So I now have installed iOS5 and am distinctly underwhelmed and feels like a new device.You're kidding, right? It feels exactly the same to me because iOS seems to work fine on my 3GS,iPhone 4 and even iPad.Like in 3GS, you can't find an option to turn the camera on via the lock screen though.Apple has also updated a number of apps, including Pages, Keynote and Numbers to support iCloud.This means whenever you create a document on any of these applications, a copy is also uploaded to iCloud. Apart from pure iCloud support, Apple has also just updated iMovie on the iPad and iPhone to not only support 1080p video from the iPhone 4S, but also from a variety of other cameras as well.As a developer who has worked on both iOS and Android I find that Apple helps developers with its solid set of tools and rigid control on compatibility while Google helps Android by its flexibility and customization options but suffers from fragmented OS due to lots of devices.
Android users will rightly point out that Apple's implementation here is very similar to the way notifications work on Android. However,in my opinion,iOS ability to 'unlock' a notification itself and go straight to the relevant application instead of unlocking the screen and then opening the app is a plus. If I get a notification on my Galaxy Tab, I have to drag the screen down, click on the notification and if it's an email then the relevant application will open.iOS 5 also brings major speed improvements to the built-in Safari browser on supported devices, along with tabbed browsing. Yes, instead of the old thumbnail style, Safari on iOS 5 now opens up various webpages in individual tabs.I can open up to nine tabs at a time and can tap to quickly switch between them without the long loading times of the previous browser.
Android users will rightly point out that Apple's implementation here is very similar to the way notifications work on Android. However,in my opinion,iOS ability to 'unlock' a notification itself and go straight to the relevant application instead of unlocking the screen and then opening the app is a plus. If I get a notification on my Galaxy Tab, I have to drag the screen down, click on the notification and if it's an email then the relevant application will open.iOS 5 also brings major speed improvements to the built-in Safari browser on supported devices, along with tabbed browsing. Yes, instead of the old thumbnail style, Safari on iOS 5 now opens up various webpages in individual tabs.I can open up to nine tabs at a time and can tap to quickly switch between them without the long loading times of the previous browser.
Some supported webpages also have a "Reader" icon, which when tapped, will reformat your pages and take away all the ads and various distractions.While reviewing it,I was able to add pages to a "Reading List" which saves the link and syncs it across all my devices so that i can read it later on another device.However, unlike my initial impression,adding a page into Reading List does not save the page for offline reading. It only saves the link and you will still need a internet connection to read the page.Reading List does however remember where you stopped on the page so you can continue where you left off when you start reading on another device.When it comes to Camera,I managed to launch it's application faster right from the lock screen by double-clicking on the Home button when my iPhone is in sleep mode.
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| iOS 5 Logo |
I was happy that now am also allowed to snap a photo by pressing the volume up button on the iPhone, which is certainly more convenient than tapping the screen most of the time.Photo stream is another one of Apple's new iCloud-enabled features, and appears as another folder in your Photos app. The idea is simple and entails to take a photo on one device and have it appear on all iOS devices using the same iCloud account.In practice it works really well.Pictures that appear in the Photo stream on all devices cannot be deleted.For some weird reason Apple does not allow you to delete any photos from the Photo Stream, which isn't great if you have an embarrassing photo that you don't want anyone else to see.
By default, pictures will be automatically deleted from Photo stream after 30 days, but there is a way to clear out the cache immediately by logging in to iCloud.com with your username and password and then choose "Reset the Photo Stream" from the settings page.However, even at icloud.com, there is no way to delete individual photos. iTunes WiFi SyncOne of the new features that iOS 5 brings is the ability to sync your device with iTunes wirelessly over your local WiFi network.iTunes WiFi sync needs to be enabled by first connecting the device to iTunes via the sync cable and then choosing "Sync with this iPhone/iPad/iPod touch over WiFi," after which the device's icon will appear permanently in iTunes.WiFi sync works automatically whenever i connected my device is in sleep mode and connected to power and it also does the same when you manually initiate it from either the device or iTunes.Tabbed browsing is a step backwards in my view because it ends up taking more screen real estate up and now I have to remember what each tab is instead of being able to see, if I have too many open.
