The LAUNCHER reloads, not the widgets. The widgets already have their data and the Launcher isn't locked in the memory. Widgets have no effect on battery life at all strangely enough, even the HTC Sense Weather widget which updates optionally though GPS every hour. Never has there been a descent in battery life because of widgets.
OG Droid and amazing should never be in the same setence unless the word 'isn't' is between them. I used one for a week and hated it.
You'll be waiting for a while. Apple rarely does UI refreshes. Go look at the original OS X release, and then look at ML. That's what they do; iterate, slowly, allowing their users to adjust.
It is the first beta. Judging by the horrible UI in the Camera app they probably will make changes. Just noticed I can scroll to spotlight without icon lag
I'm still waiting on a functional browser on iOS 5. Safari is one of the buggiest things I have ever used, and all other Webkit based browsers just lag. Strangely enough, "ToyOS" has had pretty much everything iOS 6 has had. Even WP7 has had it. Nokia Drive still kills th competition, Google Maps on 4.0 is amazing, Facebook intergration has been around for years on both platforms, ability to share to other apps has been in Android and WP7 (and even the locked down WRT), FaceTime over cellular, EVERYBODY did that before Apple added it, Decline call with a text was already in Android, Android already had a DND switch, Windows 8 has one too, the new VIP Mail has been in Gmail and possibly Even Hotmail... It's ridiculous. WP7 and Android actually introduce stuff worth even looking at when there is an update coming in, but iOS... "We've stolen from the competition, but we've made our theft 'revolutionary'."
I'm disappointed. iOS 6 isn't that great, I feel they only made it because they wanted to stick with releasing an iOS every year. I love the new macs. I won't be able to afford one but this means the older (2010/2011) models are now cheaper so I'll be getting one of those.
I can see why people are disappointed but at the same time you can't expect a complete change, it has to be the same style OS as before. I'm just glad they are making UI changes, even if they are mostly subtle and some don't look that nice. It shows that they are sprucing things up a bit. Also remember it's not a public release, so the UI should be cleaned up before then Edit; Folders seem snappyer to me too
I'm not even upset about UI changes, it's just that Apple calls these things major updates (or, we all recognize them as one), and they hardly show any change. 5.1 was as much of an upgrade than 6.0. Why cat we have those major updates like 2.0, which bought a bunch of new stock apps, Street View maps (remember Apple charging for the update for iPod touch users, telling us we can bring a bunch of iPhone features for an unreasonable price?)? Or iOS 4 which brought multitasking, Wallpapers, control over notifications, keyboard support, Game Center? Those were the best two updates. But now all they've got to bloat about is Maps, and I've used a ton of devices and Nokia Drive and Google Maps will be two heavy opponents, they've got this thing down and packed.
I've been doing a bit of messing about with maps and its pretty awesome. The 3d feature (even though I can't use it) is pretty major. I guess it depends what you're after, I think the OS has got to a point now that you have all the actual features you need, and all apple can do now is improve upon those, which they are doing. I can't think of any major features to be added apart from small tweaks that come down to personal preference. And If you think about it, the small updates inbetween iOS levels are just to fix small bugs, or patch jailbreaks. So it is a major release really.
