iOS6 wish list
As WWDC rolls around the rumours are starting to fly. One rumour which sounds pretty sure is that iOS6 will be announced. Apple have released new versions of their mobile OS yearly since its inception. Most of the obvious stuff (notifications, multitasking) has been done so we are now getting into the finer details.
This is my wish list for iOS6, it’s all the little services and functionality which I feel would make the platform stronger.
History Syncing
I use safari on my phone and my iPad. I use chrome on my laptop and on the shared desktop. Having to remember which device I read something on if I want to find it later is an exercise in frustration. I would go far as to say it’s a driver for me to consolidate devices but right now that’s not an option for me.
If I could sync all my history data between all my browsers that would solve the problem and allow me to pick up where I left off. If this was Safari exclusive it would tempt me back to using Safari on the desktop.
Better home screen icons
Windows Phone 7 has a very neat UI feature with active tiles. They are a little like icons but they provide snapshots of information. They are great for ‘at a glance’ information. Extending this to iOS would be pretty useful.
This is possible, the calendar applications icon displays the current date but it seems to be a special feature. Bringing the lightest touch of information to these icons can be really powerful. For example the current temperature on the weather app.
However as spring board currently stands I worry this may just make the space to busy and heavy. Tiles are much larger on windows phone and cramming to much information into a tiny icon may just become unusable.
iOS Based Time Capsule
Imagine being able to have apps which run on your home network. For example, a mini iTunes server, home automation or security etc. Its a longshot but would be pretty cool!
Apple TV external hard drive / NAS support.
SImilar to above being able to use the Apple TV to playback files from a NAS or USB hard drive would be very useful. Including functionality for iTunes to also be able to manage a library attached to an Apple TV would be even better!
So thats my wish list for iOS6. I’m sure most wont happens but its always exciting to have a stab at predicting such things. We will have to wait and see what Apple announces on Monday.