There are more than enough reviews of iOS 6 to go around and this is not one of them but rather a couple thoughts on the mind bending effect technology has on us, as we firmly advance firmly into the contextual web.
I upgraded to iOS 6 a few days ago and so far I think it is the biggest improvement Apple has came up with this year. Notwithstanding, I discovered an iOS better integrated with major social networks, emphasizing privacy, unveiling new switches to turn offline life on and pushing the traditional phone function to the background. I have to wonder though: does such an OS really take a huge technological leap or just the time to both better negotiate integration with those major social networks and hold a few features on the back burner as stocking stuffers. We now know that Apple-Facebook (800 million users at the time) had failed for iOS 5. Twitter (200 million) turned out the winner, ”tweet” became a function as important as ”email” in iOS and it all might have just marked the beginning of our post-social world.
A few days before I updated to iOS 6, I happened to think — while driving and glancing at whether my phone was charging — that, no content of having become an virtual extension of ourselves, phones had modeled our living environment to always allow for a charging juice source to be available: in the car, at home, at the office, in airports, anywhere and everywhere. When you really think about it though, the iPhone has arrived at a major achievement: showing a major lack on the very feature that makes it relevant (battery life), it had succeeded in turning charging into an almost as essential function as that of a tube bringing oxygen to an underwater diver.
But what happened thus far, with iOS 6 on my iPhone 4 and by the account of one other person with an iPhone 4S at least, is a much improved battery life. This “relief” underscored for me the fantastic adaptation we humans are capable of; just as much to things that are beneficial or stress causing.
But freedom, it seems, had not touched everyone.
@fastake Just the opposite – on my iPhone 4 the update seems to have reduced battery life. Moot point in 7 days.
— Mededitor (@Mededitor) September 22, 2012
And the list goes on
Tweets about “#ios6 battery life”
So if we agree that battery life dictates the very relevance of the iPhone, how come Apple can’t seem to figure out what drives its life up or down.
@macgambill Too many variables and combinations thereof to account for that even Apple and its billion can’t pin it down
— Yacine Baroudi (@FasTake) September 22, 2012
Did you know that no content of being the largest company in the world by stock value: $656 billion, Apple now represents 10% of the NASDAQ and 5% of the S&P500 stock indexes.
Are all these variables affording technology to take a life of its own?
Another sign of times, in my opinion and despite it not being a quantum technological leap by any stretch of the imagination, is the pushing the traditional phone function to the background.
@macgambill You’d think so. The call-me-later and reply-w/-message features do push the traditional phone function further to the background
— Yacine Baroudi (@FasTake) September 22, 2012
How many times have you been performing an unrelated phone-calling function on your smartphone, only to “disturb” (defined as interfering or upsetting) that action. Wasn’t a phone made to primarily receive phone calls? Well, now Apple allows you to transcend that very truth by sending that phone call to the nagging Reminders app or sending the unlucky caller a canned iMessage that they will be dealt with a more appropriate time. All this so we can quickly return to whatever none phone calling activity we were on like… downloading apps for example. And if it’s that’s not enough, you can always be completely honest with yourself and flick the new “Do not disturb” toggle to on. It will make your “phone” only ring for your favorites or people who will insist. Welcome to the newly minted black hole, courtesy of Apple.
What’s been your experience with #iOS6 so far?
About Yacine Baroudi