Today Apple released iOS 6, a free update for my iPhone 4S (and 3GS, if I still used that). This reminds me how lucky I feel to have a fully unlocked international 3G cellphone, free from carrier restrictions, “bloatware” apps, bad skinning over whatever Google did with Android, and to top it off a horrible 3-year contract at Canadian rates. The iOS updates are free and available whenever Apple releases them, not when a dark gathering of the cell phone maker and the carrier decides when lowly subjects can get Google’s updates. Or with a Blackberry, where you’ll essentially just get the middle finger. Or the Windows 7 (.5?) phone, with its free complimentary anal probing.
But this release also marks the day that my 2-year old iPad is officially deprecated, since it doesn’t support iOS 6. Its measly 256 MB of RAM was its Achilles’ heel. Still, looking at the gigantic list of security fixes iOS 6 brings (soon the be posted here), I fear that my iPad became a gaping security hole, or something even easier to jailbreak. Either way, I badly need to retire it.
What about iOS 6 itself? The new non-Google map app has no transit directions anymore, and the 3D view of Montréal almost makes up for the lack of street view, if you zoom in close enough. The mail app almost doesn’t suck anymore, I like the new skin of the keyboard (subtly changed) and the music player. The new App Store interface lacks list view. I’ve yet to try Canadian French Siri other than this: Ceci est un test. Overall, incremental but good, a bit faster, and free.
Published on September 19, 2012 at 21:53 EDT
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