nature of the Apple TV's linear-list menus.
For basic tasks, the remote is okay - you can use it to play and pause and it's fine for navigating the latest movies and grabbing one to rent. But it's very easy to lose your patience when entering search terms and passwords letter-by-letter, using the tiny direction arrows and clicking the play button to confirm each character. And if you've a big music collection, scrolling down a massive list of artists or albums gets old really fast.
For such tasks, Apple offers the Remote app. A free download from iTunes, it has two primary functions. The first is turning any iOS device into a gesture-based touchscreen controller. Menus are navigated by swiping and tapping, but more importantly, whenever you find yourself confronted by a text field, the iOS keyboard pops up. Typing on an iOS device might be slower than using a traditional keyboard, but it's certainly a lot faster to enter a password using an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad than it is to navigate around the screen with the Apple TV remote.
The Remote app has further gestures, too. When a video is playing, you can flick left and right to rewind and fast-forward, or drag-hold to scrub through footage; if you flick down, you'll gain access to chapter markers and can then flick left or right to skip.
Similarly, when playing music you can drag to scrub or flick to access the previous or next tracks. The other thing the Remote app is great for is navigating the media you have stored in iTunes. On the iPad in particular, Remote rather resembles a miniature version of Apple's desktop jukebox, and enables you to rapidly search a collection to find an album or video you'd like to listen to or watch.
You don't have to scroll down a massive list of artists (which can take some time), click an album, then click again to play a track; instead, you can slide your finger down the side of the iOS device's screen, tap an album's artwork, and then choose a track once it spins round on the iPad, or when the track-listing slides into view on an iPhone or iPod touch.
Although Remote is definitely the first app we recommend that new Apple TV owners download, it's far from the last, and that's because the App Store - in combination with the AirPlay feature - opens up a world of possibilities for the device.
The super-thin keyboard cover and the satisfying-sounding hinge are all well and good, but what's the Surface tablet actually like to use?
At this stage Microsoft is being very cagey and no-one has had much time using Surface RT yet, but from our experience of trying it out, Microsoft has done exactly what it set out to do.
This is a Windows tablet designed first and foremost to run Windows – and especially the Metro Start screen and Metro-style apps with touch controls – and it does it very well.
Surface Pro is an Intel Core i5 Ivy Bridge tablet; it's fast enough for demanding programs like Adobe Lightroom and the touchpad on the keyboard cover means you get the precision of a mouse for fiddly interfaces.
But Surface RT is an ARM tablet, running Microsoft's first version of Windows for RT and the company's first real tablet-friendly operating system.
The good news is that Windows RT feels just like Windows 8 – and it works well on a touchscreen.
The icons of the Start screen and the screens of apps like News scroll smoothly as you swipe across the screen (what Microsoft calls fast and fluid).
Semantic zoom is equally fast and smooth; you can get through a lot of movies in the preview Netflix app to find the one you want and tap to start playing it full screen.
Snapping two applications side by side, so you can read Mail and enjoy photos or Web sites in the 4:3 aspect ratio looks great (apart from widescreen windows) and is also smooth and fast; drag an application from the side and drop it on the side of the screen where you want to see it.
Swiping up from the edge of the Surface tablet's bezel to see the app bar in Metro applications or swiping in from the side of the screen to get the Charm bar is fluid too - you don't have to swipe slowly the way you do on older touchscreen PCs.
Surface RT runs any Metro application, so that's anything in the Windows Store at this point, plus the Windows desktop – but only for desktop IE and the Office applications.
For working with the desktop, touch is fine for dragging windows around and scrolling through documents and Web pages, but if you're working in Excel or one of the other Office 2013 RT Home and Student programs included with Surface RT you'll probably want the touchpad (you probably want the keyboard anyway of course).
Microsoft Surface tablet - portrait mode
Turn Surface RT sideways and it flips the screen instantly and smoothly, although it's not too sensitive – so it doesn't flip back and forth if you angle the screen a little to show it someone.
There's no gratuitous animation as it rotates; you just get the same Start screen or app interface, only in portrait layout.
That works well for the Start screen, because the tiles just rearrange themselves into taller, narrower groups. And documents and Web pages all work well because you can see a full page on screen at once.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Surface RT and Windows RT is how unremarkable they feel.
This is Windows 8 and (some of) the Windows desktop.
If you're at all familiar with Windows 8, Surface RT feels like a nice, fast Windows 8 PC that just happens to have an ARM processor.
We need to try it with more apps and different peripherals to see how far that feeling goes, but so far, using Surface RT is using Windows 8 – with all its strengths and foibles.
Surface Pro has some extras above and beyond the Intel processor and the ability to run all your Windows programs.
