It can be hard to remember that, five short years ago, many of us were still using feature phones while the rest had only the most basic (and now painfully outdated) smartphones—usually work-issued. But five years after the iPhone, Apple has released the sixth major version of its mobile operating system, and it is a study in subtle refinements. Apple has been previewing iOS 6 to the public since its WWDC conference in June, but we all know that seeing is believing. Does Apple's latest OS deliver the kind of improvements that Apple's existing and potential user base has come to expect?

After having used iOS 6 for several months from the beta period through the final release, our answer is a qualified yes. It's clear that Apple's current focus with iOS 6 is refinement rather than revolution, but we're not just talking about small refinements here; iOS is more robust than ever, with a few significant improvements to the kinds of things Siri can do, a complete overhaul of Maps, improvements in privacy controls, a far more useful Photo Stream, and new phone call and Do Not Disturb features. That's in addition to a generous helping of fixes and feature improvements sprinkled throughout the rest of the OS.

In this review, we'll focus on these major elements of iOS 6 and touch on some of the most important miscellaneous changes that will affect everyday users. We did the majority of our testing on an iPhone 4 and 4S, but iOS 6 runs on the iPhone (3GS, 4, 4S, and 5), iPad (2 and 3), and iPod touch (4th-gen and up). If you own (or plan to own) a compatible device, here's what you can expect from the new operating system.

Meet Siri: 2012 edition

It has now been almost a full year since Siri was first introduced to iOS. At launch, Apple's digital assistant was exclusive to the iPhone 4S, but Siri is now available on the third-gen iPad and the new iPhone 5. While I was only moderately impressed with Siri in 2011, Apple has added new capabilities to make it (her?) better in iOS 6. Among them: Siri can report back on live sports scores (or provide scores from the latest season's games, player stats, and team records) for football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and hockey.

Siri can check movie times, launch apps, and post directly to Facebook and Twitter. She can also make restaurant reservations through OpenTable (my personal favorite feature). Last year, my workaround for posting to Twitter with my voice using Siri involved sending a text message to Twitter's SMS service (40404), but the ability to post directly to the two social networks has been handy and works well. Posting to Twitter or sending text messages to friends by voice while I'm cooking or (ahem) driving is a great help, and I'm really pleased with how Apple has implemented this in iOS 6.

As before, if Siri needs more information from you, she will ask for it without requiring you to repeat the full request. For example, I could say, "make a reservation at Shaw's" and Siri will respond, "Okay, what time?" I only have to tell her, "Sunday at 7pm" for her to look up Shaw's on OpenTable and find out if openings are available at that time. When I tap on the result, it takes me to OpenTable's app to complete the reservation. But if the restaurant I'm trying to make a reservation at doesn't support OpenTable, Siri will suggest I call them instead and present the phone number onscreen so I can tap and go. (See the screenshots above for further context.) I've used it many times in the last several weeks for this purpose and I love it.

As for Siri's voice recognition capabilities, it feels like they have improved since the last time I sat down to seriously evaluate the software—either that or I have just improved my own interactions with Siri to make them more efficient, which is certainly possible. Either way, the ability to perform more voice-driven actions from a single screen has made Siri that much more valuable to the everyday user. When I spoke to a number of dedicated Siri users last November, some of them used the tech upwards of 20 times per day, so it's clear that at least some of Apple's user base has found ways to incorporate Apple's virtual "intelligent assistant" into their everyday lives. If the improvements aren't dramatic, they are at least useful additions.

Not the Maps you're looking for (or are they?)

Even more significant than Siri is the newly remade Maps app. For the first time since the iPhone's launch in 2007, Apple has rewritten its Maps application from the ground up after buying mapping companies C3, Poly9, and Placebase and then smashing their technology together to create something new.

Why would Apple do this? Aside from Apple's strained relationship with Google, the company may have wanted to offer something more than Google's own API could deliver. Poly9 was known for its "Poly9 Globe," a Flash-based knockoff of Google Earth, while C3 was known for its 3D mapping technology. PlaceBase's claim to fame was its PushPin API, offering richer data integration features than those offered by Google Maps. The strengths of all the firms compliment each other, and Apple believes its newest version of Maps is superior to the Google Maps-based version that many of us have been using for more than five years.

Indeed, Maps features many notable improvements. For one, the application finally (finally!) offers turn-by-turn driving directions that can be read aloud to you in Siri's voice. Any time you get directions between one point and another, the application can tell you the next step regardless of whether you're actively looking at the app; if your phone is asleep, it will awaken and read you the next step, then display the next direction on your lock screen when the time comes. (Verbal directions only apply to the iPhone 4S—when you use the feature on the iPhone 4, the phone will only display your directions on the screen.) The app will re-route automatically when you go off-course.

The turn-by-turn directions work largely as expected, though I did have one incident while driving to a place in the middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin in which Maps led me to the middle of a highway before declaring I had arrived at my destination. But in general, the directions have been quite beneficial while driving; no longer do you have to look at your iPhone or invest in a separate GPS app (or GPS hardware unit) in order to get the basic features offered by other solutions.

The 3D capabilities, on the other hand, feel a little less practical. While cool, they do less for me than some of the other features added to Maps. Your own city may not show up in 3D view until a later date. My city, however, does—I live in Chicago, apparently one of Apple's first priorities when it came to 3D rendering.

3D isn't totally useless. I tend to get lost easily and I don't have a very good sense of direction, so being able to see the actual buildings—in their full 3D glory—before getting to them in real life can be a help. You can change the angle at which you're viewing the 3D map, too, which is a nice touch. Here, you can see the attention to detail given to this app, as driving directions even flow between buildings and under trees:

My favorite new part of Maps, however, has nothing to do with 3D view or driving directions. What I like are the enhanced business listing pages with Yelp ratings, photos, and more.

In addition to providing useful contextual information about a restaurant or business—things like reviews and photos—the listing page also shows you their open hours (THANK CTHULHU). Since this is just about the number one reason anyone goes to a restaurant's website or Yelp page from a mobile phone, this is a huge help.

What's not in the new Maps is public transit directions. Google's API wasn't perfect, but transit directions were supported in many cities. As a city dweller who drives little, 9.9 out of every 10 times I use Maps is for public transit (transfer here, get off there)—not just in my own city, but whenever I'm traveling. I have virtually no reason to use Maps otherwise in my daily life, which is why its sudden absence in iOS 6 is deeply disappointing.

The button with a bus icon remains when you try to get directions—that's because Apple says it is opening up transit directions to third parties. At this writing, no apps were available to test the system, though some are in development. During the time I tested iOS 6, I ended up using Google Maps' mobile site in order to get from point A to point B via public transit—it works, but it's not the most enjoyable mobile experience (you have to re-enter your request for directions every time you leave and come back to Safari; under the old Maps, it would remember these parameters when you came back to the app).

I have confidence that some third-party developers will deliver on the transit end—at least here in Chicago, where I know some of them personally. But this may not be the case in every city, and not every app may be good or usable. One thing's for sure: the experience between cities won't be consistent. This is why I'm concerned about the usability of Maps in the long term; I think Apple risked alienating a huge chunk of the world's iOS-using population by going this route, but I keep my fingers crossed that it will work out in the end—or that Google will release its own Maps app for iOS, one that works more smoothly than its mobile site.