iOS 5, the new version of the iPhone and iPad operating
system will be its best yet. We find out what's on offer and how it'll affect
the way you'll use your Apple devices for years to come
iOS 5 will make it much easier to stay in touch and up to
date with your family, friends and co-workers. This is thanks to a vastly
improved notfication system, which brings all your alerts - Reminders, iCal
events, emails and iMessages - together in one place, One of the most notable
changes is that alerts will no longer pop up in the middle of the screen on
your phone - something that can be very annoying if you're playing a game.
Apple is clearly taking its cue from the huge success of
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for this one. iMessage brings push instant messaging
to the iPhone and iPad and even gives you the ability to send and receive text,
photos, videos, locations and contacts, as well as send group messages to your
friends.
Using Twitter on iOS 4 can be a bit of a rigmarole,
especially if you want to quickly post a link for followers to see. iOS 5 does
away with all that by deeply embedding Twitter into the operating system. This
means one-tap access to your Twitter account when using apps such as Photos,
Safari and YouTube. Apple is making the API available to third-party developers
so they can build Twitter integration right into their apps too.
If you're always forgetting to remember when your To Dos are
due, then iOS S's new Reminders app should be an enormous help. This will
enable you to create tasks, set their priority and their due dates. It will
also make it easy to group related tasks together, However, the best bit is
that Reminders is location-aware. Just create a task for a certain location and
the app will remind you to do it when yuo get there - it's a great way of
reminding yourself to pick up a pint of milk!
Newsstand finally brings iBook-style organisation to your
magazine and newspaper subscriptions, while also giving you the ability to
search and sign up for more using the dedicated section in the iTunes Store.
Digital issue updates are flagged as notifications on the app itself as well as
in the new Notifications
Center
One of the biggest and most important changes to iOS 5 is
that you'll no longer need to hook an iPhone, iPod or iPad up to your Mac to
set it up and synchronise it, Each one will work straight out of the box and
all your emails, music, photos and any apps that you own will be available to
download from iCloud,
With the 8 megapixels camera in the iPhone 4S, it's good to
see that the app's getting an overhaul too. New in iOS 5 is a camera button on
the lock screen, meaning quicker and easier snaps without having to delve into
menus. As with the latter, another feature familiar to Windows Phone 7 users is
the ability to use the volume up button on the side of a smartphone as a
physical shutter button. That's coming to the iPhone in iOS 5 too.
Because you don't need to sync an iOS 5 device to your Mac
anymore, Apple has beefed up its photo app so you can edit and enhance your
snaps on your iPad or iPhone, before sharing them with friends or syncing them
with iCIoud. Goodies include red-eye reduction and cropping. You can even
create albums on your device now too.
The world's best mobile browser is catching up with the Mac
version, with Reader, Reading List and Tabbed Browsing making their way into
iOS 5 at last. Reader cuts the clutter on web pages so content is easier to
read, while Reading List lets you save web pages for viewing later. Tabbed
browsing is long overdue, but will only be available on the iPad.
Notification Centre
iOS 5 will make it much easier to stay in touch and up to
date with your family, friends and co-workers. This is thanks to a vastly
improved notfication system, which brings all your alerts - Reminders, iCal
events, emails and iMessages - together in one place, One of the most notable
changes is that alerts will no longer pop up in the middle of the screen on
your phone - something that can be very annoying if you're playing a game.
Instead, the alert will appear discreetly at the top of the
screen as a notification bar in whichever app you are in, with a slick but
subtle animation to bring it to your attention. Clicking on the notification
bar will take you to the iCal event, message or email you need to see, while
swiping downwards will open the full Notification
Center
Another much-needed improvement (one that has been available
on rival Android and Windows Phone 7 handsets for a while) is at-a-glance
alerts on the lock screen. That’s great if you're in a hurry and need to see
what's on your agenda, but the real beauty is what you can do with those
alerts. If it's a voicemail, swiping left to right will play the message
without you having to open the Phone app. It's a similar story with other
alerts, though in some cases, such as the iMessage app, you can type a reply
direct from the lock screen without delving into any menus.
iMessage
Apple is clearly taking its cue from the huge success of
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for this one. iMessage brings push instant messaging
to the iPhone and iPad and even gives you the ability to send and receive text,
photos, videos, locations and contacts, as well as send group messages to your
friends.
