iOS 5 out today: 20 features you need to know
by Zack Whittaker | October 12, 2011 7:06am PDT | Image 1 of 21
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20 killer features of the iOS 5
Apple's next generation mobile operating system is to be released today (12th October), along with over 200 brand new features to bring iOS 5 up to date with leading competitors. Along with this, iCloud and the iPhone 4S -- Apple's cloud service and brand new smartphone respectively -- is to be released today as well.
But as the focus is on iOS 5 which brings them all together in the palm of your hand, let's take a look at the 20 top features of iOS 5 -- including some you may not have heard of.
(Image source: Apple)
Related:
- iOS 5 will officially land on October 12; more details revealed
- iOS 5, iCloud out of the box experience
- Gallery: iOS 5 hands on: How iCloud works with the iPhone
- Gallery: iCloud hands on: Bringing your iPhone to the web
- Next-gen iPhone: It’s nothing without iOS, iCloud
- ZDNet’s full coverage of the iPhone 4S launch
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Not to be "that guy" but besides Siri, which of these things doesn't exist in Android? (in some cases for years...)
@30otnix Which things you ask: I can think of two right away: The iMessage and the Geo Fencing. But Siri alone is worth changing from my Android to the iPhone. Apple, you got me!
@Zippinglou Umm Google Talk is better but doesn't handle text messages.
Most of Siri functionality has been on Android since 2.1 it just isn't done with the same flare.
Geo Fencing is interesting.
Most of Siri functionality has been on Android since 2.1 it just isn't done with the same flare.
Geo Fencing is interesting.
@Zippinglou Just like Google Voice is enough for many to change from iPhone to Android.
Google, you got me!
Google, you got me!
@nayarsergio Google Voice really isn't all that great. Then again, there is no truly, insanely great Android handset (unless you root it).
@Peter Perry How do you know Google Talk is better? Have you used Siri on the 4S? Didn't think so.
@Zippinglou Half of these features depend on location tracking. Why isn't everybody freaking out about Apple tracking them, and collecting all your personal information in their iCloud?
@30otnix I think the biggest difference is that the Android is an open operating system while the iPhone is a closed operating system. Meaning that while there are plenty of 3rd party iPhone apps that do all these things, by integrating these features directly into Apple's operating system means superior speed, efficiency, and stability.
I've just installed ios5 on my iPhone 4 and am disappointed to discover (as I've also just seen on the screenshot) that to sync 'wirelessly' you have to have it connected to a power source. How can that be wireless?
@pianoman1962 Not all that thrilled with it either but can see why they require it. Really not going to be a big deal at all for me but do wish it weren't a requirement.
@pianoman1962
The icloud update requires that you connect to power ONLY in you have less than 50% battery life and ONLY if you are doing a software update. I picked up my 4S yesterday and updated it in the car. About 30 minutes later it was updated and I never had to plug it in to power. I noticed it checks in with my sync computer when I get home and automatically syncs with no cable what so ever.
The icloud update requires that you connect to power ONLY in you have less than 50% battery life and ONLY if you are doing a software update. I picked up my 4S yesterday and updated it in the car. About 30 minutes later it was updated and I never had to plug it in to power. I noticed it checks in with my sync computer when I get home and automatically syncs with no cable what so ever.
@30otnix: How about all of them? Android likes to launch half-baked features that borders in uselessness because of lack of polish. This is the reason why Droids will always be inferior products (they're not bad per se, but even with superior specs its hard to call them premium products because they always feel like they haven't been properly tested).
I have both btw in case your asking. I have the Samsung Galaxy S II and the iPhone 4. I'm in the business the requires me to have more than 1 phone. The usefulness between the two is quite vast. The Galaxy S II honestly feels like an immature teenager's phone (looks cool but lets you down on the things that matter) while the iPhone 4 really feels like a business phone.
I have both btw in case your asking. I have the Samsung Galaxy S II and the iPhone 4. I'm in the business the requires me to have more than 1 phone. The usefulness between the two is quite vast. The Galaxy S II honestly feels like an immature teenager's phone (looks cool but lets you down on the things that matter) while the iPhone 4 really feels like a business phone.
@marsquitojr I have both as well. What do you consider to be the big differences beyond polish?
I like the customizable nature of Android but the iPhone4 just seems to work 99% of the time.
I like the customizable nature of Android but the iPhone4 just seems to work 99% of the time.
@sjanofsky@... Let me jump in here, and say that polish is a lot more important than people seem to think. Part of the "polish" of the iPhone is the consistency of UI operations across the OS *and* across every single app you run.
I have an Android that I'm using every day, now, having switched from an iPhone (that I used every day) for business reasons. With the Android, even just the "back" button is extremely frustrating in that it doesn't behave the same from app to app; sometimes it takes you back a page in the app, but sometimes it dumps you out to the OS (even if you're in a second level app page). And if you're in a web browser? Forget it. there's no telling what the back button is going to do. I can never count on it doing what I intend, so I've gotten into the habit of hitting the Home button instead. At least then I know I'll be dumped out to the OS, and can reenter the app from there if I need to. Not at all efficient.