Apple should be ashamed because someone like me who have an iPad 2 and use Ubuntu on my Desktop there is nothing much to celebrate. As far as I can tell most of the features of iOS 5 are not going to be relevant to me. I only use notifications for diary and don't want them to change. I don't do twitter oftenly. People who I occasionally skype don't have Apple products so iMessage is a waste of time. iMessage is Apple's answer to the popular BlackBerry Messenger service, which takes advantage to send messages to other iOS users for free.In iOS 5, the implementation of iMessage is pretty seamless on the iPhone and it's completely integrated into the existing Messages application of the iPhone.When I tried to send my boss Ville Makinnen a message via the Messages app, it went well because iMessages is colour-coded in blue and has a blue "Send" button.While testing,I tried sending a text message to my father who does not without iOS 5 and is not using an iOS device, the app defaulted to SMS and was colour-coded in green, so am now able to always know when am being charged by the carrier or when am using my data package.
Apple should be ashamed because someone like me who have an iPad 2 and use Ubuntu on my Desktop there is nothing much to celebrate. As far as I can tell most of the features of iOS 5 are not going to be relevant to me. I only use notifications for diary and don't want them to change. I don't do twitter oftenly. People who I occasionally skype don't have Apple products so iMessage is a waste of time. iMessage is Apple's answer to the popular BlackBerry Messenger service, which takes advantage to send messages to other iOS users for free.In iOS 5, the implementation of iMessage is pretty seamless on the iPhone and it's completely integrated into the existing Messages application of the iPhone.When I tried to send my boss Ville Makinnen a message via the Messages app, it went well because iMessages is colour-coded in blue and has a blue "Send" button.While testing,I tried sending a text message to my father who does not without iOS 5 and is not using an iOS device, the app defaulted to SMS and was colour-coded in green, so am now able to always know when am being charged by the carrier or when am using my data package.
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| iOS Features |
iCloud does not work with Linux. Better Safari with tabbed browsing seems like one of the few things I will benefit from. When it comes this part,it seems like much excitement about nothing.By all accounts, the update to Apple iOS 5 has been far from a smooth upgrade experience for most users because it's a combination of high demand straining Apple servers to various problems with the update on some PCs meant that many users failed in their first attempt at updating their iOS device.I can say without shadow of doubt that the users were rewarded with a spanking new operating system on their devices, which in many ways, brings a lot of subtle but very important changes to the iOS experience. In use, this is an extremely fast and convenient way to get back to the Home screen and will at least save on a lot of wear and tear on the physical Home button.
Android users will find Apple's Notification Center in iOS 5 very familiar and it's basically almost an exact copy of the implementation in Android devices.Notification Center attempts to solve the clunky single pop-up notifications from older versions of iOS and is the new repository for all your incoming SMS, e-mail and other notifications.Now, instead of an annoying pop-up in the middle of the screen when you get a new text message or Facebook notification, you get a less obtrusive banner on the top edge of the screen and can ignore it and it will just disappear from there after a few seconds as I observed.If i want to read all my notifications,I just swiped downwards from the top edge of the screen down to open the Notifications Center.The Notifications Center also has a couple of widgets running a weather widget and a Stocks ticker will be running by default.Some users may find this annoying, but luckily I was able to remove these widgets by going into settings and the notifications to turn them off.
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| How Twitter Looks on iOS 5 |
In the Settings page,I was also able to customize every application that has notifications, choosing for example, whether to receive notifications, and if accept,will it appear as a pop-up or as a banner.Overall,to me the biggest new feature of iOS 5 has to be the iCloud that brings online sync and backup to every iOS device.iCloud is actually a collection of several different cloud services and at its most basic, it can backup your contacts list, calendar events, reminders, browser bookmarks and notes online and keep it in sync across all your devices.Apple also offers 5GB of storage online for "Storage and Backup" which allows you to back up data from all other apps, including third-party apps - such as the Camera Roll, game saves and other similar types of data.iCloud doesn't actually back up an app and it saves the unique data for that app and in a restore situation, it will download this data, then re-download the whole app from Apple servers again for you, which saves you a lot of storage space because it's only backing up the save data and not the app itself.In conclusion,this is such a significant overhaul that users who have installed like me,are feeling like they have a new device.Verdict:Go for it.
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