As you all probably know, Apple’s was live earlier today at WWDC discussing about their newest software updates. Among the many rumored surprises, is the newest version of iOS, the top mobile operating system, iOS 5. It seems Apple doesn’t like to disappoint, the newest version of the iOS is packed with new things that I am just dying to check out!
Apparently, there are over 200 new features that are included in the newest version of the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad OS, iOS 5. Available today for developers, and looking at a Fall launch for the rest of the Apple fanboy world, 10 remarkable features were showcased for some 5,200 people live today, and I’ll be going over them. If you don’t want to read through the live coverage we had posted and updated regularly earlier, which was in fact just a very brief overview on everything, then I’ve covered everything iOS 5 down below:
#1: Notification Center
In my mind, the system for displaying push notifications prior to today’s announcement of Notification Center was extremely lackluster. Notifications would just pop up, randomly and disrupt your activity; the whole thing just wasn’t ideal. Well, with the reliance of push notifications going up Apple has announced Notification Center, which allows you to keep track of all of your notifications in a well-organized, and easily accessible, pane. By sliding up or down on the screen, you can open and close Notification Center, respectively. From there you can access the source applications to your notifications. Overall, it seems like a great addition and will make the whole process a whole lot simpler.
#2: iMessage
If you’re a Mac user, you may be familiar with the chat application, iChat. Apple have included a similar application with the new OS, adding to the amount of standard applications. iMessage is an application designed to let iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users easily text, chat and share between devices. With a great, user-friendly interface, the application looks as if it could come in use.
#3: Newsstand
Available through the app store, much like iBooks, Newsstand is an application that contains a huge database of magazines and newspapers. It supports your subscriptions to magazines, and also is already backed by many publishers. By the looks of it, it will probably take its graphical and interface cues from Apple’s application for reading eBooks, iBooks.
#4: Reminders
Apple, before today, hadn’t really provided a way to keep track of to-do activities. With Reminders, yet another application that will come standard with the OS, you can jot down what you need to do and get them done thanks to the aid of in-app calendars and reminders. The screenshots depict a really polished looking interface, but they could be deceiving because Apple’s really good at making things look good digitally.
#5: Twitter Integration
This new addition won’t make a huge difference to us Apple fanboys, especially people who don’t care about Twitter, but it’s not such a bad thing. Apple have made it easy to tweet through many of their applications (Camera, Safari, etc.) by having one place to type in your credentials for your Twitter account.
#6: Camera
From the lockscreen, you will have the option to immediately navigate to the built-in camera application. By simply double tapping the home button, you can click on a camera icon, which will instantaneously take you to the camera screen – all from the lockscreen. The up-volume button have been configured to take pictures, only when you’re in the camera application, and an optional screen grid has been added as an extra little feature.
#7: Photos
From your device you can crop, rotate and organize your photos into albums. Auto enhancement and red-eye removal are also included.
#8: Safari
Safari has been totally re-skinned, functionality-wise. In the computer version of Safari, there’s an option next to the URL called “Reader”, which will slim down pages or articles you’re on and get rid of ads. The option is now available on the mobile version of Safari. Working much like bookmarking, you can now also set aside, in a sense, articles to read for later. On the iPad, tabbed browsing has been added to make it easier to navigate across pages.
#9: PC-Free
Also with the release of iOS 5, is the release of dependency on PCs. You can now set up your new iOS device straight out of the box, without the need for iTunes, you can update software through WiFi and backup/sync to your computer. Additionally, with iCloud, you can restore from backup as well. I’m totally stoked for this because now I won’t be pestered by those stupid iTunes errors I always have to plow through while updating my device.
#10: More
The mail application was updated to make browsing through emails easier, with a search bar and now has a better layout, improving the UI. The Game Center application has a variety of improvements from total achievement points (finally), the ability to update applications through GC, and more.
Of course, there were a total of 200 changes, of which only a few were covered. So obviously, there are probably a ton of other little additions/updates that were made to the, now very lackluster-seeming iOS 4.
Though these new additions are something I’m really on my toes for, Apple has eliminated the need for some third-party applications currently on the app store, so I’m not sure how developers will take that. Either way, I really cannot wait!
Apple has just posted a video on iOS 5 (refresh once to watch):
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