With the iPhone, I intuitively knew exactly what the Home button was going to do *whenever* I pushed it. It seems like such a small, simple thing ("polish"), but, really, if I added up all the time that I spent in extra clicks on my Android because it *isn't* polished, it'd actually be quite a staggering tally.
In addition, with my Android, I have to restart the thing every 4 or 5 days to keep it running well (and from what I've heard, I'm pretty lucky that I don't have to restart even more often).
With my iPhone, I restarted a grand total of... oh... let's see... *never*. Okay... once... but that was to finish an OS upgrade.
It's a shame. I'm one of those people who was really excited about Android when it first came out. Google was doing everything right by me, and the promise of an open system sounded like a panacea. But now that I've used it in real life, I'm incredibly disappointed.
I have an Android that I'm using every day, now, having switched from an iPhone (that I used every day) for business reasons. With the Android, even just the "back" button is extremely frustrating in that it doesn't behave the same from app to app; sometimes it takes you back a page in the app, but sometimes it dumps you out to the OS (even if you're in a second level app page). And if you're in a web browser? Forget it. there's no telling what the back button is going to do. I can never count on it doing what I intend, so I've gotten into the habit of hitting the Home button instead. At least then I know I'll be dumped out to the OS, and can reenter the app from there if I need to. Not at all efficient.
With the iPhone, I intuitively knew exactly what the Home button was going to do *whenever* I pushed it. It seems like such a small, simple thing ("polish"), but, really, if I added up all the time that I spent in extra clicks on my Android because it *isn't* polished, it'd actually be quite a staggering tally.
In addition, with my Android, I have to restart the thing every 4 or 5 days to keep it running well (and from what I've heard, I'm pretty lucky that I don't have to restart even more often).
With my iPhone, I restarted a grand total of... oh... let's see... *never*. Okay... once... but that was to finish an OS upgrade.
It's a shame. I'm one of those people who was really excited about Android when it first came out. Google was doing everything right by me, and the promise of an open system sounded like a panacea. But now that I've used it in real life, I'm incredibly disappointed.
@marsquitojr
I agree! I just took my new Droid Bionic back to Best Buy because it can't measure up the iPhone. I got tired of the battery life, 15% as I arrived a BB, touch screen quality, virtual keyboard miss types, and of course, Verizon data plan, wondering when I needed more $$$. I went and pre-ordered an iPhone 4S on my old ATT unlimited plan. Glad I kept it for the trial on a Droid(dork) Bionic!
I agree! I just took my new Droid Bionic back to Best Buy because it can't measure up the iPhone. I got tired of the battery life, 15% as I arrived a BB, touch screen quality, virtual keyboard miss types, and of course, Verizon data plan, wondering when I needed more $$$. I went and pre-ordered an iPhone 4S on my old ATT unlimited plan. Glad I kept it for the trial on a Droid(dork) Bionic!
@marsquitojr
you need to get yourself a HTC phone with sense UI.
It is simply the BEST home UI / launcher out there.
Everyone is trying to port HTC Sense to their android phones, it is THAT good.
After using HTC Sense, then you are more qualified to rate Android. Samsung makes high spec phones, their UI is not really that good unfortunately.
you need to get yourself a HTC phone with sense UI.
It is simply the BEST home UI / launcher out there.
Everyone is trying to port HTC Sense to their android phones, it is THAT good.
After using HTC Sense, then you are more qualified to rate Android. Samsung makes high spec phones, their UI is not really that good unfortunately.
1) Reader is neat - no more stupid ads, just the article I'm reading, and the margins and borders get cropped, and if an article is multiple pages it gets auto-merged. I wish other applications that have Safari implemented would have this too - such as Twitter and even 1Password.
2) Reading list - temporary bookmarking. This makes reading hyperlinked articles less annoying as Safari opens up another sheet and I have to navigate back to the one I was reading to begin with.
3) Tweet From "everywhere" - at least from some apps.
4) The notification engine is definitely a big step up from Android.
5) OTA/diff updating is a nice improvement.
2) Reading list - temporary bookmarking. This makes reading hyperlinked articles less annoying as Safari opens up another sheet and I have to navigate back to the one I was reading to begin with.
3) Tweet From "everywhere" - at least from some apps.
4) The notification engine is definitely a big step up from Android.
5) OTA/diff updating is a nice improvement.
@m0o0o0o0o Notifcation was inspired by Android!
@Peter Perry
And Android was inspired by iPhone.
And Android was inspired by iPhone.
This would be fantastic if it wasn't for the fact that I keep getting an error (3200) every time I try to update. Synced up just fine last night and now...disaster!
@Q_Sizzle LOL Consider restoring to factory default settings.
@QSizzle - As per Apple Support - Use a USB hub instead of connecting directly to your PC. It's an Intel/OS issue.
WoW... finally some useful updates on the iphone.... too little too late... the ship has sailed on for me .... I am entrenched in Android for now.
@drayphly I would be still there if thy fixed the damn hotspot issues!
Cool, gonna upgrade my 3GS when an unthethered jailbreak is available 
not giving up my mobile personalizations and freedom for anything!
