Being an iPhone user for nearly two years now, I was intrigued to see how
far iOS has changed compared to now.
main Features & Accessibility changes in iOS 6
Given below are the main features that are new in iOS 6, along with changes
to accessibility and VoiceOver that have been identified.
Main iOS features
1. New map app: get spoken turn by turn navigation (no longer Google
maps). Spoken navigation not supported on all devices.
2. The Youtube app has been removed.
3. New Passbook app on main Home screen: tickets, boarding pass, cards,
and coupons.
4. Bluetooth option previously in Settings/General now moved to main
Settings screen directly below wi-fi, making it a bit faster to access.
5. Siri: now on the new iPad, get info on sport scores, restaurants,
movies etc, launch apps, post to Facebook and Twitter.
6. Twitter integrated throughout the iOS: login into Twitter just once to
setup, post from within apps (such as Safari), post from the Notifications
Center, and of course use Siri to tweet on your behalf.
7. Facebook integrated throughout the iOS: login into Facebook just once
to setup, post from within apps (such as Safari), post from the
Notifications Center, and of course use Siri to post on your behalf.
8. FaceTime: now over cellular.
9. Phone app features: when declining a call, reply with a message or set
a callback Reminder (VoiceOver users 1 finger double tap on Call Options),
and the ability to set Do Not Disturb (besides can'
<https://twitter.com/search?q=%2339> ;t miss contacts which are your
favorite contacts).
10.Mail: VIP inbox.
11.Safari: iCloud tabs keeps track of what pages are open on your devices
(including the Mac).
12.Find My iPhone: now with Lost Feature: send a phone number to your iPhone
for the person to call who finds it.
13.Per Account Signatures in Mail: one signature for work email, one for
personal etc.
14.Custom vibrations for alerts.
15.App in Safari Search Results - See app store search results in the Safari
search results.
16.Made for iPhone Hearing Aids - Apple certified hearing aids that will
work specifically with the iPhone and iPad. This feature also supposedly
will only be supported on the iPhone 4S and 5.
17.Clock/Alarm with Song - Wake up with your favorite music in iOS 6.
18.Location Based Alerts for Find My Friends - Get an alert when kids leave
school and more.
Movement/renaming of controls in Settings (seen on iPhone 4s):Main Settings
screen:
1. Bluetooth control is now directly under Wi-fi (moved from General).
2. Location services moved to new Privacy control (on main Settings
screen).
3. New Do Not Disturb toggle.
4. The Brightness and WallPaper controls now combined in to one new
control called Brightness & Wallpaper.
5. New Privacy control: contains Location Services, and a new Bluetooth
Sharing toggle.
6. New Maps control: Voice Volume for turn by turn directions, distance
setting for miles or kilometers, Map labels language, and size.
7. Store control renamed to new iTunes & App Stores control.
8. Photo control renamed to new Photos & Camera control.
9. New Facebook control (after the Twitter control).
General:
1. Network control changed to Cellular control with the status of the
cellular network shown: i.e. VoiceOver reads Cellular on (1 finger double
tap to go in to the Cellular network settings as you would on the Network
control). Cellular panel includes a new control Allow Apps having trouble
with wifi data to use Cellular toggle with the options to allow iCloud
documents, iTunes, FaceTime, Passbook updates, and Reading list (all
individual toggles to turn each one on or off).
2. VPN now has its own control in the General settings screen (taken out
of the network/cellular panel).
Restrictions:
1. Categorized in to the following headings: Allow, Allowed content, new
Privacy (heading), Allow changes, and Game center.
2. Allow: adds iBooks Store.
3. Privacy contains: Location services, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders,
Photos, Bluetooth Sharing, Twitter, and Facebook: all controlling what apps
have access to these settings.
4. A new option in Allowed changes is Volume limit: controlling whether
the Volume of the device can be changed.
* Accessibility:All accessibility options can be used at the same
time: this includes VoiceOver and Zoom.
New Learning:
* Guided Access: Restrict touch input to certain parts of the
screen, and prevent exiting the app by the Home button.
New Physical/Motor:
* Home click speed: adjust the speed required to activate double and
triple click home (default, slow, and slowest - vibrates the iPhone to
demonstrate).
Triple click home:
* Triple click: now with Guided Access, VoiceOver, invert colors,
Zoom, and Assistive Touch all of which can be selected and/or used at the
same time. If only one option selected, Triple click will turn that feature
on/off with the Triple click home function, otherwise, it will Ask the user
which feature to use.
Some VoiceOver specific features:
1. In mail, rotor Actions option: can choose default action to open up a
mail message or 1 finger flick up to Delete.
2. On-screen keyboard: in touch typing mode, no need to double tap on
Shift, symbols/letters or Delete.
3. VoiceOver rotor now includes punctuation adjustment settings: set
within the Rotor setting in the VoiceOver panel.
4. VoiceOver integrated in to Maps: i.e. able to get a list of points of
interest.
5. VoiceOver works with Assistive Touch in setting up custom gestures.
6. VoiceOver works with Zoom. However, some VoiceOver gestures disabled.
Braille specific notes:
1. iOS 6 fully supports the new Focus 14 Blue, all generations of the
Focus 40 Blue, the Braille Edge from HIMS, the Perkins Mini, and both the
Braille Sense Onhand, and both models of the U2.
2. Pressing space with I will bring up the item chooser. While this
feature was available in iOS 5, there was no Braille keyboard command for
this.
3. Bug fix: previous versions of iOS had a bug where when you moved to the
previous or next option (space with dots 2-3 to go back and space 5-6 to go
forward, if speech was muted, it would unmute. This has been corrected.
iOS 6 is compatible with:
* iPhone 3GS
* iPhone 4
* iPhone 4S
* iPhone 5
* iPod Touch 4th Generation
* iPod Touch 5th Generation
* iPad 2
* The new iPad
