Apple announced, as expected, iOS 6 today at WWDC. iOS 6 will be available with “over 200 new features” for select iPhones, iPads and iPod touch models in the fall.
Here’s iOS 6 in a nutshell:
New Siri Features: The new-and-improved Siri can tell you sports scores, game times and player stats, give you restaurant ratings (powered by Yelp) and make reservations, give movie ratings (powered by RottenTomatoes), actor and appearance information, dictate tweets, and launch apps. There’s also support for integration with select car companies who’ll add Siri buttons to steering wheels. Full Siri is also coming to the 3rd Gen iPad.
Facebook Integration: Facebook gets Siri support, and you can also post to Facebook from many apps. Facebook has been added to Notification Center, the App Store and iTunes, contacts, calendar, etc.
Phone App Improvements: Now has the ability to reply to a missed call with a message or a reminder to call back. A Do Not Disturb mode which turns off calls and text message alerts, or allows you to customize which contacts can get through.
Maps: Entirely new Apple-produced maps with in-house cartography. It provides 3D flyovers of loaded locations, and even vector-based 3D pop-up maps. Includes local search, traffic and incident reports, and turn-by-turn navigation with a quick route feature and real-time traffic re-routing. Works with Siri.
Facetime Over Cellular: Your phone number and Apple ID are integrated so that if someone calls your phone number via Facetime, you can answer on any compatible iPad or iPod touch, or on a Mac.
Safari: iCloud Tabs allows you to sync open tabs on your computer on the phone or iPad.
Shared Photo Streams: Choose people to share photos with. The photos come through as Push notifications in real-time.
Mail: VIPs are those who get priority when you get incoming emails from them, and they show up in Notification Center. A new VIP mailbox segregates important VIP messages from all others.
Passbook: Handles airline tickets and boarding passes, store loyalty cards, movie tickets, coupons, etc. Works with compatible apps. GPS-enabled so that the appropriate card pops up when you arrive at your location (Fandango ticket when you arrive at the movie theater, for example).
Guided Access: New feature to disable app features, the Home screen button, etc. This could allow the iPad to be used for administering tests, for example disabling all tablet functionality but the test app.
Redesigned App Store: Um, the App Store’s been redesigned.
The first iOS 6 Beta is being released for developers today.
