Following the announcement of the launch date of iOS 5, people waited eagerly to get their hands on what is Apple’s biggest operating system overhaul in the past few years. So when 12th October finally came around, like many others, I couldn’t wait to give it a try.
So I get home, load up the computer, update iTunes, restart the computer and then download iOS 5. So it’s going to take…2 hours?! Erm, ok, no big deal. I’ll just go and cook dinner and come back to it. A couple of hours later and it’s nearly there, and then fails at the last moment. After several more tries, the download has downloaded successfully.
Surely the install should be easier? Well, not really. With so many people trying to get the much anticipated update, unsurprisingly servers couldn’t cope. Error 3200 was a common sight for many, me included. I was also shocked at how much space was required to install the update and took to removing most of my music in hope that this would make the install easier.
After several install failures, I admitted defeat and resolved to try again in the morning. An early start seemed to help and perhaps a bit of luck, with this attempt being far more successful. iOS 5 is now mine and ready to road-test.
My first impressions are good. As a Twitter addict, the deep integration of Twitter is brilliant. One thing that always used to annoy me about previous versions was that it was really difficult to share YouTube videos and other links. Now, it is so easy to share links via Twitter, with integration across YouTube, Safari and various apps including NY Times. I’d love to see the same functionality with Facebook as I often share links on there too but Twitter is good start. This guide from Mashable goes into the feature in more detail.
Another aspect I really like is the quicker access to the camera. Photography is often about capturing brief moments so it would often annoy me when I quickly wanted to take a picture to have to go through the unlock screen and then navigate to the camera, only to have missed the photo. I haven’t given the editing options a try yet but tools like cropping and rotating should be useful.
Photos are tied in with a couple of other new apps including iMessage and geo tagging. A rather cool photo feature is that you can now see where your photographs have been taken. Photo location can also be added when sending photographs via normal text message or via the new iMessage app, handy when letting someone know where you are. You can also send map location as a message to other iOS users, via either text or iMessage. As yet, I’ve been unable to test the iMessage app as it won’t let me log in so I will update with my review when I can.
If you love making lists and reminders then the Reminders app, will be perfect for you. The location based reminders and due dates are really useful. They also sync with your calendar and across to iCloud (more on that in a bit!).
The Newstand app is also a brilliant new addition. I can see this being better on the iPad rather than the iPhone due to the larger screen size. At the moment there are a few mainstream magazines such as Men’s Health and Company available which is great. There are also previous editions available as well as the current issue which is perfect if you missed a previous edition of your favourite magazine and want to catch up.
The final feature that has really impressed me is the iCloud. Having removed most of my music from my phone in the update, the iCloud made it so easy to restore purchased music. The iCloud also syncs your contacts and calendar, so no more losing contacts!
There are also lots of minor tweaks in iOS 5 such as notifications which can be set for each app that uses push notifications. You can now choose how they display, either as a banner, in the centre of the screen or not at all.
Overall, the upgrade is pretty exciting. It does feel a little like having a completely new phone and for those who were disappointed that Apple didn’t release an iPhone 5, I think this will make up for it. Whilst the upgrade process was frustrating and time consuming it was worth it and the hassle was short lived. What are your thoughts on iOS 5? Leave a comment below!
