Users of iOS 6 will be more than aware by now that Google's powerful Maps app is no longer part of Apple's plans, with the latest iteration of the company's mobile operating system shipping with their own mapping solution in place of it. It doesn't really matter what your personal opinions are on the subject and whether you love or hate the Apple’s very own Maps app, the fact remains that competition always breeds innovation and having an official Google Maps app on the App Store can only be a good thing for iOS users.
Now that the wait is finally over and Apple have officially started shipping out the iPod touch fifth-generation to consumers, we can truly get an insight into what the new portable media player is like from an aesthetic and technical aspect and how it actually stacks up against its predecessor as well as the sixth-generation iPhone.
iPhone Dev-Team have just updated Redsn0w, adding full support for final public release of iOS 6 on select devices with official version of Cydia, along with tons of new features which are detailed after the jump.
There have been a number of packages landing in the Cydia store that offer alternative ways to handle the banner notifications that were introduced by Apple as part of iOS 5. There was a definite need for the notifications system to be changed and the introduction of banner notifications is a step forward but some users feel they need to be made bigger to display the full text or have some additional customization options applied to them. If having the alert of the title read out to you in a Siri voice was on your wish list then the TitleSpeak package is probably right up your street.
The original HTCLock tweak has been on the Cydia store for quite some time and has managed to rake up thousands of downloads from those who wanted to tweak the iOS lock screen to have a little bit more of the HTC Android flavor in it. Implementing the highly regarded HTC design on the iPhone and iPod touch obviously proved popular as it changed the default behavior and added the option to invoke a number of apps without having to unlock the device first. The same developer has now continued on with that tweak and released the HTClock Pro version that bundles in additional features and enhancements.
Photography based apps are ten-a-penny on the App Store with new creations seeming to pop up everyday that pretty much offer the same point and shoot then add filters functionality. Some of them differentiate themselves through the user interface or offering variable social sharing channels but it generally boils down to being the same app with the same feature set just wrapped in a different skin. The Mirrorgram app for iPhone and iPod touch stays true to that feature set but then also adds a unique little twist of its own that acts as the apps core functionality.
Apple took it upon themselves to improve certain aspects of the camera hardware with the release of the new iPhone 5 but those changes obviously don't affect those who are using an older generation device like the iPhone 4S. Thankfully, Apple have pushed a rather notable change to the Camera application with iOS 6 that allows users to capture rather engaging panorama photographs with their existing hardware.
When iOS 5 was launched with the iPhone 4S during the last quarter of 2012; one of the most notable and popular feature was Siri, the virtual digital assistant. Siri was extremely well-received but also spun some arguments as to why Apple only bundled the software on the iPhone 4S and not on older iOS devices. Step forward the jailbreak scene with a number of Siri GUI ports as well as the setting up of proxy servers that allowed older generation devices to connect to Siri.
Apple's sixth iteration of iOS has been out in the wild for over two weeks now and although it offers a number of new and impressive features and improvements for users, it appears that it also brings with it a new way for Apple to track users and their activity levels on the device. We should all remember the uproar that was caused last year when it became common knowledge that hidden files were stored on iOS devices that contained user location data, so this latest activity monitoring is sure to ruffle some feathers.
The first batch of iPhone 5 units have been plagued with the purple lens flare issue while taking photos with the embedded rear-facing camera, which has left a lot of users of disgruntled. The manufacturers of the camHoodie iPhone 5 case are hoping to capitalize on the issue with the release of their product which hopes to minimize the purple hazing significantly.
