Yesterday, Apple kicked off the WWDC 2011 and previewed next generation of mobile operating system – iOS 5.0. Scott forstall, Senior Vice President, iOS softwares, claimed that iOS 5.0 has 200 new features for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. Though, he had time to discuss only 10 of them. These ten features are the key or one of the most important features coming in iOS. You must be familiar with many of them due to floating rumor or you may be looking forward to know about many of them. Let’s discuss most of them in detail :
1) Notification Center : We already predicted it before and the unexpected hiring of Peter Hajas was an indication that iOS notification system will undergo a revamp. The concept is quite similar to what most of you must have experienced through Cydia tweaks. If you earlier being disturbed through these pop-ups while playing game or doing some important stuff, iOS 5.0 is meant for you. Now, the notifications doesn’t appear in the form of pop-ups rather they appear in the form of a bar at the top which can be read later on. Suppose that you are on the home screen and want to get the list of all notifications, you have recently gone through. With iOS 5.0, swiping from top to bottom on the springboard will evoke a shutter that has all the list of notifications you might have missed. Surprisingly, this is not enough. You will get the listed notifications on the lockscreen. If you slide the specific notification, you will end up in that specific application. This is all about notifications in iOS 5.0.
2) iMessage : Some are calling it as BBM (Black Berry Messenger) killer. iMessage is the new message application from Apple that will be available on iPod touch and iPad as well after the upgrade. Now, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users can message themselves seamlessly through Apple servers without any additional charge. The service is very similar to WhatsApp but it is not available for cross platform, that is, only iDevices will support it. You can also send contacts, photos and even geolocation from one device to another. iMessage is not limited to these features, you will also get the delivery and received receipts when you are done hitting the send button. Continuing from the same conversation where you left off is another the another advantage.
3) News stand : Apple has, this time, used a different application to store all your news paper and magazines from different categories at a single place. News stand also works in the background. So, if you have downloaded the subscription of the magazine or newspaper, the next day when you would wake up, another edition will be available right on your Apple device. This may turn out to be a must needed feature for the magazine or newspaper lovers on their iPad.
4) Reminders : Sometimes, you create your schedule using a piece of paper and align it accordingly on your table. iOS 5.0 will let you do everything on your device. Reminders is a separate native application on the springboard that reminds you every task through the push notifications. As the push notifications have been entirely revamped, you will not forget even a single thing. It even acts as a location based reminder. Once you are way from the defined location in the reminders application, you will be instantly notified to do a particular task.
5) Twitter integration : Already rumored twitter integration by Apple is now a reality. The company has implemented twitter at the system level where you need to enter all your credentials at once. The applications will never redirect you to the twitter login if you have already entered you details in settings. Instead, it will use that information to proceed further. Apple has also used the twitter integration to share photos, videos, geolocation and web pages in safari.
6) Camera : There is now a dedicated camera icon on the lock screen for the instant access. Now, you don’t need to go to springboard, tap the camera icon for capturing your favorite moments. You can always use the in-built camera icon once you wake up your device from the sleep mode. In addition to that, Apple has used the volume buttons to take the photos. The upper volume camera button now enabled to take the pictures. You don’t need to touch the screen anymore once you upgrade your iDevice to iOS 5.0.
7) Photos : Remember when you have to rely on third party applications to modify photos or do any kind of editing? Not anymore. Apple has finally integrated the editing features in the native photos application. You can crop, rotate, enhance, remove the red eye reduction right from your iPhone or iPad 2. Also, tapping on a picture twice will lead to auto exposure automatically on that selected area.
8) Safari : Safari has undergone a lot of improvements. iOS 5.0 allows you read the multiple pages without any links or navigating in different tabs/pages again and again for a single story. The built in reader feature creates a one page for the convenience of your reading. You don’t get any additional stuff except the text you are interested in. There is also a reading list icon on the left of URL bar which lets you save the pages for reading them later on. Alas, Apple has implemented the tab browsing to switch between your different pages in safari.
9) PC-Free : You no longer needs a computer to activate your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Once you bought it home, you will get a welcome screen which let you activate the device wirelessly. You can download the free software updates right in your device without the need of attaching it to your PC/Mac. Do more with apps – such as editing, your photos or adding new email folders on your iDevice.
10) Mail : The mail application has now some more features. You can anytime invoke the format text editing option – Bold, Italic or underline. You can drag your sender’s email address or any other in other address fields like Cc or Bcc. There is also an inbuilt dictionary in the device which helps you to know the meaning of all the words you are unfamiliar with. You can also delete and add mailboxes on the air. Searching in the mail application is now even more easier in iOS 5.0.
There are several more other features like Game Center, Wi-Fi sync, Multitasking gestures for the iPad, Airplay mirroring for the iPad 2, Calendars and Accessibility options. You can dig out more once the iOS 5.0 will be available all across the world this fall. However, the developer beta is available from the day one. If you are a developer, go grab your version now and try out all of the mentioned features.
We will keep you updated!