Not everyone buys a new iPhone every year and that is partly because of the cost and partly because phone companies like to lock people into two-year contracts. If you are going to sign up for a two-year contract then it was best to do it last year with the launch of the iPhone 5 or next year when Apple releases the iPhone 6. There is a definite pattern to iPhone development and we see major changes every two years with a minor tweaked phone in between. This is one of the inbetween years and we can expect a few internal tweaks like a better processor, and perhaps colourful cases, but not any major changes like a 5in screen. That will come next year.
For those people not wanting to or able to change their iPhone, there is always iOS 7. If Apple sticks with tradition, this will be available within a week of the launch event. We don't know how it will be delivered and it could be a direct download to the iPhone and iPad and this has been the trend with recent iOS updates. With older versions of iOS the iPhone and iPad had to be plugged into the computer to upgrade it.
Whatever the delivery method, there are some things you can do to prepare your iPhone for an upgrade to iOS 7. The first thing you should do is go to the App Store and select Updates in the bottom right corner. It is possible that some apps may not be fully 100% compatible with iOS 7. The older the app the more likely it is to have problems, so it is essential that you grab the latest updates to everything you have installed on your iPhone.
Another potential issue is memory. Operating systems grow over time and it is likely that iOS 7 requires a bit more space than iOS 6. If you are down to your last few hundred k of free memory then you need to delete some apps. Tap Settings, General, Usage. This does two things. Firstly, it shows how much free memory there is and secondly, it lists apps by the amount of memory they are using.
If you want to download iOS 7 to your iPhone or iPad (do it on Wi-Fi and not 3G to avoid charges), you might need to have a couple of gigabytes of free memory. The exact requirements will no doubt be revealed later today (and you might already know them by the time you read this).
Look down the list of apps and delete the biggest ones to free up space. Some apps are small, yet use a lot of space, such as Vine, which seems to cache all those six second video clips you watch. You can always delete it to make space for iOS 7 and then reinstall it afterwards. Sign back in to your Vine account and it's back up and running again. This is true of other apps and you can temporarily uninstall them and re-install them afterwards.
Plug your iPhone or iPad into the computer and sync it with iTunes. This creates a backup of the current version of iOS, your apps and settings. It is very unlikely that anything will go wrong with the upgrade, but it is always wise to have a backup because it gives you the option to switch back to iOS 6 by restoring to the iPhone or iPad.
Check every day for iOS 7 if you want to be among the first to get it. Tap Settings, General, Software Update. When the iPhone and iPad is plugged into the computer, select it in iTunes and there is a button to check for operating system updates. iTunes normally only checks around once a month, so you have to manually check unless you want to wait until the next scheduled one.
0 comments:
Post a Comment