So the highly anticipated iOS 5 announcement is here. Here is an overview of the new features of the iOS 5 introduced at the WWDC. Keep in mind that these are just a few of the features and there are other less important ones which weren’t announced at the WWDC.
Notification Center
The first feature, which is also the most expected one, is the all new notifications system. At first look, it bears a striking resemblance to the one used in android. Apple has finally gotten rid of those annoying push notifications which plagued the iPhone.Now, the notifications can be accessed by pulling the top bar down, like in android devices. They can then be viewed individually by sliding across to reveal the notification. The notifications can be closed by tapping on the cross. Click here for more information
Deep Twitter Integration
The second feature is native twitter integration of the iOS devices. Twitter applications can now be integrated with other applications.The setup for twitter has been simplified and now it can also automatically update contacts if they have twitter handles. Overall, the Twitter user interface is made smoother and now is much more pleasant to use. Click here for more information
News Stand
The third feature is the news stand. It is more like a virtual newspaper, with magazine and news subscriptions being sent to you virtually on your iOS device. Subscriptions were introduced by Apple a while back, but now the latest editions can be downloaded automatically. They can then be read offline.
Enhanced Safari
Apple has introduced a lot of new changes to the native Safari browser. First and foremost is the Safari reader, which is placed near the address bar. It aligns text together,and is a handy convenience when reading an all text page, such as a story. Then there is the reading list, which basically lets you read pages off line by saving them. Apple also introduced tabbed browsing on the iOS devices. As said before, twitter integration makes its presence here as tweets can be made using the tweet button, which pops up the tweet sheet.
Camera Updates
The native camera application has been upgraded drastically. A camera button has been placed on the lockscreen so the camera application can be accessed directly from there without unlocking the phone.Pictures can be taken by using the volume up button, so it acts like a physical camera shutter key. The pictures can be pinched to zoom like in the previous iOS versions, but now the exposure settings can be adjusted automatically by holding onto the touch. Options for editing to some extent are also present such as red-eye reduction, cropping and one click enhancement.
Enhanced Mail Client
Some features have also been added to the native mail client. These include; Rich-text formatting, indentation control, S-mime, draggable addresses (from To: to Cc: or Bcc:). You can now also search entire contents of messages.
iMessage
iMessage is a new messaging client available on all iOS 5 devices. Messages,receipts,pictures and videos can be sent amongst all iOS 5 devices using WiFi or 3G. One thing to note is that typing notifications are present here, so the receiver gets noted when the sender is typing a message. Click here for more information
PC-Free
With the iOS 5, the iOS devices wouldn’t need to be synced with a PC/Mac to set them up on first start up. The setup is done on the device itself, and software updates are downloaded Over the air, unlike the previous iOS versions wherea computer with itunes was needed to update to the latest iOS version. iTunes library on the device can be synced wirelessly over wifi. Airplay mirroring also lets you display the iPad on a TV wirelessly. Click here for more information.
Reminders
Other features of the iOS 5 include reminders, which can be assigned for any time or location. The dictionary can now be used for all applications downloaded from the app store. It can be accessed by selecting the text and using the define option.
The iOS 5 will be released this fall and for now will support the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 3rd and 4th generations, iPad and iPad 2. However, the developer will be available from today.
Image Courtesy: MacRumors
Incoming search terms:
- use camera with tweet sheet
It has been rumored that Apple is planning on adding some additional functions to the amazing and intelligent voice assistant, Siri. However some developer’s who have tested iOS 5 beta 3 have reported that the new beta brings back the Toggle to turn off 3G.
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