At long last, iOS 5 is finally here, two days before the launch of the
iPhone 4S.
(Related: We've heard that a number of users have had
problems installing the update this afternoon. Get the latest news on
install issues in this post)
Though iOS 5 is not as drastic of an upgrade as we saw with iOS 4 in
June 2010, it does offer some much-needed and exciting enhancements for
iOS users. A few are quiet and long overdue and others will seriously
change how you use your Apple handset.
On that note, perhaps the biggest of all is the addition of over-the-air
updates, which obviate the need to tether your iPhone to a computer for
syncing. But there's a lot more under the hood with this upgrade, and
we think users should be excited to plug in their iDevice one last time.
iMessage also adds a new way to keep in touch and a way to circumvent
your carrier's monthly allotment of messages.
A few improvements simply make the user experience easier, like Twitter
integration in the major Apple apps, basic image-editing tools for the
camera, and a Notification system paired with reminders that keep you
informed with a glance at your Home screen. Smaller upgrades abound, of
course, some of which we've listed here. We haven't found all the
"Easter eggs," though, so as you find other changes, let us know in the
comments.
We've documented many of the major changes here, but we tried to
limit our coverage to the big tweaks that will affect users most. Apple
says there are more than 200 new tweaks for the iPhone,
iPad, and
iPod Touch, and we'll be covering many more of the minor changes with features and How To posts in the coming weeks.
Available for free, iOS 5 will be compatible with the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS,
both versions of the iPad, and the third- and fourth-generation models
of the iPod Touch. Keep in mind that the quality of iOS 5 may vary by
device. When Apple released iOS 4 last year, many iPhone 3G users complained of degraded device performance after they downloaded the update (one group even filed a lawsuit). Apple mostly fixed the issues with the release of iOS 4.2, but we'll be taking a close look as to how iOS 5 fares on the 3GS
Notifications
Instead of pop-up menus that interrupt your work, a new Notification
Center will combine messages, missed calls, app updates, a stock ticker,
and the current weather in a single place. You can access it by swiping
your finger downward from the top of the screen, and notifications will
appear on the lock screen as well. You then can jump directly to the
related feature for each notification and delete items by tapping the
small X next to each line.
Though not exactly original--the
pull-down menu has long been a hallmark feature of Android--the ability
to see all notifications in one place in iOS 5 is certainly welcome.
Since the first iPhone's debut more than four years ago, the iOS
notification system has remained largely unchanged so we were long
overdue for an upgrade.
While simple, in the pre-iOS 5 world, the
current application running is unusable until you dismiss the message.
Even worse, several messages in a row quickly become annoying. We think
iOS users will appreciate this small, but time-saving change. Check back
later this week to see how these notification features compare with
Android.
Newsstand
This app will bring together magazine subscriptions in a central place.
The concept is similar to iBooks, even down to an icon that looks like
the periodicals shelf at your local library. As you subscribe to a
publication through a new channel in the App Store, new issues are
delivered in the background, eliminating the need to manually grab them
when they publish.
Newstand's success on the iPhone depends
largely on how much reading you do on the smaller device, and how much
digital content you purchased through Apple, but it's a great way to
have content you like delivered to you. iPad users will probably benefit
most here--with the added screen real estate--and reading magazines on
your iPad will now be easier than ever. Worth noting is that Apple's
done something interesting with this app, letting it expand into a
user's home screen, just like a folder of applications. The company
doesn't let third-party apps do this. All of the Newsstand features will
become available at launch. We will add to this portion of the review
when we learn more.
Twitter
Thankfully, users now will be able to post photos to the social
networking service without leaving the image gallery or camera
application. It's a nice change, given that it will end the need to take
a photo, switch to the iPhone Twitter app, and then post the photo.
You'll be able to add a location, sync Twitter with your contacts list,
and tweet directly from YouTube, Safari, and Maps.
When you send
your first tweet from any of the designated apps, you can enter your
Twitter info or create a new account. You'll also have the option to
download the free Twitter client from within the sign-in
screen--probably part of the deal Apple set up with Twitter to get
integration into iOS 5. While there are third-party apps that might be a
better choice as your Twitter client (iOS 5 Twitter integration does
not include browsing Twitter), we think users will appreciate the
ability to quickly send a tweet.
Safari
The mobile version of Apple's Web browser now has the Reader option that
was announced at the 2010 WWDC. Rather than having to deal with
complicated layouts of various Web sites, the reader streamlines
multipage articles in a RSS-like view while stripping out ads, but
leaving photos. You also can e-mail the entire text of a Safari page to a
contact (under iOS 4, you could send only a link).
The Reader option is fantastic for reading strangely formatted
Web pages, giving you a clear and iOS optimized layout for reading
articles. We think people will be especially happy to finally get away
from reading Web sites meant for a desktop computer, when there is no
mobile option available. Our only problem with the Reader is that it may
strip out too much--we often want to see comments on an article, but
the Reader deems them unnecessary.
In other Safari news, tabbed
browsing is now available on the iPad and you can add a Web page to a
Reading List list for future perusal on any iOS device. The latter
feature keeps a story on your reading list until you have time to read
it, and it can be synced between multiple Safari devices. Be sure to
check out our post exploring iOS 5 on the iPad from Donald Bell.
Reminders
This handy addition lets you store multiple to-do lists with dates for
each event; you can categorize reminders by GPS location. So, for
example, if you have a reminder of "Call home when I leave work," the
app will use GPS to note when you're on the move and send the reminder
via push notification. Reminders can be shared between devices and sync
with iCal on the Mac with CalDAV, and on Windows with MS Exchange. The
app has its own sleek-looking scrollable calendar as well, so you can
browse or add new tasks and reminders for future dates.
