Apple finally announced iOS 5 at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) and it seems that they’ve actually been listening to their fans. If you’ll remember a while back we posted our iOS 5 wish list and detailed most of our issues with the now iconic mobile operating system (OS) employed by Apple. So you can imagine our surprise and pleasure when we discovered that many of our hopes for the iOS platform had come true.
Notifications on iOS 5
First and foremost Apple has fixed its notification system. In what they made sound like a huge leap forward in notification systems Apple has implemented an Android-style drop-down notification method. Basically now, instead of an intrusive message that pops up and forces you to either attend to it or press cancel, a small bar appears at the top of the screen.
This notification bar gives a short summary of what has happened (eg a received text or possible Wi-Fi network connection etc) and the user has the option of tapping it or, and this is the big bit, simply ignoring it until it disappears after a few seconds. The bar is tiny and can be easily ignored in most applications.
If a user wishes to check their notifications but miss tapping before it disappears that’s fine too. At any point in just about any program or App users can simply swipe down from the top of the screen and they’re greeted with the Notification Center. The Notification Center has all of your most recent notifications arranged in a neat chronological order. Tapping any of these notification will take the user directly to where they need to be. So tapping on a text notification will transport you to your threaded SMS screen, ready to reply.
We couldn’t be happier with Apple’s new notification system that is, in some ways, even better than the current Android system. However, the reason for this is that while ripping off Android, it’s also highly reminiscent of Palm’s swipe-to-dismiss system and looks very much like Mobile Notify (a favorite of the iOS Jailbreaking community). Apple’s taken the best of 3 worlds and unapologetically turned them to its own needs.
Lock Screen
The lock screen has on-screen missed notifications that you can jump to by swiping! This is fantastic news and exactly what we wanted to see from Apple. It is important to note that this function must be turned on in the user settings, just remember that when your freshly downloaded iOS 5 update doesn’t immediately do what we said it would.
Like with many Android devices, iPhone users now have a small camera button next to the standard unlock swiper. A tap of this button will take the user straight to the camera, saving precious seconds in which a great photo opportunity could be lost.
Camera
The Camera app itself has been altered as well. Not only is it now accessible straight from the lock screen, but now also boasts basic and immediate photo editing as well as a pinch-to-zoom function.
Another great little bit of functionality Apple has added is a camera shutter button. The volume up hardware button on the side of the iPhone now acts just like a mechanical camera button. This is great news, as it’s much easier to both line up shots and hold the shot steady when you’re not being forced to tap a button on your screen.
No Big User Interface Revamp on iOS 5
The UI has undergone some tiny alterations, but not many really worth mentioning. This is a little unfortunate but entirely expected, as the look and feel of Apple’s iOS devices have become iconic for their fans. Any changes in this area would have probably ended up with claims that Apple was copying its competitors, something it would likely want to avoid too much of, considering their notification system was definitely inspired by outside sources.
There has been a nice little alteration to the Keyboard for iPad users. The keypad can now be split in two so that it hugs each side of the screen at the bottom. This allows users to type just using their thumbs without letting go of the device. It’s not going to be useful for everybody, but on-the-go users should get a kick out of this.
iMessage and Reminders Apps
iMessage is Apple’s attempt to kill the SMS cash-cow. What it essentially is is an instant messaging system that works just like SMS and MMS with similar alerts etc, but doesn’t have a cost-per-text system like SMSs and MMSs do. This is just a straight-up instant messenger that Apple has provided to its customers in order to help them stay in touch without breaking the bank. We have no idea how good it is yet, but we love the idea of Apple making its own BlackBerry-style messaging system so that its customers can communicate with one another free from worrying about their monthly caps.
The Reminders App is, on most levels, just your basic PDA with one pretty cool addition. Instead of just relying on timed reminders, users can program in alerts to appear based on their location. So if you need to do some washing the instant you get home it won’t matter if you’re stuck in traffic for an hour, the reminder will pop up when you get there, rather than the time when you were expecting to get home. This is a pretty cool and very logical addition to the traditional PDA.
It’s also a bit easier to create and manage your reminders and tasks than we’re used to. Not difficult to imagine seeing as Apple loves making things simple (or at least claims to).
iOS 5 Wireless Mirroring with Airplay
Remember when the iPad 2 came out and it had that groovy little HDMI connector so that you could mirror whatever was happening on your iPad over a TV? Well now you can do it wirelessly with iOS 5 via a little thing they're calling Airplay. This is actually a very cool function and, while it only works if you also have Apple TV, it will definitely be handy for some.
Safari
Safari has received a speed upgrade but, most importantly, now also includes tab browsing! We’re totally uncertain as to why Apple has waited until now to include tabs in its browser. While it’s not going to make a huge difference to iPhone users, it’s definitely going to affect the efficiency of browsing on an iPad.
PC Free
With iOS 5 you'll never be required to tether your device to a PC or Mac again. Devices that ship with, or have been updated to iOS 5 can be set up without first connecting them to a desktop or laptop computer. The entire process can now be done straight on your device. This is not a revolutionary concept for Apple's competition, but it's definitely nice seeing the iOS platform finally catching up in this area.
No Flash Support
Expectedly, iOS 5 does not offer any kind of Flash support. This is, of course, disappointing, as we've come to really appreciate this feature in Android devices. We doubt anyone is surprised that this little bit of information, but we thought it was worth mentioning anyway.
The WhistleOut Opinion
While it’s difficult to come out with an opinion before we’ve done a detailed hands-on test of iOS 5 ourselves, so far things seem pretty good. This definitely looks like the most important software update Apple has released for the iOS system as yet and we’re glad to see they’re willing to look elsewhere (even if they won’t admit it) for inspiration every once in a while.
So far there looks like there isn’t anything to really complain about (unless you think the lack of widgets is a thing, which we don’t) with the iOS 5 update and we look forward to getting our hands on it.
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