Tech Talk: iOS 6 Disappointing, but Worth Downloading

The iPhone 5 isn't the only product Apple is updating this week. On Wednesday, the company released a new version of iOS, the software that underlies its handheld devices.

On the whole, iOS 6, as Apple has dubbed the update, is worth downloading. It's faster and offers some compelling new features. But be prepared to be frustrated. Some of the new features are incomplete and one — the overhauled Maps application — is buggy and disappointing.

Older iOS devices won't be able to use some of the new features in iOS 6. And two devices that could run iOS 5 can't run iOS 6 at all: the original iPad and the third-generation iPod Touch.

I tried it out on my wife's iPad 2, which came out a year after the original iPad and was eligible for the iOS 6 update. But despite being just a year-and-a-half old, the iPad 2 gets only a portion of the new features available in the operating system. Its version of iOS 6 doesn't allow users to make Facetime calls over the wireless companies' data networks, while the new iPad's version does. Nor does it include Siri, Apple's compelling voice command feature, which just got some cool new tricks, including the ability to launch apps and to find sports scores.

It also lacks features that Apple decided were appropriate for the iPhone or the iPod Touch but not for any iPad. Among those are Passport, Apple's new application that organizes digital loyalty cards and event tickets, and the camera app's new ability to take panoramic photographs.

Those shortcomings aside, there still are plenty of new features in iOS 6 for older devices.