The Ivy Bridge Core i5 still needs cooling, so there's a groove around the edge; it's 4mm thicker and 227g heavier and the screen resolution is what Microsoft cryptically calls ClearType Full HD.
It's got DisplayPort instead of HDMI and as well as the two keyboard covers it also comes with an active pen.
This clips onto the side using the same magnets as the power cable, so it doesn't get in the way of the keyboard connections.
In your hands though, Surface Pro looks and feels very much the same – and the Touch Cover and Type Cover fit both interchangeably.
Early verdict
It's a surprise that Microsoft created its own tablet, but it's done a more than decent job of it; far more creative and polished than many Android tablets.
Microsoft has to get the price right – the current thinking is comparable withiPad and 10-inch Android tablets for Surface RT rather than with the 7-inch Kindle Fire – and battery life has to be good.
Surface doesn't feel like an iPad in your hands; it feels like a well-designed Windows tablet crammed with clever touches that make it practical.
But this is the first hurdle in a number to come in the tablet race – sure, the design and construction of the Microsoft Surface tablet is great and in a blind test would fare well against the best the tablet world has to offer.
The next stage is convincing the world that Windows 8 is a comparable tablet OS to iOS and Android, and making it competitive on cost too.
But the first move is a good one – giving choice, an excellent array of hardware and a well-designed tablet range to those that are still unsure whether the current crop of slates can match their needs.
It also sends a message to Microsoft's hardware partners: this is the standard for Windows 8 tablets should adhere to, unless you're going to get seriously competitive on price.
Let's take a minute and talk about the screen: it's beautiful. We almost feel sad that this isn't the first HD screen we've seen on a mobile phone, as it's kind of lost its lustre since the likes of the Nexus, Note and One X have all managed the same trick – but if you've not seen one before and you compare it to a Galaxy S2, it's worlds apart.
If we think back to just four years ago, when HVGA (320 x 480) resolution screens were the norm on phones and 720p TVs were still the plaything of the bigger spenders, it's incredible to think that pixel count has been shrunk down to fit into your palm.
And that means the 309ppi pixel density is up there with the sharpness of the iPhone 4S, and it makes us realise that while a Retina Display is lovely, 3.5-inch screens just don't cut it any more.
We'll be mightily surprised if the combined popularity of the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3 don't prompt Apple into a re-tooling of the screen with the iPhone 5, as the contrast ratio, large display and excellent colour reproduction will definitely wow users on the shelves.
It seems Samsung has tweaked the colour balance on the Galaxy S3 as well – things don't look as saturated as before, which will certainly help entice those that previously were against Super AMOLED before due to the harshness of colours.
There is an issue here for those that like to let the phone handle the display management - the auto-brightness level is too low for our eyes. It's like Samsung is trying to protect the battery a little too much here, and we'd rather have a variety of auto-brightness settings like in the internet browser.
This has been overhauled with the new update, giving you a notifications bar option to change the brightness or select auto mode. It's not perfect by a long way - we can't count the amount of times each day we get frustrated with the automatic mode not catching up to the conditions.
When it does work, the brightness is great... but when the brightness drops mid-Temple Run we get hugely frustrated.
It's not too bad in direct sunlight though - the contrast ratio of 3.5:1 Samsung is touting in direct sunlight is just about enough to see what you're doing, and if you're using the camera you can fire the brightness even higher to see what you're snapping.
The same option has been sadly removed from the Video player, so sitting in the sunshine watching Robocop is now no longer a thing to be done with your new Galaxy.
In terms of comparisons to previous iterations of Super AMOLED screens, this is where it gets a little bit technical - we'll try to keep it simple.
The Galaxy S2 packed a Super AMOLED Plus screen, which means that for every pixel, there were three subpixels - red, green and blue. This meant lovely contrast ratios and cleaner whites - this was noticeable close up.
However, in order to facilitate the much higher resolution, Samsung has crammed in fewer sub pixels per pixel, which means a slightly less 'clean' colour close up.
But what does this mean to you, the user? In truth, not a lot. Power efficiency seems to be very similar to that on the original S2 when it comes to firing the screen, and while there might be more of a skew towards green and blue on the colour scale, in practice this simply results in more natural-looking hues.
The sharpness is also technically affected, but with such a high resolution there's very little chance of this affecting the way you get to watch your movies or see the web.
Check out our comparison from Galaxy S to S2 to S3 to see what we mean - close up, the colours are more noticeable on the S3 compared to the S2, but this is unlikely to bother most users.
The Galaxy S3 does have more visible colour sections within each pixel, but only when viewed at very close range. As you can see, the sharpness is much higher.
