I recently wrote some thoughts about my new iPhone 4S. As I said, other than Siri though, the main aspects of my new phone are all available to iPhone4 owners through iOS 5 .
How do you get iOS 5 on your phone? Just connect your iPhone/device to your computer and it will prompt you to download and install the new operating system. It will remind you to do a back-up first which is a good idea.
Ok, so here are my thoughts re: iOS 5, including some hidden features.
What’s Great:
1. iMessage
Blackberry converts who have been missing BBM will be happy with iMessage. Integrated into the regular text messaging (SMS) app, iMessage lets you message other iPhone owners for free (no SMS fees). It also shows you when these messages are delivered and when someone is typing a reply. The messages also work over wifi. This means you can use iMessage with an iPad or an iPod touch also. This is a better messaging experience and it’s free, as it should be. Many folks will now be able to downgrade their messaging plans and save some monthly fees.
Another minor thing that is cool is that you can now hide the keyboard in the messaging app by “pulling” it down and out of the way.
2. Notifications
Apple completely overhauled the way notifications work in iOS 5. The biggest difference is that there is now a “curtain” of notifications that you can pull down to see all your recent notifications segmented by application. You can customize notification types in settings. This new system makes notifications a lot more useful, like a more instant type of alert e-mails for your phone.
3. Camera/photos
Quicker access to the camera- Many folks have started to use their phone’s camera as a primary photo-taking device. But opening the camera app took too long. Apple now lets you access the camera even when your phone is locked. Simply double click the home button. On the bottom right of the screen, you’ll now see a camera icon. Click it and the camera app opens right up.
Additionally, you can now take a photo by pressing either of the volume buttons. This makes it a lot less awkward to take a photo.
The photo app now also lets you edit photos on your phone and sort photos into separate albums, helpful to make sense of the hundreds of photos you have unsorted on your phone.
4. Reader
I think this is very cool. When you load any website in the Safari browser, you’ll see a “reader” button appear in the website address bar after the site is done loading. If you click that button, the article/text on the page will be reformatted to a very clean and readable format. It’s very much like the web tool Readability for those of you that know it.
There’s a related feature called Reading list that lets you save articles/items to read later. I already use an awesome service/app to do this called Instapaper and don’t plan to switch. I predict that Instapaper will continue to out-innovate on a focused product like this.
5. iCloud (in theory)
The concept of iCloud is fantastic, keeping things in sync across devices and backing up your data in the process. So far though, I’ve found it complicated to understand/use and challenging in that certain devices don’t work with iCloud, specifically Macs not running Lion.
Additionally, iCloud “replaced” MobileMe which is fine but two services that were not replaced are MobileMe’s photo gallery and web hosting. Strange/frustrating that Apple didn’t offer a migration path for these, particuarly photos which was the best option out there IMHO.
6. Keyboard “shortcuts”
This is a minor feature, but very compelling for some, e.g. my friend David. Some ex-Blackberry users will remember this feature, sometimes called text expansion. Basically you can create short abbreviations that will expand into full phrases. This is good for long phrases that you constantly find yourself retyping. See here for instructions on how to create these and some suggested ones to start with. Examples from Lifehacker include:
- EML -> your@emailaddress.com, so you never need to type your email when sending a message to yourself or sharing it with someone else.
- PHN -> your phone number, so you can easily share your phone number without the need to type it or even remember it.
- FMIN -> I’ll be there in five minutes, for when you want to text someone that you’re five minutes away but only have a few moments to type it.
Note, David can tell you that you must be careful to make the shortcuts something you wouldn’t otherwise type like these abbreviations vs. actual words which can create confusing texts/emails.
7. Calendar landscape view
The calendar on iPhone and iPad are improved. On the iPhone, try turning the screen to lanscape and you’ll see a week view. The iPad now includes a Year view.
8. Alternate routes in Maps
The map app now shows you alternate routes when showing directions. This will be welcome to those who frequently use it for navigation in traffic-prone cities.
9. Custom vibrations & ringtones
You can now create custom vibrations for specific contacts. Those who keep their phone on vibrate most of the time will appreciate that. You can know who called or texted before taking the phone out of your pocket. You can now more easily create custom ringtones and assign them to SMS or app alerts in addition to just phone calls. See these links for more/how-to:
Custom vibrations
Custom ringtones
iPad
1. Browser tabs
The iPad’s Safari browser now has real tabs, more like the browser you likely use on your computer vs. separate “tabs”. Try it out to see what I mean.
2. Separation of keyboard
This is quite cool, I think. A problem with the iPad keyboard has been that it’s hard to type with 2 hands and hold the iPad at the same time. Now, using a keyboard gesture, you can pinch the keyboard apart in the middle. The smaller halves are then closer to each hand that is holding the device, so you can thumb out a message. It works in portrait or landscape.
3. Gestures for iPad2
If you have an iPad2, you can use new 4 and 5 fingered gestures. See here for more.
What’s Not Great:
1. Wireless Sync
This is a nice concept, but its execution leaves me underwhelmed. You can now synch your iPhone to your computer wirelessly. In order to do that though, you need to have your computer on (on the same wifi network), iTunes open and your phone plugged into a power outlet. This is only a minor improvement over having it directly connected. Sure, you can synch from another room, but having to have it plugged in is a bummer. And iTunes is not an app I like to keep running. Lastly, it seems to me that iCloud should take care of all of this, making this extra synching confusing.
2. Reminders
This is a new default to-do/reminders app from Apple. Maybe it’s great, but it seems that being so late to the game is kind of silly. There are hundreds, if not thousands of these apps in the store. Why would Apple suddenly release a native one?
3. More things to accidentally select
As Apple adds cool features like the camera selection from the lock screen and Siri, there are less places to put them and less key shortcuts to access them. I’ve found myself constantly invoking Siri by accident, just trying to hit the home key. And on the keyboard, the Siri dictation button shrinks the rest of the keyboard and makes me much more likely to hit it by mistake.
What’s Missing:
1. Better Maps App
There was a minor improvement to Apple’s maps app (powered by Google) as mentioned above regarding alternate routes. However, it seems clear to me that the bad blood between Apple and Google has hindered updates to this app. The Google Maps app for Android has far surpassed Apple’s app. Turn-by-turn directions would be a major improvement as well as speedier performance and an option to download offline maps for particular cities (great for no/slow network access and international travel without roaming).
2. Swype
Others have mentioned this, but the Swype keyboard is one of the most loved available features/apps on Android. See more here, but basically Swype is a quicker way to type on a touchscreen keyboard. Apple should either license or buy this technology.
3. Better e-mail search
GMAIL has recently launched their own native iPhone app, although it was recently pulled from the store to address bugs. Perhaps this will motivate Apple to improve its mail app. Searching mail “on the server” has never really worked. This is a key and necessary function for any e-mail service IMHO.
You can read more about all the new iOS features at Apple’s site here.
What do you think? Did I get it right? Miss any? Stay tuned for my next post on my recommended iPhone/iPad apps.
). For incoming calls, one will now see 2 additional options besides accepting or declining. One can “reply with message”, sending a text message back to the caller with either a canned or specific message, e.g. “I’m in a meeting, will call you later.” or they can select an option to “remind me to call back later”. These reminders can be based on time or place (e.g. when I get home). The second feature for phone is a “do not disturb” mode. This can be set for nightime hours, for example with allowance given for specified favorites and for if someone tries to call repeatedly.
