On monday 6th June, Apple announced iOS 5.0, the latest version of iOS which is set to be released in "fall" this year, along with all the new features it contains. I have been using a beta version of iOS 5.0 on my iPhone 4 for a few days now (look out for a post as to how you can try this out yourself soon) and am going to use this opportunity to explain what exactly iOS is, what it does, who it is for and how good or bad it is.
Firstly, iOS 5.0 will be made available for the iPhone 3gs, the iPhone 4, iPod touch third and fourth generations and both the iPad and the iPad 2. Older devices will not be supported and it is expected that these older devices will receive no more software updates in the future.
There are many, many new features in iOS 5.0 (200 in fact according to Apple) but some are more important than others. Below I will outline the most important new features and what exactly they do.
Notification centre (and widgets)
iOS 5.0 brings a complete overhaul of the way your device handles notifications (such as text messages, facebook comments and twitter @replies), and not before time. Basically swiping down from the status bar at the top of the screen on your device brings down a drawer containing all unread notifications as well as widgets for stocks and weather (these widgets can be disabled in settings). Nicely done using an idea borrowed from Android and to me the most important new feature of iOS.
iMessage
Similar to BBM but for iOS users only. The usual features to this type of chat client are present such as the ability to send messages without using SMS messages, the ability to send pictures and group chat. There is no need to mess around with "PIN" numbers as it is all automatic. Hopefully this will spell the beginning of the end for RIM (read why i dislike Blackberry here). To be honest, this kind of service appeals little to me and I will probably leave this feature turned off, though for lovers of BBM, whatappmessenger or liveprofile, this feature should be a great alternative.
Newsstand
Another feature that appeals little to me, Newstand is essentially iBooks for magazines, and magazines can be downloaded from the app store. Pretty simple and could have been released as an app rather than a feature built into the OS in my opinion. Strangely, iBooks is a standalone app that does not ship with iOS devices and I wish newsstand was the same.
Reminders
Basically a simple reminder app. You set an appointment or event and the time and date of its occurence and your device provides you with a reminder at the desired time. The only really cool feature of this app is that reminders can be set to be triggered by gps, so you could set a reminder if on the train for the station before the one you need and your device would prompt you when you arrived there. Again, in my opinion this should have been made available on the app store or be built into the clock app.
Twitter integration
Twitter is now built directly into iOS allowing you to tweet a photo without opening a twitter client and connecting twitter usernames to contacts in your phonebook. Pretty cool but twitter users will still probably also need a twitter application.
Camera and photography improvements
Some cool new additions here such as a camera button on the lockscreen allowing you to take a photo without needing to unlock your device (a feature borrowed from windows phone 7). The volume + button can now be used as a shutter button which I consider to be an excellent improvement and grid lines can be put onto the camera viewfinder. There is also the ability to lock the autofocus and exposure as well as pinch to zoom. Editing capabilities have been built into the photos app with features such as crop and red eye reduction.
iCloud and PC free setup, updating and syncing
As well as announcing iOS 5.0 at WWDC, Apple also announced their new cloud storage solution iCloud which is similar to the rival service dropbox (which i have written about previously). Basically iCloud allows content such as apps, music and photos to be copied to all of your devices over the internet without the need for cables or iTunes.
With iOS 5.0, iOS devices will become PC free. This essentially means they will be able to be setup out of the box, synced and updated without the need to ever plug your device into a computer. Fortunately, iOS updates will now only contain the new features and not the whole code for iOS making updates much smaller downloads. Most of these features have been available previoulsy with the aid of a jailbreak, but from when iOS 5.0 is introduced, a jailbreak will no longer be required to enjoy this great functionality.
Although this post covers the main new features of iOS 5.0, there are many, many more features including:
- iPod app changed to "music" and "videos" apps.
- Alternate routes in maps.
- Rich text formatting and flagging in email.
- Desktop like tabs in safari
- Safari reader (saves pages for offline reading)
- Keyboard shortcuts for phrases eg ms could be set to correct to metres squared.
- Facetime over 3g
- Custom SMS tones and vibration patterns.
Look out for more posts on iOS 5.0 over the next few days!
Have I missed something? Let me know below!
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