The biggest catch, of course, is that you'll only be able to
chat to friends and family if they own an iPhone or an iPad as well, although
rumours suggest that iMessage instant messaging will also be included in an
update to iChat on the Mac. What you won't be able to do is IM friends who use
rival services or phones such as MSN, Yahoo, Android and BlackBerry. Luckily
you can get around this by using other IM apps in the iTunes Store - Meebo
(free) and WhatsApp Messenger ($0.99) being two great examples.
Twitter
Using Twitter on iOS 4 can be a bit of a rigmarole,
especially if you want to quickly post a link for followers to see. iOS 5 does
away with all that by deeply embedding Twitter into the operating system. This
means one-tap access to your Twitter account when using apps such as Photos,
Safari and YouTube. Apple is making the API available to third-party developers
so they can build Twitter integration right into their apps too.
Reminders
If you're always forgetting to remember when your To Dos are
due, then iOS S's new Reminders app should be an enormous help. This will
enable you to create tasks, set their priority and their due dates. It will
also make it easy to group related tasks together, However, the best bit is
that Reminders is location-aware. Just create a task for a certain location and
the app will remind you to do it when yuo get there - it's a great way of
reminding yourself to pick up a pint of milk!
Newsstand
Newsstand finally brings iBook-style organisation to your
magazine and newspaper subscriptions, while also giving you the ability to
search and sign up for more using the dedicated section in the iTunes Store.
Digital issue updates are flagged as notifications on the app itself as well as
in the new
Wi-Fi Sync
If the concepts behind PC Free and iCIoud give you the
vapours, don't worry: you will still be able to sync your iPhone to your Mac —
and you'll even be able to do it wirelessly, using iOS 5. All you have to do is
plug your iPhone into the mains power and Wi-Fi Sync will take care of the rest
automatically, How cool is that?
PC Free
One of the biggest and most important changes to iOS 5 is
that you'll no longer need to hook an iPhone, iPod or iPad up to your Mac to
set it up and synchronise it, Each one will work straight out of the box and
all your emails, music, photos and any apps that you own will be available to
download from iCloud,
Steve jobs announced this radical step during his keynote at
Apple's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) last summer, arguing that it was
finally time for the Mac to be demoted from a hub for your digital lifestyle
into just another device, Part of the reasoning for this change is that the
growth of powerful, internet- connected devices like the iPad and iPhone no
longer need a hub to sync to - they can get all the content they need by
themselves.
The other main reason is Apple's discovery that many iPod
and iPad-owning households don't have or don't want any kind of computer. Scott
Forstall, Apple's senior vice-president for iOS software told the audience at the
WWDC keynote;
"[These households] want to buy an iOS device as their
only device - and that's what we're going to support in iOS 5."
Camera
With the 8 megapixels camera in the iPhone 4S, it's good to
see that the app's getting an overhaul too. New in iOS 5 is a camera button on
the lock screen, meaning quicker and easier snaps without having to delve into
menus. As with the latter, another feature familiar to Windows Phone 7 users is
the ability to use the volume up button on the side of a smartphone as a
physical shutter button. That's coming to the iPhone in iOS 5 too.
Apple also appears to be taking certain camera cues from
existing iPhone photography apps such as Camera+ new features include optional
grid lines to help you frame your shots; a new pinch-to-zoom gesture, which
supplements the current zoom slider; and zoom/exposure locks - a single tap on
a subject on-screen automatically adjusts the focus and exposure. Holding your
finger down locks it there, even if you move the camera.
The Camera+ app will automatically download any pictures you
take to all your other devices - all you have to do is enable the PhotoStream
feature of Apple's forthcoming iCIoud computing service.
Photos
Because you don't need to sync an iOS 5 device to your Mac
anymore, Apple has beefed up its photo app so you can edit and enhance your
snaps on your iPad or iPhone, before sharing them with friends or syncing them
with iCIoud. Goodies include red-eye reduction and cropping. You can even
create albums on your device now too.
Safari
The world's best mobile browser is catching up with the Mac
version, with Reader, Reading List and Tabbed Browsing making their way into
iOS 5 at last. Reader cuts the clutter on web pages so content is easier to
read, while Reading List lets you save web pages for viewing later. Tabbed
browsing is long overdue, but will only be available on the iPad.
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