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Apple iOS 10.1 Release; It's An Essential Upgrade

This article is more than 7 years old.

Wasting no time, Apple has released the first iOS 10.1 beta and it sees the company quickly fulfil a major promise.

Rolled out for developers today (with a public beta coming Thursday), iOS 10.1 includes the much hyped new ‘Portrait’ mode. Apple discussed this extensively at the iPhone 7 launch last week as its ability to intelligently use bokeh (background blur) in portrait shots produces some truly stunning results reminiscent of premium SLR cameras.

This effect is best seen on the iPhone 7 Plus thanks to its dual lens camera (which uses dual shots to create a greater depth of field) and it is a timely pickup given this supposedly revolutionary camera has so far not proved a game changer in my tests.

But is the new Portrait mode exclusive to the iPhone 7 Plus? Yes and no, to get the true affect you do need the dual camera setup, but shooting portraits is expected to be improved using image processing for all iOS 10 capable smartphones (iPhone 5 and newer). Given how well Apple has handled photographic software before (its software-based stabilisation was an incredible substitute for the lack of physical OIS in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S), this will make iOS 10.1 an essential download. Just so long as Apple steers clear of introducing any showstopping bugs.

To get iOS 10.1 now you need to register as a developer as the Apple Developer Center but, as mentioned, I expect a public beta will follow shortly while a final public release is still probably 6-8 weeks while based on historical test timeframes.

Furthermore iOS 10.1 is building on a very solid foundation. To date iOS 10 has lacked the numerous problems that afflicted both iOS 8 and iOS 9 and Apple (having already released iOS 10.0.1) has been right on top of glitches. This is reflected in user adoption which, according to MixPanel, has now hit 35% in little over a week - far outstripping its more troubled predecessors.

For those yet to upgrade, Forbes coverage has coverage of the 50 biggest iOS 10 features as well as its 25 great secrets and a detailed upgrade guide.

Personally speaking, I’m impressed so far with iOS 10 and with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus proving to be two of the less inspirational updates, I’d be tempted to sit tight and enjoy it on your existing handset until Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone redesign in 2017

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