The Cupertino giant also unwrapped their latest OS for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The iOS 5 is a major release that boasts more than 200 new features for users and opens up 1,500 APIs for the developers. Apple gives us a glimpse with the best 10 features expected in the upcoming iOS 5, which you can take a look below.
Notifications: The first change expected in iOS 5 is a major overhaul in the notification system. Goodbye to those annoying popups and say Hi to the Notification Center. The Notification Center is similar to the system found in Android where you pull down to show all the unread notifications.
Newsstand: What iBooks is to purchased books, Newsstand is to subscription-based magazines and newspapers. The newsstand will auto-update new content in the background so users will have the fresh content whenever they want.
Twitter: Apple has deeply integrated Twitter into the iOS 5. iOS 5 now includes a master login for Twitter and will allow users to tweet from apps like Camera, Photos, Safari, Videos, YouTube etc.
Safari: Apple has tried to bridge the gap between the desktop-based Safari and the mobile Safari found on the iOS. The Reader feature has now been ported on the mobile version, which allows users to read multi-page documents into a long single page. Safari also gains tabbed browsing interface and Reading Lists.
Reminders: Reminders are now built into the iOS 5 enabling users to create different types of list and even sync them to the computers.
Camera: Next improvement is in the camera department. The Volume Up key can be used to perform its regular function but now also doubles as a dedicated camera key. Also, the lock screen gains a camera icon, which will allow users to take pictures quickly. The camera from the lock screen will also work in case of passcode where rest of the content on the device will still be protected.
Mail: Next up is Mail that is improved with rich-text formatting, control indentation, flag/unflag messages and better enterprise support with S/MIME.
PC Free: One major gripe owning all these iDevices was to activate them with iTunes on a PC or a Mac. Well, it will be a thing of the past now with iOS 5. Instead it will be activated over the air and will be greeted with a Welcome screen. Even the iOS updates won’t require iTunes as they’ll be done over the air.
Game Center: Apple’s game-centric social hub, Game Center has also been improved. New features include, achievement points, friend discovery, game recommendations, turn-based games support etc.
iMessages: This is possibly a big punch at RIM’s much lauded BBM service. It’s a free messaging service for iOS users allowing them to send text, photos, videos and contacts, all encrypted over a regular 3G connection or Wi-Fi.
Some of the other features the iOS 5 boasts are a system-wide split keyboard, iTunes sync over Wi-Fi, AirPlay Mirroring and more.
The iOS 5 will be available as a free update for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch (fourth generation) and iPod touch (third generation) this fall.
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