Update: We've now spent a few months living day in, day out with the Samsung Galaxy S3, so check out our findings. We've also got the latest version of the software, so we've updated the review with all the fancy new features as well. We have also added our early thoughts on how the Samsung Galaxy S3's specs compare to that of the iPhone 5.
With the latest version of Android, a whopping 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen and a whole suite of Apple-beating features, is the new Samsung Galaxy SIII the greatest phone ever?
Samsung has made a big deal about this new phone, not only choosing to launch it at a big and glitzy standalone event in London but also claimingnearly 10 million pre-orders before it's even launched.
The price is pretty palatable for a top-end phone – the likes of Three are already offering it for just £34 a month with oodles of minutes and data, which is already much, much cheaper than any iPhone would ever launch for.
And there are even cheaper deals - it can be had for £28 per month from The Carphone Warehouse with no upfront cost... you can probably find it even cheaper on line but it's a very low tariff level for a top end phone to launch for.
But let's get down to the main question – is this the phone you should be spending your hard-earned cash on?
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is, according to Samsung anyway, 'inspired by nature – it sees, listens, responds, and allows you to share the greatest moments'.
While this is all a little hyperbolic, the nature theme is certainly present when you handle the phone for the first time.
Brushed polycarbonate – you've got a choice of 'Marble White' and 'Pebble Blue' – adorns the large device, which runs in with dimensions of 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm, despite still having to pack in a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen.
We'll lay it out right now: the plastic feeling of the Galaxy S3 won't appeal to all. It feels very lightweight (despite tipping the scales at 133g) in the hand, and some people will read this as feeling a little cheap.
However, it's exactly the same sensation as we found on the Galaxy S2, and given the silly numbers of sales that had, we think there's more than a market for a phone that you'll barely notice in your pocket most of the time.
But we'll be very clear on this - the Galaxy S3 is not a cheap-feeling phone. It's got a really solid Gorilla Glass 2 front, a well-packaged interior and a more robust battery cover. It's polycarbonate rather than bog-standard plastic, although we're not sure some people will like the more rounded nature of the design.
However, despite being made of similar material, there's no doubt that theOne X feels more premium in the hand thanks to being a touch more weighty… there's something about something so large being so light that some will find disconcerting.
Amendment: the HTC One X is actually 3g lighter than the S3, but despite carrying both around at once, the S3 still felt lighter, which shows the way texture can affect the way a phone feels in the hand.
There's no doubt in our minds that the Pebble Blue offering is the much more attractive option, as the Marble White looks similar to a low-endGalaxy Mini or similar – the brushed effect is really necessary.
Compared to rest of the Galaxy line, the S3 has more in common with the original Galaxy S than the S2, with curved edges the theme in the design language. The home button has also been elongated, although the same menu and back buttons remain from the prequel.
Overall, the effect is much more like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus than anything else – rounded edges, HD screen but with a more minimal bezel to really accentuate the larger screen in the hand.
The button design around the phone has been well thought out in our opinion - for a phone this big it's very difficult to make all the keys accessible, so putting the lock button on the right-hand side rather than the top makes a large degree of sense.
The addition of the lozenge-shaped home button, and its softkey 'Back' and 'Menu' buttons are great additions in our eyes, as it means contextual menus can be found easily without needing to mess around looking for the on-screen icon.
The volume up and down button is parallel to the lock key on the left-hand side of the phone, and also within easy reach when holding the Galaxy S3 in the hand.
The microUSB slot is placed at the bottom of the phone - easy to find with a charger but it will be interesting to see how it's used when placed in docks and car cradles.
The battery cover is also made of the same polycarbonate material as the rest of the body. Yes, you read that right - the battery cover is removable!
This means that not only can switch the battery in and out - a key consideration for many people - there's also a cheeky surprise in the shape of a microSD slot next to the microSIM port. Expandable memory? This just gets better and better.
This means that theoretically you'll be able to have a 128GB-capacity Samsung Galaxy S3 if you combine the top spec of internal memory (64GB) with the largest microSD card around at the moment (64GB)... making it a mouth-watering prospect for those that love a spot of media.
Sure, there are stats that say only 10% of users regularly go over 16GB of storage, but there's always the lower end version of the Galaxy S3 for that... but with HD movie downloads becoming far more prevalent, plus the influx of HD apps, we're thinking more space is an excellent idea.
But overall, in the hand, the Samsung Galaxy S3 feels superb. The design contours well against the palm, and while the screen size may be a little big for some (you'll need a bit of shuffling to reach the upper section of the screen) it's definitely useable in the hand.
So in short: if you don't mind a slightly lighter-feeling polycarbonate shell and you like big HD screens in your pocket, this is a phone definitely worth checking out.
