Back in June Apple announced the latest in its iOS 5 iPhone, iPad and iPod software to the world at the Apple WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) and since then we have had to sit through months of waiting and Beta testing to see the newest software.
Thankfully the wait is over as at the Apple iPhone 4S announcement Apple has finally announced an official release of the OS to the masses.
According to Apple the new iOS 5 release will also pack over 200 new features into its update, but top of the list for all Apple fans is the new notifications area, which will now replace the pop-ups that appeared on older iPhone software, and now works in a similar way to the Android notification bar.
The Notification Centre, as Apple likes to call it, will be a dedicated notifications screen which can be accessed by pulling the status bar down from the top of the screen, and also like Android, if you swipe your finger across one of the notifications it will take you to the app responsible immediately. The Notification centre will also feature stock and weather information when accessed, and can be accessed even when the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad is locked.
The next new feature of iOS5 is deep Twitter integration, which now allows you to tweet from within Contacts, Safari, Photos, Camera, YouTube, Maps and any tweets you make will automatically be sync’d with your online Twitter account.
A new app called iMessage will also be included as part of iOS 5, which is basically just an Instant Messaging client which will support sending texts, photos, video as well as contacts to individuals or to a group of users, and will work over Wi-Fi and 3G. It allows you to talk between iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad using the internet, for free.
The Photos app has also been updated so you’ll now be able to crop and edit images all on your iOS device – the editing part consists of red-eye removal and auto-enhance, so don’t expect too much. You’ll also be able to access the camera from the lockscreen on your iPhone, meaning quicker snaps. The camera app has been updated to let you add a grid on the screen, use pinch to zoom and focus and also set the auto exposure and auto focus to lock.
Apple has added a new feature called Newstand, which lets you purchase and download publications through Wi-Fi and 3G. You’ll be able to download things like daily newspapers from all over the world, and weekly or monthly magazines. The app shows your books, newspapers and magazines in a cool looking bookshelf, like the iBooks app.
Also, with iOS5 you’ll no longer need to connect your device to iTunes as the software update will be pushed over the air for the first time, meaning once you have it you’ll be able to install new updates via Wi-Fi without the need to connect to iTunes.
Now that you know what it’s all about, we suppose we should tell you when you can get it. iOS 5 will be available to download from iTunes on October 12th worldwide. You’ll be able to install it on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad, iPad 2, iPod Touch 3rd Generation and iPod Touch 4th Generation. The download will be free, and you’ll get all of the above awesome features and much more!
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