Would be really funny if all it takes to enable Siri on non-iPhone 4S iPhones is just a change in a line of code. That's all that was required to re-unite the "Video" and "Music" applications into one single "iPod" application, and that's all that was required to enable multitasking on the iPhone 3G and older devices (even though it made it laggy)
not giving up my mobile personalizations and freedom for anything!Would be really funny if all it takes to enable Siri on non-iPhone 4S iPhones is just a change in a line of code. That's all that was required to re-unite the "Video" and "Music" applications into one single "iPod" application, and that's all that was required to enable multitasking on the iPhone 3G and older devices (even though it made it laggy)
Oh please, all you i fanboys, Android is far superior and will always out do iOS. I'm just not a sheep. BTW I don't have a iPhone or Android - What I do have is a hacked Desire with a Linux based kernel and various 'apps' ported from Android. Any other APP that I want, I've got - for free; why? because I write it myself.
@imerchantservices Why aren't you so special.
I was desperately hoping for a game-changer from iOS 5 and instead got everything I basically already had with Android, except a flashy personal assistant that I don't need.
@kaneb80 Same here, not that I was planning on going back to iPhone any time soon, but...
And about Siri, I still have to see how it ends up working in real-life scenarios (the bank, the grocery store, school, noisy work environment, the park, the car with windows rolled down, etc).
However, I'm expecting more people talking loudly to their Siri assinstant while waiting in line, on the cinema, on the bus, etc, so not only we will have people talking like schizos to their clients and colleagues on their bluetooth headsets, now we will also have this Siri thing...
And about Siri, I still have to see how it ends up working in real-life scenarios (the bank, the grocery store, school, noisy work environment, the park, the car with windows rolled down, etc).
However, I'm expecting more people talking loudly to their Siri assinstant while waiting in line, on the cinema, on the bus, etc, so not only we will have people talking like schizos to their clients and colleagues on their bluetooth headsets, now we will also have this Siri thing...
@nayarsergio@... Your concern is all the people that are now going to loudly be talking to Siri but all the Fandroids out there keep talking about Android already having voice recognition that is the same. Do none of these Fandroids use it so they don't talk loudly to it?
I wish you would explain how to get to these features, all are not intuitive. Also state if it is for the 4s only.
@ljgates I believe there needs to be some clarification on multi touch gestures. First I don't believe those mentioned are available on the iPhone and I also believe they dropped them from the original iPad, only available on the 2.
Well, I think Apple moves very slow comparing with Android. you have to change from iphone 3gs to iphone 4 to have a flash. Until now they do not have a desktop like android , no wedges. The screen has no live wallpapers and do not forget the ring tons which is new in iOS5. Man it needs 3 generations of ios or reach Android.
My daughter said that everything she bought was wiped off the phone when she upgraded today. She is not sure how to get back the appps she purchased.
@csteinola
you complain about the back button in Android and compare it to the home button in IOS?
How does the BACK button work in IOS?
oh that's right, no back button!
way to compare Apples to Penguins.
Maybe it IS true that Apple users can't handle more than one button. How did you manage to survive when Apple graduated from the one button mouse?
you complain about the back button in Android and compare it to the home button in IOS?
How does the BACK button work in IOS?
oh that's right, no back button!
way to compare Apples to Penguins.
Maybe it IS true that Apple users can't handle more than one button. How did you manage to survive when Apple graduated from the one button mouse?
[ SOS ] Complaint about Human Rights Violations by IBM China on Centennial
Please Google:
Tragedy of Labor Rights Repression in IBM China
or
How Much IBM Can Get Away with is the Responsibility of the Media
or
IBM detained mother of ex-employee on the day of centennial
Please Google:
Tragedy of Labor Rights Repression in IBM China
or
How Much IBM Can Get Away with is the Responsibility of the Media
or
IBM detained mother of ex-employee on the day of centennial
Please Google:
Tragedy of Labor Rights Repression in IBM China
or
How Much IBM Can Get Away with is the Responsibility of the Media
or
IBM detained mother of ex-employee on the day of centennial
Tragedy of Labor Rights Repression in IBM China
or
How Much IBM Can Get Away with is the Responsibility of the Media
or
IBM detained mother of ex-employee on the day of centennial
Speaking of killer features, iOS5 just KILLED my iPad (1st generation)! I started upgrading it, following all proper procedures, until iTunes informed me that it needed restoring. I tried resuscitating it following all recommended procedures - no good. My iPhone 4, however, upgraded well, no problem. So, think twice before you upgrade, and check that your guarantee is still OK, or Apple will refuse to touch your device. BTW, the iPad is in mint condition, not jailbroken, no modifications, 64GB. Next stop, Apple service, and I will just have to keep my fingers crossed.
Finally they've caught up with some BlackBerry features and offer some not available on BlackBerry too.
So now that Apple has everybody sending all their data to the iCloud servers, how is that data protected? Surely they are proetecting that data, and of course they are not going to analyse it to support their location-based (ad) services?
I mean, Apple is so much purer than Google, right?
I mean, Apple is so much purer than Google, right?
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