iOS 6 for iPhone 3GS adds VIP mail, shared photo streams to the mix

With each new iOS update, an older iDevice gets left in the dust. iOS 6 is no exception to this hard and fast rule. There are many new and tasty features for iOS 6 that’ll never make it to the iPhone 3GS, but at the least shared photo streams and VIP mail have made it onto the list. Thank the gods of Silicon Valley for small mercies.

iOS 6 Beta 3 dropped yesterday for developers, and the iOS 6 preview page on Apple’s site has now kindly included two footnotes:

• Shared Photo Streams requires iOS 6 on iPhone 4 or later or iPad 2 or later, or a Mac computer with OS X Mountain Lion. An up-to-date browser is required for accessing shared photo streams on the web.
• VIP list and VIP and Flagged smart mailboxes will be available on iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later.

Yeah, those two footnotes. It’s a small step in the right direction for the iPhone 3GS, which has all but crawled to a halt as its tried to deal with an OS that’s far beyond its capabilities.

Shared Photo Streams lets the user share pictures to any iDevice, as long as it’s in the cloud. VIP Lists creates a starred folder where “special” mails can filter into. Two nice features we’re glad to see for the humble 3GS. With older hardware, it’s hard to keep up but Apple’s going to do it’s best to bring fancy iOS 6 features to this three-year old smartphone.