iOS 5: What's New?
Written by Laney | 13/10/11
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On October 12, Apple released it's most advanced and sophisticated operating system, iOS 5. After a somewhat lengthy download, (for those, like I, with a connection with speeds that resemble a tortoise) iOS can be installed to your iDevice. Upon unlocking your device, you immediately stumble across some new apps! Here is some information on each new app!
iOS 5 is compatible with:
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 4S
• iPod touch 3rd generation
• iPod touch 4th generation
• iPad
• iPad 2

iCloud
"iCloud stores your music, photos, documents and more, and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices. Automatic, effortless and seamless — it just works." iCloud truly is one of the greatest features ever to grace an iDevice. It's not just a computer in the sky. After a short set up, iCloud is activated (with your apple account) and works with all of your iOS 5 devices. No syncing or management is required. iCloud does everything for you. Once signed up to iCloud, you get 5GB storage as standard. If you need more space, it can be purchased for prices you can expect from Apple.
Prices for additional storage are as follows:
10GB (15GB total) - £14/$20
20Gb (25Gb total) - £28/$40
50Gb (55GB total) - £70/$100

Although additional storage is quite pricey, I cannot fault the idea in any way. I have an iPad and an iTouch, and using iCloud, transferring your media via your PC is no problem now, all you have to do is go onto the cloud on any of your devices and it's there.


iMessage
"With iMessage, we've created a new messaging service for all iOS 5 users."
iMessage allows you to send messages to anyone who has iOS 5 on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. Wi-Fi or 3G connection is required to send messages. You can send both text and picture messages from your device. You are required to use your email to send the messages. Conveniently, you can track your messages with delivery receipts. In addition to this, you can also see when your conversational partner is typing. I think this app has been long overdue. iDevice users final have an official platform in which they can message each other with little effort. I am really pleased that Apple decided to add this feature!


Newsstand
"Read all about it. All in one place. iOS 5 organizes your magazine and newspaper app subscriptions in Newsstand: a folder that lets you access your favorite publications quickly and easily."
Newsstand is a handy app for all of you that like to read. You can purchase magazines and newspapers in the new AppStore section made for Newsstand. Although I have no use for this, I think It is an amazing idea and will receive lots of praise from people worldwide. I think it is amazing that you can have all of the publications you love right at your fingertips without having to leave your seat.

Reminders
"Next time you think to yourself, “Don’t forget to...”, just pull out your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and jot it down." I'm sure many of you forget to do a lot of things. (I myself am very forgetful at times) Reminders are extremely helpful as you can organize everything. Going to the supermarket? Set a reminder to get some milk. It's the little things like that that go a long way. I actually used the reminder system last night before I went out to dinner. I used it to remind me to stop and get a birthday card for my Granddad! :y:

Integrated Tweeting
"iOS 5 makes it even easier to tweet from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch." If you (unlike myself) are a frequent tweeter, this should be quite exciting! Once you have updated to iOS 5, head over to settings on your iDevice and sign in to Twitter. You will now be able to Tweet directly from built in apps like Safari, Camera, Photos Youtube and even Maps! Contacts makes it easy to mention or reply to your friends as it applies your friends' Twitter usernames and Profile Pictures. Another remarkable feature is the "Add Location" option to your tweets. You can do this from any app you're tweeting from! Personally, I don't find this very interesting or useful due to the fact that I don't use Twitter. On the other hand, all of you Social Networkers will find your twitter life that little bit easier.

Camera
"Since your iPhone is always with you, it’s often the best way to capture those unexpected moments. That’s why you’ll love the new camera features in iOS 5." Another genius update iOS 5 brings us is the power to open the Camera app straight from the Lock screen! There are also more options for zooming, focus and even the option to quickly take a picture with the "Volume up" button on the side of your iPhone. Also, with photo stream enabled, pictures instantly sync to all of your other iOS 5 devices. I think the option to instantly access the camera app is great because there are a lot of times where you wish you'd taken the picture quick enough. Never again will that be a problem!

Photos
"Turn your snapshots into frame-worthy photos in just a few taps. Crop, rotate, enhance and remove red-eye without leaving the Photos app." With the Photos app incorporating these handy new features, you won't have to spend any time on photoshop making them look presentable. You also have the option to organize your photos in to albums! I think this feature is really good because you don't have to go and spend more time on the computer correct your snaps.

Safari
"iOS 5 brings even more web-browsing features to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch." With the new Safari Reader your web articles can be displayed without the ads or clutter around the page, enhancing your reading experience. Reading List allows you to save articles that you'd like to view later, while iCloud automatically updates your list across all of your iDevices. On the iPad, tabbed browsing allows you to view multiple web pages with ease. For me, the reading list option is extremely helpful because I can use it for saving threads on NGU I'd like to navigate later on in the day. Tabbed browsing for the iPad also helps you keep track of your web pages a lot easier!

PC Free
"With iOS 5, you no longer need a computer to own an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch." The revolutionary PC Free feature allows you to activate and set up your iDevice wirelessly, straight from when you open up the box! You can also back-up and restore your device using iCloud. You can now download iOS updates directly via your device. Allowing your Device to finally gain its independence! :fa:

There are many small improvements that have been made to other apps on your iDevice.

It's amazing how one update can do so much. Think of what your iDevice is capable of now, and what it could be capable of in the not to distant future! With a tethered jailbreak already released for iOS 5 and speculation growing about the untethered one, all I can say is your device has a lot coming its way. Be sure to see more of what Apple has to offer and expect it to be nothing less than perfect.

Sources
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