Sure enough, the iPhone reminded
us once we got about a half block away from the building. You also can
have it remind you to do something when you arrive at a location, like
"Call Mom when I get home." These will both be extremely useful for
those of us who don't remember all the details.
Browsing through
your reminders is easy with a starting page where you can quickly track
and search for reminders using a search field. You also have the option
to create tasks for more-open-ended reminders that don't need to be done
by a specific time. We think Apple did an admirable job with this app,
but we think many of the plethora of to-do apps at the iTunes App Store
offer more options. For simple reminders and tasks, however, the
Reminders app will probably be enough for most users.
Camera
iOS 5 adds several requested features to the camera app, making it much
more like a point-and-shoot camera. You get a shortcut on the lock
screen that will launch the camera immediately, even bypassing the lock
code. A simple double-tap of the Home button brings up both the basic
music controls (as before) and the camera icon in the lower right. You
then can use the volume control to snap a photo. The picture is saved to
your camera roll, but for security (having not used your access code)
you'll only be able to delete the shot (keeping unwanted users from
browsing your iPhone photos). Inside the camera you'll get grid lines,
pinch to zoom (in addition to a slider bar at the bottom of the screen),
autofocus, and the ability to change the exposure.
After taking
photos, you can edit your shots with crop, rotate, red-eye reduction,
and a single-tap color correction option. The cropping features let you
crop your images with a resizable box, or you can constrain the aspect
ratio to keep a standard size. Rotate options let you spin an image in
90-degree increments so you won't have to worry about sideways photos.
Red-eye reduction is a simple process that has you select the red-eye
tool, then tap the red eyes of your subject for instantaneous and
impressive results. The single-tap color correction tool balances your
colors and, in our tests, did indeed make the image look better. Though
we welcome these additions, Apple is way too late to the photo-editing
party, as this functionality has existed on basic phones for years.
Also, while we like the basic editing features, we doubt it will mean
the demise of third-party apps like Photoshop Express.
Mail
The iOS mail app now has rich text formatting, better indent control,
flagging of messages, and the ability to drag addresses between To, CC,
and BCC lines. Also, you now can search within the body of a message
instead of just in the From, To, and subject lines.
Mail for iOS
has needed many of these features for a long time, so it's good that we
finally have them. Flagging e-mails as important will certainly help the
business crowd. The selection tool (when you double-tap a word and drag
selection anchors) are a still a little awkward to use--especially for
large blocks of text, and it's important to note that you'll need to
select text to apply any rich text formatting (bold, italics, or
underline options once selected). Still these are needed steps forward
for the mail app, and users will appreciate the changes.
One
thing on our wish list for a future iOS release is for Mail to get
Safari's Reader feature. With iOS 5 we still stumbled upon the
occasional e-mail with its own special formatting that the app didn't
adjust to make eyeball-friendly on the smaller screen. Considering how
much e-mail reading people do on their iOS devices, this would be a
welcome addition.
PC Free and iCloud
Arguably the most notable change, PC Free will bring over-the-air
software updates and device activations. So as on Android, Windows Phone
7, and BlackBerry OS 5 devices, you'll no longer have to plug your
device into a computer or even own a computer at all. The updates will
serve only the changes, so they'll be shorter, and you'll be able to
sync, back up, and restore your device using the new iCloud features.
You'll also find new features within apps, like wirelessly editing
photos, managing e-mail folders, and creating and deleting calenders.
To
sync your iOS device to iTunes on your computer, you need only be on
the same Wi-Fi network and your device needs to be charging (plugged
into a charger). You can then go to Settings > General on your iPhone
to select iTunes Wi-Fi Sync. From there you can select Sync Now on your
iPhone and your photos, music, and calendars will be backed up in
iTunes.
While not pretty or particularly novel (especially with
so many other smartphones offering the same features), over-the-air
updates might be the most important of all for iOS in this update. We've
heard many stories of users complaining about sync times, and not
having your phone tethered to your computer for long periods will be
appreciated by all. We'll add more details about iCloud as we use
explore it further.
Game Center
Additions for gamers in iOS 5 include the addition of profile photos,
the ability to compare achievement points, friends of friends lists,
recommended friends and games, support for turn-based games, and a way
to buy games directly from Game Center.
We like the added
personal touch of adding a photograph to our profile in Game Center, but
we think people should have more fun options for page customization (it
is "Game" Center, after all). Game recommendations (based on your
current library) seem pretty solid, but we did find a few games in the
list we had previously deleted. The ability to buy games from within
Game Center makes it a bit more of a destination, but it still seems
like the service will still be a behind-the-scenes social connector as
it was in iOS 4.
i
Message
Apple takes a shot at BlackBerry with this instant messaging app that
will work across all iOS 5 devices. As with BlackBerry Messenger (BBM),
you'll be able to exchange unlimited text messages, photos, and videos
with your friends, family, and colleagues. Also, your messages won't
cost you anything and they won't count against the monthly allotment of
messages from your wireless carrier.
You'll also get group messaging, an indicator to see if someone is
typing to you, delivery and read receipts, secure encryption, and
conversation syncing that is pushed to multiple devices. iMessage will
work on 3G and Wi-Fi networks.
The updates to the iPhone
messaging system are welcome changes, with some of the new features
mimicking what third-party paid chat apps in the iTunes App Store
already do. We're a little disappointed that the location and contact
sharing features don't come straight from iMessage (you need to share
them from the Map app or your contacts) as found in third-party apps.
Still, the ability to send that data to a friend is an improvement. For
example, to send a contact, you'll need to go to your home screen, open
your contacts, select a person, choose the Share Contact button, then
choose iMessage. It would have been better if we could bring up the
contact list straight from iMessage. We will be comparing these features
more in depth to BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) later this week.
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